It's so damn frustrating. If they simply renamed it prospect of the year everything would be cool, but they are giving off the impression that these players played the best and they didn't.
Looking through past Rule-5 drafts it's hard to justify keeping Springer in the minors for that consideration. Very few of these players have panned out. I know that Roberto Clemente was once a Rule-5 draftee and ~20 all-stars have also come from the draft, but the odds are we are going to be saving some players with little potential. I'm guessing the main motivation is retaining Springer til 2020.
Thanks. Yea I edited the iPhone screenshots. Googled how to screenshot from a mac, and think it looks a bit nicer now. Thanks for the advice!
I don't generally like to puff my chest, but I started ClimbingTalsHill.com back in the summer of 2010. Really cool to see how far it has come. Great article by the way.
It sure has! I remember when it was a big deal that we hit 100 hits in a day on average, and it was only me and one other guy (Greg) at the time. Wally is a fun guy to work for, and he gives you a long leash. I would have never imagined that it would grow into what it has become. I remember setting up Twitter streams whenever people would mention the Astros and just interacting with fans to see if they were ever needing a random site to read or just to talk Astros. Also, if you get way bored and feel like scrolling down to the bottom of the followers of the Twitter account, note that I am the first follower Enjoy it!
Much like the results of the minor league playoffs, nobody should really care. Buxton's upside certainly helped. Also the fact that Springer has never been considered a top 10 prospect prior to his amazing season keeps him off the radar for most voters (unlike Will Myers). I'll be happy when we no longer really care about these meaningless feats and are focused on getting these guys contributing at the big league level as soon as possible.
Yes, Minor league awards are meaningless. Spending time arguing/defending/debating who wins minor league player of the year is something that is probably more fun in minor league cities. Also, I'm sure there's always some AAAA player who statistically has a great year, but is not even considered for the award due to his age and big league failure. It almost has to go to a prospect-type player with untapped potential.
As juicy said, major league awards are meaningless too. So are championships and sports in general. This message board pretty much exists to discuss meaningless things.
Minor League playoffs are probably more fun in minor league cities. For a major league team that has been the worst team in baseball over the last 3 years, we want something positive. Some small victory. We watched Springer get beat out by some likely East Coast bias, which is fine. I didn't even know USAToday had such an award before this season. But then to watch him get beat out by a guy we passed on in the draft, who's already regarded as the best prospect in baseball, even though Springer had the much better season at the harder levels (while still age appropriate for the leagues) is just annoying. Bagwell/Biggio not getting to the HOF. Springer not getting minor league player of the year. Castro not playing in the AS game. One time game. One time. Oh, I guess we got Correa into the futures game. Of course that was the fans.
And Correa didn't even get an AB! I hear you. It's been bad. May get worse (I now acknowledge all the ownership fears with Crane... Just far too much smoke there for him to be simply an uncontroversial hands-off owner). Just read an SI piece about how Simmons (Braves SS) has the highest "runs saved" in a season since... Adam Everett (who was under appreciated here... but reminds us of a time when a real team with a real lineup could afford to have simply a defensive specialist in the everyday lineup).
I'm also appreciative of the system being rebuilt (even if it seems like I'd rather rush any and all potential prospect up as soon as possible). I wonder if it really required the team to go into full tank mode 3 years in a row to get to this point... I hope not since I expect the same policy of drafting and signing the talented ones even when they're spending actual money on an MLB roster.
Meaningless how? I could argue that any award won from playing a game is meaningless. Meaning is purely individual. Given, I've payed more attention to the minors over the last 3 years than ever before, so I'm fairly ignorant to what valuations go into giving this award. However, POY at any level, in any sport, is typically performance based. Not given based on perceived ceilings. He's certainly a minor league elder though. I can understand arguing that he shouldn't have been around to even compile those numbers, because Hell... most of us don't think he should have either.
I'm still giving Crane the benefit of the doubt, but I've never thought he would be a hands off guy. I don't think you try that hard to get every baseball team that becomes available to not be heavily involved.
