It's Monday, which means our regularly scheduled programming of This Week in (Dumb) Baseball is ready for consumption. Last week was a special edition, so this time around we might be hitting on things we saw in the last two weeks.
As regular readers already know, this feature has the title, sure, but it's mostly for fun-- a fact that eludes the masses but remains the case. For example, if you tell me to "quit whining," you are missing the point. I'm mostly chuckling to myself as I write these things (with some exceptions, of course).
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1. Please don't write off prospects
We've seen tons of heavily hyped prospects hit the majors this season. Some have been OK but not real good overall (Addison Russell -- at least where offense is concerned). Francisco Lindor isn't hitting well at all while Byron Buxton is hitting just .189/.231/.270. Joey Gallo is in the midst of a pretty bad slump, too.
We have to keep perspective here as to how hard it is to grow into a big-league baseball career, even for the most talented players in the world. It is folly to think that what we've seen from guys at a young age means that's what we'll continue to see. There are still many who believe Javier Baez is already a bust, thanks to last season's lackluster stint in the bigs. Nevermind that he's still only 22 years old and was hitting .314/.386/.536 with a revamped swing and reduced strikeout totals in Triple-A before breaking his finger this year. No, go ask a large group of casual baseball fans about Baez and the overwhelming response will be laughter.
This is wrong for so many reasons, but let's have some fun with still-active players who ended up becoming All-Stars.
Mike Trout was a top-three prospect in baseball when getting the call to The Show in 2011. In 40 games, he hit .220/.281/.390.
Anthony Rizzo arrived in San Diego with much fanfare in 2011, only to hit .141/.281/.242 with just one homer and 46 strikeouts in 49 games.
Chase Utley didn't even get to the majors until he was 24, and he hit just .239 that season. He wasn't very good next season, either, not breaking through until age 26. Alex Gordon was labeled a bust for four years before finally having his breakthrough at age 27.
Carlos Gonzalez was a top-35 prospect when he arrived in Oakland in 2008. He'd hit .242/.273/.361 with 81 strikeouts in 85 games that season. He'd be traded and two years later finished third in MVP voting.
On and on we could go, but the point has been made. It's dumb to write youngsters off after they fail in their first big-league stint. Don't be that person who does it.
2. A baseball collector? Really?
Look, I'm a big "to each his own" guy, so if Zack Hample wants to clog his home with 8,000-plus baseballs, I'm not gonna stand in the way. People say he pushes kids out of the way and gathers as many batting practice balls as he can, though, which means I've gotta say ... it doesn't get much dumber than that. I think the ol' "get a life" call is in order here.
3. Don't go after the fans
"They're entitled to their opinion. If they want to root for someone else they think is more consistent, that is fine. You know we need as many as we can get."
That's Tigers second sacker Ian Kinsler (via freep.com). Sure, he was frustrated after a loss, but let's just go with "no comment" if asked about the fans, you know? I see no reason to tell them to switch allegiances, even when couched like that.
4. Uh oh, Dave Stewart
In the wake of a trade that many people didn't understand, Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart said this to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports:
"The truth is we did not know what Touki's value would be if we shopped him. There is a lot of speculation on that. People are assuming it would have been better, but we don't know."
Oh boy. Well, people outside the organization are left guessing and assuming things, but when you're the GM, shouldn't you actually know the value of a player you just traded? That's kind of part of the job, right?
Seriously, if you are going to trade a 2014 first-round draft pick in 2015, maybe see how much you can get instead of just handing him to the first suitor.
Dumb.
As we do every week, we wash away the dumb with some fun.
Baseball card of the week
In light of his anniversary, here's Moonlight Graham:
Random throwback highlight of the week
Jose Guillen, talk to me ...
Throw back commercial of the week
Big League Chew!
On that note, it's time to put a bow on this thing. Have a great week.
Suggestions (dumb stuff, random videos, baseball cards, pop culture rankings topics, etc.) or hate mail? Feel free to hit me up: matt.snyder@cbs.com or you could always go to Twitter (@MattSnyderCBS).
