Prospects Vs. The Real Deal
MLB Musings
With the trade deadline approaching I find it very interesting that a lot of teams find themselves at a crossroads in their long term development. Teams every summer make a statement to fans about where they believe that they stand at the July 31st trade deadline. Over the past several season I have found that every team seems to be trying to adapt to baseballs financial realities of trying to hoard young prospects who they can control for several seasons at league minimums.
There does come a time though when teams must look at themselves in the face and come to terms with the fact that prospects are nice but the real deal can be sometimes just as good if not better than prospects. I loved the move that the Athletics made in going out and "sacrificing" the future for a real time big pitching in Jeff Samardzija. They gave up what might be a nice shortstop in order to contend now.
It seems as though the idea of going for the championship "NOW" frowned upon. Giving up what might be a legit player for a chance to win now might not be what everyone wants but sometimes going for it can be better than waiting on a bust.
Coaching It Out
Talked with someone today who mentioned burnout by his players. I have noticed that some players seem to get burnt out every once in a while. Burnout can happen for several reasons and can be a difficult thing to turn around once a player has experienced this. On my own team I heard players mention that they "Wanted to lose." or that they are "Done with baseball" toward the end of the season. During legion it is difficult for players to manage their own time because to be honest the Legion Baseball schedule is a doozy. 4-5 games in some weeks, doubleheaders, losing, slumps are things which all go into the summer of baseball.
I try to stress to the players that the season is going to be a grind and that it is not going to be an easy thing to make it through. All things which are difficult to do are worth it though in my opinion. During Legion we as a coaching staff tried to balance baseball with down time. Knowing how crazy the Legion schedule can be on players we as coaches stressed lots of early practices to set up the season followed by a majority of games with little to no practices.
What is also important is that once we got into the season we tried to keep practices quick, efficient, and fun. There lies the key to avoiding burnout, if you are not longer having fun with it then it isn't worth continuing doing it for the simple fact that you are bored of doing that task over and over again.
How do you guys try to make it so that players avoid burnout? What do you think about the idea of going for it today as opposed to waiting around for prospects to mature?
 |
| Bryce Harper Nationals |
With the trade deadline approaching I find it very interesting that a lot of teams find themselves at a crossroads in their long term development. Teams every summer make a statement to fans about where they believe that they stand at the July 31st trade deadline. Over the past several season I have found that every team seems to be trying to adapt to baseballs financial realities of trying to hoard young prospects who they can control for several seasons at league minimums.
There does come a time though when teams must look at themselves in the face and come to terms with the fact that prospects are nice but the real deal can be sometimes just as good if not better than prospects. I loved the move that the Athletics made in going out and "sacrificing" the future for a real time big pitching in Jeff Samardzija. They gave up what might be a nice shortstop in order to contend now.
It seems as though the idea of going for the championship "NOW" frowned upon. Giving up what might be a legit player for a chance to win now might not be what everyone wants but sometimes going for it can be better than waiting on a bust.
Coaching It Out
Talked with someone today who mentioned burnout by his players. I have noticed that some players seem to get burnt out every once in a while. Burnout can happen for several reasons and can be a difficult thing to turn around once a player has experienced this. On my own team I heard players mention that they "Wanted to lose." or that they are "Done with baseball" toward the end of the season. During legion it is difficult for players to manage their own time because to be honest the Legion Baseball schedule is a doozy. 4-5 games in some weeks, doubleheaders, losing, slumps are things which all go into the summer of baseball.
I try to stress to the players that the season is going to be a grind and that it is not going to be an easy thing to make it through. All things which are difficult to do are worth it though in my opinion. During Legion we as a coaching staff tried to balance baseball with down time. Knowing how crazy the Legion schedule can be on players we as coaches stressed lots of early practices to set up the season followed by a majority of games with little to no practices.
What is also important is that once we got into the season we tried to keep practices quick, efficient, and fun. There lies the key to avoiding burnout, if you are not longer having fun with it then it isn't worth continuing doing it for the simple fact that you are bored of doing that task over and over again.
How do you guys try to make it so that players avoid burnout? What do you think about the idea of going for it today as opposed to waiting around for prospects to mature?
Comments
Post a Comment