The Third Floor | Bartlett (53.03)

[mragland]

11.10.2052 – Redwood City, California

Grant is on the second day of an offseason visit to the Redwood City offices of Stars North, eating lunch in the cafeteria, when Dr. Claybourne asks if she can join him.

Dr. Gretchen Claybourne is not an employee of the Stars, but rather works for a contractor for player development known as the Pacific Coast Research Group. PCRG is also housed on the Stars North campus. Dr. Claybourne is a behavioral scientist and Grant has seen a few of her video presentations, but this is only the second time he's seen her face to face. With Dr. Claybourne is a man wearing a visitor's badge and a well-tailored grey suit whom Grant does not know.

"Sure, be my guest, Doc," says Grant, motioning to the empty seats across from him.

"This is Ivan Gomez," says Claybourne as she takes a seat. "Ivan, this is Grant, the analyst."

The name Ivan Gomez sounds familiar to Grant, but he can't quite place it.

Gomez extends his hand, "Nice to meet you, Grant."

Grant shakes his hand. "Likewise. What brings you all by?" he asks.

"Grant, we wanted to speak to you about a mutual interest of ours," says Claybourne, "Tim Bartlett. Ivan is Bartlett's player agent, and together we've been working on a plan."

"What do you know about Tim?" asks Ivan.

"I know that I probably shouldn't be talking to his agent," replies Grant.

Ivan smiles, "Let me put it another way. What do you know about Tim that you're comfortable sharing?"

Grant reaches for his tablet. "As an analyst, guys who come up from the IC usually aren't on my radar until they reach AA. Bartlett, I understand, is likely to be promoted to Jamestown this season, but I haven't taken a close look at him. My impression is that he's most likely a future BBA third baseman, if he can develop as a hitter, which is looking like a 50/50 proposition, given what I'm seeing of his make up, and to be honest, I'm not a big fan of the hit tool. Plus," Grant shows his tablet screen to Ivan, on which appears Bartlett's official team photo, "there's the chinstrap beard. Very discouraging sign," says Grant.

"Unfortunate grooming choices aside," says Ivan, "we are aware that there are concerns about Tim's makeup, but there's a lot of buzz around him right now. We think his ceiling is sky high."

"And that appears to be the consensus among the more prospect-focused analysts in the industry," adds Claybourne.

Grant looks at the two of them. "I assume you're not here to sell me on Bartlett as a prospect. You said something about a plan?"

Ivan clears his throat. "Right, Gretchen and I have come up with a plan to help Bartlett's development, to help him reach his potential as a player. This is an area where the interests of the player and club are in perfect alignment."

"It's an approach based on some of the techniques we've been developing at PCRG," adds Claybourne.

"Great," says Grant, "but you should be talking to the player development people, not some analyst in baseball ops, this is their department."

There's a silence as Ivan and Gretchen exchange glances.

"Unless," says Grant, "you've already done that and they turned you down."

"They weren't opposed to the idea," says Gretchen, "but they said that their '53 budget was already fixed and there was no room for an additional project. We wanted to approach baseball ops, because I understand that there might be funds there. We hoped having a senior analyst on our side might facilitate that."

Grant considers this for a moment. "Yeah, I could probably help you get a meeting with Alejandro, and yes, funds could probably be found for a worthy project, but I'm going to need you to convince me that this is a worthy project first."

"I think we can do that," says Gretchen, smiling. "How long are you in town for?"

[Dington]

Don’t touch his facial hair. That’s where he gets his strength.