61.31 Getting Past First Base: An Awkward Father-Son Conversation

[Bob Breum]

"Dad, we need to talk."

"What's on your mind?"

"I've been looking at our farm system, or at least what remains of it."

"Hey, that's not fair. We both agreed that the trades for Serrano and Rooney were the right thing to do."

"You're right. But you must admit that things look pretty bleak right now."

"That's what happens when you deal your number 2, 3, 6, 7, and 13 rated prospects."

"True. But I have a particular concern."

"Do tell."

"First base."

"First base??? We just traded off our two top first base prospects, 80 potential Juan Hernandez and 80 potential Raul Gallehos. They're both going to be monsters, but that's what it took to get Serrano and Rooney. Plus, we're set for years to come at first base with Dan Wilkinson on our big league club. I don't understand?"

"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm fine with all of that."

"What then?"

"Ten of our top 30 prospects are first basemen, even after parting with Hernandez and Gallehos and promoting Denes Terovolas to Montreal. One third of them. Think about that for a moment."

"Oh."

"As your old pal Joe Girardi used to say, 'It's not what you want.' It gets worse. Half of our top six prospects are first basemen. Six out of the top fifteen. It's so bad that our minor league coordinator is concerned about how we're going to find playing time for all of these guys."

"Do you know how little value these guys have in trade talks? Sure, they are fine with blue chip guys like Gallehos, but other GMs just laugh when I try to include these other guys in deals."

"What's worse is that most of these guys are not power hitters. If a first base prospect doesn't rate 8 power potential, other teams lose interest real fast. Only two of them have that kind of power and one of them is 27 years old."

"What do you suggest?"

"Maybe stop drafting first basemen? Or at least stop drafting the ones who aren't sluggers?"

"Tell me, what rounds did we take all these first basemen -- the ones that we didn't trade?"

"One of the two sluggers we drafted in the third round and the other guy we traded a pair of low-level prospects for. Beyond that, the other eight break down as a 2nd round pick, a 3rd round pick, a 9th round pick, a 10th round pick, an 11th round pick, a 13th round pick, and a pair of IAFA signings."

"I suppose we should credit our farm system with developing those 9th, 10th, 11th, and 13th rounders into viable prospects."

"Or we could ask why we do such a poor job of developing all of the other positions?"

"Maybe we don't. Maybe we draft so many first basemen that it's inevitable that some succeed."

"That's a terrifying thought. If so, we need to stop that."

"What'd we pay for the IAFA guys?"

"Three million for the pair. They're the top two of the ten but they're still in our International Complex."

"That seems reasonable. No telling how they'll pan out. I have no problem spending late round picks on first basemen, but it seems like the 2nd and 3rd round picks could've been used more wisely. I say that acknowledging that I made those draft picks. I need to do better. Remind me of this conversation when the next draft arrives."

"Trust me, I will."

[trmmilwwi]

Christmas at the Breum household didn't go so well...

Great read! Now go scout some more first basemen.

[breum]

His dream is to field 8 first basemen in the lineup at once

[trmmilwwi]

The Breum Bream Dream!

[Krathan]

[Bob Breum]

His dream is to field 8 first basemen in the lineup at once

Why only eight?

[Jwalk100]

An over abundance of 1B is a problem in every league I'm in. Corner outfielders are a close 2nd.

[BaseClogger]

An over abundance of 1B is a problem in every league I'm in. Corner outfielders are a close 2nd.

Do we think this reflects real life?

[Jwalk100]

An over abundance of 1B is a problem in every league I'm in. Corner outfielders are a close 2nd.

Do we think this reflects real life?

Some real life teams dont have a true 1B. Very few really good ones.

[RonCo]

The kid gets what the kid wants.

[Trebro]

An over abundance of 1B is a problem in every league I'm in. Corner outfielders are a close 2nd.

Do we think this reflects real life?

Some real life teams dont have a true 1B. Very few really good ones.

My feeling is it's an ootp problem. but I do not have data to back that up.

[ae37jr]

I feel like it used to be the case. Like 5-10 years ago MLB had a lot of "bats" that couldn't really play the field. Plus there would be a lot of veteran players who were playing out long term deals having to move to 1B/DH.

Now GM devalue 1B, steer away from long term contracts taking players into mid 30's and also prioritize roster flexibility(mainly because they use soooo many pitchers now and have shorter bench