63.23 Purgatory

[Bob Breum]

Minor league teams wax and wane according to the talent that flows through their parent organization. If the organization has a particularly rich draft, that bubble of talent may ripple through the system, temporarily favoring one level and then the next. Of course, an especially bleak draft may have a similar but negative effect.

In the case of Montreal, over the past couple of seasons the parent club shipped away much of its minor league talent to address the needs of the BBA squad, who are in Win Now! mode. Typically, rebuilding clubs desire younger prospects in such deals, impacting the lower minors.

We are now two months into the season and the short season squads are about to make their debut. For many organizations, this is the time when they take stock of lineups and rosters. The sample size is large enough for them to have some confidence in making roster moves and adjusting lineups.

When the Breums went through this exercise, they discovered that their Single-A affiliate, Dearborn Heights, was not in a good place. With a record of 13-40 and 1-9 over their last ten games, the Knights own the worst record in the Charlie Pegler league and the second worst run differential. Their road record is 3-20. Their offense ranks last in the Baxter League in almost every category and their pitching and defense is almost as bad.

When they spoke to the Knights' manager, Bruce Yelland, he informed them that the clubhouse was seriously unhappy, despite the best efforts of recently acquired team captain Cristián Martínez. In fact, not all the players are unhappy; many of them are downright angry. Losing will do that.

Many believe that bad morale will not only affect a team's performance on the field but also affect players development. Development is the raison d'être of minor league affiliates, of course. The organization does not want its prized prospects exposed to this kind of environment, especially a club like Montreal whose prospects are few and far between.

Bob Breum made the decision to evacuate the few prospects in Dearborn Heights and reassign them. He huddled with his scouts and then made some calls. The good (?) news was that there weren't many prospects in Dearborn Heights to begin with. Two recent draft picks, first basemen Edgar García and Iván Lozano, were sent packing in opposite directions, Garcia up to AA and Lozano down to Short Season A. Second baseman Marcos Concepción, who arrived in trade during the offseason, was promoted to AA. Starting pitcher Oscar Walker was sent down to Short Season A.

In their place was a trio of unlucky souls condemned to the purgatory that is Dearborn Heights. Failed prospects Takafumi Yokoyama, Orlando Velázquez, and Lorenzo Morales arrived to fill out the roster. For them, it's a mixed blessing. They're likely to receive more playing time, but when they trudge up to the plate for yet another meaningless at-bat, is the trade-off worth it? Theirs is not to question why ...

[BaseClogger]

Fun post! Made me think about the game differently.