The Long-Term View of Things

Mike Emeigh wrote a solid preseason evaluation essay for Baseball Primer. If I have the time and the stomach for it, I'll go over the recent and less worthy examples of the genre in more depth later.

Everything is good, genuine, and mostly original, except this conclusion, which I don't share:

But there's a part of me, deep down inside, that hopes that all of the veterans tank, the fans stay away in droves, and McClatchy decides to sell the team to someone who is willing to take a long-term view of things.

First of all, it ain't right to hope the Bucs tank so there can be a change in ownership. If you are wishing for a change in ownership, why not wish for that? Why you gotta wish them evil to boot? Why not

But there's a part of me, deep down inside, that hopes to win the Powerball lottery not once but twice, and hopes that Kevin McClatchy will sell the team to me. Then I can implement some policies that articulate my long-term view of things.

Emleigh doesn't see that the Bucs are taking a long-term view of things.

I would sum up the failures of Cam Bonifay with one player: Chad Hermansen. The Bucs burned up his options, yanking him on and off the big-league roster in a series of melodramatic tantrums. He was the hope and the hell, the future and the failure. Prince and goat. He never had a chance to settle in, and he lost the confidence and consistency that once made him a top prospect. The guy was a mess when Bonifay left, and he was young enough and talented enough that I put a lot of blame on his impatient handlers.

Under Littlefield, the Buccos have been much more patient with the minor leaguers. Signing cheap veterans not only brings in the fans that want better-known players, it also buys time for the prospects to develop in the minors. The lesson of Hermansen was: let them grow into a big-league job after settling in, and suceeding at, each level of the minors.

Everyone abuses Littlefield for not having a plan, or not finding a way to work toward long-term success while dealing with short-term exigencies. I think they are wrong, and so long as McClatchy will stand by Littlefield and give the minor leagues time to produce starting big-leaguers, I think Littlefield has a pretty good chance of making them eat crow in 2005 or 2006.