HOMEGROWN IS NOT FOREVER

The Northeast has been cold and windy and depending on what part of the Northeast you reside, non-stop rain, snow, ice, flooding and just pre-winter awfulness.  The weather is symptomatic of how I feel about homegrown players seeking other avenues to live out their baseball dreams. Cold- body cold and disposition cold.

The other day, I woke up to a middle of the night text from my friend from Staten Island, NY, Hammer. His words were intentional and blunt: "Robertson to White Sox." This on the heels of Orioles franchise player Nick Markakis jetting down south to the Braves' organization. My student worker @KennyMac1985 expressed his dissatisfaction with the move with these words, "not sure why they would do that."  They, as in the Orioles. My Yankee informant who woke me with the news of DRob's flight to the Windy City said, "The Yanks could have afforded that contract." Sure, they probably could have but they obviously didn't want to or maybe DRob nor Markakis wanted to stay in the neighborhood.

Jacoby Ellsbury gave up his homegrown Red Sox where he was groomed through the minor leagues up through Pawtucket, RI, to play in the Bronx. David Wright stayed in Flushing and invested in the Mets but his counterpart Jose Reyes has been hopping from team to team. My point is this, the one team for life era is truly over and it has this coldness about it.

Honestly, I never thought Robertson was all that. He has promise and maybe he will find more success in Chi-town than he did in New York, but frankly, why leave?  Money?  New signing Andrew Miller left money on the table in Houston in order to play for the Yankees.  So, what else? Big fish in small pond syndrome?  Perhaps.  

I am a marathon runner and I recently completed two marathons in three weeks.  They were big market marathons, not in the woods with trees and squirrels marathons.  They collectively welcomed close to a million spectators to energize runners from across the world.  That's the kind of marathon I want to run.  So, why go to a small market team, or even a team with no winning history to spend the rest of your life as a player?  To spend your days with fair weather fans, empty ball parks and gimmicky give aways?  Two words: dollars and cents.  Frankly, the Yankees were right in not signing Robinson Cano and David Robertson.  You don't want to be here badly enough, don't be. Enjoy Seattle and Chicago, guys.

Homegrown as in Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, Cal Ripken, Jr. and perhaps one day Dustin Pedroia, is just about finished.  Gone are born and raised in pinstripes or orange or whatever your team's color is.  Homegrown does not mean forever.  And with the looks of the free agency market these days, homegrown is pretty much gone.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
Twitter: @suzieprof


 




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