U mad, bro?: Fans have anxiety about trading Adam Frazier, doubts about the Pirates draft, concerns about college sports
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Anxiety about an Adam Frazier trade. Depression over the Pirates draft philosophy. And concerns over the future of college sports.
That’s what filled up the comments section in the columns, email inbox and Twitter interactions for this week’s “U mad, bro?”
We start with a tweet from Kenny. He agrees with my stance that the Pirates should draft one of Vanderbilt’s two pitchers — Jack Leiter or Kumar Rocker — rather than one of the many high school shortstops that are being discussed.
There are no guarantees in the draft. Except the Pirates in ability to develop prospects. Why not take a guy Vandy already developed. Their player development far exceeds the Pirates.
They will take a HS SS and not know how to develop him, then move him to the OF (Tucker).
— Kenny Morgan (@KennyLenny11) June 22, 2021
That’s as good of an argument as any.
“Hey, the older and more developed a prospect is, the less of a chance the Pirates have to screw him up!”
Kenny, I’m sold.
Joe emails with a similar opinion.
“If the Pirates draft ANYONE other than Rocker or Leiter, the explanation will be total BS. You are absolutely correct. They are terrified to start the (Major League) clock, lest they be held accountable. The only thing in life that gets us in trouble is ‘unfulfilled expectations.’
Don’t hold your breath.”
Joe, if I had been holding my breath about the Pirates, I would’ve lost consciousness around 2009.
I don’t hold my breath anymore. I just hold my nose every time I look at the standings.
Speaking of the Vanderbilt guys, Tom emailed about the College World Series.
“What the heck? This thing is still going on? It’s been like a month? It’s almost July, and ready for another school year. I was surprised to see it’s still going on this week. When will it end? Double elimination?? What?”
It’s true, Tom. It’s the only sporting event in America that is played eight days a week and lasts 13 months.
Well, aside from the Little League World Series. I believe this year’s event started the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Richard is fretting about the notion of an Adam Frazier trade.
“Adam Frazier’s season brings back the memory of glory day players like Bill Madlock, Dick Groat, and about a hundred other above average player’s names. Frazier, (Ke’Bryan) Hayes, (JT) Brubaker, (Bryan) Reynolds will all be star players who once came through what has become the minor league equivalent feeder system for other teams … the once proud Pittsburgh Pirates.
Hardly a cutthroat team raiding other team’s talent pools.”
Well, Richard, I think the whole “Pirate” play on words you are going for may be more appropriate when it comes to how this franchise has been stealing money from what remains of its fan base in recent years.
That said, I like Frazier as you do. You might wanna dial back the Bill Madlock and Dick Groat comparisons, though. He’s good. But he ain’t that good.
However, if rumors are true that the Chicago White Sox really are one of the teams that want him, they got a pretty good look this week, didn’t they?
Frazier had two hits with a double, a run and an RBI Wednesday. He homered, walked and showed some effective base running in scoring a second run on Tuesday.
Perhaps Frazier just upped the price for his services.
Joey is fearful of what will become of college sports in the wake of Monday’s Supreme Court decision against the NCAA.
I get the feeling this is going to benefit the already established powers and really screw up everything else
— Jey Bag f Dnuts (@joeybagovdonuts) June 21, 2021
That’s a legitimate concern, Joey. I think one of two things will happen.
Once compensation starts to roll in, inequities will become greater within the landscape of college sports under the guise of making things more equal between administrations and student-athletes.
Or it’ll go 180 degrees the other way.
The quest for mass equality and 100% fairness — which is impossible to achieve — will essentially dissolve the NCAA as a governing body, and we’ll be limited to regional collegiate competition.
Then people will start suing the individual conferences like others have sued the NCAA. When that is done — after decades in court — we’ll be left with nothing but club sports.
Boy, won’t that be fun!
Don’t get me wrong. We should never avoid correcting a problem just because other issues might arise. And, with so much money coming in, it’s not right that the student-athletes who bring in the most, get nothing in terms of compensation.
But attacks on the NCAA in the name of striving for 100% equity across the country (conference-to-conference, region-to-region, sport-to-sport, gender-to-gender) are fruitless.
At some point an agreement has to be reached about what is fair even if it isn’t entirely equitable. Eventually “doing better” is going to have to be “good enough.”
And no one has come close to telling me how that is going to happen.
I’m all for changing the system. I’d be a louder advocate for the movement if we even had a rough draft of what a new one would look like.
Before we go, let’s get to one more tweet about the Pirates and next month’s MLB Draft.
If they draft another high school shortstop …I may puke.
— Big Ern (@BigErn_88) June 22, 2021
Grab a bucket, Ern. Because I think that’s going to happen.