Baseball’s off-season is now a thing. It’s akin to playing high-stakes lotto with someone else’s money. If your team happens to land a top-tier free agent you’re the big winner, if they do not, hey… it’s not your money, right? In fact, the off-season has become so popular that many no longer call it the off-season at all, instead they are now calling it the “winter season.” But be that as it may, the off-season, winter season or Hot Stove season can be a very exciting time … unless you are a top minor league prospect, that is.

How so, you ask? Consider this.

When a college or high school baseball player is drafted (which in itself is a tremendous long shot) they are immediately met with near impossible odds of fulfilling their lifelong dream of ever making it to the big leagues, but at least it’s a start towards that end. Whereas they were once the star of their Little League, high school or college teams, they are now surrounded by thousands of kids who were also stars of their respective Little League, high school or college teams as well. And while it’s no secret that the kids drafted in the early rounds have the better shot at becoming one of baseball’s elite 750, occasionally a late-round gold nugget (as ThinkBlueLA’s Harold Uhlman likes to call them) shows up and becomes a shining star in the minor leagues. But to be brutally honest, this doesn’t happen very often.

Switching gears for a second (but keeping the aforementioned thought in mind), anyone who has known me for any amount of time knows that I am a huge proponent of bringing the kids up to the big leagues very early; and by that I mean with as little as two seasons in the minors, depending on their age of course. Oh sure, some kids mature and develop faster than others and there is certainly no substitute for experience, but when the so-called prime of a professional baseball player’s career is in the 24 to 32-year range, prolonging their stay in the minors can sometimes put their most productive years behind them if/when they finally do make it to the big leagues – especially pitchers and even more so starting pitchers.

There is no arguing that kids like Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias are one in a million (or more). And even though legendary baseball scout Mike Brito’s dream of seeing his young gold nugget pitch in the big leagues as an 18-year-old never happened, he did make it as a 19-year-old. By every indication Urias appeared more than capable of facing major league hitters as an 18-year-old and even did so during spring training 2015. But because pitchers – especially starting pitchers – have a tendency to “break” (as general managers often say), the Dodgers elected to keep their young phenom in the minors for an additional season and placed a very strict innings limit on him.

Legendary scout Mike Brito had hoped to see young left-hander Julio Urias pitching in the major leagues as an 18-year-old. And though Urias did not, he did make it as a 19-year-old when he made his MLB debut on May 27, 2016 against the New York Mets at Citi Field. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Was this the right decision? Probably. But like many, I tend to believe that there are only so many bullets in a pitcher’s arm, especially starting pitchers. I understand that pitching styles, arm angles and mechanics have a great deal to do with a pitcher’s longevity, but the absolute bottom line is that at some point they are going to run out of those bullets. Why waste them getting minor league hitters out when they can be better used getting major league hitters out?

Obviously there are exceptions to this rule. How can you not be absolutely amazed that right-hander Bartolo Colon – who still occasionally hits 93 on the radar gun – is still pitching in the major leagues … at 43 years of age. Remarkably, the extremely popular (but indisputably old in baseball terms) Altamira, Dominican Republic native just signed a one-year/$12.5 million contract with the Atlanta Braves that will (hopefully) take him to age 44, something absolutely unheard of in this day and age … or ever.

Some call 43-year-old Bartolo Colon the eighth Wonder of the World. He is indeed a timeless classic.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Switching back to the original topic, the Dodgers, more specifically president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi, have repeatedly emphasized their desire to “get younger”. And while they have definitely made strides in that general direction, for guys like me who like seeing kids brought up sooner rather than later, it seems that they have missed several opportunities at that “getting younger” thing and have instead gone out and acquired several aging veterans.

Although no one will argue that every team absolutely needs a few seasoned veterans on their respective rosters – guys like Ben Zobrist and David Ross of the (finally) World Series champion Chicago Cubs or Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Ethier of the Dodgers – it is more often the younger guys on a team that are the difference between winning a championship or being an also ran; guys like Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant and old-timer Anthony Rizzo (at age 27) who hit .412, .308 and .277 respectively in the just-concluded postseason.

On Friday afternoon following the final day of the annual General Managers meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Dodgers announced that they had traded 33-year-old veteran second-baseman-turned-left-fielder Howie Kendrick to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for 30-year-old first baseman/outfielder Darin Ruf and 25-year-old once Dodgers infield/outfield prospect Darnell Sweeney. And even though Kendrick proved to be a very valuable addition to the (then) three-time NL West champion Dodgers when he signed his two-year/$20 million contract on February 4, 2016, he was recently quite vocal about wanting to be traded, although the exact reason why remains unknown. According to Phillies general manager Matt Klentak, Kendrick’s role with his new team will be as a left fielder.

The Kendrick trade immediately sent the Twittersphere into a frenzy. Within minutes MLB Network radio host Casey Stern proclaimed that there is no way that Kendrick will play left field for the Phillies and that “horses will fly and Pigs will host shows before this happens. He’ll play 2B.” And while this is certainly a distinct possibility, this in spite of the fact that the extremely popular clubhouse leader recently told Dodgers manager Dave Roberts that he wants to play left field and not second base, his sudden departure immediately put the Dodgers everyday second baseman situation into a state of flux with the unlikelihood that the Dodgers will re-sign soon-to-be 38-year-old/14-year MLB veteran second baseman Chase Utley.

Although there are rumors being floated around that the Dodgers are kicking the tires on 29-year-old Twins second baseman Brian Dozier (which I most certainly would not be opposed to with his 42 home runs and 99 RBIs in 2016), why not “get younger” by bringing up 22-year-old top second base prospect Willie Calhoun, who absolutely tore it up in the Arizona Fall League with the Glendale Desert Dogs?

No one can nor will argue that at only 22 years of age Calhoun still has a lot to learn about his position and about the game itself. But anyone who has seen him play recently – and I have – will tell you that not only is he wise beyond his years both on and off the field, he plays his position exceptionally well and flat out rakes at the plate. Oh sure, you can argue that even in the prestigious AFL the pitchers are still minor league pitchers, but this falls right in line with my ‘sink or swim’ attitude of bringing up kids early to see if they’ve got what it takes to play at baseball’s highest level instead of going out and getting an aging (and usually expensive) player through a trade or free agency and effectively blocking their young prospect’s path to the bigs. By doing so you at least have an opportunity to see if your scouting and player development people are doing their jobs well and at most you are giving your young prospects an opportunity to put in their (potentially) most productive years in the major league instead of the minors. If they struggle, you can always option them back down to the minors for further development.

The good news is that Farhan Zaidi didn’t completely rule out the possibility of solving the Dodgers’ second base situation from within (i.e. Micah Johnson, Rob Segedin, Charlie Culberson or Chris Taylor) or even the possibility of calling up Calhoun, albeit only a slight possibility. The glaring difference, however, is that all of these guys are utility players whereas Calhoun is a pure second baseman.

“I think the lack of Triple-A experience obviously would suggest [Calhoun is] going to need more time. That would be my expectation,” Zaidi told reporters on Friday afternoon. “But we’ve made an effort to incorporate some younger players into the big league club in different roles. You never want to rule out a guy accelerating the timetable on you.”

While Zaidi’s comment is certainly subject to interpretation as to if and even more so when the Dodgers might call up their fourth-ranked prospect, at least the Vallejo, California native is being noticed, and how could he not be after being named the MVP of last week’s Arizona Fall League Fall Stars Game.

Calhoun was named MVP of last weeks AFL Fall Stars game in which he went 3-for-3 with a monster home run and three RBIs. (Photo courtesy of Arizona Fall League)

Who knows, maybe … just maybe the Dodgers will pick up their first World Series title in 29 years if they actually do “get younger” this off-season. Doing so certainly seemed to work out well for Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Joe Maddon, wouldn’t you say?