Sports: Kurtenbach: Put Bart behind the plate.
Let’s see if young Bart can help Giants behind the plate
The Giants aren’t budging. Catcher
Joey Bart is the team’s future, but they’re saying that the future is not now.
Despite Buster Posey’s opting out of the season, despite the fact that the top two names on the Giants’ catcher depth chart are non-roster invitees, despite the fact that Bart looks like a big-league player to big-league players, the message remains the same as the 2020 campaign approaches:
“More development will certainly serve Joey well,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said.
I think that’s the wrong call.
The Giants owe it to both their top prospect and their fans to see what the kid — who is 23, by the way — can do in San Francisco this year.
Yes, of course, like all of us, Bart needs more development. He has 566 professional plate appearances and has never played above Double-A ball. That’s not much.
But there is no Double-A or Triple-A ball for him to play this season. Minor League Baseball was canceled this year. So in 2020, the options for Bart’s development are to play a 60-game regular season against the best players in the sport or to prac
tice in Sacramento against teammates he’s unquestionably better than.
I understand that the team wants to take it slow with Bart — that they don’t want to rush him. But there’s no reason to coddle him, either. And everything I’ve heard about the catcher tells me that maintaining confidence, even in the face of a tough to start his big-league career, is not an issue.
And I’ll also give the Giants the benefit of the doubt that they’re not trying to manipulate Bart’s service time. That would be small-time.
I know it’s not the Giants’ plan to have Bart in San Francisco this year, but the world has sped up. Everyone had plans before the pandemic, but it’s time to be pragmatic and take a bit of risk. The people who will get ahead in this new world are the ones who have adapted to the changes without fear.
The 2020 campaign is now a clean slate, an opportunity to get weird. The Giants could do a lot bolder things than letting arguably their best catcher play in a shortened campaign.
In 2020’s two preseasons, Bart has looked every bit like a major league player. Is the sample-size small? Of course. But this upcoming season will be a small sample size.
“Bart I think is the closest that we have in terms of breaking through at the big-league level and being
an impact player right out of the chute,” Evan Longoria said Monday. “I really like him as a player. I think he has the potential to be a special player.”
Playing Bart is also an opportunity for the Giants to extend an olive branch to the team’s beleaguered fans.
The last few years have stunk. A rebuild of this magnitude — while the right thing to do given the Giants’ circumstances — is painful.
The fans can’t be expected to wait for the future forever.
And after the Giants stayed away from big-time free agents this offseason — including Yasiel Puig, who reportedly agreed to a deal with the Braves — I don’t think it’s too much for the team to give the fans a taste of what’s to come.
Come on, Giants, toss the kid in the pool and see if he can swim.
If he starts drowning, well, he won’t be in the water long enough to cause permanent damage.
But he might just surprise you, too.
A top Canadian government health official says the Blue Jays might want to consider hosting an extended stretch of home games in order to get approval to play in Toronto amid the pandemic.
Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada’s Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, said Tuesday that back and forth travel from the United States, where coronavirus cases are surging, is a major issue that could prevent the government from approving Major League Baseball to play in Canada.
“The fact of the matter is today in Canada we’ve done a good job of flattening our curve. The situation doesn’t appear to be changing quickly in the U.S,” Njoo said.
Njoo noted Canada has been reporting about 300 cases per day compared to 60,000 per day in the U.S.
Njoo said discussions with the Blue Jays and MLB continue and the government is always open.
The Blue Jays are scheduled to open the season July 24 at Tampa Bay. Toronto’s home opener is listed as July 29 against Washington.
Such a change would require a change in MLB’s schedule and would mean opposing teams flying to Canada for what would have been home games in their home ball parks.
MLB requires an exemption to a requirement that anyone entering Canada for nonessential reasons must self-isolate for 14 days. The U.S.-Canada border remains closed to nonessential travel and the two countries are poised to extend their agreement to Aug. 21, but a final confirmation has not been given, a person familiar with the
11 MLB UMPIRES OPTING OUT OF SEASON >> Eleven umpires have opted out or decided not to participate in the upcoming Major League Baseball season, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported.
The identities of the umpires are not yet known. Like the players, umpires have the right to opt out with full pay if they are in a high-risk group due to preexisting health problems. Those who decline to participate in the 60-game season because of concern for family members will not be paid.
Umpires began arriving at camps on Friday and will work bullpen sessions and intrasquad games once they clear testing protocols for the coronavirus.
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Investment bank Allen & Co., which is overseeing the sale process, informed the respective groups of their status.
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CATCHING CONCERNS >> White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal is concerned about being unable to maintain proper social distancing behind the plate.
“I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t worried about it,” Grandal said. “Obviously, this is something you’ve got to take very serious because it can spread out as fast as anything. In my case, this is not only for my health and the health of my teammates, but it’s also for the health of my family. My wife is pregnant, so I don’t want (anything) to happen to her. I don’t want (anything) to happen to my kids. So, we’re going to take all the precautions we need in order to stay safe and keep ourselves safe.”