In August, the Minnesota Twins traded minor league outfielder B.J. Garbe. In return, the Twins got veteran catcher Pat Borders from Seattle. This was a minor transaction in every sense of the word. Garbe, a first round Twins draft pick in 1999, seems to have little chance to making The Show. Five years after turning pro, Garbe is hitting a less than dazzling .201 in AA.
As for Borders, to be honest, I thought he retired years ago. He's got to be about forty years old. I can't quite see how this helps the Twins playoff chances, but I'm not that familiar with the Twinkies roster situation. Maybe they view him as a potential minor league instructor/manager someday? Regardless, this deal hardly sent tremors through the baseball world.
So, why did this transaction catch my eye? Well, Garbe was a highly recruited high school superstar. He had decided to attend Stanford, a college baseball powerhouse. Then came the draft and the cash. Garbe opted for the money and Stanford was left without it's prize recruit. However, unlike in college basketball where Dick Vitale or Billy Packer lament these type of things, no one pitched a fit or cried on national television about the state of college baseball or the plight of the athlete. No, things moved on without Garbe in Palo Alto.
In fact, before this year, the Cardinal had played in the last four College World Series. In theory, had Garbe gone to college, he would have been in the CWS each of his four years at Stanford. Instead, the former high school All-America now appears stuck in AA ball. It's the kind of situation that makes Vitale and Packer cringe and we all find a bit disheartening.
Maybe Garbe made the right choice for him. I don't know. I do know that kids make decisions like this all the time and their situations elude the spotlight. There is no Vitale or Packer to cry for them. To offer some balance, I thought I would turn my little flashlight on one such case.
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