A's prospects caught in the middle
Mychael Urban
It's a fine line that A's general manager Billy Beane walks, and recent results clearly indicate that he walks it quite well.Challenged by one of the game's lowest payrolls, he and his staff have done a remarkable job of developing young talent, and they've managed to do it while keeping Oakland right in the thick of the championship hunt for the past three seasons.
But while Beane walks, two young talents wait. Outfielders Adam Piatt and Eric Byrnes have been prospects for what seems like forever, and while both players say all the right things when the topic is raised, the wait has to be wearing on them.
"It is a fine line, and I think it's fair to say Adam and Eric are adversely affected by that to an extent," Beane says. "I think that's well put."
How Piatt and Byrnes -- both 27 in February -- have been affected most recently is in Beane's signing of free agent center fielder Chris Singleton. Until that December day when Singleton came over from Baltimore, Piatt and Byrnes were candidates to win an everyday job in left field. But Singleton's signing puts him in center and moves Terrence Long to left, so Brynes and Piatt will enter Spring Training battling for jobs as Oakland's fourth and fifth outfielders.
"You don't want to set anything in stone," Beane said Friday, "but yeah, that's probably the reality of the situation. I will say this: Adam and Eric do fit in. They're two guys we think very highly of. And I think they're ready to get an opportunity to play more.
"But they're also on a very good club, and ultimately our responsibility is to win right now. Sometimes that might come at the cost of giving someone like Adam and Eric more of a chance to show what they can do on a daily basis."
Piatt had the world by the tail when the 1999 season came to a close. An eighth-round pick out of Mississippi State, he had taken the Texas League by storm, winning its first Triple Crown in 72 years by hitting .349 with 39 homers and 135 RBIs for the Double-A Midland Rockhounds. He was named the Player of the Year for all of minor league ball. He signed a deal with an upstart shoe company that featured him in national television ads.
Piatt was on Oakland's Opening Day roster two years later, and that's about when his star started to fall. Asked to share time with Jeremy Giambi in right field, the converted third baseman struggled, hitting .227 in 19 games before being optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.
He quickly forced the A's to recall him by raking Pacific Coast League pitching to the tune of a .370 clip over 12 games, but when Giambi went on the disabled list the day after his former platoon partner was promoted, Piatt failed to take advantage. He started the next 10 games and went 7-for-38 (.187).
Then things really got bad. The day after snapping an 0-for-17 slump, he had to sit out a game with what was then called a migraine headache. Then he was hospitalized. Then he was diagnosed with viral meningitis. He missed a month, returned to Sacramento weak, had little success (.189), then had to shut it down again for about another month while working to get his strength back.
In short, what he had hoped to be his breakout season in the bigs was lost.
In Piatt's mind, it was merely postponed. He arrived at Spring Training 2002 looking like a new man, eager to finally deliver on the promise of that monster minor league season.
"I was sure it was my year," Piatt says.
It was his year, all right, but only to hear his name in constant trade rumors. He tweaked something in his rib cage while making a throw early in the spring, and it limited him to 15 Cactus League at-bats. That he got six hits wasn't enough to earn a spot on the roster, and he yo-yoed between Sacramento and Oakland again.
The highlight, a 20-game stretch with the A's in which he hit .315 with four homers and 13 RBIs, actually brought on a bit of a lowlight. It underscored his potential, and when the trade deadline rolled around, Piatt's name came up daily.
"It's tough," he said at the time. "On one hand you're flattered that other teams are interested in you, but on the other hand, this is where I want to be."
Byrnes' name popped up fairly regularly, too, although his path as a prospect has been considerably less dramatic and traumatic. Also an eighth-round pick of the A's (1998), he ripped through the lower minors and made his big league debut in August 2000; he hit .333 in 67 games at Sacramento, .300 in 10 games with Oakland. One of the fastest players in the organization, Byrnes spent most of 2001 in Sacramento, stealing 25 bases in 28 attempts while hitting .289 with 20 homers and 51 RBIs in 100 games. But he also played with the A's in four separate stints, and when he set the Cactus League on fire early in Spring Training last year, it looked as though he'd finally crack the Opening Day roster.
Then came a slump to rival what Michael Jackson is experiencing with his music these days. Brynes finished the spring with a team-high 16 RBIs, but 14 of those came in the first few weeks, and he was among the last players cut before camp broke.
"Definitely frustrating," Byrnes said last season. "But at that point, you have two choices: pout or keep working."
He chose the latter, and after being promoted May 8, he stuck. But he was used almost exclusively as a late-game defensive replacement and had only four more at-bats (94) than games played.
With Beane's acquisition of Singleton, Brynes and Piatt are again faced with the two choices Byrnes mentioned. To their credit -- and Beane's delight -- they're sticking with the latter and will keep working.
"Is it disappointing? Yeah, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a little bit," says Piatt, on whom the A's are out of options. "But the way I look at it -- and I'm sure the way Byrnesey looks at it -- is this: I'm on a championship-caliber club, and the most important thing to me right now is to contribute.
"Would I like to play every day? Of course. But I've never been a selfish player, and if there's one thing I've learned in the past few years, it's patience. I have to believe that I'll get my shot someday to play every day. And when I get it, all of this will be worth it."
Beane leaves the door open for that shot to come this year. After all, a huge spring can change things in a hurry. But thanks to that fine line, the patience of Piatt and Byrnes likely will be tested yet again.
Mychael Urban is a reporter for MLB.com and can be reached at murban@oaklandathletics.com. This column was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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