Here’s a look back at this week’s original content from the MLBTR writing staff.
- MLBTR contributor Chuck Wasserstrom spoke to longtime ESPN writer Jayson Stark, who reflected on his career so far, saying, “I really never set out to become the Alex Trebek of baseball. That just happened by accident.”
- Chuck also chatted with longtime Dodgers scouting director Logan White about the pair of drafts in 2002 and 2003 that netted Russell Martin, Matt Kemp, Jonathan Broxton, James Loney, A.J. Ellis and Chad Billingsley. Of Martin, White said, “I wanted the scouts to look for guys we could convert to catch. I asked one of my big questions, ‘Is there anybody that’s playing second or short, third, good feet, good hands, we can convert?’ The area scout was Clarence Johns and the East Coast supervisor was John Barr, who’s now with the Giants as their scouting director. They both were at a game and Russ was messing around in the outfield or the bullpen, catching somebody. Just playing, not really in gear or anything. And they said, ‘Hey, you know what? We think this guy would be perfect.’ So we intentionally drafted him to convert him. The rest is history.”
- Jason Martinez profiled prospects from the Yankees, A’s, Astros, Pirates and Phillies in the latest entry in his Knocking Down The Door series.
- Connor Byrne looked at Marlins outfielder Christian Yelich’s trade candidacy.
- Our new Taking Inventory series lists potential trade candidates from teams who look like they could become sellers at this year’s deadline. First up in the series this week were the Phillies (by Steve Adams) and the Pirates (by myself).
