Cleaning out the Mental In-Box......
The Pirates "Notes" column in the Post-Gazette made mention of Pirate Number One Minor League prospect and former #1 draft pick Austin Meadows.
You may recall that during Spring Training, it was almost a fait accompli that Meadows, after he would tear it up in Indianapolis, would be with the Pirates at some point during the 2017 season, probably right after the team jettisoned Andrew McCutchen in a salary dump trade at the July 31 deadline. In my pre-season predictions post in The Grandstander, I made the flat out statement that Meadows would be with the Pirates in 2017.
Well, it hasn't been a kind season for the Meadows. He has spent much of the season injured and in the trainer's room. In only 72 games and 284 At Bats in Triple-A, Meadows has hit only .250 with 4 HR and 36 RBI, while compiling a less-than-mediocre OPS of .670. Now, instead of seeing Meadows contribute to the Pirates in '17, or even talking about a September call-up, the team is now "considering" having Meadows play winter ball in order make up for all of the playing time he missed this season. I only hope that we are spared the "will-he-or-won't-he-should-he-or-shouldn't-he-play-winter-ball" soap opera that we all had to sit through over Pedro Alvarez a few years back.
Of course it is way to early to write off Meadows, who is still only 22 years old, but this 2017 season is a painful reminder that there is no such thing as a Sure Thing when it comes to discussing Major League Baseball prospects.
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While searching around for something to read on vacation earlier this month, I found copy of this book on a shelf in the OBX beach house.
"H is for Homicide" is, of course, the eighth novel in the Kinsey Milhone detective series by Sue Grafton. I had read it when it first came out back in 1991, but it was an easy and fun read while at the beach.
It also served as a reminder that Grafton's newest Milhone story,
has been released earlier this month. "Y" now sits on my Kindle, and I am anxious to dig into it. It is also bittersweet because, if you know your alphabet, you realize that this is the penultimate book in the Milhone series, with "Z" set to be released in 2019. Grafton has vowed that there will be no more Kinsey Milhone novels after that. While I will mourn the end of the series, I can't wait to see how Ms. Grafton closes the books on her creation.
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While one can regret how quickly time passes as one gets older, I must say that I will be glad when we turn the calendar to September later this week. The Grandstander has written "Absent Friends" commentaries on no less than NINE people in the month of August. That can wear on you.
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