It seems like Kyle Firestine has been rebuilding for a long time, but the truth is, he’s only been at it for two and a half years.
(It also seems like I’ve been writing this particular column for nearly 40 days — because I have.)
From 2008 to 2015, the Bombers had made the playoffs in seven of eight seasons.
After a disappointing 2016 season, Firestine saw the writing on the wall at the trade deadline and he began to sell. He got rid of Jacob deGrom and brought back Victor Robles. … I can’t quite find the history after that because ESPN finally deleted our league, but somehow Robles got to Steroid.
Nevertheless, the rebuild was on.
Firestine went into the 2017 offseason with that in mind and in the 2017 draft, he grabbed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the 35th round.
Note that in that same round, the rest of the League took guys named: Seth Lugo, Hansel Robles, Bryan Shaw, Jae-gyun Hwang, Tyson Ross, Roman Quinn, Albert Almora, Carter Capps, Mike Leake and Brad Hand.
(Reviewing this draft, I now see how Robles got to Steroid, and I now have to call a 30-second timeout here.
Firestine didn’t keep Robles and that somehow led to Choo taking him with the No. 1 overall pick in 2017. Later that season, right before the trade deadline, Choo traded Robles, along with Whit Merrifield, Luke Weaver, Tyler Mahle and Austin Slater to a rebuilding Steroid.ERA for Nelson Cruz and Daniel Murphy.)
OK, back to the Bombers.
Rebuilding was the simple answer for him.
After having his streak of five straight playoff appearances snapped in 2016, he had to do it.
Still, a year and a half in, one would think the urge to flip some of his key players, but he hasn’t let that trade itch get to him.
I know this will be hard for Choo to believe, but he really hasn’t been bothered by it whatsoever.
“Honestly, it wasn't that difficult,” Firestine said. “I always assumed that the point of a dynasty league was to build a team for the long term. The same way you would with an actual team. Over the last few years, I picked up Vlad and Fernando Tatis Jr. through the draft. I just hope my persistence pays off in the long run.”
After the MLB Pipeline Top 100 was released in January, we can now find seven of the Top 51 on Firestine’s roster.
Guerrero and Tatis are obvious favorites, but there is another player in those seven who really excites the Bombers.
“The more and more I read and watch in regards to Wander Franco, the more I'm really excited about what he is going to do,” he said. “I took a flyer on my last pick in the draft last year just by Googling top international picks. He’s only 17, but he ripped up the minors in his short season last year and I’m pumped to see what he will do in a full season in the minors.”
Wander, who turns 18 on March 1, batted .351 in 61 rookie ball games. He hit 11 homers, drove in 57 and scored 46 runs. Even more impressive was his 27 walks and only 19 strikeouts.
They were describing him as the next Vlady on the MLB Pipeline Top 100 show, which is funny that we’re already declaring someone the next Vlady when we haven’t even seen Vlady in the majors.
Still, if that’s true, my god do the Bombers have a scary team.
He also has another top infielding prospect in Nick Madrigal who is quite the hitter. In limited action, he played 43 games from Rookie Ball to High Single-A, and he batted .303 with 47 hits and 25 runs scored. He stole eight bases and also struck out less than he walked. There’s no power here, but he is a pure hitter and Firestine is just waiting for the day when he joins his mega infield.
“I am excited that I'm close,” Firestine said. “It’s been a few years but the pieces I got and coming up can really benefit me in the long run. We shall see.”
Yes, we definitely shall.
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