This is
going to be an interesting offseason. But, it might also not be that
interesting. In baseball, a lot can happen in an offseason. 2 years ago I was
traded about this time to the Oakland A's. I was placed on their 40 man roster
and invited to big league spring training. Last offseason, I was still hoping
to get my shoulder sorted out, I was traded back to the Toronto Blue Jays, I avoided surgery on my shoulder,
started my shoulder rehab 3 days a week with Dr. Kibler in Lexington, Ky,
was placed on the Blue Jays 40 man roster, and invited to big league spring
training again. This offseason is going to be a very interesting one because
there are so many possibilities. I have told you about the rule 5 draft before,
but as a refresher, it is a draft that happens for players who are currently in
the minor leagues and not on the 40 man roster (after 3 years for college
players and 5 years for high schoolers). This rule was put into place so that
one team cannot stockpile talent in the minor leagues and hoard players who
should be playing at a higher level. The rule is that if another team drafts a
player they have to place them at a level higher than the one they were at. So,
if in AA, the new team has to place them in AAA. If in AAA, the new team has to
place them in the big leagues. So, teams have a couple options to protect
players. By placing them at AAA it would force the new team to put the player
in the big leagues, which they might not want to do. Also, being placed on the
40 man roster restricts you from being available for the rule 5 draft. All this
to say, I am currently not on the Blue Jays 40 man roster, so one of these
things will happen: I will remain off the Blue Jays roster and in the minor
leagues, I will be placed on the Blue Jays 40 man roster and therefore
protected from the rule 5 draft, I will be traded before the rule 5 draft and
then placed on the new team's 40 man roster (like I was with the previous
trades), or I will be unprotected by the Blue Jays and drafted by a team in the
rule 5 draft and placed at a higher level than where the Blue Jays have me. I
could end up anywhere. But, one thing I know is that I am working hard this
offseason, I am healthy, and I'm looking forward to dominating next season
wherever that may be.
Sometimes I
hear someone tell me that I am a good guy. Do you ever get called a good
person? They tell me, “Trystan, you
are a good guy.” I tell them, "no I am not." "Now behold, one
came and said to Jesus, ‘Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may
have eternal life?’ So He said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good
but One, that is, God.’” (Matthew 19:16-17) Notice, Jesus does not say
that He is not good, He says that God alone is good. So, He didn’t deny
the man's statement, but just wanted to clarify that God, and His Son Jesus,
are the only One that is good. For the rest of us, Jesus is saying that
we are not good. To which I agree whole-heartedly. Ever wonder how
some of the thoughts you think get into your mind? Where do they come from? You
never have to teach a little kid "mine", you have to teach sharing.
You never have to teach a kid how to be mean, you have to teach kindness.
We, at our very core, are not good. And we see our nature displayed
in all its ugliness on the news, in others, and in ourselves. Ever get
mad or say something mean? Ever look at something you shouldn't have? Ever
treat someone badly? Ever wanted to? Ever been jealous? Ever been
unsatisfied? Yeah, we are a sorry group of good people. In an episode of
Star Trek, Captain Kirk is confronted by a world that is at war with another
planet. And they have been at war for over 500 years. But, they
have done away with they ugliness of not being good people by conducting their
war through computers. Attacks and counterattacks are launched and
recorded. Casualties are computed and people have to report to
disintegration machines. There is no damage done to cities or land, there
isn't the messiness of injuries or disease or famine. They have done this
because they realize that they are not good people. That at their very
core they are savage and are killers, just like you and me. Listen to
this conversation between Captain Kirk and their First Councilman, "ANAN:
There can be no peace. Don't you see? We've admitted it to ourselves. We're a
killer species. It's instinctive. It's the same with you. KIRK: All right.
It's instinctive. But the instinct can be fought... We can admit that we're
killers, but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes. Knowing that
we won't kill today." You and I and everyone on this planet are sinners.
We are not good people. "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your
unfailing love. Because of Your great compassion, blot out the stain of
my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my
rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against You, and You alone, have I
sinned; I have done what is evil in Your sight. You will be proved right
in what You say, and Your judgment against me is just. For I was born a
sinner-yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. But you desire honesty from
the womb, teaching me wisdom even there. Purify me from my sins, and I
will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:1-7 Yes,
you and I are sinners from our birth. Born to do things which we aught
not to do. Born to want to steal, to want things other people have, born
to want to be selfish, to want to think about and take part in sex outside of
God's design, to be greedy, to be lazy, to be unloving, untrustworthy, born to
be deceitful, to lie. All right. It's instinctive. But the
instinct can be fought. We can admit that we are sinners, but we're not going
to sin today. That's all it takes. Knowing that we won't sin today.
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his
delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth fruit
in its season, whose leaf also shall not whither." Psalm 1:1-3
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