Monday, October 29, 2012

Good People - 10/29/12


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

Monday, October 8, 2012

Act of Valor - 10/8/12


Act of Valor - 10/8/12

My season ended last week after my participation in Team Canada's World Baseball Classic Qualifying Tournament in Regensburg, Germany.  We won the tournament and qualified for the World Baseball Classic which is in March of 2013.  I only pitched 1 inning because we dominated.  We beat Great Britain by 10 runs, Germany by 9 runs, and in the last game beat Germany again by 10 runs.  We are now looking forward to Canada doing some work in March.  My season was an interesting one.  My doctor told me in January that my arm was probably going to hurt until at least half way through the season and that is exactly what happened.  So, in the first half of the season it was slow going and plodding work.  Although each time I took the mound I competed, I was not myself.  But, my arm started to respond about halfway through the year and I finished really strong in AA New Hampshire.  I was in Extended Spring Training until joining A Dunedin Blue Jays in May.  I pitched in 13 games, throwing 18.1 innings for Dunedin going 0-4 with a 5.40 ERA, 25 hits, 11 earned runs, 4 homers, 26 strikeouts and 3 walks.  I joined the AA New Hampshire Fishercats and went 0-1, with 5 saves, while posting a 1.95 ERA in 25 games, 32.1 innings, 26 hits, 7 earned runs, 1 homer, 24 strikeouts and 7 walks.  The most important stats I think come from the 2nd half of the season, after the all-star break in AA.  In the 2nd half I went 0-0 with 5 saves while posting a 0.82 ERA in 19 games, 22 innings pitched, giving up 16 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 homer, 15 strikeouts and 5 walks.  Like I said, my arm felt better the 2nd half of the year.

Not long ago I watched the movie "Act of Valor".  It was a fantastic movie.  I really enjoyed it.  It did such a good job showcasing the sacrifice, the service, that so many of our armed forces give.  It is the ultimate act of service, the ultimate act of love, just as Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13) There are husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, sons, and daughters, who put themselves in harms way to protect us and on the behalf of others.  They are heroes.  They live lives of valor.  Am I a man who is going to live a life of such courage?  Each one of us has the opportunity to live with honor and courage.  Not only with physical acts of courage, but also mental and spiritual acts of courage.  Soldiers are called not only to act with courage in a physical way, but mentally as well.  In fact, it is the mind and heart that needs to be trained so that the body will act the way it is supposed to. God is looking for men and women to act with valor. He is searching for people who want Him, who desire Him, who desire His peace and goodness. But, goodness and living for Christ requires valor.  It requires courage. He develops us into people with backbone.  People who have found such a treasure in Him that they can act with bravery and determination  in the face of the world. "The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one." Psalm 15:2-3 Am I going to be a man of valor in the lockerroom, on the field, in my thoughts, with my actions, with my finances, with my time? I don't want to be a part of the "all" who turned aside.