Angels-Giants: Matt Palmer Shows Us Why Expansion Is a Good Thing

Actually, Palmer didn’t get the win, but he had a quality start and put the Angels in a position to beat the Giants.  I would prefer it if Palmer would do it against someone else, but I can’t feel too bad whenever a 30-year-old rookie makes good.

Matt Palmer’s major league success with the Angels has already lasted longer than I suspected, because his minor league numbers just weren’t that great.  It just goes to show that you have to take advantage when you get a major league opportunity, because if you get off to a hot start you make a career for yourself.

It also goes to show that the difference between AAA and the majors isn’t as great as people think.  Palmer had two solid, but unspectacular, years at AAA Fresno in 2007 and 2008, and now he’s in the Show and proving for the time being that he can do it.

Even if reality catches up to Palmer and he’s back in the minors next season, with six major league wins under his belt so far this season, people in baseball will remember him as a “major league” player, which will help get him more opportunities in the future.

Guys like Palmer are also a reason I like expansion every so many years.  There are always a lot of guys between age 27 and 32, who are major league-caliber players, but absent expansion will never really get the opportunity to show what they can do at the major league level and make some real money, unless they go play in Japan.

Sometimes these guys end up having long and successful careers.  A great example is Jeff Conine, who was a 27-year-old outfielder stuck in the Royals’ system until the Marlins selected him in the expansion draft before the 1993 season.  He was the Marlins' best player in 1993 and went on to play in the majors until 2007.

An almost identical example is Lou Piniella.  He was stuck in the Indians’ system until expansion gave him a major league job with the Royals in 1969 (Piniella was actually drafted by the Seattle Pilots, who then traded him to the Royals for Steve Whitaker and John Gelnar on the eve of the ‘69 season).  The rest, as they say, is history.

Every expansion team has at least one story like this: Nate Colbert (Padres), Bill Stoneman (Expos), Mike Marshall (Pilots), Dick Drago (Royals), Darren Holmes and Vinny Castilla (Rockies), and Ruppert Jones and Enrique Romo (Mariners) are only a few of the notable players given their shot by expansion to show what they could do.