When It Rains, It Pours

Things have not been going well for the A’s the last couple of seasons.  They haven’t been winning, they’ve had some of the worst attendance in baseball (dead last in 2009, 27th in 2008 and 26th in 2007), and they haven’t been able to find a satisfactory place to build the new ballpark they need.

Today, they lost Grant Desme, the player they selected in the 2nd Round (74th pick) of the 2007 Draft, to, of all things, the priesthood.  That’s right: coming off at terrific half-season at Stockton in the Class A+ California League at age 23, Desme has decided to give up baseball entirely in order to become a priest.

Desme will be retiring with a career minor league OPS of .922 with 33 HRs in 535 minor league at-bats.  No telling whether he really had what it takes to become a major league star, but the A’s have to be pretty disappointed given the numbers he’d put up so far.

I, for one, can’t remember the last time a legitimate prospect gave up the game in order to study for the priesthood.  I’m sure a lot of his teammates are kind of scratching their heads after the terrific season he just completed and given how many of them have spent their lives dreaming of major league glory.

Sometimes, when things are going bad for someone, the insults and injuries just seem to keep accumulating beyond the bounds of reason.  I’m sure some people in the A’s organization are feeling that way right now.