A new chapter begins
Well, Boca is headed to Washington tonight. He will meet up with the Padres when they leave Pittsburgh. “Welcome back to the National League, Hiram.” Looks like for now he will forego a stint in my neck of the woods: Portland, Oregon, home of the AAA Portland Beavers.
Last February, Hiram got the “best” of ‘Mr. Beane’ when he was released from the organization. (Although he had ended the season on the play-off roster, he never saw any playing time.) So Boca left Arizona and headed home. His agent started shopping him around and at that time the Padres were interested. Then Beane called…promised him 
and Boca finds himself back in Sacramento…where fans love his style of play.
He’s stuck there because of the Beane screw up and even though the A’s needed him, he’s in Sacramento. He gets called up in May knowing he was a band-aid. That’s gotta make a guy feel needed.
He struggles at the plate, is nervous and makes rookie type errors. I know most people might think this was his ‘big chance’ and he squandered it, but I will tell you that he never felt he was given the chance. Most people don’t know the attitude in the clubhouse. From the time he connected with the team he felt the vibes: this wasn’t going to be his chance to shine no matter what he did. The high priced players on the DL would be back and he would be out. (Can’t help but wonder what Cust is feeling too.)
Should he have trusted Billy? Second guessing himself, he slids into the waiting game of waivers. And then his agent calls his wife: Hiram was so down he had turned off his cell phone. The see-saw of major league baseball. One day you are up and the next you are down, and up again.
But Hiram has pretty much followed this path most of his career. Steve Bitker told me that when Hiram was drafted in 1994 he was the top prospect out of Puerto Rico. A baseball hungry kid gets picked up by a flailing team (Expos) and he begins his adventure of professional baseball through and in and out of the minor league system. He plays well enough to have the major league team notice him and they bring him up when they need him. But no one has ever really believed in him and said “You are our guy. Period.” He almost got that chance in Los Angeles.
You can say what you want: his stats in the majors do not represent his ability. Baseball players are human beings, not machines. They are affected by their emotions just like the rest of us. Fans criticize them for not performing or winning games. But do we really know what their lives are like away from the ballpark? No.
Who really knows what the Padres have in store for Hiram. Right now they have their starter on the DL (Brian Giles) and Mr. McAnulty has struggled at the plate. He’s going through the same thing that Hiram has been facing. I don’t know what his defensive skills are, but Hiram’s are stellar. When he was playing next to Ichiro in Seattle the two were spectacular.
And so I bid you adieu, Oakland fans. I’ve said my peace. Thanks for being nice to Boca this year.