Tom Prince looks like Trailer Trash. He has the moustache of a 9th grader who should be hanging out by the gym waiting to beat up all the dorks that were on the Washington, DC Metro system last night. Prince would look much better if he just shaved that stupid little thing off, but instead he stands by it. He would also look better if he dyed it, or grew more of it. Basically, any change of his facial hair is an improvement. His hair color gives him the appearance of peachfuzz despite the fact that he is almost 39 years old.
Tom Prince is also a waste of a roster space. A couple of years ago it made perfect sense to sign a cheap, veteran catcher to share the load as A.J. slowly received more playing time. However, Pierzynski has now been an All-Star and receives very few off days. Thus, it makes sense to drop Prince for a little more offense and to make a better use of his roster space. The answer is to use Flounder as the backup catcher while still also platooning him at designated hitter. This way, Flounder will receive 250 plate appearances a year, AJ will receive about 500 and Prince will receive none. Plus, I guarantee that Prince will read the writing on the wall and not attempt to catch on with another Major League team. Instead he will accept an offer to coach in the minor leagues (like so many other former catchers) and slowly work his way back to the majors as a coach.
Tom Prince has had an unusual career. He is currently in his seventeenth major league season, but has never had 200 at bats in any of them. He also has never hit more than 7 homeruns, or 16 extrabase hits in any season. Here are his games played totals for every year since 1987: 4, 29, 21, 4, 26, 27, 66, 3, 18, 40, 47, 37, 4, 46, 64, 51, and 22 so far this season. Prince has been the backup catcher to: Mike LaValliere, Junior Ortiz, Don Slaught, Mike Piazza, Charles Johnson, Mike Lieberthal, and, of course, A.J. Pierzynski.
In his 22 games so far this season, he only has 41 plate appearances. Think about that. He is on pace to come to the plate 80 times all season. Those 80 plate appearances would be much better spent divided between Lew Ford, Bobby Kielty, Justin Morneau, and Flounder. C'mon Terry Ryan, break the sad news to Prince and improve the team.
Updated July 9, 2003
After yesterday's game Tom Prince was designated for assignment. This means that the team has ten days to trade him or outright him to the minor leagues. While Prince seemed like a great guy and a helpful clubhouse presence, he is much more suited for coaching at his age than as a waste of a roster spot. I wish him the best in the future, but I am glad that Terry Ryan read my previous paragraph or saw the light somewhere else.
Updated July 21, 2003
Tom Prince has now signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals. Hopefully he will not be passing along the Twins' secrets as they try to catch Kansas City in the AL Central. It would not surprise me at all if Prince retires after this season and accepts a job coaching in the minor leagues. It is what he was born to do.