Every year the winter turns the long fronds of our palm tree brown. The tree looks dead. But it’s not. If you look at the very top there are tiny green sprouts poking up. Signs of life. But the only way the tree will survive is to cut off all the dead brown fronds to give that little green patch a chance to grow. 

So every year we call our guy to trim the palm tree. After it’s done, the thing looks pitiful. This massive thatched trunk with a few pitiful leaves spewing out of the top.

But that’s how nature works. 

For instance, Elvis Andrus is batting .158 for Oakland, with a .203 on-base percentage and an OPS+ of 22. Remember, 100 is major league average. 

Rougned Odor is hitting .167 for the Yankees, with a .271 OBP and an OPS+ of 80, the highest he’s been since 2018.

Ronald Guzman is lost for the season. Before he departed, he put up an average of .063, an on-base percentage of .118, and an OPS+ of 0. Yes, as in zero.

Nomar Mazara is with Detroit, hitting .238/.289, with an OPS+ of 102. He has never finished a season over 100.

Robinson Chirinos is also a Yankee. In their minor league system. Recovering from a hand injury. He hit .162 last year with an OPS+ of 32.

Baseball, it seems, works a lot like nature. Pruning the deadwood brings the dying organism back to life.

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