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Considering a trade
One of our client teams was considering a trade. The athlete being considered for acquisition had been in the league a number of years and had performed adequately, though by no means at an outstanding level. The client was prepared to offer a first-round draft choice in exchange for this player, due to the teams need to "fill the position." After testing the athlete and reviewing the results we suggested strongly that either the client not make the deal at all, or certainly offer no more than a low-round draft choice because we had serious doubts as to whether the player could fill the position with any adequacy. The client heeded our advice based on our assessment, managed to acquire the player at a cheaper cost, and have indeed, found that he is not more than "barely adequate." They would have deeply regretted giving up a first-round draft choice.
Problem Player
A potential client decided to put our company to the test. They began by testing five "problem players" in their Minor League system. They asked for our suggestions as to what they could do to turn the situations around and create the best chances for each of these five players to succeed. In four cases, we were able to "pinpoint" the problems and provided helpful diagnosis and prognosis, which in two cases included our suggestions that they be traded or dropped as quickly as possible. These two particular athletes behaved as badly as we suggested they would and are no longer with the team. In the fifth case, we reported that we could see no problem at all. In fact, to us, the player seemed to be an individual who would play up to or even beyond his level of talent and would be an asset, from a character perspective, to any team he played for. We reported that frankly, if he had a problem, we could not identify it. As it turned out, this individual became a model player, a model citizen, and has in fact developed exactly at the pace we suggested he would.
Wholesale Changes
When we evaluated one of our new client teams, we suggested strongly that none of the current players in any one position possessed the right psychological dynamics that would indicate effective performances. We suggested firmly that as long as the organization was relying on those players to perform at their positions, the team would never move forward. Management indicated that at least two of the players were viewed as having excellent talent. We suggested that they then be used for trading, and we specifically suggested a couple of minor leaguers whom we had tested and believed to have the potential to do an outstanding job. As it turned out, though it took a couple of years to prove, none of the players were able to perform up to expectation, and none of them are with this particular organization any longer. One of the minor leaguers that we recommended is currently their starter and is very instrumental in the team’s progress.
Style Over Substance
A client team needed to fill a particular position where they were "weak" by way of the draft. There was a highly publicized player in whom they were interested. After testing a number of players, we suggested though this highly publicized player would be extremely good, he would not be able to provide the leadership required for this position. In turn, we suggested another young man be selected. This second player had dwindled in the estimation of some because he had not appeared at certain pre-draft camps and so, our client decided to continue with their selection of the first, more "media popular" player. As it turned out, the player they selected performed "adequately" at times. The second, less publicized player was drafted in the second round by another team, performed brilliantly and in fact, was selected for the "All-Rookie" team.
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