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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Agbayani has
big-league plansFEAR not, baseball aficionados. Benny has a secret plan.
Don't worry. He's working on it. Yeah we've missed him, Benny Agbayani, the former Hawaii hero and Regis Philbin confidante. It was great fun when he was a Met, a World Series celebrity and the toast of New York.
Lately he's been toiling in obscurity, otherwise known as the minor leagues. This past year he wasn't even the toast of Omaha.
But Benny's working on it. Plotting his way back to the bigs.
"I'm trying to work out some plans," he said yesterday. "I've got some plans in mind. And trying to work it out and see if it works out. And then I'll be hopefully with my plan, or trying to find another team."
That's Plan B?
"Yeah," he said. In these past couple years, he's learned a lot about Plan B. "You know, you've always got to have Plan B," Benny said. "You have Plan A, then you have Plan B. You hopefully think Plan A is going to work out most of the time. But Plan B has always got to be in the back, just in case something happens, and it doesn't work out."
So what is Plan A?
Benny laughed. That's double-secret. He can't share that with you. He'd have to kill you. Or worse, me.
"Right now I can't elaborate on Plan A," he said. "There's too much circumstances going on right now and it's hard."
But we do know it has a lot to do with Oct. 15, when he becomes a free agent. Right?
"The plan is starting right now," Benny said. "Because by the time it gets to that point I want to make sure that I have a place for me. Because sometimes when you wait too long, then you're going to get stuck. And you're probably going to be out there looking for a team ..."
OK, now I'm lost. Help.
"No, I can't say the plan until it actually happens," he said. "It's in the process right now. I got close. It's close. But I need a for-sure answer."
This is life in the minors, looking for a way back up.
This is a search for playing time. For just a chance. Benny was born to be a Met. But he hasn't found that same magic since.
It's been Mexico, and minor leagues, and secret plans and trades. All looking for that same perfect formula again -- "the right place at the right time and the right team," he said yesterday.
He thought he had it again in Boston, then Cincinnati, then Kansas City. No. He's learned a few tough lessons these past couple years. He's still hanging in there. Surviving again.
This past year he played sporadically, and the Royals changed his swing. His power jumped and his average sank, and now, after a year of disappointment in Triple-A, he's starting all over again.
But he looks great.
"Yeah," he said, "when you don't play that much you just work out, ah?"
That was the first step. And now another winter in Mexico, to get his game back, to refine that swing. The plan has already started, his quest for one more chance. Because he can still play, he said. He's not about to give up yet.
"Plan C," he said. "I'm not thinking about that."
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com
