Manny being Manny-Ray?

Manny Ramirez has reported to his new team, this year. That Team, the Tampa Bay Rays. Manny is on his 4th Team in the past 4 Seasons. He left the Boston Red Sox in a rather acrimonious way in the middle of the 2008 Season, then he was suspended for performance enhancing drugs in the 2009 Season before leaving [again] mid-season from the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played for the White Sox for the majority of the 2nd half of the 2010 Season, largely without incident.

It has been reported that Manny is Happy to be on the Rays, and new/old team mate, Johnny Damon thinks that Manny will be fine where he is.

Manny looks great! He works out as hard as anyone in Major League Baseball. He takes Batting Practice [in the cages] for long hours each day. He lifts weights and does conditioning excercises. His Batting Average has demonstrated the effort, this Spring. He batted .316 with three home runs in his first 38 at-bats so far this Pre-Season. I truly want to see him succeed. It has been an embarrasment to watch one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time put himself thru all of the antics we have seen for the last 4 seasons. Manny being Manny just does NOT play anymore.

April 11th Note: What a foolish and unbelievable end to a promising potentially hall-of-fame career! Manny being Manny, apparently means Manny being a True Idiot! Manny was snared, yet again[!], by the Drug Testing Lab. Manny believes that retiring is a way of 'beating' this rap. He is wrong. He will NEVER end up in the Hall of Fame after this. He might not even get the minimum 5% of votes needed to remain on the Ballot. What a joke, and a sorry, sorry ending to what should have been a remarkable career! I am ashamed of him, I hope all people watching him are ashamed for him. I hope Manny is ashamed [but I know he is not]. May God have mercy on his soul!

Mid-Season note: Manny Ramirez was recently named as THE LARGEST Creditor to the Los Angeles Dodgers in their Banckruptcy filing amid the various troubles of the owners [Mr and Mrs McCourt]. Wonder if he will get his share? - Stay Tuned!

Heads up!

I am astounded at the number of injuries this Spring due to Batted Balls hitting people in their heads. The most serious injury has proven to be the one to Atlanta Braves minor league manager Luis Salazar, who has lost an eye after he was struck in the face by a line drive while watching a spring training game. He is expected to recover in 4 - 6 weeks and then may continue coaching his Brave Minor League team this season.

The injury list includes Red Sox [ace?] Josh Beckett, who was hit by a "fungo" during warmups and suffered concussion symptoms for a day or two before coming back to pitch. In addition to Beckett, there is also the Twins' Justin Morneau who is battling back from concussion symptoms. Padres coach, Rick Renteria, was injured by a batting practice line-drive. Baltimore Orioles right-hander Brad Bergesen got off lucky after being struck in the right forearm by a line drive this week. There have been a few others of lesser note this Spring. In the past, there have been plenty of injuries sustained from batted and thrown balls.

Does it make sense to adjust the protective equipment worn by players and coaches on the field? Could there be a batting helmut modification which includes some shielding of the eyes or face. Most fielders are prepared to handle a batted ball with their glove, so they would not be required to wear them, but many pitchers are hit directly back with such force that they do not have the time to react coming out of their ball release motion. Coaches on the field should wear helmuts. coaches in the dug-out should be behind a small fence shield to protect them while in the dug-out.

Late Update on April 1st, 2011: MLB has announced an additional DL [7 days DL] for Head Injuries / Concussions. This is NO JOKE! Even MLB is taking Concussions Seriously! More info to follow.

Any thoughts out there?

There's no March Madness in Baseball!

   I Can't Believe March Madness is Here!  
Over the weekend, I had a thought. I wonder what the MLB players think about the NCAA Basketball Tournement? I mean it can be CRAZY! Loyalties must be all over the place. Some Baseball Players went to college [and might have participated in the College World Series - in Omaha - no less!] and others only completed [barely!] High-School. But, they all grew up in assorted areas around the country and are drafted all over the US in MLB systems. These systems have farm teams also spread out around the country. Some loyalties might be formed there.

 I want to ask MLB players about their March Madness Basketball sheets. I'm curious. It would be nice to go team to team. Begin with their Starting Line-ups, then move thru their Starting Pitching Staff. Ask the coaches and bench-players. But save the Reliefe Pitchers for last. Way Last! Relief Pitchers can be a wild bunch.

Any thoughts out there?

Anyone seen the Duct Tape we used on the Propeller?

There was a small fire at the Arizona facility shared by the Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds. The fire was caused by a dryer. It's been reported that the dryer was brought to Arizona with the Cleveland Indians when they switched their Spring Training location from Florida to Arizona.

I have to read that again: "The dryer, which the Indians brought with them when they moved to Arizona from Florida in 2009, was destroyed."

Has anyone out there moved across country? If so, did you bring all of your appliances with you, or did you leave some behind due to cost of moving them and such? This dryer even had a name: "The Burner" [seems prophetic now!]

Remember the movie, "Major League" [with Charlie Sheen - Oh let's not go THERE anymore this week!]. When they were flying across the great lakes on a propeller plane that was having it's prop taped up by the pilot before take-off. Maybe it really is like that in the Major Leagues? [at least for the Tribe?]

Weird.

Maybe Charlie Sheen used some of his Warlock Powers [and ground forces] and sabotaged the darn thing? [OK, I went THERE!]

Love the Spring Training Rosters and Numbers!

Watching a live Spring Training game tonight. Red Sox - Yankees from Tampa. [Where are the Rays? - Arizona?] Started noticing alot of Minor Leaguers and Non-Roster invitees playing in the Game. Saw #78 [Must be a Nose Tackle!] Then I saw #86 [Tight End? or Wide Receiver?] - Hard to tell what [who] they are. But it is interesting.

Fantasy Baseball? What does it mean?

I have never actually competed in a Fantasy League. Not in Football. Not in Baseball. It would take alot of detailed statistics to keep on a regular basis to compete with any degree of success. But I'll bet those who play it regularly, or report on it, know something about the potential for someone's abilities and worth as a player in the real league that the Fantasy is based in.

I have been examining these statistics in Baseball. I am starting with a team I feel that I know well. The Boston Red Sox. Looking at the rankings, I noticed that the Red Sox have 7 starting players listed as top-10 ranked in their Position. That has to be good? Right?

Well, you dig a bit deeper and you can see that the Sox have 2 players 'ranked' at 1st Base. Adrian Gonzalez [ranked #5], the Monster First Base acquisition from this off-season for the Sox. Kevin Youkilis [ranked #6], last season's regular First Baseman [on Day's Mike Lowell was off or DH'ing and V-Mart was catching]. The Red Sox have no one ranked [or even listed] for 3rd Base. Is this good [for the Red Sox] ? Not sure.

At 2nd Base we have Dustin Pedroia [ranked #3!] and at Shortstop we have 2 players ranked. Marco Scutaro is ranked a respectible #10 while Jed Lowrie is sitting at #24 [still better than out beyond 32!]. At Catcher we also have 2 ranked players. Saltalamacchia [Salty for short] is ranked #22 [decent] while Jason Veritek still gets a respectible ranking of #30 [better than beyond #32] even though he is 'scheduled' to catch 50 games or less.

Now in the Outfield, the Sox have a TON of Talent. Recent Monster acquisition, Carl Crawford comes in ranked as the #4 Outfielder in all of Fantasy Baseball. Jacoby Ellsbury comes in ranked #7. Two Outfielders ranked in the top 10 sounds awesome! Right? How about poor JD Drew [ranked #65] is stuck way down in the lower tier of players. Not too good for someone making $15 million per year. He is a good hitter, a little streaky.. but good.. But he is prone to that darned injury bug.

At DH, we have David Ortiz. The absolute Cream of the Crop when it comes to desireable DH's. He is ranked #1 and performed that way too last season, even including his slow start running into May.

So, what do you think? Seems like a solid line-up, right? Last year, Jacoby Ellsbury was ranked #2 as an outfielder. But his major rib-cage injury proved impossible to allow him to play much [less than 20 games]. So he was a major bust [fantasy league wise]. I guess that means we will never know until we get further into the season whether these rankings mean something.

What does the depth of a MLB Farm System mean?

The depth of a Farm System for a MLB Club means that they have excellent prospects who are or who are nearly MLB ready waiting in the wings for their chance to help the parent club on the field OR by being an important trading chip to land that really big MLB Star from another club. It is always a good idea to have your farm system as fully stocked as possible and keep that pipeline flowing. This means that your scouting department needs to be on their toes. You need to do well in the draft. You need to be reviewing the High-School standings in power [amature] baseball environments like Southern California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and even the Cape Cod League!

In 2010 the top 10 Farm Systems, based on number of prospects that club has within the 'top 100 prospects', were [in order]: Tampa, Texas, Oakland, Atlanta, Cleveland, Baltimore, Florida, SF, Milwaukee, and Colorado. In 2011, it has been proposed to be: KC, Atlanta, Tampa, NY Yankees, Toronto, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, LA Angels, Texas, and the Minnesota Twins. Now, if you look at those two lists and examine them against the Play-off teams from the 2010 Playoffs what do you think you would see?

Yep, that's right, all 8 teams are in one of those lists or the other. Is there a link? Or is it a 'fluke'? I think there is a direct co-relation. Having a Stocked Farm System is like currency in terms of player talent. You have a larger, deeper, well to draft from to replace other platers who go down to injury, trade, free-agency, etc.

If you examine those lists, you will also see teams on them that had no chance in 2010. Teams such as KC who were 28 games out at the end of the season. Or Baltimore [30 games out]. Oakland was 9 games out, but the ended in 2nd place. The Texas Rangers just took off the last 6 weeks of the season. Oakland had been keeping close until then. You really can't blame the Florida Marlins or the Toronto Blue Jays for not making the play-offs. Both of those teams play in the East Division of their respective Leagues, notable 'hot-beds' for heavy hitting teams such as the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Phillies, the Mets, and the Braves.

You might see a potential playoff contender in THAT 2011 list, right now. Who knows how the 2011 season will turn out? I'd welcome any thoughts, opinions, or feedback.

Giants - Can they repeat their Feat?

Last Year, the SF Giant won the World Series for the first time in a really long time. They were in the World Series in 1962, 1989, and again in 2002, but lost each time to American League teams of varying strength, skill, luck, and endurance. The 2010 World Series title was the 1st for the team to claim since their storied franchise relocated to the West Coast from New York in the mid 1950's.

The Giants' story from 2010 was a varied one. I watched them, myself, in April 2010 in one of their first games of the season at home. I was at a Conference in SF [my first visit there] and I usually try to take in a MLB game in any city where that is possible when I visit. This time it was possible. We watched the Giants beat a lack-luster Pittsburgh team 9-3. At that time, I really did not feel that I was watching the 2010 World Series Champs early in their championship season. They seemed fairly average. They had their share of hits, but made their share of errors too [both on the basepaths and in the field.]

What is the general consensus? Can they repeat [in the National League]? Your comments are welcome.

Something in the Water in Chicago?

Well, the Cubbies seem to be fired up already this (pre)season. During a break between innings, Carlos Silva entered the dugout calling out 'the defense' for some particularly bad play. Silva was upset after giving up six runs in the 1st inning, three of which were unearned due to an equal number of errors. This incident happened in only the team's fourth game of the spring. Last season, there was another 'disagreement' in June between pitcher Carlos Zambrano and first baseman Derrek Lee.

There also seems to be 3 - 5 such incidents between Ozzie Guillen [White Sox Manager] and someone [players, owners, media, just someone, anyone really]. It used to seem like it was Ozzie himself for those situations, but, maybe, just maybe, there's something brewing in the Chicago water supply triggering this effect on both of their MLB teams.

Oh, wait! This is Spring Training! They aren't even IN Chicago, are they?!? I guess we can't blame the water, then, can we?

Year of the Pitcher? OR Year of the Trainer?

Can this be the year of the Pitcher [again]? As far as the Off-season and Spring Training seem to be going, I'd have to say no. It is looking more like the year of the Trainer. Or, perhaps, the year of the rebuilt pitchers testing their arms out again.The amount of injured pitchers, this early in spring Training, seems to indicate [to me anyway] that there were alot of nagging injuries last season that were treated in the off-season or just alot of pitchers who failed to keep up with their training and conditioning.

The Cardinals' Carpenter will miss at least one start, and so will the Red Sox' Beckett [although you can't blame Beckett for getting beaned by a fungo!]. The Rockies' Jimenez, the Tigers' Zumaya, and the Giants Cain are all out of action or hampered by lingering injuries. Even the Mets' are not immune to the injury bug with their closer Rodriguez going out. Seattle's Kelly has an injured elbow.

It seems prudent to have about 6 - 7 starters and 2 - 3 closers [at least on the 40 man roster] to make it through seasons like this one appears to be. Depth of the bench, flexibility on the roster, and a deep farm system are in order. Lets see how many MLB clubs use their #1 Ace on opening day. I'll bet at least half of them don't [due to injury / illness].

Handful of Teams with Funding Issues

Last year was the 18th Season of lackluster performance by the MLB Franchise that is the Pittsburgh Pirates. There are high-school seniors in Western Pennsylvania who have NEVER seen a winning record from their local team.

While the situation in Pittsburgh seems hopeless, there are a handful of additional teams that seem to 'spruce it up' a bit every 6 - 8 years, but, generally put on a show that is no better. Teams such as the Florida Marlins, the Baltimore Orioles [who might finally be on the right track with Buck Showalter], the Kansas City Royals, the Colorado Rockies, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Oakland A's,and even the Tampa Bay [Devil] Rays. While these teams have had some success on the field, they have had a hard time putting fans in the seats. Cripes! Even when the Colorado Rockies made the World Series in 2007 there were empty seats at the games. Empty Seats! At a World Series Game!

If the baseball demand is not there, the franchise should migrate to a place that would welcome the Team. Some teams should just be folded up. Teams that make the Playoffs and even the World Series but can not fill the stands for those games [never mind the regular season games that you can hear echos accross the field from up on the cat-walks].

There are places in the Carolina's that would welcome a Major League franchise. There might even be places in foreign countries where a franchise would be welcomed. Not sure about that, but seeing empty ball parks, especially from competitive teams is embarassing!

Papi making a BIG Push in Spring Training?

David Ortiz is 5 for 8 with a homer in three games this spring. He even went 3 for 3 in today's action [stealing a base in the process ! - no Joke!] I know these Games do not count in the Standings, and I know the Pitchers also aren't pitching their best, right now, but doesn't this mean the rust is off of his swing and his eyesight is pretty good. [At least!] I guess I will wait until May 1st to start celebrating. I love this guy! I hope he has the best come-back year of anyone in the Major Leagues. This guy has been so 'clutch' for the Red Sox over the Years, and he is such a great human being, as well.

Why now?

Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira has ended his relationship with longtime agent Scott Boras. One of the big Headlines in Baseball News this week.

The Really Big Question is: Why Now?

Why, when you are entering the 3rd year of an 8-year deal that pays you multiple millions of dollars, do you change agents? You still have to Pay Boras his Commission on the future years of the Contract. You are at least 4 years away from beginning negotiations on a new contract. Makes no sense to me.

Red Sox should have their Fastest Team EVER!

Now, to be truthful, that headline REALLY does not say very much. I mean, how many Speedsters can you name from Red Sox History [and you can't count Ricky Henderson's stop-over there on his way to the Hall of Fame!]

The Boston Red Sox picked up the Major Leaguer with the 4th highest total of Stolen Bases, last year, in Carl Crawford [and I think Jacoby Ellsbury is faster than that!]. With two absolute speedsters in their starting outfield, it should be fun to watch. Another Player on the team with some speed is Dustin Pedroia [although his foot injury last season may have hobbled him some]. Heck, even David Ortiz has stolen a base in the past [and no one was more surprised than him!]. David even stole a base in today's Spring Training action [Going 3 for 3 in the process!]. Cameron as a backup outfielder adds some speed to the equation, as well, but if he is 'spelling' either Ellsbury or Crawford it won't be a positive speed trade-off. Hopefully he will be standing in Right-Field to give JD Drew some time off, for his annual injury time on the disabled list.

"Look West, Young Man"

 I believe that the Cy Young Award in AL will come from the AL West. No specific pitcher in mind, just yet. But I've got the feeling that the AL West is where the Individual Pitching Star of the American League will come from. Cliff Lee is gone from there. So is Zack Greinke. Both have moved on to the National League. The Mariners still have Felix Hernandez as well as the new phenom Michael Pineda , and the Royals always seem to come up with some no-name pitcher who surprises people. The Texas Rangers aren't out of the mix, either. The Oakland A's play Money Ball and the Angels usually have enough power hitting and speed to win many games that the pitcher's could not win on their own [inflating the W/L average of their pitchers!]. So, it will be interesting, indeed!

Adrian Gonzalez is the man to watch for the MVP in the American League

Boston Red Sox newest First Baseman, Adrian Gonzalez has been improving his hitting for power and average these last 5 years. Can't wait to see what he can do hitting in Boston's storied "band-box" this season. Should be quite a show for both Power and Average. True, his shoulder surgery this past off-season might hamper his swing. But I think he will improve quickly, as the season rolls into May and June. His defense has been improving, and with their first-rate infield it should improve even more.

2011 looks to be a unique Season in the National League

With the Pitching [and Defense] that the Phillies have this year, I would not be at all surprised to see a couple of 20 game winners, as well as a split MVP vs. Cy-Young vote. Wouldn't it be weird to see one of their Stud Starters  [Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, or even their tough lefty Cole Hamels!] earning the Cy Young and another the MVP. It'll be exciting to watch!