Ballpark Travel

While there still is no solidified ground as to what address CC Sabathia will be playing his baseball in over the next month, there has been enough press to know that he could be on the move. I wanted to quickly discuss my thoughts of trading for Sabathia . I think that if you are a team that is a World Series contender right now (Cubs, Angels, Red Sox , Rays) then adding Sabathia may have some merit, because he would no doubt put those teams at a decided advantage looking towards October. If it is a marginally competitive team that needs starting pitching (Yankees, Mets , most everyone in the NL East or NL West) then I argue that this trade does not make sense. Sabathia is more than likely going to become a free agent at the end of the season which will give Cleveland two draft picks in the compensation rounds of the amateur draft because of his status as a Type-A free agent. This means that if Cleveland is going to trade him, they are going to seek a value higher than the two dr...

In August of 2005, Jeff Francoeur was put on the cover of Sports Illustrated after a torrid start, it was one of the most amazing starts to a career and his month-long streak was far more impressive than what Jay Bruce did in the first week of his big league career. “The Natural” was the title given to him by the popular sports magazine and the baseball community silently gave him the title shared by Charles Dickens’s classic Great Expectations. Closing in on three years later, Francoeur line is: (.239, 8, 41); inspiring attention in a very different way. I will take my turn at explaining what is up with Francoeur in two ways: It is important to remember that outside of the first month of his career, Francoeur has not been the type of hitter that Fred McGriff would endorse. He does not work counts well, he is inconsistent with all aspects of the game, yet still the guy has a great deal of potential and I think everyone can see that. Players that do not work counts well generally will b...

I just wanted to make a quick mention that I have been asked to write for the blog http://www.bravesblast.com for Atlanta Braves specific content. I am very excited to be able to offer my thoughts regarding player development and what the baseball operations department may be thinking. My first article went up this afternoon with a detailed plan for the Braves as the trade deadline approaches. I will continue to provide content on this site for everything involving Major League Baseball that I have insight or opinions on.

After missing the entire Seattle series and a Ben Sheets masterpiece on Monday, I was really looking forward to some baseball this evening. So it turned out, this may perhaps be the ugliest Major League Baseball game that I have ever witnessed live. A task that I thought would be difficult to beat after some of the losses that the devilish Tampa Bay Rays made possible with the worst bullpen in the modern area. Alas, 5 errors, an ejection of a player that did not seem to be that animated in the first place (he must have used that certain magic word...think Bull Durham -- also, I wonder what that would sound like in Spanish?), a quality start by Dave Bush, and a Greg Norton pinch-hit walk! This will certainly be one of the more memorable games for me. I am a Dave Bush hater because he always shows signs of brilliance, making him so tempting in fantasy leagues over the last three years, but more often than brilliant he is bombed with extra base hits. To see him beat the Braves and the Blu...

Yesterday, the New York Mets ownership gave Omar Minaya a vote of confidence in his current role of General Manager. The New York Daily News called this the kiss of death, Mets fans can only hope.

Yesterday Bill Bavasi was fired, a long overdue move in my opinion, from his position as the General Manager of the Seattle Mariners. In his tenure, the Mariners were winners in just one season and he has provided the Mariners with some of the worst contracts in the history of the sport. Richie Sexson , Adrian Beltre , Jarrod Washburn , Miguel Batista and Carlos Silva all are making at least $8 million dollars with Sexson and Beltre closer to the 15 million dollar department. Since signing with the Mariners, each of those players have failed to put together a consistent season. These are their 2008 numbers as of June 17 th : Sexson (.218, 9, 23); Beltre (.225, 14, 30); Washburn (2-7, 5.83); Batista (3-8, 6.09); Silva (3-8, 5.79). With that kind of production from somewhere in the area of $50 Million, of course that shows extreme payroll mismanagement and certainly calls for the guillotine. The Mariners need lots of contact and gap hitters for that team to be successful. Bringing ...

I read on the bottom line that Ken Griffey Jr. was interested in becoming a member of the Rays and has been following their progress this season. As a native of Florida this makes sense -- and for that matter, it should start making sense that the Rays will become a destination of desire many players as Florida is the offseason home for many of the players in the MLB. Griffey Jr. in Tampa Bay? Probably isn't something that the Rays would be too excited about jumping on. Sure he may put a few more fans in the seats and be a great PR guy for two months, but why bring in a aging slugger (albeit one of the best ever) to a team commited to youth. Griffey Jr. at this stage in his career would not be all that much of an upgrade to the talent that the Rays are already putting in the right-field position. With Carlos Pena returning soon, the right-field and designated hitter spots in the lineup would be filled with the following four hitters: Gabe Gross (.243, 5, 15) Eric Hinske (.250, 12, ...

I wanted to make some brief observations about what appears to be the weakest division in Major League Baseball. In 2005, I became sick that the Padres made the playoffs all the while the Phillies , Marlins and Mets had a better record than the Padres. This year it has become apparent that the NL West may produce another fifth or sixth best National League team. The reason for this I feel is that the NL West has teams that are so evenly matched in their average nature that they seem to beat up on one another each year and struggle against other NL foes. This division is probably the best way to display what true competitive balance would feel like. I have made arguments in the past that perfect competitive balance would be better for small market teams (TB, KC, PIT) and would eventually even out the economic problems in baseball. However, the problem with that, as the NL West displays, is that if everyone has similar talent, the teams are just no fun to watch and would really hurt...

Odalis Perez, RHP /Tim Redding , RHP (Washington Nationals) - Neither of these guys are going to push teams over the top, but they will be more than available as successful reclamation projects for the Nationals staff. If there are teams that desperate for pitching, these guys may help. Cristian Guzman, SS (Washington Nationals) - Signed primarily for his defense before the 2005 season, Guzman has given the Nationals some serious offensive support this season. It may also be no coincidence that this is the last year of his contract. Guzman should be able to fill a hole, but he is no permanent solution nor is he big impact. Bronson Arroyo, RHP (Cincinnati Reds) - The Reds may be luke warm about dealing Arroyo because he has put together some good years and the Reds have him re-signed at an unusually reasonable deal. He may go only because a team out there offers a good package for the Reds to move on. Ken Griffey Jr., OF (Cincinnati Reds) - Griffey has hit #600 and it was in a Re...

As the first-year player draft has now come and gone, the front offices throughout the major leagues are decking the halls and beefing up telephone bills, in preparation of shopping for Christmas in July. On Friday, June 6 th , the Dodgers acquired Angel Berroa to signify the unofficial start of trade season. The non-waiver trade deadline is fast approaching at 4:00PM on July 31st and I have started to take a look at players that should be available for one of the most exciting times of the year. The following is a list of players that should be prepared to start searching for a new home: Chris Carter, 1B (Boston Red Sox ) - Carter got his first taste of the bigs this past week and went 2-3 before being sent back down to Pawtucket (AAA - BOS ). This is a guy that is 25 years old and has Kevin Youkilis and Sean Casey in front of him. Carter has the promise to be a pretty decent hitter and reminds me of David Murphy with lots of contact and gap power but not a whole lot of home run ...

After watching the Florida Marlins in living color over the past four days, I feel fairly confident when I say that they are in for some rough days over the next couple of months. There is absolutely talent on this team. Note that Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez are all-stars and they have a top end of the rotation starter in Scott Olsen. From my viewpoint, this team has been kept afloat from the unlikely success of many players. Jorge Cantu, Luis Gonzalez and just about every single pitcher on their staff. The Marlins are a group of recycled veteran castoffs that have gelled incredibly well for the first two months of the 2008 season. The reason why I feel that this team is about to nose dive to fourth place is simply that they cannot expect all of these players to continue their unusual success all at the same time. Also, when you look at what internal support they have coming to them there are a couple of talented young pitchers returning from serious arm problems (Josh Johnson and A...

In my very limited work experience in Major League Baseball, there has been one common thread on the field...Greg Norton (Rays '07; Braves '08). I remember Norton from when I first started watching the MLB in the late 1990's as being a young White Sox player who had some potential as a corner infielder who was taken high in the draft. Maybe even the basic splits of .280/25/80. Unfortunately that never really worked out for Norton and in 2004 when he was with the Tigers and hit beneath the "Mendoza line" on one of the leagues worst teams and played 2005 in AAA Charlotte (White Sox ), I thought he was finished. Yet, in 2006, Norton received second life and put together a pretty decent season with the Tampa Bay Rays. I attribute that turnaround to a far improved pitch selection. He set career highs in every single offensive major offensive category that season, with the greatest surprise being an improved ability to get on base. It is not often when thirty somethin...

Even the casual baseball fan has read so many times over the years just how terrible the fan voting system is to determine who starts the all star team. This year, the proposition of seeing each league start 4-5 players from the same team is truly a nightmare for those not living in Boston or Chicago. This just continues to show the disparity between large and small market franchises, I mean really, I'd like to see the Vegas odds on the next time a Kansas City Royal player will make the team on the fan vote. There is an issue to be discussed with all-star voting that hardly ever gets discussed. The issue is with players that deserve to be on the ballot that are not even listed. Worse still, there are several players on the ballot that have either lost their jobs (Jayson Nix, Ben Broussard doesn't even play for the Rangers anymore), been injured (Nomar Garciaparra, Howie Kendrick) or my favorite, those playing so poorly that they don't even deserve to be in the Major League...

For the summer months of 2oo7, I spent 31 wonderful nights at a nearly empty Tropicana Field watching the Devil Rays lose their way to the worst record in Major League Baseball. For two and a half months I made it to the bigs to work with the team's marketing department. During which time, in addition to combating one of the leagues worst products we had to learn how to market a team with troubled youthful prospect Elijah Dukes, who had been asked never to return to the Durham Bulls (The Rays AAA affiliate), threatened to kill his wife and children via text message and impregnated a teenage girl who (get this) was under Dukes' grandmothers' foster care. Yikes! This was a franchise in disarray, and it became increasingly difficult to convince fans that the product was indeed on its way up with Dukes creating such a PR nightmare and the bullpen on its way to setting records for haplessness. A year later on June 1st, it appears as though the Rays have dropped the Devil and the...