Ballpark Travel

The Atlanta Braves have had a busy week around the Holiday's. On December 22 nd , the Braves traded RHP Javier Vazquez and LHP Boone Logan to the New York Yankees for OF Melky Cabrera, LHP Mike Dunn and RHP Aroyds Vizcaino . Then a day later, reports surfaces of former World Series MVP 3B Troy Glaus signing a one year contract worth two million dollars pending a physical. The strategy here is by trading Vazquez to the Yankees, the Braves will have saved roughly $9.5M in the trade to put back into the free agent area. So far the Braves have signed Troy Glaus , with another corners player on their radar. Both Xavier Nady and Mark DeRosa's names have surfaced in the past week as well. This trade could very well end up looking like Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan for Melky Cabrera, Troy Glaus , Xavier Nady/Mark DeRosa , Mike Dunn and Aroyds Vizcaino . When put that way, I like the deal. Replacing one of three staff aces from 2009 with three Major League players and two sol

Last week, I decided that it would be a good time to treat myself to a Holiday gift. It had been a rough week, and I was about to return to Connecticut for about ten days, so I decided that I should get something to represent my region, the Hartford Whalers. Even now, twelve seasons after their move to Charlotte, North Carolina the Connecticut fans still take a great deal of pride in the team. Recently, companies like New Era, Reebok, CCM and Mithcell & Ness have started producing Whalers retro products for fans to buy. So I went to Lids.com and purchased a new Whalers hat. Much to my surprise at dinner last night with some friends, Whalers products are the trendy thing to buy this holiday season. At dinner, I saw a Whalers t-shirt, sweatshirt and new hat. All worn by people that were at most 10-11 years old when the Whalers played their final game in Hartford in 1997. This, a couple of days after I found out that Whalers apparel at the NHL store in Times Square is currently the

The years between 2000 and 2009 were the first ever in baseball where there were eight playoff teams each year and what resulted was perhaps the most competitive decade for baseball. Sure Pirate fans may disagree, but take a look at the following data to display a positive for competitive balance: New York Yankees: 9 playoff appearances, 2 World Series Titles (4 appearances) Boston Red Sox : 6 playoff appearances, 2 World Series Titles (2 appearances) St. Louis Cardinals: 6 playoff appearances, 1 World Series Title (2 appearances) Los Angeles Angels: 6 playoff appearances, 1 World Series Title (1 appearance) Philadelphia Phillies : 3 playoff appearances, 1 World Series Title (2 appearances) Chicago White Sox : 3 p layoff appearances, 1 World Series Title (1 appearance) Arizona Diamondbacks: 3 playoff appearances, 1 World Series Title (1 appearance) Florida Marlins: 1 playoff appearance, 1 World Series Title (1 appearance) Colorado Rockies, 2 playoff appearances, 1 World Series Appeara

This past week, the Atlanta Braves added two proven closers with career ERA's under 2.40 to their bullpen at a price of 10.2 million dollars guaranteed in 2010. Typically, those words would incite great response from the baseball community, however add in the fact that their combined age on opening day will be 78, the media has been far more critical of the moves. Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito were signed this week to be late inning relievers for the Atlanta Braves as they make a push back towards the playoffs. Saito is expected to set-up Wagner in the eighth and ninth innings. Here is my take on each reliever: Billy Wagner, LH (One-Year Contract worth 7M, 2011 Option for 6.5M) Coming off of Tommy John Surgery in 2009, Wagner showed that he certainly still has the same power arm as he did in 2007 when he closed games with the Mets . Looking at his career statistics, Wagner is one of the best closers in the history of the game. The red flag that I keep returning to on Wagner i

On January 26 th , I walked into the offices at Turner Field for the first time as marketing trainee and was met by smiling faces and great people eager to see what I could do. 302 days later on November 24 th , my tenure as trainee will officially end and I can now say that this has been the most significant learning experience of my life. Just the other day, I was talking with my mom on the phone about the year and the wise woman that she is, she pointed out to me that years like these deserve to be remembered because times will not always be this wonderful so I choose to write. The 2009 Major League Baseball season saw the Atlanta Braves make a big statement on the field from taking the one of the worst NL pitching staffs from 2008 (4.46) and turning it into the third best in 2009 (3.57 ERA). The trade for Nate McLouth showed early on that the Braves were not content with .500 and moving into 2010, this team looks like it could be a strong contender again behind great pitching. Th

Free Agents: None Arbitration Eligible: Matt Capps , RP; Zach Duke, SP; Tyler Yates, RP; Ronny Cedeno , INF; Denny Bautista , RP; Lastings Milledge , OF. Needs: 1B, SS, SP, RP, Depth Likely Outcome: First, due to popular demand the Pirates make an early appearance on my offseason thoughts. Looking at this team, there is very little to hope for except for a miracle in player development. They have a good core of young talent, but for the Pirates to experience a winning season for the first time since 1992, they are going to need a miracle. Their offense is loaded with young potential in Ryan Doumit (C), Steve Pearce (1B), Delwyn Young (2B), Andy LaRoche (3B), Lastings Milledge ( LF ), Andrew McCutchen (CF) and Garrett Jones (RF). All of whom will be 29 or younger on Opening Day next season. What I would do this offseason is add as many veteran players that will sign to add depth to the Pirates bench and to help develop this group of young talent. They have done this in the pas

Free Agents: Adam LaRoche , 1B; Greg Norton, 1B; Garrett Anderson, OF; x-Tim Hudson, SP; Mike Gonzalez, RP; Rafael Soriano , RP Arbitration Eligible: Kelly Johnson, 2B; Ryan Church, OF; Matt Diaz , OF; Peter Moylan , RP Needs: 1B, Corner Outfield, RP Likely Outcome : There is going to be a bit of turnover in the bullpen as it does not seem likely that both the 8 th and 9 th inning options for 2009 will return. However expect most of the starting rotation to stay the same. The Braves are in an fortunate situation with six legitimate starting pitchers including Tim Hudson, who is in an option year of his contract worth 12M. It is going to be a tough decision, but the Braves would be able to maneuver in the free agent market a lot easier with an Hudson's contract off the books. It would be coming at a cost as that decision would effectively take one of the top starters out of the rotation. Offensively, I expect to see the Braves get very creative in the trade market to add some pow

Potential Free Agents for 2009-2010: Catchers: Josh Bard BOS Michael Barrett TOR Henry Blanco SD Ramon Castro CWS Jason Kendall MIL Jason LaRue STL Chad Moeller BAL Bengie Molina SF Jose Molina NYY x-Miguel Olivo KC Mike Redmond MIN Brian Schneider NYM x-Gregg Zaun TB First-Basemen: Hank Blalock TEX Russell Branyan SEA Carlos Delgado NYM Nomar Garciaparra OAK Jason Giambi COL Aubrey Huff DET Nick Johnson WAS Adam LaRoche ATL Kevin Millar TOR Greg Norton ATL Robb Quinlan LAA Matt Stairs PHI Mike Sweeney SEA Jim Thome LAD Chad Tracy ARZ Second Basemen: Marlon Anderson NYM Ron Belliard LAD Jamey Carroll CLE David Eckstein SD Orlando Hudson LAD Felipe Lopez MIL Mark Loretta LAD Third Basemen: Adrian Beltre SEA Geoff Blum HOU Joe Crede MIN Mark DeRosa STL Pedro Feliz PHI Chone Figgins LAA Troy Glaus STL Jerry Hairston NYY Mike Lamb MIL Melvin Mora BAL Juan Uribe SF Shortstops: Orlando Cabrera MIN Juan Castro LAD Alex Cora NYM Khalil Greene STL Ramon Martinez LAD Miguel Tejada HOU Corner Out

Free Agents : x-Dmitri Young, 1B; x-Austin Kearns , OF; Odalis Perez, LHP ; Gary Glover, RHP ; Gary Majewski , RHP ; Ron Villone , LHP ; Mike MacDougal , RHP ; Josh Bard, C; Pete Orr, 2B; Livan Hernandez, RP. Arbitration Eligible : Josh Willingham , OF; Scott Olsen, LHP ; Logan Kensing , RHP ; Jason Bergmann , RHP ; Sean Burnett, RHP ; Needs : SP, RP, 2B, OF, Depth Likely Outcome : The Nationals are going to have a bit of payroll flexibility this offseason , but I cannot see them adding a whole lot of salary for 2010. If they are willing to make a commitment to adding another legitimate starting pitcher. Fortunately for them, this is absolutely going to be a buyers market for starting pitching. With high risk, high reward options all over in the form of Erik Bedard , Justin Duchscherer , Kelvim Escobar , Rich Harden or Ben Sheets the Nationals could be a player for one of those types to add some depth to a very weak pitching staff. In the bullpen, they would benefit greatly from bri

If you have spent any amount of time near me when ESPN is on, you will know by now that I am miserably bitter about the coverage that is given to the NFL and College Football. I mean really, how many times does ESPN have to showcase the New England Patriots loss to the Jets. I even heard them actually ask the question today if Matt Ryan was a better quarterback than Tom Brady moving forward on PTI . Seriously? Wait...seriously? Sadly, I will now concede that Football is king when it comes to sports in the United States. For those of us who remain interested in watching slow paced games that require unique skill sets, the baseball regular season is coming to a close and the playoffs are promising to be very entertaining theatre once again. With both Los Angeles franchises likely in, Boston, New York and Philadelphia, there are five large markets that will be represented this October, a pleasing sight for Major League Baseball. Another round of New York vs. Boston appears likely in the

So the Red Sox pulled off a trade to acquire one of baseball's better hitters in Victor Martinez at a position that has been under-producing over the past two seasons with Jason Varitek's decline as a hitter. They just made a waiver claim to fill their worst offensive position in Cristian Guzman at shortstop. For no fault of the front office, the Red Sox have lost five in a row and have been held scoreless in consecutive games. I still believe the Red Sox to be one of baseball's best teams, but they have been playing terrible baseball -- particularly on the offensive side of the ball. I have to point out that this is the first season that manager Terry Francona has had to juggle his players all over the diamond. There is so much depth to this roster, that there is a chance that the Red Sox offense has not gotten comfortable in their new setting. My reccommendation would be for Terry Francona to put the same lineup out there a couple of days in a row to see if they can get i

There is something beautiful about watching Opening Day. Every single player, coach, fan, team employee is filled with optimism. On this date, every team is a contender, everyone can see first place just as easily as they can last. So while Baltimore could very well lose the next 18 times they play the Yankees, today they beat the highest paid pitcher in Major League History and are in first place in the AL East. Today, I was able to watch four games at one time on the new MLB . tv premium with picture in picture options. I am just so happy that it is finally back. For a baseball junkie, opening day is the fix from winter's forced abstinence. Welcome back summer, how I missed you.

To those who have taken an interest in my career in baseball, I wanted to send a brief update as to how things have been progressing in my seasonal position with the Atlanta Braves. March 26 th marked my second month of being a trainee with the Braves and I look back on these two months and I just cannot believe how much I have learned about myself and about the industry in this time. During my time at Ithaca College, I prepared and developed my own opinions about sports and spent a great deal of time thinking about the business of baseball and how teams are successful money makers. Since arriving, I have finally realized the importance of ticket sales. Everything does truly return to ticket sales. In a year where the economy is in flux, selling becomes even more of a priority and as a result I have been encouraged just about every day to develop ideas that could sell tickets. So far, I have only come up with ideas, but hopefully by the end of the season I will be able to show that I

1.) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2.) Texas Rangers 3.) Oakland A's 4.) Seattle Mariners The Angels have looked great thus far in Spring Training, but there is reason to believe that they have gotten significantly worse this season after losing Mark Teixeira, which means that the rest of the division catches up after the Angels won the division 2008 by more than 20 games. The Angels remain the favorites because of all around depth, but the Rangers and A's have closed the gap significantly. The Rangers offense is young and improving every day. There is a good chance that this offense could be record setting assuming good health. The A's will have their offensive struggles, but like the Rangers offense, the A's pitching is also young and looking like a staff that is maturing with every start. When the A's and Rangers get together, it'll be fun seeing which gets the upperhand. The Mariners are going to be a little better in 2009, but it may not be until 2011 until

Overview: The Texas Rangers are another intriguing team from the AL West, much like the Oakland A's. As is always the question with the Rangers, will their starting pitching be adequate enough to push them into the playoffs. They have a fantastic looking offense and a bullpen that has FIVE pitchers with closers experience. They have incredible depth on their bench as well. Nobody has been talking about the Rangers, but I really think that this could be a team that is going to surprise a lot of people this year and contend in the AL West all season long. Starting Pitching: Kevin Millwood , Vincente Padilla, Matt Harrison, Brandon McCarthy and Jason Jennings are currently slotted in the Rangers starting rotation. That's not exactly the best news for Rangers fans because that rotation is definitley not getting better. Watching Edinson Volquez dominate the National League hurts too, but the Rangers do have a good amount of young pitchers, so if any of the last three starters

Overview: The 2008 Seattle Mariners were one of the most disappointing teams in baseball history. Coming off a season in which they won 87 games and with a team payroll at $117 million, this was a team that was supposed to win, yet they finished a terrible 61-101. In the process of this historical failure, the Mariners dropped GM Bill Bavasi after numerous big number free agent signings that will haunt the club for years to come. Now under the leadership of GM Jack Zduriencik and manager Don Wakamatsu , the Mariners look to turn the page slowly on the mess that is the Seattle Mariners. They brought back Ken Griffey Jr. for marketing purposes, because even if this is Griffey from the late 1990's, this is still not a contender. 2009 will also see the Mariners giving some long looks to prospects Jeff Clement, Mike Karp , Wladimir Balentin and Matt Tuiasosopo . None of whom appear to have big impact potential this season. They do have Felix Herandez and Erik Bedard atop thei

Overview: The new variety of the Oakland Athletics promises to be a bit more interesting to watch for A's fans than the team that Oakland produced in 2008. Billy Beane had a very agressive start to his offseason, acquiring Matt Holliday from the Colorado Rockies. Then Beane made some excellent maneuvers to bring in some of the best bargains of the winter. Jason Giambi (1 year, 5.25M w/2010 club option), Orlando Cabrera (1 year, 4M) and Nomar Garciaparra (1 year, 1M) all came in at very reasonable prices and provide the A's with leadership that they needed. It is going to be particularly fun watching to see if Giambi or Garciaparra still have another season left in their bats. Those four moves certainly do change the way that teams will look at the A's, but there are still plenty of holes to fill on this team and plenty of new faces that fans will have to acquaint ourselves with over the summer. One thing is for certain, the 2009 A's are going to be interesting to watch

Overview: The Angels were widely regarded as being the best team in the American League in 2008, yet they were unable to make it past the Boston Red Sox again in a playoff series. The Angels had a tough offseason as well, losing both their best offensive player and closer to the New York teams (Mark Teixeira to the Yankees and Francisco Rodriguez to the Mets ). The Angels replaced those two with Bobby Abreu and Brian Fuentes, certainly a downgrade. Also in recent news, Vladimir Guerrero told reporters that he was 34 years old, as opposed to the 33 that he was believed to be. Perhaps that explains his severe decline as he no longer appears to be a major impact hitter at this stage in his career anymore. This does not bode well for the Angels as all of the other three teams in the division made improvements during the offseason . This team is going to live and die by their pitching and ability to play small-ball. A Mike Scoscia team will do all of the right things and play small b

Predicted Results: Atlanta Braves New York Mets (Wild Card winner) Philadelphia Phillies Florida Marlins Washington Nationals This appears to me to be the strongest division in the National League, by quite a good margin. I pick the Braves to outlast the Mets and Phillies in quite a dog fight because they have depth and will get Tim Hudson back for the stretch. Also given the Mets recent struggles in closing out the season and the Phillies starting pitching, the Braves look like they are going to be consistent all season. Injuries will be a huge factor in who wins this division with three very evenly balanced teams. Last season, the Braves were hit hard with injuries and added nothing but depth and durable veterans this offseason, in doing so, they are in great position to outlast their opponets this season. It will be important to watch the Marlins and Nationals, each of whom have legitimate talent and will be pesky to close out. One final reason why the Braves are going to be the NL

Overview: In their brief history in Washington, the Nationals have never made the playoffs. There is no reason for much of a reason to expect that to change in 2009. On the positive for the Nationals is that Jim Bowden is no longer in charge of that franchise after resigning during the middle of an ugly political issue where Bowden is being investigated for poor signing tactics of Dominican players. Prior to leaving, Bowden stacked the Nationals with slow, poor defensive corner players. The Nationals should be better in 2009 and will absolutely factor into who wins the division, but they should be well out of the race by June. This franchise needs athleticism all over the diamond and a makeover to the pitching staff. They will likely make some trades before the season starts, but even with those trades, the Nationals are in trouble. Starting Pitching: Garrett Olson, Daniel Cabrera, John Lannan , Shawn Hill and Colin Balester are the five pitchers that are currently slated in the N

As a baseball fan, I regret to admit that I have not been able to see the Baseball documentary until after my 22 nd birth date . I came home this afternoon from work with the Braves to turn on the Ken Burns documentary on baseball. Not that I needed it all that much, but it forced me to see the beauty of the game once again. If you claim to be a baseball fan and have not seen this documentary, you need to immediately. I am on the first DVD courtesy of Netflix , and can't wait to get through the next 9. Here is a sample of some quotes that beautifully articulate the nature of the game. "I think that there are three things that America will be known for 2000 years from now when they study ancient cultures: The Constitution, Jazz Music and Baseball. Those are the three most beautifully designed things that this culture has done." "There is no parameter that prohibits you from performing more excellently" "It's a very peaceful thing, there's grass ther

Overview: The 2008 World Series Champions will be back to challenge for the NL East crown once again. This offseason , the Phillies added Raul Ibanez , while subtracting Pat Burrell and that was about the only big change that was made so theoretically , they should be in contention again. I am not sold on the Phillies and was not last October either. It came down to the Phillies getting hot at the right time and they took the World Series. With a weaker pitching staff than the other top two teams in their division and an injury concern to their best hitter, Chase Utley , I am very doubtful about the staying power of the Philadelphia Phillies . Starting Pitching: The Phillies rotation, led by Cole Hamels should be fairly solid. Hamels should be in conversation for the Cy Young award this season, every season for the next several years for that matter. After him however, the Phillies are stretched pretty thin on 4 th starters. Brett Myers showed last season that he can still