The Atlanta Braves have been doing work since John Hart took over as GM a little over a year ago. They have traded away practically every semblance of the team they were under the Frank Wren years. The old Braves Way is gone and the new Braves Rebuild is here.
That’s why it is so peculiar that they have chosen Freddie Freeman to be the lone survivor of the old system.
It’s been all the hub bub this past week. Keith Law of ESPN released his rankings of MLB’s farm systems and not only did he say that the Anaheim (I know what they are called) Angels were the worst farm system in 2016, but the worst he had ever seen in his eight years of ranking farm systems.
Wow. That’s rough, especially in an era of teams like the New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and Kansas City Royals rising to prominence via their Minor League stashes.
Of course almost immediately the internet and bloggers went bananas with the options that he Angels have for the future and the most glaring option may be just the most ridiculous:
Trade Mike Trout?!
Can the Angels really trade Mike Trout. Keep reading to find out.
The year is 1996. It’s Game 1 of the World Series. A 19-year-old outfielder steps up to the plate in his first at bat and hits a 2-run home run. A little later, he stands back in the batters box and delivers another homer, this time of the 3-run variety. Atlanta Braves fans and the rest of the baseball world would be introduced to Andruw Jones.
Now, after 19 baseball seasons, Andruw has decided to hang it up, call it a career and move on with his life. An interesting question was posed and it was going to require some thought. Does Andruw Jones deserve to have his number retired with the Atlanta Braves?
Get ready Tampa. The New York Yankees are en route. At least the team equipment is. And a few short days later, pitchers and catchers will be at The Boss prepping for another postseason run.
As usual, let’s take a look at some news and nuggets from around the Yankees Universe.
The Super Bowl is all done. That means the vans are packed and that pitchers and catchers are heading towards Spring Training. I for one am very excited.
There are quite a few players in the MLB getting long in the tooth. We know that this year will be highlighted by the David Ortiz Farewell Tour. Many will argue that Big Papi is Hall of Fame bound, while others will tell you that if Edgar Martinez isn’t in the Hall of Fame, than neither should Ortiz.
Well, what about some of those other possible retirees? What about Carlos Beltran?
What will Carlos Beltran’s legacy be? Keep reading to find out.
Peyton Manning won’t be the only one likely appearing in the final game of a long and lustrous career. The Caribbean Series championship game is today, Sunday, February 7th, and Freddy Garcia will toe the rubber for the Venezuela Tigres de Aragua when they take on Mexico’s Venados de Mazatlan for supremacy of the Caribbean.
This year’s Hall of Fame vote saw history in the making. Ken Griffey, Jr. behind a whopping 99.3% of the vote entered the Hall of Fame with the highest amount of yeses in the history of the game.
So, now there is a new trivia question. The answer to “Who has the most votes in Hall of Fame history?” is no longer the same answer it had been for the past 24 years.
Tom Seaver is out, and The Kid is in.
It doesn’t take away from the greatness of the mighty righty flamethrower who almost single handedly (or was it single-armedly?) led the New York Mets to relevance. Seaver’s career in New York was much like those Miracle Mets… Amazin’.
Still, he was one of the least likely people to sit atop the Hall of Fame top vote charts for 24 years. Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax. If that was who garnered the most votes in MLB history, it would make more sense, but instead Tom Terrific held the dubious honor for a very long time.
Maybe that’s because he was one of the greatest right handed pitchers to ever play the game. He won three Cy Young Awards and should have won a fourth. Two of those Cy Young Award winning seasons found the New York Mets in the World Series, winning one behind one of the most remarkable seasons in baseball history and losing the other to an Oakland As team right smack in the middle of their “Threepeat” as World Champions.
Seaver wasn’t merely the best pitcher on the Mets, he was their most valuable player year in and year out.
He would be traded to the Cincinnati Reds at the 1977 trade deadline. The deal would be called the Midnight Massacre as the Mets plummeted into obscurity. It would take six years for Davey Johnson, Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden to rebuild the Mets. I told you, Seaver made the Mets go. The Mets would finish in last or second to last every one of those years, and remember this was the era of six-team divisions.
You can say Seaver got so many more votes than the likes of Greg Maddux or a Aaron because of his induction class. It may be the case as he and Rollie Fingers were voted in together. The rest of that ballot did have some future Hall of Famers on it, but they all paled in comparison to Tom Terrific.
In the January/February issue of Baseball Magazine I take a closer look at the career of the greatest New York Met in their history. Dr. K looked like he may be headed for that title, but off the field issues (and the Mets insistence on him throwing that curve) deprived fans of seeing what could have been. This new staff certainly has some young arms that could one day challenge Tom Terrific, but that’s a story still being written.
Click the link below to read my full feature at Baseball Magazine (page 7):
Rough week for New York Yankees fans. They lost one of the exciting pieces of their youth movement for the 2016 season. It is a huge blow, but not as big for 2016 as it may be for the future.
I have seen this idea pop up a few times on several sites and New York newspapers over the past few weeks. Tim Lincecum is leaving the San Francisco Giants and will hit the free agent market. I thought it was a dead story, the idea of having The Freak in the Bronx, but it won’t go away.
So… should the New York Yankees give Lincecum a shot?
Read on to see if Tim Lincecum is a good fit for the Yankees
It’s so close you can smell the spring air. Pitchers and catchers report in just a few short weeks and all will be right in the world. There are still few loose ends as the Yanks get ready to head to Tampa, but they are doing the best to wrap it all up.
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