Talkin bout the Hagerstown Suns

Since the first half is about to end for the Hagerstown Suns,it is time to look back at the Suns both on and off the field.
This usually is one of our most controversial efforts,but we call it like we see it.
This post will be for the actual players,while a later post sometime over the next few days will deal with the Suns off the diamond and will deal with what one would call the "gameday experience" with the Hagerstown Suns.

The Suns are a less than .500 squad (29-32 6th place),but the one thing that one must give the Suns is this-Matt LeCroy made the statement on day one that the team would be a hustling one and that is exactly the case.
The Suns are not a loafing ball club,they have their issues but lack of effort is certainly not one of them.

Prospect wise,one player has stood out far beyond the rest.
Catcher Derek Norris looks to have big league potential as a power hitting catcher and I have little reason to doubt Norris and his bat.
Derek leads the team in every offensive category hitting over 300,13 homers,46 RBI and most impressively an OPS of .968.
Norris throws well too,but does need to work on his receiving skills,especially keeping the ball in front of him,which has been his defensive Achilles heel thus far.
It would not surprise me in the least to see Norris in Potomac sometime soon.

I wish I felt as strongly about any other Hagerstown prospects.
Tyler Moore joined the team in May,raked the ball all over the place and made me start thinking of Moore's similarity to Bill Rhinehart last season,but has been in a huge funk this month hitting under .200 for the month.
Moore is still hitting .289 so that should show you how outstanding his May was....
Steve Lombardozzi looks pretty similar to his father (former Twin),slap hitter with little power (1 wind aided HR all season) and solid enough defensively.
Lombardozzi does lack the type of speed that one would hope for from a second baseman.
Steven Souza stumbled off to a slow start in April,recovered for a pretty good May and then a bad June.Souza has also made 14 errors at third base and seems to be a lesser version of former Sun Stephen King.
All is not lost for Souza as he has one believer in his prospect status.
I love the way scrappy centerfielder Chris Curran plays the game,but his bat just isn't going to play at higher levels.

On the mound,the most highly touted prospect has been a disappointment as Jack McGeary has an ERA over six.
I haven't seen Jack pitch in a few weeks,but on the three occasions that I did,he was having real problems bouncing his breaking ball in the dirt.
McGeary has struck out only four more batters than he has walked in 53 innings and that is a concern.
Perhaps this is just a matter of rust as McGeary had an unusual program since being drafted in being allowed to attend Stanford and yet not play for the Cardinal.
This is Jack's first complete season of pro baseball,so I am willing to give him a pass when you consider that factor.
The surprise has been SAL All-Star Marcos Frias.
Frias has a 4-1 record with an ERA well below three and has an excellent K/BB ratio (50 to 13).
Frias doesn't throw overwhelmingly hard,but isn't a soft tosser either and has been very consistent all season.
Look for Frias to at least have a August cameo in Potomac.
I don't see any other real prospects on the mound staff other than recent 10th overall pick
Drew Storen,who is on the roster,but has yet to see game action.

Coming soon will be our look at the Suns off the field.

Photo Credit
Norris:Topps

Buccos muscle up in 8-2 win!

The less than powerful Pittsburgh Pirates showed some rare home run pop as Andrew McCutchen hit his first big league longball to combine with homers from both LaRoche brothers Adam (9) and Andy (3) to lead the Bucs to an 8-2 win over the Twins.
Ian Snell allowed both Minnesota runs over six innings as Snell bettered his record to 2-7 on the season.
The series concludes tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 with what looks to be a solid pitching matchup as Zach Duke takes the ball for the Buccos while Nick Blackburn climbs the hill for the identicals....

Pirate Hooks

1) Ian Snell picked up the win and may have helped his marketabilty somewhat,but he still showcased his two most maddening tendencies.
His refusal to work inside the plate in favor of painting the outside is frustrating to watch,mainly because he has the kind of stuff that could really back hitters off a bit.

2) The other is his absolutely glacial pace when runners are on base.
Anyone that has done any youth coaching at all knows that the faster that the pitchers works the more alert and prepared his defense will be.
A slower worker will have his defense on their heels more than the balls of their feet and that makes quite a difference in reaction time when the ball is struck.

3) Trivia note for the night-the LaRoche brothers homers were the first that brothers hit homers in the same game for the Pirates since 1938.
Hall of Famers Paul and Lloyd Waner turned the trick way back when..

4) Ticket sales for next weeks visit to PNC by the Cleveland Indians aren't exactly jumping to the surprise of Frank Coonelly and company.
Coonelly has been trying to grab the Tribe as the Pirates AL "rival" and play them every year in interleague play,but that would mean stopping the all Ohio series between the Wahoos and the Cincinnati Reds.
If that is what it takes to have my two favorite teams only play every three years against each other than they can play before no one for all I care.
Look for a post on my feelings on Pirate-Indian games next week before the three game set.

5) Looks like the Pirates are going to have second rounder Brooks Pounders signed soon.
Pounders is in Pittsburgh and is expected to sign today,while the Pirates seem to be in on several of the "hard sign" arms from day two as well.
The strategy is interesting,but I still wish that they had used the top pick more wisely.

Bullpen Notes

How about our guy Erik Arnesen?
Erik has continued to build on his solid start at High A Potomac with a 3-2 record with an ERA of just over three in six starts at AA Harrisburg.
Always great to see nice guys that work hard begin to get some breaks.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats spotted the Winnipeg Blue Bombers a 19 point lead before a second half made the score respectable in a 32-22 loss.
The Ti-Cats finish the pre-season slate next week at Ivor Wynne Stadium against the visiting Toronto Argonauts.

Photo Credit
McCutchen:Jim Mone-AP Photo

Mitusharu Misawa

When people that have known me for years bring up pro wrestling to me and ask if I still watch it or not, I usually say that I follow it but rarely watch it.
Usually that brings a puzzled look and a change of the topic and I can hear them thinking-"what the hell does that mean"?

I do get the Wrestling Observer when motivated, usually by someone passing or a history feature, but I rarely watch pro wrestling on television.
The "sport" that I grew up with a passion for no longer exists here and other than watching old tapes and stuff on Youtube from over twenty years ago, I have no real knowledge of the product other than what I read.

But there was one company that interested me and two wrestlers that kept my interest alive.

All Japan Pro Wrestling was the company (later my interest moved to Pro Wrestling NOAH, due to the fact that all the wrestlers that I liked except for one moved to the freshly minted company) and Mitsuharu Misawa along with Kenta Kobashi were the wrestlers.

All Japan/NOAH wasn't quite like 80's American wrestling, there were very few interviews hyping future events and even fewer "angles" to inspire fans to watch a grudge match.
Instead, it was sport with a long storyline that developed through matches that basically presented their company as the best against the best in what they called "kings road" style.

Sure, the ending was predetermined, but for the most part-IF the top six or seven wrestlers were going against each other, they might have known who was going to win, but you sure as hell didn't.

Watching those matches today, they hold up just as strongly as when I saw them.

I actually started getting AJPW every week when I became friends with my good friend Brandon Siefken, who began taping AJPW and later NOAH every week for me.
When I saw that package in the mail every so often, I knew that I was going to have some fun watching for a while.

Misawa, Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada, and Akira Taue (and later Jun Akiyama) would have tremendous matches no matter the combination and it didn't take understanding Japanese (I don't comprehend a word) to figure out the intensity of the crowd and the quality of the match.

The interesting thing when you watch the company was how simple things were.

Each guy had a base color trunk type and that sold merchandise because if you bought a green Misawa shirt, it would be just as topical three years from the day you bought it, unlike the WWE which changes things constantly to move product.
Misawa was green, Kobashi orange, Kawada black, Taue red, and Akiyama blue, easy to identify and easy to identify with.

Misawa the stoic iceman, Kobashi the fire to Misawa's ice, Kawada the little man that was the most aggressive of the bunch, Taue the seemingly lumbering, but most powerful, and the up-and-coming Akiyama, who the young fans screamed for to assume "their" place in the pantheon that he was groomed for as a true amateur star in Japan.

Those five in addition to the top two Americans Stan Hansen and Steve Williams gave the fans state-of-the-art matches that were incredible to watch but also broke their bodies down.

You always had the feeling that the Triple Crown (the top AJPW title) and the GHC (top NOAH belt) title really meant something and were fiercely battled for, which is not something to be said for American wrestling for well over a decade.

The punishment that was taken (and given) in these matches was not to be sneezed at.
You didn't have the craziness of metal chairs and garbage cans smashed over heads or leaping off cages and ladders (AJPW and NOAH didn't believe in "gimmick matches"), but the elbows, suplexes, and slams were downright vicious and one could see these gentlemen aging before your eyes.


Misawa was the president of NOAH having led the exodus of talent from All Japan and brought a very similar style to the new company and took AJPW television spot with it and for a while, NOAH was a smashing success.

But things had taken a recent downturn, Misawa was reduced to less than a shell of himself, Kobashi suffering from cancer that caused a long hiatus, Taue reduced to a slowed hulk, and Akiyama for all of his brilliance at times, never seeming to quite be the star that was expected of him as the "ace" of the company.
That resulted in a loss of their network television spot and relegating them to cable.

In the US, wrestling is a cable program, but in Japan, network TV is everything(in a country that still has 20-30 % without cable), even if your time slot has become part of the late night/early morning hours.
So the tragedy could not have come at a worse time for the company and the quest for leadership could be the difference in whether or not NOAH is able to be successful over the long term.

Misawa was less than five days from his 47th birthday and one could make an excellent case that he should have no longer been in the ring or at least have transitioned into the opening "comedy" matches that so many of the stars the past finished their careers in including Misawa's mentor Giant Baba.

Instead in he was continuing to be among the top stars of the company even at his reduced abilities, but even then Misawa was on occasion able to dial things up for a glimpse of his past glory.
However, Ryu Nakada the managing director of NOAH is quoted as saying that Misawa had told him as recently as a few days before the incident that he had less than a year in the ring because he wanted to devote more time to other business opportunities.

Japanese culture is very mysterious when it comes to death and no one has officially commented on the cause of death, but it is beginning to leak out that it was spinal cord related and not a heart issue as was originally thought.
This may not bode well for the long-term health of the stars of "kings road", as these grapplers have taken many of the hardest bumps in the business for a very long time.

Misawa owns many awards from the most prestigious awards of those given out by the Wrestling Observer.
Misawa owns the most five-star match awards of any wrestler ever, six times involved in the match of the year, three times the wrestler of the year, and three times being part of the tag team of the year.

Mitsuharu Misawa is (in my opinion) one of the top five wrestlers of all time and a case can be made that he is the best ever.

I think one can make an argument for any of my top five (Misawa, Kobashi, Jumbo Tsuruta, Ric Flair, and Bret Hart), but by the numbers, only Ric Flair has a similar argument and honestly, I have seen them both and Misawa was better on the best day of each.

Flair had many matches vs Tsuruta but never wrestled Misawa or Kobashi, while Bret Hart did wrestle Misawa once when Misawa was still wearing the mask as Tiger Mask II in a surprisingly average match considering the two participants.


The death of Mitsuharu Misawa truly ends a golden age in Japanese wrestling.
Between the growth of mixed martial arts and the smaller television presence, pro wrestling will never be what it once was, but Misawa was one of the wrestlers to cross over into commercials and become a presence to those that were not wrestling fans.
That will be difficult for anyone to truly replace.....


Photo Credit-Rachel Heimberger

Pirates pounded at the Metrodump

Paul Maholm usually devours left handed hitting,but the Minnesota Twins had little problems with the Mississippi southpaw in drilling Maholm for 14 hits in five innings in a ridiculously easy 8-2 defeat in Minneapolis.
Maholm slides to 4-3 with the loss,while Nyjer Morgan (really) smacked his first homer of the season in the defeat.
Ian Snell faces off against Francisco Liriano tonight at 8:05 in the middle game of the series..

Pirate Hooks

1) I watched the game on the Twins network,mainly because I like Bert Blyleven,but the other members of the crew were pretty solid as well.
Play by play man Dick Bremer was very good and showed a sense of humor as well.
James Denton (I hope that's right) of Desperate Housewives was at the game and doing the obligatory "Celeb comes to any town other than New York or Los Angeles interview" with Marney Gellner and before it wrapped up. Bremer jumps in with a "tell Teri Hatcher that Dick says Hi".
Bremer then played a minute or two with faux sincerity on their "friendship".
Good stuff.
Gellner always did a decent job doing similar work with the Minnesota Wild and former Twin Ron Coomer was in/near the dugout with occasional tidbits that weren't silly or overbearing and didn't seem to be constantly trying to get on air....

2) Wish I could say the same for the Metrodome.
My goodness,that place is dull even for a domed stadium.
Andrew McCutchen and Delwyn Young watched a flyball fall right between them as the ball was lost in the all white roof that would hand the Twins a run on a routine pop fly.
The citizens of Minnesota deserve congratulations for getting a new stadium and condolences for suffering through that place for almost 30 years....

3) Can the Pirates please realize that not only does Craig Monroe play badly,but he shows an amazing lack of hustle for a guy that should be playing AAA ball anyway.
Tonight's half-ass Monroe moment goes in the eighth went like this- he strikes out against R A Dickey and then loafs his ass to first in a run/jog/shuffle that brought back memories of Randall Simon.
It takes Joe Mauer's first error of the season for Monroe to be safe and even when Monroe sees that Mauer's toss to Justin Morneau was going to be hard to handle-he still didn't pick up the pace!
Clown.

4) Have to give Nyjer Morgan some credit,his first homer since 2007 was not a cheapo.
Morgan's shot off Glen Perkins was just that-a shot.
Honestly,I didn't think he had it in him!

5) For more house spinning,John Russell attempts to compare the Twins drafting Joe Mauer at the top of the 2001 draft over consensus top pick Mark Prior to the Pirates overdraft of Tony Sanchez at 4 in this years draft.
It is true that Prior was considered the far and away top pick in that draft,but the big difference between the two cases is this-Mauer was considered one of the top five players in the draft,while Sanchez was considered a borderline first rounder albeit the best catcher in a weak year for catchers.
Apples and Oranges,John,but thanks for playing anyway....

Bonus Round

The Pirates signed a few draft picks,five players ranging from the 23rd rounder to their 42nd.
Highly touted righty Quinton Miller was assigned to State College to start with the Spikes.
The Spikes start their New York/Penn league season on Friday night against the Williamsport Crosscutters.

Bullpen Notes

The Hagerstown Suns have Matt Chico on the team on a rehab assignment.
Chico tossed a few innings in Sundays game against the Delmarva Shorebirds.
Chico is still listed on the Suns roster,so maybe he will make one more start for Hagerstown.

The CFL pre-season starts tonight as the lowly Hamilton Tiger-Cats visits Winnipeg for a scrimmage against the Blue Bombers.
The Cats website seems to have two different rosters,so it is hard tell who is who,but the Cats have been down for a long time and here is hoping for a revival in Canada's Steeltown!

I forgot to make my pick for last Saturday's exciting welterweight fight between Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey,but the fight was a good one with Cotto winning a split decision.
I have no problem with Cotto or Clottey winning by a point,it was that close,but I do have problems with the two judges that voted for Cotto by three and five points respectively.
That wasn't the bout that I watched as I scored the fight 114-113 for Cotto,6-6 in rounds,but Cotto getting the edge for a flash knockdown of Clottey in the opening round.
I will say this for the courageous Cotto,he tries hard and gives all he has,but the fighting machine that he was may have been ruined by his knockout loss to Antonio Margarito that now looks so questionable.
Cotto was wincing and moving with every Clottey blow and Clottey is not known for being a huge banger.
Unfortunate for Cotto and his fans that he may have had a career changed by unscrupulous dealings....

Watch over the next few days for a look at the Hagerstown Suns both on the field and thoughts on how things are going off the field as well..

Photo Credits
Bouncing ball:Jim Mone-AP Photo
Cotto-Clottey-Unknown

Ted Nolan for Devils Head Coach

Brent Sutter has left the building and with so many candidates available,it is hard to say just who will be the new skipper of the SS Devils for next season.

Before I mention the candidates that seem to be the hottest on the rumor mill and before I discuss my personal selection(Ted Nolan) for the job,I would like to pound out a few words about Brent Sutter.
Brent Sutter did quite a few positive things for the Devils franchise and at the top of the list was changing the style of play.
Oh,I know-many never bothered to notice that and just hung onto the stereotype of the "trappin Devils",but the Devils fans that watched over the two years of the Sutter reign know the truth.
The Devils became a much more offensive minded squad under Sutter and whether or not this was due to a system that Sutter preferred or that Sutter saw through the weaknesses of the Devils defensive corps (that was so painfully visible against Carolina) and knew that things needed to be changed is open to question.
But the point is the Devils were able to change systems and still be successful and I attribute a large part of that to Brent Sutter.
I also loved his intensity and willingness to tell the truth to the media even if it wasn't popular in his locker room and I think that he would have only grown more in the job as time went by.
However,I hated his questionable line shuffling (to be fair,that reduced last season from the first year),his refusal to try Petr Vrana early in the season and disliked that certain players received chance after chance (Mike Mottau and Dainius Zubrus) while others were buried (Vrana,Jay Pandolfo and Andy Greene) on the bench or scratched list.

I have trouble getting too fired up about Sutter quitting to be closer to his family in Calgary,although his decision that his family and his junior team in Red Deer is more important than the Devils might rule him out from any team considering him down the road with the exception of Calgary or Edmonton.
I wish him well and hope that his decision is what he wants and works out for the best for him and his family.

The three names that have come to the forefront for the Devils head coaching job are former Devils and Wild boss Jacques Lemaire,current Devils assistant John MacLean and former Islanders and Hurricanes boss Peter Laviolette.
Other names that have been mentioned have been former Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau,former Colorado and Atlanta coach Bob Hartley and former Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish.
Many Devils bloggers/fans are very negative on a possible return of Lemaire,siting the defensive nature of his teams and that this team is not suited for a return to defensive based hockey.
I would not have Lemaire at the top of my list,but I would not have a huge problem with a return.
He would not be able to play that type of hockey at this time,as it would not take long for him to figure out that this Devils squad is missing the blueline talent that he had when he left.
I am not sure if MacLean is the right fit either although he could be the perfect mix of the traditional Devil system with the puck possession style of Sutter.
Carbonneau would be Ok,especially if he brings assistant and former Devil captain Kirk Muller along with him to groom.
I want no part of Laviolette at all,the same with Hartley and no opinion really on MacTavish,I see the Oilers so rarely that I am not really sure about him.

But one name that only comes up in passing may not be in consideration,but he should be is this man-Ted Nolan.
Ted Nolan is a winner and has the respect of his players without being a tyrant.
Both Buffalo and the Islanders were winners under Nolan,who led the Islanders to the playoffs with little talent and has watched them struggle ever since his firing by the less than stellar Islander management.
From the outside looking in,Nolan appears to be an awkward fit with Lou Lamoriello,but critics said the same things about Pat Burns,who only brought the Devils a championship.
Nolan was known to have power struggles with general managers at both of his previous NHL stops,but that wouldn't happen in New Jersey.
There would be no doubt on who has the final say-in New Jersey it has always been Lou Lamoriello and that would be known from day one and that would set the tone for Nolan doing what he does best-coach.

Therefore,we give our highest endorsement to the potential hiring of Ted Nolan as the next head coach of the New Jersey Devils...


Photo Credit
Nolan:Ted Nolan Foundation

Pirates take two and why I like Bob Walk

The Pittsburgh Pirates managed to take both weekend games from the Detroit Tigers and actually won a series!
A 9-3 Saturday win behind another solid effort from Zach Duke (7-4) was followed by a 6-3 Sunday matinee win over the Tigers.
The Buccos actually showed some pop in the Saturday win as they smacked two homers,the big bomb being a Freddy Sanchez grand slam (5) in the fifth.
Adam LaRoche hit his eighth in the win.
Ross Ohlendorf moved to 6-5 on Sunday in allowed just a run on two hits over six innings.
Matt Capps finished the game for his 16th save.
The Pirates now hit the bricks for six games,3 in Minneapolis against the Twins followed by three in Denver against the Rockies.....

Pirate Hooks

1) The Sunday game featured uniforms from the 1909 World Series between the Pirates and the Tigers.
The Tigers looked pretty neat,but the Pirates were bland.
Throwback days are always so much fun to watch.

2) Has there ever been a pitcher since maybe Steve Blass (Cringe here,Pirate fans) that seems to have lost "it" so fast than Dontrelle Willis?
Willis walked eight batters in less than four innings and could have walked many more if the Pirates had any semblance of plate discipline...

3) I like Bob Walk a lot,he might be the only Pirate announcer that has any kind of credibilty and personality,but I almost thought I was in the booth for Sunday's win.
Walk complained several times about the Pirates swinging against Dontrelle Willis when it was apparent that he had no idea where the ball was going.
The Pirates loaded the bases with no one out in the third and two of the runners reached on walks.
Robinzon Diaz then swings at the first pitch,misses and then pops out on the next pitch.
Jack Wilson takes ball one and then pops out on the second.
Walk:"How long has Jack been playing this game,eight years"?
Ross Ohlendorf then grounded to short to end an inning with nothing that could have been a big inning.
Walk groused about all inning and then the next until Willis was relieved.
It is refreshing to have the home announcers tell the truth instead of being a mouthpiece for the team.
That is Greg Brown's job after all.

4) More Walk
Tim Neverett (who grows on me everyday,although I think it is because he isn't Greg Brown) was wondering why Minnesota didnt use a retractable roof like the other "nice new" stadiums like Miller Park in Milwaukee,which is the one new park that I just hate (except for bringing Bernie Brewer along from MCS).
Walk:I must take issue with one part of your statement,Nice like Miller Park?
I hate Miller Park.it isnt very nice at all.
YES!!!!

5) Even More Bob
Neverett talking about the upcoming road trip followed by the three game visit from the Indians (boo!).
"And that's it for interleague already">
Walk: "darn,too bad".
I wish I could type that as sarcastic and as unenthusiastic as he said.
Right on,Bob!!!

Bonus Hooks

Rumors are flying about Ian Snell being shipped to Colorado.
Not sure what Snell would command right now,but he did not pitch poorly in his last two starts and the arm is sound enough.
Snell shouldn't be a Pirate much longer,Charlie Morton wasn't part of the Nate McLouth deal for nothing....

The Pirates could be looking for a second baseman or shortstop prospect for Snell and Colorado seems to be a good fit.
Colorado has Troy Tulowitzki entrenched at short and Ian Stewart likely to be the second sacker once Garrett Atkins ends his slump at third and that leaves a few interesting prospects blocked from the big club.
Former number one pick Chris Nelson was the player the Pirates really wanted in the draft that saw them tab Neil Walker.
Nelson has been slower to develop,but could play either second or short.
Hector Gomez missed all of 2008,but hits decently and has a dynamic glove at shortstop.
Corey Wimberly is a slap hitting speedball that the Rockies moved from second to center to alleviate the congestion in the system at second,but could easily move back to the keystone position and Daniel Mayora was someone that I thought the Pirate should have taken a look at in the Rule 5 draft last winter.

Photo Credits
Celebration:Gene Puskar-AP Photo
Walk:Fleer

Two great pitching performances,Misawa dies in ring.

The Pirates split the last two games both by the same score of 3-1 as they defeated Atlanta on a getaway afternoon contest before losing to Detroit in the interleague starter yesterday.
Steven Jackson was the winner against Atlanta (2-1) with Matt Capps picking up save 15.
Delwyn Young hit his first Pirate homer in the win.
Ian Snell pitched well,but not well enough in the loss to the Tigers and fell to 1-7.
The series is continuing with the first pitch shortly....

Pirate Hooks

1) The Pirates ran into two dominant pitchers in the two games.
Javier Vasquez had the type of stuff that I was thinking in inning one that could be a no hitter type afternoon.
Vasquez didn't pull that off,but allowed only two hits and fanned 12 Pirates in getting the no decision.
Other than the Delwyn Young homer,Vasquez was flawless and looked in top notch form...

2) Rick Porcello was not quite as good as Vasquez,but more than good enough in allowing just one run over seven innings.
This was the first time that I had seen the touted twenty year old and was very impressed with his toolbox.
Porcello came out of the 07 draft with large salary demands that teams like the Pirates didn't want to deal with and fell to the bottom of the first round where the Tigers pounced on the righty.

3) Porcello's situation is why MLB needs to push for a slotting scale for the draft in the next CBA negotiations.
Only then can teams truly select the best player regardless of money and only then can we truly take the players college commitments seriously...

4) The Pirates signed top pick Tony Sanchez and had him in Steeltown for the day yesterday.
Sanchez is headed to Florida for the next 10 days or so before being assigned to Low A West Virginia,so at least their plan is being followed.
Whether it works or not remains to be seen..

5) The Pirates made a nice pickup in signing former Cardinal top pick Tyler Herron.
Herron is just 22 and was surprisingly released by the Cards.
His numbers were not glowing at AA Springfield,but not awful either.
These are the type of low risk high reward signings that the Bucs need to continue to attempt to make.
Herron was assigned to AA Altoona.

I plan on working on the Devils coaching situation soon and look for that in the off days as well as a post on the tragic death of a few hours ago of one of the best wrestlers that the sport has ever known in Mitsuharu Misawa.
Misawa was reported to have taken a routine suplex in a match,suffered a heart attack and died in the ring.
Misawa holds the record for the most five star matches (24) by the Wrestling Observer of all time,which says more than I can type about the greatness of Misawa.
We will have quite a bit on Misawa as soon as time warrants.,but here is a Youtube tribute for now.