Buster Posey retires

    After a return to the game that could possibly boost his case for induction to the Hall of Fame, San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey is reported to announce his retirement tomorrow according to The Athletic.

Posey bounced back from an injury-plagued 2019 that forced him into hip surgery and missed the 2020 season due to the Covid-19 with a 2021 season that put Posey in line for another possible Silver Slugger award, which would be his fifth in his career to lead the surprising Giants to over 100 wins.

The thirty-four-year-old Posey finished 2021 with a .304 average with 18 homers, 56 RBI, and an OPS of .889 which was the second-highest of Posey's career.

Posey's accolades in leaving the game at only 34 are many: Rookie of the Year, MVP, four (and maybe five) Silver Sluggers, a Gold Glove, a batting title, two Comeback Player of the Year awards, two defensive player of the year awards, and caught three no-hitters.

The announcement comes before Monday when the Giants were expected to officially pick up a team option for twenty-two million for 2022 to keep Posey in San Francisco.

Buster Posey became the face of the Giants franchise for a dozen years as the top position player for the franchise since Barry Bonds.

And that face helped bring San Francisco their first title since arriving in Calfornia in 1958 in 2010 with two more added in 2012 and 2014.

Posey's somewhat early retirement makes me wonder how Posey will fare in the balloting for Cooperstown when his time on the ballot.

Buster Posey is the first catcher in MLB history to hit over .300 in their final season and Posey is one of only two players (Pete Rose) to have won the Rookie of the Year, the MVP, and won three World Series championships.

Baseball Reference's numbers crunchers rate Posey fourteenth among catchers in baseball history and only three of those thirteen ahead of him are not in the Hall (Joe Mauer, who has yet to appear on the ballot, Thurman Munson, and surprisingly Gene Tenace).

Mauer being a contemporary of Posey is ahead of Posey in the overall ratings, but their career numbers are very close except that Mauer has a bit over 600 hits more than Posey and that can be attributed to a longer career.

I would think that if you believe one player is deserving, then the other should receive your vote as well, but the voting for Cooperstown often evades such logic so I wouldn't be surprised if one had more trouble getting into the HOF than the other.

What may work against him is 1,500 career hits over only a dozen seasons and while I would be surprised if Posey made the Hall on the first ballot, I do believe that he will eventually be inducted into the shrine.

Posey stated at his retirement press conference that he planned all along to empty the tank for 2021 and his excellent season wasn't enough to change his mind to return for 2022 even if it meant an added twenty-two million dollars to the bank account and you have to respect that Posey wants to go out on top.

As for the Giants, I would imagine that this will be the time for Joey Bart to step up and assume the role that he was drafted for as the long-term replacement for Buster Posey behind the plate.

Bart only made six plate appearances in 2021 for the Giants, spending his season with AAA Sacramento, where he hit .294 with 10 homers and 46 RBI for the River Cats.

I haven't made it a secret that Buster Posey has been my favorite player of the decade that I wasn't fortunate enough to meet.

Most of the players that I root for are players that I met on the minor league/autograph circuit and Posey skipped the AA Eastern League as he moved quickly through the minors as he moved from the Giants High A San Jose to their then-AAA team in Fresno.

What I liked about Posey was that he always seemed to be a player that gave his all on the field yet did so in a manner that did so in the team concept, not in a look at me way that showcased him as an individual. 

Likable and a little goofy as someone not afraid to poke fun at himself to show some personality in various commercials, Buster Posey was an easy player to root for and considering his heart in two comebacks that either of which would have ended the careers of many players, fans admired the grit that he showed in returning to the field and prospering when he did so.

Buster Posey played hard, battled through adversity, and ended his career with one final great season.

One cannot beat that for a final season to cap off a career.

Indians busy trade deadline

 The Cleveland Indians up until a week or so were thought to be a player for a big bat for a team trying to stay relevant in the playoff conversation.

How the team was going to afford this bat was a question to ask, but with the team sliding eight games behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central, it wouldn't be unreasonable to see the Indians trade some players and still add a player or two as well.

Cleveland did add a player to the roster and even another one for about an hour or two but with several deals over two days, the Indians managed to make many wonder just what the hell the team is thinking.

Let's start with the trade that brought the one player in these trades to Cleveland immediately as the Indians traded reliever Phil Maton and minor league catcher Yainer Diaz to Houston for outfielder Myles Straw.

Straw had started in centerfield for most of this season for the Astros, batting .262 with two homers, thirty-four RBI, and seventeen stolen bases.

The twenty-six-year-old Straw hits righthanded, is a plus outfielder defensively, lacks power, and has excellent speed.

In other words, Straw fits the Indians' top fetish in outfielders- fast guys without power and they can add to the several that they already have in that department in Bradley Zimmer, Oscar Mercado, Daniel Johnson, and seemingly most of their outfielders since Alex Cole.

Straw will likely be given a chance to own the centerfield job as he did in Houston, and hopefully, he'll know how to call a flyball as it seems needs to be worked on with the Indians, as Bradley Zimmer and Daniel Johnson showed last night as the pair turned a deep flyball into a Yoan Moncada homer by running into each other, but I don't see him as an upgrade over the mediocre bunch that they have already on the roster and its a safe bet that one is going out the door to either Columbus or perhaps gone period.

Maton was an average reliever (2-0 4.57 ERA in 41 innings) by most numbers, but his 61 strikeouts in 41 innings this season suggest that he may be on the verge of stepping to a higher level of performance at the age of 28 and Diaz was hitting .314 with five homers for low A Lynchburg stamping him as a prospect of note.

I think Maton is on the verge of being an excellent bullpen piece and I hate the Indians losing him.

While I don't have a problem with the Indians trading for an outfielder, I would have liked to have seen someone that isn't so similar to what the team already possesses.

I don't think Straw looks any better or worse than what the team already has and if that's the case- why trade away a decent setup guy in Maton or what appears to be an interesting catching prospect in Diaz?

With the Straw trade raising a few red flags, the other trades set alarms of various noise.

The one trade that I really liked was with the Tampa Bay Rays as the soon-to-be former Tribe shipped another of their clump of outfielders in Jordan Luplow and minor league pitcher D.J. Johnson to the Rays for minor league pitcher Peyton Battenfield.

Battenfield was a combined 5-0 with an ERA of 2.14 in fourteen starts between High A Bowling Green and AA Montgomery with 95 strikeouts in 67 innings.

Battenfield was the Astros ninth-round pick in 2019 from Oklahoma State and his numbers make him a pitcher that I think could be very helpful in the long run.

Battenfield was assigned to AA Akron.

Jordan Luplow had been on a rehab assignment with AAA Columbus and will remain on assignment with Tampa's AAA affiliate in Durham.

Luplow hit only .173 in his 121 plate appearances this season before an ankle injury but did hit seven homers and with his reputation as a lefty murderer, it made sense for Tampa to take a chance at a bounceback off their bench.

Journeyman pitcher D.J. Johnson was included in the deal after spending most of the season at AAA Columbus in their bullpen (1-2 with six saves, 3.32 ERA) and will give Tampa Bay a veteran option in their bullpen, should they require it.

This one was my favorite of all the trades considering the potential of Battenfield and the value of journeymen Luplow and Johnson.

The day before the deadline was a bit of a head-scratcher but it was possible that the market was limited for veteran second baseman Cesar Hernandez despite a career season in power numbers.

Hernandez was traded to division rival Chicago for minor league pitcher Konnor Pilkington and while I don't think the Indians are legitimately a threat to catch the White Sox, it was a sign of surrender to send Hernandez there.

Hernandez was hitting only. 234, but his eighteen homers exceeded his career-high by three already which I would have thought would have made him more desirable to a contender.

Hernandez was a free agent at the end of the year, although there is a team option and the Indians have a group of young infielders ready to move up next season, so I understand moving him but it's a really bad look when you send him to a team that you are supposedly trying to catch, even it isn't realistic to do so.

Konnor Pilkington is a lefthanded starter, who pitched fairly well for AA Birmingham in fourteen starts (4-4 3.48 ERA with 71 strikeouts) this season.

Pilkington was the White Sox third-round selection in 2018 from Mississippi State and had struggled until this season as a pro but I like his 71 strikeouts in 62 innings.

My problem with this trade isn't Pilkington, who like Peyton Battenfield was assigned to AA  Akron, trading Hernandez, or even trading to the White Sox as a division rival.

It's more about another bad look for a franchise that seems to be piling bad looks up in a large photo album.

The final deal is one of those deals that are all about the money even though the team insists it's not about the money as the Indians sent their top free-agent signee in Eddie Rosario to the Atlanta Braves along with cash considerations for veteran Pablo Sandoval, who was immediately released by Cleveland.

Rosario was on the disabled list and I'm sure that hurt his marketability but he didn't play up to expectations hitting .254 with seven homers and forty-six RBI and the Indians shipped some cash to Atlanta to help with the remainder of his one year eight million contract.

Rosario wasn't going to be back next year and again I was Ok moving him but it looks like the team is being cheap as usual to trade him for a player that they immediately released.

Sure, the trade was a way to open a spot on the 40 man roster and it will allow a few outfielders to get some at-bats and that's all well and good but it just makes the organization look so awful.

Look, I know the Indians were tied up a bit trying to trade an injured Eddie Rosario and I thought they did very well in getting Peyton Battenfield from Tampa Bay.

But I'm far more pessimistic about the trade for Myles Straw than it seems that most are and the small payroll with promises of more next season with a new minority owner could be true but it's never going to be as much help as the franchise needs to compete consistently.

The news out of Progressive Field of late has been good on few occasions, it didn't get a lot better at the trade deadline. 

Giants add Kris Bryant and Tony Watson

    The San Francisco Giants had to have seen the moves that the Los Angeles Dodgers had made in acquiring Max Scherzer and Trea Turner and felt they had to do something to level the playing field.

San Francisco's three-game lead didn't feel secure enough to stand pat and the Giants grabbed a huge bat for their lineup along with a familiar arm for their bullpen and will now hope that they have enough muscle to hold off the West Coast version of Steinbrenner U.

Kris Bryant's power bat will serve the Giants' needs perfectly into a lineup that has been productive even without names that would only be recognizable by the hardest of minor league followers, but where the intrigue with Bryant begins goes beyond the postseason run.

Bryant is a free agent at the end of the season, but Bryant is from Las Vegas (the Bay Area is the closest MLB market to Vegas) and the Giants may have more money to spend in next years free-agent market, so this not only helps the stretch run for the Giants, but it also gives Bryant and the Giants a chance to kick the tires and see if the player, organization, and ballpark are a good fit for one another.

Bryant was hitting .265 with 18 homers with 51 RBI for the rebuilding Cubs and had problems with the organization going back to his rookie season over the team manipulating his service time for arbitration eligibility, so he was almost certainly not going to return to Wrigley Field.

The righthanded hitting Bryant would seem to be a perfect fit for a Giants team that lost Evan Longoria to a shoulder sprain in early June and have been running out various options to third base since then, but the Giants could also use Bryant at first until Brandon Belt returns from his injury (Belt is on a rehab assignment as of this writing) or even the outfield in a possible scenario that includes Belt and Longoria.

The cost was not cheap as toolsy outfielder Alexander Canario was so highly prized by the Giants that the team placed him on the 40 man roster despite Canario only playing 49 games for the now-defunct short-season Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in 2019, due to fear that a crummy team could take him and stash him away from the Rule V draft.

Canario was hitting .235 with nine homers for Low A San Jose this season with fifteen steals, but at 21 is highly thought of as a prospect.

San Francisco also included pitcher Caleb Killian as the second player in the trade and Killian has been the breakout pitching prospect for the Giants this season at two different levels.

Killian was drafted in the ninth round from Texas Tech in 2019 and has been excellent for High A Eugene (3-0 1.25 ERA 32 strikeouts in four starts) and AA Richmond (3-2 2.43 ERA 64 strikeouts in eleven starts).

Killian was considered as a possibility for the Giants rotation next season, so he is certainly a prospect that the Giants hate to lose.

One can never have too many arms for the bullpen and the Giants brought back an arm from the past as they obtained lefthander Tony Watson from the Anaheim Angels.

Watson was 3-3 and 4.64 ERA in 36 appearances for the Angels and could fill into the lefty specialist role in the late innings.

San Francisco sent three minor league pitchers to the Angels- Sam Selman, Jose Marte, and Ivan Armstrong.

The thirty-year-old Selman appeared in seven games for the Giants (0-0 4.50 ERA) but has spent most of the season with AAA Sacramento (1-0 1 save and 4.03 ERA)

Marte spent most of the season with AA Richmond ( 2-0 3.57 ERA 36 strikeouts in 22 innings) in their bullpen and has been reported to have been clocked near 100 MPH at times this season.

At twenty-five, Marte is a bit old for the level, but those types of arms from the bullpen will receive many opportunities to show a power arm.

Armstrong is the most interesting prospect to me at 21 with low A San Jose, the 6'5 righthander was 4-1 with a 1.88 ERA in twenty appearances.

The San Francisco Giants are a team that is exceeding expectations, but in a division with two free-spending teams in Los Angeles and San Diego, the Giants needed to do something to try to upgrade and at least make those teams deadline deals a wash in the overall picture.

Players like Kris Bryant come at a high price, even as a rental, but the Giants needed to do something to show that the effort is there to make a run in the homestretch.

Next writing will look at the various deals by the Cleveland IndiGuardians and whatever their deals brought in or rather what the hell is going on in Cleveland? 

Indians to Guardians

     As I catch up from my weekend, another change occurred besides the Devils drafting of Luke Hughes as the Cleveland Indians announced their decision on what nickname would represent the baseball team by Lake Erie for the 2022 season and thereafter.

The decision to change the Indians nickname to the Cleveland Guardians was one that was destined to take place eventually and even though Rob Manfred had stated that the Indians name was safe when the team agreed to whack the logo of Chief Wahoo, Manfred's word wasn't enough to stop the momentum against the name change.

As a longtime traditionalist, it bothers me that the name Indians is no longer going to be used.

As a realist, while I had hoped that the elimination of Chief Wahoo would be enough to satisfy the wave against the name change, I thought the name would eventually have to be changed.

While I'll miss the name, I do understand why some were offended and there is a certain sense of relief that the constant drumbeat (pun intended) of protests and complaints can move south to Atlanta or west to Kansas City to complain about their team nicknames.

The Guardians name doesn't do much to move the needle for me as the new nickname.

Named after the "Art Deco" style statues that reside on the Hope Memorial Bridge, Guardians isn't a terrible name, it's just a boring one.

There wasn't exactly a barrel filled with names that would have been excellent choices ( I liked Spiders and Commodores as my favorites) and the choice of the Guardians isn't the worst option that could have been chosen, that I would give that honor to Rockers, which was a name that people outside the Cleveland area seemed to like but very few in the area thought of it as highly.

Guardians didn't rank very highly on my list for nicknames but what doesn't help with the name is the very small tweaks to the already boring "Block C", the logo that looks very minor league (A G gripping a baseball), and an all-around dull looking set of uniforms and font.

Plus Guardians doesn't work very well to the inevitable shortening by media and marketing (The Guard?) and comes up short in that department.

Look, I don't hate Guardians so much that I despise it, but it's average at best, I'm really not happy with basically the same crappy Block C, and the nickname sounds like an arena football league franchise more than a major league baseball team, but I'm glad that the situation is finally finished.

As much as I miss Chief Wahoo for the memories of childhood and I'll likely still call the team the Indians forever as I'm the same guy that still calls the Washington Wizards "Bullets" years after their name change but as blah, as Guardians are as a nickname, I'll get used to it and will survive! Ha Ha!

Back later with the beginning of NHL free agency and what appears to be a surprising addition for the New Jersey Devils.

Baseball Openers!

    I wrote yesterday about Opening Day and what was taking the joy away from baseball from me, so I decided to spend the day watching the Indians in the afternoon in Detroit against the Tigers in the snow and then the Giants from the road office with their opener in Seattle in an (ahem) interleague matchup.

The avenues may have been different, but the destination ended in the same manner for each team= an L.

And the worst part? Both teams' losses may have played out as many eventual defeats could as the season moves by.

In Detroit, a day filled with snow showers along with lots of wind, saw the Tigers drop the Indians 3-2, but the game played out as many could for the Wahoo's-they fell behind and didn't have the offense to catch up.

Shane Bieber struck out twelve Tigers in six innings and allowed only five hits, but the game was decided in the first inning when Miguel Cabrera drove a Bieber serve to the opposite field through the falling snowflakes and barely over the right-field wall for a two-run homer.

The snow shower caused visibility that was bad enough that Cabrera didn't know the ball carried into the seats and slid into second base.

Cabrera, who is attempting to reach career goals of 500 homers and 3,000 hits, both of which are likely should he stay healthy this season, looks to have lost twenty pounds and looks in better shape than he has been in recent years.

The Indians would not score until a two-run homer by Roberto Perez with one out in the ninth inning cut the lead to 3-2, but Cleveland would score no more.

This game was exactly what I (and every Cleveland fan likely) worried about entering the season- receiving a good pitching performance and not being able to stay in the game due to a weak offense.

Three runs allowed is respectable, but it could reach the point that the staff cannot allow more than two to have a chance to win and that is called a very narrow needle to thread.

One thing that I did notice about this game was from myself.

I noticed that I was counting a large number of Tigers that I had met/seen as they moved through the minors and the number of them that hadn't started in the Detroit system.

Of the nine starting position players (Including the DH, but not starting pitcher Matthew Boyd), I had met/seen eight of them (only Miguel Cabrera missed the cut) and of the eight, only one had been with the Tigers when I saw him, (Shortstop Willy Castro with AA Erie after he had been acquired from Cleveland that year).

It'll be interesting to see how many players that I can count this season under that scenario because as each season goes by, those numbers are going to dwindle.

Nine hours after the start in Detroit, the San Francisco Giants started their season in Seattle.

I would imagine that there are few readers here that don't know how much I dislike interleague play, so it was an extra sting that the Giants started their season not only in interleague but on the road as well.

Still, I kinda like Safeco Field of the retractable dome stadiums, so it could have been worse- it could have been Anaheim.

The Farhan Zaidi-led Giants have been frustrating, not because they are rebuilding, but due to the revolving door of players that can make it hard to follow and enjoy the team.

I don't have a problem with trying to find a gold nugget from a prospect pool with players that might need a break, and it worked out very well with Mike Yastremzski and to a lesser extent with Alex Dickerson.

However, the batting average is never going to be great and how could it be, if they didn't have questions the player wouldn't be available, still it doesn't make it easy.

The Giants jumped out early with a second-inning two-run shot from the returning Buster Posey, would add another homer from Austin Slater in the fifth to build a 5-0 lead after six innings and a 5-1 advantage after seven to combine with a terrific start from Kevin Gausman, who allowed only two hits and a seventh-inning run to seem to be cruising to a win.

And then, the wheels came flying off.

Gausman was replaced for one out by Caleb Baragar to finish the seventh and so far so good.

That worked, but Gausman had thrown ninety pitches and while the "analytics" swear by their pitch counts, I'm a believer that if a guy is pitching well then ride the horse.

I'm not saying throw 180 pitches and I can give a pass on this one because it was the opener, but it sure seemed like Gausman had another inning in him.

Matt Wisler starts the eighth, doesn't retire a batter on two hits and a walk, and leaves the bases loaded for Jarlin Garcia, who manages to strike out one, but walks in two runs.

Here comes Tyler Rogers and he does get the two outs to finish the inning- after allowing the Mariners to wind up with a 7-6 lead after a double, a hit batsman, and a fielders choice on a Jose Marmelejos (Former Hagerstown Suns) grounder to Brandon Belt that could have ended the inning with a double play, but Belt's throw to Brandon Crawford was low and away from the bag to allow the leading run to score rather than an inning-ending twin killing.

Rogers would retire the next two batters, but a five-run lead had melted into a one-run deficit in one Seattle at-bat.

Seattle calls for closer Rafael Montero, so Gabe Kapler calls for lefthanded hitting Alex Dickerson to face the righthanded Montero rather than righthanded hitting Austin Slater.

Dickerson takes Romero downtown and suddenly as I watch this game, Fred Landucci informs me that MLB is using the runner starts on second in the extra-inning rule that was used in the exhibition that was 2020's season.

I didn't know that they had kept that silliness, but apparently when the players refused a certain offer for the season, the league was allowed to make certain decisions and some genius decided to stick with this mess.

As I rooted to avoid the tenth, the next three Giants were retired, new Giant closer Jake McGee did the same to the Mariners and here we go.

You can cut the tension with a paper-knife as Evan Longoria trots to second for this farce, but does not score after two ground outs and a Buster Posey flyout.

The new pitcher for the Giants is Jose Alvarez and it's Seattle rookie Taylor Trammell starting at second as Alvarez tries to work through this fake crisis.

And the thrilling conclusion?

Alvarez walked Dylan Moore.

Alvarez walked Evan White.

Alvarez walked Jake Fraley.

Ball game. Whoo Hoo.

Manfred baseball, everybody!

A Giants loss and an excellent outing from Kevin Gausman wasted for nothing.

It was fun to watch baseball again, but I have a feeling that this is going to be a frustrating season with both of these teams for two very different reasons.

Opening Day and Baseball Talk

   Opening Day! or opening day.

Jim Bouton wrote that phrase in Ball Four before the 1969 opener as he played for the Seattle Pilots and it has never been more true for me than this opener.

With a new item to feed my disenchantment with baseball every day for months it seems, it's now time for the game to take the field for what may be a full regular season.

I'm not going to do season previews, because honestly, I just don't feel like doing them, but because I've paid so little attention to the Cactus League (where both the Indians and Giants train), I'm not even sure I'd be satisfied with them.

I've written often of the litany of decisions and changes due to Rob Manfred and his reign of terror, but there's more than Manfred to disappoint me.

The Indians continuing to develop pitchers at a surprisingly stunning rate and their ineptness of doing so with outfielders ( the decision to keep Bradley Zimmer rather than Clint Frazier in the 2016 Andrew Miller with the Yankees could haunt this team), the unwillingness or inability (depending on whom you ask) of the Dolan family to spend any type of money on what could be a contender with a few roster moves, the state of the game that allows a home-grown superstar in Francisco Lindor to walk away because you cannot afford to keep them and if you actually tried you would handicap yourself to put a team around that player, and a stadium lease that expires after 2023 all add up to a storm around the Indians for me that makes it very difficult for baseball enthusiasm.

Add the continual rebuilding of the Giants in a division with the National League version of the "Evil Empire" and the suddenly cash-flush San Diego Padres with has-been's, faded prospects, and never were players has made the proverbial "need of a scorecard to tell the players" often for the Giants.

Even the networks that televise the games have cut their budget as the Giants, who won me over as a fan with late-night games with the best broadcast bunch in the game with Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow, and Amy Gutierrez, won't have one-third of their unit doing the games as NBC Bay Area decided not to renew Gutierrez's contract and the team will not be using anyone in the reporter role this season.

Fortunately for Giants fans, Gutierrez was quickly hired by the team and will be doing all the types of features for the team website and social media that she had been doing for NBC Bay Area.

That's a smart move to keep someone that is very popular with the fan base in the organization by the team, but it shows the stress that the financial losses from last season aren't limited to the franchises.

Cleveland's broadcast team returns on the newly re-branded Bally Sports Ohio with Matt Underwood, Rick Manning, and Andre Knott.

The Indians bunch isn't awful, but it's not outstanding either.

They aren't top of the line as Kuiper and Krukow are, but they are decent enough and certainly aren't enough to make you reach for the remote button or your bottle of choice as can be the case with Pittsburgh's Greg Brown or Washington's F.P. Santangelo to name two.

I nearly did not order the MLB plan this season with my current feelings, but Cherie thought that I should in order to give me something to do with so little live baseball in store for me this season.

I know I've written often about having a summer without baseball in Hagerstown or Frederick, but for someone that was consumed by going to games for the last decade and a half, the summer looks very bland.

Assuming that things progress to anything close to normal, my season looks like a July visit to Harrisburg to see the Akron Rubber Ducks (Cleveland AA), one visit to Altoona in August for the Richmond Flying Squirrels (San Francisco AA), the usual trip to Eastlake, Ohio for the Lake County Captains (Now Cleveland's High A team) for their annual Cleveland Sports Night, and maybe a late-season trip to Lynchburg, Virginia for the Lynchburg Hillcats (Now Cleveland's Low A team), and that's likely the ballgame, no pun intended.

As far as autographing goes, I'm not sure many players will even sign at all and I'm not sure that I even care all that much.

I have decided that I still want to do the Indians minor league teams that I can and Richmond, as long as they stay with the Giants as Richmond is now the only Giants farm club on the East Coast, but otherwise unless a team has a coach or manager from the "old days" that I may need for a set, I don't think I'll be bothering with more than that.

The netting all over the field now and Covid have created an environment that has melted the hobby and without a team close by, I think I'm finished for the most part and that's saddening.

I've met so many great people during my collecting time, both on the field and in the stands, so I'll miss that, but I see no other choice.

It's a crazy time in baseball as a man and his minions seem bent on twisting a game away from the people that love it most to favor others that aren't likely to care no matter what they change.

Hopefully, I can find something that I can continue to care about as the marketing majors and bean counters take a game I love and pass me by...

Cleaning out the Inbox: Baseball Passings

     It's been a while since a cleaning of the inbox with recent passings.

As a result, there is enough to devote an entire post to recent passings from the baseball world.

Goodbye to Don Sutton at the age of 75.

As yet another baseball Hall of Famer passes on, Sutton is remembered by the modern baseball fan as well for his many years with the Atlanta Braves with their television broadcasts, which were carried nationally by WTBS for much of Sutton's term.

Sutton pitched for 23 years in the big leaguers and won 324 games in a career spent mostly with the Dodgers, but also pitched for division winners in Milwaukee and California later in his career. 

Sutton never won a Cy Young and won twenty games only once (1976 Dodgers) in his career, but his consistency was remarkable as only twice in those twenty-three seasons did Sutton win less than eleven games.

Goodbye to Grant Jackson at the age of 78.

The left-hander pitched for eighteen seasons but thrived as a reliever after Earl Weaver and the Orioles moved him to the bullpen after acquiring him from the Phillies after the 1970 season.

Jackson would play for one American League champion (1971 Orioles) and three division winners (1973, 74 Orioles, 1976 Yankees), but wouldn't play for a world champion until 1979 with the Pirates when Jackson was the main lefty with a career-high fourteen saves.

Goodbye to Wayne Terwilliger at the age of 95.

A utilityman from 1949-1960 with five teams, Terwilliger played regularly only twice in his career- for the Cubs in 1950 (hitting ten homers) and the Senators in 1953.

Terwilliger might be better remembered as a coach as he worked as a manager or coach from 1962-2010 in the majors, minors, and independent baseball.

Terwilliger also coached third base for the final season of the Washington Senators (1971) and the initial season for the Texas Rangers (1972) on the coaching staff of Ted Williams.

Terwilliger was the oldest living New York Giant at the date of his passing.

There are now only eleven living players that played for the New York Giants.

Goodbye to Flavio Alfaro at the age of 59.

"Lefty" Koch brings word of the passing of Alfaro, who was a key member of the 1984 Olympic baseball team, which was the first Olympics to feature baseball in Los Angeles.

Alfaro was the starting second baseball for the United States team that won the silver medal and starred for the San Diego State Aztecs, but played only one season of professional baseball with the Durham Bulls (which meant he played in Hagerstown's Municipal Stadium), but struggled in hitting below .200 in 1985.

Alfaro would be involved in a trade with Milwaukee following the season, but never played for the Brewers organization as he couldn't agree on the position that he wanted to play and where the Brewers wanted him to play and retired.

Goodbye to Billy Conigliaro at the age of 73.

The younger brother of the late Tony Conigliaro, Billy C. was the first-round selection of Boston in 1965, which made him the first draft pick ever for the Red Sox.

Conigliaro lacked the power of his older brother but hit eighteen homers in 1970 for Boston before being part of the huge trade between the Red Sox and Brewers before the 1972 season.

Conigliaro was unhappy to be traded, was especially unhappy to go to Milwaukee, and retired after 52 games with the Brewers.

Conigliaro returned in 1973 with the World Champion Athletics for 48 games, but hit only .200 and retired for good after the season at the age of 25.

Giants sign Tommy LaStella

  The San Francisco Giants attempted to fill an infield hole with the signing of veteran second baseman Tommy LaStella to a three-year contract worth 18.75 million.

The severely backloaded contract (two million this year, 5.2 million in 2022, and 11.5 for 2023) gives the Giants more payroll space currently with big contracts on the ledger and will pay LaStella more in the future when theoretically San Francisco will have fewer big contracts to dole money to.

The thirty-two-year-old LaStella hit .281 with five homers and twenty-five RBI in the shortened 2020 campaign that he split between the Angels and Athletics.

LaStella has never made more than the 360 plate appearances than in his rookie season of 2014 with the Braves and was a utilityman with the Cubs from 2015-18 before his breakout season with the Angels in 2019.

LaStella hit .295 with sixteen homers in eighty games and made the All-Star team in 2019 and his solid season last year could tab him as a late-bloomer, but there is a risk as the Giants could be playing eleven million-plus for a 35-year-old utilityman.

LaStella can play first or third and the Giants were noted in the Athletic as thinking that they could shift him to one of those two positions in the final season of his contract, should he be unable to handle second defensively.

The Giants also love the walk rate for LaStella, who walked twenty-seven times and only struck out twelve last season.

LaStella was the only player to have twice as many walks as strikeouts in the entire league in 2020, which the Giants and many other teams value almost as highly as extra-base hits and was specifically mentioned by Farhan Zaidi when announcing the signing of LaStella.

I'm not entirely sold on this one.

Three years seems a bit long for LaStella's track record and I'm not thrilled with the reasoning of the weight of the contract on the back end of the deal.

Using the Giants' reasoning because their commitments for 2022 and 2023 are lower than they are for the 2021 season, it makes sense for the team to pay the contract in this way.

And yes, there are several hefty contracts that will expire between now and then.

However, doesn't it make sense that the Giants will have other large contracts that are needed to fill holes and improve the team for those seasons and that paying a thirty-five-year-old player that may not be able to play a full-time position defensively is an albatross to carry?

And I would counter one thing with the walk/ low strikeout percentage- Yes, LaStella may be one of the best in the league at putting the ball in play, but couldn't his numbers fluctuate from year to year as players catch the ball?

That may be simplistic, but the numbers can vary severely in how often a player's contact to out ratio from year to year and a contact hitter, as LaStella has been other than in 2019, is at the mercy of the defenders surrounding him.

I don't think this is an awful signing, but I do think that this could be a bad signing.

I would have preferred a two-year deal or in the best choice, a one year deal and a team option, 

even if that would have been a bit more than they are paying per year now.

Say along the lines of ten million for 2021 and a ten million team option instead of that awful 2013 number would be a better signing in my opinion.

It'll be interesting to follow and see how this plays out.

Indians add Rosario, keep Cesar Hernandez

   The Cleveland Indians have been shedding salary to the point of ridiculousness, but the team did unhinge their rusty wallet and spend a little bit as they retained a player that played well last season along with attempting to solve one of their perpetual sore spots in the outfield.

Former Twin Eddie Rosario was signed to a one year contract worth eight million.

Rosario hit .257 with 13 homers and 42 RBI in the sixty game season for Minnesota and although those numbers are solid, if not spectacular, on the Indians they would be Albert Belle-type numbers with the lack of production that they have received.

The 29-year-old played left field for the Twins and is expected to play in left for Cleveland where the Indians have had a gaping vacancy with players trying and failing to fill it for years.

Rosario hits lefthanded and has hit well for the Twins playing at Jacobs/Progressive Field through the year with a .353 average, eleven home runs, and an OPS over a thousand.

From 2017-19, Rosario hit 83 homers for the Twins and in 2019, Rosario hit a career-high 32 homers and 109 RBI, and honestly, I'm not sure why the market wasn't higher for Rosario.

He's probably a little below average defensively in left field, but not so awful that you wince when the ball is hit to him and while he's not a burner on the bases, Rosario isn't a clogger either.

This seems like a very good signing to me at reasonable pricing and has the potential to solve an outfield problem for a season- mainly because if Rosario hits as hoped for, he'll be off to a new location for 2022 as this team isn't going to pay him more!

As for Cesar Hernandez, the Indians were pleased with his play as the second baseman last season enough to re-sign him to a one year contract with a team option for 2022.

Hernandez will receive five million this season and six million if the team picks up the option for 2022.

The thirty-year-old Hernandez hit .283 with three homers last year for Cleveland and won his first Gold Glove at second base after shifting over from the National League.

This signing is fine and worked for both parties as the second baseman market was congested with free agents so Hernandez wasn't going to get much more than the Cleveland offer, and the Indians are able to keep a player that they were pleased with at an acceptable cost- which right now (and almost always) is the top issue with every player that they have or are considering adding.

Considering the Indians' budgetary problems, these might be the top additions of the winter.

Cleveland could add a reliever or two if the price is right but other than maybe that I don't see the Indians doing much more to add to the roster.

Hammerin' Hank

    Yet another baseball Hall of Famer passed away as part of what seems to be a sad trend as the "Real" home run king has passed on as Hank Aaron passed away at the age of 86.

Aaron is the tenth member of the Hall of Fame to pass away since last April.

Besides being regarded by many fans as the actual home run leader due to the PED use of Barry Bonds, Aaron has always seemed to be a class act and ambassador of the game that moves beyond only his on-field performance.

Aaron led the National League in homers four times and despite never hitting more than forty-seven in a season, it was the consistency of Aaron's power that helped him to set the record previously held by Babe Ruth.

Aaron hit forty or more homers seven times, seven more times Aaron hit between thirty and thirty-nine (Thirty-nine twice in 1959 and 1967), and on five occasions Aaron hit between twenty and twenty-nine longballs.

Add it up and you have nineteen times that Hank Aaron hit more than twenty homers in a season.

Hank Aaron hit twenty or more homers every season after his rookie season in 1954 (13) until his final two seasons in 1975 and 76 in his return to Milwaukee with the then-AL Brewers (12 and 10), Aaron hit 20 or more homers.

When you are consistently putting those numbers on the board, you must be in the lineup every day as well.

Aaron didn't play fewer than the 122 games that he played as a rookie in 1954, until his 120 games at age 39 in 1973.

All-Star appearances come with the territory for great players and during much of his career, it was the players that decided who played in the All-Star game and Aaron was named to the All-Star game twenty-one times and only the final three appear to be charity elections to the game.

Aaron also led the National League in RBI on four occasions (1957, 60, 63, and 66) and won two batting championships as well hitting .328 in 1956 and .355 in 1959.

Aaron was more than a slugger for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves.

From 1955, Aaron's second season through 1971 when he hit .327 at the age of 37, Aaron hit under .300 only four times with the down seasons being nothing to be ashamed of ( .298, .292, .287, and .279).

Surprisingly, Aaron would win only one MVP award, winning it for the only World Championship that he ever won as well- the 1957 Milwauke Braves.

You could make arguments that Aaron should have won more than one award.

Aaron finished third in the voting on SIX occasions and one stands out as a glaring omission- 1959 when Aaron hit .355 with 39 homers, 123 RBI and an OPS over 1,0000 would have likely won him the MVP had Eddie Mathews and Aaron split the Braves vote.

Aaron tolerated a lot of ridiculous garbage as he approached Babe Ruth's record and he didn't fire back, but he has been reported to have kept much of the hate mail from that time.

That's sad, both that it happened and that Aaron was bothered to the point of keeping those letters.

I don't blame him for being upset, but I would have considered the source and tossed them in the wastebasket.

Aaron was traded before the 1975 season as he wished to finish his career where it began-Milwaukee where he would serve as the team's designated hitter for two seasons before retiring after the 1976 season.

Aaron would return to Atlanta and work in the Ted Turner-organization until his retirement working for the Braves and for the Turner media side in which Aaron would have a crossover role with pro wrestling when then-WCW boss Bill Watts saw an older interview of his sent to Aaron by Pittsburgh media member Mark Madden and asking Aaron if this is what he believes as part of the Turner organization.

Aaron reportedly took the interview to Ted Turner and shortly after Watts was relieved of his duties with the company.

Aaron also was a long-time fan of the Cleveland Browns, attending games in both luxury boxes and occasionally even in the Dawg Pound incognito. 

A movement has begun to request that the Atlanta Braves use this time to change their name to the Hammers to honor Aaron.

I'm generally not in favor of such things, but this may make some sense.

A hammer logo resembles a tomahawk and perhaps fans could live with a name change considering it would be honoring the greatest player in the history of the franchise.

Perhaps the time is right in Atlanta.

The all-time home run king, over 3,000 hits, and extremely well-liked, Hank Aaron will be missed by all and hopefully, his name will be the last baseball great that passes away for quite a while.

 

Indians trade Lindor, Carrasco to Mets.

   The day that Cleveland Indians fans were dreading but knew was inevitable arrived on Thursday when the team traded the face of the franchise, shortstop Francisco Lindor and veteran pitcher Carlos Carrasco to the New York Mets for a four player package that included infielders Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez.

Francisco Lindor had been the Indians star player and a home-grown one to boot.

In Lindor's six seasons in Cleveland, he made four All-Star teams, won two Silver Slugger awards, two Gold Gloves, and hit over thirty home runs three times.

Lindor didn't have his typical season in 2020 as he hit .258 with eight homers in the Covid shortened campaign, but at 27 Lindor is in his prime and should bounce back into his normal form in 2021.

Carlos Carrasco's placement in the swap came down to being able to save even more money and at 34 before the season starts and a record of health problems, the Indians forced him into any Lindor deal.

Carrasco isn't shot by any means and the Mets should be more than pleased to place him into the lower end of their rotation. Carrasco finished 3-4 last season  for Cleveland in twelve starts with 82 strikeouts in 68 innings, sp as long as he can stay healthy, Carrasco can help the Mets .

Lindor was extremely popular with the fan base with his exuberant personality and will be extremely difficult to replace on and off the field as will Carrasco, who was the Indians nominee for the Roberto Clemente award for his off-field charity work.

I have to be honest, I winced when I was told of the deal and that it was the Mets that had won the Lindor lottery.

Nothing against the Mets, I don't really have an opinion on them, but they are a team that historically has overrated their prospects and any New York based team will always have players that are overhyped.

I was even less thrilled when I saw the actual return,

The Indians farm system strength is in pitchers and middle infielders with a lack of prospects in the outfield, so explain to me why the two cornerstones of the trade are middle infielders?

Amed Rosario hit pretty well in 2019 with a line of .287 15 homers, 72 RBI, and 19 steals.

The 25 year old Rosario also hit 30 doubles in 2019, but his numbers slipped in the year of Covid when hitting .252 and four homers in 147 plate appearances and the most concerning parts?

Rosario hit only three doubles and didn't steal a base.

The Mets had been rumored to be considering moving Rosario to centerfield to make space for Andres Gimenez as shortstop, but the Indians have been quoted as deciding to keep Rosario at shortstop and play Gimenez at second.

I'm not sure what the Indians long-term plans are, but that alignment may not last past 2021.

The 23 year old Gimenez made his major league debut for the Mets in 2020, hitting.283 with three homers and twelve RBI in 132 plate appearances with eight stolen bases.

The lefthanded hitting Gimenez is a contact hitter and doesn't project anything more than average power at best.

Gimenez is rated to have a plus glove and has drawn comparisons to Omar Vizquel as both are natives of Venezuela.

The other two players in the trade have barely played in a game in one case and not at all in another, so both players will start in the low minors, assuming that the teams of that level even play this season with the Covid situation.

Righthanded pitcher Josh Wolf was the Mets second round draft choice in 2019 as a high schooler from Texas.

The Mets bought Wolf out of a commitment to Texas A&M with a 2.15 million bonus and assigned him to the Gulf Coast League where Wolf would pitch eight innings before the end of the season.

At 6'3 and 170 pounds, Wolf is reported to have a mid 90s fastball with a plus curve, but is still quite raw.

Outfielder Isaiah Greene was the Mets second round pick in the 2020 draft and has yet to play a professional game.

The 6'1 Greene is a toolsy outfielder with excellent speed and defense, but his lefthanded bat didn't dominate in high school with his bat and was rated by scouts as an outfielder that isn't going to hit for power and will have to get by with his legs.

In other words, Greene will fit perfectly into the Indians outfield situation at any level.

I realize that the game has changed and huge prospect hauls for rental players (Lindor is a free agent at the end of the year) just aren't what they used to be.

However, the Indians could have used an outfielder and in the Indians top 10 prospects, only one is an outfielder (George Valera at 5), while they have three shortstops (Tyler Freeman 2, Gabriel Arias 6, and Brayan Rocchio at 8) and a second baseman (Aaron Bracho at 9) in the same list.

While an argument can be made that only Freeman could see Cleveland in 2021 and that would be during the season in a best case scenario and the Indians needed an immediate shortstop replacement for Lindor and a second base replacement for the departed Cesar Hernandez, I still wonder about how this plays out.

Rosario and Gimenez were considered top 30 prospects at one time, although never elite ones and I'm not sure that either become more than slightly above average with the bat.

Wolf is worth a chance on a power arm and Greene could grow into his frame and develop power, I suppose although few scouting reports seem to think so.

I could recite the arguments for a level playing field, but I'm as tired of writing them as you are of reading them, but I do know this- when you develop a charismatic young star that plays well with the media and fans- you try to keep him and the Dolans seem to have made a lukewarm effort at best.

For the first time, I can see a narrow path for the franchise to leave Cleveland.

It's a narrow path, as baseball still has to clean up its messes with Oakland and Tampa Bay and there isn't an abundance of cities seeking major league baseball currently other than an ownership group in Nashville.

Still, the lease at Jacobs/Progressive Field is up after the 2023 season and even though the Dolan family are Cleveland natives/residents, I'm not sure that the beating that they consistently take from the fans and media ( most of it deserved) isn't beginning to wear them down a bit.

I would still rate the chances as slim, but I wouldn't rank the chances at zero either.

As for me, I'll miss Francisco Lindor.

Lindor was my favorite Indian player in years and after a run of successful yet somewhat plain teams before Lindor's arrival- Lindor was a welcome addition to the Cleveland sports scene.

I always enjoyed meeting Francisco in the minors and he was always very nice to me (although someone out there had a different engagement with him then) with two interactions with Lindor ranking with some of my best graphing memories.

Players like Francisco Lindor don't grow on trees and when you do, you would like to think that you have a chance to keep them.

Sadly, for various reasons Indians fans will watch Francisco Lindor work his magic in the Big Apple...

Rule 5 Fever: Giants select Dedneil Nunez

   The San Francisco Giants are always looking for unseen gold in the baseball mine and in the Rule 5 draft, the Giants selected one player in the major league half and three in the minor league side of the draft.

San Francisco lost one player in the AAA draft for their only lost player.

San Francisco used their first choice (14th overall) on a pitcher from the Mets system in righthander Dedniel Nunez.

Nunez is a typical Rule 5 pick as he is a little older (24), throws hard (the mid to high 90s), and hasn't proven himself at a high level, but has one specific stat to recommend him.

Nunez has never pitched above High A and split 2019 between Low A Columbia and High A St.Lucie, finishing 5-4 with a 4.39 ERA between the two levels in 16 appearances, 15 of those being starts. Those numbers are pretty pedestrian, until you look at 94 strikeouts in 80 innings, walking 23, and hitters hit only .239 against him.

Add in the Giants' lack of righthanded relievers (at this time) and you have the template for the perfect Rule 5 pick- Throws hard and can be hidden in the bullpen.

San Francisco selected three players in the AAA draft and all are interesting players for different reasons.

25-year-old outfielder Vince Fernandez was selected from the Colorado Rockies with the first of their three picks.

Fernandez has shown power since the Rockies picked him in round ten of the 2016 draft from UC-Riverside with sixty homers in his four years as a pro. 

Fernandez hit .257 with 15 homers in 230 at-bats for AA Hartford in 2019, so he has some pop from the left side of the plate, but he did strike out 86 times (once in a little under every three at-bats) with Hartford and I'm not sure that he'll make enough contact to hit the bigs.

The Giants have hit on similar types before, but as always with the Rule 5 draft, it will take luck.

Fernandez will, at minimum, provide power to either AAA Sacramento or AA Richmond.

In the second round, the Giants selected Ronnie Williams, a pitcher from the St.Louis Cardinals organization that was once thought of as a top prospect after the Cardinals selected him in the second round of the 2014 draft out of high school.

Williams turns 25 in January and reached AA for the first time in 2019 when he split the season between High A Palm Beach and AA Springfield.

Williams career has been hampered by injuries and was moved to the bullpen by the Cardinals before 2018,

Williams is noted to throw in the nineties, but his strikeout numbers ( 58 in 58 innings in 2019) are good, but not great considering the scouting reports.

Williams seems worth the check because the scouts seem to love him even if the results haven't lived up to the reports.

Williams will likely start with AA Richmond.

And the third-round selection is familiar as the Giants took Mitchell Tolman, a second baseman from the New York Mets.

Tolman signed with the Mets in the off-season after being released by the Pittsburgh Pirates in June.

Tolman hit .254 with four homers in 401 at-bats for AA Altoona in 2019 before a twelve game cameo at AAA Indianapolis to finish the season.

The second baseman was drafted by the Pirates in the seventh round from Oregon in 2015 and will turn 27 in June.

Tolman will likely play at either AAA Sacramento or AA Richmond as an organizational soldier, depending on which team is in need of a second baseman/utility infielder more.

Tolman also stands out not because I've seen him play often as a member of the now-defunct West Virginia Power and the Altoona Curve.

Tolman stands out because of the infamous "Toastman" Rod Blackstone and his chants during one of our trips to Charleston.

For whatever reason, Rod's chants for Tolman "He's our Soul Man, Mitchell Tolman" was the one chant that stuck with me and I had to recite it to Mitchell when I met him two years later in Altoona at the Meet the Curve dinner.

Mitchell started laughing and several of the Curve players that had played in West Virginia started doing it as well...

The Giants lost one player in the draft, infielder Jalen Miller, who was selected by Atlanta in the second round.

Miller was the Giants 3rd round pick out of Smyrna Georgia as a high schooler in 2015 but has struggled to make contact as a pro. 

Miller turns 24 next week and after taking two years to get past High A, Miller hit .216 with 14 homers and 27 steals for AA Richmond in 2019 but continued a string of striking out more than 100 times in each of the four full seasons that he was in the Giants system.

I'll be back later with the PPM and the boxing challenge headed by Anthony Joshua defending three of the four heavyweight titles against Kubrat Pulev on Saturday.

Rule 5 Fever: Indians select Trevor Stephan

  The Rule 5 draft has been referred to by some as the nerdiest of all baseball events and that might not be far off.

However, I've always enjoyed covering this draft because I've seen many of the eligible players play.

That changed yesterday with the loss of Hagerstown and Frederick and the result will be this- as years go by, I'll have fewer and fewer chances to see players in action and who knows if I'll write much about this draft anymore.

Hell, with the way I feel about baseball right now, who knows if I'll even care by then.

Until then, I'll be writing about what I know and this article will look at the players the Cleveland Soon to be not the Indians selected and lost in Rule 5 Fever.

I hope to have a Giants version soon after or later in the week if football and boxing get in the way.

Thank you to Fred Landucci, who sent me the entire draft and helped me get a good start on this post by thinking of TRS with the information.

Cleveland selected one player in the major league portion and lost two others, while they added one player in the triple-A phase and didn't lose anyone in that part of the draft.

The Indians selected righthanded pitcher Trevor Stephan in the major league section from the New York Yankees with the 24th selection.

The 6'5 right-hander pitched for the Arkansas Razorbacks in college and was the Yankees third-round pick in the 2017 draft.

Stephan was moved aggressively by the Yankees and after seven strong starts at High A Tampa, was promoted in 2018 to High AA Trenton.

Stephan's Trenton numbers weren't dazzling (3-8 4.64 ERA), but the number that caught my eye was 91 strikeouts in 83 innings.

Stephan's 2019 saw him struggle at Trenton (2-4 5.24 ERA) and was demoted to Tampa with mechanical issues, where his numbers don't look impressive in eight starts (2-3 4.01 ERA).

However, if you go game by game, you see Stephan's final five of his eight starts were impressive and he finished the year back in Trenton

Stephan again posted good strikeout numbers in Trenton with 91 strikeouts in 80 innings and his numbers with his two-pitch mix between a mid to high 90s fastball and a good slider scream reliever.

Stephan could be hidden in the Cleveland bullpen and at his age (25) with college experience, Stephan may be able to be used more than the average Rule 5 draftee with some work on his control and keeping his mechanics clean.

Stephan will need to stay on the roster all season or be offered back to the Yankees for $50,000.

Cleveland lost two players in the Rule 5 draft as the New York Mets selected pitcher Luis Oviedo with the tenth pick and the Oakland Athletics tabbed outfielder Ka'ai Tom at pick twenty-six.

Luis Oviedo was a highly thought of righthanded pitcher before a rough 2019 that saw him struggle at Low A Lake County in 19 starts (6-6 5.38 ERA) and dealing with a back injury that sidetracked him for part of the season.

Oviedo was rated by some as a top 100 level prospect entering 2019 and at 6'4, a fastball in the mid-90s and three other pitches, Oviedo could be a player that the Indians regret losing if he can put it together in his new surroundings.

Those surroundings will not be with the Mets though as immediately after the draft, the Mets sold Oviedo to the Pittsburgh Pirates for cash considerations,

The Pirates are likely to try to stash Oviedo in the bullpen for the year as I would think the Indians would take Oviedo back for $50,000, half of the purchase price.

At 21, Oviedo still has plenty of time to harness his potential and is a good risk for the Pirates.

On the other hand, his lack of success beyond the now-defunct short-season level makes him a low risk-high reward selection.

Ka'ai Tom has been around the Indians system since Cleveland picked him in the fifth round of the 2015 draft from Kentucky.

The 26-year-old outfielder seemed to be a typical organizational soldier before he began to develop some power in 2019 when he hit .285 with 14 homers in half a season in his second tour at AA Akron.

Tom was promoted to AAA Columbus for the final 51 games of the year and hit well there with a.295 average and nine homers.

Tom likely was selected in hopes that the Indians wouldn't buy him back and could play for their AAA affiliate in Las Vegas to provide outfield insurance in the event of injuries.

Oakland has a crowded outfielder roster currently, so I'd be surprised to see Tom make the Athletics roster for the entire season, but I would be surprised to see the Indians buy him back for the fifty thousand dollar check that Cleveland would be forced to send for his return.

Cleveland didn't lose anyone in the AAA draft and selected only one player.

In the AAA part of the draft, teams pay $24,000 for each player added, but unlike the major league version, the drafting team doesn't have to offer the player back and has no restrictions on where the player's level can be.

Cleveland drafted outfielder Chris Roller from the Dodgers system.

Roller looks like a younger (24) version of Ka'ai Tom and was the Dodgers 30th round pick in the 2017 draft from a JUCO in Waco, Texas.

The six-foot Roller has yet to play more than 88 games in a season as a pro and never above Low A either.

Roller hit .274 with seven homers with Low A Great Lakes, but the unusual number is eight triples, which indicates above-average speed, but only ten steals, which is a pretty average number.

My guess is that Roller winds up at High A Lake County as a veteran hired gun for the always outfielder hurting Indians in their system wherever he is needed.

I will take a look at the Giants in the Rule 5 draft as well as a veteran signing for the major league team either tomorrow with time or next week if not.

It's official- Sun (s) set in Hagerstown, Keys locked out in Frederick

        In what seemed to be the time that it took to send out a press release, but actually had been in the works for months, Western Maryland baseball fans saw themselves move from two pro teams within 25 miles of each team to having none as the Hagerstown Suns and surprisingly the Frederick Keys lost their affiliation with Major League Baseball. 

Hagerstown's fate was sealed last week when the Washington Nationals announced that they would not be returning to the Hub City in one of the worse kept secrets in years, but the Frederick Keys were thought to be returning despite being included on the original list to be consolidated.

Frederick was offered the token gesture of being one of the six teams in the new MLB Draft League, which will feature college players playing during their off-season and often using wooden bats for the first time.

The MLB Draft League will likely be similar to the Cape Cod League as one of the best leagues of its level in the country, but in my opinion, is still a full step below the High A level of baseball that has been present for three decades in Frederick.

While it's not difficult to see why Hagerstown wasn't retained for several reasons, I wonder what the major problem was with Frederick?

Frederick's Harry Grove Stadium is 30 years old and likely could use a facelift along with some of the player amenities needing some upgrades, but I've been to far worse facilities and some of those franchises were retained.

Combine that with the consistent level of support that the Keys received from their fan base, which usually sees Frederick battling for the Carolina League attendance championship with Winston-Salem, who has a newer and beautiful ballpark, and you would think the Keys would have been a franchise that should have had no worries about staying in the game as long as assurances were made for the improvements that major league baseball would ask for.

Instead, the Keys are bound for the MLB Draft League, which doesn't start until June, plays half the games of affiliated baseball, has younger and even more untested players, and has the feel of a consolation prize from Rob Manfred and company for taking baseball away from cities.

I'd even go a step farther and offer this as a possibility- the league may be looked at as a league designed to avoid lawsuits and should the fans in those cities ( the Applachian League is also now an MLB run league) not support these teams to their previous level, MLB can close the league up on a dime and claim that they offered baseball and those cities didn't support it.

Under some of the rumored terms of these teams in the new MLB-owned setup, it is more expensive to own a team now (for the right to own a franchise) than it was under the MILB sanctioned leagues and I would again consider betting that MLB never dreamed the Appalachian League would accept those terms (The New York/Penn League did not accept those terms) and leaving MLB to at least go through the motions for a few years.

The Draft League wasn't one that was rumored for Frederick as the whispers for Frederick saw the possibility for the Keys to join the top independent league, the Atlantic League.

The Atlantic League would have brought some bigger names from the past, but certainly not the future of the game as the Carolina League does.

Still, with older players on the field, an argument can be made that the Atlantic League offers a better on-field product and with the minor leagues already being called "developmental" as is, the Draft League is going to be even more about development.

I'm not saying that is wrong, just stating what it actually is.

What is the future for Hagerstown and Frederick baseball?

For all of the things that seem to be negative about the new major league-owned system, there is one positive- the old system of territories will no longer exist.

What this means is that should Hagerstown ever decide to actually join the new millennium (twenty plus years after it started) and build a new stadium, a team in Frederick could not stop a Hagerstown return to affiliated baseball.

I don't think that is going to happen as if the desire for that existed, it would have been built when they actually possessed a franchise, but it does leave the door open a hair for Hagerstown.

As for Frederick, I have a feeling that they are being used as a stalking horse, in the unlikely event that one of the teams that received invitations decides to go out of business.

In other words, they are going to wined and dining to scare teams into renovating or building stadiums as the alternative if they don't do what the bossman says.

Frederick could always build a new stadium and should they do so, they could perhaps fit into the AA Eastern League or the high A league without a name.

Frederick always had the fan support that makes a new stadium low-risk instead of Hagerstown's chicken or egg question on a potential new park.

In the end, this takes a lot of baseball out of my life for a while.

I don't really have any interest in the MLB Draft League and with Harrisburg and Altoona 90 plus minutes away as the nearest affiliated teams, I might be reduced to going to see the Indians and Giants farm teams and the Giants now have only Richmond on the East Coast for me to see.

I'm still planning a few trips a year to see new parks with my buddies, but I don't think I'll be doing much on those trips as far autographing goes.

This might be the end of a lot of that hobby for me.

Hagerstown got what it deserved.

Frederick did everything right and still got screwed.

You can love baseball, but baseball doesn't always love you.