Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 22, 2008
Shuffle off to Buffalo
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With the Mets AAA affiliate moving to Buffalo, NY, Jason Epstein writes that a reason for Mets move to New Orleans no longer applies:

But Minaya chooses to focus on the positive aspects of the relocation, which now places his team's Triple-A affiliation in the Pacific Coast League's American Conference, which plays mostly in the Midwest.

"I kinda like it," the GM said. "There is better weather early in the season than we had [with Norfolk] in the International League. We get to play more warm-weather games."

Not any more.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
September 07, 2008
Travis-Ty?
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MLB Fanhouse wonders if Travis Hafner should be playing in the AA playoffs. He hit a game winning home run against Bowie Saturday night.

I'm sure the fine people of Akron are excited about the Aeros going to the next round of the playoffs, and I'm sure the team is stoked if they're pouring chocolate milk on each other ... and that's wonderful. Far be it from me to minimize the joy that everyone is feeling. But Travis Hafner in the AA playoffs, after already playing seven games at AAA Buffalo, is ridiculous. Send him to the majors if he's healthy, or shut him down until next year. But don't make him play minor league playoff games if he needs thirty minutes of treatment after games so that he can hit game changing home runs against the Bowie Baysox. Because what exactly is the point of all this besides providing a small boost to the Akron economy?

On the other hand, minor league rosters get raided by the major league team all the time. That makes it tough to root for a team to win, since you don't know if the best players are going to be around at the end of the season so the team can win. Maybe this is a little payback for that.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:11 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
July 25, 2008
Busy Farming
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The Oakland Athletics added 20 players in their various trades dating back to the winter:

With five minor-leaguers arriving in the past three weeks in the Harden and Blanton trades, the influx of talent is keeping A's director of player development Keith Lieppman hopping.

"It's kind of fun to play with," Lieppman said Thursday. "I feel like I'm dealt a new hand every day, and it's aces and kings all the time."

The team is now on the outer edges of the pennant race, but still having a good season despite trading away a number of their stars. Now it's up to Lieppman and Beane to turn these Kings and Aces into a championship team.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
June 23, 2008
Noah's Ark Game
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MinnPost.com has the story of a AAA game played with no fans due to the Iowa flood:

A voluntary evacuation order had emptied downtown Des Moines; Friday's game with Nashville was postponed and the Cubs already had doubleheaders scheduled for Sunday and Monday with the Sounds.

"We played the game to keep the players on a regular rotation," Sailor said. "If the flood got worse, we didn't want a bunch of people trapped."

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Foul Defense
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A ball girl makes a fantastic catch:


Ball Girl Makes Incredible Catch - Watch more free videos

She could be Adam Dunn's defensive replacement.

Update: The person who sent it now tells me it's a fake. Sorry about that.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:35 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
May 02, 2008
Seuss and Desist
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Dr. Seuss Enterprises charges too much for Dr. Seuss night:

The Lake Elsinore Storm, a Class A minor league affiliate of the San Diego Padres, were planning on holding a Dr. Seuss theme night for tonight's game. They wanted to serve green eggs and ham at the concessions, put their players in red and white striped socks and, of course, have someone decked out in a Grinch costume roaming the stadium. Sounds like fun, right? We'll never know, because once Dr. Seuss Enterprises heard about the promotion and demanded their cut, the team had to scuttle the whole thing ... but not before announcing the news in classic Dr. Seuss fashion.

The poem is at the link. I live outside Springfield, MA, the home of Dr. Seuss. It's too bad they couldn't have come to some kind of agreement. Now it's just bad publicity for a great franchise.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 15, 2008
Keeping Triple A Close
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The Braves decided to move their AAA franchise into their backyard. J.C. Bradbury lists reasons why this won't hurt the Braves attendance. I'll just add two things.

  1. The Braves can arrange the schedule so that the AAA team and the major league team are not home at the same time
  2. Having their AAA close by hasn't hurt Red Sox attendance.

And I agree with J.C. that a minor league team is a great way to introduce young children to professional baseball. That way, they become fans for life, and are more likely to attend a major league game as adults.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:18 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
December 06, 2007
Future Shock
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John Sickles is impressed with the Reds farm system.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
November 05, 2007
Trip to the Fall
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AZ Snakepit takes a trip to the Arizona Fall League.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)