Archive for the ‘spring training’ Category

Astros Fan Fest 2010 And Bud Norris Doesn’t Look Good

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

I think I have suddenly gotten to where I have a big enough lawn that I can start telling kids to get offn it.

This is the fan fest lawn, I guess. You see, back in MY day, when Mama took me to the Dome, we went to see an actual baseball GAME. It is good that the Astros want the next generation of kids to come to the ballpark, but the main attraction SHOULD be the game on the field, not the baloons, the face painting, the WII, the wax hands, the giant blow-up slides, etc. Watching live baseball players throw, hit, not hit, catch, not catch, run, not run, down on the field is incredibly less interesting and exciting than putting your fingers in hot wax then throwing them at your brother/cousin, etc.

And I’m telling you that I fed 10 kids (yes, I did bring along 2 other Mamis and 1 daddy – I am not COMPLETELY insane) SOOO full of food immediately before we left that I was worried while driving TO the Box that if I hit a bump, that food would come back out of all those mouths and make a mess of the car. And I’m telling you that I SWEAR that as soon as I hit the seats and the cotton candy guy came around, I heard those self same mouths telling me that they hungry/thirsty.

Good news is that we were able to buy kids tickets/OF seats ($1.00 tix for kids) because we sure nuff didn’t spend much time in em. The kids LIKEY to come to the ballpark, but they like all the stuff that has absolutely zero to do with the game. At some age, they are gonna get tired of/bored with kids zone Squeeze Play, the guy walking around in a giant rabbit costume, sitting down for 3 hours just to get junk food after whining for it for most of those 3 hours – and they will already have more than plenty of Astros hats, t-shirts, kid bats, cards etc. But they sure as heck won’t be fans of the baseball GAME, because they never did get around to watching it, even if their parents tried to teach em about it.

One of my internet baseball friends, a certified Old Guy, wishes we could get rid of all the incredibly loud music, all the loud noise in between innings, all the “attractions” that have nothing to do with a baseball game – so it would really be like the modern college game – and I am starting to come around to his way of thinking. My lawn is definitely starting to get as big as his is, tell you that. (Although I certainly DO love the Friday Night Fireworks, even if I do wish they’d play em to something with a beat instead of all that sappy old stuff from the 70s…)

Meanwhile, in what was SUPPOSED to be the main attraction, the GAME, Bud Norris looked, sigh, well, not good. He got out of the first giving up only 1 run – a homer to the same guy that hit one out in the first inning yesterday – on a FB right down the middle. Second inning, he started off fine, getting a swinging K, a nice 5-3, and then he could NOT find the strike zone even if they had put flashing neon signs around it and there went the ballgame. Of course he wasn’t helped by the error (which for some reason got called a hit) – the ball bounced off Blum’s glove with a clank, and then Jose Bautista hit a 3 run triple into the RF bullpen. Astros down 4-0 and things went downhill from there.

Pence didn’t catch an easy FB, Feliz made a 2 base error and Moehler had a 4 run 4th inning. Byrdak got his only hitter out with a swinging K (not that the Astros are NOT striking guys out), Chacin pitched a very good 2 innings – 1 single and no walks, and got the very first 1,2,3 inning – the 5th, unfortunately. Sampson pitched a sterling 2 innings (you just can NOT have your good bullpen guys wasted in a starter role) and Fulchino was shaky.

Astros left TONS of guys on base again, Clank again struck out on sliders, Chris Johnson hit s 3 run homer in his only PA (which I didn’t get to see because we had already left – kids were TOO bored/restless – it is gonna be a LONG time before I bring any kid except Lil Miss to the Box because if I go, I want to watch the game and she is the only one who also wants to watch the game. Must be something about females in this here family. But I digress…) Jason Bourgeois made a great catch in center and Cory Sullivan did not. Towles broke his ofer 14, thank goodness.

It’s Opening Day 2010 (For My Kids)

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

I had told Lil Miss (my niece) that it looked as if it was gonna be just us 2 grrrrls going off for a night of getting to watch baseball. I figured – well, seeing as how it is just an exhibition game and the boys (apparently) don’t want to go to no baseball games no mo, we could head out around 6, leaving Husband and Brother to watch the boys – AND we wouldn’t have real too much trouble finding free parking, as fan enthusiasm wouldn’t exactly be at fever pitch to watch 2 unspectacular pitchers from 2, uh, unspectacular teams. And with this bad economy, there wouldn’t be real too many folks lining up to pay 50 smackers to get The Baggy’s autograph.

And Lil Miss didn’t previously (ahem) express the slightest bit of interest in lining up AFTER the game started to get autographs from a bunch of Old Guys she never watched. And she KNEW that we were NOT going to go Saturday and stand in endless lines to PAY for an autograph from Michael Bourn.

But kids, uh, um, forget – yeah, that’s the word – forget. Just as they always seem to “forget” that I JUST told them not even ONE minute ago that they are NOT getting soda/chips/ice cream/cotton candy/hot dogs/hamburgers/anything even MORE expensive.

So, the boys, uh, um, forgot – yeah, forgot, that going to the baseball game is for grrrrrrrrrls and next thing you know, I had crying, pouting, sulking, whining boys wanting to know how come GRRRRLS get to go and they don’t. And then Lil Miss um, uh, forgot – yeah, forgot to mind her manners and she insisted that I had promised that it was gonna be just us grrrls, and I reminded her that it was gonna be just us grrrls because the boys said they didn’t wanna goooo, and Big Brother walked in the door just in time to get roped in to taking the boys with Lil Miss and me and we barely made it by first pitch.

Not that we missed anything. There were hardly any people there – maybe 8000 total, and the streets were almost empty. Amazing. A line was forming for people to get free autographs from Jimmy Wynn and JR Richard and Shane Reynolds (and a few more guys) and I didn’t want to stand in it because I wanted to check out the new players and didn’t want to miss first pitch.

Not that I missed much. The Jays put 3 runs on the board before the first out – guess the fastball wasn’t moving much.

So here’s how things looked:

Feliz played at 1B and was a little shaky, but overall, did an OK job. It must be weird to see the balls coming in from the wrong direction. He handled some grounders and also some 3-1 with only one almost bobble. He didn’t do anything with the bat, but he did take a walk from lefty Ricky Romero, who threw a lot of pitches out of the strike zone.

Actually, Astros hitters went to 3-something counts an unusually high nine times.

Chris Johnson looked decnt at third – he didn’t have any great plays and he didn’t look like a butcher, neither. He had 2 singles, one a bloop tweener to shallow center and another just inside the first base line. I’ll take it.

Towles continued his ofer – he’s ofer his last 4 games – the boy best pick it up right quick. But he sure looked great with the glove – catching stuff all ovah the place.

Michael Bourn is hot – stole another base, walked twice, hit a clean single to center, darn near hit another to left, only the fielder made a great diving catch.

Clank had an unusual amount of trouble stopping himself from swinging at sliders and didn’t drive in any of the 5 runners.

Which reminds me – the Astros left bases loaded THREE times.

Tommy Manzella looked great with the glove – not quite Everett, but head and shoulders better than Miggy, but the bat looks like Everett’s.

Saw Brandon Lyon for the first time. He has an unimpressive 90 MPH Fb and a slider and gets GB outs. Amazing how few pitchers I see have what I think is incredible stuff. But all that matters is getting outs, and Lyon took 11 pitches to get 3 outs. Fine with me.

Actually, I noticed that the Jays had plenty of called strikes, but only 4 swinging strikes all night.

Chris Shelton had an OK glove at first. He hit a double to the RF gap, but didn’t look to pick up the 3B coach, made WAAAAYYY to wide a turn, stopped when it was too late and got thrown out. Bad baserunning. But that double tied the game because Cory Sullivan was on second – he tried to bunt, but popped it up and that popup went over the first baseman’s head. One of those weird things.

And speaking of weird things, the OTHER run scored when Chris Johnson’s single advanced Michaels to third, then Quintero hit a high popup between first and second. the second baseman somehow missed what should have been an easy out, and Johnson, who had had to stay at first, was barely thrown out at second when the RF picked up the ball got him. So Quintero got a RBI FC. Any way you can get it is good, as they say.

As for the kids, well, Lil Miss and the twins and Brother waited in line – made it back by the middle of the 4th, and all Lil Miss could talk about was how HUGE and I mean HUGE JR Richard’s hands are. He shook her hand after she thanked him for signing the card and she kept saying – his one hand is bigger than both of mine TOGETHER. It is really amazing how much kids absolutely treasure those autographs. They didn’t know who any of those players were (except for Jimmy Wynn – they have his bobblehead that the Astros gave out when they retired his number) and now they can’t stop talking about them. The kids are wanting to know if Enos Cabell was as good as Michael Bourn – I told them they’d have to ask their granma.

It is too bad they don’t have more sessions like this with the kids and the Ex-Stros from the different eras. It is a great way to really connect the kids with the team’s past and its history. I’m kind of sorry they had the signing during the game because I would have liked to see those huge hands of JR Richard. And tell Jimmy Wynn he’s great. And tell Shane Reynolds I liked watching him pitch. And tell Enos Cabell that I wished I could have seen him play. And tell all the other guys I wish I could have played, too….

I was pretty surprised so few people showed up for fireworks night. Maybe more will come tomorrow afternoon. Opening Day isn’t sold out, either….

I’m Happy To Be Wrong: Chris Johnson Makes The 25 Man Roster And Kata Doesn’t

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Well, Johnson gets 5 days to “watch the Old Guys go about their business” that is. Berkman is going to start the year on the DL and is eligible to come back off on the 10th. His knee is still swollen and giving him problems and I hope it is not like the problem Barry Lamar had back in 05 with a bad infection. But then again, I know like nothing about knees and how they get infections inside them…

Chris Johnson hit his 6th homer this afternoon after Wandy gave up NINE earnies. Good grief. I see that Keppinger was playing short and I don’t know if fielding had anything to do with it. But I see he only struck out 1 and walked 2. Maybe Wandy’s mind is on his pregnant wife, who is supposed to give birth tomorrow, and he can’t concentrate. Because he can’t afford to return to the old days of, uh, um, trying to cut it fine. On the other hand, he was pitching to Quintero and he has not historically done well pitching to him – and unless he has changed his feelings, he doesn’t LIKE pitching to Q.

But youneverknow.

And Sampson is looking great aned Moehler is looking better, so if Paulino’s back spasms are bad, Moehler will get spot starts, not Sampson.

And Arias’s shoulder is bad enough that he’ll have to start the year on the DL. Don’t know if he will need surgery or not. Yorman Bazardo is also starting the year on the DL – smart move – this way, Fast Eddie might could slip him through waivers on the 10th.

Cory Sullivan has indeed made the 25 man – as Fast Eddie told the media the first day of ST and Jason Bourgeois will go to AAA.  Some “competition…”

Astros 2010 Starting Pitchers Look Dreadful With Only One Week To Go Till Opening Day

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Well my friends, things don’t look real too good at this point.

Roy was the only pitcher who had been doing well, but he pulled his hammy after 4 innings and is ending his ST time with a grand total of TEN innings pitched. He’s going to get his leg examined by the team doctors. Wonderful.

Wandy, who pitches this afternoon, has been, um, “working on” stuff. The best thing I can say is that he’s hardly walking anybody – just 4 walks over 13 IP. Fewer than the number of homers he has given up, unfortunately.

Norris – well, he “won” today with 4 innings of relief, giving up 3 R; He’s now pitched a total of 10.2 innings and given up 4 homers, 7 BB, 6 K and 11 ER (you don’t wanna see this ERA neither.)

Paulino has pitched 11 innings, but given up NO homers. Which is cause for celebration right there. His ERA is 4.09, but half of those innings came against the dreadful Pirates, in which he gave up only 1 run, but walked 4.

Wesley Wright got sent down to work on starting.

Chris Sampson, throwing a new changeup, is pitching lights out, but naturally, he can’t be considered for the rotation because, uh, well, you see, there are all these guys who could pitch in the bullpen and there is a real competition, so we can’t have Sampson starting because, um, he hasn’t done it this ST. YEAH, that’s the ticket.

Among other starting candidates, Brian Moehler, uh, um, hasn’t looked sharp – 9 IP, 17 H, 6 ER. Shane Loux got sent down and Casey Daigle is seriously being considered, in spite of the fact that that he’s been a reliever since 2004, and not a great one at that. But hey, he’s got that Veteran Presence oozing out all ovah and Fast Eddie’s nostrils are twitching.

But, I keep reminding myself that Roger Clemens had like a 8 something ERA in ST in 2005 and he darn near won another Cy Young. Maybe the guys will step it up. Maybe, if Roy and/or others are too hurt to pitch, Chris Sampson will get a start. And they’ll call me too – I’m a VERY crafy lefty…

Good news is that most of the guys still at ST are hitting VERY well, especially Chris Johnson, outhomering Pence, Feliz and Clank, who naturally has zero chance of making the ML roster because of Feliz, Who Knows How To Win (just not How To Get On Base.) Should I note that minor leaguers TJ Steele and Andrew Locke are hitting decently (don’t get on my butt about small sample size) and hopefully going to AA instead of A+ this year. Maysonet is outhitting and outslugging Keppinger (and we all know what kind of chance May has of making the ML roster.)

Actually, I am hearing rumors that it is possible that with Berkman on the DL, that Chris Shelton will make the ML roster instead of Keppinger. Hard to believe. But I have also been hearing that OTHER teams are VERY interested (so the Astros aren’t, like WHY????) in Chris Johnson, Maysonet and Towles – wanna bet that Fast Eddie trades em for a nice middle reliever?

And speaking of Towles and Castro and the catching job, I want to point out that Castro is not hitting for any power – only 1 double in 30 AB, whereas Towles has 6 doubles and a triple in 29 AB. But Astros fans really only care about BA, so I don’t guess it will matter.

Sorry Maysonet, Johnson And Romero – Ed Wade Had Decided Against You BEFORE Spring Training

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

I guess you could call it amusing that the Astros are having all these guys supposedly “compete” for Spring Training jobs when the GM decided BEFOREhand who the position players on the 25 man would be.

It certainly isn’t batting average or slugging, let alone fielding, that made Yordany Ramirez get sent down or Alex Romero get released. Ed Wade had ALREADY decided, no matter what, that his backup OF were gonna be Cory Sullivan and Phillies Michaels. Chris Johnson and his .325 BA and .750 SLG never stood a chance, unless Feliz and Keppinger BOTH went on the DL.

Morgan Ensberg says in his wonderful blog, that communication of almost any sort is almost nonexistant in pro ball. I’m starting to REALLY like that guy. I’m pretty cynical about professional athletes and their public vs private personas, and don’t exactly expect good human beings because of athletic prowess, but I think that Mo probably IS the decent guy he sounds like. Probably because he was NOT one of those guys who was The Popular Kid or The Supastah in hs – he certainly wasn’t in college. Yeah, sure, he’s aggressive and competitive, but I think that goes along with being male – most guys are aggressive and competitive about SOMEthing.

Anyway, he had said that he LOVED Jimy Williams as a manager – because Jimy did the 3 things well that Mo believes a manager should do: 1 – protect his players from the media (and he surely did THAT and the media hated him for it); 2 – teach – even major leaguers learn something new constantly. How many guys have said that they wish they had the body now that they are old to do what their bodies could do when they were young? 3 – COMMUNICATE – explain what they want clearly so that guys know what’s going on.

The Astros Organization is pimping the living heck out of Jason Castro – not sure if he has all these redeeming features that make him worthy of deification, or if he is just an ordinary catcher, but he was the guy they picked as their number 1 pick – picked before better ranked guys, who COST MORE (ahem) and who are proof of the wonderfulterrificness of The New Ed Wade Regime. They point to his good Spring Training numbers as the Proof of his wonderfulness.

What does this tell Maysonet, Johnson and every other guy who was told he is “fighting for a job” when in fact, their faces are being lied to? When Ed Wade, the FIRST day of ST tells the media that maybe some day Johnson and Maysonet etc might have a place on the Astros roster?

sigh

Same thing it tells me when Ed Wade can’t WAIT to praise Paulino (another guy the Organization is crazy in luuuuvvvv with) for beating the crappy Pirates – something even Mike Hampton managed to do.

We all have it figured out – Shelton, Maysonet, Johnson, Ramirez and every other guy who put up great lines in ST never were going to get anything. What does the Organization tell these guys? ANYthing? Do they praise the guys when they do well, or even bother to tell them how they could improve so that they could ever have a chance of making the team, or being traded to a team that will use them? How do guys not lose hope?

I wonder what they have told Towles, who has certainly out-performed Castro. If he hits like Piazza ‘99 all year, what then? Why has Quintero been guaranteed a ML job in spite of the fact that Towles is a better defended and hitter? What do they tell him about THAT?

Ida know.

Pitchers? Well, the only ones who don’t look awful are Roy, Sammy G, Lindstrom and Sampson. I keep telling myself about Clemens in ST of 05 and his 8 something ERA and saying – well, this is what happens when guys work on stuff. Casey Daigle, who has 100+ crappy minor league innings pitched, has thrown 10 good innings this ST, and may actually get a roster spot instead of Sammy G. Casey, by the way, hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2006, when he threw 12 OK innings for the Dbax in relief. They’ll give Casey a chance, a guy who is a NRI, but they won’t give their own minor league position players a sniff.

I heard from a few good sources that Brad Mills didn’t want it that way, but Fast Eddie did. So when the New Old Guys suck, I won’t blame Mills.

Astros 2010 Five Questions

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Well, there a heck of a lot more than 5 questions to be asked, but hey, I have to say more than – I hate the Crappy Veteran Fetish and This Year’s Team Ain’t Gonna Go Nowheres unless most of the guys on the Cards, Brewers, and Cubs get hurt.

Anyway, here is this year’s article I wrote for The Hardball Times. Click here to read.

Alex Romero And Yordany Ramirez Never Had A Chance

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

They never had a chance. It isn’t that they didn’t hit – Romero was 4 fer 11 and Ramirez was 5 fer 11 with a homer. It isn’t that they didn’t do well in the field. It is that Ed Wade had ALREADY decided that Cory Sullivan, hit or no hit (3 fer 21 with 5 K), is going to replace Grit Erstad as the 5th OF before Spring Training started. The only reason that Jason Bourgeois is still with the team is that they need some warm body for the split squad games – he’s 1 fer 13 so far. I’m not fooled here.

I had a bad feeling about it because all the prediction people were using his stats. One of the many reasons that even Vegas doubts that the Astros will improve upon their last year’s mark of 74-88. Especially because Vegas has figured out that Mills, unlike Phil Garner, will not have any say in the roster and it will be up to Ed Wade, whose judgment is, well, there is a reason he is evaluated as a GM as – well, at least he’s better than Dayton Moore. (I can’t say fer sher, but perhaps it was Ed Wade and NOT Cooper who insisted on playing the absolutely useless Jason Smith while sitting Edwin Maysonet last year…)

At this point, Towles is hitting like Barry Lamar, 11 fer 20, so sending him down will be tough. I can’t tell whether or not he will be put on the ML team while Golden Boy Castro spends enough time in the minors to miss the super 2 deadline and thus be cheated out of an extra year of free agency – the temptation must be overwhelming. The real question is – if Towles continues to hit really well in the regular season AND Castro tears it up at AAA, what to do. I would think that the right answer is to trade him for some middle reliever and keep Sammy Gervacio at AAA.

After 2 weeks and 14-29 AB (yes, I know – small sample size) let’s see how the regulars are doing:

Matsui: 6 fer 24 with 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 BB, 2 K: .250/.379/.420
Manzella: 8 fer 27 with 2 2B, 0 BB, 6 K: .296/.296/.370
Maysonet (yes, I know he has no chance) 8 fer 19, 2 2B, 0 BB, 3K: .400/.421/.500
Feliz: 11 fer 23 with 2 2B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 3 K: .478/.500/.696
Pence: 12 fer 24 with 3 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 4 BB, 2 K: .500/.571/1.083
Bourn: 6 fer 29, 1 BB, 5 K, 3 SB: .207/.233/.207 (good thing he ain’t tryin to get a job, hunh?)
Clank: 6 fer 20 with 4 2B, 1 HR, 2 BB, 1 K: .300/.364/.650
Blum: 10 fer 23 with 3 2B, no BB, 1 K: .435/.435/.565
Keppinger: 4 fer 14 with 2 2B, 5 BB, 2 K: .286/.474/.429
Michaels: 7 fer 20 with 3 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 2K: .350/.375/.800
Sullivan: 3 fer 21 with 1 BB, 5 K: .143/.217/.143
Quintero: 6 fer 22 with 1 @B, 1 BB, 1 K: .273/.304/.218

WOW – it’s FUN to hit minor leaguers and unprepared major leaguers working on stuff, isn’t it?

As for pitchers, um, well, Roy O is cruising with 3 hits, 4 BB, 3 K over 6 IP (and he shut the Red Sox DOWN). Sammy Gervacio is looking awesome – 1 hit (HR) 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K in 6 IP over 5 games. Matt Lindstrom has given up 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K in 4.2 IP over 4 games and no runs. Casey Daigle has given up NO hits, 1 BB, 5 K over 4 IP in 3 games. Arias is hurt and everyone else is, uh, um, er, uh, working with his pitches, yeah, that’s the ticket. Wandy (working on his changeup) and Moehler (working on his control)and Wesley Wright (working, period) and Bud Norris (sigh) and other starting candidates are giving up homers, hits, walks left and Wright (hahahaha) and I bet right now that Fast Eddie is trying to trade Towles for some juicy Veteran Goodness in the middle relief department, seeing as how 4-9 IP is statistically significant.

Interesting that it takes pitchers so much longer to get ready for the season than hitters.

18 days left to Opening Day.

Astros Rained Out Against Nats And Another Storm Is Brewing

Friday, March 12th, 2010

As all yall have probably already heard, Berkman is needing minor surgery on the knee (not the one he had an operation on back in 05) he hurt last week, and will be out 2-4 weeks.

This means that someone else will be playing first base, and there really isn’t another 1B available, like Mike Lamb, a couple years back, so Blum and Shelton will be trying to field that position.

And speaking of approaching thunderclouds and raining on parades, I hear tell that Ed Wade and his own managerial hire are, uh, not exactly agreeing on who should be on the 25 man roster.

For instance, Fast Eddie has told everyone that Quintero WILL be the backup catcher (regaardless of how well Towles and Castro do – and if Castro does well, and if the Astros are going to forfeit an extra year of Castro by not waiting until the Super 2 deadline, Towles will be wasted in AAA – and you KNOW they won’t trade him for anything but ANOTHER middle reliever, if that…)

But I digress…

Anyway, apparently, Mills wants a totally different bench (seeing as how he has no choice about who plays second or third) and he wants BOTH Towles and Castro (not Q) and Maysonet, Johnson, Yordany Ramirez and Alex Romero, and he wants to give them a LOT more playing time than Fast Eddie thinks – and we all know that Eddie wants moldy oldies Blum, Q, Kepp, Michaels and Sullivan. He said, and I quote “Towles, Maysonet, Johnson and Ramirez may just have to wait until we have a spot for them…”

Which is why Fast Eddie is ranked on GM lists as – well, at least he’s not as bad as Dayton Moore…

It sure seems to be more than possible that Fast Ed is, um, going along with Drayton’s historic preference for Old Guys. After all, Ed does “work with” Tal Smith…

2010 Astros After First Week Of ST – Stats, News, Rumors

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Well Hitter Pence and JR Towles are hitting up a storm – at least so far, small sample size, I know. I know that Richard Justice has taken some, um, stuff, for being so open about the players’ um, unhappiness (ahem) with Cecil Cooper these past few years, but anyone who actually watched the team even outside the clubhouse could see it. And anyone could see that the pitchers were NOT happy with Dewey. From the clips I have seen (and from communications sent by my friends Ann Onnamuss, Bea Tzme and Ida No-Hu) the guys look incredibly happier and more relaxed than they did last year.

I’m actually not surprised that Towles is hitting like crazy – he hit like crazy in AAA, and has good strike zone judgement and he now has a manager who, at least, doesn’t, uh, not like him – yeah, let’s put it like that – as Cooper obviously did not. This year, he actually has a good shot at playing on the ML club. I hear tell that Fast Eddie wants Quintero as the backup, regardless of whether Castro or Towles wins the starting job, don’t ask me why. Supposedly, it is because he NOW is crediting Q with Wandy’s development last year??? Development last year? LAST YEAR??? O RLY??? Here and I thought it was Pudge’s doing – at least Wandy told Jose Ortiz something like that before Jose was banished to soccer. Catchers who can hit are pretty rare and catchers who can hit AND run well are usually moved to a different position ala Saint Biggio back in 92.

However, Edwin Maysonet SHOULD have the backup 2B/IF job sewn up, as he is OBVIOUSLY head and shoulders better than Keppinger. It will be interesting to see if Brad Mills is going to be allowed to actually decide whether or not Maysonet will make the team instead of Keppinger. It will be interesting to see if Brad Mills will be allowed to sit veterans (Kaz Matsui) and play Maysonet. And it will be interesting to see if Brad Mills will be allowed to put Chris Johnson on the ML roster or play him, if he hits up a storm. I hear tell that Fast Eddie and Mills have some different opinions about who should or should not be on the 25 man AND who should be playing. The Organization has been dictating to the manager who will/will not play where since the 2007 Saint Biggio farewell tour. Bout time for the manager to manage.

So far, Mills has been playing Bogusevic in right, and a little bit in center, and he has done well as a fielder, per my friend Ann. Alex Romero has been playing only in left, as a DR. Not sure why that division of labor, and not sure whether or not Yordany Ramirez stands a chance of making the cut as the 5th OF.

Ann and Ida have told me that both Lance and Clank look great with the bat, ready to start the season today. Not surprised. Lance, I guess, will have to wait until the swelling in his knee goes down before he starts seriously fielding. And speaking of fielding, I hear that Manzella has a fabulous glove and is everything we’ve heard. With the glove. He’s Adam Everett all ovah again with the bat. But run prevention really IS a good thing, as I’ve said for umpty ump years. And it will be great to see a good glove at short again. I’m tired of the Loretta/Miggy slop.

As for the pitchers, well, all the starting candidates have pitched 2 innings, none of them have looked exactly in top form, which is to be expected. Only Brandon Lyon hasn’t pitched yet (still recovering from surgery, but he should go sometime next week) and Polin Trinidad had the outing from, uh, heck – on the few times he DID find the plate, he got smashed to heck. The rest of the guys are getting their rhythm, as expected, and Arnsberg and Mills, unlike their predecessors, are making sure that everyone is getting work, even at “B” games. And the minor leaguers are getting fed good quality food, so no matter what, their time spent at ST is time well spent.

I thought there wouldn’t really BE any ST questions, but, I just might could be wrong and it just might could be that Brad Mills will take the players HE considers best for winning, not just the best PAID ones.

Last but not least, Morgan Ensberg is blogging – he is answering and replying to every single question posted AND he hasn’t gone all Bull Durham. He even said – yes, he really did – that he met and he LIKES The Hated Milton Bradley. And that he LOVED Jimy Williams as a manager – that he would run through a wall for him. That sure as heck doesn’t sound like the usual crap lies/PR stuff I’ve come to despise having to hear.

And speaking of Milton Bradley, he’s a guy who needs to go meet Jeff Francoeur and tell him – dude, like, I’ll pay you to tell me how to talk to make the media absolutely LOVE you, no matter HOW you play. Because I’ve never seen anything like the Francoeur Phenomena – in which a ballplayer who really isn’t that good makes total groupies of every media person, who thinks Francoeur really REALLY is God’s Gift to MLB. When Francoeur retires from baseball, the guy will make the worlds biggest fortune if he can figure out how to teach people the secret of his success…

Stros have an off day, and meanwhile, I’m going to investigate the preposterous claim that somehow, Quintero is the secret of Wandy’s success last year…

Minor League Players Get A $5.00 A Day Raise For Food

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

As all yall know, I have 3 young sons and am raising my niece as well. I read over and over again that pretty much as a rule, the children who do best in school and in life are fed a good breakfast before school, eat dinner with the rest of the family, and their mean, cruel Mamis (and Daddys – let me not be sexist here) make them go to bed and get enough sleep. Oh yeah – and parents make sure they get plenty, but not too much NUTRITIOUS food, so they will be healthy and grow to their full potential. And it is unbelieveable how much food growing children eat – and as my Mama warns me – you just wait until they are teenagers because teenage boys will eat a huge dinner, then complain that they are hungry 5 minutes later.

I believe it because they often do it already, and they aren’t even teenagers yet. It is amazing how much I spend on food every week – AND I don’t buy junk or sodas neither.

So I was dumbfounded to read that minor leaguers are given $20.00/day for meal money, most of which they have to pay to a clubhouse manager who may or may not even bother to get decent food – often they have pizza or other greasy, carbohydrate rich, nutrient poor food.

This is what minor leaguers are paid:

Rookie League, A ball short season: $850/month x 3 months = $2550/year
A ball long season: $1050/month x 5 months = $5250/year
AA: $1500/month x 5 months = $7500/yr
AAA: $2150/mo x 5 months = $10,750/yr

I know that these are all first year salaries, and that minor leaguers with more years experience are paid more – sometimes not much more, until AAA, BUT the players have to pay all their rent, equipment, clothes, everything out of that meager amount. Sure I know that guys picked in the first 2 rounds get enough bonus money to buy decent food and decent housing, but the rest?

What exactly kind of nutrition do you think an 18-22 year old is going to be able to obtain on 25 bucks a day, most of which, as I said, goes to the clubhouse manager who may or may not procure nutritious food. The only way they can actually get a LOT of calories – and remember, they are not in they mama basement reading, they are under a great deal of stress, they are athletes, and most important, they are still growing adolescents.

I don’t get this, I really don’t. What on earth is the point of squeezing the food budget for young males? Why half starve them? Survival of the fittest? They figure the guys in the first 2 rounds are the only ones they care about anyhow and the rest of the players are just the supporting cast so who cares what happens to them? What is the point of THAT? Why not try to get the most, the best out of the players you DO bother to draft? Would it be a terrible thing if an Organization was able to create, say, 6 major league quality players a year instead of none or 1 or 2?

It couldn’t possibly cost a major league club that much to pay to feed their players quality food, at least at home. The better the nutrition, the better the performance. EVERY adult does better when his/her nutrition is optimal. You don’t put kerosene in a performance car, so why put junk and crap in a high performance athlete?

Look, I know that the draft really IS a crapshoot, for the most part, and that many first rounders get to the major leagues ONLY because they were first rounders – if some 30th rounder had the same stats, he wouldn’t be treated the same. But since it IS a crapshoot, why on earth not try to increase the odds?

sigh

I suppose it is the habit of billionaires to pinch pennies, to try to continue to get everything for nothing, to consider generosity and decency as character flaws. Perhaps they think that athletes who are fed decently will lose their hunger to play MLB, their competitive edges. But most likely, they simply don’t care and figure that there will be those who are married to rich women or who have rich families who will see that their sons are decently fed, and that the remainder will either be cannon fodder or will survive on crap.

One of these days, some number cruncher will convince some billionaire that pocket change invested in good food will produce more and better ballplayers, who will be younger, healthier and CHEAPER and perhaps THAT will spur change.