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Minor League Affiliate Musical Chairs
Not only does the fall mean playoff baseball, it means a rousing game of Minor League Affiliate Musical Chairs (MLAMC). What is MLAMC you say? MLAMC happens basically every year as player development contracts between big league clubs and their minor league affiliates end and teams jockey for position to get the association they wish.
So far this year there has been a few affiliation moves already. New Kansas City Royals GM Dayton Moore has brought back the nearby Wilmington Blue Rocks to the organization. The New York Yankees have moved from Columbus to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for their Triple-A affiliate. Both are decent moves to have affiliates that are closer to the big league club.
Yet it is the Washington Nationals who have made the best moves so far in the game. They signed a contract with the Hagerstown Suns, moving their South Atlantic League team from Savanna to Hagerstown. This is especially notable as the new affiliate is only 70 miles from D.C. and within an hour’s drive from a couple of their other affiliates.
The Nationals also changed their Triple-A affiliate from the New Orleans Zephyrs to the Columbus Clippers. Not only are the Clippers closer than their previous affiliate, they also play in the International League, who’s teams dot the eastern half of the nation. Overall, travel time for prospects to and from the Nationals will be reduced. Throwing in the fact that Columbus will have a new stadium in 2008 is a bonus.
Nationals president Stan Kasten’s remake of the farm system affiliates looks to be a great success.
But with any game of Minor League Affiliate Musical Chairs there has to be a looser. This year’s big looser so far is the New York Mets. Due to a lack of communication between Mets team officials and their Norfolk affiliate the Tides have moved on to the Baltimore Orioles. While the Orioles have picked up a Triple-A affiliate that is much closer to their parent club, the Mets now have to settle for the New Orleans Zephyrs. Not only are the Zephyrs half way across the nation, they play in the Pacific Coast League, a league that plays most of their games in the western half of the nation as well.
Then again their minor leagues are in such shambles that they won’t have many prospects bouncing from New Orleans and the parent club anyway.
Are the Twins Ready for the Postseason?
The Minnesota Twins remarkable rise in the standings has been nothing short of outstanding. After the first couple months the Detroit Tigers were moving away from the pack and dominating the American League and the Twins offense was in shambles. Now the Twins are knocking on the front door of the AL Central, vying to win the division from the sagging Tigers.
Most sportswriters point out that significant ground has been gained even with the loss of young stud pitcher Francisco Liriano for the year. But it has also taken place while Brad Radke (5-2, 3.12 ERA in second half) has been down with shoulder problems. It has also taken place while the Twins have been throwing in rookie pitcher after rookie pitcher to fill the gap with very mixed results.
How are the Twins here? It’s Johan Santana’s dominance every fifth day. It’s Justin Morneau’s power. It’s Joe Mauer’s ability to make contact. It’s Michael Cuddyer’s ability to drive in runs. It’s even Nick Punto’s defense at the hot corner. This team has been playing like….a team. Every player has had an integral part in the rise through the standings.
However, if the Twins do make the playoffs there will be one question that will be at the top of everyone’s minds; “With Radke and Liriano gone, who’s going to be behind Santana in the rotation?” Placing Carlos Silva in the second spot in the rotation doesn’t exactly strike fear in opposing batters. Scott Baker had a tremendous 2005 in the minors, Boof Bonser has rose through the system with big promise, and Matt Garza has been seen as the minor league pitcher of the year by many. But each pitcher has mixed results in their first few starts in the majors.
Such a situation can make any manager chug down antacid while scratching out the match-ups for the postseason.
Pushing Girardi Out, Are you Crazy?
Recent media buzz in Florida is in constant speculation that rookie manager Joe Girardi will be pushed out of his position after the season is over. Disagreements between Girardi and the current Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria have been very public lately. Some members of the Marlins administration have even gone so far as to leak Girardi’s preseason judgments of who should be on the roster and where they should play (drastically different than the current setup).
How could the Marlins kick Girardi to the curb? After a horrendous start to the season that was a given due to the number of rookies the team was playing, the Marlins have taken off with a torrid second half that has put them into contention for the NL Wildcard.
Is Loria wanting the Marlins to loose? Is this like the movie Major League? Are the Marlins players sitting down in the locker room with a cardboard cut out of Loria, taking a piece off after every win? I hope not, there would be a lot more questions coming from that locker room than how Loria deals with the manager.
Rumors are already starting to spread that he will take over Dusty Baker’s job in Chicago after the season’s over. The way that he has turned around the Marlins in a short period of time have shown his ability to manage a team to success. For the Marlins’ sake, I hope this rumor isn’t true. A young team like the Marlins needs to stick with the same manager for the first few seasons to give them enough familiarity through their major development years.
Red Sox “Content” to Rebuild
By trading veteran lefty starter David Wells it seems as if the Red Sox have thrown in the white flag. Once Jason Varitek was hurt the season was basically over anyway. Sure the Theo tried to fill the gaping hole with Javier Lopez’ bat, but Varitek’s game calling and overall handling of the pitchers could not be replaced with an aging, offensive minded catcher.
Additionally, the Red Sox could not counter the Yankees’ move of acquiring Bobby Abreu, even though they tried themselves to trade for Abreu. The Yankees are now too stacked to loose the AL East race and with the dominant teams in the AL Central, the Red Sox have little hope at the AL Wild Card either.
So, as somewhat of a white flag move, Theo Epstein traded David Wells for the potential future catcher of the organization, George Kottaras. George was ranked one of the Padres best prospects after last season and continued to push through the minors this year. The Red Sox Nation needs to face reality that Varitek is “over the hill” catching-wise and the team will need to groom another catcher for his replacement.
Yet, even with this trade, there hasn’t been much of an uproar from the fans of the Red Sox, who much like Yankees fans, are very verbal when it comes to throwing in the towel. Is it that the Boston fans trust Theo’s belief that he’s rebuilding the team for the long term? Can the often demanding fan base except that excuse and move on? With as little uproar has been heard, this must be true.
The Sox do have some decent young talent in the majors and percolating through their minor league system. With pitchers like Jonathan Papelbon and Jon Lester, as well as hitters like Kevin Youkilis, Willy Mo Pena, and Dustin Pedroia there is hope on the horizon if the team doesn’t make any wrong moves. A potent bat like Kottaras’ just makes that argument stronger.
