The Yankees left almost all big leaguers in Tampa when they headed to JetBlue Park to take on the Red Sox. The Sox on their turn started most of the Major Leaguers. Xander Bogaerts went 0 for 1, left a runner on base but drew a walk for the Sox. He grounded into an innning…
I have written several times that Minor League Baseball is not about winning, especially for the Minor League clubs. Main goal for the clubs is to attract as many fans as possible with between inning games, give aways and weird promotions. Well, the last couple of weeks several club have given a preview of those…
A few days ago, I wrote an article on Japanese starting pitchers and if they are worth the investment Today the Texas Rangers released a press release on Yu Darvish. The Japanese ace will undergo Tommy John surgery. Another season of an expensive contract lost. This year Darvish will get $10,000,000. Ten million through the…
The American corporation IBP LLC (which stands for International Baseball Partners) has announced a plan to build a brand new baseball complex on the island of Curaçao. IBP is chartered in the United States with designs to build, own, lease and manage multiple professional baseball complexes around the world. The website of the Limited Liability…
In a close game between the Yankees and the Braves, two Dutchies contributed to the score of their team. Andrelton SImmons went 1 for 3. He recorded the first two outs of the Yankees. Simmons himself grounded out to Didi Gregorius in his first at bat. In his first at bat (bottom 3rd), Gregorius belted…
When you think that a manager’s job in the Minor Leagues is about managing a team, creating a lineup and doing some infield drills, you’re way off line. A manager in the minors is doing a lot more. In general a Minor League manager starts his work day around 11.00 AM (when a game starts…
Chris Capuano’s Spring Training start lasted exactly seven pitches and two outs. While stepping on first base when he covered it for the second out, he strained his right quadriceps. Capuano was offered a one-year five million dollar deal to be the fourth or fifth starter in the rotation. Another oldie connected for his first…
Relief pitching played a major role on both sides. The relief pitchers of Europe gave up some runs after Europe hit themselves into an unexpected 5-0 lead, but the Japanese relievers hardly gave up more hits and runs. In game two of this All-Star party, Diegomar Markwell started the game vs Samurai Japan. He allowed…
The Tacoma Rainiers was the next Minor League team to rebrand. The script goes back to the original Rainiers when they were located in Seattle. In 1966 the team was renamed Seattle Angels after it was sold to the California Angels. After the 1969 season when MLB’s Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee, the city was…
In what is a promotion for Japan’s Olympic baseball bid in 2020, a European All Star team took on Samurai Japan, the team that beat the MLB All Stars in November 2014. The atmosphere in the Tokyo Dome was fantastic. Thousands of enthousiastic Japanese fans in the famous cheering sections. Rob Cordemans earned the honour…
