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Aug
9
2009
Rockland Inivitational
After Last weeks post, Trade Summary, I’ll keep it short and sweet this time. That was an absolute monster, I hope you enjoyed it. For this week I wanted to put on notice the Rockland Invitational. This is a 2 Day event where the local high school baseball players go to be looked at by College Coaches. The first day is mainly to display individual skills through various drills that will “showcase” any young players talent. The second day is for the coaches to see how the players of interest perform during games against the other players in attendance.
This is a great way for the high school junior and seniors to get exposure and get into a baseball program after High School. Some players may get the attention of a school they have never considered before, and others may get to play for that school they always wanted. The important thing is that the players will get to show coaches in attendance, why they would be a good fit for their program.
I think that the Rockland Cardinals did a great job continuing on with such a program after the Brockton Invitational decided to stop1 a few years back. Having a showcase for these young players is important because of the exposure they receive from just 2 Days of workouts. During a season, they may be overlooked and this is their chance to show multiple coaches why they are better than the rest.
Aug
2
2009
MLB Trade Deadline Review
This past week was one of the biggest weeks for Major League Baseball. Why do you ask? The time to trade before going through the waiver wire process 1,was coming to a close on July 31st. This means, that there would be many players moving from team to team in a short period of time. An example of that this year is Adam LaRoche 2of the Atlanta Braves. He started this week on the Pittsburgh Pirates and then was dealt to the Boston Red Sox. He played two games for them before being dealt to the Atlanta Braves. Lets run down some of the bigger impact trades 3 that happened this week and see which club benefited the most.
Minnesota Twins & Oakland Athletics:
Changing Lids
Athletics Receive: Twins Receive:
Tyler Ladenford(SS) Orlando Cabrera(SS)
Information reported by Kelly Thesier of MLB.com4.
Analyze That?:
Well this is most certainly a move that will solidify the Twins defense. Cabrera adds an infielder who is as steady as they come and can also hit quite a bit. He will be placed in the top of the order and can contribute to their offense right away.
The Goods Are In:
Minnesota
Pittsburgh Pirates & Seattle Mariners:
Changing Lids:
Mariners Receive: Pirates Receive:
Jack Wilson(SS) Ronny Cedeno(SS)
Ian Snell (RHP) Jeff Clement (1B)
Pirates Also Received:
Aaron Pribanic (RHP)
Brett Lorin(RHP)
Nathan Adcock(RHP)
Reported by Buster Olney of ESPN.com5
Analyze That?:
It seems as though the Pirates are restructuring their team again. The term “fire sale” has been thrown around but I don’t think that does it justice. The Mariner’s on the other hand were able to get a stellar middle infielder in Jack Wilson and Ian Snell can give them some quality starts down the road.
The Goods Are In:
Seattle
Jul
26
2009
Rice & Henderson Immortalized
It was the tale of two players this Sunday for the Hall Of Fame Inductions(1) at Cooperstown(2). One player, Rickey Henderson(3), was in a league of his own and was inducted his first year on the ballot. He has been credited with changing the lead off position because of his speed and home run power. He is also the owner of a record that may never even come close to being broken, 130 steals in 1982(4). I am not sure how that is possible but the man would just get on base and steal any bag he wanted, whenever he wanted.
Rickey Henderson H.O.F Slide Show(5)
The other player, Jim Rice(6), was a slugging machine, recording 100 RBI’s 8 of his 16 seasons(7). His numbers would lead you to believe he was capable of driving in runners at will. His best year came in 1978 when he scored 121 times, drove in 139 runners, hit 46 home runs and slugged .600(8). Even with these outstanding numbers, Rice did not cater to the media and it may have hurt his chances to have been inducted earlier. His last year on the ballot, Jim Rice was awarded a spot in Cooperstown.
Needless to say, even though these two players were separated by time, they are together in Cooperstown. It seems fitting that they would be inducted together. They were each the best players for years during different spans of their careers, seemingly playing in a league of their own. Now they are joined as immortal players in Cooperstown.
Jul
21
2009
SKLZ Reaction Ball Review
Here is a review I did on the SKLZ Reaction Ball. I also posted more information in the Equipment Forum. This is a great way to find out the best/worst of the equipment on the market today. If you have an opinion about the the equipment you use, sign up and post away my friends.
For now, enjoy the video and feel free to leave your 2 cents in the forum.
Jul
19
2009
One Sport May Leave You Short
I was on my way to writing this terrific piece on how I recently found Alf on TV again. As ecxited as I was I stumbled upon a much better subject. Browsing some sporting channels I came across something Tony Romo said after his Friday Round of Golf at the 20th annual American Century Celebrity Golf Championship at Lake Tahoe to the Associated Press.
As reported by the Associated Press, Tony said;
“People sometimes today are predominantly putting their kids into one sport. Age 10, they’re going to do one thing the rest of their life. I have a hard time with that because, shoot, I was like a basketball player as a kid. I would have just concentrated on one sport, soccer or something. I never would have been able to do what I’m lucky enough to do — play football.”1
In my amateur opinion, I totally agree with everything Tony Romo said. I think that when you play more than one sport, you develop different talents for each sport. Since most sports have the same basic concept, players each helping each other score a basket, goal, touchdown, record an out, etc. The new talents may overlap into each sport the child does participate in. Each sport does have its own special niche, but when you are exposed to different situations that make you adjust quickly, your reactions become more refined. Thus you may have a better ability to blend into a team atmosphere, think quicker on your feet, and also learn how to adjust to various situations. As Tony Romo also touched upon, the more pressure situations you are put into the easier it becomes to calm yourself down and focus.
“Anytime you’re in a pressure situation or something happens where you have to rely on your mental strength or discipline or all of a sudden you get nervous, blood starts racing, heart starts going, the more you’re in those situations the better off you’re going to be.”2
It is an interesting topic and if you asked 50 people, you will probably get 50 different responses to this subject.
