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Jose Canseco has a new team, maybe that would explain why he left Twitter. He’s going to be too busy playing ball again this summer to tweet. Which is a shame because I’m really going to miss his thoughts on ecological history and maritime disasters.
As he pushes 50 year old, here’s what the slugger is up to:
The Chicago Blackhawks are now eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs but postseason hockey in Chicago still rolls on. The Chicago Wolves of the AHL come home to face San Antonio (unfortunately, they are down 2-0 in their best of seven series) in game three of the first round tonight.
And Wolves fans at AllState Arena have a new way to interact with one another, both on and offline. You’ve heard of the social media app Tweet Deck- well this is a real life Twitter Deck.
You might have heard something about this ship named Titanic over the weekend. Saturday marked the 100th anniversary of “the night to remember” when the gigantic, and previously declared “unsinkable” ship sunk on its maiden voyage in the North Atlantic.
The culprit was an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland. But former Oakland Athletics slugger, steroid whistle blower and Twitter attention-whore Jose Canseco believes that wouldn’t have happened had global warming kicked in a few decades earlier.
Michael Schlact had planned to attend the University of South Carolina to study journalism before the Texas Rangers made him a high draft choice.
Schlact is among the many major league hopefuls who will launch the 2012 Independent season when the Atlantic League opens its gates in two weeks (April 26). He will be part of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (Waldorf, MD) starting staff to follow up on his 6-4, 4.61 season last year.
I’ve always said that there are just too many baseball leagues going today. The demand is not keeping up with supply, so we’re seeing some of the college baseball summer leagues (like the Cape Cod League or the League where the Madison Mallards play) absorb some of the struggling franchises from Indy ball.
Theo Epstein sent a message of rebuilding today. Actually he already sent that message earlier this week when he said that the Chicago Cubs were not interested in acquiring Prince Fielder. It’s clear: a youth movement, rebuilding from scratch is going on in Chicago.
Today, Theo acquired left-handed pitcher Travis Wood, outfielder Dave Sappelt and minor league infielder Ronald Torreyes from the Cincinnati Reds for left-handed pitcher Sean Marshall. Marshall leaves the Cubs with a 32-40 record, seven saves and a 3.96 ERA in 292 appearances over six seasons.
The Chicago Cubs today announced their minor league managers and coaching staffs for the 2012 season, which includes Dave Bialas taking over at Triple-A Iowa and Buddy Bailey moving from Single-A Daytona to Double-A Tennessee.
Here’s a look at the Cubs minor league coaching staffs. Managers/staff returning to the organization but assigned to new positions next year are listed below in bold, while managers/staff new to the organization are listed below in bold italics.
Here’s a listing and synopsis of some of the top prospects in the Arizona Fall League. Many reside in the AL Central and NL Central divisions. The Chicago Cubs have two.
Lost in the shuffle amid all the roster moves that were made today by the Chicago Blackhawks as they prepare for their regular season opener on Friday was the fact that the roster for the Rockford IceHogs, their AHL affiliate, was solidified as well. Several players who were sent down today, including Brandon Pirri, Dylan Olsen, and Marcus Kruger, undoubtedly will be looked at to make a big impact on the upcoming season for the Hogs, who are coming off a disappointing season in which they finished in last place in the West Division. The injury-depleted Blackhawks didn’t help matters in terms of prying players away from Rockford, but so is the life of an AHL affiliate.
When have I ever turned down free White Sox tickets? Yesterday, on the last day of the season of 2011. Sure, I did have legitimate work obligations, and the Chicago weather was lousy. But if I were free, and it were 75 and sunny, I’d still take a pass.
Baseball is dying among my generation, and MLB doesn’t seem to care why/how.
Sure it’s easy to write this essay the day after after my favorite team mercifully ended one of the most disappointing seasons in recent memory. Losing is one thing, losing when you went “All In” like the slogan says, out-spending almost everybody to the point that expectations were sky high…only to fall on your face, well that’s the worse kind of losing. And two days ago they parted ways with my favorite baseball personality of the decade Ozzie Guillen, so that hurts too.
But I’m a life-long Chicagoan, and I know better than anyone how disappointing, prodigious losing in baseball is a way of life. 2011 was just routine in the second city. (Don’t even get the Cubs fans started. I think Brian’s piece here sums it up)
No, this disinterest in baseball is more a global phenomenon, and it’s due to the much larger issues at work.
And yes, I’m aware that last night was quite possibly the greatest regular season night in baseball history. But it still doesn’t fix the larger problems at work.
For anyone curious about the pay earned by a former Independent player—or any other player—who suddenly finds himself in the major leagues as a September 1 call-up, the answer rests somewhere around $64,000 in salary. The $414,500 annual salary for a rookie is prorated for the 182 days of the season at $2,277 per day.
The Chicago Cubs today reached three million fans at Wrigley Field for the eighth season in a row and will be one of only four major league baseball franchises to surpass the mark every year starting in 2004. Remember, this for tickets sold, not fans showing up. Because we’ve seen how empty Wrigley has been this season.
The Cubs are the only Chicago professional sports team to ever reach three million in attendance and will be one of only four teams in Major League Baseball to have reached three million fans in each of the last eight seasons, joining the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (currently on pace), St. Louis Cardinals (currently on pace) and New York Yankees. They did this in typical Cubs fashion losing 5-1 to the first place Milwaukee Brewers, who are headed to the postseason while the Cubs season pretty much ended in May.
The Brew Crew is doing this with a fraction of the payroll.
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