Here are today's links as we await the Rookie of the Year announcements…
- I'll be in Orlando covering the GM Meetings this week. Follow @mlbtrorlando on Twitter for the latest news, quotes and observations from Florida.
- The Phillies have hired Ryne Sandberg to manage their Triple-A affiliate nearly 29 years after they traded the future Hall of Famer to the Cubs. Sandberg played 15 seasons in Chicago and nearly won the Cubs managerial job this winter.
- MLB.com's Todd Zolecki takes us back to 1982, when the Phillies sent Sandberg to the Cubs.
- The Orioles signed former Cubs pitcher Mitch Atkins to a minor league deal, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun. The 25-year-old has solid minor league numbers and a 5.25 ERA in 12 big league innings.
- The D'Backs announced that Rico Brogna, who was appointed director of player development last month, resigned and will be replaced by Mike Bell.
- Arizona also announced the hiring of Billy Ryan as assistant GM. He will work on arbitration cases and draft bonus recommendations.
- Cliff Lee’s agent is one person who can skip the GM meetings altogether. “We're not going to have to go there to drum up interest," Darek Braunecker told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.
- Tyler Kepner of the New York times explains that every team is looking for the next Aubrey Huff.
Wow. Good for Sandberg. Charlie is getting up there in age, so perhaps all parties involved are earmarking this as potential for the future. Good for Sandberg. At least he’ll be with a quality organization and maybe, just maybe take over managing a championship caliber team in the future. Then then can beat the Cubs in the ALCS, err..if the Cubs ever get to an ALCS again.
NLCS
Yikes. Sorry. Good catch! Thanks.
uhh…to you and the person who liked it, it is the NLCS.
Anyway, glad to see Ryno landing a job.
“Mitch Atkins goes to Baltimore”… Isn’t this where every failed Cubs prospect goes?
lol. Seems like it.
Pie has shown legit 20 HR power and good defense. I don’t think failed is a good term.
Granted Scott Moore was poor at best but still. I have no problem taking a shot at other team’s cast-offs (*cough* just like Josh Hamilton once was *cough*)
Not sure why you mentioned Hamilton as a cast off. The Reds dealt him to the Rangers for Edinson Volquez when they needed pitching and had outfield depth.
I’m also not sure why you feel Pie has shown “legit” 20 HR power.
Why not? We were sold “Cameron Maybin has legit 35 HR power”. Yeah, sure looks like it!
Pie was a can’t miss prospect at one time. He is no longer viewed close to it. Thus, the failure tag. The Cubs and Felix himself were to blame. Not sure where this 20 HR power surge in his game is coming from either.
Josh Hamilton had SERIOUS issues to overcome. It’s not a fair comparison.
Of course I did not mean for it to be a comparison. Poor lack of a real explanation on my part. I simply meant that people wrote off Hamilton once and we now see what he’s done. I don’t think Pie was EVER the caliber player Hamilton was nor did he face the same issues.
Is that more clear? Sorry for the poor wording before.
The whole statement is ridiculous because Hamilton was never a Cub prospect. He was a rule 5 pick the Cubs selected solely with the intention of trading it to the Reds. Any team could have offered a similar deal to get Hamilton –the Orioles included.
I wasn’t referencing him as a Cub cast-off, simply as a cast-off in general
The whole statement is ridiculous because Hamilton was never a Cub prospect. He was a rule 5 pick the Cubs selected solely with the intention of trading it to the Reds. Any team could have offered a similar deal to get Hamilton –the Orioles included.
Of course I did not mean for it to be a comparison. Poor lack of a real explanation on my part. I simply meant that people wrote off Hamilton once and we now see what he’s done. I don’t think Pie was EVER the caliber player Hamilton was nor did he face the same issues.
Is that more clear? Sorry for the poor wording before.
Pie looks like a fourth outfielder these days. He’s a nice player, but not good enough defensively to play CF, not enough power to play a corner, and not enough OBP to fit anywhere except the bottom 3rd of the lineup. And Hamilton is not a fair comparison because he was never a part of the Cubs system. He was a Cub in the brief moment between the time they selected him in the rule 5 and sent him to Cincy in a prearranged deal. He was never under contract, never placed on their roster…he’s as much a Cub as Tim Lincecum was.
Pie looks like a fourth outfielder these days. He’s a nice player, but not good enough defensively to play CF, not enough power to play a corner, and not enough OBP to fit anywhere except the bottom 3rd of the lineup. And Hamilton is not a fair comparison because he was never a part of the Cubs system. He was a Cub in the brief moment between the time they selected him in the rule 5 and sent him to Cincy in a prearranged deal. He was never under contract, never placed on their roster…he’s as much a Cub as Tim Lincecum was.
Moore was a Tiger cast off to begin with!
Hamilton was a Tampa castoff.
Hamilton was a Tampa castoff.
I know it’s random, but I can still hear Rico Brogna being announced in my mind. “Phillies first baseman, Riiiiiiiiiiicoooooooooo Brooooooooognnnnaaaaa.” Lmao
Remember that sick Hot Corners poster with him and Scott Rolen?
He was my favorite player growing up…
Sandberg is totally different as a manager than he was as a player. He always seemed very mellow and low key as a player…but he can get really feisty in the manager roll. Not sure why he wasn’t given a shot at the Cubs major league job. He’s definitely put his time in in their minor league system.
Jesus when are my Yankees gone make Cliff Lee at least an offer or when is any team gonna offer a big free agent an offer. This is the worst time of the offseason BORING lol.
Although I am disappointed that Ryno didnt get the mgrs job, I feel that Quade deserved it. People will say that Quade is a career minors manager and could never be a sucess managing in the majors. All pro sports like to recycle mgrs, that why most of the openings this year have gone to ex-mgrs. I am wondering what Sandberg is trying to prove, 4 years ago after being out of baseball 6 years he approached Hendry for the job with no experience. Hendry gave the job to Pinella and let Ryno get his feet wet by managing in the minors, (I dont think Hendry ever promised him the job after Pinnella left). Now lets look at the current situation, Pinella is burnt out and leading the Cubs to a losing season when he retired the Cubs were in a 5-25 slump. Quade is named mgr and they go 24-13 with a team that doiesnt resemble the opening day lineup and a bullpen that arguably was the worst in the majors. Quade has a 1137-1097 record in the minors as a mgr with 2 rings and 8 season in AAA Sandberg 284-317 no rings and 1 year in AAA.
Quade has 6 years in the majors as a coach Sandberg none. Any one can throw out stats and make an arguement for either one, however there is 1 thing that Quade had that Sandberg would had to earned RESPECT!!!!!. Pinella lost the team and they didnt paly for him, Quade came in and in a short time got the players respect, they were a lot of Cubbies that wanted Quade as mgr.