Prince of a swing

WOWZER! The Prince has $214 million new reasons to enjoy his kingdom while the paupers and peasants are left to wonder  what it will take to bring royalty to their region.

Prince Fielder will be making roughly $23 million over the next 9 years in a Detroit Tigers uniform. While completely unexpected, the signing of Fielder by the Tigers should do wonders for an already good team. Now the bat of injured Victor Martinez will not be missed and if /when he returns to the lineup in 2013 the AL Central will have even more reason to worry about catching the Tigers tail.

I’m curious what happened behind the scenes with Fielder, his agent Scott Boras, and the other suitors that were interested in the services of a Prince? Texas seemed like the most likely choice, even Washington started to seem a more likely candidate.  I’m glad he is not going to the NL East and Texas is already stacked so I’m happy the owner of the Tigers was able to entice Fielder to the Motor City.

Almost simultaneously on the west coast, another deal formulated. The San Francisco Giants locked up their Freak…briefly.

Tim Lincecum reportedly turned down a 5 year offer for $100 million but did come to terms on at 2 year $40.5 million deal. I guess the thinking is that after the 2 years are done he can move on an make even more money? What if he gets hurt or isn’t performing as well as expected, then he will have walked away from a lot of money only to test a market that may or may not be there for him. Oh well, he’s still hot…in a freaky sort of way.

That was it! Those were the last big pieces of the puzzle that everyone was looking for. Granted there are still deals to be made but probably not significant to the general populace of baseball fandom as   what has already taken place. I expect a few interesting things will go down leading into Spring Training but until then…

News is very, very slow right now but I still check the wires everyday for a little morsel of baseball yummy. It looks like the fate of free agent Prince Fielder is the only big question that has yet to be resolved.

Obviously the Angels acquisition of Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson was a big deal and made me happy because Albert is out of the National League(and that he didn’t go tot the Marlins). These moves and the Marlins getting Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle,  Health Bell,  and most recently Carlos Zambrano might appear to be the two most significant but there were still some impactful additions made to many rosters.

The Phillies might be getting older and more injury prone but they did resign Jimmy Rollins and added a huge bullpen arm with Jonathan Papelbon. Speaking of the NL East, the Washington Nationals are trying to edge their way into competition. The Nats will have ace Stephen Strasberg returning from injury and added a solid front end starter in Gio Gonzalez. They covet Prince Fielder but I can’t imagine Fielder accepting a deal from Washington unless it was for a ridiculous amount of money and for an extended period of time(8 years +). My best guess is that Prince will sign with the Rangers or Mariners but the Mariners fall into the same category as the Nationals so the Texas Rangers make more sense.

My Braves have been very quite this off-season which suits me fine. People are shocked when I say this because they think signing or trading for a big outfield bat is the answer. Sure it would be nice to have a big bopper but at what cost? The Braves budget is in the mid $90 million range which is decent but not enough to go after the big names like a team with a $200 million to work with(Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Phillies). I think Atlanta has a strong nucleus of young and veteran players still in place from last year’s team. Granted the team underperformed during the last two weeks of the season but I still think with experience under the belts of the rookies and younger players, a new hitting coach, and a desire for redemption the 2012 Atlanta Braves are better off without a huge, splashy signing.

We’ll see.

I will not be talking about the awards and accolades bestowed upon the elite players of the 2011 baseball season, although the NL Rookie of the year was well deserved by the Braves closer Craig Kimbrel.

I will be talking about the off season trades and acquisitions that have already happened or will be taking place from the start of the MLB Winter Meetings in Dallas today.

Basically I wanted to touch base because I haven’t posted since a very depressing night I experienced on September 28th of this year when hope and joy turned into frustration and despair….but I will not go there.

The biggest movers and shakers since the conclusion of the World Series has been the newly named Miami Marlins. Besides the new name and look, the Marlins are on their way to changing the landscape of the NL East. They have a new and legitimate closer in Heath Bell and appear to have agreed to terms with former Met’s shortstop Jose Reyes. Now, if they can pull off the signing of Albert Pujols then the Marlins will have stolen all of the thunder before the off season really even starts.

How will the Phillies and Yankees respond to crashing in the post season while boasting the highest payrolls in the game? Can the Braves and Red Sox recover from their fore mentioned collapses? Where will  Prince, Albert, and Jimmy end up? All of these are questions I will be closely monitoring over the next few months.

The Red Sox are hanging on to a half game lead in the Al Wild Card and the Braves only have a one game lead in the NL Wild Card standings. While the Sox and the Braves are playing terribly, the teams chasing them are playing exceptional baseball. The Tampa Bay Rays and the St.Louis Cardinals can smell the post season and they are playing with passion and drive to make it happen. The Red Sox are playing like they played at the beginning of the year when they lost their first eight or nine games. The Braves pitching staff if laboring and the offense is anemic.

There are three games  remaining in the regular season and the fate of these four teams hangs in the balance. I could care less what happens in the American League so please wake me up on Thursday morning and tell me that everything is okay and the Braves are set to play the Brewers on Saturday.

He must have been paying attention after all because the Braves were unable to distance themselves from the Wild Card competition and had a narrow 2 game lead at this same time last year. Atlanta has a 3 1/2 game lead over the St.Louis right now and it looks as if they are going to have to fight hard the rest of the season to keep that lead and win the Wild Card again.

The Braves are limping during the final two weeks of regular season play. The starting pitching staff is in shambles, the offense is struggling, and the unbeatable bullpen seems vulnerable. Still, they have the lead with their fate is in their own hands.

I finally made it to another Braves game. It has been about a month since my last game and it was a good one.

The Braves beat the Walgreens, which is vital for Atlanta’s playoff push(see my last post), but there were three moments that made history during the game.

First, Chipper Jones hit the 450th home run of his career. He passed Jeff Bagwell and now is 34th on the all-time home run list.

Second, pitcher Derek Lowe hit his first career home run after playing in the Big Leagues for 15 years.

Third, Craig Kimbrel set the rookie record for saves in one season when he closed out the 9th inning. At 41 saves he also leads the League in saves. Can you say “Rookie of the Year”?

Even though the Nationals came to Atlanta on a six game losing streak having scored an average of 2.5 runs during that stretch, they managed to pound the Braves and beat them 9-2. Granted the Braves were coming off of a 3 days of rest because of the washed out weekend in New York but still, it’s the #@!#*!* Washington Nationals! I believe the Braves are still one of the best teams in the National League and have a great chance to make it to the World Series, but if they don’t make it to the playoffs this season then it can be traced back to every game they lost to the Nationals.

And what is with that logo !?!

The Braves, Mets, Phillies, Marlins, Yankees, and Orioles were all forced to postpone their games being played  Saturday and Sunday on the East Coast. The Orioles  were able to squeeze in a double header on Sunday against the Yankees to make up for the Saturday game but the four National League teams were not able to do a double header so their games are rescheduled for later in September. However, the games might not be necessary if the Phillies and Braves remain in their current positions as NL East and Wild Card leaders.

While there was a rain delay or two in Williamsport, PA during the final two days of the Little League World Series, the games went on the kids, their parents, and the fans of these kids from all over the United States and World were treated to some great baseball. The defending champs of Japan beat Mexico to reach the finals while the team from Southern California beat a tough Montana team to try and regain the title from Japan.

It was a close game all day and the two teams headed into the 6th inning tied 1-1. Japan, a usually sure-handed team, made an error which loaded the bases and two batters later the kids from Huntington Beach, CA were celebrating the championship. It was fun to watch their youthful exuberance but also hard to watch the obvious disappointment and sadness on the faces of the Japanese team. Congratulations to all of the teams that participated during the 2 week long tournament. They all played their hearts out.

Unfortunately the Braves lost the series because of some costly pitching mistakes on Sunday. During Sunday afternoon’s game the Cubs struck out 18 times and comitted 4 errors but still managed to win the game!?! Dan Uggla’s hitting streak came to an end but Brian McCann returned to the lineup. Tommy Hanson is headed to the DL but Jair Jurjens is returning from the DL on Wednesday. Michael Bourn and Jose Constanza continue to wreak havoc on the base paths which will hopefully continue as the World Series champs come to town this week.

On a sad note, Brave’s legendary broadcaster Ernie Johnson passed away over the weekend. I listened to Ernie call games for many years on TBS and even had the fortune to meet him once. Ernie wore his Braves heart on his sleeve and you heard his passion for the team during every broadcast.

So it was a bittersweet weekend for Atlanta Braves baseball.

The Braves finally got the speed that has been lacking from their offense with the acquisition of Michael Bourn from the Houston Astros. As an added bonus, just before the arrival of Bourn the Braves called up Minor Leaguer  Jose Constanza who is a burner on the base paths. Constanza or”Georgie” as his teammates call him (after George Costanza from Seinfeld) has been taking advantage of his opportunity by getting a hit almost every time he goes to bat.

"Who's legs you want me to break boss?" Joey thinks Uggla looks like a Dick Tracy thug...haha!

Dan Uggla and Freddie Freeman have been the hottest hitters on the planet and have been carrying the team on their backs for the past 3 weeks. The absence of Brian McCann (injury/ on DL) and Chipper Jones (nagging injuries/ not playing regularly) have hurt because even with the addition of speed and the great work of Uggla and Freeman, the Braves are struggling to score runs.

I posted several times last season about the horrible numbers the Braves had with runners in scoring position and they are doing the same thing this season. I have chose not to post about it this season so far because it is so damn frustrating and I have been hoping they can break out of the pattern. They haven’t !?!

The Philadelphia Phillies are not losing so the Braves are not able to make up any ground on them for the NL East lead. Unless the Phils go on a prolonged slump or catch the injury bug like the Braves, then Atlanta is going to have to set their sights on the Wild Card if they want to get into the post season.

First things first, get those runners in from second and third !!!