The stadium issue is a big, big problem in Richmond, VA. The Braves removed their long-time AAA affilate from the city to Gwinnett, GA three years ago in large part because they were tired of playing in the run-down venue known as The Diamond. Two years ago, the Connecticut Defenders moved the AA affiliate of the San Francisco Giants to town, strongly hinting that they’d like a new stadium as well. The problem is,...
Joe Savery. I had this posted at Philly Sports Central last week, but I thought this audience would like to see it too. Savery is an intriguing player and to me, unfortunately only came in 7th place on our relief pitcher of the year ballot last week. May 23rd, 2011. This was a great day for the Phillies. Chase Utley made his return to the lineup after missing nearly two months with a knee...
It’s Awards Week here at Bus Leagues, that annual event in which we unveil the seasons that our voters determined to be the best in Minor League and Independent baseball. This year, we have nine awards to give out: Player of the Year, Starting Pitcher of the Year, and Relief Pitcher of the Year for Full-Season Minor League Baseball, Short-Season Minor League Baseball, and Independent Baseball. The awards so far: Independent Player of the...
It’s Awards Week here at Bus Leagues, that annual event in which we unveil the seasons that our voters determined to be the best in Minor League and Independent baseball. This year, we have nine awards to give out: Player of the Year, Starting Pitcher of the Year, and Relief Pitcher of the Year for Full-Season Minor League Baseball, Short-Season Minor League Baseball, and Independent Baseball. The awards so far: Independent Player of the...
I was at a playoff game in Manchester last week when I looked at the roster for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. I didn’t get to many games in the Queen City in August and had lost touch with what was going on with the team, so it was a surprise to see Wes Etheridge listed. Etheridge was the Bus Leagues Independent Pitcher of the Year in 2010 after a season in which he...
I saw a headline at MiLB.com last night about a 480-foot walkoff homerun for Bryce Harper. The story noted that Harper’s hitting coach provided the estimate, and gave it as a range of 460-480 feet. This, of course, made me skeptical. “Oh, OF COURSE his own coach would give such an estimate,” I thought. “It HAS to be generous.” Nope. I first saw the video at MiLB.com, but since it’s not embeddable I’ll just...
We’re just a few days away from baseball’s draft pick signing deadline which is at midnight ET on August 15th. That means it’s another year of Bud Selig and Major League Baseball swing and miss at their attempt to maintain fiscal sanity among owners. In an attempt to limit signing bonuses, the commissioner won’t allow most big money bonuses to be announced until the deadline. His thinking is that if bonuses are announced in...
About a month ago, I wrote about individual home run leaders in the minors. As far as individual stats go, and I agree it’s relatively unimportant, the home run leaderboard is the best individual competition to follow for batters. On the pitching side, it’s probably strikeouts. Strikeouts aren’t a perfect indicator, but the best prospects tend to rack up a lot of minor league strikeouts. In a lot of cases, it shows that the...
At some point over the weekend, you probably went to ESPN or Sports Illustrated to read about the trade deadline. After the deadline, the writers on those sites compiled their lists of winners and losers. I’ll throw my hat into the ring but with a minor league twist. After all, this is Bus Leagues, and you probably didn’t come here to find out how Heath Bell fits into the Rangers. Of course, calling these...
A three true outcome player in baseball is simple: a player whose plate appearances end up mostly being home runs, walks or strikeouts. Rob Deer and Mark McGwire were pretty well known for this. In McGwire’s final season in 2001, over 57% of his plate appearances featured one of those three results. This kind of player can often frustrate a lot of fans, but most still have a lot of value. Home runs provide...
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
