If there’s one thing I know about our readership, it is that you-all are very, very curious about Jay Bruce. As central HQ for Jay Bruce worship on the web, we’ve decided to help you out. This feature will tell you everything we can glean from the vast wine-dark seas of Internetia, so we can all anticipate what the pundits will be talking about when Jay is inevitably called up within the next week or...
It’s official: The Cisco Kid, Francisco Liriano, is returning to the Bus Leagues. Liriano was sent to Triple-A Rochester before Friday night’s game at Texas, and it was not a surprise. He gave up six runs and got only two outs on Thursday against Oakland, his latest failure to find the strike zone in a return from reconstructive elbow surgery. “He knew he needed to improve. It wasn’t a shocker to him,” manager Ron Gardenhire...
The International League is celebrating 125 years of baseball this season. The 2008 class of the IL Hall of Fame will be the first to receive a statuette called “Curtain Call”, meant to honor the contributions made by HOF-worthy players. I think it’s kind of cool – like the baseball version of an Oscar. Hey, Look! Jeff Weaver’s back! And he’s going to be a Nashville Sound (Brewers)! I don’t know if you...
The Tampa Bay Rays made a controversial decision at the end of spring training, sending top prospect Evan Longoria to AAA Durham despite an excellent performance in the Grapefruit League. As various blogs pointed out, the move was likely based not on Longoria’s playing ability, but for financial reasons: keeping him in the minors for even a couple weeks impacted the length of time before he would ultimately be eligible for arbitration, free agency,...
The North Carolina Division of Tourism, Film and Sport (who even knew there was such a thing?) recently did a study on the economic effects of minor league baseball in the state, and the results are a bit staggering: The Division of Tourism found that more fans in North Carolina attend minor league baseball games than NASCAR events. In turn, they spend about $60 million as a whole. Some $47 million pours in to...
The new owners of the Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners) talk about the challenges of working in a 48-year-old stadium. And, Braves fans of both the Richmond and Atlanta varieties will probably be interested to hear what it’s like to operate a team’s AAA affiliate within driving distance of the parent club. In case you don’t know what I was referencing in the above link, the Atlanta Braves have decided to move their...
He wasn’t quite amazing enough to earn a spot on Eric’s weekly prospect watch, but it might be worth noting that the Red Sox purchased the contract of shortstop Jed Lowrie from Pawtucket today. Lowrie, rated by Baseball America as Boston’s fifth best prospect (Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Lars Anderson, and Justin Masterson are the names in front of him), takes the place of Mike Lowell, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list with...
In just a few hours, one of the great questions of the 2008 baseball season could be answered: Is Francisco Liriano ready to pitch at the major league level again? Liriano missed the end of 2006 and all of 2007 with an elbow injury that would eventually require Tommy John surgery. He made his return to competitive action with Class A Fort Myers last week and will move up two levels tonight, making the...
We get ready for the weekend by shifting our focus to AAA ball. By next week we should have enough games played to start tracking some of the top prospects as they advance through the ranks, but for now, we’ll just whet your appetite. Here’s your triple-A news: Ten Names to Know in the International League, headlined by likely suspects Jay Bruce, Evan Longoria, and Homer Bailey. The IL is celebrating its 125th anniversary,...
2012 05 14 Scranton Wilks Barre/ Empire State Yankees vs Pawtucket Red Sox
