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Bootsmann
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| Posted: 15 August 2018 at 08:47 | IP Logged
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ROME - Roma coach Rudi Garcia has signed a three-year
contract extension that will keep him with the
Giallorossi through the 2017-18 season. Roma announced
the extension Friday, which was expected after Garcia
guided the club to a second-place finish in his first
season — and a direct berth in the Champions League.
Garcias previous deal was due to expire after next
season. Romas American president James Pallotta says,
"After I spent the first 30 minutes with Rudi in New York
last year, I knew he would be the right choice to lead
Roma for hopefully a long time. ... This is one more step
in accomplishing our long term vision." A Frenchman, the
50-year-old Garcia previously managed Saint-Etienne,
Dijon, Le Mans and Lille.
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basketball-jersey/. The future hall of famers stole the
show at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night, with Jagr
moving into seventh place in all-time goal scoring and
Brodeur stopping 29 shots as the Devils downed the
Montreal Canadiens 4-1.
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@AnaheimDucks Corey Perry has a knee sprain and will miss
the next three to four weeks.TSN Baseball Insider Steve
Phillips answers three questions each week. This week,
topics cover the Toronto Blue Jays and their crowded
bullpen, the early success of journeymen pitchers, the
comments of Archir Bradleys agent and the diminishing
number of African-American players. 1. The Toronto Blue
Jays are currently carrying an eight-man bullpen and with
Adam Lind banged up, the Jays only had two bench players
for their first game against the Twins on Thursday. Is an
eight-man bullpen feasible over the duration of the
season? Certainly an eight-man bullpen provides depth
and flexibility for the manager to handle moves during
the course of the game. It typically will allow John
Gibbons the ability to work matchups for any situation.
When a starting rotation does not go deep in the game,
the added bullpen depth allows the manager to try and
hold the lead or hold the deficit on a daily basis and
gives him the best chance to win. With a doubleheader
scheduled on Thursday, the extra arms protect Gibbons
from having to do what White Sox manager Robin Ventura
did when he pitched a utility infielder in the 14th
inning of a tie game (and lost). Of course, with the one
or two extra relievers, there are limitations in other
areas. It doesnt allow the manager much creativity on the
offensive side of things. In the American League, it is
easier to carry an extra pitcher or two on the roster
because they generally dont have to pinch hit for the
pitcher. The Jays greatest weakness is their starting
pitching and therefore bullpen support is critical. I
dont suspect the Jays will go with 13 pitchers all season
long but there will be times when it is necessary and
appropriate. 2. Weve seen hot starts from a trio of
journeyman pitchers who were pressed into starting duty
because of injuries to their teams regular rotations in
Atlantas Aaron Harang, Jesse Chavez of the Oakland
Athletics and Alfredo Simon of the Reds. It doesnt seem
realistic to expect any of the three to maintain their
torrid paces, but who do you think has the best chance to
stay successful? Teams that have successful seasons find
ways to deal with adversity. Injuries can cause
tremendous problems over the course of the season. There
is a saying in baseball that you never have enough
pitching. There is nothing more true. Each teams has to
go into the season understanding that they will need
potentially 20 major league-ready pitchers over the
course of 162 games. There will be injuries and
underperformance that will prompt a change in personnel.
As soon as you think you have enough pitching, the
"baseball gods" remind you who is boss. Journeyman
pitchers are journeyman pitchers for a reason. They have
good enough stuff to retire hitters at the major league
level but lack the long-term consistency to do it on a
regular basis. Aaron Harang, Jesse Chavez and Alfredo
Simon all have experience and decent stuff. Yet at this
point in their careers, they are part of the inventory
that their teams carry to deal with the adversity of the
season. Chavez with the As, is with his fifth major
league organization. He is now 30-years old. He hasnt
been able to secure a full-time position on any staff. He
has made three starts so far without earning a decision
but he does have a 1.35 ERA and has struck out 22 batters
in 20 innings. You may look at this and think that he has
figured something out. But you cannot judge a player by
just a three-start window. He has 11 years worth of
performance as a professional that led him to be
inventory for Oakland. Certainly, the As are ecstatic
about what he has given them but they understand what he
is and where the season may progress from here. I
actually broadcasted games that Harang and Simon threw
against the Mets this season. Both pitched well. Simon
(1-1 1.20 ERA) is a big hard-throwing righthander with a
good slider. His stuff is better suited for the bullpen
but out of necessity, he has been asked to start. His
versatility is valuable in a pinch because he can easily
move from the bullpen to the rotation. Every team would
love to have a guy like him on their staff but you wont
win with 12 guys like him on the staff. Harang (2-1
0.96 ERA) has a far superior track record than the other
two. He led the NL in strikeouts once as a starter for
the Reds. He has won 112 major league games. That being
said, Harang couldnt make the Indians rotation in spring
training. The Braves picked him up once it was clear he
wasnt in the Indians plans. Harang has a career 4.25 ERA
but over the past three seasons, his earned run average
has been in the high 4s or low 5s. He is starting to
deteriorate at the age of 35. Of the three, Harang has
the best chance of success this season but at some point,
all three of these pitchers will be part of their teams
adversity. They will start to perform like the pitchers
that they are and need to be replaced. 3. The Arizona
Diamondbacks are off to a horrendous start, and have a
team ERA over 6.00, which is almost a half-run more than
the 29th-placed team. The agent for their top pitching
prospect, Archie Bradley went to media to complain that
Bradley wasnt called up yet. Does this affect how Bradley
is viewed by the organization, or is this just part of
doing business in the Majors? So you wonder where the
"us against them" mentality gets started. Agents telling
players that their organization is treating them poorly
and unfairly can lead to an animus relationship.
Players need to understand that when their agent speaks,
it is them speaking. The agent works for the player. When
he says something, it is as if the words are coming out
of the players mouth. Agents sometimes forget that and
players sometimes dont realize it. As a general manager,
I reminded myself that sometimes agents step over the
line. They think they are just doing their job. I didnt
want resentments between me and an agent. I would speak
to a player and remind him that his agent is representing
him with everything he says and does. I wanted my minor
leaguers to think they were ready to be big leaguers. I
wanted them to keep fighting and pushing to prove they
were ready. So the fact that a top prospect is so
confident that hhe thinks he is able to compete at the
highest level is actually a good thing.dddddddddddd Is
Archie Bradley better than at least one of the starters
on the Dbacks. You tell me? Their starting rotation has a
combined 7.63 ERA (30th). The next closest teams starters
have a 5.21 ERA. Arizonas starters are far and away the
worst in baseball so far. A little known fact is that
no team starts their season with the best 25 players on
their major league roster. Every team has a prospect that
is better than a role player on the major league club.
But the prospect starts the season in the minor leagues
to better refine his skills so when he is ready for the
majors, he isnt just a middle reliever, utility infielder
or extra outfielder. Archie Bradley has all the makings
of a successful starter at the major league level. He has
quality stuff, a presence on the mound, poise and
athleticism. He will be a big leaguer. It is just a
matter of when he will get the call. The Dbacks wanted
him to refine his abilities so he started the season in
the minors. He has only made three starts (1-2 3.31 ERA)
there. It is his first season at the AAA level. He needs
time to refine his command and control and consistency of
his off-speed stuff. The Dbacks dont want to rush him to
the majors and set him up to fail. They dont want the
pressure on the youngster to have to be the savior of the
team, which is impossible. All five of Arizonas starters
have been bad. One young kid is not going to improve them
every night. Their problems are far greater than just the
one start he would make every fifth day. The
Diamondacks will likely, at least, wait until early June
before even considering a call-up. They want to get
beyond a certain date to protect him from becoming
arbitration eligible any sooner than he has to. It is the
organizations prerogative and it is the right thing to
do. Bradleys agent would be better served telling his
client that he needs to stay focused and ready. That it
is not a matter of if he will be a big leaguer but only
when. He can only control what he does, not what the
organization does. So in the long run, there will not be
lingering hard feelings about the pressure the agent is
applying unless the agent keeps planting a seed of
distrust in the players mind. 4. What has happened to
all of the African-American baseball players? This is a
question that was asked quite a bit this week. April 15
was the 67th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the
color barrier in major league baseball. It is a good time
to evaluate the progress that the game has made since
Robinsons heroic efforts. I think it is safe to say
that if Jackie were alive today, he would be disappointed
in the number of African-American players in the majors.
In 2014, only 8.3 per cent of big leaguers are African-
American, which is down from a high in 1981 of 18.7 per
cent. In contrast, the number of foreign-born players has
grown to 26 per cent of the 2014 rosters. When Jackie
Robinson broke into the majors, that number was less than
1 per cent. Baseball scouts and executives are color
blind. It doesnt matter what you look like or where you
come from. If you can play and help me win, then I want
you on my team. The decreasing number of African-
Americans is not a byproduct of racism or discrimination,
it is strictly a scouting issue. Scouts go where the
players are. The numbers indicate that baseball is
growing internationally. A fisherman throws his line in
where he has the best chance to catch the most fish.
Scouts are the same way. It is not that scouts dont want
to sign African-American kids. It is just that there are
fewer African-American kids playing baseball and putting
themselves in a position to be drafted. So why is this
the case? I believe part of the issue is that organized
baseball had diminished in size and numbers in the inner
cities. MLB has tried to bring the game back with the RBI
(Reviving Baseball in Inner cities) academies. There are
now six in the U.S. that have about 220,00 kids
participating. But because so many fewer kids were
playing baseball, it dried up the number of prospects
scouts were finding. Baseball is a more expensive sport
than basketball. A glove, cleats, bat and bag can run
about $300. All a kid needs to play hoops is a pair of
sneakers and a buddy with a ball. Plus there are fewer
baseball fields around the cities than there are
basketball courts. One of the other financial challenges
faced today is the fact that the higher levels of
baseball are played as part of elite travel teams. These
teams may demand a $1,500 participation fee in addition
to the cost of equipment. Many of these teams travel to
weekend tournaments, which can cost a family a
significant amount of money for hotels and meals. In
order to get drafted or offered a scholarship, players
may need to participate in showcase events around the
country. These can be expensive propositions as well. For
a family having difficulty making ends meet, these can be
out of the question. In addition to the financial
challenges, there are limits to the number of baseball
scholarships available to student athletes. When a player
is recruited to play college football, he gets offered
one of 85 full scholarships from a Division I school.
When he plays basketball, he may be offered one of the 13
scholarships available. But in baseball, up to 30 kids
split 11.7 scholarships. So there is far less return on
investment for a baseball player than the other sports.
Finally, I think there are fewer kids playing baseball
overall because they think the game is boring. It moves
too slowly for them. Kids today want the quick hit. They
want instant and constant action. The pace of baseball
pushes some kids away to other sports. Kids need to be
taught the game within the game so their interest can
grow. As much as I would love to see more African-
American players in baseball, I just dont think the trend
will be easily reversed. Lets hope the RBI programs work
and we can restock the inner city ponds for the
fishermen. If not, the game will continue to grow
internationally until it can no longer be declared
"Americas Pastime."
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U47.org Forum :: The Barracks
Topic: re played as part of elite travel teams.
