A few thoughts on all things baseball this fine October Wednesday …
- Brad Kallet of CBS New York went shots-fired on Yasiel Puig and, in my opinion, he has every right to do so. So does everyone who is tired of watching him showboat, throw his arms up and walk towards first base thinking he had just hit a home run, only to see the ball didn’t actually leave the park. Before you make excuses for him, especially those of you who are in Los Angeles, let me remind you of another player who was, and still is, extremely talented when he burst onto the scene in Southern California – Mike Trout. Anyone see the same antics from him as a rookie that we’ve seen from Yasiel Puig? Anyone? Bueller? I have no problem with you liking the player, I do have a problem with not expecting said player to act like a professional.
- Speaking of Yasiel Puig, the Los Angeles Dodgers got beat again by the St. Louis Cardinals and are just one loss away from taking their highest payroll in baseball, packing it in a sizeable suitcase and flying west for the winter while someone else plays in the World Series. All that money and it’s about to only buy them a trip to the NLCS and nothing more. Poor L.A. Well, not really.
- The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the Texas Rangers interviewed Tim Bogar for one of their opening coaching positions, with most assuming it’s for the vacant bench coach job. If you take a look at his resume, it’s incredibly impressive and, if the Rangers hire him, he could very well be the next “manager in waiting,” especially after being named the best managerial candidate in the Texas League by Baseball America this past season.
- On Tuesday afternoon, Mike Bacsik, an on-air personality at 105.3 FM The Fan in Dallas talked about trading Elvis Andrus to the Dodgers for outfielder Matt Kemp. While I could punch a whole lot of holes in this deal, the only thing I will say is the Rangers didn’t extend Andrus just to turn around and trade him a year later. Not to mention, out of all the outfielders that could be had in a trade, Kemp and his injuries may not be high on the Rangers’ wish list.
- The Boston Red Sox have a chance to take their own 3-1 lead in the ALCS tonight and will hand the ball to Jake Peavy to get it done. I remember when someone said his stuff wouldn’t translate to the American League playoffs. Wonder if minds will change if Jake is dominant tonight.
- People can complain about “boring baseball” all they want, but were you really expecting 10-9 games every single night? If you were, you may as well go watch the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants. I’m sure you’d rather watch that 10-9 game, the rest of us will be over here watching playoff greatness.
Happy Hump Day everybody!
