Posts Tagged ‘Los Lobos de Arecibo’

Jason Bay with his version of giving ME the finger. Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.

I really do apologize for not being better at updating the blog this December.  I really am going to work on that after the holiday.  And, hey, once December is over, we’re that much closer to truck day!!

All the buzz about the Red Sox making room in their budget to make Jason Bay another offer has me scratching my head.  Are they going to offer him more money and/or years after he rejected their last offer – essentially bidding against no other team but the Red Sox?  It was feeling, to me, like Bay and his agent overestimated the number of contending teams who would want a crack at him so I’m not getting why the Red Sox would jump back in.  I don’t hate the idea of Bay back on the Sox but I don’t love the idea of them throwing stupid money or years at him just to get him to stay.  I just don’t think he’s that valuable.  (Although, if the scuttlebutt is true and the Sox offered Matt Holliday five years, I’d much prefer that money and offer go to Bay instead.

I received a lovely email last night from a Royals fan who wrote that she found my blog while Googling Kyle Snyder’s name and wanted to know if I had any info on what he’s up to.  (See?  Royals fans are ever loyal.  One of my favorite fan bases!)  Sadly, I don’t.  Finding info on the Puerto Rico Baseball League has been close to impossible. (I can tell you his team is in first place and that the last time he pitched was on November 21.)  But I haven’t found one word about WHY it’s been over a month since he pitched.  Is he hurt?  Did he decide he didn’t need to play winter ball?  Was he so comfortable with how he felt physically after pitching in two games that he’s just hanging around with the team and not playing?  (I know practically nothing about this league so I really don’t have a clue here.)  I hope he’s healthy and enjoying the winter wherever he is and I hope we find out soon if/when he gets picked up by another team.  (And information from any folks out there who have some would be greatly appreciated!  We seem to be developing a group of Kyle fans – I get contacted almost weekly by someone asking about him – so it would be nice to have information to provide to folks!)

I hope those of you who celebrate have a wonderful Christmas and those of you who don’t just have a great long weekend!  Christmas Eve is the bigger day in my family (we celebrate on Christmas Day too but the bigger party is on the Eve) so today will be filled with lots of cleaning, cooking, and thanks to me being a goof and having Amazon.com send a package to my office instead of my home, a little bit of last-minute shopping before he festivities begin tonight.  It’s one of my favorite times of the year and I’m looking forward to it all!

I have one Christmas wish and it isn’t even baseball-related:  Be  nice to each other.  That’s all I ask.  (Okay, I have a baseball-related wish too:  No trading Jacoby Ellsbury or Clay Buchholz.  I don’t think I ask too much.  :) )

While I don't hate the idea of Pedroia at short, I'd much prefer he stay at 2nd and Theo get the team a damn shortstop. (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission)

Gordon Edes is back where he belongs:  In Boston covering the Red Sox…so all is not lost!  (Seriously, I couldn’t be happier.  It’s nice to have a writer I feel like I can turn to for what is actually going on and not some tabloid talk.)

In his most recent post, Edes tells us that, in spite of their first offer being rejected, the Red Sox are still hot for Jason Bay.    Actually, it’s a line in his newest entry that they used as the headline “but a club source indicated that Bay remains the prime target“.  The rest of the piece is about Matt Holliday and Roy Halladay and Marco Scutaro and, well, basically everyone BUT Bay.  It is mostly about which free agents the Sox are targeting, though, and it’s an interesting piece.

I hope he’s right.  I hope they’re still considering making him an offer he can’t refuse.  But, again, I won’t be losing any sleep if they don’t.  I like Bay but I don’t think he’s irreplaceable.  Honestly, my bigger concern is the infield at the moment.  Alex Gonzalez might not be a future Hall of Famer but dammit he’s a quite decent shortstop…and having him is better than not having a shortstop at all.  I’m not buying into this Pedroia at short talk just yet.  Sure it was brought up, I get that, and if anyone thinks Pedie would ever turn down a challenge, well they aren’t paying attention.  But I don’t see it happening unless something fabulous turns up to take second base.  Meanwhile, Jed Lowrie quietly asks “WTH?”.

Been checking in on Kyle Snyder and his team in Puerto Rico.  The good news is that Arecibo is still in first place but the bad news is Kyle seems to still be stuck on only having pitched in two games…his last only one inning – and I still haven’t determined if he’s injured or just stuck in some kind of huge rotation.  Shout out to anyone in Puerto Rico (or anyone who follows the teams) with any information and I’d been terribly grateful.

Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated finally ended the long-time persecution of Derek Jeter by anointing him Sportsman of the Year.  I certainly hope he’ll now get the respect he deserves that has been so elusive to him throughout his career.

But who cares about Derek Jeter when there are nekkid photos of Grady Sizemore out there?  I’ve never looked at Sizemore the way “Grady’s Ladies” do but those pictures circulating right now make me think I might rethink my position on that.  Except that in the one where you see the most, he forgoes a figleaf for a teacup.   Bad choice, Mr. Sizemore, and one that your teammates will remind you of repeatedly throughout the 2010 season.

On a more serious note, it’s good to see Major League Baseball getting involved in trying to get the pictures taken down and not at all surprising that Deadspin doesn’t intend to do so (using the “They did it first” defense).  As was pointed out to me by a photographer friend, the pictures are legally Grady’s and were illegally obtained.  Doesn’t he have any legal recourse?  It would do my heart good to see more people go after the likes of Deadspin and Perez Hilton (pretty much one in the same to me) but I don’t see it happening any time soon.   It’s too bad.  Tabloid reporting (and outright theft of things like photos) seem to be the only way anyone online becomes successful these days.  It’s really kind of depressing.

I’m told there are 74 days until pitchers and catchers report.  What’s that mean, about 65 days until Truck Day?  There’s an awful lot of time to fill with speculation and rumors.  Ah, the holidays!

Well it wasn’t easy, but we got our two winners!  Congratulations to Beth in Tennessee (with a 60) and Kristen in Massachusetts (with a 50) for being the first two to get the most answers correct!  Beth and Kristen will have brand-new copies of GAME SIX: Cincinnati, Boston, and the 1975 World Series: The Triumph of America’s Pastime by Mark Frost, heading their way in time for Thanksgiving!

I’m hoping to get more opportunities for giveaways and I promise I’ll make the quizzes less difficult in the future!

Thanks to everyone who participated and special thanks to Molly K. Frandson at Hyperion Books for providing the books for this giveaway!

Still following the Puerto Rican Baseball League – Kyle Snyder has only pitched one game still and his team is just a half game out of first with a 4-2 record.  So far, so good. I just wish getting info on the games was easier than it has been.  I’m following two folks on Twitter who cover the league and that’s been a great help!  Thanks to friends of the blog who have been emailing me their own updates!

Jason Bay…well what are you going to do?  I don’t think anyone thought he’d accept whatever offer the Sox threw out there right off the bat so it didn’t come as a surprise.  All it really does is give us more time to wonder whether we want the Sox to go all out to keep him or if we’d be happy with them focusing elsewhere.  It’s only November…we have roughly two and half more months of this!

Thanks, again, to all of you who ventured into quiz territory and congratulations  again to Kristen and Beth!

A photo I took of Kyle this past May at Pawtucket

It’s 2am (well 3am when I’ve finished writing this) and I’m wide awake and watching the MLB Network.  On October 29, 2009, Bob Costas had a sit-down interview with Bud Selig and the MLBN is re-airing it right now.  The only thing compelling me to watch this is that I can’t sleep and with 1000 channels there really isn’t anything better on at 2am.

Selig is one of those people I can’t stand to look at.  That isn’t to say I think he’s repulsive looking, it’s to say when I look at him my first thoughts go to something along the lines of my being glad I wasn’t next to him because I’d want to punch him in the face.  I’m not proud; I genuinely despise him.

When Bob Costas had the nerve to ask him about Mark McGwire coming back to baseball, all Selig could do was bang his own drum about all the wonderful things he’s done to get steroids out of baseball.  When Costas pointed out there is no test for HGH, Selig sidestepped the question and kept talking about how few players tested positive for steroids this year.  No acknowledgment that HGH exists and is most likely being used by plenty of players.  Until Selig is willing to answer to that, he can go fry his ass.   I’m unimpressed with his supposed desire to keep baseball clean.  As long as the money is coming in, he’s just happy no one is getting caught.  (Incidentally, I’m against Mark McGwire coming back to baseball.  His whole “I’m not here to talk about the past” crap in front of Congress has put him in a spot where I don’t think he deserves to be rewarded with a job in MLB.)   Given Tony LaRussa is one of his pals, Bud doesn’t see the problem.  Don’t ask him about Rafael Palmeiro or Barry Bonds, though, by his own admission, he only wants to deal with McGwire.  This entire interview is a waste of Bob Costas’ time – unless his desire was to make those of us who despise Selig despise him just a little bit more.  Christ on a cracker he’s now defending why the Yankees needed a new stadium.  He’s the person for which the phrase “makes me stabby” was coined.  He also said that the owners of the Pirates have done a great job with the team.  I think for that statement alone he should be stripped of his commissionerdom.  The only thing keeping me watching now is Bob Costas teasing me by saying the show will end with Selig talking about “his plans for riding into the sunset”.

On a more cheerful note, Kyle Snyder started for the Lobos de Arecibo on Saturday night and he pitched quite well – getting the win, striking out 7 out of 19, giving up 2 walks and 1 earned run on 3 hits in five innings.  Special thanks to friend of the blog Andy for making sure I’m getting the updates on Kyle’s time with the Wolves.  It’s been interesting trying to get any info past box scores from MLB.com – but I’m working on it.  Here’s hoping Kyle has more success this winter.

I was remiss in not congratulating Jason Bay on his Silver Slugger.   I’m very pleased for him because he definitely earned it (unlike a shortstop who won a Gold Glove this year)…and I hope the Jason Bay contract saga is over soon – regardless of how that goes.

Okay, Selig claims when he’s 78 (three more years!!!) he’s done so he can go write a book and teach.   I’m never one to wish away time but, damn, I’m throwing a party in 2012!!!!

Welcome to Boston, Jeremy. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images and used with NO permissions)

It’s beautiful Sunday day and I’ve not written anything here for two days…time to get off my butt and back to writing.  So in order to jump start my brain, I turn to Google where I find more about the Yankees, of course, than any other baseball team right now.  So I’m out of luck there; I’m done writing about the Yankees.  But there isn’t much to write about in regard to the Red Sox.  I was hopeful when I read the title of an article on NESN “Jon Lester Ready to Take Over as Red Sox Ace in 2010″.   Hopeful that the writer had spoken with Crabby and we were going to get some insight into what he was doing for the new season.  Instead it was a blog entry rehashing how good Lester was in ‘09 and suggesting that he’ll carry that into 2010 as the “Ace” of the team.  Disappointing, to say the least.  I need fresh news, people, not your rehashes.  (The NESN site confuses me.  Do they have a load of bloggers over there and no one to write actual news stories?  That’s what it seems like to me.)

There is the news of the trade with the Marlins for Jeremy Hermida.  The Sox sent Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez to Florida in the deal and Theo says:

“Jeremy is a player who hasn’t fulfilled his potential yet. We were able to acquire him at a reasonable cost to see if he can fulfill that potential with us.”

Okay. I’m good with that (although I’ll miss Hunter and wish him and Jose luck!) but it isn’t exactly exciting, hot stove action. I will say this, though, we’ve had lots of luck with players formerly on the Marlins, so I’m holing out hope that Hermida will be that addition to the club that folks think won’t make that big an impact but who eventually does.  Keeping my eye on you, Jeremy!

With Kyle Snyder playing in the Puerto Rico Baseball League this year, I’ve given myself sort of an assignment in trying to follow him.  Not speaking Spanish and having to rely on Google Translate and Babel Fish will make it interesting but I’m looking forward to putting in the work.  It’s nice to have something baseball-related to focus on when MLB’s season is over.  While there isn’t much news yet (the official pages for the league don’t even have rosters up) I did find an article saying that some players have already reported and the rest will be showing up tomorrow and the games start on Thursday.  I feel like I have my work cut out for me to try and keep up with the team but I’m looking forward to it.

Given the major changes in my work schedule, I have much more time to sit here and write about baseball and the Red Sox.  It figures the timing would be all off there, huh?  Here’s hoping we get some excitement soon!

Kyle at Spring Training in 2008 (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission). Winter ball is like 3 months of extra innings!

So in my quest to find things to read and write about that don’t include rehashing the ALDS, I stumbled upon news about Kyle Snyder (go figure, when I’m not really looking, I find it…I guess the universe isn’t as pissed at me as I thought).  He’ll be playing winter ball in the Puerto Rico Baseball League starting in November!

Keeping in mind that I don’t speak or read Spanish at ALL and have to rely on Babel Fish and/or Google Translate, I found the announcement of Kyle playing here:

The Wolves of Arecibo announced yesterday the hiring of other three players concerned for the campaign that initiates the next November.

Todd Frazier, antesalista of Cincinnati; Bobby Wilson, receiver of the Angelinos of Los Angeles, and the skilful gunner Kyle Snyder, of the Mets de New York, is the three new reinforcements of concerned Arecibo to lift their quota of to eight, still reducing two places for throwers.

“The skillful gunner”.   I love it. LOVE it.    I haven’t been able to find much else out except that the games begin on November 12th and the Caribbean World Series runs February 2-10 in Venezuela on the Isle of Margarita.  Kyle’s team name is officially Los Lobos de Arecibo (The Arecibo Wolves – See?  I’m already learning Spanish!).

I have my work cut out for me.  I already have a couple of friends who have offered to translate what I find…we’ll see how this works.  If there is anyone out there who follows the Caribbean Winter Leagues I’d be greatly appreciative of any information you find and can share!

Hey, following winter baseball, especially with Kyle playing, is a good way to get over the loss of Red Sox baseball and gear up for the new season!