OnlyBucs

1. Kevin Newman (R) SS

2. Pablo Reyes (R) CF

3. Adam Frazier (L) 2B

4. Jose Osuna (R) 1B

5. Kevin Kramer (L) RF

6. Jake Elmore (R) LF

7. Erik Gonzalez (R) 3B

8. Steven Baron (R) C

9. James Marvel (R) P



A quick note on an article in The Athletic (sub req'd) from Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions. "Honoring the defensive MVPs of all 30 teams" Here is what he has to say about the Bucs honoree. You would never have guessed who it is.



Pittsburgh Pirates

Jacob Stallings, C

Stallings hits the catching trifecta. He rates well at pitch blocking, pitch framing, and base-stealing deterrence (only seven stolen bases allowed with three pickoffs in just over 400 innings). The payoff comes in that the Pirates entered the week with a winning record when he’s caught (25-24).

What an awesome pregame celebration for Steve. Greg did a great job.



Gotta admit - Tears in the eyes.

One of the things I'm really going to enjoy about this off-season is not having to watch Alex McRae masquerade as a major league baseball player.

4D737C7C767F787B7676527F68751A0 wrote: One of the things I'm really going to enjoy about this off-season is not having to watch Alex McRae masquerade as a major league baseball player.


True. But we could also say that about Neverauskas, DuRapau, Holmes, Hartlieb, Markel, Ramirez, Davis, Rios, Escobar, Wang, Marvel, Agrazal and Jerez.



Maybe a few of those will eventually become productive MLB pitchers. But none were ready this year. It's amazing to me that they could try that many guys from the minors and not find anyone who became an asset. And their alternative idea of beefing up the BP was to acquire pitchers other organizations no longer wanted: Stratton, Rios, Markel, Jerez, Ramirez and Wang. Only the mediocrity of Stratton was of any real use. There are serious problem in player development, evaluation and scouting.

30 years ago I was in a Rotisserie League. Near the end of each year’s draft, all the league members would run out of salary and would have to draft a player or two at a salary of 1 Cent. I always looked at this as an opportunity to try and draft a longshot or some under-the-radar prospect that might blossom into a big stat producer that I could control at a meager salary of 1 Cent for up to three years.



I get the feeling Neal must have been in a Rotisserie League at some point. I picture him with one of those old, rubber oval coin purses, trying to decide if he should spend his last pennies on a loaf of bread or a roll of toilet paper. Go with the paper Neal – you are going to need it.

5552444C4255121E67404A464E4B0944484A270 wrote: What an awesome pregame celebration for Steve. Greg did a great job.



Gotta admit - Tears in the eyes.


I was listening to the game on the MLB radio app. Normally, prior to the game, the game menu lists pre-game activities as "warm up"



Last night the menu said "ceremony". Nice to them to notice.

7E5952713C0 wrote: What an awesome pregame celebration for Steve. Greg did a great job.



Gotta admit - Tears in the eyes.


I was listening to the game on the MLB radio app. Normally, prior to the game, the game menu lists pre-game activities as "warm up"



Last night the menu said "ceremony". Nice to them to notice.




That is neat. I’ve been thinking about the ceremony. Greg Brown - I know some people are not huge fans. But I’d there a more sincere person in the world than Greg? It was obvious that Honoring Steve was the most important thing in Greg’s world.



When Steve hugged his Grandson - his Grandson hugged him back in the very same way. That “got to me”. Very powerful.