Bat Flip Brotherhood, Brought to You by The Greedy Pinstripes

 Major League Baseball once said to let the kids play, but how can you let the kids play without at the same time allowing something that is considered to be a unwritten rule against baseball? Bat flipping and showing up the opposing team's pitcher in general is frowned upon, but that hasn't stopped many across the league from still making what they chose to do as a profession not only fun, but satisfying. Not every fan is a fan of the showmanship and of bat flips specifically, but for the fans who absolutely love them it sometimes feels like we are part of some secret society or something. Not a secret society, no, but a brotherhood. 

Enter the Bat Flip Brotherhood. 

In affiliation with The Greedy Pinstripes, I bring you my own personal designs for #BFB. These shirts (and more merchandise to come) are print to order and guaranteed to grab attention while you're wearing them. Will you join the brotherhood? 

Click HERE to access the Etsy store and to join the Brotherhood.

Has the Fire Sale in Miami Begun?

The Tampa Bay Rays may have announced to the rest of the league that the team will be buyers at this season’s July 31^st trading deadline which should come as no surprise to most. The Rays will “buy” but they will always steer clear of the deep end of the free agent and trade market pool as they always have. With the Rays acquiring Miami Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria for two prospects the team has announced that they plan on sticking around for the duration of the season in the American League East. Does this also mean that the Miami Marlins have announced that they are going to be sellers and has the fire sale officially begun?

Well the first clue has to do with the prospects that the Marlins received back in trade, Ethan Clark and Braxton Lee. If the deal was simply too good to be true then maybe a fire sale is not on the horizon but if the prospects are simply “good” then I truly believe that suggests more moves to come for Miami, which could ultimately affect the New York Yankees.

Lee, a Double-A outfielder, is a South League All-Star this season hitting .318 with 16 RBI and 12 stolen bases at the time of the trade while Clark, a 22-yeard old Class-A Ball pitcher, had posted a 3-2 record with a 3.11 ERA in 12 games at the time of the trade. In a nut shell this was not a deal that was simple too good to pass up, the Marlins are selling. Buy now.

The Yankees could eat some salary and acquire Martin Prado, although the fact that he is under team control beyond the 2017 season complicates things for New York, to play third base or the team could look at some of the Marlins other talent like Marcell Ozuna. I’m admittedly not well-versed in the Miami Marlins team this season but I do know what the Yankees need in 2017 and that is third base help, first base help and starting pitching. It is up to Brian Cashman to know what the Marlins have and to pillage the team now before the rest of the league does this July.

At the time of the trade Hechavarria was on the disabled list after straining an oblique muscle although the shortstop has gone through the minor league rehab game process and is expected to be activated soon. Hechavarria, 28-years old, was hitting .277 with one home run and six RBI in 20 games for the Marlins and hasn’t made an error in the field all season. Hechavarria is a career .255 hitters in his six Major League seasons and will help the Marlins who are within striking distance of the Yankees and the Red Sox at the top of the AL East Division. 

Former Yankees Update: Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro Suzuki spent parts of the 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons with the New York Yankees before leaving for warmer climates down in Miami for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The Yankees signed Ichiro with the intent of having him chase down 3,000 hits in the United States while with the club. While that initial notion did not work out in New York the Marlins may see that exact plan come to fruition down in Miami if the aging Japanese-born star can grab just 65 more hits.

Ichiro, now 42-years old, is playing behind a talent group of core members in Miami’s outfield so the question of whether he will get enough at bats to grab 65 more hits is the question. If Miami plans on contending in 2016, and if you judge their offseason by their intentions then they do plan on contending, how can you sit one of Marcell Ozuna, Giancarlo Stanton or Christian Yelich often enough to get Ichiro the hits? If Ichiro were a few years younger, sure, but these days Ichiro just isn’t the same player he used to be as father time has caught up with him.

Ichiro is still fast and extremely durable, he played in 153 games last season and has played in at least 143 games in each of the past 15 seasons, but his batting average continues to drop the older he gets. Ichiro batted a career-low .229 last season which is a sudden drop off from his career average of .314. Ichiro has not hit .300 since the 2010 season. Can Ichiro do it?

Ichiro had 398 at bats last season and if he bats in the low .200’s again he may need another 300 or more to reach the 3,000 hit plateau. No one can predict what will happen this season. Injuries cannot be predicted and neither can effectiveness or playing time but if Ichiro gets the at bats you have to think that milestone staring him down in the face will be motivation enough to get there. I have faith in him and so should you. And if not, who is to say 2017 isn’t another year?

We’re rooting for you Ichiro. Get there!

Miami Is Shopping Marcell Ozuna?

I've been reluctant to write about this only because I haven't seen any concrete evidence that Miami is willing to sell. This is the offseason though, the time to dream, so for the sake of this blog post let's say that the Miami Marlins and Jeffrey Loria are willing to sell off a major young piece in Marcell Ozuna, should the Yankees be interested?

I like to keep this blog "PG" so excuse me for this, but HELL YES. Ozuna is a right-handed center fielder that projects to have 30 home run power in his Major League career. Ozuna is just 25-years old and has four years of team control including all of his arbitration years. Why would the Marlins, a team that handed outfielder Giancarlo Stanton a huge contract with a promise to compete for the life of it, want to trade Ozuna? Apparently there is some bad blood between owner Jeffrey Loria and their stud center fielder.

I'm not sure if you guys heard about it or not but the Marlins sent Ozuna down this season with the reasoning that they were hoping the demotion could turn around slumping season. Coincidentally the Marlins could delay his arbitration by a season if Ozuna spent at least five weeks in the minors in 2015 and Ozuna spent six weeks in Triple-A, just to be sure. That's all speculation until the recorded phone call between owner Loria and team president David Samson  hit the internet. SEE HERE for the actual audio but the important piece is below:

Female voice: “Scott Boras is on the line.”

Male voice: “Let me tell ya, tell Boras that his client is getting demoted, and that his client is a fat, [unintelligible] lazy, Dominican fuck.”

Wow if true, and wow if it's about Ozuna. No wonder Scott Boras and Ozuna are unhappy with the Marlins organization and no wonder why the Marlins want to trade him. Miami is doing this all wrong though, rather than waiting for all this to hit the internet thus lowering Ozuna's trade value they waited too long. Miami's screw up can be New York's gain.

Miami wants young starting pitching back for Ozuna and the Yankees have some, maybe not enough. I wouldn't give up Luis Severino for Ozuna but truth be told I would allow Nathan Eovaldi to head back to Miami and I would also lead a package with Michael Pineda. If the team is interested is Bryan Mitchell or Rookie Davis then let them go, Ozuna is a special talent. The problem is Seattle is said to be offering Taijuan Walker for Ozuna as we speak, New York may not be willing to bite that bullet and match.

Either way adding Ozuna to the Yankees continues to make the team younger, cheaper and absolutely leads to a Brett Gardner trade. The lineup is balanced, power is added and overall I think the team is exponentially better. It's a dream, every team is going to be interested in Ozuna, but Cashman hasn't worn his ninja costume in a while either... so maybe.