Every club but the Astros is within two games of first place in the NL Central, where Joey Votto is following his MVP season up with a phenomenal start. Here's the latest from baseball's biggest division…
- The Brewers have signed infielders Hainley Statia and Angel Gonzalez to minor league deals and assigned them to extended Spring Training, according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy (on Twitter).
- Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. told McCalvy that he was pleased to see Ryan Braun sign long-term in Milwaukee, where he is under contract through 2020. Ripken, of course, spent his entire 21-year career with the Orioles.
- Starlin Castro committed three errors in one inning yesterday, but as Yahoo's Jeff Passan explains, the 21-year-old shortstop has overcome bigger obstacles than that. Before he signed with the Cubs, Castro's father took him out on a fishing boat in the Dominican Republic and gave him a taste of a life he might have known if he hadn't become a pro ballplayer.
Yeah, Cal.
If we fans are going to be upset when we see players bolt for the Almighty dollar, sometimes we fans need to congratulate the homegrown players who honor the bonds that they’ve formed with their fans. It’s worth something. It takes a certain kind of combination of quality character and talent to even want that.
I don’t want to sound totally cynical or anything, but I’m sure the cash and stability had something to do with it. Obviously, Braun likes where he’s at and you have to respect that. But money has something to do with it, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that on Braun’s behalf. He wants to be there, and they paid him what he deserves. He wins on both ends, and good for him.
You don’t sound totally cynical, but Braun is definately all about Milwaukee for some reason. He bought a permanent residence in downtown (Fielder always rented as far as I know), opened a resturant and is really trying to run it “the right way”, etc. He seems to want to identify himself with the city and it’s fanbase and he doesn’t get paid extra for any of this, but I’m sure that the deal he signed was very much to his liking.
I am not trying to minimize it into a simple calculation at all. Of course, the risk of future health vs. cash in hand today factors in. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s also the norm. It’s not new when a player factors in finances and security.
The pattern is different when homegrown players pass on big paydays tomorrow, to stay in the small market today.
astros only 3 back.
they will be 13+ back at the allstar break
Castro the fisherman is a rude awakining compared to the shortstop for a mlb team.
so castro made 3 errors but at least hes not a fisherman. gotcha.
Castro made 3 errors, but it is ok because he went fishing with his dad. Really a stretch imo
Will Starlin be captaining the Cornelia Marie or the Time Wizard next season?
Is it too early to say Pujols has some competition for the title of best player in the NL? Votto is the real deal. I think Pujols still has the title, but at least there’s a competitor.
Eh, Pujols is considered the best player at the moment because over the last 10 years he has not failed even once to hit 300+, hit 30+ HRs, have 100+ RBIs. Not to mention his Career OPS is over 1000. Votto has only had 1 Albert Pujols year. just one. Now he probably would’ve done it 2 years ago if his father didn’t die mid season. I will admit though that the next 5 years for votto look like they’ll be better than the next 5 years for Pujols just because of age.
totally agree with you!!
Starlin Castro has a very lethal bat, the Cubs are very lucky to have him, 3 errors in April shouldn’t be a concern at all, he has a great glove and a great arm and by the time its August he might have maybe 5 errors total.
Braun didn’t deserve that extension.. Brewers made the same mistake twice with the same player.. they could have given Fielder 30-40mil for two yrs and have a slight chance of still competing in a horrible division.. yet they give 160mil in two different contract to barely above average player and a fielder whose as good as Alfronso Soriano..(everyone knows he’s that bad in LF) dare i say he could actually be worse then Soriano in the Field
Soriano is a jerk and not even close to the talent or class Braun is. You must be a Cubs fan cuz you hate Braun and use Soriano as a reference. Still bitter of Soriano and the Cubs wasting there money on him?