Here’s the latest out of the game’s central divisions:
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin denied a report from Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com that the team had decided to exercise its end of a $14MM mutual option over third baseman Aramis Ramirez for next season. The option, which comes with a $4MM buyout, has yet to be decided on according to Melvin. As MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports, Melvin expressed surprise at hearing the report and indicated that he had not discussed the option with either team owner Mark Attanasio or Ramirez’s agent, Paul Kinzer. Ramirez, 36, has had a solid overall campaign and remains an above-average option at the hot corner. Needless to say, Milwaukee’s decision on his option will have important ramifications for the third base market.
- Though the Indians boast an intriguing group of young starters, GM Chris Antonetti said that the team will look to add more arms in the offseason, as Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. “We’ve seen it first-hand this year,” Antonetti explained. “The five who started the season for us aren’t the same five who are pitching for us right now.” Also on the docket for the fall is an effort to improve the team’s infield defense, said Antonetti. According to Fangraphs’ measurement of defensive value, Cleveland ranks second to last in all of baseball. (Of course, one potentially positive sign is that newly installed shortstop Jose Ramirez has received stellar marks from advanced metrics, quite the opposite of Asdrubal Cabrera, who he replaced after the trade deadline.)
- Twins closer Glen Perkins is set to undergo a “complete look” at his throwing arm, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Fresh off of signing a four-year, extension with just over $14MM in new guarantees before the season, Perkins was strong for much of the year. But things have turned south in the last month, and he has now allowed seven earned runs in his last four outings. Perkins missed time due to neck and shoulder discomfort, and since returning has seen the issue extend to the rest of his arm. “We’re going to give him a test on the left arm, see what’s going on there,” said GM Terry Ryan. “He’s got a little soreness, so we’ll get it looked at. His neck is fine.” Ryan said that the team would wait for an assessment before determining a course of action for the rest of the year, though obviously the future is of greater concern: “[Doctors] are going to give him a complete look, whatever that means. I don’t want to be premature here. If it’s severe, we’ve got issues. If it’s not, then we’ll move forward.”
But things have turned south in the last month, and he has now allowed seven earned runs in his last (f)our outings. I hope he’s ok, i remember after the All-Star game he said how pumped up he was and how he loved how much the crowd got into it. He said he wants to see the Twins in the Postseason. Side note, who is now the Twins AA affiliate, and who do the Hartford Rock Cats (that sounds awful hopefully they can change it to whalers again and “blanketdly” (my newly made word) have all Hartford teams with that name until we get a real major league sports team in CT
Until? There will be no major league sports team in CT.
I gotta ask, what has caused CT’s inability to have its own sports team? People STILL buy Hartford Whalers Jersey’s like they are going out of style. We in CT definitely can show brand loyalty. Idk how I could call any team “my team” over the Red Sox, but I think I could them in between the Sox and Giants. lol
Population and size. People, especially young people, buy Whalers jerseys because they’re vintage. From my own experience as a CT resident, most people I know who wear Whalers stuff do it as a fashion statement and know next to nothing about the team.
When it comes to sports teams, there’s no point in CT where you’re too far out of the way for either the NYC or the Boston sports teams. Hartford’s positioning exacerbates the problem as it’s essentially the midpoint between the two cities.
New Haven and South is kind of too close to NYC. Hartford would still be on the very low end population wise to support a new sports team. And the CT population is pretty much not growing. Compare that to cities like Charlotte, Portland, San Antonio, Austin, Vegas, Columbus that can either add more pro teams, or finally get one. These cities are all much more separated from other major cities.
Some people want the Whalers back, but honestly from my experience people in CT really do not care about hockey, myself included. I knew one Bruins fan growing up, and that is it.
You must be kidding me, every other person I know is a hockey fan! What part of CT are you and RevMurph from? I’m in the Tolland county myself