Tagged: Mark Teixeira
Saltalamacchia
His last name barely fits on his jersey, he
couldn’t throw the ball back to the pitcher last year, and he’s only hit
twenty-three home runs in his career. Yet, Jarrod Saltalamacchia will be catching Josh Beckett, Jon
Lester, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz, and Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2011.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia was drafted by the
Atlanta Braves with the thirty-sixth pick in the 2003 draft, one pick before
Orioles all-star outfielder Adam Jones.
In 2006 with the braves class A
affiliate, the Rome Braves, Salty had his best year of his young career. He hit
.314, with nineteen home runs, and eighty-one runs batted in. After his
breakout season Baseball America ranked Saltalamacchia as the eighteenth best
prospect in Major League Baseball.
The following year, Saltalamacchia became
the starting catcher for the Mississippi Braves (AA). In twenty-two games,
Salty hit .373 with seven big flies.
The same year, in 2007 Saltalamacchia was
called up on his twenty-second birthday after an injury to Brian McCann and
then made his major league debut.
On July 31, 2007, also in the same year, Elvis
Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, Beau Jones, and Saltalamacchia were
traded to the Texas Rangers for Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay.
Fast-forward three years latter and
Saltalamacchia was put on the disabled list after the first two games of the
2010 season. He was then sent down to AAA because he couldn’t do one of the
simplest things in baseball. Eventually and thankfully, Salty learned how to
throw the ball back to the pitcher.
On July 31, 2010 Jarrod Saltalamacchia
was traded to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Chris McGuiness, Ramon Mendez, a player to be named later (Michael
Thomas), and some money. He was then sent to Pawtucket.
Saltalamacchia was eventually called up after
an injury to Kevin Cash. In his first appearance in the Red Sox starting line
up on August 12, Saltalamacchia went 2-4 with a run scored.
So far, in his time in Bean town, Salty went
just 3-19 (.158), with one RBI, two runs scored, and no home runs. Yet, despite
those stats, the Red Sox are letting Jarrod Saltalamacchia control one of the
best pitching staffs in baseball.
Guess Who’s Back . . .
My Baseball Trip to Barnes and Nobel
I’m having really bad writers block so I’m sorry if you don’t want to read this.
Milton Bradley
First- Mike Scioscia got a contract extension to stay as Angels manager till 2018.
Pat The Bat
First- Since there is news to blog about look for Red Sox, Yankees, Rays to continue when there is no news to blog about or during spring training.
Could Hanley Ramirez be a Red Sox, again?!
Si.com and sikids.com is reporting that the Red Sox tried to trade for Florida Marlins star shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez played two games with the Red Sox in 2005 then got traded to Florida for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. The Marlins wanted Red Sox prospect Clay Buchholz and Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury for Ramirez. The Red Sox first started showing interest in Ramirez after losing Mark Teixeira to the New York Yankees. The Red Sox are happy at shortstop with Jed Lowrie so it is possible that the Red Sox could have used Hanley Ramirez in centerfield, making Ellsbury the forth outfielder that the Red Sox needed, unless Jacoby Ellsbury got traded in that trade. Ellsbury led the A.L. in stolen bases while Ramirez is one of the best young players in the game. The trade didn’t go throw,making Ramirez still a Marlin.
Tex’
Who would have thought that Tex’ would have signed with the Yankees! I didn’t that’s for sure. I thought he would sign with Boston. Then we would have to trade Mikey and move Youk to third. Youk is a gold glove at first and third but Mikey is a lot better at third. Mickey lead the team to and in the ’07 playoffs and World Series. Why trade a guy who did a lot for the franchise? Cashman yes, Theo no. I think Boston entered to just raise the price on Tex’ and then wanted Tex’ after New York signed C.C. and A.J. The Yankees did play it just right though. They entered at the last moment sort of like E-Bay. You wait till the last moment and then strike. One shocking think was the Yankees payroll will go down! Tex’ was under rated. Now with the Yankees he will be over rated like Jeter, A-Rod, and Wang. I’ve said it once and I will say it again, MLB needs a salary cap. Yes with a salary cap Boston may lose a few guys but still. Do the Nationals have any great players like Boston, New York, or the Cubs . . . no they don’t (sorry Nat’ fans, but it is true.) But who cares about Tex’ we can all laugh at them when they have all those guys and miss the playoffs and Boston wins it all.
The Roster Game- Outfielders
l Pay roll so far- $16,202,162
Bostonball 