Very few baseball players spend their entire career with one team. Everybody loves the storied careers of lifers like Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks and Cal Ripken Jr., a forever Oriole. Perhaps we're seeing a few of those players now. Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter, Todd Helton and Michael Young have all spent their careers with one ball club. Some players, even though they're so strongly associated with one team, have played for another. Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Ozzy Smith all spent time elsewhere, although sometimes it's hard to remember where.
For many loyal fans, it's hard to even imagine one of our favorite players in any other uniform, but it's a harsh and ugly reality we sometimes have to face. It broke my heart to see Tom Glavine in that Mets uniform and I never got use to it. Next season, we may think how odd Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols look. Or perhaps they'll look exactly the same. Only time will tell.
Baseball players change teams for a myriad of reasons. Sometimes it's their choice, many times not. Free agency, trades, waivers or signing a player who's been cut loose. You never know when or where a player will resurface. Throughout the post season I've seen so many familiar faces. Players that were once an Atlanta Brave are on other teams now. Some came up through the farm system and others via a different avenue. Some were here for awhile. Others, just for a cup of coffee. Let me know if I missed anyone.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Henry Blanco
Jason Marquis (on the DL, wasn't on the post season roster)
Detroit Tigers
Wilson Betemit
Milwaukee Brewers
Mark Kotsay
Takashi Saito
New York Yankees
Andruw Jones
Rafael Soriano
Mark Teixeira
Philadelphia Phillies
Pete Orr
St. Louis Cardinals
Octavio Dotel
Rafael Furcal
Tampa Bay Rays
Kyle Farnsworth
Casey Kotchman
Texas Rangers
Elvis Andrus
Neftali Feliz
Mike Gonzalez
It is probably not different than many of our regular jobs in that as much as we sometimes would like to spend a career with one company, things are not always in our control either.. What do you think of our new batting coach?
ReplyDeleteSA
I agree SA. No matter what we do for a living, we don't always stay where we'd like to stay or join a company that we'd like to. Hindsight is 20/20 and sometimes a trade that seems devestating to a player is actually the best thing that could have happend (i.e. John Smoltz)
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I don't know anything about Greg Walker and Scott Fletcher except for what I've read in the paper. I think the Braves quickly learned a couple of mistakes that they made in the hiring of Larry Parrish. Not that hiring him was a mistake but that the Braves definitely need a hitting coach with more experience in that role.
I think his biggest priority will be getting Jason Heyward back on track. He has the tools, he just needs to learn how to re-adjust now that all the opposing pitchers have adjusted to him. Hopefully Greg can make quick progress. The Braves haven't done to well with hitting coaches over the past few years. Fingers crossed that they hired the right person this time.
No question that Jason is a key to get on track but we want to make sure Freddie doesn't have the same sophmore issues next year.
ReplyDeleteWere you surprised with the scoring barrage we had in last night's game?
SA..
I agree. Freddie Freeman needs to keep doing what he's doing. Truthfully, I think he's a better hitter than Jason and he won't have the same problems.
ReplyDeleteAs for the scoring barrage, it had to happen at some point as there are way too many great hitters on both teams. Combine the talent with warmer weather and a hitter's ballpark and you get 28 hits. It will very interesting to see how the Rangers respond tonight.
Ooops! I left someone out. Matt Harrison of the Rangers was once a Brave also. He was part of the Teixeira deal too. Dang! The Rangers got the better end of that deal for sure!
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