Major League Baseball is back and it’s been an exciting week for the players and fans. With fans having their favorite sport back on television even if they are unable to attend the games, you can always represent your favorite team.
Cleveland Indians Face Masks
Rogers: The Cubs' signing of Lester in 2015 was on the verge of falling apart at times before it finally came together. Both sides were unsure if the other was being completely honest about leaks, but when the deal came to pass, all were thrilled. But it came close to not happening. Afterward, the Cubs' party began in their suite and moved down to the hotel bar for a long night of celebrating.
San Diego Padres Face Masks
Allen wound up becoming a mentor to Millard. He invited him home to meet his family, helped him out financially, and before games would sometimes stop to visit Millard’s grandmother, who lived near the stadium. Back then, when Millard heard fans abusing his hero, it so upset him that it sometimes brought him to tears. Today, at nearly 70 years old, Millard remains mystified why Allen isn’t in the Hall. Allen “saved my life,” he said of those early years. “I was this close to being a drug addict.” As a reminder of their friendship, he framed the hot dog wrapper from that encounter so many decades ago. It still hangs in his home.
The tear-down-and-rebuild strategy worked for newly hired GMs in Houston, in Chicago, in Atlanta, and to a lesser but still consequential extent in Milwaukee, and it appears to have worked in San Diego and the South Side of Chicago. All those teams made the playoffs on schedule, and most ended up with their best teams in decades. So what happened to the Phillies, and what does it tell us about rebuilding?
Texas Rangers Face Masks
Kurkjian: My favorite trade of the winter meetings occurred on Dec. 4, 1988. The Orioles, the team I covered for The Baltimore Sun, sent star first baseman Eddie Murray to the Dodgers for pitchers Jay Howell and Brian Holton, and shortstop Juan Bell. Murray would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer just from his 12 years in Baltimore. It was an enormous deal for both teams, but it had been kept so secretive until we discovered that Roland Hemond, the GM of the Orioles, and Fred Claire of the Dodgers, had met in a hotel in Chicago shortly before the meetings to discuss the deal. When I called Hemond in his hotel room, he said, "You ask tough questions," and answered none of them. Hemond is an all-time favorite; he did everything honestly, by the book. So when I walked with him on his way to the podium to officially announce the Murray trade, I asked for the third player the Orioles were getting. Hemond said, "Sorry, I can't tell you until the deal is done.'' Ten seconds later, he announced the trade.
Atlanta Braves Face Masks
"This comes down to more of a failure of every position, including coaches, to facilitate a functioning offense. That's the biggest story here, not that Jalen Hurts is picked and there was some sort of internal battle and struggle going on with Carson Wentz. I don't buy that."
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Lee: The fact that the entire baseball world congregates in a hotel lobby and you have an opportunity to catch up with sources and friends from around the industry whom you see only a handful of times a year, often at the big baseball events like the All-Star Game or the World Series. It's a great annual reminder that the world is a lot smaller than it can sometimes seem.
