Top Of The Third

Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Welcome to Top Of The Third, Season 3

Well, here we are. The beginning of another season at Top Of The Third. The wintery off-season is over and we are full throttle into the Grapefruit and Cactus League Exhibition Schedules. After a successful 2016 season (our first full season blogging about the game we love after a half-year in 2015) we will focus on making 2017 just as fun.

Here’s a look at what’s ahead in the upcoming eight months of baseball. To begin, the entire month of March we will feature profiles on all 30 Major League Baseball Teams. Last year, we previewed each team and how we thought they would do in the upcoming season. Since there’s countless websites and magazines that do all of that, I figured it would be pointless to follow suit, so we’re shaking things up a bit this year. Each team profile will feature some cool figures and facts (for example, the year the team was established, how many World Series they’ve won, etc…) as well as who I think is the best player on the current roster and who’s the greatest player in franchise history.

As we move into April, we’ll get into an important part of MLB’s history. April 15 will celebrate the 70^th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s baseball debut, the abolishment of “Gentlemen’s Agreement” and the end of Baseball’s segregation. We will start with a five-part series on the career and life of Jackie Robinson that will focus on his youth, the college football days at UCLA, playing in the Negro Leagues and Major Leagues, and end up with his contributions to the Civil Rights’ Movement.

But we won’t stop with Jackie. A closer study of the Negro Leagues and its importance to the National Pastime will envelop most of April and May. A three-part series on the history of the Leagues, a look at the 25 best Negro League players of all time and the ten most popular teams.

June is up in the air as I haven’t decided what to do during that month. July will be similar to last year with All-Star week and Hall of Fame Week. In August, we will look at the 55^th Anniversary of the 1962 Los Angeles Angels, a second-year team that bucked the expansion expectations and challenged the Mantle and Maris-led Yankees for the American League Pennant.

As the playoff chase heats up in September, it will be a good time to look back 50 years at the 1967 Boston Red Sox and the “Impossible Dream.” October will feature the 25 Greatest Comebacks in Postseason History.

And we will continue “This Day In Baseball History,” as well as book reviews, our following of Delhi, Ontario’s Brock Dykxhoorn as he begins his third full season in professional baseball and hopefully we’ll get a chance to offer more opinionated pieces on the current events in today’s game.

Looking forward to sharing another great year of baseball with all of you.

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Thursday, 19 January 2017

No Offense to Raines, Pudge and Bagwell, but Class of '17 Falls Short

First of all, congratulations to the Hall of Fame Class of 2017: Jeff Bagwell, Ivan Rodriguez and Tim Raines. If you were following my blog last July, you will remember I had a Top Five list of players who weren’t in the Hall but should be, and Raines was on that list. It’s so good to see him finally get the nod, as he was a player who was more than worthy and should have been in long ago.

But that brings me to the four on the list who still are not in. I won’t bother griping about Joe Jackson and Pete Rose, because they were linked to gambling and as far as MLB is concerned, that’s worse than high treason for some reason.

No, we’ll look at the other two. The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) can’t seem to find the courage to give Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens the necessary votes to gain entry to baseball’s hallowed ground. Since their playing days ended, both Clemens and Bonds have been accused of using Performance Enhancing Drugs and that seems to be the albatross that is draped around both of their necks.

But this is where the hypocrisy of the BBWAA (and the Hall itself for that matter) is painfully obvious.

Here’s why: On December 4 of 2016, former baseball commissioner Bud Selig was selected for induction and will be included in the Class of 2017.

Now, whether Bonds or Clemens actually used PEDs will forever be up for debate as there is no proof of the allegations. But to ignore that the “Steroid Era” happened under the watch of good ol’ Bud, and the fact that he turned a blind eye to it for so many years, and only introduced drug testing after the United States Congress got involved, and induct him into the Hall while refusing entry to perhaps the two biggest stars of the last 50 years, is an insult and a slap to the face of baseball fans.

Consider Bonds and Clemens wouldn’t even have to face accusations if Selig had done his job and investigated alleged PED use like he should have, rather than pretend everything was on the up-and-up while watching all the money rolling into MLB. He didn’t dare mess with success, such as the McGwire and Sosa power display in the late 1990s that defied logic.

But, the BBWAA won’t ask questions about Selig’s ineptitude when it comes to the PED situation, for fear of losing their precious spot in “the club” (so to speak) if they stopped towing the company line. So, instead they will keep printing stories about the players who cheated, rather than lay the blame at the feet of where it belongs: the former commissioner.

And while it will be great to see Bagwell, Pudge and Raines enter the Hall this summer, it will be embarrassing watching them share the stage with Bud.

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Wednesday, 18 January 2017

The Good (sort of), The Bad and the Ugly of the Jose Bautista Signing

On Tuesday, the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a one-year deal with outfielder Jose Bautista. The deal is worth $18 million for the 2017 season with mutual options for 2018 and 2019. While the Jays’ outfield was looking a little thin with Spring Training just over six weeks away, Bautista patrolling right field in 2017 wasn’t the option I had in mind when the 2016 season ended. However, he will have to do as it seems Blue Jays’ management (particularly Rogers) wasn’t keen on seriously pursuing other options.

But let’s have a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of bringing Jose back to Toronto for at least one more season.

THE GOOD—As I mentioned before, despite being 36 years of age and suffering through some injury problems in 2016, Bautista is an improvement as the Jays’ outfield was looking suspect with the projected starters being (from left field to right) Melvin Upton, Kevin Pillar and Ezequiel Carrera. While I think Carrera has lots of potential, as seen from his performance in September and October when he played every day, he may be a year or two away from reaching his peak potential. Pillar, as much as I love his hustle, is your typical number nine centre fielder: great defense, not much more than average at the plate. Upton? Yeah, do I really need to say anything? Just look at his stats since the trade that brought him to Toronto and you’ll see how pitiful he was. Bautista, immediately makes the outfield better (offensively, anyway) provided he can avoid the injury bug he was stricken with last season.

THE BAD—Unless your name is Barry Bonds, do you really think you’re going to improve athletically with age? Bautista had a rather rough 2016 and while a lot can be contributed to his injuries, the skills have started to erode. There’s no shame in it, it happens to every one. Ask A-Rod. But besides that, Bautista brings a lot of baggage with him, particularly his big mouth. His feuding with umpires needs to stop. His out-of-place comments to the press (“I only swing at strikes” comes to mind) doesn’t make him a very desirable person to have around. But, hey, if he hits 40 dingers and drives in 100, he can mouth off all he wants. That’s a big “if”.

THE UGLY—This part hasn’t happened yet, but with Rogers at the controls, it’s inevitable. It will happen when team president, Mark Shapiro, and general manager, Ross Atkins, champion the Bautista signing as the key transaction of the off-season. Since the end of the season, there have been rumours afloat of how the Jays were actively pursing Dexter Fowler, Andrew McCutcheon, Jay Bruce, Charlie Blackmon or Curtis Granderson. No signings or trades ever happened because the Jays were NOT actively pursuing those players. Heck, they weren’t even pursuing Edwin Encarnacion. But somehow, those in charge will shrug their shoulders and say how they were outbid by other teams for those players, but don’t worry, the Bautista signing will be the one that leads to the World Series. It’s the spin Rogers likes to put on negative situations. Remember the Yu Darvish fiasco? Or the false reports about making serious offers to Prince Fielder? Unfortunately, it’s what you get with this ownership group. It’s been painfully obvious to Blue Jays’ supporters since they took over the club 17 years ago.

But perhaps I’m being a bit too critical. Perhaps the Bautista signing will open the floodgates to other trades and signings to help build on the success of the past two seasons. One can only hope.

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