Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Adios Venezuela

Twenty years ago, the Astros were the first team to start a baseball academy in Venezuela, and since then, dozens of products from that grassroots undertaking have gone on to enjoy successful and lucrative Major League careers, including outfielder Bobby Abreu and ace left-hander Johan Santana.

But the Astros are preparing to close the Academy, opting instead to shift the players who would normally live and train there and participate in the Venezuelan Summer League to the United States, where the club is adding a Minor League team to play in the Gulf Coast League. Other players will move to the Dominican Republic, where the Astros are upgrading an academy that they hope will eventually include multiple baseball fields and dormitories on the site.

The changes have nothing to do with on-going political unrest in Venezuela, or the flailing economy in this country, according to club officials. This is instead an effort to develop players at an earlier age and accelerate their ascension to the big leagues, using the bulk of their resources on signing players while saving on operating costs.

For years, the Astros have received criticism for being too slow moving their top prospects through the system. Instead of players reaching the big leagues in their early 20s, often, future Astros stars don't get their first taste of the Majors until ages 25 or 26.

By bringing prospects from Latin America to the States when they're young -- 17, 18 years old -- the Astros feel they will have a head start in adjusting to American life and acclimating themselves to the English language.

Paging Ray Guy

Could a football hit the catwalks at the Trop? The highest catwalks — the A and B rings — are at least 142 feet above the field, far too high for any football. The C catwalk, which goes directly over the end zone in rightfield, is 99 feet up, leaving the only reasonably reachable catwalk as the D ring, which never crosses the field of play but sits at 59 feet in centerfield and slightly higher over the stands in rightfield.

The Times sent a reporter to Tropicana Field last week, with former USF goalkeeper and semi-pro kicker Mike Pepper attempting to hit a catwalk from the field of play. Pepper hit the D catwalk, but not in any normal game situation — he put two balls over the outermost ring, punting out of bounds from the far 20-yard line.

Scully on Scully

The Orioles sign a shortstop

Looking for a fresh opportunity, Cesar Izturis believes he's found one with the Orioles.

Less than a week after reaching an agreement on a tentative deal, Izturis on Tuesday was announced as the Orioles' new starting shortstop, signing a two-year contract reportedly worth $6 million.

Furcal

On Comments

For fun, I took some time comparing your last 120 posts at the old “Classic” site versus your first 120 at the new home, just to analyze the comments sections.

Old site: 814 comments, or 6.78 per post.
New site: 643 comments, or 5.35 per post.

The comments are down, but on the other hand, when you “link” to another story, the traffic is much higher. What I’m inferring from this is your traffic is, indeed, higher at the Hardball Times site, but the comments section (the “conversation”) is down 20%. Is this true? And if so, what do you make of it?

It takes a village

I am surprised, actually. To begin with, I think we can agree that Barry Bonds’ assertion that he is not retired is of interest (to some), and is newsworthy. Thus, your complaint largely rests on the source of that information. And it surprises me that, as a user/advocate of one newly-emerging medium, you would be snobbish about another newly-emerging medium. Frankly, this post kind of sounds like the BBWAA members who sniff and turn their noses at blogs.

50 most influential

Moyer signs

Today at THT