Did you see this?
Our weekly look at some of the best and most interesting things I've seen over the last 7 days
“THE ULTIMATE BASEBALL LIFER”
Matt Gelb of The Athletic wrote a terrific piece about former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel’s road back from a recent stroke.
Running into Charlie on the field at Citizens Bank Park and hearing his perspectives on the game was always a personal highlight for me on trips to Philadelphia in recent years.
FARM REPORT
MLB Pipeline surveyed executives around the league about which organizations are best at building farm systems and acquiring and developing talent.
TOUGH TIMES IN BOSTON
Ahead of the Red Sox’ annual Winter Weekend in Springfield, MA next weekend, John Tomase of NBC Sports Boston writes about the Red Sox brand taking a beating.
SIGN HERE, PLEASE
With the international signing period opening tomorrow, Fangraphs ranks the top prospects and provides scouting reports so you can follow along if your favorite team inks some talent.
The Marlins are reportedly already in agreement to sign 16-year-old Venezuelan outfielder Luis Cova, ranked #15 by Fangraphs and #21 by MLB Pipeline.
Fish On First recently summarized some of what’s been written about Cova.
LOOKING FOR A BOUNCEBACK
MLB.com took a look at 15 stars who could enjoy big years in 2024 with better health.
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
With the NFL Playoffs underway this weekend, ESPN.com’s Kiley McDaniel looks at the best football players currently playing in the major leagues.
ICYMI
In case you didn’t check out VFTB daily, here’s what you missed this past week:
With some in the industry expecting the Marlins to execute yet another roster teardown, I wrapped up my 10 Burning Questions series wondering if the Marlins will ever break out of the vicious cycle that has defined their history.
While you’re here…
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Learn more about one-on-one play-by-play coaching from Glenn Geffner via Zoom at glenngeffner.com.
Different fan bases have different standards. After waiting 86 years, folks in Boston got a little spoiled with 4 titles in 15 seasons between 2004 and 2018. Still, it’s easy to see why there’s frustration with ownership there. They’ve lost some of their direction and deviated from some of their guiding principles in recent years. They miss Larry Lucchino’s maestro-like orchestration and coordination of the baseball and business sides in ways a lot of people don’t realize or understand. And those who see it internally won’t acknowledge it.
The fact is, it’s hard as heck to win a single World Series in any single year no matter how much you spend and no matter how good your roster may be.
It’s impossible to do so when you don’t hit on and execute a clear and consistent vision, especially when you don’t spend (see the Marlins).
In my opinion, all a fan base can ask is that you show up to Spring Training just about every year having put together a roster that gives you a shot if you stay relatively healthy and catch a few breaks along the way. That’s what teams like the Braves, Dodgers, Astros and Yankees have done year-in and year-out. The Phillies are getting there. The Cardinals are in that mix most of the time. The Red Sox were, but they’ve lost their way. We’ll see if they can get it back. It would help if their ownership returned to its previous level of attentiveness.
So much of the MLB lemmings mentality on display. The vaunted Dodger smarts do not gibe well with recent history, some say. Billions and billions and they have to hang their hat on the fishbowl 2020 "championship" to put salve on the last 35 years. Thirty-five years and they have to "yeah, but" Covidball. Their fans, though, are quite satisfied with the ol' college try they watch every year. No? A whining pathos from Boston shows that even four titles this century isn't enough, because the team "self-destructed." Save the Giants, is there any team that has that amount of success? Of course, it's because they haven't won eight that everyone is angry! Luckily, the parrots can blather about the super smart Braves and awesome Dodgers as those two teams stagger WS titles between themselves for the next ten years. Surely, this will be the case, as anyone with any brains knows!