2-18-11 The Fights Begin

The fights are now underway for MLB players to stay on, or make their way onto, the 25-man roster that will head to Opening Day 2011.

All teams have a 40-man roster which, if you pay attention to baseball in September of each year, is what the big leagues teams play with from 9-1 until the end of the year.

Naturally being on the 25-man roster is preferable to the 40 but being on the 40 provides some sort of guarantee for you.

At this time of the year, however, the real fights are being waged by those who are not on the 40-man roster. These are fights for some player’s baseball lives. The majority of the competition for roster spots comes from young players recently signed and most likely on their way to minor league camps of the main clubs provided, and I hope this goes without saying, that they play well enough or have made enough progress to head anywhere.

Those players in camp are called “non-roster invitees.” This group also includes veteran players of MLB. Many of them are “journeymen” players; those who are average or below average players who can fill in a specific role because they are versatile. Then there are those who perhaps have even made an impact at some point in time and are trying to either hold on to baseball life or make a valiant return to it.

Here are some of those players whose names stood out to me.

Yankees – Mark Prior, Bartolo Colon, Freddie Garcia.
Prior had one of baseball’s best arms with the Cubs but it was also one of the most fragile. His best shot is to work his way into a bull pen, much like former teammate of his, Kerry Wood, has done.
Colon and Garcia have had mixed success in the majors. What surprises me is that they are trying to make their way onto the Yankees when it seems obvious that they would have a better shot on a lesser team

Royals – Pedro Feliz
Feliz was a key player for the Phillies in their 2008 season. He was traded to the Astros and then to the Cardinals in 2010 and just bombed. At 36, and nearing the end of his career one might think, he hopes to stay around in Kansas City

Mets – Jason Isringhausen, Boof Bonser

The Mets originally had Jason Isringhausen in their farm system and he was touted as one of their aces of the future. Injuries forced him to the bullpen where he did have a couple of outstanding seasons with the Cardinals before another injury put him on the shelf. He now will try to resurrect his career at 38 for a team in need of some bullpen help.
Boof Bonser just has a cool name.

Reds – Dontrelle Willis
An enigma for sure. As a 20-year old he became an ace of a Florida Marlins staff and looked like a hall of famer. So much for that. The thing about these types of players who show that type of potential is that there is always hope that somehow, someway, it can return and a team can get a re-born star for a real bargain.

Cardinals – Ian Snell, Jim Edmonds
Jim Edmonds is 40 years old and during his time in the majors has made some of the all-time best catches in the outfield that we have ever seen. He also has 393 career homeruns. But Achilles tendon surgery makes his return to the Cardinal outfield a long shot with Matt Holliday, John Jay, Cody Rasmus, and Lance Berkman out there.

I mention Ian Snell since he is from Caesar Rodney HS here in Delaware, where I live. He spent time with the Pirates and the Diamondbacks with below average results. He has a live arm though, that much is for sure, but this is probably a last chance for him at the major league level.

Diamondbacks – Mike Hampton.
Hampton was a former 20-game winner who had great success with the Astros and Mets before basically robbing Colorado of 20 million dollars for two years. He regained form with the Braves for a couple of years before injuries made him an expensive team accessory for 4 years. The D-Backs signed him to a minor-league deal last year.

With these players it’s all about never giving up in life though. Sure, we’re talking about hanging on to playing a game, but it has been their livelihoods for their adult lives. I’m not sure if watching some of these guys try to make teams is inspirational or sad though. My jury is still out there.

Teams have to market their product just like any other business. Marketers are generally creative people and sometimes when they have success they can return huge revenues for companies and organizations.

But I wonder just how creative they have to be and whether it really helps some teams or not. I think that a great general manager and scouting system will do what it takes to get people to buy tickets. They’ll get the right players, make the right deals and hire the best staffs to put a winning team on the field. Team wins, people buy tickets, done.

But if a team isn’t successful at doing that maybe they need to resort to other marketing tricks of the trade. I noticed a couple of these slogans this morning.

Oakland Athletics are now marketing their team with the slogan “Green collar baseball.”
Huh?

The Florida Marlins are using – “Catch our moves.”
And I can see that coming to haunt them anytime they make a key error. “How about catch a ball, now and then ya scrub!”

Washington – Natstown.
Pitiful. They are in real danger of being labeled “Werthless” if the 18 million dollars per year they are paying Jayson Werth to save the team doesn’t work

Pirates – Pride, Passion
Maybe in the 1970’s. But there hasn’t been much to be passionate about for the Pittsburgh fans since then.

But all of the marketing people for all of the other teams just have to sit back and say, “well, we tried but we can’t beat that one,” when they see…

Giants – 2010 World Series Champions