Mack's Apple's - 10-14-17 - Activism, Puerto Rico, QO, Greg Holland, The Braves

Good morning.

A History Of Activism In Baseball -

INSKEEP: Is it thought of as a white man's sport even though you do have African-American players, Latino or Hispanic players, many kinds of players?

WALKER: Well, certainly for Latino players, with them coming in at about 30 or so percent of the population in Major League Baseball. But then African-American players only accounted for 62 to 64 players total. It's not as diverse as it may look.

Western baseball players pick up the pieces in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico -

Erick Bracero played first base on the Griffon baseball team at Missouri Western State University for four years and graduated in 1995 with a business degree.

He currently lives in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, with his wife and three children, where they’re still recovering from the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria.

“Personally, it’s been the worst experience in my life,” he said. “I have three kids that are from 10 to 13 years old. It’s the first time in their lives experiencing something like this. My wife, Michelle, and myself, we’re doing what we have to — have the poker face to control our emotion, and keep telling them that everything is going to be OK.”

Major League Baseball has set the qualifying offer www.mlbtr.com  for the upcoming offseason at $17.4MM, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reports (Twitter link).

With the news, teams can now make full assessments of whether to issue qualifying offers to pending free agents. Offers are due five days after the World Series wraps up; players will then have ten days to weigh them.

Prior indications were that the figure would land somewhat higher, with expectations sitting in the range of $18.1MM. Last year, the QO sat at $17.2MM, so this represents only a marginal tick upward. Though the variations here are relatively small relative to the total value, every bit of money adds up for teams that are looking to map out a payroll plan.

We won’t be offering anyone nuthin’ to stay here. We already got rid of all those players.       

I keep looking over the free agent list and I just don’t see much to go after. P Yu Darvish, 1B Eric Hosmer ,and  OF J.D. Martinez make my short list.

Rockies closer Greg Holland www.mlbtr.com will decline his $15MM player option and re-enter the free agent market in search of a more lucrative multi-year deal, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman.

Once the option is formally declined, the Rockies will have the opportunity to make Holland a qualifying offer of a reported $18.1MM. Presumably, Holland will again reject that figure, thus setting up the Rox to recoup some draft pick compensation if he ultimately signs elsewhere.

Even with Holland’s end-of-season woes, though, his overall numbers on the year look solid. He wrapped up the year with a 3.61 ERA and an impressive 11.0 K/9 mark through 57 1/3 innings. While he averaged 4.1 BB/9, Holland averaged 1.1 HR/9 despite the league-wide uptick in homers and despite playing half his games at Coors Field. Of the seven homers he allowed, five came in his final 18 appearances.

            Maybe I should add Holland to my short list.  Thoughts?

The Atlanta Braves https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/ are in a world of shite –

The investigation into apparent international signing violations by the Braves has already claimed the jobs of GM John Coppolella and special assistant Gordon Blakely, but the investigation is still ongoing. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic has a lengthy update (subscription required and recommended) on the matter, citing sources that tell him the team’s “violations are unprecedented in scope.”

Even as the Atlanta organization weighs its next steps, which will necessarily include a replacement for Coppolella and others, the league continues to dig. There’s no evidence to this point that president of baseball operations John Hart had knowledge or involvement in the transgressions, per Rosenthal, though he also hasn’t yet had his sit-down with investigators.

I ask should it stop here? Are we stupid enough to believe that the Braves are the only team in baseball to cheat when it comes to signing kiddies out of Latin countries. I mean, these 15 and 16-year olds are represented by crooked ‘busteros’ that take them out of grade school and ‘enroll’ them in forced camps called baseball academies. There is so much corruption down there and who are we to believe that only Coppolello tried to capitalize on it.