For as much progress the Yankees have made since the dysfunction of the eighties, you see a glimpse of how ownership has the potential to be a worry. Ken Rosenthal wrote this on Fox Sports yesterday: The Yankees on Sunday made a play for Houston Astros lefty Wandy Rodriguez, but that push was driven by ownership, not Cashman, according […]

I called Carlos Beltran a “potential Hall of Famer” in an article yesterday. That brought some questions that I figured I would answer this morning. Is Beltran headed for the Hall of Fame? Going into this season he’s had six seasons that I believe are Hall worthy (’01,’03, ’04, ’06-’08). Diving deeper into his advanced statistics he is […]

Every Friday I take a look at what is going on with Independent Baseball. Today, I took at look at the Newark Bears and wonder if there still is a future for this troubled Can-Am League team. Baseball in Newark has a rich tradition that dates back to 1902. There were the Newark Indians, Newark […]

We talked about the Mets placing a bid for a $50 million dollar ballpark as part of the referendum on a new arena for the Islanders in Nassau County. Originally, only the Atlantic League had a bid on the project. But the Mets came in at the eleventh hour to force the County to decide […]

Every Friday I take a look at what is going on with Independent Baseball. Today we take a look at members of the Long Island Ducks who made it back to the big leagues.  Ever go to a game at Bethpage Park and wonder how many times a Long Island Ducks player makes it back […]

A day late with this, but it’s still great news. The Long Island Ducks defeated the York Revolution 7-4 yesterday night at Sovereign Bank Stadium, clinching the First Half Liberty Division Title. It’s the Ducks seventh trip to the Atlantic League Playoffs in their history. What a great start for Ducks manager Kevin Baez. In his first […]

Every Friday I take a look into what is going on with Independent Baseball. Today, I discuss the success of the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League. Recently, I spoke to an agent who had a client released from Double-A. It was early May, a terrible time to get dumped, as many teams were still […]

Every Friday I take a look at a story from Independent baseball. Today, Jeff Nettles is front and center. You probably know the last name. His dad, Graig, starred for the Yankees during their back-to-back titles in the late seventies. Obviously, having a famous dad - especially one that played for the Yankees- means living in […]

On Friday, the Mets submitted plans for a minor league ballpark in Nassau County, Long Island. This will be part of the new Nassau Coliseum project that will be voted on by the County residents. All along, many assumed the only bidder would be Frank Boulton, owner of the Ducks and CEO of the Atlantic League. […]

It was September 3rd, 1990 and the Mets needed a shortstop to replace the injured Kevin Elster. A 23 year old kid from Brooklyn by the name of Kevin Baez was called up from the Mets Double-A team in Jackson, Mississippi. The Mets were in St. Louis that afternoon, and when he came on the […]

Yesterday morning a new independent league team to the Tri-State area opened their season across the river in Newark, New Jersey. The Rockland Boulders made their debut with an 11-5 win, and their skipper is a name that should be familiar to fans in the New York area. Dave LaPoint grew up in Glen Falls, […]

Duaner Sanchez, the reliever best known for nearly derailing the 2006 Mets due to a taxi cab accident, is back in New York pitching for the Long Island Ducks. I had a chance to catch up with Sanchez this week before the Ducks took on the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs at Bethpage Bank Park in […]

I will, as I do every year, follow the Atlantic League and the Long Island Ducks throughout the season. The Ducks will begin their twelfth season tonight on the road in Bridgeport to play the Bluefish. Every Friday I am going to try and share an Atlantic League fact or player of interest that is […]

This is about a week late, but some interesting news from the Atlantic League via Atlantic League Notebook: First, the Newark Bears will join the Canadian - American Association in 2011 meaning the Atlantic League will have to create a travel team until 2012 when a new team will begin play in Loudoun County, VA. […]

I was talking to some long time observers of the Cyclones at MCU Park on Monday. The topic of conversation was attendance and how amazed I am that a short season Class A team can draw eight to nine thousand a night during the summer. Think about this for a minute: most of these players […]