Its that time of year again when winter baseball begins to heat up. Many of the MLB's Latino stars head south to sharpen up their diamond skills.
Yankee second baseman, Robinson Cano, was playing in the Dominican League, batting .389 when his parent club put an end to his season.
Other notable MLBPers basking in a Caribbean Winter are Baltimore's Miguel Tejada, Tampa Rays' first baseman Carlos Pena and Red's third sacker Edwin Encarnacion. Along with the Dodgers speedster Rafael Frucal, Encarnacion and Tejada combine to power one of the Dominican league's best lineups.
usually a hesitation to let their stars play. In Cano's case, the Yankees have a lot vested in their young second baseman. Nursing a sore calf, Cano needs to consider resting until spring training. With today's multi-million dollar, guaranteed contracts, there's calf, Cano would be foolish to continue playing.
The Yankees, too, would be up a creek. Since it's late in the offseason, they would pay through the nose for a second rate second baseman, such as a Marcus Giles or Jose Valentin.
MLB 2K8 cover boy Jose Reyes is also playing winter ball in Santo Domingo. Hopefully the Gigantes have figured out a cure for laziness.

Good news loyal 108 Red Stitches blog readers! I've finally come out of my self induced baseball coma, one that kept me from writing for the past month.
So, what'd I miss?

Red Sox won the World Series? Did this coma transport me back in time?

Haha, you're funny, no way the Yankees "fired" Joe Torre.

Don Mattingly is going to be a Dodger? Are they really that hard up for a first baseman?

I'm sorry, the nurses must not have cleaned the wax out of my ears while I was napping, could you repeat that? A-Rod opted out? Did you say opted out, like, of his contract? So he's not going to be playing for the Yankees next season?

How will that effect next year's version of MLB 2K8? A-Rod will still be on the Yanks roster right? I want him breaking Bond's record while wearing pinstripes.

Did you just say that San Fransisco gave Bonds his walking papers? Well, that's nice. Good for San Fran.

He wants to sign with who?!?! Oh, Cashman has another thing coming if he signs that jerk.

Are we still talking about baseball? Because you mentioned instant replay for a minute there.

The Mets didn't fire everyone on their team?

The Phillies traded for Brad Lidge? What's the point of playing next year then? Might as well print off those championship t-shirt. Lidge solves EVERYTHING.

Really, so Tampa Bay gave up on the whole Devil thing? So you think that'll be the thing Peter Gammons points to when the "Rays" are leading the AL East?

I'm sorry, I thought you said the Devil sold his soul to Scott Boras.

It's a thankless job, but here at 108 Red Stitches, we're more than happy to take on the task of providing ways for ownership to fix the worst team in baseball.

1. Stop drafting outfielders. The Devil Rays outfield is more crowded than an LA Freeway or (going to reach deep into the pocket here) the old Star Jones in a pair of size 0 jeans.
Crawford, Young, Rocco, BJ Upton experiment, Greg Norton, Jonny Gomes, plus countless others in their minor league system.
QUICK FIX: Its time to give up on Rocco Baldelli and let him get a fresh start somewhere else. Trade him to a team like the Padres, who are rich in pitching and might need a new centerfielder in case Mike Cameron decides to leave via free agency at the end of the season. Baldelli would fit nicely in the Padres vast outfield, allowing him to roam and use his speed. He might also see his batting average rise, playing all those games at Coors Field.

2. Pitching. I'm sure this has been said before, but pitching is one of the most important elements needed to win ball games. It's very tough for Scott Kazmir and James Shields to go out and pitch effectively every night, only to have their bullpen blow lead after lead. It has to be mentally debilitating for a pitcher to suffer through the same fate game after game.
QUICK FIX: Again, a surplus of outfielders could bring in some pitching help. There are a ton of free agent outfielders this season and most will command big dollars (Hunter, Cameron, Andrew Jones, Corey Patterson). Teams looking for a cheap alternative could find one in the Devil Rays system.

3. Fan Base. I know, you ask, but how can fan base translate into winning or losing games? Try playing 81 games in front of less than 3,000 people showing up. Of the 3,000 half could give a damn about what's going on in the field, and the other half are from out of town. Your biggest crowd comes when the Yankees are in town, which is basically like playing an additional 10 games on the road. We're not saying its the fan's fault that the Rays are awful, but give them something to root for, and maybe, you'll begin to understand what a home field advantage is.
For more info on this subject visit this old ESPN PAGE 2 ARTICLE


4. Respect Factor. If you want to bring in a quality free agent player, you need to be serious about your franchise. No one is going to play for a franchise hoping completely disappear
off the baseball map. The quote from the film "Field of Dreams" applies in this case; "If you build it, they will come." Make that investment in a quality arm or a power bat that isn't on the downslope of a career (see Wade Boggs, Jose Canseco). Show other players that your team is committed to winning now and in the long term. Nobody wants to play for a AAAA team, and wait to be traded to a contender around the deadline.

5. Move Out of the AL East. Maybe a change of "leaguery" would be good for the organization. I'm not advocating re-alignment or contraction, but the move seemed to have (eventually) paid off for the Brew-Crew.