As a native son of Melbourne, I've always had a soft spot for baseball in Australia. As such, here are a few Pirate-related tibits on the subject.
* In the (admittedly unlikely) scenario that this blog has already attracted one or more readers in Australia, you'll get a chance for a sneak peek at our top pick in the minor league portion of this year's Rule 5 draft. Josh "Shaggy" Hill is going back to Australia this offseason for the first time in two years, to compete in the annual Claxton Shield competition. He and his wife Tiara (cool name) apparently had their first child two months ago, a boy named Jameson, so congratulations on that. I also spotted some footage of Hill pitching, in case you want to try out your scouting chops. I'm not an expert by any means, but it looks like he might be throwing across his body a bit there; the angle makes it hard to tell for sure, though.
* Longtime Pirates minor leaguer Brett Roneberg (a member of the Altoona Curve in '03, '06, and '07) will also be playing in the Claxton Shield. I know that he's been a member of the Queensland Rams in the past, but I don't know whether that's the case this time around or not. According to an article in the Cairns Post, he has a standing offer from the Pirates for 2008, but is also thinking about playing in Korea. As always, the best site for Roneberg-related info is the page run by his parents.
* While I was fooling around on the ABF website, I was rather startled by this article. The Pirates Baseball Club in question is not ours, but rather these fellas, who appear to be a sort of umbrella organization providing facilities for amateur clubs of different age and skill levels. Anyway, it got me thinking: We don't have any really good mustaches on the team right now, which is kind of a shame. I grew up watching the luxuriant lip-floss of Sid Bream and Don Slaught and Jim Leyland on TV, and nothing good can come of this break from baseball tradition. With all the minor league free agent bodies we're going to be hauling in this offseason, we should make a point of finding at least one with "the good face" to stash at AAA, so that we'll have a secret weapon on Turn Back the Clock Night.
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2 comments:
Vlad: I am happy to see that you started a blog, as you are one of the best and most thoughtful commenters on the other Pirate blogs. (Plus, you are the only one who commented when I posted a link to www.shakedownsports.com and its running, humorous commentary on the baseball draft.) But PLEASE, black on black is not readable. You have to change the color scheme, even at the expense of a B&G theme.
This site is, at best, an open beta right now, and based on audience response I can guarantee that the black background is going to be the first thing to go. Probably as soon as tonight, health permitting.
Literally nobody actively likes it, and I'm getting at least ten negatives of varying intensity for every "Meh".
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