San Francisco is hosting a Championship parade for the Giants today and their roster refutes any claim that this World Series matchup was not compelling or interesting. It is a shame the Series wasn’t more tightly contested, but there are no shortage of storylines on the Giants roster. From the fantastic core of young starters: the unorthodox Tim Lincecum, the determined Matt Cain, the erratic Jonathan Sanchez and the mature Madison Bumgarner to Buster Posey, the poised rookie catcher. From Aubrey Huff’s long wait for postseason baseball to Pat Burrell’s resurgence (at least until the playoffs began). From Andres Torres salvaging a career through overcoming ADHD to Cody Ross’s playoff heroics. However, none may be more unlikely than Edgar Renteria, the bench player who went 2-for-2 in the NL Division Series, before being thrust into a starting role and struggling with a 1-for-16 line in the NL Championship Series. Nevertheless, Bruce Bochy stuck with Renteria and, more than a decade after he ended the 1997 World Series with a walkoff single, he responded with a .417 batting average and 2 home runs before being named World Series MVP.
JP Ricciardi, who needs no introduction to readers of this site, has been named a Special Assistant to Sandy Alderson, the newly appointed general manager of the New York Mets. While brief articles on the hiring reference the new Moneyball look of the Mets front office, that is a simplistic way to look at the hiring, as Ricciardi’s tenure in Toronto reflects. There were ups and downs in his time here, that we’ve often discussed to death, but I think this a good hire for the Mets. Ricciardi made a number of good baseball moves, both here and in Oakland, and as a Special Assistant he won’t have to deal with the media, which was one of his biggest weaknesses. While his soundbites on television may not always suggest this, his baseball acumen is highly regarded by Billy Beane and Theo Epstein and it will be interesting to see if he shines in a supporting role.
Ron Roenicke, who was an initial candidate for the managerial opening in Toronto (and in a few other cities) was named manager of the Milwaukee Brewers yesterday. Roenicke is the latest to emerge from the Mike Sciosia coaching carousel and Brewers fan hope he is successful as Joe Maddon and Bud Black have been so far. A lengthier piece on Roenicke appeared a little while ago on the Box, so feel free to read that if you want to take a look at some of the preliminary reasons why Milwaukee, and other teams, considered Roenicke as a candidate.
