Kuzul

As confirmed by multiple reports this morning, including one from the Rangers front-office on Twitter, Pittsburgh-area sports attorney and Texas Rangers managing partner Chuck Greenberg has resigned.

Speculation of his imminent departure began after Greenberg failed to attend management meetings at the Rangers spring training compound in Suprise, Arizona.

Over the past few months, beginning with the botched attempt at re-signing pitcher Cliff Lee, and the turbulent free-agent negotiations with Adrian Beltre, a divide deepened between team president Nolan Ryan and Greenberg over the future direction of the franchise.

Greenberg’s aggressive personality and business style appears to be at the core of the decision to part ways with the Rangers and the ownership group led by Ryan.

Could it be that Chuck Greenberg was given the opportunity to be the public face of the Rangers franchise only as a stop-gap measure due to his help in bailing the team out of murky financial waters, and was never intended to have a long-term upper management role?

Did Nolan Ryan and Rangers general manager Jon Daniels have it mind all along to make the Rangers a true family venture, and bring Reid and Reese Ryan into the mix?

This seems very reasonable, if not likely.

Both Reid and Reese Ryan have been building their baseball front office acumen serving as owners of the Rangers’ Triple A affiliate, the Round Rock Express and its Double A affiliate, the Corpus Christi Hooks.

Reid and Reese Ryan, along with Jon Daniels, would be one of the youngest managing teams in all of major league baseball.

As Daniels and Theo Esptein have both shown, youth can be a benefit in the daily grind of managing a franchise.

Nolan Ryan made a calculated decision in accepting the Rangers’ offer to become the team’s president prior to the 2010 season.

It’s certain that he did so with a long-term plan in mind.

The big Texan has never done anything with half-hearted effort.

Just ask the batters he mowed down throughout his Hall of Fame pitching career.

Nolan Ryan does things Nolan Ryan’s way, and this certainly doesn’t include dealing with anyone whose personality doesn’t mesh with his.

He is a quiet leader who demands greatness from those around him.

If these qualities have been passed on to his sons, the new Ryan ownership group will lead the Texas Rangers to even greater success in the future.

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The New York Yankees have officially announced that 36 year old star shortstop Derek Jeter, has signed a three year, $51 million contract to stay with the team through the 2013 season. The maximum Jeter could earn would be $65 million as a fourth year, incentive-based player option that has been added to the contract based on Jeter’s performance over the first three years.

This deal comes on the backside of a great speculation about Jeter’s future with the team and extensive negotiations between Jeter’s agent, Casey Close, and the Yankees front office led by Hank Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman.

Jeter’s negotiations with the team were tenuous and often tense since the end of the 2010 season. After initially requesting a larger deal that the final proposed to the superstar, the Yankees welcomed Jeter to test the free-agent market, but also reportedly told him that he should “drink some reality potion” in regards to his value on the open market.

According to the Yankees, at the center of the difficulties during negotiations was Jeter’s failure to recognize that at his age the team was not in a position to offer a long-term extension, or a contract beyond a three-year period. Jeter was initially requesting a longer-term deal with a yearly payout similar to the ten year $189 million dollar contract the Yankees captain signed back in 2000.

Ultimately both the Yankees desire to continue to have Jeter’s leadership in the clubhouse, and Jeter’s desire to finish his career as a Yankee became deciding factors in the deal getting done.

While Jeter wanted to see a payday which would be equivalent to the salary he had been accustomed to over the past ten summers, it is likely that he became more aware that the bargaining leverage which he had in 2010 was not nearly the same leverage he had in 2000 as the negotiations dragged on.

Derek Jeter has become one of the faces of the New York Yankees, and of professional baseball during his hall-of-fame career. When you think of the Yankees, you think of Jeter. This is invaluable to the Yankees stature as one of the preeminent franchises in professional baseball.

The team made a great decision in meeting Jeter halfway and helping to ensure his legacy as one of the Yankee greats.

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With the looming mega deal proposed by the Colorado Rockies to Troy Tulowitzki and a press conference scheduled for later in the day to make the formal announcement, it is interesting to consider the precedent this contract could set.

Will other franchises follow suit and lock up their young superstars to extended contracts lasting for as much as 10 seasons to ensure the player’s future with their team? Or will the financial and organizational risk be seen as too great?

Troy Tulowitzki has arguably been the backbone of the Colorado Rockies organization since his arrival in Denver in 2006, showing great leadership skill, outstanding range at shortstop and above-average skills at the plate.

At times, injuries have been a concern, shortening the young star’s 2009 and 2010 seasons, but not enough of a concern for the Rockies organization to prevent them from considering the seven-year, $134 million extension to be announced soon.

In all, Tulowitzki’s deal will total 10 years, locking him in as the franchise player for the Rockies through 2020. Are there other teams out there with young superstars who would consider making the same move to lock in their franchise player?

Would Minnesota consider the same type of deal for Joe Mauer? Would the Texas Rangers ensure they have a closer for years to come and extend a long-term deal to Neftali Feliz? Is Tim Lincecum worth big time money to stay in San Francisco for another decade?

These are all questions which will likely be answered when the trigger is pulled on the Tulowitzki deal and the hand of baseball owners is forced to protect their investments.

A precedent usually is only established when a risk pans out, however, so time will tell if the Tulowitzki deal goes down as the first in a line of mega deals or just an unwarranted risk which becomes a footnote.

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Major League Baseball announced the 2010 Rookies of the Year on Monday: Texas Rangers closer Neftali Feliz and San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey. These two young talents are striking examples of the different ways baseball can be played with an impact.

Feliz has electric, often unhittable stuff and commands respect through intimidation and pure power on the mound. Posey is a blue-collar, workmanlike catcher with a heavy bat and deadly accurate arm.  Are Feliz and Posey stars in the making or just flashes in the pan? Looking back through recent history for some close comparisons should answer the question.

Neftali Feliz

Arguably the most dominant closer in all of baseball, Neftali Feliz posted numbers in the 2010 season which would make any fan’s head turn. Feliz struck out 71 batters in 69.1 innings, walked only 18 and posted a staggering 0.88 WHIP during this past summer.

Much of the talk surrounding Feliz not only has dealt with his ability to lock down opposing hitters with a calm, almost stoic presence on the mound, but also his ability to post two-inning saves, a feat becoming almost extinct among today’s highly specialized closers.

Feliz’s fastball consistently reaches the upper 90s, occasionally topping the century-mark. There is no doubt that he has the tools to be a dominant closer for some time to come, but will his dependence on a fastball lead to long-term dominance, or only short-term success?

A great comparison to Feliz is Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton. A larger-than-life presence on the mound at 6’4″ and 295 pounds, Broxton has held the shutdown spot for the Dodgers since midway through the 2008 season with mixed results. Broxton’s dominating 100-mph plus fastball and offensive lineman frame is often enough to intimidate hitters into wasting at-bats.

The 2010 season, however, saw Broxton start to show signs of vulnerability, with his  1.48 WHIP and 4.04 ERA in 62.1 innings pitched. Watching Broxton pitch this season, I could see that his dependence on a fastball was no longer enough. Hitters had timed the pitch and were well aware of when and where it would be thrown. While Broxton is still a competent closer, his dependence on the fastball long term and slowing performance is an example of what could happen to Feliz if he does not add a dominant second pitch.

On the flipside, Feliz’s career could easily follow the path of Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria, lovingly labeled the “Mexicutioner” by his Royals teammates. Soria has seen a consistent uptick in performance since his major league debut in 2008. Soria’s fastball is devastating, reaching the upper 90s and with precision placement. His 1.75 ERA and 1.05 WHIP were among the best in baseball during 2010.

Although Soria encountered some injury issues in 2009, he looks as dominant as any closer in baseball. Sharing much of the same stoic nature as Feliz, it is very easy to see a bright future for the young Mexican closer.

Will Neftali Feliz burnout and become just another average closer along the lines of Broxton, or ride his fastball to consistent improvement and perpetual dominance like Soria?

Buster Posey

Gerald “Buster” Posey, catcher for the World Champion San Francisco Giants, was recently named the 2010 National League Most Valuable Player. Buster’s calm demeanor and workmanlike style instantly won fans among the Giants faithful during their run to the 2010 pennant.

Beginning the 2010 season with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate in Fresno, Posey dominated their pitching, batting .349 over 47 games and earning a call-up to San Francisco on May 29, never to look back.

Posey hit .305 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI in 108 games for the Giants this summer. More impressively, however, Posey showed great arm strength and accuracy, causing the moment of hesitation among NL runners, which is so important to a catcher’s long-term success defensively.

Posey’s impressive rookie campaign, and potential for longevity, can be compared to two other recent Rookies of the Year: Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto and Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer.

Geovany Soto’s 2008 season opened the eyes of baseball fans across the land. Soto hit .285 with 23 home runs and 86 RBI during his electrifying Wrigley summer. Soto’s command of Cubs pitching was an important factor in the club’s run to the playoffs for the first time since 2002, and the Steve Bartman debacle. 

Soto’s bright star faded quickly in the summer of 2009 due to multiple injuries, which allowed him to appear in only 102 games behind the plate, hitting a meager .218.

Soto entered camp in 2010 in better physical shape, but still was unproductive at the plate, hitting .280 and driving in only 53 runs. If Soto can bounce back from his injury issues, a long career could be a possibility, but he is a great example of what could happen to Buster Posey if the wear-and-tear of the catcher’s duties take effect.

Joe Mauer, the Twins’ ironman catcher, shows the other end of the spectrum. Mauer has caught an average of 114.5 games (while playing a total average of 133.5 games overall) in the last six seasons since his arrival as a full-time catcher in 2005, and has hit .327 lifetime. If Posey can enjoy this same health and consistent improvement behind and at the plate, he could easily become one of the greats.

Will Neftali Feliz become the next Mariano Rivera? Will Buster Posey become the new Pudge Rodriguez, or Joe Mauer? Many factors will play a part, some in their control, and others which cannot be controlled.

What do you think?

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