Kuzul

The American League Gold Glove awards were announced on Tuesday and there were some old standards and a couple newer ones.  Ichiro Suzuki, that ever-consistent star for the Seattle Mariners, won his 10th Gold Glove award for his outfield prowess.

Sure to spark debate is Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees winning his fifth Gold Glove for his work in the 2010 season.  

It is often argued by followers of advanced baseball statistics that not only is Jeter not the top defensive shortstop, he is not even in the top echelon anymore.

This, of course, would be disputed by his teammates and various coaches and general managers who have seen him perform over the years, as he is held in the highest regard for both his play and his leadership.

But respecting his game and his historical contributions is one thing, and giving him the honour of the winning the top defensive prize is quite something else.

Granted, his traditional fielding statistics are impressive.  His six allowed errors were lowest among shortstops in the league and his .989 fielding percentage led the league as well.

As baseball acquires more and more statistics in the age of sabermetrics, it is argued that these prior categories don’t properly reflect a fielder’s prowess.  

It is argued that even though Jeter committed fewer errors than anyone else, it is only because his range didn’t allow him to get to balls that other shortstops might have made a play on.

So if you were to nominate another shortstop to win in his stead, why not Yunel Escobar, the acrobatic new fielder for the Toronto Blue Jays?  His plays regularly made the highlight reels of sports shows across North America.

His errors committed and fielding percentage are average, but he led the league, along with former Blue Jay Alex Gonzalez, in double plays with 104.

Also, likely the most important of the new stats that have emerged is the UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), which is a complicated calculation that basically determines the fielder’s effectiveness.  

With a 4.3 rating, Escobar is in the top third of shortstops in the league while Jeter, with a -4.7 rating, ranks in the bottom third.

So if you were to compare Jeter to Escobar, you could make the case that Escobar deserves the Gold Glove just as much as Jeter.

Many sports commentators have argued though that Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox actually deserved the Gold Glove.  His stats in sabermetrics are right at the top of the leaderboard, as are his ratings in scouting.

But it is his average traditional stats that drag him down and out of consideration for the award, which causes some to question the integrity of the award.

As Jeter enters next year at 36 years old, he will have plenty of challengers to his title. Whether he can maintain his status remains to be seen.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It is almost time for the baseball awards to be announced. Many fans overlook the value of a good manager. You can look to teams like the Mets and the Marlins that have had turmoil with their managers and see why it is important to have someone who can take control of what is going on. There have been a few managers that have stood out this year.

The candidates include Padres manager Bud Black, Reds manager Dusty Baker, Giants manager Bruce Bochy and Braves manager Bobby Cox who will likely get some votes based on his lifetime achievements.

Begin Slideshow

The Braves had a very good season in 2010 as they went 91-71 and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2005. The emergence of some rookies as well as the presence of off-season acquisitions gave Bobby Cox one last postseason run as the Braves’ manager.

The Braves were a patient team, ranking fourth in the MLB in OBP at .339 while hitting at an average clip of .258, 14th in the league. They were also third in the league in ERA at 3.56, trailing only the world champion San Francisco Giants and the playoff-less San Diego Padres.

Some low-lights included an uncharacteristic 126 errors in the field, one error off the lead in the MLB behind the lowly Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates. Those two teams had a combined record of 122-198.

Who are the players that could make an impact in spring training for the 2011 Braves under Freddi Gonzalez?

So far, relief pitchers Billy Wagner, who followed his promise to retire after the season, and Takashi Saito, who has been let go, have set the stage for Craig Kimbrel and Jonny Venters to stabilize the bullpen.

Derrek Lee 1B, Rick Ankiel CF, Eric Hinske LF/1B, Troy Glaus 1B/3B, and Kyle Farnsworth RP have all declared for free agency and most likely will not return to the Braves. Contractual options on SS Alex Gonzalez and INF/OF Omar Infante were picked up. Assuming no trades or free-agency pickups, next year’s lineup could appear as follows:

(Player – position – 2010 BA/HR/RBI/OBP/SLUG.)

1. Omar Infante LF .321 / 8 / 47 / .359 / .416 in 471 at bats

2. Jason Heyward RF .277 / 18 / 72 / .393 / .456 in 520 at bats

3. Chipper Jones 3B .265 / 10 / 46 / .381 / .426 in 317 at bats

4. Brian McCann C .269 / 21 / 77 / .375 / .453 in 479 at bats

5. Martin Prado 2B .307 / 15 / 66 / .350 / .459 in 599 at bats

6. Alex Gonzalez SS .250 / 23 / 88 / .294 / .447 in 595 at bats (267 with the Braves)

7. Nate McLouth CF .190 / 6 / 24 / .298 / .322 in 242 at bats

8. Freddie Freeman 1B .167 / 1 / 1 / .167 / .333 in 24 at bats (.319 / 18 / 87 / .378 / .521 in 519 AAA at bats)

Omar Infante had an all-star season in 2010 and his bat is too valuable to come off the bench. He is used to play many infield positions and left field. Chipper has stated he will make a return in 2011 after having a surgery on a torn ACL suffered in mid-season. Prado has been moved down to a run producing spot as he has more power than Infante.

Alex Gonzalez came over from Toronto as a source of power, but only offered 6 home runs as a Brave in 267 at-bats, as opposed to 17 in 328 at-bats as a Blue Jay. The probable departure of Derrek Lee means a starting job for Freddie Freeman, who had great numbers at AAA Gwinnett.

Where does the bench stand for Spring Training 2011?

Matt Diaz LF (he will probably remain as a platoon player due to his good numbers versus left-handed pitching)

David Ross C

Diory Hernandez SS

Brooks Conrad 2B/3B

Brandon Hicks INF

Top Minor Leaguers:

Tyler Pastornicky SS (acquired in the Alex Gonzalez trade that sent Yunel Escobar to Toronto)

Jordan Schafer CF

Barbaro Canizares 1B

What stands out in the projected lineup is the low slugging percentages and the lack of power that has plagued this club for the past few years. It may finally be the year to reach for a power-hitting left or center fielder.

The Braves have already acquired Joe Mather, but he is still a raw player and will most likely remain in the minors. Center field looks to be an obvious hole with the disappointment of Nate McClouth. However, beyond a 41-year-old Jim Edmonds, no 2011 free agents have a track record for power.

The only other option is to acquire a left or right fielder and make a position change. The class is headlined by Carl Crawford, who is more of a base-stealer but still offers some power, Jayson Werth, who would probably have to be a left fielder, and Colby Rasmus.

Adam Dunn is also out there, but would definitely have to be a left fielder, and a terrible one at that—but where else can you pick up 40 home runs a year?

If the Braves can make a big splash in free agency or concoct a smart trade, they would easily make the jump to being championship contenders.

The Braves are and have always been propped up by elite pitching and the makeup of last year’s third-ranked pitching staff will remain mostly unchanged. The San Francisco Giants have proved pitching does indeed win championships. A quick look at the rotation:

(2010 ERA / Record / Strikeouts)

1. Tim Hudson 2.83 / 17-9 / 139 in 34 starts

2. Derek Lowe 4.00 / 16-12 / 136 in 33 starts

3. Tommy Hanson 3.33 / 10-11 / 173 in 34 starts

4. Jair Jurrjens 4.64 / 7-6 / 86 in 20 starts

5. Mike Minor/Brandon Beachy 5.98 / 3-2 / 43 in 8 MLB starts – 3.00 / 0-0 / 15 in 2 MLB starts

Tim Hudson vaulted to the ace position with his Cy Young candidacy-worthy year. Jurrjens was hampered by injuries for most of the year and consequently had a down year. The battle for the fifth starting spot will probably be between Mike Minor and Brandon Beachy, who both had good showings in starts down the stretch.

The bullpen looks like:

Middle Relief:

Erik O’Flaherty

Mike Dunn

Cristhian Martinez

Kris Medlen is possible to return from Tommy John Surgery after All-Star break.

Set-up men (seventh-eighth inning):

Jonny Venters

Peter Moylan

Jonny Venters received a lot of work in 2010. He posted a 1.95 ERA in 83 innings of work, with only one home run given up for the year.

Closer:

Craig Kimbrel is projected to be the closer with the departure of Billy Wagner. His upper 90s fastball and baffling slider have acted as validation.

Top minor leaguers:

Julio Teheran

Randall Delgado

Arodys Vizcaino

Zeke Spruill

As usual, the Braves farm system contains a bunch of highly regarded pitchers that could break into the majors in 2011. Leading the hype is right-handed pitcher Julio Teheran, who might just make the team from spring training. The only off-season moves in terms of pitching would be to acquire a few low level middle relief pitchers to fill out a bullpen that was one of the best in the majors in 2010.

There was also something of a coaching carousel in the dugout and next to the base paths. The Braves fired first-base coach Glenn Hubbard and bench coach Chino Cadahia named Carlos Tosca bench coach in his place. They also reassigned hitting coach Terry Pendleton to first-base coach and named Larry Parrish hitting coach.

Tosca was the Marlins bench coach under Gonzalez and Parrish came from coaching the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens in the farm system of the Detroit Tigers. Roger McDowell, Brian Snitker, and Eddie Perez remain the pitching, third-base, and bullpen coaches, respectively.

Some how, every year the Braves come out of Spring Training ready to compete for the pennant and there’s no reason to expect 2011 to be any different. 2010 will be marked down as a fluky weak defensive performance, so expect a rebound in that department. With a solid pitching staff, a new face or two inserted into the lineup, and a vaulting of Jason Heyward into stardom, the Braves will have sight of a World Series spot.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

With the season in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to move forward and start looking at what the team can do to win next year and in the future.

Although Atlanta’s team strength on the major league level was its pitching staff, they have an incredible number of young and talented hurlers both already in the majors and waiting in the minors to make an impact in the future.

In order to make it onto this “future” pitching staff, a player must be currently in the Braves system and 25 or younger at the present date.

It’s not just an arbitrary number; the logic behind 25 is that ages 26 to 30 are typically considered a player’s prime years.

Anyone who is currently 25 would be right in the middle of that (28) when the contracts of Derek Lowe and Tim Hudson come off the books (thus allowing more of our youngsters to get the call).

Begin Slideshow

To the best of my ability, I will lay out what I believe will idealize the Braves 2011 lineup.

I think there are a few things to be changed from the roster of the previous year, so here is what I believe will give the Braves a good postseason run.

And hopefully they’ll trample those Giants along the way.

Begin Slideshow

Every year, managers, coaches and writers from around Major League Baseball award honors and trophies to the players—and every year, they screw up.

So Bleacher Report’s Featured Columnists decided to do it ourselves. Instead of just complaining about the awards as they are announced as we would normally do on our own, we teamed up to hold our own mock awards vote.

Yesterday, we kicked off Week 2 of our four-week-long results series with our picks for AL Comeback Player of the Year. Today, we look at the veterans from the Senior Circuit who best resurrected their careers in 2010.

Of the 17 players who received votes, the top five are featured here with commentary from people who chose them. The full list of votes is at the end.

So read on, see how we did and be sure to let us know what we got wrong!

Begin Slideshow

Expect a healthy dose of torture tonight. 

After last night’s offensive firestorm, where the San Francisco Giants ran up a week’s worth of runs in one game, tonight should be a nice reversion to the tense, nail-biting and familiar mean. 

Cue “The Machine” and bring on the thumbscrews. 

The ability of the Giants to persevere in ridiculously tight matchups, has generated a fan base mirroring the same attributes.  Fans who can maintain a pure hope for success during a one-run lead and cheer for their team just as vociferously during a two-run deficit. 

This purity within the San Francisco Giants fan base is one that I hope will be maintained and one which other notable fan bases have, unfortunately, replaced with complaining, excuses and an air of expectation.   

When I read the East Coast press endlessly describing the “luck” that went into the ascension of the “misfit” San Francisco Giants to the 2010 World Series, the more I just see a sniffling bully off in the corner, trying to explain his black eyes.   

Sometimes luck has nothing to do with it and you actually lose because the other guy was just more talented.  Not because he had a “good day” or had a bunch of “retreads” or because you “choked” or because you “lost” the series, but just because he beat you four times before you could do it to him.   

The stories portending a “ratings implosion” and “unwatchable World Series”, ring more of pure jealousy than of any kind of objective journalism.  

Did last night’s game strike anyone as unwatchable?  

And to further suggest that just because many sulking East Coast fans will not be tuning into the World Series, and that fact somehow lessens the achievement, is just sour grapes at it’s highest level.     

Nothing has come easy for the San Francisco Giants or their fans.  We’ve had line drives, earthquakes and a manager who liked to give out early souvenir balls.  As such, the loyal Giants supporters are the furthest thing from an expectant fan base and ones who will hopefully maintain that attribute, if continued success chooses to shine on this team.Fans who will be living every game like a gift versus an assumption.  

If you have ever followed the San Francisco 49ers, you are aware of the dangers that routine success can breed.

Fighting that birthright urge to place your beloved team above all others, solely on their previous, historic successes is difficult.  It remains an intense struggle to keep your objectivity and fight that temptation, even in the face of blatant empirical evidence.  It becomes very easy to close your eyes to reality and delude yourself into thinking that that your champions “just got unlucky” again.

To stubbornly refuse to give credit to the teams that beat yours. Even when all objective reason, in the form of mounting losses and aged stars, points clearly to the fact that the current team you worship only shares the same uniform colors as the one that wrote the legend. 

Fighting this is not as easy as wearing a fake beard to a game and cheering on Steve Perry in the Club Level as he leads “Don’t Stop Believin’” (which was awesome) or making a few “Ross Boss” signs.  The haze of endless winning seasons, multiple playoff appearances and championships, is where the real danger of becoming a pouting supporter lurks. 

Sometimes, you just get beaten up by the unassuming drama geek with a dynamite right-right-left-left pitching combination.  You can get watery eyes and bellyache when that happens or you can give credit where credit is due. 

Granted, maybe you didn’t see the punch coming in your cocoon of perceived dominance, but that happens in life—and it just happened to your team.   

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

One of the MLB’s all-time greats is walking away from the game.

Braves’ LHP Billy Wagner, 39, officially confirmed his retirement from Major League Baseball this week. Wagner’s MLB career came to a close prematurely when he suffered a left oblique injury in the NLDS while fielding a bunt by Giants’ SS Edgar Renteria, then re-aggravated it on the very next batter and was forced to leave the game. Wagner received two injections on October 10th, telling doctors that he wanted to try to return, and that he “didn’t care about the long-term affects.”

He tried to throw on Sunday, but was unable do so without significant pain, and was placed on the 15-Day DL—a stint that may not only end his season, but his career. The belief was that he’d return if the Braves could advance to the World Series—which, as we know, simply wasn’t in the cards. Ultimately, Wagner walks—limps, rather—into retirement from the game alongside his manager, Bobby Cox.

Wagner turns in a fantastic 1.43 ERA, 0.87 WHIP and 104/22 K/BB ratio over 69 1/3 innings during the regular season, successfully shutting the door on 37-of-44 save opportunities. As his stats indicate, as well as his presence on the mound, the flamethrower could’ve remained a dominant closer for a few more seasons.

I don’t blame him for leaving, though—a 162-game schedule attacks your body, not to mention being away from home and your family/wife/kids. As of right now, RHP Craig Kimbrel, RHP Takashi Saito and LHP Johnny Venters will compete to assume the position for 2011, and the $7M freed up will allow the Braves to improve in other areas of their game.

Wagner had always been one of my favorite pitchers growing up, so I thought I’d take a look at what he’s accomplished in baseball. He shared a similar body frame as I did (he’s 5’10″, 180-pounds), and watching him throw smoke had me dying to become a fearless, challenging, hard-throwing closer too.

I began researching him, and the first thing that jumped at me was that he’s a *natural* right-handed pitcher, but only started throwing southpaw after breaking his arm twice in accidents. He taught himself to throw lefty by throwing thousands of balls against the wall of a barn, and then fielding the rebounds, rinse and repeat.

As I started watching the MLB as a baseball enthusiast, rather than just as a fan cheering for a team, I realized how rare a talent such as Wagner was. A dominant lefty-closer who was capable throwing a baseball 100 mph, plus a nasty slider, mixed with how hard (not the velocity—call it torque, if you will) was, and still is, a rare commodity. And it was his sheer, utter dominance that made him one of the greatest of all-time.

Among all the pitchers in baseball history with at least 800 career innings, Wagner has the highest strikeout rate. Not bad company, either:

K/9 IP

Billy Wagner: 11.92
Randy Johnson: 10.61
Kerry Wood: 10.35
Pedro Martinez: 10.04
Nolan Ryan: 9.55

Wagner is also the all-time leader in adjusted ERA+ among all lefty relievers with at least 800 innings, and ranks second in all-time adjusted ERA behind another closer who I hear is pretty good:

LHP’s ERA+

Billy Wagner: 187
John Franco: 138
John Hiller: 134
Sparky Lyle: 128
Jesse Orosco: 126

All-time ERA+

Mariano Rivera: 204
Billy Wagner: 187
Hoyt Wilhelm: 147
Dan Quisenberry: 147
Trevor Hoffman: 141

While many people will be critical of his postseason failures and locker-room character (particularly with the Phillies), there’s no denying what he’s accomplished on the mound. Of all the impressive stats accumulated over the years, his most impressive might be the 422 saves he leaves behind, good for (an underrated) fifth on the all-time list, just two shy of Mets’ legend John Franco.

Simply put, he’s the greatest left-handed reliever of all time. He sports the highest strikeout rate of all-time, the best adjusted ERA ever by a lefty reliever, the fewest hits per nine innings of all-time and the second-best ERA+ among all relievers behind only Mariano Rivera.

The seven-time All-Star and 1999 NL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year leaves after 15 seasons, but it simply doesn’t do justice to just how badass he was. He’s the perfect combination of a lumberjack and a pirate. He eats beef jerky for breakfast. He flosses with shards of bats he’s broken. He’s essentially baseball’s version of Chuck Norris. Also, he had a wicked-awesome beard.

Wagner did not end his career the way many athletes envision themselves retiring—by limping off the field. My hope is that once the World Series hype dies down this winter, we can really begin to look at what a marvel Billy Wagner was. He remains one of the few pitchers in the history of sports to remain dominant throughout their career, and his statistics—first-ballot Hall of Fame worthy, mind you—truly speak volumes about how dominant and consistent he’s been throughout his career.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Braves hiring their ‘in-family’ manager to replace Bobby Cox in naming Fredi Gonzalez his successor is nothing less than a huge mistake for the entire Braves organization.

Coming from a fan who has watched Gonzalez manage in South Florida the last few years, he has major flaws.  First off, he doesn’t understand player chemistry.  Hanley Ramirez is arguably the best player in the Major Leagues at the shortstop position and Gonzalez constantly clashed with him. 

Gonzalez could not get along with his superstar and thus he alienated other teammates in the process.  He even got in Ramirez’s face in the dugout and there were several reports of turmoil between the two.

Secondly, he is horrible at managing pitchers. 

Gonzalez is a huge pitch counter and he pulls pitchers out of the game way too soon.  When he managed the Marlins, he often yanked the pitchers out early when they were cruising just because they were at 85 pitches or near 100 pitches.  Josh Johnson had a no-hitter going at one point and Gonzalez said he would not have allowed Johnson to finish his no-hitter and “wasn’t going to allow him to throw 150 pitches.” 

He was relieved at his pitcher losing his no-hitter so he didn’t have to pull him.  I guess Gonzalez didn’t see Edwin Jackson’s no-hitter earlier this year where he threw 149 pitches.  But it’s far more than no-hitters, it’s consistently pulling pitchers early who could give another one or two innings to make the bullpen’s job easier or give them the night off.

If you saw last night’s game in Tampa where Cliff Lee went nine and completed the game against the Rays to win the series, this likely would not have happened had Fredi Gonzalez been the manager of the Rangers—Gonzalez would have likely pulled him after the seventh.

Finally, he didn’t even win half of his games in Florida. 

He was fired with an overall win percentage of .497.  He was 35-36 in 2010 when Marlins owner, Jeffery Loria pulled the plug on him and said, “we can do better and be better.” 

So why were the Braves so quick to go after this guy?  Edwin Rodriguez, who previously had no experience as a manager in the Big Leagues, tookover for Gonzalez and posted a better record than Gonzalez and ended up finishing with a .500 record (46-46).  He got along well with Ramirez, and the team had much more respect for an inexperienced Rodriguez than they did for Gonzalez, who had been around for three years.

It also makes me wonder how fair of a coaching search this was.  Why would the Braves be so quick-handed not to interview some other quality candidates and jump at a guy with a less than .500 record? 

Rumors flew throughout the season that Gonzalez was going to be in Atlanta after the Marlins fired him.  I feel sorry for the candidates who didn’t get a fair crack at the job because of an old boys network connection that Fredi had with the organization.

However, he might be ideal for team president John Schuerholz, who tolerated underachieving and early exits from the playoffs for years under Bobby Cox.  Currently, the Braves have lost their last eight elimination games and have been eliminated in the first series the last six times they made the playoffs. 

If this was the New York Yankees and the Steinbrenner family running the team he would have been fired three times over again.

When Gonzalez was dusted by the Marlins, he uttered the words, “It doesn’t surprise me, these things are normal in this job.”  His below .500 record and inability to relate to his players is also normal.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

As the San Francisco Giants celebrated on the field after their series-winning 3-2 win in Game 4 of the NLDS, Atlanta Braves fans chanted “Bobby! Bobby! Bobby!”

Fans cheered and applauded right after the game, as a tribute to Bobby Cox was played on the video board. The Braves watched from the edge of the dugout as Cox came out and tipped his cap to the fans—the same one he had slammed to the dirt in frustration just this past Friday night.

The Giants momentarily stopped their celebration, faced the Braves’ dugout and tipped their caps to Cox.

“I saw them, and I gave them a thumbs-up, too…That was nice, a nice gesture by the Giants. I love (manager Bruce) Bochy. He’s one of the best guys in baseball. If we couldn’t win, I’m glad he did.”

The nail-biting loss will be the final one of Cox’ career—one that will send him into retirement from Major League Baseball.

Cox is retiring after 29 seasons as a major league manager, 25 with the Braves and 4 with the Toronto Blue Jays.

He led the Braves to a record 14 straight division championships, five NL championships and the 1995 World Series. This 2010 Braves team was his first wild-card team.

He managed 16 teams to the postseason, including leading the Blue Jays to their first AL East title in 1985. Cox finishes with 2,504 regular-season wins, fourth all-time behind Connie Mack, John McGraw and Tony La Russa.

He had 158 regular-season ejections, the most among managers. He’ll finish as a two-time World Series Champion (1977, 1995) and a four-time Manager of the Year (1985 in the AL, 1991, 2004, 2005 in the NL).

Cox has been named Manager of the Year four times (1985, 1991, 2004, and 2005) and is one of only four managers to have won the award in both the American and National League. He is also the only person to have won the award in consecutive years.

Cox has also been named Manager of the Year by The Sporting News eight times (1985, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005).

He won’t be away from the game entirely, though—after more than 50 years in baseball as a player, coach, manager and general manager, Cox will be a consultant’s role with the team. He says his role will be minor, and will include visits with the organization’s minor league players.

Cox, however, isn’t the only longtime manager to retire this year. He joins Joe Torre, Cito Gaston and Lou Piniella, all of whom are bidding farewell to the game they love.

As Cox entered the clubhouse after the game, Braves’ C Brian McCann immediately realized that this was the end of the road for arguably the greatest manager in baseball history.

“He came in for a minute and walked out. He let us know that he appreciated that we played hard every single day. We just wish we were still playing. We played as hard as we could…sad, definitely sad. I’m gonna miss him. He’s an amazing manager, an amazing person. We’re all going to miss him around here.”

Injured 3B Chipper Jones, who is the longest-tenured Brave and has been with Cox longer than any current MLB player, said he’s never seen Cox so emotional.

“It’s still hard to believe he’s not going to be the manager come spring training.”

When asked how Cox would spend his first day of retirement, he said,

“I don’t know, I’m going to try to come out here. I’m not sure yet.”

The Braves will turn their attention to finding Cox’ replacement—one that will almost have to be overqualified based on Cox’s successes with the Braves. Meanwhile, Cox will be able to turn his attention to a pair of cruises—one bought by his wife, Pam, and one by his players.

Pam prepaid for a cruise for the couple next April. Cox says he’s looking forward to more time with his family, but those close to him wonder how he’ll cope with being away from the game on a daily basis, as he’s been involved in baseball his entire life, and many thought he’d never walk away from the game.

On his cruise, though, he’ll have plenty of time to think about what he’ll say for sis Cooperstown speech, when he’ll be a first-ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Emotional during the post-game press conference, Cox said,

“I’m proud of this team…I told them that a little while ago. They played their hearts out, and I’ll miss them.”

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com