baseball

The St. Louis Cardinals first-round draft choice, who might very well wind up in Batavia as a Muckdog, is a big guy from a small town with big ambitions.

Shelby Miller, from Brownwood, Texas, a town of 19,000 people, was the 19th overall pick in the annual MLB draft. His fastball has been clocked at 97 m.p.h. and he doesn't mind comparisons to Texas natives Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan.

Those are some big shoes to fill.

The high school pitcher has been dubbed "a special kind of talent" who could fetch $3.5 million in his first contract.

The Cardinals second pick is a catcher out of the University of Southern California, Robert Stock.

Other selections in no particular order:

• Matt Adams
• Tyler Bighames
• Rick Racobaldo
• Virgil Hill (son, according to this story, of North Dakota boxing legend Virgil Hill, Sr.)
• Kyle Conley
• Jim Klocke
• Daniel Calhoun

Baseball America has a complete list of St. Louis draft picks.

Just because a player is drafted doesn't mean he will sign, or that he'll wind up in Batavia. The Cardinals also have a short-season affiliate in Johnson City, Tenn.

Thirteen players who spent at least part of the 2008 season with the Batavia Muckdogs have been placed on the Quad Cities River Bandits roster for 2009.

The players promoted are: George Brown, Hector Cardenas, Ramon Delgado, Arquidemes Nieto, Miguel Tapia, Adam Veres, Charles Cutler, Blake Murphy, Osvaldo Morales, Domnit Bolivar, Alex Castellanos, Jon Edwards and Chris Swauger.

www.youtube.com/watch

My grandson was a sophmore last year when this was shot.  This past season his high school team, of 13 players, made it to the state finals.  Keep an eye on him, he may be playing for the Muckdogs in the future and then who knows what might happen.

 The Buffalo News today reported a story in which reporter Maki Becker gives us some more detail on the New York State Public High School Athletic Association cuts as he interviewed executive director Nina Van Erk.

There wasn't a whole lot of information than what we have previously reported, but there are a couple of interesting items in the piece.

Van Erk says that it is expected that the cuts will save schools in the state up to $10 million, with nearly $6 million of that going to officiating fees.

The other thing that comes from this story is that the cuts are expected to be for two years.

The changes, which were approved by a slim majority late last month, would begin in the next school year and would remain in effect for two years, Van Erk told the paper.

This opens up some more questions.

Did Van Erk and the rest of the NYSPHSAA directors make these cuts for two years because it is a quick fix to help schools and families get through these difficult economic times?

Was it announced that the cuts are for two years because that is the original plan or because of all the backlash the NYSPHSAA has received from coaches and athletic directors?

And what happens after two years? Will these policies just continue or will they be reviewed again at that time, with the number of games being returned to the schedule?

Buffalo Public Schools athletic director David Thomas summed up what a lot of people are thinking when they hear this with his quote late in the story.

“I don’t think we should be worried about funding school budgets on the backs of the kids playing sports,” said Thomas told the paper.

Cutting the number of games might help school districts in the more remote areas of Western New York that require longer traveling distances, Thomas said, “but it doesn’t save it up here [in Buffalo], where we are trying to keep the kids off the streets and busy with school and athletics.”

The current schedule allows Buffalo athletes the opportunity to play in suburban areas and “to travel to some nice tournaments,” Thomas said. “Now we have to pull back on that.”

Thomas also questioned whether the cuts were really temporary. “When they take things away,” he said, “they don’t often come back.”

The Batavia Little League will be conducting signups for the 2009 season on Friday, Feb. 27 and Saturday, Feb. 28 at the City Centre Mall.

Friday's signups go from 6-8 p.m. while Saturday's will be from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. 

Here is all the info on the signups. 

 Former Batavia Muckdog Ryan Howard cashed in big this weekend.

The 29-year old slugger that is one of the biggest names to ever have suited up for Batavia's New York-Pennsylvania League franchise inked a 3-year, $54 million contract extension on Sunday with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The two sides were far apart on contract negotiations so the move came as a surprise to many, and it looked like HOward was heading towards a second straight salary arbitration hearing on Friday of this week. 

But the Phillies bought out the final three years of Howard's salary arbitration eligibility and gave him the big contract.

"I'm happy to have this done and to know that I'll be in Philadelphia for at least another three years," Howard said in a statement. "Both sides are happy, and now I'm just focused on getting the season started and having fun."

Howard - the 2006 National League MVP - will make $15 million this season and his salary will jump to $19 million in 2010 and 2011.

The first baseman was a Muckdog in 2001 and hit six home runs in 48 games played.

 The cuts made by the NYSPHSAA this week are upsetting a lot of people. 

I went through the details of the cuts yesterday and the one that is upsetting the most is the cuts in amount of games being played.

5. Support the reduction of the maximum number of contests permitted during the regular season. Sports with 24 contests will be reduced to 20, sports with 20 contests will be reduced to 18 and sports with 18 contests will be reduced to 16. Wrestling will be reduced to 20 points. Football will be reduced from 10 to 9. The 9th game is permitted, with section approval, for teams who do not qualify for sectional play. For the teams involved in the sectional tournament the maximum number of contests shall be 10. For the sections involved in the state championship three additional games are permitted for a total of 13 games for the season: 1 game for regionals, 1 game for semifinals, and 1 game for championships. Effective for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. APPROVED

I know that coaches Mike Rapone of Notre Dame and Jim Burke of Prattsburgh were upset that if the cuts went through it would end the home-and-away tradition between the two programs.

The 500-plus win coaches were very much against cutting the number of games from 20 to 18.

But in John Moriello's blog today, he goes into more detail and has quotes from all over the state.

   Grand Island AD Jon Roth: "I really don’t know what two or four contests is going to do for anybody. I don’t think they should penalize the kids. I know cuts have to be made somewhere, but cutting games is not the answer.”

   Section 2 football chairman Gary VanDerzee: "In all honesty, football made out the best of all of them. It's just a horrible, horrible decision, made by people afraid to make the decision in their own (leagues or sections).

   Section 2 boys soccer chairman Jim Gillis: "I'm not surprised by this, but I think it is absurd. There are other things that could have been done state-wide, section-wide and league-wise that could have avoided cutting of games. Unfortunately, we weren't given that opportunity. We had no say in these moves."

   Section 2 baseball chairman Al Roy: "I know when we just had a baseball meeting, everyone felt this is something that leagues, sections and individual schools should address. This vote seems like a knee-jerk reaction."

 Section 4 interscholastic sports coordinator Ben Nelson: "I'm not really surprised they reduced the number of games, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me, or to most of the AD's (in Section 4)."

It is evident that these changes are upsetting to people all throughout the state, not just Section 5. The NYSPHSAA is taking away some great experiences that high school athletes could have. Next year, Notre Dame and Prattsburgh will probably not get a chance to play. That is a shame and not the only traditions that are going to die because of these cuts.

 The petition to try and save the Empire State Games doesn't mean a thing to the organizers of the games in Hudson Valley.

There are currently 3131 signatures on the online petition, but there will still be no summer games for area athletes to compete in.

But Alan Wechsler of The Times Union reports that the petition will not save the games:

The state has paid about $2.7 million per year to run the annual games, but balked this year due to budget problems. The $285 pays for entry fees, food and dorm rooms at colleges near the venues.

The petition is addressed to Gov. David Paterson and Carol Ash, commissioner of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and seeks to reverse the changes.

"The Summer Games as a whole entity brings in $10 to $15 Million to the local economy of the host city," the petition says. "At a cost to the state of only $2 million, we feel this is a very wise investment."

Local volunteers had even raised $300,000 to keep the games alive, but it that didn't matter to Hudson Valley either.

"That was very troublesome to all of the volunteers that were involved," said committee member Denise VanBuren of Poughkeepsie. "We felt unable to stage the games as we had committed."

The decision was made despite having raised about $300,000 from local sponsors. The petition wouldn't change their minds, she said.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about a petition out there to try and save the Empire State Games. The petition is growing and now has 3003 signatures. I signed it in hopes of saving the games, which have been a tremendous thing for a lot of people for three decades.

Messenger Post writer Mike Bailey jumps on board in the fight today and writes a very good column on the topic.

There will be no Empire State Games in 2009 as of right now, as state budget cuts are forcing the annual Olympic-style competition to the back burner. The word “unfortunate” is an understatement when it comes to this decision.

It’s more like a travesty. 

Apparently, I am not the only one who feels this way, and one woman, Arlene Feil, decided to do something about it. She has set up an online petition at www.petitiononline.com — a link also can be found on the wrestling site www.armdrag.com — aimed at New York Gov. David Paterson pleading with him to re-institute the games immediately.

Basically the letter states that events such as the games help stimulate the economy rather than hurt it, due to all the travel and expenses that athletes face over the course of the weekend. She says that the ESG generate $10 million to $15 million for the local economy of the host city and points out how much of that revenue is returned to the state.

It took me about a minute to sign the petition and if you are a supporter of local sports or giving kids a chance to compete during the summer, I would recommend spending a minute to sign the petition.

In John Moriello's blog today, he is talking money and sports. 

New York has already lost the Empire State Games as Hudson Valley said there was no way they could host the game this summer if athletes are going to be forced to play $300 each to participate and there will be cuts in some of the "smaller sports".

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association is also looking into cuts, a story that was broken on The Batavian. There is talks of regionalizing state games, eliminating the amount of games played in the regular season and post season for some sports and cutting down on the amount of champions in individual sports.

Moriello thinks that the NYSPHSAA is moving too fast:

More often, however, issues are resolved incrementally and painfully. Quick, easy fixes just do not exist.

   That's where the state of New York stands today. The economic downturn has shredded the economy, and elected officials in Albany face a deficit in excess of $15 billion in next year's budget. Among the casualties is the education budget, with proposed state aid being pared back considerably from what local school districts were anticipating when they started the annual planning process in the fall.

   And that has everything to do with why the executive committee of the state Public High School Athletic Association will vote on more than a dozen cost-cutting proposals at its quarterly meeting at the end of the week.

    The NYSPHSAA officials are trying to be proactive in dealing with financial issues. They rightly recognize that cuts are coming in virtually all aspects of the education budget and want to take the initiative in setting priorities and finding solutions lest someone not as well informed try doing it for them. That's their right, and I would even say it's their responsibility.

Moriello also talks about the cost of teams that travel to our border states for games. It is a good read, well worth checking out.