Manny Ramirez goes independent in Japan

There are players who simply don’t want to quit on the game. Rickey Henderson was one of them and also Julio Franco could not say goodbye to the game. Another one in this little list of players who wants to keep playing is Manny Ramirez. The 12-time MLB All Star has signed a contract with the Kochi Fighting Dogs of the Shikoku Island-Plus league, an independent league in Japan.

Despite Manny being Manny and his PED-tainted career, Ramirez cannot be denied some love of the game. The 44-year old Ramirez claims to be concerned about Japan’s declining baseball population.Also in Japan, baseball seems to lose ground to soccer, a sport with a growing popularity.

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9 Innings/Questions on the Red Sox

 If you like what you read below, check out more from Tyler at his site,  Tyler’s Think Tank.

This is a continuation of our series of articles where I ask fellow bloggers from the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA) 9 innings worth of questions about their team. The goal is to do this for as many teams as possible (all 30 would be ideal) a few times a season. This one is a pre-All Star edition, then a post-All Star edition, another down the stretch (towards the end of the season) and then either a playoffs edition or off season edition or both!

So, without further ado …

1. How are the Red Sox’s offseason acquisitions working out so far? Any concerns?

 

Alright. Their four main acquisitions were David Price, Craig Kimbrel, Carson Smith, and Chris Young. Price has been up-and-down, but overall he’s made the rotation better. Kimbrel has been shaky at times, but for the most part has been about as good as advertised.

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Three Sleeper Boston Red Sox Prospects for 2016

The Boston Red Sox enter the 2016 season with a revamped major league roster, having landed some significant talent this past offseason. At the same time they have been able to maintain a well-stocked farm system that no less an authority than Baseball America has ranked as fourth-best in baseball this year. While many will be familiar with some of their better known prospects, their young talent pool is so deep that there are many who have largely flown under the radar thus far in their young careers but may start to get more recognition.

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