This past Sunday, the Seattle Mariners traded shortstop Chris Taylor to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Zach Lee, who was assigned to Triple-A Tacoma, the Mariners' Highest-Ranked Minor League Affiliate. Here are 3 things you should know about the newest member of the Seattle Mariners...
1. He is a freakishly talented athlete who throws, consistently, 90 to 93 Miles Per Hour & has a lot of potential.
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| Zach Lee |
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2. He was the Los Angeles Dodgers' 1st round pick in the 2010 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft out of McKinney High School in McKinney, Texas, where he starred in both baseball [as a pitcher] & football [as a quarterback]. He was considered a difficult signing by many baseball draft experts due to his football commitment to Louisiana State University and dropped in the MLB draft as a result of this. But he signed with the Dodgers, anyway.
3. His 1st start in Triple-A [while with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization] was against the Tacoma Rainiers, where, as I previously stated, he was assigned to when he was traded to the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.
It won't happen anytime soon, but expanding to 32 teams is in Major
League Baseball's not-too-distant future, according to Baseball Commissioner Rob
Manfred. At a meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors in New
York back in late April of this year, Manfred acknowledged that such a gaudy move makes sense both
for the league's long-term growth strategy and to the nuts and bolts of
scheduling. Based on Manfred's statements on Thursday and in the recent
past, it's not out of the question that one, or both, of the new teams
could be from outside the United States.
A movement to bring MLB back to Montreal has been in the works for
awhile thanks to the efforts of former Montreal Expos star outfielder Warren Cromartie
and his Montreal Baseball Project [a subject I have written about in previous posts within this blog]
In each of the past three years, Olympic Stadium has played host to
two-game exhibition series involving the Blue Jays and various
opponents, with many former Expos legends, including Pedro Martinez and Tim Raines,
showing up for the festivities; paid attendance at those games averaged
more than 48,000 per night [100,000 attendees combined]. But, the biggest issue facing expansion here—just
as it was when it came to trying to retain the Expos back in 2003—is securing the
funding to build a replacement for Olympic Stadium, which needs more than $200 million
worth of repairs & is clearly not a MLB-Caliber park. Beyond that, while Manfred stopped short of
calling Montreal MLB's top target for expansion, he did say, "I think,
even if I didn’t want to say this, the mayor of Montreal would probably
tell you if you walked past him on the street, that I have met with him
on a number of occasions. They have expressed a strong desire to have
Major League Baseball back in Montreal."
BUT, Montreal isn't Canada's only alternative for expansion. Vancouver, British Columbia
ranks #1 as the most livable city in North America, according to Mercer's
Quality of Living Rankings. Its well-regarded multipurpose stadium, BC
Place—the current home of Vancouver’s entries in the Canadian Football
League and Major League Soccer—has played host to Minor League Baseball games & spring
training practice games in the past, though a 2011 renovation that included a
cable-supported retractable roof also added a central scoreboard whose placement generates concerns
with regards to future baseball compatibility. Another strike against
this city may be its short-lived history in the National Basketball
Association. The Vancouver Grizzlies lasted just six seasons, from
1995–96 to 2000–01, before relocating to Memphis, with bad luck in the draft and poor attendance contributing their demise; the league's '98 lockout, like the 1994 Major League Baseball strike for the Montreal Expos, was the crippling final blow.
Another snag for putting a team here is the proximity of the Mariners, who are roughly 140 miles away in Seattle and have asserted their territorial rights in the Pacific Northwest;
they would likely require some major concessions to allow a neighbor.
Having another team in this area could benefit the Mariners, however, in
that they’re currently isolated enough relative to the rest of the
majors that they will log the most air miles
of any team in 2016, at 47,704 total. A regional rivalry could lessen the
blow to both the Mariners and the new club, since some of their games
against more far-off located opponents [like the Yankees] would be replaced by those against
their new rivals.
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| Vancouver, B.C. Place |
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