MLB 2023 and Mattingly to Coach with Blue Jays

( image source )

The Off-Season and Winter Meetings Have Been Interesting.

▪️Trea Turner to Philadelphia for 11 years.

▪️Aaron Judge back to the Yankees for 9 more years.

▪️Verlander goes to the Mets.

▪️The Rangers sign deGrom.

▪️Bogaerts ends his time with Boston and heads to San Diego.

For me, the biggest news of the off-season has been from Toronto though.

My All-Time Favorite Player, Yankee Great Don Mattingly, finished his time managing the Miami Marlins, dealing with a great young pitching staff but also a near never ending rebuild and next to nothing offense. Despite this, he managed the Marlins into a 2020 NL Division Series and won Manager of the Year.

I thought I might have a year off from rooting for him, as no news was surfacing about him coaching in 2023... until the New York Post hinted otherwise and Mattingly announced taking the Bench Coach roll with the Blue Jays.

I love it.

So for 2023, I will be curious to see how the Phillies look, how the Padres stack up, if the Mets drop the ball again, and if the Blue Jays can lock in their defense.

Go Blue Jays.
Go Yankees.
Go Dodgers.

It was fun, Marlins, but my next hat is going to be blue.

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Again, MLB Caught Using Different Baseballs in Official Games

Other news that demands attention in my eyes is again, that the MLB was caught using different types of baseballs in official games. This needs to stop immediately. Manfred should be fired as commissioner.

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And Lastly, the Hall of Fame

Congrats to Fred "Crime Dog" McGriff on his induction.

Mattingly received the second most votes but not enough to be inducted.

The arguments against Mattingly fall flat or at best thin when you research deeper--his time was short yet he was a destroyer in that time--much like Sandy Koufax.

He never won a ring and retired the year before the Yankees started a strong World Series run, but his reason for retiring? "If I kept playing, my boys wouldn't know me."

Don Mattingly Stats

• 1984 Batting Title
(first Yankee since Mantle in 1956)

• 1985 MVP
(most leftie RBI's since Ted Williams in 1949)

• 1986 MVP (2nd place)
(MLB-leader in hits, slugging, ops, ops+, total bases, doubles, breaks 1927 Combs and Gehrig franchise records)

• 6 All-Star Selections

• 3 Silver Sluggers

• 9 Gold Gloves
(career 99.6%, ≈ 60 errors in 15k)
(played at 2nd, 3rd base)

• MLB Record (tied):
HR in 8 games straight

• MLB Record (tied):
6 grand slams in a season

• 14th captain in Yankee history

• You never heard the words "Don Mattingly did steroids."

• 1988 Tigers manager Sparky Anderson: “I think he’s the single greatest player in our game.”

As A Manager
• First manager in Brooklyn/LA history to lead Dodgers to 3 straight postseasons

• Manager of the Year, Marlins 2020

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Be well.
LionSuit.com
(words are original, stats can be found on any official statistics site, image is from pixabay)
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