Archive for the ‘Vinny Rottino’ Category
Vinny Rottino Signs with the Miami Marlins, and Other Stuff
Happy New Year, everyone!
I figured I’d write a quick blog tonight and mention a few things, mostly in passing, that may be of interest only to me.
First, as the title says, Vinny Rottino has been signed by the Miami Marlins to a minor league deal. This means he’ll have a job in baseball as a player during 2015, which is definitely worth celebrating. Rottino made the AAA All-Star team for the Marlins franchise back in 2011, and got a call-up from them in September as his reward. (I wrote about that here.)
I’m glad that the Marlins front office remembered Rottino, and is giving him another shot to play despite his advanced age (in baseball years only). He’s a smart player, he’s always maximized his ability, and while it’s unlikely now that he’ll be able to make a serious run at a major-league job as a player, it’s far from unlikely that he’ll be able to make the majors in some other capacity later. So it’s very good that the Marlins signed him; my guess is that Rottino’s going to end up mentoring other players in the minors, and probably playing every second or third day. And that may lead him to a managerial or coaching job down the line…which I’m sure he doesn’t want quite yet, but is something to consider for future reference. (Thank goodness it’s still “for future reference,” as I was really worried after he became a free agent again.)
Aside from that, I finished a new short story and sent it to the Writers of the Future Contest on 12/31/14 as I remain eligible. (Not enough book sales as of yet.) I’m glad I was able to do that, as with all of the editing I do — and the holidays, and the family appearances that are well worth going to but normally take away from any available writing time — I don’t get anywhere near as much time to write as I’d like.
And I’m working on two different editorial projects right now, so my blogs may be sporadic for a few weeks until/unless something really grabs my attention…but I do hope to have at least a few book reviews in January 2015 over at Shiny Book Review that may interest you. (Namely the three I didn’t get to at the end of 2014 like I’d planned.)
May your 2015 be all that you want it to be, folks. And may it be a better year for us all.
Vinny Rottino News and Speculation
Folks, I’m editing up a storm and working on a few book reviews right now, but as it’s been a while since my last Vinny Rottino update, I thought it was time for another one.
So here’s the one, little factoid I found out about my favorite baseball player, Racine native Vinny Rottino:
He is apparently again a free agent, this courtesy of his Wikipedia page.
I don’t often use Wikipedia as a source, mind you, but I’d gathered by the few articles I’d seen about Korean baseball in the past few months that Rottino wasn’t seeing much action in the latter stages of their season. Further, I know that Rottino’s age (he’ll be 35 next April) is now against him…professional baseball players often have relatively short “shelf-lives.”
That said, every organization Rottino has played for (mostly in the minor leagues) — the Milwaukee Brewers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Miami Marlins (then the Florida Marlins), the New York Mets, and the Cleveland Indians — talked about the potential Rottino had as either a manager or baseball coach. This is because Rottino has always maximized his ability, and because he’s always been known as a smart, savvy baseball player who did whatever he could to help his team win.
I feel terrible, though, writing all of that down. Because I always felt Rottino had major league-level talent. He didn’t get the right breaks in his career to bring him up to the big leagues for more than a few “cups of coffee” now and again, and eventually was saddled with the reputation of a guy who could hit in AAA ball, but wasn’t able to convert in the majors.
Which wasn’t fair to Rottino, because he never got the opportunity to play every day.
And that bad luck followed him to Japan, and then also to Korea.
Mind, Rottino made a little bit of history earlier in 2014 as he was part of the first “all-American” battery (a pitcher-catcher combo from the U.S.) in Korean baseball. And that is no bad thing.
In addition, there’s nothing saying Rottino won’t catch on as a player somewhere else in 2015. He is a good, solid player who can play nearly every position on the field except pitcher. And he’s smart, driven, a high-quality individual…someone who deserves to succeed, because he’s tried so very hard and he really does have talent.
But time is no longer on Rottino’s side. And the longer you are a professional athlete, the more difficult it is to keep going — your body just won’t let you. (Satchel Paige and Julio Franco excluded.)
I hope for Rottino’s sake that he will have options to play. I don’t think he wants to stop playing. And he still has value as a player to the right team and the right setup — someplace he will have an opportunity to play often at a variety of positions would be ideal.
But if this is the end of the line for Rottino as a baseball player — and again, I don’t know that it is (I only suspect it) — I hope all of those teams he played for earlier in his career weren’t just blowing smoke and that there will be opportunities for him to continue in baseball, this time as either a manager or a coach.
Rottino has all the tools needed to succeed no matter what he does next, mind. He has heart. Drive. Dedication. Knowledge, both of baseball and of life. Faith, not just in the Man Upstairs, but in himself and his abilities. And he is demonstrably persistent.
Yes, one thing is clear, no matter what happens next:
Vinny Rottino is a winner.
Friday Free-for-All
Folks, it’s been a long week. And as you’ve seen, I haven’t exactly blogged . . . but as always, there’s a reason for that.
You see, I’ve been editing. I’ve also been writing, as I’m working on a new story I hope to submit it to Lightspeed Magazine for their “Women Destroy SF” issue. It’s not ready yet, but I have fourteen days to get it in . . . and I will.
(Again, like the F&SF submission earlier this year, I cannot guarantee anything. But I know I have to try.)
And I sent out a submission of a literary fantasy short story to the online magazine Wisdom Crieth Without, which is heavier on poetry than fiction. But they do take some short stories, and as my poetry is too far afield of what they want (their preference is for traditional rhyme and meter; there’s nothing wrong with that, but that usually isn’t what I write, and my few attempts at such have been miserable failures), I thought I’d try a story instead.
And, as if all that wasn’t enough, I’ve been keeping the first half of ELFY on the front burner also, as I’m about to send it to my publisher (later today, in fact, after I’ve done one last read-through to make sure I haven’t missed anything). I’ll let you all know if and when the first half of ELFY gets retitled; one of my good friends suggested AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE, which sounds at least as good as the only title that’s come to mind whenever I’ve thought about it — AN ELFY ALONE. And the benefits of the former title would be that people would know right away that my book is a comic urban fantasy, so maybe my publisher will go for it?
(I know that AN ELFY ALONE sounds more formal than I intend. And yes, authors do think about things at just this micro-level, sometimes . . . why do you ask?)
Everything else I’ve wanted to blog about, including a nice article by Peter Jackel of the Racine Journal-Times about Vinny Rottino’s continued progress in baseball (giving far more information about just what happened to Rottino last year in Japan, though it oddly didn’t discuss the injury Rottino suffered that required surgery on his shoulder — the last is the best I could figure out, mind you, as the Japanese Web sites’ translations can be really dicey), the interesting story about Northwestern University’s football players wanting to unionize as they’re beyond tired of losing scholarships after getting injured — something that is one of the great shames of college sports, I might add — and also want to have some long-term medical help available due to concussions suffered during on-field performance, as well as goodly number of others things, has gone completely by the boards.
In addition, I’m awaiting word on when a second guest blog, based off my December 18, 2013 post about writing and cross-promotion, will be published over at the prestigious writing Web site Murder By Four. This could be as soon as later today, or it could be sometime next week . . . all I know is, whenever it goes up I’ll be coming here to let y’all know all about it.
For those of you wondering if I’m going to review any books this week, I hope to review at least one book, possibly two. The book I know I can review is L.E. Modesitt, Jr.’s THE ONE-EYED MAN, a far-future political science fiction thriller. There is some romance involved, so it could even go on Saturday . . . but probably, if I can get everything I need to done by this evening, I’ll write the review then. The second book is a straight-up Regency romance by talented newcomer Giselle Marks; it’s a bit more period in its descriptions than most Regencies written in the past forty-five to fifty years, which can be startling at times, and I’m still trying to figure out how to render all that.
At any rate, the weather remains cold, there’s way too much snow on the ground, Milwaukee Brewers announcer Bob Uecker has said he plans to cut back on some of his announcing this year, pitchers and catchers report for the Brewers in a few weeks, the Milwaukee Bucks are still awful, I don’t particularly care about the Super Bowl but probably will watch it anyway . . . hope I covered all the bases.
Stay warm, folks.
Vinny Rottino to Play in S. Korea in 2014 (Plus Brewers Search for First Baseman)
Folks, after Racine native Vinny Rottino’s injury-plagued 2013 campaign in Japan, I was concerned. Then when I deduced that he was given his outright release by the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese Professional Baseball League, I really started to worry about where Rottino was going to play in 2014 — or if he was even going to find a team to play for at all.
Mind, I say “deduced” because most of the Japanese baseball sites have to be translated to be useable. The translations can be dicey — for example, I’ve seen a walk called a “dead ball” in Japanese translation, and some of the other stats can be just as interesting to figure out.
What wasn’t hard to figure out, though, were Rottino’s 2013 stats: 37 games played, 111 plate appearances, a .206 batting average . . . the four homers, the eight RBI, and the single stolen base notwithstanding, this obviously was not the year Rottino was hoping to have in Japan.
Despite Rottino’s talent, he’s now 33 years old; yes, he plays the infield, the outfield, and catches — which is a very rare skill set. He’s good at all of them, too, and had a stellar Triple-A career, being named to the Triple-A All-Star team several times (most recently in 2011 while in the Florida Marlins organization).
But the timing was never right for Rottino; while with the Milwaukee Brewers organization, Rottino never got a chance to play regularly — despite being the Brewers minor league player of the year in 2004.
And Rottino seems to need to play regularly to be successful, as has been shown over and over in his minor league career. (Not that this is any real surprise, of course; most baseball players are like anyone else. You do much better at something if you are able to do it every day rather than once in a great while.)
Watching Rottino continue his baseball career is both inspirational and frustrating — inspirational because he has refused to give up (for which I applaud him), but frustrating because he obviously has the talent to succeed . . . but time is no longer on his side.
At the age of 33, it gets harder and harder for any baseball player to find teams willing to pay him to play. And in Rottino’s case, the major leagues are now out of reach. Japan didn’t work for him, partly due to an ill-timed injury (then again, when are injuries ever convenient?). So I didn’t know what would be next for Rottino — would he end up as a coach, as the Milwaukee Brewers, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, and several other teams have expressed interest in hiring him as such once his playing career is over?
Would he end up in the Mexican League?
Would he end up taking a year off from baseball, as health-wise it might be desirable — remember, I don’t have hard information to work with, as Rottino was just too far away for me to keep a good eye on, but I do know that when you get above age thirty, injuries can be tougher to rehab. (Witness former Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Corey Hart’s struggles last year as a case in point.)
At any rate, I asked a friend if she’d heard anything about Vinny Rottino, as I was concerned. Fortunately, she’d seen a wire story, which is here, about Rottino signing to play with the Nexen Heroes over in South Korea on December 10, 2013.
Rottino is in good company, as former big leaguers Luke Scott and Felix Pie, among others, have recently signed to play over in Korea. And Korean baseball has been growing in prestige lately, partly because of Shin-Soo Choo’s success in MLB.
I’m very pleased to see that Rottino will continue his baseball career in 2014. I hope he has a great season in Korea and enjoys himself immensely.
Now, as for my plea to the Milwaukee Brewers regarding their first base situation — there is one and only one obvious solution to this mess: Sign Manny Ramirez already.
Ramirez is a free agent. Yes, he’s been tainted twice with performance-enhancing drug allegations. But he can still play ball, is a power hitter, and I’m betting he can play first base with the best of them.
The Brewers must think outside the box, because every player they’d normally think about has been taken. The players I’ve heard as current possibilities for the Brewers include Tyler Colvin, who hit .241 during his 2013 campaign; Ike Davis, who’s bounced back and forth between Triple-A and the majors and had a low batting average of .205; and Carlos Pena, who hit all of .207 during 2013.
None of these players will make any difference to the Milwaukee Brewers — not one.
Whereas Ramirez is a career .312 hitter with 555 HRs, 1831 RBIs and a .411 on-base percentage. Yes, he’s now 41. Yes, he only hit .259 last year with Texas’ Triple-A team in limited playing time. But the man can still hit — witness how he tore up the Taiwanese league last year, prompting his signing to first Oakland’s Triple-A team, then Texas’s. He truly seems remorseful for his past actions. And I’m certain he could do a better job than Colvin, Davis, Pena, or maybe all three of them put together.
Yes, the Brewers should be cautious and go over his medical records. They should make sure Ramirez is clean, healthy, sober, whatever else they need to do — but they should make a serious push toward seeing if Ramirez has anything left.
Because it’s either sign Ramirez, or coax Geoff Jenkins out of retirement at this point — and while I loved Jenkins as a player, he retired five full years ago.
Vinny Rottino Signs with Orix Buffaloes, Will Play in Japan in 2013
Vinny Rottino has found a new baseball home — in Japan.
According to this article written by Peter Jackel of the Racine Journal-Times, Rottino signed a contract with the Orix Buffaloes, a Japanese baseball team based in Osaka and Kobe, Japan, this past Friday. He’s scheduled to meet with a representative of the Buffaloes on Wednesday, and will report to Spring Training on January 21, 2013, in Osaka.
Here’s a quote from the article:
Vinny Rottino’s ultimate reward for grinding out a professional baseball career the last 10 years just might be more than 6,000 miles away.
The latest — and most lucrative — in a long list of baseball destinations for the 1998 St. Catherine’s High School graduate is Japan. The 32-year-old Rottino signed a one-year contract Friday with the Orix Buffaloes, a Nippon Professional team in the Pacific League. The contract guarantees him $350,000 with the potential of another $100,000 in incentives.
Now what’s the most interesting thing to me in all of this was this following quote:
Rottino said he received offers from the Brewers, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs after the season, but his decision to head overseas was easy.
“I heard it’s awesome in Japan,” Rottino said. “Everyone’s so polite and it’s got a lot to offer, from what I hear.”
Now, the fascination with Japanese baseball makes some sense here, especially from Rottino’s perspective. Rottino steals bases, can gain an infield hit from time to time, plays good and steady defense, and can be relied upon to be professional at all times while still having fun. These are qualities the Japanese league should appreciate.
And the parks, I’ve heard, are a bit smaller, too, so Rottino’s home run and doubles totals should go up (much less his RBI total).
So here I was, worried about where Rottino would go after the Indians DFA’d him, mostly because I was afraid no one would want him in MLB-land due to his age (32). Yet he got four offers.
Including one from the Brewers (yay!).
Of course, as Greg Giesen of the Journal-Times just confirmed at Twitter right now (in answer to my question, “Was this about the money?”), there was a potential problem with these four offers:
@barbcaffrey Yes. His contract is for $350,000. The MLB offers were minor league deals with an chance to make the majors out of spring.
I told Giesen in reply:
@GregGiesenJT Then it makes perfect sense, Greg. I’d have taken the guaranteed money, too. Plus, his style of play may really fit in there.
At any rate, it’s great that Rottino has signed a guaranteed contract worth $350,000 (with another $100,000 in incentives, no less). I wish him much success in Japan . . . and I hope that I’ll be able to figure out how to start translating Japanese baseball’s stat-lines, stat.
Baseball’s Winter Meetings, or, Why Your GM Should Sign Vinny Rottino
On December 3, 2012, the baseball Winter Meetings will be held in Nashville, TN. All thirty major league clubs, plus many minor league teams as well, will be at the Winter Meetings; much will be said, much will be hinted at, and maybe a few deals will be made to the benefit of all and sundry.
My take? I’d like to see one of these MLB GMs actually pick up a player who will help their team in every aspect of the game — Vinny Rottino.
Rottino, you see, is now a free agent. (Again.) Yet he plays many positions, has a winning attitude, and has worked incredibly hard at improving himself and his abilities over the years. And he’s been so good at keeping his body free from injury that even though he’s now chronologically thirty-two years of age, he probably can keep playing at the same level or higher for six or seven more years yet.
Ah, but you’re probably thinking, “Why do you care so much about a guy who has a lifetime major league batting average of .165, Barb?”
I care because Rottino has hit at every level, providing he’s been given a good chance to play every day. And when someone has worked this hard for this long and does have the skills, yet never gets the chance to prove himself, that just doesn’t seem right.
So to all you MLB GMs out there, listen up. Rottino is smart, hard-working, has never taken a performance-enhancing drug of any sort, plays multiple positions and plays them well, and when given a chance has hit at every level. His lifetime minor league stats of .294 with 598 RBI, 82 HR and 116 SBs over ten seasons proves that.
Rather than throwing Rottino out because he’s going to be thirty-three in April of ’13, why not sign him and give him a chance to be in your lineup every day or every other day (as Rottino hits lefthanders particularly well)? Or at least put him on your bench, as Rottino is a capable and versatile defender who can play many, many positions.
As there are some terrible teams out there (such as the Houston Astros, about to go to the American League, or the Miami Marlins after their recent fire sale), it would seem to me that Rottino has more than enough skills to be given a flyer. And once he’s there, it’s quite possible that Rottino will do more than enough to start the season in the major leagues — that is, unless the GMs wish to be ageist and insist that since Rottino’s never done all that well, he never will do all that well, either, because he’s about to turn thirty-three and only the rarest of the rare improve after that age.
That sort of argument is impossible to disprove unless Rottino gets another chance to play somewhere. And since he’s done very, very well at the AAA level (seven years and counting of AAA service), it seems likely that he’ll be offered a minor-league deal with an invitation to Spring Training by some team.
So once again, GMs, I urge you not to be stupid. Sign Vinny Rottino. Know that the minor league players in your system will look up to him. And maybe, just maybe, your other players will learn so much from him that he’ll be like another coach — which to my mind seems like his most likely career option once his playing days are done.
Several years in the future.
Vinny Rottino Called Up by Cleveland Indians
There hasn’t been much of a press release about this, which is why it took me until today to find it out — but Vinny Rottino was indeed called up by the Cleveland Indians as of Monday evening.
Here’s a link to the only article I’ve found about it:
Acta says in this article that “not every single one is going to get a look equally” and that Rottino is likely to be used off the bench. (Actually, Acta nodded his head at this when the writer of this article, Anthony Odoardi, suggested it.)
But at least Rottino’s back up and is acquiring more major league service time . . . maybe he’ll still get his shot this year. Because I know if he does get his shot, he will hit and he will do well — I just don’t know how that’s to come about if his new manager isn’t willing to put him into many games.
Update on Oak Creek Shooting; Other Updates
This is yet another day where I don’t really have time to write a full blog post, but do have a number of things to say. So let’s get to it.
First, the latest update regarding the Oak Creek, WI, shooting that left six innocents dead and three innocents wounded is as follows: the Federal Bureau of Investigation has revealed that the gunman, Wade Michael Page, actually took his own life after being shot by the police. Funeral arrangements are being made for the six dead; of the three who were severely wounded, two are still in critical condition, while the third, a local policeman, is recovering with amazing speed.
Second, the Racine Concert Band will have another concert this Sunday at the Racine Zoo. (Showtime is 7 p.m.) I’m to play alto saxophone this week, after playing clarinet last week . . . I view myself as the Vinny Rottino of the Racine Concert Band (with tongue planted firmly in cheek).
Speaking of Rottino, here’s a nice write-up about him that I somehow missed last week from the Let’s Go Tribe blog. This blog discusses Rottino’s career and how he’s always hit, but how his defense isn’t quite major-league ready except at first base and left field — but because Rottino’s not a prototypical power hitter, and those positions usually are played by people who are, that’s why Rottino rarely gets a chance to bat in the major leagues.
I’ve not seen Rottino play third base or right field, but I know that Rottino has a good arm and is an extremely smart player. He’s made himself into a decent catcher despite learning to play the position late (he took it up when he was 24 or 25); he rarely makes baserunning mistakes or fielding miscues. And as I’ve said many times, I believe Rottino will hit if he’s given a chance at the major league level, especially considering the fact that he’s hit everywhere else.
Also regarding Rottino, here’s a link to an article from November of 2006 from the Baseball Prospectus, written by Kevin Goldstein that I somehow missed previously. Goldstein says bluntly:
If you aren’t rooting for Vinny Rottino, there’s something very, very wrong with you. Undrafted out of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, the Brewers signed Rottino in 2003 as a local product who could fill some organizational holes, yet all he’s done is hit at every level, including a .314/.379/.440 mark at Triple-A Nashville this year, good enough to earn him his major-league debut.
Note Goldstein’s first line: “If you aren’t rooting for Vinny Rottino, there’s something very, very wrong with you.” (I couldn’t have said it better myself.)
Mind, Goldstein also pointed out (later in the blurb) that Rottino’s glove is not major-league ready (or that it wasn’t in ’06, at any rate), particularly at the catching position. But it’s been six years, and there has been massive improvement in that area; in addition, Rottino’s overall defense has improved, something that few other baseball players can say.
I keep wondering if Vinny Rottino has read Malcolm Gladwell’s book OUTLIERS. This is relevant because Toronto Blue Jays OF José Bautista, adjudged a late bloomer by many, found Gladwell’s book extremely helpful.
I reviewed OUTLIERS over at Shiny Book Review a while back. What I appreciated most about this book was how Gladwell pointed out that the best way to position yourself for victory in anything is to persist. Providing you have the talent, the skills and the smarts to begin with, persistence is the only thing that will set you apart from the crowd, regardless of your chosen field. Add to that the fact is that sometimes people give up on themselves too early due to forces beyond their control, and it’s obvious what a gifted player needs to do if he or she hasn’t yet made it: just keep trying.
Rottino has shown the value of persistence in his ten-year-long minor league career. He’s improved his skills throughout, and has continued to hit at every level. And by doing this — working on his craft, and refusing to give up — Rottino has put himself in a position to win. Which is all he, or anyone else, can do.
I have a lot of sympathy for Rottino, because my journey with regards to publishing has been slow. Yet all I can do is show that I do have the talent and just keep trying; this means I have to keep writing and editing, keep networking with other writers and editors, etc. And of course continue to review books, as half the time this is how I end up getting to know a new and interesting writer.
Rest assured that I will do, in my fashion, what Rottino has done in his — keep getting better, and keep putting myself in a position to win.
My beloved husband Michael would expect no less.
Vinny Rottino Optioned to AAA Columbus
Folks, in some ways Vinny Rottino getting optioned back to AAA Columbus from the Cleveland Indians is good as it means Cleveland obviously still wants him. But of course it has to be frustrating for Rottino to be up in the major leagues for two days, then to be sent back down.
Rottino’s most recent stint in the majors was as follows: he went 0 for 5 with 1 RBI (on a sacrifice fly), striking out once. His batting average in the majors this year (thus far at any rate) is .158; he has 2 home runs, 6 RBI, has scored 8 runs, stolen 3 bases, taken 6 bases on balls and struck out 10 times.
At any rate, Rottino’s had a good season at AAA and it’s likely that he’ll be called up again in September once rosters expand. At that point, I hope Rottino will finally get a decent shot to show that he really can hit major league pitching.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 