Not to say it is even close to the depth of pain his true family is going through, but the pain itself is just as real. The ache is deep because the relationships were deep, and forged through time and trials.
This level of care is what sets our fans apart. It is not popular for men to use this word, and even less popular for athletes. But, there is not a more accurate word for how a group of men share a deep and genuine concern for each other.
We loved Oscar, and he loved us. That is what a team does, that is what a family does. You will be missed, Oscar. Taveras' death was announced early in the game and quickly spread on social media.
He pointed to the sky as a tribute to his friend when he reached third base in the eighth inning after hitting a two-run double and advancing on an error. He was a really close friend of mine," said Perez, who heard the news during the game in the trainer's room near the dugout.
I know his mom, his dad, his brothers. We were really close. We played together in Winter Ball. It's a huge loss, not only for all his family, for all his teammates and the people that care about him. Commissioner Bud Selig dedicated the game to the late couple. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to the families and friends of both individuals, as well as to Oscar's teammates and the entire Cardinals organization.
The Major League Baseball Players Association also grieved the loss of one of its own, as well as someone dear to Taveras. It's never easy to lose a member of our fraternity, and to lose one so young is devastating news.
No other details were immediately available. Taveras, 22, debuted with the Cardinals this season and batted. The Cardinals were planning for him to compete with Randal Grichuk for the starting right field job but wanted him to focus on improving his conditioning during this offseason. The next-to-last hit of his career was a seventh-inning, pinch-hit game-tying home run off San Francisco's Jean Machi in Game 2 of this year's National League Division Series, a game the Cardinals eventually won on Kolten Wong's walk-off homer in the ninth.
It's never easy to lose a member of our fraternity, and to lose one so young is devastating news. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of both, as well as to the St.
Five years, and the Cardinals have completely cycled through multiple generations of options in that position. Randal Grichuk showed well early, but the plate discipline never came and he was moved to Toronto.
Stephen Piscotty came and went, largely through his own personal tragedy and a trade the club will eternally deny was made for anything other than baseball reasons. Tommy Pham came up, exploded, was moved to center, struggled, and was traded to open an opportunity for Harrison Bader , pre-face-falling. Dexter Fowler was signed as a center fielder, proved unfit for the position, moved to right, and is not the answer there either.
The trade cost the Cardinals Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins , then an exciting, high-ceiling young pitching prospect the club thought a lot of. When he was drafted Jenkins was a strikeout-and-grounders beast, with a big curveball and a deceptive fastball that had a little Mike Soroka in it. By the time he got to the big leagues in with the Braves , his stuff was a pale imitation of what it had been, and he leaned more on a weak changeup to try and prop up a fastball that had lost about five ticks since high school, his arm speed no longer enough to create the break that had once made his curve so enticing.
Miller himself was another tale of player development gone wrong, or at least player development hitting a wall. Shelby came in to the draft a classic Texas smoke artist, a Kerry Wood for the s. There were some off-field issues, but the biggest problem for Miller was simply the fact he never really developed any other pitches but his fastball. His curve in high school showed huge potential, but it never really emerged beyond a tantalising tease. The Braves managed to snag the best season of his career by getting him to incorporate a sinker into his repertoire, but that success proved short-lived in the face of elbow surgery.
In the end, the Cardinals did not lose players that would have contributed long term, most likely, but they did still spend that present capital on filling a position, only to watch that solution walk away to Chicago following a single season wearing red.
Maybe this time things will turn out right. Then again, maybe not. There were those who believed the Cardinals could have, really should have, solved their right field problem this past offseason by signing Bryce Harper , and I can see that point of view.
Harper ended up having a very good season this year, though definitely not an MVP-type season, and would have given the Cards a big boost over what they actually got from the position. On the other hand, Harper would have required a contract covering three presidential terms, and his season was helped greatly by defense that looks like a complete outlier, and thus likely unsustainable, going forward.
Then again, if the defense really is good now, and he was just sandbagging his last couple seasons in Washington, that presents an entirely different set of questions regarding whether you really want him on your team or not. Speaking of Washington Nationals outfielders, the young, precociously talented Juan Soto has made an incredible impact this postseason.
A different type of hitter, certainly, but the same level of remarkable talent.
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