Future of the Franchise

Some interesting facts I bet you didn't know about Manny Machado. He was born on July 6 under the sign of the cancer. He is the 5026th most popular celebrity, 19th most popular person born on July 6th, 3rd most popular person from Florida, and 2nd most popular person named Manny.

Sure, some scouts point to his only spending 2 years in the minors, making his debut with the Orioles in 2012, his first All-Star game in 2013, and a Gold Glove in 2013 as well. Some point to those attributes as a reason to draft Manny. 

Before pulling the trigger on the trade that would send Manny to Kansas City, the Pigeons' front office considered, more important attributes of his skills set. His first MLB ejection was over a correctly called strike against him. Ironically, the umpire who threw him out, it was his first ejection as well. 

Machado started a bench clearing brawl against the A's because he felt Josh Donaldson tagged him too hard as he was back peddeling away from Donaldson. 

Oh, and there was the whole bat throwing incident, when Machado threw his bat at Donaldson a few days later. Machado claims it slipped out of his hands. Kansas City fully endorses this theory as well. The man does sweat like a banshee......

Kansas City wants that edge, needs that edge and is hoping Machado can use that inner source of power to be a contributing factor on the field. Hopefully, he won't start any more brawls though I guess...... Unless Pittsburgh is in town of course.....

Team MVP

As a kid growing up, all he wanted to do was play professional baseball. By 18 he was on his way. While "tearing his way through the minors," however, Rizzo recieved a life changing diagnostic. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

"I went on a road trip, I get back, and I had gained like 15 pounds because my legs had swelled up," Rizzo told MLB Network. Luckily, Rizzo was surrounded by a amazing support group which included Jon Lester, a Lymphoma survivor himself, and Theo Epstein.

Now in remission, Rizzo is slowly becoming not only an elite level first baseman, but an elite player overall. And though he still fancies himself as the prototypical leadoff hitter and a Dexter Fowler wannabe, Rizzo is in a class all to himself.