2018 Arizona Fall League

Andrew Morales and Andy Young certainly upgraded their games this season.Lane TThomas has had a breakout season and stayed healthy.

Morales, Thomas, and Greene all could have Rule 5 and 40 man roster implications. Morales currently seems a longshot. Thomas currently seems like a likely roster addition. Greene is already on the roster but a poor performance could put his roster spot in jeapordy

Looks like the AFL kicks off tomorrow per MLB.com. Somehow I was thinking this started later?

Counting the hours until the first pitch. Should be an exciting campaign. Our upstart Surprise Saguaro squad should be locked, loaded and ready to kick a little sand in opponents faces…..except to that loaded to the gills unit…..the Salt River Rafters. I just don’t see how that Salt River team can lose. Anyway, 2nd place in the same league as that Rafters team is nothing to sneeze at. Play ball!!

I think Edman and Young will…cough…surprise…some people, even within the Cardinals ranks

Thomas to me seems pretty strong going in, but against Guerrero Jr types i can see why they think there is a drop off

Our pitchers all seem to be guys trying to figure out roles…

and Jeremy is Jeremy…id love to see him remind everyone why they had him as the next catcher behind KElly early on

The Cardinals cant be the only ones who use the AFL for giving guys longer looks or extra time for injured folks…or for guys looking to switch roles…it isnt an Futures LEague, it is kind of like Spring Training..

the writer calls out the various reasons players are there, yet he still rails (may be too harsh) on the Cardinals participants…you can’t set up the list and then go against what you say it is for

dumb

I’m hoping some of these games will be televised, as I would love to call the action. I wish we were Cactus leaguers instead of Grapefruit ballers. Arizona in December, January, February and March is a fantastic place to be. You can’t raft down the Salt River during those months as the water is too frigid, but there’s still catching a little pony action out at Turf Paradise or hiking to the top of either Camelback mountain or Squaw Peak. Back in the early 90’s, about -80 lbs. ago, I used to jog to the top of Squaw Peak. Anyone who has ever been there knows that the last 100 yards to the top is a very arduous climb. Anyways I used to blaze thru that final lap and then once on top, whip out a Marlboro red from my sweats and puff away…..always fun to catch people’s reactions. Lots of fun stuff to do in AZ! Go Saguaros!

Lane Thomas only seeing action as a pinch runner? Kinda sucks. He better be fondling a little lumber come tomorrow night. As expected, this crack Rafters squad comes roaring right out of the gate to notch the “W”. Even though Salt River has no Redbird representation, they sure are going to be a fun team to watch. I’ll stake my reputation right here and now ( and a cool $20 spot with any and all gullible suckers ) that these Rafters end up sailing away with the 2018 AFL crown.

We’d be terribly remiss not to make quick mention of Salt River’s thrilling 7-6 victory over Scottsdale’s scrappy Scorpion squad yesterday in 11 frames. Hitting coach Shelley Duncan really has his boys throttling the ball to all fields with stunning authority. Tyler Nevin led the hit parade with 3 base knocks, while Drew Ellis brought the roaring Rafter rooters to their feet with a booming 7th inning blast with a mate onboard. Salt River improves to a most respectable 2-1 on the young AFL campaign.