If Your Birthday is April 16th...



...you share it with baseball's best all around 3rd baseman.  Nolan Arenado is a five-time All Star with five Top 10 finishes for the National MVP. Add to that three home run titles and twice leading his league in RBIs. Plus superior defense at the hot corner. But the picture isn't entirely rosey. Just a year after signing a lengthy and lucrative contract extension, he's voiced his displeasure with the way the club is run, and how the front office didn't, in his eyes, do enough to upgrade the roster over the winter. Making top dollar in a medium sized market, he was the basis of a ton of trade rumors last winter. And once the games begin, expect that buzz to arise once more -- especially since his contract contains an opt-out.

Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Junior shares the date with Arenado. A singles hitter whose average plummeted by 50 points in 2019, he's not guaranteed a regular job as the Cubs look to get back to the playoffs, after missing them a year ago.

Also on today's cake and candles list:
  • Richard Bleier, the lefty reliever who has appeared for the Yankees and more recently, the Orioles.
  • Fernando Vina, the infielder who hit a career .282 over 12 seasons with five clubs.
  • Jim Lonborg was the Cy Young Award winning ace of the "impossible dream" '67 Red Sox, But he was never quite the same after an off-season skiing accident damaged a knee. He turned in some quality work for the mid-'70s Phillies, but was never again a top-of-the-rotation pitcher.
And we remember Paul Waner, a/k/a Big Poison, the sweet-swinging Pirates outfielder who batted a lifetime .333. He finished up his career with the Braves, Dodgers and Yankees during World War II.

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