You can try to intentionally walk Gary Sanchez but he’ll just hit an almost-homer anyway | MLB.com

He almost hit it out with a softball skip.

Rich Hill pulled out after seven perfect innings in Dodgers’ win over Marlins - LA Times

I get Hill’s anger but, with his injury history, I can’t blame Roberts.

The suffering stretched across the face of Dave Roberts. His eyes brimmed red. His stomach roiled with discontent. He had never before experienced a win that felt like a loss, not until Saturday’s 5-0 Dodgers victory over the Miami Marlins, when he made a decision that protected Rich Hill’s health, incited Hill’s rage and invited heartache into the manager’s office.

“I’m going to lose sleep tonight,” Roberts ...

Nick Cafardo: Ben Cherington’s ‘mistakes’ not so bad anymore

Ben Cherington got hosed.

Surely, those two players will be high atop Boston’s list of candidates for Ortiz’s potential replacement. Carlos Beltran, Mark Trumbo, and Mike Napoli would all be candidates as well. Or the Red Sox could fill the vacancy from within. But signing a big-name hitter would mean giving up a No. 1 draft pick.

The Red Sox don’t need to fill the DH spot. With the 80 man bullpens the team could use the spot to get an extra position player onto the roster and to use the ...

OMNICHATTER Sept. 11, 2016

The OMNICHATTER was never pulled from a perfect game after 89 pitches

Perhaps you guys were wrong about Gary Sanchez

Enough with the Jesus Montero comparisons.  Take a look at this:

Not to mention another routine home run into Monument Park.

Hector Olivera found guilty of assault, sentenced to jail

Former Atlanta Braves outfielder Hector Olivera was found guilty on a misdemeanor domestic assault charge in a Virginia courtroom and was ordered to serve 10 days in jail on Thursday.

Olivera appeared before an Arlington County (Va) General District Court judge, who presided over, issued the guilty verdict and levied the sentence on the assault charge in a bench trial. Olivera was sentenced to 90 days in jail, although the judge suspended 80 days of that sentence, according to court records.

...

Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw returns with short outing | SI.com

He must actually be human after all.

Beyond his surviving Friday night’s outing, the big question is how Kershaw will feel Saturday as he recovers and builds towards not only Wednesday’s start but also the three more beyond that prior to the end of the regular season. He returns to a playoff race that looks vastly different than when he went down. Without him, the Dodgers improbably posted the league’s second-best record, going 38–24 while swinging the NL West race by 13 games, from eight ...

Emergence of Sandy Leon has saved Red Sox at catcher - Sports - providencejournal.com - Providence, RI

Leon credits his transformation to winter-ball work with his manager Eddie Perez and general manager Carlos Guillen in Venezuela. Leon ditched a crouched stance at the plate and stood taller, which has allowed him to use his hands more readily.

“He learned how to use his hands,” assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez said. “He used to lean down and then come up with his swing, which created a lot of rotation…. When you focus on your hands, you eliminate movement with your body.”

Leon was ...

The rebirth of Justin Verlander

Now?

“Being a celebrity in general, you lose privacy,” Verlander said. “There’s a societal problem right now with celebrities not having privacy, and the way the laws are written, it protects other people, not celebrities. The laws were written before the world turned into what it is now with social media and everyone being a paparazzi. It’ll be changed, I think.

“There just need to be more rights for celebrities. And I know that could come across as ‘Wah, wah, wah, here’s ...

Danny Salazar of Cleveland Indians leaves Minnesota Twins game with forearm tightness

He hasn’t been right for a while. Will they be able to nurse him though to the playoffs?

Cleveland Indians pitcher Danny Salazar left his start after four innings Friday night against the Minnesota Twins because of tightness in his right forearm.

The Indians announced that Salazar was pulled as a precaution.

Salazar was on the disabled list for elbow inflammation a month ago, but manager Terry Francona said this issue was muscular and not structural.

“We’ll see how he feels, and then we’ll go ...

Red Sox rout Blue Jays; AL East lead at two | MLB.com

I remember when 20 wins really meant something. Nevertheless, right now his pitching places him 8th on WAR ranking for starters in the AL. If he wins at least a couple more games, it will be interesting to see what the voters do.

Right-hander Rick Porcello became the Majors’ first 20-game winner this season by limiting Toronto to a pair of runs while striking out seven over seven innings during Boston’s 13-3 victory. He scattered six hits and walked just one as the Red Sox increased their lead ...

OMNICHATTER 9-10-16

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Jerry Reinsdorf, who has always preferred baseball, is entering the Basketball Hall of Fame

Jerry Reinsdorf will be enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday. At first glance, his résumé looks unassailable. Reinsdorf won six titles as the owner of the Chicago Bulls, and became the third owner ever to win a championship in two of the four major American sports when the White Sox won the World Series in 2005.

Yet with his induction into the Hall of Fame, Reinsdorf has achieved his most striking accomplishment yet: reaching basketball’s highest honor despite being far ...

Tyler Glasnow MLB Pipeline Pitcher of the Year | MLB.com

He has a way to go.

One thing Glasnow wants to do is improve his walk rate and overall command. It was one of the few statistical categories that the big right-hander didn’t improve this season, as he walked 5.2 per nine in the Minors (up from 4.4 per nine in his career).

“I definitely have to work on the consistency,” Glasnow said. “I don’t want to lose any stuff, the stuff that got me those numbers. I think I need to be able to go out and do it every fifth day. There’s obviously going to be ...

Ask The Industry: The Ones Who Got Away

Rather than just think about it, I decided to act. I asked four scouts who the best baseball player they saw who didn’t end up making their living on the diamond was, and whether or not they felt like they ever had a shot to sign them.

NL East Scout: Jake Locker — “He had as high of an upside as any player I scouted in the Northwest in that timeframe. That might not seem like much to you, but that region has produced some good players. Locker had everything. He was a top of the charts ...

Braves fans ask about Rio Ruiz, third basemen | MLB.com

What more does Inciarte have to do to reach the “right arm” status like Freddie Freeman and Teheran in the eyes of general manager John Coppolella?
—Mason L., College Park, Ga.

Let’s see, Inciarte has established himself as an NL Gold Glove Award favorite, and he’s also proven to be a legit top-of-the-lineup catalyst while positioning himself to possibly produce the best post All-Star break batting average in Braves history. He’s 25 years old, under control through the end of the 2020 season ...

Experience could be key in Minnesota Twins search

Breaking down a few potential candidates for the Twins job.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-9-2016

Pittsburgh Press, September 9, 1916:

PLAYER KNOCKS HOME RUN WITH HIS CRANIUM

The Fitzsimmons team of [Newark, Ohio], composed of amateur ballplayers, boasts of one real curiosity. He is Outfielder Nutter, who, so far as is known, is the only man in baseball who ever knocked a home run with his head.

In a recent exhibition game with the Philadelphia Athletics, Nutter lost a flyball. It hit him on the top of the head and bounced over the fence for a circuit smash.

Coincidentally, Jose Canseco is ...

Nine Innings: Pedroia’s season is similar to his ‘08 MVP year, but he has no shot at winning now

Pedroia is having a great year. He’s not the M.V.P.

Steve Lyons, in his usual nonsensically earnest Steve Lyons way, tried to make the point during Tuesday’s NESN broadcast that Dustin Pedroia’s numbers this season are very similar to his stellar stats in 2008, when he was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player, and thus that should mean he ought to be a candidate for the award this year. Well, no. Pedroia is having a wonderful season — he’s actually hitting .326, just as he ...

Worried about your ace’s $100 million arm? There is insurance for that. - The Washington Post

Remember when the Nationals held Strasburg out to protect him long-term?

“Theoretically, on a contract that size, you would definitely get insurance,” said an executive from another major league club, speaking of Strasburg’s deal. “The challenge is that the insurance always asks for exemptions on previous injuries. Anyone will insure anything at a certain cost. But in this case, either they have an exemption for the elbow, which would make the insurance borderline useless, or it’s so ...

9/9/16 OMNICHATTER

The Worldwide Leader in OMNICHATTER

What to watch for Friday on MLB.TV | MLB.com

Kershaw vs. Fernandez. Red Sox vs. Blue Jays, Orioles vs. Tigers.

I guess I’m split screening it today.

Hector Olivera Found Guilty Of Assault - BaseballAmerica.com

Hector Olivera, the former Dodgers and Braves prospect, was found guilty on Thursday of misdemeanor domestic assault stemming from an incident at an Arlington, Va., hotel in April. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Eighty of those days were suspended, however, meaning he will serve just 10 days before being released.

Strasburg out indefinitely with forearm strain

Surprised no one punched this one up yet!

“Normally [strained flexor masses] come around very well with treatment and strengthening programs,” Nationals head athletic trainer Paul Lessard said. “It’s not a season-ending injury…”

This is the basically the same initial diagnosis as prior to Strasburg’s 2010 UCL tear was discovered.  Lessard did not go on to explain precisely which tune he was whistling as he passed the ligament graveyard.

Betting tout Adam Meyer pleads guilty in $45 million scam

Florida betting tout Adam Meyer pleaded guilty to extortion and racketeering Thursday in a scam that cost Fond du Lac millionaire Gary Sadoff $45 million — a sum that is nearly double the amount Meyer was originally charged with embezzling.
....
Meyer falsely claimed Real Money Sports used computer analysis and simulations to predict the outcome of games.

He previously claimed to have helped MLB with an investigation.

Are the Umpires At It Again?

The story is relatively clear. For both right-handed and left-handed batters, the probability of a strike call on low pitches has decreased substantially. (The base rate of called strikes for these pitches ranges from 20 to 60 percent.) In some cases, the probability of a low outside strike has decreased by as much as 12 percentage points. Much of this difference is low and outside, pitches we know to be more difficult to hit with high exit velocities or for home runs.

Interestingly, there are ...

Heyman - 20 Best Trades From Last Two Seasons

Heyman’s latest.

Critics of Mets’ Tim Tebow deal don’t get how this game works | New York Post

Another take.

Organizations sign high-end amateur athletic lottery tickets all the time and see if they can infuse nuanced baseball moves and skills. Most fail, yet no organization stops trying, hence all the investment into the athletic-hued players of Cuba, some of whom are in their late 20s like Tebow.

In other words, this machine already was operating before the Mets bought Tebow. No player – NONE – who demonstrates he has even a scintilla of a chance of making it to The Show is going ...

Josh Beckett: Red Sox ‘Made Up’ 2012 Injury, Left Him To Take Blame « CBS Boston

I’m glad that’s cleared up.

“I wish everybody would have known the whole story,” said Beckett. “I’ll finish with this … Aaron Cook had an opt-out in his contract, I was pitching terrible – which is my fault – so we made up an injury so that [the Red Sox] could call him up, so he didn’t opt out and go to the Yankees. That was a thing, but I don’t think that that’s actually legal to do. I don’t think you can just phantom DL somebody.

“That’s the whole thing that I had a ...

Mets sign Tim Tebow - Minor League Ball

Really? It bothers John?

NEWSFLASH: Life isn’t always fair. It never will be completely fair. On the outrage meter, however, this shouldn’t even move the needle.

But I have to admit, the whole thing bothers me. There are dozens of players in independent baseball who have put in the work and effort to earn a shot in organized ball. Tebow gets to jump ahead in the line just because he is famous for non-baseball reasons.

Just another nail in the coffin of the idea that baseball is a pure ...