Marlins Sold (and not a Jeter in sight)

After a long saga, Forbes reports that the Miami Marlins will finally have a new owner.

According to the outlet, Jorge Mas, the co-founder of MasTech, has bought the team from Jeffrey Loria for $1.17 billion.

the sale was JUST to Jeter’s left

How are the Angels succeeding without Mike Trout?

Quite a few players excelled in Trout’s absence. After struggling up until Trout’s injury, Kole Calhoun has hit .292/.356/.456 with 7 HR. To have some fun with arbitrary endpoints, he had a great month of June, hitting .324/.388/.505. Yunel Escobar came off a hamstring injury on June 1st and started firing on all cylinders, hitting .319/.388/.440. Andrelton Simmons — who is in the midst of his best offensive season and is already worth 4 bWAR — is getting in on the action, too. He has ...

MLB’s All-Surprise Team

First Base: Justin Smoak, Blue Jays
First base has the fiercest competition for the “most surprising” honor, but Smoak, who carried a below-average bat for nearly 3,000 plate appearances before this year, has the slightest edge over his peers. The switch-hitting Blue Jay has already set a career high in homers (23). He’s chopped his strikeout rate almost in half from last season. He’s increased his career WAR from 0.2 to 2.4. He’s navigated the common career path from top prospect to ...

Now the Marlins Are Suing a Fan to Seize His $725,000 Building

I’m starting to think Jeffrey Loria might be a bad dude.

So how could Loria further embarrass Major League Baseball before the All-Star Game tomorrow? Well, here’s a hell of a good way: by taking a fan to court to try to seize his property.

That’s exactly what the Miami Marlins owner is doing, according to court records obtained by New Times. Loria’s team is suing a fan named Kenneth Sack in Broward County to take a $725,000 building he owns in Oakland Park — all as part of the same ugly ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-10-2017

Tacoma Times, July 10, 1917:

Despite the valiant efforts of Russ Hall, manager of the [Tacoma] Tigers, J.L. Davis, Butte Director, and Pete Jensen, Great Falls director, to keep the Northwestern league afloat, the old circuit last evening gave a final gasp, and sank sputtering beneath the waves of defeat.

The league has “flivvered.” Not because the directors all wanted to. But because D.E. Dugdale, Seattle magnate, was losing money thru his personal unpopularity with Seattle fans, and decided ...

Elderly woman flashes bra on big screen at Dodgers game | Daily Mail Online

Please don’t make Rally Grandma a thing. Please.

Futures Game players on fast track to MLB | MLB.com

1. Yoan Moncada, 2B, White Sox: It has to be a matter of when, not if, right? Moncada didn’t follow up his 2016 Futures Game MVP performance this year, but his tools (11 homers, 16 SB) have to be an upgrade over what the White Sox have at second base currently, no?

2. Amed Rosario, SS, Mets: See above. Mets fans have been clamoring for Rosario to get called up and he’s making it tough to stay patient as he continues to hit while Jose Reyes is batting .215 in New York.

Acuna, Fisher, Kopech star in Futures Game | MLB.com

And he was only signed for $100,000.

Entering the day hitting .325/.374/.507 since being promoted to Double-A, Acuna cracked the hardest-batted ball of the game, 112.3 mph with a 13-degree launch angle, in the seventh inning off of Royals prospect Foster Griffin. That combination falls for a hit 78 percent of the time, and it was actually the only Barrel of the day—a ball that qualifies as the near-perfect combination of exit velocity and launch angle. Unfortunately for Acuna, center fielder ...

Top Rays prospect Brent Honeywell showed off his nasty screwball in the 2017 Futures Game | MLB.com

It was curious the announcers didn’t point out the pitch during the game.

OTP 10 July 2017: Jim Bunning’s Brethren: Baseball Men Who Went Into Politics

But if Bartolo is anything like Jim Bunning, he could go into politics, following the example of the tall right-hander who passed away on May 26 after 224 wins, 3,760.1 innings, and 23 years in the House and Senate as a representative and later senator from Kentucky.

John Tures, a political scientist at LaGrange College, compiled a list of players who went into politics. As with baseball itself, many have tried, but few succeeded, and certainly none so spectacularly as Bunning, whom the ...

Team U.S. defeats World in 2017 Futures Game | MLB.com

An entertaining Futures Game.

The present is theirs; the future is OMNICHATTER’s, for July 9, 2017

As No. 1 Picks Go, Chipper Jones Stands Among Greats | BaseballAmerica.com

Todd Van Poppel, a cautionary tale.

Crippling injuries, Greg Bird mystery dashing Yankees’ season - NY Daily News

Is George back?

Much as the Torres and Fowler injuries were downright heartbreaking, the Bird mystery ankle bruise has become merely annoying. Despite numerous tests that have turned up nothing, Bird continues to insist the ankle is still sore — too sore to allow him to play. The Yankee brass has become exasperated with Bird, who’s never been able to stay healthy, and it has gotten to the point where if he doesn’t get back on the field after the All-Star break, they are prepared to move ...

Rowe: All-Star Memories: The best of baseball’s Midsummer Classic

This piece is so NY-centric that it fails to include the amazing Torii Hunter catch in 2002. (Not to mention Selig’s shrug!)

Mets phenom Dwight Gooden was the youngest pitcher to appear in an All-Star Game (he was 19 when he pitched relief in 1984).

He was also the youngest to start a game (he was 21 when he started in 1986).

Gooden had mixed results. He allowed one hit in two scoreless innings, while striking out three, in the National League’s 3-1 win in 1984, but he was the losing pitcher, ...

He’s leaving on that midnight train to OMNICHATTER, for July 8, 2017

Pirates’ Tyler Glasnow impressing in Triple-A | MLB.com

Walking out of manager Clint Hurdle’s office at PNC Park last month, Tyler Glasnow came to a reassuring realization, upsetting as it may have been. The heralded prospect had just been sent down to Triple-A Indianapolis following the first extended disappointing stretch in his professional career.

“It was like, ‘All right, so this is probably as bad as it’s going to get,’” Glasnow said Wednesday, smiling. “I hadn’t really ever done bad. I came down here, and I was like, ‘Whatever. Just pitch ...

As More Teams Host Gay Pride Events, Yankees Remain a Holdout - The New York Times

via GIPHY

Mississippi’s Acuna continues stellar year | MiLB.com News

Glowing praise for the Braves prospect.

Home Run Derby curse is merely a myth | MLB.com

It’s a trap!

Who has the best putaway pitch in baseball? - SweetSpot- ESPN

Interesting stuff.

Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein says ‘biggest fixes are inside the clubhouse’

Billy Williams ain’t walking through that door.

What if the gave a Rain Delay and no rain showed up?

The most unusual aspect of the game was the fact that the teams sat through a nearly rainless 3-hour, 5-minute rain delay before the first pitch. What went unsaid, but seemed widely understood, was that Nationals officials delayed the start over concern that approaching rain would halt play in the early innings and they’d lose starter Gio Gonzalez and have to turn things over to woeful bullpen.

Time of delay: 3:05
Time of game: 3:10

Everyone has an OMNICHATTER on the inside, for July 7, 2017

Terry Francona undergoes heart procedure, out for All-Star Game

Cleveland Indians skipper Terry Francona will not manage in the All-Star Game after undergoing a heart procedure on Thursday, the team announced.

Francona underwent a cardiac ablation procedure for an irregular heartbeat, the Indians said in a statement, and is resting at the Cleveland Clinic.

“Terry is expected to make a full recovery and will be discharged within the next day or two,” the Indians said. “It is expected he will resume managing the team beginning Friday, July 14 and Major ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-7-2017

Butte Daily Post, July 7, 1917:

When “Indian” Smith, pitcher for the San Francisco Seals, went on the warpath the other day swinging a baseball bat it came near being the “happy hunting grounds” for Dan Murray, catcher for the Oakland club.

The Indian, so the boys say, objected strenuously to being called “[six-letter racial slur beginning with n redacted]” and Murray made the mistake of considering a serious matter a joke. He “got hep to himself” mighty quick after a whizzing bat purred past ...

2017 Midseason Top 100 Prospects | BaseballAmerica.com

Moncada is #1.

What to Make of Mallex Smith | The Process Report

Breaking down Mallex Smith.

Dreaming of A Free Amateur Market – The Hardball Times

Wrong? Doesn’t the writer know about the Luxury Tax system? Also, MLBPA collectively bargains with the owners. They have not demonstrated the desire to increase the size of the pie for minor leaguers.

But as Miller pointed out, that logic was flawed in the first place, and since the institution of free agency, it has been exposed as entirely wrong. That leads me to ask: What if we abolished the draft and instituted true amateur free agency for all prospects? What would the baseball world look ...

Yankees and trade deadline: Don’t mess with team of future | New York Post

By virtue of their strong start and the buzz provided by their youngsters, the Yankees are now ahead in attendance from last year — by 298 per game, as per Baseball-Reference.com. That buzz won’t go away if the Yankees keep fielding exciting young players. And if they don’t rob from that corps to strengthen their starting rotation.

In the wake of their struggles, there has been only a mild “Do something!” clamor out there. Most folks get it. So the Yankees, playing the long game, ...