LAT: Angels’ Mike Trout to start All-Star game; Garrett Richards snubbed

The excitement of a 6-1 victory that capped a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros on Sunday was tempered when the Angels learned that only one player from their club, which has the third-best record in baseball, was named to the American League All-Star team.

...

Snubbed were pitcher Garrett Richards, who got the win over the Astros on Sunday to improve to 10-2 with a 2.71 earned-run average and 119 strikeouts in 116 1/3 innings, and slick-fielding shortstop Erick Aybar, who is hitting .278 ...

BA Midseason Top 50: Injury Can’t Knock Buxton From No. 1

It has been a dangerous year to be a top prospect. Injuries happen every year, but the 2014 season has been worse than usual. The top prospect in baseball, Twins outfielder Byron Buxton, has missed all but five games with a wrist injury. Another preseason top 10 prospect, Twins third baseman Miguel Sano, had Tommy John surgery this spring. Injuries are a recurring theme, but the Joey Gallo-Kris Bryant home run race has given fans something more enjoyable to watch.

Note: 2014 draftees, players ...

Keith Hernandez: Starlin Castro ‘too unreliable’

You know I am only teasing. I love you slackers out there—always have!

With the Chicago Cubs now flush with shortstops, count Keith Hernandez among those not in favor of the Mets attempting to acquire incumbent Starlin Castro.

Castro, 24, is hitting .287 with 11 homers and 51 RBIs in 342 at-bats for Chicago this season.

...“We’ve seen enough of Castro to know that he’s just too unreliable, too loose,” Hernandez said during Sunday’s Mets-Rangers telecast on SNY.

When partner Gary Cohen ...

Gleeman: Rays sign No. 1 rated international prospect Adrian Rondon for $3 million on his 16th birthday

I think I got a turtleneck for my 16th birthday.

Today is the first day Adrian Rondon is eligible to sign because it’s his 16th birthday and the Rays moved quickly to add the right-handed-hitting shortstop from the Dominican Republic.

Tampa Bay must believe that Rondon is destined for stardom because Ben Badler of Baseball America reports that by going so far beyond their designated spending limits the Rays will be forced to pay a 100 percent tax on all international spending above $2 million ...

Maury Brown: The Biggest Media Company You’ve Never Heard Of

YR is not amused.

But what if I told you there was a company nestled in New York’s Chelsea Market near the Apple Store and across the street from Google’s offices that will see revenues of $800 million in 2014; with targeted revenues of $1 billion by 2016. That this company engaged in streaming live video of 18,000 hours in 2009 and is expected to hit 400,000 this year. That not only are they providing that, they’re a key company for online ticket sales, but isn’t StubHub. That key ...

OMNICHATTER 7-7-14

There will be OMNICHATTER

Autin: Scoring is down (again). Should something be done?

Yes, but recalling Tucker Barnhart is not it.

So, what should be done?

Perhaps there’s a way to discourage so many pitching changes. One idea for the AL (although the union would fight it) is to link the DH to the starting pitcher: Once the starter exits, the reliever must take a spot in the batting order. He wouldn’t have to take the DH’s spot, as rules already permit the DH to move to a fielding position, with the pitcher batting in place of the exiting fielder. This would be some ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-7-2014

Washington Times, July 7, 1914:

“Iron Man” McGinnity, president of the Tacoma, Northwestern League club, formerly a big league twirler of renown, is enthusiastic today over a ground drying machine he has invented. The machine is similar to a huge blow torch, is about four feet long, and mounted on three wheels. Four distillate burners furnish the heat. After a hard night’s rain McGinnity claims the machine will dry out the diamond in two hours.

Well, it might, as long as Juan Pablo Montoya ...

Two Mets minor leaguers were arrested on Friday

the city of Kingsport, Tennessee, reports that two Mets minor leaguers were arrested for drag racing at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour early Friday morning. The two were 19-year-old outfielder Wuilmer Becerra and 20-year-old outfielder Vicente Lupo. Drag racing is a Class B misdemeanor offense.

Cardinals GM John Mozeliak on Jaime Garcia: “I’m frustrated … you try to be patient with people”

Mozeliak added. “In terms of where we were yesterday to where we are today, it does seem rather dramatic and quick. Obviously he internalized this and decided to make a decision. If this is something he feels is his only option, then obviously he has to do it. It still doesn’t excuse the fact that he could have notified us a little bit more. … From a medical staff, we felt like there were some other options he could consider before taking this step. Obviously, again, he chose to go down ...

Jose Bautista calls MLB’s replay system “a joke”

“This whole replay thing has become a joke in my eyes. I think they should just ban it, they should just get rid of it, I don’t really understand the purpose of it, but getting the right call on the field is not the purpose. That’s pretty obvious and evident. I don’t know what kind of agenda the people that are doing the replays are on, what their plan is, what their purpose is, who they’re looking after. But obviously getting the right call on the field is not what they’re ...

MLB All-Star Game Snubs and Flubs

Ventcher spleen here!!

Minor League Baseball Team’s Fireworks Turn Into Stadium Fire

It’s not good when that happens.

Yankees designate Alfonso Soriano for assignment

As I said yesterday about Soriano… “but after kinda embarrassing Jeter today defensively, the end might be near.”

The Yankees have designated outfielder Alfonso Soriano for assignment, manager Joe Girardi announced. The team now has 10 days to trade, release or waive him.

Soriano, 38, has hit only .221/.244/.367 (68 OPS+) with six home runs in 238 plate appearances this season. He had been relegated to platoon duty with Ichiro Suzuki getting most of the starts in right field.

The Yankees ...

Rosenthal: Yankees acquire RHP McCarthy from D-backs

The New York Yankees have acquired right-hander Brandon McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for left-hander Vidal Nuno, FOX Sports 1 Insider Ken Rosenthal reports.

The benefit for the Yankees here seems fairly obvious. I’m a bit more quizzical about the Diamondbacks’ perspective - maybe they were primarily motivated by a desire to unload McCarthy’s salary, and plan to stick Nuno into the LHRP slot just vacated by Thatcher?

Hitting just .201, Chris Davis is having an unprecedented slump

Jeez…I haven’t seen a Davis go this silent since Lillian Hall-Davis!

What’s wrong with Chris Davis?

The Orioles first baseman goes into Sunday’s game hitting just .201, floating just above the dubious Mendoza Line.

In Saturday’s doubleheader, Davis was 0-for-8 with six strikeouts and one walk, including one span over the two games in which he struck out in six consecutive plate appearances.

Over his past 10 games, dating back to the Orioles’ doubleheader against Tampa Bay on June 27 ...

Bill Madden: Mediocre Yankees and Mets just part of MLB’s offensively challenged, endless games

And scroll down to where Madden squeezes out a foundation deposit for the ‘77-’78 world championship Yankee teams.

Now that Alex Rodriguez has been revealed to have even been doping as a Yankee, and in particular his 2007 MVP season, should the title of Greatest Yankee Third Baseman revert to Graig Nettles? That would be the Graig Nettles who spent 11 seasons as a Yankee (as opposed to seven for recently plaqued Tino Martinez) and was a five-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove winner, ...

MLB.COM: Eight Run Seventh Catapults Angels to Comeback Win

I was resigned to a loss tonight as Hector Santiago gave up a grand slam early and the Angels were down 5-2 in the 7th.  Then…..

David Freese, Albert Pujols and C.J. Cron all homered in the (seventh) inning, with Freese’s two-run shot trimming the deficit to one, Pujols’ two-run dinger putting the Angels up by one and Cron’s three-run blast supplying insurance runs.

For the Angels, the eight runs were a season high in one inning.

This season is starting to resemble 2002 in the AL ...

John Lackey on Nelson Cruz: ‘There are things I’d like to say, but I’m not going to’

Lackey: Unnatural Tissue.

Saturday night left a bitter and disgusting taste in the mouth of John Lackey.

It wasn’t so much the 10 hits, five runs and 120 pitches over just 5 2/3 innings. It wasn’t even taking the 7-4 loss to the Orioles on his record, dropping him to 9-6 on the season.

It was the man who did the most damage against him, including a laser beam homer to left in the fifth. John Lackey clearly hasn’t forgotten or forgiven Nelson Cruz.

“I’m not even going to comment on ...

OMNICHATTER 7-6-2014

The “Samardzija on a Good Team” OMNICHATTER

Hardball Times: The Royals and “Anti-Three True Outcomes”

There is a definite trend line/correlation between a team’s homer and walk percentages and its overall winning percentage. [...]

[The 2014 Royals HR+BB rate of 8.0% is] right there with the lowest total of any team over the past 40-plus years. You’ll also notice that few, if any, teams have been able to win even at a .550 clip without having a nine-percent homer-plus-walk rate. These Royals need only look at similarly walk and homer-challenged teams to realize their chances of a winning ...

Fangraphs: How Telling are a Teenager’s A-ball Stats?

I considered all 321 player seasons where a teenager logged at least 400 PA’s from 1995-2008. [...]

Stats alone can’t tell us everything, but there are definitely some obvious trends. Most notably, players who hit for power appear to be much more likely to play in the majors than those who don’t.  Completely ignoring strikeouts and walks, 70% players from the high power group made it to the bigs compared to 65% of players with average power and just 44% from the low power demographic. ...

Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez growing tired of losing in Colorado

...said Tulowitzki, reviewing the 17 years Helton spent as the face of a franchise that never won a division title. “He played in a couple postseason games and went to one World Series. But that’s not me. I want to be somewhere where there’s a chance to be in the playoffs every single year.”

With the expanded playoffs, that’s everywhere.

Diamondbacks send Joe Thatcher and Tony Campana to the Angels

The Diamondbacks’ are on the verge of making the first of what could be many trades this month, agreeing to a deal that will send left-hander Joe Thatcher and outfielder Tony Campana to the Los Angeles Angels.

In exchange, the Diamondbacks are receiving a pair of minor leaguers, right-handed reliever Joey Krehbiel and outfielder Zach Borenstein.

I know it’s not a trolling article about sabermetrics from an old fogey sportswriter, but we need to fill the front page with something, and I guess ...

Kepner: Hitters in M.L.B. This Season Have Struggled at Historic Rates

I lived through Jose Vidal once…ain’t doing it again.

As teams passed the 81-game midpoint of the season, they were averaging just 4.13 runs per game through Wednesday. If the average stays at that level through the end of the season, it will be the majors’ lowest mark since 1992. Strikeouts continue to rise; walks and home runs continue to decline; and the major league batting average, .251, is the lowest since 1972, the year before the creation of the designated hitter.

A stronger testing ...

Clayton Kershaw ups scoreless innings run to 36 in Dodgers’ win

The hard-throwing lefty nearly had no-hit stuff against Colorado again, allowing only two singles over eight innings as the Dodgers beat the Rockies 9-0 on Friday night.
What’s more, Kershaw (10-2) extended his scoreless streak to 36 innings before being replaced by a pinch hitter in the ninth. Kershaw bottled up the top-hitting team in the majors in nearly matching the no-hitter he threw against the Rockies on June 18 at Dodger Stadium. Kershaw struck out eight and walked one.

“You ...

7-5-2014 OMNICHATTER

The “Billy Beane and Theo Epstein wake up and make sure last night wasn’t a dream” OMNICHATTER

A’s acquire Jeff Samardzija, Jason Hammel from Cubs for Addison Russell

FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal says the deal is done and that the A’s will get both Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel, giving up top shortstop prospect Addison Russell in return. He adds that other players and teams may be involved.

To get rid of marijuana, baseball has to get real. | SportsonEarth.com : Dirk Hayhurst Article

OK, detectives, who was it?

While I was in spring training with the … You know what, I’m not going to tell you. Too many potheads still in action there. Let’s just say that while I was in spring training with a certain organization, a group of guys on the team got robbed. They were all staying in a house together, splitting the rent through the course of the spring, their luxury rides all parked out front in a row, leaving at the same time every day. It wasn’t hard for the local criminal ...

Johnny Damon: ‘Ready’ for comeback

The three-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion and five-time .300 hitter is staying in shape, swinging the bat and eager to return to the majors. The 40-year-old Damon last played for Cleveland in 2012, but isn’t quite ready for retirement.

“When you feel you can still outhit at least half the league and you don’t get that call, it’s rough,” Damon told The Associated Press in a phone interview Friday. “The biggest reason to play is to have a chance to win. Obviously, 3,000 hits would ...