Former MLB pitcher John Rheinecker dies

Former major league pitcher John Rheinecker, who starred at Waterloo’s Gibault High and made stops at Belleville Area College (Southwestern Illinois) and Southwest Missouri State (Missouri State) as he worked his way to becoming a first-round draft pick in 2001, died Tuesday (July 18, 2017)  in St. Louis.

He was 38.

The 6-foot-2 lefty from small-town Hecker made 20 starts and 44 total appearances for the Texas Rangers between 2006 and 2007. He finished with an 8-9 record and a 5.65 ERA. ...

With friends like this, who needs OMNICHATTER, for July 20, 2017

NYDN: Todd Frazier hopes to talk to Paul O’Neill about wearing No. 21 with Yankees

Still too soon?

The last guy who wore “The Warrior’s” old number got booed.

Now, Todd Frazier wants his shot at wearing Paul O’Neill’s No. 21.

“I was a big Paul O’Neill fan (growing up), that’s why I wear the No. 21,” said Frazier, who also reportedly grew up rooting for the Red Sox at the same time. “Hopefully I can talk to him, and maybe I can get the number before I get home.”

LaTroy Hawkins briefly wore No. 21 in 2008 before getting booed by Yankees fans and ...

Kevin Maitan Thrilled To Be Finally Be Out In The Field | BaseballAmerica.com

The next, next big thing in Atlanta.

‘John Schiffner is Cape Cod League baseball’ - The Boston Globe

I haven’t made it to see a Cape League game this year. I hope I can change that.

THT: A Joyful Celebration of Baseball

Good reporting by Sarah Wexler on the 19th annual induction day for the Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals.

The first honor bestowed was the 2017 Hilda Award, named, of course, for Hilda Chester, and intended to especially honor noteworthy fans.

This year’s recipient was Cam Perron, a 22-year-old Tulane University business management graduate. Perron’s life’s passion is the preservation of Negro League history. At the age of 12, he began writing retired ballplayers for ...

Pablo Sandoval signing with Giants | MLB.com

Low risk move for the Giants.

Nolan Arenado’s 3 homers leads Rockies’ rout | MLB.com

Best third baseman in baseball.

You may run like Mays, but you hit like OMNICHATTER, for July 19, 2017

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-19-2017

Grand Forks Herald, July 19, 1917:

It was reported recently on the highest authority in administration circles that the government would draft no major league baseball players for the war.

...the main reason for not interfering with baseball is because of the big part taken by big league baseball owners in urging recruiting and helping in army and Red Cross charities. The drilling of the baseball players has served to gain recruits for all branches of the service.

Moreover the government does ...

FTW: Chris Christie roasted by announcer and booed after catching foul ball at Mets game

Clearly, the fans mistook him for Bryce Harper.

Chris Christie caught a foul ball with one hand from his seat at Citi Field during the Mets-Cardinals game on Tuesday night. If an ordinary fan did that, some of the crowd probably would’ve cheered, but the New Jersey governor didn’t get an applause. He was booed at the stadium.

Then, the broadcasters poked fun at Christie on the air.

“Nice to see him get from the beach here to the ballpark,” one said as the other laughed.

Tigers OF J.D. Martinez traded to Diamondbacks for prospects

Detroit received Double-A third baseman Dawel Lugo, switch-hitting infield prospect Sergio Alcantara and shortstop Jose King in the deal Tuesday. Lugo, a sterling defensive third baseman with a solid bat, is regarded as the Diamondbacks’ No. 2 overall prospect. Avila said he wanted to bolster the Tigers’ farm system with position prospects and jumped at the chance to add three infielders.

As for Martinez, the Tigers hope that one day he’ll return to Detroit.

Martinez said the feeling is ...

Heyman | Yankees Nearing Deal To Acquire Todd Frazier From White Sox

What are they giving up?

Update: Yankees acquired Ps David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle and 3B Todd Frazier for P Tyler Clippard,  and minor league OFs Blake Rutherford and Tito Polo and P Ian Clarkin.

BA’s take on the deal.

Carlos Correa to undergo surgery for torn thumb ligament, expected to miss six to eight weeks

The Astros announced on Tuesday that shortstop Carlos Correa has been placed on the 10-day disabled list with a torn ligament in his left thumb. He’s expected to miss six to eight weeks. Ken Rosenthal reports that Correa will undergo surgery and notes that Mike Trout missed seven and a half weeks after undergoing the same procedure.

Correa, 22, suffered the injury during Monday’s game against the Mariners, specifically in the fourth inning on a swing. He suffered a thumb injury initially ...

Mas weighing options amid Marlins’ refusal to grant exclusive window

Miami businessman Jorge Mas is considering whether to continue a pursuit of the Miami Marlins because he and the team haven’t agreed on multiple key issues, according to a source close to Mas.

Though Mas has continued his pursuit of the Marlins in recent days, the source said Mas is now “weighing all options” in the wake of the Marlins’ continued unwillingness to give him an exclusive negotiating window.

Mas and the Marlins also haven’t been able to agree on a price. The Marlins want at least ...

Players’ View: Who Can Handle the Ninth?

Larry Andersen, Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster, and former reliever: “I don’t know if you can actually tell prior to guys doing it. I use an analogy. If you put a tightrope from the top of the foul pole in right field to the top of the foul pole in left field, and you put a net there, anybody will try it. That’s a setup guy or a middle guy. The closer has to do it without the net. You feel the tension — your whole body tightens up — because one mistake and it’s over. You have to ...

Likely destinations for all the top stars on the block

The Brewers may be the most aggressive team pursuing Gray, who pitched three years for Brewers pitching coach Derek Johnson at Vanderbilt. The Brewers, whose rebuild has suddenly been accelerated by their first-place status in the NL Central, not only have the prospects, but also a fiery owner wanting to land him….

The Astros, 62-30, actually may be the team that most needs Gray. Sure, they’ll cruise to the AL West title with or without him, but with the way the Astros have dominated this ...

Weighing Yankees’ 1st-base trades, which are crucial for Matt Holliday

In theory, they could acquire someone such as Atlanta’s Matt Adams, Texas’ Mike Napoli or Toronto’s Kendrys Morales with the idea that they are the first basemen the rest of this year and then become the DH next year, providing also a better security blanket for Bird, who so far has shown a penchant for both injuries and slow healing. But that would mean not bringing back Matt Holliday, who has proven an asset as both a hitter and a clubhouse sage, particularly for Aaron Judge.

Anyway, ...

... and OMNICHATTER is all out of bubblegum, for July 18, 2017

Could Mike Trout and Bryce Harper become baseball’s all-time greatest superstar duo?

We’ve noted that Trout is on a best-ever kind of pace. What, then, does it mean if Harper emerges as an equal? What if we don’t just have Superman, but Batman too?

Would that mean we are seeing the best tandem of hitters we’ve ever seen in the game at the same time?

Using Bad Math to Get The Result You Want 101:

For Trout and Harper in 2017, I prorated the numbers for the full season. Then I made one fantastical leap: I assumed Harper’s 2016 numbers were an injury-caused fluke and gave him the ...

Apologetic Starling Marte returns, vows to ‘regain trust’ | TribLIVE

It will be interesting to see how he plays.

Mexico City Would Be MLB’s Highest Home Run Haven

Mexico City makes sense as a site for a few reasons, so it’s only logical for Manfred to keep the option alive. First, it’s enormous, with the largest metropolitan population (roughly 21 million) of any North American city, with the possible exception (according to some sources) of New York. Second, it’s a largely untapped market. As Manfred told Jayson Stark in an ESPN story last year, “a team in Mexico opens up the Mexican television market, which is significant in ways that are much ...

Amid maddening inconsistency, Herrera’s flashes for Phillies can’t be ignored | David Murphy

From the last part of 2015 through the first part of 2016, Herrera put together the near-equivalent of an entire season in which he drew 62 walks in 667 plate appearances, or 9.3 percent. During that stretch, he tallied 45 extra-base hits. He then put together a nearly yearlong stretch in which his walk rate plummeted (to 6.2 percent), but his extra-base-hit rate remained steady (7.0 percent). Over the last 37 games, his walk rate has undergone another proportionate drop (to 3.9 percent), but ...

Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey resume throwing | MLB.com

This is very sad.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-18-2017

Bridgeport Evening Farmer, July 18, 1917:

J. Franklin Baker of the Yankees was yesterday exonerated of blame for the alleged tampering with a player to influence him in jumping his contract with the St. Louis Browns. The exoneration followed the receipt of a letter from Baker in which he denied that he had approached Allen Sothoron, pitcher, to induce him to leave the Browns and join the Upland club of the Delaware County league in Pennsylvania.

Well, that answers the question I posed yesterday ...

Fangraphs: 2017 Trade Value: #1 to #10

Yeah, it finally happened. For the first time since 2011, Mike Trout is not atop this list… by the slimmest of margins, Carlos Correa is our new most valuable player in baseball when contracts are included in the discussion.

Would you trade Trout straight up for Correa?

Tomase: Steroids kept Red Sox great Dwight Evans out of Hall of Fame—advanced stats could’ve put him in

Evans is a prime example of a player whose career would be viewed very differently if he played today. He led the league in on base percentage once, OPS twice, and walks three times. As one of the game’s more unconventional leadoff hitters in 1985—he never stole more than eight bases in a season—he walked 114 times and scored 110 runs. Drop him to fifth or sixth, as the Red Sox did during the rabbit-ball year of 1987, and he responded with the best power numbers of his career, hitting .305 with ...

Dodgers asking $12 million a year for naming rights to field

Now, America’s third-oldest MLB venue is looking to defy MLB’s legacy as the most traditional sport even more aggressively by selling naming rights to the field in Chavez Ravine, home to the Los Angeles Dodgers since 1962. Numerous industry sources tell us that Dodger Stadium’s field — thus, it would be X Corp. Field at Dodger Stadium — has been on the market since early spring with an asking price of $12 million per season.

Sources tell us Entitle, the joint-venture naming-rights ...

Despite largest first half ratings drop, Royals still lead MLB in average local rating

But according to John Ourand and David Broughton of the Sports Business Journal, the sport’s local ratings have not been great this season. Per SBD, 18 of the 29 U.S.-based MLB teams have seen ratings fall, with the defending champion Chicago Cubs the most surprising of the laggards.

With a drop of 37%, the Royals have the largest negative ratings change of any team in baseball this season, though they still possess the highest local rating at 7.69. The White Sox, Marlins, Giants, and ...

This baseball-themed baby gender reveal didn’t quite go as planned | MLB.com

I knew the gender before the ball exploded. Throwing like a girl was a dead giveaway.