Angels’ Matt Shoemaker has surgery to stop bleeding in his skull

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker had surgery Sunday night to stop additional bleeding in his skull after getting hit in the head by a line drive.

Shoemaker had the procedure late Sunday at Seattle’s University of Washington Medical Center, and athletic trainer Adam Nevala is staying with him until he is able to travel to Southern California.

Angels general manager Billy Eppler provided the update Monday in Oakland, saying Shoemaker had been receiving CT scans every 2/3 hours when the ...

Astros’ Dallas Keuchel shut down from throwing - Houston Chronicle

In addition to scratching him from his start that had been scheduled for Tuesday against the Indians, the Astros have already ruled out their ace from starting this weekend against the Cubs. With only 25 games remaining on the Astros’ schedule after Monday, the rest of the pitcher’s season is shrouded in doubt.

“I don’t know,” manager A.J. Hinch said when asked if he thought Keuchel would pitch again this season. “We’ll have to get back and see how all of these tests come back ...

Jay Bruce clarifies report he did not want to be traded to Mets - NY Daily News

“The Reds came to me very early in the process and asked me where I wanted to go and I gave them three places I wanted to go and New York wasn’t one of them.

Seth Lugo keeps Mets rolling in 5-1 win over Nationals
“But that has nothing to do with the Mets or New York or anything like that. I had personal ties with places I wanted to go. It ended up not working out.”

What places? “San Francisco, Texas and L.A.,” Bruce said.

So is he upset to be a Met? “Absolutely not. I got a chance to come ...

Brian Dozier blasts three home runs vs. Royals | MLB.com

38 homers for Dozier. Embedding not available.

An A’s ballboy put forth an All-Star, all-out effort on a grounder, but nope | MLB.com

He lays it out.

Dodgers hit 5 home runs off Zack Greinke | MLB.com

odger Stadium had a healthy serving of boos reserved for Zack Greinke in his first start there since leaving for Arizona via free agency in the offseason. However, it was his former teammates who offered an even ruder welcome in a 10-2 Dodgers win on Monday night.

The Dodgers hit five homers off Greinke, a career high for the right-hander. Adrian Gonzalez got it started in the fourth with a two-run shot on a numbers-high fastball. Before the inning, Greinke had thrown three shutout innings, ...

OTP 2016 September 5: Baseball, Politics & Comedy

From baseball and politics to comedy, Drew Forum speakers will display a lot of range this fall and winter.
Between September and February, the Drew University series will feature Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers; Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred; New York Times columnist Gail Collins and political players Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer.

Notes keep Tigers radio announcer Dan Dickerson pitch-perfect

Stathead announcer.

Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman keeping Mets alive in playoff race | Newsday

We used to view Lugo and Gsellman, a pair of lower-round 2011 picks, as temporary placeholders, Vegas guys keeping the rotation spots warm for Matz and Jacob deGrom. Not anymore. There’s no guarantee we’ll see either one again this season, and judging by the pace of their rehab stints, don’t get your hopes up.

Report: Before trade to the Mets, Jay Bruce asked to be sent ‘anywhere but New York’ | For The Win

Fatherhood has not hurt Bruce. He isn’t losing sleep or wasting energy changing diapers. Actually, he was still in Cincinnati when he became a father and was having a great year. Then they traded him to New York and his numbers declined in a New York minute. I was told when he knew he would be traded he went to the Reds and asked them to trade him anywhere but to New York. Guess they didn’t hear him right and thought he said, “Please trade me to New York.”

Being anomaly in changing game hasn’t affected Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks - Chicago Tribune

“The game has taken such a turn to power pitching that I guess my pitching style is more of an anomaly in the game today,” Hendricks said. “But there are also a lot of guys that pitch like me. We never get much recognition, obviously.

“It’s always the power pitchers with the power stuff that are going to get the headlines. There are a lot of guys out there that can flat-out pitch, make pitches, change speeds, because if you can do it and do it well, you can have a lot of success at this level. ...

Ian Kinsler literally rubbed some dirt on his bloody finger - Bless You Boys

Rub it up.

OMNICHATTER 9-5-16

The Labor Day OMNICHATTER

You should watch the Women’s Baseball World Cup

The Women’s Baseball World Cup kicked off on September 2, and no, I don’t mean softball. I mean baseball. While it’s not well known that women still play baseball (since young girls are pushed toward softball instead of our nation’s pastime), they do, and they do it well. Sarah Hudek, the trailblazing collegiate baseball player who recently transitioned to softball, pitched in the title game of the 2014 Women’s Baseball World Cup. (Sadly, the US team lost.) That should tell you a lot ...

How Joe Maddon’s Cubs experiment is changing baseball | New York Post

This is the most important factor by far.

2. There are more pitchers. Teams now routinely carry 12 and sometimes even 13. That limits positional maneuverability for a manager, unless he has player(s) who can make it feel like he has more than 25 players available by being able to capably move around.

The education of Yoan Moncada

New York wanted Moncada at $25 million. Hastings said another team was over $30 million. The Yankees refused to budge. Hastings said Moncada would go elsewhere. The Yankees pulled their offer. Hastings called Eddie Romero, the Red Sox’s VP of international scouting, and said: “We’ve got a deal.” Just like that, over the course of two minutes, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound, switch-hitting infielder with game-breaking speed, legitimate power and a jeweler’s eye went from being convinced he was ...

Rays debut the first of their new stockpile of knuckleball pitchers

I love knuckleballers.

Friday night’s game between the Blue Jays and Rays was notable for two reasons. One, it marked the return of Alex Cobb, back after missing more than a season and a half due to Tommy John surgery. Second, it represented the debut of the majors’ newest knuckleballer: Eddie Gamboa.

Gamboa, a 31-year-old who converted to knuckling a few years back on a whim, had been recalled last season by the Orioles, but failed to appear in a game. That changed on Friday, obviously, as ...

Mental, physical changes helping Rays’ Longoria rebound | Tampa Bay Times

First, Longoria, for the first time he can remember, wrote out the key statistics for each year of his career to provide a base. Then, his assignment was to jot down specific numerical goals for this season, such as how many home runs he could hit.

Falco’s theory was to give it permanence on paper as a point of reference to look at during the season and, more importantly, to get Longoria to think aggressively and aim high.

“It’s really the first time I’ve ever done it,” Longoria said. “In ...

Minor-leaguer makes history, plays all 9 positions | theScore.com

Melvin “The Machine” Mercedes, playing for the Class-A Stockton Ports, appeared at all nine positions in a game Saturday against the Bakersfield Blaze.

Prior to the game, Mercedes played six different positions during the 2016 season, failing only to appear at first base, center field, and behind the dish. Mercedes finished 1-4 at the plate with a double, a walk and closed out the game pitching a scoreless inning, striking out tw

Trout hammers 427-ft. homer | MLB.com

Rope.

Yankees could deal for Jose Fernandez this offseason — here’s how - NY Daily News

They will also be dealing for Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Corey Saeger, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw, Christian Yelich, and Jose Altuve.

What a team they will have!!

Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw makes rehab start | MLB.com

With the playoffs fast approaching, Clayton Kershaw (herniated disk) pitched in a baseball game for the first time since June 26 as he began a rehab assignment Saturday at Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga.

Whether the ace is ready to return to the Majors has yet to be decided, though Kershaw did say he thinks he will pitch in the next four or five days as long as his back presents no problems while he cools down.
“We’re still ironing some stuff out,” Kershaw said. “At this point, it’s more of ...

OMNICHATTER Sept 4, 2016

First Sunday of September OMNICHATTER

Japan Times:Ham Fighters Face Ruthian Dilemma with Otani

Until July 10, the Fighters had the best of both worlds. In a season in which he set Nippon Professional Baseball speed record [163 KMH], Otani would bat as the club’s designated hitter during the week, take Fridays and Saturdays off before taking the mound — and batting — on Sunday. But that day in July the right-hander developed a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand and has pitched just one inning since.

...With pitchers Hirotoshi Takanashi and rookie lefty Takayuki Kato ...

OMNICHATTER 9-3-16

The “First Saturday in September” OMNICHATTER

Is Triple A a critical step for development?

“Creating policies or procedures around that small sample [of players who struggled when reaching the big leagues] can be a mistake, because it will prevent you from calling up the next guy. That’s something you have to be careful of in these situations,” said Hazen. “When you look at it at the micro level, you can pick apart any one decision, any one path, any one player, any one background, and create large-scale theories on that. We need to evaluate each one of these situations in ...

How Managers Were Fooled by the Home-Run Spike | FanGraphs Baseball

Some interesting breakdowns. Read the whole thing.

What’s fascinating about this is that managers are responding to the home-run spike. If you look at earlier seasons, there’s not a clear relationship between scoring and pitches per start or innings per start. And you wouldn’t expect there to be in the aggregate. The decision to pull the starter should be based on his effectiveness relative to the other pitching options, not his un-adjusted in-game performance. But that’s not how it ...

The Decline of Albert Pujols Underscores the Greatness of Frank Thomas

Piling on Phat Albert.

“Frank Thomas was a first-ballot HOFer, but in some respects he might be modestly underrated as a hitter. I suspect it’s because Thomas, like Pujols, endured an extended decline phase that began after his last truly great season (at age 32). But unlike Pujols, Thomas was actually a very good hitter deep into his 30s; Pujols (and the Angels) would kill for this kind of production.”

The Indians and Andrew Miller Are Reshaping How We Think About Elite Reliever Usage

Chapman didn’t enter a game before the ninth inning or stay in any game for more than three outs. Miller, meanwhile, saw action as early as the sixth. He jogged in as often in the eighth as the ninth, and he entered in the seventh most often of all. He also turned in longer outings, throwing more innings than Chapman despite appearing in three fewer games. Chapman pitched in save situations all but three times; Miller pitched in non-save situations all but three times. He’s a closer-quality ...

The 10 best MLB players, for talent, without serious Hall of Fame cases

6. Kerry Wood

The one-time Cubs ace is somehow still only 39. In a more just world, Wood’s 20-strikeout performance as a 20-year-old five games into his MLB career wouldn’t have signaled open season for his managers on his arm. Perhaps Wood would be closing in on 300 wins now.

7. Josh Hamilton

If there’s a Hall of Fame for overcoming cataclysmic life issues before finally achieving MLB stardom, the former No. 1 draft pick might command his own wing. As it stands, a .290 lifetime ...