MLB 2018 Opening Day Games and Schedule Guide | MLB.com

It’s here! I had to take the day off as a religious holiday. Today it’s baseball, baseball, and more baseball. (OK, just about every day is baseball, baseball, and more baseball but I’m sure you get what I mean.)

Help! I married my dreaded baseball rival (a love story)

“You don’t mess with The Sluss”

At a gala on the eve of the 2012 All-Star Game in Kansas City, I spotted the retired Frank Thomas at the bar and introduced myself. (Tepid reaction.) I told him we’d recently enjoyed some of his Big Hurt Beer. (Tepid reaction.) And then I told him I’m married to Susan Slusser.

“Your wife is the best,” the 6-foot-5, 240-pounder said, more forcefully than I expected.

Yeah, well, you know, she loves the job and …

“THE BEST,” the Big Hurt said, ...

Joey Gallo, Josh Donaldson are the hitters of the modern era | SI.com

Embracing Ted Williams.

Update: Read this. Great piece by Tom Verducci.

C.J.: Baseball fans get their rankings in the paperback “In Pursuit of Pennants” - StarTribune.com

Dan should have stormed out of the interview when he was asked this question!!

Q: Do you ever find baseball games boring?

A: I have a 20-game season ticket to the Twins and I really enjoy going, but certainly I would say that these 3-2 counts start to get a little bit tedious. It’s nice to see the ball get put in play once in a while. I love watching games but games where there are a lot of strikeouts and walks get tedious. The pitcher-batter matchup has become much more the focus of ...

Daniel Vogelbach caps spring with home run

Will this spring’s Cinderella story turn into a pumpkin tomorrow?

Rays’ Nathan Eovaldi out with elbow injury

Who had March 28th in the pool?

Ringolsby: Collusion Or Common Sense?

The Cowboy’s take.

Smelly liquid floods area of field at Dodger Stadium, ending the Angels-Dodgers game

If Vin Scully had only waited a couple of more years to retire…  hearing him describe this would have been priceless.

2018 MLB Prediction thread!

With opening day tomorrow (FINALLY) it’s time to put your pride on the line! Who’s going to win? Who’s going to tank? Who will come closest to matching Mike Trout’s stratospheric WAR?  Link goes to the 538 projections, which take into account elo as well as the Davenport, Fangraphs, and PECOTA projection systems.  The Indians are tipped to win 99 games, which… I’ll take the under, thanks.

A’s top prospect A.J. Puk needs Tommy John Surgery

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 3-28-2018

Toledo News-Bee, March 28, 1918:

The International League has postponed its funeral—probably until today. The magnates are reluctant to shake off the shackles of baseball, and were to continue their sessions at league headquarters here today. Some of the magnates are hoping that the league may find a way to run in a curtailed sort of fashion.

No need to figure this out quickly, guys. It’s not like April is four days away or anything.

Guerrero hits walkoff hr in Montreal!

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Toronto Blue Jays over the St. Louis Cardinals 1-0 Tuesday night in the stadium where his father played much of his Baseball Hall of Fame career.

“I ain’t getting this one, boys.”

Mr. Microphone: As Seen on TV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RG0RGKBAkw

Update:  Even today, ballplayers like Albert Belle and Chris Truby targeted by false accusations

Albert Belle was arrested for two counts each of indecent exposure and DUI at a soccer game in Arizona Sunday, but a man who was there says the former baseball player was taking a piss behind the door of his car, only he pulled his pants all the way down. . . According to Swindells, a woman nearby was angered by the sight of Belle’s butt and said something about her kids being present, to which Belle replied, without turning around, “Don’t look, then. If you gotta go, you gotta go.”

The Flukiest Games Ever Pitched

They caught lightning in a bottle (and brought it with them on the mound)

The best MLB ballpark giveaways for 2018: Look at each team’s best free stuff - CBSSports.com

Want.

Kansas City Royals
The Royals generally have a strong promotional schedule and we can almost always find a good one related to the ever-lovable George Brett. How about this one? On May 19 vs. the Yankees, it’s a George Brett bobblehead. I mention the Yankees, because it’s not just any Brett bobble. It’s a pine tar bobblehead:

Free year of MLB.TV for T-Mobile customers

Tap “Redeem” via the T-Mobile Tuesdays App on the “Free Season of MLB.TV” offer

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 3-27-2018

Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, March 27, 1918:

The latest from Outfielder Cy Williams via St. Pete is to the effect that there may have been chicanery in the deal by which it was proposed to send him to the Phillies. It states that there was no disagreement as to salary offered by President Baker, but that the fault for the misunderstanding on the part of the Philly club was due to the Cub management. The inference is as plain as a direct charge that the Cub management knew he had quit the ...

John Harper sits down with new Mets manager Mickey Callaway

Interesting interview.

Brewers: Not enough pitching, too many outfielders creates conflict

With 12-13 pitchers on rosters extra single position outfielders and first baseman aren’t easy to fit on a roster.

The Brewers aren’t counting on Ryan Braun to be an everyday outfielder, with plans to start him at first base in Thursday’s season-opener against the San Diego Padres. First baseman Eric Thames will be platooned at first base, playing primarily against right-handed starters. Domingo Santana, who hit 30 homers and drove in 85 runs last year, could be sitting when Braun is standing. ...Read More...

Jim Furtado Posted: March 27, 2018 at 08:27 AM | 16 comment(s)
  Beats: brewers

Report: Ronald Acuña turned down $30 million contract extension from Braves

He needs to stay healthy.

Arturo Marcano of ESPN Deportes reports that Braves outfield prospect Ronald Acuña turned down a $30 million contract extension from the Braves. This comes on the heels of recent extensions signed by Scott Kingery (six years, $24 million) and Ketel Marte (five years, $24 million).

A baseball scout and his hotel room: A love story spanning four decades

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Scott Kingery and the Problem of the Prisoner’s Dilemma | FanGraphs Baseball

Never listen to the people.

There are two things in baseball that really pique my interest: rules and things that have never happened before. The Kingery extension is an example of the latter. This is something new, and that makes it interesting. What makes it doubly interesting is how my Twitter feed populated immediately after news of this deal had percolated through the interwebs for a time. People seemed to have one of two reactions:

1) Kingery signed a below-market deal just to avoid ...

Albert Belle Arrested for DUI and Indecent Exposure:  Whereabouts of Chris Truby Unknown

Former MLB player Albert Belle was arrested Sunday at a Diamondbacks spring training game at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Ariz., as reported by FOX 10. According to arrest records from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Belle was charged with two counts of indecent exposure and two counts of DUI.

Tangotiger Blog: Shift v NoShift Preliminary Statcast Research

Don’t have time right now to read this right now. It looks interesting, though.

2018 MLB Trade Value Rankings - Sportsnet.ca

Jonah Keri takes over the rankings. Today are the people who missed the Top 50.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 3-26-2018

Oklahoma City Times, March 26, 1918:

“Cy” Williams, former Cub star, has quit baseball, and for good, he says. He wired President Baker of the Phillies that he had returned his contract unsigned and that no further negotiations would do any good…The player has an extensive farm in northern Wisconsin which he intends to take active management of himself. He left for the north last night.

The number of players who “quit baseball” to “work on their farm” circa 1918 is remarkable. Much like most of ...

A’s may not want to stay at the Coliseum. But just in case, they want to buy it

The Oakland A’s are pitching a sweeping offer to the city and Alameda County: The team wants to buy the entire Coliseum site.

That includes the stadium where the A’s have played since 1968, the arena soon to be vacated by the Warriors, the parking lot — everything.

“We think the best way to guarantee our long-term viability and success in Oakland is to own our own home,” A’s President Dave Kaval told us.

Many city officials have pointed out that the Coliseum site already has the ...

OTP 2018 March 26: He struck out at baseball, but made it big in politics. Now he’s returned to his first love

In 1937, a group of standouts from the Negro baseball league, as it was known, was lured to the Dominican Republic for a barnstorming tournament against the country’s home-grown talent. Soon enough, the sun-and-fun adventure became a life-and-death proposition; the competition, it turned out, was for the benefit of the homicidal dictator Rafael Trujillo. The instruction given the visiting all-stars was simple: “You better win.”

While baseball is at the heart of the book, “The Pitcher ...

Rosenthal: Why Altuve’s deal makes sense; Boras gives his side; stop worrying about Ohtani; more notes – The Athletic

Glad to see Robothal back on the beat.

*Will Boras adjust his frequent strategy of waiting out the market in future off-seasons after the practice appeared to backfire with some of his 2017-18 free agents?

I had not even finished the question when Boras started to answer.

“Everyone talks to me about waiting. I’m talking about offers. We didn’t get any offers on these players until February. There was no waiting. There were no offers made. The clubs all waited to begin this process until ...