Bump Wills

Cubs announcers today noted that there needs to be a new symbol for a batter clock strikeout (Correa had one). You know regular K for swinging, backwards for called. They said Doug Glanville has suggested a "K with a clock" which I assume is a K with a circle (unless that's already used for something). I guess scorers need one for walks too. Do b-r or fg track swinging vs called Ks and do they need to add these? Something for you geeks out there to sort.

It's nice to hear that Flaherty pushed for Conteras to be given the starting catching job back, I didn't really follow up on the story too much because I thought it was much ado about nothing, but the headlines for the articles seemed to indicate that Flaherty and Wainwright were instrumental in removing Contreras from the starting job, while they defended him as a player/teammate.

Contreras really needs to be behind the plate for this offense, there is already a backlog of outfielders and infielders, having a backlog at catching was an issue.

Angels leading 6-2 in the 8th.
Bullpen goes to work.
Angels losing 7-6 in the 8th.

No, wait. 8-6.

someone named Yennier Cano, who began the season with a career ERA of 11.50 in 18 MLB IP - has a 0.00 for the Orioles in 19.6 IP (no unearned runs, either).

his bugaboo had been walks (16 in those previous 18 IP), so has he cut down on those?

yep. ZERO walks this year, and only SEVEN hits allowed. also 22 K.

age 29, 6-foot-4, 245-pound right-hander.

of Cuban descent, and retired his first 20 batters this season.

103. There's zero speculation that Wainwright had anything to do with Contreras being run off. He wasn't even around for any of this. Flaherty, who knows. But I suspect Waino was key to turning the org around. Jim Edmonds blasted the pitchers for scapegoating Contreras and I suspect Waino asked him to do that. Contreras didn't learn to catch in a week.

Bizarre things are happening in Stl.

Totally random question: does MLB have a dark web site they use so that employees, press, and what-not can get around blackout provisions? It seems like they would want some way for people to see games from anywhere, if seeing the game advances MLB's purposes.

This is why I think some of the new rules need to be subjective,

No. Conteras is cheating. Call the time violation on him and when he tries it again, eject him. This harkens back to when the ball stuck directly to Yadier's chest protector and you tried to hand wave it away as it being in the fold, which was rubbish. Cardinal pitcher's were using all sorts of goo and that's why the ball stuck fast.

The rules are clear, squared up or not, he wasn't in the box, he should be penalised and if he keeps trying that sh*t, then eject him.

The rules are clear, squared up or not, he wasn't in the box, he should be penalised and if he keeps trying that sh*t, then eject him.

the rules are clear he doesn't have to be in the box until 8 seconds, he's squaring up at 10 seconds. Please understand the rules before ######## about them. (and I didn't handwave yadier chest protector bs, I didn't have a clue about it either way)

He's playing rules lawyering, where he is going in the box, staring at the pitcher, qualifying him as squaring up well before the 8 seconds, and the pitcher is then taking that squaring up to mean he's in the box and pitching and getting hit with a quick pitch violation because it was before 8 seconds and he wasn't in the box. Understand the crap that is going on before ######## about it.

he's not cheating, he's lawyering... yes everything about lawyers is evil, but it's within the rules, and that is exactly what he is doing, he's manipulating the rules.

Mind you, the umps are probably often making mistakes based upon how close it is to within the 8 seconds he gets his foot into the box.

I just rewatched the Contreras walk, and absolutely, without a doubt... I mean you have to be a certified idiot to doubt it, Jansen was in his motion before 1. 8 seconds and 2. Contreras had his foot out of the batters box.

Again, it's a stupid rule, but it was absolutely not cheating, and as written, it's not even remotely possible for a person with a functioning rational brain to argue that Jansen didn't violate the rule. It's absolutely clear as ####### day.

the rule is you can't start your motion until the batter is in the batters box, that has been a rule for a long time. Jansen started his motion when Contreras was out of the batters box. The new rule is you have to square up to the pitcher before 8 seconds and you have to have your foot in the batters box before 8 seconds, those are two different rules. Contreras was squared up at 10 seconds, Jansen started pitching at 9 seconds, Contreras foot was out of the batters box.... to deny that is what happen would be to deny the 2020 election, or global warming, you would have to be a complete and utter idiot.

If you go to the game at 2 hours, 31 minutes and 5 seconds, you have 9 seconds on the clock, Contreras is in the box, but Jansen had already started his motion before Contreras got into the box. To claim Contreras is cheating is just ignorance of the rule.

And again, it's a stupid rule that creates rules lawyering, so I'm not defending Contreras actions, but they are within the rules fully and Jansen is, as the rules are currently written, 100% liable for his actions.... again it's a stupid ####### way of enforcement that is easily manipulated because the pitchers are trying to comply with the rules and aren't watching the clock(I doubt they can even see the clock, so they are just reacting)

Zach Greinke has now struck out 1000 different batters. The other names on this list.. Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson... (Maddux is the obvious surprise name here, in a way, but logically speaking it works)

Does Greinke make the hof in your opinion? Based upon the assumption that fewer and fewer starting pitchers are matching the career numbers, I think he's a lock for me, and I assume most of us here, but still only 224 wins..

The only surprising bit about Maddux (that I can think of) is that he was a one-league pitcher. But then he would have K'd lots of random pitchers once. I wonder what it looks like if you take pitchers batting out of it. Greinke's surprising in that he's not to 3000 Ks yet.

Will we ever see a pitcher strike out 1,000 different batters again???!!!

EDIT: Yes, Greinke will go in. Smoltz 213, Halladay 203, Scherzer 203. Wins aren't nearly so important anymore. I mean, if Schilling can get in ... ohhh. I mean, if Kevin Brown can get in ... ohhh. I mean, if Pettitte can get in ... ohhh. :-)

It may take him a few years, might get slowed down for a bit if he's not inducted before Verlander, Scherzer, Kershaw get on the ballot. But he's in.

#112 - Yes, Greinke gets in easily. Maybe even 1st ballot if he doesn't debut with any of Kershaw, Verlander, or Scherzer.

And considering that 200 wins will probably become as rare as 300 used to be once the Greinke, Verlander, Kershaw, Scherzer, Wainwright generation retires, "only 224 wins" is a solid point in his favor, not an obstacle he'll need to overcome.

Which pitcher who debuted post 2010 looks like they have any realistic shot at 224 wins? Or even 200? I'd say basically just Gerrit Cole.

My issue is that to me obviously Greinke is in, and equally as obvious Wainwright isn't but when you looks closer (not at war) the real difference is basically three years of pitching at the same level... which of course isn't something to be ignored, but I have never even considered Waino as a hofer, but the silly stat of wins makes them much closer in fewer innings.

I missed the comment, Greinke gets my hof vote

I put Greinke in easily in my vote.... I was just asking where others were on the list, obviously I know where Boeey and Walt fall in the discussion, the same side that I'm on... it's more a comment on how starting pitchers will be handled forward.

Greinke has a CYA, 700 more IP than Waino, 750 more K's, 30 more wins, 30(!) more WAR, twice as many All Star appearances (6-3), and 4 more gold gloves (6-2). I don't think anyone will see them as very comparable.

Wainwright is much more similar to Jon Lester, who may also hang around on the ballot for a while but never make any serious progress.

How starting pitchers will be judged going forward is an intersting question. I'm guessing they'll have to go mainly by peak - so Sale and especially deGrom probably get in - since no one other than maybe Cole will have "traditional" HOF career numbers (i.e. 200+ wins). Even for the SABR savvy voters, 60+ pitching WAR is going to be hard to come by soon (and good hitting pitchers like Greinke and Wainwright can no longer add a few extra WAR at the plate). 50 may be the new borderline.

Greinke, Verlander, Kershaw, and Scherzer - who all debuted between 2004-2008 - are the last generation of starters who will get elected without needing the traditional standards lowered.

Zac Gallen is doing a routine where he has spent the better part of the week attacking the "Cardinal Way" in a very active manner, and ultimately it boils down to he was a non-prospect who got traded and developed into an ace.... it's a simple story...Organizations sometimes don't work out. Alcantara was fully a Cardinal development, but plenty of other players who have succeeded after leaving the Cardinals, needed a touch from a different organization... and guess what the same can be said coming the other way within the other 30 organizations in baseball.

One of the broadcasters was talking about "the one that got away" the other day -- they might have been talking about Alcantara. That got me wondering who each team's current "one that got away" is. Some parameters -- has to be pre-FA this season, "lost" within the last ... let's say 7 years. So Cub fans can't whine about LeMahieu, Braves fans certainly can't whine about Wainwright. We might need some special rule to handle a team like the A's -- their whole raison d'etre is to trade good players away. Do we want to balance it against the return? I was just thinking about "wish we had him back", not about "wish we didn't have that other guy." :-)

So the Cards have Alcantara.
For the Cubs Gleyber (ineligible?) or Cease (Eloy Jimenez looks less and less like a "loss" every year).

Rules question: Say you get a reliever up in the pen, intending to bring him in mid-inning (or just in case the current guy gets in trouble). If that pitcher comes up lame in the bullpen, do you get to remove your current reliever and get extra time to get somebody ready? Or do you have to go through a charade of replacing the first guy then the new guys declares his injury? Or are you supposed to leave the guy in for an extra batter while the new guy warms up?

Backup C Michael Perez, career 175 BA in <600 PA, has 3 hits for the Mets today (well, today and yesterday). Except now Keith (?) tells us it's his 5th career 3-hit game.

The Colorado Rockies announced today that they have recalled right-handed pitcher Riley Pint from Triple-A Albuquerque and have placed right-handed pitcher Ryan Feltner on the 15-day injured list with a skull fracture.

Fifteen days for a fractured skull sounds a little optimistic to me.

In the words of Moonman Shannon, happy birthday to all the Mothers out there

I swear I posted this already, must have put it on another thread or never hit submit....

One of the broadcasters was talking about "the one that got away" the other day

The Cardinals have Zac Gallen, Sandy Alcantara, Adolis Garcia and Randy Arozerena (Heck I think you could make nearly an entire competitive ball team with Cardinals that got away, depending on how many years out you go with it, add in Carson Kelly, Patrick Wisdom, Edmundo Sosa, Lane Thomas, Harrison Bader, (who knows how good Oviedo will end up being)

Isn't there a limit to how many players can be on the 60-man?

So what's the point of MLBtv giving me all these free games of the day if the Cubs are just gonna get shellaced? 8-0 last I saw.

So I tuned into Yanks-Rays just in time to see Walls hit a grand slam to make it 8-4 Tampa.

Now taking online payments. Is your team batting in a close game? For a mere $20, I'll switch over and you'll soon be up 6 or 7 runs? No money back guarantee, you pays your money, you takes your chances but can't be a bigger waste of money than Draft Kings (it can be an even bigger waste of money than Draft Kings).

Isn't there a limit to how many players can be on the 60-man?

I didn't think there was, but I don't think teams like to use the 60-day list unless they have to.

Everybody in Canada owes me $20. As a special Mother's Day discount, I'll accept Canadian $.

The 60-day IL is kind of a double-edged sword. Unlike the short IL stints, it gives teams the ability to add players to the 40-man roster because the guy on the 60-day doesn't count against the 40-man. But doing that too many times can lead to a roster crunch, either in season when players get healthy or at the end of the season when there is no IL and teams need to set their 40-man.

Ohtani on the mound has yielded a couple of 2-run shots. Seemed mad about it. Hits a 3-run homer himself, 114 MPH off the bat, a 456-foot shot.

Ohtani with an almost casual triple. The Angels are up 9-4, and Ohtani is a double shy of the cycle.

Arenado with a homerun in his fourth consecutive game, I think that finally gets his ops+ over 100.

#126 -- sure, but you only get to pick one. So you're picking Alcantara. The Great and Powerful Oz has spoken. And imagine how bad your OF logjam would be if you had Arozarena and Garcia. Walker would be so blocked you'd do something silly like trade him for Matthew Liberatore.

After a called strike at least two balls below the strike zone, resulting in Aaron Boone being tossed for noting his disapproval, Aaron Judge delivers the Hammer of Justice, homering to CF (462 feet). His 2nd HR of the game. 7-0, Yankees over Blue Jays, mid-7th.

Nolan Gorman definitely makes this lineup work so much better, a 2-5 of Goldy/Gorman/Arenado/Contreras is as good as any group in baseball (outside of maybe San Diego---although they haven't really played to their expectations either)

Flaherty stuck with Contreras behind the plate tonight, and obviously the latter must be at fault when Flaherty loads the bases in the 1st inning.

DP ends the threat, and in the next 5 innings Flaherty only allows ONE baserunner - a harmless single in the 4th inning.

because.... shoot, I don't know.

Ohtani goes 7, not super tidy in giving up 5 ER early, but throws in a 4 for 5 day at the dish with a HR, triple and 2 singles. It never ceases to amaze me how good this guy is. Honestly, if he throws up another 8-10 WAR season and is healthy at the end of the year, how much is he going to be paid? 10/490 or something? I've really no idea....

On a sad note, Red Sox continue to look like the .500 team that they really are, looking to drop their 4th in a row and firmly entrenched in the East cellar now that ny decided to be NY again and start scoring boatloads of runs.

make it TWO baserunners in the next SIX innings - both harmless singles.

am not used to starters getting the 7th even with a huge lead. I like it !

10 K for Flaherty, who hits the showers.

Ohtani goes 7, not super tidy in giving up 5 ER early, but throws in a 4 for 5 day at the dish with a HR, triple and 2 singles. It never ceases to amaze me how good this guy is. Honestly, if he throws up another 8-10 WAR season and is healthy at the end of the year, how much is he going to be paid? 10/490 or something? I've really no idea....

The only issue with Ohtani and a huge contract, is that any injury he gets is taking basically two superstar players off of your roster that you are paying for. I know he wouldn't take it, but I would really push for an incentive loaded contract that still pays him Arod money before incentives. But at the same time saves the team 15-20 mil in a season where he gets injured. Obviously that isn't going to be the contract he gets, but it feels like it would be justified.

#141
That makes sense, but I doubt he'd go for that. Obviously the other thing you get with Ohtani is his marketability. I'm not sure what his popularity is registering as, but surely he's got to be(along with Judge), the most recognisable player in MLB right now??? Hard to tell from here in Sydney....

oh yea, I know he wouldn't go for it, or at least his agent wouldn't, but there really is a scary possibility of an injury to him that can turn a team from a competitor to a team that is going to get a good draft pick. He's the closest player in the baseball sport equivalent to a quarterback in value to his team.

Gorman with his 10th hr of the season, 5th rbi of the game, 3 for 4, 2 runs, raising his ops from .931 to .986 (which as of the start of today would make him 2nd to Acuna-1.014- in the NL in ops)

If anyone still does the 13 run pool, the Cardinals probably helped someone win today....nope, they just made it 14-1.

Obviously the other thing you get with Ohtani is his marketability. I'm not sure what his popularity is registering as, but surely he's got to be(along with Judge), the most recognisable player in MLB right now???

This article from just before the season began claims—details aren't provided—that Ohtani's making $40M from endorsements. Judge? $4M. Of course, Ohtani has the advantage that he's a valuable marketing asset in Japan and the US.

Nootbar, who missed roughly two weeks has walked two times this game, and is in the top ten in the NL in walks. He is at 24, Soto is 36 to lead.

Knizner has hit a grand slam to make it 18-1, this game is destroying the Cardinals already vastly different pyth record vs real record (last time I checked, both Cards and Cubs were -5 games below their pyth in the Nl for the largest difference in the wrong direction)

Nightengale reports that the entire pitching staff (which wouldn't include Waino since he was on rehab ) demanded that the front office remove Contreras. Front office now trying to throw pitching staff under the bus to make themselves look good. What a story - it just keeps on giving

The divisions seem to be tightening up. Losing teams are winning and winning teams are losing. Even the Rays can't shake the rest of the division. Rough times for padres and Red Sox who got taken down a peg, pirates are collapsing, and cards have morphed from terrible to bad. Yanks are making a move since Bader came back

I could be reading the box score incorrectly but in the Braves thrashing of the Rangers(12-0), they had 12 hits, all XBH and the Rangers had 10 hits, all singles. That seems highly unusual.

Yanks are making a move since Bader came back

You misspelled Judge.....

someone named Gus Varland - that sounds like a fake name - is handed a mop and the 9th inning w the Brewers down 8-1.

Rule 5 pick from the Dodgers, so can't be demoted unless he is first offered back to LAD.

HR
1B
BB
HR
K
FLO
BB
1B
1B
1B
BB

here comes INF Mike Brosseau, who somehow had tossed 3 scoreless IP already this year (and 4 P appearances before this season with TBR).

final is 18-1 after a groundout stops the carnage.

Varland - or whatever his name really is - 9 ER, 0.6 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 1 K.

might be a good time to dare the Dodgers to take him back, lol

he enters and surrenders the aforementioned Knizner slam and it's 18-1 before

here comes INF Mike Brosseau, who somehow had tossed 3 scoreless IP already this year

Which I find to be a bit weird, as they implement new rules this season that was designed to prevent position players from pitching, except in extreme situations. It appears that the Brewers have had a lot of extreme situations this season. (you can only use position players as a pitcher if losing by more than 8 or winning by more than 10...and in extra innings.)

Howie misheard -- he threw 3 scoreless last year, this is his first pitching appearance this year. But Brosseau is a stud. 7.1 career IP, only 1 K but only 1 BB, 2 R, 1 HR, 7 hits ... those are proper results there. The usage rules aren't that extreme but last year he entered down 9, ahead 17 and down 6. Down 6 seems a bit close for position player pitching.

Christopher Morel continues to redefine baseball with another HR -- that's 4 in 25 AB. Still, just 1 for 5 today, bringing his OPS below 1200 so he's slumping. Unfortunately the rest of the Cubs are playing like Cubs and we've fallen to 19-22.

The challenge with Ohtani of course is that half of him could break (probably the pitcher half) and then all you've got is a (probably still very good) DH who's worth a lot but nothing close to $50 M a year. Maybe a contract for, say, 10/$450 with a "vested dual opt out." If he throws at least X innings in year 5 then he has an option on the remaining 5/$225; if he doesn't, he has an option for 5/$150.

More thoughts on Ohtani. (1) his career high is 166 IP. This year he is, so far, starting every 5th game and, excluding the rain-shortened start, average 6+ per start. So that's a full load but it's his first season doing that. (2) He's alos pitching crazy well, 10 WAR the last two years, on that pace again this year. (3) At the same age, Cole got 9/$324 a few years ago and Ohtani looks as good. (4) That said, nobody else has come close to Cole money I don't think. Second-highest total is Strasburg at 7/$245; Kershaw got 7/$215 way back in 2014. (5) As far as I know the highest-paid DH (and lots of OF this year) is Alvarez who will make $27 in the FA portion of his buyout ... maybe we include Harper at 13/$330 which, give or take with deferrals, is about the same as 10/$300.

Anyway, as two separate players, Ohtani would easily get paid $50 AAV and maybe even $60-65. But he's 3 years older than Harper. Since it's his one shot at an insane contract -- or, with an option, 2 insane half-contracts -- I assume he'd like 12 years give or take (through age 40) But nobody signs pitchers or DHs to 12-year contracts. Still, easy enough to think Cole's 9/$324 and the last 9 years of Harper at (give or take) $225, spread out over 12-13 years (the team would also rather not do that as a 9-year contract) and we arrive at a guesstimated of 12/$600, roughly the equivalent of 9/$550. No team really wants to do that (break both the $500 and $50 barriers, the first on by a lot) but the only viable alternative I see is a somewhat front-loaded 8/$480.

Typing that out, I just don't see how it works. Even the Dodgers have to be wary of a $60 M elbow (or worse, shoulder). The insane half-contract with the vesting insane half-contract and star DH player option might be the way it has to go. I doubt the structure I suggested in 155 is what they'd go with (Ohtani won't want tens of millions riding on his elbow either)

With 10 of the 15 NL teams below .500 right now, it's not surprising that after 41-42 games, the average games played against teams above .500 is only 17.5.

Besides "bad luck" another factor in the Cardinals' slow start is that they've played 29 games against teams over .500, most in the NL and third in MLB behind KC (32) and Boston (30).

Meanwhile the 20-22 Mets have played just 9 games this year against teams over .500, the fewest in MLB.

Walt, you could present two half contracts with a bunch of vesting and incentives. Maybe like
- pitching: 10 x $20m with repeating $15m for top 5 CY, $8m for 100 IP and guarantee the IP bonus for next year if he throws 150. Staying healthy on the mound gets him $28m and pitching well can get him $43m.
- hitting: 10 x $10m with repeating $10m for top 5 MVP, $5m for top 5 in HR. Staying healthy gets him $10m with chance at $25m.

Total $30m base, $38m for showing up every day, chance at $68m per, so 10/$380m-$680m. That's some serious potential variability in payroll, but those are fairly reasonable incentives for a great player to reach if he's playing and only exist to drop a lot of salary for missed seasons. Play with the annual Top N numbers or IP to make it even easier to assure most of $500m, but it lets everyone feel like a safe deal with lots of headroom at the top.

I know, no one wants to hear me whine, but.....

Last week, here in Maryland, I saw the schedule showing Ohtani pitching tonight at Camden Yards. So on Saturday we got tickets. I figured it might be the only timer I see him pitch in person.

Then yesterday morning the Angels flip their rotation and let Shohei pitch LAST night, when I couldn't go. And now tickets for tonight are MUCH cheaper.

Tom-not-happy

Then yesterday morning the Angels flip their rotation and let Shohei pitch LAST night, when I couldn't go.

Boy, that was a show he put on last night. That was just an incredible show.

Anyway, as two separate players, Ohtani would easily get paid $50 AAV and maybe even $60-65.

Total $30m base, $38m for showing up every day, chance at $68m per, so 10/$380m-$680m. That's some serious potential variability in payroll, but those are fairly reasonable incentives for a great player to reach if he's playing and only exist to drop a lot of salary for missed seasons.

On MLB Network this morning, Verducci predicted a Harper + Cole AAV, which would be $61.4 million. Everyone is expecting the Dodgers to make the biggest offer in the the history of sports, and nine years at $60 million would do it.

Well if Verducci agrees with me, I must be on to something. Something wrong but at least I can be a top-$ TV baseball analyst.

It's the years part of it that I can't get a handle on. Nobody would sign a pitcher of his age for more than 9 years. I'm not sure anybody would sign a DH of his age for more than 6 years. But with 10+-year contracts all the rage, surely Ohtani is getting 10-12 years. And since he can do both, his chances of being productive (2-3 WAR) at ages 37-40 seem a good bit higher than the others so it's likely to be more than just a method to defer salary. With Verlander, Scherzer and deGrom out there landing huge AAV contracts for their late 30s, you can't expect Ohtani to just give those seasons away even if it's fairly unlikely he'll survive that effectively that long. And while Edgar, Ortiz, Nelson Cruz and a few others weren't paid big money, they were still mighty productive hitters in their late 30s. And as a pitcher-DH, the team has already committed to the idea that they don't care about the decline in his defensive value as he ages.

So if we're saying he's roughly worth Cole ($36) plus Harper ($25) right now then we can't rule out that he will be worth Scherzer ($43) plus Cruz ($14) at 38 ... which is not that different. (And we haven't added 9 years of inflation yet.) He probably won't be worth that much at 38 but I don't know that he's gonna settle for the equivalent of 9/$540 plus 3/$60 when he might be making $150 in those last 3 years. It's just crazy -- the guy really could be "worth" $700 M over the rest of his career.

Or not. I don't know the guy. He gave the Angels a pretty sweet deal the first time, maybe he doesn't care that much about money. And once you've got the first $500 M guaranteed, the rest doesn't really matter (or so I hear). And maybe he doesn't want to play until 40 or would like to go back to Japan for those closing years. Or wants to direct films and so will forego some salary for a post-retirement development deal.

By the way, anybody know what personal services Pujols is performing for the Angels this year? :-)

Or not. I don't know the guy. He gave the Angels a pretty sweet deal the first time, maybe he doesn't care that much about money. And once you've got the first $500 M guaranteed, the rest doesn't really matter (or so I hear).

Apparently, he sends everything to his folks, and his mom then gives him an allowance. On top of that, his teammates in both Japan and the US says that aside from food, shelter, and baseball, he doesn't spend time or money on much else. (He did seem to like amusement parks before he became so instantly recognizable that he gets mobbed everywhere.) He's already made more money than he'll ever spend and every contract offer is going to just make that more true. He's shown he'll play for less and willing to walk away from a whole lot, so I think it'll come down to (1) how good he thinks the Angels are/will be, and (2) how important his existing relationships on the team are to him.

By the way, anybody know what personal services Pujols is performing for the Angels this year? :-)

Ohtani said his stance/swing change going from Japan and his first Spring Training to his current stance and swing are based on Pujols', so that money's worth it!

Apparently, he sends everything to his folks, and his mom then gives him an allowance.

Isn't this what goes wrong with every child star ever? Free Shohei!!!!!

Did MLB change its blackout policies? I’m in Northern Virginia, and subscribe to MLB Extra Innings, mostly to follow the Yankees. Normally, the Nationals & Orioles games are blacked out on that platform, and only available via MASN. Tonight, when I haphazardly clicked on one of the Extra Innings channels, the Orioles MASN broadcast was being carried. When I checked the Nationals @ Marlins, Extra Innings gave me the Marlins TV feed. Maybe the blackout intern is asleep at the switch?

Red Sox off to a decent start, up 4-0 after 3.

With Nick "every other start is decent" Pivetta on the bump, you just never know. Only 1 hit and 2BB surrendered thus far, but we'll see.
With Kenley "the 9th inning is now a tyre fire" Jansen waiting for a possible closing opportunity, the nation waits for each out with bated breath

The Pivetta train is now running on wobbly wheels after 2 runs conceded and still a man on 3rd.

And that's it, Pivetta train completely derailed, game tied 4-4. Last 3 guys have gone triple, HR, double....

Arenado now 5 straight games with a dinger

Ho hum, another Arenado homer. That's five straight games. [Coke to TASCC]

Did MLB change its blackout policies?

I had to fight with MLB all last season, ever since my IP address started showing me being in Connecticut (I'm in Boston), blacking me out from Mets and Yankees games.

But this year (so far) I've had no problems with those games even though my IP address still shows me in CT.

And now Miley is walking off the mound and is done. Guess he pulled something?

More than hitting, pitching & fielding going on tonight in Yankees @ Blue Jays. First, Blue Jays dugout & Yankees 3rd base coach had a shouting match about his positioning, seemingly resolved by the men-in-blue. Then the Rosin Police ejected Domingo German at the start of the 4th, although all the Yankees in the dugout who checked his hand shrugged as if it wasn’t especially sticky. Just now, Ian Hamilton, who relieved German, had to leave with an unknown injury, with two outs & bases loaded. Ron Marinaccio gets the 3rd out, but an already short-handed bullpen figures to be an issue down the road. 2-0 Yankees.

EDIT: Isiah Kiner-Falefa HR to RF makes it 3-0.

Re: Arenado -

It always amazes me how many players haven't figured out yet that it benefits their teams AND their statlines to simply hit a homer every game. Seems pretty basic to me.

Kudos to Arenado on his epiphany! ;-)

Red Sox add 4 runs over the last few innings, up 8-4 heading into the 8th.

Surely..SURELY they can right the ship, get 6 outs without giving up more then 3 runs and keep pace with the other, close to the bottom dwellers, NY and Toronto.

Just checking other scores. The Rays are just relentless, another 8 runs so far today, putting the hurt on Mr Kate Upton and the Mets. The Rays seems to score 8 runs every game, even when the lose it's like 9-8; it's impressive.
NY and Toronto in a tight one, 3-3, looks to be a good game between 2 good teams. The Orioles continue to roll, sinking the Angels 7-3, the dynamic duo went 0 for 8, making it quite hard for the Angels to get it done when those guys have a bad day.

ALL RISE! Aaron Judge gavels a 2-run HR (#11) above the batters eye in CF (448 feet) to restore the Yankees lead in Toronto. 5-3 in 8th. That’s Judge’s 5th HR in 4 games. He might be getting hot.

Red Sox hang on, 9-4, right the ship and hopefully put a bad stretch behind them. They're not particularly good, but they seem to be able to score runs, so that's kind of fun.

Yanks pitcher gets ejected for sticky stuff. Oops, leaving the sticky stuff all over your uniform in plain sight is poor cheating management

Judge follows up last night's blast with ANOTHER shot to dead center, hitting the 2nd level Maple Leaf and breaking a corner of it.
No peeking.

Good to see German get ejected. 2nd time he's been caught cheating this year, but only first ejection. Baldelli approves of this move.

Did you see the Centerfielder on Judge's blast? He just turned around to see how far it would go.

Brewers always find a way to win close games. They are so injured this year and still find a way. Its a completely uninspiring team every year on a tight budget that manages to win

I can tell my grandchildren I saw Shohei Ohtani in this game. Ohtani was hampered by an illness (he was pinch hit for after two PA) and Riley Greene hit the very first pitch 440 feet for a home run.

back from the Mets-Ray debacle at Citi Field.

my baseball pal and events junkie (still goes to well over 100 sporting events/concerts a year) mentioned last night that something was odd about Mets ticket prices for this game.

Verlander's first home start as a Met, yet you could get 4th row upper deck for $14 and mid-level seats for around $40. this afternoon on WFAN radio, a host/Mets season ticketholder said he was shocked at how zero the buzz was for the game. said "get in the door" price had sunk to $4.

at the time of first pitch, there were entire sections in the upper deck that sat empty and many others who had single-digit attendance. buzz indeed was zero.

Verlander allowed a 3-2 count, 2-out, 3-run HR to Paredes in the third inning, a run in the 4th, and then a 2-run shot by Paredes (dos Paredes - a jai alai joke!) in the 5th.

that brought the boo birds out of the woodwork, as it was coupled by a lifeless offense that mustered only two singles through five innings.

a scoreboard glitch left the Rays' logo on the board for a minute before that was fixed.

for the 7th inning stretch, almost no one stood up. maybe I missed a scoreboard prompt, because the song was performed by a group of disabled performers who were not standing. and then hardly anyone got up for the subsequent dopey song, either.

perhaps the worst indignity came in the 8th inning, when the crowd chose a Celine Dion song as the sing-a-long, beating out Billy Joel and maybe Journey or something.

I'd have been fine with it if it was the theme from "Titanic," as the Mets were coming off a sinking-feeling (too soon?) 4-9 stretch - all against sub-.500 teams. but it was not, alas.

something has to give with the Mets.

CAREER STRIKEOUT LEADERS EXCERPT, UPDATED

(rank, player, years, K, IP)

10. Greg Maddux+ (23) 3371 5008
11. Phil Niekro+ (24) 3342 5404
12. MAX SCHERZER (16, 38) 3219 2710
13. JUSTIN VERLANDER (18, 40) 3213 3180
14. Fergie Jenkins+ (19) 3192 4501
15. Pedro Martinez+ (18) 3154 2827
16. Bob Gibson+ (17) 3117 3884
17. Curt Schilling (20) 3116 3261
18. CC Sabathia (19) 3093 3577
19. John Smoltz+ (21) 3084 3473
20. Zack Greinke (20, 39) 2914 3294
21. Clayton Kershaw (16, 35) 2863 2631

................

57. John Lackey (15) 2294 2840
58. Dwight Gooden (16) 2293 2801
59. Lefty Grove+ (17) 2266 3941
60. Eddie Plank+ (17) 2246 4496
61. Tommy John (26) 2245 4710
62. James Shields (13) 2234 2616
63. Jim Palmer+ (19) 2212 3948
64. Jake Peavy (15) 2207 2377
65. David Wells (21) 2201 3439
66. Grover Alexander+ (20) 2198 5190
67. Vida Blue (17) 2175 3343
68. Camilo Pascual (18) 2167 2931
69. Tim Wakefield (19) 2156 3226
70. ADAM WAINWRIGHT (18, 41) 2154 2577
71. Dennis Martinez (23) 2149 4000
72. CHRIS SALE (13, 34) 2118 1721
73. Roy Halladay+ (16) 2117 2749
74. Kevin Millwood (16) 2083 2720
75. Bobo Newsom (20) 2082 3759
76. Tim Hudson (17) 2080 3127
77. David Price (14) 2076 2143
78. Ryan Dempster (16) 2075 2387
79. Fernando Valenzuela (17) 2074 2930
80. MADISON BUMGARNER (15, 33) 2070 2209
81. Dazzy Vance+ (16) 2045 2967
82. Rick Reuschel (19) 2015 3548
83. Orel Hershiser (18) 2014 3130
84. Dan Haren (13) 2013 2420
85. Catfish Hunter+ (15) 2012 3449
86. Andy Benes (14) 2000 2505
87. Billy Pierce (18) 1999 3307
88. Kevin Appier (16) 1994 2595
89. GERRIT COLE (11, 32) 1992 1707

185. I suspect plummeting prices for entertainment is the new norm. I live on the coast in a big vacation area and vacancies for the summer season are about 33% in my neighborhood Airbnb world. That's unheard of here. It's been 100% rented at high prices since we moved here. Hotels nearby are starting to discount. Inflation has destroyed entertainment choices. I'm guessing that prices for ballgames will be really cheap this summer. I used to have season tickets in front of chop house in Atlanta (high chair and table, two free beers and parking ). I would say they were some of the best seats in the ballpark. The guy who took them over from me just texted and said he's having trouble even getting list price for them all of a sudden. Also interesting is that my wife and I were able to negotiate rates and times for our rental in Florida next winter. Usually it's next to impossible to find good short term Rentals (minimum a month ) that take dogs (this year it was sure, bring your dogs and sure we'll do two weeks !)

Marcell Ozuna just made his 10 year anniversary yesterday and is now fully vested in pension plan. Article said only 10% of players who make MLB, stay for ten years which seems really high to me given how many players just make it for a cup of tea. It must mean your chances of getting to ten years skyrocket if you can make it a year or two.

Well, it was the Rays and it's not like fans had this date circled as Verlander's first home start since January, it was random non-injured game that you could be reasonably certain he'd start about two weeks ago. Does "injured star pitcher's first home start in mid-May" traditionally draw a big crowd?

Ron Marinaccio

Oh come on, this is a fictional character. I'm going with a handsome plumber who comes over to fix a leak and makes Chachi jealous on the short-lived Joanie Loves Chachi.

James Outman's ninth homer is a grand slam to break a 3-3 tie. He's now at .264/.354/.549. Pretty good rookie season so far.

for the 7th inning stretch, almost no one stood up

So Mets fans did as they should do when that idiotic song in the 7th inning comes on, which is ignore it and carry on your conversations. (or were you just pointing out the fact nobody stretched, if so, my bad... nobody should respect God Bless America, and people who do are dissing the national anthem...but if you were talking they didn't even get out of their seat to stretch, that is something else entirely)

#188 -- yeah, I would have thought there's no way the number could be that high ... but, based on my sample of 1 year, that looks to be about right. B-R stops showing service time when players retire and I'm not going to do the digging to estimate it but ...

Here's the list of 2010 debuts. That's 203 players and, just eyeballing it, I get 15 guys I'm pretty sure made it and another 11 guys who might have depending on how often they got sent up and down. Say half that later group made it and we're at 20-21. If the actual number is still a bit short of 10%, I bet a statement like 10% of those vested (43 days or whatever) reach full vestiture (10 years) would be about right. It's particularly surprising to me because even guys like Yonder Alonso and Pedro Alvarez come up a bit short. But 10 of these guys are still active, that's 5% right there.

Now the explosion in pitcher debuts due to the AAA shuttle won't have been included in those rates yet since of course they haven't even had a chance to reach 10 years. Last year there were 303 debuts, an increase of 100 (50%) vs 2010. Maybe 10% will appear in parts of 10+ seasons but there are a whole bunch of guys who will probably need 7 calendar years to get to 3 service years mixed in there.

I'll admit I started with "there's no way that's true" but here we are. I'm trying to decide whether I instinctively thought there are way more debuts than that (that was only about 7 per team in 2010) or did I think there are way fewer guys who make it to 10 years. The latter doesn't seem that high in retrospect -- basically a team will debut an average of 2 guys every 3 years who make it to 10 years service time.

Cub debuts 2010 and their final season (not necessarily full service years of course)

Darwin Barney 2017
Andrew Cashner 2019
Welington Castillo 2019
Starlin Castro 2021 (he made it)
Casey Coleman 2014
Thomas Diamond 2010
Scott Maine 2012
Marcus Mateo 2015
James Russell 2016
Brian Schlitter 2019
Brad Snyder 2014

If like me you're wonder "who's Brian Schlitter?" that was 8 IP in 2010, 56 in 2014, 7 in 2015 and 10 in 2019 for 81 IP and a 76 ERA+ and, unless there was some MLB IL time in there, probably no more than 1.5 years service time. We'll be seeing a lot more guys like that now.

Anyway, Castro made it. Castillo didn't really make the majors until mid-2012 and probably ended up in the range of 7-8 service years. Cashner looks to have missed by just 2 months. Unless maybe he made some team's IL in 2020 (the pandemic may have caused some guys to just miss who would have made it otherwise ... or maybe it helped push a few guys over).

MLB has a fairly generous qualifier for time, it includes dl time, so pretty much every pitcher (since they all get Tommy John) gets a year or almost two years where they aren't even in the majors to earn time to the 10 year threshold.

Cardinals are moving Wainwright's start back a day (regardless of the actual results, he's been pretty decent this year, just that one bad inning curse which most Cardinal pitchers seem to have this year) Liberatore is getting called up, Carlson to the dl, Naile sent back down, Mercado getting called up and Naughton put on the 60 day dl to make room for Mercado who wasn't on the 40 man roster, and is out of options, so after this call up, he's eligible to get claimed if they try and send him down.

A lot of moving parts in one day, but having Carlson be day to day, while trying to keep three catchers on the roster was probably not a good plan. And Walker is struggling in AAA so no reason to call him back up right now.

for the 7th inning stretch, almost no one stood up

So Mets fans did as they should do when that idiotic song in the 7th inning comes on, which is ignore it and carry on your conversations. (or were you just pointing out the fact nobody stretched, if so, my bad... nobody should respect God Bless America, and people who do are dissing the national anthem...but if you were talking they didn't even get out of their seat to stretch, that is something else entirely)

the song few got up for, iirc, was "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."
At first I took it as another sign of ennui, but upon noticing that the choir that sang it consisted of an all-wheelchair lineup, I realized I might have missed a prompt on the scoreboard?

The next song, the terrible one, I think it "Tarantella." that was a recording, so I can't explain why so few got up for that one (it sucking is a good reason, but typically most people stand up for it and clap along like seals).

per 187, the Knicks and Rangers have been selling out for decades at MSG, and I've never heard of a weakness like this on the secondary market. this is Mets-specific in NYC.

the song few got up for, iirc, was "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."
At first I took it as another sign of ennui, but upon noticing that the choir that sang it consisted of an all-wheelchair lineup, I realized I might have missed a prompt on the scoreboard?
The next song, the terrible one, I think it "Tarantella." that was a recording, so I can't explain why so few got up for that one (it sucking is a good reason, but typically most people stand up for it and clap along like seals).

Ahh... so no god bless America garbage that every other team since 9/11 has been doing in the 7th inning stretch... That is good to hear, it's not like Tarantella(whatever the #### that is---googled it, still don't know) could possibly be worse than gba.

Ahh... so no god bless America garbage that every other team since 9/11 has been doing in the 7th inning stretch...

wtf

"The New York Yankees, at Yankee Stadium home games, are currently the only Major League club to play "God Bless America" at every game during the seventh-inning stretch."

normally I wouldn't be so trusting of wikipedia, but I knew your response was a huge miss, so I'll trust them here.

ok, I won't. apparently some teams play God Bless America on Sundays, or at least did as of 5-7 years ago.

found this, from 2019, after Yankees (and Flyers) stopped using the 1939 Kate Smith version of GBA:

"The accusations against Smith stem from her recordings of “That’s Why Darkies Were Born,” which included the lyrics, “Someone had to pick the cotton… That’s why darkies were born.” She also recorded the offensive jingle “Pickaninny Heaven,” which she directed at “colored children” who should fantasize about an amazing place with “great big watermelons,” among other treats."

"The New York Yankees, at Yankee Stadium home games, are currently the only Major League club to play "God Bless America" at every game during the seventh-inning stretch."

I haven't been to a game since 2020, just going by the last few times I went and had to listen to that absolute garbage of a song. At my age, a year or two ago is just like yesterday. (or 2019...before the pandemic)

Arenado with an rbi in the first inning, the Cardinals heart of the order has been clicking for the past week or so, although I think Goldy trailed off a bit,(and I could be wrong on that, not looking up numbers right now, doing some classes as watching the game) (Apparently Arenado reached a milestone there as they are saving the ball, need to look that up) (edit: 1,000th rbi)

I'm not sure if it's unusual for a stat to be like that, but 1000 rbi's is 243rd of all time, if you double it to 2000 you are 6th all time, to me that seems like a huge jump in the rankings for doubling, but I think if I systematically look through it, that might just be the case for a lot of the career stats. (Give or take based upon where the numbers end up type of thing)