An excellent Birthday Team today. It would probably be better with Gregorius or Fennelly in the outfield, but this team is not too shabby as it stands.

C: Joe Tipton (5.1 WAR)
1B: John Mayberry (25.0 WAR)
2B/Manager: Joe Gordon (55.7 WAR)
3B: John Valentin (32.5 WAR)
SS: Frank Fennelly (19.2 WAR)
LF: Manny Mota (17.6 WAR)
CF: Brian Bogusevic (2.1 WAR)
RF: Alex Rios (27.3 WAR)

SP: Kevin Tapani (29.2 WAR)
SP: George Mogridge (27.8 WAR)
SP: Sherry Smith (27.2 WAR)
SP: Bruce Kison (15.1 WAR)
SP: Huck Betts (13.1 WAR)
RP: Bob Miller (16.7 WAR)

General Managers: John Holland, Lou Gorman
Utility Guy: Jamey Carroll (17.0 WAR)
Top Prospect: Didi Gregorius (18.7 WAR)
No-Hit Shortstops: Dal Maxvill (7.7 WAR), Rafael Ramirez (6.1 WAR)
Big bat, bigger guy: Walter Young (0.1 WAR)
Fun Name: Dad Hale

J. T. Realmuto Phractured Thumb ###### Phillies:

The Phillies kicked off Spring Training with some brutal news for fans. Star catcher J.T. Realmuto recently sustained a small fracture in his right thumb, manager Joe Girardi announced to reporters (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki). The injury occurred six days ago when catching a bullpen session, tweets Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia.

I suppose it's often the case with these good teams with lots of guys in the 20s but these pos players look even better by peak. Mayberry had 19 WAR in 4 years topped with a 7. Valentin had 30 WAR in 6 years, 8 tops. I've never heard of Fennelly but he had 11 WAA with those 19 WAR. Rios had a weird careeer but put up 16 WAR in a 3-year stretch and had another 5 WAR season later. Didi had two big years with the Yanks. Not a team you want to see on your side of the bracket cuz you might catch them when they are playing like HoFers.

CF: Brian Bogusevic (2.1 WAR)

Second on the team in games played (primarily RF), third in PA for the 55-107 2012 Houston Astros, for whom he hit .203/.297/.299 (OPS+ of 63).

Others on that team included Jason Castro, Jose Altuve, J.D. Martinez, Marwin Gonzalez, Steve Pearce, and Dallas Keuchel.

Shane Bieber Covid positive with “very mild” symptoms.

Johnny Evers was a genuinely great player, the heart of the Cubs teams of the aughts and the Miracle Braves. I support him for the Hall of Merit. But he comes through the pages of history as a real (expletive deleted).

You could have won a lot of money from me betting on Rios' WAR. To be clear I had it mentally pegged quite a bit lower.

"Eating of the players"? Cannibalism was surprisingly common back then, I take it.

#8 But a real motivation to stay on the manager's good side if he can curtail it.

Armie Hammer perks up his ears...

I wonder how the Boston Beaneaters figure in to that.

"Eating of the players"? Cannibalism was surprisingly common back then, I take it.

Hmph! Back in my day, we weren't given food at all unless we were on a winning streak! If we dropped a few games and got hungry, we'd jus' grab a guy outa the bullpen and fricassee him! Once, we lost a game on a fly ball to center field, 'cuz the center fielder had been et up by the other two outfielders! Afterwards, the coach got barbecued by the press...literally! Yessir, them was good days, alright!