Rosenthal: What to do about Shohei Ohtani long-term: A complicated equation for the Angels [$]

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Ohtani’s current two-year, $8.5 million deal with the Angels expires at the end of the season. After that, he will be eligible for a final year of salary arbitration, effectively entering the process as two players, a pitcher and hitter. And after that, he will be eligible for free agency, again qualifying — assuming he stays healthy — as an unprecedented entry in the market, the equivalent of a rock star who simultaneously plays both lead guitar and drums.

The Angels, according to sources, had informal discussions regarding an extension for Ohtani late in spring training with his agent, Nez Balelo of CAA. Club officials expressed an understanding that to sign Ohtani, they would need to award him a record average ...

OMNICHATTER for Tuesday, June 14, 2022

MLB fining parent clubs for minor-league brawls, bench-clearing incidents: Sources

Major League Baseball is trying to crack down on brawls and dust-ups in the minor leagues. The commissioner’s office this season has instituted a fine of the parent club of any minor league team that has a bench-clearing incident, sources told The Athletic. The fine starts at $500 and doubles with every subsequent incident, one club source said, leaving a parent club that has two or more incidents in its farm system with at least a four-figure bill.

“If they leave the dugout or the bullpen, the organization gets fined,” said another club source.

MLB declined comment.

The commissioner’s office overhauled minor league baseball ahead of the 2021 season, including scheduling. Teams now frequently play each other for six or seven ...

OMNICHATTER for Monday, June 13, 2022

MLB, Teams, Fanatics Inc. Accused of Online Merchandise Monopoly

Major League Baseball is facing federal antitrust litigation in Manhattan over claims that the organization and its teams have conspired with Fanatics Inc. to corner the market for MLB products purchased through online platforms like Amazon.com Inc.‘s marketplace for third-party sellers.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday by a sports merchandise business, also targets Fanatics and the league’s 30 teams. It accuses MLB of tilting the scales in favor of Fanatics, which it partly owns, through restrictions on distribution of licensed products to other wholesalers and retailers.

Fanatics now “dominates” online MLB merchandise sales thanks to the restrictions, which require distributors and retailers to get league permission for any resales, ...

Bernie Sanders Can’t Fix Baseball

Sanders’ critique, of course, came from the left: He accused team owners of negotiating in bad faith during the offseason to try to break the players’ union, and promised “to prevent the greed of baseball’s oligarchs from destroying the game.”

But just last year the senators grandstanding on the issue were top right-wing Republicans: Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah and Josh Hawley of Missouri, who announced their own such bill in response to MLB’s decision to move last year’s All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver following the passage of Georgia’s new voting restrictions.

“There’s no reason Major League Baseball should enjoy special subsidies — corporate welfare that no one else gets,” Cruz said at a news ...

Notre Dame tops Tennessee in stunning upset as top overall seed fails to reach College World Series

Once again, the top overall seed has failed to win the College World Series. This time around, perhaps one of the greatest college baseball teams in history to not win it all didn’t even make it to Omaha. Thanks in part to three runs in each the seventh and eighth innings, Notre Dame has stunned Tennessee 7-3 and eliminated them. Notre Dame punches its ticket to the College World Series at Omaha after taking two of three from the Volunteers at the Knoxville Super Regional.

The Super Regionals are best-of-three series, so the Notre Dame victory on Friday put Tennessee’s backs against the wall. The Vols responded with a 12-4 win Saturday and then had a 3-1 lead Sunday through six innings.

Notre Dame would tie it up with a two-run shot by ...

MLB umpire rankings: Pat Hoberg is baseball’s most accurate ump

Some umpires are very good at calling balls and strikes. The article includes a list of the best. Spoiler. Angel Hernandez is not on the list.

Phillies complete sweep of Brewers to stay unbeaten under interim manager Rob Thomson - CBSSports.com

I have heard that in today’s game changing the manager has no impact.

Byron Buxton hits two homers in win over Rays

If only the baseball gods would grant him a full season of good health.

Follow Rays at Twins game FREE with MLB Gameday

Happy Shane Baz Day!

Walker Buehler leaves start with right elbow discomfort

He hasn’t looked good in a while. This doesn’t sound good.

All the attention after the game was on Walker Buehler, who exited his start with right elbow discomfort after throwing just 70 pitches over four innings. Neither Buehler nor manager Dave Roberts wanted to speculate on the severity of the injury until the right-hander undergoes further testing on Saturday. But both acknowledged that there’s always a high level of concern when talking about an elbow injury.

“I’ve had Tommy John surgery, so I think [the level of concern] is a little bit heightened,” Buehler said. “It is what it is. That happens in this game. A lot of guys in this clubhouse have dealt with stuff with their elbows. It’s part of this game. I have all the ...

(1) MLB Network on Twitter: “Harold loves Christopher Morel’s all-around game and the energy he brings to the @Cubs!

Harold loves Christopher Morel's all-around game and the energy he brings to the @Cubs! #MLBTonight pic.twitter.com/w6le0NVaMA

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) June 11, 2022

Down on the Farm - 6/11/22 - by Scott - Down on the Farm

A daily visit worth your time.

Diamondbacks’ young players ‘work in progress’ jumping up from minors

A really nice article about the jump from AAA to MLB.

But the biggest factor might be the information. Major league clubs have staffs dedicated to producing scouting reports for their pitchers to follow, and they are able to identify hitters’ weaknesses and generate plans of attack better than anything hitters have seen in the minors. Combine that information with the talent to execute and hitters are often overwhelmed.

Royce Lewis will have knee surgery and miss remainder of Twins season

Royce Lewis’ season is over.

The Twins’ top prospect will undergo surgery for a partially torn ACL on his right knee, after playing only 12 games in his promising first major league season.

The estimated recovery time is 12 months.

Lewis missed all of 2021 after surgery for a torn ACL in the same knee, and also sat out the 2020 season because COVID-19 wiped out the minor leagues for a year.

Lewis was injured on May 29, playing center field in his first game back to the majors on a recall from St. Paul. He suffered what was called a bone bruise in his right knee while tracking down a fly ball, then crashing into the fence.

Detroit Tigers right-hander Casey Mize to undergo Tommy John surgery

Detroit Tigers right-hander Casey Mize will undergo Tommy John surgery, manager A.J. Hinch said Friday afternoon, to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow.

He will miss the rest of the 2022 season.

Mize hasn’t pitched for the Tigers since April 14.

The 25-year-old landed on the injured list April 15 with a right elbow sprain. He was shut down twice during his throwing programs while rehabbing, most recently after a setback when he attempted to play catch from 90 feet on flat ground.

Mize, the 2018 No. 1 overall pick, has pitched 39 games for the Tigers in parts of three seasons, making his MLB debut in August 2020. He led the team with 30 starts and 150⅓ innings pitched last season.

WEEKEND OMNICHATTER for June 10-12, 2022

Son of Orioles owner sues family over control of team, reveals plans to sell

The fate of the Baltimore Orioles’ ownership is heading to court.

Louis Angelos — son of owner Peter Angelos, who has suffered from serious health issues in recent years — is suing his brother, John, and mother, Georgia, court documents obtained by The Athletic on Friday show. In the complaint, Louis accuses John of taking control of the team against their father’s wishes as his health declined. The lawsuit was first reported by the Baltimore Banner.

Louis maintains that John did so by manipulating their mother, who is now 80, as he sought complete control.

“He was able to prey upon her understandable concerns about the businesses her husband had worked his entire life to build. He also preyed upon her fear of abandonment, ...

Roberto Osuna Signs With NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines

Reliever Roberto Osuna has signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced yesterday. Mexican publication Beisbolpuro first reported the agreement (Twitter link) last week.

Osuna has spent the 2022 season playing in the Mexican League, where he’s appeared in 12 games with the Diablos Rojos del México. He tossed 13 1/3 innings of three-run ball, striking out 15 batters and collecting six saves. That strong work caught the attention of the Marines, who figure to install Osuna at the back end of their bullpen.

The 27-year-old hasn’t appeared in a major league game since 2020, when he was outrighted off the Astros roster. Osuna had missed much of that season with an elbow injury that ...

Clint Frazier bashes ‘cookie-cutter’ Yankees ahead of Bronx return

‘‘I like it here,’’ Frazier said of Chicago. ‘‘Certainly don’t miss some of the things over there. And I’m really enjoying the way that this clubhouse has maneuvered. It seems like there’s a lot of guys in here that are just accepting of everyone. And it’s been really good for me.

“You had to be a cookie-cutter version to be on that team,” he continued of the Yankees. “If not, then you were like a really bad distraction, it seemed like. So I don’t miss being told how I had to look for the last five years.”

Frazier has since grown a beard since joining the Cubs, but he hasn’t grown his portfolio on the field. The outfielder is garnering limited playing time on the 23-33 squad. He only has 45 plate ...

Red-hot Marlins keeping ‘lightning rod’ Jazz Chisholm in check

Don Mattingly got his Marlins together for a meeting at just the right time, inspiring perhaps their best game of the year (a 12-2 win Tuesday over the Nationals) and a winning streak. Jazz Chisholm has turned into a star in Miami. But Chisholm turned out to be the subject for criticism in the team meeting, according to sources, as teammates apparently aren’t always as enamored as fans who love the style and sizzle.

Mattingly said he didn’t want anyone talking behind anyone’s back, and perhaps a little up-front honesty worked. Quizzed on what specifically was said to Chisholm, Marlins GM Kim Ng declined to elaborate further: “Reluctant to provide further detail — happy everyone is responding.”

Chisholm went out and hit two ...

MLB Testing Pre-Tacked Baseballs In Double-A This Season

Major League Baseball has been testing a pair of tacky substances in the Texas and Southern Leagues — two of the three Double-A levels — during the season, reports Evan Drellich of the Athletic. It’s the continuation of ongoing league efforts to find an improved grip substance for pitchers.

Drellich provides a breakdown of the experiment. For the first two months of the year, a substance from one of two different manufacturers has been applied to the baseballs. The league is now pivoting to treating the balls with mud, the standard process used at the MLB level, as a control group. That control testing will be with the standard Major League ball, which is different than the ball typically used up through Double-A. The second ...

White Sox manager Tony La Russa said costly decision to intentionally walk Trea Turner on 1-2 count ‘wasn’t a tough call’

White Sox manager Tony La Russa said that while Max Muncy did break open the game with a three-run homer in the sixth inning after he ordered an intentional walk to Trea Turner with a 1-2 count in Chicago’s 11-9 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, he defended the thinking behind the call.

Down 6-5 after Freddie Freeman hit an RBI single in the sixth off left-hander Bennett Sousa, who then bounced an 0-2 slider for a wild pitch that allowed Freeman to take second, La Russa ordered the intentional walk to the right-handed-hitting Turner, who had singled in a run in the fifth.

“He’s got two strikes, Tony!” a fan yelled.

Muncy, whose two-run double off Dylan Cease put the Dodgers ahead 5-4 in the fifth, worked the count to 2-2 and ...

No. 4 prospect Gabriel Moreno to join Toronto

It’s the beginning of a new era behind the plate for the Toronto Blue Jays. Gabriel Moreno, the club’s No. 1 prospect and the No. 4 prospect in Major League Baseball, will join the club ahead of Friday’s series opener in Detroit, sources told MLB.com on Wednesday night.

The club is still evaluating whether it will add Moreno to the roster for Game 1, but the 22-year-old will be activated during the series in Detroit.

Moreno received the news following Wednesday’s doubleheader with Triple-A Buffalo.

Moreno represents the Blue Jays’ catcher of the future with All-Star potential, a remarkable story of player development after he was signed out of Venezuela for $25,000 in 2016.

After bursting onto the scene in full-season ball ...

The Athletic: Umpire Angel Hernandez alleges MLB manipulated reviews to make minorities look bad [$}

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Hernandez claimed MLB has a history of discriminating against minority umpires, pointing out that as of the filing of his lawsuit, there had only been one minority crew chief in the league’s 150 years (Richie Garcia) — though that number has grown in the years since. There are 19 umpiring crews, each with four umpires, one of whom is a crew chief. In the appeal brief filed this week, seeking an overrule of the lower court judge’s dismissal, he also raised the argument that MLB not only looked the other way on its lack of diversity, but it altered the season-ending umpiring reports to justify this behavior.

“The District Court also failed to give appropriate weight to evidence of MLB’s disparate treatment of Mr. ...

Angels resort to nothing but Nickelback walk-up songs amid 13-game losing streak

On the verge of a franchise record for consecutive losses and having already fired their manager, the Angels decided to make a change on Wednesday by walking up to nothing but Nickelback songs against the Boston Red Sox.

Yes, really.

For posterity, here is the full set list, via intrepid ESPN reporter Alden Gonzalez:

Shohei Ohtani: “Photograph”

Jo Adell: “Rockstar”

Jared Walsh: “How You Remind Me”

Matt Duffy: “Someday”

Juan Lagares: “If Today Was Your Last Day”

Brandon Marsh: “When We Stand Together”

Jack Mayfield: “What Are You Waiting For?”

Kurt Suzuki: “This Afternoon”

Tyler Wade: “Animals”

OMNICHATTER for Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Angels dismiss Maddon amid 12-game losing streak

The Angels relieved Joe Maddon of his duties as manager, the team announced on Tuesday. Phil Nevin, who had been the third-base coach, was named interim manager.

The move comes amid a 12-game losing streak that has dropped the Angels to under .500 at 27-29.

The next MLB manager on the hot seat — and the ones getting warmer — after Joe Girardi firing

The hottest seat
1. Joe Maddon, Angels. Through May 24, the Angels were 27-17 and Fangraphs gave them a 77 percent chance of making the playoffs. The 12-game losing streak they took into Tuesday night’s game against the Red Sox dropped L.A. to a 30.3.

The Angels are the AL version of the Phillies. They also have a franchise record payroll in 2022 and a long postseason drought (Philadelphia has the second longest in MLB, L.A. is tied for third longest). Like the Phillies when hiring Girardi, they also bypassed Showalter. Billy Eppler favored Showalter after the 2019 campaign. But by then he was a lame-duck GM with the Angels and owner Arte Moreno wanted Maddon. Imagine how different history would be if …

Now, how badly does Moreno ...