On June 8th, 1989, the Pittsburgh Pirates produced one of the greatest first innings in baseball history, jumping out to a 10-0 lead over the Philadelphia Phillies. No team had ever before done so and lost. From there … well, come on, you know where this is going. But you might never guess which road we’re taking to get there.
Dennis Eckersley is retiring from the NESN booth at the end of the season after 20 years.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I really have,” the former Hall of Fame pitcher told The Boston Globe. “Not that it matters, but it’s kind of a round number, leaving. I started in pro ball in ‘72, when I was a 17-year-old kid right out of high school. Fifty years ago. And I’ve been with NESN for 20 years, even though it doesn’t feel like that because I didn’t do much my first four or five years. So it’s time.”
After Eckersley retires as a color analyst, he will move to California in October with his wife Jennifer to spend more time with his twin four-year-old grandchildren.
I think the majority opinion around professional baseball is a more balanced approach, where they care a little bit about minor league wins/losses, but not a whole lot. 63.8% of Twitter respondents out of 5,449 votes are in or around that bucket, with 27.3% saying that wins/losses don’t matter at all. I would say this is likely close to the split of MLB organizations’ opinions, with the devil in the details of the “Important but not primary” answer – which, for the record, is also my answer.
But as stated above, the devil truly is in the details. How important is “important but not primary?” When I was the Director of Pitching of the Cincinnati Reds, the organization cared a great deal about winning in the minor leagues, ...
The Cleveland Guardians announced a series of roster moves on their Twitter account on Saturday, most notably designating outfielder Franmil Reyes for assignment and releasing first baseman Bobby Bradley. The Guardians also swapped out right-handed pitchers, optioning Hunter Gaddis to Triple-A Columbus and purchasing the contract of Jake Jewell.
Reyes, 27, entered the season as Cleveland’s cleanup hitter based on his track record of above-average offensive production. In 400-plus games prior to this season, he’d hit .260/.325/.503 (121 OPS+) with 92 home runs.
Reyes was never able to get going this season, however. He was optioned to the minors on Tuesday after batting .213/.254/.350 (72 OPS+) with just nine home runs in 70 games. ...
Right-hander Ian Anderson, a big part of the Atlanta Braves’ rotation last year in their run to a World Series championship, was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett on Sunday after his struggles this season.
Anderson (9-6) has a 5.11 ERA this season in 21 starts. He last pitched on Friday in the Braves’ 9-6 victory over the New York Mets when he lasted 4⅔ innings during which he allowed four earned runs, seven hits, walked four and struck out three.
Before he reports to Gwinnett, Anderson will remain with the Braves on their taxi squad this week and is slated to pitch one of the two games in Atlanta’s doubleheader against the Miami Marlins next Saturday, manager Brian Snitker told reporters Sunday.
Pete Rose wasn’t willing to talk about allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a minor decades ago.
In Philadelphia on Sunday to celebrate the 1980 world champions, Rose declined to address the issue.
“No, I’m not here to talk about that. Sorry about that. It was 55 years ago, babe,” he told female Philadelphia Inquirer Phillies writer Alex Coffey.
The 81-year-old, 17-time All-Star, banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling on the sport from 1985-87, didn’t answer any further questions. Still, the Phillies were going to honor him in 2017 and induct him into their Wall of Fame before the allegations arose.
A woman identified as Jane Doe claimed that she had a sexual relationship with Rose when she was 14 or 15 years ...
Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera set the record straight regarding his future Friday, telling The Detroit News that he will indeed return for a 21st major league season in 2023.
A day earlier, the 39-year-old Cabrera indicated to reporters that this season may be his last as he continues to deal with knee issues. It marked the first time that Cabrera had opened the door to the possibility that he may not play next year after previously saying he planned to fulfill his contract, which is fully guaranteed through the 2023 season.
But Cabrera said Friday his plan of playing next year hasn’t changed.
“I’m not going to retire,” he told the News. “Not until after next year when my contract is done. They didn’t understand what I said. No ...
Justin Verlander’s season stats shine like a work of art.
His 15-3 record is dazzling. His 1.73 ERA is league-leading. His 0.85 WHIP is minuscule. And his 130 innings pitched are impressive—and might end up being the most important in the grand scheme of things.
With his six-inning scoreless start in Houston’s 6-0 win over Cleveland on Thursday, Verlander reached that 130 innings mark, triggering his $25 million player option for 2023. And while Verlander and the Astros still have a long way to go before they can focus on next season, the player option being picked up is a huge step forward for the 39-year-old hurler who is putting together a comeback season for the ages.
“I wasn’t pitching to get to 130 innings,” Verlander said ...
Major League Baseball plans to return to London next year for the first time since 2019.
The league announced Thursday that the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs will play a two-game series on June 24-25, 2023, at London Stadium. The NL Central rivals were supposed to play in London in 2020, but the games were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Cardinals are excited and honored to be a part of the London Series next year,” Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said in a release. “The Cardinals-Cubs rivalry is one of the best in sports, and it will be exciting to bring it to Europe for a new audience to experience.”
MLB last played in London in 2019, when the New York Yankees swept a two-game set against the Boston Red ...
Lamet, who has a 9.49 ERA this season but is just two years removed from contending for the National League Cy Young Award in the shortened 2020 season, was one of four players acquired from the Padres for Hader, with left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers and prospects Robert Gasser and Esteury Ruiz. It was thought that Lamet would join the Brewers’ bullpen to get guidance from a Milwaukee coaching and analytics staff that has had success with similar projects. Instead, Lamet is not part of Milwaukee’s plans.
Within seven days, the Brewers must place him on outright waivers. Any claiming team would be on the hook for the $1.6 million or so due to Lamet for the remainder of the season. If he clears waivers, the Brewers are on the hook for ...
The Boston Red Sox released outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. on Thursday.
Bradley, 32, rejoined the Red Sox after the team acquired the outfielder and two minor leaguers in a December 2021 trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, giving up slugger Hunter Renfroe.
He was hitting .210 with three home runs and 29 RBIs in 92 games for the Red Sox while making $9.5 million this season.
“We were hoping, offensively, it was going to be a lot better than last year,” manager Alex Cora said. “He had some stretches at home that were good. Obviously, he struggled toward the end. We weren’t able to get him to be consistent hitting the ball the other way. This year, there weren’t too many strikeouts. But toward the end, there were a lot of ground balls to the ...
Thursday afternoon, the Phillies announced they released Gregorius, the veteran ex-Yankees shortstop. In a corresponding move, Philadelphia activated infielder Jean Segura from the 60-day IL.
Gregorius, 32, is hitting .210 with a .567 OPS in 63 games this season. He is due to be a free agent at season’s end, though the Phillies are still on the hook for the $5.5 million he is owed through the rest of the season. Should any team take a flier and sign Gregorius for the stretch run, they would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum.
The 2022 MLB season isn’t over yet, and there’s a chance that the average age, especially in Low-A, may tick up slightly as college draftees filter onto rosters. But even if it does, this year will remain almost assuredly the youngest Low-A rosters of the 21st century.
Before this year, the youngest average age for Low-A hitters in any season since 2001 was 21.3 years old, set last year. This year, Low-A hitters currently on average are 21.0 years old. Other than the past two years, Low-A hitters on average were 21.6 year old, and the youngest age for the average Low-A hitter was 2019 at 21.4 years old.
While hitters in Low-A are getting younger, the pitchers aren’t. In each of the past two years, Low-A pitchers are on average 21.9 ...
Corbin and Strasburg combined to post 10.6 WAR in 2019 and that’s regular season only. They’ve been worth minus-2.0 WAR in the three years since. The Nationals won the World Series in Year 1 of Corbin’s six-year, $140 million contract, so from the “flags fly forever” perspective, it was well worth it. He is now the worst starting pitcher in baseball though, and if not for that World Series win, Corbin would go down as one of the worst free agent signings in recent baseball history. (And he still might.)
Strasburg was named World Series MVP in 2019, opted out of the four years and $100 million remaining on his contract, then re-signed with the club on a new seven-year, $245 million deal. It was the richest pitching contract in baseball ...
Among writers, meanwhile, Camden Yards was nothing short of a marvel. Peter Richmond, in his biography of the park, Ballpark: Camden Yards and the Building of an American Dream, called the stadium a “national showpiece.” In a celebration of the park published before it even opened, Goldberger wrote that Camden was “capable of wiping out in a single gesture 50 years of wretched stadium design, and of restoring the joyous possibility that a ball park might actually enhance the experience of watching the game of baseball.” George Will, who was once considered a candidate for MLB commissioner, declared in 2014 that Camden’s construction ranked among “the three most important things that have happened in baseball since the Second ...
2. July 31, 2007: Rangers get Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, Beau Jones, Jarrod Saltalamacchia from Braves (Mark Teixeira)
Teixeira netted four prospects that were on, or eventually landed on top prospect lists. We only did Top 50s in 2007, but Andrus was on it and eventually would climb into the top 25. Baseball America did Top 100 lists back then and Harrison was on its 2007 list, as was Saltalamacchia (he was also in our Top 50). Feliz would climb into our top 10 in 2009 and 2010, first appearing in BA’s Top 100 in 2008.
3. Dec. 6, 2016: White Sox get Yoán Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, Victor Diaz from Red Sox (Chris Sale)
This belongs on the list solely because of Moncada’s presence in the trade. ...
It has intentions to schedule a regular-season game at historic Bosse Field, the third-oldest ballpark still in regular use for professional baseball, surpassed only by Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. It would be the first MLB game ever played in Indiana.
The catch? It will take at least another year to become a reality.
“We’re really excited that Major League Baseball is considering Evansville for a special event game,” Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said. “We’ve been working toward a date – we thought we had one for 2023 – but in the last week, based on MLB’s changing schedules, that date is not going to happen.
“The good news is MLB is still very interested in Evansville. They ...
I see some Red Sox fans applauding the pick-up of Hosmer. These are people who only pay cursory attention to other teams. The Padres are reportedly paying all of Hosmer’s contract except for the minimum. I suspect the account is exaggerated. I doubt the Padres would have also included two marginal prospects to just save the minimum salary when they could have just released Hosmer. Nevertheless, a team doesn’t pay most of a player’s remaining salary and find such little interest in a player with value.
Hosmer will be a disappointment to Red Sox fans and will be released by the Red Sox before next season.
Vin Scully, Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, died Tuesday at age 94, the team announced.
...
Scully served as the Dodgers’ broadcaster for 67 years, including an eight-year stretch in Brooklyn before the franchise relocated to Los Angeles in 1958. His stint with the Dodgers was the longest time spent by a sports broadcaster with any one team.
After acquiring corner outfielder Robbie Grossman from the Detroit Tigers late Monday, general manager Alex Anthopoulos started the day finalizing a deal that brought right-hander Jake Odorizzi from the Houston Astros in exchange for former Atlanta closer Will Smith.
Then, barely beating the clock before the 6 p.m. ET deadline, the Braves landed Los Angeles Angels closer Raisel Iglesias for reliever Jesse Chavez and pitching prospect Tucker Davidson.
The flurry of trades, which also included Monday’s less-prominent deal that brought Washington infielder Ehire Adrianza back to Atlanta to help fill in while Ozzie Albies recovers from a broken foot, was reminiscent of the moves Anthopoulos pulled off at the 2021 deadline.
The Royals have traded Whit Merrifield to the Toronto Blue Jays for infielder/outfielder Samad Taylor and pitcher Max Castillo, according to MLB.com reporter Mark Feinsand….
Merrifield has spent his entire seven-year career with the Royals and is a two-time All-Star. He was having his worst offensive season, batting .240/.290/.352 with 15 steals in 95 games, but had come on to rebound a bit lately. He did not travel to Canada for the series against the Blue Jays three weeks ago due to his vaccination status, but indicated he was open to getting vaccinated to play in a pennant race. Merrifield is signed through 2023, and will make $2.5 million with escalators that will take his salary to $6.5 million.
The Mets replaced one right-handed bench bat with another on Tuesday, acquiring veteran Darin Ruf from the Giants for J.D. Davis and prospects, sources tell MLB.com.
Neither club has confirmed the deal.
Ruf, 36, has a long history of mashing left-handed pitching, including an .887 OPS against southpaws this season. He is capable of playing first base and both corner outfield positions, though with the Mets, he’s likely to serve mostly as a DH compliment to newly acquired lefties Daniel Vogelbach and Tyler Naquin.
Davis, 29, filled the Mets’ righty bench bat role for the first four months of the season, but he slashed just .238/.324/.359 in 207 plate appearances.
In addition to Davis, left-handed pitching prospects Thomas Szapucki and ...
As the injuries mounted in Cincinnati Reds camp earlier this spring, the club reached out to free agent Brandon Drury to bolster their infield depth and versatility. Gone was Eugenio Suarez via trade already, but as strains and sprains and busted wrists sidelined the likes of Jose Barrero, Max Schrock, Jonathan India, and Donovan Solano at the outset of the season, Drury’s path to playing time all over became readily available.
He capitalized on that opportunity in a big, big way. To date, he’s socked a career-best 20 homers so far in 2022 as part of his overall 128 OPS+ production, but as a pending free agent on a losing Cincinnati club, that put him firmly on the trade block as today’s deadline neared. As it turns out, the active ...
The Cubs have acquired pitching prospect Ben Brown from the Phillies in exchange for veteran closer David Robertson, sources told MLB.com ahead of Tuesday’s 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline.
A day after adding prospect Hayden Wesneski from the Yankees in a deal for reliever Scott Effross, Chicago landed a second starting pitching prospect in the 22-year-old Brown. The hard-throwing righty was ranked No. 26 on MLB Pipeline’s Top Phillies prospect list, but that was low given his showing this season and knowing the updated Pipeline rankings are coming later this month. Expect him to end up in the teens on the Cubs’ list, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis.
With High-A Jersey Shore this season, Brown posted a 3.08 ERA with 105 strikeouts against 23 walks in ...
The Twins struck a deal to acquire right-hander Tyler Mahle from the Reds ahead of Tuesday’s Trade Deadline, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.
Neither club has confirmed the deal, which will send a trio of highly regarded prospects to Cincinnati, according to Feinsand: 2B/3B Spencer Steer (Twins’ No. 7 prospect, per MLB Pipeline), left-hander Steve Hajjar (Twins’ No. 18) and corner infielder Christian Encarncion-Strand (Twins’ No. 23).
The trade comes four days after the Reds dealt right-hander Luis Castillo to the Mariners in a five-player blockbuster.
Mahle, 27, has a 4.40 ERA over 19 starts this season. However, he has been better of late, posting a 2.83 ERA in his past nine outings, including a pair of quality starts since ...
The Phillies made a move to shore up their center field hole, trading for outfielder Brandon Marsh from the Angels in exchange for Philadelphia’s No. 3 prospect, catcher Logan O’Hoppe, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Tuesday. The teams have not confirmed the deal.
The 24-year-old Marsh, a former top prospect with the Angels, is batting .226/.284/.353 with eight homers and 37 RBIs in 93 games.
The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired outfielder Joey Gallo from the New York Yankees on Tuesday, a source confirmed to ESPN.
The news of the trade was first reported by SI.com, which said the Yankees would be receiving Double-A pitcher Clayton Beeter.
Gallo, a two-time All-Star, including last season when he was acquired by the Yankees in a trade with the Texas Rangers, has struggled badly this season. While he has 12 home runs and 24 RBIs, he has a .159 average and has struck out 106 times in 233 at-bats.
