Interesting Baseball News Items That Do Not Warrant Their Own Thread

[philleotardo]

Mets released Adrian Gonzalez, which didn’t surprise me, but I was surprised to read that he had the 5th highest career WAR for a #1 overall pick behind A-Rod, Griffey, Chipper and Mauer. Just slightly ahead of Strawberry.

[EvanJ]

Baseball-reference has him tied for 454th in career WAR and 27th among active players. That includes pitchers.

[Melancynic]

Mets released Adrian Gonzalez, which didn’t surprise me, but I was surprised to read that he had the 5th highest career WAR for a #1 overall pick behind A-Rod, Griffey, Chipper and Mauer. Just slightly ahead of Strawberry.

Whoa. That is surprising.

[OdiN9]

https://www.mlb.com/news/qa-with-bry...sg/c-280911590

Harper talks Yankees rumors, ASG in Q&A



Harper: There is always going to be media there. We are going to New York this week. I'm sure there will be a couple of media outlets there. For me, personally, I want to focus on what I can do to help this team each and every day. It wouldn't be fair to my teammates or myself to look ahead.

MLB.com: You brought this up. You are going to Yankee Stadium, and a lot of media will come to you, because everyone knows you grew up as a Yankees fan. How are you going to handle it when you get to Yankee Stadium?

Harper: We'll see when I get there.

MLB.com: There's going to be a lot of people.

Harper: There always is.

MLB.com: You like New York?

Harper: I do. I enjoy going there and playing. It's a good place.

MLB.com: As you get older, how much do you want to play with the your brother, Bryan?

Harper: If I have a chance to play with him this year, it would be incredible. I grew up playing with Bryan. It was always a lot of fun. Whenever you have two family members on the same diamond and playing in front of your family and friends, it's always special. We'll see what happens.

[ojo]

Marriage Material.

[HelloNewman]

MLB network says Miguel Cabrera out for season with torn biceps injury.

[philleotardo]

Miguel Cabrera out for the year with torn bicep tendon.

[albo4lyfe]

Can you imagine Miggy has 5/154 left on his deal? Ouch. Talk about an albatross.

[HelloNewman]

Can you imagine Miggy has 5/154 left on his deal? Ouch. Talk about an albatross.

Yeah, even worse because the Tigers are trying to start fresh. They're $30M in the hole for each of the next 5 years before they even budget. Ellsbury is an albatross but Cabrera is a whole aviary full of albatrosses.

Valbuena just made quite the ass of himself in the Angels-Ms game. Flipped the bat with a flourish on an in-play hit down the line, then got thrown out by Ryan Haniger at second. Yikes.

[philleotardo]

Yeah, even worse because the Tigers are trying to start fresh. They're $30M in the hole for each of the next 5 years before they even budget. Ellsbury is an albatross but Cabrera is a whole aviary full of albatrosses.

Valbuena just made quite the ass of himself in the Angels-Ms game. Flipped the bat with a flourish on an in-play hit down the line, then got thrown out by Ryan Haniger at second. Yikes.

I was thinking about the Tigers tonight when Kay and O’Neill were talking about Scherzer. Then I thought about JD Martinez and Verlander.
I would flat out stop watching baseball if my team sent that kind of talent around the league. And I probably forgot a couple of names.

[HelloNewman]

I was thinking about the Tigers tonight when Kay and O’Neill were talking about Scherzer. Then I thought about JD Martinez and Verlander.
I would flat out stop watching baseball if my team sent that kind of talent around the league. And I probably forgot a couple of names.

Chad Green

Hey I saw Yankees unload Willie McGee, Fred McGriff, Doug Drabek, Al Leiter, Jay Buhner, Jose Rijo etc. etc. etc. in a 10-year span. Yeah it's tough.

[philleotardo]

Chad Green

Hey I saw Yankees unload Willie McGee, Fred McGriff, Doug Drabek, Al Leiter, Jay Buhner, Jose Rijo etc. etc. etc. in a 10-year span. Yeah it's tough.

Yeah, that was during my teen years. While the Mets were on a run, I was going to games started by Greg Cadaret with Tom Brookens leading off. Suuuuccckked.

[philleotardo]

Also, Baltimore is currently on pace to win 47 games and they’be really been worse than that lately.
I’m kinda rooting for them to go 40-122.

[HelloNewman]

Yeah, that was during my teen years. While the Mets were on a run, I was going to games started by Greg Cadaret with Tom Brookens leading off. Suuuuccckked.

Haha yes. It was my 20s. Try to talk to a woman in a bar on Long Island with Mets fans taunting you and sometimes even trying to bait you into a fight. I don't admit this often but I actually rooted for the Red Sox in the heinous 1986 World Series. The reason was I didn't have any dick Red Sox fans in my life then, my cup ranneth over with dick Mets fans. God I hated that Mets team.

Also, Baltimore is currently on pace to win 47 games and they’be really been worse than that lately.
I’m kinda rooting for them to go 40-122.

I'm still disappointed in the 2003 Tigers for fumbling immortality. They were 38-119. They had it, they HAD IT. Then they won 5 straight.

[philleotardo]

Haha yes. It was my 20s. Try to talk to a woman in a bar on Long Island with Mets fans taunting you and sometimes even trying to bait you into a fight. I don't admit this often but I actually rooted for the Red Sox in the heinous 1986 World Series. The reason was I didn't have any dick Red Sox fans in my life then, my cup ranneth over with dick Mets fans. God I hated that Mets team.

Ditto on the Red Sox and it was an easy choice at the time.

[Mr. Mxylsplk]

Can you imagine Miggy has 5/154 left on his deal? Ouch. Talk about an albatross.

It's even a bit worse than that - $8MM for the buyout for 2024.

[albo4lyfe]

It's even a bit worse than that - $8MM for the buyout for 2024.

True. AND both the 2024 and 2025 club options become guaranteed if he somehow finishes in the top 10 of MVP voting in the previous year of each option. Unlikely that it happens, but you never know.

[EvanJ]

San Francisco won 6-3 at Miami in 16 innings. San Francisco's Dereck Rodriguez and Ty Blach became the first teammates since 1908 (probably ever) to pitch exactly 6 2/3 innings and allow exactly 7 hits. They became the 30th teammates since 1908 to pitch at least 6 2/3 innings and allow at least 7 hits. Rodriguez started. Blach left up 6-3 with runners on second and third with 2 out in the bottom of the 16th inning. The previous time teammates did that was Boston Steve Crawford and Bob Stanley on October 4, 1980 in Game 2 of a doubleheader hosting Toronto.

Edit: With Boston having sole possession of first, their pitchers get the Cy Young Predictor's 12 point Victory Bonus for being on a first place team, and Chapman lost those 12 points. Kimbrel, Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Porcello are all in the AL Top 10. In the 32 Cy Young Predictors (1 in each league for 2002 through 2017), four teams have had four players in their league's Top 10. It happened three times in the first 8 Cy Young Predictors through 2005, but has only happened once in the last 24 Cy Young Predictors which was Kershaw, Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Kenley Jansen of the 2015 Dodgers.

Edit again: In the San Francisco at Miami game, Miami's J.B. Shuck went 4-for-7 with 2 doubles. He became the 101st player since 1908 to have at least 4 hits, at least 2 doubles, and have a hit in fewer than 60 percent of his at-bats. This requires at least 7 at-bats.

[OdiN9]

The use of designated hitters in the National League is inching closer to becoming reality, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday. https://wfan.radio.com/articles/news...ining-momentum

[EvanJ]

The Angels are having a devil of a time with injuries. They put four players on the disabled list today. Garrett Richards, who has a 3.42 ERA, and Nick Tropeano join Ohtani to give them three starting pitchers on the disabled list. They have six players who have made at least 8 starts and only 1 start by anybody else, but they will need new starters now.

[spanky185]

The use of designated hitters in the National League is inching closer to becoming reality, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday. https://wfan.radio.com/articles/news...ining-momentum

Good. Pitchers don't pick up a bat until AA and even then only when 2 NL affiliates play each other. And for anyone who thinks baseball should be played today like it was in 1876, well there's a lot more rules changes that need to be undone. We'll start with the foul strike rule...

[EvanJ]

Colorado's Wade Davis became the first pitcher since 1908 (probably ever) to get 0 or 1 out, allow at least 4 runs, allow at least 4 walks, finish a game, get a blown save, and get a loss. Texas won walk-off 13-12.

[OdiN9]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...=.a8ddada425a5

“He pitched well except when he made one mistake,” Martinez said, referring to Aaron Hicks’s two-run homer in the fifth. “We were very, very excited to see this.”

“I’ve been working with Max [Scherzer] on a new slider,” Fedde said, adding that he’s throwing it harder. “Because my old one, I’m having a little more trouble with it up here [in the majors].

[EvanJ]

Jacob deGrom isn't the only star not getting help from his teammates (he got help yesterday). https://twitter.com/Alden_Gonzalez/s...45614388846592 says Mike Trout has a hit or walk in 24 of his last 33 plate appearances, during which time the Angels are 1-6. They quickly fell from 3.5 to 10.5 games behind in the AL West. He has 4 home runs and a 2.030 OPS in those 7 games. His 4 home runs had only 1 runner on base combined.

http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-40022256-4 says Minnesota's Eduardo Escobar is on pace for 71 doubles, which would break Earl Webb's record of 67 in 1931. Escobar hit 16 doubles in 129 games last year.

[BroadwayBomber55]

San Francisco Giants closer Hunter Strickland pulled a Kevin Brown, but even worse. OUCH!
https://www.sfgate.com/giants/articl...l-13008665.php