In a game that tied for longest in Dodgers vs. Cardinals history, Matt Adams hit a game-ending home run to give St. Louis a 4-3 victory in 16 innings. "Finally!" a fan shouted.
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Andrew Cashner and Matt Kemp will likely be traded in the coming weeks..Comment -
Two big favorites lose last night Pirates and NatsComment -
Heavy local rumors saying Dbacks Manager Chip Hale is on the way out. Losing 6-2 to the Reds yesterday didn't help his cause.Comment -
Chris 'Edward Scissorhands' Sale is a jerkoff.Comment -
Kemp was such a bust, he was good 5 years ago.Comment -
The White Sox scratched superstar left-hander Chris Sale from his start Saturday in Detroit, which Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet was first to report (Twitter link). Given that Sale has begun generating significant trade buzz this week, speculation initially ran rampant that the White Sox had a deal in place to move the 27-year-old. That isn’t the case at the moment, though, as Chicago actually scratched Sale because of a pregame “clubhouse incident.”
“Chris Sale has been scratched from tonight’s scheduled start and sent home from the ballpark by the White Sox due to a clubhouse incident before the game,” senior vice president and general manager Rick Hahn said in a team-issued press release (Twitter link via Paul Skrbina of the Chicago Tribune). “The incident, which was non-physical in nature, currently is under further investigation by the club.”
Sale got into an altercation with front office staff, which began in “silly” fashion and blew up into a bigger argument, tweets Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (links here). Amazingly, the fight centered on Sale’s disdain for the White Sox’s throwback uniforms. Sale didn’t want to put them on, so he cut all of them up to prevent anyone from wearing them, relays Tommy Stokke of FanRag Sports (via Twitter). FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal subsequently corroborated Stokke’s report, adding that Sale first requested Chicago not wear the uniforms because they’re uncomfortable. When the White Sox declined, Sale became livid because, in his view, the franchise decided to prioritize p.r. and jersey sales over winning (links to Twitter).
This isn’t the first off-the-wall dust-up of the year featuring Sale, who lashed out at team president Kenny Williams in March after first baseman/designated hitter Adam LaRoche retired because the White Sox requested that he bring his son, Drake, into the clubhouse less frequently. Saturday’s disagreement did not include Williams, per Rosenthal (Twitter link).
Sale’s issues aside, he’s unsurprisingly still drawing interest from elsewhere as the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline nears. The White Sox are continuing to discuss him with other teams, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). One team with interest in Sale is the rebuilding Braves, via reports from both Chris Cotillo of SB Nation and David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter links). Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reported earlier Saturday that the White Sox want five top-caliber prospects for Sale, whose years-long track record of on-field brilliance has continued this season. Sale’s strikeout rate (8.73 per nine innings) is at its all-time lowest mark, but he continues to limit walks (1.96 per nine) and runs (3.18 ERA). He’s also controllable for extremely team-friendly dollar figures through 2019.Comment -
Sale migh be jockeying for a HUGH scissor endorsement hereComment -
Sale and Frazier will both be traded shortly .Comment -
Chapman to the Cubs any day now. They still won't win the World Series.Comment -
Will the Cubs make a push for Chris Sale? Cubs have to win the World Series this year. They have to.Comment -
Jose Altuve with 17 dingers already
guy is something else and does not get his just dueComment -
Blue Jays designate P Drew Storen for assignment.
The only positives from the trade that sent Ben Revere to the Nats for Storen was that it allowed the Jays to move Aaron Sanchez to the starting rotation and opened up LF for Michael Saunders.
Storen was a disaster on the mound for the Jays considering the role he was expected to fill at the start of season as main setup guy. The Blue Jays have 10 days to either trade, release or assign Storen.Comment -
Baseball chatter ....
Oakland`s bullpen sucks !!
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Dealing away closer Aroldis Chapman was “an easy call” and “the right call,” GM Brian Cashman told reporters including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. The club was able to “trade[] away from an area of strength” and receive quality assets for a short-term piece, he emphasized, saying that “the total package was something that we targeted and strived to get.” The Yankees did explore extension possibilities with Chapman’s camp in early June, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. Obviously that did not gain much traction, but the club could still look to bring back the high-powered reliever when he hits the open market this fall, as Cashman acknowledged in his comments. Interestingly, the veteran executive also stressed that parting with its closer didn’t mean that the club was fully abandoning hopes of contention this year, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. With the club still sitting in reasonable position, that could lead to an interesting couple of days in the run-up to August 1st.
Here’s more out of New York and the rest of the American League:
- It remains unclear whether the Yankees will really entertain the idea of trading Andrew Miller now that Chapman is gone, but ESPN.com’s Buster Olney argues (Insider link) that the Indians should force the issue. Cleveland, he suggests, needs to take advantage of its opportunity. While it would be painful to give up its best pre-MLB talent, the club might hope to deal away Miller’s remaining two years of contract control over the winter, hopefully recouping a decent portion of the value it would take to get him right now.
- Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski suggested today that the action is heating up, but that his team isn’t close to striking any major new deals, as Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports (Twitter links.) Boston’s chief baseball decisionmaker said that he has fielded five new trade proposals today alone, with other organizations seemingly looking to make off with some of the team’s prime prospect assets. But while ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark cited rivals as suggesting that the Sox were aiming to do “something big,” via Twitter, Dombrowski said that the team doesn’t feel pressure to pull off another move.
- One area that the Red Sox have some obvious room for improvement is the bullpen, particularly with Koji Uehara looking like a major question mark down the stretch and Craig Kimbrel still working his way back. But with Kimbrel seemingly progressing well, Dombrowski suggested that the organization doesn’t feel compelled to add relief help, as Abraham further tweets.
- Meanwhile, though Red Sox righty Clay Buchholz isn’t filling much of a present role, Dombrowski says that he’s still an important part of the team’s rotation depth, as Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com reports. With Dombrowski also saying he is impressed with the way Buchholz is throwing the ball, it doesn’t seem as if there’s any momentum towards a deal involving the veteran.
- Royals GM Dayton Moore discussed his team’s uncertain deadline stance, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports. While acknowledging K.C.’s tough spot, and the need to listen to offers, Moore suggested that it’s still possible that the club won’t act as a seller. “We’ll evaluate what a team is potentially offering,” Moore said. “We’re not going to just dismember our team because players are free agents.”
- Of course, the Royals’ best players aren’t set to hit the open market for at least another season after this one, and that seems to have a major role in the team’s approach. As Dodd further tweets, Moore emphasized that the club would keep the 2017 season firmly in mind in any deadline dealing. It’s no surprise, then, that Kansas City suggested to one Wade Davis suitor that the package which landed Chapman wouldn’t have sufficed for the Royals’ closer, as Stark tweets. He comes with an additional season of control, raising both his market value and his function for his current team.
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San Fran has been awful since the all star break.Comment -
think chapman is exactly what cubs need ,changes the complexity of the bullpen to the better...Just need to get rid of stroke,I mean stropComment -
Wish he pirates would trade Melancon in light of what Chapman broughtComment -
Blue Jays on the verge of acquiring Melvin Upton Jr. from the Padres. Upton only has to walk across the diamond to join his new team with the Padres currently in Toronto.Comment
