[El Nino]

I definitely don't see Astros Winn the series again

Their bullpen is suspect.

[mr. leisure]

Got an Australian Little Leaguer doing player introductions tonight at the Little League Classic in Williamsport.

Cool experience for the kids to be able to mingle wtih the MLB players .

[EmpireMaker]

The White Sox will promote top pitching prospect Michael Kopech on Tuesday, the team announced on its official Twitter feed. The 22-year-old right-hander will make his Major League debut in a start against the Twins.
Picked 33rd overall by the Red Sox in the 2014 draft, Kopech was already considered one of the game’s top young arms when Boston dealt him as part of the blockbuster prospect package sent to Chicago in exchange for ace southpaw Chris Sale in December 2016. Kopech made his Double-A and Triple-A debuts in the White Sox farm system, and he has posted a 3.63 ERA, 11.9 K/9, and 2.88 K/BB rate over 141 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level.
Those numbers also include some control issues, such as a 4.3 BB/9 this season, and Kopech’s 2018 season has been marred by a few rough outings. Kopech recently discussed his year with The Athletic’s James Fegan, which has seen him deal with some off-the-field tragedy while also working on such mechanical issues as a new grip for his changeup, and a slower delivery. His delivery was cited as a concern in scouting reports from both MLB.com and Baseball America, with BA noting that Kopech’s delivery is a reason for “his below-average command and control.”
Still, despite these issues, both MLB.com and Baseball America ranked Kopech as the 13th-best prospect in baseball due to his massive potential. (Fangraphs also had him 16th on their updated top-100 prospect rankings, with ESPN’s Keith Law ranking Kopech 11th and Baseball Prospectus ranking him 17th in their preseason top-100 lists.) If Kopech is able to refine his changeup, it would be his third pitch to go along with a slider that MLB.com calls a “plus-plus offering as its best,” as well as Kopech’s signature pitch, a blazing fastball. Kopech has cracked triple digits with his heater and regularly throws it in the 96-99mph range.
Kopech has long been considered one of the jewels of the White Sox rebuild, and the decision to promote him at this point means that he’ll get an audition towards becoming a regular rotation member in 2019. With Kopech now reaching the big leagues, it only creates more anticipation towards the potential debut of Chicago’s top prospect, slugger Eloy Jimenez.

[Otters27]

Philliees looked pitcher looked very uncomfortable on the mound last night

[JAKEPEAVY21]

let's fast forward to the playoffs..

once football starts, I'm done until then.

[batt33]

Can't buy a winner here pray for me boys..

You and me both, can't get beyond 2 in the streak

[BigSpoon]

let's fast forward to the playoffs..

once football starts, I'm done until then.

It's such a long season when the team you support is not contending. I just want the regular season to end as well.

[ApricotSinner32]

I'm getting chucked every day when will the losing streak end help me

[Chi_archie]

The White Sox will promote top pitching prospect Michael Kopech on Tuesday, the team announced on its official Twitter feed. The 22-year-old right-hander will make his Major League debut in a start against the Twins.
Picked 33rd overall by the Red Sox in the 2014 draft, Kopech was already considered one of the game’s top young arms when Boston dealt him as part of the blockbuster prospect package sent to Chicago in exchange for ace southpaw Chris Sale in December 2016. Kopech made his Double-A and Triple-A debuts in the White Sox farm system, and he has posted a 3.63 ERA, 11.9 K/9, and 2.88 K/BB rate over 141 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level.
Those numbers also include some control issues, such as a 4.3 BB/9 this season, and Kopech’s 2018 season has been marred by a few rough outings. Kopech recently discussed his year with The Athletic’s James Fegan, which has seen him deal with some off-the-field tragedy while also working on such mechanical issues as a new grip for his changeup, and a slower delivery. His delivery was cited as a concern in scouting reports from both MLB.com and Baseball America, with BA noting that Kopech’s delivery is a reason for “his below-average command and control.”
Still, despite these issues, both MLB.com and Baseball America ranked Kopech as the 13th-best prospect in baseball due to his massive potential. (Fangraphs also had him 16th on their updated top-100 prospect rankings, with ESPN’s Keith Law ranking Kopech 11th and Baseball Prospectus ranking him 17th in their preseason top-100 lists.) If Kopech is able to refine his changeup, it would be his third pitch to go along with a slider that MLB.com calls a “plus-plus offering as its best,” as well as Kopech’s signature pitch, a blazing fastball. Kopech has cracked triple digits with his heater and regularly throws it in the 96-99mph range.
Kopech has long been considered one of the jewels of the White Sox rebuild, and the decision to promote him at this point means that he’ll get an audition towards becoming a regular rotation member in 2019. With Kopech now reaching the big leagues, it only creates more anticipation towards the potential debut of Chicago’s top prospect, slugger Eloy Jimenez.

wow, sox fans are pumped to see Kopech

[koz-man]

Guillermo Heredia is packing his bags, he‘s been sent down by the Mariners. He told me that Scott Servais told him it's because they're going to face a few right-handed pitchers in a row.

[JMobile]

Go big or go home with the Dodgers.

[Cross]

So many losing Dodgers posts on here, lol.

[ApricotSinner32]

The redsox finally lost a game miracles do happen I guess.

[BarkingToad]

Their bullpen is suspect.

It let them down again last night.

[EmpireMaker]

The end of August is in sight, which means that final player transaction jockeying is taking place. To this point, we haven’t heard of many players to have cleared waivers, but the details of the process are rarely revealed as they unfold. August maneuvering involves multi-factor strategies that play out largely in the dark; that makes this time of year fascinating, in theory, but generally difficult to examine.
This evening’s reporting has revealed a few intriguing nuggets, though, two of which we’ve already covered (see here and here). And now we can add some new names to our list of players that can be freely traded, according to a report from Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

• Blue Jays first baseman Justin Smoak went through without a claim. While that’s perhaps surprising at first glance, other organizations are surely aware that the Jays won’t be allowing the 31-year-old to walk for nothing. Accordingly, a claim isn’t likely to do much to facilitate an agreement. The switch-hitting slugger has largely carried forward his surprising 2017 output, turning in 487 plate appearances of .257/.363/.465 hitting on the current season. But he’s cheap this year ($4.125MM) and controllable for an affordable rate ($6MM) for 2019. While there’s obviously no reason to believe that Smoak is particularly likely to be dealt, he could still be an interesting chip for the Toronto organization — particularly if other quality hitters don’t make it through the wire.
• The Rays have been rewarded for rolling the dice on first baseman C.J. Cron over the winter, and could now cash him in via trade. Of course, the 28-year-old first baseman cleared waivers in large part because there’s no pressure for the Tampa Bay club to part ways with him. Cron is earning just $2.3MM in 2018 with two more years of arbitration control remaining. He’s sporting a .250/.317/.480 slash with a career-high 24 long balls.
• Elsewhere, Mets infielder Wilmer Flores has long seemed like an interesting target for a club in need of a little defensive versatility and an option against left-handed pitching (though he has, atypically, produced reverse splits this year). He’s earning a reasonable $3.4MM this year and comes with another arb year as well. Flores has been a steadily above-average producer at the plate for the last several years and has taken his plate discipline to another level this season (7.2% walk rate vs. 9.4% strikeout rate). While he has never been loved for his baserunning or glovework, he’s capable of playing anywhere on the infield (at short only in a pinch).
• Former Flores teammate Lucas Duda, on the other hand, finds himself on this list for different reasons. The 32-year-old has struggled this year with the Royals, slashing just .235/.304/.395 with 11 long balls in his 313 plate appearances. But he has still handled right-handed pitching, with a 111 wRC+ when batting with the platoon advantages this year, and has certainly shown more overall in years past. Duda is also earning just $3.5MM this year before reaching free agency.

[cincinnatikid513]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...lls-in-trouble

I Find It Very Difficult' to Watch: Why MLB Greats Think Baseball's in Trouble

s legends gathered in Cooperstown, New York, last month on the Friday evening of Hall of Fame induction weekend, it was business as usual for modern day baseball.
In Houston, the Astros and Texas Rangers struck out 19 times. In Boston, the Red Sox and Minnesota Twins missed Strike 3 21 times. In Detroit, the Tigers and Cleveland Indians struck out 16 times and also hit five home runs.
And in Cincinnati that night, the Reds and Philadelphia Phillies were striking out as if they were 18 blindfolded men chasing a housefly. The clubs combined to whiff an astounding 14 times...in the first three innings. By game's end, they had tallied 23 strikeouts and 14 hits, and it wasn't exactly as if Mario Soto was facing Steve Carlton (no offense, Anthony DeSclafani and Nick Pivetta). Six of the game's 10 runs scored on home runs. DeSclafani didn't make it out of the fifth inning, the Reds used five pitchers...and they won.


We could sit here and talk all day about the way the game has been changed, and not in a good way," Hall of Fame reliever Goose Gossage says. "I try to watch a baseball game, and I find it very difficult to be able to watch today.
"It just breaks my heart to see the changes that have been made. Huge changes."
Says Hall of Famer Don Sutton, now an analyst for Atlanta Braves television broadcasts: "As soon as somebody decides it's not a good idea, then people will draft differently. They'll train differently. But right now it's about the home run and the strikeout and give me five good innings [from a starting pitcher]. Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton are not loving this. Neither is [Sandy] Koufax or [Don] Drysdale."
Hall of Famers are not the only ones voicing their displeasure with an all-or-nothing game in which:
• The ball is not put in play in roughly a third of all plate appearances, 31.6 percent of which end in a strikeout, walk or hit batter.
• The .248 MLB batting average is the lowest since 1972, the season before the American League instituted the designated hitter, when it was .244.
• There were more strikeouts than hits in a month for the first time in MLB history in April and, through early August, MLB had accumulated more strikeouts than hits overall. The race is on for whether it will happen in a full season for the first time.

• Through Saturday, the combined rate of strikeouts, walks and home runs across the game was 33.6 percent. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since strikeouts were first recorded in both leagues in 1913, there have been only six seasons in which strikeouts, walks and home runs have accounted for at least 30 percent of all plate appearances, and all of them have occurred since 2012.


• Defensive chances over the past two years have declined to the fewest in history—36.7 per game this year and last year, the first time that figure's ever dipped below 37.0. While we arguably have some of the greatest athletes ever on the field today—Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson has little over the Colorado Rockies' Nolan Arenado and Oakland Athletics' Matt Chapman, just as one example—they're not on display as often as they could be.
• Strategies like the hit-and-run and stolen base attempt (at their lowest per-game average since 1964, according to Elias) have become endangered species.
• Rules changes have eliminated the takeout slide at second base and the collision with the catcher at home plate.
• Emotion and energy is being drained from the game one replay and administrative move at a time (see above re: takeout slides and home plate collisions). Games are averaging about three hours in length and replays almost one-and-a-half minutes per review, according to Maury Brown in a story written for Forbes.com in April.
Perhaps not coincidentally, per-game attendance this season has dropped to its lowest point in 15 years. And longtime baseball people shake their heads at the bland sameness of it all.


"It's the most boring game I've ever been to, and it's every night," says one scout who has been in the game for 50 years. "You know exactly what's going to happen before it starts."
Says another: "The game is unbelievably bad right now."
"Every box score you read, it's 5.1 innings pitched for the starter," Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox says. "I'll bet some guys in our box in Atlanta. A buck. Before the game, we'll say, 'What's the over [for how long the starting pitcher will last]? It's 5.1. I'll bet the under because you know the starter is not going to make it. Even in the American League [in which, because of the designated hitter, managers don't pinch-hit for pitchers]."
There has been a grand total of 24 complete games in the American League and 10 in the National League. As recently as 10 years ago, in 2008, there were 75 complete games in the AL and 61 in the NL. Ten years before that? AL pitchers fired 141 complete games, and NL pitchers checked in with 161.
The shifts in strategy, many brought on by the increased use of analytics in the game, have come fast and furious over the past few seasons, to the point where Commissioner Rob Manfred seems to have an ongoing, open dialogue regarding what he calls these "organic changes" and whether he should move to ban shifts, limit the number of relief pitchers teams can use each game and even corral the amount of time chewed up by waiting for replay decisions.


"There is a growing consensus among ownership that we need to have a serious conversation about whether all of those organic changes are good for the game over the long haul," Manfred said at this year's All-Star Game in Washington, D.C. "I think we are at a point of time where we need to begin to manage that change."
Increasingly this summer, that conversation—and grumbling about today's product—is underway in every ballpark you visit.
And there's plenty of time for that grumbling: Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated in June noted there is more dead time per game than ever before and that the average time between balls in play is three minutes, 45 seconds.
"Go to the bathroom and miss that ball in play, you could go nearly eight minutes at the ballpark without seeing anything happen," another veteran scout quips.
Today, the man dubbed the "Human Rain Delay" would look as if his game were stuck on fast-forward.
"You got that right," says Mike Hargrove, who played first base for the Rangers, Indians and San Diego Padres and Cleveland from 1974 to 1985 before managing the Indians (1991-99), Baltimore Orioles (2000-03) and Seattle Mariners (2005-07). "I go to quite a few of the Indians games, and I really find myself, especially when the Indians are losing, reaching the fourth or fifth inning and I'm ready to go home.
"Fifteen to 20 years ago, if a guy struck out 100-plus times, he really had a hard time breaking into a lineup. Anymore, someone strikes out 140 or 150 times, baseball takes it in stride. The language has gone to 'launch angle' and, to use an old term, it's like the s--thouse or the castle."


Speaking of those loftier heights, home runs, through the first week of August, accounted for 40.2 percent of all runs scored this season, according to Elias. Though that is down a tick from last year's 42.3 percent, this is the third consecutive season the number of runs scored on homers has been 40 percent or higher.
Even in 1961, an expansion season that featured the Roger Maris-Mickey Mantle assault on Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 homers, long balls accounted for only 33.4 percent of all runs scored. And 53 years later, in 2014, the figure was still the same, 33.4 percent.
The game has become rock 'em, sock 'em with room for little else. The average number of stolen base attempts per game has dropped to 1.37. That's the lowest per-game average since 1964 (1.17), according to Elias.
"There's an art to winning a game, and part of that is knowing what your responsibility is as a player and knowing what you can contribute to help your team win the game," retired manager Jim Leyland says. "Everybody can't hit a three-run homer."


Like Joe DiMaggio—who had more home runs than strikeouts in seven of his 13 MLB seasons—Albert Pujols has spent much of his career as a power threat whose control of the strike zone is exemplary. Pujols has never fanned as many as 100 times in a season, and in 2006 he slammed a career-high 49 homers while striking out only 50 times.
"Strikeouts always have been a part of the game I don't like," Pujols says. "If you can put the ball in play, you can help your team start a rally."


But he is an anomaly today.
"When you don't put the ball in play, you have no chance to get on base. Absolutely none, unless the catcher can't catch," Detroit manager Ron Gardenhire says. "The point of baseball is to get on base. I don't think that will ever change. But it's taking some knocks now."
Time after time in today's game, players insist on swinging for the fences. It is the path to riches—salary arbitration hearings and free-agent negotiations usually don't hinge on "productive outs" and other little things that help teams win. And across the game, clubs tolerate strikeouts in a way they once didn't.
Whiffs this season are at an all-time high, gobbling up 22.1 percent of all plate appearances. Through Sunday, 15 of 30 teams had more strikeouts than hits. Yet one of those teams was in first place (the Arizona Diamondbacks), and three others were in position to qualify for the postseason (the Phillies, Rockies and New York Yankees).
"I think you're seeing results of a couple of things over the years," says Pete Rose, who was signing autographs in the back of a Main Street baseball card shop in Cooperstown. "One, the number of ballparks it's a joke to pitch in. It's not really fair, to be honest with you. You think about [Baltimore's] Camden Yards and Philadelphia, Cincinnati. Houston's a joke—I mean they're world champions, but it's a joke to try to pitch there—Colorado, Arizona.
"You get tired of watching the highlights on MLB Network and ESPN because everybody hits a home run. Every hit is a home run."


Strikeouts, power pitchers and defensive shifts have conspired to keep batting averages low and diffuse old-fashioned rallies. Power is the biggest thing the Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout notices on both ends of an at-bat.


"Everyone's throwing 100 mph," Trout says. "When I first got into the league, there were just a couple of guys who threw 100: Aroldis Chapman and a couple of guys who closed ballgames.
"Now, you don't see anything under 93, 94."
What power bullpens aren't taking away, shifts are. Pujols and other sluggers lobby for the elimination of them, or, at least, significant modifications. Others simply shake their heads and say, guess what, hitters aren't powerless in this battle.
"If they had shifted me back in 1980, I would have hit .600," Hall of Famer George Brett says.
Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, observing how different the game is from his last season just six years ago, says, "It blows my mind that this is probably going to be the first year where you have more strikeouts than hits during a season." While that leaves him perplexed, so, too, does the shift—but for a different reason.
"I hear people complaining," he says. "Is this not a free enterprise? Can you not put those seven guys out there on the field wherever you want them?
"I would have welcomed somebody putting the shift on me because I would have inside-outed the heck out of them."
Is he surprised more hitters don't take that approach?
"It's not sexy, is it?" he says. "Chicks dig the long ball, still, as Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine used to say. And that's where all the money goes. The guy who's going to hit the measly singles and hit .300 is not going to get paid like the guy who hits .270 and 35 or 40 [homers]. It's unfortunate."


Former Mets right fielder Darryl Strawberry says if he were a hitting coach today: "I'd make my top hitters come to batting practice and hit the ball the other way. You're going to face those situations, and you've gotta be able to do that."
But in a game in which analytics has influenced every one of the 30 front offices, it's not that easy.
Unhappy as many are with it, there is a method to the numbers-crunching madness. Offensively, it emphasizes getting guys on base and keeping them there over taking risks with lower-percentage plays like the stolen base attempt and sacrifice bunt. And as teams have increasingly tried to combat the onslaught of offensive data with defensive shifts, many front offices prefer players hit over those unconventional defensive deployments—look for the home run—instead of veering from their strengths and going the other way, as Jones suggests.


Though the analytics movement gained traction with the famous Athletics' "Moneyball" teams in the early 2000s, it wasn't until those numbers started helping produce champions in Boston and Chicago and Houston that the rest of the league caught on in full. There are now templates for winning, based on mixing new-school computer science with old-school scouting, and until someone finds a different way, the game looks likely to continue down that strategic path.
Certainly, it's not by coincidence that old-school strategy has become as endangered as the black rhino.
"Part of why teams don't hit-and-run so much anymore is so many hitters swing and miss," San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy says. "The art is missing."


What has arisen in its place is the science, and that has changed how managers direct games. Last year, pitchers averaged just less than 5.2 innings per start, less than the 6.0 they pitched in 2010, according to Baseball America's J.J. Cooper. A large part of the reason can be traced to analytics, which has led the charge both toward pitch counts and the belief that two trips through an opposing lineup is plenty for a starting pitchers and a third time through comes with warning bells and booby traps. As a result, in addition to a pitching pool diluted over the years by expansion, marquee pitching matchups, historically one of the game's most attractive features, are disappearing, too. There are precious few Max Scherzers and Justin Verlanders.
Now, as baseball fights for its slice of the sports landscape among the ever-popular NFL and an NBA that fast-breaked right past it in popular culture years ago, MLB turns its games over to anonymous relievers by the middle innings. Mix in that some people think the games last too long, the increasing dead time contained within and baseball's continued struggle to market itself to new fans, and the challenges deepen.
"My problem with it really is that that's the way we're grooming [starting pitchers] in the minor leagues," Leyland says. "They throw 75 f--king pitches in the minor leagues. They say if they throw 75 they're OK, but if they throw 76 they're going to get hurt. Who the heck ever came up with that? It's ridiculous. They don't pitch innings.


"John Smoltz, Glavine, Maddux, they all pitched innings in the minor leagues. Now they've only got so many starts left because they're supposed to watch their innings? I don't buy any of that. They're supposed to f--king pitch."
Because of those strict pitch counts, starting pitchers often are not taught how—or given the chance—to pitch out of trouble in the minor leagues. A pitcher may reach the sixth inning and face a situation with one out and runners in scoring position, but if he's hit his pitch count, he's hooked.


"That's part of learning how to pitch," Leyland says. "You got yourself in a mess, now get out of it. Let's see if you can get out of it. I mean, I understand the investments. Believe me. But I think we're way too cautious. If something's going to happen with a pitcher, it's going to happen.
"The fact of the matter is, we're so cautious in the minor leagues that we're grooming five-inning pitchers to come to the big leagues. It's not worth s--t, in my opinion."
Then there's the "opener" that the Tampa Bay Rays introduced this year: starting a relief pitcher to help nurse a young starting pitcher deeper into a game. Designated relievers like Sergio Romo and Ryne Stanek handle the first and/or second innings so that the starter covers the second or third through, say, the sixth or seventh. The Rays have had enough success doing so that other clubs with young rotations are watching closely.


"It's really smart, but it's also really bad for baseball," Arizona starter Zack Greinke says. "It's just a sideshow. There's always ways to get a little advantage, but the main problem I have with it is you do it that way, then you'll end up never paying any player what he's worth because you're not going to have guys starting, you're not going to have guys throwing innings.
"You just keep shuffling guys in and out constantly so nobody will ever get paid. Someone's going to make the money, either the owners or the players. You keep doing it that way, the players won't make any money."
Meanwhile, as analytical business practices increasingly dominate in so many areas of the game, other areas suffer.
With roughly a third of teams "tanking"—or, at least, undergoing significant rebuilds—the playoff races this year are tepid at best. Four of the five playoff teams in the AL have pretty much been locks since May—Boston, New York, Cleveland and Houston. And in the awful American League Central, in which the Indians face no competition, the run differential is an incredible minus-366. No wonder attendance is down.


No element of the modern game has come under more public criticism, however, than instant replay, which many feel has stripped much of the natural byplay between managers and umpires, draining passion from games.
"As a participant and as a spectator, I enjoyed that part of the game," Hargrove says. "Slowly but surely, they're regulating emotion out of the game."


Says Gossage: "Used to be, umpires made a call and managers ran out of the dugout and threw bases and kicked dirt and brought everybody out of their seats whether you were for that team or against it. It was exciting. It had character. They're taking every bit of character there was in the game out of it."
Many of the game's former greats say the issue not only is one of process but of personnel, as well.
"I think if more people spoke out, there would be [pushback]," Gossage says. "I thought Joe Torre, when he went into the commissioner's office [as MLB's chief baseball officer in 2011], we'd have a good ally there. But money—you're collecting a paycheck. ... Coaches used to put a foot in your ass, and they had authority because they were hired for that job. Now, it's soft.
"They're going to have nerds in the dugout. And I've said it: If [Yankees general manager Brian] Cashman had any balls, he'd have done that a long time ago. Or he'd like to now. Put a nerd in uniform. Because anybody can manage today. There's 100 pitches, and then you start parading your 10 relievers in."
Rose echoes those thoughts: "I'd have probably gotten kicked out of every game in the third or fourth inning [today]. Fans every once in a while like a fight at the ballpark. Instead of helping someone up, kick dirt on him."
As the bullpen door opens again and again and the reliever merry-go-round spins each night, and as the minutes between balls in play pile up, there is ample time to worry about where baseball is headed.


"Over the last five years, we have seen more changes to the game than in the years prior," Tony Clark, the players' union chief, said at the All-Star Game. "All of that is concerning to the guys. They don't want to get to a place where the fans are no longer enjoying it and it's not engaging the next generation of fans.
"That combo platter is very concerning to them."
Gossage and many of his retired brethren think they know who's to blame.
"These guys are responsible for the demise of this game; they're single-handedly the guys ruining it," Gossage says of the administrators. "Hopefully, it still exists."
Exists? The game has been sturdy enough to withstand the test of time for more than a century, and with baseball at a crossroads now, that's about the only thing that's reassuring.
"When we were in Cooperstown at the induction," Hargrove says, "I looked around and saw people from every state, from foreign countries, Canada, and I looked at my wife and said, 'There are thousands and thousands of people in this town right now that really love baseball.'
"That made my heart happy."

[koz-man]

Kenley Jansen has become the seventh different Dodgers reliever to be tagged with a loss in the last 10 games. They lose to the Cardinals, 5-3.

[Otters27]

Many sports are in trouble as our society progresses

[BigSpoon]

Many sports are in trouble as our society progresses

Millennials and Gen Z's don't have the attention spans for baseball like previous generations.

[batt33]

Kenley Jansen has become the seventh different Dodgers reliever to be tagged with a loss in the last 10 games. They lose to the Cardinals, 5-3.

I like that stat!

[El Nino]

It let them down again last night.

Garbage team. Blow lead after lead. Wheels are falling off Verlander and Cole. They miss the playoffs.

[Chi_archie]

Millennials and Gen Z's don't have the attention spans for baseball like previous generations.

also a bit more to pay attention to these days compared to black and white tv days

[mr. leisure]

Garbage team. Blow lead after lead. Wheels are falling off Verlander and Cole. They miss the playoffs.

I think they make the playoffs but do nothing once they get there.

[mr. leisure]

Daniel Murphy traded to the Cubs .

[JMobile]

Daniel Murphy traded to the Cubs .

Wow...

[yisman]

Matt Adams went back to St. Louis for cash.

Also, Houston/Seattle is a battle of the bullpens. Neither team has a starting pitcher.

Peacock and Vincent are both relievers (Peacock hasn't started a game this season and Vincent hasn't started ever).

[ApricotSinner32]

These oakland a's can't be stopped man.

[mr. leisure]

Also, Houston/Seattle is a battle of the bullpens. Neither team has a starting pitcher.

Peacock and Vincent are both relievers (Peacock hasn't started a game this season and Vincent hasn't started ever).

They both pitched around two innings each .

[EmpireMaker]

Trade Candidates :

1. Andrew McCutchen, OF, Giants (placed on waivers; still pending): We’ve discussed him a fair bit of late — including in this poll on possible landing spots — so won’t go through all the details again here. Suffice to say that the Giants have good reason to send the veteran to a contender, at least if they have determined that they will not issue him a qualifying offer at season’s end. There’s about $3.23MM left on McCutchen’s contract between now and the end of the season, at which point he’ll be a free agent.
2. Curtis Granderson, OF, Blue Jays (cleared waivers): The 37-year-old Granderson is still owed about $1.1MM of his $5MM salary and has hit right-handers at a solid .245/.343/.440 clip with 11 home runs. He’s a renowned clubhouse presence who drew quality defensive marks in the outfield corners but has struggled a bit more in 2018. It’d be a surprise if the affable Granderson wasn’t moved to a contender looking to bolster its outfield mix and improve its output against right-handed pitching.
3. Sergio Romo, RHP, Rays: Romo’s return has proved fruitful for the Rays, who’ve received 54 1/3 innings of 3.48 ERA ball from Alex Colome’s replacement as the team’s closer. Romo briefly dabbled as an “opener” for Tampa Bay, but other clubs will likely view him as a late-inning reliever who can still miss bats at a high clip despite a lack of premium (or even league-average) velocity. Romo has 10.0 K/9 against just 2.9 BB/9 and has turned in a quality 12.9 percent swinging-strike rate despite averaging just 86.2 mph on his fastball. He’s playing on a $2.5MM base salary, with about $548K yet to be paid out.
4. Jose Iglesias, SS, Tigers (cleared waivers): Still owed $1.38MM of this season’s $6.275MM salary, Iglesias may be a bit pricey for a defensive specialist, but his glovework at shortstop has once again drawn excellent ratings. His bat hasn’t returned to its 2013-15 levels, but his offense is up from 2016-17 as well. In 436 PAs this year, Iglesias is slashing .265/.309/.389 with five homers, 29 doubles and three triples. He’s swiped 14 bags and can provide value on the basepaths as well.
5. Derek Holland, LHP, Giants: If the Giants are indeed willing to move McCutchen, then it can be argued that they should be similarly open to parting with Holland, who has been one of the best comeback stories of the 2018 season. The 31-year-old has tossed 134 1/3 innings of 3.75 ERA ball with quality peripherals: 9.2 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 1.07 HR/9, a 38.4 percent ground-ball rate and a 10.5 percent swinging-strike rate. He’s done that while playing on an extremely affordable $1.75MM base salary, which has about $384K left to be paid out.
6. Kelvin Herrera, RHP, Nationals: Herrera hasn’t pitched that well with the Nationals since being acquired in June, but he dominated with the Royals earlier this season and has a lengthy track record of strong relief work. The Nats have little reason to hang onto him until the end of the year after Tuesday’s moves, and while they won’t get back as much as they gave up, they could still salvage some prospect value or, at the very least save on the $1.7MM Herrera is owed through the end of the year. Herrera was on the disabled list for just under two weeks due to a seemingly minor shoulder issue, but he was activated Tuesday and pitched a perfect ninth inning against the Phillies.
7. Jerry Blevins, LHP, Mets: Blevins hasn’t allowed a run since the All-Star break and is sporting a 9-to-2 K/BB ratio across 8 2/3 innings in that time. He’s curiously been terrible against lefties this season while dominating righties — a strange reversal for a pitcher who has in the past thrived as a specialist. The Mets would presumably need to eat some of the remainder of his $7MM salary — he’s still owed about $1.5MM of that sum — but contenders are always on the hunt for lefty relievers this time of season. Even with this year’s struggles, Blevins’ track record should hold some appeal.
8. Gio Gonzalez, LHP, Nationals: The Nats have already shipped out a pair of useful veterans in Murphy and Adams, and while they hung onto Bryce Harper, Gonzalez isn’t likely to receive a qualifying offer and thus won’t bring back any compensation in free agency as Harper will if he leaves. (Nor, presumably, is re-signing him viewed as a similarly important priority.) Soon to turn 33, Gonzalez has had a decent season with a solid 8.0 K/9 mark and 47.1 percent ground-ball rate. He’s issuing too many walks but his 4.26 FIP paints a slightly better picture than his 4.51 ERA. Gonzalez is still owed $2.63MM of this year’s $12MM salary.
9. Derek Dietrich, 1B/2B/3B/OF, Marlins: Miami controls Dietrich beyond the 2018 season, so there’s no urgency to move him, but he’s a versatile player and an above-average bat against right-handed pitching who could deepen a contender’s bench. The Fish have played Dietrich at every infield position besides shortstop and in the outfield corners, and he’s hitting .282/.350/.441 against righties while earning a modest $2.9MM salary in 2018.
10. Logan Forsythe, 2B, Twins (cleared waivers): It’s doubtful that Forsythe’s surge since coming over from the Dodgers has made him a highly coveted commodity, but the 31-year-old’s .361/.418/.426 slash in 67 plate appearances still represents a much-needed sign of life. It’s generally been a terrible season for Forsythe, who hit only .207/.270/.290 in a part-time role with the Dodgers. There aren’t too many clubs looking for help at second base, though he’s played his fair share of third base and first base as well. He’s already cleared waivers, making him free to be dealt anywhere.
11. Marco Estrada, RHP, Blue Jays: The 35-year-old Estrada has been clobbered in three of his past four outings, but he’s still sporting a 4.00 ERA with 6.8 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9. As he typically does, Estrada is leading the league in an underrated pitching category, having induced 31 infield pop-ups this season — most in the game despite the fact that he doesn’t even currently qualify for the ERA title. He’s still owed about $3.2MM of his $13MM salary, so he’s a bit on the expensive side for a back-of-the-rotation arm, but he’d be a plausible starting piece for a team in need of arms down the stretch. The Mariners and A’s come to mind as potential fits.
12. Matt Harvey, RHP, Reds: Harvey was thought to have elevated his stock a bit with the Reds, but he apparently didn’t do so enough for the Reds to be offered any kind of prospect prior to the non-waiver deadline. He’s logged a 4.28 ERA with similar fielding-independent pitching marks since moving from Queens to Cincinnati, and his velocity, swinging-strike rate and chase rate have all taken a step forward since the trade. There’s little reason for the Reds to hang onto Harvey, who is still owed $1.26MM of this season’s $5.6MM salary, making a trade seem likelier than not.
13. Rene Rivera, C, Angels: The Halos recently activated Rivera from the disabled list, though they’re already out of the playoff picture. With Rivera playing on a one-year, $2.8MM contract and hitting well in his tiny sample of 70 plate appearances this season, he could appeal to a number of clubs as a potential backup. He has a tremendous defensive reputation and another 10 days or so to demonstrate his health in advance of a deal.
14. Tyler Clippard, RHP, Blue Jays: Clippard is averaging better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings for the fourth time in the past five seasons, but he’s more homer-prone than ever before (1.74 HR/9). His home park probably isn’t doing him any favors, but Clippard’s 20.7 percent ground-ball rate is also the worst of his career and the lowest of any MLB pitcher with at least 40 innings pitched. Clippard’s changeup has long made him effective against lefties, and he’s limited southpaw hitters to a .222/.260/.364 line in 2018.
15. Luis Avilan, LHP, White Sox: The Sox can control Avilan affordably through the 2019 season, but he’s somewhat quietly had a nice season after coming over in a three-team deal that also netted them Joakim Soria. The 29-year-old has a 3.86 ERA with 10.4 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9, and he’s allowed just two homers in 39 2/3 innings this season. He’s earning $2.45MM in 2018 and will earn a raise this winter via arbitration before becoming a free agent after the 2019 season.
16. Mark Reynolds, 1B, Nationals: With Adams and Murphy departing, Reynolds stands out as a reasonable bet to follow his former teammates out of D.C. He’s already made teams regret passing on him entirely in the offseason — Reynolds didn’t sign until taking a minors deal with the Nats in April — having batted .257/.339/.500 with 11 homers in 171 PAs. Contenders looking for some right-handed punch off the bench won’t find many better options than Reynolds.
17. Lucas Duda, 1B, Royals (cleared waivers): Kansas City has played Duda against left-handed pitching far more than it should have, with nearly 30 percent of his PAs coming against southpaws. His overall numbers are ugly as a result, but Duda is hitting .260/.327/.455 against right-handers in 2018 while earning just $3MM. Playoff hopefuls in search of some pop off the bench could do worse than a rental who is owed about $674K through season’s end. In many ways, he’s a cheaper form of Adams, who was claimed by the Cardinals earlier today.
18. Francisco Liriano, LHP, Tigers (cleared waivers): It’s doubtful that any contender would look at Liriano and see a potential rotation option, given his considerable struggles in that department in 2018. However, he’s held fellow lefties to an awful .141/.247/.239 slash through 81 plate appearances. If nothing else, that could make him an interesting lefty specialist option to use with expanded rosters in the month of September. He’s owed $877K of this year’s $4MM base salary.
19. Starlin Castro, 2B, Marlins (cleared waivers): Castro was reported to have cleared waivers earlier tonight, and while he’s still owed more than $14MM through the end of the 2019 season, he’s had a fairly productive first season in Miami. There aren’t many contenders looking for upgrades at second base, and the fact that he’s signed through 2019 might make an offseason deal more likely. Still, the Marlins will gauge interest over the remainder of the month.
20. Shin-Soo Choo, OF/DH, Rangers: It’d be a shock if any team took on a notable portion of Choo’s remaining contract — he’s earning $21MM in both 2019 and 2020 — but he’s undeniably had a resurgent year at the plate. If the Rangers are willing to pay down a substantial portion of the deal, perhaps a contending team would find his bat too appealing to overlook. Choo’s defensive shortcomings don’t do him any favors, though; he’s best-suited for a DH role and only occasional work in the outfield corners.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Many sports are in trouble as our society progresses

agreed, they are ruining sports with all these rule changes!

[Otters27]

Peavy the amout of money is also getting sport into trouble

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Peavy the amout of money is also getting sport into trouble

not sure what you mean by that otters?

baseball and football are both completely different games nowadays compared to 10-20 years ago...basketball as well.

[koz-man]

Daniel Murphy traded to the Cubs .

Smart move by the Cubbies...

[batt33]

Giants Posey looking at season ending hip surgey.......about time hasn't been swinging well since before the all star break.

[El Nino]

Daniel Murphy traded to the Cubs .

Not very hot this year but if he heats up in the playoffs...look out.