[ApricotSinner32]

I'm getting dunked today the orioles never seem to amaze me.

[EmpireMaker]

Phillies slugger Rhys Hoskins has enlisted agent Scott Boras to represent him moving forward, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports (via Twitter).
It’s a high-profile addition for the Boras Corporation, as Hoskins has quickly emerged as one of the game’s top home run hitters since debuting last August. Through 817 career plate appearances, Hoskins is a .253/.368/.529 hitter with 49 home runs and 41 doubles already under his belt.
The Phils have been playing Hoskins in left field this season following the signing of Carlos Santana to a three-year contract this offseason, though defensive ratings have been unkind, to say the least. Defensive Runs Saved pegs Hoskins at a whopping -25, while Ultimate Zone Rating (-11.5) and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (-18) are similarly bearish on the former first baseman’s glovework at his new position.
Hoskins won’t be arbitration-eligible until after the 2020 season, and he won’t reach free agency until the completion of the 2023 campaign. The move to the Boras Corporation is of particular note for Phils fans, though, given the rarity of multi-year extensions for Boras clients prior to reaching free agency. While there are some notable exceptions (Jered Weaver, Carlos Gonzalez, and Carlos Gomez among them), Boras clients typically don’t sign away free-agent seasons in advance.

[batt33]

Dodgers going to win the West...barf.

they seem to do a good job at winning the division........Money well spent?

[jrgum3]

Damn Chris Taylor with the Walkoff homer in the 10th. I think this series will end up being the beginning of the end for the Rockies.

[BigSpoon]

I'm getting dunked today the orioles never seem to amaze me.

They set the record for most losses in team history with 108 last night. The worst team in Orioles history in 2018.

[Chi_archie]

They set the record for most losses in team history with 108 last night. The worst team in Orioles history in 2018.

with tons of room to spare

[JMobile]

Damn Chris Taylor with the Walkoff homer in the 10th. I think this series will end up being the beginning of the end for the Rockies.

I told you guys but you never believe my prophecy about the Dodgers.

[koz-man]

David Price vs Yankees tonight .
Price’s 1.56 ERA after the All-Star Break leads the AL.
The Red Sox are 8-1 in his 9 starts in the 2nd half.

[El Nino]

they seem to do a good job at winning the division........Money well spent?

Yep. Buying divisions.

[yisman]

Arizona not eliminated but Lovullo must think they are. He's sitting everyone today against the Cubs.

Or maybe he has Cubs futures.

[ApricotSinner32]

David Price vs Yankees tonight .
Price’s 1.56 ERA after the All-Star Break leads the AL.
The Red Sox are 8-1 in his 9 starts in the 2nd half.

Good luck today gentleman....

[EmpireMaker]

Sept. 19: Oakland announced that Manaea underwent a subacromial decompression, acromioplasty and posterior labral repair today. There’s no indication that his timetable is any more favorable than it was when Melvin announced the surgery last week.
Sept. 11, 4:22pm: The news on Manaea’s timeline is brutal, as manager Bob Melvin now tells reporters that the expectation is that Manaea will miss an entire year (Twitter links via Jane Lee of MLB.com and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). The team will know more after the surgery, but that early estimate is a crushing reality for the upstart A’s, who may now be without their most talented starter for the entirety of the 2019 season.
2:17pm: The Athletics announced today that lefty Sean Manaea will undergo surgery on his pitching shoulder. He had been on the disabled list since late August with what was then labeled as an impingement.
Certainly, the procedure will be expected to keep Manaea sidelined for the remainder of the 2018 season. Beyond that, though, it’s not clear what to expect. The organization says that it “will provide further details after the surgery.”
While it had become increasingly clear of late that Manaea would not make it back late this year, this is still a particularly disappointing way to wrap things up. We’ll need to wait to learn more about the prognosis, but shoulder surgeries are always of particular concern for pitchers.
Manaea had turned in 161 2/3 innings of 3.59 ERA pitching this year, helping spur a remarkable run for the Oakland ballclub. To be sure, his peripherals weren’t quite as exciting. With 6.0 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, and a 44.0% groundball rate, ERA estimators viewed him more as a quality rotation piece than a front-end starter (4.26 FIP, 4.33 xFIP, 4.46 SIERA).
Despite the questions, the 26-year-old is an indisputably talented and valuable pitcher. He’s slated to qualify for arbitration this coming offseason as a Super Two player, so missing some time late in the year will put a bit of a dent in his earnings. Still, with 464 MLB frames of sub-4.00 ERA pitching already under his belt, Manaea ought to earn well through the arb process.

[BarkingToad]

David Price vs Yankees tonight .
Price’s 1.56 ERA after the All-Star Break leads the AL.
The Red Sox are 8-1 in his 9 starts in the 2nd half.

That should change when playoffs come.

[Otters27]

Price chase out in the 6th after the Homer.

[Chi_archie]

Price will be interesting

[Cross]

Cubs get a day off, what a run of consecutive days. Not bad going 18-11 playing every single day in many different cities.

[El Nino]

That should change when playoffs come.

Yep, he's a turd in the huge games. SOFT.

[koz-man]

Yasiel Puig left Tuesday's game early because his home was burglarized (for the fourth time since spring training of 2017).

He tried to make it back to the game before it ended, but there was too much traffic. "My pilot's not home," he said. "He's on vacation."

[BigSpoon]

Yasiel Puig left Tuesday's game early because his home was burglarized (for the fourth time since spring training of 2017).

He tried to make it back to the game before it ended, but there was too much traffic. "My pilot's not home," he said. "He's on vacation."

He should move to a new place. Gated community or a condo with 24hr security.

[JMobile]

He should move to a new place. Gated community or a condo with 24hr security.

He has a gate but I know he could afford a gated community bigger house.

[yisman]

Rhys Hoskins is so bad defensively, but man he can hit

[batt33]

21-3 you would think that's a football score...nope A's Beat the angels ......just covering the over..

[EmpireMaker]

Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press examines the aftermath of a brutal season for Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer. The results are hard to deny. As Fenech puts it, Fulmer has gone “from being the most important trade piece of the Tigers’ rebuild … to a missed opportunity.” Of course, there were reasons that the team elected not to move off of the big price tag it placed on the young hurler, as Fenech explores while noting it’d be unfair to use hindsight to say the Tigers “should” have traded Fulmer sooner. As things stand, it seems the Detroit organization will pay Fulmer his arbitration salary for 2019 (as a Super Two) and hope he can regain his standing. After all, he’s still controlled for four full seasons, and a vintage first half or even a strong full season would likely serve to quickly rebuild some of Fulmer’s stock.
Elsewhere in the AL Central…

• Jake Depue of 1500 ESPN takes a look at some of the 40-man roster decisions the Twins will have to make in advance of the Rule 5 Draft this offseason. Nick Gordon stands out at the most obvious minor leaguer in need of protection, but the Twins will also need to clear roster space for names like outfielder LaMonte Wade, infielder Luis Arraez and relievers Jake Reed and Tyler Jay, among others. However, with four free agents (Ervin Santana, Logan Forsythe, Matt Belisle, Chris Gimenez) and several non-tender/outright candidates on the fringes of the roster at present, Minnesota should have a fair bit of flexibility as that early offseason deadline approaches.
• Both Adalberto Mondesi and Ryan O’Hearn have been impressing with the Royals lately, Jesse Newell of the Kansas City Star writes. Mondesi, in particular, is the focus of the column, with manager Ned Yost and quality control coach Pedro Grifol (via Yost) weighing in on the improvements in the second-generation infielder’s improvements. “I just think he’s really, really talented,” Yost said of Mondesi, noting that the organization is pleased and feels he’s improved in “all phases of his game.” Mondesi has indeed been a bright spot in a bleak Kansas City season — MLBTR’s Jeff Todd just recently listed him as the primary silver lining for the Royals — as he’s shown a promising blend of speed, power and defense. Mondesi, who homered again tonight, is now hitting .290/.316/.496 with 11 homers, 26 steals and quality defensive marks at both shortstop (+2 DRS, +2 UZR) and second base (+3 DRS, +1.7 UZR). O’Hearn may not have garnered as much attention, but the 25-year-old first baseman is sporting a ridiculous .272/.372/.632 slash and 11 homers through his first 145 MLB plate appearances (albeit while showing some enormous platoon splits in that small sample).

[BarkingToad]

Yasiel Puig left Tuesday's game early because his home was burglarized (for the fourth time since spring training of 2017).
"

While this is bad, why did he have to leave the game? Especially since this has happened multiple times and Dodgers are in chase for playoffs. I'm sure a game check would have more than covered any losses and a good security system.

[Chi_archie]

4 burgleries?

can't he afford some security guards?

[El Nino]

4 burgleries?

can't he afford some security guards?

Spent it all on gold chains, son.

[Cross]

Addison Russell needs to go. What a piece of shit.

[BigSpoon]

Addison Russell needs to go. What a piece of shit.

Don't think we'll see him in uniform for the rest of regular season and playoffs.

[koz-man]

Terry Francona says Josh Donaldson is DH'ing tonight and then he'll have him play back-to-back games at 3B over the weekend.

[ApricotSinner32]

Orioles gonna win another game the rest of the season?????

[JMobile]

Dodgers playing the Padres this weekend. Looks like a sweep.

[batt33]

Giants.......throwing up a fight against the cards...bochy managing like their in a play off race.

[jrgum3]

Terry Francona says Josh Donaldson is DH'ing tonight and then he'll have him play back-to-back games at 3B over the weekend.

Maybe we got a preview of what will happen in the playoffs with Donaldson taking Red Sox pitching deep. The Indians lineup is scary but I don't know if they have enough pitching to win it all.

[EmpireMaker]

While the Phillies are all but eliminated and sit just 1.5 games ahead of the Nats, they hung in the race longer and the 2018 season represented a big step forward nevertheless. Accordingly, we won’t go looking for silver linings in Philadelphia. But we will look at the three worst-performing clubs in the division, including one organization that was rebuilding from the start along with two of the most disappointing teams in baseball this year.
Nationals: Young Outfielders
With Bryce Harper mired in a curious slump for much of the season’s first half, and top-of-the-order dynamo Adam Eaton again on the shelf with ankle issues, the Nationals – a paragon of ignominy and disappointment over the past few seasons – turned for an offensive boost to an unlikely source: 19-year-old Juan Soto, who entered the season with just 301 professional plate appearances, none of which had come above the Low-A level. Soto responded in a way few rookies – and virtually zero teenagers – have, slashing .297/.410/.518 after his May 15th call-up and carrying the club offensively through much of the summer. Soto’s seemingly slump-proof output has been buttressed by an insanely high 16.1% BB rate and a preternatural ability, for a left-handed hitter, to handle same-side arms: his 145 wRC+ ranks third among all major league hitters with at least 100 PA in left-on-left matchups. With Harper set to hit free agency after this season and sign perhaps the richest deal in major league history, Washington has insured itself beyond its wildest hopes: a true star, shining vibrantly before their eyes (for years to come, at a bargain rate of pay).
Though it was somewhat of a lost season for Washington’s most heralded prospect entering the 2018 campaign, 21-year-old Victor Robles, a consensus top-5 prospect among major outlets, offers another ray of hope for a franchise in desperate need of a spark as it transitions toward a future without many of its past stars. Robles, who missed a good chunk of the season with a hyperextended elbow, slashed just .278/.356/.386 in limited action for Triple-A Syracuse, though he did steal 14 bases in just 40 games for the Chiefs. The product of the Dominican Republic garners effusive praise for his work on defense, with MLB.com lauding his ’exceptional range and instincts’ and ’off-the-charts athleticism.’ Despite the tepid output at the plate in ’18, Robles still projects as a plus hitter with a chance for above-average power.
With those two cornerstones in place, a healthy Adam Eaton, baserunning whiz Trea Turner – whose 40 steals in 49 attempts have catapulted him to 4.2 fWAR, good for 2nd among all National League shortstops – and Anthony Rendon, perhaps the league’s most unheralded star, the revamped Nationals offense appears to yet again be a strength as the team prepares for the ’19 campaign.
Mets: Rotation Core
The Mets, who began the season in ecstasy and will end it in despair, had few bright spots on the offensive side of the ball this year. Young lynchpins Amed Rosario and Michael Conforto have had, at best, uneven seasons (albeit with generally promising finishes), and high-profile offseason signings Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier offered little in the way of amends. Brandon Nimmo’s newfound power stroke was a pleasant surprise, but for the most part, New York relied far too heavily on ineffective veterans and underperforming youngsters.
The rotation, however, was a different story. Jacob deGrom, currently on pace for the third lowest ERA in franchise history at 1.78, is in the midst of an historic streak, having allowed 3 ER or fewer in 27 consecutive starts, the longest such streak in major league history. DeGrom, who turned 30 in June, is under control through the 2020 season and could be a prime trade chip for a franchise in desperate need of an overhaul. Of course, all indications are that the Mets don’t want to part with their best player. As for Noah Syndergaard, the man they call Thor has turned in another stellar season. Even if he failed to produce results quite as dominant as some might wish, he finished with 9.30 K/9 against 2.39 BB/9 and again limited homers at an elite rate. Syndergaard’s age (26) and remaining years of team control (3) make him nearly as attractive a trade piece as DeGrom, though health is perhaps something of an ongoing question. Thor’s career FIP- (park- and league-adjusted Fielding Independent Pitching) of 67 ranks 17th all-time among hurlers and trails only the late Jose Fernandez and Clayton Kershaw among qualified starting pitchers.
Of course, those two hurlers were expected to perform. Even as Matt Harvey foundered and ended up departing, the Mets found a hugely valuable piece in a rather unexpected place. Former top prospect Zack Wheeler, whose early-career success was interrupted by a brutal run of injuries, enjoyed a renaissance as the summer progressed – turning the corner from poor results last year and early in 2018. Wheeler exhibited much-improved command, evidenced by a career-best 2.71 BB/9, which allowed him to compile 4.2 fWAR – easily eclipsing his career total over parts of three seasons with New York. Even Steven Matz, who struggled for much of the season’s first half, has turned in six consecutive quality starts while lowering his ERA to 4.03, and, perhaps more importantly, has bucked the injury bug that’s bit him routinely throughout his 9-year professional career.
The prospective new regime in New York will have much to consider in their first few months on the job, not least of which will be the fate of their talented young hurlers. Wheeler, 28, will enter Free Agency after the 2019 season and is the most likely candidate to be dealt, but a full-scale sell-off would go a long way toward replenishing a top-heavy farm and big league roster that shows more atrophy than promise. DeGrom and Syndergaard would, without question, net franchise-altering returns, but are they moves that ownership (with a new front office regime expected) will be willing to make? The winter of 2018 promises to be a fascinating one in the Big Apple.
Marlins: Superstar catcher
In a season with perhaps the lowest league-wide expectations since, well, the one following the last Marlins firesale, the new Miami regime had little to look forward to in 2018, and, as it turned out, even less to smile about.
The pitching staff was an unmitigated disaster, with 29 hurlers combining to post a 127 ERA- through the season’s first 152 games, easily the worst mark in MLB. Signs of life were scarce, though offseason acquisition Caleb Smith did strike out 10.24 batters per nine across 16 starts, showcasing a live fastball and a slider that ranked among the league’s best. And Trevor Richards, signed out of the independent Frontier League in July of 2016, rode a devastating changeup throughout the minors to the big league rotation in ’18, where poor command and a propensity for the gopher ball led to a 4.95 ERA mark through 23 starts, though he has struck out over a batter per nine as well.
Things weren’t much rosier on the offensive side, where just four regulars posted league-average or above batting lines. One of those players, rookie Brian Anderson, has ridden a .268/.351/.391 line and stellar UZR marks to a 3.0 fWAR total thus far in ’18, though his DRS totals are far less generous. Top prospect Lewis Brinson has posted a putrid .201/.241/.350 line to this point, and minor leaguers Monte Harrison, Isan Diaz, and Magneuris Sierra – key prospect returns in offseason deals that sent away Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich – each struggled mightily at their respective minor league stops in ’18.
But J.T. Realmuto, the Marlins’ 4th-year catcher, has established himself as the premier backstop in the game. His .282/.347/.497 mark thus far is good for a 131 wRC+ in spacious Marlins Park, easily pacing MLB catchers offensively. And Realmuto is a well-regarded defender and overall athlete. After back to back 3.5+ fWAR seasons leading up to the 2018 campaign, Realmuto has raised the bar even further this season, posting 4.9 fWAR in just 118 games behind the dish. His 12.4 fWAR since the beginning of the ’16 season is tops among major league catchers, and with the Marlins still in the nascent stages of a wall-to-wall rebuild, he enters the offseason as one of the most coveted trade candidates in all of baseball. While the Fish have only two more seasons of control to sell, they’ll come at fairly affordable rates. And contending teams in search of a big move will be hard pressed to acquire a similarly appealing alternative behind the dish.

[koz-man]

Craig Kimbrel with his 42nd save of the season, matching Derek Lowe (2000) for second-most in franchise history. Unlikely to break Tom Gordon's record of 46 this year (1998).