Andrew Heaney is slated to start against the Mariners on Jackie Robinson Day. This is not the April 15 version but the August 28 anniversary of Jackie signing his contract with the Dodgers I am talking about. Luis Rengifo was sent down to the minors on Wednesday. I am not sure what to make of that. Julio Teheran is back out of the doghouse but he is not back into the rotation yet. As people have noted in comments, Shohei Ohtani is getting some workouts in the outfield.
News From Around Baseball
As we said yesterday, we’ve changed the no politics rule. Most of the news once again concerns the protests. Please keep the comments baseball-related. Baseball itself is still trying to figure out what to do with the various forms of protest that are going on. At first it appeared Rob Manfred was trying to figure out how to make a statement in the least convenient manner possible. Later it turned out that it was actually Jeff Wilpon’s stupid idea, not that of Rob Manfred. And then the Wilpons throw Brodie Van Wagenen under the bus.
MLB in general tried to say the right kinds of things, notwithstanding the awkward ideas being floated by Jeff Wilpon/Rob Manfred/BVW (because who knows at this point). The Players Alliance will be donating their MLB salaries on Jackie Robinson Day to social justice charities. The Dbacks and Rockies players in general are in a donating frame of mind as well. This article doesn’t specify if it was for Thursday’s game or the Jackie Robinson Day game. They must have Friday’s game in mind.
It looks like the majority of the Thursday games didn’t get played. In all, at least seven games were postponed on Thursday. Wednesday night the Mets eventually did play and Dominic Smith made emotional statements both on and off the field. Thursday, they didn’t. The Mets took the field and held a moment of silence, yet even on a day that should have been about the expression, their front office still managed to mess it up.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Last night I realized I have to do something profoundly against all I hold dear: root for Boston to win more games than the Angels.
This Rocker kid projected to go #1 better be worth it. Don’t think there are enough showers possible to rinse off the shame of being happy about a Sux win.
I really do believe this team can turn things around fairly quickly, with a new GM / president of operations (and the necessary accompanying analytics team), a #1 pick, and a few savvy sell-off trades this year.
I don’t agree with that assertion at all.
This team’s best players are mostly over 27 yrs old and from somewhere else. We’ll be in a lot of trouble again two yrs from now ( Rendon & Trout will both be over 30 and might become injury prone as most older players do ). BTW Dombrowski built the Detroit Tigers from ground zero scratch in the 2000’s and they got to two World Series appearances on his watch. The 2018 Boston Red Sox weren’t the only team he has fingerprints on.
But not to worry……Arte’s cheap, and Dombrowski’s 65 yrs old and will probably want a lot of money to do what he did in Boston ( win now! ).
No you don’t, brother. Just root for the Angels to lose all of their remaining games. There, saved you some soap, and conserved water too.
Thanks, my friend.
Here’s a surprisingly critical article on Eppler from Maria Torres, who’s on the LA Times’ beat. In it, Eppler laments the free agent market for one-year players. It also seems a foregone conclusion that he will not be extended come winter.
“Eppler will spend the next few days fielding calls and trying to ensure the long-term viability of the team. All while coming to grips with the probability that nothing he does will save his job.”
I just really, really hope we don’t go from Eppler to Dombrowski. Please, Arte – look at player development leaders in the Dodgers or Rays organization.
I’m really liking what KC is doing drafting and developing arms. JJ Piccolo is the leading candidate for me
Here’s a good look at who the Angels could trade at the deadline from Fabian (The Athletic, $).
Insightful story about diversity in broadcast booths around MLB, also from The Athletic.
A fan who believes that analytics is drowning out real player personnel scouts who can tell what a real player is supposed to do and not just look at a spreadsheet. Like Billy Eppler and Paul DePodesta!!! Billy Eppler’s alleged expertise was in scouting veteran players ( like bartolo colon…..LOL!!! ) not raw undeveloped kids. NO WONDER WHY HE’S NOT COMPETENT. GRADY FUSON WAS RIGHT…..Not everybody knows what we know! Billy Eppler is not a baseball man. 😖
Taking the past idiocy of Manfred into account, I’m going to say that BVM was correct the first time when he stated that manfred was behind the start the game an hour later. I think MLB heard the feed and came down hard on The Mets to quick, change the narrative. Manfred makes me miss Selig more everyday.
l never thought that anything could do more harm to Major League Baseball than the strikes of 81-82 and 94-95, l was wrong. This season is bad enough with the fact that Covid-19 has turned things upside down along with social and economic issues and 2 political parties that are clueless and business’ closing at alarming rates (mine included) but MLB is looking like it has no leadership at all. Rule changes that are insane, our team is so messed up we may (or may not) get one of the top 2 draft choices. That does not count in the fact nobody can go to the Big A without coming away with the virus. And here l thought that nothing could get worse in the world than living through 1968 which in retrospect was a wonderful year in comparison.
Can we just force-sell the Mets already and move the Wilpons to Montreal?
#1 on the purchase list is JLo and ARod, Makes sense that MLB owners would find this acceptable in that FRod lied so much about using steroids or not using steroids and putting up ridiculous numbers because he like Bonds and so many others just flat out cheated. Yup add cheaters to the roster of owners just figures. Between the owners and the Commissioner a oiece of MLB is taken from the foundation of the league every single day.
Jeff Wilpon said how Manfred will always be remembered: “At a leadership level he doesn’t get it. He just doesn’t get it.”
We are the worst team in baseball! Obviously that’s usually met poorly, but it puts us in prime position to draft Kumar. Considering we desperately need high-ceiling young pitching talent .. let’s hope we just continue to lose games, eh?
I’m really unsure if I can trust Manfred to come out and say, “2021 draft order is reverse 2020 standings.” I’m expecting a subversion any day now.
Would be nice if this were to be said after the Angels go on their inevitable September winning streak…
You mean the one where the Angels finish two games out of playoffs and we wish Ohtani hadn’t pitched those 2 games, or Rendon had been available at the start of the season?