The Houston Astros moved five players to the injured list yesterday without specifying why, although their General Manager later said it had to do with health and safety protocols. Jon Heyman says the Astros have at least one known potential COVID-19 positive player. Apparently, Dusty Baker said that all five had had at least one COVID-19 vaccination shot. There is no word as to how many days ago they got their shots. Andrelton Simmons is also on the COVID-19 list. I guess we won’t be seeing him when the Twins come to town.
Angels Links
Josέ Rojas finally got his first Major League hit.
The Angels early great start earned them a very positive write-up in this article.
Spoiler alert: the Angels should acquire a front-line starter before the trade deadline.
Fangraphs presented a detailed retrospective of Jim Fregosi as an Angel.
Links From Around Baseball
Over 100 players will donate their salary on Jackie Robinson Day (today) to the Players Alliance’s Breaking Barriers campaign. That’s what the body of the article says. The title says the players are donating to the Jackie Robinson Foundation. In any event, a bunch of money is getting donated.
Yadier Molina became the first catcher to catch 2,000 games with the same team.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Where are the roster moves?
Yeah, I want to know too!
Harry Wendelstadt was the Blue when Dick Dietz a giants catcher came to bat against Don Drysdale during Don’s 58 2/3 innings of scoreless pitching and then record. Bases were loaded and a Drysdale pitch appeared to hit Dietz which would have broke the scoreless streak, but Harry evoked that rule that says the batter must attempt to get out of the way. Giants manager Herman Franks went nuts as did Dick Dietz but Harry was unmoved and Dietz, well he made the third out of the inning.
Seattle has swept Baltimore so the Ms are in first place. I wonder if there’s a site that would list each team, for each season, and how long they were in 1st place. As I recall, over the last few seasons our total was zero.
Anyone else thing Perez could have easily moved his back foot last night and left his toe there to spoil the perfect game?
Normally when a slider is heading towards a guy’s foot he’ll move it. Especially down 8-0.
Propos to Rodon for handling the moment with class and completing the no hitter. But I’ve lost respect for Perez.
Disagree Jeff. Why should Perez help Rodon get a Perfect Game?
He’s trying to get on base. He did. Now, if he had laid down a bunt trailing 8-0, then THAT be Bush League. But I have no issue with Perez for not moving his foot.
Moving the foot would have been done under almost any other scenario. I’m not asking Perez to do something differently last night than he would have in pretty much every other game.
I guess that’s what irked me. Had there been 2 hits already, Perez saves his toe there.
Some of these things are a gray area too. I remember many years ago when a Giants player laid down a bunt against a Padres pitcher in a game at Petco Park. I think it was the 8th inning, and of course the San Diego pitcher had a no no going. The batter DID beat the bunt out for a hit, and a fight insued.
The thing there (and context is incredibly important) is that is was a 1 run game and the Giants were trailing. They were trying to win the game. I can’t blame a batter for trying to get on base ANY way possible when he is trying to help his team win. The Padres were furious, but they were wrong.
There is often a double-standard with these unwritten rules of baseball. More glaringly it comes up when a manager gets angry when an opponent steals a base or swings on a 3-0 pitch when his team is up big in late innings. The problem with getting bent out of shape when that happens is that big comebacks DO occasionally occur. Is the team in the lead supposed to stop trying?? That puts them at a competitive disadvantage and potentially helps the trailing team.
The thing is that the manager who complains about his opponent “disrespecting the game” hasn’t ordered his team to stop trying to score runs! If the losing team just went up there and took strikes to get the game over that would be one thing. But that doesn’t happen.
In summary, there is alot of hypocrisy. You can’t tell one team to take it easy when the other team is trying their hardest to come back.
As I recall, Aybar did the same thing to VerWhiner.
Agreed with both you and Floyd’s scenarios. Those were both close games, though.
Down 8-0 in the 9th? Have to squint real hard to see a way for a comeback there.
Personally, I’d feel like a punk if I took a guy’s perfecto the way Perez did. I’d want a hit on the next pitch. Take it legitimately and let him always remember me as the guy who got a hit that night.
The unwritten rules are stupid and should have been tossed long ago. Thankfully the newer generation of players are slowly but surely phasing them out.
There’s also a huge difference in showing up your opponents in lower levels like HS and college, where massive talent disparity exists amongst amateurs. But this is the big leagues. If Rodon wanted a perfect game, then he shouldn’t have located his slider there. I have no issue at all with Perez taking that HBP.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with bunting at any time. Crazier comebacks have happened.
I tend to agree, but I guarantee you that most of the time you would have an angry manager and players if their opponent bunted to brake-up a no-hitter. I don’t agree with that anger but you would see it.
There you see it.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/787630-mlb-opinion-aybar-perfectly-right-to-bunt-on-verlander
And if a team defensively shifts its players against a lefty in the 9th inning of a potential no-hitter, that hitter is supposed to ignore the wide open 3rd base line and NOT ever bunt? Stupid stupid.
I put that on the umpires. Under the official rules, a batter must try to avoid being hit by a pitch or the pitch counts as a ball rather than an automatic trip to 1B.
It’s just one of those rules that is blatantly ignored.
On the other hand, having just watched the video, I’m not persuaded Perez intentionally let it hit him. He was starting to swing and shift his weight. I think if he tried to move his foot before it hit him he would have fell on his face.
That was a bad pitch. Rodon blew the perfect game all by himself.
Damn, no game on Jackie Robinson day 😞
Cheap Arte didn’t want to fit the bill for 42 Jerseys
“Foot” the bill.
Only if the shoe fits.
Maybe he would’ve since JR wasn’t a starting pitcher!! 😆
Well Cheap Arte isn’t getting off the hook that easy because the Angels & Twins as well as the umpires for tomorrow nights game will all be wearing no 42 jerseys. Maybe Arte gets a deal on day old jerseys?
Interesting article on Jim Fregosi at above link. As a teen my family moved from SoCal to the coast of New Hampshire. So being used to listening to Vinny I listened to the Red Sox and became a Red Sox fan. My Dad would take us in the summer of ’66 the see the team at Fenway Park. Nobody have to sit next to anyone as being in last there were very few who wanted to pay to watch them. But I fell in love with Tony Conigliaro. Then 1967 happened and the Halo’s were one of 5 teams in the American League in the hunt through July with Twins, White Sox. Detroit, and the Red Sox. The last weekend the R/S had to beat the twins and needed help by the Angels to knock out the Tigers, and both did what they needed to do to send the R/s to the World Series.
Like Trouty, Fregosi started young and was the best SS in MLB. At the time my parents left New Hampshire in mid August to move the the beach , back in SoCal and games at the Big A for about 3 weeks, but all the while rooting for Boston. Angels were on the road if I remember correctly when playing the Tigers. I was shocked when they traded Jim to Mets for Nolan Ryan, but it worked out.
Okay – question. Do we know whether the Astros player who is suspected to be Covid positive was vaccinated? It sounds like they moved 5 players to the IL for being exposed to the suspected Covid-positive player and that those 5 had received at least one vaccination. But what about the player whom they believe has Covid – was he vaccinated?
Good question. Unless that individual says it’s ok or comes out and say it themselves, I suspect HIPPA won’t allow us to know
I’ll admit that it’s for my own knowledge. I’ve heard about fully vaccinated people still getting Covid in rare situations – but those were only rumors and I have not seen evidence of that.
Just heard that 12 people in LA county have tested positive AFTER having been fully vaccinated. But that is out of 1.7 million of fully vaccinated. So the odds are really long that you would get it. But it is possible.
I wonder how many contracted it either before their first shot and then tested positive after, or between doses.
Good question. Because of the hibernation period I suppose it is possible some had it or got it between shots. But the point is that getting vaccinated is not 100% guaranteed protection.
It definitely isn’t, but I’ll take the 94% being touted, though.
Yep.
For sure
Everyone on this site would take the Angels on a 94% win season
Considering your age and general health probably equate to a 1 in 100,000 chance of severe problems, being 94% protected from that is more than enough.
I’m just so thankful my mom is fully vaccinated. Her odds of bad stuff are way higher.
Well, 60% of the time, my vaccine works every time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjvQFtlNQ-M
Real world stats show 90% effectiveness for both Pfizer and Moderna.
That leaves room for a LOT of people to get infected despite the vaxxes. Also, yea: you need 10-14 days to have all those antibodies up and buzzing at full strength.
Interesting Q (to me, anyway): vaccine hesitancy is moderate-strongly predicted by a person’s politics. I recently saw that 40% of Marines have declined the vax. Pro athletes are as “conservative” and “macho” as they come, so I suspect vax hesitancy is rampant in MLB. I was sad to read about Simba. I hope he comes out okay. Jayson Tatum of the Celtics got sick, is playing again, but told reporters it’s rough and he’s needed an inhaler.
I’d like to see guys like Trout allow the media to film him getting the shot; I don’t care what your politics are, I just want as many as possible to get vaxxed so we can start to truly get out of this effing nightmare.
And it hasn’t been touted as such. Pfizer and Moderna make you about 19 times less likely to get COVID (at least according to the trial data) than if you don’t get the vaccine. J & J was about 4 times less likely than not getting the vaccine. The more people vaccinated means the less likely everyone is to get COVID. If we eliminate 19 out of every 20 infections through vaccination, then there would be very few people actually transmitting the disease.
The point isn’t to make me immune to Covid. The point is to make the pool Covid can exist in much much shallower so it dies out…. for now. Being basically a cold virus, we get to look forward to all this bullshit panic again in the near future when Covid 23 comes around.
Sure it is possible. The success rate on none of the COVID-19 vaccines is 100%. But it is highly unlikely.
Well, it’s 12 out of 1.7 million. We should probably shut the state down again. Time for burnt ochre tier till our deliverables meet the true north of the most optimal thundercats of equitable dispersals for basic human benchmarks of synergy and dimmer switches set to all systems under curves of safe French Laundry and post Haitian donation.
I am afraid that we will be going through this all again not too long from now.
It’s the “True North Star” I think…….
and you forgot about “meeting the moment”.
Oh no. There are plenty of golden political glop speak nuggets I saved for later. So. So. Many. I just don’t feel any trewenshababana prezurr to roll them all out now.
But I NEED to know. Everyone’s business is my business. I literally spend eight hours a day asking people about their poop and snot, then making them wear a mask…. outdoors. I think privacy should pretty much always be left on the side of the road to die if someone somewhere is worried about something and wants to know stuff about people hundreds of miles away. Because data. Damn the the hippos! If you care about people you will let me put my regulations all over you.
Only the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Ha!
I figure it’s a Boras client because Heyman knew about it.
Dang! If Seattle beats Baltimore today they’ll tie us for first in the AL West. The Angels seriously have to beat up on Minnesota and Texas. Let’s hope for some decent roster moves.
Any expectations beside Ward and Schebler?
Mayfield has been optioned to the alt. training site. I think that means Ward for sure.
Or Rengifo.
Surprised Jay hasn’t been optioned yet. Interesting options on the table.
We need RF and 3B. Ward plays both and hit pretty well this Spring. Schebler plays RF and hit well this Spring.
Rengifo plays none but would allow Fletcher to slide to 3B.
Jay has no options left. so, considering he’s a FOJ, neither do we.
Can’t they just put Jay back on the taxi squad, and start filling in (now that we are home) players to cover those on the IL.
Sure, they should already be on the 40 man to make things easier, but this should be possible. We have, what, 4 players on the IL now (Stassi, Rendon, Fowler, Lagares) and Upton day to day? That is an entire bench platoon.
Bemboom (C), Ward, Schebler and Rengifo make the most sense to me, and leave Jay as the 4th OF until Upton recovers. Rojas, Walsh, and Ward are all better bats in the OF (heck, even Fletch).
The MLBPA does not allow the teams a second bite at the apple. Once a player has previously exhausted his options or vested his service time and then signs a minor league contract there are no new set of options if his contract becomes a major league contract at a later date. . He can be DFA’d but then would have to agree to a new minor league deal but would have to agree to the demotion.
In Jon Jay’s case, not sure we should really care what happens to his status if he’s jettisoned off of the 26 man roster
Or Gosselin
Believe it or not we are only one game better than the Tigers!
they have a double header so they can move ahead of us. But…in previous years we’d be saying “if we can sweep [name of team] while [name of team] loses then we can get to within 2 games of the lead” or more likely “we can get into 3rd”
*Morgan Freeman narration* The Angels did not acquire a front-line starter before the trade deadline.
So, the Angels need a frontline starting pitcher.
In other news the sky is blue, fire is hot, and water is wet.
We will win some games and we will lose some games
No hitter from Rendon of the White Sox was kind of cool.
So Rendon can pitch?