Alex Cobb might be back for a start this week. Can Cobb make a comeback?
Boston’s COVID list continues to be lengthy. Phillips Valdez just tested positive.
The Mets and Yankees had a rather tense game over the weekend with lots of yelling and whistling and accusations of cheating. The benches cleared at one point.
Trevor Bauer is done for the season. The league, the union, and Bauer all agreed to extend his administrative leave for the remainder of the season as well as the postseason.
Something made Aaron Judge dizzy enough on Sunday to be removed from a game. They hope he’ll get better soon, but they apparently don’t really know what was going on. It doesn’t seem to have kept him out of the lineup against the Twins.
The Yankees moved Gleyber Torres to second base in view of all the errors he is making at shortstop. There are some that think the Yankees may compete for one of the free agent shortstops this coming offseason.
The Dodgers activated Clayton Kershaw, who has been on the injured list for a little while.
Billy Eppler’s new gig is at WME Sports where he will join with two others to run the baseball division.
Blake Snell has a groin injury, but they are not yet sure how serious it is.
Photos credit: Rex Fregosi
https://twitter.com/nmbaseball/status/1437889518342840320
Deleted tweet
rip
😳
while looking at the wild card standings I noticed something not so hidden. The top 3 teams in the wild card race are all AL East and the next 3 are all AL West. But lookee at the bottom of the standings. The absolute worst team is Baltimore, an AL East team and the second worst team is Texas from the AL West.
So the horribleness of those two teams skews the records of the other teams in the division in an unfair way. By having the worst team in the league, the AL East becomes more likely to have at least one wild card entry and maybe both. If Baltimore were in the Central would Cleveland’s record be better? I would say so.
Now take a look at the NL. The two wild card teams (at the moment) are from the West and the Central, in that order. And if you check the bottom you see the worst team is from the West and the next worst is from the Central. Now back up to the wild card leaders, after LA and Cincy we have San Diego and then St. Louis, again from the West and then the Central.
This could be explained the other direction, that certain divisions are so loaded with good teams that the one terrible team in each division will look really bad but I don’t think that’s the case. I’m leaning towards the wild cards being unfairly decided by which division has the worst team(s).
Let’s leave the Angels out of this. Baltimore has played Toronto 16 times so far and gone 5-11. They’ve played Seattle 7 times (3-4 there). Seattle is 2 games out of the 2nd wild card and 3 back of Toronto. Give the Ms 9 more games against Baltimore and would they possibly move up? To be fair, the Ms are 13-6 vs Texas where Toronto is 4-2 so maybe it evens out with the two worst. Still, when it’s very close it definitely could make the final difference.
All this means is if Texas was better we would be the doormats of the AL west and be fueling all of the wildcard hopefuls.
Shudda been a fanpost
For those with an attention span shorter than a 2 year old – what you’re saying is “if you ain’t first, you’re last”?
Shake and bake
Before expansion, there was a balanced schedule, but now with three divisions in each league and with inter-league games, there is an unbalanced schedule. I prefer a balanced schedule. Get rid of inter-league games and have each team play every other team in the league 11 times for a 154 game season. This way you can’t get one of those wildcard spots just because there is a sucky team or two in your division you get to feast on.
Also, bring back spats. They were cool.
And handlebar mustaches and mittless catchers like when base ball was played by real men.
To an extent, yes. The fact is, however, the Central has a collective win-loss record of 348-369 (.485 pct). In other words, the Central has lost 21 more games in inter-division and inter-league play than it has won. The only way that can happen is if the Central, as a whole, is weaker than the other divisions.
If you swap the Orioles and the Twins, Cleveland probably gets above .500, but I don’t think they are fighting for a wild card spot by that alone. It would probably help Seattle’s chances more than Cleveland’s. Also, the Orioles would do better in the Central and the Twins would do worse in the East, making both of those teams look more like Texas.
Also, if you swap Cleveland with Toronto, Cleveland still isn’t in the wild card race and Toronto wins the Central.
Meanwhile I’ve been accused of being a Giants and Brewers honk, go figure.
These are just two well run organizations, especially the Brewers with their low payroll and scouting and player development..
I’m amazed at how many of the participants here are friends with the players since they seem to know how the players are feeling.
It’s a requirement to join CTPG.
So you’re saying you are not friends with a player on the Angels 40-man roster?
I heard Ohtani had a successful BM this morning.
You know the rules: if there’s no pictures, it never happened.
You guys are nasty
Perhaps, but we’re fanatical about following CTPG rules.
Well that could be perceived as a good vs shitty argument I guess
Source?
12-5
$2.5M
31st rd 2012 MLB Draft 😭
Pretty crazy that every team missed on him 30 times. Clear proof we suck.
We have Jered Walsh
The Doyers had Mike Piazza, Patriots had a guy named Tom Brady.
We also have Michael Stefanic. He was an UDFA.
We’re onto football now?
I hate to say this about him, but he does kind of resemble the scary Ice Cream Man who turned into a spider like creature and roared from the “Legion” movie ( end of times movie…..Paul Bettany Tyreese Gibson, Dennis Quaid )
12-5=7. What do I win?
Dinner with 20002heaven where he will provide training on how you can join the ranks of the “Captain Hindsight” fan club.
I really miss watching mike trout play for this team. The last 2 seasons have been tough for us Angel fans.
WME ( William Morris Endeavor ) Sports..
Some people never learn, glad it ain’t my money.
I wonder to myself if Ohtani is as disappointed in Trout not returning as we are. It seemed he was highly motivated to keep the team in contention when the general belief was Trout would return. Now that reality has sunk in, I can’t help but think the reality of the weight of carrying the team might be part of his decline. It’s now a burden without any hope of relief or purpose.
I think I would take him off pitching entirely, let him DH only, and try to win the HR crown and MVP, which would allow him to feel good about an otherwise disappointing season.
He might want to get that 10th win, and get his ERA back down under 3.
He has pitched better than hit down the stretch.
I’ve thought that recently. Meanwhile I have this dread feeling that the greatest season we’ve ever seen is going to get Ohtani a 2nd place finish in the MVP voting.
Me too. He definitely would have won it in July.
Are they going to give it to Guerrero if he doesn’t get the Triple Crown (of which he only leads in a single category?)?
He isn’t the WAR leader (in either format), so I am confused as to the narrative here. It has always seemed speculative based on the chance of the Triple Crown.
I’m pretty sure that Ohtani and Trout are both struggling mightily with the loss of their best friend on the team and over all favorite of 72% of people who know hi Cam Bedrosian.
Is Cam even playing? Better question may be is he really related to Steve by blood?
He’s with the Phillies now.
Poor Phillies
Trevor Bauer is done. Period. This isn’t the NFL where there are multiple owners willing to employ whoever helps them win. This is MLB where only the previous regime in Houston would be ok with Bauer’s behavior.
The only question now is how much the Dodgers end up paying him. Barring a felony conviction, I bet that figure is 100% or damned close to it.
Best Question…. does contract insurance pay out on legal but unemployable creepiness?
I hope you’re right, Jeff. Given how the Dodgers clubhouse reacted I am inclined to agree with you.
we’ll see. I’m interested in seeing who comes back first, Bauer or Kaepernick. You would think, if Kaepernick was a hot potato that owners didn’t want to touch, that Bauer really, really won’t return. But we’ve seen the Astros will sign anybody (Osuna, for example).
The difference is I don’t think there are many players who want Bauer around. I KNOW that there were NFL players that didn’t want Kaepernick on their team (according to a couple players I talked to) but plenty of guys wanted him either on another team or on their team if it wasn’t a huge distraction.
I don’t think there are a lot of MLB guys who want Bauer in the league at all much less on their team.
The fielding difficulties for Torres reminds me of the throwing difficulties of Chuck Knoblauch in 2000. My favorite joke about his troubles was they were planning on sending him to Cuba because he could overthrow Castro.
Sad but true that Vladdy Jr. has cruised past Ohtani in the league lead in HR’s. Shohei hit the wall a month ago and is gassed, mentally and physically and just can’t pull the wagon any more. Joe listened to Shohei telling him that he (Shohei) was good to go, but the truth is he was not going to find a tiger in the tank and be rejuvenated just because the masses shout for it to happen. September is not kind to the Angels to often and 2021 is no exception.
In the last 19 games maybe Shohei can turn it on, doubtful though. What he did for four and a half months was other worldly but unsustainable and that was why nobody has done it before. But you can’t take away that what he accomplished was remarkable and won’t be seen again unless Shohei tries it again with a lot of rest along the way.
It would be Kool if he sets a new team single season HR record. can he hit 4 more? Probably not, but it still will be fun to pull for it to happen. But we said 3 weeks ago that Shohei was gassed and it turns out that he is. Fletcher is the same way and it is those two who have played the most and they want to be out there and to be playing so keep them out there and let the off season take care of those tired bones as they need the long rest.
Vladdy Jr is a just better hitter than Ohtani. Easy call, right? I had figured the lead in home runs were not safe even with a 5 home lead. I’m my mind, this was why I felt he needed to DH every day and not miss any opportunity to hit. Especially knowing against NL teams he would have days off or pinch hit. Getting pulled from a start truncates ABs.
I’m more of a believer that a player fatigue is influenced by the overall teams stature. Angels are not a good team the last two months. The lineups are weak. You show up to the ballpark knowing you probably won’t win. Bullpen blues, minor league shuffle and open tryouts. You just want the shitty season to end. In stark contrast, look at the Blue Jays, scoring runs and hanging up football scores. Playing in the AL East band boxes, balls flying all over the yard from everyone. Hitting is contagious and the Jays are having a great time.
The Angels are just going through the motions, no excitement from the veterans and just playing out the string. Fletcher is physically fine he’s tired of playing for nothing. Achieving 0.500 is not a goal for the 6th highest payroll.
Ohtani needs to put every last ounce of energy he has into hitting HRs.
If I sat through this season just to see him not get the HR title i’m gonna be sad 😞
Um … did I read this right? (from today’s links)
Does batting .223 make Chapman one of Oakland’s hottest hitters? (and his numbers are worse in September).
Can we catch Oakland (purely symbolic value)?
ChicksBaseball writers dig the long ballThis explains Jack Mayfield
Oakland has us by seven games, the magic 8 ball says “unlikely”
No, it’s the .338 OBP and .538 SLG that make him one of Oakland’s hottest hitters in the second half.
He did have a .964 OPS for the month of August. That’s pretty hot for a month.
Sure, but .540 in July and .675 in September suggests that might not be sustainable. Very hot and cold. I wonder if the competition in each of those months plays a major factor – can he only hit ‘bad’ pitching?
So overrated.
So, if Torres is being moved off of SS because of his Defense – is he a standard against which we should be measuring our IF prospects?
There is the theory (put out by someone) that we should be targeting a secondary target at SS – basically wait for a team like the Yankees or even the Rangers to target the top tier (Story, Seager, Semien …) and then swoop in and take their current young mid-tier SS off their hands (so Torres, Kiner-Falefa).
What would you all say to such a strategy? Slight upgrade a less cost?
It seems to me like Rangers and Yankees both love IKF and Torres, respectively, but if we nabbed one of them that would be really cool
Interesting theory but I doubt Torres is traded at his lowest value point.
The Angels don’t necessarily have to go shortstop this winter. They could get a second baseman and have Fletcher man SS for a year or two.
Or start the Plumber at second base when they move Fletch to short is also a possibility
We are starting a player who hasn’t yet played a game at the Majors? Wow! A lot of faith in him on little to no evidence.
But Mikey Dooo!
Also grit.
Oh geez!! Again?
Another Crash Davis fanatic? The guy is no where to be found on BA or MLB.com’s Top 500. Actually they outta bring him up to pacify you people so he can hit less than Kurt Suzuki even. Westmont College is in the same small college conference as Vanguard University where Jose Rojas went. There’s a reason why he didn’t play for Florida, LSU, Texas, Miss St, Vanderbilt or UCLA don’t you think? The reason he ain’t up here is he can’t play at this level, same as why a college FB star QB who sucks in the NFL, but yet two years ago was awesome in college. I’d have him hit against Lance McCullers Jr, Gerritt Cole, Hyun Jin Ryu, Chris Bassitt, and Lance Lynn and not the Baltimore Orioles.
A guy can definitely develop. Playing at a small college doesn’t mean a guy won’t ever be and MLB caliber player.
But if the Angels aren’t bringing him up in a year when Mayfield and Gosselin are getting regular starts, that’s not a good sign.
Sorry – it’s never going to happen.