Pham is 30 and due a pretty massive raise in arbitration. I'm guessing they didn't want to pay a guy who's going to hit .250 with 25 HR that money with O'Neill and Bader available on the cheap.

For once, this team needs to go out and pay legit money for a closer. Go get a Craig Kimbrel, Cody Allen, Kelvin Herrera or Familia for big bucks (all are FAs). Every offseason, this team tries to get sneaky with a "value" closer and we end up with Brett Cecil, Greg Holland, Bud Norris, Luke Gregerson, Seung-Hwan Oh, Jonathan Broxton and Steve Cishek as a crap-tastic poo poo platter closer. Do what the Cubs, Rockies, Indians, Yankees, Red Sox and other teams who have had closer issues over the past few seasons have done - spend money on a legit guy and look for value in your setup guys. If you get burnt, so be it - but I can't take another season of these crap bullpens. Knowing Mo, we will begin next season with Tyler Clippard as our closer "because he was a great value" :banghead:

Tyler Cippard.. LOL!!!


My guess is Hicks will go into the closer role next season, but I agree with you.

Norris hasn't been bad this year at all. The rest of the bullpen sucks but Norris has done pretty well. And I'm not sure anyone would have predicted Hollands season. That guy was elite for Kansas City and Colorado. Hindsight is 20/20 but he just got the yips after some rough outings.

I agree that Holland was worth the one-year gamble, but he had a bad finish last season. Plus, the waiting to save a few bucks ended up with him missing spring training (which helped facilitate the yips). It’s pretty rare that the big money closers with a track record fail. Wade Davis, Chapman, Kimbrel, Allen and even Morrow have all gotten paid off a good track record and done well. You get in trouble when you promote 2nd/3rd tier guys without the track record. There are some of these top tier track record guys available in FA and the Cards should get one.

Brandon Morrow isn't what I'd call a guy with a "track record." He came basically out of nowhere last year to be a lockdown guy for the Dodgers, and while he was excellent for LA last year (and has been such for the Cubs when healthy this year), his track record has been one of injury, not performance.

The Cubs gave 2/$18 with an option for $12 million to a 32-year-old guy with one healthy AND productive year in the last five. That's just as much a gamble as going for a "value" signing at the position.

True, Morrow wouldn't really qualify. I forgot that Toronto made him a starter for 3-4 years in the middle of his career. He was more of a gamble. The positive is there will be 4-5 track record guys in FA and I'm hoping the Cardinals finally add one.

25 years ago, the great Nolan Ryan-Robin Ventura incident happened.

Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura infamously brawled on Aug. 4, 1993

Sorry Mets fans.

It's true. The Mets would do well to lift themselves out of the rut that organizations like Boston, Houston, the Cubs and the Dodgers have found themselves in.

What's Dave Stewart up to?

In all seriousness, I think the lesson learned from the Mets is building around a young pitching staff is a very flawed way to build a team in today's game.

Bats and gloves are far more reliable for development and health.

I haven't looked into the numbers but a local radio host was throwing out some crazy numbers on the Angels injury troubles the past two seasons.

53 players have appeared in a major league game for the Angels this year, almost all due to injury. That's a whole other roster.

12 starting pitchers have hit the DL this year. 30 pitchers in all.

The original projected rotation:

Ohtani (UCL sprain; unlikely to pitch again this season)
Shoemaker (two starts and on the DL for a forearm nerve irritation problem--same thing as last year)
Richard's (UCL tear-- TJ surgery)
Skaggs (on DL currently and was DL'd earlier this season)
J.C. Ramirez (UCL in spring training; TJ surgery and never even reached the regular season)

Ramirez's replacement Tropeano (on DL 3 times this year)
Heaney started the year on the DL and has been the "healthiest" of the guys to end up in the rotation

55 players is the team record for most players the Angel's have played in a season-- set last year, when they were also devastated by injuries.

In addition to the pitching injuries, Trout just hit the DL, Pujols has missed time, Cozart is out for the season, Simmons hit the DL, Valbuena, Chris Young, Calhoun, Ohtani of course.

It's absolutely nutty that they're even a .500 ballclub (and almost were last year too).

Yet one metric rates them only the third most impacted by injuries this season (based on lost time & some undefined that I see "pre season roster value" per player)

Top 5 in impact?
WAS, NYN, LAA, LAD, STL

Dodgers, Cards, and Rangers tops in DL stints (regardless of player)

My point isn't that the Angels haven't had a tough injury year, but rather just more along the lines of "there's a lot of this shit going around".

See: St. Louis Cardinals

Yea my numbers were only based on what the local guy threw out and wasn't an overall comparison to other teams. I do know from also being local that the Dodgers were getting killed by injuries early in the season, so I am not surprised they are there.

I think the Dodgers also deserve a caveat in that they use the DL to get around roster spot rules

As do several teams these days however. And the number of uses would not be a major factor on the impact computation I mentioned.

Not MLB, but minors.



Check out this finish. 6-4 home team down, last of the 9th. 0-2, 2 out bases loaded. Batter strikes out. Home team wins.



You may never see this again.

Gotta love baseball

That was awesome!

That was infinitely more exciting than the Timber Rattlers' habit of playing the Spongebob Squarepants theme song in between innings, yes.

So the Dodgers have now lost 5 straight games in the 9th inning. Coincidentally, it's been 5 games since Kenley Jansen had to leave the team because of heart issues. I don't even know what to say anymore. It doesn't matter who they have throwing in the 9th. wtf?

Was hoping the brawl would have inspired the Dodgers and it kinda did, but when the team's mental spirit is broken, not much you can do to over come that

I would suggest that the Marlins just go ahead & get Urena on a plane without waiting for the team charter.

He's less popular in Atlanta right now than Al Qaida.

If Urena got suspended for a year, it would be too short. Such a crock of shit.

He's gonna have to bat sooner or later.

Brandon Nimmo just got hit by a pitch and taken out of the game. The Mets really can't have anything nice.

Most fucked up part is it was a chance to see history. Just bad for the game.

Acuna didn't register an AB so his streaks continue

Throw a 97 mph pitch deliberately at someone in a situation where he couldn’t have possibly be expecting it, just because he’s been playing well and embarrassing your AAA level team, and you get what is essentially a one game ban.

Quite simply mind boggling. You would have thought this would be completely impossible to fuck up that bad.

Way botched. Should have been at least 3 starts. Even if you just fine him 6 game checks.

Id make him start the nest time they play.

Naah; Five or six games is pretty consistent for an intentional HBP. Acuna's got to figure out how to turn in towards the catcher and let the pitch hit meat rather than bone anyway. A year? That's just crybaby shit.

Rangers had a 5-4 triple play against the Angels last night. Not one you see very often.

106 years is what I think I saw, does that sound right?

Being appalled at someone deliberately throwing 97MPH heat at a batter is "crybaby shit"? Fuck this stupid tradition, it's barbaric and bad for the game. If this happened on a street corner instead of in a baseball game he'd be looking at possible jail time.

I'm an "unwritten rules" guy by & large ... but hitting someone -- not brushing them back or coming in on the fists, straight up throwing at them -- just cause you can't get them out doesn't fit that as I know them.

If he'd been an ass about his hot streak, I can give leeway. If there was any sort of reasonable quid pro quo deal on it, I could give leeway.

None of that exists here.

This was nothing more or less than an uncontrolled outburst from a two-bit prick that didn't believe he could get the guy out and was unwilling to even TRY.

The only explanation I can come up with is the psychology/intimidation of hitting the guy, making him uncomfortable in the box, and hoping that it makes him less effective going forward. Not a justification for actually hitting him given the chance of real injury in doing it, but that's the best I could come up with.

Now, why you can't get there with a few brushbacks or just, you know, being better than your opponent, I don't know. He's basically telling everyone he's not good enough to beat the batter. That's the only real message being sent.

Not only that, but this wasn't even an attempt to back him off the plate. It wasn't a curve ball that hung up and didn't break, this was an out and out beanball. At least he didn't go head hunting.

Looks like the political insanity infecting Washington today has infected the Nationals too-several deals to be announced today-with the Cubs, Cards, more?

But is it insanity or simply reality?

Just 3-7 in their last 10, now 7.5 out of the division, 6.5 out of the wildcard, they ain't exactly burning things up with those guys. It looks & feels like pulling the plug to me.

I agree the Nats are pulling the plug on the season. But it was a good salary dump.
The Nats still have to find room for Robles and sign Harper. There has to be more moves.

Im not sure what the Cards are going to do with Adams. He is a 1B guy. This team has enough of those. I guess Carp moves to 3B to get Adams at bats.

Yep I agree Jon. They had even placed Harper on waivers only to pull him back when he was claimed, apparently by the Dodgers.

No sense in really letting him go because he will surely turn down a QO

Are the Nats grooming Robles to replace Harper?

If that's true it probably means they had a deal worked out with a team with a better record than the Dodgers. When the Dodgers claimed him they must not have been willing to give up anything or at least anything with enough value so the Nats pulled him back.

I was hoping it was the Cardinals. :p

Me too :)

Dodgers bullpen really choked this series from the Cards. Yeeesh

Yeah :(

I've gone from not-really-worried-they'll-be-fine to ... uh-oh.

On the heels of 4 straight walk off/9th inning losses going back to the Rockies, I'm in full disbelief/panic mode.

Looking deeper at August, and what has been so awful about this run for LA:

Starting on August 8, the Dodgers have lost 10 games against 4 wins.

Of those 10 losses, 9 of them have been on the back of the bullpen.

Of those 9, only 2 were not in the 9th inning or later.

August 8; 2-3 L to the A's; at home OAK scores a run on the 8th off of Chargois.
August 10; 4-5 L to the Rockies; at home COL scores 2 in the 7th off of Rosscup.
August 11; 2-3 L to the Rockies; at home COL scores 3 in the 9th off of Chargois.
August 12; 3-4 L to the Rockies; at home COL scores 1 in the 9th off of Floro.
August 13; 2-5 L to the Giants; on the road, SF scores 4 in the 9th off of Alexander.
August 14; 1-2 L to the Giants; on the road, SF scores 1 in the 9th off of Maeda.
August 15; 4-3 W over the Giants; LA wins in 12, but SF scores 3 in the 8th off of Ferguson to tie the game.
August 18; 4-5 L to the Mariners; at home SEA scores 1 in the 10th off of Ferguson.
August 20; 3-5 L to the Cardinals; on the road, STL scores 2 in the 9th off of Jansen.
August 22; 1-3 L to the Cardinals; on the road, STL scores 1 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th off of Ferguson and Jansen.

It may be the most horrific set of team failures in recent memory. Incredibly demoralizing. No faith left at all in that bullpen, or with the offense frankly.

Looking at the key pitchers in that list, what's scary is that there's six different failures over ten games.

That's very much what the Braves bullpen woes for most of the season were like, it wasn't one guy (or even two) that was failing, it was a different guy every night. Even if 2-3 did their job, another would inevitably fail. Demoralizing is a perfect word for it :/

Speaking of bullpens & such, a cool thing last night for the Braves.

Jonny Venters gets his first save for Atlanta since 2011. (he had one earlier this season for TB)

That last save in a Braves uniform? Aug 22, 2011.
Cool on its own, but 7 years to the day felt like it was just a little cooler.

Cards are red hot. And the bullpen woes all these other teams are facing, happened to the Cards for the first 4 months of the season.
Things have settled down for them. The bullpen also added Carlos Martinez and soon to add Adam Wainwright.

Watch out for St. Louis.

I hope Shildt gets the interim tag removed and becomes the manager after this season. He has done a spectacular job since taking over.

I haven't watched the Reds a ton this year, but was wondering if anybody saw this:

hxxps://deadspin.com/pitchers-hr-after-a-foul-bunt-non-call-was-the-nuttiest-1828705646

Basically, a Reds pitcher squared to bunt, then tried to pull the bat back because the ball was coming at his face, but it still went off the bat anyway... then what happened next... you should go to the link, it summarizes the whole thing quite nicely.

Opinions?

I was watching that game when it happened, weird but totally the correct call. He was pulling the bat back.

McCutchen to the Yankees for two prospects, one of whom is AAA Shortstop Abiatal Avelina.

One of my favorite players for years, it was a pleasure to watch him in a Giants uniform, even if only for part of a single season.

Trevor Williams has thrown out a fairly decent season for the Bucs this year. Not too bad for a guy we got in exchange for a scouting director.

So with Ohtani looking like a perennial .280 and 40 HR guy, but needing at least 18 months to put his arm back together to pitch, do you entertain him being a position player full time?

Position players get a TJ and don't miss that much time. Can he rebuild shoulder strength and just bat for the near future?

Seager is basically going to be out for a year with TJ surgery. But Ohtani can probably get away with being a DH

Yeah sounds like this is the plan. Have the surgery now, DH all of 2019 and then pitch again in 2020, although they are leaving the final decision up to him regarding the surgery.

If he hits 35+ homers and OPS's .950+ for a season do you really want him pitching?

Also is the DH able to enter the game as a pitcher? If so, couldn't they insert him as a large chunk of a bullpen game type strategy? Throw 4-6 innings every 5-6 days?

Javy Baez is just so absurdly fun to watch.

I think the issue is having him DH limits his value somewhat. I mean he has over half his offensive WAR in 82 games just from pitching 10, and a good few of those were abbreviated starts either due to injury or precautions.

If he’s an every day RF it’s a much more viable proposition in terms of value I think, but then you’ve got the TJ issue. I’m not sure there’s anywhere on the field he could play except maybe 1B that isn’t going to have him out for most of 2019. Like Bug pointed out with Seager it’s a very different proposition for somebody who has to make a ton of throws in the field.

No idea on the DH to P rules but I’d guess that isn’t allowed.

Basically if Ohtani were to DH, and then take the mound, his spot in the order then becomes the pitcher's spot. That means if he's replaced on the mound, the incoming pitcher then bats in his spot, as do any subsequent pitchers; you can double switch around that, but the bottom line is that once Ohtani sets foot on the field, there's a "pitcher's spot" in the lineup to deal with for the remainder of that game.

So just to clarify this a little more:

a) The rule allows teams to forego the DH. So on a day Ohtani starts on the mound, the team could elect to forego the DH so he could also hit. However, the DH cannot be inserted later in the game, so there's a pitcher's spot in the lineup no matter what happens with Ohtani on the mound.

b) The rule also says that if the DH takes the field, the player the DH replaces forfeits his spot in the lineup to the pitcher. So, if Ohtani were to go from DH to 1B, the pitcher hits in the 1B's spot.

The rule does not speak to what happens if the DH replaces the pitcher, but following from a) and b) tells us that the proper application of the rule, should Ohtani go from DH to P, is that Ohtani's spot in the lineup then becomes the pitcher's spot, the pitcher still being Ohtani himself for the moment.

Once he leaves the game, the incoming pitcher takes his spot in the lineup; if the manager elects to double switch to prevent the new reliever from hitting, the pitcher's spot would switch with the lineup spot of the other defensive substitution, just as in the NL.

Mets' David Wright will be activated and start one more game in the teams' final homestand

About time the Wilpons made the right move.

I knew he was never playing again, but it sucks to hear it. There has never been a classier player to put on a uniform, and I loved watching him play.

Why are we not talking about Yelich this morning? Dude did something that no player in the history of baseball has ever done last night.

Hit for a cycle for the second time in one season against the same team.

Baller.

It's kind of amazing that the Mets have a 4 man rotation and half the lineup totaling about 27 WAR and they're probably not going to finish close to .500: Nimmo (4.2), Conforto (2.2), Plawecki (1.4), McNeil (2.1), DeGrom (8.6), Wheeler (4.0), Synderguard (3.0), and Matz (1.3)

Plawecki having a WAR of 1.4 might be the first time I've been on the side of "something is wrong with that stat".

Meh, much of that has to do with the way so much of the league has punted catcher hitting to get a guy who can frame pitches behind the plate. Plawecki's giving near-league average offense and is seeing a benefit in defensive numbers from the years DeGrom and some of the other pitchers are having. For what it's worth, the combination still comes out to "second division starter".

Addison Russell needs to be launched into the sun.

Kinda wild that the Rays were able to amass 10 first round draft picks in 2011 and last night's 20 game winner Blake Snell was one of them. Even though the Rays passed on him 6 times in the first round before pulling the trigger.

Rangers fired Jeff Bannister. Guess they weren't pleased with how he was developing the younger players.

When my son was playing 14U baseball we had a tournament one weekend and that particular Saturday morning we show up for our scheduled game only to find out the other team didn't show. We had to call the tournament director to find out he had just been informed the coach's brother had just been called up to make his 1st big league start against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Blake paid for his brother and the entire team to fly out to Yankee Stadium to watch his start.

I expect that the current administrative leave is a first step in that process, if "into the sun" means no longer employed by the Cubs.

Just owning my bad prediction on the Braves outcome, specifically where I said they'd fold up in the second half.

Some fun "the Mets stink, sorry deGrom" stats:

- Tonight's game against the Braves was scoreless after 5 innings. As has been the case in 25% of deGrom's starts this season. Only 5% of all games are scoreless after 5.

- Tonight will most likely be deGrom's 29th consecutive start allowing 3 runs or fewer. His current record during this streak is 7-9. When Jake Arrietta did the same over 29 games, his record was 24-1.

- Also from tonight: "Sean Newcomb is done after five scoreless. The 32 opposing starters against Jacob deGrom this year combined for a 2.45 ERA in 173 innings. The only National League pitcher with a better ERA is Jacob deGrom."

DeGrom reaches that magical 10th win of the season.

He has been incredible. Mets are hard to watch, Jake makes it easy.

Hopefully deGrom will enjoy his future with the Dodgers

He has been pretty adamant he wants to stay a Met, and you have to think the team will pay him, otherwise why not trade him at the deadline this year.

It's the Mets. We're going to fuck this up somehow.

Are the Mets that far away? They have a great starting staff. If they can add a few bats they should be in the race in that division.

Because he's still locked and loaded for two more years with the Mets, so they can get teams bidding over themselves this offseason, if they want them to, and not feel rushed by a deadline.

He's stated he's wanted an extension and waiting until now to give it to him seems like a foolish idea, he only got more expensive now.

There is precisely a 1% chance that the Mets give deGrom the contract he deserves. The only reason I have it that high is for the slight chance he is willing to accept a monstrously overpriced, shorter term deal like what Cespedes got.

Think he'll be traded next offseason.

Oh Dodgers, you just can't seem to fire on all the right cylinders when you need to, do you?

Minus the Pads, playing teams with nothing to play for over the course of the past month, seems to be their downfall. Reds, Mets, eliminated D-Backs. Pads are naturally exempted from this but they did drop one of the three

My Brewers are back in the postseason for the first time since 2011! It'd be nice if they could pass the Cubs.

I did get some satisfaction out of celebrating the postseason birth on the Cardinals infield, but I figure karma will bite in the ass and the Cards will make the playoffs and dispatch the Brewers like they usually do.

Can't say the team is tired. The way they rotate players and positions everyone should be feeling pretty good. Just seems like they are still just flying by the seat of their pants. Some days are good, some days are bad, but whatever happens, we're all good with it. I don't know. Lack of a really killer energy. Very SoCal I guess.

The Wilpon's are a joke, but considering the injury history of Mets starters I don't blame them for not giving an extension to a pitcher 2.5+ years before they had to. Considering the long path to the majors he'll also be 32 when he first hits FA/is extension eligible... If he keeps pitching like this it won't matter much, but if he gets hurt or takes a real step back to 3.00+ ERA it will.

After Harpers Instagram, Im super stoked to have Robles on my roto team at $8 next year.

Cardinals rumored to be in the hunt. But they will just be there to jack up the price.

I really feel like they should have forced the Pirates to play the Marlins on monday. That way the suck could marinate for one more day longer.

Saving that money for the inevitable trade of Pujols?

Side note - I want to thank the Phillies for completely rolling over more than any team I can remember in recent times. That ass kicking they took from the Rockies was criminal.

So the Dodgers could play Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday. They could play in Colorado on Monday, in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Atlanta on Thursday or Los Angeles on Thursday. What a crazy last day tomorrow is setting up to be.

Super stoked, go Brewers! and Cardinals!

Season over. Cardinals out again. Played the last 2 weeks like they played in May. Ugly.

Exciting races down tot he wire.

I like that MLB scheduled every game at the same time tomorrow. Great set up.