This is 40

 

This week, there's been an alarming development that, while it may not immediately lead to anything, or it may be solely hogwash, could lead to something intriguing happening. You see, both the Dodgers and the Yankees have been seriously considering, erm...signing 44-year-old Rich Hill.

And what makes this funny is that injuries have been forcing both teams, to this point, to go younger and younger. The Yankees might bring Jasson Dominguez back up soon, he's only 21. The Dodgers have been thumbing through minor league pitching options. Desperately trying to find people too young to break down upon impact. And one of their remedies for roster bulking is...signing a 44-year-old ageless wonder who's made himself available for teams and seems to still have stuff left.

It's wild to me that Hill would immediately make himself available to the Yankees, of all teams. Not only was Hill's Yankee tenure one of his most forgettable ones, but it's widely reported that Hill is a Boston sports fan. Like, 'caught the ire of cops outside Gillette stadium' Boston sports fan. So while he's grateful that someone would want to sign him, it's weird that he's gearing himself directly towards the Yankees. But, again, they're aiming to get far in, they need an innings eater, it would make sense.

Hill, upon his return, would become, again, the oldest player in the major leagues, and the seventh 40+ year old employed by a major league team [I am counting Max Scherzer, even if he does turn 40 tomorrow]. And the wild part is that five of the seven are pitchers- Hill, Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Jesse Chavez...and Charlie Morton. 

Morton is one of those cases of a player whose career truly begins after thirty. He was fine for the Pirates during the early 2010s, but the Astros' pitching coaches really unlocked something in him in 2017, and since then he's been 89-47 with 1351 Ks and a 3.57 ERA. Barely any missed time, barely any true down years, 2 World Series' in 3 appearances, and they're still letting him pitch at 40. Not only that, but Morton's still a pretty reliable guy for the Braves, he's got a 3.83 ERA and 101 Ks. This year he'll likely notch his 2000th strikeout, which, will not exactly making him a Hall of Famer, definitely cements his status as one of the best pitchers of this current era. Putting him in the same sentence as Scherzer and Verlander in terms of career longevity and consistent quality is not the worst idea, even if Morton doesn't have the 20s runs that either of those two have. 

And so even if it's likely that some of these 40 year olds will likely retire at the end of the season [Jesse Chavez seems to be doing this, and Gurriel, Votto and Hill certainly could], it's very cool that we have this many playing at the same time, and playing well. Morton, Verlander and Scherzer are still very much viable and trustworthy options, even in their forties. And it's nice that in the era of overthrowing we can still have guys like that.

Coming Tomorrow- I assumed that the AL was only bringing one utility man with them for the All Star Game, and then this guy wound up coming as well, and doing well in the ASG.

Deeper Wells

 

The Yankees don't make sense this year. We took 5 from Houston and we can't even take 1 from the Mets?  What's even going on??

I mean, Luis Severino made waves before the Yanks-Mets games in the Bronx saying 'well they really only have 2 guys that are any good right now', and all the Yankee fans stood up and went 'THAT'S NOT TRUE' and then the series happens and not even those two guys show up. In Game 1, Judge was walked 4 times and then struck out in a clutch position in the ninth. Soto was similarly held down in those two games. The second game, where the Mets kept striking repeatedly without the Yankees having anything to contend with, was painful. You got the sense that every so often the lineup COULD wake up, like the Rays game where Austin Wells, Gleyber Torres and Oswaldo Cabrera made 'em suffer, but most of the time they didn't want to.

And so right now you're hearing, once again, the cries of 'fire Boone' and 'fire Cashman', because they couldn't build a team that could withstand slumps or injuries, and while it may not be quite as bad as it was in 2023, it's concerning. This team isn't...completely terrible, but you get the sense that they could be much better. Gerrit Cole has been fine since he was activated. Not awful, but for someone who won a Cy Young last year he's been decidedly mid. He's stuck out 38, and given up 39 hits. Similarly disappointing is D.J. LeMahieu, who's hitting .179 since his return. It's genuinely upsetting that a team, that employs D.J. LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo, Jon Berti, J.D. Davis and Gleyber Torres is apparently looking for infield help. And Ben Rice has been helpful, but he's stopped hitting since his come-up and is now back under .200. This sort of thing, everybody going cold at once, is the kind of thing that really should have been avoided.

The thing that hopefully will be remembered about this down period is that at least Austin Wells was able to come into his own during it. Wells is decent enough at the plate, with 7 homers and 22 RBIs, but his defensive catching abilities have pushed him ahead of Jose Trevino. He's also one of those guys that can come through in the clutch when you least expect it, like a better version of Kyle Higashioka. The hope is that, like Anthony Volpe, he'll come into his own consistently at some point, but for now he's been very useful.

This Yankees team has come upon flashes of great moments. Occasional great starts by Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon. Trent Grisham periodically doing something incredible. Judge hitting a homer. Those games you trivia for where the team comes alive and punishes an opposing pitcher. But the problem with this July stretch is that they've been too infrequent. And now comes the point in the coping, as the Red Sox and Phillies line up, where we start believing that if we make a trade deadline move, which Cashman will either A.) not do despite reports of the contrary or B.) do in a way that makes us regret it in a year's time, that'll save the team. It's a nice pipe dream, but it probably won't.

Coming Tonight: He's over 40 and a team can still count on him. Who'd have thought?

You Left at the Right Time

 I love that what Joe Musgrove and Dylan Cease both have in common is that the season they leave the city that gave them the most success in exchange for a ride on a competitive team, they throw a no-hitter in their first season there. Both are responsible for the first two no-hitters in Padres history, and both have very similar career trajectories. 

And it's even more interesting that Cease was in camp with the White Sox earlier this season, and the Padres pulled the trigger on him relatively late into preseason. Unlike Musgrove, who found out he was going to San Diego at a normal time in 2021. So Cease got accustomed to San Diego, came into his own, and in his last three starts has struck out 25 and given up TWO hits. That's pretty damn incredible. 

Equally incredible is his no-hitter today, which could have been halted after 7 had Cease himself not reassured the pitching coaches that he had enough to finish it off. And sure enough, he did, and the Nats couldn't muster much, even in the waning moments of the games. It's very ironic that the last guy to get silenced by Cease was C.J. Abrams, a former Padre himself. It goes back to what I said earlier in the season about how wild the Nats-Padres matchups are now, cause both lost Soto and are battling with the prospects they got for him. 

Still, awesome to see Cease finish the job, and happy for the Padres to put another milestone on the board. I sincerely hope Cease's arm holds up after that.

Twelve Injured Dodgers [And Counting]

 Nothing could be more on the nose than me prepping a custom for a post about how flea-bitten the Dodgers are this season of a guy that lands on the IL right as I'm writing the post. That is...infuriatingly hilarious. 

Miguel Rojas, who was already a pretty strong fill-in for Mookie Betts with his best season since leaving Miami, has landed on the IL, right at the moment where Tyler Glasnow, who was unsurprisingly finding success in LA, is activated. Right now, the Dodgers' injured list is basically a list of 12 players the Dodgers could really use right now. Ranging from crucial lineup pieces like Mookie Betts and Max Muncy, bullpen assets like Brusdar Graterol and Ryan Brasier, and starting pieces like Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Emmett Sheehan, Michael Grove, Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. As good as they are right now, imagine how much better they would be if none of those guys got hurt.

And it's showing at this point in the season. River Ryan and Justin Wrobleski, both of whom should in all likelihood be still coming to prominence in Oklahoma City at the moment, are in the MLB rotation doing their best. Ryan did well enough in a premier start, but this is not where he thought he'd be at this point. Nobody thought that all this pressure would be put upon someone like Justin Wrobleski in July. Hell, Kyle Hurt, who did pretty well for himself on a call-up, now needs surgery and will be out for a year, so that's another young option done. And that's not even bringing up Bobby Miller, who's been terrible this year with an 8 ERA, and is actually one of the few people allowed to go back to OKC with the rotation in this state. The good news is that Glasnow just got activated, so even with James Paxton released, which...I don't agree with, he was 8-2 for god's sakes, you will at least have Glasnow, Gavin Stone and Landon Knack, all of whom know what they're doing and are trusted.

But like...the Dodgers' rotation should not be down to a trade piece and two rookies to lead off. All the money this team spent on Yamamoto and he gets hurt immediately. Kershaw will be back tonight, but in what state?? Hell, one of the best pitchers on the team is rehabbing from Tommy John at the moment. Forget the fact that he's hitting .314 with 30 homers and is likely on his way to an MVP. In an ideal world he'd be pitching as well, as would a lot of people.

And thus the Dodgers' mega team has deflated significantly in the last month. They're still comfortably in first, comfortably over .500, but the mystique is gone. Now you can probably beat these guys, even if Ohtani shows up. The Phillies and Tigers had no trouble. They've been strong since the ASG break, but who knows what the next thing to fall off will be. 

If enough guys get healthy at the right time, this may not be much of an issue, but if it is the Dodgers will never hear the end of it. They had the team, and couldn't keep it healthy. And it'll be hard to solve that problem in the coming years.

Coming Tonight: Somehow, in a bleak period for the Yankees, this guy started hitting.

Dead SEA

 

The Astros catching up in the standings at the exact moment that Julio Rodriguez and J.P. Crawford hit the IL just confirms the fact that somewhere, some deity absolutely despises the Seattle Mariners.

Clearly, this week is a clean slate week for the Mariners. With Rodriguez and Crawford out for a while and Ty France surprisingly DFA'd, the lineup needs to be completely restructured. Now the heart of the team needs to be people like Cal Raleigh, Luke Raley and Josh Rojas, who, while good, aren't especially central figures to me. You're also seeing a ton of placeholders trying their best to wind up above replacement level. Tyler Locklear is back at 1st, and the hope is that he eventually starts hitting over .206. Leo Rivas is getting infield reps, and is looking like an eventual step up from Jorge Polanco. Jonatan Clase is getting OF reps in Julio's absence, but he's still not looking MLB ready, similar to Ryan Bliss.

The one highlight of this team's hitting in the last month has been Victor Robles, a man who refused to hit for the Nationals for four straight years. Robles, since coming over, has been hitting .375 with 18 hits and 7 stolen bases. Some respectable contact energy on a team that just cannot get things going at the plate, even with Mitches Garver and Haniger trying their best to hit for power. The Astros clearly have no trouble hitting, so if you're gonna stand there and go 'you try and take 1st' and then get nothing done, you're gonna look silly. The Angels swept these guys this week, and that's a team that arguably has more lineup holes than they do. 

Yes, it's great that the pitching staff is still pretty overpowering, but it really needs to be more than that. Gilbert, Kirby, Castillo, Miller and Woo are gonna walk away with seasons to be proud of, but they're still seasons that don't mean much more than dominant pitching, because the lineup didn't show up for most of the season. Woo is back from the IL, and he's still in decent shape, even if his ERA has ballooned to 2.54. The other four are still doing exactly what they've been doing since the start of the season, and while it's good stuff it's just a pity that the wins don't mean much. Andres Muñoz has 16 saves and a 1.35 ERA, which is pretty great, but he's only needed if the offense can match what they allow, and that's a tall order when the heart of the lineup is either hurt or ineffective. 

Look, the Rangers are catching back up, the Astros have first again. Unless this team puts something together they'll fall right out of the narrative, just like last year. And nobody wants that, especially after everything this team was supposed to be. I sincerely hope they can change things up, because this is just depressing.

Coming Tomorrow- Though the Mariners could have it worse. Only 3 or 4 major pieces are injured. This guy has to start in place of an MVP candidate, and he's not the only one making up hours.

The Tanking Plan Backfires

 

There's a show I watch called Mock the Week that does an ending quick fire improv round, like Scenes from a Hat from Whose Line, and there was a 'lines you wouldn't hear in a sci-fi film' suggestion, and a comedian goes up and says something to the effect of 'we've fired our lasers directly at the giant space beast coming towards us, but all it's done is improved its eyesight'.

I thought about that when looking at this Brewers team to this point. They gave up their best pitcher, lost their other best pitcher to an injury, lost their manager for a rival, were projected to finish fourth in the division, and yet they're leading with even more great pieces than they ended an already-strong 2023 with. The plan was to rebuild and cool off and instead they're a first place team with a pretty decent shot at the postseason. Kind of incredible, honestly. I bet Craig Counsell's really astonished.

The single best thing this Brewers team has going for it is you can see the next iteration of it doing a lot of work. Last year the concerning detail was Wiemer and Turang not hitting, and now Turang's one of the best players on the team. All these second years and young players are contributing so much. Blake Perkins is having an awesome season, not only as a defensive outfielder, but as a decent contact guy with some power perks. Garrett Mitchell's beginning to get back to where he was before the injuries, he's hit .243 in 13 games. Sal Frelick is still a fan favorite, with a .269 average and the occasional amazing defensive moment. Jackson Chourio's gotten over his slow start and now has 10 homers and 40 RBIs. Even Tobias Myers has become a strong third to Peralta and Rea, with a 6-4 record and a 3.14 ERA. 

The other great thing about this Brewers team is that they've become a very good 'is someone not playing well for your team? Send him to us' club. Aaron Civale famously got sent over from Tampa, and I think he's a bit better suited for the Brewers, despite the fact that he's winless in 3 games [the bones are there]. The Brewers also seem to have fixed Bryse Wilson after struggles in Pittsburgh, made Jared Koenig into a substantial arm after being lit up in Oakland, and somehow gotten an explosive start out of Eric Haase, who's hitting .429 as a Brewer. This didn't seem to work for Dallas Keuchel, but it's worked for all of these guys, and I bet they're thankful.

This Brewers team is 5 games ahead of the competition and looking to have a really easy week. I'd love for them to actually make a dent in the playoff race this year, even if the Phillies and Dodgers will be tough to beat. They have enough to make a run I think, especially if it continues at this pace.

Coming Tonight: A closer for a team that's desperately trying to jumpstart the lineup.

The Guardians' Worrying Detail

 

So obviously the Guardians are in a pretty good position at the moment. Still in 1st in the AL Central by 4 games, still getting excellent seasons out of Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor, still responsible for one of the best bullpens in the biz, and now have a #1 pick to look forward to, Travis Bazzana, once he's given a respectful development period. However, there are issues beginning to mount. For one, they won their first game back from the break then promptly fell off. A friend of mine was at that Friday game, the win, and then after the three losses he went 'am I just gonna have to go to all their games to make sure they keep winning?'. Next they have a crucial divisional series against the Tigers, followed by an even more crucial series against the Phillies. They cannot slip now, because the Twins will be more than happy to slide right into the divisional lead.

Now, there are two big things in regards to this Guardians team that worry me. One is a current issue, the other isn't an issue yet but could be down the road. The first issue is a simple one- the starting pitching. There's nothing overwhelmingly great happening here. Tanner Bibee, to his credit, is having a good season, he's 8-4 with a 3.58 ERA and 126 Ks, but for the ace of a first place, surging Guardians team it's a weaker affair than one might think. I go back to the 2016 team, who ruled the AL with a rotation of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, Danny Salazar and Josh Tomlin, and even the 2019 iteration, which got great years out of Bauer, Carrasco, Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger. As recently as last year, the Guardians could come at you with a powerful youth rotation of Bibee, Gavin Williams, Triston McKenzie, Logan Allen and Xzavion Curry. And now it just seems like everything's all over the place.

Some of the Guardians' most useful starters this year have been Ben Lively, a control artist who's 8-6 with a 3.57 ERA, Carrasco, who's clearly lost his juice but has made 18 starts and has struck out 74, and Logan Allen, who went 8-4 with a 5 ERA before being sent back to the minors. Gavin Williams and Xzavion Curry are up now, and have been decent in their past few appearances, but this is a very injury-depleted rotation, and it's hard for this team to deliver a consistent rotation year-to-year if everyone's gonna wear out their arms like this. The current model could work, but there's really no unification, it's really just 'well this is what we have'. It honestly wouldn't shock me if they go for a rental in a week or so.

The other issue, though, is a bit more concerning. This season, the Guardians have called up a ton of big-time prospect hitters, all of whom have the future of the franchise upon their shoulders mightily. We've seen the likes of Johnathan Rodriguez, Jose Tena, Kyle Manzardo, Angel Martinez, Jhonkensy Noel and Tyler Schneemann. This in addition to organizational prospects Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio and Bo Naylor, who've been up in the majors most of the season. And if all of these players have something in common, it's that they haven't especially factored into this season much at all for the Guardians. All of those players have a combined 0.7 WAR. Comparatively, Kwan and Ramirez together have a 6.3 WAR. 

And while there are good seasons amidst that pack, like Rocchio being excellent defensively and Martinez off to a nice start at the plate, a lot of these guys just haven't gotten anything going. And it's the kind of thing where the Guardians would activate somebody and go 'THIS IS IT, CODE RED, THIS GUY'S GONNA BE HUGE', and then he'd get there and hit .129. Like, Kyle Manzardo they were going 'OH HE'S GONNA BE OUR NEW POWER GUY', he hit no homers in 30 games. Cracked 13 of 'em in Columbus, couldn't get one in Cleveland. The Mariners did this as well, they'd bring up Jonatan Clase or Ryan Bliss going 'OH NO, POUR ONE OUT FOR BASEBALL MANUFACTURERS' and then a month later they have to awkwardly go 'also uh...Ryan Bliss has been uh...returned to Tacoma..'.

The Guardians have such a great team that it's not worrying at the moment that none of their future pieces have been inheriting the team as well as Kwan or Gimenez have. You can see some promising pieces, like Angel Martinez, who's hitting .262 in 17 games, and Jhonkensy Noel, who has 4 homers in 17 games, or even Schneemann, who's been a nice fellow utility guy to David Fry. It's just taken until now for anything that optimistic to come from this area.

I don't want to go from a team this good to just drumming around waiting for Bazzana after people start leaving. They need to build, and hopefully these are the guys that can help them do that.

Coming Tomorrow- Ironically, a fun, contact-friendly outfielder from a team whose rookies HAVE shown up.

Trea Per View

 

Okay. This is the guy we thought we were getting when we gave him all that money. Like Harper, it took a solid year for him to get situated in Philly, but Trea Turner is doing exactly what made him one of the best hitters in baseball back in Washington and LA.

The only thing that has managed to stop Turner this year has been a brief injury back in May, but otherwise he's been phenomenal. A .339 average on the year, 35 RBIs, 12 home runs, and only 12 steals but again, he's missed time. Turner's .923 OPS is the highest of any Phillie not named Harper. And he narrowly defeated Mookie Betts to start an All-Star Game this year. Just like we knew he would, Turner's gone on a tear at the plate, and he's become one of the most beloved Phillies on a team with so many great players and great 2024 performances. 

The issue with Turner is that he's not as good of a shortstop as he used to be. There was an idea to move him back to 2nd and move Stott to short, but I'm not sure how keen they are at implementing that. It's very clear how much the quality changes at short once Sosa's moved in there. And yes, Alec Bohm isn't a great third baseman either, so like half of your infield is a liability. I've seen Turner make errors at short, and him being an awesome hitter definitely saves that. But this Phillies team has so many 'great hitter, can't defend' types. Schwarber, Castellanos, Bohm, now Turner. People want the Phillies to deal for Rooker, and we really don't need another DH right now. At least Robert and Arozarena can play the field. 

But yes, Turner still being a .300+ hitter certainly helps, and having him and Harper in the same lineup, and both surging, is definitely keeping Phillies fans optimistic. I know it's become a little rockier lately because the Pirates series didn't go well, and the A's series didn't go well, but this team still has a ton of momentum, a ton of great assets, and a full rotation. Neither Wheeler nor Suarez needed to go on the IL, and Tyler Phillips managed to slide right into Walker's spot and immediately start pitching like he's been here for years. Wheeler and Suarez ruled the first half, and now that they're slowing down slightly Sanchez, Nola and Phillips are heating up. This is how we conserve the rotation going forward, and I love that we're noticing wear without immediately risking injury. 

I think the Phils will continue to be this strong, and the deadline will certainly help. This team has a strong chance of succeeding this fall, and it's gonna require a core that stays hot, and keeps showing up in the big game moments. If Turner can keep doing this, we might be alright.

Coming Tonight: There hasn't been a lot said about the Guardians' rotation this year, but this guy's doing pretty well for himself. 

Mounting Tension

 

So you're telling me that the Detroit Tigers' scouts currently have men in Norfolk, looking specifically at Connor Norby, Cody Mayo and Kyle Stowers, three great organizational pieces that do not have room to play in Baltimore, while, the Orioles soldier on with a giant Tarik Skubal-shaped hole in their rotation? Is that what you're telling me? How about that?

Look, we'll know in like 10 days how many of these approximate deals and fits actually start going through. Cause we have heard a nice amount of, like, 'oh, the Pirates are looking at Jazz Chisholm' or 'ooh, the Red Sox want Garrett Crochet', but it's all mindless speculation til trades start actually happening. But the Tigers scouts arriving in Norfolk is a pretty consequential step. Because Norby and Stowers would get a ton of playing time in Detroit, and if it's not them there are other prospects they can choose from, because Norfolk is just full of people that can't fit on the O's right now. Like, forget that Holliday's trying to make his way back, there's all these other guys as well. It's getting kind of insane, actually, and it's a really good problem for the Orioles to have. Remember like 4 years ago when nobody wanted to play for this team? Now we're here.

The thing that is slightly concerning with the O's chasing Skubal is if you go back a year, you have a perfectly good reason why they should be wary about chasing a 'surefire' starting weapon. Hell, Jack Flaherty's literally on the same staff as Skubal right now. I think Flaherty was my #1 on last year's Trade Deadline deals list, which...yeah, didn't age well at all. Flaherty completely fell apart upon arriving in Baltimore. Now, Skubal is a much different pitcher than Flaherty, and has had less moments of out-and-out struggling. But there's still the factor that as good as this team is, they could still fail to make the leap.

Still, the O's are commanding the AL East at the moment, even as the Yankees try to claw their way back. Everybody in the lineup other than Jorge Mateo has over 30 RBIs, and four guys have over 50 RBIs. Ryan Mountcastle isn't the overwhelming power bat as he's been in past years, but he's still having a decent enough year, with 12 homers and 43 RBIs. Both Henderson and Santander are on the Top 5 HR list at the moment. Despite Bradish and Means being done for the year, Albert Suarez and Dean Kremer have improved as of late. I get why they want Skubal, they want a third piece after Burnes and Rodriguez. Their rotation isn't bad at the moment, but they have some B and C guys where there should be more A's, I get that.

It'd be amazing if the O's succeed at the deadline and do it in a way that doesn't gut their further development. I know, the Yankees winning it all would be incredible, but the O's getting there as well would also be amazing. 

Coming Tomorrow- I think it was the injury that made me slightly surprised he got an ASG nod, but then I remembered he hasn't not been amazing this year.

The Sunday of Suffering

 

I wanna bring you guys back to last weekend for a moment. Right before the All-Star Break. This was the moment something completely indescribable happened to me, and a friend, that I feel only existed as part of some wild cosmic justice. There was no sense in this. It still baffles me. But it happened.

So. I'm following the Phils game, and it's been a wild couple days. I was at the Park Friday night, Phils-A's, expecting, logically I might add, for the Phillies to be able to do something against one of the worst teams in baseball. I was mistaken. The A's roughed up Ranger Suarez, the bats were silenced, runners were left on base, the umps were screwing us and we looked pathetic. A's I had never heard of were getting RBIs. And then Lawrence Butler, who's been very meh this year, comes off the bench and hits a homer late. Like, to add insult to injury, here's a guy that could have been here the whole time kicking the shit out of us now.

The Saturday game was much better. I watched that game in a colleague's backyard, several beers crushed enjoying the moment. Tyler Phillips, the starter, was a local product, and he was pitching beautifully. The offense kept making it even more of a stretch for Oakland. It was an incredible moment, and perhaps the single most triumphant thing to come out of Pennsylvania that day.

But that Sunday, the day after, was something different. I was gonna have the Phils game on in the other room, and a good friend of mine, who comes from a family of Mets fans, was going to his first game at CitiField. I'd been wanting him to go for a while, that's a great stadium, and he was finally getting there. The Mets were playing the Rockies, who had German Marquez back but were still a last place team. I told him it'd likely be an easy win. 

The Phillies...for the umpteenth time during the runup to the ASG break, failed to appear. And not only were the A's on again, but they were crushing Michael Mercado. Evidently Phillips won the fifth starting position that day, because Mercado got chased by a triple-A team. But what was even more crucial was that Lawrence Butler who, again, had a really slow start to the season...had a three-homer day against us. Butler could power hit, I knew that, but 3 in one day against the best team in the NL? He had five homers before the Phils series, and he left with nine. We turned his season around. Good for us.

So I checked the Mets game, because I was at least hoping my friend Marc got something nice out of that day, and Pete Alonso had decked one early so I figured there was a shot. No...no, Jose Quintana got chased and the Rockies were leading. Even stranger, Michael Toglia, a corner guy so mediocre that I had no idea he'd even gotten to 13 homers by July...had himself...a three-homer day. The guy's hitting .190 and he hit 3 home runs against the Mets.

So let's recap. Two different obscure young guys for two terrible teams had three-homer games against teams that were better than them, on the same day. And of course they were the two games I had a vested interest in that day. I don't know what this says about Butler or Toglia or anything, but...it was just wild. The harbingers of doom are two people that no one would expect to have three-homer days.

The Rockies and A's aren't gonna have many other moments of pure subversion this year. Both will likely end in last, and both will get mediocre material out of Toglia and Butler this year. But they had that Sunday, that moment, to absolutely floor me. And they deserve props for that.

Coming Tonight: I never thought this guy would become such a consistent power hitter, and such a consistent starting infielder, but here we are.

How to Make an Entrance

 

The All-Star Break, being the dividing line of the regular season, seems to separate the big 2nd half stories from bleeding over into the 1st half. So if you debut right at the end of the first half, you need to make sure you make enough of an impression to still be a factor after people return from the break. And I think this year you had people that figured that out.

Right before the Reds went to break, everyone started talking about Rece Hinds. Not only did he debut with a bang, he debuted with some of the biggest exclamation points of any rookie in years. His first game featured a massive homer, then he cracked another one a game later. And he just kept going. At the moment, through his first nine games, Rece Hinds has a .353 average, 11 RBIs, 5 home runs, and a whopping 1.359 OPS. The man is not only hitting, he is mashing, and he's absolutely annihilating baseballs. Considering that in Louisville he'd only had 13 homers in 77 games, and was only hitting .216, this is a wild development.

It's also wild that Hinds was the Reds rookie that took to the majors so quickly. Jacob Hurtubise got a shot, but he hit .185. Blake Dunn got his opportunity, but he only had 1 hit in 12 games. Even second-year Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who was given the starting 1B spot out of camp, only hit .190 before getting injured. Of all the Reds hitters to make their way up, Rece Hinds was the big winner, and he did so in a way that commanded the attention of the league right before the ASG break. It's a fantastic turn of events. 

It's not certain that this start will mean anything for the rest of Hinds' career. It would be nice to think that this is just how frequently he'll power hit going forward. He has been quieter since coming back from the break. I kinda want him to keep going, though. Screw it, it'll be fun. 

Meanwhile, Drew Thorpe managed to make the majors this year two organizations later than he figured he would. Famously, Thorpe was a big pitching piece in the Yankees' organization, one of our most prized guys last year. And then he's the sole 'BIG PROSPECT' dealt in the Juan Soto deal. Thorpe was honestly the 'big deal' guy in there. Higgy and King were transitional pieces, Vazquez and Brito were depth options, but Thorpe was a starter of the future. And so the prospect of him in San Diego was somewhat alarming.

Then, as the Padres continued their push to compete in mid-camp, they traded for Dylan Cease, sending Thorpe to the White Sox, meaning he never even got to develop in the Padres' system. He made Spring Training starts for the Padres! And then he's off to Chicago. So it's wild that he gets to be a factor in their major league picture at all but, you know...they need guys. Everyone's either hurt of leaving for the White Sox, they need guys. And so he get called up in late June and gets to start some games.

Thorpe has had a pretty nice start for the Sox, going 3-1 with a 3.58 ERA and 19 Ks. He's had a really quick learning curve to the majors, he's not drowning under the weight of pitching for the worst team in the league, and he's coming off as confidently as he did in the Yankees' minor league system. This is extremely good for the White Sox, as they're already thinking about life after July, and how things will go if Crochet, Fedde or both get dealt.

The weird part is that as terrible as the White Sox have been this year, the rotation of Garrett Crochet, Erick Fedde, Jonathan Cannon, Chris Flexen and Drew Thorpe has honestly been pretty damn good. The closest thing to a pure innings eater is Flexen, and even he's got a 0.8 WAR, which is good for this team. Cannon and Flexen are just good at staying in and preventing complete meltdowns, while Fedde and Crochet are generally very good. Obviously taking them out of the equation will result in poorer results, as...I mean, does that mean Chad Kuhl and Nick Nastrini have to start games? Thorpe will at least ensure it's not a complete wash, but Crochet and Fedde are ensuring this hasn't been a 17 win team, even if 27 wins isn't lovely either. 

Thorpe definitely has legs, and needs to just keep performing to this level even as the team gets worse. This is not what he thought he'd be getting last year in Scranton, but this is the reality, and he's good enough to ensure it's not always this dire.

Coming Tomorrow- A guy who hit four homers against my team last weekend.

Peace, Love and Understaffing

 

The Marlins have SIX STARTING PITCHERS on the Injured list. Five of them are on the 60-Day IL. Two of them, Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez, have not made an appearance this season. There's a lot of talk this season about teams that have been screwed over by starter injuries, teams like the Astros, Dodgers and A's, but you haven't really heard much about the Marlins in this category, purely due to the theory that if they'd been any good this year then the pitching stuff wouldn't matter. 

I...I really disagree. The issue with this team is that if Luzardo had been 100%, if Alcantara and Perez had been healthy, then maybe the lack of run support would be less glaring, and this team would be closer to the Tigers or Mariners. If this had been a good season for starters, then they would be able to develop the minor league pitchers and ensure that they'd be ready for MLB action instead of being shoved right into the fire this year. Roddery Munoz will be a fine pitcher, I'm sure, but of course he has a 5.50 ERA right now. If he'd been able to develop naturally he wouldn't be pressured to be the Marlins No. 2 guy right now.

So who does that make the Marlins #1 guy? Trevor Rogers, who hasn't been completely healthy since 2021. He had an amazing rookie season, overtaxed himself resulting in a 5 ERA sophomore year, was injured for most of last year, and was still kind of rehabbing to start 2024. He is better now, and got his ERA below five, thanks to some really strong recent starts, including one where he had a no-no going til Elly de la Cruz had his say. Unfortunately, with the Marlins lack of run support he is 1-9, and even with Yonny Chirinos and Edward Cabrera behind him he's still the most experienced man in this rotation.

The Marlins are looking like they're gonna deal Jazz Chisholm, Tanner Scott, and possibly even Josh Bell. And if you're clearing things out and letting this team grow back in, even after a postseason year, you hopefully have people ready. I don't know who the heir apparent for this system is right now. Unlike a lot of rebuilding teams, there isn't really a guy that Marlins fans are waiting for. Like at least the D-Backs are waiting for Druw Jones, or the Reds are now waiting for Chase Burns. I don't know what the Marlins are waiting for. Better prospects in these trades? The pitchers to get off the IL? Bryan de la Cruz to finally hit over .250? 

It's such tonal whiplash for the Marlins. One year the excitement's there, the next year it's pointless. Over and over. And you hope for a reprieve but you don't know what that'll take. So you just have to hope something sticks, and for more than a year.

Coming Tonight: The Yankees gave him up. The Padres gave him up. Their loss, I suppose. I mean, y'know, they have Juan Soto and Dylan Cease now, but their loss.

Bo-Be-Gone?

 

After years of building themselves up as titans in a division that was already highly contested, the Blue Jays are looking like they're gonna let a lot of people walk this month. Kevin Kiermaier, Yimi Garcia, Danny Jansen, Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Turner and Trevor Richards have all been linked to trade talks, and there has been a buzz about the Jays moving one of their two foundational pieces, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. They both have another year of organizational ownership, but Vlad's stock is high, and Bo's young enough that he could be useful to any competitive roster. 

However, just today there appeared a snag in the plan, as Bo Bichette was placed on the IL with a calf strain. Bichette's 2024 numbers were already pretty lackluster, as he's only hitting .223 with 30 RBIs, but there is so much going for Bo as a multi-dimensional athlete with years left in his prime. You've seen it in the past few seasons, when Bo's on, he's one of the best in the game. He can hit 300, go for 175+ hits, chase 25 homers, and keep pounding for you. 2024, as it's looking, may be Bo's first season with a batting average under .290. My theory is whatever injury limited him late last year has taken longer for him to come back from, and he may just need to rehab that and come back fully in 2025.

That doesn't mean teams won't still deal for him, and it doesn't mean he won't still be a valuable asset this year. I just worry that this just might be a down year for him, and even if a competitor trades for him they're not gonna get much out of the rest of this season. Again, there's also the possibility that nobody deals for him because of the injury concern. You've seen this stop people [Zack Wheeler in 2019] and not stop people [Harrison Bader in 2022] in numerous trade deadlines.

The Blue Jays, in the meantime, don't seem to have much left to do this season, it seems. They're firmly in last, their ace Kevin Gausman wore himself out last year, and their other ace Jose Berrios wore himself out in the first half. They're without Jordan Romano, without Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and now without Bichette, so Canada, Hawaii and the 90s are all turning their backs on this team. South Jersey's still tuned in, as Davis Schneider, who's from a few towns over from me and is apparently a great guy, is still a crucial part of this team. The team has been getting a look at what the middle infield could look like without Bo, as Spencer Horwitz and Leo Jimenez have been excellent in middle-infield starts. And Yariel Rodriguez is at least assuring that there will be some starting security if people leave. 

But, even if Vlad and Bo stay, there's just not much excitement left for this Jays team to deliver. It looked so promising for so long, and yet here we are. Sometimes it doesn't work out. So hopefully it will eventually.

Coming Tomorrow- First Sandy Alcantara went down. Then Jesus Luzardo and Ryan Weathers went down. Then Braxton Garrett and Sixto Sanchez went down. Which leaves...uh...

Yaz If

In 2022, Mike Yastrzemski played in 148 games with the Giants. While it wasn't his best season, it was his most consistent one to date, and his fullest in his entire career. So far, thanks to injuries, it is the only year of Yaz's career to hit this mark. Comparatively, another Yastrzemski family member hit that mark fifteen times over the course of a 23-year career. 

Obviously there's a lot of factors at play here, like the frequency of injuries in this stage of baseball, the fact that Carl started his career at 21 while Mike was first called up at 28 [after years in the minors], and really the ultimate reality that Carl is just a better all-around player because he could hit for average more...and back then you weren't instructed to swing at everything. But it is kinda sad that Mike Yastrzemski hasn't achieved the level of consistency that his grandfather so memorably got to legend status with for the Red Sox. 

There are still perks, of course. Mike is off to a 2.0 WAR start, with excellent defensive numbers, in addition to 8 homers and 31 RBIs. He's not as overpowering as he was in 2019 or 2020, but he's also nearing his mid-30s, and he's already missed time this year. I really wish the O's would have let us see some of his peak years, but...y'know...apparently he wasn't ready for the 2017 Orioles, guys. 

Yaz is one of many very wild 'what would have happened?' stories on this current Giants team. Cause I do think about what would have happened if some of these guys had developed with the teams that drafted them. If Thairo Estrada actually got reps in New York at 2nd. If LeMonte Wade Jr. actually got to play 1st regularly in Minnesota. Hell, I even think about what would have happened had Heliot Ramos started playing like this in 2022 rather than just now. Things would look a lot different. But as it is, they're all playing for this halfway decent Giants team that's just trying to make something happen.

You're seeing them try to lift off again. Blake Snell's suddenly sprung back to life and has been peak Snell. Hayden Birdsong is already looking like a pro. Chapman and Conforto have had some hero moments. It just makes you wish that Lee and Soler had worked out the way some of these other guys have, because they're really almost there. They're just not catching fire like other NL West teams are, and it might do them in, even with Bob Melvin there.

For now, Yaz will have to make do with what he's got, and hope that it's enough. As usual.

Coming Tonight: From the talk of the baseball world to looking at where he's gonna be pawned off to. 

Always Be Closing: The Art of Getting Hot Midyear

 

Since the beginning of June, Carlos Estevez has 9 saves and a 0.00 ERA, while Ryan Helsley has a 2.12 ERA and 14 saves. The eyes of the league are upon these guys, and even if the relief picture favored people like Clay Holmes, Jordan Romano and Kyle Finnegan prior to this, it's very much about these guys at the moment. 

What's important about this is that both Helsley and Estevez are guys who previously flourished in middle relief positions. Helsley famously made an All-Star Game as a middle reliever in 2022, still managing to save 22 games despite not being the primary closing option [though he would become that after a shift in the depth chart]. Estevez was primarily a setup man type in Colorado, and was only given the ninth upon arriving in Anaheim last year, due to, again, a lack of more experienced options ahead of him. As I've explained, this is really what closing pitching has become. Not somebody who's had the most success as a ninth inning option, someone who's had the most success as a relief option in general. A lot of the time, great middle relievers may have trouble becoming great closers, even if these two have made the jump pretty amicably. 

It does come back to the question of 'had these two become their careers as dedicated closers, would they continue to have this much success?' And it's a loaded answer.

All you can really use to gauge this is both these pitchers' consistency as relievers. Helsley, for the most part, has been durable all his career. His toughest go of things was during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and he did struggle with a minor injury throughout 2021. But when he's been healthy, he's been solid, and had he been like Jordan Hicks and closed off the bat, I think he'd have more seasons very similar to his current 32-save campaign. Meanwhile, perhaps Denver is to blame but Estevez had a 4.60 ERA through his whole tenure in Colorado. His best season came at the very end of that, in 2022. At the same time, as much as you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, closing games for the Rockies is not an easy job, and you can see campaigns where he's given the ninth and loses it, just due to how mediocre he could be in save situations. 

And so the closing pitcher is less a time farmed moniker and more a case of 'what have you done for me lately?'. Helsley, to his credit, is very close to being in a position where he can comfortably close games for the rest of his career, but I said that about both Jordan Hicks and Trevor Rosenthal. Meanwhile, Anaheim has also been a city that takes mediocre relievers and gives them an opportunity to hit career highs as a closer, as that's what happened to Blake Parker, Ernesto Frieri and Hansel Robles. 

This could be THE moment for both Estevez and Helsley, and it could keep going for one and run out for the other. We're just gonna have to find out.

Coming Tomorrow- You see, the problem with breaking out in your late 20s is that your prime years last a split second and you spend a lot of time hurt. That's what this guy's been finding out.

Don't Touch That Dial, Folks!

 

There were a few wild statements from teams to end the first half. I was in Philly last weekend for one of the A's routs of the Phils, that was...something. But the wildest statement might have been from the Tigers, who were hosting the all-powerful Los Angeles Dodgers before the ASG break. And despite all three games being close, the Tigers took two of three.

From the Dodgers. A team with Shohei Ohtani on it.

Even wilder, both victories were walkoffs. Game 2 looked like a 9-4 Dodgers victory for most of its runtime, then in the ninth the Tigers piled on 5 runs, thanks to RBIs by Matt Vierling, Carson Kelly and Colt Keith. And then for bottom 10, Gio Urshela nailed a walkoff home run to seal the deal at 11-9, winning a game that looked pretty done for the Dodgers. Then in Game 3, the Dodgers are inches from a 3-2 victory, and again in the ninth, rookies Justyn Henry-Malloy and Wenceel Perez small-balled their way past Yohan Ramirez for a 4-3 win. 

The fact that the Tigers, a team that seemed so offensively depleted, could do this to the Dodgers, a team that seemed so overpowering, was incredible. And then you go back and look and, oh yeah, the Tigers are 9-4 since the start of July. Regardless of inefficiency, the Tigers are actually heating up.

Many of the pieces were there, like Carson Kelly behind the plate, Matt Vierling in center, Wenceel Perez in right, and Andy Ibanez in 2nd. They're all just playing better now. Carson Kelly's having the kind of versatile, efficient season that the Diamondbacks probably miss about now, with 29 RBIs in 55 games. Ibanez is hitting .288 with 21 RBIs in 54 games. Perez has 71 hits in 77 games, and leads the team in stolen bases. There aren't a lot of sure things in this lineup other than Riley Greene, but the extra part guys are definitely putting in the work to make these wins more possible. 

Getting Jack Flaherty back has aided the rotation, as he, Olson and Skubal have been pretty masterful starting games. I think the plan is to bring Matt Manning back this week, as Maeda's being moved to the 'pen and Keider Montero is still being kept in the rotation. Obviously it's not an ironclad formula, especially without Sawyer Gipson-Long, but hopefully it'll be enough to keep them moving. The bullpen is as strong as ever though, with Tyler Holton, Jason Foley, Beau Briske and Andrew Chafin doing everything they should be.

As promising as this newfound momentum is for the Tigers, they do have to play the Guardians a lot before the month is out, and the Twins are also on the docket. They did fine against the Dodgers, but these are more crucial matchups, because they mean more in September when the division, or a wild card spot, is at stake. I think the Tigers are kind of a long shot with this level of depth, but it could happen. With what they just did to the best team in the NL, ya never know.

Coming Tonight: The current MLB saves leader. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: Fred McGriff and the 2001 Cubs

 

Hey, guys, did you know that despite falling within the cutoff for Topps Traded, and receiving a card in Bowman Heritage, Hall of Famer Fred McGriff doesn't have a Topps base card as a member of the 2001 Cubs? 

Like Tim Raines in the 2001 Traded set, all that Fred McGriff got with his crucial addition to a new roster was a relic card. No base. Topps had a surprising amount of blindspots during that Traded set. But McGriff, one of the most high-profile stars dealt at the trade deadline, was indeed one of them. Fans would have to wait til 2002 to receive a card of McGriff in a Cubs uniform. 

Still, in 42 games in Chicago during the second half of the 2001 season, McGriff hit .282 with 41 RBIs and 12 home runs. Incredible numbers that gave McGriff his seventh, but not last 100+ RBIs season and his ninth, but not last, 30+ home run season. Even at 37, McGriff could still mash, and the Cubs reaped the benefits.

While we're here, though, it's important to note that while the Cubs were buyers at the 2001 trade deadline, and though they took on many crucial pieces, they still ended the season in third place thanks to a humiliating August skid that even an extended early September break couldn't save them from. Yes, they'd be alright eventually, and would come back with an even more impressive team in 2003, but this Cubs team gambled and lost. So, here are some of the other players Topps neglected to document during their 2001 flagship year:

Longtime utility man Miguel Cairo had a rough start to the 2001 season. After the 2000 campaign, where he'd been a key infield piece for the Devil Rays, Cairo was cut. He signed a deal with the Oakland Athletics, but days before the 2001 season would begin, Oakland would trade Cairo to the Cubs in exchange for Eric Hinske, who would later be dealt to Toronto for Billy Koch in one of many deals that Billy Beane would regret later. The Cubs were familiar with Cairo's work, he was an infield option for them before the Devil Rays brought him on, so they were fine slotting him in. In 66 games he hits .285 with 35 hits and decent enough defensive play. Behind both Eric Young and Ricky Gutierrez he was a decent enough backup. Ultimately, as the Cubs would deal for someone else I'll be discussing in this post, Cairo would be cut again and claimed by St. Louis. If you can believe it, Cairo's career lasted for another 10 years after this.

It famously took Gary Matthews Jr. a while to figure out the major leagues. You all remember his excellent 2006 campaign with the Rangers, and some solid work with the late 2000s Angels. It took him a few years to get there, and in 2001 he was a pretty one-dimensional outfield bat. As the starting option in center field, Matthews hit .217 with 56 hits, 30 RBIs and 9 homers in 106 games. A later acquisition, which I will discuss here, would be the death nell for Matthews in Chicago, and he'd be cut soon after, to be picked up by Pittsburgh.

Signing with the Cubs as a free agent a few seasons after being a big piece of the trade that brought Jeff Kent to San Francisco, Julian Tavarez was a decent enough relief specialist that had proved in Colorado that he could start games. The Cubs called his bet, and 28 starts out of Tavarez, resulting in a 10-9, 4.52 ERA season that also finished with Tavarez' highest strikeout total, with 107. Despite his utilization as a pure innings eater, Tavarez enhanced his value and versatility. As a result, Tavarez would be a key piece in a trade that would also bring Cubs farmhand Dontrelle Willis to Miami, while bringing a much more consistent starting option in Matt Clement to Chicago.

I think the value of the reliever has gone up in the last ten years, which is too bad, because had it not, Kyle Farnsworth would have been a much bigger deal at the time. For sixteen years, Farnsworth was nothing more than a solid, consistent relief guy who'd make 60 or 70 appearances per year and just work. His most consistent years were in Chicago, where he was a staple of the early 00s bullpens. 2001 was his best season, as he held a 2.74 ERA over 76 games, striking out 107. It would be a season that would need a year or so to recover from, but it was the surest sign of Farnsworth's dominance over his tenure with the Cubs. 

Now back to the trade deadline acquisitions. After breaking in with the 90s Braves teams, Michael Tucker had become a serviceable outfield bat for the Reds. The Cubs pulled a nice deal for Tucker in July and plugged him in as their new centerfielder, to replace Gary Matthews Jr. finally. Tucker was an improvement, hitting .263 with 31 RBIs in 63 games, and a 1.2 WAR in that time, his best numbers since Atlanta. Like Tavarez, this season would result in a crucial offseason deal, as Tucker would be dealt to Kansas City for a player to be named later. 

And as for the upgrade at 2nd base, the Cubs went with Delino DeShields, the longtime infield bat who'd been struggling in Baltimore following an excellent 2000 campaign. DeShields was picked up a week after the O's cut him, and went to work, hitting .276 with 16 RBIs and 12 stolen bases, bringing him to 450 overall. DeShields would stay for the 2002 season and then quietly retire. 

I was going to go 'well why didn't they make it' and then I realized that a lot of the people they picked up were people in their mid-to-late 30s who didn't have a ton left to work with, so that kind of answers that. Either way, good that they finally get Topps representation, even through this project. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The 2002 Moneyball A's

 

It's funny, the other day Disney+'s twitter account posted that Angels in the Outfield was finally on streaming, and that was a big deal because that movie had never been officially available on streaming before, despite being a bonafide Disney product. I dunno if it was rights issues, MLB stuff, who knows. But it had been 20 years or so, so I gave it a watch. And while it's not great, it still has a lot of really fun moments, and the last act really works. Clearly not the best baseball movie of the early 90s, but still decent.

And I got to thinking about the fact that everybody always talks about, like, 1988 to 1994 as this goldmine of baseball movies [killed by, like Cobb], with all the great ones that everybody loves in that window, and while there is a lot of good stuff in there...what's even funnier is that the movie that's generally accepted as one of the best baseball movies ever made is from like 15 years later. 

Moneyball is not only a movie that baseball fans enjoy, but it's a movie that movie fans enjoy. Baseball fans love it because they get to see depictions of David Justice and Carlos Pena and Scott Hatteberg, and movie fans love it because it's a great story and a really great script. This movie has immortalized obscure baseball names like John Mabry, Chad Bradford, Jeremy Brown, Ricardo Rincon and Jeremy Giambi. And it's also shed more light on just how good the 2002 A's were, even with the low-budget mentality.

It turns out I had a ton of 2002 A's Should Have Been customs premade, and so I'll roll them out here for y'all to enjoy. These are cards of integral 2002 A's pieces that Topps did not make cards of.

Chad Bradford, being one of the low-budget oddities that led to the A's success that year, needed a 2002 custom. Bradford was known for his impeccable relief numbers despite being an unconventional sidearmer. In 2002, after years of organizational neglect, he delivered his best season yet, with a 3.11 ERA, a 4-2 record and 56 strikeouts in 73 innings. This cemented Bradford's status as one of the unsung heroes of this A's team, and would pave the way for even more dominance to come with Oakland, Boston, New York, Baltimore and Tampa.

Scott Hatteberg, famously played by Chris Pratt in the film, was a former Red Sox prospect who, at 32, was looking pretty cooked. He'd been a mediocre catcher for the 90s Sox teams, and was running out of uses. The story goes that Billy Beane figured if they plotted him in at 1st they'd get a guaranteed contact hitter in the lineup, owing to the 'does he get on base' mentality, and thus Hatteberg had the best season of his career, resulting in a 3.3 WAR, a .280 average and 61 RBIs. This season would keep Hatteberg as a staple of the 00's A's squads, and would lead him to being the answer to the trivia question of 'who did Joey Votto replace at 1st in Cincinnati?'

The plan for 2nd base going into 2002 was to start Randy Velarde and throw Frank Menechino in for depth, but this wasn't a long-lasting metric. Enter rookie Mark Ellis, who was brought up a week or so into the season, and won the starting 2nd base job for the majority of the season. Though he was a .272 hitter, Ellis' defense put him above the pack, and his 2.7 WAR season placed him 8th in Rookie of the Year voting. 

The go-to outfield sub for this team, as he would be going forward, was Eric Byrnes, soon to be dubbed 'the Human Crash Test Dummy' for his ability to make unbelievable plays in the outfield without much care for his own personal safety. Byrnes played in 90 games, and had 94 at-bats, meaning he wasn't a starter, but he did hit .245 in that time, in addition to keeping the defensive side up late in games. Byrnes would funnel this into another 10 or so years of spare part excellence. 

Despite the success of Mark Ellis at 2nd, Beane still poached Ray Durham from Chicago at the deadline, in exchange for minor league pitcher Jon Adkins. Durham by this point was known as an above-average contact bat with putrid defensive numbers. Though Durham still played games at 2nd in Oakland, he was primarily used as a DH, a strategy made more impressive by the fact that this would be Durham's last season in the AL, followed by six years in San Francisco and an autumn in Milwaukee. Durham's hitting still aided the A's, as he hit .274 with 22 RBIs and 60 hits in 54 games, plus an incredible postseason, with 7 hits, 2 RBIs and 2 homers against the Twins. 

One of the most crucial scenes in the movie Moneyball is the scene where Billy Beane is able to get Ricardo Rincon from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for minor league Marshall McDougal. Rincon is the last piece the A's need to truly compete, and upon landing in Oakland, Rincon becomes one of the single best Athletics relievers in the team's history. In 25 games he posts a 3.10 ERA with 19 strikeouts and only 7 earned runs allowed. The next three years, Rincon's ERA would never rise above 4.50, and he'd appear in at least 64 games each year for the A's. Meanwhile, McDougal played in 18 MLB games, and never hit above .200. People call Billy Beane a wizard for a reason, and it's for moves like the Rincon deal. 

It's probably going to become harder to watch Moneyball after the team gets moved to Sacramento, but I still think it's an excellent film, and it's completely changed the way I view the 2002 season. Hopefully y'all will get a kick out of these customs as much as I do.

Your 2024 All-Star Game Starting Lineups

 This is a blog-tradition, going back all 15 years pretty much. I just have a soft spot for the All-Star Game, man. I wish that there wasn't this effort to commoditize it and take the fun out of it, because not having everybody in different uniforms sort of takes away from the 'many teams coming together' theme of this one that I enjoy so much. Like, now they don't even let the people in the All-Star Celebrity Softball Game wear their hometown caps. Why make this so homogenized? Does Rob Manfred understand why anyone enjoys anything other than to make money?

Regardless, this ASG wasn't especially tampered with, the two injured starters were people I didn't like and good people replaced them, and there are still a number of great storylines ready to play out tonight. So let's introduce the starting lineups..

First, as we're in an AL park, let's introduce the NATIONAL LEAGUE ALL STAR TEAM:

Leading off for the NL, and starting at 2nd base, from the Arizona Diamondbacks, KETEL MARTE

Batting second for the NL, the designated hitter, from the Los Angeles Dodgers...SHOHEI OHTANI.

[a well-warranted amount of applause]

Batting third, and starting at shortstop, from the Philadelphia Phillies...TREA TURNER

In the cleanup spot for the National League, and making his All-Star debut at first base, from the Philadelphia Phillies, BRYCE...HARPER

In the 5 spot for the NL, starting behind the plate, from the Milwaukee Brewers...WILLIAM CONTRERAS!

Batting sixth, and starting in right field tonight, from the Milwaukee Brewers, CHRISTIAN YELICH!

Seventh in the lineup for the NL, the third baseman, from the Philadelphia Phillies, ALEC BOHM!

Batting eighth, and playing center field tonight, from the Los Angeles Dodgers, TEOSCAR HERNANDEZ!

And in the 9 spot for the NL tonight, the left fielder, from the San Diego Padres, JURICKSON PROFAR!

And starting on the mound tonight for the NL, from the Pittsburgh Pirates, PAUL...SKENES!

Now, for the AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STARS!

Leading off for the AL tonight, and starting in left field, from the Cleveland Guardians, STEVEN KWAN!

Second in the lineup for the American League, the shortstop, from the Baltimore Orioles, GUNNAR...HENDERSON!

Batting third tonight, and starting in right field, from the New York Yankees...JUAN...SOTO!

And batting cleanup for the AL tonight, and starting the game in center field, from the New York Yankees...AARON JUDGE!

Fifth in the lineup to start off, the team's Designated Hitter, from the Houston Astros...YORDAN ALVAREZ!

[Raucous applause from some visitors from out East]

Batting sixth tonight, the starting third baseman, from the Cleveland Guardians...JOSE RAMIREZ!

Batting seventh, the American League starting 1st baseman, from the Toronto Blue Jays...VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR.

Eighth in the lineup tonight, starting at catcher, from the Baltimore Orioles...ADLEY RUTSCHMAN!

And batting ninth for the AL tonight, the starting 2nd baseman, from YOUR TEXAS RANGERS...MARCUS...SEMIEN!

And warming up in the bullpen to start this game for the AL, from the Baltimore Orioles...CORBIN BURNES!

Those are some pretty awesome lineups. I think the AL might have the edge, but y'never know what'll happen. Hoping for a fun broadcast tonight.