That is a stunningly terrible deal for Albies. He left tens of millions of dollars on the table. I am trying to figure out what happened there but can’t yet find a reason. I’m amazed the MLBPA didn’t shoot his agent.
If Albies just wanted to get a contract out of the way for enough money, fair enough, but there is just no way the Braves would not have given him more dollars for the exact same term had his agent just asked.
Sanchez goes down again to injuries. It’s getting to be the Scranton Yankees more and more every day. On the plus side, errors and passed balls will drop dramatically.
Former MLB pitcher Scott Sanderson has died at 62. No cause of death stated.
At some point I suppose I’ll move on from his gallant contribution in that Tigers brawl.
After Vladdy went 2 for 4 including a deep dinger in his first AAA game with the Bufflalo Bisons last night, I’m convinced he’ll get called up within a week if he has a repeat game this week-end in Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Unfortunate that his posterior is sadly Kirby Puckett-like, but these things we just have to deal with.
Highly regarded White Sox rookie Eloy Jimenez hit the first two home runs of his career tonight–curiously enough, to dead center and left center in Yankee Stadium, which are not the two easiest fields to which to hit home runs.
Jimenez, who had zero prior Major League experience, recently signed a six-year, $43 million contract which kind of underscores the above points about Albies.
Chris Davis singles in his first at-bat, driving in 2 runs.
Case in point today in Pirates v. Nats. Archers pitches 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 run and hasn’t given up a hit in the last 4 innings. No pinch hitter for him. Under my theory, why mess with success?
But no, let’s bring in the setup man to give up back to back homeruns to give Washington the lead. You got a pitcher in there who at least today is rolling. I don’t see the logic in taking him out for a guy who might not be on today.
Now you’re going up another unwritten rule, the 100 pitch limit. Even guys who are allowed to exceed the limit are held back a bit in April. Archer was at 94. Going to Rodriguez, last year anyway, was the logical move. He made 63 appearances last season, 50 of them scoreless. He only gave up more than one run five times. Good odds.
Chris Davis had three hits. It’s a funny old game.
Which has given birth to my favorite piece of baseball media this season. Possibly ever.
His tiny wave was the best part. He looked like a Little League player.
for some reason i think this is going to be one of those years in la when its gonna be win 10 in a row then lose 10 and repeat cycles in LA until ya go insane …
jooooose altuve, 6 home runs in 5 games. Pret-ty good.
He’s amazing. Unfortunately, he’s not a Mariner. I do like watching him play.
Yanks are down to 11 on the [del]DL[/del] IL! CC Sabathia is back and looked good yesterday.
The Yanks are only 6-8 and yet a game and a half ahead of the Red Sox. I’m betting no one would have bet on that.
One Yankee pitcher has 3 of their 6 wins. Of course that pitcher is Domingo Germán with a gaudy 1.38 ERA.
This is going to be a weird year.
Oh, Judge had another Judge moment* yesterday.
Yes, you read it correctly. The Cubs are snowed out today. Ugh. Snow, on April 14.
Sure, another minor point, but why, whenever they show Altuve manning 2nd, is he always compulsively biting at his fingertips?
Like, always. I have never ever seen him not biting away, like that, while waiting for his pitcher to throw the next pitch.
Watch for it next time - when they show him, he’ll be chomp chomp chomping away.
Ah yes - lo and behold
Puckett never really suffered much from his weight during his career; he was just shaped weird. Vladdy Jr. is legitimately fat, and if he doesn’t solve that problem it will catch up to him eventually.
Toronto second baseman Lourdes Gurriel Jr had to be removed from today’s game because apparently, for reasons unknown, he cannot make routine throws to first. He’s got whatever afflicted Chuck Knoblauch and unlike Knoblauch his team has no other reason to keep him around so he’ll be demoted soon; rumor has it Eric Sogard will replace him, but he’s a temporary fix. No one on the team is hitting except Freddy Galvis, so they might as well recall Vladdy and half the Buffalo Bisons.
I think you would have to compare that to what a starting pitcher would have done in a certain situation to see whether it was good odds or not. I mean, most half-innings are scoreless, right? Archer pitched 6 out of 7 scoreless in that game, so I’m not sure how putting Rodriguez’s stats up there make the point that the change was proper. If you want to say that Rodriguez is normally a fine pitcher, I don’t disagree, but it does not support the argument that he was the better choice in the 8th than Archer on that day.
Oh, and screw the 100 pitch limit. These guys are young athletes and paid handsomely to play a kid’s game. Players are babied. Doug Drabek would throw 145 pitches and still not lose anything off of his fastball.
Ah, more of a Valenzuela/Sandoval thing going on with VG. An amoeboid blob off the old block, sadly.
Was hoping for at least a bit more out of Grichuk, who’s hitting a sobering .192. Hopefully he’ll start to put his recent 5-year signing to good use. Not sure if I’m hearing right that Stroman, Sanchez, and Smoak might be moving pieces as well. I realise the Jays are trying to go young, but, well, I don’t have any answers.
I foresee an inordinate amount of 1-0, 2-0 Jays losses this season.
I do remember Drabek being a fine pitcher and a workhorse, but it’s probably worth noting that he didn’t last all that long. He was effective through age 29, then had his last strong season at age 31; in between he led the league in losses, and his last four seasons weren’t good at all. Gotta wonder if he’d have been effective for longer without those 145-pitch games …