casimir

It was odd to hear Silver so matter of factly name Seattle and Las Vegas. That's what everyone assumes, I'd guess that's what it will be. But it strikes me as odd that a commissioner would be that blatant about it.

Kozma is a former Yankee. It was only 11 games, but that's still enough to stain one's career. Actually, I had forgotten he played for the Tigers.

Kozma. What fun is it to always use obvious ones?

Alternative universe.

Don’t give them any ideas.

Looks like this game actually starts at 6:10p rather than 6:40p.

Or trade him for a better return. Would Reed have much trade value given his lower salary? Could he bring back a similar value wing with a better balanced game than Herro?

I got it. In extra innings, the oldest member of the coaching staff or the most out of shape relief pitcher is the ghost runner. Would that alleviate the angst?

Hustle is always appreciated. Sometimes it’s the difference between one side of a fine line vs the other side. It worked out here.

It happens.

Agree. I think folks fell in love with Gipson-Long’s debut but have not seen recent results which aren’t all that good. I suppose there’s value in him as a player with minor league options, but once those are exhausted, is anyone really excited about him being a top 5 of the rotation?

Former all star Willi Castro didn’t get an invite?

I don’t know. There’s 7 guys there, but are the top end guys good enough?

Until he’s not good to go.

Jones PHing in the (checks notes) 4th inning was absolutely terrible. His roster spot is absolutely terrible. I remember hearing lore about Leyland not wanting certain Dombrowski choices on the roster and using them enough to get his point across until they were demoted/released. I don’t know if that might be going on here, that’s probably a stretch to assume it to be the case. But if so, I don’t know that his usage today accomplishes anything useful. I guess I’m taking a liberty at saying two wrongs don’t make a right. One aspect to the roster management the last few years is that I think some of these roster decisions are sometimes based on previous season accomplishments that are highly likely outside of career norms and not to be achieved again. I think this, plus Jones’ inability to play defense, should have been obvious reasons to not return him this season. And who here was watching the game? Benetti didn’t really hold back on objective critiquing of the reaction of the crowd and actually siding with them without flat out stating that he agreed with them (if you take the reaction to mean Jones should be cut). That caught me be surprise. He’s not wrong at all. It just wasn’t commentary that I expected. Scales was in the booth with him. I suspect he was caught off guard as well. He offered some commentary about it being a difficult role to PH and not always know when to be ready. I don’t think he was excusing Jones’ season at all, and I certainly understand that role isn’t for everybody.

I'll allow it.

Indeed. Baseball is life. The rest is just details.

Yikes! Can’t say I’ve had that kind of experience.

Maybe. Bullpen arms can be fickle. We might have seen the best days of guys like Holton and Vest. Add in the fact that the bullpen lacks swing and miss ability. There is plenty of blame to go around to the offense, the defense, and pitching. Even the better players have had their moments. I’m coming around to the thought that maybe this just isn’t their year. It’s statistically doubtful that they make this deficit up. Sure, the league might be weak. But they’re also towards the bottom of the standings of a weak league, so why should we assume there’s going to be any come back?