Website Outage Postponed

I’ve approach too many issues that also must be completed earlier than migrating the server. I’m going to maintain plugging and can replace once I’m prepared to maneuver the location.

UPDATE: Sorry, I’ve to push again the replace till subsequent Monday. Dwelling was far too busy this previous week. Issues get again to regular tomorrow. Hopefully the additional time will assist shorten the outage.

BBTF.org can be offline beginning Tuesday, August eighth at 9 AM EDT for a much-needed server migration and backend updates. The ETA to be again on-line is TBD. I’ll present updates on Twitter. 

Thanks to your endurance.

Is It Time to Cease Utilizing Scripts on Sports activities Uniforms?

By my depend, 19 of MLB’s 30 groups at the moment have a script brand on a minimum of one — and generally a couple of — of their non-CC jerseys: the A’s, Brewers, Cardinals, Dodgers, Giants, Guardians, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Rangers, Reds, Royals, Tigers, Twins, White Sox, and Atlanta.

That’s a variety of script jerseys! Clearly, scripts additionally seem often in hockey, soccer, and basketball, however they’re most prevalent in baseball. And baseball is the game extensively perceived to be going through the steepest advertising and marketing challenges with youthful followers — those who’re not being taught cursive writing..

Personally, I like most of MLB’s jersey scripts and am in no hurry to see them change. However this …

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Ex-Nats reliever Sean Doolittle exits after ‘11 unimaginable seasons’

Sean Doolittle, a two-time All-Star reliever who helped the Washington Nationals to a World Collection title, has introduced his retirement.

Doolittle revealed his choice in a social media put up Friday, writing that he had a “full coronary heart” as he stated farewell “after 11 unimaginable seasons enjoying the game I like.”

He stated he felt very welcome in Washington, the place he first pitched from 2017 to 2020, earned his second All-Star honor in 2018 and recorded a save in Sport 1 of the 2019 World Collection because the franchise gained its first and solely championship.

“The 2019 World Collection title will all the time be the spotlight of my profession as a result of we had been capable of share it with you,” Doolittle wrote, addressing Nationals followers. “I don’t have the phrases to let you know how …

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Listed below are the 2023 Arizona Fall League rosters

Ten of MLB Pipeline’s Prime 100 prospects are headed to this yr’s showcase circuit, with the Guardians and Tigers main the best way with two apiece:

17. Colson Montgomery, SS, White Sox (Glendale)
19. Carson Williams, SS, Rays (Peoria)
31. Ricky Tiedemann, LHP, Blue Jays (Shock)
39. Harry Ford, C, Mariners (Peoria)
54. Jackson Jobe, RHP, Tigers (Salt River)
58. Kyle Manzardo, 1B, Guardians (Peoria)
67. Jace Jung, 2B, Tigers (Salt River)
71. Kevin Alcántara, OF, Cubs (Mesa)
85. Chase DeLauter, OF, Guardians (Peoria)
89. Kevin Parada, C, Mets (Glendale)

Qualifying Provide Worth To Land Round $20.5MM

The qualifying supply for the upcoming offseason can be within the $20.5MM vary, studies Joel Sherman of the New York Submit. The precise quantity might not be identified till shortly after the conclusion of the common season.

It’ll be the best QO worth in league historical past. The supply value is calculated by averaging the salaries of the 125 highest-paid gamers within the majors. That determine typically will increase yr over yr as general spending rises….

Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Blake Snell, Matt Chapman, Aaron Nola, Sonny Grey and Josh Hader are among the many gamers who’re close to locks to obtain and reject the QO this winter. Jordan Montgomery and Lucas Giolito had been taken out of QO consideration by midseason trades, whereas Eduardo Rodriguez and …

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Jeff Greenberg named Tigers normal supervisor

The Detroit Tigers have named progressive and skilled govt Jeff Greenberg because the membership’s Common Supervisor. Greenberg, 37, will report back to President of Baseball Operations, Scott Harris, and joins the Tigers after spending the final 16 months as an Affiliate Common Supervisor with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Greenberg would be the twentieth Common Supervisor within the 123-year historical past of the membership, courting again to 1901.

Previous to becoming a member of the Blackhawks, Greenberg spent 11 seasons with the Chicago Cubs, together with his closing three seasons as an Assistant Common Supervisor. He additionally held roles as Director of Professional Scouting and Baseball Operations, Director of Baseball Operations and Assistant to the Common Supervisor. Whereas with the Cubs, Greenberg performed a key …

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Left-handed hitters describe the craft of hitting lefty pitching

Final yr, solely 53 left-handed major-league batters confronted southpaw pitchers a minimum of 100 instances, tied for the bottom variety of gamers since a minimum of 2002. This yr, there are solely 45 left-handed hitters with 100 or extra plate appearances towards left-handers by play Tuesday. That cohort is ready to say no in numbers for a fourth straight full season. There have been 67 in 2013.

Increasingly more, knowledge drives lineup choices and takes many left-handed hitters out of the lineups towards southpaws. Proper-handed batters face right-handed pitchers within the majority of their plate appearances as a result of, after all, they’re of the dominant handedness, however groups typically attempt to restrict left-on-left publicity. On the floor, there’s a good purpose for …

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Yankees’ establishment underneath Brian Cashman resulted in ‘catastrophe’ season, and a contemporary perspective is required

Quite a few missteps have led the Yankees to the place they’re in the present day and GM Brian Cashman, who has been on the helm since 1998, is underneath extra warmth now than at another level in his tenure. We all know this as a result of, on July 9, the Yankees fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson. It was the primary time they fired a coach throughout the season since 1995. It was a transparent act of desperation.

“It has been nicely documented that I’ve been reluctant previously to make modifications to our teaching workers in the course of a season,” Cashman stated in a press release after Lawson was let go. “I’m an enormous believer that successes and failures are collective efforts. Nonetheless, I finally felt {that a} change was wanted and {that a} new voice overseeing our hitting operations would give …

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Carroll makes extra historical past: 1st rookie to have 25-HR, 50-SB season

Can we simply go forward and provides Corbin Carroll the Nationwide League Rookie of the Yr Award already?

The D-backs outfielder continues to pile up spectacular accomplishments. In Arizona’s 7-1 win over the Giants on Wednesday at Chase Discipline—which gave the D-backs the season-series win over San Francisco—he stole his forty ninth and fiftieth bases of the season and belted his twenty fifth house run.

With these steals and the homer, Carroll grew to become the primary rookie in MLB historical past to compile 25 or extra house runs and 50-plus stolen bases.

The Athletic: How the $445 million Mets crashed and burned

As Tommy Pham, the perpetually intense veteran outfielder, bluntly put it in a current interview, “We had a horrible f—ing June.”

Typically after video games or throughout meals on the highway, gamers mentioned how they might flip issues round.

After a devastating sweep in Atlanta, Pham, infielder Eduardo Escobar, catcher Francisco Alvarez and star shortstop Francisco Lindor talked about small issues that the Mets wanted to enhance in between bites of meals at a Brazilian steakhouse, Fogo de Chão, in Pittsburgh. Pham, 35, has performed on seven groups, and organizations know when negotiating with him that he brings an edge, robust work ethic and little tolerance for lackadaisical effort.

For weeks forward of the dinner, Lindor had held himself …

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Oakland vs. the A’s: The within story of the way it all went south (to Las Vegas)

Thao was shocked. Since taking workplace in January, she and her workers had picked up the place earlier mayor Libby Schaaf left off, negotiating with A’s proprietor John Fisher to facilitate a large, city-altering $12 billion mission for a ballpark village on 55 acres alongside the waterfront at Howard Terminal. The work to maintain the A’s had been an extended haul, spanning a number of mayoral administrations and three A’s possession teams, however Thao believed they had been $101 million away from procuring the required quantity of public funding for the infrastructure outdoors the ballpark. It was a paltry sum for such an enormous mission, and Oakland had simply been assured of one other $65 million in federal grants that might have introduced the distinction all the way down to $36 million. Thao …

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The ragtag crew that saved Darryl Strawberry’s profession

Again in 1996, Strawberry was in a unique place. He was a slumping star with drug, alcohol, authorized and tax points on his resumé—a participant no affiliated crew would contact. The Saints, who had been then an impartial bunch identified extra for his or her advertising and marketing mischief than their developmental pedigree, had been Strawberry’s final likelihood.

He was hesitant to take it.

“I didn’t actually wish to come to play,” Strawberry says. “I assumed I used to be utterly performed with baseball.”

The story of how Strawberry lifted up the Saints and himself for just a few superb weeks in the summertime of ’96—and the unlikely pals he made alongside the best way—is without doubt one of the many poignant moments in “The Saint of Second Probabilities,” a brand new documentary about former Saints co-owner …

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Republicans suggest $614M in public funds for Brewers’ stadium upgrades

Republican legislators introduced a invoice Monday that might dedicate greater than $614 million in public funding to restore and renovate the Milwaukee Brewers’ stadium—excess of taxpayers spent to construct it greater than 20 years in the past.

Underneath the proposal, the state would give the crew $60.8 million subsequent fiscal yr and as much as $20 million every year after that by 2045-46. Town of Milwaukee would contribute a complete of $202 million, and Milwaukee County would kick in $135 million by 2050.

The crew would contribute about $100 million and lengthen its lease at American Household Discipline by 2050, conserving Main League Baseball in its smallest marketplace for one other 27 years.

Studies commissioned by the Brewers and one other by a state guide discovered …

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200 WINS! Adam Wainwright caps profession with long-awaited milestone

Welcome to the 200-win membership, Adam Wainwright! In one of many final scheduled begins of his adorned MLB profession, Wainwright reaches a long-awaited milestone.

Wainwright and the Cardinals defeated the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 for Waino’s 2 hundredth profession win. Wainwright allowed 4 hits and struck out three in seven innings.

With the victory, Wainwright turns into simply the third pitcher in historical past to win a minimum of 200 video games with the St. Louis Cardinals and simply the sixth energetic hurler to succeed in 200 victories.

Can Freddie Freeman Re-Open the three,000 Hit Membership?

What makes the nadir of the three,000 Hit Membership so jarring to a baseball fan is the novelty of this phenomenon. The explosion of offense within the Nineteen Nineties wasn’t simply homers, however batting common as nicely. Even going again 10 years, there have been all the time a variety of gamers with profession hit totals someplace north of two,000.

In 2023, that quantity is seven, and that’s solely as a result of there have been 4 new members this yr: Freeman, Jose Altuve, Elvis Andrus, and Andrew McCutchen. (I’m going to exit on a limb and predict that Evan Longoria gained’t get 72 hits over the subsequent two weeks.) Distinction that with 2004, which featured 27 energetic gamers with 2,000 profession hits.

That brings us again to Freeman. Whereas he was all the time good at hitting for common all through his …

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MLB playoffs 2023: Orioles clinch postseason berth

AFTER THE ORIOLES improved from 52-110 in 2021 to 83-79 final season—the ninth-biggest year-to-year enchancment in MLB historical past—Baltimore followers anticipated, or a minimum of hoped, that Elias would handle the rotation. The Orioles had ranked twenty third within the majors in ERA, twenty sixth in strikeout charge and twenty fifth in FanGraphs WAR—not precisely a playoff-caliber rotation. The large strikes had been anticlimactic: The crew signed veteran innings eater Kyle Gibson to a one-year, $10 million contract and purchased Cole Irvin from the A’s. Thus, the less-than-stellar projections.

There are 3 ways to view the offseason:

(1) Elias noticed the 2022 season as a little bit of a fluke, considered regression as probably and didn’t wish to commit large cash in free company simply but, not till it was …

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Rays to announce St. Petersburg stadium deal this week

Right here’s what we all know:

After 16 years of hypothesis, courting again to the change from Satan Rays to Rays, the crew is staying in St. Petersburg, FL.
The stadium plan stays what was reported earlier: a set roof stadium seating 30,000 and anchoring a bigger general growth within the Historic Fuel Plant District, which is the place the present stadium is situated in the present day.

The brand new stadium would open for the 2028 season, however the general growth might not be full till a decade later. You’ll be able to view the Rays stadium redevelopment proposal right here.

Final week, Topkin additionally reported the Rays could be keen to tackle round $600 million to fund a brand new stadium, with rumors floating that Stu Sternberg was fascinated about promoting a stake within the crew for …

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How the knee-down revolution modified catching – with out downgrading protection

Swanson initially thought that having a knee down would possibly have an effect on how umpires perceived pitches: Since umpires sometimes place themselves between the batter and the catcher’s inside shoulder, Swanson experimented with dropping the suitable knee for a left-handed batter and the left knee for a right-handed batter.

“I assumed there was an opportunity umpires had been utilizing the catcher’s physique, particularly their knees, to gauge the peak of pitches,” he stated. “I assumed if we take away the knee from their visible subject, possibly they’ll lose notion. … I used to be by no means capable of validate the speculation.”

Nonetheless, he discovered there have been different advantages to catchers being nearer to the bottom: The very best framers received most of their borderline strike calls within the decrease …

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Knuckleballer does one thing not seen in MLB since 2018

It’s 2023, and the knuckleball nonetheless performs within the large leagues.

Matt Waldron and the Padres beat the A’s, 5-2, on Saturday afternoon on the Oakland Coliseum. It was a reasonably simple victory—one crew making an attempt desperately to stave off elimination from playoff rivalry, over one other crew lengthy since eradicated.

Nonetheless, this wasn’t simply any Padres victory. This was Waldron’s victory—the primary within the profession of the 26-year-old right-hander. And it had been some time for the reason that final time a knuckleballer earned a win in an enormous league ballgame. Almost 5 years, to be precise.

Waldron pitched 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball, utilizing his knuckleball-heavy combine to induce loads of weak contact. Within the course of, he grew to become the primary pitcher to make use of …

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Shohei Ohtani performed for season, cleans out locker earlier than Angels announce IL transfer

With nothing left for him this season past medical procedures, Shohei Ohtani has cleared out his locker with the Los Angeles Angels. Probably for the ultimate time.

The 2-way celebrity, who tore the UCL in his pitching arm final month, missed his eleventh straight recreation Friday and it grew to become clear after the sport that he would miss extra, as his locker was cleared out as soon as reporters entered the clubhouse for postgame interviews.

A few of his issues had been even within the trash, based on the Los Angeles Occasions.

The following morning, the crew introduced that Ohtani is on the 10-day injured listing with an indirect harm and can miss the remainder of the season. Common supervisor Perry Minasian lastly elaborated on the story Saturday afternoon, telling …

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Giants’ all-Alou outfield made historical past 60 years in the past. It virtually didn’t occur

Simply, nonetheless, we wouldn’t be in place in the present day to rejoice that historic feat. Simply, we might have been disadvantaged of realizing in regards to the Alou household royalty. Simply, not one of the brothers might have performed a single inning within the majors.

“It virtually didn’t occur, the three brothers enjoying collectively,” Felipe Alou, 88, informed the Chronicle this week. “I actually needed to return house, again to the college that I used to be attending. I had a ticket again to the Dominican. If I went house that day in 1956, I wasn’t going to return.”

Alou critically thought of quitting baseball in his first skilled season within the New York Giants’ farm system due to excessive racism surrounding his first farm crew in Lake Charles, La., the place he …

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As Padres’ season spirals, questions emerge about tradition, cohesion and chemistry

For no matter else must be fastened or tweaked or modified concerning the Padres — and an important factor could be their greatest gamers performing higher on the sector — there’s a perception within the clubhouse that the tradition inside the crew is one which lacks cohesion and a central goal.

This doesn’t imply gamers don’t like one another or don’t work onerous, these inside say. A number of gamers pushed again on strategies there are deep-seated resentments between them.

The problem, a number of sources stated they imagine, is an absence of engagement.

This, based on a number of veterans who’ve been with the Padres for various lengths of time and most who’ve additionally performed for different groups, is basically borne of the crew’s greatest gamers being on …

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Minor League Baseball Unionization One Yr Later: ’Now We Simply Get to Play Baseball’

This yr? The state of affairs has lastly modified. For the primary time, all minor leaguers can be paid over the offseason, $250 per week for gamers at house. That’s game-changing (and life-changing) for gamers like Washington.

“It’s simply the peace of thoughts,” says the 27-year-old reliever, who spent this season with the Triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis Dodgers. “It’s not having to fret about what I’m going to do within the offseason, am I going to have the ability to make ends meet, all of that… It’s helped loads, actually, simply mentally. I don’t must stress as a lot.”…

It paid off. Actually. For the primary time, Case says, he completed the season with cash in his pocket: He’d by no means been paid sufficient to save lots of throughout the season earlier than. Now, …

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Cardinals’ disappointing 2023 season can and have to be rotated in 2024; is John Mozeliak up for the duty?

That brings us to the entrance workplace helmed by president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. There’s no assailing his broader file of success because the Cardinals’ lead operator. First as normal supervisor after which in his present position, Mozeliak has guided the Cardinals for the reason that fall of 2007, and so they’ve loved an incredible degree of success throughout his tenure – 10 playoff appearances and a World Collection title in 2011. One misplaced season doesn’t meaningfully tarnish these prior achievements, particularly in mild of the Cardinals’ market measurement and (considerably self-inflicted) payroll limitations, however it does elevate questions in regards to the future. That’s particularly the case since Mozeliak failed to deal with the rotation final offseason, and that flawed rotation …

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Hanshin Tigers clinch first Central League pennant since 2005

Teruaki Sato homered for the second straight recreation because the Hanshin Tigers beat the Yomiuri Giants 4-3 to clinch their first Central League title in 18 years and sixth general on Thursday.
The Tigers, unbeaten up to now in September, accomplished a three-game sweep of the archrival Giants at Koshien Stadium whereas extending their successful streak to a season-high 11 video games.

“I’m glad we gained the title in the present day in entrance of Tigers followers at Koshien as a result of we’re going to Hiroshima tomorrow,” Hanshin supervisor Akinobu Okada stated.

The Tigers and the second-place Hiroshima Carp are scheduled to play a two-game collection from Friday at Mazda Stadium.

“I repeatedly informed my gamers that September could be the month of an actual battle, however we’ve gained far more than …

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An “Outdated-Common Pitchers’ Duel” Didn’t All the time Imply What You Suppose

From that decade on, the context for “quaint pitchers’ duel” was established: There’s a variety of slugging within the recreation in the present day, however there was as soon as a time when baseball was dominated unilaterally by the boys who threw the ball. Nonetheless, that’s not the place or how this saying started. The really attention-grabbing historical past of the phrase begins nicely earlier than Ruth ever despatched one deep.

In a Montana newspaper’s write-up of NL Opening Day 1919—a chunk delightfully headlined “Outdated Man Baseball Crawls Out Of Dugout”—one of many subheadings learn, “Brooklyn Takes Two Video games From Boston—Rudolph and Cadore Have Outdated-Common Pitchers’ Duel. Oh-h-h Boy, Come On, She’s Off!” That’s a improbable set of phrases, however after a 1918 season through which NL groups had averaged simply …

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Pink Sox fireplace Chaim Bloom

Bloom was named Chief Baseball Officer on October 28, 2019. He has labored in baseball for 19 years, beginning as an intern for the Tampa Bay Rays, the place he spent 15 years of his profession previous his time with the Pink Sox.

Along with this variation, Common Supervisor Brian O’Halloran has been supplied a brand new senior management place inside the baseball operations division.

The seek for new baseball operations management will start instantly. Within the interim, the day-to-day operations will proceed underneath the route of O’Halloran, and Assistant Common Managers Eddie Romero, Raquel Ferreira, and Michael Groopman.

Is the AL Cy Younger Race Cole’s or Too Shut To Name?

Based on our new Cy Younger projection system, Cole is working away with the award. Per ZiPS’ forecasting, his lead in conventional Cy Younger Factors (CYP) over second-place Luis Castillo is identical because the hole between Castillo and seventh-place Zach Eflin. FIP-based CYP nonetheless has Cole within the lead, largely resulting from his league-leading innings whole, however there, he’s solely narrowly forward of Kevin Gausman. Gausman’s season feels fairly much like his 2022, when he earned only a single fifth-place vote regardless of main the league in FIP due to elite strikeout and stroll numbers.

This yr, Gausman can be underperforming his league-leading FIP with uninspiring contact high quality numbers. In some ways, his profile is a poor man’s Strider: higher …

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Julio Rodríguez Joins What May Develop into a Bumper Crop of 30-30 Gamers

Rodríguez is the second participant to succeed in 30-30 this season, after Acuña, who hit his thirtieth homer on August 31 to go along with what was then 61 steals (he added his 62nd later in that recreation). That was already an unprecedented mixture, and with six homers and three steals since, he’s as much as 36 of the previous and 65 of the latter, with sights set on the primary 40-70 season in main league historical past. In the meantime, 4 different gamers at the moment have a minimum of 25 homers and 25 steals, giving them cheap pictures of reaching 30 in each classes, and two others have an outdoor likelihood of crashing the social gathering as nicely….

What’s driving this yr’s potential bumper crop is the return of the stolen base due to the brand new guidelines — specifically the pitch clock, …

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