While it remains unclear exactly how long Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates will be out of action with a rib fracture, any significant lost time will obviously have an impact on the tight NL Central race. As Mike Petriello of Fangraphs writes, Pittsburgh will be absent McCutchen at a time when wins are at a premium. It will be interesting to see whether the team considers a move to add another outfielder to the mix.
- Cubs call-up Javier Baez flipped the narrative on his debut by homering after an 0-for-5 start. Of course, you could call that performance right in line with expectations; as Vince Lara-Cinisomo of Baseball America wrote yesterday, big power and lots of strikeouts are likely as Baez adjusts to the big leagues. Meanwhile, the promotion carries broader implications for Chicago, as ESPN.com’s Keith Law explains (Insider link). By moving Baez onto the 40-man roster before they need to, and likely foregoing the chance to tack on additional years of control, the Cubs are starting the clock on their efforts to transition from rebuilding to contending. Given the state of the team’s MLB rotation and generally less-developed pitching prospects, that could make the team a player on the free agent market this year, says Law.
- It appears that the Twins have kept recently-acquired starter Tommy Milone in Triple-A to keep him from reaching a third year of service, explains Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN. With 2.018 on his service clock entering the year, and having been on optional assignment since July 5, Milone is now set up to fall short of the three years needed to qualify for arbitration via the standard route. Though a quick call-up would likely put Milone in line for an extra arb trip as a Super Two, he will nevertheless be subject to team control for four more years.
- Twins shortstop Danny Santana has a .318/.355/.488 slash through 215 plate appearances, far and away the best line he has maintained as a professional (in spite of the fact that he just made the leap to the big leagues for the first time). Regardless of what happens in the rest of the 23-year-old’s career, it seems fair to say that the meager signing bonus that landed him back in 2007 was well worth it. A club official says Santana signed for just $45K, while Santana’s representatives indicate it was only $37K, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN.
club official says Santana signed for just $45K, while Santana’s representatives indicate it was just $37K, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN
Wonder if Santana’s handler/agent took an extra $8k lol.
Can only take 3% by law
What happened to McCtuchen is unfortunate but no one seemed to care when Paul Goldschmidt’s season was cut short by 93 MPH fastball to the hands just a few days earlier. The media converge of these two occurrences has been very biased.
The McCutchen hit was intentional. The Goldschmidt one was not.
How can anyone make that determination definitively?
Goldschmidt himself stated he believed it was unintentional. But not a single person can say that about McCutchen.
Yet the end result was worse for Goldy than Cutch.
How do you figure? An accidental broken hand is worse than an intentional broken rib? We don’t even know how long McCutchen is going to be out. You think this really hurts Goldschmidt’s and the Diamondback’s chances of making the playoffs?
But we don’t really judge actions by their result, but instead of their intent. If you back out with your car and accidentally run over and kill a child that was playing behind your car, we don’t “blame” you or reprimand you. Conversely, if you purposely try to run over a child but only end up breaking his/her leg, we do blame you and reprimand you.
“If you back out with your car and accidentally run over and kill a child that was playing behind your car, we don’t “blame” you or reprimand you.”
Yes we do, its called manslaughter! You go to jail for 20 years!
That’s def. not manslaughter. Even manslaughter requires some level of intent, or criminal mind. That would just be an accident. And we don’t blame you for accidents.
How so? It doesn’t really matter for the D-Backs anyway, being they’re not contending.
The Pirates had no reason to intentionally hit Goldy (plus it was on the hands, which would be almost impossible to target intentionally anyway).
It was pretty clear that Delgado was throwing at McCutchen on the tape, though.
Its part of the game, the Pirates ended Goldy’s season with a HBP so McCutchen got hit. Delgado hit him in the back not the head or hands where injuries are far more likely. Unfortunately McCutchen got hurt but that is part of the game. The pirates have hit far more batters this year.
Only part of the game if it’s allowed to be. It isn’t inherent to the sport.
I find it very much unnecessary.
Well its clearly been allowed in the game. If the MLB wanted to eliminate it they need to enact much more stringent and consistent punishment for HBP.
HBP, even ones that are intentional, often carry the same punishment, single game ejection, as arguing balls and strikes with an umpire.
It isn’t really “part of the game” to get angry about a regular play going awry and throwing at the other team. The Pirates or McCutchen didn’t break any “unwritten rule” that usually leads to these situations
This too. I know they’ve said the team was throwing up and in, but a) that’s a fair strategy, b) there was clearly (in my view) no intend and c) Goldschmidt had an opportunity to avoid the pitch. It was terribly unfortunate, but is one of those risks that is largely part of the game.
Fine… it’s part of the game. Cutch admitted he was expecting it going into the game. But they didn’t do it early in the game and they didn’t do it on the first pitch they threw to him in the 9th when they were down by four runs. The way they handled it was cowardly. And I’d question your view that a 95mph fast ball to the spine isn’t an intent to injure. Just because it’s been part of the game doesn’t mean it should be. Baseballs aren’t intended to be weapons.
No instead he aimed for his spine, which could end his career. It is almost impossible to intentionally hit anyone in the hands, especially by someone like frieri. its unfortunate that goldys season is done, but his injury was an accident that would not have an impact on the playoffs. Cutch’s might
LaRussa had Motte drill Braun in the upper spine area with a 95 plus fastball and the only noise I heard was that it was part of the game. It was in retaliation for Saito pitching in on Pujol’s hands and not hitting him and in fact getting swings.
What happened isn’t unusual and the Pirates throw intentionally at batters as well. All the hubbub is because it was McCutchen.
It’s exactly this kind of thinking that makes the Diamondbacks a complete embarrassment to the game.
What would the Pirates incentive have been to take out Goldschmidt? And it’s imposible to aim for the batter’s hands. Meanwhile, Miguel Montero put down his middle finger and pointed it towards Cutch to signal the deliberate hit. He then moved behind Cutch as Delgado threw. It was just plain dirty. Especially since they pitched normal to Cutch after the first inside throw so he’d let his guard down. They might as well have thrown at him in the on deck circle. Even Goldschmidt didn’t look comfortable with it – cause he knew his hit wasn’t intentional.
Goldschmidt was leaning in and started to check his swing when he got hit on the hands, because the pitch had a little bit of late movement on it. If Goldschmidt doesn’t start to swing, it doesn’t hit him. How can it possibly be an intentional HBP if Goldschmidt thought it was close enough to start his swing?
Throwing a fastball intentionally at McCutchen’s back crossed a line.
And like Cutch said, “If you’re gonna hit me, hit me”. Not on the 3rd pitch of a 9th inning AB. Hitting players is part of the game, but it needs to be done the right way.
I never heard the idea that it’s supposed to be done early rather than late.
Tommy Milone. AKA the piece that may have made me not hate the Lester trade if he had been included with Cespedes.
That would be alot to demand for a 2 month rental of Lester. Cespedes at least has some control.
“Some control” only amounts to one year and Cespedes is overrated. We gave them a playoff ace and Jonny Gomes, who hits lefties much better than Cespedes hits anybody. Milone+Cespedes would’ve been a much fairer return.
Lemme get this straight. You just called Yoenis Cespedes Overrated?
He’s a slightly above-average hitter and a very good defensive corner outfielder (but a disaster in center). But everyone acts like he’s some kind of star.
An All star but he is a drastic improvement over what Sox had in their OF.
Well…he did win the Home Run Derby. I mean, come on.
One year and 2 months > 2 months
Jon Lester >>> Yoenis Cespedes
I don’t disagree with that but the fact you have another full season of Cepesdes helps make up for that.
Not enough, is my point. Lester alone was worth more than just Cespedes.
Not as a rental player he wasn’t.
I know its a business, but that stinks for Milone. Ask for a trade, get it, find yourself in the same situation but on a worse team. Hope he is starting for the Twins next year, I like the guy.
He’ll be starting for the Twins next week most likely.
the Cubs have been active in FA. Edwin Jackson for one, and they bid big but not enough for Tanaka
I have been saying the Baez promotion is laying the ground work on the sales pitch to the big 3 FA pitchers. They do not need to trade off their assets they can buy the pitching they need