Ronnie Freeman came close to his first stint on a Major League roster today, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle details how the Giants minor leaguer was on hand this weekend in case Buster Posey had to be placed on the seven-day concussion DL. Posey left Friday’s game after taking a foul ball off his catcher’s mask, but passed his tests and returned to the lineup today as a first baseman. This left Freeman watching the Giants play from the comforts of the clubhouse, as he wasn’t officially allowed to the join the team in the dugout since he was never selected for the roster. Freeman, a fifth-rounder in the 2012 draft, had spent his entire pro career in the Diamondbacks’ organization before signing with the Giants last spring, and he’ll have to wait at least a bit longer before he makes his proper big league debut.
Here’s more from around the baseball world…
- The Padres let Tyson Ross and Jordan Lyles respectively go to the Cardinals and Brewers on trade waivers earlier today, moves that San Diego general manager A.J. Preller told reporters (including The Athletic’s Dennis Lin) were made to create more room for up-and-coming pitchers on the Padres’ roster. “From our standpoint, it’s an eye toward next year and turning the page right now to give us a head start at looking at some guys we think could be in the bigs with us next year,” Preller said. Right-hander Trey Wingenter had his contract from Triple-A El Paso today, and rookie Brett Kennedy is slated to make his MLB debut in a start on Wednesday. Lin’s piece names some other Padres minor leaguers that could debut between now and season’s end, with the team also taking future roster organization and 40-man protections into consideration given the glut of young talent in San Diego’s system.
- Robinson Cano has been working out as a third baseman in his preparations to return from his PED suspension, which Mariners manager Scott Servais tells reporters (including the Tacoma News Tribune’s TJ Cotterill) is indicative of how Cano’s “just wants to help any way he can. If that means giving Kyle [Seager] a day off at third, or helping at first base, playing a game at second base, he’s going to play wherever we need him to play.” Cano has only played 16 games at third base in his pro career, and none since 2005 when he was in the Yankees’ minor league system. With Dee Gordon stepping in at second base and Nelson Cruz locked into DH duties, the assumption was that Cano would mostly take time away from first baseman Ryon Healy, who has struggled to consistently hit in his first season in Seattle. Seager, however, is actually going through a rougher season at the plate, hitting only .231/.280/.421 with 18 homers (including two today) over 447 plate appearances.
- More position players than ever are being called on for emergency mop-up work as relief pitchers, with ESPN.com’s Buster Olney calculating that a record 39 players have made 49 appearances out of the pen this year. With the trend showing no signs of slowing down, Olney wonders if the MLBPA should make a point of exploring the issue in the next round of collective bargaining agreement talks, given the additional risks faced by players in the unfamiliar role of pitcher.
2018 mlb first year star players been ???
Whom????
Last year was Aaron judge
Juan Soto hands down right now. Gleyber Torres in the running as well but injury slowed his run for it.
Not necessarily a star (other than relation to his father) but dereck rodriguez has been a pleasant surprise in sf
Miggy Andujar as well.
Acuna. This is also Albies first full season if you want to call that
Not near the same level as Judge but Gurriel Jr and Borucki have both had very impressive starts to their major league careers for the Blue Jays.
If you let Shohei be number one players from overseas
American baseball in trouble
Any one from America knows baseball???
I feel a little attacked.
Huh?
Does anyone from your country know correct grammar?
Are you dumb or.
At least the little yellow bird that sat on Snoopy’s stomach was sorta cute and funny. You are just gibberish.
Mike Trout knows the baseball he
How many of those 39 players got hurt pitching? None. So why would it help the case in the CBA at all?
Olney got himself in an “Old man yells at cloud” moment.
How many position players coming in to pitch ended up getting tj ? I. An think of one
Jose cansaco
Well said Reverie. Also not sure what’s meant above by “additional risks faced by players in the unfamiliar role of pitcher.” Have their been an increased number of injuries that can be causally linked to pitching cameos? Jeeesh!
Here a few suggested rule changes for the players union to demand:
– Batters can stand in the box in full head-to-toe mototcycle dress. This includes helmet with glass shield, full body armour, etc.
Because it will be more difficult for them to run, they will be allowed to bring motorized golf carts into the batters box which they will sit on and use to scoot around the bases once the ball is struck. They will continue to use outfit and cart if on base, so they are protected against errant thrown or batted balls.
– Batted balls near or into the stands will be decided by replay.
A rubberized barrier will be set up 12 feet in from the stands all around the field. Said barrier will stop any defensive player that makes the mistake of running after a batted ball hit in the air, protecting said defender from injury. Cameras situated around park will determine the defenders speed, reach, and ability based on past performance. Umpires will put on headsets to talk to a bunch of nerds in an office building in India (to save money as American workers are too expensive), who will look at their computer screen and determine the outcome. Foul balls will be declared a catch or not. Fair balls going into the stands will be HR’s. For those hit near the stands, the lead computer will determine if the ball would have been caught, and if it falls fair, how many bases the batter and any baserunners get.
– The use of pitching machines.
Computer devices will scan each pitcher as he/she/97 genders warms up. Data will be transmitted to a robotic device on the mound. Probability of each pitch will be determined, and the machine will spit out the pitch at the projected speed, spin rate, and movement.
TJ surgery will soon be a fading memory, as bunting, stolen bases, and hitting to the opposite field are today.
To assure fairness, all this will be administered by the government.
Best comment in the history of MLBTR.
I would hope this bargaining piece, if you can call it that, would be simply be to get more pitchers on the roster. This way maybe more games can be competitive and not get out of hand as early as they do.
I doubt they will allow more pitchers onto the roster. Manfred is trying to speed the game up not slow it down.
Managers need to leave their starters in a little longer and allow them to pitch out of trouble. Micromanaging the pitching game has gotten out of control. Starters used to routinely make it into the 7th. Now it seems like they can barely get into the 5th.
I think Randy Johnson said something like this the other day to some radio station he said something like “if I came up in today’s game my manager would never let me pitch past the 5th inning.”
I doubt it too. But I think we’ve all seen how long innings take when position players pitch. This reasoning doesn’t have a lot of pull, but if you want quicker games then you’ll need better competition.
It’s great to watch position players to come in and pitch. Me personally everyone on the team needs to pitch.
Kennedys numbers aren’t bad for 16 starts in El Paso which is a complete hitters paradise.
10-0 with a sub-4.00 ERA in the PCL is very impressive.
The 10-0 is ok the Pads AAA team is pretty stacked. But the sub 4 era and whip is what pops out to me
Maybe I’m misunderstanding something but Sub 4 ERA? He’s thrown to a 2.72 ERA this season as a 23 year old
Yeah, “Sub 4” isn’t doing him any justice at all. “Sub 3” would be more appropriate, and even then…..
Okay
Name your all star line up with three or less mlb experience???
one batter two pitcher. Can umpire bat if coach throwing? Manager at all time argument mine opinion like Lou Pinella throwing base.
Sorry, I know you are fishing for Ohtani accolades but unfortunately he came over with a bum elbow and only made it worse here. He is only a DH now and will not be on anyone’s list.
Soto, Torres and Snell are the best rookies.
Snell isn’t a rookie though. His rookie year was 2016. He definitely wasn’t a household name (and is still barely that) until this year… Right?
Okay
Name all star line up with three or less mlb experience
Bellinger at 1st, Torres at 2nd, Seager at short, Bregman at 3rd, judge in right, toss up between benintenei andSoto in left for me, Acuna in center. Can’t think or any catchers of the top of my head :/ having a hard time thinking of pitchers this early. Blake Snell and Edwin Diaz for sure
oh, 3 or less, not less than 3….that changes it white a bit
Contreras at C.
Sanchez catching.
Worried about position players and risks associated with the unfamiliarity of pitching…. How about pitchers that bat in the NL? Much bigger risk expecially to aces.
What if we started treating baseball players like athletes instead of treating them like Ming vases?
Right… so you don’t think it’s at all bad that there are enough players on the DL to form 2 more teams?! The game would be better with its stars playing not on the shelf.
How about we cryogenically freeze every player with an ERA+ over 110 or an WRC+ over 115 in the offseason so injuries like Britton’s never happen again.
Not every year is there a superstar rookie like Judge and Bellinger, but this year the impact rookies have been Juan Soto, Ronald Acuna, Gleyber Torres, Walker Buehler, Derrick Rodriguez, probably missed a few others. Torres and Soto are probably the ROYS, but if Rodriguez keeps pitching like he has he can make a firm case to challenge Soto. (2.54 ERA is pretty damn solid)
And Gurriel JR, Adam Cimber, Kyle Tucker. Only ones I can think of at the top of my head. Either way, Rookie class has been pretty decent.
Andujar
Seranthony Dominguez has been pretty phenomenal for the Phillies. He probably should have been an All-Star.
Snell
Moronta is a RP so he’ll never get much in the way of votes for ROY, but he has been very good for the Giants this year out of the pen.
Players facing additional risk as a pitcher? STFU Buster… that’s a laughable statement.
These position players aren’t being called upon to close out a 3-2 game in a playoff race. They’re being called upon to “throw” a ball. They play catch daily. That’s all they’re doing. Stop babying these players who make millions every year. This isn’t the NFL.
Seems like in most cases, the position players are volunteering to pitch. Let them play the game.
Are the Padres being trashed for being cheap and not wanting to win and needing to buy ski lifts for their owner’s resorts, etc.? Or do their fans and media understand baseball?
May I ask how they are being cheap? Letting go two pitchers who obviously weren’t bringing back anything in return? Lyles is awful. He is under contract next year as well, I’m pretty sure, so Milwaukee helped SD out. Tyson is a loss for us, but he isn’t helping us this year. He’s in a walk year and we can re-sign him in the off season if there’s mutual interest. We have a very deep system with something like 8-10 rule 5 eligible players. Why not bring a few up and see how they do and see if they are worth protecting? Kennedy has done nothing but win this year and Wingenter has a big fastball that probably could be helped with Balsley’s tutelage.
I’m mocking the reaction of Pirates “fans” and media after they let Juan Nicasio go on waivers last season.
They are the trashed for bad trades and bad $ spent on players
Olney is probably right, there is potentially some additional risk for position players in pitching. Outside of the injury suffered by Canseco, you could see how people not used to pitching could end up in the wrong fielding stance after their follow-throughs and may be more vulnerable to a shot up the middle. But before you bargain for anything, you would need to study it. I suspect this will continue until (and if) significant injuries actually occur.
But, it is fun to see them come in.
This risk is negated by how everything they throw is either a ball (and not swung at) or hit our if the park.
Out of the park, sorry.
Find it hard to believe Preller couldn’t have found a team willing to give up an 18 year old lotto ticket for Ross at the deadline.
…so why would he just let Ross walk now if he had an offer for him a week ago? Your comment doesn’t make sense.
If you trust Preller’s competence. Doesn’t make much sense to let Ross and Lyles walk to save $1M when he happily dumped $13M to pick up Mitchell. I’m happy they’re finally giving Kennedy a shot but I’d rather see Ross throw 5 than Lauer and Lockett get blasted every turn.
Competence and Preller don’t go together. $ wasted to start season and now trying to save $ wasted
The Padres are at the point where getting “just a guy” is a waste of a roster spot even in the AFL.
We have two AFL teams just to get these guys on the field.This system is SO deep that we need quality over quantity.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Preller “turned down” a mediocre prospect.
Nice to see your posts MrPadre. I enjoyed your posts on madfriars for many years. The Pads time is coming soon my friend.
Gotta be a very difficult decision for the Mariners on what cheater to put where….
Haha
Not too many can name all star line up for players three years or less
How about starting rotation???
Bullpen???
It proved mlb are down hill
Not good product on fields
The wasted roster spots for “participation” always made me laugh.
5 years 120M? IF he was all juice… this could look like the Ryan Howard contract real fast.
With the trend showing no signs of slowing down, Olney wonders if the MLBPA should make a point of exploring the issue in the next round of collective bargaining agreement talks, given the additional risks faced by players in the unfamiliar role of pitcher.
————–
Huh? I have zero pro pitching experience, and I’m not even in all that great a shape, and I could take the mound and throw 150 pitches without any risk of injury whatsoever. They’re going to be embarrassingly bad pitches, but no one’s asking position players to throw hard. Quite the opposite: they are told to take it easy.
By the way, how are they gonna come up with a rule that lets Ohtani hit and pitch, but not anyone else?
Because everyone else not good enough
Afraid of tommy John
Mlb players declining