Pitchers are creatures of habit, yet the indeterminate delay to the 2020 season is the biggest possible disruption to any preseason routine. Like every team, the Mariners are trying to figure out the best way of keeping their pitchers on some type of regular throwing schedule to keep them prepared, while not really knowing when actual games will get underway. “You don’t want to lose a whole lot of momentum. We also don’t want to build them too quickly,” manager Scott Servais told MLB.com’s Greg Johns and other media. “Most guys are at three or four innings, at 50-60 pitches, so we’ll try to keep them right there with our starters. And then we’ll ramp them up once we get closer to knowing what the for-certain Opening Day would be. For now, we just want guys to stay active, play some catch. You won’t see anybody throwing sides or catchers with gear on, we’re just going to try to slow it down here for the next few days.”
More from around the American League….
- One pitcher whose routine may not be impacted by the elongated offseason is Chris Sale, as Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told reporters (including MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo) that “from a medical perspective, nothing really changes with” Sale’s loosely-established timeline. “There’s uncertainty regarding his pitching status generally that we want to resolve. We’re still going to want to resolve that,” Bloom said. “We’re still going to want to progress him. We haven’t gotten to that point yet, but we’re still going to work, even during this time period, without games, to get some progress and get some more definition on his status.” A flexor strain led to Sale being shut down earlier this month, and if all is proceeding well, he should be on the verge of resuming throwing. The delayed Opening Day could mean that Sale won’t miss any regular-season action, though naturally the Sox are taking things as carefully as possible with the ace southpaw.
- James Click “rose from constructing an ultimate frisbee website on a whim to shepherding the Houston Astros forward,” the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome writes in a profile of the Astros’ new general manager. Click’s pre-Houston resume included a stint as a writer and database-builder for Baseball Prospectus, which led to 14 years working in the Rays’ front office thanks to a recommendation from another new Rays intern and former BP writer in Chaim Bloom, now Boston’s chief baseball officer. Rome’s piece is a strong look at an executive whose arrival at a GM position comes with the added challenge of trying to reconfigure the Astros after an offseason of scandal and public scorn.
Alright, you guys told me to click and I obliged
I hope for Sale’s sake he rebounds, but if he says not feeling better someone needs to listen to him.
I didn’t read that he’s not feeling better only that the timetable for his return hasn’t changed. That said, seeing is believing and until he has multiple appearances without complaints, I’m assuming nothing positive. Assuming surgery is not needed and rest gets him healthy, the shortened season could be beneficial as Sale has never ended a season strongly. Do I believe he will get and stay healthy? No but at this point why not pray for the best?
I had reference to his continued complaints his elbow is not good. I just hope for his sake this IL works, but I doubt it.
How soon until a BRTR commenter rises atop an MLB organization?
Many of us are already overqualified to manage a team, an organization, or a nation’s pandemic response. Just ask us. Wait, don’t bother asking. We’re telling you.
thank you for your interest, Serge, in joining our front office team? is it alright if we conduct your interview here?
we have reviewed all of your contributions on mlbtr and we would like to offer you a three year contract to participate as a major contributor to the operations of the Red Sox front office. we appreciate your analytical mind a great deal and believe you can really help us make decisions.
only one question we need to ask in this interview, what would you seek in return for Mookie Betts? you’re already hired, we just want to figure out if we made a huge mistake.
With the additional time granted, is it at all possible Chris Sale could fly to Europe, have a metallic arm attached, and return to hurl 230 innings…? Makes ya think…
-LeBron
Better fly to South America- the borders on all the European countries will be closed. I know a CEO of a large medical company based in Geneva, he told me they are closing their borders for 6 mo’s. You would being that close to Italy wouldn’t ya? Somebody just has to take the humor away, eh Lebron? haha
Haha solid point. I’ll stick to hoops.
– #MoreThanAnAthlete
Sale, with a new, metallic (bionic) arm, should expect Wilbur Wood-level innings.
Or, 162 complete games.
Love how all the new baseball execs talk for a while without saying anything.
Mark Shapiro remains the model for all new executives. After more than 20 years in baseball front offices he is yet to utter a single substantial word in public.
Sure, he can build an Ultimate Frisbee website, but…can he steal (computer files from his old employer), cheat (against his opponents for years on end) and lie (about all of it) as well as Lunhow?
Big shoes to fill down there in Houston.
Also helps that Click was a Yale graduate who was building an ultimate frisbee website…..These success stories always seem to leave out a very important detail in the write up.