Nationals assistant general manager and VP of player personnel Doug Harris is back home and recovering after a recurrence of leukemia, the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga writes. This is the fourth separate time Harris has fought the disease, with this latest incident resulting in a blood transplant, further rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and a 26-day stint in hospital. This all came as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the medical system and put patients like Harris at an even more elevated risk. “It was the lowest point in my life, without a doubt,” Harris said, as he had to endure this battle while his family was prohibited from visiting due to COVID-19 restrictions. “I’m a very faithful person, but it’s tough to understand,” Harris said. “And there’s people out there far worse off than me. I never lose sight of that. But, my goodness, four times? Come on, man. It tests your mettle.”
Thankfully, the transplant was a success (all three of Harris’ daughters volunteered blood, with doctors opting for the donation from his middle daughter Sydney) and Harris is now resting at home. While his daily activities are understandably limited, Harris has been able to join other Nationals staffers in conference calls about how to approach and prepare for a potential 2020 season. “This has been part of my life. I’m proud of what I’ve been able to overcome,” Harris said. “And there’s a great story that is not finished yet. Not even close.” We at MLBTR are all looking forward to the next chapters of Harris’ story, and we join the rest of the baseball world in wishing him the best in his recovery.
More items….
- Athletics president Dave Kaval provided the latest on the team’s efforts towards a new Oakland ballpark, telling Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that the A’s are still “moving forward with” the plan at the Howard Terminal site. “Right now, we’re just focused on taking it quarter by quarter and seeing how much progress we can make. We are not at the top of the list [for the city of Oakland] because there are more pressing issues, and we want to be respectful of that as we garner the necessary approvals to move forward,” Kaval said. It isn’t yet known if the pandemic could result in the project being pushed back from the original target date of the 2023 season, as “the timing of those things aren’t known right now because everything is still in flux,” Kaval said.
- As for the Athletics’ current ballpark, Kaval told Slusser that the team is in discussions with local officials about how to safely open and operate the Oakland Coliseum under advanced health guidelines. The A’s already submitted a 67-page document outlining what health and safety procedures will be in place, and approval from Alameda County could come as early as Monday. When or if this approval is granted, A’s players will be able to begin workouts at the ballpark.
- The Cardinals have five selections within the first 93 picks of Wednesday’s amateur draft, and seven picks overall during the five-round event. As Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch describes the situation, “it’s a cluster of picks that allows for some gamesmanship. The Cardinals could use it as a reason to shuffle around bonus money and reach for a pick, to gamble on signability — or play it safe, target predictable picks, and try to get sure things from an unsure draft.” Whether the club pursues any sort of overarching strategy at all might not be realistic, as assistant GM Randy Flores notes that “in reality, each pick is made in the context of that moment.” The shortened nature of the draft will also be a big factor in the team’s decision-making, as Goold points out that the Cardinals have traditionally been very successful at finding future gems later in the draft. On the current St. Louis roster alone, Matt Carpenter (13th round, 2009) and Tommy Edman (sixth round, 2016) were two homegrown products drafted after the fifth round.
Our prayers & Best wishes for total health for Doug Harris! Had the privilege of meeting him and seeing him work with teens baseball (my son was one) before his Nats stunt. He is a total pro and a great example to all.
Prayers and best wishes to Mr Harris for a healthy recovery and for his faith. I had the privilege to see him work with teaching baseball fundamentals to early teen players (my son was one) before his stint with the Nats. He is a class act, great human touch and motivated those he taught. May faith continue to build and hold you strong.
Thanks for that breakdown of 10 ways to Sunday the Cards can use their picks. You got all the bases covered, Derrick. Overarching strategy? Wow!
Strong minor league coaches assisting in development. If they drafted better in early rounds the Cards would be a dominant force. Several examples of late-bloomers, Carpenter being one of them, along with turning around guys like Lane Thomas who struggled prior to his arrival.
And the Cards need a better spending strategy.
Flores’s 2019 draft was a head scratcher with a reach for Thompson in the 1st when draft boards had him in the 3rd. In a weird way STL typically does better in the later rounds of the draft..
Where are you getting Thompson projected in 3rd rd? I’m looking at bleacher report, cbs, fangraphs, mlb.com all had him going in the top 20 picks just before draft.
Best wishes and a complete recovery to Mr. Harris. Talk about a roller coaster ride… get traded form a contender, win World Series and oh yea get diagnosed with Leukemia for the 4th time.
We all look forward to seeing you take that walk from the pen to the mound real soon
Didn’t think about the welfare picks given away yearly.. With a draft limited to just 5 rounds, why are they still giving those free handouts away? least they could have done was killed those for a year.
For the same reason they do in a full draft
Competitive balance
Is this years draft considered good? Top heavy? Deep? I see Torkelson is mostly clear #1 in most mocks, but there are questions after that. Because those guys are also really good or because of more unknown?
Torkelson is the crown gem, and Martin is projected to be pretty good. They’ll likely go 1-2. After that, you have Lacy, who is an intriguing LHSP- albeit with command issues. Then there’s a bit of a drop-off.
Matt Carpenter a gem? Please! He had a sold yeay with three decent years. He was a good find but for from a gem. He is a career 269 hitter
I’m trying to figure out how Carpenter has accumulated a 28 WAR? Runs the bases like a drunk sailor. Can barely throw the ball across the diamond. Plays defense like Roger Dorn. Dead pull hitter who is easy to defend.
I challenge the both of you to find as many active hitters as you can that were able to accumulate a 911 cumulative OPS+ over a 7 year span. Spoiler alert, the list is gonna be short.
Trout, Altuve, Nelson Cruz, Goldschmidt, Votto, Freeman, Rizzo, Harper, JD Martinez, Donaldson, McCutchen, Stanton, Encarnacion, Justin Turner, Yelich, Miggy. 16 that I can find. Not a short list like you thought because you didn’t do the research. Now more importantly, look at the guys NOT on here due to lack of 7 years, or one off year,that play 3B like Carpenter. Rendon, Bryant, Bregman, Chapman, Arenado, Suarez and Devers. Nobody picks Carpenter over these guys at 3B. Add in 1B. He’s not even in the conversation. He’s a one tool player.
By the way, my list consisted of guys who had 7 straight seasons of OPS+ of 911 or more, INCLUDING 2019. Unlike Carpenter who was sent to the minors, and that wasn’t an injury rehab assignment. Many many guys have gone 7+ years obtaining an OPS+ like Carpenter. Most of them can also play defense and run as well.
Every guy on that list is an elite player lol. You just proved my point, so thanks. To get that kind of production from the 13th round, how is that not a gem? That’s just absurd negative bias against a guy because of the jersey he wears and it has nothing to do with his production of the field.
Most of those guys, minus Cruz and Encarnacion, do more for their team than just hit. Most of them, among many others, continue to post impressive OPS+ numbers past 7 years. “Bias on the Jersey he wears?” He’s a one tool player. I don’t care what jersey he wears. Don’t make him out to be a superstar. He’s not even a top 10 player at the position he mostly plays. Who cares what round he’s drafted? The MLB draft is the hardest draft in sports. The biggest problem these guys have is dealing with bus rides, sleeping in two bit motel rooms, and living off McDonald’s while in the minors. They go from having everything to nothing. That’s why the draft is hard. Drafted in the 13th round is being one of the top 400 amateur players in America. That in itself is impressive. Carpenter is a good player. Not great. Definitely not elite. You mentioned the jersey. Put him in a Marlins jersey and you would hardly know who he is
Basically carpenter was a has been and sucks straight up and doing so while making a ton of money. Sorry Cardinal fans your boy sucks
Your pretty accurate! I think the problem we have as fans is we read articles by writers who happen to be fans of the team that they are writing about. So realistically you’re going to get hype and bias opinion. If I was to be asked about Matt Carpenter and what he’s meant to the Cardinals I would sum it up as he was a great find in the beginning of his career and that was simply because he was above average and getting very little pay. But all this turned into a burden for the Cardinals because as soon as his contract ran out they signed him for big money then his production dropped. Now he’s just a burden, so without bias can we say he was a gem that turned into a burden.
Iknow, that’s a way to put it. Here’s my take on Carpenter. He’s a selfish player who should hit in the 5 hole, but he refuses to hit anywhere other than lead off. He pouts when the manager moves him. And yes, the Cards fell in love with his one tool and paid him like a 4 tool player.
The problem with carpenter is he isn’t in the American League. If the National League puts the DH into play he will be an AllStar again. The Cardinals have at least 2 players on their roster that plays 3B better than him and of the 2 1 that can hit as well. They have a elite level First baseman and a gold glove 2B. I’m the past it’s hard to justify putting him on the field where he has to defend. Hopefully the MLB votes the DH in and Carp can flourish there.
I agree when they shift Carp he should bunt everytime that’s how you beat it. I watch almost every Cards games for the last 2 seasons and I don’t know how many scorchers I’ve seen to the right side into the shift that would have been hits without the shift. Many of these players don’t want to adjust to the shift by bunting. unless you can hit to all sides (which lets face it if you could they wouldn’t have you in a shift)bunting is the answer.
Imadude what’s your take on this, I noticed that when Carpenter was a good hitter he was hitting more doubles and less power. I think he fell in love with that new idea that players are doing these days with their swings. It’s like a big upper cut and is for the purpose of hitting the ball in the air. I think he went to this in the last few years when he realized he can hit a good amount on fingers. But this not A good idea in my opinion because like you said they can put a shift on these type of hitters. now you see the average dip more strikeouts but yes you will hit more home runs.
From ‘12 through ‘18 he had an OPS+ of 125, 140, 112, 135, 136, 120, and 143. “One solid year”. Lol. Two years where he was at least 40% better than the average hitter. 40%!