With the calendar now officially flipped to September, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the weekend:
1. September Call-Ups:
Today is September 1, which means that active rosters have expanded to 28 for the remainder of the regular season. That leaves each team to add two additional players to their active roster: one pitcher and one position player in most cases. Some teams, including the Tigers and Cubs have already indicated which players they’ll be adding to the roster, while others are waiting for today to make the announcement. Between the additional roster spots available and the fact that players who debut this time of year retain rookie eligibility headed into the following season, organizations often use this time of year to promote prospects and get their feet wet at the big league level. The Yankees are taking that route with both outfield prospect Jasson Dominguez and catcher Austin Wells, for example. Of course, other teams use the opportunity to add veteran players who were in the organization on a minor league deal such as the Dodgers who are expected to select second baseman Kolten Wong to the roster.
2. Angels roster reconstruction:
September call-up season for the Angels arrives on the heels of Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Matt Moore, Dominic Leone and Hunter Renfroe all departing the organization after being claimed on waivers yesterday. That left the club with a whopping seven spots to fill on the active roster last night. Two of those spots have already been filled by the recall of right-hander Jose Marte and the contract selection of outfielder Kyren Paris, meaning the club still has five open slots on the active roster that must be filled before tonight’s game against the A’s, which will begin at 8:40pm CT. The club’s 40-man roster stands at 36, giving Anaheim’s front office plenty of flexibility as they look to make the necessary additions.
3. Suarez to return:
When Phillies left-hander Ranger Suarez hit the injured list in August with a hamstring strain, he told reporters that the strain was mild and he hoped to return not long after the 15-day minimum. It seems he wasn’t far off in that estimation, as Suarez is expected to return to big league action on Sunday against the Brewers in Milwaukee. As noted by Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, Suarez will pitch a final bullpen session today before plans for him to return this weekend are set in stone.
The 27-year-old southpaw’s return should be a noticeable boost for the Phillies as they look to secure the first NL Wild Card spot this September. In 17 starts this season, Suarez has posted a 3.88 ERA with an identical 3.88 FIP in 97 1/3 innings of work. That quality mid-rotation performance has helped the Phillies remain competitive despite a down year from right-hander Aaron Nola, who finished fourth in NL Cy Young award voting last year but has posted a lackluster 4.30 ERA in 27 starts this season.
Has there ever been a case (no pun intended) where Jeff Francouer or someone failed to get out of Jury Duty and they missed a few games?
Pat the Bat had some STD if I recall correctly which is kinda funny. Also Jeff Francouer having a 12 year career is why advanced analytics needed to come to MLB sooner. He was worth 6.8 career WAR and all of it came his first 3 years. If he was around today he would have never made it to free agency.
Nola would have to be the Phillies’ 5th starter for them to be a WS-contending team.
lol.
I miss real roster expansion when teams could add like 15 players. This is boring.
I disagree. I like the new rules better. It used to be messed up when one team would be in the pennant race and they’d play a meaningful game against a team playing a spring training lineup.
Right?
Like I hate it when one team plays the Angels and has to face Ohtani and Trout and another team plays them and doesn’t have to face either.
As a Phillies fan under Gabe Kapler, that was the last straw. When rosters expanded and w/o the 3 batter rule, he had 8-10 pitchers per game it seemed.
As a genX, I do miss those old expanded rosters, but in these times and with the DH it’s just not a great idea anymore.
A bit sad, but we march on.
It is a great idea though. Especially because of the DH
Managers hardly have to make any decisions now. Give them more options so they have something to do.
Bruce Bochy also made September games (and sometimes other games) nearly unwatchable with frequent mid-inning pitching changes.
I’m convinced he is the #1 reason they adopted the 3-batter rule.
You can thank Rick Renteria as well and the 4 pitcher 30+ minute inning he helped cause in a game against the Angels in 2019
I can remember bochy swapping damn near every batter at times. Had a loogy in the pen just waiting to be swapped in every game for that 1-2 batters.
Enough with the restrictions on roster spots and trades. Get rid of the trade deadline and let teams call up as many players as they like. Too much micromanaging of baseball and it’s resulted in very little change in the offensive numbers and game play time.
Paris is a SS-2B. He’s never played an inning in the OF.
Angels will need name tags and ice breaker games will all the new faces
Angels will be bringing up a lot of AA and AAA players like the old September expanded roster days.
At this point they may have to dig all the way down to single A
For games, I suggest spin the wheel to see who’s the coach in 2024 and a good old fashioned truth or dare.
Dare. Ok, I dare Artie to sell the team.
Looks like the Phillies are at least guaranteed a Sunday win against the Brewers.
Angels:
And you get a free call up
And you get a free call up
And you get a free call up
And you get a free call up
Everybody gets a free call up!
Thanks. That made me laugh out loud! Post of the day!
Amazing what a difference 30 days makes. A month ago the Angels were all-in, today they waive the white flag. At least it didn’t really cost them anything
Just a couple of their top prospects, basically given away.
It’s not like they were real top prospects. They were Angel’s top prospects, which isn’t the same thing.
And Seattle was in 4th place, acting as sellers at the deadline, with no shot at the postseason.
Just their dignity. Has anyone ever ruined a man’s career worse than Arte to Trout?
> At least it didn’t really cost them anything
They gave up some good prospects to acquire those players, right? Not to mention the false promises to your fans. I would hate to be an Angels fan after this. The Angers, more like.
What false promise? They bought and traded good prospects, didn’t trade Ohtani, failed to progress, and unloaded. I think their fans are happy with that agenda for a change. They could’ve also recently placed Ohtani on waivers claim to save cash but they didn’t.
You got one thumbs up, but a lot of Angels fans are very upset. I was fine with the trades at the deadline, but to see the team being weaker after, not stronger, is upsetting. The team has ONE good middle reliever now. They need to sign whatever they can in the off season, and to my dismay one of them WONT be Moore. I was expecting them to sign him to an extension, but nope..
They should be upset with August results but not at the deadline’s decisions and execution.
I don’t think they could attract a Verlander or Scherzer to waive no trade. Chapman too much bad PR?
Those were the type of trades needed.
They settled for a diluted blanket of talent
IMO
What were the “false promises”
>What were the “false promises”
They didn’t let the season finish out. Sure they’re far behind now and maybe they never regain any lost ground, but you can always make a run at it. At least give the team a chance. They sold off their players to fit some bottom line on the year end budget.
As a player, if you’re going to quit on me for the budget then why don’t I quit on you the first time we lose a game? It sends the wrong message to the players and the fans.
They did give the team a chance. Post- deadline, Ohtani can’t pitch anymore and Trout’s broken hand hasn’t fully healed. Giolito didn’t pitch well. But you keep up the narrative that they didn’t make the effort to get into the playoffs.
I don’t think it was that simple. Clearing that salary put them below the tax line in 2023. Now they can go above in 2024 in a push to sign Ohtani and others as first time tax offenders. I still would have traded Ohtani at the deadline for some MLB ready players but since they didn’t ask me, they have what they have and had to respond to an awful August.
The angels have less than a 1% chance of the postseason. This was a smart baseball move. Emotions should be removed.
Did they make that promise?
You can quit watching the team whenever you want. You also haven’t made a promise.
You can interpret that however you want. You may see it as giving up, but it’s pretty clearly a m9ve aimed at being less competitive now to try and be more competitive in the future.
Hemlock, the Angels only gave up 1 prospect that has a decent chance of being a MLB player in Quero. The rest others were meh.. on top of that he was blocked at catcher. At only 3 games out in late July, it was worth it, it just didn’t work out.
BTW, no fan should be disappointed by these player dumps. It makes Total sense.
Plugnplay
Ok, fair enough. Thanks.
The Angels should call up my great grandma. She can’t run much, but boy she is patient at the plate!