MLB April news thread

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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Opening days have a built in day off the day after. Better to be safe.
 

pokey_reese

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Opening days have a built in day off the day after. Better to be safe.
Is one day really going to make a difference? It sounds like one player tested positive and five or six others were in close contact on the flight, and now have to quarantine, so I would imagine they will be unavailable for a bit.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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Tell that to the Rockies/Dodgers, Rays/Marlins, Diamondbacks/Padres, Astros/A's, and Giants/Mariners
I mean, okay--MANY teams, especially NOT in domes or in places with bad spring weather schedule day off.
 

loshjott

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Dec 30, 2004
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Right, but it would presumably be pretty simple to call up players to replace those guys and play games.

Or not. Olney saying Friday is postponed as well.

View: https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/1377645852894900227
Friday was not on the original schedule. This means the covid issues are not just a one day thing, ugh, but it's not a second game cancelled.

Nats had called up 4 replacements from their extended roster. So it must be an issue impacting more than 4-5 players or else they could proceed with the call ups.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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With 6 months to build the 2021 roster, the Indians opening day lineup will feature a rookie utility infielder playing his first game at first base at any professional level and a center fielder who reached base once during spring training (and that was by getting hit by a pitch). On the bright side, with their combination of pitching and hitting, they might lead baseball in shortest average game time this year.
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

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Well, looks like I am sitting Lindor for week 1.

My guess is that the entire first weekend of Mets/Nats games may not get played.
 

nolasoxfan

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Nice of the Nats to bring some Florida Covid up to DC. Just what we needed. I would have been fine with MLB starting in May or holding all April games in Florida or Arizona.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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soxhop411

news aggravator
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Multiple suspicious baseballs from Dodgers’ Trevor Bauer sent to MLB for inspection
https://theathletic.com/2507091/2021/04/08/multiple-suspicious-baseballs-from-dodgers-trevor-bauer-sent-to-mlb-for-inspection/?source=user_shared_article
In March, Major League Baseball sent two different memos to clubs saying it would step up the monitoring and enforcement of rules prohibiting pitchers from applying foreign substances to baseballs.

Less than one week into the season, the league’s latest attempted crackdown is being put to the test. And a pitcher who has been perhaps more outspoken than any other on the subject — Dodgers right-hander Trevor Bauer — already is drawing attention.

The umpires in Bauer’s start against the Oakland Athletics on Thursday collected multiple balls he threw during the game, according to major-league sources. The balls had visible markings and were sticky, and were sent to the league offices for further inspection, the sources said.

Yet, even if the balls Bauer threw are found to have contained foreign substances, it remains to be seen whether the league can prove he was responsible for their application, or whether any punishment imposed by commissioner Rob Manfred would stand.

According to the league’s March 23 memo, which was sent by MLB vice-president of on-field operations Michael Hill to high-ranking officials with all 30 clubs, the commissioner’s office will review Statcast data this season to analyze changes in spin rates of pitchers suspected of using foreign substances, and compare those spin rates to the pitchers’ career norms. However, sources said the scrutiny of Bauer on Wednesday arose not from spin-rate analysis, but balls being brought to the umpires’ attention.
More at the link.
wonder if MLB makes an example out of Bauer given his outspokenness compared to other players.
 

soxhop411

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It would be hilarious if all of Bauer's value is because he cheats
And he has responded on Twitter in typical fashion
View: https://twitter.com/BauerOutage/status/1380334632453906432?s=20
Lol always fun reading desperate and misleading clickbait headlines from national gossip bloggers. To translate fake journalist speak for y’all, “It’s unclear whether” = “I can’t be bothered to look into this cuz it doesn’t fit my narrative.”

‍♂️


‍♂️

wonder where the articles about




Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー)

@BauerOutage

balls from every other pitcher being taken out of play in literally every other game this season are? Also lol to @MLB who already has “sources” talking to gossip bloggers about a supposedly confidential process a week into the season



thumbs up y’all keep killin it!

 

nattysez

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It would be hilarious if all of Bauer's value is because he cheats
I will be absolutely shocked if he isn't cheating. You don't increase spin rate the way he did without help.

Note that he's not denying anything in his huffy tweets.
 

BornToRun

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Jun 4, 2011
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It would be hilarious if all of Bauer's value is because he cheats
From what I’ve gathered, the story is along the lines of:

Bauer: “everyone cheats. Here’s proof.”

MLB: ignores it

Bauer: “Fine, I guess I’ll cheat too.” Wins CY and gets paid.

MLB: pays attention

If this was anyone else, I’d be siding with the player because it seems like Bauer was trying to call attention to a widespread issue and did what he did in an effort to prove a point.

That said, and I know this is childish, because it’s him, I hope they nail his ass to the wall to the fullest extent they can. I don’t think Trevor cares about the integrity of the game, I think he cares about looking like the smartest guy in the room. I don’t think there’s ever been a non-Sox rival player that ticks me off more than this guy and I refuse to cut him any slack.

/rant
 

DeadlySplitter

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If MLB is going after Bauer just because of that while everyone else is cheating... Red Sox need to try reporting Cole, etc.
 

sean1562

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Sep 17, 2011
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Do people like the guy as a teammate? I really don't mind his shtick all that much and 100% agree with him on this issue. Have they been taking balls from other games to see how widespread this issue is?
 

Awesome Fossum

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I love this: restoration of a Negro League stadium -- one of only two remaining with the original grandstand -- underway in Paterson, New Jersey:

Hinchliffe Stadium, built in 1932 and named for the family of Mayor John V. Hinchliffe, served as a home field to the New York Black Yankees and New York Cubans. In ’33, the Black Yankees faced the Philadelphia Stars in the Negro World Series -- the “Colored Championship of the Nation.” Over the years, Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston, Martin Dihigo and Satchel Paige all dug their cleats into the dirt at the huge horseshoe stadium next to the Great Falls.

Ownership of Hinchliffe Stadium transferred from the city to the school district in 1963, but by the 1980s, the city’s schools were underfunded and in poor shape. Upkeep of the 10,000-seat stadium was not a priority and the venue was closed in '97. In the decades since, it fell into disrepair as vandals trashed former concession stands and locker rooms, the homeless took shelter in storage rooms, small fires damaged sections of the room and trees took root in the bleachers where fans once stood and cheered.
https://www.mlb.com/news/hinchliffe-stadium-renovation-groundbreaking

And it's an old horseshoe stadium -- very cool.





I like to think if I owned an MLB team, I would be ultra aggressive in projects like this anywhere close to my team's geographic footprint.