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The second half starts today, and the final trading date is less than three weeks away. Plus, every major lawsuit has been terminated, we’re trying to fix the draft, and Shohei Ohtani’s routine will be fine. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal – Welcome to The Windup!
A little clearer, a little hard to find
Kane touched on this yesterday when discussing the Mets, but with the trade deadline approaching (August 1), there are a slew of teams still in a position to clearly define themselves as “buyers” or “sellers.”
By my estimation, the obvious buyers are the Rays, Rangers, Orioles, Astros, and Blue Jays in the American League, and the Braves, Dodgers, Reds, Marlins, Diamondbacks, Giants, Phillies, and Brewers in the National League.
As for Sellers, the A’s, Royals, White Sox and Tigers in the AL are joined by the Rockies, Nationals, Cardinals and Pirates in the NL.
That’s 21 teams, which leaves nearly a third of the league in limbo, waiting to see how the next two-plus weeks play out.
• For me, the most interesting cases are the Guardians and Twins, who currently sit just half a game away at the top of the AL Central glum. Both have good pitching — the Twins have the league’s third-best ERA (3.68) and the Guardians are eighth (3.81) — but the Twins are 24th in runs scored, and the Guardians are 27th.
• Two of the sport’s preeminent franchises — the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees — are in similar boats, but for different reasons: Their division, the AL East, is full of good teams that might carry them out of the two divisions And wild spots.
• In the NL, the Cubs are 42-47 but have been better than their record would suggest. Baseball reference has Pythagoras record flipped, at 47-42, which would put them within a game and a half of a wild card spot.
They can’t recapture those gains, but there’s reason to believe they could have a positive run-down in the second half. Is it worth pressing the pedal down or should it be reloaded in 2024?
Jim Bowden has more on every team’s deadline needs. Kane has a column on 6 teams with decisions on the trading deadline.
Keen Notebook: Mid-season trade? No sweat for Utani
I had a theory about Shohei Ohtani and thought it was worth exploring.
My theory was this: Otani, whose daily routine as a two-way player is distinct and structured, doesn’t necessarily welcome a mid-season trade. He will need to educate his new team about his daily work habits. The transition may not be easy.
As a free agent joining another club, the conditions will be less onerous. Spring training will give Ohtani six weeks for him and his new team to adjust to each other. By the time the season rolls around, his routine will be part of the fabric of the team.
Well, a lot for my theory. When she approached Ohtani’s former manager, Joe Madone, to ask about it, he quickly shot him down, saying Ohtani could adapt to a new club mid-season without difficulty.
“He’s structured. But he’ll bring his structure with him, and tell everyone exactly what he needs to do,” Maddon said. “They’re going to have to adapt to it. I don’t think there’s going to be anyone who says, ‘We’d rather you do this instead.'”
Good point, considering that Ohtani, with the help of the Angels, seems to have figured things out pretty well – and that any team lucky enough to trade him would gladly do anything possible to accommodate him.
To get a second opinion, I asked someone who currently works with the Angels if he thought the trade would upset Otani. “It’s not 100 percent going to happen,” said the person, who was granted anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about Ohtani.
The decision on whether to trade Ohtani is, of course, not up to him, but with Angels owner Arte Moreno. If Ohtani has a personal preference, it’s probably rooted less in his comfort level, judging by Maddon and The Angels, than in his desire to win.
Remember his memorable quote from the All-Star Game:
“It’s annoying to lose.”
They light together, hand in hand
It took nearly a decade, but it’s finally over and dusted off. The final appeal (by four players) in Senne’s case has been dropped, and the class action lawsuit over unpaid wages for the two junior leaguers — which reached the Supreme Court in 2020 — has been completed and damages of $185 million can now be paid.
That sounds like a lot, but keep in mind: More than 20,000 Little League players are represented. After legal fees, the average payment is expected to be in the range of $5,000 to $5,500 before taxes. As a friend put it in a text message yesterday: “It’s more punitive than helpful.”
But sometimes, punitive He is cooperating. As recently as last year, MLB was still arguing that minor league players shouldn’t be paid during spring training, because of all the valuable “life lessons” they’ve received — a line the league has been using for years.
By July, a settlement had been reached, and MLB removed a clause in the player’s uniform contract that prohibited paying minor league players outside of the regular season.
So no, bonuses won’t make up for years when minor league players made less than $3,000 a year. But it helps set a good precedent moving forward (as does the recent formation of the Little League Players Association).
Either way, a vital system widget is sick
MLB draft viewership is down (again) this year, which could mean there’s an opportunity for MLB to make a good decision: move him out of the All-Star break.
There are dozens of good reasons why it shouldn’t be when it is, but when the language spoken by suits in MLB is viewership, advertising dollars, and fan interaction, good reasons aren’t always enough to make good decisions.
After all, the reasons were no less well when the decision to move the draft to All-Star Week made life more difficult for everyone in the sport, and hindered teams’ ability to condense drafted players for the game. , and generally makes no sense at all. But the idea was that it would boost viewership and fan engagement, which would increase advertising money.
Well, the intended effect wears off quickly. So it seems like a good time to fix the whole thing. Fortunately, Melissa Lockard did a pretty great job of putting together all the different people in the industry who’ve been making the last few years, and coming up with some good potential solutions, including some additional ideas that I thought were worth: moving the lottery project through May, legalizing Teams to deliberate on draft picks.
In addition, moving the draft would allow MLB to put the Futures Game in prime time, and on a channel that more people could watch. Which, you know, could lead to more viewership and ad money.
Handshakes and high fives
After a rocky start to the year, the Philadelphia bullpen has been stellar lately. Matt Gelb tells us about three analgesics that were key to the improvement process.
Max Muncie sure has had a strange year with the Dodgers. Talk to Fabian Ardaya about it.
Ardia also collaborated with Sam Bloom for this piece about the similarities between Shuhei Ohtani and Lionel Messi, as quiet stars who tend to let their actions on the field do most of their talking.
In Detroit, Riley Green is back from injury. What do we expect from him in the second half?
Baseball is a strange sport. Park factors can change from year to year, depending on nearby skyscrapers, changing lights, or (in a riddle Eno Saris may have just solved)… ivy?
Jimmy Newberg takes a look at how the Rangers landed White Langford in the draft, and how he could have an impact on the 2023 Rangers — before he even took a bat in the minor league.
Handshakes and high fives
It’s a slightly shorter playlist this week since we didn’t use any word-headers on Thursday’s release of 10 Questions, but hopefully there are still a few guards here for you. For the full July playlist, Just click here!
- “Good Boy” – Thanks
- “Sisyphus” – Andrew Baird
- “Gears” – moon leave
- “Bob – Bombs Over Baghdad” – Outkast
- “Long Distance” – Ian Monsick
- “U-Huh” – Tkai Midza
- “Just Like Him” - Hannah Miller
- “Henry Saint” – the tallest man in the world
- Our Time Is Short – Youth Gang
- “Torches Together” – mewithoutYou
- “The Defender” – Aesop Rock
(Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
“Food ninja. Friendly thinker. Explorer. Entrepreneur. Zombie junkie.