Cup of Coffee: July 27, 2023

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday!

You’ve picked a good day to visit, free subscribers, as the trade deadline action truly got rolling yesterday, with the White Sox begginging their selloff and the Angels announcing that they are going for it. The Dodgers and Guardians did a deal too, but involved players who are better known than they are significant. The Twins and Marlins swapped relievers but since relievers are fungible for the most part it’s not likely of any moment.

Elsewhere, Rob Manfred got reelected. Don’t blame me, I voted for Happy Chandler. Oh, and there were fourteen games and a rainout yesterday, so we have some between-the-lines action to discuss as well.

In Other Stuff, the world of music suffered a sad loss yesterday and I talk about butter sculptures and how the days which are superficially uneventful often matter the most.

And That Happened

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Nationals 5, Rockies 4: CJ Abrams hit an RBI single to cap a four-run ninth inning and to give the Nats their second comeback win over Colorado in as many days. On Tuesday it was a four-run eighth. Four-run ninths are better. More dramatic.

Marlins 7, Rays 1: Sandy Alcántara channeled his 2022 self by throwing a five-hit complete game, striking out seven and walking one. His counterpart, Zach Eflin left after four innings with left knee discomfort suffered after fielding a bunt, having allowed five runs and seven hits. Luis Arráez went 2-for-4 — he’s batting .376 on the year — and drove in two, with a run with a double in the fourth and a sixth-inning single. Jacob Stallings also doubled in and singled in runs. He’s hitting .201 on the year. They’re basically the same.

Guardians 8, Royals 3: José Ramírez homered twice, driving in three. He was 3-for-4 on the afternoon and drew a walk. David Fry hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Steven Kwan had two RBI. Cleveland, who unloaded Amed Rosario yesterday — see below in The Daily Briefing — moved back to .500. They trail Minnesota by two games in the AL Central.

Mariners 8, Twins 7: Dylan Moore hit a pair of home runs — a solo shot in the second and a three-run blast in the fifth — and Julio Rodríguez added a home run and two doubles. Seattle has won five of seven. Minnesota's Matt Wallner hit two home runs too, but coffee is for closers and leading off the recap is for guys on winning teams. Unless they do something truly crappy or funny. Who am I kidding? I don’t really have rules for these things.

Brewers 3, Reds 0: Freddy Peralta pitched six scoreless innings and struck out 13 batters and Tyrone Taylor hit a two-run homer. Man, Milwaukee sure has been taking care of business against their closest challengers in the NL Central this year. Their season series now completed, the Brewers won ten of the 13 contests between the clubs. Milwaukee leads the Reds in the Central by one and a half games.

Cardinals 11, Diamondbacks 7: Big day for guys hitting two home runes, as Nolan Gorman hit two for the Cards. St. Louis had five in all, with Paul Goldschmidt, Lars Nootbaar and Andrew Knizner clearing the fence. The Dbacks, who looked so dangerous in the first half, have lost six of seven and have slumped to a 3-9 post-All-Star break record.

Blue Jays 8, Dodgers 1: Whit Merrifield hit a three-run homer, Danny Jansen also went deep, and the Jays took two of three from the Dodgers. Not all of that was yesterday, though. I don’t think anyone has played triple headers in a very long time, if they ever did.

[Editor: There have been three triple headers: the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and the Pittsburgh Alleghenys on September 1890, the Baltimore Orioles and the Louisville Colonels on September 7 1896, and the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds on October 2, 1920.]

This is why I pay you the big bucks.

[Editor: You don’t pay me]

Moving right along . . .

Pirates 3, Padres 2: Ji Man Choi, Bryan Reynolds and Carlos Santana all hit home runs for the Buccos. San Diego attempted to mount a ninth inning rally but it fizzled. The Padres went 1-5 this season against the Pirates. Woof.

Phillies 6, Orioles 4: Edmundo Sosa hit a tie-breaking solo homer with two outs in the seventh. J.T. Realmuto knocked in two runs with an RBI double. Bryce Harper added an RBI single of his own. Adley Rutschman hit a three-run homer for the Orioles in a losing cause. They also lost the series but they did maintain their 1.5 game lead over Tampa Bay which, as noted above, fell to the Marlins.

Red Sox 5, Atlanta 3: Atlanta had a 3-0 lead after Ozzie Albies hit a three-run homer in the sixth but Justin Turner hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the seventh and Rafael Devers, Tristan Casas and Adam Duvall all homered for Boston. The Red Sox have won four straight and are a season-best eight games over .500.

Yankees 3, Mets 1: New York wins! Carlos Rodón allowed one run while pitching into the sixth and four Yankees relievers no-hit the Mets the rest of the way. The Yankees got two runs via a fielder’s choice and a sac fly and the third came on an Anthony Volpe single. Harrison Bader scored two of those runs and had three hits on the day.

Cubs 10, White Sox 7: Chicago wins! The White Sox led 7-2 after four but the Cubs rallied for a six-run fifth inning that featured only three hits. Gotta love White Sox baseball. Ian Happ and Cody Bellinger hit back-to-back homers in the eighth. Nico Hoerner had two hits and two RBI. The Northsiders have won five in a row and seven of eight. The White Sox began their big selloff but sending Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to the Angels last night. More on that in The Daily Briefing.

Rangers 13, Astros 5: The team from Texas wins! Texas spotted the Astros three early runs but then went nuts, with Adolis García hitting a grand slam in the Rangers’ seven-run fifth inning. After the slam García and teammate Marcus Semien got into it with Houston catcher Martín Maldonado, which led to the benches and bullpens emptying. No punches were thrown because guys really don’t do that too much anymore, but Maldonado and Semien were ejected. Things were chippy before that thanks to Andrew Heaney hitting Yordan Alvarez in the right shoulder with a pitch in the first inning after which Framber Valdez hit Semien in the left shoulder with a pitch in the third. The chirping from García at Maldonado, which set off the fracas, likely doesn’t result in a brouhaha absent the earlier shenanigans. I’d like to work the word “skullduggery” into this too, but it’s almost 7AM as I’m typing this and I gotta get the bulldog to press. Hooray for the bulldog.

Giants 8, Athletics 3: The team from the Bay Area wins! Austin Slater hit a tie-breaking, pinch-hit, hypen-inspiring, two-run homer in the sixth. J.D. Davis hit a two-run homer in the first. Patrick Bailey and Mike Yastrzemski added RBI doubles in the eighth. The Giants entered this two-game series having lost six straight but beat Oakland both times. The A’s will cure what ails you. Unless you are, yourself, the A’s.

Angels vs. Tigers — POSTPONED:

🎶 The rain falls hard on a humdrum townThis town has dragged you downOh, the rain falls hard on a humdrum townThis town has dragged you down

Oh no, and everybody's got to live their lifeAnd God knows I've got to live mineGod knows I've got to live mine

William, William, it was really nothingWilliam, William, it was really nothingIt was your life 🎶

The Daily Briefing

White Sox trade Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López to the Angels

The Los Angeles Angels acquired starter Lucas Giolito and reliever Reynaldo López from the Chicago White Sox for two top prospects last night: catcher Edgar Quero and left-hander Ky Bush. Both of them are at Double-A.

In addition to getting Giolito, the top pitcher known to be on the market at the deadline, and the fireballing López, this move was accompanied by the Angels officially taking Shohei Ohtani off the market, to the extent he was on the market anyway. The Angels are going for it. Which, good for them. The club has won six of seven games. They’re seven back in the AL West and four back in a very crowded Wild Card race but weirder things have happened.

Giolito, who will be a free agent after the season, is 6-6 with a 3.79 ERA (116 ERA+) and has struck out 131 batters in 121 innings. He has been one of the most durable starters in baseball over the past couple of years so he’s got that going for him too. López has had flashes of brilliance — and flashes of triple-digit heat — but there has been some unevenness to his game. This year he’s got a 4.29 ERA (103 ERA+) in 43 appearances while striking out 52 batters in 42 innings.

As for the prospects going back to Chicago, Quero is a switch-hitter whose bat is said to be better than his defense. He is hitting .246/.386/.332 with three home runs, 35 RBI, 55 walks and 53 strikeouts in 72 games this year. Bush, one of the top pitchers in the Angels' something less-than-fecund farm system has a 5.88 ERA and 33 strikeouts in six starts covering 26 innings. In other news “Something Less-Than-Fecund” would be a great album title. Probably from one of those bands who read a lot of their own press clippings and who repurposed a phrase from a negative review of their last record for the title of their new one. Cute, but as is the case with athletes, musicians often don’t do well when they overthink things. Shut up and play yer guitar.

Dodgers trade Noah Syndergaard to Cleveland for Amed Rosario

The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired shortstop Amed Rosario from the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for Noah Syndergaard and cash.

The Guardians acquiring Syndergaard may be sold by the team to the public as them trying to bolster a rotation that lost Shane Bieber, but this is a case in which they’re selling off Rosario and taking someone else’s damaged goods in order to do it.

Syndergaard, an impending free agent, has been on the shelf since early June with blister problems and he has struggled when he has pitched, posting a 7.16 ERA and a 38/9 K/BB ratio across 55.1 innings over 12 starts. His fastball velocity has basically cratered and there’s no suggestion that it’s coming back to its previous form.

Rosario, 27, is hitting .265/.306/.369 (89 OPS+) with three home runs and nine stolen bases in 94 games this season. That’s not far off offensively from what he’s done over parts of seven seasons for the Mets and for Cleveland. He has historically been an average fielder but this season he’s ranked as one of the worst defensive shortstops in the game according to Statcast. I’m blacked out of Cleveland games so I haven’t really seen him play and thus can’t tell you if he’s been better than his numbers suggest. And let’s be honest, even if I wasn’t blacked out I probably couldn’t tell you. TV doesn’t show enough from defenders to let you scout from your couch.

All that aside, the Dodgers are in need of an upgrade at shortstop, and Rosario represents an upgrade, at least with the bat. The position was supposed to be Gavin Lux’s this year but he suffered a season-ending knee injury during spring training. Miguel Rojas, initially acquired to be a utilityman, has been the primary shortstop but he's struggled at the plate. That has inspired the club to play Mookie Betts there at times. Between Rosario and Kiké Hernández, who the Dodgers re-acquired on Tuesday, the club is hoping this situation is better settled going forward.

Twins trade Jorge López to the Marlins for Dylan Floro

The Minnesota Twins have acquired reliever Dylan Floro from the Miami Marlins for reliever Jorge López. This is one of those “Eh, relievers. Whaddaya gonna do?” deals.

López has struggled this year. He’s 4-2 with three saves, 27 strikeouts and a 5.09 ERA in 35 1/3 innings this season. Since joining the Twins last year López has blown seven of 13 save opportunities, including four this season, and has an overall 4.81 ERA in 58 innings. He was placed on the injured list for mental health last month. The club has been unable to trust López in high-leverage situations.

Floro has been solid for the last several years, first with the Los Angeles Dodgers and then with Miami, posting a 3.17 ERA in 296 appearances. He’s an impending free agent having a much poorer year this season, however, so the Marlins flipping him for a change-of-scenery candidate who is under team control for 2024 makes some sense.

Kiké Hernández traded back to the Dodgers

I missed this yesterday because of my late Tuesday night and lost Wednesday morning, but the Red Sox traded Kiké Hernández back to the Dodgers on Tuesday. The Red Sox received minor league relievers Nick Robertson and Justin Hagenman in return. The Sox will pay $2.5 million of the roughly $3.5 million remaining on Hernández's contract.

Hernández, who played for the Dodgers from 2015 through 2020, will likely platoon at second base, center field, and maybe shortstop, playing against lefties. He’s hitting only .222/.279/.320 (61 OPS+) on the year. Indeed, he’s struggled over the past couple of years, hitting .222/.286/.330 (67 OPS+) with 12 home runs, 76 RBI. He has, as he has always done, hit better against lefties than righties, though not so dramatically so that you can call him a “lefty masher” or anything. Maybe more of a “lefty preferer” or something. Decent enough to be a utilityman as opposed to a feature player the Red Sox thought he might be when they signed him.

Rob Manfred elected to another term

As expected, Rob Manfred has received a new four-year term to continue on as Commissioner. His current contract runs through January 2025 and the new one starts when that one ends, so he’ll remain at the helm until January 2029. The next round of collective bargaining will take place during the 2026-27 offseason, so Manfred has been given a vote of confidence by the owners to go back into battle with the players.

We could hash out what he has done well and what he has done poorly, but neither he nor the men who voted to reelect him are super focused on that sort of thing. The most salient thing is that Manfred has presided over massive revenue growth during his tenure, so he gets more time. If he had not, he’d be out. It’s pretty much that simple.

Angel Perdomo suspended for three games

Pirates pitcher Angel Perdomo has received a three-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing at Manny Machado during the bottom of the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s game at Petco Park.

It was pretty obvious. Juan Soto had just murdered a ball off of him for a homer and the first pitch to Machado was right into his body. Everyone in the park seemed to know it except for the home plate umpire, who was most interested in making sure Machado didn’t go out and try to murder Perdomo. Which, fair. Eventually the crew chief walked over, however, and ejected Perdomo and then Derek Shelton.

Other Stuff

Sinéad O’Connor: 1966-2023

I was very sad to hear that Sinéad O’Connor has died at the age of 56. She was so, so talented. So driven. So brave. She stood for things and stood strongly and did so even at great professional cost because she understood what was important and what as not, even if none of the many who all but hounded her out of the public eye for merely telling the truth had the first clue about it. You can’t say that about most people in this world. Especially people in the entertainment business. She likewise battled more demons and more adversity in her short life than many do. I can only hope now that she has found some peace.

I guess in saying that I’m like most others in the world: someone who voices his appreciation of O’Connor now that she’s gone but who rarely if ever did when she was alive. It happens so often with notable people, but it’s glaringly obvious with O’Connor. As British media critic Mic Wright wrote this morning in his Substack:

O’Connor is obviously, and justifiably, best known for he astonishing interpretation of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” but this song, which contains the ultimate statement-of-purpose lyric, “I will live by my own policies/I will sleep with a clear conscience,” is my favorite of hers:

Rest in peace, Sinéad O’Connor.

Maximal Ohio

The Ohio State Fair opened this week. I’ve gone a few times — saw my first Bob Dylan show there in 1994 — but usually it’s not on my radar even though it’s only a couple of exits up the freeway. I don’t do summer heat on blacktop unless it’s unavoidable, I’m not particularly into livestock, and I don’t do fried foods that, usually, are not fried. If you like those things that’s great but they’re not for me.

Still, I marvel at one Fair-related thing each year:

That’s right: the butter sculptures. Per Axios Columbus, this year’s theme four inventors who helped move Ohio forward: Thomas Edison, Garrett Morgan who invented the three-light traffic signal, Josephine Cochrane who invented the hand-powered dishwasher, and James Spangler, who invented the portable vacuum cleaner. These sculptures, Axios reports, took about 450 hours and 2,000 pounds of butter to sculpt.

As I said, I don’t go to the fair that often so I may have missed it if they did it in the past, but they should do a butter sculpture theme which features Ohio musicians. My suggestions: Bootsy Collins, Chrissie Hynde, Devo, Dean Martin, and Bob Pollard. If they do that I’ll buy a ticket to the State Fair.

Tuesday

We tend to think that our most memorable days will be days in which Truly Big and Memorable Things happen, but I don’t think that’s always the case.

All this week Facebook Memories has been showing me vacations my family has taken because, for whatever reason, we’ve always tended to take vacations the last week of July. I obviously remember those vacations but many of the little specifics slip my mind until I see a photo or an impression I had shared on social media. Vacations tend to register as big macro memories with specific details sometimes getting overtaken by the “we were in New York then” or “we were in Los Angeles then” placeholders.

Tuesday of this week was a fairly normal day in some respects in that I woke up, worked some, ran some errands and generally just lived a day of my life, but I also feel like it’ll be a day I remember for a long time. Not because of anything monumental but because of a few nice, fun, and in at least one case bittersweet moments that just sort of happened.

On Monday night I dropped my son Carlo off at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Unlike past visits there — the ER for his many, many croup attacks when he was young and the nightmare time we have spent there for his mental health care — this was a benign, scheduled thing: a sleep study. Carlo’s sleep schedule is horrifying, he snores a LOT, and we want to make sure he doesn’t have deeper issues than just being a snore-y night owl before he goes off to college. And hey, if we can do something about the snoring before one of his roommates murders him this fall, all the better.

Trips to Children’s Hospital used to be 25 minute drives downtown but now I live in the shadow of the place. Like, it’s a block away. I have no shortage of love and appreciation for the people who work there who have literally saved my son’s life on multiple occasions, but it is something of an emotional experience seeing it every day and reliving all of the times I was inside that place worried or afraid. On Monday evening, as I walked in to check him in and drop him off it occurred to me that, now that he’s 18, this will be his and my last time there. When he graduated high school in May I didn’t have any super strong feelings about it because I don’t think he had any super strong feelings about it. Walking into Children’s, and then out of it early Tuesday morning when I picked him up after the study, felt far more momentous. That, more than him getting his diploma, felt like a significant milestone. And certainly a bittersweet one.

Oh, and when we left, I took advantage of one of the few times these days he’s awake at 7am to go and get a giant diner breakfast. I love having breakfast with the kids.

That afternoon I took Carlo back up to his mother’s house in the suburbs and picked up Anna, who was up at her mom’s, to take her to Cleveland for that concert I mentioned yesterday. We were a few miles out of downtown when I realized I had my flip flops on. You can’t drive 260 miles in flip flops and you certainly can’t go to a rock show in flip flops. Or at least I can’t. Carlo and I wear the same shoe size so when we got to his mom’s house I asked him to go get me a pair of his shoes I could borrow. He brought out the stinkiest, most busted-ass pair of Vans he owns. His mother, who figured out what was happening, chased after him out into the driveway yelling “you will NOT give your father THOSE shoes to wear!” and handed me a far newer and nicer pair of Carlo’s Vans. Carlo shrugged. His mother muttered after him but, really, to no one in particular, about how she could not BELIEVE he still had those disgusting shoes and why she never, and they are going STRAIGHT into the trash and what is wrong with that boy, shaking her head in exasperation. There are few things that are more Carleen and Carlo Calcaterra than that exchange. It made me laugh.

Anna and I went to the show. She had control of the music all the way up and all the way down. We listened to some Smiths and some Talking Heads. On the way back she put on a playlist that is nothing but post punk, new wave, and Britpop from the late 70s through the mid-90s. I assumed she was just trying to play things she knew that I’d like but it turned out it was a playlist she made for herself called “Before I Was Born.” The fact that she knows every word to all of those songs makes me happy. The fact that, as I dropped her off at her mother’s at 1AM and thanked her for playing tunes I liked, she told me, in mock disgust but with obvious affection, “it’s YOUR fault I listen to all of that stuff. YOU did this to me” made me happier. As Anna has noted before, we are the living embodiment of this Onion article, right down to the fact that I actually got her “Remain in Light” on vinyl last Christmas. In my defense I didn’t do it intentionally. Also: I don’t care.

Tuesday was a normal day. Tuesday was a wonderful day. One I’ll remember for a long time. Even if nothing really happened.

Have a great day everyone.