Cup of Coffee: June 15, 2023

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday!

I am back from my sojourn to Chicago, there were 16 games on tap yesterday, and there was a lot of news around Major League Baseball, so let’s get to it.

And That Happened

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Astros 5, Nationals 4: Washington rallied for three runs to tie things up in the ninth off Houston closer Ryan Pressly but things got messy in the bottom half. That’s when Kyle Tucker led off with a single, José Abreu followed with an infield single, the Nats recorded an out, and Corey Julks walked to load the bases. Then Jake Meyers grounded to short, C.J. Abrams threw home to get the second out of the inning and then catcher Keibert Ruiz threw down to first. The throw doinked off of Meyers’ helmet, however, allowing Abreu to score the winning run.

Dave Martinez came out of the dugout to argue that Meyers was out of the baseline and interfered with the throw, but the umpires didn’t agree, so game over. Things weren’t over for Martinez, however, as he brought a still photo into his postgame press conference, showing that Meyers was, indeed, on the grass inside the first baseline:

Martinez:

They’ll probably fine Martinez for that even though he’s right. They’ll likely do nothing to home plate umpire Jeremy Riggs for blowing the call. Washington has lost eight of its last nine games.

Atlanta 10, Tigers 7; Atlanta 6, Tigers 5: Michael Harris II went 4-for-4 with a homer and four RBI and Ronald Acuña Jr. had three hits, including a homer, and drove in three in the first game of the twinbill. In the second game Atlanta had an early 5-1 lead thanks in part to yet another Acuña homer but the Tigers tied it back up at five in the fourth inning via a solo homer from Matt Vierling and a three-run shot from Jake Rogers. Eddie Rosario went deep for Atlanta in the sixth, however, to close out the scoring and the sweep of the doubleheader.

Here is a quote that was offered about Atlanta’s hitters after it was all done:

That was Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, actually. You know you’re doing well when your own manager is the best hype man for the opposition.

Twins 4, Brewers 2: Carlos Correa tripled in two runs, Trevor Larnach doubled in Correa, and Joey Gallo singled in Larnach as Minnesota scored all four of its runs in the bottom of the third, sending the Brewers to their sixth straight loss. The Twins have won four of five.

Giants 8, Cardinals 5: The Cardinals had a four-run second inning and led nearly the rest of the game before Mike Yastrzemski tied it up with a two-run shot in the ninth. The Giants then scored three runs in the top of the 10th to seal it. St. Louis, which started terribly and then played like a week and a half of decent baseball, is now 2-10 in June and are 27-42 overall. The last time they were this bad at this point in the season was 45 years ago, when they were 24-45 through as many games. That team ended up 69-93. Not nice.  

Mets 4, Yankees 3: Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander combined to allow two runs in 12 innings with 14 strikeouts and no walks. When they left the teams traded a couple of runs. In the seventh the Yankees plated a run on an error and then Isiah Kiner-Falefa stole home for a run when when Brooks Raley went from the windup rather than the stretch, so that was fun:

The Mets pulled it together in the bottom half of the inning, tying the game on a bases-loaded plunking of Brandon Nimmo and a Starling Marte single. On to extras, where Nimmo doubled in the Manfred Man — which Karl Ravech actually called “The Manfred Man” on the ESPN broadcast, so we have won, Cup of Coffee Collective — for the walkoff win.

Blue Jays 3, Orioles 1: José Berríos took a no-hitter into 7th, allowing only two runners to reach through six innings, one via a walk, one via a plunking. Adley Rutschman broke it up with a soft single to lead off the seventh but the O’s wouldn’t score a run until the bottom of the ninth as Berríos went seven and two-thirds, allowing three hits, striking out five. George Springer homered in the sixth and Whit Merrifield and Bo Bichette each doubled in runs in the eighth.

Red Sox 6, Rockies 3: Garrett Whitlock won for the third time in his past four starts, pitching seven innings, allowing two runs and scattering six hits with seven strikeouts. He was backed by a five-run seventh inning which featured a two-run triple from Rob Refsnyder. Alex Verdugo and two RBI as well.

Rangers 6, Angels 3: Marcus Semien and Corey Seager hit back-to-back homers with two outs in the seventh to turn a 1-1 game into a 4-1 game and Mitch Garver and Leody Taveras each singled in runs in the eighth. Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run homer in the ninth — a 453-foot job which was his AL-leading 21st on the year — but he didn’t have much help otherwise. What else is new?

Cubs 10, Pirates 6: Pittsburgh blew a 5-1 lead by allowing the Cubs to put up a six-run sixth. Dansby Swanson started off the rally by singling and then finished it off that same inning with an RBI single. Chicago also got a run on a bases-loaded walk on a pitch-clock violation for ball four, so that was fun. Swanson had three hits and two RBI on the evening. Mike Tauchman had three hits and drove in two. The Cubs have won four of five.

Reds 7, Royals 4: The Reds hit three homers during a five-run fifth inning and smacked four in all to complete the sweep of the hapless Royals and win their fifth game in a row overall. Spencer Steer homered in the second, Matt McLain had a three-run shot, and Stuart Fairchild and Jonathan India joined him going deep in the fifth. Reds starter Ben Lively allowed 10 hits but just two runs while pitching into the sixth. You can give Kansas City a lot of rope, however. They don’t exactly put it to productive use.

Marlins 4, Mariners 1: Young Eury Pérez shut the M’s down for six and was backed by yet another Jorge Soler homer. Soler also walked three times. The play of the game, though, was Jesús Sánchez robbing a would-be game-tying grand slam in the bottom of the ninth off the bat of Eugenio Suárez. It’d end up being merely a long sacrifice fly. The whole would-be rally was set up in part by two Luis Arráez errors. Arráez also went 0-for-3 and was hitless in all 12 at-bats in the series. Woof.

Phillies 4, Diamondbacks 3: Ranger Suárez tossed seven shutout innings but the Dbacks tied it it on Christian Walker's three-run homer in the eighth. In the top of the tenth Trea Turner hit a fly ball to shallow right but it dropped in when Arizona second baseman Geraldo Perdomo and right fielder Jake McCarthy collided, putting Turner on second and the Manfred Man on third. Nick Castellanos then hit a sac fly that proved to be the winning run.

Rays 6, Athletics 3: The A’s seven-game winning streak came to an end as Josh Lowe singled home the go-ahead run in the fifth inning and Christian Bethancourt, Manuel Margot and Yandy Díaz also drove in runs. The Rays are the only team in the majors that has yet to lose three games in a row this season. It was not the only loss on the night for Oakland fans, as the Nevada legislature approved the move to Vegas. More on that below in the Daily Briefing.

Padres 5, Guardians 0: Michael Wacha pitched seven shutout innings and Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Juan Soto, and Nelson Cruz all homered. In addition to the homer Tatis hit two doubles, stole two bases, scored two runs, made a diving catch, and had an outfield assist. I’d say that was a pretty good game, eh? The Padres have won five of six. If they win today they’ll be at .500 for the first time in over a month.

White Sox 8, Dodgers 4: The White Sox scored six runs in the final two innings, two of which came on Jake Burger’s second home run of the game and the other four of which all game on RBI singles. Basically it was a Dodgers bullpen implosion. That did not make Dave Roberts very happy. After the game he said of his bullpen, “they have to do better. It’s not workload. It’s not the wrong lanes or the right lanes, it’s they need to be better. Period.” He’s not wrong. The Dodgers bullpen has been among the worst in the game of late.

The Daily Briefing

A’s-to-Vegas clears all legislative hurdles

Yesterday the Nevada Assembly voted to approve the A's-to-Vegas deal. The Senate, which had already approved it, then confirmed the amendments the Assembly put on it. It is now on its way to Governor Joe Lombardo’s desk. He is expected to sign it, of course, as he’s been quarterbacking the whole thing.

As Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times said last night, “This is as close to a done deal as done gets.” And after it’s done all it’ll take is the rubber-stamp of MLB’s owners to approve the move. John Fisher, Dave Kaval, and Rob Manfred have gotten what they and few other people wanted. The Oakland Athletics will soon be the Las Vegas Athletics.

MLB owners, executives discussing spending limits on staffing, tech

Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal reported in the Athletic on Tuesday evening that “Major League Baseball and high-ranking club officials have discussed limiting how much teams can spend in areas other than player salaries, such as technology, player development, scouting and health.”

The league issued a statement pushing back on that, saying “There is nothing happening on that front . . . What we are focused on is gathering information on vendor costs to find potential cost savings through efficiencies and to ensure equal access to all technology.” But Drellich and Rosenthal have multiple sources saying differently. They say that the thinking extends to personnel and that some clubs would “enjoy seeing caps on spending in any area that can influence on-field success, player salaries or otherwise.” It’s backed up by anecdotes of owners and front office people lamenting that their analytics staffs have gotten too big. It sounds purely like a cost-cutting impulse.

Which is completely stupid, of course, as imposing limitations on how clubs can spend to improve their on-field product — stifling innovation for cost-cutting purposes — flies in the face of what sports are supposed to be about. Teams should be looking for any edges they can get to win more games. They should not be forced to forego them because Jerry Reinsdorf or Dick Monfort or whoever don’t want to cut labor costs more than they want to win baseball games.

These owners and executives are self-proclaimed geniuses of capitalism, yet they largely inherited their teams, they inherited an exemption from antitrust laws that ensure strong competitors aren’t allowed in the owner club, and they have tons of soft salary controls and massive public subsidies as it is. Now they want to put spending controls on five-figure-earning front office staffers because they want to be insulated from competition as much as possible.

If these chuckleheads can’t handle owning a smallish business — and MLB clubs are smallish businesses as far as the staff and non-player budgets go — maybe they just shouldn’t bother. Or, if they do bother, maybe they should admit that they’re just pretending to be free market capitalists when, in reality, they’d prefer to be bowling with the inflatable bumpers in the gutters.

There’s another sexual assault allegation against Trevor Bauer

Content warning: This story includes allegations of violent sexual assault

Another violent sexual assault allegation against former major league pitcher Trevor Bauer has surfaced, this time in a civil suit which has been quietly pending against Bauer for several months. Via USA Today:

Bauer has denied the allegations in legal filings, claiming that their sexual encounter was consensual — he claims one encounter, she claims multiple — and that he believes the woman’s claim that she was impregnated was false. She claims she subsequently had a miscarriage. He claims he has done nothing wrong and that he is being extorted. And, as he tends to do, Bauer has countersued the woman.

It’s worth noting that this is now the fourth woman we know of who has claimed that Bauer committed an act of violent sexual assault that involved choking. This one, like the case involving a San Diego woman which led to the very public restraining order hearing against him, features a claim that Bauer choked the woman with her own hair.

They guy certainly has (an alleged) pattern.

Drew Smith gets a ten-game suspension

I somehow missed this while doing the recaps for yesterday, but Mets reliever Drew Smith was ejected from Tuesday night's game against the Yankees after being checked for foreign-substances. Indeed, he was checked before he even took the mound and threw his first pitch. Yesterday the league announced that Smith has been handed a 10-game suspension, which is the automatic penalty for such business.

After the game Smith claimed that following his ejection he was re-checked by a league official in the tunnel behind the dugout and was told there's “nothing there” so he and the Mets feel like he got a bum rap. I’m not sure such hearsay is to automatically be believed given that, when it comes to cheating ballplayers, everyone is innocent dontchaknow, and who knows whether he had the opportunity to clean off his hands post-ejection and pre-tunnel check. It’s all probably academic, though because of the automatic nature of such things.

As it is: Smith is out for ten games. The Mets cannot replace him on the roster during that time so they’re down to 25 dudes.

Actually, the Mets are kinda down to 24 dudes

I say that after seeing this yesterday morning:

Players can often use mental breaks, of course, but imagine intentionally playing a man down for days on-end for Daniel Vogelbach of all people.

If he’s truly having to contend with mental health issues, that’s what the injured list is for. If it’s just “man, he’s been sucking eggs and we really can’t play him” you gotta at least consider DFA’ing the guy, right?

Lance McCullers Jr. has season-ending surgery

Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. underwent season-ending surgery on Tuesday to repair the flexor tendon and remove a bone spur in his throwing arm. He had initially sustained the injury in a bullpen session in February and was not expected to miss a substantial portion of the season. Unfortunately he suffered a setback following another bullpen session in May as he was ramping up to return and surgery was ultimately recommended.

McCullers last appeared in a game during last year’s World Series. Before that he made only made eight starts in the 2022 regular season, having spent most of the year recovering from a right flexor tendon strain he sustained during the 2021 postseason. He was excellent in those eight starts, posting a 2.27 ERA (171 ERA+), though he did get shelled by the Phillies in the World Series, giving up five homers in his Game 3 start. He previously underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and missed the entire 2019 season recovering from that.

It’s been a rough few years for the guy. Things continue to be rough.

Vinnie Pasquantino to miss the rest of the season

The Kansas City Royals announced yesterday that first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino will miss the remainder of the season due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He’ll need surgery and that’ll be that for 2023.

Pasquantino, 25, hit .247/.324/.437 (109 OPS+) with nine homers 17 doubles, 26 RBI, and 24 runs scored this season. Which actually makes him one of the better hitters on the lowly Royals. It’s a tough break for him and for them.

Final reminder about the Target Field Meetup

Good morning, Nato here.

The Target Field Cup of Coffee meetup is nearly upon us - Saturday, June 17th, Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins, 1:10pm. Email [email protected] for any info.

If you're someone who expressed interest some time ago but haven't heard from me lately, please get in touch ASAP because it's possible I've been leaving you out of group communications and that needs to be rectified post-haste. Also, if anybody feels like jumping in here at the last moment and joining us, one person who bought tickets had to back out for personal reasons and so I know there are a couple tickets to spare - get at me!

And that's the final update, folks. See you in Section 102 of beautiful Target Field on Saturday afternoon. Cheers!

- Nato Coles

Other Stuff

I’m back

Apologies for the shorter-than-usual Other Stuff today. I spent a large chunk of yesterday driving back from Chicago and by the time I was done with that I didn’t really have much left in the way of creative bandwidth.

I did, however, remember to do my annual Flag Day retweet of myself:

So, yeah, a fairly exhausting few days in Chicago, but not so exhausting that I can’t attend to necessary things.

Now, over the next two weeks, I get to pack up my house and move downtown to my new place, so that should be totally calm with no disruptions whatsoever. Everyone likes to move, after all.

The Guardian says no to gambling ads

The newspaper/website The Guardian has announced that it won't accept advertising from gambling companies, saying that it's “unethical to take money from services that can lead to addiction and financial ruin.” The ban applies worldwide to all of the Guardian media group’s online and print outlets.

Anna Bateson, the chief executive of Guardian Media Group, said advertising – particularly online – could trap gamblers in an “addictive cycle” that caused financial distress, mental health issues and wider social problems. Bateson:

Your move, basically everybody else.

Spare parts

In yesterday’s recaps I mentioned that Carlo bought a human vertebra1 in Chicago. When I got back to Ohio yesterday evening, one of you sent me this story from the New York Times:

If you’ll excuse me I’ll be busy trying to establish a new identity for my son in a country without an extradition treaty.

Have a great day everyone.