baseball Page 150 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Congress Is Likely Getting Ready To Legalize The Underpayment Of Minor League Baseball Players
The national spending bill that’s expected to pass later Congress this week includes a provision exempting minor-league baseball players from labor standards—meaning that paying players paltry wages would go from being an incredibly stupid tradition to being codified in federal law. ...
Baseball Hall Of Fame Retires Chief Wahoo Before The Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians legend Jim Thome got a well-deserved first-ballot Hall of Fame nod this year, and after some apparent discussion, as well as a specific request by Thome, the slugger will go in on a plaque bearing the Cleveland “Block C” logo, rather than the “Chief Wahoo” Native American caricatur...
Ronald Acuña's Stupid Demotion And The Things We Don't Even Notice Anymore
Let’s do the first things first: barring catastrophic injury or equally catastrophic organizational cynicism, Ronald Acuña will be playing left field for the Atlanta Braves sometime fairly soon. This is because Ronald Acuña, who is the consensus top positional prospect in the minors, looks for all t...
Russell Martin Makes A Cool Catch, Trips, Falls, Gets Hit In The Face
Spring training is for trying your absolute hardest—up to but not inclusive of any effort that might land you on the DL for Opening Day. Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin very nearly tried too hard today. ...
Bob Uecker’s Latest Malady Was A Venomous<em></em> Spider Bite
Bob Uecker is 84 years old and still going strong, but the longtime Brewers broadcaster has had some health issues in recent years. His latest scare was when a venomous brown recluse spider bit him in October after last season. From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt:...
Martín Pérez Killed And Ate The Bull That Injured Him: "Good Meat"
One of the stranger injuries of baseball’s offseason was Texas Rangers pitcher Martín Pérez’s broken elbow, the result of a bull that startled him and caused him to fall on his ranch in Venezuela. ...
Let's Remember Some Guys: 1988 Baseball Guys
We’re back on Let’s Remember Some Guys, and we’re here to remember some more guys. This time, we’re going farther back in time than we’ve ever gone before: to 1988, and a Topps pack that comes with a very generous offer of a trip to spring training, but pairs it with some extremely gross old gum....
MLB Tells Aaron Judge To Stop Saying Nice Things About Manny Machado<em></em>
Speaking to reporters before yesterday’s spring training game between the Yankees and the Orioles, Aaron Judge praised Orioles star Manny Machado and said he’d sort of limply recruited Machado. “Adding him to our lineup that we already got would be something special,” Judge said. “I told him he’d lo...
Minor League Baseball's New Extra Innings Format Turns The Rulebook Into Nonsense<em></em>
A few weeks after Major League Baseball announced a series of surface-level rule changes aimed at improving pace of play, Minor League Baseball has announced that it’ll start experimenting with something more significant. During extra-inning games this season, a runner will automatically be placed o...
Video Emerges Of Former Astros Prospect Beating His Girlfriend After 2016 Practice
Former Houston Astros prospect Danry Vasquez has been released by his current Atlantic League club after video of a domestic violence incident became public this week. The video shows the player hitting his girlfriend multiple times after a practice with the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Astros’ Double-...
I Can't Stop Watching This Perfect Stealth Pickoff
Unless you have a strong love of beefy minor-league catchers and/or guys who spent six years in the Phillies’ farm system without making it to Double-A, there’s no good reason for you to have heard of Willians Astudillo. Or, at least, there wasn’t until yesterday—when he pulled off this beautifully ...
Jose Altuve's Day At The White House Looked Pretty Awkward
The Houston Astros visited the White House today to be honored for their 2017 World Series win, which puts reasonable-minded players in a bit of a pickle. The traditional post-championship White House visit is a potentially once-in-a-lifetime honor. Having to tolerate Donald Trump in the flesh and b...
What A Depressing Offseason
The caveats are caveats, but they do exist. Mike Moustakas is not a superstar, for reasons that are easy enough to identify. He has mostly been a decent defender at an important position, but his defense was unexpectedly and undeniably poor last year; he is a good hitter with real power, but not an ...
Jake Arrieta Finally Rejoins The Ranks Of The Employed, Signs With The Phillies
Jake Arrieta, National League Cy Young Award winner, World Series hero, thrower of two career no-hitters, recently the ace of the Chicago Cubs rotation, is reportedly set to join the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that won 66 games in 2017:...
Lance Lynn Is The Latest Valuable Veteran To Take A Significant Haircut In Free Agency
Spring training is now well underway, and baseball’s many overqualified free agents are still shuffling their way onto MLB teams on below-value contracts. Lance Lynn, a very fine pitcher with a strong track record of success, found his way onto the Twins Saturday:...
Mike Moustakas Will Return To The Royals For Less Than Half Of The Qualifying Offer Value
With three weeks until opening day, third baseman Mike Moustakas is reportedly finally signing a deal to stay in Kansas City. He’ll do so for just a fraction of what he was originally expected to bring in—a one-year, $5.5 million contract with $2.2 million in potential performance bonuses and a mutu...
Royals Host Anti-Porn Seminar For Players
The Royals spent part of this weekend hosting an anti-porn workshop for players and coaches, doing their part to sponsor “a fight for love,” as workshop leadership call it....
The World Took So Much From Me, But Baseball Gave It Back
Originally featured in the anthology Birth of a Fan (Ed. Ron Fimrite), 1993, this essay appears here with permission....
Jon Lester Is Doing This On Purpose Now
Despite being a professional athlete who is perfectly capable of throwing fastballs with pinpoint accuracy, Cubs starter Jon Lester cannot for the life of him throw the ball to first base. His struggles in this area have been well-documented over the past few seasons, but this spring he’s trying a n...
Derek Jeter On The Marlins' Dinger Machine: "It's Big. It's Big. It's Big."
Much of the Miami Marlins’ roster from last season has departed, but the team’s true centerpiece—the home run sculpture in the outfield—is set to remain, at least for now. That’s not for lack of trying by CEO Derek Jeter, who’s indicated that he’s not a fan. But the fact that the statue is considere...