Octopus Overlords

Down three starting pitchers, the Dodgers will be in the hunt at the deadline that's for certain. LA Times said that Bauer has almost certainly pitched his last game for the Dodgers.

This past week has been really interesting in the NL West - Giants and Dodgers kept matching each other with just a half game between them until last night and the Giants pushed the lead in the West and for the Best Record in Baseball back to 1.5 games.

Who knows if the Giants can keep this up, but it's been really entertaining, even if the Giants still get zero from ESPN on a daily basis. You'd think that the team with the best record in baseball for over 2 months would eventually start to creep into the rotation, but no.

I miss This Week in Baseball.

Lorini wrote: ↑Thu Jul 08, 2021 12:22 pm LA Times said that Bauer has almost certainly pitched his last game for the Dodgers.

You know it's serious when they cancel your bobblehead night.

It's possible the Cubs could trade Kyle Hendricks. He had a rough start to the year, but he's been solid of late. He's not spectacular, but he'd be a solid pickup who is under contract for 2 or 3 more years (team option for 2024) at a reasonable price (under $14M/year).

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Jul 08, 2021 12:27 pm

Lorini wrote: ↑Thu Jul 08, 2021 12:22 pm LA Times said that Bauer has almost certainly pitched his last game for the Dodgers.

You know it's serious when they cancel your bobblehead night.

One would think that a bobblehead would be appropriate... too soon?

Jaymann wrote: ↑Thu Jul 08, 2021 11:06 am Yesterday I watched Ohtani foul a ball off his right foot, foul a ball off his left knee, then blast his 32nd home run before the All Star break. He is on pace to set the non-steroid record for home runs in a season. And he is not some sulking prima donna, he actually loves the game.

Youtube recommended one of his home runs to me earlier in the season and since then I feel like a crack addict waiting for his next fix.

I guess they can hit the Pirates. Geez... Big opportunity for them to pad their record ovee the next 7 games.

love the orange creamsickle jersey Giants! Keep on winning and being the best team in MLB!

Biyobi wrote: ↑Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:45 pm ... and since then I feel like a crack addict waiting for his next fix.

Oh yeah, another fix! I swear the ball sounds different coming off his bat.

Only the sixth batter in MLB history to reach the right field upper deck in Seattle.

naednek wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 1:30 am love the orange creamsickle jersey Giants! Keep on winning and being the best team in MLB!

You meant start losing big time right?? You won't have to worry about us, we lost the majority of our starting pitchers.

Looks like Acuna blew out his knee trying to make a catch. Had to cart him off. Likely a season ender but hopefully it's not as bad as it looks. Even as a Mets fan I wouldn't want to see a great player like that be out.

Octavious wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 8:17 pm Looks like Acuna blew out his knee trying to make a catch. Had to cart him off. Likely a season ender but hopefully it's not as bad as it looks. Even as a Mets fan I wouldn't want to see a great player like that be out.

That's terrible to hear!!! I hope he can come back before the season is over.

Octavious wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 8:17 pm Looks like Acuna blew out his knee trying to make a catch. Had to cart him off. Likely a season ender but hopefully it's not as bad as it looks. Even as a Mets fan I wouldn't want to see a great player like that be out.

Yep, that sucks. Hopefully, it's not as bad as it looks, but his reaction does not bode well.

Torn ACL.

Andddd done. Sigh kind of figured it was that.

Yep complete tear of the ACL.

I can only imagine the pain, I tore my Meniscus 6 weeks ago and it felt like someone stabbing me in the knee with a knife every time I moved a certain way. 2 weeks from surgery and I'm almost back to normal.

Hope Acuna is back by the All-Star break next year, if not sooner, he is young.

The Braves-Dodgers NLDS was way more exciting to me than the actual WS series was. They made us work for every damn run and we had to work hard to prevent them from scoring.

I know the Giants-Dodgers rivalry is a thing, but if you ask long time Dodger fans they'll tell you they hate the Braves even more

That said, I do wish Acuna the best and hope we'll see him sooner vs later as I look forward to playing them again in the playoffs with a full team.

Hopefully the giants end the 2nd half of the season the same as the 1st half.

KTNV

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says the fate of the Athletics in Oakland will be determined in the next few months.

A’s owners have proposed a new ballpark in the Howard Terminal area of Oakland, and Manfred said if the stadium project is not approved, the team would move forward with either a move to Las Vegas or a wider relocation search.

“The Oakland process is at an end,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America before Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.

The article doesn't say anything about the terms sheet. I assume they're trying to hold up Oakland for a ridiculous amount of public funding for very rich owners?

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 10:14 am The article doesn't say anything about the terms sheet. I assume they're trying to hold up Oakland for a ridiculous amount of public funding for very rich owners?

Here's the problem.

"But the A’s prefer not to — it’s not sexy enough to stay put. They’d like for their new ballpark to be “waterfront” instead, forgetting that no mass public transit or commercial parking exists in the country’s 11th largest port.

To sell the project to the public, the A’s said their proposal would “revitalize” that portion of East Oakland by adding jobs, green spaces, retail and affordable housing. These all sound nice, until they ask the city to pitch in more than $1 billion for “infrastructure” upgrades."

In other news, the LA Times has called for the Dodgers to 'dump' Bauer, as they've basically removed him from any public facing for the team. Bill Plaschke really doesn't care how the dumping happens, whether by DFA or literally revoking the contract. He admits that the Dodgers may not be able to make it happen but they need to look better than just getting rid of Bauer's bobblehead night and jersey from the store.

The owner is a fucking tone deaf white man who can't be bothered to apologize for minimizing what this woman went through, they can dump him anytime as well in my opinion.

Ohtani gives derby purse to Angels staff.

ANAHEIM — Shohei Ohtani didn’t win the Home Run Derby, but he still made a handful of Angels employees winners for his efforts.

Ohtani received $150,000 for participating in the Derby, but he distributed that to around 30 Angels support staffers to thank them for their work, sources said. Ohtani distributed checks on Friday to trainers, clubhouse workers and media relations staffers

.

God stuff.

With noting that he "only" makes $3M in base salary.

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 9:07 am Ohtani gives derby purse to Angels staff.

ANAHEIM — Shohei Ohtani didn’t win the Home Run Derby, but he still made a handful of Angels employees winners for his efforts.

Ohtani received $150,000 for participating in the Derby, but he distributed that to around 30 Angels support staffers to thank them for their work, sources said. Ohtani distributed checks on Friday to trainers, clubhouse workers and media relations staffers

.

God stuff.

With noting that he "only" makes $3M in base salary.

I wonder if he has any ad endorsements in Japan.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 10:26 am

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 9:07 am Ohtani gives derby purse to Angels staff.

ANAHEIM — Shohei Ohtani didn’t win the Home Run Derby, but he still made a handful of Angels employees winners for his efforts.

Ohtani received $150,000 for participating in the Derby, but he distributed that to around 30 Angels support staffers to thank them for their work, sources said. Ohtani distributed checks on Friday to trainers, clubhouse workers and media relations staffers

.

God stuff.

With noting that he "only" makes $3M in base salary.

I wonder if he has any ad endorsements in Japan.

Probably depends on his status there. I'll never forget when Ichiro and (geez I can't think of the Japanese pitcher's name) met in public once. Ichiro bowed to the pitcher because the pitcher was of higher status then Ichiro was in Japan.

The Ringer

He reportedly makes more than $10 million in endorsements (mostly in Japan), which dwarfs his Angels salary. But perhaps he has little interest in becoming more of a megastar or establishing himself as the so-called “face of baseball.”

What the hell is going on in DC?

Maybe you just weren't right for Albert Angels:

"Since signing with the #Dodgers, here is where Albert Pujols ranks across baseball against LHP

‣ .350 AVG (1st)
‣ 16 RBI (T-1st)
‣ 1.074 OPS (2nd)
‣ 6 HR (T-2nd)
‣ 188 wRC+ (3rd)
‣ .448 wOBA (3rd)
‣ 84 smiles (1st)
"

So much for the Pirates being easy. Another f'n blown save by Diaz.

Although MLB is concerned about the number of players who were voted to be in the All Star game and didn't play, Betts really benefited from the time off. He's way better coming out of the break than he was going into it. Happy to see that because he's such a big piece of the team and when he's not on, it's tough sometimes for the team to come out of that.

CBS Sports app just gave me an update letting me know that Kris Bryant's left-handed bat would help to balance the Mets' right-handed dominant lineup. Slight problem with this expert analysis - KB bats righty.

I see we have some matchups today involving hated rivals of folks in this thread.

Lorini wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2021 6:17 pm I see we have some matchups today involving hated rivals of folks in this thread.

Yep, hope we can hang on. Posey should be back. So should Gausman, but we saw what happened when he played against the Dodgers last... That was a disaster.

Hoping Crawford is back, I knew he had some hamstring issue, but haven't heard if he's back or not.

The West will be decided this week for the foreseeable future.

It's Home Run Derby II

That's the Giants I know!

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Fun 7th inning

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I think we may have found one of the pitchers that was hardcore cheating. Explains why he sucks balls again.

naednek wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 1:15 am That's the Giants I know!

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I'm hoping for a split. We only have two true starting pitchers and they pitch Wednesday and Thursday.

Off to a good start

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