2022 MLB Non-Phillies News/Notes

Philsmania 2022-05-31 19:31:20 UTC #161

I noticed that Martin hadn't played in two years

zambonir 2022-05-31 19:41:25 UTC #162

Will likely be true of Hamels too but I guess we'll see.

andyb 2022-05-31 19:44:22 UTC #163

But Cole just got added to MLB the Show so he can't be done yet.

zambonir 2022-06-03 14:00:29 UTC #164

Something else for the Phillies to look forward to, two games in Toronto a bit before the All-Star break. They are already missing Correa (who is vaccinated) due to COVID.

The #MNTwins are going to place Max Kepler, Caleb Thielbar, Emilio Pagán and Trevor Megill on the restricted list ahead of this series against the Blue Jays.

They did not travel to Toronto with the team. Corresponding moves will come later.
— Do-Hyoung Park ( @dohyoungpark ) June 3, 2022

julio 2022-06-03 15:29:55 UTC #165

I look forward to it, z. It will show us just who the "me first" unvaccinated players are. Under HIPAA rules, individual player vaccination status cannot be disclosed without the player's consent - but if certain players cannot enter Canada, and thus have to be placed on the restricted list... well, we can reasonably infer that which cannot be stated.

andyb 2022-06-03 15:37:12 UTC #166

We all do want to see more of Francisco Morales and Jhailyn Ortiz, right?

zambonir 2022-06-03 15:48:14 UTC #167

That is my point. But assuming the season isn't already fully lost by then, also another bump in the road at a crucial time. Not sure there's any reason to think Bohm and Nola ever got vaxxed but there's a few guys we never heard about. That said, they did reportedly reach the 85% threshold last season eventually.

Also, given how quickly Wheeler returned from his recent bout of COVID, he's probably vaccinated. And certain other players have never actually gotten it (or been symptomatic enough to test) that we know of, though some of them may have had it during the lockout.

bkox 2022-06-03 17:18:48 UTC #168

Slugger Yordan Álvarez and the Houston Astros are in agreement on a six-year, $115 million contract extension, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN. Contract kicks in next season. Biggest contract ever for a DH and $26M/year for 3 FA years. And Astros lock up a great hitter.
— Jeff Passan ( @JeffPassan ) June 3, 2022

Yordan Álvarez's six-year, $115M deal with the Astros is the fourth biggest ever for a player who has yet to reach arbitration, behind only Fernando Tatis Jr. (14/340), Buster Posey (8/159) and Mike Trout (6/144.5). Álvarez, 24, is one of the best hitters in MLB. Deserves it.
— Jeff Passan ( @JeffPassan ) June 3, 2022

BostonRoss 2022-06-03 21:53:59 UTC #169

Are they vaccinated?

andyb 2022-06-03 22:49:55 UTC #170

Guessing the Latin American minor leaguers are. Their incentive is to play.

BostonRoss 2022-06-03 23:03:21 UTC #171

I'd think they would all want to do what's in their interest, but vaccination is in almost everyone's best interest.

zambonir 2022-06-03 23:14:36 UTC #172

MLB had originally floated a mandate for the minor leaguers but chickened out.

BaseballCat 2022-06-07 20:20:52 UTC #173

The next Joe drops

andyb 2022-06-09 16:00:31 UTC #174

This case will be interesting and possibly ugly. It is very possible that MLB discriminates in their promotions. But there is also a pretty good case that Angel Hernandez was not good enough to be a crew chief and too confrontational. That should have been a strike on Joe West in the past and it wasn't.

schillingfan 2022-06-09 17:18:20 UTC #175

Of course that is the issue -disparate treatment. Angel Hernandez and Laz Diaz are both lousy umpires in the opinions of many fans from many teams. Joe West was hated too. Did he get slack as part of the white old boys club?

andyb 2022-06-09 17:29:58 UTC #176

It is also an interesting question about whether becoming a crew chief depends much on how good a balls and strikes umpire they are. Or even how often they miss calls on the bases. Those things are all rated by computer now most likely and challenges solve many of the field problems.

A crew chief should be able to not let his umpiring crew become part of the game. I always felt Joe West made himself too much part of the game and Angel Hernandez does too (when you miss too many calls you need to expect some pushback and you don't want to let it rise to the point where players get thrown out because of your mistakes essentially). These are difficult questions certainly. I think the robo rating of the umpires will help too as those should be color blind. MLB also probably needs to aggressively recruit non-white umpires. The pool is probably much whiter than the player pool, especially if they don't try to recruit in Latin America outside of the U.S. Will they let good DSL umpires get on a path to the big leagues?

LoneStarPhan 2022-06-09 22:32:56 UTC #177

Hernandez has been one of the very few umps that when I was at a game, I looked up who was the ump on the field. Usually, I don’t pay any attention to who the umps are. Hernandez was one who seems to call attention to himself. Not a sign of a good umpire.

schillingfan 2022-06-09 22:50:09 UTC #178

Angel Hernandez was famously the umpire who tossed Steve McMichael out of the Cubs broadcast booth during his guest signing of Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

LegoDoom 2022-06-11 20:25:06 UTC #179

I'm curious of a defense to this explanation:

https://twitter.com/NBCSWhiteSox/status/1535029089723207689

andyb 2022-06-14 21:05:34 UTC #180

Ohtani - Will the Angels resign him? Interesting speculation in the article that they really need to make the playoffs this year to justify resigning him along with Trout and Rendon. He has one more year of arbitration next year before free agency. To resign him they might have to consider trading Trout (the price for Ohtani will likely be more per year than Scherzer is getting at $43 million).

Which leads to the question of what we would give up next year to get Trout? Philly might be on the list of only a handful of places he'd accept a trade too.