Running 2017 MLB regular season thread

Sheen selling '27 Ruth ring, Sox-Yanks sale doc

 

Brandon Finnegan finally made it back today, lasted all of 3-plus innings, and got fetched by a trainer in the middle of facing his first batter in the fourth. And that was just after Bronson Arroyo declared on air he'd almost certainly pitched his last game.

 

Can we please blow up interleague schedule. Cubs in town to play the Nats. Only time this season Cubs play in DC. NL East v NL Central is only 1 home and home series? That's bullshit. Giving up the intra-league rivalries for occasional attractions is stupid

 

So how do you deal with 15 team leagues?

 

I like the weird matchups, but I think 18 (I think) games a year against division rivals is overkill, to say the least. But the networks love their Yankees/Red Sox, Cubs/Cards, Giants/Dodgers, so that's not going away any time soon. And though we do have 'perpetual' interleague play, the total number of games has not changed significantly.

 

They should keep it as it was when you played division rivals 19 times.

After that you should play teams in the other 2 divisions twice at home and away.

After that who cares really in terms of the interleague stuff.

 

One of baseball's great heists occurred 15 years ago.

On this date: The lasting impact of the Expos trade for Bartolo Colon

If Eric Wedge had had just a little more patience and not inexplicably preferred Ramon Vazquez to be his utility infielder, the trade would've been even more lucrative. It's hard to imagine a team ever giving up that much in a trade again. All three had Hall of Fame type of talent.

 

IIRC, part of the rationale for the trade was that the Expos were literally in "win now" mode because the franchise was about to go under. They ended up moving to Washington, of course, but at the time there was talk about contracting the team. Colon was a guy who could have pushed them over the top in their last, best chance at a pennant before that happened, so it was a gamble worth taking to try and save baseball in Montreal. They didn't have three years to wait for Lee, Sizemore and Phillips to develop into what they became.

 

I remember there were some officials from other teams who were pissed off about the trade because they thought it was a conflict of interest for MLB to be making trades and also because they thought the Expos should have just known their role and been a schedule-filler instead of actively trying to contend while the owners were the ones financing them.

 

Scherzer has trailed only 13 innings this season but has 5 losses.

 

Jake ain't going long tonight.