In the club’s announcement, team president and general manager David Stearns said that the the Brewers “fully support Lorenzo’s decision, and we will miss his talents on the field and leadership in the clubhouse.”
Cain has played in five Brewers games this season, and has gone 6-for-18 with three walks in 21 plate appearances. He is coming off a subpar 2019 campaign in which he hit .260/.325/.372 but during which he provided considerable value on defense, taking home a Gold Glove and posting a leather-heavy 3.0 bWAR.
The decision by Lorenzo Cain to opt-out comes as the Brewers have sat idle for two days while their scheduled opponent this weekend, the St. Louis Cardinals, have experienced a COVID-19 outbreak. It’s unclear when they, or the Brewers for that matter, will play again. It’s understandable that Cain has taken the past day or so to reassess his plans for the year.
NEW YORK (WJW) — Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred warns the sport will shut down for the season if the coronavirus isn’t managed better, sources told ESPN. Manfred reportedly told this information to the MLB Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark on Friday. The alleged conversation follows multiple coronavirus outbreaks within the league. Eighteen Miami […]
League officials have expressed concerns over the presence of the virus and are questioning whether MLB’s protocols are being properly followed by players, the news outlet reports.
Several players who were briefed on the call reportedly fear that if another outbreak materializes or if players do not strictly abide by MLB protocols, Manfred may shut down the season as early as Monday.‘Baseball is in huge trouble’: MLB faces first coronavirus crisis
During certain games, players have been seen high-fiving each other, spitting and not wearing masks. Some state and local government officials have expressed concern over these behaviors and “pressured baseball about players skirting the mandates outlined in the league’s 113-page operations manual.”
One official even told ESPN “there are some bad decisions being made” when asked about off-the-field choices.
We’re going to go ahead and say Joe Kelly might not be exchanging Christmas cards with either Alex Bregman or Carlos Correa this year. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher brought some high heat on the mound while going against the Houston Astros on Tuesday night. Kelly first threw well behind Bregman on a 3-0 pitch…
Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas has tested positive for COVID-19.
Rojas, you’ll recall, was the one credited/blamed — depending on your point of view — for making the call, as the team’s defacto leader, for the Marlins to play on Sunday despite the team suffering multiple COVID-19 infections. Which was, actually, a pretty lousy position for Rojas to even be in if we’re being honest. If Major League Baseball was leading on all of this instead of merely reacting and improvising, the individual players would never be in the position to be making such decisions. In light of that, the fact that Rojas, and to a lesser extent manager Don Mattingly, have been scapegoated for Sunday’s game being played is unfair to them.
Whatever the case, losing Rojas would normally hurt the Marlins given that (a) he is, in fact, the team’s leader; and (b) he has started the season 7-for-10 with a homer and five driven in in only three games. The Marlins, however, may not be playing games for some time, however, and it’s quite possible that he’ll go through multiple rounds of COVID testing and come out clean on the other side before his club even takes the field.
The Washington Nationals are scheduled to play a three-game series against the Marlins in Miami this weekend. The same Marlins who, as you know, are having a thing at the moment. The Nationals, however, don’t wanna go: Ken Rosenthal just reported that “In team vote, vast majority of Nationals players voted against going to Miami for three-game series this weekend.
This is a massive problem for Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball.
To be clear: pursuant to the March Agreement and the later MLB-MLBPA agreed-upon health and safety protocols, teams do not have the power to simply not play games if they think it’s unsafe. That power rests with Rob Manfred and the clubs. If the Nationals decide to simply not get on the bus to the airport after their game against the Blue Jays on Thursday evening, they will technically be engaging in a wildcat strike.
To which I say: good for them.
As we’ve noted in the past twenty four hours, Major League Baseball seems to have abdicated its role in making these sorts of decisions. The Marlins, as has been reported, decided to play on Sunday over a group text. Since then baseball has reacted, postponing some games, but it’s not at all clear what philosophy is guiding them. If the Nationals players do not feel safe playing that series, they should not play that series. If it takes them making that decision for themselves rather than waiting for Major League Baseball to do so, so be it.
In the meantime, this creates a massive problem for Rob Manfred. If he orders the Nationals to play in Miami regardless of their feelings on the matter, he’ll look like a dictator who cares little for player health and will lose whatever confidence the players have in him. If he allows the Nationals to sit out the trip, on the other hand, he has formally ceded his power over the schedule to the rosters of the thirty teams.
Where I think this goes in the next couple of days is a great many conference calls after which some sort of compromise is announced that allows this all to look like the league is handling this pursuant to a plan. But make no mistake, the fact that a team is voting on whether to play games or not — and the fact that they’re leaking that fact to the press — is strong evidence that there is no plan here at all. Or, at the very least, that the players do not have confidence in whatever plan exists.
Corey Kluber’s debut for the Texas Rangers certainly didn’t go as well as he probably hoped. The right-handed pitcher Sunday came out of his first start after just one inning, feeling tightness in his shoulder after his first few pitches before the issue progressively got worse. The two-time Cy Young Award winner was examined by…
A report from The Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome on Sunday suggested Justin Verlander is out for the 2020 season due to forearm injury. But the righty has taken to Twitter to debunk that claim. Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker on Sunday confirmed Verlander has been shut down for the next couple of weeks after being…
Saturday, July 25, 2020 Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Win: Anderson (1-0) Loss: Gaviglio (0-1) Save: Drake (1)
First Pitch: 3:10 p.m.Temps: 72-in, 90-out Attendance: — Time of Game: 2:47
TAMPA BAY RAYS NOTES
THE WIN—The Rays scored 3 runs in the 8th inning, breaking a 1-1 tie and recording their first win of the season…through the first 2 games this series, the Rays have scored 4 runs in 6.1 innings against the Blue Jays bullpen…last season the Rays won 20 games in their last at-bat, and went 11-8 in games when they were tied through 7 innings. The Rays are batting .125 (2-for-16) with RISP this season and were 0-for-4 with RISP tonight before Brandon Lowe’s go-ahead triple. Over the last two seasons, the Rays are 14-7 against the Blue Jays (9-3 at home, 5-4 on the road)…the Rays are 212-180 (.541) all-time against the Blue Jays, their most win against any opponent.
RYAN YARBROUGH—Made the fourth scoreless start of his career, following Aug 17, 2019 vs. DET (6.1 IP), Aug 11, 2019 at SEA (8.2 IP) and July 20, 2019 vs. CWS…it was the third time he made a scoreless start and took no decision, leaving after 5.1 IP in a scoreless tie…got out of his bases-load-ed jam in a 21-pitch 4th inning; also had a 7-pitch 2nd and 9-pitch 5th. Has a 2.14 ERA (42-IP, 10-ER) in 10 career apps (3 starts) against the Blue Jays, including a 1.95 ERA (27.2-IP, 6-ER) in 6 apps (2 starts) against them at Tropicana Field…remains 4-0 vs. TOR at home. Despite the scoreless outing, remains winless (0-3) in his last 9 apps (all starts) since Aug 17, 2019, the longest streak of his career. Has yielded 2 BB (or fewer) in 18 consecutive starts since June 11, 2018, the 3rd-longest streak in club history (excluding openers). Made his third straight Opening Day roster, all with the Rays, and his first as a regular member of the starting rotation.
BRANDONLOWE—Delivered a go-ahead, 2-run triple in the 8th inning, the fifth triple of his career and first since June 25, 2019 at MIN…marked the third time in his career he recorded a go-ahead hit in the 8th inning or later, following May 2, 2019 at KC (9th-inning homer) and May 17, 2019 at NYY (8th-inning double)…was the first time the Rays hit a go-ahead triple that late in a game since Denard Span on Opening Day 2018 vs. BOS. Entering tonight’s game, he was 0-for-9 lifetime against Sam Gavi-glio…came around to score on a 8th-inning balk by Gaviglio.
NICK ANDERSON—Improved to 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA (22.2-IP, 5-ER) since the trade to the Rays, after going 2-4 with a 3.92 ERA with Miami…did not record a strikeout for the third time in 24 outings with the Rays.
OLIVER DRAKE—Recorded the fourth save of his career, following Sep 7, 2019 vs. TOR, July 15, 2019 at NYY and June 15, 2017 at STL (with MIL)…pitched 2 games for the Blue Jays in 2018 and was traded by them to the Rays in exchange for cash considerations on Jan 4, 2019.
TORONTO BLUE JAYS NOTES
THE LOSS—The Blue Jays dropped the second game of their season-opening 3-game series, setting up a rubber match for 1:10 p.m. tomorrow…the Blue Jays allowed 3 runs in the 8th inning and fell to 7-11 since the start of the 2019 season when they were tied through 7 innings…were held to 1 run (or fewer) for the first time since being shut out on Sep 7, 2019 at TB, with their only run coming on a 7th-inning solo homer. Fell to 7-14 (.333) over the last two seasons against the Rays and 13-27 (.325) against them since the beginning of the 2018 season, the 4th-lowest winning pct. vs. TB in the majors over that stretch. ÊFell to 3-9 in their last 12 games at Tropicana Field and are 77-117 (.397) all-time in St. Petersburg, worst in baseball (min. 50 games).
CAVAN BIGGIO—Collected a pair of singles to extend his on-base streak to 31 games dating back to Aug 23, 2019, the longest active streak in base-ball…marks the longest streak by a Toronto hitter since José Bautista reached base safely in 33 consecutive games from Aug 7–Sep 26, 2016.
Over his 31 game on-base streak, is batting .318 (35-for-110) with 7 HR and 20 RBI…has hit safely in 12 of his last 14 games, batting .352 (19-for-54) with 4 HR, 13 RBI and 13 runs over that stretch.
MATT SHOEMAKER—Did not factor in the decision in his first start since April 20, 2019 at OAK, when he suffered a left ACL and medial miniscus injury…allowed back-to-back singles with 1 out in the 1st in-ning but not another hit until Ji-Man Choi doubled in the 6th…marked his 10th consecutive start allowing 5 hits (or fewer)…was in line for the loss until Reese McGuire hit a game-tying homer in the 7th inning. Has a 1.82 ERA (26.2-IP, 6-ER) in his career against the Rays…min. 5 starts, this is the 4th-best mark all-time against the Rays behind Chuck Finley (1.12), Yu Darvish (1.54) and James Shields (1.67).ÊHas allowed 5 hits (or fewer) in four of his 5 starts against the Rays, while he has never allowed more than 3 runs against them.ÊHas a 1.90 ERA (23.2-IP, 5-ER) in 4 starts at Tropicana Field.ÊEach of his last 4 starts have come on the road, since April 9, 2019 at BOS, going 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA (20.2-IP, 6-ER) over that stretch.
REESE McGUIRE—Hit a game-tying solo homer off Pete Fairbanks in the 7th inning, his eighth career homer…three of those have been game-tying homers in the 7th inning (or later), following Aug 17, 2019 vs. SEA (off Anthony Bass) and Aug 3, 2019 at BAL (off Richard Bleier).
TEOSCAR HERNANDEZ—Went 0-for-4 to snap a 10-game hit streak.
LINE SCORE
123456789 RHELOB
Toronto (1-1)000000100-1809
Tampa Bay (1-1)00000103x-4504
HOME RUNSTm.Batter#DistanceTypeFieldCountPitcherInn.Score
The view from left field 