Legends are born in October. That was Major League Baseball's tagline for the postseason for several years, and it has proved to be true time and time again.
May 2, 2021
Myles Straw grew up a big Tampa Bay Rays fan and has been to hundreds of games at Tropicana Field. Much for that reason, he’s more than a little familiar with Brandon Guyer. Which isn’t to say that Straw emulates the recently-retired outfielder. Guyer reached base via HBP a bruise-worthy 85 times from 2014-2018, and he did so despite never getting as many as 400 plate appearances in a single season. The bulk of his plunkings came in a Rays uniform.
When I talked to Straw this past Wednesday, he had played in 120 big-league games, all with the Houston Astros. He had never been hit by a pitch.
Outside The Confines: Nolan Arenado is worth how much?!
Share this story
Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images
The easy joke (and you guys know I’m no stranger to making the easy joke) is to say the St. Louis Cardinals got Nolan Arenado for a handful of change and some unwrapped mints they found in the GM’s couch, because that’s certainly the way fans and writers seemed to react to the news as it hit.
Arenado, a five-time All-Star and defensive wunderkind, has spent his entire eight-year career in Colorado, but for at least half of that time has been plagued by rumors of an impending trade. At last, that trade happened on Friday evening, and the Rockies. well, the Rockies basically paid the Cardinals to take him.
Why haven’t the Cubs signed this guy yet, Part 4: Chris Archer
Share this story
Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images
The Cubs acquired Chris Archer from the Indians (along with Jeff Stevens) December 31, 2008, in exchange for Mark DeRosa.
In 2010, he was the Cubs’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year after posting a 2.34 ERA and 1.173 WHIP in 28 appearances (27 starts) combined between Advanced-A Daytona and Double-A Tennessee.
And then the Cubs traded him away, along with Sam Fuld, Hak-Ju Lee, Robinson Chirinos and Brandon Guyer, to the Rays for Matt Garza, Zac Rosscup and Fernando Perez.
This isn’t to lament that deal, because Garza was eventually sent to the Rangers for Justin Grimm, Carl Edwards Jr., Neil Ramirez and Mike Olt, and the first two of those were key parts of the Cubs’ 2016 World Series team.
Super Sam Fuld is Now a GM, Ross Wishes He d Pushed Guys Sooner, and Other Cubs Bullets
Social Navigation
Super Sam Fuld is Now a GM, Ross Wishes He’d Pushed Guys Sooner, and Other Cubs Bullets
Today is Festivus, and although I have plenty of grievances to air with how things have gone this year, I’ll just let it lie. I’m healthy. My family is healthy. I can be grateful enough for that.
• The Phillies wrapped up their GM search lickity split after bringing in Dave Dombrowski as the new president of baseball operations. They looked only at internal candidates, and it’s old friend Sam Fuld who gets the gig after spending some time in the front office. Previously, Fuld was considered a hot commodity in the the world of managerial searches, but instead he’ll become a general manager, which is obviously a considerably different role, and not one you see too many recently-former players jumping right into. Then again, increasingly, the way you like your front office and