May 11, 2021
There have been some scary moments in the first few weeks of the 2021 major league season. On April 28, Phillies Manager Joe Girardi was ejected after both Didi Gregorius and Bryce Harper were hit by pitches while they were playing the Cardinals. Harper’s incident was particularly scary as he was hit in the face with a 97 mph fastball. On April 5, Cubs catcher Willson Contreras was plunked by a 93 mph fastball to the helmet. Two days later Reds rookie Jonathan India had a similar moment after a fastball ricocheted off his helmet.
It’s not your imagination: batters are being hit by wayward pitches at a record clip. Ken Rosenthal of
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New York Post | Dan Martin: About the only thing keeping the Yankees in games for much of the season has been their dominant bullpen. Almost all of their relievers are firing on all cylinders. That includes lower-end pieces, like Lucas Luetge, who got off to a shaky start but has put together a few good outings, including a crucial four-out stint against Cleveland a couple nights ago. Not to mention Jonathan Loaisiga, who has looked elite in a small sample thus far.
Twitter | Meredith Morokovits: It looks likely that Deivi García will get his first start of the season tomorrow in Baltimore. Aaron Boone announced Saturday that Garcia was “lined up” and should get the call up from the taxi squad. García was edged out by Domingo German for the fifth starter slot, but always figured to get plenty of looks at the big-league level throughout the year. The Yankees may not stick with a sixth starter for long, so García may not stay up for more than
April 13, 2021
Just two months ago, Fernando Tatis Jr.signed a mammoth contract that will keep him in San Diego through 2034. He entered the 2021 season as arguably the most hyped player in the majors. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief when, after exiting a spring training game with shoulder discomfort, Tatis was cleared to resume play just a day later. Sadly, though, one of the game’s biggest stars was sidelined last week with a partial shoulder dislocation after taking a hearty swing at the plate.
On the heels of last year’s shortened season, fans and teams braced themselves for what they worried might be a bad year for player injuries. The season is entering just its second full week of action, but several notable players have already hit the Injured List, and this doesn’t even count the spring training losses of Eloy Jiménez, Kirby Yates, or George Springer:
With Winter Meetings and Rule-5 Draft in the books, where are the Rockies now? Well, with the usually deal-making week in the books, not much has changed for Colorado. Being that the Winter Meetings were held virtually, it’s completely possible for free agent signings and blockbuster trades to happen this offseason since every day is basically a virtual meeting day. For now though, and not knowing what’s going on behind the virtual scenes, the Rockies only participated in Thursday’s Rule-5 Draft, picking up 25-year-old right-handed pitcher Jordan Sheffield, who was a supplemental first-round pick by the Dodgers in 2016. Purple Row’s Renee Dechert wrote more about the acquisition. Sheffield hasn’t played above Double-A and was moved to the bullpen in 2019 for the Tulsa Drillers because of command problems. He was one of eight Dodger prospects who got scooped up by other teams on Thursday.