It appears the Chicago White Sox have their new skipper: Pedro Grifol. He spent the last 9 seasons in the Kansas City Royals organization, this past season as their bench coach. He was considered for the openings in Kansas City and Miami (he was raised there) but ultimately not hired by either team. Chicago, however,…… Continue reading White Sox Hire New Manager

If the Phillies were praying for rain last night, they got their wish. Game 3 of the WS got rained out/postponed until today. The Phillies had previously announced that Noah Syndergaard would start Game 3, pushing back Ranger Suarez to Game 4 to give him an extra day of rest since he was utilized in…… Continue reading Spahn and Sain and Pray for Rain

The Tampa Bay Rays continue to be the flavor of the week for other teams’ vacancies. In this case, the Kansas City Royals have selected the Rays’ bench coach of the last four years as their new manager: Mike Quartraro. Quartraro, 48, will be a first time manager.

Tonight the Phillies found themselves down 5-0, same as they did in game 1. This time, though, they could only get 2 back and thus lost 5-2. The Astros kicked things off with back to back to back doubles…leading the game 2-0 after just 4 pitches. Framber Valdez kept a lid on the Phillies offense…… Continue reading Astros Take Game 2

I’ve often griped about managers managing postseason games like regular season games. The Phillies’ Rob Thomson was definitely not guilty of that tonight. After being down 5-0 after 3, the Phillies tied it up 5-5 in the 5th…the second time this postseason Justin Verlander has been chased before getting through 5. Thomson then pulled Nola…… Continue reading Phils Win Game 1

In the top of the 7th of game 1 Kyle Schwarber stole 2nd. The NL home run leader definitely is not who I’d have predicted would nab the first SB of the Series. Then I checked Baseball Reference and discovered he had 10 stolen bags on the season (the most in his career) and was…… Continue reading Kyle Schwarber Stole a Base

It’s the Astros versus the Phillies. The Astros have been a juggernaut throughout the season, going 106-56. They are 7-0 in the postseason. If they happen to sweep the WS as they did to the Mariners and Yankees, it would be the first perfect postseason since the advent of the wild card. (Two teams have…… Continue reading World Series Begins Tonight

It has been presumed that the Cardinals’ pitcher Adam Wainwright was hanging up his cleat after this season—heading into the sunset along with teammates Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols. Not so fast. He never actually said he was hanging up the cleats, and now it seems he will instead return for an 18th major league…… Continue reading Adam Wainwright Not Retiring

Marlins GM Kim Ng has hired Cardinals bench coach Skip Schumaker as the new skipper of the fish, replacing the departed Don Mattingly. It’s his first managerial gig. Last year was his first as a bench coach. He was a Padres assistant 2018-2021. He played in the majors for 11 years, 8 with the Cards—including…… Continue reading Marlins Have their New Manager

The Detroit Tigers have hired Rob Metzler to be their new VP of scouting and assistant GM. He had been the Tampa Bay Rays’ director of amateur scouting for the past seven years. Congrats an good luck to Metzler in his new job. Can’t blame the Tigers for being yet another team that looks at…… Continue reading Tigers Raid Rays’ Front Office

The Championship Series were both, as a whole, yawners. The Phillies sent the Padres packing in 5. The Astros broomed the Yankees. So now we have the best team in the AL against the lowest seeded, but hot at the right time, playoff team in the NL. I have no rooting interest in either team,…… Continue reading World Series Set

Top of the 9th, one on…Seranthony Dominguez appeared to throw ball 4 well inside. Jurickson Profar sure looked to me to be trying to not get hit by a 100MPH fastball. However, the home plate ump deferred to the third base ump…who said Profar actually swung…strike three. Profar, shocked and upset, demonstratively expressed his dismay…… Continue reading Profar Tossed

So far the post-season part of the managerial carousel has been relatively quiet other than declaring interim managers as the full time manager. That is until today when the Rangers did something interesting—they brought Bruce Bochy out of retirement. Bochy has 2003 career wins, 4 pennants, 3 World Series championships. He’s #12 on the all…… Continue reading Bruce Bochy: Texas Ranger

In terms of the division series…all of them. I’ve spent most of the past week on the road to/from Alabama to deliver things to my daughter, who now works/lives there. I did not see Justin Verlander get chased in 4 innings having given up 6 runs. I also did not see the Astros come back…… Continue reading What Did I Miss?

Rookie Scott Effross has been a key contributor for the Yankees out of the bullpen since being acquired from the Cubs at the trade deadline, sporting a 2.54 ERA/161 ERA+ and a 4.13 K/BB ratio. He, along with four other relievers plus starter Frankie Montas, is an injury scratch. In fact, he won’t be playing…… Continue reading Effross Not on Yankees’ ALDS Roster