Category: Human Interest

Trevor Bauer Made His Bed And Now He Has To Lie In It

Trevor Bauer was selected third overall in the 2011 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks out of UCLA, and made his MLB debut the following June. He started four games for Arizona in 2012, going 1-2 with a 6.06 ERA.

After clashing with his teammates in the desert, the team traded him (along with Bryan Shaw and Matt Albers) to Cleveland in return for Shin-Soo Choo, Jason Donald, Tony Sipp, and Lars Anderson. Bauer began 2013 at Triple-A Columbus, starting 22 games and going 6-7 with a 4.15 ERA before being called up to the big club. In four MLB games, Bauer essentially matched his 2012 season, going 1-2 with a 5.29 ERA.

2014 saw him again on the farm, but he was down there for only a short while (2.15 ERA). Once in Cleveland, he started 26 games, going 5-8 with a 4.18 ERA.

Bauer’s 2015 and 2016 seasons were remarkably similar (11-12, 4.55 ERA, 4.33 FIP / 12-8, 4.26 ERA, 3.99 FIP) as he settled in as an everyday pitcher in Terry Francona’s rotation.

In 2017, Bauer took a leap. He went 17-9, threw 176-1/3 innings, and struck out 196 batters while walking only 60. That season was worth 2.9 bWAR.

In 2018, he upped his game even more, going 12-6 with a 2.21 ERA and a 2.44 FIP. He pitched 175-1/3 innings and struck out 221 against just 57 walks. With 6.0 bWAR, he made the All-Star team, finished 6th in Cy Young Award voting, and got MVP consideration. At this point, Bauer was on his way to becoming somewhat of an “ace,” a moniker he had desired since college.

Bauer’s 2019 season started well enough, opening with a 4-1 record through his first seven starts. Then he lost five straight while sprinkling in three no-decisions. He followed that with four straight wins and five out of six. On July 23rd, Bauer pitched 7-2/3 innings, struck out nine while wielding just three hits and no runs. He left the game with a 1-0 lead, just to watch Brad Hand gave up a game-tying homer to Justin Smoak with one out in the bottom of the ninth. And then he had to endure Tyler Olson coming into the game in the bottom of the 10th and going walk, wild pitch, single, and walk-off single (Smoak, again) to give the Blue Jays the 2-1 win.

That was the backdrop as Bauer headed into his next start, a Sunday afternoon game in Kansas City on July 28th.

Staked to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, Bauer started his outing by giving up hits to three of the first four Royals batters, but escaped surrendering just one run.

In the third inning, he gave up a leadoff single, followed by a walk, and then a wild pitch. A ground ball to first should have meant just one run, but first baseman Jake Bauers’ errant throw allowed Hunter Dozier to score to tie the game.

Cleveland retook the lead in the top of the fourth, and Bauer bounced back with a 10-pitch inning in the bottom half. Danny Duffy led off the top of the fifth with a home run, giving Bauer a two-run lead to work with.

Bauer, with a 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the fifth, gave up a leadoff single to Alex Gordon. Brian Dozier then lofted a fly ball to center field that Óscar Mercado lost in the sun, allowing it to drop on the warning track and bounce over the fence for an automatic double. Jorge Soler then walked on a very close 3-2 pitch (probably overturned in the ABS era) to load the bases. Ryan O’Hearn then hit a dribbler in front of the mound that Bauer couldn’t field, allowing a run to score (it was ruled a hit). Cheslor Cuthbert then hit a duck-fart (60.6-mph off the bat) into right field over the outstretched arm of second baseman Mike Freeman, which knocked in the tying run. After striking out Bubba Starling for the first out of the inning, Nicky Lopez hit a grounder up the middle that Bauer just barely missed fielding; it ended up in center field, scoring two runs. Bauer got a new ball from the umpire, and immediately rejected it by throwing it to the dugout. When he got a second ball, he noticed manager Terry Francona coming to the mound, so Bauer chucked that ball over the center field fence. When Tito got to the obviously frustrated and pouting pitcher, he asked: “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Bauer put his hand on Francona’s shoulder, ostensibly in apology, and headed for the showers.

After the game, Bauer apologized for his behavior.

“I want to be clear that my frustrations were with myself and my inability to stop the situation and keep my team in the game. I’m an intense competitor. That fire is what drives me. Today, it completely consumed me and took over…It was unbecoming. It was childish. Unprofessional. There’s no place for it in the game.”

MLB fined the pitcher an undisclosed sum, but did not suspend him. However, Cleveland was done with him. Two days after the incident, they traded the immature 28-year-old to Cincinnati as part of a three-team deal (ironically, Francona would later become the Reds’ manager).

Bauer finished the season in Cincinnati, and pitched there in 2020 as well. Before the 2021 season, the Dodgers signed him to a three-year, $102 million contract. MLB placed Bauer on administrative leave in July of that year following sexual assault allegations. In April, 2022, he was suspended for 324 games (ultimately reduced to 194 games on appeal). Los Angeles released him in January, 2023, but not before they paid him roughly $61 million for 17 games and 107-2/3 innings.

Bauer was never criminally charged for the actions that predicated his suspension, and he actually won a civil judgment against his accuser. And yet, no MLB team wanted his services. Was he “blackballed”? It is hard to say.

Since his release by the Dodgers, Bauer has pitched in Japan, Mexico, and now on Long Island. At 35, he clearly still has skills and could be useful to some big league team in need of pitching. But, is he worth the hassle? Interestingly, after Bauer chucked the ball over the fence that day in Kansas City, Francona said the following to the assembled press: “I don’t want this to be his legacy. This kid’s a good pitcher.” What he didn’t say is as important – if not more important – than what he did say.

When Bauer threw a no-hitter for the Ducks, there was no grand celebration on the mound. Teammates, all the way back to college and possibly before, simply do not like Bauer. And organizations, from Arizona to Cleveland to Los Angeles, tire of his act pretty quickly.

If Bauer is anything, he is true to himself, and will not change for anyone or any amount of money. He has no one else to blame for his lot in life, but he does not seem to have the introspection or care for what others think to evolve in any way. And that has cost him his major league career. Hopefully the $112 million he earned over 13 seasons is enough to buy happiness, because it certainly won’t buy a positive or lasting legacy.

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First Pitch Dingers: Welcome To The Show

On April 23rd, Atlanta Braves pitcher JR Ritchie made his major league debut. Taken 35th overall in the 2022 draft off Bainbridge Island in Washington State, he pitched in all levels in the minors, including making five starts at Triple-A Gwinnett to begin the 2026 season.

On that Thursday afternoon, after the Braves failed to score in the top of the first inning in Washington (DC), Ritchie took the hill. His first pitch was recorded as a 93.5-mph four seam fastball. It was also recorded that Nationals’ leadoff hitter James Wood turned it around at 102-mph, hitting it 387 feet into the right field stands. “Welcome to the Show!”

Two pitches later he induced Luis Garcia to ground out to second to record his first major league out. And five pitches later he had his first career strikeout, setting down José Tena with a nasty change-up. Ritchie struck out Tena again in the fourth inning before surrendering his second home run, this time to CJ Abrams. Abrams squared it up even better than Wood, crushing the ball 107-mph and 426 feet to center field. Ritchie bounced right back, striking out Jacob Young looking on a nasty 2-2 curveball. When all was said and done, Richie went seven innings, gave up five hits (two of which were those homers), two earned runs (on those dingers), walked two, struck out seven, and earned his first big league win. “Welcome to the Show,” indeed.

With that first inning big fly, Richie became the first Braves pitcher since 1977 to give up a home run on his first major league pitch, matching Mickey Mahler who did the same to/for Derrel Thomas against the Giants in a game the Braves ended up losing 8-7 in eleven innings. Mahler did not pitch nearly as well as Richie, going 3-2/3, giving up four hits, three earned runs, while walking two and striking out three. Like Ritchie, he also gave up two dingers in his debut, but he was long gone before the game was decided, whereas Richie got the win. The good news for Mahler is that, according to Baseball Reference, there was a total of 1,029 fans in attendance for that mid-afternoon Tuesday game at the old Candlestick Park (a meager 14,613 caught Ritchie’s mid-afternoon gem).

Tobias Myers was the last to pull off the feat in the National League, on April 23, 2024, while pitching for the Brewers against the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen took him deep, but then Myers settled in. He retired 14 of the next 18 batters, sprinkling in three singles and a walk against four strikeouts. Unfortunately for Myers, the Brewers could only muster one late run on a Gary Sanchez homer, and the rookie took the loss in his debut.

Interestingly, a first career pitch dinger has not happened in the American League since 2015, when Jose De Paula did so against Andrew Romine of the Tigers in the sixth inning of Detroit’s blowout victory over the Yankees (12-4).

After the game, Ritchie seemed to take everything in stride: “One pitch into it, I was kind of like, ‘Oh no.’ But after that, I bounced back really well. I stayed with my game plan. I was really happy about that. Yeah, this will always be a very, very special day for me.”

Ritchie, who ranks #79 on MLB’s prospect list, and #2 on the Braves’ list, was supposed to face the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp that day, but dialed it up at Nationals Park instead. He became the first Braves pitcher to record seven or more strikeouts and allow two runs or less, while throwing at least seven innings, in his debut. Not too shabby for a rookie pitcher and an organization that dates back to 1876.

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After A 15-Year Hiatus, “This Week in Baseball” Is Back!

Up in my attic, in an old Alta Dena milk crate, are a bunch of dusty VHS cassettes with episodes of This Week in Baseball from the 1980s. They say you become a true baseball fan between the ages of 12 and 14. For me, that was 1984-86, the golden years of TWIB. And I never wanted to miss an episode. Back then, I would crib my mom’s copy of TV Guide to get a quick look at what time NBC’s “Game of the Week” would be broadcast, and then I could back out thirty minutes, as I knew that my favorite show always preceded the game – even if it wasn’t always listed on the schedule.

My Saturday morning routine had me setting the timer on the VCR before I left for my own baseball game, to make sure that the show recorded. And then I would come home in bathe in everything that Mel Allen had to offer. “Hello there, everybody,” is a phrase that still rings in my ears even forty years later. TWIB Notes, top plays, bloopers, and oddities, and who could ever forget the “Gathering Crowds” theme song, written by John Scott. The editing of the video highlights with the chords of that song was – and continues today – to be award-worthy.

The original TWIB ran from 1977 to 1998, with a revival from 2000-2011. So, imagine my shock when I got the MLB.com newsletter the other day and they reported that TWIB was coming back. And coming back in a very 2026 way: On X (formerly Twitter), with a short-form broadcast every Friday at noon ET. The show will include highlights of the best plays from the past week, amazing moments, fun stories, and, according to MLB.com, “all while keeping the vibe that made ‘This Week in Baseball’ a hit with fans for decades.”

The new version of the show will be hosted by Kait Maniscalco, the host of “The Hot Corner” podcast that seeks to bring in a younger generation of baseball fans. The show will bring back the TWIB Notes segment. And, most importantly, the iconic music will be back as well. One can only hope that modern technology has allowed the producers to incorporate the iconic voice of Mel Allen, if, for no other reason, than to add a touch of nostalgia for the viewers who remember the original with such fondness, and to give the youngsters a taste of how the greats used to do it.

I no longer have a VCR, and most likely don’t need any recording devices to make sure I can watch This Week in Baseball on a regular basis, which, I promise you, I most definitely will.

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Troy Glaus Was A World Series MVP Plus A Whole Lot More

Troy Glaus, a Southern California “kid,” will turn 50 this summer. It does not seem possible that he played his last game sixteen years ago, when he finished his career in Atlanta. But it also seems fitting, as the player in the game today who most resembles Glaus is the Braves’ current third baseman, Austin Riley.

Glaus grew up in Carlsbad, California, which is just north of San Diego and just south of Anaheim. The Padres snatched the slugger in the second round of the 1994 draft, but he spurned their offer to play at UCLA. Three years later, the Angels made Glaus the third pick in the draft, signing him for $2.25 million.

Just over a year later, he made his MLB debut, playing third base and batting sixth against the Boston Red Sox. True to his billing, he smacked an RBI double in his first at-bat. Glaus played in only 48 games that season, hitting just a single home run. But in 1999, he showed the promise that the Angels (and Padres before them) had hoped for. In 154 games, he slugged 29 homers and accrued 3.1 bWAR. All of which was a prelude to 2000.

The 6’5” masher had a career year in 2000, slashing .284/.404/.604, with a league-leading 47 home runs, a 150 OPS+, and 7.8 bWAR. That was enough to make him an All-Star and to get him a Silver Slugger Award.

Things didn’t fall off too much in 2001, as he cranked another 41 homers, actually drove in six more runs (108), made another All-Star team, and won another Silver Slugger.

In 2002, Glaus’ numbers fell off slightly during the regular season, but not in the playoffs. The third baseman won the World Series MVP after hitting .385 with three homers and eight RBI, including a go-ahead double in Game 6, which was the coup-de-grâce* of their five-run comeback in that game.

*People always remember Scott Spezio’s three-run homer that got the Angels off the mat, and cut the Giant’s lead to 5-3. They may even remember Darin Erstad’s leadoff homer in the eighth inning that brought the Angels within one run. But they often forget Glaus’ two-run double that flipped the score in Anaheim’s favor.

With roughly the same numbers as 2002, Glaus was an All-Star again in 2003.

Unfortunately for the SoCal native, 2004 was his walk year, and he missed most of it with a shoulder injury, playing in only 58 games. Yet, he still hit 18 dingers with a 140 OPS+. That was not enough to convince Anaheim to give him a contract when he became a free agent. Instead, he signed a four year, $45 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. All he did in Phoenix was crush 37 home runs, slug .522, and have 281 total bases.

After the 2005 season, the Toronto Blue Jays came calling, looking for offensive production, and the Diamondbacks had just the guy to send north. So, Glaus found himself on the East Coast for the first time in his career. He didn’t miss a beat, putting up nearly identical numbers to those from the year before in the desert, while even playing a handful of games at shortstop. He was an All-Star again, and for the first and only time, he received MVP votes.

Foot injuries, and his named being included in the Mitchell Report, slowed his progress in 2007. And yet, he still had a 120 OPS+ and accrued another 3.3 bWAR. At the end of the year, the Blue Jays and the Cardinals completed a so-called “challenge trade,” swapping third baseman, with Glaus switching places with Scott Rolen. Glaus had a great year in 2008, slashing .270/.372/.483, with 27 home runs, 99 RBI, a 125 OPS+, and 4.4 bWAR*. Plus, he committed just seven errors and led the league with a .982 fielding percentage.

*By comparison, Rolen slashed .262/.349/.431, with 11 home runs, 50 RBI, 109 OPS+, and 3.4 bWAR.

On September 3, 2008, Glaus hit his 300th career home run. He would hit just 20 more. In early 2009, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder. The Cardinals expected him to be ready for Opening Day, but setbacks kept pushing back his return, and he didn’t make his first appearance until September 2nd.

The Cardinals did not re-sign Glaus when his contract expired, so he signed a one-year, $1.75 million contract with the Atlanta Braves, which included up to $2.25 million in performance incentives. In Atlanta, he moved across the diamond to play first base, and was named Player of the Month for May, 2010 (.330, six homers, 28 RBI). But his production began to wane as the temperature started to rise. He hit .237 in June with six homers, then .182 with no dingers in July, .208 with two round-trippers in August, and went just 4-for-17 over the rest of the season. With Glaus’ production cratering, the Braves acquired Derrek Lee on August 18th to play first base, and Glaus went on the injured list with “knee fatigue.” Glaus did start Game 4 of the NLDS against the Giants, playing seven innings at third base, and going 0-for-3. That would be his last major league appearance.

Last May Glaus returned to Angel Stadium once again, this time to serve as a pinch hitter for the Savannah Bananas. He got a base hit to left field, which feels like a much more fitting end to his unfortunately unheralded career.

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2026 National League Preview – Reader’s Digest Version

With the 2026 MLB season quickly approaching, it’s a good time to have a little refresher about what transpired during the Hot Stove Season, what moves have been made, and what each time might expect out of the coming campaign.

There is a great deal to get caught up on, so we will try to synthesize each team in a sentence or three.

Today we will look at the National League, with the American League on tap for next Tuesday.

So, without any further ado, in alphabetical order:

Arizona Diamondbacks

Corbin Carroll had hamate surgery, but should be back by Opening Day. However, he may not have the power that we have come to expect.

Nearly 40-year old Carlos Santana will be playing first base. Nolan Arenado waived his no trade clause, came over from St. Louis, and will play third. Merrill Kelly signed for two years, and Zac Gallen and Paul Sewald are back.

Atlanta Braves

Should the Braves run incense around the stadium to rid themselves of their bad luck? Last year, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. And this season is off to a rough start. Ha-Seong Kim, signed to play shortstop, slipped on the ice in his native South Korea, which required hand surgery, and now will be out for at least the first two months. Pitchers Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep will miss at least two months because of elbow surgeries, and Joey Went tore his ACL. Catcher Sean Murphy is out for the first part of the season as he recovers from hip surgery.

And the biggest story is that after missing half of last season due to a PED suspension, left fielder Jurickson Profar will be gone for all of 2026 after getting popped again. Is this the end of his career (he has one year and $14M remaining on his deal)?

Chicago Cubs

Alex Bregman will be the Cubs’ everyday third baseman after signing a five-year/$175M contract. Shota Imanaga is back. Pete Crow-Armstrong needs to be more like his first half self (.265/.302/.544, 21 homers, 71 RBI, 27 stolen bases) than his second half self (.216/.262/.372, 6 homers, 24 RBI, eight stolen bases).

Anything less than a division title will feel like a lost season to the fans on the North Side.

Cincinnati Reds

The Reds lost out on getting Ohio native Kyle Schwarber to leave Philadelphia to hit a ton of dingers at Great American Ballpark. So, they brought back former Red Eugenio Suarez (he played there from 2015-2021), who hit 49 homers last season.

Any team with Elly De La Cruz in the lineup is worth watching. But, watch out for the final diagnosis on ace Hunter Greene, who is seeing a specialist about stiffness in his right (throwing) elbow.

Colorado Rockies

A new front office is in place to bring the team into the 21st century. After a decade working for the Cleveland Browns, Paul DePodesta will be running the show, and after more than a decade working for the Dodgers, Josh Byrnes was hired as general manager. Regardless of their pedigree, it will take at least a few years for them to implement enough meaningful change for this team to be anything other than woeful.

Los Angeles Dodgers

When you have won back-to-back World Series titles, what do you do for an encore? You go out and get the two best free agents on the market. To do so, you simply outbid the wealthiest owner in the game, and give Edwin Díaz $69M and Kyle Tucker $60M per year(!) for four years. And to keep the fanbase happy, you re-sign Kiké Hernández.

Miami Marlins

In: pitcher Pete Fairbanks, utility guy Christopher Morel, and potential future outfield star Owen Caissie.

Out: Right-handed fireballer Edward Cabrera.

If everything breaks right, and other teams falter, the Marlins will vie with the Braves for fourth place in the division.

Milwaukee Brewers

This is a team that keeps losing players (and a star manager) and just keeps on winning. The Brewers won the NL Central last year, and are predicted to win it again in 2026.

Freddy Peralta is gone (traded to the Mets). Rookie of the Year finalist Caleb Durbin is gone (traded to the Red Sox). Fourth place Rookie of the Year finisher Isaac Collins is gone (traded to the Royals). Jose Quintana and Rhys Hoskins are gone as free agents.

But, Brandon Woodruff should be back, Jacob Misiorowski should only get better, and Chad Patrick and Quinn Priester round out a strong pitching staff.

Come October, don’t be shocked to see this motley Brew Crew back in the playoffs.

New York Mets

The off-season got off to a rough start for a team that missed the playoffs by one game, on the last day of the 2025 season. First they traded fan-favorite Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers for second baseman Marcus Semien. Then they lost Edwin Díaz to the Dodgers. Then they allowed franchise home run king Pete Alonso to sign with the Orioles without even making him an offer. Then they traded fan-favorite Jeff McNeil to the A’s for really nothing more than salary relief. Then they lost out on Kyle Tucker (to the Dodgers, again).

But, they signed Bo Bichette to play third base, Devin Williams to close, and traded for the oft-injured but amazing-when-healthy center fielder Luis Robert Jr. Will that be enough to get Steve Cohen the ring he so desperately covets?

Philadelphia Phillies

Will this be the year that age catches up to the Phils (their starting lineup will average 33 years old)? Will this be the year that this group of stars finishes the goal of winning their first World Series since 2008? With both Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto back, and with Ranger Suarez and Nick Castellanos gone, it is time to put up or get split up.

Pittsburgh Pirates

With the second-best pitcher on the planet, Paul Skenes, with phenom Bubba Chandler coming up the mound right behind him, with Marcell Ozuna as the everyday DH, with Ryan O’Hearn and Brandon Lowe covering the right side of the infield, this is a team that should be playing meaningful baseball in September, and has an outside shot of playing in October. That is something Yinzers can get excited about.

And keep an eye on potential Rookie of the Year Konnor Griffin, who may make his big league debut at shortstop as a teenager.

St. Louis Cardinals

This is the first year since 2006 that John Mozeliak has not been at the helm of the team. Chaim Bloom is now in charge after taking a year to learn every facet of the organization. He immediately traded first baseman Willson Contreras and pitcher Sonny Gray to Boston, and then ate $31M to send Nolan Arenado to Arizona.

JJ Wetherholt could be the Rookie of the Year at second base, and Masyn Winn could win his first Gold Glove at short.

The Cardinals need to do something to improve attendance, which had the largest fall off last season, down 22% (more than 7,700 fans per game).

San Diego Padres

After the death of principal Peter Seidler, the team is now for sale. But, to provide stability, president of baseball operations AJ Preller signed an extension through at least 2028.

The club lost Dylan Cease and Robert Suarez and Luis Arraez. They added Nick Castellanos (for the MLB minimum after the Phillies waived him). The lineup still boasts Fernando Tatís Jr. (who could be an MVP if he did not play in a league with Shohei Ohtani), Manny Machado (who continues to burnish his Hall of Fame credentials), Xander Bogaerts, Jackson Merrill (looking to bounce back from a sophomore slump), and Jake Cronenworth.

It may not be enough to overtake the Dodgers, but it may be enough to play baseball in October.

San Francisco Giants

The gutsiest move of the off-season was Buster Posey hiring University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello as the team’s manager, the first time anyone has ever gone from the college ranks to MLB skipper with no stops in between.

Maybe the second gutsiest move of the off-season was paying Luis Arraez $12M to be their second baseman when he ranked 299th out of 311 defenders in Fielding Run Value in 2023, the last time he played there consistently.

Harrison Bader should help solidify their outfield defense and provide some occasional pop.

Washington Nationals

Unlike the Phillies, youth is the talk of the nation’s capital. New manager Blake Butera is 33 years old; new general manager Anirudh Kilambi is 31; and new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni is just 35. And no one in the projected starting lineup is older than 27.

James Wood projects to have another incredible season. Will Dylan Crews finally show the promise that made him the number two pick in the 2023 draft, right behind his LSU teammate, Paul Skenes?

Regardless of who does what, the Nationals still appear to be amongst the worst teams in baseball, with FanGraphs projecting just 69 wins.

Note: The American League review/summary will be available next week.

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Let’s Give Mark Trumbo A Little Bit of Respect

As I scrolled through X (formerly Twitter) a few weeks ago, I came across a tweet (old habits) from the great contributor Not Gaetti. He (I am assuming from the profile picture) said the following: “Not enough people talk about Mark Trumbo.” And he listed a bunch of stats. That is right; not enough people talk about this guy.

The Anaheim Angels selected Trumbo in the 18th round of the 2004 MLB draft out of Villa Park High School. He started 2005 in rookie ball, hitting ten home runs in 299 at-bats. He slowly worked his way through the minors, notching as many as 36 dingers (which occurred in 2010 in Salt Lake, so there may be an asterisk on that season).

Trumbo made his major league debut, striking out in the seventh inning of a game against the Mariners after his September call-up. He started his career going 0-for-14 with eight strike outs before recording his first hit, a two-out, two-run single in the Angels’ last inning of the season.

That base hit must have left a lasting impression, as he broke camp with the club in 2011, played in 149 games, smashed 29 homers, while slashing .254/.291/.477, for a 114 OPS+ and second place in Rookie of the Year voting.

The following year was more of the same, but better: 32 dingers, an .808 OPS, and a 124 OPS+. That garnered him his first All-Star appearance.

In 2013 he cranked 34 home runs and drove in an even 100.

After that season, Anaheim included Trumbo as part of a three-team trade, sending him to the Arizona Diamondbacks (as a side note, Tyler Skaggs went from Arizona to Anaheim in that deal, changing the trajectory of his career and his life).

Midway through the 2015 season, the Diamondbacks traded Trumbo to the Seattle Mariners, where he put up 1.0 bWAR in 96 games, hitting thirteen home runs.

At the end of the year, the Mariners shipped him off to Baltimore. It seems reasonable that Seattle regretted the move. Trumbo had a career year — bashing 47 homers (which led the league), driving in 108, with a 122 OPS+, earning him his second All-Star nod and his first Silver Slugger Award. He won the Comeback Player of the Year Award, to boot.

Then Trumbo came back to earth. Over the next two seasons combined, he hit just 40 homers and drove in 109 runs. Trumbo missed most of the 2019 season with a knee injury, not taking his first at-bat until September 2nd. He ultimately played in 12 games in what would be his final MLB season.

When all was said and done, Trumbo’s career slash line was .249/.302/.459, with a 108 OPS+. He hit 218 homers. When discussing potential Hall of Fame pitchers, note that Trumbo had a 1.533 OPS against Mark Buehrle, and slashed .348/.375/.739 when facing Cole Hamels. Per Baseball Reference, his career is most similar to Pete Incaviglia, but a more modern-day comp would be Teoscar Hernández. Trumbo isn’t a Hall of Famer; he doesn’t even belong in the Hall of Very Good. But he had a solid career, earning nearly $60 million along the way.

On September 10, 2013, Trumbo became the first Angel to have five hits and score five runs in the same game. He had three doubles and a homer, for 11 total bases.

On April 15, 2016, Trumbo became the first Oriole to hit two home runs in the same inning, when he smashed a two-run dinger off Martín Pérez and then a three-run shot off Andrew Faulkner.

We tend to forget the players that come and go; those who don’t put up massive numbers, but are solid year after year. It is important to recognize the lunchpail guys who show up, do the work, produce, and leave the game and their teams better than where they found them. Mark Trumbo was just that type of player.

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Fred Lynn Deserves Additional Hall of Fame Consideration

It was 1973 in Bristol, Connecticut. Two outfielders from vastly different backgrounds got together to play for the Boston’s Double-A affiliate. The next year they teamed up in Pawtucket, the club’s Triple-A team. So, for those following the Red Sox closely in the mid-70s, it was not a shock when the “Gold Dust Twins” took their respective positions in the outfield at Fenway Park to start the 1975 season (to be precise, they didn’t play at home until the third game of the season, after playing the first two in Baltimore).

Fred Lynn grew up in Southern California, and played collegiately at USC. He spurned the Yankees when they drafted him in the third round in 1970, signing with Boston after being drafted in the second round in 1973.

Boston selected Jim Rice with the 15th pick in the 1971 draft out of Hanna High School in Anderson, South Carolina. He played in the New York Penn League as an 18-year old, then in Winterhaven in 1972. Rice actually started the 1973 season in Triple-A, but was demoted to Bristol after ten games despite slashing .378/.425/.757 in that short span of time.

When Rice arrived in Bristol, he was paired up with Lynn, and it would remain that way for the next nine years, until Lynn was traded away to the (then) California Angels.

Both Lynn and Rice got cups of coffee with the Red Sox at the end of the 1974 season, playing in 15 and 24 games, respectively. Lynn collected 18 hits in 43 at-bats, while Rice got the same number of hits over 67 at-bats.

In 1975, Rice, playing left field, slashed .309/.350/.491, with 22 home runs and 102 RBI. To his left, playing centerfield, Lynn slashed .331/.401/.566, with 21 homers and 105 RBI. Lynn was an All-Star, won a Gold Glove, won Rookie of the Year, and was named the American League MVP. Rice came in second in Rookie of the Year and third in MVP voting. The future in the Back Bay was bright.

Rice was an All-Star eight times, won an MVP award in 1978*, and was top-five in MVP voting four more times in his sixteen year career.

*In 1978, Rice led the league in: bWAR (7.6), games played (163), plate appearances (746), at-bats (677), hits (213), triples (15), home runs (46), RBI (139), slugging percentage (.600), OPS (.970), OPS+ (157), and total bases (406). Rare has been a player been more deserving of an MVP award.

Lynn was an All-Star eight more times, over the course of the next eight seasons. He had one more top-five MVP year (fourth place in 1979), but didn’t truly do anything of note after 1983. That said, starting in 1983, he was still a high-quality ballplayer, with an OPS+ above 100 every season from 1984 through 1988, falling to 99 in his penultimate season, 1989.

Lynn’s reputation became that of an injury-prone player who could not stay on the field. Nicknamed “Fragile Freddy” by the Boston press, he played all-out and often suffered the consequences. From 1980 through 1990, he averaged just 114 game per season, but still had a 121 OPS+ for that decade-plus. Ironically, over roughly the same period, Rice – not labeled injury-prone – averaged just 129 games per season, with a 120 OPS+.

In 2009, on his fifteenth (and last) appearance on the ballot (this was reduced to ten years in 2015), Jim Rice was elected to the Hall of Fame. By contrast, Lynn got 5.5% of the vote in his first year of eligibility (1996), and then fell off the ballot the following year when he received only 4.7% (a player needs at least 5% to roll over to the next year’s ballot).

But when you look at these players side-by-side, they look a heck of a lot more similar than you might imagine. Where Rice outpaces Lynn, it is just by a hair.

Should Fred Lynn be in the Hall of Fame? Was his candidacy given short shrift by the votes? Should a future Contemporary Baseball Era Committee give Lynn another look? All fair questions. If Jim Rice is the barometer, I think the answer to the last question is most certainly yes.

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Somehow Andy Pages, A Little-Known Second-Year Player, Became a Main Character In 2025

Last month the Los Angeles Dodgers won their second consecutive World Series. They were led by four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani, who, for the first time in the National League, worked his magic with his bat and his arm.

They also fielded former MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. The team was anchored by sluggers Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández, and stalwart catcher Will Smith. The pitching staff included (in addition to Ohtani) Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki.

But there was one other player who found himself at the center of attention multiple times during the season. A player who failed so badly towards the end of the playoffs that he was benched. And yet, years from now, when we watch videos about the 2025 season, this guy may be the main character. I am talking, of course, about Andy Pages.

Pages made his major league debut in 2024, and he was a perfectly average. He played in 116 games, slashed .248/.305/.407, for an exact 100 OPS+. In 2025 the Dodgers named him their Opening Day center fielder, and he rewarded their faith by slashing .285/.325/.479 with 17 homers in the first half. His second half was more pedestrian (.252/.293/.435). But, no matter, he played 155 games, and jogged out to center field when the playoffs began.

Through Game 1 of the NLCS against the Brewers, the 24-year-old from Cuba was 1-for-27 with six strikeouts and no walks. He did manage a single in each of Games 2 and 3 of the NLCS, before going 0-fer in Game 4 and Game 1 of the World Series. An eighth inning single in Game 2 of the fall classic off Louis Varland would be the sum total of the offense that Pages would provide before Los Angeles celebrated their Game 7 victory at Rogers Centre.

But none of that ineptitude mattered. Here is why – and here is why Andy Pages was the Dodgers main character (non-Shohei Ohtani division) for this remarkable year.

When the story of 2025 is written, there will be four main plot points: (1) Cal Raleigh doing things no catcher and no switch-hitter has ever done before; (2) Shohei Ohtani continuing to do things no player has ever done before (including pitching six scoreless innings while hitting three home runs in the same game, which just happened to be the pennant winner); (3) the Dodgers being the first team to win back-to-back World Series this century; and (4) the betting scandal that ensnared Guardians’ pitchers Emanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz.

Let’s start with the last one. Not that anyone reading this needs a primer, but if you do, Clase and Ortiz are accused of intentionally throwing pitches out of the strike zone so that people could bet (and win) that a specific pitch would be a ball. They are alleged to have done this on numerous occasions, all to successful outcomes. Except…

On May 28th, Clase came in to the pitch the ninth inning against the Dodgers, and he faced Pages to start things off. His first offering was a slider that bounced two feet in front of the plate – very much a ball. But Pages swung anyway. That swing cost some bettor $4,000. The entire story (including Pages’ four-figure flail) did not come out until after the World Series, so Dodger fans could not use this to ridicule the slumping outfielder, but the video of that at-bat is probably the second-most watched of his career.

The most watched at-bat happened in Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Phillies. The Dodgers led two games to one, and were on the verge of losing their second straight game and having to head back to Philadelphia to try to win a deciding Game 5. In the bottom of the eleventh inning of a 1-1 tie, they loaded the bases with two outs against Orion Kerkering. At that moment, Pages was 1-for-18 in the post-season. True to form, he hit a soft grounder back to the mound. Kerkering fumbled the ball off the bat, and rather than throwing to first base (where catcher JT Realmuto was pointing) to record the final out and push the game to the 12th inning, he got flustered and threw the ball to the backstop, allowing Hyeseong Kim to score from third with the game and series-winning run. All because of Pages’ weak contact. The video of that at-bat may have been removed from YouTube in the City of Brotherly Love, but it still has been watched thousands of times at this point.

And there will be no re-telling of the Dodgers World Series victory without the story of Andy Pages and Kiké Hernández in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7. Just to set the stage: After replacing Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto hits Alejandro Kirk with his second pitch, loading the bases with one out of a 4-4 game. With the bases now loaded, and the World Series-winning run 90 feet away, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts replaces Tommy Edman in center field with the recently-benched Pages, who has a better throwing arm (98th percentile per Statcast). After Daulton Varsho’s ground ball to second resulted in an out at home (very close!), the bases remained loaded with two outs. On the next pitch, the light-hitting Ernie Clement hit a ball 101-mph and 364 feet to left-center. Hernández, playing a little shallow (as he had done the night before to great effect) turned and dashed towards the wall. He was either going to make a Willie Mays-type catch or the World Series would end – those were the only two options. That is, until Pages came out of nowhere – he covered 121 feet at 29.2 feet/second – to bulldoze Hernández and make the catch at the wall to push the game into extra innings.

A few feet to the left of where Pages made that catch Joe Carter once hit a World Series walk-off home run, and the announcer, Tom Cheek, proclaimed: “You will never hit a bigger home run in your life.” Well, Pages will never make a bigger catch in his life.

The 2025 World Series will go down as one of the greatest ever. And the Dodgers 2025 season will be remembered for a long time. It is incredible that on multiple occasions, with all of their stars and all of that star power, it was a little-known second-year player who found himself in the spotlight time and again.

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Félix Hernández and Cole Hamels Had Remarkably Similar Careers

About two weeks ago, voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of American received their Hall of Fame ballots for 2026. Here are the candidates:

Last week, on the Effectively Wild podcast, Meg Rowley and Ben Lindbergh had Jay Jaffe on as their guest. For the uninitiated, Jay Jaffe is a Senior Writer at Fangraphs, author of the book The Cooperstown Casebook, and is the creator of the JAWS statistic for quantifying a player’s Hall of Fame credentials. When you have a Hall of Fame question, Jay is the first person you go to.

Meg and Ben wanted to talk to Jay about the upcoming class, and who has a chance to make it to the podium at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York next July. It is a great listen.

As they were all talking, two names caught my ear: Félix Hernández and Cole Hamels. Not only are they listed consecutively on this year’s ballot, they are right next to each other in Hall of Fame qualifications. Let’s take a look:

King Félix pitched for 15 seasons, all with the Seattle Mariners. Hamels also threw for 15 seasons, but with four clubs (if you count his 3-1/3 innings with Atlanta in the Covid-shortened 2020 year, his last).

Hernández finished with a 3.42 ERA, Hamels, 3.43.

Hernández won 169 games, six better than Hamels’ 163.

From an ERA+ perspective, Hamels wins the battle 123 to 117.

Hamels struck out 36 more batters than Hernández (2,560-2,524), which amounts to a mere two additional strike outs per season. Essentially the same. And Hernández had more walks (805) than Hamels (767). But, again, over 15 seasons, it is about two per year, so…the same.

Over their 15-year careers, Hernández threw 31 more innings. So, again, about the same.

Hamels was an integral part of the Phillies rotation that won the 2008 World Series, winning both the Championship Series and World Series MVP awards. King Félix never pitched in the post-season (not his fault). But he did win a Cy Young Award (in 2010) and two ERA titles (2010, 2014), all of which eluded Hamels.

And yet, somehow, when you add all of these numbers together, Hamels ended his career with nearly nine more bWAR (59.0 vs. 49.8). But, that belies the fact that over at Fangraphs, Félix actually bests Hamels 54.0 to 51.6. If one didn’t throw with his left hand in the National League (for most of his career) and the other with his right hand in the American League, you would think they are the same pitcher.

With those stats in hand, let’s take a look at Jaffe’s Hall of Fame qualifications. As a reminder, per JAWS, the typical HOF pitcher has the following credentials:

72.9 bWAR // 49.8 seven-year peak bWAR // 61.3 JAWS score // 4.5 bWAR/162

Hamels only makes the grade in bWAR/162 (he has 4.7). As stated above, his bWAR is 59.0, his seven-year peak is only 37.4, and his JAWS score is 48.2.

Hernández fails in all of the categories: 49.8 bWAR, 38.5 seven-year peak, 44.1 JAWS, and 4.0 bWAR/162.

Using other metrics makes the case even worse. Just once did Hamels lead the league in any category (WHIP, in 2008), while Hernández did so just 28 times. That number is 40 for the average Hall of Famer. Bill James’ Hall of Fame Monitor (where 100 makes you a likely entrant), has Hernández at 67 and Hamels at 57. And James’ HOF Standards, where 50 is an average Hall of Famer, Hernández scores 31, while Hamels comes in at 33.

None of the above should in any way detract from either of their brilliant careers. They both have places in the Hall of “Very Good.” Neither ever has to buy a drink in their respective home towns. Hernández is in the Mariners Hall of Fame, and it just a matter of time until Hamels is on the Phillies Wall of Fame.

And while it would be great if players this similar could both be inducted and give speeches on the same day, that just doesn’t seem likely in this case. In fact, there is a chance that no one gives a speech this July, but more about that in another column to come.

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Dodger Stadium Has Hosted Many Of Clayton Kershaw’s Greatest Moments

Last Monday night, Clayton Kershaw entered Game 3 of this year’s World Series in the 12th inning, with the score still tied, with two outs, and with the bases loaded. According to him – and later confirmed – it was the first and only time he had pitched in extra innings in his illustrious 18-year career. Kershaw cannot recall ever pitching in extra innings at any point in his life.

And yet, when the bullpen gate opened in left field at Dodger Stadium, the three-time Cy Young winner, eleven-time All-Star, two-time World Series winner (now three-time), one-time MVP, and soon-to-be first-ballot Hall of Famer, strode to the mound in the biggest moment of his team’s 2025 season.

The series was tied at one game apiece. The score was tied at 5, and had been that way since Shohei Ohtani’s second home run of the game evened everything up in the seventh inning. With two outs, the visiting Blue Jays had loaded the bases against Emmit Sheehan on two walks and an 85-foot slow roller to third. Manager Dave Roberts walked to the mound, took the ball from Sheehan, and motioned for the lefty who had been loose for at least four innings. In fairness, Kershaw has come out of the ’pen in years past, but never in a moment as fraught as this one, and never against a team that simply refuses to swing and miss.

Nathan Lukes dug in for a lefty-on-lefty match-up. Kershaw went with a slider, and threw it in the dirt for ball one. He tried it again and got strike one. He tried it again and barely missed the inside corner for ball two. He tried it again and Lukes watched strike two fly by. A fifth straight slider was in the dirt, running the count full. The old expression, “they sell you the whole seat, but you only need the edge,” was true for the more than 52,000 fans in attendance. Kershaw’s wife, Ellen, stood in the second deck behind home plate with her hands either in front of her face or on her head as she watched her beloved try to wiggle out of yet another post-season jam. The sixth pitch was yet another slider, slightly below the zone, but Lukes, taking nothing for granted, fouled it off. According to Statcast, on the seventh pitch of this at-bat, Kershaw threw his hardest fastball of the season – and that was just 91.9-mph – but up enough in the zone to induce Lukes to swing and foul it away. For his final pitch ever at Dodger Stadium, Kershaw went back to the slider, and it was not a particularly good one – low and away – but the left fielder offered at it and hit a slow roller to second. Tommy Edman charged in and flipped the ball to Freddie Freeman with his glove to end the inning, end the rally, and end Kershaw’s career at the only ballpark he has ever called “home.”

The one-batter, three-act, epic in the 12th inning of Game 3 of this year’s World Series is another in the long list of memorable moments for the lanky lefty at Dodger Stadium. It joins the annals of (in chronological order):

May 25, 2008: Clayton Kershaw, age 20, wearing #54, makes his major league debut, going six innings against the Cardinals, allowing two runs on five hits, with a walk and seven strikeouts.

April 1, 2013: As the Opening Day starter against the rival Giants, Kershaw twirls a four-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and no walks. The only run of the game: Kershaw’s first and last career homer in the 8th inning.

June 18, 2014: Kershaw throws his one and only no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies. But for a throwing error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez, it would have been a perfect game.

May 15, 2015: Kershaw goes 6-2/3 innings, gives up three runs and four hits while striking out ten Rockies to notch his 100th career win.

October 4, 2015: On the final day of the season, Kershaw faces just 13 batters, allowing two hits, and striking out seven. The sixth K gives him 300 for the season, which is one of just nine such seasons in the 21st century.

August 1, 2019: En route to his 10th win of the year, with a strikeout of Austin Hedges in the 6th inning, he passes Sandy Koufax for the most strikeouts for a left-handed pitcher in Dodger history.

April 30, 2022: After passing Koufax and Don Drysdale, Kershaw passes Don Sutton to become the Dodgers’ all-time strikeout leader when he fans Detroit’s Spencer Torkelson in the 4th inning.

July 2, 2025: While strikeouts have become increasingly more difficult for Kershaw over the past few seasons, he entered this game needing only three to become the 20th player to join the 3,000 K Club. A slider on his 100th pitch of the game with two outs in the sixth inning froze the Rockies Vinny Capra, allowing history to be made.

And, of course, as referenced above, there was the eight pitch battle on October 27, 2025, that left the bases full of Blue Jays, allowed five more scoreless innings to proceed, and paved the way for Freddie Freeman to play World Series hero once again.

There may be no player in modern baseball history who has provided more highlights, made more memories, and achieved more milestones, in front of his home crowd than Clayton Kershaw. One day there will be a statue of the lefty outside Dodger Stadium, and the only question is which moment in Dodger Blue it will depict. The great news for Los Angelenos and baseball fans the world over, we can relive those highlights again and again, as we most certainly will on warm Sunday afternoon in upstate New York in the summer of 2031, when Clayton Edward Kershaw is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Until then, there is always YouTube (see below).

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