What is the story about?
Good morning. I wanted to take a moment to mention that the Iowa Cubs will play the St. Paul Saints at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, on Tuesday at 6:35 CT. That game will be on MLB Network. Since Netflix has the major league FoD game between the Twins and the Phillies, that might be the only place for those of us that don’t have Netflix to see a game at that newly-remodeled field this year.
- Two major national writes have basically the same story, so I’ll start with the one that’s not behind The Athletic’s paywall. Jeff Passan has the inside story of how the Dodgers landed Tarik Skubal at the Trade Deadline and why other teams’ offers fell short. Sounds like the Tigers were simply uninterested in anything the Cubs had to offer and it’s true that they didn’t have the elite pitching prospects that other teams could offer.
- So if you prefer Ken Rosenthal, he tells a similar tale of how the Dodgers came out on top in the Skubal negotiations. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Jay Jaffe looks at the success (or lack thereof) of teams that trade for a new starting catcher at the Deadline. In the history of baseball, only one catcher has ever joined a new team midseason and then started a game for an eventual World Series champion. (Christian Vázquez.)
- The Padres added outfielder Austin Hays as a free agent signing and he homered in his first Padres at-bat. AJ Cassavell reports.
- Bradford Doolittle has where all 30 teams stand after the Trade Deadline.
- Jake Mintz re-ranks all the upcoming free agents. Quite a few Cubs on that list, as you likely know.
- Skubal, for his part, said he’d “love” to re-sign with the Tigers this winter. Max Ralph reports.
- Mike Axisa has a “way-too-early” list of ten trade candidates this upcoming winter.
- The Athletics and longtime general manager David Forst agreed to “part ways.” Alden Gonzalez with the story.
- However, Melissa Lockhard, Ken Rosenthal and Charlotte Varnes have more details on Forst’s departure, which their sources say was definitely a “firing” and not a mutual decision. (The Athletic free reg. req.)
- Matt Snyder has five questions about the A’s future.
- Legendary (but not Hall-of-Fame) pitcher Tommy John posted a letter of thanks to the Yankees and their fans as the 83-year-old battles a recurrence of bladder cancer.
- The Diamondbacks have signed recently designated-for-assignment right-hander Zack Littell.
- Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson set a new major league record with 111-straight errorless games at shortstop.
- Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski became the second-fastest player to strike out 200 batters in a season.
- Max Scherzer passed Walter Johnson passed Walter Johnson for tenth on the all-time strikeout list with 3516.
For those of you who are unclear about who Walter Johnson was, here’s Jonathan Richman to tell you just
what kind of a player he was.
Was there any bitterness about being passed by Scherzer? Well, it was never detected.
- Matt Snyder believes the Red Sox are looking increasingly like pennant contenders with the ridiculous run they’re on.
- However, the Red Sox did just lose two out of three to the A’s at Fenway this weekend, the first series they’ve lost since July 1.
- Now it’s time to pay the butcher’s bill. Reds right-hander Hunter Greene will undergo elbow surgery to repair a damaged ulnar collateral ligament. It’s one of those “we won’t know if he needs Tommy John until after we operate” things.
- Giants third baseman Matt Chapman is out for the year after a hernia tear.
- Injuries to infielders Joey Ortiz and Cooper Pratt are challenging the Brewers’ infield depth.
- Now for the “Sorry to leave so soon” portion of the program. The White Sox were forced to remove starter Noah Schultz after only one out when manager Will Venable mistakenly took a second trip to the mound.
- And Braves pitcher Chris Sale was ejected from Sunday’s game before it even started. He was not, however, expected to pitch in Sunday’s game.
- Jared Greenspan and Matthew Leach have five things you need to know about the Field of Dreams Game on Thursday.
- Manny Randhawa has five memorable moments from previous FoD games.
- Jon Greenberg has all the details from a memorable day on the South Side when they retired Ozzie Guillén’s number 13. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- And finally, Tyler Kepner was a tiny bit hurt that he wasn’t asked to contribute to the Mariners’ Top 50 players of all-time celebration, as he was a Mariners beat writer 27 years ago. But since the Mariners already announced their Top 50, he announced his 50 most notable Mariners players of all-time. (The Athletic sub. req.) His list tends towards the more humorous and embarrassing.
