“It also would likely come down to two options: Remain with the Dodgers or come home to pitch in Arlington.” “Kershaw has made it clear that after 16 seasons, he wants to take his decision to keep playing year by year,” Ardaya says. So far, that hasn’t culminated in working together at the big-league level. Kershaw re-signed with the Dodgers on a one-year deal - a decision that played out the same way a year later, albeit earlier in the offseason.įabian Ardaya has a story today on the friendship between the two that both say goes well beyond baseball. Would that relationship help influence Kershaw to leave the Dodgers? Infusing the drama with a twist: Almost exactly one year before, the Rangers had signed Clayton Kershaw’s friend and fellow Highland Park resident Chris Young as their new GM. 2021, the Rangers had just signed Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Jon Gray, and one important piece of business remained unfinished: Could Texas lure a three-time Cy Young winner away from the Dodgers to pitch for his hometown team? When baseball players were locked out in Dec. Jon Greenberg has a beautiful profile of the veteran Cubs broadcaster. More Hall of Fame: Pat Hughes is this year’s recipient of the Ford C. But it’s fascinating to hear the coaches who recruited Rolen talk about the talent he had at the sport before that decision became final. Rolen, for what it’s worth, says he has no regrets about choosing baseball, and clearly, the decision panned out - he and McGriff will become the 343rd and 344th members of the Hall of Fame. There’s video in the story of Rolen hitting seven three-pointers in the final 4:36 of an Indiana sectionals playoff game (something he did on a sprained ankle). Trent Rosecrans has a story on Scott Rolen, who will be inducted alongside McGriff into the Hall of Fame on Sunday.īut this one is a little different: Rather than focusing on Rolen’s baseball accomplishments, Rosecrans reminds us that the third baseman was once a highly recruited basketball prospect, who had a preferred walk-on offer at Kentucky and a full scholarship at Georgia that would have allowed him to play both basketball and baseball. The only question, as his team remains stuck in neutral, is what he will do.Įarlier this week, we told you about Fred McGriff’s arrival in Atlanta 30 years ago (and the fire in the press box that greeted him). Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, one of the game’s most creative executives, is not the type to let a deadline pass quietly. Those teams, without giving up on the season, could pursue a number of routes, from exchanges of major leaguers to cost-cutting subtractions to additions of players with multiple years of control. A number of clubs seem likely to hedge at the deadline. Not easy opponents, and if the Mariners continue to sputter, they could market their top potential free agent, right fielder Teoscar Hernández, and explore other moves. The Mariners’ next three series before the deadline are against the Blue Jays at home and Twins and Diamondbacks on the road. It’s difficult for a team to concede with that type of competitive advantage, even if its offense, before a 5-0 victory over the Twins on Thursday, ranked 18th in the majors in runs per game. Seriously, at 48-48, the Mariners are in a disheartening position - 9 1/2 games out in the AL West, 5 1/2 out in the wild-card race, with playoff odds of 14.9 percent.įollow live coverage of the MLB trade deadlineĪll of that screams, “sell,” but hold on. The Mariners’ rotation is one of the best in the sport. Ken’s Notebook: Buy? Sell? For the Mariners, it’s complicatedīuy? Sell? Maybe the Mariners should just purchase protective boots for their players to wear instead of spikes. Leading by five runs with no outs in the ninth? Let that clock roll, baby (… until there are two outs. Tie game in the bottom of the ninth (or any potential walk-off situation)? Clock off. Home team is up a run in the top of the ninth and there are two outs? Clock off. I’m on record as saying that my solution would be to turn off the clock if the next pitch could end the game. Some players were on board, but many were not, for a variety of reasons. He asked a number of All-Stars and officials about it during the All-Star break, and the responses were pretty enlightening. Stark’s proposal: Give teams the ability to turn off the pitch clock three times per game in the playoffs. There’s too much riding on those games to risk an automatic ball or strike that could end an at-bat (or game). While the clock has been a much-needed boundary to help get games back down to a reasonable length, nobody wants to see a team’s season end on a pitch-clock violation (or the immediate aftereffects).
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