Yesterday I featured Albert Pujols, an aging veteran enjoying a very-end-of-career bloom. But Pujols’ arc is unusual. Far more players are wearing out, breaking down, being sent down.
It’s not just current players: Maury Wills was my first favorite player starting in 1964 when I was 7 years old. He died the other day. That leaves only Sandy Koufax still living among my first pantheon of Baseball Heroes.
And then there’s Tony LaRussa, who will not return to managing this season for health reasons.
And we should not forget Lewis Brinson, who on August 31 was “Traded by the Houston Astros to the San Francisco Giants for unknown compensation”, to quote Baseball Reference. The Giants promoted him to MLB on September 2. Brinson had a two-day flash of brilliance September 5 and 6 when he hit 3 home runs in 9 plate appearances, then immediately sank back into his quicksand of major league despair, going 1 for 24 over the subsequent two weeks, leading to his return to AAA. Good old Lewis Brinson: like a rock.
I am very curious about that “unknown compensation.”
Even if we just consider EFL players, practically every team in the EFL has taken a hit this week. See if you can spot the three EFL teams which have not lost a significant player in the last seven or eight days.
Salem 1.2 (10.7 – 7.0), Old Detroit 0.8 (7.0 – 10.7). The Seraphim brought out all their big offensive guns yesterday, all of them completely and offensively intact, three of whom OPSed over 2.000, and two more at or over 1.000. The Stingy Seraphim hogged the entire win, leaving the broken-down Wolverines with an entire loss, and suddenly trailing by 1.5 games — a 3-fold increase in the Seraphim lead in just a day. The W’s were no doubt shaken by the news that Byron Buxton is definitely out for the rest of the season, and will undergo knee surgery in the most-likely vain hope he could be healthy next year.
DC 1.2 (8.2 – 11.7), Canberra 0.8 (7.4 – 12.5). Apparently in some sort of cahoots with the Seraphim, the Balk hogged 9/10ths of the win, riding seven hitters with at least 1.000 daily OPSes. The Balk slipped only a tad to 0.9 games back, but now in second place, while the ‘Roos suddenly find themselves a disheartening 5.1 games out. Both teams have suffered recent losses, although not symmetrically. Sonny Gray went to the DL for DC. Canberra matched DC by losing Dane Dunning, but left DC’s misery far behind by losing Julio Rodriguez at least until the last day or two of the season.
Peshastin 1.7 (14.5 – 8.9), Haviland 0.3 (8.0 – 11.2). The Pears eased up just a tad on the Dragons, letting them get 0.2 of a win. Cal Raleigh went 2 for 3 with a homer and a double, absolutely saving the day for the Mariners while also serving as the biggest boost for Peshastin. Seven Dragons OPSed at least 1.000, but but Graham Ashcraft and Joe Ryan combined to allow 7 earned runs in 8 innings to bring down the Dragons. The Dragons have lost 5 players lately, with Spencer Strider, Brandon Lowe, and Ramon Laureano all being announced as out for the rest of the season, joining Michael Kopech and Brendan Rodgers on the IL. The Pears lost Dustin May and Trevor Rogers, and learned that previously injured Mike Soroka won’t be back this season. Jazz Chisholm is also on the shelf.
Pittsburgh Pirates 1.1 (13 – 9), Kaline 0.9 (11.5 – 8.9). The Pirates scored 6 unanswered runs yesterday, while the Drive were losing 5.7 – 7.5, giving the Pirates a little more than 1 win (and the Drive a little more than 1 loss). Alex Cobb struggled badly for the Wizard, coughing up 5 earned runs in 5 innings, but things only got worse when reliever Felix Bautista triple chulked (1.3 ip, 4 er). I don’t know if the Pirates have had any recent injuries, although Ke’Bryan Hayes hasn’t played in three days.
Bellingham 1.4 (15.4 – 12.0), Flint Hill 0.6 (9.4 – 10.6). The Cascades got some badly-needed excellent pitching Saturday (5.3 ip, 0 er), led by Dakota Hudson’s three scoreless innings, and backed it up with solid hitting (.290, .312, .548) led by Javier Baez’s 3 for 5 with a home run. As one would expect, the Tornados had trouble maintaining their energy among the Cascades, offering no pitching and hitting a measly .154/.214/.269 as a team, with no one OPSing 1.000 on the day. Flint Hill is trying to manage without Ozzie Albies who injured himself on the first day back from his previous IL stint.
Portland 1.8 (10.6 – 5.4), Pittsburgh Alleghenys 0.2 (12.8 – 22.4). The Rosebuds slipped past the Pears as the top-performing EFL team (yes, that’s our 8th and 11th place teams right there) by batting competently (.243, .275, .486) and not pitching even one inning so as to not mar their team 2.37 ERA on 19 innings they’d already amassed. The Alleghenys did not put up much of a fight — batting OK (.261, .320, .428) but pitching poorly (4 ip, 4 er). Michael Harris starred for the Rosebuds, going 3 for 4 with a double and homer. Drew Waters stood out for the Alleghenys, also going 3 for 4 but compromising on the extra-base hits by tripling. The Rosebuds have lost Nick Senzel and Tyler O’Neill to the IL, and Nolan Gorman to AAA. The Alleghenys have lost Luis Roberts, Shane Baz, and Franky Montas.