NEWSLETTER
I don’t know about you, but I’m just so anxiously excited about Craig Kimbrel’s next appearance out of the bullpen. He’s now strung together three consecutive scoreless outings with seven strikeouts, just 1 walk (and 1 HBP), and no hits or runs allowed. And he did so while pumping his fastball up to 99 MPH while baffling hitters with his curve (including swings!).
I don’t think he’s quite going to be dubbed the closer just yet – David Ross may even continue to also use Jeremy Jeffress and Rowan Wick in the 9th at times – but if Kimbrel can do it again, while looking as good as he did the last time out, that closer committee may disband before too long, leaving the 8th in the capable hands of Jeffress and Wick.
Brewers Place Corey Knebel on the 10-Day IL
Speaking of closers, the Brewers have placed former All-Star closer Corey Knebel on the 10-Day IL with a strained left hamstring (he’s 6.2 IP into his return from Tommy John surgery). To be sure, underperformance may have played some role in this particular trip to the IL – he’s allowed 4 homers and 7 earned runs in 6.2 IP this season – though his velocity is down about 3 MPH and was just rocked by the Twins two nights ago.
Manager Craig Counsell said: “But he has gotten into some mechanical issues …. This hamstring, maybe it’s kind of one of those things where it may be causing some of this.”
I’m sure we’ll see Knebel back on the mound soon enough, but it’s fair to wonder how effective he’ll actually be this season. It’s been easy to forget how awesome he’d been for the Brewers once upon a time.
Yadi is Back
The Cardinals activated Yadier Molina from the Injured List (COVID-19) before last night’s series opener against the Reds. So naturally he went 2-4, catching all 9.0 innings while leading the Cardinals to a bounce-back victory that brought them back to .500.
Elsewhere on the roster, Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong reported to the Cardinals alternate training site with an eye on returning this Monday, depending on how he looks during this ramp-up weekend. Meanwhile, the plan for Carlos Martinez is still up in the air, while reliever Ryan Helsley plus outfielders Austin Dean and Lane Thomas are expected to return this weekend.
No Surprise (But Very Good News) … Women and Young People Like MLB, Too
We touched on this with respect to ESPN’s baseball ratings earlier this week, but evidently the trend holds true across the market: More people are watching baseball than usual, and that’s especially true for the female and the youth market, two really good signs for the longevity of the sport:
MLB ratings are up, but why they are up comes as a surprise. Women and youth demos driving the rise, with men over 55 down. My piece on the counterintuitive trends driving baseball's TV rise at local and national levels https://t.co/KgVJTVPpms
— Daniel Kaplan (@KaplanSportsBiz) August 21, 2020
According to Nielsen (via The Athletic), viewership among women ages 18-24 is up 41% through the first two weeks of this season compared to the first two weeks last year, while viewership among women ages 25-54 is up 15%. Ratings are also generally up across the board, with a handful of teams (San Diego, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Minnesota, and Cleveland) showing some of the most promise, all of which is a very good thing for the sport (and for a team like the Cubs who will soon be looking to more seriously cash in on creating their own RSN).
Now, of course, there are all sorts of caveats at play here, from a shorter season, to more playoff teams, to pace-of-play improvements (tell that to anyone watching a Yu Darvish start, I kid, I kid … ), to the lack of scripted TV due to the pandemic, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t also very important takeaways: Namely, the market is here. People, women, kids – they’re interested. MLB now has the challenge of keeping them engaged beyond this season. To that end … we’ll see.
Reds Comment on Thom Brennaman
Certainly by now you’ve caught wind of what Thom Brennaman said over a hot mic on Wednesday, but if not you can check out our post from that night (or just take my word that it was both homophobic and awful). In the immediate aftermath of the comments, most of the Reds didn’t get a chance to weigh in on the incident, though time has passed and they have some things to say.
I think Joey Votto did an especially nice job:
“It’s too bad that there’s people out there that have been held down and oppressed and have had terrible experiences in their lives in association of that word, because of that word. From our perspective, and I’m always wary of speaking on things like this because I’m not a perfect person and nobody inside of our workspace is, but it’s important that it’s acknowledged that that’s wrong, and that lots of people probably felt pain that they’ve experienced in the past reignited when they heard that word over just a ballgame.”
“They were just trying to tune in to watch a ballgame, support their local team … they just want to watch a baseball game, and something like that was brought up. … I think collectively, it’s just a reminder that we always have to be better, and we always have to live with empathy and compassion, listen and grow as people.”
Amir Garrett, too:
To the LGBTQ community just know I am with you, and whoever is against you, is against me. I’m sorry for what was said today.
— CountOnAG (@Amir_Garrett) August 20, 2020
Focusing on the Sport … What a Novel Idea?
Sometimes I forget that as a fan of the Cubs, where there are very, very few fan-driven “distractions” at ballgames, that other teams and people in the industry can literally be excited about broadcasts that focus on the game, itself: “What the television audience is watching is the basic games played in their traditional form without all the accoutrements. And that’s refreshing.” Like … what? I mean, good. But okay.
No filler, no distractions and no fans in the stadiums— And that’s refreshing.
Read more: https://t.co/BgDWpIJyzR pic.twitter.com/fx1qr8eJfT
— Sportico (@Sportico) August 20, 2020
To be fair, when I was lucky enough to go to Game 1 of the 2016 World Series in Cleveland, I was *blown away* by how many things they did in-between innings to “entertain” the fans in the stands. Like … it was the World Series. We’re entertained. Alas. “I agree, I agree,” said Dave Kaval, the 44-year-old president of the Oakland A’s, “and finding the joy and spectacle of what’s happening on the diamond. I think there actually could be some benefits of that, focusing people’s attention back to the sport.”
Odds and Ends:
• This is not wholly unexpected, but it certainly sucks, and is a reminder that even though baseball is back in our lives, our lives are very much not back to normal:
Per source, about 50 Miami Marlins business operations employees who were previously furloughed were informed on Friday that their positions are being consolidated or eliminated – a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic that has delivered a gut punch to MLB teams.More coming shortly
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) August 21, 2020
• Nearly every player that tests positive and is eventually suspended for performance enhancing drugs claims not to know what they took, how it would even help, or why they tested positive, but it seems at least some of those players may actually be telling the truth:
"I don’t know what this is. I’m freaking out.”
Why would a player try to cheat using a 1970s-era steroid?
Players who’ve tested positive for Oral Turinabol insist they've committed no violation and are fighting to clear their names. | @Ken_Rosenthal https://t.co/gxITtd0T9h
— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) August 21, 2020
• Trevor Bauer is doing and saying stuff again:
These Are the Cleats MLB Would Not Allow Trevor Bauer To Wear Tonighthttps://t.co/JyrQx04u3D
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) August 19, 2020
• With friends like Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez doesn’t even have to play defense:
Maybe Eloy Jimenez Doesn’t Even Need a Glovehttps://t.co/sFfPCIZKxJ
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) August 18, 2020
• Official scorebook: Fly out to the third baseman … LOL:
3B Manny Machado Just Caught a Ball on the *RIGHT FIELD WARNING TRACK*https://t.co/GBmH5f5ePU
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) August 18, 2020
