Wondering what kind of world we're living in when Cleveland is a championship city and the Miami Marlins surge ahead of the New York Mets in the NL East….
1. Why the Yankees Could Influence the Cubs and Nationals in October
In May, the Chicago Cubs walked reigning National League MVP Bryce Harper a Big Gulp-sized 13 times (in 19 plate appearances) in a four-game series, including six times in the 13-inning series finale.
Last Wednesday, the two teams played a fascinating 12-inning game in which Cubs closer Hector Rondon blew a bottom-of-the-ninth save opportunity after Nationals set-up man Oliver Perez blew a top-of-the-ninth save opportunity.
Each of those extra-inning games was chock full of meaning as the NL's two best clubs this side of San Francisco attempt to infuse the 2016 season with the giant word "epic."
The Nationals last Monday placed closer Jonathan Papelbon (intercostal strain) on the disabled list for the first time in his career. At the time of the move, Papelbon, 35, had 16 saves while the rest of the Nationals' young bullpen had combined for a grand total of 15 career big-league saves.
The consensus regarding the Cubs is their Achilles' heel, if there is one, is located in their bullpen, where Pedro Strop, Justin Grimm, Travis Wood, Trevor Cahill and Clayton Richard have been good but not dominant in getting the ball to Rondon.
Little more than a month ahead of the Aug. 1 non-waivers trading deadline, that's where the Yankees come in.
Specifically, closer Aroldis Chapman and set-up man Andrew Miller.
In a trade market that's still taking shape but is expected to be tepid at best, Chapman and Miller, should the Yankees choose to make them available, are two clear game-changers.
At 34-36 after losing at home Tuesday to Colorado, the Yankees weren't exactly looking like contenders. Which increases the likelihood that they will deal.
Chapman is a free agent this winter, so barring either a contract extension or contention (or both), there is a good chance he will be made available.
Miller is in the second season of a four-year, $36 million deal that pays him $9 million annually.
Look no further than that 12-inning game between the Cubs and Nats last Wednesday in D.C. to see why both teams are likely to be interested.
Perez, a lefty, served up a two-run homer to the Cubs' Anthony Rizzo in the top of the ninth to turn a 2-1 Washington lead into a 3-2 deficit.
Rondon then issued a leadoff walk to Harper to start the bottom of the ninth and, three batters later, an RBI single to Wilson Ramos to make it 3-3 and send the game into extra innings. The Nats eventually won 5-4.
It was dramatic, and it was telling.
"I got a lot of calls, a lot of text messages, from people telling me that was the best game they've ever seen," says Nationals manager Dusty Baker, 67, who has been playing or managing in the majors for the better part of the past five decades.
"If you weren't a baseball fan, you became one that night."
Or, you could become one in October, if what more and more looks like an inevitable collision course between these two clubs happens.
"We've never been crazy about a bullpen-by-committee," Baker says. "That rarely works. So we're going to come up with some semblance of an everyday-type situation."
For now, the Nationals are going with Sean Kelley as their closer. Maybe that works out just fine, but with only six career saves (including two in the past week), he's untested.
Acquiring Chapman, who closed for Baker in Cincinnati, would be a dream scenario.
The Cubs, meanwhile, know that this is their best chance to break their century-old World Series drought and will be aggressive in adding whatever parts club president Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer think they need.
Already, scouts are wondering if a package with injured slugger Kyle Schwarber as a centerpiece could help the Cubs land both Chapman and Miller in what would be a midsummer blockbuster. And by the way, don't forget that the Cubs signed veteran Joe Nathan, who is expected to return following Tommy John ligament surgery sometime in July.
Then there's Harper. He immediately went into the deepest "slump" of his career after the walk-fest in Chicago last month, and when he homered in San Diego last Thursday, it was his first since May 28. Though he is showing signs of breaking out of it over the past several days, having hit safely in 12 of his past 16 games through Tuesday night's game in Los Angeles. During that stretch, he's 19 for 61 with two doubles, two homers, nine RBI, eight walks and 10 runs scored.
Undoubtedly, he's learned a few things, too. On cue, Nationals rivals cribbed the Cubs' strategy of walking Harper and have thrown more out-of-the-strike-zone pitches to him ever since.
Harper has been patient, leading the NL in walks, but could be even more patient.
What he's looking for at the plate remains the same: "Balls I can crush."
Which is pretty much the mentality of both of the Cubs and Nationals as two very good teams set sail through the hot summer toward what each hopes will be a highly memorable autumn.
2. The Rose That is Ichiro
Say this: When Ichiro Suzuki ripped a double to right field in San Diego last Wednesday for combined hit No. 4,257 in Japanese and Major League Baseball, it was a very cool moment.
They threw the ball out of play, the fans rose and gave the legend a standing ovation. It was a nice moment to celebrate.
But look, Pete Rose remains the all-time Hit King. There is no way you add Ichiro's hits in Japan and MLB and try to denigrate Rose.
It's like comparing Chryslers and Subarus. No way Ichiro's combined hits compares with Rose.
That said, Charlie Hustle is lucky that Ichiro spent nine full seasons in Japan before signing with the Seattle Mariners in 2001. Had Ichiro come to the United States sooner, Rose would be in serious trouble.
But Ichiro didn't, and Rose isn't.
So while Rose's quip to Bob Nightengale of USA Today last week was highly entertaining ("It sounds like in Japan they're trying to make me the Hit Queen"), he also could have at least lobbed some praise Ichiro's way. Sadly, he didn't.
"There are too many guys that fail here, and then become household names there, like Tuffy Rhodes," Rose said, referring to Rhodes washing out in the States yet tying the Japanese record by smashing 55 home runs there in 2001. "It has something to do with the caliber of personnel."
Talk to any scout who is an expert in international ball, and he will tell you that the Japanese League ranks somewhere between Double-A and maybe just a wee bit above Triple-A on the MLB scale. But that doesn't mean there aren't all-timers like Ichiro who play over there, and it doesn't mean Rose should be the one to point out the difference between Japan and MLB.
It's too bad, because it becomes another clumsy moment for Rose in a lifetime full of them.
And leave it to the philosophical Ichiro to slyly put Rose in his place, which he did while speaking after the game in San Diego.
"I hope that one day…somebody like a Derek Jeter would challenge Mr. Rose's record and be able to pass him," Ichiro said through his interpreter. "Somebody that played the game the right way."
Cool moment before the game: John Boggs, who was the late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn's longtime agent, came bearing a gift for Ichiro—an autographed Gwynn bat.
3. Fast Times with Mr. Hand
Ever since his major-league debut with the Marlins in 2011, pitcher Brad Hand has been something of a cult hero on Twitter.
Every time he's summoned into a game, people of a certain age are quick with an, "Aloha, Mr. Hand."
This, of course, is a reference to the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and a line uttered by Sean Penn, who was legendary in the role of surfer dude Jeff Spicoli. It was directed to a certain teacher whom Penn's character antagonized, Mr. (Arnold) Hand, played by Ray Walston.
Brad Hand has heard it now for all six years he's been in the major leagues. Heard it from teammates, opponents, coaches, writers, scouts, executives and, yes, on Twitter, fans.
And guess what? He still has never seen the movie.
"Everybody always brings it up to me," says Hand, now in San Diego's bullpen after the Padres acquired him in early April. "I've never seen the movie start to finish. I've seen bits and pieces of the movie.
"Some of the lines are lost on me. The 'Hello, Mr. Hand", I get."
Well, sort of. It's "Aloha", not "Hello."
Right after the Padres acquired him they played in Philadelphia, and San Diego pitching coach Darren Balsley sidled up to Hand in the Citizens Bank Park outfield to get to know him a bit.
"He used the pizza joke," Padres reliever Branden Maurer says, chuckling. "'If you're here and I'm here, isn't this is our time?'"
Says Balsley: "He had no idea what I was talking about. Then I dropped the 'Aloha, Mr. Hand' on him and he did. But I kept saying 'this is our time' and he just looked at me.
"I thought later, 'He must think I'm weird.'"
Hand owns a copy of the DVD because when he pitched at Double-A Jacksonville in 2011, one of the groundskeepers was obsessed with the movie, kept mentioning it and finally gave him with his own copy of the movie.
"He loved that movie," Hand says. "He quoted it nonstop."
Yet the reliever still hasn't watched the entire thing.
He acknowledges that the name "Hand" is unusual. But he hasn't exactly researched his ancestry.
"I don't even know what nationality the name is," he says. "I'm a little Swedish, I think."
So now Balsley is on a mission.
"Like, four of the pitchers [on our staff] have never seen it," he says. "I'm going to get a copy of the movie and make them all sit down and watch it one day this season.
"It's a classic."
4. It Pays to Not Play in Boston
Exhibit A regarding how large-market clubs can make financial mistakes and wash them away, while smaller-market clubs (think San Diego, with Matt Kemp and Melvin Upton Jr., or Cincinnati with Joey Votto) don't have any financial wiggle-room once they commit the hefty bucks:
5. Giancarlo Stanton and the Bench
Look out for the Marlins. They have won seven of 12 games through Tuesday, moved within easy reach of the Mets in the NL East and, as of Wednesday, is one game out of the NL wild-card…and they're doing all of this before slugger Giancarlo Stanton gets hot.
And you know he will get hot. He's too good not to. But so far this year, he's struck out in an incredible 33.7 percent of his plate appearances while staggering along at .211/.311/.427 with 13 homers and 32 RBI.
That's the third-highest whiff rate among qualifiers in the majors this year, by the way. Heading into this week, according to FanGraphs, Tampa Bay's Steven Souza Jr. led the majors by fanning in 35.3 percent of his plate appearances, Cleveland's Mike Napoli was next at 34.9 percent, followed by Stanton and Colorado's Trevor Story (33.3 percent) and Detroit's Justin Upton (33.0 percent).
The Marlins say that Stanton's vision has been checked and everything is fine. Manager Don Mattingly benched him last Monday in San Diego and again on Wednesday. The manager said that he was told when he took the job that there would be a couple of times each season when Stanton is struggling and begins pressing, and that a day on the bench would probably do him some good.
Mattingly thought about giving Stanton a day off in Arizona, preceding the San Diego series, but decided the dry desert air beneficial to hitters (and facing two lefties, Patrick Corbin and Robbie Ray) might help him.
As things turned out, Stanton went 1-of-11 in Arizona with four strikeouts, leading Mattingly to joke that he should have gone with his instinct and given Stanton a day off.
6. Weekly Power Rankings
1. Summer Solstice: Longest day of the year was Monday. Of course, the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers, who played a 12-inning game that went 4 hours and 29 minutes, could have told you that. (Justin Upton's homer won it for the Tigers 8-7).
2. Cleveland: Cavaliers win the NBA title, the Indians are in first place in the AL Central and a new exhibit, "Louder Than Words: Rock, Power and Politics" just opened at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum that will coincide with next month's Republican Convention. Clearly, Cleveland is the place to be this summer (or, ahem, not, depending on one's politics).
3. Michael Saunders: The Toronto outfielder blasted three homers and collected eight RBI in Friday's win over Baltimore. Teammate Jose Bautista is still confused as to why Saunders never flipped his bat.
4. Texas Rangers: They own the AL's best record at 46-26, have gone 36-16 since April 25, 15-5 in the month of June and are off to their best 72-game start in franchise history.
5. Ghostbusters: Everything you need to know about Milwaukee's Pfister and St. Petersburg's Renaissance Vinoy, and visiting teams who stay there swearing they're the two most-haunted hotels in the majors. Or...maybe it's just a reboot of the classic 1984 flick? Opens July 15.
7. The Key to A Tight Defense in Texas Is….
Communication. Or, on the left side of the infield with Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus, it looks more like negotiation. Take a look at how the pros do it:
8. Chatter
• More Clayton Kershaw ridiculousness: The Dodgers ace had two more complete-game shutouts in the month of May (three) than walks (two).
• On the other hand, the Chicago White Sox have yet to begin receiving returns from James Shields, who has been awful (and that's being charitable). Shields was clobbered by Cleveland on Saturday, surrendering eight runs and seven hits in just 1.2 innings. In three starts for the Sox, he has been torched for 21 earned runs in only 8.2 innings. Moreover, in consecutive starts for San Diego on May 31 and for the White Sox on June 8, position players were used in mop-up relief roles (Christian Bethancourt and Alexi Amarista in San Diego, J.B. Shuck for the White Sox). According to STATS, LLC, that hasn't happened since 1989 and it's only occurred twice since 1971.
• Underrated Pitcher of the Year: Texas starter Colby Lewis is 6-0 with a 2.81 ERA, and the Rangers are 10-4 in his 14 starts.
• Lots of talk that the San Francisco Giants have investigated the possibility of acquiring Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun, who would be a perfect fit with Hunter Pence out an estimated eight weeks with a torn hamstring. The Giants, though, do not have a history of big expenditures at the trade deadline, and Braun is owed roughly $86 million through 2020.
• The Giants see an opportunity to separate themselves from the rest of a very weak NL West right now and are seizing it: San Francisco ran its winning streak to eight in a row into this week. Only negative is, the Giants are playing so well there isn't much incentive for ownership to free up cash to go get a temporary replacement for Pence.
• Where Braun fits perfectly is in Cleveland, where the Indians and manager Terry Francona are desperate for offense to go with very good pitching. Indians' right fielders (Lonnie Chisenhall, currently) rank 13th in the AL with just four homers, 13th in the league with only 26 RBI and 14th with a .393 slugging percentage.
• Even Matt Kemp, whom the Padres are working hard to unload, would fit well in Cleveland. Kemp, as his defense deteriorates, is the quintessential candidate to finish his career in an AL city where he can DH. But the Padres still owe him about $75 million.
• The Kansas City Royals are a whopping 25-8 at home, best home record in baseball. But they're just 13-24 on the road.
• Remember the Philadelphia Phillies' surprisingly good start? Monday's loss to Arizona completed an 0-6 homestand for the Phils, their first winless homestand of six games or more since September, 1964.
• Veteran right-hander Edwin Jackson was scooped up by San Diego late last week when Jeremy Guthrie opted out of his contract at San Diego's Triple-A El Paso affiliate. Jackson isn't expected to pitch in the majors in the near future, but with Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner on the disabled list and some untested starters in the majors, San Diego needs organizational depth. Currently, none of the five starters in the Padres rotation has ever pitched as many as 100 innings in a major-league season, let alone 200.
• Rest in peace, Bob Harrison, the longtime scout most famous for signing Ken Griffey Jr. Harrison passed away this week at 95.
9. Nunsense and the Phillies
These are not the nuns I had for teachers in junior high school. Those nuns yanked my hair. Rapped my knuckles. Buried me with homework.
Wait, these aren't real nuns?
9a. Rock 'n' Roll Lyric of the Week
Ah, Ichiro Suzuki, who, at 42, is swinging it like he's 22. A touch of gray suits him, anyway….
"I know the rent is in arrears
"The dog has not been fed in years
"It's even worse than it appears
"But it's all right
"Cows giving kerosene
"Kid can't read at seventeen
"The words he knows are all obscene
"But it's all right
"I will get by, I will get by
"I will get by, I will survive"
— Grateful Dead, "Touch of Grey"
Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.
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