Thursday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | OFF DAY | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Harrisburg | OFF DAY | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Wilmington | OFF DAY | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Fredericksburg | OFF DAY | OFF DAY | N/A |
| FCL Nationals | OFF DAY | vs. FCL Marlins | |
| DSL Nationals | OFF DAY | vs. DSL Angels, 10:30 a.m. |
Rochester Red Wings (47-43, 2GB, T4th, I.L. East)
Next month’s Nationals The Red Wings start back up with a weekend set against the Bisons, somehow still in the thick of the “pennant” despite winning just 12 of their last 38 games.
Harrisburg Senators (5-13, 7GB, 6th place, E.L. Southwest, 35-52 overall)
Harrisburg returns to City Isle tomorrow for three against Altoona, hoping to break a five-game losing streak.
Wilmington Blue Rocks (10-10, 3GB, 4th place, Sally Lg. North, 45-40 overall)
After a 12-game road trip to North Carolina, the Blue Rocks will be home until August 4th. The 13-game homestand starts with three against the 1st-place Renegades.
Fredericksburg Nationals (15-6, 2½ GA, 1st place, C.L. North, 48-39 overall
Fredericksburg makes its third and final visit to Delmarva this weekend, hoping to pick up where they left off earlier this month when the FredNats swept the Shorebirds for six straight wins.
FCL Nationals – OFF DAY
The F-Nats host the F-Marlins today then rematch tomorrow in Jupiter before closing out the week on Saturday against the F-Mets.
DSL Nationals – OFF DAY
It’s home games today vs. the D-Angels, tomorrow vs. the D-Brewers 2, then a visit to the D-TEX Red on Saturday.
MANFRED MAKES TONE-DEAF REMARKS; SOURCES: POPE STILL CATHOLIC
Der Komiss…er, Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark met separately with BBWAA in a press conference on Tuesday. While lawyers like to refer to cases as competing versions of the truth, it’s probably more accurate to describe this as competing perceptions of reality.
Baseball America documented this dichotomy on Tuesday, which included some rather “interesting” remarks from Manfred, particularly in light of settling a case brought by former minor-leaguers:
I kind of reject the premise of the question that minor league players are not paid a living wage. I think that we’ve made real strides in the last few years in terms of what minor league players are paid. Even putting to one side the signing bonuses that many of them have received, they’ve received housing, which is obviously another form of compensation, so I just reject the premise of the question.
It’s worth noting that the recently settled lawsuit was not about getting a living wage – it was about getting minimum wage. While it varies from state to state (because it’s pegged to the cost of housing), a living wage for an individual is ~$17/HR (~$35K per year). The federal minimum wage is $7.25 (~$15K) while the federal poverty line is $13,590. The highest minimum annual salary (AAA) is ~$14K.
Manfred can reject the premise all he wants to, but the facts are not on his side. And even if you want to take the tack of “well, he’s just representing the owners,” he’s not doing it well. Take a look at that article if you’re able (I’m a subscriber but I think BA’s paywall is a soft one). That’s just one of several gems.
It’s important to remember when reading how hard it is for MLB to pay minor leaguers that baseball right now is a $11.5 Billion business.
Manfred is your highly paid ($17.5 million a year) fool.
Soto doesn’t want to play in a market whose future is a bird sanctuary .
Are you referring to the Nats picking up Orioles discards?
no Frizzell in the lineup today for the FCL Nats. hopefully that means they chartered him a flight north
LOL, they certainly didn’t charter him a flight (see all the fuss about Soto having to fly commercial to LA). But yes, let’s hope the big Aggie will join the FNats in Delmarva.
There should be a good bit of movement with the the FCL roster up, over, or out, with the draftee signing deadline of August 1. Gotta put the 20 new guys (plus FA signings) somewhere. Maybe Bennett (2d round) and Lipscomb (3d) can go straight to Fredericksburg? That would be a big power injection to have Frizzell and Lipscomb join the lineup.
A reminder that with the money Juan Soto turned down, the Nationals could pay every single one of their minor league players a living wage for 84 years.
With no scores to comment on, I’ll reflect on the oft overlooked IFAs in the FCL, particularly the trio who impressed so much last year in the DSL: Jose Atencio, Jose Cedeno and Gabriel Agostini. All three sported insane stats in the DSL with ERAs below 2.00. Agostini, in particular, was impressive as he did this as a 16 year old! They were all promoted to the FCL, which isn’t always a given! Jefrem Leon, who himself was was extremely impressive for the ’21 DSL Nats with a 1.46 ERA, and 0.93 WHIP at only age 18 is… still pitching in the DSL in 2022 with a still impressive 1.61 ERA (the Nats promote players when they’ve earned it? really?), but I digress. The trio of Atencio, Cedeno and Agostini have each been fantastic in Florida. Atencio sports a 2.70 ERA and 1.05 WHIP with 31 K and only 4 BB in 26.2 IP, and he’s been arguably the worst! Gabriel Agostini, still not even old enough to vote (if he were American), sports a miniscule 1.62 ERA with 18 K in 16 IP. And Jose Cedeno has a 1.50 ERA and 1.16 WHIP with 15 K in 12 IP. Really promising stuff from them!
Interestingly, the most impressive DSL ’21 promotee in FCL is Adrian Ogando. Ogando was awful last year. His ERA was 10.80 across the season with a 2.10 WHIP. He rightfully started 2022 in the DSL but got a rare mid-season promotion, and he’s definitely seized the day! In the FCL, he now has a sparkling 0.54 ERA, and equally insane 0.72 WHIP and 16 K only 3 BB and 9 hits allowed in 16.2 IP. Kudos to Ogando for turning things around.