Friday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | Won, 3-1 | @ Buffalo, 6:05pm | Susana (AAA debut) vs. Van Eyk (6-5, 4.20) |
Rochester 3 Buffalo 1
• Lyon 4IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 4K
• Yean (W, 3-2) 2IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• King 2-5, 2B, RBI
• Wallace 2-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Pineda 2-4, 2-2B, RBI
Rochester got single runs in 1st, 5th, and 6th in a 3-1 win over Buffalo. Isaac Lyon gave up the lone Bisons run on five hits and two walks over four innings. He struck out four. Eddy Yean had his first clean outing since September 3, allowing three hits, walking none, and striking out one. That was enough to earn the win. Four Red Wings had multiple hits, led by Leandro Pineda who doubled twice and drove in Rochester’s final run. Rochester turned four double plays and Max Romero Jr. threw out all three Bisons trying to steal.
The win kept pace with the Indians, who flirted with a no-hitter for six innings before gutting the Stripers, 15-0 on three hits for their sixth straight win. The Mets also won (third straight) while the RailRiders dropped to three games behind with three to play. They remain mathematically alive but now need nine losses from the three teams in front of them in the I.L. second-half standings. Roster moves: OF Andrew Pinckney optioned from Washington; IF Buddy Kennedy placed on the 7-Day I.L.; C Kyle Hayes activated from the Development List.
So long Wyatt Mills, we hardly knew ya! What a strange acquisition. Mills was acquired on August 6th, and never pitched a game before getting waived yesterday. Somehow he picked up an injury between him pitching for the Dodgers on August 2 and him getting assigned to Rochester. If he was already injured, don’t the Dodgers have an obligation to send him to the IL rather than release him? Otherwise, you’d see guys getting released all the time (especially those on 1 year deals) as soon as they needed TJ or another long IL stint. So how/when did Mills get injured? But then how are the Nats justified in releasing him while injured? Have I made this up, and teams can release players while on the IL?
Also can someone clarify why the International League allocates playoff spots by 1st and 2nd half standings, rather than a seed for the best East and West division teams? Isn’t that kind of antithetical to the ethos of baseball? It is and has always been a long, grinding sport. There’s now a good chance that the Red Wings will have – by far – the best record in the IL, but will not make the playoffs. Currently, across the season the Red Wings are 88-57, 7.5 games better than the next best team, St. Paul Saints. But are presently tied with Indianapolis for the 2nd half champions playoff spot, with Memphis edging out the Red Wings for the 1st half playoff seed. Ironically, St Paul, the 2nd best overall team, will also miss out on the playoffs altogether too. And Indianapolis across the whole season are a massive 15 games behind the Red Wings. It seems a really stupid thing to do to award spots this way, but am I missing something?
It seems pretty clear that MLB just doesn’t care at all about anything in the minors other than “see if you can sell a couple tickets to our practice games.”
The “playoffs” are a best-of-3 between the two league winners, and then a 1-game AAA championship. That really screams “someone made us hold a title game, so here you go.”
I know they bought all the minor-league teams during Covid, but the differences in “caring about running a business” between Bananaball and MiLB’s approach couldn’t be any more glaring.
I agree that the 1st half / 2nd half thing is weird. I’ve always assumed that it had to do with how much minor league rosters churn via promotions and how different the team on Sept 1st often is from the team on April 15th. I’d be very curious if anyone knows the origin story for that structure.
On the injury releases, like you, I’m not aware of any rule specifically forbidding teams from releasing injured players but I often see teams, in offseason roster crunches, holding on to injured players that seem to me to offer very little strategically and it has felt like there might be some kind of rule.
So I’m right there with you. Based on the general patterns we see, it seems like there are rules against it, but I’m not aware of any or able to guess why they wouldn’t apply to Mills.
Agree that its idiotic that Red Wings will have the best record in AAA by a lot and could still miss the playoffs. Magic number is 3. Need Susana to deal tonight.
The Buffalo starting pithcer, CJ Van Eyk, briefly pitched in the Bigs for Toronto, including a relief appearance against the Nats in DC in July (3.1 IP 6 H 2 R). He faced Rochester back in April with similar numbers (4.1 IP 7 H 2 R). Van Eyk has sucked in his two September starts for Buffalo (10 IP 15 H 9 R). He does throw strikes.
Why is the assumption Mills is/was injured? J The Nats (and every other team) have a group of players in their training facility that train and play games (currently called Bridge Games) that aren’t reported. They also put guys on developmental lists that stay with an affliate, but are never activated to play.
Guessing the Nats felt Mills had some talent, but he performed poorly at the Nats facility or will hanging in Rochester, so he was the pushed out of the boat when the Nats needed a roster spot.
Well, I think we all know the minor league transaction log isn’t an unimpeachable source, but the reason that we think he’s likely hurt is that he was moved to IL (from the temp inactive list) in mid-August.
Is that just another name for “running drills in Florida”? Maybe. But it’s also possible that he’s hurt.
And to come back to Will’s original point: if there are rules about it, I very much doubt they are structured like “if someone is really hurt you can’t release them, but if you’re just gaming roster limits and the guy is actually healthy, then sure, go ahead.” So the question remains.
You know it’s the end of the year and the rebuild has seen its highlights and low lights when a guy named Wyatt Mills destined to be coaching pro players , college players or amateur players someday churns discussion
His name sounds like a gumdhoe spy name from a Robert Ludlum or whatever the MI6 vet writer who churned out where eagles dare ..
Pineda has made us forget Robert Hassell the third
My guess on wyatt mills is that he was cleared for rehab but there’s no time left for that. So he asked for release or they mutually agreed on a release, since he’s going to be a free agent anyway.
That’s a pretty good guess. It would make sense. Though I’m still confused as to whether he got injured with the Dodgers, or mysteriously got injured between his last (bad) outing with them and joining the Nats. It doesn’t really matter, but I has gotten me curious about players’ rights when injured.
I agree that this example doesn’t matter, but I’d very much like to know whether the team has the option to release, say, Ken Waldichuk or Mitchell Parker if they need to free up 40-man spots during the offseason.
So, yes, curiosity. But not just curiosity.
Yeah there doesn’t seem to be a 60-day DL in the off season.
If someone is arb-eligible you can clear them out by not offering arb, I believe.
As you know, these thing aren’t binary. He could have been pitching through something with LA, and we thought that rest would help. He could have thrown a session somewhere for the Nats but his velo was down so they gave up. Lots of possibilities.
I guess first half/second half stuff is just to keep some fan interest when the team falls behind. Maybe having a reset to 0-0 and a bunch of new faces is supposed to help sell a few tickets.
Before the MLB’s coup d’etat of MiLB in 2021, only the “A” teams had the half system, and yes, it was a nod to how much the rosters change over the course of a season. In the Old World Order, it was two best-of-five rounds at AA, AAA, and High-A, and a best-of-three followed by a best-of-five at Low-A. The full-season clubs had division winners and wild cards. As best as I can tell, the complex leagues are still a one-game playoff in the first round, best-of-three in the second.
After 2021, MLB decided to adopt the Low-A model everywhere for the full-season teams, and if they could have done less, they would have.
How ironic ? Shades of 1981 where the Cards did not have the luck in “ the cards “ as expos headed to “ Blue Monday “
Good ole expos 1994 .. shut down season .. 2027 .. drop the curtain fat cats …
This is the AI answer to the releasing an injured player question (sounds right, but WTFK):
Yes, an MLB team can release a player while they are on the injured list, but they cannot simply drop them without going through official procedures.
How the Release Process WorksDesignation or Waivers:
To release an injured player, the team must first place the player on unconditional release waivers or designate them for assignment (DFA).
Removal from Roster: Placing a player on release waivers immediately removes them from the active and 40-man rosters.
Injury Settlement: If a player is hurt at the time of release, the team is still generally responsible for paying their contracted salary while they rehab, unless a settlement is reached between the team and the player (often facilitated through the MLB Players Association).
Copilot had similar info and added this:
Practical reality
Teams rarely release injured players unless:
-The injury is long‑term and the player is not in future plans.
-The contract is minor‑league (easier to release).
-The player requests a release.
Most clubs instead use the 60‑day IL to open a 40‑man spot during roster crunches (especially in September).
The source provided was “Legion Report”
Congrats to Cade Cavalli on his extension. $47M from 2027-2030, club option for another $23M in 2031 is being reported. Stay healthy!
Thanks for this info. Still qualifies as a rather low-budget signing, by MLB standards, with just one year extra beyond the arb years, at first glance. I have not checked it. But it probably means that Cavalli wanted to bet on himself for a bigger reward when he is still mostly in his prime at the end of 2031. I’ll bet the Nats would have preferred something longer. Aces don’t come around very often!
Bridge games
I used to call them “ back field “ games
Clowns with the numbers games like in hockey where the worst record in NHL still doesn’t get the top amateur pick slot . All that is missing is Carol Merrill in the game show presentation .
So those not in bridge games or XXXST sure seem destined for a pink slip or the proverbial “ hit the road jack “.