Sales had but one clean inning as he was dinged for one in the 1st, three in the 2nd, and one in the 4th. His final line: five runs on seven hits and one walk over three and a 1/3rd innings. He threw 69 pitches, 41 for strikes, and struck out four.
Three other Nationals appeared in the game:
- Kevin Bazzell caught the game, batted fifth, and went 1-for-4 with a run scored.
- Teo Banks was the No. 8 batter, played right field, and went 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base.
- Noah Dean came on in the 7th and let in an unearned run in the 7th on two hits with the “help” of two errors.
The deadline to add players to the 40-man is three days away and, as usual, Mr. Boss is on it. Ordinarily, I’d reference the Rule 5 draft, but the smart bet is not to; besides, if you’re any good at it, the app or casino will kick you out is there won’t be one, just as there wasn’t during the last lockout in 2021-22.
I don’t think any team but the Angels is dumb enough to act is if there won’t be a draft [insert snark about not having anyone to protect anyway] so the moves made will be as if there will be, and I’d agree with Todd’s picks – both the will happen and the should happen.
Unfortunately, there is little reason to think this lockout won’t happen and/or won’t be as prolonged as the last one. That may be why MLB is entertaining the “nuclear option”—decertifying the MLBPA—that the NFL and NBA have used successfully in their dustups with ownership.
IMO (I’ll spare you the “H” that never is), the reason why the owners are being especially testy this time around is the drying up of the RSN revenue stream and the relative lack of national TV money (vs. ~$11B for the NFL and ~$6B for the NBA). It would appear the gambling money isn’t bridging that gap, though it’s important to remember that the owners have never opened up the books to the players. It also doesn’t help that one of them very recently admitted what we all know: the teams are still making money, and a lot of it.