MLB midseason report, not on a pitch clock
Three strikes per at-bat, three outs per inning, three divisions per league and three years since we’ve had championship baseball by the bay. While wondering which local yard will have more empty seats in September, we provide some other threes to consider on the eve of the All-Star break:
Three teams that aren’t as lousy as we expected
Diamondbacks: They were ready to unload and rebuild. Then they started winning. Instead of tearing it down, they’re considering how to build it up. Meantime, Dave Stewart is nodding.
Rockies: Bud Black, the first former pitcher/pitching coach to run the team, has made a difference with a relatively young rotation and a bullpen with so many bodies — a necessity a mile high — that there aren’t enough chairs to go around.
Brewers: Cubs? Cubs who?
Three teams that are lousier than we expected
Giants: The rotation. The bullpen. The offense. The defense. Take your pick. All below expectations.
Cubs: They’re experiencing what the Giants did in 2011, 2013 and 2015. It’s not easy to recover from a World Series hangover. No National League team has repeated at champion since the Big Red Machine in the ’70s.
Blue Jays: Nearly the World Series in 2016, barely breathing in 2017.
Three on-field news items
Home runs: Baseballs are flying out of ballparks at a record pace, and we’ve heard all the theories. The ball is harder with lower seams. Folks found a new drug. Emphasis on launch angles and exit velocities. Demise of the twostrike approach. In any case, every team but the Giants is in a power groove.
Pace of play: The slow, slower, slowest pace of game is being monitored by MLB. A 20-second pitch clock is coming.
Pennant races: We know most playoff teams already. The Astros are running away with their division. As are the Nationals with theirs. It’s the first time since 1998 two first-place teams had double-digit leads on Independence Day. The Dodgers seem destined for a division crown, making the Diamondbacks and Rockies your NL wild cards.
Three off-field news items
MadBum: The dirt bike fell to the ground. So did the Giants’ hopes for normalcy. Madison Bumgarner, invincible no more.
Oakland stadium(s): Hey, the tarps are gone. Hey, there’s better food. Hey, the past is being recognized. Hey, they say they’re close to identifying a ballpark site. Stuff that should have happened for A’s fans long ago.
Busted: Giants pitching prospect Joan Gregorio, who might have been on the verge of a call-up, was suspended for violating baseball’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. So were Pittsburgh’s Starling Marte, Philadelphia’s Elniery Garcia, Houston’s David Paulino and Cleveland’s Joseph Colon.
Three players who need to get traded
Johnny Cueto: If he’s going to opt out after the season, the Giants might as well get something for him. Cueto’s a valuable two-month rental, and he’d be more desirable for a high-revenue team because he’s due $84 million over four years.
Sonny Gray: It’s time. As it always is with Oakland’s top guns on the verge of making big money. The cyclical nature of the A’s suggests it’s time to fetch decent prospects in a trade. Let’s see Sonny in a pennant race.
Jed Lowrie: With shortstop Marcus Semien back in the fold, the A’s need to let Franklin Barreto play second base every day.
Three players who don’t need to get traded
Josh Donaldson: We’ve seen the impact he can make on a team that lets him go.
Matt Moore: Matt Cain will be off the books, and Cueto could either be traded or opt out. The Giants need five guys for a rotation, and Moore is relatively young (28) and has a team-friendly contract (so long as his ERA isn’t 6.04). Big job for Dave Righetti.
Brandon Belt: He’s not the Giants’ problem. The Giants’ problem is they don’t have a cleanup hitter who’d allow everyone to fit in where they belong in the lineup.
Three impressive individual performances
Scooter Gennett: Does the Reds utilityman belong on the list of players with four home runs in a game? He does now.
Edinson Volquez: The only no-hitter to date this season.
Albert Pujols: The 600homer club has a new member.
Three rotten individual performances
Miguel Montero: The catcher ripped Cubs starter Jake Arrieta for his inattention to baserunners after the Nationals swiped seven bags. Next day, Joe Maddon and Theo Epstein ripped Montero — 1-for-31 throwing out base stealers — and designated him for assignment.
Bartolo Colon: We miss he of the $12.5 million salary and 8.14 ERA, sent packing by the Braves. Pablo Sandoval: Need we say more?
Three feel-good stories
Bill King: Hall of Fame. Holy Toledo.
Dusty Baker: The 68-yearold is pursuing his first World Series title as a manager. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, get the man a closer.
Ichiro Suzuki: The Japanese outfielder passed Rod Carew for most MLB hits by a foreign-born player. It’s Ichiro’s worst (and probably final) year, but the 43-year-old remains a joy to watch, playing and approaching the game like no other.
Three feel-bad stories
Marlins: The most dysfunctional and destructive owner, Jeffrey Loria, gets a farewell gift, an All-Star Game, after which he’ll sell his team for more than $1 billion.
Mike Trout: The game’s premier player likes to slide headfirst, and Trout has been shelved since May with a torn ligament in his left thumb.
Stephen Vogt: So long.
Three early leaders for National League awards
MVP: Paul Goldschmidt over Bryce Harper.
Cy Young: Max Scherzer over Clayton Kershaw.
Rookie of the Year: Cody Bellinger over Kyle Freeland.
Three early leaders for American League awards
MVP: Aaron Judge over anyone on the Astros.
Cy Young: Chris Sale over Jason Vargas.
Rookie of the Year: Aaron Judge over you pick ’em.