Cup of Coffee: August 2, 2023

Framber Valdez's no-hitter -- and Justin Verlander's return to Houston -- led the news on a very, very busy 2023 trade deadline day

Good morning! And welcome to Free Wednesday!

Yes, it’s usually Free Thursday, but with the trade deadline happening yesterday — and the day after the deadline usually being deader than vaudeville — I figured we’d move it up a day today.

There was a lot of action before 6PM Eastern last night and I chronicle it all — at least I think I got it all — down in the Daily Briefing. Of course there was some big time action later too, specifically in Houston where Framber Valdez tossed a no-hitter. Good thing the Astros went out and got pitching help yesterday!

The theme this year: reunions. With the Dodgers bringing back Joe Kelly and Kiké Hernández, the Angels bringing back C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk and, above all else, the Astros bringing back Justin Verlander, there sure were a heck of a lot of them. Pro tip: if your ex texts you “what’s up?” today, do NOT respond. There’s something in the air, man, and while getting back together can sometimes work in baseball, it never works in real life.

Anyway, so much time and so little to do!

Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. And let’s get at ‘er.

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And That Happened

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Astros 2, Guardians 0: Framber Valdez went nine strong innings—

[Editor: cut it out]

A dang no-hitter for Framber Valdez! A leadoff walk to Oscar González in the fifth was the only blemish on his otherwise perfect evening, but even that baserunner was erased on a double play, so Valdez faced the minimum. Oh, and it was a Maddux, too, as Valdez needed only 93 pitches to get the job done. That’s the third fewest pitchers required in a no-hitter in the 35 years that pitch counts have been tracked. Darryl Kile, also with the Astros, needed only 83 on September 8, 1993 and David Cone needed only 88 in his July 18, 1999, perfect game. That’s insane.

The Rangers still lead the division by a half game, but between this no-no and the pickup of Justin Verlander, discussed more thoroughly below, I think the Astros have decided that it’s time to quit farting around. Look out, American League.

Phillies 3, Marlins 1: A fan ran onto the field in the top of the ninth, but rather than get Ronnie Lotted into oblivion by security, he scaled the outfield wall and continued running through the concourse, making his escape. Video of it, best seen in two parts, can be seen here and here. I don’t encourage or approve of jackasses running onto the field, but the part of me which hates to see authority win — and that part constitutes roughly 100% of my being — likes to see harmless crazies get away with whatever it is they’re up to. Not that the pitch invader did his hometown team any favors: as soon as the chase ended Marlins pitcher David Robertson, who had to sit and watch all that, gave up three runs and that was basically the ballgame. Nick Castellanos’ two-run homer was the big shot. He’s always around to hit a dinger when controversy is afoot.

Brewers 6, Nationals 4: Brice Turang and Joey Wiemer hit back-to-back two-run singles in Milwaukee’s four-run fourth inning and Freddy Peralta allowed three runs in six innings, striking out seven, and helping snap the Brewers’ four-game losing streak. Oh, and I had missed this before yesterday’s newsletter went out, but Friend of the Newsletter Eugene Freedman threw out the first pitch at the Nats game on Monday evening. You can read his thread talking about it here, which culminates in video of his pretty dang good pitch as far as those things go. Way to go, Eugene!

Rays 5, Yankees 2: Zach Eflin’s knee is just fine. He shut the Yankees out on three hits over six and the Rays held a 5-0 lead until New York scored a couple of runs in garbage time. Randy Arozarena hit a two-run homer. Harrison Bader didn’t start, with Aaron Boone saying he had a routine off day, but he later pinch hit. I’d bet you $27 dollars that the Yankees tried to trade him yesterday but couldn’t pull it off and, once the deadline passed, they figured that, sure, he might as well play a little. I’ve got more on the Yankees’ lack of moves down in the Daily Briefing, under a “Quote of the Day” headline.

Pirates 4, Tigers 1: Johan Oviedo allowed one over seven, Liover Peguero hit a two-run homer, and Endy Rodríguez tripled in a run. The Tigers have lost six of seven.

Orioles 13, Blue Jays 3: Anthony Santander hit a grand slam, Gunnar Henderson homered and also drove in four, and Ryan Mountcastle reached base four times and drove in two. The Blue Jays are now 1-7 against Baltimore this year and are 7-22 against AL East opponents. I’m not sure how you can only play 29 games against your division by August but it sucks regardless.

Atlanta 5, Angels 1: Spencer Strider struck out nine batters and allowed just one run while pitching into the seventh. He passed the 200-strikeout mark for the season in this one as well. He did it in 123.1 innings pitched. That gives him the record for the fewest innings required to get to 200 Ks in a season since the mound was moved to 60’6” from home plate back in 1893. The record he broke: his own record of 130 IP, set last season. The young man’s an artist with the Thompson. Michael Harris II homered twice and Orlando Arcia hit a two-run shot.

Rangers 2, White Sox 0: Andrew Heaney struck out 11 and allowed two hits over six shutout innings and two relievers finished it off as a three-hitter. Mitch Garver hit a solo shot in the fifth and Adolis García hit one of his own in the seventh. This game took an hour and fifty-eight minutes. And yeah, I checked, Mark Buehrle was not pitching for Chicago.

Twins 3, Cardinals 2: Pablo López allowed just one run over six and Donovan Solano singled in a couple as the Twins snap a five-game skid.

Cubs 20, Reds 9: Well that’s a hell of a thing. The Cubs hit seven homers, with Dansby Swanson hitting two and Cody Bellinger, Mike Tauchman, Nico Hoerner, Patrick Wisdom and Jacob Amaya also connecting. Some days you just get shellacked and the Reds got shellacked.

Royals 7, Mets 6: MJ Melendez scored on a walkoff balk in the bottom of the tenth. Seems like a fitting way for the Mets to lose on a day when they definitively gave up for a couple of years. More on that below in The Daily Briefing.

Padres 8, Rockies 5: Juan Soto homered twice and drove in four and Fernando Tatís hit a game-tying RBI double in the third and knocked in the go-ahead run with a fielder’s choice in the fifth. As evidenced by their trade deadline moves, noted below, the Padres believe they’re going for it in 2023. Guess we’ll see. Ryan McMahon drove in four of the Rockies five runs.

Red Sox 6, Mariners 4: Alex Verdugo hit a two-run homer, Reese McGuire homered and drove in two, and Christian Arroyo doubled in a couple as the Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak.

Giants 4, Diamondbacks 3: Arizona had a 3-0 lead until the sixth when the Giants rallied with a Luis Matos RBI double and a two-run homer from Brandon Crawford. Lamont Wade Jr. homered in the seventh to put San Francisco ahead. The game ended with Patrick Bailey firing one down to first base and picking off Geraldo Perdomo. Not an uplifting day at the office for the Snakes. Ketel Marte hit his 100th career home run in a losing cause, though.

Dodgers 7, Athletics 3: New arrival Lance Lynn made his first start in Dodger blue. He allowed three homers but they were all solo shots and he ended up going seven innings and getting the win. Fellow new arrival Kiké Hernández hit a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double in the fourth to turn a 1-0 game into a 4-0 game. Mookie Betts went deep. Another fun highlight: Dodgers fans and visiting Oakland fans joined together to engage in a “SELL THE TEAM” chant in the fifth inning. Like most rich jackwagons John Fisher will probably get what he wants, but everyone hates him and he knows it.

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The Daily Briefing

Mets send Justin Verlander to Houston

Justin Verlander looks a bit stunned in that photo. Makes sense, as his little sojourn to New York did not go the way he or anyone else had hoped. The sojourn ended yesterday, though, when the Mets traded him back to the Houston Astros in exchange for center field prospect Drew Gilbert and first base/outfield prospect Ryan Clifford. The Mets are paying $35 million of Verlander’s 2023-24 salaries and half of the $35 million he’ll be owed in 2025 if his vesting option is triggered.¹

Verlander, of course, spent parts of five seasons with the Astros, winning two Cy Young Awards and a pair of World Series championships. Houston has been in need of some pitching help due injuries and they’re getting it via the return of their old ace. An ace who began the season hurt and, to date, has overall numbers that are less-than-Verlander-like, but he’s had more solid outings of late, going 4-1 with a 1.69 ERA in July with strikeout and walk numbers in keeping with his pre-2023 performance.

The haul going back to New York looks pretty good, which is not surprising given how much money the Mets sent along with Verlander.

Gilbert, who was Houston’s first round pick in the 2022 draft, has hit .241/.342/.371 in 60 Double-A games this season. He’s fast and plays solid defense. Some writers who talk to scouts talked up his intangibles yesterday, complete with words like “hard-nosed” and “gritty” with comps to Brett Gardner. Why yes, he is white, why do you ask? OK, in all seriousness, Gilbert is said to project as an every day starter in the next couple of years and that’s pretty good.

Clifford, a first baseman and sometimes outfielder, was selected in the 11th round in 2022. He has hit .271/.356/.547 in 58 High-A games and possesses a lot of power. He’s said to have some defensive questions so many believe he’ll end up at first base or as a DH, but the mashing don’t lie.

This deal is obviously all about Verlander, of course and what he means for Houston. The guy is still a legit horse, even at 40, and he’ll absolutely help the Astros in their quest to catch the Rangers, who now employ his buddy Max Scherzer. Those teams next meet on September 4, by the way. If it’s not Verlander vs. Scherzer that day we riot, right?

Max Scherzer says the Mets are punting until 2025 or 2026

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic spoke to Max Scherzer who, for the first time, talked about his final days with the Mets. Specifically, he talked about his conversations with the Mets brass just before his trade. Conversations which, ultimately, convinced him that he needed to waive his no-trade clause. The kicker: the Mets have no plans to compete before at least 2025:

“I talked to Billy,” Scherzer told The Athletic. “I was like, ‘OK, are we reloading for 2024?’ He goes, ‘No, we’re not. Basically our vision now is for 2025-2026, ‘25 at the earliest, more like ‘26. We’re going to be making trades around that.’

“I was like, ‘So the team is not going to be pursuing free agents this offseason or assemble a team that can compete for a World Series next year?’ He said, ‘No, we’re not going to be signing the upper-echelon guys. We’re going to be on the smaller deals within free agency. ‘24 is now looking to be more of a kind of transitory year.’

Scherzer added:

“I’m not itching to jump ship. I don’t have to chase the ring. I made a three-year commitment with New York. I would honor that if we were going to try and win in 2024. But that wasn’t the case. What was being communicated to me was that there were a lot of pieces being moved for prospects to try to make the 2025 team better.”

From a baseball perspective that makes a decent amount of sense given where the Mets are at the moment, even if it’s greatly disappointing. The deals the Mets made at the deadline — and the fact that they threw a lot of money after the guys they traded in order to get actually good players back instead of merely dumping salary — suggest that they can pull it off too. Though that’s all too late for Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Mark Canha, David Robertson, and Mets fans who were really hoping this year or next year would be The Year.

Orioles get Jack Flaherty from the Cards

The Cardinals sent Jack Flaherty to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for infielder César Prieto and left-hander Drew Rom. This completes the Cardinals selloff which saw them deal away Jordan Hicks, Jordan Montgomery, Chris Stratton, and Paul DeJong (see below).

Flaherty, 27, is an impending free agent. He isn't the pitcher he was a couple of years ago, as injuries and some control problems have vexed him of late. On the year he’s 7-6 with a 4.43 ERA (97 ERA+), which is basically what he was last year too. He’s not missing as many bats as he used to and he’s giving up more hits, so, welp. Still, the Orioles need the rotation help if they wish to maintain their hold on the AL East and make some noise in the postseason. Perhaps a change of scenery, and a change of coaching, may inspire Flaherty to tack back a bit toward his 2019 form. Hell, even his 2021 form would be welcome.

Prieto has split time between Double-A and Triple-A this year. He hits a bit — gets on base a lot — but at 24 he’s no hot prospect. Rom, 23, has been no great shakes at Triple-A this year. Organizational depth, it looks like.

Eduardo Rodríguez blocked a trade to the Dodgers

Tigers starter Eduardo Rodríguez was one of the most highly sought after pitchers at the deadline and the Dodgers, having failed to land Justin Verlander, sought him. A deal was in place but, it was reported yesterday, Rodríguez used his limited no-trade clause to nix it. There are ten teams on that list and the Dodgers are one of them. The full details of the aborted trade are not known.

Some people are gonna give Rodríguez crap for blocking the trade, but don’t listen to them. The dude negotiated the right to block certain trades and he merely exercised said right. If you’ve got a problem with a worker exercising their rights I don’t wanna hear it, frankly.

The Tigers and Dodgers did manage to do a minor deal just before the deadline: Detroit acquired utilityman Eddys Leonard for cash considerations.  The Dodgers had designated Leonard for assignment earlier this week. Not quite as flashy I don’t suppose.

Tigers trade Michael Lorenzen to the Phillies

Not that all the Tigers significant moves were thwarted. They did manage to trade starter Michael Lorenzen to the Phillies in exchange for infield prospect Hao Yu Lee.

Lorenzen, 31, is 5-7 and has a 3.58 ERA (122 ERA+) in 18 starts and 105.2 innings this season and has struck out 83 batters against 27 walks. He made the All-Star team and, of late, he has been pitching better than he has all season. The Phillies are striking while the iron is hot.

Lee, 20, is hitting .283/.372/.401 with five home runs in 64 games in high-A ball this season. Prospect experts think he’ll have the bat to make it to the bigs eventually.

Cardinals trade Paul DeJong to the Blue Jays

Bo Bichette’s MRI came back yesterday and, thankfully, no structural damage was found on the knee he tweaked during Monday night’s game. Still, the Jays went out and got a shortstop anyway, picking up Paul DeJong from the Cardinals in exchange for minor-league righty Matt Svanson.

DeJong, 29, is a plus defender at short who is enjoying his best offensive season in several years. It’s not knock-your-socks-off great, but it’s solid for a glove-first shortstop: .233/.297/.412 (93 OPS+) with 13 homers. DeJong is owed what’s left of his $9 million salary this year — St. Louis is picking up a portion of that — and the Jays now have club options on him for 2024 and 2025. Assuming Bichette is fine it’s hard to imagine Toronto exercising them, but having more shortstops than you need is better than not having enough, right?

Svanson, 24, has a 1.11 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 32.1 innings out of the pen at low-A and high-A this year.

Padres acquire Rich Hill and Ji Man Choi from the Pirates

The Padres and Mets were basically in the same place entering yesterday’s deadline day. Roughly the same record, each out of the race for the respective division titles, and only one game apart in the Wild Card race, with the Padres five games out and the Mets six back. The Mets decided to sell off and reload for a couple of years from now. The Padres decided to trade for a pitcher whom Grant Brisbee of The Athletic described thusly in grading this trade:

Rich Hill is old enough to have thoughts and opinions on Mr. Roper versus Mr. Furley. He played the original Star Wars arcade game and marveled at how futuristic the graphics looked. He’s worn at least one Hypercolor T-shirt in his life, and he’s recorded mix tapes directly from the radio on his boombox. But he can still spin it. Have curveball, will travel.

The Pirates will receive lefty Jackson Wolf, outfielder Estuar Suero, and first baseman Alfonso Rivas in return, none of whom, I would wager, have the slightest idea of what “Three’s Company” or Hypercolor T-shirts were. The other guy heading to San Diego, Ji Man Choi, is 32 so he may have an inkling. You’d have to ask him.

As for the deal, Hill, 43, has a 4.76 ERA (94 ERA+) in 22 starts covering 119 innings. He’s been shaky lately but as anyone who has been 43 knows, that’s around the time everything becomes kinda hit or miss. He’ll not be expected to lead the charge for the Padres, but someone’s gotta eat some innings with Michael Wacha still out of action.

Choi, like Hill, is a rental. The 32 year old has been limited to 23 games this season because of injuries and when he’s played he's hit a poor-for-him .205/.224/.507 (91 OPS+) with six home runs in 76 plate appearances. He’ll likely play some first base and DH and be a bench bat.

Wolf, 24, is a 6’7” lefty who just made his big-league debut a little over a week ago. Despite that size he’s not a particularly hard thrower. He does strike out a good number of guys but control is his calling card. He had a nice run this summer at Double-A San Antonio and could turn into something. Assuming the Pirates have actually figured out how to develop starters as opposed to trading promising pitchers to other teams for whom they figure it all out somehow. Damndest thing, that.

Rivas, 26, has played in 127 big-league games, mostly for the Cubs, over the last three seasons. He’s hit .245/.330/.323 (84 OPS+) with 29 home runs.

Suero is 17 years old. I refuse to spend much time thinking about players who are younger than my youngest child, but he’s hitting .216/.306/.345 with four home runs in 35 rookie league/complex league games. He was born over two months after Rich Hill made his big league debut. And Hill was a late bloomer.

Atlanta gets Brad Hand from the Rockies

The Colorado Rockies traded reliever Brad Hand to Atlanta in exchange for Alec Barger. Hand has previously pitched for Miami, the Mets, Philly, and the Nats, so he now has his whole NL East card punched. I think he gets a sub for that. Or maybe a free haircut. Hard to say.

Hand, 33, is no longer the All-Star he once was — overall he has a lackluster 4.54 ERA (111 ERA+) in 40 games — but he’s getting out of Coors Field now and he’s still tough on lefties. When you’re gearing up for the postseason as Atlanta is having a bunch of arms around to see who you plan to take into battle in October is a good idea.

Barger, 25, has spent the season at Double-A Mississippi where he’s struck out guys at a decent clip while walking a few too many. The Rockies can spend the next month or so figuring out what they have in him, knowing that they weren’t going to Bring Hand back on their $7 million team option either way.

Brewers get reliever Andrew Chafin from the Diamondbacks

I’m sure Andrew Chafin, his durability, and his excellent strikeout rate will help bolster the Brewers bullpen. But let’s be real. His biggest contribution will be bringing back some of that 1982 Harvey’s Wallbangers vibe:

That this guy has been in the bigs for a decade without playing for Milwaukee before now is a crime.

Right-hander Peter Strzelecki is headed back to the D-Backs in return. He has 66 big league games under his belt, with the 30 he pitched in 2022 being much better than the 36 he’s pitched this year. I don’t think the Diamondbacks have a historic vibe like the Brewers do, so it’s hard to judge Arizona’s end of the deal. He is, unlike Chafin, under team control for several years, though, so maybe he’ll help develop one before his time in Phoenix is over.

White Sox trade Jake Burger to the Marlins

The White Sox traded infielder Jake Burger to the Marlins yesterday. I was about to say that that’s less than Jake, but they got lefty pitcher Jake Eder in return, so Jakequilibrium was maintained. Which is good, because otherwise the deal would’ve violated the Law of Conservation of Jakes. God doesn’t play dice, etc. etc. whatever.

Anyhoo, Jake Burger, 27, has smacked 25 homers this year which has him slugging .527. Which is important given that he’s hitting only .214 and only getting on base at a .279 clip. That amounts to a 115 OPS+ but when you’re as one-dimensional as he is that metric seems less important than it does in most cases.

Jake Eder, 24, is one of the Marlins' better prospects. He’s a lefty who has a 4.25 ERA through six starts in Double-A this season. A highly-touted Vanderbilt product, he blew out his elbow in his first pro season and missed all of 2022 following Tommy John surgery. He’s getting pretty good marks since his return and many expect him to resume his journey to the bigs, where he is said to project as a decent starter, even if he’s not expected to be a top-shelf one. The White Sox aren’t going anywhere. They should be taking chances on guys like that.

Mets trade Tommy Pham to the Diamondbacks

This deal is not as splashy as the other Mets deals but it’s worth noting that they traded Tommy Pham to Arizona in exchange for shortstop prospect Jeremy Rodríguez.

Pham, 35, signed a one-year, $6 million contract with the Mets this past offseason with the idea that he’d be a platoon/bench guy for a championship caliber club. It’s good on him that he played better than that — he’s hitting .268/.348/472 (126 OPS+) — but the fact that he was one of the better hitters in the Mets everyday lineup is just one of the many data points showing that the club’s plans went awry. Also worth noting that he’s a world class weirdo/head case — but a decent slap hitter! — so have fun with that Arizona.

Rodríguez just turned 17 a month ago. I literally have t-shirts in my rotation older than him. And they’ve played only 36 fewer games of affiliated ball than Rodríguez has.

Guardians send Josh Bell to the Marlins

Cleveland made a deal: they sent Josh Bell to Miami in exchange for Jean Segura, who they plan to release, and minor leaguer Kahlil Watson.

Bell has hit just .233/.318/.383 (96 OPS+) with 11 home runs and 48 RBI over 97 games this season. He’s owed $16.5 million next year and the Marlins are on the hook for that so you have to figure they see something in him that Cleveland doesn’t. Maybe they just remember watching him rake the first half of last season when he was still with the Nationals. I dunno. All I do know is that between getting Jake Burger and Bell Miami believes it’s adding needed pop. I suppose they are with Burger. Hard to say with Bell.

Kahlil Watson was a first round pick in 2021 but he hasn’t progressed above high-A and he hasn’t really hit yet. The Marlins mostly just wanted to unload Segura, I figure. He’s owed $8.5 million next year and has a $2 million buyout on his 2025 option. The Guardians took him simply so that they could unload Bell’s salary. I love it when a rather sad plan comes together.

Dodgers get Ryan Yarbrough from the Royals

The Dodgers acquired lefty Ryan Yarbrough from the Royals in exchange for minor league infielders Devin Mann and Derlin Figueroa.

He ain’t exactly Justin Verlander or Eduardo Rodríguez, but Yarbrough has pitched well in seven starts this year. He pitched horribly in seven relief appearances, but let’s look on the bright side. For his career he’s 44-36 with a 4.32 ERA (95 ERA+) in 141 games, 66 of which have come as a starter, though a lot of those were as an opener when he pitched for the Rays so who knows what he really is. Let’s just celebrate him for what we know him to be, shall we? One of those things is a dang survivor. The dude suffered multiple facial fractures after being hit in the head with a comebacker back on May 7.  Since he’s come off the injured list he has a 2.19 ERA over 24.2 innings, so he’s a tough one.

Cubs DFA Trey Mancini

The Chicago Cubs designated Trey Mancini for assignment in order to open a roster spot for Jeimer Candelario.

Mancini, 31, signed a two-year $14 million deal with Chicago in January. He batted just .234/.299/.336 (72 OPS+) with four homers and 28 RBI in 79 games with the Cubs. Crazy that he’s come and gone so quickly, but no one has accused the recent Chicago Cubs regime of sticking with a plan for long.

Oh there was one more Mets deal

The Mets busy day ended by sending reliever Dominic Leone to the Angels the Mets received infield prospect Jeremiah Jackson in return. Leone will join his eighth team in ten seasons. He’s about as fungible as it comes as far as relievers are concerned. Jackson is a minor league utilityman.

Quote of the Day: Mike Elias

As noted above, the Orioles acquired Jack Flaherty. Which is a good thing! It means you’re winning! Still, trading for a starter for a playoff push sounds like something O’s GM Mike Elias hates:

“When you're on the buy side, you tend to kind of lose every trade because you're giving away years and years and years of future for a very short impact. But that's part of trying to win and the focus on the team that's in a good position.”

Dude absolutely hates having to give up prospects. Even though he didn’t give up much to get Flaherty. Elias is probably the foremost example of executives who think that the endgame of running a baseball team is getting young, controllable, projectable players as opposed to actually winning. I hope the Orioles make him even more uncomfortable by going on a deep playoff run or even winning it all, thereby requiring that he make decisions that would keep a winner together. Seeing him squirm under those circumstances would warm my black heart.

Quote of the Day Runner Up: Aaron Boone

Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked about the trade deadline yesterday afternoon, roughly two and a half hours before the clock struck six. Boone:

“You could see everything from nothing to guys leaving to guys coming.”

Makes you think, man.

So does the Yankees doing almost doodly squat at the deadline despite being a deeply flawed team that really, really needs to decide if it wants to get better in the short run or the long run. They have decided, it seems, to do neither. OK, they got righty Spencer Howard from the Rangers, who has made three relief appearances this year, giving up four runs in three and a third, and they got Keynan Middleton from the White Sox, but that’s not likely to lead the back pages of the tabloids.

I just do not understand the Yankees anymore. It used to be fun when they wanted to rule the world. Even if you hated them, it was fun to hate them! Now Yankees fans are just poking them with a stick, saying “do somethin’” and the rest of us are left with that feeling of emptiness you get when you realize that who you imagined to be your nemesis is just kinda sad.

Honestly, the best outcome for this season right now would be for the team to crater, finish below .500, and miss the postseason. Anything else will reaffirm Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman’s apparent belief that the team is just some good luck away from being THE YANKEES again, causing them to do almost nothing this offseason.

Quote of the Day Second Runner Up: Chaim Bloom

This is less a quote than a paraphrasing, but Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom called the Red Sox “underdogs” and said that the reason Boston did not make any big moves is because they still aren’t in playoff position. He said he was merely playing the odds.

That’ll go over well in Boston. Boston sports radio loves that attitude.

The Sox did do one deal — they got infielder Luis Urías from Milwaukee and then promptly sent him to Triple-A, trading away moderately interesting 22-year-old right-hander Bradley Blalock to do it — but that’s not exactly a game-changer.

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Other Stuff

Meanwhile, in Saskatchewan . . .

Who says Canada is boring?

An investigative report into Regina's recent rebranding fiasco, which played on the fact that Regina rhymes with vagina, blames a junior staffer, who it says authorized the publishing of sexualized slogans to the city's tourism website without management authorization.

But CBC's review of the report, documents obtained through access to information and other public records shows that Regina Exhibition Association Ltd. (REAL), Regina's tourism arm, was using those slogans months before, including commissioning a hoodie with the slogan, "The City that Rhymes with Fun."

The campaign, which launched March 16, received international mockery and criticism for its use of that slogan and another, "Show me your Regina."

Virginia used to have — maybe still does have? — a tourism slogan that goes “Virginia is for Lovers.” Some traveling relative got my brother and me t-shirts with that on it when we were young. While that does not rhyme with, well, Regina, you can imagine how a couple of immature little shits like Curt and me, who had only recently learned what the proper words for sex organs were, contorted that slogan.

But again: we were kids. No one was asking us to be on a tourism commission. Apparently if we lived in Saskatchewan we could’ve.

And one more thing . . .

If it was any day other than trade deadline day I would’ve written a lot about Donald Trump getting indicted again, but the day job was just way too important yesterday and, frankly, you don’t need me to explain Trump’s indictment to you. It’s all over the news.

The big picture here is what matters: a sitting President of the United States of America attempted to subvert democracy by overturning the results of a democratically held election and retaining power against the will of the voters even if it meant, as it is alleged in the indictment, invoking the Insurrection Act and potentially calling on the military to violently suppress the inevitable dissent that would’ve arisen.

For most of this country’s history most people, if presented with that as a hypothetical scenario, would say that such an act justified the perpetrator being hanged by the neck until he was dead. Like, that’s what actually happens to traitors who try to take over a country. It won’t happen here, of course, as Trump has not been charged with treason or anything quite as on-the-nose as that. But he totally could’ve been. Just remember that when the political right, which has long advocated for death to traitors, tries to play this all off as a freedom of speech issue or some bullshit like that.

Have a great day, everyone.

1. That option is triggered if Verlander pitches 140 innings in 2024 and if an independent physical exam determines that he does not have a right arm injury that would prevent him from being on the active roster for Opening Day 2025.