The Blue Jays and Rangers are among the teams interested in Tomoyuki Sugano, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. They join the previously-reported Padres and Red Sox as known suitors for the 31-year-old. Sugano has spent the past eight seasons with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, where he’s generally been brilliant. He sports a career ERA of 2.32 at Japan’s highest level. Sugano was excellent as ever in 2020, tossing 137.1 innings of 1.97 ball, backed up by a strong combination of 8.6 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9. The NPB team formally posted Sugano last week, giving major league teams until January 7 to work out an agreement with the right-hander.
Some more notes on the open market:
- Right-hander Julio Teheran is planning a showcase for interested teams in mid-January, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). The 29-year-old is coming off a dismal season with the Angels where he allowed 35 runs (including 12 homers) with a 20:16 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 31.1 innings. Heyman notes that shoulder discomfort may have played a role in those struggles, but Teheran’s peripherals and velocity had been trending in the wrong direction for a few seasons even before the wheels fell off completely in 2020.
- The free agent market for Marcus Semien is progressing and could reach a resolution in the coming days, Passan further reports. The 30-year-old is one of the market’s more interesting evaluations. After a stellar 2019 effort that earned him a third place finish in AL MVP voting, Semien had something of a disappointing follow-up this past season. His .223/.305/.374 line matched the worst offensive output of his career. That comes with obvious shortened season caveats, though, as well as a career-low .260 BABIP that looks primed for a bit of positive regression. The Reds and Phillies are the most obvious shortstop-needy contenders, but plenty of teams could move other players (or even Semien himself) around the infield to accommodate his addition to the roster.
any indication on Suguano’s total price tag? his numbers are stellar, but he jumped into the market quicker then, say, Tanaka so there hasnt been as much postulating before the post on a potential cost. he’s a bit older, but i feel he could be money at the right price.
3 for 30 actually. Which makes the Rangers like a bingo card for him lmao.
Props to your Rangers if they can pull that off. Dealing Lynn and for a couple younger arms, and then essentially filling his place with Sugano. Not a bad approach in my eyes.
I think if Teheran looks good he’s Philly’s best bet if they don’t want to spend loads for a SP4/5. If he’s healthy he can eat innings and he’s shown he can be a steady producer with ATL.
I’ve always thought Julio’s stuff would play up in the bullpen. He struggles the second time through the lineup.
Agree. I’d rather see him out there every fifth day than VV. He’s better in LF anyway
In theory yes, but based off last year Tehran could actually be worse than VV
i mean last year was a huge statistical outlier
He’s been getting worse and worse for years now
HR’s are an issue for Julio. That was the case with him in Atlanta. I could see him doing ok in Seattle or another pitcher friendly park.
As Angel fan, I can’t remember a ML starter having less stuff than 2020 Tehran. I hope it was injuries becuse there isn’t even enough there to work with if that’s all he has left.
Teheran was horrible last year. He also had Covid. Now that may have had nothing to do with it, maybe a little, since it was a rushed season, maybe a lot.
His worst season ever he had an ERA+ of 95. In 2019 he was the Braves opening day starter and hand an ERA+ of 121.. Last year was the only year ever he pitched worse than his peripherals (and they were also horrible) and had and ERA+ of 45.
He’s going to get an invite to spring training. And I would make a small wager he will be useful. An ERA+ of 95 and 150 innings is useful.
He reported to the media in Cartagena, his hometown, that he still felt really fatigued even after “recovering “ from Covid. That could have been an additional issue for him.
The thing is, none of us know. He’ll get an invite, and if I had to make a small wager, he will be useful.
Of course last year I would have made a sizeable wager he’d be helpful.
Tehran’s career splits against the Mets are reason enough for any team in the NL East to take an interest (check it out at baseball-reference). Who knows why, but he’d be a perennial all-star if he only pitched against the Mets.
If the Phillies sign Teheran, when he is ultimately released people will say Ayatollah you so.
Shah didn’t see that coming.
Julio can’t get through the first without giving up 2/3 runs. Also, Julio in that park in philly is a horrible idea. Not for my Braves though, so go ahead philly!
Teheran can’t sign with Philadelphia. We won’t get to see Bryce Harper hit an uncanny amount of home runs off him. (See YouTube it hurt my soul when I saw it a year or two ago as a braves fan.)
Cole Hamels
Hamels would be on my radar too, though I would predict he’d go to SD over Philly and might cost solidly more.
Unless they sign him to throw vatting practice i think the Phillies have seen enough of Teheran to know him pitching in Philly would be a disaster
he shut us down quite enough to where if think it would be the other way around
I’m surprised teams have interest in Julio Teheran
Yeah, but there will always be a team who’s interested in a reclamation project or a small-budget team who wants to protect its prospects and round out its rotation on the cheap. He still has talent, so it’s not unthinkable that he could rebound, but I wouldn’t want him. Good candidate for a team like the O’s or Pirates or a team like the Indians (sorry, the Cleveland Baseball Club) that excels at developing pitchers on a minor league deal.
Over on an SB Nation thread that I’ve been commenting on recently, the people there have been calling me crazy for thinking that we could contend in 22′ (as a WC) I just told them to see what happens…. until today lol. After all the moves that Chris Young and JD have made, the writer over there even said in an article that it’s not outlandish to think that we could contend in 22′ lmao. After they alllll called me crazy lol. I might’ve reminded them of what I said a little bit this morning…
Yeah no, the Rangers are not going to be better than the 4 other teams in their div in 2022, they will very most likely end up 4th or 5th.
You do realize the A’s and Mariners young cores are only just starting out? Astros have plenty of young studs to that will cover their possible free agent losses too. Kyle Tucker easily could put up better numbers than George Springer will in 2022.
The absolute smartest move for the Rangers would be to scorch the earth now and do a 2-3 year rebuild and aim for 2023 or 24 to contend.
I have no clue what you’re talking about here. The Rangers have some decent prospects, but they are still around 4 years away from making the playoffs, let alone being a World Series contender. The people on SB nation are right to make those comments.
Teheran seems like a sure fire Rangers signing. Hope not.
Hopefully Chris Young has the power to say NO.
I’m guessing Semien either takes a one-year deal or a deal with an opt-out after one year, so he can bet on himself. I don’t think he’s quite the player he was in 2019, but the guy he was in 2018 is still plenty valuable. I believe he’s actually close to that level.
I predicted he’d go to the Indians, so I guess that’s another one wrong.
Unless I missed something, he hasn’t signed yet, but yeah, I’ve gotten pretty much all of my predictions wrong so far. Oh, well. It’s the unpredictability that makes it fun.
Nooo…. the “Indians” don’t exist anymore….
Go to timeout Rangers29 you just offended countless people using a Major League Baseball team name that has existed over 100 years!
Cleveland should just rename its team for the growing, influential American community of people whose cultural background hails from the Asian subcontinent. You know……..Indians.
Dear Rangers…SugaNO! Don’t throw a multi-year deal at a pitcher already in his 30’s, when your stated focus is to get younger. Wait until 2022 or 2023, when there’s a lot more payroll flexibility.
We need a starter, and we haven’t been afraid to sign starters who were past 30 before to 3 year contracts. It’ll be fine. Minor and Lynn were both past 30.
But that was when we had planned on being contenders. They’re in rebuild / evaluation mode. I say add a veteran on a 1 year deal, and let Cody/Palumbo/Allard/Burke battle for the other spots.
Lincecum is gonna announce a showcase next.
I can be a baseball writer too. All I have to do is say “The Blue Jays are interested in free agent Player X.”
YOU’RE HIRED!
It is getting a little ridiculous, but on the other hand, what are they supposed to do? They are looking up to the Yankees and Rays right now, and most of their top young talent is in the majors, so they need to spend to leapfrog them. They’re just casting a wide net.
Let’s see what action the Jays take, they have been lots of talk in the past due to the Rogers media empire.
They have their Jimmy Key (Ryu) and they aren’t going after their Stieb (Bauer). Does that sum it up?
I think it would be smarter for MLBTR to write articles about the players the Jays are not interested in.
And you can throw Benjamin into the mix, as well.
Japanese pitchers seem to be high risk. I may have a biased opinion that I completely made up but it seems like most are effective the first year and slowly decline after the league sees them more and wear and tear from 5 man rotation that they aren’t used to.
Teheran looks best suited as a long RP pitcher at this point or opener who goes 2-4 innings depending how effective he is. At this point I’d rather live in Teheran than him Julio pitch for my team if I’m a GM.
Semien might have to settle for a 1 year contract to re-established his market next year which brings on about 5 other problems which are Lindor, Seager, Baez, Correa and Story. Settling for a 1 year contract now seems like the best option giving the baseball economy right now.
There isn’t enough data to be able to make that claim, so why even bother? Waste of words and energy right here.
Any time you sign a player from a different league, there’s a huge risk. KBO, Dominican Republic, Cuba, or the NPB – doesn’t matter. The level of competition is higher in America, so some guys flame out and others still excel. It’s not really different than getting a top prospect out of college in that regard, save for the college guy has more potential upside than a 31-year old.
With a starting pitcher from Asia, there’s an additional risk: they’ve only ever pitched once a week. Some arms just don’t adapt well to pitching more.
Teheran would be a good fit in Boston to replace Martin Perez and I’d like to see Semien replace Simmons in Anaheim and stay in the division
Angels just got Jose Iglesias and have Barreto and Fletcher who can also play SS, Semien is going elsewhere.
Teheran would not be a good fit in Boston. He needs a big ball park to pitch in. San Diego, Detroit, Miami, Oakland, Seattle all would be better fits than Boston
So what moves do the Rangers make this week? Sign Sugano? Sign Kim? Trade somebody?
I think Kim is a no for this week but will be signed next week by the Rangers, but Sugano will be signed before Christmas but not by the Rangers and Trade the Rangers just Acquired Nate Lowe, if Guzman is wanted by teams like maybe like the Diamondbacks to pair with Christan Walker at First Guzman will be on the move.
Oh I forgot, a move has to happen this week because our 40 man is full and Dahl needs to be added. So at the very least a minor player will be moved… or Odor gets released… just sayin’
Odor is still owed almost 28M into 2023. When you’re as far out of contention as Texas is, you may as well keep him around and hope maybe he becomes useful as a backup.
The only way Odor is moved off that roster is for Texas to just buy him out (ain’t happening) or to attach him to a prospect like Josh Jung (a 45+FV prospect).
Before you say that’s insane, the Angels gave up way more to move Cozart’s 13M off their books. Considering the financial impact, Josh Jung *might* not be enough still.
If they want to take on a bad contract at another position, they could save their prospects, but I’m not sure taking on more bad contracts makes sense for Texas.
They are probably stuck with Odor.
Jung is a top 100 prospect you loon
And Rougned Odor is laughably bad at baseball.
Thus, if you want someone to take a guy owed 28M to be laughably bad at baseball, it’s going to be offset by someone who *might* be a very good MLB player.
I also understand the Rangers are in no position to give up any prospects. So, thus, they are stuck with Odor.
28 mil is not worth selling top prospects. Rangers would sooner trade him and pay his full salary
Odor will probably be released. That’s it. Don’t try to attach one of our close-to-surefire prospects to your little imaginary deal because that would NEVER happen. Jung and Huff are pretty much immovable. It’s not too hard to just admit a past mistake and move on. It’s not as big of a deal as you make it out to seem.
The Giants got Will WIlson, who is probably a fringe top-100 guy for 13M of Zack Cozart. They did that deal prior to COVID.
No one, not even the Rangers, are going to take on nearly 30M of dead money this winter without getting something of value in return for it.
In 2018, Fangraphs ran the dollar value of prospects. For the #50 prospect (who was also a 50 FV prospect), they valued him at 30M.
Jung isn’t currently a 50 FV prospect by Fangraph’s numbers, but that’s about where he’d be valued.
Of course it’s not worth it for the Rangers, whose current #1 prospect is a 45+ FV guy, but that’s the price for getting someone to take Odor.
Rangers29
It’s 30M in a bad economic offseason.
When teams are asking their employees to take pay cuts, laying off employees, and not spending as wildly in the offseason, I’m telling you, the Rangers (or any team) aren’t taking on 30M of dead money.
They certainly aren’t going to attach Jung or Huff to him (although, again, that’s absolutely the price tag).
So they are stuck with him. It’s really that simple.
Will Wilson wasn’t close to the top 100. still isn’t
that is far from the price tag. just because the Angels terrible front office at the time made a bad deal to shed salary don’t mean the Rangers will. Rangers have plenty of space to take on salary if they want
Will Wilson isn’t even a top 10 organizational prospect.
Odor is one of only a few players that the Blue Jays are not in on.
The Rangers actually have the cap space right now to eat Odor’s contract, and still add about 20 mil in extra payroll this off-season. That is the pro of being cheap lol.
“The Rangers are cheap.”
“The Rangers will take on 28M of dead money.”
You have to pick one…
How does anyone know what he is. In 2020 Roster Resource had him the #7 Prospect on the Giants. Baseball was shut down for year. Joey Bart was promoted.
Dalton, you are wrong. If you are looking at MLB.com. They are the worst.
Roster Resource has him at #6. #7 if you include Joey Bart. But that was last year. Who knows anything this year.
still in a pretty weak farm no one has him in the top 5.
Regardless of how one feels about Wilson, his value at the time the Giants acquired him was 13M (at a minimum).
Jung’s sits anywhere from 15-30, depending on who you read. That’s also with several unknowns on our end (mostly alternate site numbers).
It’s not in Texas’ best interest to give away prospects just to move dead money, especially when their farm system is as putrid as it is.
And the idea of Texas buying out nearly 30M of Odor is so outlandish it’s difficult to take seriously.
Moral of the story: the Rangers stuck with Odor until his contract ends. Enjoy.
Who is no one?
These rating of farm systems haven’t even come out yet. He’s number 6 right now and since no one played last year, i doubt that changes.
Since players have been out for a year, there is going to be a lot of shuffling. That fact is, with the year not being played, we don’t know much about current rankings.
Here is what Fangraphs said last year.
Wilson was an Angel for half a year before he was tethered to Zack Cozart’s contract and traded to the Giants, a prospect burp to make budgetary room at the big league level.
Wilson was not a traditional first round talent based on visual evalauations. He’s a relatively projectionless, medium-framed infielder without a clear plus tool, and he lacked the strikeout-to-walk ratios first round collegiate players usually exhibit. But, his hands work great in the box, his swing is as compact as his frame (making it possible for him to get on top of high fastballs), he tracks breaking balls very well, and he was very young for a college player, still just 20 on draft day.
Some scouts on the amateur side wanted him to catch in pro ball and thought he had the toughness to do it. Others think he’ll be a fine 2B or 3B defender with a balanced, stable offensive profile. There is very likely limited ceiling here, probably something close to an average regular, but Wilson is also a fairly high probability contributor because of his bat-to-ball skills and defensive profile.
JohnJasoJingleHeimerSchmidt
Regardless of how one feels about Wilson, his value at the time the Giants acquired him was 13M (at a minimum).
Very succinctly put.
Giants farm system will most likely be ranked in ghe top 10 this year even if Joey Bart graduates from the list LOL.
I’m not sure Rangers fans should be criticizing anyone for a weak farm system. At all.
the biggest fact here is the Rangers aren’t trying to shed the contract… just the player. so your point is still invalid
Btw, the Rangers cheaped out the past couple of seasons, so they now have the flexibility to eat 28 mil of Odor’s contract. That’s how it needed to be interpreted.
giants weren’t even top ten when Bart was counted
The Rangers may not even have to eat Odor’s full contract. I think a team out there would give up a middling farm-hand if TEX paid down say, 80-85% of his salary.
Still a ton of money for the Rangers to absorb, but at this point I’d say getting off the hook of any of Odor’s contract is a win.
They are a top 15 farm system by literally every major outlet.
You probably don’t want to know where the Rangers rank…
Rangers are in the 20’s for the most part… but if you read it usually says their farm is full of young toolsy prospects
*High 20’s, for the most part.
AND they just traded away one of their top 3 prospects for a league-average hitter.
When your #3 prospect is worth someone like Nate Lowe, it reveals A LOT about your farm system.
So the Rangers are in zero position to move on from Odor. Zero.
23 is the lowest I have seen… so I know understanding math is hard but 23 is low 20’s
That was before they traded away their #3 prospect for Nate Lowe. Their best prospect is currently rated a 45+ FV on Fangraphs.
That’d be anywhere from the #4 to $5 prospect in the Giants system, which according to you is “a pretty weak farm”.
I get it, counting is hard.
Also, I’ve never seen someone try and defend their #23 farm system (out of 30 teams). Ever.
The Rangers are still years away from contending; they have a pathetically bad farm system, and they have two bench players making a combined 53M over the next two years. Players, by the way, they are absolutely stuck with and will continue to take up vital roster spots for younger players at least until the 2023 season.
The idea that some Rangers fans have that Rougned Odor would be cut and just have his contract bought out isn’t based in reality, at all.
The ONLY way they get rid of him is to attach him to a decent prospect. That prospect will either be someone like Jung, Huff, Winn, or possibly even Yerry Rodriguez.
So, I guess, enjoy watching Rougned Odor hit under .200 again. Such great value!
they also aquired a top 100 prospect… but let’s not take that into consideration….
we think he will be trades… along with a good portion of his contract
my bad. I meant the Rangers pay a good portion.
also… I would take andrus/Odor over Pujols/Upton any day
Who is ranking Nate Lowe as a top 100 prospect? Seriously…
Dane Dunning you fool
You mean an almost 26-year-old Dane Dunning who ranks #98 on MLB Pipeline (which is objectively the worst compiled list available)?
Dunning is good, but he’s not doing anything for the farm system. And he’ll get wrecked in a half-way decent division where he doesn’t get to face the Royals and Tigers for a good amount of his games.
sign teheran!
Hopefully, Odor and Guzman will both be gone like yesterday and the Rangers will have Kim in tow. If he is not then they need to get a stop gap 3b in Franco until Jung is ready. Good week to get Walker and Trevor Williams in the fold. Have no problem if Rangers jettison Allard either. Burke not reliable part of future rotation, but maybe as a long reliever.
if we get Kim he is expected to play 3B. Rangers have already said Solak is the 2B
As a Rangers fan, I’d love to see them sign Kim.
I can only hope and assume Terhan was hurt last year because he was bad for the Angels – I’m talking Tim Lincecum, Matt Harvey bad. Otherwise, I can’t see him contributing to a MLB team.
I would like Semien on a 1 year pillow contract with the Phillies. I think they need a left handed hitter with pop to bat 5th in that order however. I’d seriously consider bringing back Didi if i were Dombrowski.
This is my new Odor trade since I have been enlightened… Odor and 26M to the Angels for Justin Upton Jo Adell and Reid Demters… since Upton is worth 51M in future commitment…
We’re giving up too much.
Rangers would be crazy not to take that deal.
Please clarify if I get this wrong. To unload Upton’s salary, the Angels give up a top 10 prospect in Adell and a top 75 in Detmers? In return, they get the free services of a middle infielder that can’t hit and has no roster spot due to Iglesies, Fletcher, Rengifo, Baretto and Jones? Again, please clarify if I’m getting this wrong.
I have no problem with the Angels trading Adell for controllable MLB ready SP. But I can’t imagine they would give him up to free up salary. Nor do I believe they would give up 6 years of control of a top 75 SP in Detmers. The Angels are desperate for SP -preferably controllable.
The odds them trading Adell in such a manner are zero.
I have a better chance of bringing back Bob Gibson from the grave and have him be the Angels opening day starter.
Halo, I’m going to throw my vote behind the Bob Gibson option vs the Odor option. It’s more plausible and I’m a big Gibson fan.
Odor might be harder to deal right now than Stanton. That is how bad Odor is.
It has been reported that Lazarus has been risen from the dead, so there is precedence. And if Gibson can be risen from the dead, then it must be comparatively easy to get him back in pitching shape.
So, I would agree. Bob Gibson being the Angels opening day starter does have a greater likelihood of happening than that trade.
basically showing you guys how laughable Odor and Jung for nothing would be… even more so since the Rangers would be willing to pay part of his contract
This might be the worst trade proposition I’ve ever seen on this site. The Angels would be trading their #1 prospect and #1 pitching prospect for money and a middle infielder who can’t hit, If you assume Upton and Odor are equally valuable to their teams, then the Angels would be trading Jo Adell and Detmers for $26MM. I can’t see the Angels moving any of their top prospects unless it’s a starting pitcher.
it was a joke based on something said
Angels would be selling Adell and Detmers for 79MM
due to the fact Upton has much much less value due to his massive contract
The only way the Rangers move Odor is by taking a bad contract in return. The days of taking on bad contracts with the prospect kicker are probably over for now. Oder for Upton straight up would have to be the trade. Only way to move Oder without taking back a bad contract is if there is a team that honestly believes they can fix him with the whole change of scenery/new coaching staff and literally take nothing but a bag of balls and a case of sun flower seeds in return
Upton is owed almost 30mm more over the same span of time… he is also just as bad. no way one for one works
Difference is: you can at least play Justin Upton. No manager, in good conscience, can start Rougned Odor.
you can’t play Upton Adell and Marsh can you… Odor had decent defense along with power… I don’t care for him much but he is valuable vs RH pitching at least
Odor has -10 DRS over the past two seasons at 2B. He hasn’t had a league average season at the plate since 2016 and has watched his K-rate go up every season since.
The Texas Rangers might be the only team willing to play Rougned Odor at all, and that’s mostly because they can’t afford to cut him loose and no one will take him, even if he’s free. (Even if he’s free, he’ll need to be attached to a prospect).
He might be one of the least valuable players in all of baseball.
But, hey, at least he punched Jose Bautista once, amirite?
Angels fans are hilarious… they use fangraphs to talk trash about Rangers prospects but shy away and use some random site no one really uses when it comes to Will Wilson… Fangraphs say that Will Wilson at best would be the Rangers 8th best prospect… well behind Jung.
That was based on numbers from April 2020 lol. They will almost undoubtedly lower Tejeda and Taveras’ numbers to 45 or even 40+. They lose Hernandez. They graduate Solak off that list.
The fact that a 25-year-old Nick Solak, who is a below average player, was even a top prospect for them reveals everything you need to know about that organization.
Wilson would quickly become a top 5, maybe even top 3 prospect in Texas.
Meanwhile, he might not even be in the top 10 in San Francisco’s system. Upgrades to players like Corry, Hjelle, Canario, Santos will push Will Wilson out (and Wilson could still be upgraded).
You can bash Wilson all you want, but he’d be very quickly on of your team’s best prospects overnight. Texas’ farm system is that bad.
both of those guys jumped multiple levels and showed very good signs in the majors.
I’m not to sure how durable Tomoyuki Sugano.. he’s only thrown over 200 innings once in his 8 year career.. Whoever signs this guy must watch him closely because a lot of Japanese starters have faltered making the transition to Major League Baseball.. A lot of Japanese starters throughout the year’s no matter how great they are most likely will get hurt under the massive workload of an MLB season.. Just look at Shohei Ohtani.. Yu Darvish.. Daisuke Matsuzaka.. Hideo Nomo.. Wei-Yin Chen Kyuji Fujikawa.. Hong-Chih Kuo.. Tsuyoshi Wada.. Seunghwan Oh.. Hong-Chih Kuo has had 4 TJ surgeries (Masahiro Tanaka needed TJ surgery but went against many Doctors orders & suffered from it for several year’s all because he opted to not have TJ surgery).. young Japanese superstars we’re over worked & had many injuries which led them ultimately to having Tommy John Surgery.. The differences between MLB & NPB baseball.. NPB only play 144 game’s a season & only 12 team’s to compete against each other.. 6 in each league.. They don’t have to travel far from any game’s.. Their league also uses smaller baseball’s.. strike zone & playing field… Five of the league team field dimensions are so small they would violate the MLB rules.. Also game’s can end in a tie.. game’s during the regular season can only go to 12 innings & the playoffs it’s 15.. Game’s are also called if they pass 3 hours 30 minutes.. So you can see how Japanese starters no matter how great they are in NPB would have a very hard time adjusting to The MLB…
Tommy John Surgery Facts:
21 players in the MLB had Tommy John surgery in 2020.. thus making a staggering total of 632 MLB level players that have had Tommy John surgery since 1974. The total for all baseball players who had Tommy John surgery in 2020 was 52.. The list was last updated 12/9/20 making a grand total of 1,941 baseball players since 1974 who’ve had Tommy John surgery at least once, if not multiple times, in their baseball careers, this includes high school, college, all levels of minor league baseball MiLB & MLB player’s…
I believe only a few of them occurred before 1995. Tommy John is a neglected problem in baseball. While fans jump for joy over Cleveland’s name change they turn a blind eye over this massive (in my opinion) issue.
MLB and MLBPA aren’t addressing this. Tommy John surgery is the game’s greatest job creator; one falls, next man up. Meanwhile more rule changes to aid hitters continue to halt and/or end careers of pitchers.