As MLB’s 2023 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Ryu undergoing x-rays:
In a brutal turn of events yesterday, veteran left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu left his start against the Guardians yesterday after being struck in the right knee by a comebacker. Ryu, who finished top-3 in Cy Young award voting in back-to-back seasons 2019-20, missed the last 13 months of action after undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. Yesterday was just the second start of his return to big league action. Looking ahead, MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson notes that the 36-year-old hurler will undergo x-rays to determine the severity of his injury. Should Ryu require a return to the injured list, Toronto won’t need to replace him in the rotation, as they’re currently utilizing a six-man unit and could simply downsize to a group of five containing right-handers Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Alek Manoah, and Jose Berrios along with lefty Yusei Kikuchi.
2. Story to return:
Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story is expected to be activated from the injured list prior to this evening’s game against the Royals. Story has yet to play in the majors this season, the second of his six-year, $140MM pact with Boston, after undergoing an offseason internal brace procedure in his throwing elbow. Story is on the 60-day injured list, but the club already has a spot on the 40-man roster, meaning only an active roster move will be necessary to activate the two-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner.
Story won’t return to everyday play right away, as noted Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, as player and club agreed that Story would play just every other day in his first week back in the majors as he continues to build back to full strength. That Story is returning today is a reversal from the plan outlined as recently as this weekend, which would have left the 30-year-old in the minors through the end of a maximum 20-day rehab assignment. Story’s return presumably ends Yu Chang’s run as the club’s starting shortstop.
3. MLBTR Chat today:
MLB’s trade deadline has come and gone, and the league’s 30 clubs are all pushing full steam ahead into the stretch run. Although we’re fairly deep into the season at this point, nearly two thirds of the league still has 10% or better odds at a playoff spot, per Fangraphs. If you’re curious how your team will hold up over the season’s final months, what their plan for the future is, or have a question about one of the many deals that went down at the deadline last week, MLBTR’s Steve Adams is hosting a live chat with readers at 1pm CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Hope the Ryu injury isn’t that bad. Him returning, coupled with Schneider heroics should be the jolt of energy our team needs for the long run. Wishing him a full and speedy recovery.
Off Topic question I was hoping somebody could help me with. Okay so I usually catch up on all the days action by reading the game summaries & examining box scores at ESPN.com that are supplied by AP reporters. (Back in the day, this is what newspapers were for lol ) So as part of the box score for every team, under where they list the pitcher line and things like HBP, WP, BK, etc. the very last thing listed is something called “GAME SCORES”. And it’s always just the starting pitchers name & some number, for instance in yesterday’s Yankee / White Sox game it has listed as the last entry on each team’s boxscore
GAME SCORES: Gerrit Cole 52
GAME SCORES: Dylan Cease 65
In yesterday’s Red Sox/Royals game it has listed as the last entry on each team’s box score
GAME SCORES: Cole Ragens 70
GAME SCORES: Brayan Bello 58
Now for crying out loud I’ve been reading & scrutinizing box scores for over 30 years but I have never seen or noticed this mysterious “GAME SCORES” data before. Does anybody know what this means or stands for ? Or what the # signifies after the starters name?? I am so perplexed lol.
mlb.com/glossary/advanced-stats/game-score
• Start with 40 points
• Add 2 points for each out recorded (or 6 points per inning)
• Add 1 additional point for every strikeout
• Remove 2 points for each walk allowed
• Remove 2 points for each hit allowed
• Remove 3 points for each run allowed (earned or unearned)
• Remove 6 additional points for each home run allowed
It was created by Bill James in the 80s, and Tom Tango updated it. Tango’s updates are the accepted formula used on MLB.com, Baseball Reference, etc. The highest ever was Kerry Wood’s 20 Strikeout game.
It’s a neat way to assess a Starting Pitcher’s performance, and the score correlates with the team’s winning percentage in games that that pitcher starts. So, a game score of 70 means that the Royals are expected to win the game 70% of the time when Cole Ragans pitches like that (fun fact: I got a hit off of him in High School)
Very cool, BizzyDat! Getting a hit off a future MLB pitcher. Nice game score explanation, also. I did not know the game score also translated to a team’s expected to win the game XX% of a time. I am going to check that part out for myself as it seems not quite agreeable to me. Not saying you are wrong. I just need to verify that part of your explanation for myself. If it is true, thank you for adding that into your explanation and teaching me something new.
I clicked on drewnats33 mlb link to game score and there it is at the end of the explanation. A game score strongly correlates to a team winning that game. I would have lost $5 on that bet. 🙂 Thank you BizzyDat and drewnats33!
@ Bizz
WHOA. An analytics that i understand! AND LIKE!
HAH. QB rating for starters. LOVE IT!
Bill James created the game score to assess a pitcher’s performance – 100 is great and 50 is average.
mlb.com/glossary/advanced-stats/game-score
Yeah I had noticed thisnuears ago when KeithbLaw still worked for espn and he gave me a rundown on what it represents. BizzyDat does a great job explaining it below, but I recall 50 being “average’ and 100 being elite performance that start.
Geez, if only I knew how to type…sorry about that. I really wish they had an edit button.
coop – Are you being facetious, or do you really not know there’s an edit button?
Can’t edit on the app, FPG. Maybe thats the issue, just FYI.
Gwynn – Thank you, I didn’t know that.
Used to be in the mlb box scores, too, until just a few years ago
Story or not, if Pablo Reyes doesn’t start today after hitting a walk-off Grand Slam, then whoever made that decision (Bloom, Cora, whoever) needs to go
Biz – Since the article doesn’t say … I’ll be curious to see if Story will be playing the field every other game and DH’ing in between, or completely sitting out every other game.
If he’s gonna be totally unavailable every other game, Red Sox Nation will have a problem with that.
Story is apparently on the Error in Judgement plan.
If he’s gonna be totally unavailable every other game, Red Sox Nation will have a problem with that.
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Nonsense. I assume that he will play when he can play. The very idea that fans that have no idea, and I mean absolutely no clue, about the health of his arm and what the doctors are recommending, should dictate policy, is laughable.
Joseph – You have one too many Bud Lights today?
Read my post again please, then you will hopefully realize I said nothing about his ability to play.
My point was very clear – if the plan is to have Story sit every game for a while, he should be doing it in the minors. Because with their already-extremely-short bench, they cannot afford to have an even shorter bench every other game. They’ve already lost enough games because Cora used up their entire bench.
So Steve Adams knows how the teams will hold up the rest of the season? Pretty special guy.
The force is strong with that one, apparently.
Sup DodgerOK, 1-Reds- I’m Gwynning and I like baseball. I can appreciate most everything I read here, comments and stories alike. I can completely appreciate Steve’s takes even if his opinion isn’t always 100% in lockstep with mine. His chats have always been great, too. His informative takes are just his best prognostications based on his breadth of knowledge. It’s ok if your opinion is different than mine as I’ll still like baseball… and the part where we all chat about it.
baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=ada…
^^^Is that Steve Adams the same as the writer? It would be cool if it was
Biz – No, it’s not the same guy.
The writer is like 20 years younger and from Minnie Soda.
Does anyone know when MLB.com will add drafted guys to their top 100 and top 30 team rankings? It has been quite some time since the draft, and most of the hitters drafted seem to have played already. Btw, Nolan Schanuel has an elite BB/K ratio so far in the minors. He may be underrated quite a bit.
Ryu literally ran to the ball, made the throw, then decided that was enough before acting like he was shot for traveling over the demilitarized zone. Something very fishy about this.
That is what adrenaline does Slider, notice how the throw nearly did not make it to Vlad? or how he hit the ground right after throwing? Nothing fishy for you conspiracy theory guys!!!
As soft as the entire Sheldon Keefe crew. His cry baby tears after the fact fit in perfectly with the Toronto sports scene .
Nothing fishy at all.
Last summer I had a compound avulsion fracture coupled with a grade 3 sprain. After the injury I made it up 16 stairs into the house 2nd story with only minor discomfort, then across to get something, back to the stairs, down the stairs with building pain that fell like a mild twisted ankle, and finally outside to where the pain was so strong I couldn’t put unsupported weight on it.
Adrenaline and a person’s pain tolerance. Had I been a pro athlete and in a situation taught to make sure you do down when you know something happened to let the trainers look at you before you move around, I’d have stopped and dropped somewhere around the upstairs.
In my case, the pain didn’t register right away. I got hit with a comebacker, picked up the ball, and threw the guy out at first. It didn’t take long for the pain to intensify, but for a few seconds, I was fine.
There is also a swelling issue if you get hit in the leg. The swelling doesn’t happen immediately. There are a whole slew of injuries that might not cause you to drop immediately.
Makes sense Joe. Broken vessels and the interstitial fluids take time to begin to allows liquids gather, pool up, and create pressure in the tissues, press on nerves, etc etc…
Slider – I once saw a chicken running around very fast after his head was cut off, then it decided that was enough before acting like it was shot for traveling through Compton at night. Something very fishy about it.
I don’t trust headless chickens and I don’t trust Ryu.
I have never seen what should be a typo then nolan’s final year bb/ k ratio. It’s the best i think a collegiate could ever have. Believe it or not scouts question his power after producing 19 hrs. Angels might have another star on their hands.
“Story’s return presumably ends Yu Changs run with the team”
Is what that should say. Either Chang or Reyes has to go unless someone gets an IL placement. Reyes hit walk-off grand slam last night and I’d hope they wouldn’t reward him by DFA’ing him the next day
Well, the FO is so irrationally enamored with Chang that I wouldn’t put it past them to DFA Reyes. Chang would very likely clear waivers and head to AAA, but I don’t think Bloom wants to even take that chance.
Rsox – That walkoff never should have happened, it was a total gift by the ump who over-ruled what was the 4th strikeout of the game for Urias.
Check swings should be reviewable, period.
An incredible play by Ryu last night considering how hard that ball was hit.
Have always enjoyed the mlbtr chats going way back to my college years 06-10. Fond memories walking from class to class hoping one of my questions about the reds would get answered.
Thanks MLBTR
Does Chang have options remaining?
If Story plays, so does McGuire.
Then we’ll Wong Chang every other night. A little less dancing, but still keeps me happy.