the pitch clock is counting down to the MLB 2023 REGULAR SEASON THREAD

Get in on this one early folks: Dodger Rookie Bobby Miller, unacknowledged stud of the league

Yes Strider is a close second but Olson has those green eyes, that accent and he’s huge. Undisputed. Braves a fine-looking team though.

Going back to the first post in this thread, the Mariners looked astonishingly good last night against a very good Orioles club.

Er, the second post.

Yeah they’ve been gradually heating up and putting it together at the plate, great to see. Julio seems to have come out of his slump at the right time.

Pitching was otm as well.

Pitching has been largely strong all season but patch on occasion- Logan Gilbert was very inconsistent earlier but he’s been dealing for a while. They have a really strong bullpen which is why they traded Sewald. Kirby against that lineup should be interesting, he’s legitimate co-ace material.

Yeah, he's been very strong since mid-July, which is the last time he lost a game. Should be a good matchup, worth staying up for.

Also, JP Crawford is having a great season but he’s on the IL due to a concussion, so was worried about them getting it done without him, but they’re just rolling along now

O's starting pitching is their weak spot. I don't feel too good about Cole Irvin.

What a great outing for both pitchers. Great game all around.

Feel sorry for Kirby. Pitched nine and clearly wanted the win very badly, couldn’t even get a single run of support.

I would too, but my kid is an Orioles fan, so I can't feel too bad. There's nothing like high-fiving your kid when his team pulls out a win like this. The Mountain seems to have recovered from the grand slam he gave up last week.

Yankees just got walked off by the Marlins after being up 7-3 entering the bottom of the ninth.

Gee, what a shame :)

Well, that mariners game was the Felix tribute night so it couldn’t have gone any other way

These O's/Mariners games have all been pithing duels. Baltimore typically has much more offensive production than this.

*pitching

Oooh, all of a sudden Baltimore is threatening. That balk might cost Seattle.

That catch by Mullins was unreal.

And then he hits a homer

Fantastic game, just really good baseball.

So Wander Franco might be in some trouble….. alleged social media post of him kissing a minor. I haven’t seen or heard much more than this. Just very very sad

Sunday's promotion at Tropicana Field was the Wander Franco snapback hat for fans 14 and under.

Not the best timing for that promotional day.

I don’t really see how this is sad if it’s true.

Jeff Passan reports that he didn’t travel with the team to San Francisco which seems ominous?

It's sad for the Rays, I guess.

The Tampa Bay Rays have placed shortstop Wander Franco on the restricted list, which takes him off the roster and is, in most cases, unpaid, an MLB official tells ESPN. The league has launched an investigation into social media posts about Franco from Sunday.

Seems like Franco could clear this up pretty quickly and easily, wonder why he hasn't 🤔

You don’t see the abuse of a minor as sad?

Thought it was a pretty appropriate emotional response to hearing this news, but can’t wait to hear how my sadness at this implicates me as an asshole. Shoot your shot gyac

You don't need to preemptively do this.

Damn, i thought the “don’t have to” rhetoric was localised

I think gyac's "sad" comment is along the lines of "think about the victim" if this is true, not how it effects the player, team, or sport.

But go ahead.

That was what my sad comment was; is there anything in my post that implies the “sad” was in reference to player, team, or sport?

please don’t

the available info -- unknown person(s) posting accusations on social media along with a redacted photo of franco kissing someone on the cheek -- doesn't quite match up with this sort of response from MLB imo

which makes me think it's super extra bad

The Attorney General of the Dominican Republic says that there is a complaint filed by a minor against Wander Franco.

According to the Attorney General of the DR, it's another young woman, not the one on social media, per @DiarioLibre / @AlertasMundial. https://t.co/Og1AnsMwxn

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) August 15, 2023

I just took hrep's "sad" not as exculpation of Franco or anything close to that, or even "sad that he got caught," just all-around sad--for the victim of course, plus the sad feeling you always get when you see an athlete fall from grace, especially a young, gifted, and seemingly exuberant athlete. At least I do. You don't get that feeling with politicians or pop stars, where it's just "what else is new?" Sports still feels different to me.

If true, and I've got no reason to think it isn't, how do you even begin to understand Franco's thought process? "You thought...this would be okay? Not be noticed? Allow you continue the career that's about to make you extremely wealthy and famous?"

Yeah, this isn't going away any time soon. I read that the Rays are continuing to pay Franco, even though they don't need to because he's on the restricted list? Not sure what to make of that. The Rays have also chosen not to freeze his service time clock, which is within their rights to do.

I’m not remotely sad for Franco. If true, and as Mookieproof says it’s not really looking great on that score, it’s just appalling. I don’t know why someone who could probably have his pick of women can’t just go after 20 year olds like the rest of their colleagues, but the implied answer to that is just incredibly depressing.

Franco dropped out of school before he was a teenager and signed for 3+ million as a 16 year old. I can see how that would contribute to a mental/moral stunting. I just don’t understand how people like Wander don’t even have a selfish self-preservation instinct within them (let alone outside of them!) that would keep them from this. Doesn’t matter your education level, you have to know the laws, let alone the social meanness of wielding power like this over a minor (surely that’s a “wrong” you can feel as instinctual)

Here’s hoping this ends up being conjecture. I have no idea

Here’s hoping this ends up being conjecture. I have no idea

vs

The Attorney General of the Dominican Republic says that there is a complaint filed by a minor against Wander Franco.

True

Witt Jr is really special, hate that this happened to the failing Seattle Mariners but what a play honestly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeW7JT_E-Ok

Unless it's buried somewhere or I missed it, mlb.com has not yet mentioned Franco.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but I'd like to believe that the league's official site can handle this story with at least a brief, factual acknowledgment of what's going on.

I don’t go on mlb.com ever (I really just use the app to stream games & pull up clips/stats) but I went to look just now and it’s nowhere on the main page or the news page. It is on the TBR section.

https://www.mlb.com/rays/news/wander-franco-placed-on-restricted-list

Okay, that's good. It should be on the main page, but at least they're not ignoring it.

No you’re right, it shouldn’t be hard to find. It’s not as though mlb.com allows comments on their stories.

Franco dropped out of school before he was a teenager and signed for 3+ million as a 16 year old. I can see how that would contribute to a mental/moral stunting. I just don’t understand how people like Wander don’t even have a selfish self-preservation instinct within them (let alone outside of them!) that would keep them from this. Doesn’t matter your education level, you have to know the laws, let alone the social meanness of wielding power like this over a minor (surely that’s a “wrong” you can feel as instinctual)

Here’s hoping this ends up being conjecture. I have no idea

― hrep (H.P), Tuesday, August 15, 2023 3:37 AM (seven hours ago)

you're trying to apply logic to alleged pedophilia... i don't think attraction to children is a matter of logic