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

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

Trevor Story’s arm is so back (pls forgive duplicate links, idk if embedding even works anymore!)

pic.twitter.com/p5rSl69lgR

— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) August 16, 2023

nice pick

i feel like he put a lil mustard on that pick

The spiciest thing about that play was the NESN commentary

OB throwing jabs pic.twitter.com/IsEbQw2Yml

— The Pesky Report (63-56) (@PeskyReport) August 16, 2023

IT’S MOREL SEASON

CROSSTOWN WALK OFF! pic.twitter.com/E1EwOKdVWA

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 17, 2023

Not sure how reliable this guy's source is:

A person very close to the investigations into the case of Wander Franco: "It will be very unlikely that Wander Franco will play in MLB again, judging by the results of the investigations that are currently being carried out, which directly commit him to the accusations against… https://t.co/Yn5CGckJgE

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) August 17, 2023

My source in this case is the same one that gave me the news when I broke the Wander Franco's contract extension with the Rays.https://t.co/qN5D7gdlIG

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) August 17, 2023

He seems to be quite reputable/connected. Sports Illustrated and other outlets are citing his tweet.

Looking past Franco--and in no way meaning to minimize the real-life seriousness of the story--I wonder how this will affect the Rays. Even with their post-break slump, I'm sure they would have been one of five or six favorites going into the postseason.

In other words, context-free, this is no different than losing a key--maybe the key--player to an injury, and teams overcome that all the time. But this is not the same thing.

Depends if Kevin Cash has the locker-room skill set to mitigate this blow. Dodgers had a similar-ish situation with Bauer, it did not seem to affect the baseball for them too much but Roberts is a phenomenal locker-room guy.

What Roberts/front-office do not do though, is let starters out beyond the 7th inning. Lynn is at 87 pitches of 0-run ball, let him take the CG shutout!

I'm sure it helped too that the Dodgers were more of a veteran team.

Mookie on 3hr game record break watch yet again. 2hr’s in the 5th inning against the Marlins

17 hits in 4 games:

https://www.mlb.com/news/julio-rodriguez-sets-record-with-17-hits-in-4-games

Yep he’s been great for a while after slumping pretty hard a couple of months back, love to see it

insane

- Hits in the last 4 games for Julio Rodríguez: 17

- Hits in the last 4 games for the New York Yankees: 17

(via @TheBsblr) pic.twitter.com/kCQPmnqYeH

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) August 20, 2023

Ha--made a hometown version of the same joke in a FB post earlier today (included the Tatis catch):

The Mariners' Julio Rodriguez (J-Rod; not to be confused with A-Rod, I-Rod, or K-Rod) has 17 hits in his last four games, breaking Milt Stock's (M-Stock, as I like to call him) record of 16 for the Brooklyn Robins in 1925--also, I believe, exactly the same number of hits the Jays have had this month. This is from a couple of weeks ago; brilliant.

"The following media includes potentially sensitive content"--huh? Traumatic for Milt Stock's great-grandchildren?

Yankees-Red Sox game incredible today - if it was football it would be REAL END TO END STUFF TREVOR.

As it happened, some clutch hitting, the invocation of the Buster Posey rule, Connor Wong continuing to be him, and the worst fucking strike zone courtesy of Junior Valentine that you’ll ever see.

Watching Kenley close out a game with a one run lead should carry a health warning. 8 losses in a row for the Yankees.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F3_2A_YXgAAWMHR?format=jpg&name=medium

It wasn't even just the strike zone, which was both completely off and also inconsistent, it was like Valentine was high. Cora had a good point after the game that maybe the weirdest thing about the play at the plate was that Valentine (who was not in position to see the play, by the way) waited to see if Wong had the ball securely in his glove... and then called the runner safe. Huh??

It was a wild game. I don’t think I’ve watched such an eventful game since the second Mariners-Blue Jays WC in terms of shit that kept happening. If I was trying to get someone into this game, this might be it. So much happening!

This was the play btw since I hope other people love dramatic runner out at home stuff

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/716928/play/69

MLB video editors saving the umps some embarrassment there. it was the most drawn-out review i can remember, martin throwing possibly 40 pitches just to stay warm. and the craziest thing really was the SECOND review ordered by boone on whether wong was blocking the plate, which the umps had already said they had done anyway, the result of which i guess probably should have been clear from the fact that they'd overturned the call on the field and ruled K-F out, but as far as I know didn't actually communicate that separate plate-blocking decision to anyone, so boone orders up a challenge, which he loses instantly, and the way the umps communicate that to the crowd is "the call on the field is confirmed!" meaning, the decision that wong had not been blocking the plate, but nobody had any way of knowing that was the call they were talking about, so the crowd is just existing in this elastic limbo land, cheers turning to boos turning to "whaa?" and back again

couldn't have happened to nicer fans obv

BH3: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Bryce Harper hits an inside-the-park home run and gives a shrug after he slides past home plate.

🎥 @Phillies pic.twitter.com/qJGSeEcNsh

— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) August 22, 2023

cross ref this with that athletic article on the decline of errors in the league — this is a triple with an error

It doesn’t qualify for the Rougned Odor thread but last night’s Sox-Astros game was eventful

-Connor Wong running straight into Alex Bregman on a pop-up to force a batter’s interference and get the out

Here's Connor Wong charging into Alex Bregman pic.twitter.com/eTPMknUm0g

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 24, 2023

Say it with us now, pitchers are ATHLETES! 😤 pic.twitter.com/LNjoGxoncC

— MLB (@MLB) August 24, 2023

TREVOR STORY, TOO SMOOTH WITH IT! pic.twitter.com/BIIvPpHjQw

— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 24, 2023

Martín Maldonado, who entered 2-for-14 with nine strikeouts against Chris Sale, hit a first-pitch fastball for a two-run homer. Astros lead 3-0 in the second.

— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) August 24, 2023

Pivetta's got some 🔥 in him pic.twitter.com/1ykv1mTdSS

— NESN (@NESN) August 24, 2023

So as one does, I decided to check the baseball schedule today to see who was worth watching, and by God if this is not the day of perfect team match ups. The criteria of said match-ups is a vague notion of teams being either equally matched, or just being right for each other ya know? (like of course the cubs should be playing the pirates right now). I give today a solid 13/15, with the 2 off matches (tigers - stros, mariners royals) just needing to switch opponents. This is not a power ranking thing, it just feels right that the rays should be playing the Yankees, and the giants should be playing the braves. It’s the vibe. I guess Phillies - Cards is a questionable one as well, but lets just imagine we’re back in 2022 for a moment and that sorts that out.

Tigers - Astros
Rays - Yankees
Marlins - Nationals
Phillies - Cardinals
Orioles - Rockies
Pirates - Cubs
Blue Jays - Guardians
White Sox - Athletics
Red Sox - Dodgers
Mets - Angels
Twins - Rangers
Brewers - Padres
Dbacks - Reds
Mariners - Royals
Giants - Braves

Any disagreements? What is your hypothetical perfect 15 team match up for the 2nd half of 2023?

Some of these are games you probably couldn't pay me to watch, but that's most days. Rays-Yankees, Giants-Braves are great matchups. It feels weird to be pulling for the Yankees, but the O's could gain ground with what should be an easy win at home against the Rockies.

O’s - Rockies was also a question mark, but these O’s 100% should be at Coors absolutely clobbering dingers to the ozone layer with how they’re playing right now. They’ve had a tough year, and this is perfect little reward for their toil.

On another note, it has been 3.5 years since Mookie came to the dodgers and TONIGHT is his first time back at fenway?!?!? What’s his slash line in the past 7 days? .619/.652/1.143 (yes really). Or if you want a more conservative 14 days: .585/.630/.902. Unbelievable player.
Gross mix of ovation and boos for mookie coming up to start, though I think the applause cut through louder

He just gave a fist bump to a kid on his way back to the dugout after popping out :’)