Around the Horn: News and Notes 10/22

Good morning and happy Thursday! I hope your spooky season is as all you wanted it to be so far. NFL Football, College Football, a great NBA Playoffs, a whirlwind of MLB Playoffs, and now we got the October Classic in the World Series and man, has it been a ride into the fall and going into the winter, and things feel almost normal for once in 2020. If you haven't yet gone over to the podcast, that's fine; follow this link here and listen to the latest: https://anchor.fm/jb-pod/episodes/World-Series-time-Yankees-Yearly-in-Review-elah95

Time to rewind #2 of the World Series, where we saw Tony Gonsolin of the LAD vs. Former CY Young Award Winner Blake Snell go for Tampa Bay. Let's say when you have a CY Young caliber pitcher on the mound and be able to deal for 4.2IP, 2ER, 2BB, and get 9K, you are set up to win! Then when you have a first-inning HR by Brandon Lowe, a 4th inning 2R double by Wendle, and then another Lowe HR in the 6th to give you a 5-0 lead and turning it over to the best pen in the AL, you might be able to squeeze out a win against the Dodgers. But when you pen gives up a solo shot HR in the 6th and 8th and then have Diego Castillo come on and throw three pitches for the save, its game over, and the series is tied 1-1 with a Rays 6-4 win. Charlie Morton, aka Clutch Charlie against Walker Buehler for the LAD. For contests, 4-5-6-7 for the Dodgers will go, Julio Urias, Kershaw, Bullpen(Dustin May basically) if needed, and then Buehler again for seven required.

Time to throw the ol ball Around the Horn for some news and notes.

The World Series- Blake Snell is the first pitcher since Rodger Clemens in 2000 with 9+K and two or fewer hits allowed. Ray's Rookie Randy Arozarena is currently tied for most hits in a postseason with Derek Jeter with 22. The last part of the history lesson is the Rays pitching staff tied an MLB record for most K's over the first two games with 26 tying the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics. The Dodgers were the first team to have seven different pitchers record at least three outs in a nine-inning World Series game.

-CONGRATS to two of my favorite players in the MLB- Twins Nelson Cruz and Braves Freddie Freeman won the Top Honors in 2020 Players Choice Awards Presented by Topps. Congrats!

-Pirates coach Don Kelly interviewed for the Boston RedSox manager opening. He is also a candidate for the Tigers Job. They have also interviewed Cubs Coach Will Venable, Dodgers Coach Geroge Lombard. Alex Cora is viewed as an organization and fan favorite.

-Utility Man Josh Harrison has resigned from the Washington Nationals on a one year- 1MIL deal with 250K in incentives.

-Braves GM Anthopoulos stated that the Braves hope to Re-Sign Ozuna. Ozuna was HUGE for the Braves in 2020 and, hopefully, for a few more years.

-Zach Wheeler SP for the Phillies did undergo a Fingernail Resection Procedure; he is expected to be ready by spring. Pirates P Luis Perdomo underwent Tommy John surgery; see you in 2022

-Mariners P- Matt Magill, Carl Edwards Jr., Nestor Cortes Jr.- each elected free agency. The Rangers claimed Mariners P Art Warren. The team now has seven open spots on the 40man roster.

-Yadier Molina is seeking a 2-year deal. The contract is its situation for the Cardinals. Keep the franchise's HOF and face, or turn it over the 25yo Andrew Knitzer, who hasn't shown well at the MLB level. Further down, the Cardinals pipeline is 20YO Ivan Herrera, who could be around by 2022. Over the last two seasons for Yadi, we have seen a .268/.310/.388 slash line for him, Still a solid bat, not as great as it was years ago for the 17Y vet but still league average. He even threw out 31.7 of attempted base stealers, which is above average. He did have a 13.5% strikeout rate lower than league average, but he has sat around 9-10% to this point in his career. This season's 78.1% contact rate was the weakest of his career, and a 12% swinging-strike rate was a career-high. So advanced metrics show us an aging Yadi. But it comes down to keep Yadi and keep the Icon or move on.

I don't want to go too far into this news piece as I have an In My Opinion coming for this topic. But MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred did say he hopes to keep the Expanded Playoffs and the format that we saw. There are a TON of pro's and cons, and I am excited to get into this topic.

That is all we got for today, folks. I am so grateful for your time today and your support. Stay with me as we progress through the World Series and into the winter. More Around the Horn and a lot more In My Opinion and new pieces called Ball Boy Talk: will be pieces just going into trade rumors and free agency speculation and reaction.