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Hello everyone! Let’s get you caught up on the latest news from the MLB playoffs and baseball as a whole.
In playoff news...
- The Red Sox bats flourished yesterday in a 12-3 win over the Astros. Kyle Schwarber hit a grand slam to bring Boston to a 2-1 series lead over Houston in the ALCS.
In Mariners news...
- Our own Joe Doyle made a quick back-of-the-napkin estimate of the Mariners’ upcoming 40-man roster crunch and potential Rule 5 casualties.
Rule 5 primer for Seattle. Guessing 36 guys are guaranteed to be tendered a contract. 7 more fighting for last 4 spots. Think Marcus Wilson is gone.
— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) October 18, 2021
Ray Kerr gets protected. Sam Carlson, Devin Sweet, Joe Rizzo, etc unprotected.
Orange on chopping block w/offseason acquisitions. pic.twitter.com/zlPbj21DIf
- More and more people are talking about George Kirby.
George Kirby's fastball was up to 102 this year.
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) October 18, 2021
Scouts love his slider.
The @MsPlayerDev righty was the top pitching prospect in High-A West this year.
New Top 10 + scouting reports: https://t.co/fSMp4ko37V pic.twitter.com/1uBVEHCrFW
- Another young arm for the M’s is headed down to the Arizona Fall League.
Mariners pitcher Travis Ray Kuhn has been added to the AFL roster for Peoria. Kuhn's season ended early due to a sports hernia, but he struck out 29% of batters in Everett while walking just 3.5%. In his AFL debut he went 1.1 scoreless innings with no hits and two strikeouts.
— Lookout Landing (@LookoutLanding) October 19, 2021
- There’s always more Julio content to enjoy.
Around the league...
- The Padres are getting a head start on their managerial search. San Diego is reportedly going to interview recent Cardinals manager Mike Shildt.
- Billy Beane, once again, is not going anywhere. Well, at least not to Queens.
A’s executive VP Billy Beane has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Mets, sources tell @TheAthletic. Earlier today, @JoelSherman1 reported that the Brewers have denied permission for the Mets to talk to Milwaukee GM David Stearns.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 18, 2021
- A lot of people in the industry seem uninterested in working for Steve Cohen in New York.
A report that the #Mets have put former #Pirates 1b Dorian Boyland on growing short list led to a pleasant conversation with Boyland who told me no contact with the NYM, no interest in the job. He said he is happy to run his car dealerships.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) October 18, 2021
- Fernando Tatis, Jr. is reportedly not going to get shoulder surgery and will instead look to strengthen it.
- Jacob Markle at Bless You Boys says we haven’t seen the best of Akil Baddoo yet.
- Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs notes that starting pitchers are in fact becoming less and less used in the postseason.
- Much like the Mariners, the Blue Jays are expected to be major spenders this winter.
- The Yankees officially announced that they have agreed to a three-year contract extension with manager Aaron Boone.