Mariners Moose Tracks, 10/23/21: Dusty Baker, Mariners roster moves, Spencer Torkelson

Good morning. The Astros are the ALCS champs, which you all knew, even if you didn’t watch the game last night. The World Series matchup is half-decided and could be full-decided if Atlanta wins just one more game, and the Mariners are already making roster moves in anticipation of the off-season. Let’s get into today’s links:

In playoff news:

• [Through the utmost gritted teeth] Congratulations to the Astros, American League champs. The Astros’ pitching staff, which had looked vulnerable at times through these playoffs, absolutely clamped down on Boston’s powerful offense, blanking them 5-0 last night to earn a World Series berth. Bleh the Astros, but we are always Team Dusty, which you can read about in this excellent NY Times article from Tyler Kepner.

In Mariners news:

• In case you missed it, the Mariners removed six players from the 40-man roster in a bit of pre-off-season roster cleanup. INF Shed Long will reportedly seek new opportunities, according to his agent, and RHP Ljay Newsome was claimed by the Cardinals, who got to see quite a bit of Ljay while he was in Double-A.
• Former Mariner Ariel Miranda continues to live his best pitcher life overseas, which makes me very happy for him:

Around the League:

• I am so bummed that when I head to the Arizona Fall League I won’t get a chance to watch top prospect Spencer Torkelson play. He has a sprained ankle and will miss the rest of the AFL. Fellow Tigers prospect, shortstop Ryan Kreidler, is also done for the AFL with a calf strain. Another Tigers top prospect, Riley Greene, was already ruled out before the AFL even started, making Detroit down three total players for the fall league.
• According to sources, Matt Vasgersian is out as a host of Sunday Night Baseball for next year. What will MLB The Show do now? Eduardo Perez and Karl Ravech are in, and reportedly A-Rod has been asked to join but likely won’t, which, yes please.
• In case you missed it, our own Michael Ajeto wrote an excellent and important article over at Baseball Prospectus highlighting the lazy Americanizing of a couple of star players’ names this post-season, and how that points to a larger problem in baseball.
• Jason McLeod, who oversaw the Cubs farm at the time when the core that helped win the World Series was coming up, has declined an offer to return to the organization, according to The Athletic. With the earlier departure of Theo Epstein, that leaves just Jed Hoyer as the remaining member of the triumvirate that oversaw the Cubs’ recent rise to glory. Reportedly McLeod wants to “seek new opportunities,” potentially as a candidate for the GM openings around the league.
• Speaking of new opportunities, just a year after retiring, former Twin and second baseman Brian Dozier says he wants to get into managing.
• Bummer 2022 MLB Draft news: two-way prospect Reggie Crawford of UConn, one of the premiere college talents, will reportedly miss the 2022 season with an arm injury.