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Happy Saturday! Have two scoops of links along with your cereal. So much better than raisins.
In Mariners news:
- Remember that bizarre 22-21 DSL Mariners win over the DSL Yankees? J.J. Cooper at Baseball America wrote it up.
Around the league:
- The big news of yesterday is the Cleveland baseball team officially has their new name: the Cleveland Guardians. For an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at why the Guardians name was chosen (and why the seeming fan favorite “Spiders” wasn’t), check out this article; and to learn more about the Guardians statutes themselves, click here for ten fun facts and (including the fact that they were almost torn down! Okay that fact is not “fun” I guess but the guy who wanted to widen the bridge and tear down the statues lost, so nyah nyah). There are some cool historical pictures too.
- In Manfred’s constant monkeying around with baseball in the minor leagues, the latest: electronic signaling devices between catcher and pitcher, designed to eliminate sign stealing, are coming to Low-A West (still known to us as the California League).
- The Rays sent some prospects out the door recently in the Nelson Cruz trade, but were quick to recoup that loss by dealing out of their excess of arms, sending veteran Rich Hill to the Mets in exchange for a couple minor-league prospects. DRays Bay has a breakdown on why the trade made sense for the Rays.
- The latest team in hot water over its treatment of minor leaguers is the Los Angeles Angels. This follows reports from the Advocates for Minor Leaguers Twitter account, which was the first to break the story about how Angels prospects, especially in Low-A Inland Empire (San Bernardino) are frustrated that they’re actually losing money on their housing, which the Angels do not cover, and nor are there home stays this year for players (interesting, because Seattle’s affiliate is doing home stays in Modesto).
- Despite having a worse record than the Mariners, the Yankees expect to be buyers at the trade deadline. We’ve heard they’ve been connected to Trevor Story; they’ve also reportedly checked in with the Marlins about Starling Marte and the Twins about Max Kepler.
- If the Yankees add, the Red Sox might get desperate to make their own additions, as the Rays trading for Nelson Cruz already turned up the heat on them to make a move.