Mariners Moose Tracks, 8/11/23: Joey Votto, Alex Rodriguez, and Zack Littell

Good morning everyone and happy Friday! Let’s check out the latest from the baseball world.

In Mariners news...

• Bryce Miller starting Sunday will mark a rematch between Miller and Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg, a personal rivalry dating back to their Little League days.
• John Stanton spoke to the press about MLB rule changes and a potential Shohei Ohtani pursuit (though I personally advise against making too much of his comments on the latter).
• All three of the Mariners’ wild card rivals lost yesterday, helping the M’s push their Fangraphs playoff odds to 39% as of this writing.

• Over at his personal blog, Colin O’Keefe wrote about this particular moment of the Mariners season where it sure feels like they are turning things around.
• It sounds like the M’s could be resting their arms in the near future, paving the way for Emerson Hancock to remain in the starting rotation for the stretch run.

Around the league...

• Matthew Roberson at GQ sat down with Reds legend Joey Votto to discuss his road trip routine.
• Meanwhile, GQ’s Gerald Flores talked with Alex Rodriguez about his strange, salt-heavy diet.
• Matt Monagan chronicled the legend of Fat Joe’s rec softball career.
• Team employees are starting to speak out against the A’s relocation efforts, as Spanish-language broadcaster Amaury Pi-González referred to the move as “not professional.”
• Both Baseball America ($) and MLB Pipeline updated their top 100 prospect lists, each pushing 17-year-old Padres backstop Ethan Salas into their top-6. Salas was signed during this most recent international free agent period as the 1A to Felnin Celesten’s 1B with regards to winter rankings.
• Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Rays have pushed former Mariners farmhand and longtime reliever Zack Littell into the starting rotation to account for injuries. Ben Clemens at Fangraphs wrote about this odd decision by Tampa.