![]() Cabrera’s next hit will tie him with Ichiro Suzuki for 24th all-time. 2 player on the career hits list, Cincinnati’s Joey Votto (2,093). There’s quite a bit of daylight between Cabrera (3,088) and the No. Justin Verlander, at 244, has two more years under his new contract with the Mets to convince us that 300 isn’t yet out of reach.Īlbert Pujols’ retirement leaves Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera as the only active member of baseball’s 3,000-hit club. Clayton Kershaw (197) and Adam Wainwright (195) will likely become the fourth and fifth active members of the exclusive 200-win club. (Pitcher Adrian Morejon, signed as an international amateur, is expected to begin the season on the injured list.) Milestone watchīaseball is increasingly a young man’s game, but a few MLB veterans have hung around long enough to push their way into some prestigious leaderboards.Ĭraig Kimbrel (394) and Kenley Jansen (391) are poised to become the seventh and eighth closers to join the 400-save club. Now, even Three Finger Brown could count the number of homegrown Padres on one hand: only backup catcher Luis Campusano and reliever Steven Wilson were drafted into the organization. The Padres spent roughly five years amassing prospect capital before trading almost all of it away in pursuit of a championship-contending roster. History isn’t on the Padres’ side, but it’s a remarkable experiment in how to do business. Can owner Peter Seidler spend his way to a title? Speaking of the Padres and things no one has done before: San Diego’s $1.5 billion in salary commitments beyond 2023 already dwarf those of the Yankees and Mets. In the meantime, try to enjoy what Ohtani is doing on the field. Southern California’s other MLB teams have the money (and in the Dodgers’ case, the prospect capital, if the Angels entertain a trade) to acquire the game’s best player. The Angels have yet to win a playoff game since 2009. Unfortunately for the Angels, winning a championship has come to matter more to Ohtani, too. Those in Ohtani’s circle believe the two-way superstar has come to feel at home in Southern California, which could matter more as he looks ahead to his future. Even if he stays put until the end of the season, speculation about his next team is already the subject of Las Vegas gambling odds. Unless the Angels race out to a big cushion in their quest to end their playoff drought, questions will persist until the trade deadline whether or not Ohtani will finish the season in Anaheim. Ohtani’s last two seasons are already unparalleled in major league history and, barring injury, he can look ahead to signing the largest contract in North American sports history. The MVP of the World Baseball Classic (and the runner-up to Aaron Judge in last year’s AL MVP race) is entering his first contract year stateside. We can only hope that doesn’t happen again. Two years ago, at least one pitcher suffered an injury that he attributed to his inability to grip the baseball after the sticky-substance enforcement went into effect. Whether they work or not, at least the hand checks have begun in spring training, when pitchers have more time to adjust. Meanwhile, the league is asking umpires to more rigorously enforce the foreign substance checks that went into effect in 2021. ![]() Batting average on balls in play is on the rise, likely because of the ban on infield shifts, and so are stolen bases. Pitch timer violations are down in general, and it’s been a month since one decided the outcome of a game. ![]() With the pitch timer in place, the average time of a spring training game is down by nearly half an hour compared to last year. But the rules appear to be delivering on their promise. More Great Action.” – feels a bit self-congratulatory on the league’s part. The new rules are the focal point of a newly released ad campaign (featuring Bryan Cranston watching baseball on television, defining the target demographic perfectly). Major League Baseball really wants you to know it’s speeding up the game, banning extreme infield shifts, and making it easier to steal bases. But, alas, we begin our look at the most intriguing storylines of 2023 with … The rules ![]() You’d think it would have made him the focus of the league’s preseason marketing campaign. ![]()
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