The Jays are starting Bieber on Friday.

That means one of Gausman, Bassitt, Berrios, Scherzer or Lauer had to go to the bullpen.

Am not happy that the Jays made the "easy" move, sending Lauer to the pen.

It should have been Berrios, and then Bassitt.

Assuming Bieber is healthy, the top 4 are probably

Bieber
Scherzer
Gausman
Lauer (8-2) 1.08 WHIP 2.7 WAR in only 14 starts (higher than Gausman, Bassitt or Berrios, who have had 25 or 26 starts).

Oh well. I do get it though. This was move least likely to cause problems in the clubhouse or tick off a veteran.

Things could change though if Berrios or Bassitt have a bad outing or 2.

Roman!

Schwarber gives me some Thome vibes. I swear to you I just had to look it up, I thought Thome was much shorter. He alwasy seemed kind of squat to me. Something about his physique I guess. Though he kept hitting, yes, you can kind of draw a line as to when he stopped being anything close to a leading slugger, and that line looks like age 37.

I thought Murphy was a sure fire Hall of Famer as his career was progressing, but he flamed out. Still, I think multiple MVPs should get you in. That's a huge part of the history of the sport. I guess it can be argued those MVPs were less than stellar, and when not hitting in Atlanta he was just not even close. So, on further review ... out.

Here's a crazy stat.

Since 1890, there have only been 6 years where the active hits leader had less than 2500. Last year and this year were 2 of those years.

A red-hot Turner is worth approximately 10 WAR.

Bieber's Jays debut

6 innings
2 hits
1 run
9Ks
retired the last 12 batters he faced

I love baseball Fun Facts. Keep 'em coming.

Something something ... was listening to terrestrial radio, so couldn't go back.

But,, I think it was NY Yankees were the 1st team in MLB history to hit 9 home runs in a game and not give up a home run?

The Biebs dealt yesterday. Officially Canada's best Bieber AINEC.

With how much more modern hitters strikeout, and with all the
big home run totals in the steroid era, I'm always surprised that Reggie Jackson's career strikeout record has lasted 40 years. None of the other players in the top 10 had careers that even overlapped with him.

Stanton likely will pass him, he just has to play which becomes the hard part, and all the guys recently on pace to smash this record had their careers stalled out by injuries (Stanton, Trout, most notably) or by being not that good (Dunn, Reynolds, Howard)


Back on the subject of 3000 hits. There are 33 members of the 3000 hit club, but only 20 pitchers with 3000 strikeouts. Active now however, are 3 pitchers with 3000 K's, and Sale is 4th with 2,527, while no batter even has 2400 hits until Freeman gets his next hit.

Stanton would have likely gotten there already without injuries.

I think Gerrit Cole is next to 3000 Ks.

FYI - All of the games on the MLB app are free today.

And LOL Yankees. I've got them under 89.5 season wins. Looks like it's going to be a half game win or loss. Been a nice sweat.

Don’t forget to bring a towel!

- Towelie

The Dodgers are 17-25 in their last 42.

On Friday June 13th (Friday the 13th) the San Francisco Giants were 41-29 after a win over the Dodgers. (12 games over .500)

After their win over the Brewers they are 62-68. (6 games under .500)

So 21-39 last 60. (18 games under .500 in that stretch)

Crochet nipping at Skubal's heels for the Cy Young might be just what Detroit's bulldog-ace needs to stay on top entering the post season.

Looking at the 4 most important numbers, aorn:

Skubal 2.32 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 200K, 25BB
Crochet 2.38 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 207K, 42BB

Crochet has started one more game, and has a record of 14-5. Skubal is 11-3.

Cole won’t get there. Sale might

My bet is neither do

Raleigh is one hell of a dumper

Dumperoo 2.0

Skubal just gave up a nuclear grand slam against the A's, putting the Tigers behind in the ballgame, and putting himself behind in the Cy Young race.

With better health, Mike Trout certainly would have passed him. Eugenio Suarez and Paul Goldschmidt have outside shots but I would be very surprised if either gets there.

Among the next generation, Elly de la Cruz has enormous potential, but I am unconvinced that he will be an everyday player in his mid 30s after his athleticism fades.

Suarez has no shot at being relevant enough long enough to pull it off

Oneil Cruz is my once in a generation prodigy of suck I think can pull it off

De la Cruz definitely has the ability to pull it off by a ****ing mile but I definitely agree he projects as a live fast die young mlb player so lacks the longevity needed

Among active players eovaldi easily has the most snakebit career

Bummer

At least he has his opera singing career to fall back on.

Kershaw is the GOAT career winning percentage modern era (since 1950). Just ahead of Whitey Ford, Pedro, Don Gullett, Lefty Grove. And I guess he is a very strong all around GOAT pitcher candidate.