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Have you been wondering if the Reds are going to acquire Cole Hamels or Jared Saltalamacchia? Well, apparently not, but this is all "unknown sources" so, grain of salt. I don't think either player actually makes a lot of sense for us right now, but honestly, I'm not sure what move does make sense for us right now.
At fangraphs, they're looking at some new expected BABIP calculations based on batted ball data. This version relies on LD%, True FB%, True IFFB%, Hard%, Oppo%, and Spd. There's not much in the way of conclusions to be drawn from the results, the author doesn't find a significant improvement from other people's formulations - but it's fun, and at least none of the Reds look like hard candidates for BABIP regression. All our hitters are doing at least something right that shows up in the 'raw' numbers, or they already have a shitty BABIP to show for it.
We're getting opponent debut starts on consecutive Saturday nights, as Jeff Samardzija is dropping his appeal and will serve his suspension. Instead, we'll see Carlos Rodon, a 22-year old lefty, who was the 3rd overall draft pick in 2014, and the White Sox's top prospect. Rodon has hit 98 mph with his fastball as a reliever this year, and also has a slider, and a changeup he hasn't used much in the majors yet. He strikes out a lot of batters, but also struggles with control, which you know, shocking.
"When you're in the hot tub with Chapman, you gotta be careful," --Albert Einstein
Forbes presents Homer Bailey as a cautionary tale of given big contracts to pitchers who might someday be hurt. Apparently there's an epidemic of UCL injuries among starting pitchers, which doesn't exactly seem wrong, but I'd like to actually some data on that. I mean, the problem is that if you don't pay starting pitchers, the other thing that happens is that you don't have any starting pitchers, which can lead to issues. In other basebally business news, having an affiliated minor league team is a benefit to cities. Read more literally, though, that minor league team in your town is making you pay more in rent. Independent league teams don't convey the same benefit.
This is a fun story about an 1935 exhibition game played at Bosse Field in Evansville - with the Cincinnati Reds vs. the Servel baseball team. The Reds only won when a stray pebble deflected an infield grounder in the 9th inning.
This is fun story about how the Kiss Cam leads to jail.