| Darren Rovell |
| @darrenrovell |
This Day in 1974: 23,000 fans drink 60,000 beers on “Ten Cent Beer Night” at Indians-Rangers game. Drunk fans throw bottles and chairs, fight players on field. Umpire Nestor Chykak: “They almost killed the four if us. But we’re expendable. We’re just umpires.” 😂 pic.twitter.com/
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| NBA on TNT |
| @NBAonTNT |
Chuck reacts to AD attempting to play through his injury in the Lakers' Game 6 loss. pic.twitter.com/
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The inside story of how rampant pitch-doctoring in MLB is pumping pitchers up and deflating offenses: buff.ly/34J5SWi pic.twitter.com/
| Ken Rosenthal |
| @Ken_Rosenthal |
MLB informed owners this week of severity of issue with pitchers applying foreign substances to baseballs, sources tell @TheAthleticAn AL reliever, who says he uses a mixture of sunscreen and rosin, recalls a spring-training meeting in 2019 in which the team’s pitching coach told the group, “A lot of people around the league are using sticky stuff to make their fastballs have more lift. And if you’re not using it, you should consider it, because you’re kind of behind.” The clubhouse attendants of at least one minor league team, according to a player, stock cans of Tyrus Sticky Grip, another product intended to keep hitters from accidentally flinging their bats, and distribute them to pitchers who ask. The NL reliever who uses Pelican says he played for a team that hired a chemist—away from another club—whose duties include developing sticky stuff.
An SI analysis of Statcast data suggests that one team in particular leads the industry in spin: the defending world champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Before Bauer’s spin rate jumped, he had an ERA of 4.04 and the 228th-best opponent batting average, at .241. Since the increase, those figures are 2.31 and an MLB-best .161. The Athletic reported in April that the league had collected several balls from Bauer’s first start that “had visible markings and were sticky.” Asked about the report at the time, Bauer said, “MLB is just collecting baseballs to do a study. Like, they’re not doing anything with them. No one’s under investigation, or no one’s—like, just these gossip bloggers out here, writing stuff to try to throw water on my name or whatever.” (The league is indeed collecting balls from every pitcher for analysis, and there has been no finding that Bauer did anything wrong.)
Through both his agent and the team, Bauer declined to make himself available for an interview. Manager Dave Roberts says he does not know if his players use sticky stuff.
L.A.’s four-seam spin rate is 97 rpm higher than that of any other team in the Statcast era. The 2020 Reds, Bauer’s former team, and a group that calls itself Spincinnati—because of their development of pitchers with high spin rates—rank second. (When SI asked for an interview with a Cincinnati pitcher about sticky stuff, longtime Reds PR chief Rob Butcher refused to make the request to the player. “I am not asking him to participate in your project,” Butcher wrote in an email.)
Most other people around the sport want the Spider Tack gone. Rawlings, which produces MLB baseballs, has experimented for years with a precoated ball such as the ones used in Japan and South Korea. MLB has sent prototypes to a handful of teams in spring training over the years; they reported that the tack wore away too quickly. That process is ongoing. Some pitchers propose a universal substance, developed and distributed by MLB, much the way rosin is.
The AL manager suggests a TSA-style screening in the bullpen, then a 10-game suspension for anyone caught with anything afterward. One of the team executives supports suspending skippers for their players’ infractions. Managers generally did not make enough money as players to retire comfortably; pulling their game checks, he says, would turn them into hall monitors. Several players bring up the idea of escalating suspensions for pitchers. “At some point,” says the first NL reliever, “you should just get kicked out of the [league].”
As of May 31, there were 244 players on the injured list across the sport, an average of more than eight per team. There wasn’t a single day all last season when that many players were on the IL at once.
• Those 244 players on the IL represent a scary 29-percent spike if you just compare that with the 61-day mark of the last full season, in 2019.
• But measured another way, if you total up all IL placements, 103 more players wound up on the IL (non-COVID division) at some point in the first 61 days this season (385) than in 2019 (282). That’s up more than 30 percent.
• And if you want to include the COVID-related IL, it’s a jump of more than 50 percent compared with the first 61 days of 2019 (without even including vaccination-related stints).
So what’s up with that? In part, it’s because teams use the 10-day injured list so much more aggressively than the old 15-day IL. In part, it’s also because, coming off the uncharted territory of a 60-game season, teams are clearly being more proactive to protect players’ long-term health. So injured list activity isn’t a 100 percent barometer of injuries, per se. Nevertheless, the more you dig into this data, the more shocking it gets:
• The number of pitchers who made IL visits in the first two months was up 47 percent compared with 2019.
• Just elbow injuries alone were up 28 percent.
• And dreaded soft-tissue injuries, always an early season problem area, exploded into record territory. Hamstring issues almost tripled. Oblique injuries nearly doubled. And groin-strain IL placements were up an incredible 700 percent (from two to 16).
In truth, we don’t have quite enough clear-cut data to connect every dot between the weirdness of that 60-game season last year and the IL population boom this year. But at this point, how is it even possible to conclude this is just some fluky coincidence?
“Sometimes,” said one AL exec, “the most obvious thing is what’s actually causing that thing you’re seeing. … When you think, ‘What’s the one huge difference between this year and last year?’ it’s just obvious. You’ve got multiple teams with double-digit IL placements — and that’s just in the big leagues. The minor-league injured lists are even worse.”
But this is more than merely a bar graph come to life. This is being reflected in what you watch on the field every day in the major leagues.
“The upshot is that who ends up playing in the big leagues, because of this, is so different from what we’re used to,” the same exec said. “We’re not just talking anymore about the second-line layer of talent. In some cases, we’re down to four- and fifth-layer talent.”
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Mavericks: 2011
76ers: 1983
Bucks: 1971
Hawks: 1958
Suns: Never
Nets: Never
Jazz: Never
Nuggets: Never
Clippers: Never
Pretty cool. 6/3/21, 10:20 PM
| Tony Jones |
| @Tjonesonthenb |
-TALKING TUNE SQUAD OVER TEAM USA —- POSTGAME
| Max Kellerman |
| @maxkellerman |
So instead of a Lakers-Clippers Conference Finals we’re going to get Denver-Utah? And instead of a NY-LA Finals, maybe Utah-Milwaukee? League’s gotta be happy about that 6/3/21, 8:07 PM
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| Priscilla Aguirre |
| @CillaAguirre |
More: mysanantonio.com
| ProFootballTalk |
| @ProFootballTa |
Bill Belichick: Mac Jones has a pretty good understanding of what we do. wp.me/pbBqYq-bVS7. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
The 49ers have built a dangerous group of playmakers; it’s just a matter of keeping everyone on the field this season. Deebo Samuel has been used everywhere in this offense. He excels on “space” plays, as he’s averaged 9.6 yards after the catch per reception in his two years in the league, and he is also adept at working the intermediate route tree when lined up on the outside. Former first-rounder Brandon Aiyuk has similar YAC ability, but he was used in a more traditional role last season on his way to an 80.8 receiving grade, second-best among rookies.
After Samuel and Ayiuk, the wide receiver snaps are up for grabs to a plethora of options. Travis Benjamin has played just 189 snaps since 2019, but at his best, he has take-the-top-off-the-defense speed that has led to 14.9 yards per reception in his career. Richie James Jr.has created plenty of big plays himself, averaging 18.1 yards per reception in his 38 career catches, but he also has five drops. Former third-rounder Jalen Hurd is a wild card after he showed early promise during the preseason as a rookie, but he’s yet to take a regular-season snap.
George Kittle is the league’s best all-around option at tight end; he’s one of the few options who can run block effectively in-line while keeping defenses off balance with his route-running and after-the-catch ability. Kittle has graded at 84.0 or better in each of the last three seasons, including an incredible 94.4 grade in 2019. Ross Dwelley will battle 2020 sixth-rounder Charlie Woerner for the backup job.
The 49ers have an excellent trio of pass-catchers in Samuel, Ayiuk and Kittle, but it’s all about health and one more target emerging to move them into the upper echelon of the league.
#1 Jimmie Ward FS
#2 Jason Verrett CB
#4 Emmanuel Moseley CB
#26 Jaquiski Tartt SS
Josh Rosen currently holds the #3, otherwise @quaskiwould be able to make it the 1-2-3-4 secondary 6/3/21, 3:45 PM
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