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Today in Baseball History
July 28th​

1890 Beating Pittsburgh, 4-2, Giants hurler Mickey Welch joins Pud Galvin and Tim Keefe in becoming baseball's third hurler to record his 300th victory. The 31-year old Brooklyn native will win only seven more games before ending his 13-year career next season.

1943 In a Red Cross charity game played at Yankee Stadium, retired outfielder Babe Ruth leads a Yank-Lands club, a combination of former Yankee and Indian ballplayers, against the Cloudbusters, a U.S. Navy team from the Chapel Hill Naval Pre-Flight School based at the University of North Carolina. ‘The Bambino', appearing as a pinch-hitter in his only plate appearance in the 8-5 loss to the servicemen, is walked by 25-year old Navy pilot trainee and Boston Braves right-hander Johnny Sain.

1952 The seventh-place Reds fire manager Luke Sewell, who will be replaced by the recently released skipper of the Browns, Rogers Hornsby. While the ‘Rajah’ takes a week to look over the Cincinnati farm system, coach Earle Brucker will take over the team on an interim basis.

1962 After mysteriously disappearing off the team bus in New York two days ago with teammate Gene Conley to use the rest room, Pumpsie Green returns to the Red Sox. The prodigal infielder is fined for his disappearance.

1963 **** Ellsworth strikes out Cardinals' left fielder Stan Musial three times in the Cubs' 5-1 victory at Wrigley Field. It will be the only time 'Stan the Man' is whiffed three times in a game during his 22-year career, a span of 3026 contests.

1964 During a 3-1 victory over the Yankees in New York, Jim Fregosi of the expansion Angels becomes the first player to hit for the cycle during the 3+ years of existence of the franchise. The Los Angeles shortstop will accomplish the feat again in 1968, making it the second occurrence in club history.

1967 The Indians break a five-game losing streak when Tony Horton hits a walk-off homer leading off the bottom of the 12th inning. The first baseman's round-tripper breaks up a scoreless pitching duel between Steve Hargan and Orioles' right-hander Moe Drabowski, who allows only six hits in the extra-inning contest at Cleveland Stadium.

1970 It is a tough day for Angels’ catcher Tom Egan when he is charged with five passed balls. To make matters worse the California backstop also commits an error allowing the winning run to score in a 6-5 loss to the Yankees.

1971 Orioles' third baseman Brooks Robinson, a sixteen-time gold glove winner, commits three errors. Thanks to Frank Robinson's ninth inning three-run walk-off home run off Rollie Fingers, the Orioles prevail and beat the A's, 3-2.

1976 White Sox pitchers John 'Blue Moon' Odom (5 innings) and Francisco Barrios (4 innings) combined to no-hit the A's, 2-1. The win will be the Chicago starter's last of his 84 victories in the major leagues.

1978 At Candlestick Park, the Giants beat the Cubs 9-8 in a game that began at Wrigley Field. The contest was suspended with two outs in the top of the eighth and resumed in San Francisco eight days later.

1979 Cubs' slugger Dave Kingman, who hit a pair of round-trippers yesterday, becomes the sixth player in major league history to hit three home runs in one game twice in a season. ''Sky King's' trio of long flies isn't enough when Chicago drops the Shea Stadium contest to the Mets, 6-4.

1983 American League president Lee MacPhail decides George Brett's 'Pine Tar' home run should count. The remainder of the game will be played on August 18 with the Royals beating the Yankees, 5-4.

1985 The Hall of Fame welcomes Lou Brock, Enos Slaughter, Arky Vaughan and Hoyt Wilhelm as members. Wilhelm is the first pitcher to be inducted because of his role as a relief pitcher.

1985 Darrell Evans's home run, a sixth-inning solo blast off Ken Schrom, proves to the difference when the Tigers beat Minnesota at the Metrodome, 3-2. The Detroit third baseman's 300th career round-tripper comes on a 3-0 pitch at exactly 3:00 pm.

1990 At Candlestick Park, Giants’ hurler Scott Garrelts is perfect, putting away the first 26 Reds batter he faces. Paul O’Neill’s two-out single to shallow centerfield in the ninth inning breaks up the no-hitter, and the right-hander ends up with a one-hit 4-0 blanking of Cincinnati.

1991 Expos' Dennis Martinez pitches a perfect game, defeating Los Angeles 2-0 at Dodger Stadium. Ron Hassey becomes the first backstop to ever catch two perfect games as he also was behind the plate on May 15, 1981 when Indian hurler Len Barker faced 27 batters beating the Blue Jays, 3-0.

1993 Mariner Ken Griffey Jr. homers in his eighth straight game to tie a major league record held by Dale Long (1956) and Don Mattingly (1987). In tomorrow’s game Junior will barely miss breaking the record as he hits a long double off the right-center field wall at the Kingdome.

1993 After a shaky one-inning relief performance, in which he gives up the go-ahead run, Anthony Young’s record-setting 27-game losing streak comes to an abrupt end when the Mets score twice in the ninth for a 5-4 walk-off victory over Florida at Shea Stadium. The infamous streak, which covered a span of 81 appearances over two seasons, included 14 losses as a starter and 13 as a reliever.

1994 Kenny Rogers hurls the 12th perfect game in modern major league history, and becomes the first American League left-hander to accomplish the feat when he beats the Angels, 4-0. The Rangers' southpaw throws the fifth no-hitter in franchise history, being the first to do it perfectly.

1995 The Yankees trade Danny Tartabull to the A's for Jason Beverlin and Ruben Sierra. Tartabull signed a lucrative free agent deal worth more than $5 million a year with New York after the 1991 season, but the outfielder never produced on the level he had playing with Kansas City.

1995 The Yankees obtain David Cone from the Blue Jays in exchange for Marty Janzen and two minor leaguers, Jason Jarvis and Mike Gordon. The trade for the right-hander, considered to be one of the best deals in franchise history, will prove to an important piece of the team's success in the late nineties.

1996 Darryl Strawberry's 300th career round-tripper is a dramatic ninth inning, two-run dinger which gives the Yankees a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Royals. The 34 year-old 'Straw' will finish his stormy 17-year major league career with 335, hitting 75% of his round-trippers as a member of New York's other team, the Mets.

1998 After setting the record yesterday for hitting the most home runs before getting a grand slam, Sammy Sosa hits another today in the Cubs' 7-5 loss to Arizona at Bank One Ballpark. The Chicago slugger becomes the 18th major leaguer to hit a bases-loaded homer on consecutive days.

2000 Unable to win in four months, David Cone is sent to the team's minor league camp in Tampa by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. The struggling veteran will be under supervision of Billy Connors, the Yankees vice president of player personnel.

2000 The Mets have a busy day on the trading block as they obtain Oriole shortstop Mike Bordick for utility players Melvin Mora and Mike Kinkade and minor pitchers Lesli Brea and Pat Gorman. A few hours later New York completes a four-player deal with the Devil Rays receiving reliever Rick White and outfielder Bubba Trammell in exchange for minor leaguers Jason Tyner and Paul Wilson.

2001 Oriole outfielder Melvin Mora's wife, Gisel, gives birth to quintuplets. The three boys and two girls, who all weighed in under two and half pounds, are doing well.

2001 With two outs in the ninth inning at PNC Park, Brian Giles erases a three-run deficit with a walk-off grand slam defeating an astounded Astros squad, 9-8. The Pittsburgh's left-fielder's 'sayonara slam' is hit off Houston's all-star closer, Billy Wagner.

2002 During his induction speech at the Hall of Fame ceremonies in Cooperstown, with the song 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' playing in the background and with a copy of 'The Wizard of Oz' in his hands, Ozzie Smith compares his baseball career to Dorothy's away trip from Kansas. Citing the recipe for his success during his 19-year career with the Cardinals and Padres, the 47 year-old tells the crowd he had the mind to dream, which the Scarecrow cherished, a heart to believe, which the Tin Man wanted, and courage to persevere, which the Lion lacked.

2002 The Giants trade two minor league pitchers, right-hander Felix Diaz and left-hander Ryan Meaux, to obtain veteran center fielder Kenny Lofton from the White Sox. The 35 year-old outfielder will finish the season with the second-place club, hitting .267 in 46 games before signing as a free agent with the Pirates.

2002 In a 7-1 loss to the Phillies at Turner Field, Gary Sheffield's team record of reaching base ends at 52 straight games. The Braves' right fielder surpasses Dale Murphy's previous mark of 48 consecutive contests.

2004 Troy Percival strikes out Alfonso Soriano and gets Mark Teixeira to ground out to nail down a 2-0 Angels victory over Texas in Anaheim. The 34 year-old right-hander becomes the 18th major league closer to record 300 career saves and the fifth fastest to reach the milestone.

2005 At Whataburger Field, a trio of Frisco RoughRiders (Rangers-AA) pitchers hurl nine perfect innings to beat the hometown Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros-AA), 3-0. A.J. Murray (6), Steve Karsay (2) and Scott Feldman (1) combine to throw only the third nine-inning perfect game, the first by a combination of hurlers, in the 117 year history of the Texas League.

2006 The Brewers have a busy day wheeling and dealing as the team sends All-star left-fielder Carlos Lee and a minor league outfielder to Texas and acquire third baseman David Bell from the Phillies in separate deals. The Brew Crew gets reliever Francisco Cordero, flychasers Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix, and a minor league southpaw from the Rangers, and trading Class A right-hander Wilfrido Laureano to the Philadelphia for their new infielder.

2006 In an an 8-7 loss to the Diamondbacks at Minute Maid Park, Luke Scott becomes the first rookie and sixth player in franchise history to hit for the cycle. The Houston 28-year-old right-fielder, who had a three-run homer in the fourth, a fifth inning triple and double in the seventh inning, completes the rare feat with a two-out single in the 11th inning.

2007 With the help of two day-night doubleheaders, MLB establishes a new daily attendance record as 717,478 go through the turnstiles for the 17 games played on Saturday. The former mark of 640,412, set on July 3, 1999, was accomplished with the same number of games played.

2011 The Mets officially announce the club has acquired 21-year-old right-hander Zack Wheeler, a top minor league prospect from the Giants, in exchange for outfielder Carlos Beltran and cash considerations. New York bids farewell to their all-star outfielder, who is batting .289 along with 15 home runs and 66 RBIs in the final season of his seven-year deal with the team.

2011 With their 10-9 victory, the visiting Mets complete a four-game sweep in Cincinnati for the first time in franchise history. The Great American Ball Park victory is especially rewarding because Carlos Beltran, the team's best offensive player, was traded to San Francisco during the series.

2012 Ike Davis drives in all of the runs in the Mets’ 6-3 loss in Arizona when he becomes the ninth player in franchise history to hit three home runs in a game. The New York first baseman joins Steve Finley (2004, Diamondbacks), Eddie Murray (1980, Orioles), and Clyde McCullough (1942. Cubs) as only the fourth player in baseball history to account for all three of his team’s runs with solo homers in a defeat.

2013 In the first Baseball Hall of Fame ceremony without a living inductee in 48 years, Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert, 19th-century backstop Deacon White, and umpire Hank O’Day, are inducted in Cooperstown, after being elected by the Pre-Integration Veterans Committee in December. The last time there weren't any living inductees to be honored occurred in 1968, when when Pud Galvin, the game's first 300-game winner, was enshrined 63 years after his death.
 
Troy Tulowitzki, the Blue Jays, and Upgrading Strengths
by Dave Cameron - July 28, 2015

Here is the story of the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays, presented in two easy graphs.
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The Blue Jays have bludgeoned their opponents on offense but given most of that back on defense, so naturally, everyone — myself included — had them stocking up on improved pitching at the deadline. It was the path of least resistance, as it just shouldn’t be that hard to find someone better than Felix Doubront to take the hill every fifth day.

Instead, however, the Blue Jays decided to upgrade what was already a strength, adding another right-handed slugger to a line-up already deep in good right-handed hitters, swapping shortstops with the Rockies in a deal that takes them from Jose Reyes to Troy Tulowitzki. In no uncertain terms, this is an upgrade, as a healthy Tulowitzki remains the best shortstop in baseball, even if he hasn’t played like it this year. But it’s not the kind of upgrade we were expecting Toronto to make, and it’s certainly a bit unusual to see a team with the best offense in baseball use their prospect currency to add another hitter.

But unusual doesn’t mean incorrect. While I’m sure there will be plenty of people arguing that the Blue Jays should have taken the path of least resistance and upgraded the pitching staff instead, the reality in baseball is that a run is a run is a run. You win games by outscoring your opponents, and you don’t get any less credit for winning 7-5 than you do 5-3. Troy Tulowitzki will help the Blue Jays score more runs, so while he’s not going to help the team’s run prevention improve that much, those runs he creates will still count in the final tally.

When people argue against upgrading strengths, they’re really arguing for the presence of diminishing returns, but in baseball, the evidence actually supports the idea that adding a good hitter to an already good line-up actually returns a higher level of value, not a lower one. I wrote about this concept earlier this year; while people tend to want to balance out a team’s strengths and weaknesses, historical data actually shows that stacking good hitters has non-linear impacts, and the Blue Jays may actually get more of a benefit by adding a good hitter to their line-up than they would by adding an equivalent upgrade in the rotation.

This is why you want to use something like BaseRuns or a Markov Chain when modeling team run scoring, rather than just taking individual player’s linear weights and adding them together; in a good line-up, the whole really is greater than the sum of the individual parts, because good hitters create more opportunities for other good hitters to turn their production into runs. And because players tend to hit better with men on base than the bases empty, a good hitter can have a positive impact on his teammates performances as well, further increasing the non-linear value of adding a good hitter to a team already strong in run scoring.

So when you see comments about the Blue Jays not needing Troy Tulowitzki because scoring runs wasn’t the team’s problem, ignore them. There are no diminishing returns to scoring more runs; there is no point on offense to where the marginal value of a run scored is worth less than preventing a run from being allowed on defense. All that matters is the differential between runs scored and allowed, and you don’t get any extra credit for being above average at both as opposed to dominating in one and surviving at the other.

Teams upgrade their weaknesses out of convenience, not necessity. It’s usually just easier to replace your worst player with a mediocre one than swap out your solid player for a great one. But the Blue Jays were in a bit of a unique position, with a window to win that extends through 2016 but maybe not beyond that — Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion are both free agents after next year, and while Russell Martin was a good addition, he’s not going to be an elite catcher forever — so Alex Anthopolous was wary to use his farm system to make a move that only helped this year’s roster without also upgrading next year’s Blue Jays team as well.

And while there are a lot of pitchers available right now, most of them are headed for free agency this winter, with Cole Hamels and Aroldis Chapman being the notable excpetions; the Blue Jays are on Hamels no-trade list and the price for Chapman is reportedly quite high, especially for a guy who throws just 15-20 pitches per appearance. So if Anthoplous found every team he called asking about his best young prospects — and that was reportedly the case when they tried to engage on Johnny Cueto — then upgrading at shortstop with a player who won’t leave this winter might very well be preferable.

Especially because the Jays were able to offset a large part of Tulo’s cost by shipping out Jose Reyes in the process. While Tulo remains an elite player, the combination of his health and substantial contract made him a risky acquisition for any other franchise; it’s tough to give up a ton of talent and take on the $100-ish million he’s still due for his decline years, especially when you have to count on him missing a big chunk of the season every year. But because the Blue Jays are subtracting the the $48 million that Reyes was going to be paid in 2016-2017, assuming they’d have paid his 2018 buyout instead of exercising that option year, the marginal cost increase here for Toronto is much less than what other teams would have had to take on.

Year With Tulo With Reyes Difference
2016 $20,000,000 $22,000,000 $2,000,000
2017 $20,000,000 $22,000,000 $2,000,000
2018 $20,000,000 $4,000,000 $16,000,000
2019 $20,000,000 $0 $20,000,000
2020 $14,000,000 $0 $14,000,000
2021 $4,000,000 $0 $4,000,000
Total $98,000,000 $48,000,000 $50,000,000

The Blue Jays are taking on an extra $50 million in future commitments, but that extra cost is deferred well into the future, making the difference even smaller than that total. Using a four percent discount rate, the NPV of the two remaining contracts comes out to roughly a $42 million difference, so along with the prospects, that’s what the Jays are giving up to go from Reyes to Tulowitzki.

How big is that upgrade? Over the remainder of this season, the gap between the two shortstops is estimated at roughly one win, or roughly the same upgrade the Astros got by adding Scott Kazmir to their rotation, and again, that’s without considering the non-linear nature of run scoring. So, while going from Reyes to Tulowitzki might not be quite as impactful in 2015 value as landing a guy like Johnny Cueto, the upgrade is along the same lines as adding any of the next tier of pitchers.

And, of course, the Jays will still have Tulowitzki next year, when he projects to be roughly three wins better than Reyes. Going from Reyes to Tulowitzki isn’t as impactful as signing a premier free agent pitcher, but you’re not getting that kind of player by adding $50 million to your payroll either.

Which is why the Jays also had to part with some of their young talent in order to get this deal done. Because the deal isn’t known in its entirety as I write this, I’m going to hold off on declaring whether the return justifies the price, but we do know that Miguel Castro and Jeff Hoffman are part of the return going back to Colorado, with one other additional piece apparently in the deal as well.

Kiley McDaniel rated Hoffman as a 55 FV, placing him #67 on his pre-season Top 200, and confirmed that he’d keep the same grade on him after seeing him a few weeks ago. As a guy working his way back from Tommy John surgery, he’s certainly a high-risk prospect, but one with significant value given his upside. Castro, rated a 45+ FV on the same list, is also a pretty high-risk gamble, given that he’s basically all arm strength at this point, showing no real ability to get either big leaguers or Triple-A hitters out this year. The Blue Jays rushed him up the ladder, and perhaps the Rockies can get him back on track with a more cautious development plan, but he’s going to need more than just a poorly commanded fastball to turn into a good pitcher.

In terms of prospect value, these two look fairly similar to the two primary pieces the Reds got in exchange for Cueto. If the third prospect in the deal is the least valuable of the trio, then it may very well be that the Blue Jays paid less to get Tulowitzki than the Royals paid to get their rent-an-ace. Perhaps we’ll find out that the third prospect is actually another valuable piece, but as it stands right now, it seems like this may very well have been a better use of the team’s prospect currency than swapping it for a few months of a starting pitcher.

There are some legitimate concerns about the Jays now being too right-handed, as any team with a bullpen of sinker/slider righties can match-up against Donaldson-Tulo-Bautista-Encarnacion-Martin and get the platoon advantage through the middle of their order, and we can’t ignore the fact that Tulowitzki regularly lands on the disabled list, making his expected upgrade less of a sure thing than with a guy who has fewer health problems. This isn’t a risk-free acquisition, and if Tulowitzki’s reduction in power this year is more of a sign of things to come than a first-half aberration, this could end up backfiring.

But given the alternatives, upgrading for both 2015 and 2016 looks like a better idea for Toronto than just going all-in on this year, and the Blue Jays may have found a way to upgrade their roster as much by acquiring a hitter as they would have by acquiring an arm. They should still find a pitcher to replace Felix Doubront, but with Tulo around, the need for an ace is diminished. Sure, they don’t have a classic #1 starter, but they just made the best offense in baseball even better, and a run scored is just as valuable as a run prevented.
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Operating like the Rangers teams of old
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Giants making a strong push for Hamels too now
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They're on his no-trade list tho

CarGo next to go look like http://t.co/AjiNtLnQp5

mets angels os all suitors
 
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They said Toronto wasn't happy with Reyes glove. Been trying to trade him for awhile, offered him to the Mets.

Troy is injury prone, I expect worse on turf and his numbers haven't been so great offensively. Still a great player.

Wonder where Carlos Gonzalez and Upton end up. Mets need to get one or both.
 
Well yeah but my comment was based on them getting Hamels and Feldman fading into Bolivia :lol: I wonder how they handle McCullers moving forward though with the innings limit.
 
Velasquez going to good down the line as well.

Stros seem stacked for right now and the future.
 
Scott Feldman is owed $10 million next year and he's easily our worst pitcher.

It's looking more and more likely that they're just gonna end up eating that money :lol:
 
JohnnyRedStorm said:
Wonder how Velasquez will handle Citizens Bank Park :nerd:
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Does it really matter when he only lasts 4 innings while throwing 100 pitches? :lol:

His stuff looks great on paper and the radar gun, but he's so frustrating to watch because he struggles to put guys away.
 
"Sources: #Nationals making progress on acquiring Papelbon from #Phillies. Papelbon has said he will only approve deal if he can close."

What the ****, Rizzo. :stoneface:
 
madj55 said:
"Sources: #Nationals making progress on acquiring Papelbon from #Phillies. Papelbon has said he will only approve deal if he can close."

What the ****, Rizzo. :stoneface:
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:x I can see why Rizzo would do it but chill :lol: Papelbon is toxic when he doesn't have his way.
 
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