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The MLB Daily Dish is a daily feature we're running here at MLBDD and rounds up roster-impacting news, rumors, and analysis. Have feedback or have something that should be shared? Hit us at @mlbdailydish on Twitter.
Good morning baseball fans!
The Texas Rangers are still interested in Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy.
Should more guys throw sidearm? Our own Mike Bates talked to Brad Ziegler about the sidearm delivery.
Finally, it's important to remember that, when Ziegler needs help, he's, at least in part, on his own. Coaches don't generally know how to critique his delivery. "Videotape," says Ziegler, is the most important tool for him. And, given that his delivery requires regular maintenance and reflection, that could be a problem if he gets off track.
He remains unconcerned, however, "That's one thing about big league coaches. They may not know my delivery, but they can look at video from two years ago, when I was pitching really well, to the end of two years ago, when I wasn't pitching well, and compare the two and see what's different. And at that point, just looking at me, they don't know what to do necessarily. But looking at the video, they can see what might be causing it."
Baseball is a sport of mimics. We mimic our favorite pitchers and hitters in the backyard. Teams mimic the success of other clubs. We look to others to find success. Brad Ziegler didn't draw that inspiration from anybody else. He took a suggestion that he throw sidearm, and found the way that worked best for him. And maybe after eight years of success, guys should be looking to imitate him. But it won't be nearly as easy as it looks.
The Angels never made an offer to David Freese, who ended up signing a deal with the Pirates.
Here is the latest edition of The Rosterbatorical, the official MLB Daily Dish podcast.
Henry Druschel of Beyond the Box Score thinks Dustin Pedroia is poised for a comeback.
Reliever Jenrry Mejia is planning on challenging his lifetime suspension and Nathaniel Grow of FanGraphs talked about this long-shot appeal.
Significantly, however, even if Mejia could prove that the league violated the CFAA, that still would be unlikely to result in his suspension being overturned. Instead, the farthest that a court would likely go in such a case would be to order MLB to pay Mejia monetary damages as compensation for the harm that the unauthorized intrusion inflicted.
All in all then, although it isn’t particularly surprising that Jenrry Mejia would elect to challenge his lifetime suspension, his chances of actually persuading an arbitrator or judge to overturn the punishment appear to be remarkably low.
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Today in Baseball History: In 1978, the A's trade Vida Blue to the Giants for seven players and around $390,000 in cash.