MLB Trade Rumors and News: Astros take early series lead, Padres need a new manager

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• With the wild card games in the books, the actual MLB playoffs series got under way on Thursday evening with game one between the White Sox and Astros. The Astros jumped all over Lance Lynn early in the game and continued to add on as they took an early lead with a 6-1 victory.
• There were rumors swirling at the end of the season that the Padres were going to be making some pretty major changes to their coaching staff including at manager. Those rumors proved to be correct as the Padres relieved Jayce Tingler of his managerial duties, although it sounds like they would like to keep him in the organization in some capacity.
• Tuesday’s edition of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry wasn’t much of a contest, as the Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and never trailed again, beating the Bronx Bombers 6-2 in the AL Wild Card game to advance to the ALDS. They’ll face yet another AL East rival, going up against the Rays in the five-game series.
• Need a primer on the teams competing for a World Series title this October? Check out our Andersen Pickard’s playoff preview.
• New Rockies GM Bill Schmidt got down to business on Tuesday, signing first baseman C.J. Cron — whose 2021 campaign was the most productive by a Rockies first baseman since Todd Helton was in his prime — to a two-year, $14.5 million extension and right-handed starter Antonio Senzatela to a new five-year, $50.5 million deal with a $14 million club option for 2027. While these moves won’t necessarily make the Rockies better in 2022, they at least should help prevent them from taking a step backward this offseason like they’ve done over the last few years.
• The Nationals took on an interesting reclamation project back in July when they acquired infielder Alcides Escobar and gave him his first major league opportunity since 2018. They were impressed enough by the 34-year-old’s performance to bring him back into the fold for 2022 on Tuesday.
• Clayton Kershaw avoided UCL damage but will not return this postseason. With the 33-year-old set to hit free agency at season’s end, it’s possible that he may have thrown his last pitch for the Dodgers after 14 seasons in blue and white.
• The rumored shake up of the Mets coaching staff got started in a hurry on Monday as the Mets relieved Luis Rojas of his position as manager. The Mets are simply declining his option for the 2022 season and it sounds like the organization is interested in him staying with them in another role.
• The Padres are expected to dismiss manager Jayce Tingler. Considering the Padres collapsed in the second half of the season like a house of cards in a tornado, this move shocks very few. Word on the street is that general manager A.J. Preller will look for a veteran manager to replace Tingler.
• Max Muncy left Sunday’s game after a collision at first base caused an apparent wrist injury. Now, that injury will keep him from the National League Wild Card Game, reports Mike DiGiovanna of The Los Angeles Times. While he hasn’t ruled it out yet, manager Dave Roberts says that he’s unsure if Munchy will be able to rejoin the team if the Dodgers continue to advance.
• Sometimes, players can’t get out of their own way. The Brewers recently celebrated clinching the NL Central title and normally that is awesome. However, Devin Williams apparently took the “celebrating” a bit far and not only punched a wall, but broke his throwing hand in the process which is likely to keep him out for the entirety of the Brewers playoff run. Oof.
• With the Mets eliminated from playoff contention, they’ll shut down Jacob deGrom rather than activating him from the injured list for the final week of the season. We’re left to wonder what could have been for deGrom, who had a 1.08 ERA in 15 starts this season, if he hadn’t gotten injured just prior to the All-Star break.
• The Giants have successfully overcome virtually every obstacle that’s been thrown their way this season, but they’ll now have to overcome another big one, as their hottest hitter, Brandon Belt, will miss the rest of the regular season and potentially all of the postseason with a fractured thumb.
• In what has been one of the strangest controversies this season, the fallout continues. Kevin Kiermaier came into possession of one of the Blue Jays’ game plan cards after a play at the plate and then refused to return it to them. Toronto took exception to that and proceeded to plunk Kiermaier, causing a ruckus. MLB has obviously taken exception to teams throwing at players intentionally, so the pitcher in question, Ryan Borucki, and Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo were suspended for one game despite both saying it was unintentional.
• After just four starts with the Padres, veteran starter Jake Arrieta was designated for assignment. This could be the end for the 2015 NL Cy Young winner, who rejoined the Cubs prior to this season but was released by Chicago after posting a 6.88 ERA. He joined San Diego last month in hopes of helping an injury-plagued rotation, but he threw for a 10.95 ERA as the Padres more or less fell out of playoff contention with a late-season meltdown.
• MLB is set to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all non-playing personnel this postseason.
• While we saw a unique situation with the All-Star Game moved out of Atlanta this season, generally the venue for the ASG is set well in advance and it stays that way. The league announced that Seattle will be be host of the 2023 All-Star Game
• The Royals became the latest MLB organization to adopt a more modern front office structure last week, promoting longtime GM Dayton Moore to president of baseball operations while elevating assistant GM JJ Picollo to general manager. While Moore will still oversee day-to-day operations, this move will give Picollo, who has drawn interest from other clubs in recent offseasons, more authority and keeps him in Kansas City for the long term.
• Dodgers right-hander Trevor Bauer will remain on administrative leave through rest of season. The real issue that remains is that this is a paid administrative leave. The police and MLB are still working on their own investigations, and it’s very possible that Bauer could face criminal charges. Bauer has not thrown a pitcher in a major league game since June 28th of this year.
• While it was known that Yankees’ reliever Zack Britton had been dealing with elbow issues that were going to require surgery, there was some optimism that he could avoid major surgery and the subsequent recovery period up until recently. Unfortunately for Britton and the Yankees, he was unable to dodge that bullet as he underwent UCL reconstructive surgery that will keep him out for the rest of this season and most of the 2022 season at least.
• Given the team’s recent run of success with very limited payroll, a lot of teams have expressed interest in the availability of Rays’ VP and GM Erik Neander to help run their own teams. Those teams were unable to pry him away and now it looks like he will be with Tampa for the foreseeable future as Neander received a promotion to president of baseball operations.