theathleticuk
The Windup Newsletter | This is The Athletics MLB newsletter.
Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.
If youre a fan of pitching, do I have an All-Star Game for you! If youre into clean audio feeds, uhhh ..
get back to me.
Plus: Evan Drellich tells us about the leagues proposal to ensure that if MLB players are allowed to play in the Olympics, they actually ..
do that.
Im Levi Weaver welcome to The Windup! Advertisement All-Star Game: American League prevails The American League All-Star team knocked off that of the National League 4-0 in the 96th Midsummer Classic yesterday in Philadelphia.
Now that is what I call parity.
The first half of the MLB season saw just five AL teams with winning records, while the NL has 10 teams at .500 or higher.
But that didnt matter in last nights game.
A few highlights from it: - Of all the unexpected outcomes, the AL scoring three runs in the first inning off Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez ranks right up there.
Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice did all the damage Bellinger won MVP for his two RBIs and that was all the scoring until the eighth inning, because ..
- The pitching was lights-out.
After Toronto starter Dylan Cease struck out the side aka retired three batters in an inning by strikeouts in the first, AL pitchers continued to dominate.
The NL didnt get a hit until a Juan Soto single in the fourth inning, and 11 pitchers combined to rack up 15 strikeouts (and only three hits and two walks).
On the NL side, the eight pitchers after Sanchez struck out 10 (for a total of 12), and allowed just four more hits and no walks for the rest of the night.
One of those hits was ..
- An eighth-inning home run by the White Soxs Miguel Vargas, who teed off on former Dodgers teammate Justin Wrobleski to tack on the evenings final run.
Vargas has been the best player by bWAR (3.2) on a surprising White Sox team (50-45) that sits in a virtual tie with the Guardians (51-46) atop the AL Central.
- The most frightening moment of the night came in the top of the third inning, when Rays third baseman Junior Caminero was hit in the hand by a Riley OBrien pitch.
Caminero lay on the ground in pain for a minute or so before immediately leaving the game.
Fortunately, X-rays came back negative.
Caminero has been a massive contributor to the Rays (56-38), who lead the AL East by three games over the Yankees (54-42).
- After a flurry of pitching changes in the late innings, it was Rays closer Bryan Baker not Aroldis Chapman or Louis Varland who finished it off.
It was the first shutout in an All-Star Game since 2013.
- And lastly, while there was some consternation about fans making Blue Jays second baseman Ernie Clement the ALs highest vote-getter, he did have the defensive play of the game.
Check this out: Coincidentally, the batter was Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages.
As noted on the broadcast by Joe Davis, it was not the first time one of these men had robbed the other with a great defensive play.
(Kike Hernandez was safely out of the way for this one.) More All-Star Game: - I love it when Andy McCullough has a reason to write a gamer.
Heres his recap.
- Jayson Stark gives his one-of-a-kind perspective on an All-Star Game played in his home city.
- A big challenge for All-Star managers: balancing every other teams pitchers and their workload over the break.
Ken Rosenthal tells us how Dave Roberts navigated the assignment.
Middle Relief: MLB to punish players skipping Olympics? Today, we have Evan Drellichs report on the leagues proposal regarding MLB players involvement in the 2028 Olympics.
Heres an excerpt: Go to the Olympics or suffer the consequences.
In a May proposal to the union, MLB said it wants big leaguers to face an effective suspension longer than three weeks a period that would last into the second half of the regular season if they are chosen to participate in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles but skip out without an approved excuse.
From as early as July 10, 2028, through Aug.
3, 2028, players who choose not to play in the Summer Games would be on the restricted list without pay or service time, per a copy of the proposal reviewed by The Athletic.
Placement on the injury list would technically be an approved excuse, but with a wrinkle: such players would get pay and service time, but would not be able to return to regular-season action until after the same day, Aug.
3.
Yesterday, Bruce Meyer, the head of the Players Association, called the leagues proposal extreme.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, meanwhile, said the proposal was made on the premise that the 2028 Summer Games are a unique opportunity to market the sport with our very, very best players.
Advertisement It is a disruptive undertaking for us, Manfred said Tuesday.
Put money to one side.
Youre disrupting an entire season, and if were going to undertake that effort, we want our very best out there so that people see how great our game really is.
The league, the union and the Games organizers are in the early stages of negotiations over player participation in 2028, something that would be a novel development for the top baseball players in the world.
Never before have big leaguers en masse gone to the Summer Games.
But the parties have a bevy of issues to work out first, including whether Olympic participation is mandatory.
The league doesnt appear to view its participation proposal as the primary holdup, however.
We made a proposal to the union which included a schedule and a mandatory participation agreement, MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin said in a statement.
The union then pursued a negotiation with (the local organizing committee) LA28 over largely economic issues, including housing and tickets, and told us they would not respond until they finished with LA28.
To accommodate the baseball portion of the Olympics, which is set to run from July 13-19 in 2028, the usual midseason All-Star break would be extended.
The first half of the regular season would wrap up July 9, and the All-Star Game is then set to be played July 11, likely in San Francisco.
The regular season would resume on July 21.
For the rest of Drellichs article, click here.
More MLB-MLBPA negotiations: Both sides spoke to reporters at the All-Star Game about the ongoing CBA negotiations.
Drellich has the latest here.
Meanwhile, the MLBPA had some thoughts about the leagues commercial promoting a salary cap.
All-Star Game, Contd: Lets talk about that audio After all the kerfuffle about Netflix broadcasting the Home Run Derby, the biggest broadcast gaffe of All-Star Week was from whoever chose the mics FOX used for its in-game interviews.
Actually, the audio was pretty rough all night.
Advertisement The problems started in the first inning, when a low hum permeated through the broadcast.
I still have no idea what it was it sounded like a cross between bass guitar feedback and someone blowing into a glass bottle.
But the biggest issue was the on-field mics, which frequently cut out and were plagued by a weird coil-reverb sound.
I should clarify: Im not one of those They shouldnt be interviewing players during the game! grumps.
Mostly.
I dont think it should happen in games where the outcome matters, but during an All-Star Game, Im riveted.
I wanted to hear Cease and Shea Langeliers, even (especially?) if they just mostly just discussed what pitch to throw next.
I think one at-bat is too short a time to be on mic, and I could live without most of the questions the players are asked.
But hearing the strategy while the game is going on? Phenomenal.
Unfortunately, the audio made it difficult to focus on what was being said, which was a huge bummer.
It did give us an entertaining hot-mic moment, at least.
When Kyle Schwarbers earpiece wouldnt stay in, he began his micd-up at-bat with a frustrated f it.
Fox does plenty of big sporting events that it should have gotten this right.
I know microphones are notoriously tricky, and its live TV, so things go wrong.
But it was bad enough to be distracting, which is a huge bummer.
Handshakes and High Fives No.
1 draft pick Roch Cholowsky and the White Sox wasted no time making it official.
Theyve reportedly agreed on a record $10.35 million signing bonus.
More on the Bryce Harper FanDuel video: Manfred says the league is looking into the matter, but Harper did not violate the CBA.
The Padres sale process is still ongoing.
It looks like the vote to approve the sale wont happen until after the trade deadline.
Over on Bluesky, BleedCubbieBlue sent me a story from a few years ago on that 1990 Home Run Derby I wrote about yesterday.
Theres still not a lot of video, but there is some I hadnt seen! Keith Law has his AL division-by-division draft recaps.
Heres the AL East, Central and West.
We have a new Shohei Ohtani record: One of the Dodgers stars rookie cards just sold for $3.365 million.
Most-clicked in our last Windup: Andrew Marchands review of the Netflix Home Run Derby broadcast.
Love The Windup? Check out The Athletics other newsletters.