Pitching Grips

Mike Watters-Imagn Images With July just days away, we’re entering one of the most exciting stretches of the major league season, with the contours of the playoff race coming into full view, All-Star Week festivities looming, and the trade deadline fast approaching. Unfortunately, that doesn’t exempt us from having to contemplate the drier world of player compensation schema, and for what is unlikely to be the last time as MLB and the MLBPA negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. Last week, MLB released a new proposal that would massively overhaul how major league players are paid. By my count, this is the league’s third proposal this month, following its more detailed outline of a potential salary cap and a separate framework that would make the largest changes to amateur talent acquisition since the draft was first instituted in 1965. Any discussion of baseball’s finances tends to be emotionally charged among fans, so I will freely note my personal ...

RVR Photos-Imagn Images The first thing to know about the firing of Carlos Mendoza is that nobody in the Mets’ clubhouse believes their poor performance is the former manager’s fault. Not David Stearns, the president of baseball operations. Not Francisco Lindor , the franchise shortstop. Not Bo Bichette , the big offseason acquisition. Not Andy Green , the farm director-turned-interim manager. Mendoza did not lose the clubhouse, Stearns said at a press conference Friday afternoon, less than six hours after the team announced the dismissal, while Lindor said he and the players failed Mendoza. It would be easy to point to the embarrassing series the Mets just played against the Cubs at Citi Field, the low point coming in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Each of the four infielders made at least one error; that hadn’t happened since Sept. 8, 1962. New York recorded six defensive miscues in total. But the truth is, neither one game nor one series did Mendoza in. T...

12:16 Eric A Longenhagen : Hey, chatters. We’ll get underway in 10 minutes, or so. Get your questions in. 12:27 Eric A Longenhagen : Okay, good morning everyone. Thanks for your patience. Quicker chat today due to a vet visit. 12:27 liljebbie10 : Do you think Seth Hernandez makes it to AA by the end of the year? Do you think he could debut by the end of next year? Is his upside Bubba Chandler but throws strikes more consistently? 12:29 Eric A Longenhagen : I think they’ll make him sustain success with Greensboro before promoting him, but I do think the end of next year (late enough for him to retain rookie eligibility in 2028) is possible. Don’t give up on Bubba throwing strikes yet, he’s too young to be this impatient and conclude he won’t. 12:29 dansanchez86 : Joseph Dzierwa real? 12:30 Eric A Longenhagen : To an extent. I think his ceiling is limited by his breaking ball quality. I don’t thi...