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• Outside The Confines: Bad breaks

Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images Willson Contreras breaks his forearm. Some young players who are breaking out and one that isn’t. A look at the upcoming MLB Draft and other news from around baseball. Good morning. Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras had his forearm broken last night on a swing by the Mets’ J.D. Martinez. Martinez was awarded first base for catcher’s interference an...2024
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• Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat – 5/6/24
May the sixth be with you. Wait, no, that one doesn't work? Let's talk about it - and baseball while we're at it....2024
• Outside The Confines: Monday morning wrap-up

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images Here’s what you missed over the weekend. Happy Monday, friends. Hope you enjoyed a lovely first weekend in May. Saturday was May the Fourth, aka Star Wars Day, and that pop culture holiday brought us a pretty funny exchange in the links today. It’s also time for teams and execs to reflect on the first month of play, and some (like the Marlins) are already...2024
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• Outside The Confines: The best City Connect yet?

The Rays unveiled their City Connect jerseys, and they’re incredible. The Rays unveiled their City Connect jerseys this week and, friends, they are super fun. Drawing inspiration from local Tampa Bay landmarks and a vibrant culture of local street art, the jerseys are boldly colored, and contain an incredible number of cute details. The best might be a skateboarding sting ray. Yes, you read that ...2024
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• Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat – 4/29/24
It's a good day for a baseball chat....2024
• Weekend Rumblings - News for April 27, 2024

Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images The Royals have been flashing D lately. Jaylon Thompson dives into how impressive Kyle Isbel’s catch Thursday was. “Just taking your eye off the ball and running,” Isbel said of his thought process. “Taking your eye off the ball helps you run faster because you are not running with your head sideways. So that was a big key there. I knew it was going to ...2024
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• Outside The Confines: The best City Connect yet?
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• Weekend Rumblings - News for April 27, 2024
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• Outside The Confines: Off to a flying start

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images A look at trends to start the season, like Mike Trout is back. The fans who fought back against the A’s. And other news from MLB. Good morning. No big stories today, but lots of little ones. Dan Moore has a strong piece on the fan groups that have fought against the Athletics leaving Oakland (and some historical precedents elsewhere) and the dilemma of...2024
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• Outside The Confines: The Yankees bid farewell to John Sterling

Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images The iconic radio voice of the team announced his sudden departure this week. On Monday, with no preamble, the Yankees announced that their long-time radio play-by-play announcer John Sterling was calling it a career, and his last game in the booth was behind him. The 85-year-old called 5,420 regular season games over his long career. Sterling cited the s...2024
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• Outside The Confines: A new chapter in the Ippei Mizuhara betting scandal

Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images A freshly released criminal complaint offers shocking details in the betting scandal. Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani has been charged with bank fraud after stealing $16 million from Ohtani. In a newly publicized criminal complaint, texts were released between Mizuhara and his bookie, as well as details regarding how much he won (a...2024
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• Outside The Confines: The butcher’s bill

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports Injuries are everywhere and no one knows what to do about it. The Red Sox lock up a rookie outfielder. And other news from MLB. I hope everyone feels better today. And that no one has an elbow injury. This big story in baseball is injuries, in particular to pitchers. Jeff Passan writes that MLB and the Players Association must work together to do something about...2024
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• Outside The Confines: A very expected retirement

Photo by Kelly Gavin/MLB Photos via Getty Images A Washington Nationals great has officially bowed out. With pitching injuries being a big topic of discussion this week (Shane Bieber, Spencer Strider, and Eury Perez are all out for 2024, and MLBPA is blaming the pitch clock), it seems fitting that Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg has announced his long-anticipated retirement. Injuries were...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Heading to Sacto

D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports The Athletics announce they are moving to Sacramento, temporarily. Mookie Betts is tearing up the league. The Marlins are in trouble. And other news from around baseball. Good morning. The Athletics announced that the team will play from 2025 to (at least) 2027 in Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. Sutter Health Park is the home of the Triple-A Sacra...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Oh no-no! The first no-hitter of the season!

Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images In just his eighth major league start, Ronel Blanco got the season going in style. Some pitchers wait their whole career and never have a no-hitter. Tyler Gilbert did it in his first major league start in 2021. Ronel Blanco waited a little longer, doing it in his eighth MLB start. And while some might have read the headline and thought it was an April Fool...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Opening Day roundup

Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images Phew, that was a busy day. Phew, Opening Day is in the bag. We saw some incredible plays, some amazing pitching performances, some teams already proving they were right to spend money, and others just hoping this is the season to finally turn things around. Ignoring that the Cubs lost in a walk-off, what big moments of the first day of t...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Shohei Ohtani’s surprise wedding

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports The superstar posted the news to social media. Surprise! Shohei Ohtani has tied the knot, and for someone worth nearly a billion dollars, and a superstar athlete in both his native Japan and his present home of the US, one might expect some high-profile nuptials, but instead Ohtani has kept his wedding relatively quiet. Ohtani has married a woman from Japan ...2024
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• Chin Music, Episode 26: That’s a Cat Going Crazy
I’m back from vacation and so is co-host Ben Clemens, so let’s podcast again, shall we? We begin by talking about the good and the bad from the Field Of Dreams game, some silly comments from Mets management about player injuries, and why MLB (and everyone else for that matter) should avoid partnering with Barstool […]...2021
• Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat – 8/9/21
Back from vacation, it's time for another chat. Want to banter about the Mets' meltdown or whatever else catches your eye? Let's talk about it!...2021

2024
"Ben Clemens is already wondering why this season’s bad teams are SO bad, and the season hasn’t even started yet."

2023
"FanGraphs has looked at this periodically and for the 2022 season, Ben Clemens used their methodology to estimate that teams were paying $8."

2022
"At least one analyst I trust believes in the breakout, Ben Clemens at FanGraphs looked at Swanson’s ZiPs projections and percentile outcomes going forward."

2021
"The most significant players to hit the open market this offseason, as compiled by Ben Clemens and the FanGraphs staff."

• Outside The Confines: Bad breaks
2024

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• Outside The Confines: Monday morning wrap-up
2024

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• Outside The Confines: The best City Connect yet?
2024

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• Weekend Rumblings - News for April 27, 2024
2024

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• Outside The Confines: One month down

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images At the end of baseball’s first month, things are starting to take shape. It seems impossible that a full month of baseball has passed us by. It feels like only yesterday we were celebrating Opening Day, and now we’re getting to a point where it might be time to stop saying “small sample size” as an excuse. The Dodgers aren’t a shocker as the NL West le...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Off to a flying start
2024

Read about Julio Aguilar contract rumors
• The clock may be ticking on Scott Boras’ MLB reign

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images Playoff hero Jordan Montgomery fired Boras after being one of several big-name free agents to sign late for a much lower contract than expected. For decades now, Scott Boras has been synonymous with the MLB offseason. He changed the landscape of player salaries in such a dramatic way and over such a long period of time that it would not surprise anyone to se...2024
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• Outside The Confines: A new chapter in the Ippei Mizuhara betting scandal
2024

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• Outside The Confines: The butcher’s bill
2024

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• Outside The Confines: A very expected retirement
2024

Continue with Kelly Gavin salary rumors

• Outside The Confines: Monday morning wrap-up
2024

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• Weekend Rumblings - News for April 27, 2024
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• Outside The Confines: Off to a flying start
2024

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• The clock may be ticking on Scott Boras’ MLB reign
2024

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• Outside The Confines: Heading to Sacto
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• Royals Rumblings - News for March 8, 2024

We have an Alec Marsh quote below to go along with this picture | Photo by Aaron Doster/Getty Images A jam packed Rumblings Jaylon Thompson (The Star, of course) is writing about MLB and their new Spring Breakout games. The short version is that MLB is having a set of games in a couple of weeks with only prospects: The Royals prospects will play top prospects from the Milwaukee Brewers’...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Rob Manfred has an expiration date

Photo by Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Getty Images Rejoice, baseball fans, we now have an idea of when the Manfred era will end. If we’re being honest, the role of MLB Commissioner is not an enviable one. The job, by its very nature, is inclined to create ire among fans, as the person in charge is trying to appease fans, players, but mostly owners, and the goals of those three groups rarely...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Third-degree Burnes

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports More fallout from the Corbin Burnes trade. The White Sox make a couple of deals, as do the A’s. And other news from around baseball. Good morning. The groundhog saw his shadow on Friday, which means there will be six more weeks of not signing Cody Bellinger. We should nickname Corbin Burnes “Third Degree,” as in Corbin “Third Degree” Burnes. That’s a shou...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Heading to the Hall

Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images As a Todd Helton and Joe Mauer apologist, I’m thrilled. Well friends the moment has arrived, the official votes have been tallied, and your new class of Hall of Fame inductees has been selected. The 2024 inductee class is a pretty good one this year as one long-lingering hopeful and two first-ballot contenders will be headed to Cooperstown....2024
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• Cubs New Year’s resolutions, No. 1: Make big deals

Cody Bellinger rounds the bases after a double at Wrigley Field in September | Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images Pitchers and catchers report in 40 days It’s January, and like many people I spend the first weeks of every New Year evaluating what went right in the previous year(s) before setting intentions for this year. I see no reason this practice should be limited to individual fitness...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Bad breaks
2024

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• Outside The Confines: The best City Connect yet?
2024

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• Outside The Confines: One month down
2024

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• Outside The Confines: Ohtani sets a new record

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images The superstar now has the most home runs by a Japanese-born player. This weekend, Shohei Ohtani continued his quest to add every possible record and history-making milestone to his career record. On Sunday afternoon before a hometown crowd, he hit his 176th career home run. Combined with eight innings of stellar pitching to help win the game, it also...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Off to a flying start
2024

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• Outside The Confines: The Yankees bid farewell to John Sterling
2024

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• Outside The Confines: A very expected retirement
2024

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• Outside The Confines: Oh no-no! The first no-hitter of the season!
2024

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• Outside The Confines: Opening Day roundup
2024

Visit the page Maddie Malhotra
• Royals Rumblings - News for March 8, 2024
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• Money talks: Craig Counsell will be the next manager of the Chicago Cubs

Craig Counsell and David Ross shake hands on Opening Day at Wrigley Field in 2022 | Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports There are some really interesting financial elements informing this decision In early December 2021 I was grumbling to myself about free agent signings and deals right before the lockout as I was walking to get coffee. It was right after now World Series champions Marcus Semien ...2023
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• The Dansby Swanson signing by the numbers
Dansby Swanson takes an at bat last June at Wrigley Field | Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images The Cubs landed the last of the big four shortstops. When I posted about the Dansby Swanson signing on social media I said the seven-year $177 million deal was very reasonable, dare I say, “intelligent spending,” given the shortstop market we’ve seen this year. One of my friends, Cubs fan James Lo...2022
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• Outside The Confines: Twist of fate! Carlos Correa to the Mets
Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports Carlos Correa spurns the Giants for the Mets. The second-tier free agents start to sign. And other news from around MLB. This shocking news that Carlos Correa has just signed with the Mets broke after midnight on the West Coast last night. I assume this is for real, although Heyman was the man who reported that Aaron Judge signed with the Giants. This does seem...2022
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• How to watch the Royals in 2023
A detailed view of a Bally Sports microphone laying on the field after being used for an interview prior to the Spring Training game between the Detroit Tigers and the Washington Nationals at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium on March 8, 2023 in Lakeland, Florida. The Tigers defeated the Nationals 2-1. | Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images Royals games on your screen!...2023
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• Outside The Confines: A good old-fashioned trade
Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images The Twins and Marlins make a deal based on needs and not contracts. An Oakland legend passes. A look back at free agency and more news from around MLB. I remember when a team trading a batting champion would have been a huge deal. The last player traded the offseason after winning a batting title was Rod Carew back in 1979. The Minnesota Twins traded s...2023
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• Outside The Confines: The Tigers claim the voice of the White Sox

Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images This might be the best offseason move yet. Well, one of the biggest moves of the offseason has nothing to do with players, or even with the shuffle of managers. The Detroit Tigers announced today that after Bally Sports Detroit parted ways with Matt Shepard the new play-by-play announcer for the season will be none other than White Sox great ...2023
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• Outside The Confines: Behind the dish no more
Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images A former friend is going through some changes. Happy Monday everyone! The big stories over the weekend were the news that the floundering Cardinals are making a bit of a change about where former Cub Willson Contreras will be playing going forward; Royals pitcher Ryan Yarbrough experienced a scary moment on the mound; a former A’s MVP has passed away; ...2023
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• Outside The Confines: The A’s Opera House

Oakland Athletics The A’s unveil their plans for a Las Vegas stadium and it looks... similar to something else The A’s moving to Las Vegas has been a limbo-state story for months now. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of certainty about when or if the A’s are moving, because right now they’re still in Oakland and exploring ways to extend their stay, but they have also unveiled stadium renderi...2024
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1. White Sox

2. World Series

3. Blue Jays

. . .

3028. Ben Clemens

• Outside The Confines: No Rays of sunshine

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images Things are going wrong fast for the Rays. Also the Angels, who bet big on one last year with Shohei Ohtani. And other news from around MLB Just a few months ago, the Tampa Bay Rays were the biggest story in the game for the best start to a season since the 1984 Tigers. Now, they’re the biggest story in the game for not-as-pleasant reasons. The Tampa Bay Ray...2023
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• Outside The Confines: Correa returned to sender?
Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images The Carlos Correa sweepstakes seem poised to end where they began. Sometimes during the offseason (and I’ve done it here myself), we like to post tweet updates showing the wild and wacky path taken by minor league players bouncing from team to team via DNF and signing. Well, I don’t think anyone expected the wildest ride of free agency...2023
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• Outside The Confines: Bad breaks
2024

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• Weekend Rumblings - News for April 27, 2024
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• Outside The Confines: One month down
2024

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• Outside The Confines: Off to a flying start
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• Outside The Confines: The Yankees bid farewell to John Sterling
2024

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• The clock may be ticking on Scott Boras’ MLB reign
2024

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• Outside The Confines: Oh no-no! The first no-hitter of the season!
2024

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• Outside The Confines: Opening Day roundup
2024

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• Outside the Confines: The Yankees hold their breath after a possible Cole disaster

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports Gerrit Cole is getting more tests on his elbow. The Padres and Dodgers prepare to head to Korea. A look at the top players in the game and other news from around MLB. It’s a good thing that Yankees fans are generally a mellow sort who never overreact to anything. Yankees fans are so chill about everything. The reigning Cy Young Award winner, Yankees ri...2024
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• Royals Rumblings - News for March 8, 2024
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• Outside The Confines: One month down
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• Outside The Confines: The Yankees bid farewell to John Sterling
2024

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• Outside The Confines: A new chapter in the Ippei Mizuhara betting scandal
2024

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• Outside The Confines: Rob Manfred has an expiration date
2024

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• BCB After Dark: How much for Bellinger?

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports The late-night/early-morning spot for Cubs fans asks how much money is Cody Bellinger going to get? We’re open again here at BCB After Dark: the hippest hangout for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in out of the chill air. Things are warm in here. Friends, new and old, are all welcome. There’s no cover charge. We still have a ...2024
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• Outside the Confines: The Twins and Mariners make a trade

Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports The Orioles are being sold. Justin Turner heads north of the border. More trouble in Las Vegas. And other news from around baseball. The College Baseball season starts in 16 days. The Mariners and Twins made a reasonably major trade as Minnesota shipped second baseman Jorge Polanco to Seattle for right-handed reliever Justin Topa, right-handed starter Anth...2024
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• Outside The Confines: The Tigers claim the voice of the White Sox
2023

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• Outside The Confines: A classic fall

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports The World Series is set. Adolis García and Ketel Marte were the heroes of the Championship Series. What’s next for the Astros. The Red Sox and GIants have new bosses. Congratulations to the Rangers and the Diamondbacks. May we have a seven-game series with every game decided by one run. And let’s have Game 7 go to extra innings for good measure. I don’t hav...2023
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• Outside The Confines: Royals looking for a new throne

Photo by MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty Images Will KC be the next team hunting for new digs? Also, big news from the Chicago White Sox. The Kansas City Royals unveiled their plans for their future stadium, and the future of Royals baseball in Kansas City. We’re excited to share the future vision of Royals baseball. For more images and to learn about the economic impact of a bal...2023
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• Outside The Confines: Bench ‘em
Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images A new practice of benching bad behavior is picking up steam. “Benching” baseball players isn’t a new practice, but it seems to be gaining popularity this season, as we’re seeing managers bench their players for a number of largely behavioral reasons. No hustle on the basepaths? Get benched. Boneheaded lack of attention paid during the game? Get...2023
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