Manoah Arrives, Dominates

There are times that baseball can seem magic. After that nightmarish, Kafka-esque series against Tampa, the Blue Jays really needed some magic.

That magic arrived in a 6’6”, 260 lb man-boy shaped package named Alek Manoah.

The most thrilled was his mom, Susana Lluch. She told the Fan 590 the next morning,

“The experience has been something I’ve never felt before.This is not something that comes every day. It really is a dream come true. This is every kid’s dream come true."

Manoah dominated the Yankees over six innings, at times making them look very foolish. He also has a swag in his demeanour that might rub some the wrong way. He told Baseball Central:

"I'm just there to remind them that this is my game. This is going to be our team game right here, and it's going to be on our pace. I'm going to stand there, I'm going to hold the ball and I'm going to let you know that we're going to go when I'm ready.

I suppose if Manoah continues to shove the way he shoved in his debut, baseball will just have to live with it.

All I have to say is:

Donaldson’s Receipts

Former Blue Jay Josh Donaldson had a busy week. He scored MLB’s two millionth run Saturday, trotting home in the first inning on a ground-rule double by Nelson Cruz against the Kansas City Royals.

Donaldson also had Twitter interaction with Dallas Braden that voiced something that’s been rumbled about post-Astros/Red Sox cheating scandal.

It’s coming out.

The general idea is that pitchers are using some mystery substance to increase spin rate on their pitches. Spin rate, in the age of Statcast, has emerged as the thing for MLB pitchers.

It’s defined by the MLB Glossary as such:

A pitcher's Spin Rate represents the rate of spin on a baseball after it is released. It is measured in revolutions per minute. The amount of spin on a pitch changes its trajectory. The same pitch thrown at the same Velocity will end up in a different place depending on how much it spins.

It’s data and physics. There is also likely witchcraft involved.

Now pitchers, since the beginning of time, have used everything from spit, to sunscreen, to rosin, to various glues, to rhinoceros snot, to holy water to doctor the baseball, but MLB is convinced this is something different.

Back in 2018, Trevor Bauer, Baseball’s Smartest Man™, hinted that the Astros’ pitchers, who had a League-leading 2.54 ERA, were doctoring the baseball.

Baseball media got all fluttery, as is their wont when it comes to that dude, and some celebrated Bauer as a whistleblower. He just loves science, everyone!

And some thought, “But how do you know that, Trevor?”

It turns out, with all the investigating Bauer did on doctoring baseballs, he figured out really effective ways to doctor baseballs. MLB confiscated “suspicious balls” used by the reigning NL Cy Young winner from a start in April 2021.

Ken Rosenthal, of The Athletic, wrote at the time:

On Wednesday, Bauer allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings against the A’s, striking out 10 and walking one. Authenticators labeled his balls that were removed. The compliance monitors, who roam the dugout, clubhouse areas, batting cages and bullpens in search of rules violations regarding both electronic sign stealing and the use of foreign substances, also were on site.

An unnamed executive compared the baseball doctoring to PEDs,:

“Count it as a PED, ban someone 20 games for it, we’ll see how often people want to take chances then,” the executive said. “It’s outrageous — there is a 20 to 30 percent improvement on breaking balls with it. Just can’t be allowed.”

Eno Sarris, also of The Athletic, has a comprehensive overview of the issue, arguing that it might be time to legalize ball doctoring within the game.

Jomboy breaks it down.

The trash can/video sign stealing that caused such a brouhaha that rocked baseball in 2019 was developed for hitters to get an edge over pitchers. This might be the counter-measure.

There was some sturm und drang from Robert Manfred about the Astros’ cheating, but not a lot of lasting consequences. Alex Cora, who was involved in both the Astros and Red Sox cheating scandals, is once again managing the Red Sox. A team that is maddeningly good.

In short, I’m not a fan of cheating of any sort, but I’m not holding my breath there will be consequences.

My big takeaway is what a tool Trevor Bauer is. It’s truly remarkable how some media people just think he’s such an interesting dude, when there just isn’t much there. He’s a hypocrite now, too.

Cheating methods may evolve; Bauer’s tooldom is everlasting.