harmony

Middle infielder Jeter Downs at No. 49 and first baseman Triston Casas at No. 85 are the lone Red Sox representatives* on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospect list: Top 100 Baseball Prospects | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball The Sox will be hard-pressed to improve the farm through inseason trades. Or not. * credit to notin for the correction

FiveThirtyEight still gives the Red Sox a 32 percent chance of advancing to the postseason: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-mlb-predictions/

With a more loaded club last year, the Red Sox also opened the season 3-8 (and then 3-9). Fans should have reasonable expectations.

A team cannot depend on more than half of highly ranked prospects to produce in the long run. That's why it's better to have 10 highly ranked propects than only two. With low expectations this year, the Mariners have the luxury of auditioning a six-man rotation of pitchers under age 30, four of whom with multiple years of team control beyond 2020. Pitching prospects Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Emerson Hancock may have the highest ceilings. A trio of 25-year-old hitters -- Kyle Lewis, J.P. Crawford and Shed Long -- are off to solid starts while Baseball Prospectus ranks outfielders Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez among the Top 10 prospects in baseball. Seattle baseball fans are no strangers to disappointment but maintain a glimmer of optimism.

Seattle's "reimagining" rebuild after an 89-win season in 2018 was about long-term prospects, not about "saving money." The strategy may fall flat for the cursed franchise but some early returns are encouraging.

To be precise, Austin Brice pitched one scoreless inning, walking two while throwing 29 pitches. MLB Gameday: Red Sox 7, Yankees 9 Final Score (08/02/2020) | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM Follow MLB results with FREE box scores, pitch-by-pitch strikezone info, and Statcast data for Red Sox vs. Yankees at Yankee Stadium Brice most likely was a planned opener. How has a year of the opener changed baseball? WWW.MLB.COM One year ago today, those ever-innovative Tampa Bay Rays changed the game again by reintroducing the concept of "the opener" to baseball. On May 19, they gave Sergio Romo his first career start, after his first 588 games came in relief. Romo struck out Zack Cozart, Mike Trout, and Justin

https://library.fangraphs.com/principles/sample-size/

Decisions are made by persons with more information and better judgment than we internet posters have.

Strange times. My Mariners are 1-3 despite staking leads in each game against the defending American League champion Astros. Adult children have moved home where my wife and I have been working since March. Be well.

Last year Mitch Moreland posted a .204/.283/.315/.598 line against lefthanders. The Mets send lefty Dave Peterson to the mound against the Red Sox tonight.

The Red Sox drafted Trey Ball in June 2013. Dave Dombrowski joined the Red Sox in August 2015.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA201806160.shtml The Red Sox got to Wade LeBlanc six days later: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS201806220.shtml

FWIW Nick Yorke is from the high school that produced Seattle outfielder Mitch Haniger.

Kevin Youkilis speaks out: https://foxsportsradio.iheart.com/content/2020-06-08-former-red-sox-star-discusses-racism-he-witnessed-from-boston-fans/

This year I was blessed to attend three college baseball games before the COVID-19 shutdown. I can't remember the scores, much less other stats, and cannot name any of the players. It was just baseball for the fun of it.

We went to an online auction for the first time only last year although all but one of us still gathered in person. The final owner has been Skyped in from Puerto Rico for the past six or seven years, even when we were still announcing our bids out loud.

The fantasy league started in our office in 1991. I joined the office in 1996 and the league in 2001. We've watched our families grow up. A charter member's son, born in 1992, now covers an NBA team as a sportswriter for a major metropolitan newspaper. We currently have a couple of youngsters in their 40s but most of our fantasy owners are in our 60s and 70s.

I wanted my fantasy league, entering its 30th season, to hold the auction as scheduled on March 14 but I was overruled by other owners. The joke is that I'm always ready to hold the auction in October for the following season.

NCAA has canceled all winter and spring seasons: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/ncaa-cancels-remaining-winter-and-spring-championships ... but has extended eligibility for impacted athletes: https://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2020-03-30/division-i-council-extends-eligibility-student-athletes-impacted-covid

NPR "Here & Now" program on elective surgeries: https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/03/31/hospitals-cancel-elective-surgeries

The proposed consolidation bracket would have each team -- win or lose -- keep playing until one team had lost five best-of-seven series.

Those first-round byes would screw up the consolation bracket. Perhaps a 32-team bracket could be filled out with the two respective rosters from the canceled Futures Game. Could be a Cinderella team.

Is that much different from the current format? To be precise, opening-round losers play through the consolation bracket until the ultimate loser is crowned.

Beats watching the Orioles and Tigers play for nothing in August.