Delaplaine Seed Company

07/27 05:00 CDT A reliever performs well, then gets sent down. Weiss blames limit on pitchers for roster churn A reliever performs well, then gets sent down. Weiss blames limit on pitchers for roster churn By NOAH TRISTER AP Baseball Writer The Atlanta Braves called up right-hander Elieser Hernndez from the minor leagues, and a few days later he finally appeared in his first big league game since 2024. After throwing three scoreless innings in relief and earning the win at Baltimore, he was immediately designated for assignment. "I hate it, to be honest with you," Braves manager Walt Weiss said. "I wish the rules were different." What Atlanta did is fairly common now. If a pitcher works several innings of relief --- even if he does so effectively --- keeping him is essentially wasting a roster spot for the next couple days. So a fresher arm is brought in to replace him. Baseball's union is proposing rule changes related to this type of roster churn. The players want pitchers optioned shortly after an outing of at least nine outs or 50 pitches to get major league pay and service time for the four days following the appearance. The union is also proposing to reduce the number of optional assignments to the minors from a maximum of five per season to three. That wouldn't necessarily have helped Hernndez, since he was designated for assignment, not optioned. Weiss didn't mention the option rules but instead took aim at the limit of 13 pitchers on a roster. "I wish the number of pitchers weren't restricted," Weiss said Saturday. "I think if you were able to carry an extra pitcher here and there, you wouldn't have to do those things --- have to DFA a guy that was one of the heroes of the game last night. We want to be able to reward those guys, not DFA them."

Trivia time Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers struck out the first seven hitters he faced --- and 12 of the first 13 --- on Sunday against Colorado. He's now up to 185 strikeouts this year, an average of 13.88 per nine innings. The single-season record for strikeouts per nine innings (with a minimum of 100 innings) is 13.82. Who holds it?

Performance of the week Dylan Cease threw a one-hitter in Toronto's 6-0 win over Boston on Saturday. He was the first Toronto pitcher to throw a one-hit shutout since Brandon Morrow in 2010. Cease threw a no-hitter two years ago, but he was with San Diego then. Earlier this month, he took a no-hitter into the ninth at San Francisco, but he was pulled after it was broken up.

Comeback of the week Houston trailed the Chicago White Sox 5-0 before scoring eight runs in the top of the sixth Friday night. The Astros went on to win 9-5. Christian Walker hit a three-run double to make it 5-4, and one out later Cam Smith hit a two-run homer that put Houston ahead to stay.

Team of the week (This honor goes to the team with the best record over the past seven days, using run differential as a tiebreaker if need be. A tiny sample, yes, but this is basically the amount of time it takes to win a playoff series.) The Tampa Bay Rays went 6-1 this past week and are still holding off the New York Yankees atop the AL East. The Rays lead by three games. Tampa Bay took three of four at Toronto before sweeping three against Cleveland, shutting out the Guardians in the final two games. The Rays are extremely likely to make the playoffs in some fashion for the first time since 2023. The question now is whether they can pull off a deadline deal that helps them outlast the Yankees and the surging Red Sox for a division title and first-round bye.

Trivia answer Gerrit Cole of the Houston Astros struck out 326 in 212 1/3 innings in 2019. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Weather Grain Rice News Futures Soybeans News Cattle News Markets Page