MLB Rumors: Angels begin to tank, but still sit above the Luxury Tax Threshold
At the trade deadline, the Angels went all in to make a playoff push, with hopes of playing in October and giving their superstar, Shohei Ohtani a reason to stay in Los Angeles. Sadly for Halos fans, this playoff push has gone terribly wrong.
The Angels are 8-21 since the August 1st trade deadline, which has left them 11.5 games out of a playoff spot. Their two stars, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani have been off to horrible starts in the second half as well. Trout made his return from the IL but only lasted a few at-bats before he was moved back to the IL.
Ohtani on the other hand, experienced a torn UCL in his throwing elbow, which ends his pitching for the season and leaves his future on the mound in question. The Japanese slugger has remained in the lineup though.
As a result of this collapse, Los Angeles has decided to tank and look towards the future, seen by their choice to waive major league talent in an attempt to get under the $233 million luxury tax threshold.
Five of the six players that the Angels waived, Lucas Giolito, Dominic Leone, Reynaldo Lopez, Matt Moore and Hunter Renfroe were claimed by other teams. Randal Grichuk cleared waivers and that $1.7 million in salary lands with the Angels, leaving them narrowly above the Luxury Tax.
In a season that has been an absolute disaster, the Angels have seen bad turn to worse. Los Angeles could face serious consequences if they continue to sit above the tax threshold.
MLB Rumors: MLB announces there will be no changes to the pitch clock for the 2023 postseason
When the MLB opted to add a pitch clock to the game during the 2023 season, it came with serious backlash. It was argued that this could increase injuries in pitchers and would speed up a game that didn't necessarily need to be sped up.
But for the most part, this idea has been a tremendous success. Attendance for baseball games is up nearly 10% while games are working much faster than they have in recent history.
Still, players had hoped that these rules would ease up a bit in the postseason, as each pitch matters tremendously to the outcome of the season. But given the tremendous success during the 2023 regular season, the MLB has opted to leave the rules in place as they are, giving the pitcher 15 seconds to deliver a pitch with the bases empty and 20 seconds with runners on base.
More than likely, the rules will stay in place for the foreseeable future, unless it becomes apparent that the sped up game is causing injuries to pitchers. This hasn't been noted or proven whatsoever yet, so there would still need to be time in order to draw this conclusion.
But for now, the pitch clock is here to stay. Whether you like it or not, the game of baseball is adapting and it's going to be sink or swim in Major League Baseball. Players are adapting and it'll result in the highest paced postseason in the 21st century.
MLB Rumors: Max Scherzer experiencing scary forearm tightness
If there is one thing that sets off big red alarm bells in pitchers, it's forearm pain and forearm tightness. That's because this pain and tightness is sometimes proceeding a significant elbow injury, with a large majority of Tommy John victims having histories of forearm issues.
Max Scherzer has been around the game of baseball for nearly his entire life and he knows his body better than anybody. That showed in his previous start when he exited after six innings when he could have gone seven.
"I have little forearm tightness right now. I'm not going to let that turn into a forearm strain or Tommy John," Scherzer said after his most recent start.
This kind of injury and comments oftentimes get swept under the rug and only surface when the forearm injury turns into a significant elbow injury. This cautious approach could very well be looked back on in October, if Scherzer stays healthy and helps push Texas towards a World Series.
Obviously, this situation is concerning to Rangers fans and fans of the game of baseball in general. A serious forearm injury could result in the end of Scherzer's season and potentially even surgery. As of now, Scherzer doesn't seem too troubled with the tightness, but it is definitely something to keep an eye on.
