TUESDAY TREATS
JUST AN OLD FASHIONED LOOK AT BASEBALL AND OTHER STUFF
WHO’S LEFT?
“No, Who’s on first.”
There are still a bunch of very good ballplayers out there looking for contracts, starting with some decent pitchers: LHP Framber Valdez, RHP Zac Gallen, RHP Lucas Giolito, RHP Zack Littell, RHP Griffin Canning, RHP Chris Bassitt, LHP Jose Quintana, and RHP Justin Verlander. There’s also F Max Kepler, OF/DH Miguel Andújar, and DH Marcell Ozuna.
AN INTERESTING ELECTION NAME
A special runoff election for a Texas state Senate seat saw Democrat Taylor Rehmet trounce his Trump-endorsed Republican challenger, winning by 14 points, in a district Trump won by 17 points in the 2024 election. It’s even more interesting because the GOP loser (pardon the redundancy) was Leigh Wambsganss. The only other time I ever heard of a “Wambsganss” was Bill Wambsganss, who was known primarily for turning an unassisted triple play in the 5th inning of Game 5 of the 1920 World Series.
SKUBAL VERSUS THE TIGERS
Tomorrow, it’s Tarik Skubal facing the Detroit Tigers in a salary arbitration hearing in Arizona. Three arbitrators will determine whether Skubal receives the $32 million he is seeking or the $19 million the Tigers filed for in the upcoming season, with no compromise in between. The $13 million difference is the largest gap in the history of MLB’s arbitration system. A compromise is not one of the options for the arb panel.
Skubal will be represented by his agent Scott Boras; the Tigers will be led by president of baseball operations Scott Harris.
FREDDIE HAS PLANS
The 36-year-old Freddie Freeman, who will soon enter his 17th season in the majors, said he would love to play four more years to reach 20 years of Hall of Fame play. Freeman has been with the Dodgers for five seasons, and his current contract expires after the 2027 season.
Meanwhile, Freeman will miss playing for Team Canada in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. “I wasn’t (going to be) able to go out there and play and be in Puerto Rico (for the group stage games) and be that far from my family,” Freeman said. “I needed to be close to California.”
AXFORD HAS PLANS
Speaking of Team Canada, it turns out Clayton Kershaw isn’t the only retired pitcher readying to pitch in the WBC. Reliever John Axford, who retired after the 2021 season, is working out “just in case he’s needed.” Axford converted 49 consecutive saves from 2011 to early 2012, pitching for Milwaukee.
Axford made his first appearance for Team Canada in 2013, allowing one run in 1.2 innings, and came out of retirement in the 2023 WBC, throwing one scoreless inning. Oh, Canada.
I hope Axford’s WBC prep doesn’t interfere with his movie watching. In 2013, when he was a Brewers reliever, he publicly posted picks for 15 Academy Awards categories and went 14-for-15.
In 2014, while with Cleveland, he tweeted predictions for all 18 televised categories and went 18-for-18. Axford went 19-for-24 in 2016. Axford studied film and television at Notre Dame.
