Does this mean the Cleveland Cheapbastards are #1 ?

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/2021/

Can't believe what I just saw in Dodgers game

Dustin May leaves the game with an arm injury - then they go to the dugout where the manager (Dave Roberts) and a couple other guys are watching Trevor Bauer point to the arm and describe to them what happened and how it works.

Literally Bauer is explaining the issue to the manager. An injury to ANOTHER pitcher - not him.

Apparently his salary includes consulting as pitching coach and part time pitcher trainer/medic.

doesn't he have a degree in kinesiology? something like that

Interesting to see how the Central Division plays out. The Indians at 500 and the Tigers at 300 are on predictable courses. White Sox are not getting Ace performance from Giolito but their .550 winning percentage is about what was projected. Twins are having a real struggle. KC is getting some very good pitching from young arms; and their new 1B is helping their offense. They're giving another young guy his big league debut tonight vs the Indians.

Right at this point KC is playing better (but they made some really good moves in Benintendi and Carlos Santana) and the Twins worse than projected.

Us Tribe fans should definitely be interested in KC - now owned by John Sherman. I have no doubt he is a bit of a spender and he was directly involved in signing Santana.

Reliever as a Rookie of the Year Candidate? Although he'd pitch some for Texas in 2019 Clase is officially a rookie

Emmanuel Clase, RHP, Indians — Clase’s ERA remains a perfect 0.00 as he threw one scoreless inning on Sunday. Clase topped out at 102 mph on Sunday. His 84 100+ mph pitches is already far and away the most by an Indians pitcher in the Statcast era. The rest of Cleveland’s pitching staff has 14 100+ mph pitches since 2008.

I'm sure there have been articles about the incredible proliferation of sub-200 hitters. I haven't seen them. Unfortunately if they're out there they will likely have more physics then I'm interested in.
I am curious is this is due to the missing season? Or further advances in defensive positioning? Or what else?
Lindor is hardly alone as an established hitter batting 100 points below his norm. I saw some lineup over the weekend which featured guys in the 100's hitting 4th through 6ht

Well we've all been anxious to see Harold Ramirez get a call so we should be excited to see him in the lineup today.
Reyes returns, Johnson back to Columbus.
Cut the bullpen to 8 sending Kyle Nelson back to Columbus. So unless I'm overlooking someone the bullpen is now 8 right handers.

And nice to see Harold Ramirez get a couple of hits. His numbers in 2019 are nothing to sneeze at.

I was encouraged by his bat speed! Would be great if he grabbed center field and secured it!

Yeah I discovered that when I actually bothered to look! So why:
a] was he DFA'd?
b] did he hardly play at all in 2020?
c] was he one of the last players signed in the offseason?

Perez on IL with broken finger 38 year old Rene Rivera brought in Gamel DFAd

civ ollilavad wrote:Yeah I discovered that when I actually bothered to look! So why:
a] was he DFA'd?
b] did he hardly play at all in 2020?
c] was he one of the last players signed in the offseason?

Good question, but (in our outfield especially) I'd take a replication of his 2019 numbers in a minute.

And how about Rene Rivera! I think he and Tony Pena broke in behind the plate at the same time, but if a 58-year-old can catch and throw and hit .750 I'll accept him.

Gonna see more of Rene Rivera apparently:

Roberto Perez underwent surgery Thursday to repair his fractured right ring finger.

Surgery was recommended after Perez visited with Dr. Thomas Graham. It's not clear how long he will be sidelined. Austin Hedges should see the bulk of the starts while Perez is out, with Rene Rivera backing up.