Last Week in Baseball

Garrison Keillor introduced his legendary Lake Wobegon stories thus: "It has been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon..." I'm not entirely sure I'd call last week in baseball a quiet week. I'll hoist up some of the key hits and let you decide.

Bell System Dept. — Deposed Reds manager David Bell has a new job: Vice President of Baseball Operations and Assistant General Manager for the Blue Jays. Says the team: Bell will "oversee the player development and physical and mental performance departments while also contributing to strategic planning and player evaluations and acquisitions." Is it me, or is this another bowl of word salad whose dressing means some baseball teams are thinking as much like military battlefield commanders as baseball people?

Wabbit Twouble Dept. — Musician Bad Bunny's investment, Rimas Sports, has been found committing "serious rules violations" with ballplayers, including, but not limited to, giving them money, pricy care packages, and concert tickets (to Bad Bunny, of course), among other gifts. The Major League Baseball Players Association blew the whistle and launched the litigation that ended in an arbitrator's ruling against Rimas; MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said he's "never seen so many violations of so many different regulations over a significant period of time." (He should have a good gander at a lot of government agencies big and small, no?)

A Winn for the Giants? Dept. — Randy Winn had a nice career as a useful outfielder with some long ball power, above-average defense, and above-average brains. (He was worth +42 defensive runs above league average in the outfield.) He's had a second career as anything from a Giants baserunning/outfield instructor, broadcaster, scout, and president of the Baseball Assistance Team. Now Winn has a new gig with the Giants: his old Giants teammate Buster Posey — now the Giants' President of Baseball Ops — has hired him as the team's new Vice President of Player Development. Score one for one of the good guys, especially if he can help the Giants turn around down on the farm.

It's In the Card Dept. — Topps has released a Paul Skenes rookie baseball card ... emphasis on "a." As in, one. Singular. In a random pack some lucky buyer is going to unearth in due course. And if he or she does, the Pirates would like to make him/her an offer the team hopes he/she can't refuse: two season tickets behind the PNC Park plate for the next three decades; a softball game for 30 at PNC with coaching from former Pirates players; a meet-and-greet with Skenes, plus two autographed Skenes jerseys; and, a chance to have batting practice and warmups with the Pirates themselves.

Yes, the Pirates kind of hope that trade proves to be bigger than anyone else's Hot Stove League wheeling/dealing/stealing. Theoretical question: what if the lucky buyer coming up with the critical pack turns out to be Skenes himself? Just asking.

Resurrection Row Dept. — Congratulations to pitchers Garrett Crochet (White Sox) and Chris Sale (Braves): they've been named baseball's Comeback Players of the Year. Sale's resurrection involved winning the National League's first pitching triple crown since future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw in 2011. Crochet's resurrection involved returning from Tommy John surgery and opening 2023 season in the bullpen, but joining the White Sox rotation this year and striking out 209 while walking a mere 33 in 146 innings, earning his first all-star berth while he was at it.

RIP: Joey Jay, 89 — The first Little League alumnus to play in the Show, Jay was a 1950s bonus baby with whom the Braves never quite knew what to do until trading him to the Reds after the 1960 season. That trade probably made the Reds' improbable 1961 pennant possible; Jay led the team in wins (he'd get credit for 21 in 1961 and 1962) and was the only Reds pitcher to pick up a win in the 1961 World Series mismatch against the Yankees. Beset by shoulder issues not long afterward, Jay ended his career in 1966 and threw himself further into his business interests in oil, transportation, and building maintenance.

He raised a family with his wife, Lois, and insisted absolutely that baseball was strictly in the past. (Even so, he was inducted into the Reds' Hall of Fame.) Jay even insisted, in a where-are-they-now interview, "When I made the break, it was clean and forever. It's infantile to keep thinking about the game. It gets you nowhere. Most ex-ballplayers keep on living in some destructive fantasy world. Not me. I'm happier than ever since I left. And do me a favour. Don't mention where I live."