June 2024 - Baseball Wiretap

Chaim Bloom will take over as St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations during the 2025 offseason to replace John Mozeliak. Bloom spent 2024 as an adviser for St. Louis, examining the team's player development processes. Bloom is a former executive with the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.

The Cardinals have had just one losing season (2023) since Mozeliak took over as general manager in 2007 but have watched other teams pass them in areas of player development, a focus of Monday's news conference.

Pete Rose has passed away at the age of 83. Rose is the all-time leader in hits with 4,256 as well as games played with 3,562. Rose was banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling on games while he played for and managed the Cincinnati Reds.

Rose was a 17-time All-Star and three-time World Series winner, making his Hall of Fame ban a perpetual controversy within Major League Baseball. Rose won MVP in the National League in the 1973 season.

 The Braves could have easily been a bust during a season that began with thoughts of “World Series or bust.” But at no point did they give in, so maybe it shouldn’t have been surprising to see this injury-depleted and resilient bunch bounce back one more time to send them to the postseason with a Game 162 win.

There was reason for the Braves to celebrate after they claimed a 3-0 win over the Mets in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader at Truist Park. After blowing a lead in both of the final two innings of a crushing 8-7 loss in the first game, they learned top Cy Young Award candidate Chris Sale had been scratched from the nightcap because of back spasms.

Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale was a late scratch for Game 2 of Monday's doubleheader vs. the New York Mets due to back spasms with the Braves needing a win to advance to the playoffs.

Right-handed reliever Grant Holmes, who is 2-1 with a 3.78 ERA this season, got the start in Sale's place. Sale, the favorite to win the National League Cy Young award, was 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA this season.

Francisco Lindor belted a two-run home run in the ninth inning as the New York Mets clinched a National League wild-card playoff berth with a wild 8-7 victory against the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of Monday's doubleheader.

It was Game 161 of 162 for both teams, being played as a high-stakes doubleheader on the day after the scheduled end of the regular season. The games are a makeup for the two wiped out last week by Hurricane Helene.

Major League Baseball and Nike will eliminate the Nike Vapor Premier jerseys that debuted this season and will return to their previous fabric, fitting and lettering specifications. Additionally, players will wear their primary home and road uniforms for the All-Star Game next season.

The new Nike uniforms were widely criticized for poor fit, small lettering and what some described as looking like a replica. 

The All-Star uniforms will return to the way they were from the 1930s through 2019.

The San Francisco Giants have parted ways with Farhan Zaidi as president of baseball operations and will elevate Buster Posey for the role.

The Giants will hire a top executive who will work under Posey's day-to-day oversight of the front office.

During Zaidi's six seasons with the Giants, they had a winning record in just one when they were eventually eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in their Divisional Series matchup. 

The baseball season is going extra innings.

While the American League playoff picture cleared up Sunday, the National League remained muddled heading into what was supposed to be an off day before the postseason.

AL West champion Houston hosts Detroit, and Baltimore is at home against Kansas City in best-of-three wild-card series starting Tuesday. The Astros-Tigers winner faces AL Central champion Cleveland in a division series starting Saturday, and the Orioles-Royals winner plays the AL East champion New York Yankees.

The NL is still uncertain because of two rainouts last week caused by Hurricane Helene, with the New York Mets, Arizona and Atlanta vying for the final two wild-card spots in the 12-team playoffs. The Mets traveled back to Atlanta on Sunday and will play a makeup doubleheader against the rival Braves on Monday.

The New York Yankees had a decision to make before Sunday's regular-season finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

They needed to clear a roster spot for Ben Rice to play first base after Anthony Rizzo fractured two fingers in his right hand Saturday. They could've either placed Rizzo on the 10-day injured list or moved someone else off the active roster to give themselves time to make a decision on Rizzo's status for the start of the postseason. They chose to move someone else and optioned right-hander Scott Effross to the minors, keeping the door slightly ajar for Rizzo.

Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf labeled his team's record-shattering losing season "embarrassing" and a "failure" that he said was his responsibility.

Reinsdorf released a letter to fans as the White Sox entered their final game with a 40-121 record, the most losses of any major league club since 1900.