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Today’s Headlines
Adidas Cuts Ties with Tatis
Adidas has ended its relationship with Fernando Tatis Jr. as a result of the 80-game suspension for testing positive for Clostebol, which is a banned substance under the MLB’s performance-enhancement policy.
The hits keep coming, and Adidas probably will not be the last sponsor deciding to distance themselves from the negativity storm surrounding El Niño. Adidas’ termination comes on the heels of Tatis meeting with the media for the first time since everything went down. Tatis apologized to fans, the media, and his teammates for his mistakes.
Following his recent PED suspension, Adidas has decided to end their partnership with Fernando Tatís Jr. pic.twitter.com/4FFX1HERRa
— theScore (@theScore) August 27, 2022
Julio Will Be Down by Seattle’s Yard for a While
Seattle rejoices as the M’s extended one of baseball’s emergent superstars with a ground-breaking accord. Julio Rodriguez is the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year in the AL and he now has some financial stability to go with his memorable first MLB campaign.
In the contract, the Mariners guarantee Julio $210 million spread throughout 12 years. The caveat that has pundits interested is that the deal details both player and club options that can further how long the contract extends and swell the complete money in the deal to $470 million.
With the money and language being scaffolded through achievements, awards, numbers, and accomplishments, Rodriguez received a full no-trade clause which is unprecedented for someone with his limited amount of service time.
The long-term effects of the contract could be long-reaching and everlasting. This deal is certainly going to be a precedent-setting contract that restructures leverage further in the player’s union corner while reasonably reshaping the value for each team.
We may be seeing the emergence of incentive-based contracts taking hold and reshaping how teams lock up their cores long-term.
A historic day for Julio and Mariners fans!
We have agreed to a long-term contract extension with All-Star Julio Rodríguez, including 12-guaranteed years through the 2034 season and options that could run through the 2039 season. #SeaUsRise pic.twitter.com/JXXQ8IDn5X
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 27, 2022
We’re Going, Going, Back, Back, to… Korea, Korea
Open up that Forbidden Door! We got the announcement on Friday morning that MLB will take a trip to South Korea for a four-game exhibition series in November. This series will feature players from the MLB and players from the KBO as well.
The schedule for this upcoming “Korea Series” will be played from November 9-16. There will be games played across that period at Busan’s Sajik Baseball Stadium and Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome. This is part of an extended outreach plan to grow the game outside of the United States and maintain a wider reach to a much more global market.
We will have to keep an eye on announcements of what players will be jetting to South Korea for the event. There is a press conference scheduled in September to announce further details.
KBO meets MLB! This November, MLB players will travel to Korea – for the first time in 100 years – to face off against the KBO’s best. https://t.co/8diNaqyNV0 #MLBKoreaSeries pic.twitter.com/Kx3xYqSkuj
— MLB (@MLB) August 26, 2022
Ichiro Prepares For Induction into M’s Hall
Ichiro Suzuki will undoubtedly share much-deserved immortalization with the Mariners’ all-time players when he’s inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame. This crowning will add to his resume which is pages long. It’s the official coronation of what everyone’s always known. He is an all-time great and deserves every bit of recognition showered on him this weekend.
He will join Jay Buhner, Alvin Davis, Lou Piniella, Dave Niehaus, Edgar Martinez, Dan Wilson, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Lou Piniella, and Jamie Moyer in an exclusive club in Seattle sports lore.
Yeah Ichiro was THAT DUDE on the Mariners 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Jt6uSpKPG8
— Seattle Mariners ON Tap (@MarinersONtap) August 25, 2022
Glasnow Extended
The Tampa Bay Rays & Tyler Glasnow have agreed on an extension that travels through 2024. The Rays’ injured ace is earning $5.1 million this season and he will accrue $5.35 million in 2023 while making $25 million in 2024. This is an important development because 2024 would be the first year Tyler Glasnow would have been eligible to explore the free agency process. He decided to make the best of it and give the Rays a bit of a discount while he rehabs.
Similar to Julio Rodriguez’s deal being incentivized, Glasnow would receive $1 million for capturing the Cy Young Award. If he falls just short he could earn $500,000 for finishing second and $250,000 for finishing third to fifth. Also padded in there is a $50,000 additional bonus for being selected to the All-Star team in the next few years.
Unlike Julio, he did not get a no-trade clause but he got the next best thing: a $1 million assignment bonus if the Rays decided to move him.
Right-hander Tyler Glasnow and the Tampa Bay Rays are in agreement on a one-year, $25 million contract extension, sources tell ESPN.
Glasnow, 29, was set to reach free agency after the 2023 season. Rays will pay him $5.35 million next year as he returns from Tommy John surgery.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 26, 2022
Best Moments From Yesterday
Trout is the Biggest Fish in Anaheim
Mike Trout makes history. Water is wet. What else is new? He set a new Angels record for runs scored by scoring his 1,025th run on Friday night in a win against Toronto. In true Mike Trout fashion, he broke the tie atop of Angels’ leaderboard with a two-run tater in the eighth inning.
🐐🐐🐐
With his home run, @MikeTrout passes Garret Anderson as the Angels all-time runs scored leader with 1,025! pic.twitter.com/NGbzhBPOSN— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) August 27, 2022
Kwan Takes Flight
If you blinked, it kind of looked like the famous Jeter play where he flew into the stands at Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox all of those years ago in 2004. Steven Kwan channeled his inner Air Bud when he hopped over the wall in foul territory and landed belly first onto some empty chairs making the catch.
His defense has been improving, but this is the best defensive play in his young career. At the risk of being accused of recency bias, Kwan’s catch has people claiming the feat was more impressive than Jeter’s. The stakes were not as high and the stage lights not as bright, but looking at both plays as physical feats, it is an argument that could be made.
As we know the Jeter grab was finished off with both of his feet still on the ground and was sent tumbling from the momentum. Kwan’s catch saw both feet leaving the ground in suspension.
Steven Kwan makes an absolutely absurd catch and even more inexplicably stays in the game despite looking pretty hurt pic.twitter.com/RlhUkxOB1e
— Casey Drottar (@CDrottar19) August 27, 2022
Harper Makes Noise in Return to Line Up
We missed Bryce Harper and the fans of Philly did too. Bryce Harper got a standing ovation when he was introduced in the starting lineup to the Citizens Bank faithful. He got the fans whipped into more of a frenzy when he connected with a single with the bases loaded in his first MLB at-bat since fracturing his left thumb back on June 25. Good to have him back!
Bryce Harper is back. pic.twitter.com/Z4XjUVtlbz
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 26, 2022
Mookie is Clutch AGAIN
This statistic speaks for itself.
Mookie Betts of the @Dodgers is the only MLB player in the modern era to have 3 separate game-tying or go-ahead extra-base hits in the 7th inning or later of a victory.
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) August 27, 2022
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Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)