Well, a baseball game was played by the Atlanta Braves yesterday against the Red Sox and on the surface if you are just reading the box score, you would just think it was a messy spring training game that ultimately ended in a 6-6 tie. In a lot of senses, you would be right. It was messy and involved a bunch of players that have no chance of making the big league roster out of camp for either team.
However, for those watching the game, they got a treat as the Braves were the first team to be victimized by MLB's new pitch clock rule as the final out of the aforementioned spring training game came on an automatic strike called because Cal Conley didn't look attentive enough in the box...all of this with the bases loaded with two out in a tie game. It is spring training for everyone, but that didn't feel awesome.
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Before that mess, we were actually treated to a surprisingly normal looking Braves lineup that wouldn't have been too out of place in the regular season. There were a combination of factors that led to a bunch of everyday guys getting playing time including the World Baseball Classic guys needing time early, but it will still take us some time to recover from seeing Eddie Rosario in the cleanup spot.
Finally, we caught up with some of the Braves' minor league transactions as Atlanta added Nick Howard and Joe Harvey to their farm system ranks. These moves aren't going to move the needle much in all likelihood, but every once in a while a late minor league free agent signing turns into a really useful player. Depth is important, kids.
MLB News
We love a feel-good story here and we had one over in Tigers camp. Parker and Austin Meadows are brothers who, after very different paths, are both with Detroit now and got to play in the outfield together in yesterday's spring game. The best part, Parker ended up hitting a homer.
If you have been following the Pittsburgh Pirates for any length of time, you know that they have a storied tradition of being cheap...like, really cheap. Pirates owner Bob Nutting spoke with the media yesterday both in the context of a potential Bryan Reynolds extension as well as just payroll in general and, well, lets just say that nothing is going to change anytime soon.