Snake Bytes 8/10: Hiccup

First off, an apology to Jim and the community for my Step Brothers profanity GIF in the recap thread late Thursday night / early Friday morning. I strongly advise against watching the D’backs bullpen implode while inebriated in a Las Vegas sports book. I did not intend on disrespecting the site rules. Fortunately, I didn’t place any money on the team this past weekend...

Arizona Diamondbacks News

[MLB Trade Rumors] Diamondbacks Release Josh Reddick - The Diamondbacks announced they’ve released veteran outfielder Josh Reddick. He had been designated for assignment last week. A release was the anticipated outcome once Arizona bumped Reddick from the 40-man roster. The 34-year-old has more than enough big league service to reject an outright assignment, and the rebuilding Diamondbacks are long past focusing on the 2021 season. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic wrote last week that Reddick’s designation was part of a broader organizational plan to give some more run to younger players as the front office looks for more information about who could comprise their core in future years.

[The Athletic] Can the Diamondbacks get J.B. Bukauskas back on track? ‘Confidence is everything for that kid’ - [J.B] Bukauskas has a 7.79 ERA in the majors this year, and last week was sent down to the minors for the second time this season. So far, stuff has not translated to stats. That’s a common problem for many live-armed young pitchers, but what makes Bukauskas’ battle with it so notable is the arc of the past 12 months of his career. Last year, as he pitched against his own teammates at the alternate site, he struggled mightily and entered the offseason with a bruised ego. This past spring, however, he looked otherworldly, allowing only three hits and no walks while striking out 14 in 7 2/3 innings of Cactus League play. The real J.B. Bukauskas is somewhere in between those extremes, and the 24-year-old has been trying to find his level all season. Broadly, his issue is execution, the act of putting his standout pitches where they are intended to be. More specifically, the key to that is not mechanical but mental. “Confidence is everything for that kid,” Fetters said.

[D’backs.com] Bumgarner ‘looking forward’ to return to SF - When Bumgarner pitched against the Giants in San Francisco in 2020, he did so in a ballpark devoid of fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was not the same. “It’s a special place to me,” Bumgarner said. “I played there for a long time and did some pretty cool things there, so I’m excited to go back. Last year I played there, but there were no fans and it was cool to be back there, but a little bit strange at the same time without fans. I’m honestly looking forward to it.” The way the schedule worked out, Bumgarner will not pitch during the series in San Francisco. Instead, he started Sunday’s series finale against the Padres, during which he continued his run of recent success by allowing just two runs over seven innings.

Around the League

[The Frederick News Post] Patrick Corbin has been one of MLB’s least effective starters, and he can’t explain why - [Patrick Corbin] has a 5.83 ERA in 122 innings. He has allowed 79 earned runs, the most of any pitcher in the league, and 27 homers, tied for the second most. And this comes after he yielded an MLB-high 85 hits in a pandemic-shortened 2020. As for explaining why, Corbin has stuck to his usual tone: He feels good physically. His slider, his go-to pitch, has improved in recent appearances. His nights are being defined by only a few mistakes. But those mistakes add up, and with three full seasons left on a six-year, $140 million contract, the Nationals need Corbin to figure something out... “I mean, I think a lot of people forget he was, for lack of a better word, abused in 2019 in the playoff run,” said first baseman Ryan Zimmerman on Sunday. “He did things that he’d never done before for us to win that World Series. I think people think that he just recovered from that and could come back the next year and everything’s fine. But to come back the next year and at spring training, everything shut down, and he had to start up again. You know, I’m not making any excuses for Pat ...”

[The Takeout] Guy Fieri creates most American ballpark food imaginable - This Thursday, a very special and long-awaited baseball game will take place: the MLB at Field of Dreams. The White Sox will play the Yankees at the filming location for the 1989 film Field Of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, a site that still draws a strong contingent of tourists each year. While it will count as a home game for Chicago, this will be the first Major League Baseball game ever to be played in the state of Iowa, and a momentous milestone like that calls for a momentous ballpark snack for spectators to gnaw on from their shiny new stadium seats built just for the occasion. Enter Guy Fieri, Chevrolet, and the (Fieri-tastic) Apple Pie Hot Dog. According to a press release sent to The Takeout, the Apple Pie Hot Dog is a play on an old Chevrolet ad from 1975, which heralds a bunch of comically patriotic imagery: baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet “go together in the good old U.S.A.,” asserts the jingle.

[ESPN] Colorado Rockies say fan shouted at mascot Dinger, didn’t yell racial slur at Miami Marlins’ Lewis Brinson - The Colorado Rockies said Monday that a fan suspected of repeatedly yelling a racial slur at Miami Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson was actually hollering at Dinger, the club’s purple, polka-dotted dinosaur mascot. The Rockies said Sunday that they were “disgusted” at what was widely believed to be a racial slur directed at Miami’s Brinson, who is Black, in the ninth inning of Colorado’s 13-8 victory Sunday. “After a thorough investigation that included calls, emails and video clips from concerned fans, media and broadcast partners, the Colorado Rockies have concluded that the fan was indeed yelling for Rockies mascot Dinger in hopes of getting his attention for a photo, and there was never any racial slur that occurred,” the team said in a statement Monday.