Snake Bytes 9/7: Race to the Bottom

[MLB Trade Rumors] Diamondbacks To Select Brandyn Sittinger - The Diamondbacks are planning to select the contract of reliever Brandyn Sittinger, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Arizona will need to make corresponding active and 40-man roster moves. Sittinger originally entered pro ball as a 17th-round pick of the Tigers in 2016 out of Division II Ashland University. The right-hander spent the next couple seasons in the Detroit organization but was released in July 2019, having topped out at Double-A. After being let go, he landed with the Evansville Otters of the independent Frontier League, where he spent a couple months. He impressed D-Backs’ evaluators enough in indie ball to land a minor league deal over the 2019-20 offseason. Because of last year’s canceled minor league season, Sittinger didn’t pitch professionally.

[Yahoo Sports] Max Scherzer has been everything the Dodgers could have possibly hoped so far - The biggest prize of the 2021 MLB trade deadline [Max Scherzer] continued his run of dominance as a Dodger on Monday, throwing eight innings and allowing six hits and one unearned run while striking out 13 and walking none against the St. Louis Cardinals. In seven starts for the Dodgers, Scherzer is 5-0 with a 1.05 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, .177 batting average against and 63 strikeouts in 43 innings pitched. The Dodgers have not lost a start he has pitched.

[CBS News] Small Minnesota town braces for outsourcing of factory that makes MLB gear: “I think they’re gonna lose a lot of fans” - Miken was bought by Seidler Equity Partners and folded into sporting goods giant Rawlings. Rawlings is partially owned by Major League Baseball, and the Seidler family also owns the San Diego Padres baseball team. The factory closure will save Rawlings at least four million dollars a year. “That’s infuriating…it’s America’s game,” said Sarah Glasrud, the owner of a restaurant and bar across the street from the Miken factory. The company and its employees account for about a quarter of her business. “It was difficult before the pandemic hit so it’s going to be even more difficult now,” she said. “It’s not a good thing.”

[MLB.com] With 40th HR, Vlad joins rare father-son club - Vladimir Guerrero Jr. seems to make headlines with every swing of the bat in his breakout 2021 season, and that was certainly true on Monday, when the Blue Jays’ 22-year-old star launched his 40th home run of the season in Toronto’s 8-0 win at Yankee Stadium. Not only did Guerrero become the youngest Blue Jays hitter to reach 40 homers and one of just 10 in franchise history, but he and his father are now one of just two father-son duos to hit 40 home runs, joining Prince Fielder and Cecil Fielder. Vlad Sr. hit 42 home runs when he was 24 with the Montreal Expos and reached the 40-homer plateau once more the next season, totaling 449 in his Hall of Fame career. Vlad Jr. has a long way to go to reach that mark, but he is now third in the Majors in home runs this season behind Salvador Perez (41) and Shohei Ohtani (43).

[MLB.com] Cruz hits ‘slam’ like you’ve never seen - With 445 home runs in his 17-year Major League career, Nelson Cruz is used to rounding the bases like he did after crushing a solo shot over the Green Monster late Monday afternoon — at a slow jog, the same way he covered the last 90 feet in the fourth inning Monday afternoon at Fenway Park, but not so much the first 270 feet. It took a high fly ball, the afternoon sun interfering with center fielder Alex Verdugo’s effort to catch it and an errant throw from second baseman Taylor Motter sailing into the third-base camera well. But Cruz pulled off a wild and unlikely Little League “grand slam” that jolted the Rays back to life in their eventual 11-10 win over the Red Sox.