By Juan Páez
- The upcoming 13 days will be exciting, many teams will throw in the towel and let their stars go, others will reinforce for October. This Thursday the regular season of Major League Baseball resumes and there will be less than two weeks left to make all the direct changes that each club needs to give a boost to their postseason aspirations. At this point, Aroldis Chapman and José Iglesias are the Cubans who seem most likely to be traded. The trade deadline is Tuesday, August 2.
- In the history of Major League Baseball, there are only 40 players who finished a first half with 80+ hits, 60+ runs batted in, 26+ home runs and at least a .300 average and a .400 ERA. One of them is Yordan Álvarez, who joins the group along with such ball glories as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial and Cuban immortal Tony Pérez. The other Cuban on the list is José Canseco. The sun will rise and we shall see what the second half has in store for Yordan!
- “First, always be early. Second, work hard. Third, be disciplined,” were the three pieces of advice Orestes Miñoso gave José Abreu in a conversation between the two in the clubhouse at White Sox Stadium in 2014, Abreu’s major league debut year. “He asked me, ‘Would you let me give you three pieces of advice,’ and I said, ‘How could I not,'” Pito confessed to MLB.com recently.
- Randy Arozarena will try to become, with a good second half, only the second Cuban in history with more than one season of at least 20 stolen bases and 20 home runs, along with José Canseco. Randy has 12 homers and 19 swipes so far. We’ll see, said a blind man.
- WindowOrAisle.com: All indications are that Juan Soto will be on his way out of Washington in the coming weeks. After the Dominican outfielder turned down a 15-year, $440 million offer, the Nationals didn’t even bother and even “refused” to send him on a private plane to Los Angeles for the midseason Classic, according to USA Today. Soto flew commercial, arrived in Los Angeles at 1:30 a.m. and won the Home Run Derby.
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On this day:
Died on this day:
1972: José María Fernández
Born on this Day:
1924: Leonel Aldama
1938: Tony Oliva
1986: Jorge Padrón
Happened on this day:
2014: Odrisamer Despaigne, in his fifth major league start, comes within four outs of pitching the Padres’ first-ever no-hitter. The Mets’ Daniel Murphy hit a double in the eighth inning with two outs to break up the no-hit game. The Padres won 2×1.
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Trivia:
Néstor Cortés Jr. became the first Cuban lefthanded starter to attend an All-Star Game since Miguel Ángel “Mike” Cuéllar, in 1974.
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Quote of the Day:
“If we lose today, it will be over my dead body. They’ll have to leave me face down on the mound.”
Luis Tiant
