January 17, 2022
1. Goodbye to robot umpires, for now
The Terminator-style “judgement day” for the MLB umpiring corps gets shelved for probably another few years — as the experiment in the minor leagues comes to an end.
But wait. Is it coming back? From the article:
“It’s likely that Major League Baseball will expand its use of the ABS system in the minors in 2022. Earlier in the offseason, MLB posted jobs for ABS Techs to operate equipment in the Triple-A West league.”
And check out what’s going on with the umpires in the Korean league, everyone together for a big practice session.
2. Melky Cabrera and Francisco Liriano announce their retirements
For Melky, his career numbers:
2009 World Series winner | 20.6 WAR | 1,962 hits | 2012 All-Star
And Liriano, who at times was among the league’s best pitchers, also calls it a day (announced this morning).
112–114 | 17.9 WAR | 4.15 ERA | One-time All-Star with the ’06 Twins
3. Reactions to the MLB expanded playoffs possibility, after watching the NFL blowouts this weekend
Please, no expanded playoffs.
4. The baseball highlights of the weekend
5. There were many international signings over the weekend
Can’t quite put them all here, but a sampling from around Twitter — as just about every MLB team got in on the action on the first day of the signing period.
6. Here’s Ichiro throwing baseballs into a trash can 350 feet away
7. The Braves got several shout-outs at the Georgia football championship rally
A great year, at last, for the Atlanta sports fan.
9. New Era has decided to release awful hats, yet again
They just don’t know when to stop, do they?
10. And lastly, what to watch tonight: The finals of the Dominican Winter League
If you have MLB.TV, conveniently it’ll be airing right on there.
