- Argentine Congress settles in for marathon debate over Javier Milei’s bill to dismantle the state EL PAÍS USA
- Javier Milei: Protests as lawmakers debate reforms supported by Argentine president BBC.com
- Omnibus Law: What’s in and what’s out as bill goes to Congress? Buenos Aires Times
- Argentina, Once One of the Richest Countries, Is Now One of the Poorest. Javier Milei Could Help Fix That. Reason
- How Argentina’s protesters are responding to a new president who wants to end environmental protections and sell off natural resources The Conversation
Tag Archives: Javier
MLB DFS Picks, Spotlight Pitchers & Top Stacks: SP1s Cristian Javier + Reid Detmers = Ks Galore (July 22) – stokastic.com
- MLB DFS Picks, Spotlight Pitchers & Top Stacks: SP1s Cristian Javier + Reid Detmers = Ks Galore (July 22) stokastic.com
- MLB Best Bets for Sunday, 7/23: Predictions, Expert Picks, Props & Odds Sports Illustrated
- MLB Best Bets: Odds, Picks for Mets vs Red Sox, Astros vs Athletics (Saturday, July 22) The Action Network
- MLB DFS Picks: Top Pitchers & Stacks for Saturday’s ‘Covering the Bases’ (July 22) Rotogrinders
- Best MLB DFS Picks Today from Stokastic Lineup Generator (7/22) | DraftKings & FanDuel MLB Lineups Stokastic DFS – Daily Fantasy Sports Advice
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Astros toss combined no-hitter in Game 4 vs. Phillies, make history after brilliant Cristian Javier start
The Houston Astros — led by starter Cristian Javier — have thrown the second no-hitter in World Series history. Javier and three relief pitchers combined to blank the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 Wednesday night, 5-0, to pull Houston even in the series in historic fashion.
The combined no-no joins Don Larsen’s perfect game for the 1956 New York Yankees in World Series lore. It is the third postseason no-hitter, and comes in the same ballpark as the second: Roy Halladay’s NLDS no-no for the Phillies in 2010.
Javier, the preternaturally calm 25-year-old Astros starter, fired six no-hit innings to help Houston quiet the Philadelphia crowd and rebound from a rough Game 3, striking out nine and walking two. After 97 pitches, manager Dusty Baker shook his hand and turned to the bullpen. Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly each pitched an inning to close it out. Overall, the Astros struck out 14 Phillies and retired 18 in a row between walks in the third and ninth innings.
Javier will cap his first full season as a major-league starter by entering the record books as the author of the longest hitless World Series start outside of Larsen’s perfecto.
He eclipses Atlanta Braves pitcher Ian Anderson, who went five innings without allowing a hit in 2021’s World Series Game 3 against the Astros. The Braves bullpen eventually allowed the first hit leading off the eighth.
This was no fluke, either. Javier tossed seven spotless frames to start a combined no-hitter against the Yankees earlier this season, and allowed the lowest batting average in baseball in the second half among starting pitchers.
Coming off a major breakout that established him as a bonafide starter, Javier is nicknamed “El Reptil” — The Reptile — because early in his career coaches deemed him cold-blooded, a descriptor that now seems particularly apt. He tamed the Phillies — who shelled Lance McCullers Jr. one night earlier in a Game 3 win — mostly with his fastball. He whips it high in the zone, creating the feeling that it’s rising. Then he plays off it with a biting slider and the occasional curveball. Out of Javier’s 97 pitches in Game 4, 70 were fastballs.
All of Houston’s runs came in the fifth inning. They chased Phillies starter Aaron Nola by lashing three straight singles. When Phillies relief star Jose Alvarado came in, he plunked Yordan Alvarez to drive in the first run, then Alex Bregman followed with a two-RBI double.
The Astros win guarantees the series will return to Houston, requiring at least six games to crown a champion. Game 5 will still be in Philadelphia, though. That starts Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
How’d we get here? Catch up on everything you need to know for the World Series:
Ryan Garcia vs. Javier Fortuna fight results, highlights: ‘King Ry’ scores sixth-round knockout
Javier Fortuna promised that when he stepped into the ring with Ryan Garcia, he’d prove Garcia was overrated. Unfortunately for Fortuna, his predictive powers were lacking as Garcia dominated the fight from the opening seconds before scoring a sixth-round knockout to the delight of the crowd inside Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Fortuna (37-4-1, 26 KO) never managed to get anything going offensively in the fight, struggling to deal with Garcia’s length as the 23-year-old worked behind a stiff jab and long straight right hands.
The patient long-range attack of Garcia (23-0, 19 KO) paid off in big ways as Fortuna’s guard steadily came up, exposing his ribs. Garcia took advantage of that in the fourth round, landing a crushing left hook to the body that sent Fortuna reeling before he took a knee for the first knockdown of the fight.
Things didn’t get better for Fortuna in the fifth round as Garcia’s left hand moved from the body back to the head. One of those left hooks caught Fortuna flush, sending Fortuna to the canvas for the second time in the fight, with the Dominican veteran wincing badly as he hit the deck.
The third and final knockdown of the fight came just moments into the sixth round as Garcia unloaded a three-punch combination that finished with another left hook and sent Fortuna to the canvas once again. This time, Fortuna did not rise and Garcia was awarded the knockout at the 0:27 mark of the round.
Despite both fighters normally campaigning at lightweight, the fight was contested at super lightweight at the request of the Fortuna camp. After the fight, Garcia made it clear that he was so comfortable at the weight that he would not be returning to the lightweight division.
Even with what he claims is a permanent move up in weight, Garcia remains focused on a massive fight with one of lightweight’s other young stars in Gervonta “Tank” Davis for his next outing.
“100 percent, I felt way better,” Garcia said. “I’m not going back to 135 for nothing but I will fight ‘Tank’ next. If ‘Tank’ wants it at 140. Hey, I’m going to record all the negotiations so that you guys don’t make no headlines saying I’m ducking. If he wants it, let’s get it. … That’s going to give me the respect I deserve. I’m never afraid. I’ve said I have a spirit of competition in me. You’re going to see that come out when I fight tank and whoop his ass.”
Garcia and Davis have long talked up a potential fight while sharing the lightweight division along with other young stars like Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez, another fighter who has recently moved to the 140-pound division.
While Davis has ventured to the super lightweight division to win the WBA’s secondary title with a dramatic win over Mario Barrios, it’s unknown if he would be willing to return to the weight given he is only five-foot-five. The fight also hinges on various promoters and networks being able to work out a deal that is fit for all involved.
Can’t get enough boxing and MMA? Get the latest in the world of combat sports from two of the best in the business. Subscribe to Morning Kombat with Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell for the best analysis and in-depth news.
CBS Sports will be with you throughout the entire way on Saturday, so be sure to follow along with the live results and highlights below.
Fight card, results
- Ryan Garcia def. Javier Fortuna via sixth-round knockout
- Alexis Rocha def. Luis Alberto Veron via unanimous decision (100-90, 100-90, 99-91)
- Lamont Roach def. Angel Rodriguez via unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 117-111)
- David Jimenez def. Ricardo Sandoval via majority decision (114-112, 112-114, 113-113)
Garcia vs. Fortuna scorecard, live coverage
| Garcia | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | KO | 50 | ||||||
| Fortuna | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 43 |
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Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Being the Ricardos’ Has Got Some ‘Splaining to Do About Javier Bardem
When I first saw that Javier Bardem had been cast as Desi Arnaz in Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos, I groaned. When I heard Bardem’s “Cuban” accent in the trailer (on the couple of words he got to speak), I had to laugh. And when I finally saw him in the movie, I felt my late abuelo’s favorite refrain rattling around deep in my soul: ¡Qué barbaridad!
Being the Ricardos explores the behind-the-scenes reality of I Love Lucy during one of its most tumultuous periods, when Lucille Ball found herself under investigation as a possible communist. The film digs into some of the tensions that underpinned the show throughout its run—including Ball’s relentless suspicion of her husband’s infidelity and the rumored tensions between Ball and Vivian Vance, who played Ethel Mertz.
As interested as Being the Ricardos seems in expressing just what was so difficult about being Lucy, however, it’s far less interested in her other half. Nicole Kidman’s uncanny redhead might insist that her husband is “no one’s second banana,” but you wouldn’t know it from the film itself, which functions largely as a Ball biopic and mistakes paying lip service to Arnaz’s talents for actually capturing them on screen. Sorkin, you’ve got some ’splaining to do.
Being the Ricardos’ missteps in portraying Arnaz wouldn’t feel as egregious if the film didn’t seem so smug for pointing out the discrimination he faced while he was alive. A frequent complaint about Sorkin’s work can be the self-satisfaction of his dialogue, and there’s plenty to be found here. But casting a Spaniard to play a Cuban in a film that literally features a scene about how the two identities are not interchangeable might actually constitute a previously uncharted level of gringo fuckery.
Toward the end, we observe a flashback in which Kidman schools a roomful of studio executives about her husband’s credentials to play her TV husband. (They’d initially wanted Richard Denning, who played her husband on the radio show that became I Love Lucy; Ball famously insisted that they cast Desi so that the couple could spend more time together.) When one of the men tells Lucy that she, an all-American girl, cannot be with a “Spanish” man, she corrects him.
“Desi Arnaz is a phenomenally talented man,” Lucy says. “Not just a world-class musician, but a very good actor who would be a movie star—if there were such thing as a Cuban movie star.”
Just like an earlier scene in which Lucy mocks a roomful of stuffed suits for being so clueless about pregnancy that they didn’t know the right words to ask how far along she was, the moment feels designed to highlight both Lucy and the film’s moral superiority over the conditions of the time. It’s just hard to get excited about lines like that while watching Bardem, already a questionable choice for the role, perform his character with no specificity.
Bardem’s casting has been controversial from the beginning. Hollywood has a well-established history of hiring Spanish actors to play characters from the countries the Spaniards colonized—which wouldn’t be as big of an issue if it weren’t just one piece of the broader system of exclusion that this film claims to examine. But beyond the philosophical reasons why Bardem had no business playing Arnaz, there’s also the fact that he looks, sounds, and moves nothing like him.
It’s not that Being the Ricardos should have cast a Desi clone. In spite of all the Twitter snark that erupted when Nicole Kidman’s casting first broke, she taps into the wry, mischievous energy that made Ball such a joy to watch both on screen and off. But Bardem seems to have no idea what made Arnaz so appealing—and even if he does, the script provides few opportunities to explore that question anyway.
It’s not just that Bardem can’t mimic a Cuban accent to save his life. (He can’t.) Or that his voice is too raspy, too relaxed. (It is.) Or that he never quite figures out how to move his body like Arnaz. (He doesn’t.) The problem is the whole package—an actor floundering in a role he was never fit to play, because despite the grand speeches about the value of diversity that surface at awards shows each year, most Hollywood luminaries still can’t tell the difference between a Javier Bardem and a Desi Arnaz.
That vague understanding of Arnaz, both the person and the performer, hamstrings Being the Ricardos’ exploration of Lucy and Desi as a couple. Sorkin struggles most with intimate moments and offers little insight into the couple’s relationship when they weren’t playing Lucy and Ricky. Was their real-life connection intellectual, sexual, emotional? How did they view their career struggles in relation to one another, and did that breed resentment? The film seems only nominally interested in these questions.
“But casting a Spaniard to play a Cuban in a film that literally features a scene about how the two identities are not interchangeable might actually constitute a previously uncharted level of gringo fuckery.”
Instead, Sorkin focuses on the tension between Lucy and Desi over the dreaded “second banana” issue. Both were ambitious, and both saw their careers limited by their white male-dominated industry. But while viewers spend plenty of time observing Lucy’s genius at work—from her ability to block scenes in her head to her dry digs at the men above her—Desi’s talent as a businessman never lands with as much impact. (Partially because negotiations with studio heads are less than riveting, and partially because Bardem plays them so joylessly.) Bardem’s musical performances fall similarly flat; everyone in those scenes, especially the trumpet players, needed to kick the energy up several notches.
Perhaps the greatest sin of all: We never actually see Bardem playing Desi playing Ricky in any substantive way. From Being the Ricardos, one might assume that Desi Arnaz was not much of a performer at all. If he were, why not include even a moment of that over, say, one of the numerous scenes in which various characters argue over whether or not Lucy can be pregnant on screen? Never mind that Arnaz was, himself, a masterful physical comedian whose bug-eyed expressions are just as unforgettable as Ball’s. (At least to this longtime I Love Lucy fan who had a major crush on him as a child.)
Sorkin clearly knows that Arnaz was a talent in his own right. In one scene, Kidman offers proof that her husband is no one’s No. 2: On top of basically running the show from behind the scenes, she says, “he’s killing at the table read” while it takes her days to get a laugh. If only we saw what that looked like.
One could argue that as, essentially, a Lucille Ball biopic, it’s unrealistic to expect Sorkin’s film to ruminate for too long on her husband. But the issue is less about screen time than it is about getting it right. It’s just hard to imagine how Sorkin can explore Being the Ricardos without understanding what it was actually like being Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
MLB free-agent frenzy: Catch up on flurry of moves as Javier Báez, Marcus Stroman, more find new homes
The Major League Baseball hot stove heated up this week ahead of a lockout. MLB’s current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired on Wednesday night at 11:59 p.m. ET, and the owners announced a lockout a few minutes later. The work stoppage means all free-agent activity will be halted until the players’ union and the league can come to a new agreement — a process that could take months.
But many players and teams rushed to get deals in place after Thanksgiving and before the lockout, leading to a hectic free-agent frenzy. As of Wednesday, seven of the top 10 free agents have signed:
- SS Carlos Correa: Unsigned
- SS Corey Seager: 10 years, $325 million with Rangers
- 3B/OF Kris Bryant: Unsigned
- IF Marcus Semien: 7 years, $175 million with Rangers
- 1B Freddie Freeman: Unsigned
- LHP Robbie Ray: 5 years, $115 million with Mariners
- RHP Max Scherzer: 3 years, $130 million with Mets
- RHP Kevin Gausman: 5 years, $110 million with Blue Jays
- RHP Marcus Stroman: 3 years, $71 million with Cubs
- OF Starling Marte: 4 years, $78 million with Mets
The Rangers and Mets have been the most active teams in free agency and it’s not particularly close either. In addition to Seager and Semien, Texas also signed righty John Gray and outfielder Kole Calhoun. The Mets signed infielder Eduardo Escobar and outfield Mark Canha in addition to Scherzer and Marte. The two clubs have committed over $800 million to free agents.
Although free agency has been very active the last few days, the Marlins have been one of the few active teams on the trade market. The Marlins acquired catcher Jacob Stallings from the Pirates and infielder Joey Wendle from the Rays this week and sent catcher Jorge Alfaro to the Padres.
Miss any of the action? Here’s a look at the notable deals that were signed ahead of MLB’s lockout:
Notable hot stove deals
- Corey Seager and the Rangers have agreed to a 10-year, $325 million pact (full story here).
- Max Scherzer and the Mets have finalized a three-year, $130 million deal (full story here).
- Robbie Ray agreed to a five-year, $115 million deal with the Mariners (full story here).
- Marcus Stroman reached a deal with the Chicago Cubs, he announced on Twitter (full story here).
- James Paxton and the Red Sox agreed to a unique one-year deal for the left-hander (full story here).
- Marcus Semien agreed to a seven-year, $175 million deal with the Rangers (full story here).
- Javier Báez agreed to a six-year, $140 million contract with the Tigers (full story here).
- Chris Taylor reached an agreement to return to the Dodgers (full story here).
- Corey Knebel signed a one-year deal with the Phillies (full story here).
- The Marlins and Avisaíl García agreed to a four-year, $53 million deal (full story here).
- Kevin Gausman and the Blue Jays agreed to a five-year, $110 million deal (full story here).
- Jon Gray and the Rangers agreed to a four-year, $56 million deal (full story here).
- Rich Hill signed a one-year, $5 million deal with the Red Sox.
- Leury Garcia signed a three-year deal with the White Sox, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
- Corey Kluber signed a one-year deal with the Rays after spending 2021 with the Yankees (full story here).
- Reliever Kirby Yates signed a two-year, $8.25 million deal with the Braves, the team announced.
- Reliever Daniel Hudson is nearing a one-year, $7 million deal with the Dodgers, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
- Catcher Yan Gomes agreed to a two-year, $13 million deal, reports Craig Mish.
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MLB rumors: Live updates from free-agent frenzy as Javier Báez, Corey Seager, Max Scherzer find new homes
The Major League Baseball hot stove is heating up ahead of an impending work stoppage. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expires Wednesday night, and free-agent activity will be halted until the players’ union and the league can come to a new agreement — a process that could take months.
Many players and teams are getting deals in place before the lockout, and it’s led to a free-agent frenzy in the last two days. As of Tuesday morning, six of our top 10 free agents have signed:
- SS Carlos Correa
- SS Corey Seager: 10 years, $325 million with Rangers
- 3B/OF Kris Bryant
- IF Marcus Semien: 7 years, $175 million with Rangers
- 1B Freddie Freeman
- LHP Robbie Ray: 5 years, $115 million with Mariners
- RHP Max Scherzer: 3 years, $130 million with Mets
- RHP Kevin Gausman: 5 years, $110 million with Blue Jays
- RHP Marcus Stroman
- OF Starling Marte: 4 years, $78 million with Mets
The Rangers and Mets have been the most active teams in free agency and it’s not particularly close either. In addition to Seager and Semien, Texas also signed righty John Gray and outfielder Kole Calhoun. The Mets signed infielder Eduardo Escobar and outfield Mark Canha in addition to Scherzer and Marte. The two clubs have committed over $800 million to free agents.
Although free agency has been very active the last few days, the trade market has mostly gone cold, at least for the time being. The Pirates sent catcher Jacob Stallings to the Marlins for three players on Tuesday, and that’s about it as far as notable trades go. My guess is teams will focus on free agency before the CBA expires, and worry about trades later.
For what it’s worth, Tuesday will serve as a “soft” deadline for free agent signings because teams and players will need time to work out the contract details and review medical information prior to the CBA’s expiration. The two sides can’t agree to a deal at the last minute and put pen to paper. Here’s a look at the notable free agent deals to happen since Sunday night.
Notable hot stove deals
- Corey Seager and the Rangers have agreed to a 10-year, $325 million pact (full story here).
- Max Scherzer and the Mets have finalized a three-year, $130 million deal (full story here).
- Robbie Ray agreed to a five-year, $115 million deal with the Mariners (full story here).
- The Marlins acquired catcher Jacob Stallings in a four-player deal with the Pirates, the teams announced.
- Marcus Semien agreed to a seven-year, $175 million deal with the Rangers (full story here).
- Javier Báez agreed to a six-year, $140 million contract with the Tigers (full story here).
- The Marlins and Avisaíl García agreed to a four-year, $53 million deal (full story here).
- Kevin Gausman and the Blue Jays agreed to a five-year, $110 million deal (full story here).
- Jon Gray and the Rangers agreed to a four-year, $56 million deal (full story here).
- Corey Kluber signed a one-year deal with the Rays after spending 2021 with the Yankees (full story here).
- Reliever Kirby Yates signed a two-year, $8.25 million deal with the Braves, the team announced.
- Reliever Daniel Hudson is nearing a one-year, $7 million deal with the Dodgers, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
- Catcher Yan Gomes agreed to a two-year, $13 million deal, reports Craig Mish.
We’ll be providing live updates throughout Tuesday as teams push to get more deals done. Follow along below.
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MLB rumors: Live updates from free-agent frenzy as Javier Báez, Corey Seager, Max Scherzer find new homes
The Major League Baseball hot stove is heating up ahead of an impending work stoppage. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expires Wednesday night, and free-agent activity will be halted until the players’ union and the league can come to a new agreement — a process that could take months.
Many players and teams are getting deals in place before the lockout, and it’s led to a free-agent frenzy in the last two days. As of Tuesday morning, six of our top 10 free agents have signed:
- SS Carlos Correa
- SS Corey Seager: 10 years, $325 million with Rangers
- 3B/OF Kris Bryant
- IF Marcus Semien: 7 years, $175 million with Rangers
- 1B Freddie Freeman
- LHP Robbie Ray: 5 years, $115 million with Mariners
- RHP Max Scherzer: 3 years, $130 million with Mets
- RHP Kevin Gausman: 5 years, $110 million with Blue Jays
- RHP Marcus Stroman
- OF Starling Marte: 4 years, $78 million with Mets
The Rangers and Mets have been the most active teams in free agency and it’s not particularly close either. In addition to Seager and Semien, Texas also signed righty John Gray and outfielder Kole Calhoun. The Mets signed infielder Eduardo Escobar and outfield Mark Canha in addition to Scherzer and Marte. The two clubs have committed over $800 million to free agents.
Although free agency has been very active the last few days, the trade market has mostly gone cold, at least for the time being. The Pirates sent catcher Jacob Stallings to the Marlins for three players on Tuesday, and that’s about it as far as notable trades go. My guess is teams will focus on free agency before the CBA expires, and worry about trades later.
For what it’s worth, Tuesday will serve as a “soft” deadline for free agent signings because teams and players will need time to work out the contract details and review medical information prior to the CBA’s expiration. The two sides can’t agree to a deal at the last minute and put pen to paper. Here’s a look at the notable free agent deals to happen since Sunday night.
Notable hot stove deals
- Corey Seager and the Rangers have agreed to a 10-year, $325 million pact (full story here).
- Max Scherzer and the Mets have finalized a three-year, $130 million deal (full story here).
- Robbie Ray agreed to a five-year, $115 million deal with the Mariners (full story here).
- The Marlins acquired catcher Jacob Stallings in a four-player deal with the Pirates, the teams announced.
- Marcus Semien agreed to a seven-year, $175 million deal with the Rangers (full story here).
- Javier Báez agreed to a six-year, $140 million contract with the Tigers (full story here).
- The Marlins and Avisaíl García agreed to a four-year, $53 million deal (full story here).
- Kevin Gausman and the Blue Jays agreed to a five-year, $110 million deal (full story here).
- Jon Gray and the Rangers agreed to a four-year, $56 million deal (full story here).
- Corey Kluber signed a one-year deal with the Rays after spending 2021 with the Yankees (full story here).
- Reliever Kirby Yates signed a two-year, $8.25 million deal with the Braves, the team announced.
- Reliever Daniel Hudson is nearing a one-year, $7 million deal with the Dodgers, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
We’ll be providing live updates throughout Tuesday as teams push to get more deals done. Follow along below.
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Tigers in talks with Javier Báez, per report
The Detroit Tigers search for a shortstop appears to be taking all kinds of twists and turns. First it was Carlos Correa. Then there was reported interest in Trevor Story and Marcus Semien. General manager Al Avila has mentioned on several occasions that a trade would be difficult, but that going that route is still an option. On Friday, it was Javier Báez’s turn.
The defensive wizard reportedly turned down an extension worth $168 million back in the spring of 2020, and was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the New York Mets this season. Overall he put up a pretty good season, though there are some markers that have to raise concerns about impending decline.
The Tigers had talked to Marcus Semien, Carlos Correa before recently focusing on Javier Baez, who likely will be less expensive than what Correa, Semien seeking. Baez was offered 8/$168m by Cubs in March 2020 and his camp said no…but COVID hit, interrupted those negotiations.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 26, 2021
Javy Báez 2017-2021
| Season | PA | wRC+ | K% | BB% | ISO | HR | OBP | fWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | PA | wRC+ | K% | BB% | ISO | HR | OBP | fWAR |
| 2017 | 508 | 98 | 28.3 | 5.9 | 0.207 | 23 | 0.317 | 2.4 |
| 2018 | 645 | 131 | 25.9 | 4.5 | 0.264 | 34 | 0.326 | 5.4 |
| 2019 | 561 | 112 | 27.8 | 5.0 | 0.250 | 29 | 0.316 | 4.3 |
| 2020 | 235 | 55 | 31.9 | 3.0 | 0.158 | 8 | 0.238 | -0.1 |
| 2021 | 547 | 116 | 33.6 | 5.1 | 0.229 | 31 | 0.319 | 3.6 |
Profile
Javy Báez needs little by way of formal introduction. Owner of one of the great defensive and baserunning highlight reels of our time, El Mago, the Magician, regularly does things that thrill and astonish on the baseball field. The Puerto Rican born infielder has spent the past eight seasons alternately frustrating and blowing the minds of Chicago Cubs fans.
The statistics back him up defensively as well. Báez consistently grades out above average defensively, and on a few occasions has put together some outrageously good defensive numbers, both at second base and at shortstop. Great hands, a great arm, and jaw-dropping awareness and body control allow him to make plays few others can, and he is an absolute artist with the tag around second base, no matter where he’s coming from to get to the bag. It’s like having prime Jose Iglesias with better range and much better arm strength.
On the bases too, Báez is extremely aggressive. Sometimes this leads to mistakes, but overall he goes first to third well, will steal you 10-15 bags a year with a solid success rate, and has a knack for incredible slides around tags and weird instinctual plays that cause meltdowns by his opponents.
You can’t expect something like this to happen again, but the example below illustrates Báez’s ability to sometimes make the truly inexplicable happen. On the one hand, the Pirates make one of worst series of plays you’ll ever see. On the other hand, these things happen when Javier Báez is on the field.
Ok, so Báez is obviously talented and generally an entertaining force defensively and on the bases. The aggression leads to more mistakes than you’d like, and so in both regards he grades out worse than Trevor Story, for example. For further context, Carlos Correa typically grades out similarly to Báez defensively, though he doesn’t offer anything extra on the basepaths. The place where these three players diverge quite a bit is at the plate.
Báez has plenty of power, but quite miserable plate discipline, with a lot of swing and miss. He destroys left-handed pitching, but is pretty pedestrian overall against right-handers. Earlier in his career, his hands and overall ability to get the barrel on the ball made up for the free-swinging nature and he was on a path to stardom. However, the last two years have seen his strikeout rate soar to pretty awful levels well beyond 30 percent. The power numbers were enough to make him a well above average hitter in 2021, while his 2020 season was a disaster. Presumably, we can write that one off, and expect that he’ll post a weighted runs created (wRC+) mark of around 15 percent better than league average next year.
Despite being of pretty average stature at six-feet tall and a listed 190 pounds, Báez does have exceptional batspeed and raw power. His maximum exit velocities put him in the tier below the Aaron Judge’s and Giancarlo Stanton’s of the world. Of course, this is partly because he features a big leg kick and sells out for power to the pull field most of the time. As a result, he makes a ton of weak contact on the ground even when he isn’t whiffing. His speed allows him to beat out more than his share of infield grounders and turn the odd flare into a double, but he doesn’t walk and he’s never going to hit for enough average to post good on-base marks.
Even at his best, it’s a very all-or-nothing approach, with Báez ambushing enough fastballs and hangers to do plenty of damage, but otherwise being a target for pitchers with good breaking and offspeed stuff and the command to use it. Unlike Story, Correa, or Marcus Semien, Báez is a guy you want hitting a little further down in the batting order, rather than in the heart of your lineup. He has a knack for heroics, seems to feed off the crowd—in both good and less endearing ways—and the big moments, but is often a non-factor for weeks at a time offensively.
Should the Tigers bite?
Javier Báez is a very good baseball player, despite the flaws at the plate. He would radically improve the Tigers’ defense, add another burst of speed with which to pressure pitchers, catchers, and defenders, and potentially contribute more home runs than we’ve seen from a Tigers’ hitter in a half decade. The question is whether he’s worth the likely cost, and whether there is any chance he can still improve versus the likelihood that his skills start to degrade within a few seasons.
On the latter question, the odds seem quite poor. Joe Maddon’s coaching staff in Chicago no doubt tore their hair out trying to convince Báez to see more pitches and be more selective at the plate, but it never took. Heading into his age 29 season, expecting him to play anything other than Javy Báez-style baseball is almost certainly a mistake.
The problem is that there is almost no approach of any sort at the plate. He depends entirely on his superb hand-eye coordination and batspeed to foul off the pitches he can’t lay off of until he hopefully gets something he can drive. The power should hold up, but hand-eye coordination even at this freakish level can degrade significantly in a player’s thirties. If Báez starts finding the barrel less often, his production could crater to a degree well beyond what we’d expect from a decline phase for Story and particularly Correa.
It’s possible that decline may already be underway. Báez isn’t just chasing out of the zone a lot over the past two seasons. He’s missing fastballs over the plate more often. From 2017-2019, Báez crushed fastballs in the strike zone, producing a .423 wOBA against those pitches. In 2021 that number was down to .391. As those are the pitches he made his bones by crushing, that is a little bit scary. On the other hand, Báez absolutely demolished breaking balls in the zone this year, posting a .492 wOBA against those pitches.
So, at the moment, Báez can be described as a flawed, but extremely talented, three-to-four win player. That’s on par with Story, who also has arm trouble that is a cause for concern. Correa is on another tier as more of a five-to-six win type player who is coming off one of his best seasons.
FanGraphs estimated a contract of four years, $80 million for Báez. That feels rather light to convince him to come to Detroit over a return to the New York Mets, who are also still interested, but we’ll run with it. As Story is pegged at something like $24 million a year for five seasons, and Correa expecting roughly a 10-year, $300 million deal, Báez certainly would leave them more payroll flexibility to add help this offseason. Maybe, just maybe, he can also give them everything they need at the shortstop position at reasonable cost.
There’s a fair amount of risk in the profile, but if the deal is reasonable enough, Báez makes for a fallback plan that should allow the Tigers to add more help this offseason while still keeping a roughly league average payroll and seriously boosting the production from the shortstop position. This still doesn’t feel very likely, but the Tigers do appear to be casting a wide net and exploring every possibility, as they should.
Why Mets didn’t start Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez in nightcap
Francisco Lindor was the Mets’ hero in their 11-9 win in the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Nationals, and Javier Baez contributed offensively as well. The two were then kept out of the lineup in the 4-3 nightcap loss, a move manager Luis Rojas said was precautionary with their injury history.
“Guys have been playing a lot, and they just played the nine innings there and we’ve got to be careful,” Rojas said in between games. “Our next day off is not on the horizon yet, we got to make sure that guys are fresh and can come back tomorrow and play.”
It wasn’t until a last-ditch effort in the top of the seventh of the nightcap, when the Mets were trailing 4-3, that Lindor and Baez pinch hit. Replacing Luis Guillorme, Lindor grounded out, while Baez struck out for starting pitcher Tylor Megill.
In addition to losing Brandon Nimmo to a hamstring injury in the second inning of Game 1, the Mets lineup struggled through a four-hit performance in Game 2.
“It’s hard, you want those guys every game,” Rojas said. “Going into this doubleheader and all the innings that we played in that first [game], there was a pretty good chance at one point that we were going to have the guys play both games. But you don’t want things like what happened to Nimmo happening.”
Lindor saved the Mets from the embarrassment of blowing a 9-0 lead in the opener with a two-run home run in extra innings to extend the Amazin’s winning streak to seven games.
Leading off the ninth inning with two hits and two RBIs on the day already, Lindor blasted a 93.7 mph sinker from Nationals pitcher Kyle Finnegan into the second deck of Nationals Park to ultimately secure the Game 1 win. Albert Almora Jr., who replaced Nimmo in the lineup, scored after starting the inning on second as the ghost runner.
Lindor finished the Saturday matinee 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs, including a sacrifice fly all the way to the warning track in the Mets’ four-run second inning to score Jonathan Villar for the 6-0 lead. Lindor did commit a throwing error in the sixth, when the Nationals closed the gap to two runs.
“[It was a] long one, but very, very rewarding,” Lindor said after the Game 1 win. “A lot of the guys got a lot of hits, which always makes it fun. A little bit frustrated with my error that led to the beginning [of the Nationals’ rally]. I’m defense first and I wasn’t pleased with that one.
“Thank God with the group of guys we have, they pick us up, they picked me up, and gave us a chance to win.”
It has been an eventful week for Lindor, who signed a 10-year, $341 million extension with the Mets in April after getting traded from the Indians in January. The 27-year-old shortstop recently had to apologize, along with Javier Baez, for a “thumbs-down” gesture that was intended to be a dig at the fans — something owner Steve Cohen publicly condemned as “unacceptable.”
Lindor, a four-time All-Star, has largely underperformed in his first season in Flushing. In 98 games with the Mets, he has posted a career-low .224 batting average with an on-base percentage of .313 and 12 homers — just four more than he hit during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with Cleveland.