- Phillies at the quarter mark: Historically bad with RISP. Rotation worries. And yet … The Athletic
- Phillies offense continues to struggle in 4th straight loss MLB.com
- Phillies play terribly to end West Coast trip, look to right the ship at home NBC Sports
- Phillies news and rumors 5/18: Trea Turner talks Phillies, individual struggles – Phillies Nation Phillies Nation
- ‘Stop talking about it and start doing it’: Phillies’ frustrations rise after fourth straight loss The Philadelphia Inquirer
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: rotation
‘Potentially hazardous’ asteroid that recently zipped past Earth is an elongated weirdo with an odd rotation – Livescience.com
- ‘Potentially hazardous’ asteroid that recently zipped past Earth is an elongated weirdo with an odd rotation Livescience.com
- Oddly shaped asteroid once considered an impact risk for Earth races past the planet Space.com
- Curious ‘Oblong’ Object Detected on Radar Was Closely Tracked by NASA, Officials Say The Debrief
- This oblong asteroid will have a close encounter with Earth in 2040 Interesting Engineering
- Asteroid Nearly Three Times the Length of Statue of Unity Flew Past Us! | Weather.com The Weather Channel
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Earth’s inner core may have ‘paused’ its rotation and reversed, new study suggests
(NEXSTAR) – Deep in the center of the Earth is the inner core, which spans roughly 746 miles and is composed of primarily pure, solid iron, NASA explains. Though we’ve long believed – and research has shown – that the inner core rotates, a new study suggests it may have “paused” its spin and could even have reversed.
The liquid outer core that surrounds the inner core causes Earth’s magnetic field. According to NASA, as the molten iron and nickel in the outer core move, they create electrical currents that result in a magnetic field. The outer core also allows the inner core to spin on its own, Nature explains.
Though scientists can’t track the core directly, they can analyze seismic waves caused by earthquakes – and Cold War-era nuclear weapon tests – as they reach the core. That’s what study co-authors Yi Yang and Xiaodong Song, seismologists at Peking University in Beijing, did for their new research, which was published in the Nature Geoscience journal on Monday.
Based on their analysis of seismic waves caused by similar earthquakes dating back to the 1960s, Yang and Song said they found that the inner core’s rotation seems to have “paused” between 2009 and 2020 and could even be reversing “by a small amount.”
Sounds concerning, right? Don’t be alarmed – this likely isn’t the first time our inner core has come to a halt. Instead, they believe the change is “associated with a gradual turning-back of the inner core as part of an approximately seven-decade oscillation.”
According to Yang and Song, results from their study also suggest “another overturn or a slowdown of the rotation around the early 1970s.”
The seismologists said their findings – changes in how fast seismic waves traveled through the inner core – coincide “with changes in several other geophysical observations, especially the length of day and magnetic field,” which are both areas that are impacted by the inner core’s movement, research has shown.
While the changes are “valid,” what Yang and Song found may not be exactly what’s happening in the depths of our planet. John Vidale, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Southern California that wasn’t involved in the study, noted “several competing ideas” about the Earth’s core to The Wall Street Journal.
This includes theories that the inner core reverses its rotation more frequently than the 70 years Yang and Song determined and that it stopped rotating in the early 2000s.
“No matter which model you like, there’s some data that disagrees with it,” Vidale told The New York Times.
Vidale recently co-authored a study that showed the inner core changed its spin between 1969 and 1974, and that it seems to oscillate “a couple of kilometers every six years.”
Looking At The Padres’ Rotation Options
The Padres have been quite aggressive in recent years on all fronts, from signing free agents to trading for stars and extending their own players. That has shot their budget up to record heights, with Roster Resource currently estimating their payroll at $250MM. Up until a few years ago, they had only barely nudged past the $100MM mark, jumping to $174MM in 2021 and $211MM last year, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts.
Despite all that aggression, they’re going into the season with uncertainty in their rotation, both in the short-term and long-term. They should have a strong front three this year in Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Blake Snell. That leaves two question marks at the back, since Mike Clevinger and Sean Manaea reached free agency and signed elsewhere. Darvish and Snell are both slated to reach free agency after this year, opening up more holes in the future. MacKenzie Gore’s inclusion in the Juan Soto trade also weakened the future outlook. So, who do they have on hand to step up and take these jobs? Let’s take a look at the candidates.
Nick Martinez
Martinez, 32, spent four seasons in Japan and parlayed that into a four-year deal with the Padres going into 2022, a deal that allowed him to opt out after each season. Last year was a mixed bag for Martinez, as he logged 106 1/3 innings with a 3.47 ERA. That’s solid production overall but it came in the form of a 4.30 ERA over 52 1/3 innings as a starter and a 2.67 mark in 54 innings as a reliever.
Martinez opted out and re-signed with the club on another deal, this time on a three-year pact. The details are unusually complex as there are plenty of incentives, as well as a dual club/player option structure. Whether he can find better results as a starter this time around remains to be seen. It’s certainly a risk for the Friars but at least it seems he comes with the floor of helping out the bullpen.
Should Martinez truly establish himself as a starter, the club will be able to keep him around. Martinez will get paid a $10MM base salary this year and the team will then have to decide whether or not to trigger two $16MM club options for 2024 and 2025, essentially a two-year, $32MM extension. That affords them a bit more control over his future than his previous opt-out laden deal. However, if Martinez does not have a successful campaign and they turn down that option, he will get to decide whether or not to trigger two player options valued at $8MM each, essentially a two-year, $16MM extension. That gives the Friars upside and downside potential in the pact. Those dollar figures can also reportedly change based on incentives, though the exact details aren’t known.
Seth Lugo
Lugo, 33, is a somewhat similar situation to Martinez, as he could potentially wind up in the rotation or in the bullpen. He made 23 starts in 2017-18 but only seven since, largely working as a reliever. That move was at least partially motivated by a “slight” tear that was discovered in his right ulnar collateral ligament in 2017.
Regardless, Lugo has served as an effective reliever since then, posting a 3.56 ERA over the past two years, and there’s some hope that his five-pitch mix can help him transition back into a rotation. It’s another risky move that the Padres were willing to take, giving Lugo two years and $15MM, with Lugo able to opt-out after the first. He hasn’t topped 80 innings in a season since 2018 and it’s hard to know how smooth this switch will be.
If it goes well, there won’t be any long-term upside for the club, since Lugo will make a $7.5MM salary but can opt out of the same figure for 2024. If the experiment works, he’s likely to return to free agency and find a larger guarantee. If it fails, the Padres will still be on the hook for another season.
Adrián Morejón
Morejón, 24 in February, has long been one of the most exciting pitching prospects in the league. Baseball America placed him on their top 100 list for five straight years beginning in 2017. Various injuries slowed him during his ascent to the majors and he’s yet to even pitch 70 official innings in any season of his career, majors or minors or combined.
Tommy John surgery in April of 2021 wiped out most of that season. He returned to health in 2022 but pitched in relief. The club reportedly still views him as a starter but he will likely have workload concerns this year. Between the majors and the minors last year, he logged 47 1/3 frames. He should be able to push that up now that he’s further removed from the surgery, but getting to a full starter’s workload would be a lot to ask. He has just over three years of MLB service time now, giving him the ability to provide some long-term help to the club’s rotation if he stays healthy and makes good on his prospect pedigree in 2023.
Jay Groome
Groome, 24, was a 12th overall pick of the Red Sox in 2016. He was once a highly-touted prospect but has hit various speed bumps. Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2018 and most of his 2019, which was followed by the minors being canceled by the pandemic in 2020. He has since returned to health and posted decent results but with some of the prospect shine having worn off.
In 2022, which included a trade to the Padres in the Eric Hosmer deal, he pitched 144 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. The 3.44 ERA is nice, but his 22.8% strikeout rate is right around average and his 10.4% walk rate was on the concerning side. He’s yet to reach the majors and arguably has the greatest chance to provide future value to the club with his six seasons of control and one remaining option year.
Brent Honeywell Jr.
Honeywell, 28 in March, is also a former top prospect. A Rays draftee, he was on BA’s top 100 in five straight seasons from 2016-20. Similar to Morejón and Groome, injuries have prevented him from reaching his potential thus far. Tommy John surgery in 2018 put him on the shelf and he has dealt with various setbacks since then. He was healthy enough to toss 86 innings in 2021 between Tampa Bay and Triple-A Durham, with the club then dealing him to Oakland. However, more injury setbacks resulted in just 20 1/3 minor league innings for the A’s last year.
Honeywell seems to be healthy again at the moment, as he’s tossed 28 innings in the Dominican Winter League. His 0.96 ERA in that time seems to have been enough to impress the Padres, as they signed him to their 40-man roster last week. It would make for a terrific bounceback story if he were to finally put it all together, but it’s hard to bank on him after hardly pitching in the past five years. He still has less than a year of service time, giving the Padres plenty of upside if it all clicks, but Honeywell is also out of options and will have to produce in the big leagues right away to hang onto his roster spot.
Reiss Knehr/Pedro Avila/Ryan Weathers
These three are all on the 40-man roster and warrant a mention, though they are unlikely to be called upon except in an emergency. All three of them have gotten some big league time in recent seasons, getting fairly brief showings in swing roles. Weathers probably has the most upside of the trio since he’s just 23 whereas the others are going into their respective age-26 seasons. Weathers was considered a top 100 prospect going into 2021 but he has a 5.49 ERA in the big leagues so far and posted a 6.73 ERA in 123 Triple-A innings last year, getting bumped to the bullpen as the season wore on.
Wilmer Font
Font, 33 in May, is a real wild card. He was a journeyman in the majors for many years but went to Korea to play in the KBO in 2021. Over the last two years, he’s been pitching at an ace level for the SSG Landers. He made 25 starts in 2021 with a 3.46 ERA and then 28 starts last year with a 2.69 mark. In that latter season, he got strikeouts at a 23.3% rate, walking only 4.7% of batters faced and he got ground balls on 51.6% of balls in play.
Success overseas doesn’t always translate to success in the majors, but Font wouldn’t be the first pitcher to underwhelm in North America but then return after a breakout elsewhere, with Miles Mikolas and Merrill Kelly some of the recent examples. Font isn’t currently on the 40-man and will have to earn his way back into the mix but he will be an interesting one to watch.
Julio Teheran/Aaron Brooks
These two veterans have also been brought aboard on minor league deals. Teheran spent 2022 in Indy ball and the Mexican League, posting some decent numbers in 13 starts between various clubs. He then went to the Dominican for winter ball and has posted a 3.49 ERA through eight starts there. He had a solid run with the Braves earlier in his career but got lit up in 2020 with a 10.05 ERA and then was injured for most of 2021.
Brooks was great in the KBO in 2020 and 2021, posting a 2.79 ERA over 36 starts in that time. However, his attempted return to the majors didn’t go well. He made five relief appearances for the Cardinals with a 7.71 ERA and got outrighted to the minors. In 15 Triple-A appearances, 13 starts, his ERA was 5.56.
All told, the Padres have lots of options here but all of them have question marks. There’s a handful of faded prospects who still need to put injury concerns in the rearview mirror and another handful of veteran swingmen who still might end up better suited to the bullpen than the rotation. Musgrove-Darvish-Snell gives them a strong front three, meaning the Padres only really need a couple of these guys to step up. On the other hand, they are one injury away from someone in this group suddenly being in the #3 slot.
The Padres could always supplement their staff between now and Opening Day, but recent reporting has suggested they don’t have much more payroll space to work with. If they want to go the trade route, there are certainly options, such as the Marlins having plenty of arms available and the Brewers perhaps in a similar boat.
New measurements of galaxy rotation lean toward modified gravity as an explanation for dark matter
Although dark matter is a central part of the standard cosmological model, it’s not without its issues. There continue to be nagging mysteries about the stuff, not the least of which is the fact that scientists have found no direct particle evidence of it.
Despite numerous searches, we have yet to detect dark matter particles. So some astronomers favor an alternative, such as modified Newtonian dynamics (MoND) or modified gravity model. And a new study of galactic rotation seems to support them.
The idea of MoND was inspired by galactic rotation. Most of the visible matter in a galaxy is clustered in the middle, so you’d expect that stars closer to the center would have faster orbital speeds than stars farther away, similar to the planets of our solar system. What we observe is that stars in a galaxy all rotate at about the same speed. The rotation curve is essentially flat rather than dropping off. The dark matter solution is that galaxies are surrounded by a halo of invisible matter, but in 1983 Mordehai Milgrom argued that our gravitational model must be wrong.
At interstellar distances, the gravitational attraction between stars is essentially Newtonian. So rather than modifying general relativity, Milgrom proposed modifying Newton’s universal law of gravity. He argued that rather than the force of attraction as a pure inverse square relation, gravity has a small remnant pull regardless of distance. This remnant is only about 10 trillionths of a G, but it’s enough to explain galactic rotation curves.
Of course, just adding a small term to Newton’s gravity means that you also have to modify Einstein’s equations, as well. So MoND has been generalized in various ways, such as AQUAL, which stands for “a quadradic Lagrangian.” Both AQUAL and the standard LCDM model can explain observed galactic rotation curves, but there are some subtle differences.
This is where a recent study comes in. One difference between AQUAL and LCDM is in the rotation speeds of inner orbit stars vs. outer orbit stars. For LCDM, both should be governed by the distribution of matter, so the curve should be smooth. AQUAL predicts a tiny kink in the curve due to the dynamics of the theory. It’s too small to measure in a single galaxy, but statistically, there should be a small shift between the inner and outer velocity distributions.
So the author of this paper looked at high-resolution velocity curves of 152 galaxies as observed in the Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves (SPARC) database. He found a shift in agreement with AQUAL. The data seems to support modified gravity over standard dark matter cosmology.
The result is exciting, but it doesn’t conclusively overturn dark matter. The AQUAL model has its own issues, such as its disagreement with observed gravitational lensing by galaxies. But it is a win for the underdog theory, which has some astronomers cheering “Vive le MoND!”
The research is published on the arXiv preprint server.
More information:
Kyu-Hyun Chae, Distinguishing Dark Matter, Modified Gravity, and Modified Inertia with the Inner and Outer Parts of Galactic Rotation Curves, arXiv (2022). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2207.11069
Journal information:
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Carlos Rodón signing: The Yankees’ rotation, led by ace Gerrit Cole, has huge upside and huge question marks
The big baseball news of Thursday night was the Yankees adding lefty Carlos Rodón to their rotation on a six-year, $162 million deal. After retaining Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo, the next major box to check this offseason for Brian Cashman’s front office was adding a big arm to the rotation and he got it done.
The Yankees now have a five-man rotation with very high upside, but there are questions throughout. Let’s dive in.
The upside: We’ve all seen it. Cole is arguably the best pitcher in baseball to have not (yet?) won a Cy Young. He’s finished second in voting twice and has four top-five finishes. He’s twice led the majors in strikeouts and led the AL with a 2.50 ERA in 2019. On any given day that he takes the ball, he’s capable of carrying his team with a dominant outing. That’s an ace, easily.
The question: For being a dominant pitcher, why does he give up so many home runs? He led the AL with 33 homers allowed last season. He allowed a home run in all three of his playoff starts and, in fact, has given up at least one home run in his last nine playoff starts going back to 2019. The long ball problem was the main culprit in him being inconsistent last season, pitching overall to a 3.50 ERA (111 ERA+, his worst since leaving Pittsburgh by a wide margin).
Carlos Rodón
The upside: In the last two seasons, Rodón has made 55 starts and is 27-13 with a 2.67 ERA (157 ERA+), 0.998 WHIP and 422 strikeouts against 87 unintentional walks in 310 2/3 innings. On a rate basis, he’s been one of the best, most dominant pitchers in baseball. He’s a lefty ace to stand tall alongside the righty Cole!
Oh, and here’s a good stat: In fourseam fastball whiff rate (with 1,000 pitches minimum) last season, Cole was number 1 and Rodón was number two in all of baseball. The Yankees have the heat.
The question: Rodón dealt with shoulder injuries in 2016 and 2021 and had Tommy John surgery in between. This means he started, by season,12, 20, 7 and 2 games, respectively, from 2017-20. In 2021, it looked like his career year, but he only managed 23 innings in five starts after Aug. 7. As noted, the shoulder injury was a concern. Even in making 31 starts last season, he averaged just 5 2/3 innings per start, adding up to 178 on the season. That was his career high.
Can he stay on the mound all season and, if he does, will he still be full strength for the playoffs? Or will he wear down in October and falter when the Yankees need it most?
The upside: We just saw it! Nasty Nestor was one of the breakout stars of 2022, making the All-Star team and finishing eighth in AL Cy Young voting. He’s capable of resembling an ace through the lineup twice or even three times. If he were slotted third in a playoff rotation, it would be reasonable to expect him to hold his own or even come out on top a good number of times.
The question: Is it repeatable?
Cortes was never highly-touted. The Yankees lost him in the Rule 5 draft to the Orioles and then the Orioles gave him back the following April. Then he was traded to the Mariners for “future considerations,” hit minor-league free agency and re-signed with the Yankees. He started 2021 in the minors.
He was a full-time starter last year, but it was for 28 starts and 158 1/3 innings. He went through a bit of a rough patch through the middle of the season, too. It’s good that he’s only the three instead of being counted on as an ace, but there still has to be some level of concern that 2022 will end up being a fluky season for the southpaw.
The upside: The two-time All-Star has third- and ninth-place finishes in Cy Young voting to his credit. In those two seasons, he was 33-14 with a 3.18 ERA (137 ERA+), 1.09 WHIP and 450 strikeouts in 384 2/3 innings. He flashed plenty of that upside last season, too, when he was 7-3 with a 3.18 ERA (123 ERA+), 1.00 WHIP and 112 strikeouts in 102 innings. He looked like his old self when on the mound.
The question: Again, it’s staying on the mound. Those ace-level seasons were 2017-18. He made just three starts in 2019, zero in 2020 and appeared in four games in relief in 2021. Last year, he was out between July 13 and Sept. 21. Arm issues have hampered much of his career, including shoulder issues and then Tommy John surgery, the latter of which came with several setbacks during his rehab. Last year, it was a lat strain.
He can be great when he pitches. He also has zero 200-inning seasons and only two more than his 102 last season, with the most recent of those being 2018. There has to be concern about getting him through the full season and then, if he does, how well he’d hold up through a potential deep playoff run.
The upside: The fifth man of five on this list who flashes ace upside, Montas looked like a Cy Young candidate in 2019. Through 16 starts, he was 9-2 with a 2.63 ERA (164 ERA+), 1.12 WHIP and 103 strikeouts in 96 innings. In 2021, Montas finished sixth in AL Cy Young voting with a strong all-around season (3.37 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 207 K, 187 IP, 3.6 WAR). Last year before he was traded to the Yankees, he had a 3.18 ERA with 109 strikeouts in 104 2/3 innings.
The questions: That 2019 season mentioned above? Yeah, it stopped abruptly because he was suspended for a PED violation. He was then bad in 2020.
In eight starts for the Yankees, after the trade, last season, he had a 6.35 ERA. It’s only been 6 2/3 innings, but he has a brutal 9.45 playoff ERA.
At a bare minimum here, we’re dealing with inconsistency, plus a shoulder injury last season.
When he’s good, he’s outstanding, but the track record is littered with landmines. Which version do the 2023 Yankees get for most of the season? How about when it matters most?
In all, the Yankees have a rotation that is capable, when things are pie-in-the-sky humming, of looking like five aces. It also isn’t difficult to see stretches where they have multiple members of the rotation on the injured list while at least one other is struggling to keep runs off the board. It could be a roller coaster of a season with this group. Most roller coasters are fun, though, and there’s enough upside here to believe this will be one of the best rotations in baseball.
The Yankees haven’t won the AL pennant since 2009 and that’s ages for this franchise. They’ve gotten to the ALCS three times in the last six seasons and all three times they were eliminated by the Houston Astros. The defending World Series champions are going to have a very strong rotation next season, but they did lose Cy Young winner Justin Verlander to free agency while the Yankees brought in someone capable of pushing for a Cy Young award. They now aim to topple their nemesis and finally get back to the World Series. They have the rotation upside to get the job done, but they’ll need to answer a lot of questions in the process.
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Phillies solidify rotation with Taijuan Walker and put their stamp on Winter Meetings
SAN DIEGO — Not four hours after Dave Dombrowski rested on a sofa on the seventh floor at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and said, “I can’t say we made any headway” in the quest for a mid-rotation starter, the Phillies had agreed in principle to a four-year, $72 million deal for Taijuan Walker. The veteran executive wasn’t deceitful. The agreement, according to major-league sources, came together fast.
While the Walker talks progressed Tuesday night, the Phillies finished an agreement with Matt Strahm, a lefty reliever. So, it was official. These were the Phillies’ Winter Meetings, a two-day flurry in which the defending National League champions declared they are serious about capitalizing on the momentum from their magical postseason run — and have no time for concerns about efficiency.
They committed $372 million to fill their two biggest needs. They are financial juggernauts in a stacked NL East that features three teams with World Series aspirations and the wherewithal to spend like it. They tasted postseason baseball at Citizens Bank Park, and it was intoxicating, especially to the people who sign the payroll checks.
The Phillies were expensive underdogs in October. So much has changed since.
The Phillies committed $300 million to Trea Turner on Monday and $72 million to Taijuan Walker on Tuesday. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
Earlier Tuesday, before the Phillies and Walker matched, Phillies manager Rob Thomson fielded questions in a small banquet room. There is still offseason work for the front office to do — a few middle relievers are next — but the Phillies now have a good idea of what the 2023 roster will look like. Thomson has already started to think about how to establish the right tone in Florida.
“There’s some things I want to talk about in spring training,” Thomson said. “One being expectations — high expectations — and that’s a good thing because that means you’re probably pretty good, and you’ve got to deal with that.”
The expectations haven’t been this high since 2011 when the Four Aces were supposed to deliver one more deep October run. It took a decade to recover from that disappointment. Now, in 2023, the Phillies will field one of the better rosters on paper in club history. Adding Trea Turner, one of the most exciting players in the sport, was the prize.
But Walker was just as important. The Phillies needed innings. They were not shopping at the top of the rotation market, and after surrendering two draft picks to sign Turner, they were reluctant to do it again to obtain a mid-rotation pitcher. They valued innings and reliability. So, that led them to Walker. He was one of only 26 pitchers to log at least 150 innings in each of the past two seasons. The bar is lower and lower every year for volume. Walker, who turns 31 in August, has met it ever since he had Tommy John surgery in 2018.
This was not lost on his agent, Scott Boras.
“You can see in the marketplace, there’s a whole number of pitchers that are throwing 60 and 70 innings that have been pursued … at the threshold of around $13 (million) to $15 million a year because the demand for quality pitching is so great,” Boras said Tuesday morning before Walker signed. “So, Tai at (30) is one of the younger ones, one of the more durable ones, and we expect him to be pursued greatly as his market unfolds.”
The Mets did not make a qualifying offer on Walker, who was a better-than-league-average starter in 2022. That helped his market. The Phillies paid for certainty and, although Walker might not resemble a workhorse of old, he represented one of the closest things to it in this free-agent market.
Walker slots in a rotation with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez. The Phillies will reserve the fifth spot for a collection of younger pitchers. Within the organization, there is a strong belief that Andrew Painter can win a rotation spot in spring training. Painter, 19, is one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. The Phillies have treated him with an unusual brand of aggressiveness because they think he is that good and that he can handle it.
But he will not pitch 200 innings or even 160 in the majors next season. He won’t make 32 starts if he breaks camp with the Phillies. The team has contemplated different solutions to accommodate him. They like prospects Mick Abel, another former first-round pick, and Griff McGarry. All three could factor into the rotation plans during the season.
“But,” Thomson said, “the guy we’re looking at to possibly come on this roster out of spring is Painter.”
Thomson has not seen him pitch. Has he started to ask people about the prospect?
“We don’t even have to ask,” Thomson said. “They just tell you how good this guy is and the makeup and the intangibles and the athleticism, all that stuff. And I’ve been watching a little bit of tape, and it’s real.”
Andrew Painter could make the big-league team out of spring training. (Mike Janes / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)
The Phillies like Bailey Falter, too, and it’s possible they use him to manage Painter’s load. The club has discussed various rotation arrangements. Painter made 22 starts in the minors last season and pitched 103 2/3 innings.
“So, to jump to 200 innings, that would be a bit much,” Dombrowski said Tuesday. “But I think that you could start a bunch of games depending on what happens. You get the All-Star Game, you work through those days. You get off days, you work through them. You could use a sixth starter if you want to do that. All of those things are possible.”
A six-man rotation can also serve as a buffer for Wheeler, Nola and Suárez to compensate for their larger workloads in 2022. Realistically, the Phillies have at least eight viable rotation options — experienced and inexperienced — and that is the best depth they have accumulated in a long time.
There is not much left to accomplish this winter. Dombrowski expects to sign a few more middle-reliever types. The market is overflowing with them; the Phillies can wait and throw some darts later.
Matt Strahm posted a 3.83 ERA in 50 appearances last season. (Paul Rutherford / USA Today)
They committed a decent chunk of their bullpen budget to Strahm, a 31-year-old lefty whose average fastball velocity jumped a tick in 2022 when he spent a full season in the bullpen for the first time. He agreed to a two-year, $15 million deal, according to a major-league source. Strahm is the rare reliever who used five different pitches, and the Phillies could refine his repertoire. He had better numbers against righties in 2022; the Phillies could still look for a third lefty to fit next to Strahm and José Alvarado in the bullpen.
On Thursday, the Phillies will introduce Turner with a No. 7 jersey at Citizens Bank Park. They’ll have another event for Walker soon after that. The lineup is set. The rotation is almost there — spring training will be an intriguing time for the organization’s young starters.
“There’s always ways to be creative,” Dombrowski said.
The Phillies, so far, have not needed a creative approach to their offseason. They have attacked with precision and force. In two days here, they announced their intentions with an exclamation point.
(Top photo of Taijuan Walker: Vincent Carchietta / USA Today)
Steve Kerr previews rotation changes as Warriors drop to 0-6 on road
NEW ORLEANS — The Golden State Warriors wrapped up a winless five-game road trip Friday night at New Orleans, falling to the Pelicans 114-105.
The Warriors have dropped all six of their road games, the first time they’ve done so since the 1997-98 season. They are the first defending champion to start 0-6 on the road in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. And their overall record of 3-7 marks the fifth time a defending champion has started a season with that record or worse.
Following his team’s loss to the Orlando Magic one night prior, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he was planning on switching up his rotation, as the bench minutes have been one of the bigger problem areas for Golden State. He doubled down on that following Friday’s loss.
“We’re going to change up our rotations a little bit. And I have an idea of what I want to do,” Kerr said. “The staff will talk about it the next couple of days and solidify that.”
With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green all out against the Pelicans due to injury management, Kerr was forced to rely on his younger players while also getting an opportunity to experiment with different combinations and lineups.
He started Moses Moody alongside regular starter Kevon Looney, sixth man Jordan Poole and two-way player Anthony Lamb. Jonathan Kuminga rounded out the starting five despite playing in only two of Golden State’s previous five games.
Kuminga’s night — 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and one block in a career-high 38 minutes — was strong enough for Kerr to mention him by name when reiterating his plan to adjust the rotation moving forward when all of the starters are active.
“It was apparent who really played tonight. [Kuminga] played really well,” Kerr said. “He’s earned some minutes … He showed tonight that he’s ready to step into the rotation and contribute. But that has to be every night … be able to play through the tough nights when maybe the minutes aren’t there.”
Kerr previously said that Kuminga hasn’t been happy with his lack of playing time, and Friday Kuminga said that it has been challenging.
But now that he’s gotten a chance to remind Kerr and the coaches what he adds to the team, he is prepared to take advantage.
“[I’m] working hard every single day to make sure I build everything on my game,” Kuminga said. “It’s not perfect, but knowing that I’ve given everything on the floor, I’m just going to keep building … I’m harder on myself than anybody.”
Kerr also mentioned Lamb, Moody and Ty Jerome as players who impressed against the Pelicans and could possibly see more minutes.
How rainout would change Yankees’ ALDS rotation plans
The forecast for Thursday has not improved, meaning Game 2 of the ALDS between the Yankees and Guardians in The Bronx remains in jeopardy — as do the pitching plans for both teams.
Nestor Cortes, who will start for the Yankees in Game 2 — either Thursday or Friday — would have been available to come back on short rest for a potential Game 5 on Monday back at the Stadium.
On Wednesday, the lefty said he would be ready to pitch in some capacity in that game, though both he and the Yankees hope they have the series wrapped up by then.
Cortes said he would not adjust his pre-start routine based on the shaky forecast.
If he doesn’t pitch until Friday, he’d be limited the rest of the series.
“I’m ready to go,” Cortes said. “I’m going to empty the tank. So if I pitch on Friday, and I have to come back on short rest — whether it’s two or three days — I’m going to try and prepare in between the best I can to feel as best as I can.”
Luis Severino will start Game 3 in Cleveland. Cole, Tuesday’s Game 1 starter, is slated to come back on normal rest to pitch Sunday’s Game 4.
“With this [Cleveland] team, there are lefties and … if you had [Cortes] in an inning scenario, a couple-inning scenario, that would be pretty valuable,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But if he goes Friday … hopefully we’re not in a Game 5 situation, but if we are, we’ll see. He would maybe be in play but not necessarily as a traditional starter.”
Boone has stressed his preference for a three-man rotation for this round and had Jameson Taillon up and ready to come into Tuesday’s Game 1 win in the ninth inning.
If Thursday’s game is postponed, the teams would be in line to play four straight days and that would likely take Taillon out of much of a role out of the pen, since he would be a logical option to start Game 5.
As for the Guardians, after starting Cal Quantrill on Tuesday, Shane Bieber is set for Game 2 on Thursday and Triston McKenzie for Game 3 on Saturday. Even if Quantrill returns for Game 4 on normal rest, a postponement Thursday would bring Aaron Civale into play as a potential Game 5 starter.
Aaron Judge’s wait for the ball from his milestone No. 62 home run will continue until the end of the postseason, since both the Yankees and the fan who caught it, Cory Youmans of Dallas, have agreed to hold off on potential negotiations until the Yankees’ season is over to avoid a distraction.
Judge broke Roger Maris’ 61-year-old American League and franchise record with his 62nd homer of the season on Oct. 4 against the Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Boone said he has no plans to talk to Josh Donaldson about the third baseman’s failure to run out his fly ball to right field that bounced off the top of the wall and back into play in Game 1.
Donaldson thought it was a home run and was thrown out trying to get back to first base.
“Weird play,” said Boone, who said on Tuesday he hadn’t gotten a good look at what happened.
“[Donaldson] thought it went over the fence. We are shaking hands at first [in the dugout]. The music goes off. I think it’s just a weird play.”
Jonathan Loaisiga got an important double play to end the seventh on Tuesday, but he also gave up two hits in just two-thirds of an inning. In his last six postseason outings dating back to 2019, the right-hander has allowed 15 base runners over just 4 ¹/₃ innings.
The Yankees are counting on him to return to the form he showed for much of the second half of this season after returning from a shoulder injury, as well as most of 2021.
“I know people feel like we have a lot of questions [in the bullpen]” Boone said. “[That’s] fair. We don’t have the ‘this guy is the closer’ and all these certain roles. But I do feel like right now, even though we have experienced some attrition down there, we have a lot of really talented options down there and [Loaisiga] is right in the middle of that. If we are going to get far in this, he’s going to have to get a lot of big outs for us.”
Ancient solar eclipse records reveal changes in Earth’s rotation
Records of eclipses observed around 1,500 years ago have revealed the history of Earth’s rotation and how our planet’s movement has changed through recent human history.
Researchers searched through records from the Byzantine Empire — the eastern half of the Roman Empire that continued on after the fall of the Western Roman Empire — from the fourth to seventh centuries A.D. — and identified five total solar eclipses seen around the Eastern Mediterranean, pinpointing their probable times and locations. Previously, solar eclipse accounts from this time were sparse.
Because eclipses can provide information about our planet’s movement, records like these can be important tools for understanding the variability of Earth‘s rotation throughout history. However, our ancestors recorded astronomical events without noting key information needed by astronomers today, so identifying the correct times, locations and extents of historical eclipses is often difficult.
Related: The 1st solar eclipse of 2022 is stunning in these satellite views
“Although original eyewitness accounts from this period have mostly been lost, quotations, translations, etc, recorded by later generations provide valuable information,” Koji Murata, an assistant professor at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, said in a statement (opens in new tab). “In addition to reliable location and timing information, we needed confirmation of eclipse totality — daytime darkness to the extent that stars appeared in the sky.”
The team identified five total solar eclipses spotted from the Eastern Mediterranean region in A.D. 346, 418, 484, 601 and 693. The new findings provide details about the difference between time measured according to Earth’s rotation and time independent of Earth’s rotation — a value called delta T — that represent the length of an Earth day.
As an example of the impact of this new research, an eclipse was documented to have occurred on July 19, 418, and was so complete that stars were visible in the sky. The site of this solar eclipse observation was Constantinople, then the capital of the Roman Empire and now Istanbul in modern-day Turkey.
The previous delta T model suggested that Constantinople should have been outside the path of totality, the area where observers see the moon completely cover the sun, for that particular eclipse. This ancient account of a total eclipse, therefore, means that the delta T for the fifth century must be adjusted. Other newly discovered accounts require adjustments to delta T models for later centuries, too.
“Our new delta T data fill a considerable gap and indicate that the ΔT margin for the 5th century should be revised upward, whereas those for the 6th and 7th centuries should be revised downward,” Murata said.
The revised details of the Earth’s rotation could also help scientists investigate other global phenomena throughout history, including changes in sea level and the volume of ice across the planet.
A paper detailing the findings was published Sept. 13 in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
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