Outside The Confines: More Miggy Magic

Miguel Cabrera week continues as multiple sites have spent several days chatting about what got Miggy to the tremendous 500 home run mark, with 3,000 hits just around the corner.

Obviously while the home run was hit on Sunday, it has been a massive topic of conversation among baseball writers for the early part of the week, so what better place to start our links?

• Reddit users have uncovered Cabrera’s original scouting report.
• For the Washington Post, Barry Svrluga argues that baseball has always been a number games, and analytics just gives us a different way to assess milestones.
• For FanGraphs, I did a retrospective on the major home runs and moments of Cabrera’s career.
• Stephen J. Nesbitt similarly looks at a roadmap of the moments that got Miggy to 500. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• David Schoenfield wonders where Cabrera ranks among other members of the 500 club.
• This was just too good not to share.

Now on to the rest of our links for today!

• Jason Owens reports that deceased Angels’ pitcher Tyler Skaggs might have been a go-between for running drugs to other MLB players.
• Chet Gutwein wonders if games have actually gotten less competitive since the trade deadline.
• Is Stickygate over? Eno Sarris wonders if all the drama about sticky stuff has died down. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Perhaps not, as Caleb Smith has been suspended 10 games for a foreign substance on his glove.
• Michael Clair gives us the true history of how Wade Boggs became “Chicken Man.”
• Yadier Molina has put the rumors to rest and signed a one-year extension with the Cardinals, shares Michael Shapiro.
• Joey Votto is apparently a big fan of Statcast, and looking at his own numbers, writes Jayson Stark. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Mike Petriello looks at how the Wander Franco story is unfolding right before our eyes.
• For those who appreciate a good pun...

• Jesse Dougherty has the intriguing story of a fan’s decades old memory of a Frank Howard home run.
• Jay Jaffee gives us a beautiful memorial of recently passed catcher Bill Freehan.
• Tom Verducci has a pretty poorly researched opinion on how the Rays are using their pitching staff.
• Two amazing young women, Mo’ne Davis and Ella Bruning, joined forces for the first pitch of the Little League World Series, and hopefully a preview of players we might see in the majors some day soon.
• Anthony Castrovince brings us the story of Bert Blyleven’s son, Todd, and his lifesaving efforts during the Las Vegas shooting.
• Nelson Cruz, first baseman? Adam Berry looks at this unusual necessity from the Rays/Phillies game last night.
• Great news about Chris Bassitt.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.