Outside The Confines: Nowhere to Hyde

Man, I go away for a few days and everything goes to heck. Well, not around BCB it didn’t.

• We’re still dealing with the fallout of the firing of Red Sox general manager Chaim Bloom. Chris Cotillo has a overview of the dynamics of the Red Sox system and examines the prose and cons of his time in Boston.
• Zach Crizer says that firing Bloom demonstrates the Red Sox lack of direction.
• Jay Jaffe does an overview of Bloom’s time in Boston and that the Red Sox won’t have Chaim Bloom to kick around anymore.
• R.J. Anderson has three things the new boss needs to accomplish to return the Red Sox to contention.
• Keith Law writes that it makes no difference who runs the Red Sox if they refuse to spend. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Ian Brown looks at the candidates to replace Bloom.

• Emma Baccellieri checks in on the minor leaguers one year after unionization. She reports that it has made a big difference in their lives. For one, they’re not all looking for off-season jobs right now.
• On to good teams. The Orioles and Rays both clinched playoff spots.
• David Schoenfield traces the rise of the Orioles back to 2019. And he says the best is yet to come for Baltimore.
• Bob Nightengale looks at the role that manager Brandon Hyde played in turning the Orioles from a “laughingstock to a juggernaut.”
• The Dodgers clinched the NL West for the tenth time in the last eleven seasons.
• Former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel suffered a stroke while undergoing surgery on Saturday. On Sunday, the Phillies announced that the most recent reports were more positive about his prognosis.
• Matt Snyder writes that even though Shohei Ohtani is out for the rest of the season, he’s still the clear American League MVP.
• Marc Carig writes that for the good of baseball, Ohtani should have played his final game for the Angels.
• Mike Petriello breaks down the National League Cy Young Award candidates.
• Matt Olson set a new Braves team record for home runs in a single season.
• Here’s every team’s single-season home run champion.
• Jonathan Mayo looks at why a record number of Top 100 prospects have made their major league debut this year.
• They say pitching wins championships and the Brewers certainly hope that’s true, writes Kiri Oler.
• Will Leitch has one player from every contender that he can’t wait to see play in October.
• The Twins’ Royce Lewis missed almost three whole seasons—two to injury and one to COVID. Betsy Helfand traces how Lewis went from question mark to potential superstar this year.
• Alden Gonzalez traces how Reds closer Alexis Díaz recovered from the emotionally-devastating injury to his brother Edwin in the World Baseball Classic. Edwin has made it clear (and has the tapes to prove it) that it was not Alexis’s fault. Still, he felt guilty anyway.
• Bartolo Colón has officially retired as a Met.
• And finally, everyone knows that you can’t throw your glove at a ball in play. Well, apparently not everyone as Astros first baseman José Abreu revealed when he threw his glove at the ball.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, mom.