Top News:
Associated Press:
Lester Recovers From Rut of Bad Starts, Cubs Rout Mariners — CHICAGO — Jon Lester recovered from a rut of bad starts, pitching six shutout innings that led the Chicago Cubs over the Seattle Mariners 12-1 Friday for their third straight win. — Jason Heyward and David Ross homered …
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Jesse RogersESPN / ESPN:
Cubs consider bringing in new translator for Aroldis Chapman — CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman should have help on the way in the form of a new translator after a rocky start with local reporters. — On Thursday, manager Joe Maddon said the Cubs were weighing their options …
Discussion:
Bleed Cubbie Blue, ESPN, Bleacher Nation and Yahoo Sports
New York Daily News:
Yankees' Andrew Miller not upset about giving ninth inning to Aroldis Chapman: ‘The goal here is to win’ — It was clear to Andrew Miller since before spring training that Aroldis Chapman was going to be the Yankees' closer. — Miller — who saved 36 games as the Yankees' closer last season …
Discussion:
DRaysBay, MLB Daily Dish, Bluebird Banter and Pinstripe Alley
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Jeff Todd / MLB Trade Rumors:
Latest On Andrew Miller — 1:15pm: A straight-up swap of Giolito wouldn't be enough to get the Yankees to budge on Miller, Heyman tweets. — 12:53pm: We've long heard about the Nationals' interest in Yankees ace reliever Andrew Miller, but it has never quite been clear what the team would be willing to do to make that happen.
Discussion:
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre …, Pinstripe Alley and Purple Row
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Marlins Acquire Andrew Cashner, Colin Rea In Seven-Player Deal — 2:19pm: The Padres will cover around $2.275MM of the $2.5MM remaining on Cashner's contract this year, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. — 12:33pm: The deal is official, with both clubs announcing it.
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Fox Sports:
Giants acquire All-Star infielder Eduardo Nunez from Twins — SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The San Francisco Giants acquired All-Star infielder Eduardo Nunez from the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night in exchange for a minor league pitcher. — Nunez was batting .296 with 12 home runs and 47 RBIs …
Discussion:
ESPN, Brew Crew Ball, BBTF's Baseball Primer … and baseballmusings.com
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Associated Press:
Nationals Hold Off Giants' Rally in 9th in 4-2 Win
Nationals Hold Off Giants' Rally in 9th in 4-2 Win
Discussion:
Yahoo Sports and Federal Baseball
Jeff Todd / MLB Trade Rumors:
Dodgers Among Teams In Talks On Jay Bruce; Yasiel Puig May Be Involved — 8:31pm: Morosi says the Rays are still a player; he tweets that the team could end up shipping out two starters, one to each of the two other teams. — It seems that the reason for the involvement of a third team …
Discussion:
DRaysBay, Amazin' Avenue, MLB Daily Dish and Todays Knuckleball
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Zach Buchanan / Cincinnati.com:
Reds waiting for teams to get serious about Jay Bruce
Reds waiting for teams to get serious about Jay Bruce
Discussion:
Todays Knuckleball, MLB Daily Dish, Red Reporter, Camden Chat and MLB Trade Rumors
Baseball America:
Prospect Hot Sheet (July 29): Marquez Silences Opponents — This installment of the Prospect Hot Sheet considers what minor league players have done from July 22-28. Remember, this feature simply recognizes what the hottest prospects in the minors did in the past week—it's not a re-ranking of the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects.
Discussion:
River Avenue Blues and redsminorleagues.com
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Latest On Jonathan Lucroy Sweepstakes — 3:41pm: There's a mystery team involved on Lucroy, tweets Jon Heyman of Fan Rag, and it isn't the Red Sox or the Mariners. Those two clubs would certainly have been among the plausible suitors for the veteran. — 2:49pm: The Braves have inquired on Lucroy …
Discussion:
ESPN, Let's Go Tribe, MLB Daily Dish, Talking Chop and Al's Ramblings
ESPN:
Suzuki: 'I want to keep playing until I'm 50' — Ichiro Suzuki is just two hits away from becoming the 30th player in Major League Baseball to reach 3,000 hits — and his will be one of the fastest journeys ever, just 16 years after winning rookie of the year and MVP in his debut MLB season.
Discussion:
Sportsnet.ca, The Big Lead and NESN.com
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Nationals, Multiple Others Inquiring On Mark Melancon — 2:33pm: The Indians and Giants are among the other club showing interest, per Rosenthal (Twitter links). Pittsburgh is willing to consider proposals that include not only prospect value, but also a current major league reliever …
Discussion:
CBS DC, Bleacher Nation, Federal Baseball, Where Have You Gone …, Pirates Breakdown, McCovey Chronicles and MLB Daily Dish
Jeff Todd / MLB Trade Rumors:
Orioles Sign Logan Ondrusek To MLB Deal, Designate Chaz Roe — The Orioles have signed righty Logan Ondrusek to a major league deal, per a club announcement. Fellow right-hander Chaz Roe has been designated for assignment to clear roster space. — [Related: Updated Orioles Depth Chart]
Discussion:
Yahoo Sports
Jeff Todd / MLB Trade Rumors:
Mets, Angels Discussing Joe Smith — The Mets and Angels are discussing trade scenarios centered around veteran righty Joe Smith, according to Marc Carig of Newsday (Twitter links). While Halos closer Huston Street is also in play, it doesn't appear as if he's drawing much interest from New York.
Discussion:
Halos Heaven and Amazin' Avenue
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Braves send Wisler down to Gwinnett — The Braves often urge patience for their young pitchers. They caution that there will be some good and some bad as the former top prospects try to become legitimate starters in the big leagues. — But since June there has been a lot of awful …
Discussion:
Talking Chop
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