Detroit Tigers News: Baseball loses a legend in Frank Robinson

In terms of players who made an all around impact on the game of baseball, Frank Robinson has to be considered at the top of the list. He was one of the greatest power hitters in the game’s history, and then upon retirement, built himself another legacy as the National League’s first African-American manager. The baseball world lost a legend when Robinson passed away on Thursday at age 83.

Robinson finished his illustrious career as a 14 time All-Star and ranked fourth on the all-time home run list with 586. He won the Triple Crown in 1966, and went on to be the World Series MVP for the victorious Baltimore Orioles. He went on to manage for five different clubs over parts of 16 seasons, and was the 1989 American League Manager of the Year.

Jack Dickey has a great tribute up for Sports Illustrated, arguing that Robinson never quite got the love he deserved, both as a player and a trailblazer. Tom Verducci echoes those thoughts looking at how Hank Aaron and Jackie Robinson overshadowed him on the field, and in the struggle for civil rights. Hall of Fame expert, Jay Jaffe, pays tribute to Robinson for FanGraphs.

MLB.com has a nice video tribute.

The universal DH isn’t inbound, but the three-batter minimum might be

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred made clear on Friday that there will be no universal DH, nor any changes to the draft in 2019. Jonah Keri over at CBS Sports lays out the host of good arguments for finally adopting the designated hitter in both leagues. Matt Monagan for Cut4, counters with all the fun provided by pitchers doing a thing badly, but occasionally, delightfully, succeeding.

On the other hand, some of the pace-of-play measures Manfred wants remain very much on the table. A three batter minimum for pitchers, and a pitch clock, may yet be approved, even if such changes needed to be implemented mid-season. The players union had previously responded with a broad list of proposals that included a push for the universal DH, changes to team control of players, and a move to alter the draft to disincentivize tanking.

The disabled list is renamed

Henceforth, the disabled list is no more. MLB has decided to rename it the “injury list” to avoid conflating temporary injuries with actual disabilities. An admirable move, though the change to using “IL” is going to take some adjustment. No other changes to the terms of the 10-day and 60-day injured list are currently in play.

Top 10 Time

MLB Now has a pretty good roundtable discussion as to who the top 10 pitchers in baseball are right now.

Around the horn

Jeff Sullivan looks at Miami Marlins return for the J.T. Realmuto deal with the Phillies. The short version is that Sixto Sanchez and Jorge Alfaro are very talented, but very risky. The Miami Herald also looks at the prospects the Marlins acquired for star catcher, J.T. Realmuto. Former Diamondbacks and Dodgers pitcher, and two-time Tommy John survivor, Daniel Hudson, was inked to a minor league deal by the LA Angels on Friday. RotoGraphs looks back at their 2018 fantasy projections for FanGraphs top 100 prospects. Neil Paine, writing for FiveThirtyEight, moves Manny Machado and Bryce Harper around like puzzle pieces to see what their effect would be if added to each major league team.

Baseball is awesome

Marcus Stroman is out here teaching on Twitter.

Stroman is known for his hesitation moves, but can he do this?