Giants win protest, still lose the game
Tuesday night in Chicago, a brief torrential downpour soaked Wrigley Field while the grounds crew had trouble maneuvering the tarp over the field, resulting in standing water and a 4-hour delay. The game was initially called in favor of the Cubs, but Bruce Bochy protested and, to the surprise of everyone, won the appeal. No protest had been won since 1986. Now there's a report alleging that the reason for the tarp trouble is that the grounds crew was understaffed in order to avoid paying for health insurance. When they resumed the game on Thursday, the Giants still lost 2-1.
Garrett Richards to miss 6 - 9 months with knee injury
Richards is one of the league's best young pitchers, and has been the Angels' #1 pitcher this year, but on Wednesday he tore the patellar tendon in his left knee covering first base. The Angels have already lost Tyler Skaggs to TJ surgery and are in the playoff hunt.
A.J. Burnett mulls retirement at season's end
Burnett's contract has an option for next year, but he has not been good in 2014. He leads the league in walks with an ERA+ of 83 in 27 starts. He's already made $135M in his career according to B-R.
Adam Dunn may hang 'em up after the season
Dunn has 459 career homers, 105 of them in 523 games with the White Sox. He's in the last year of a four-year deal with them and I'm pretty sure fans would be happy to see him leave. As of this post, Dunn is hitting .223 with Chicago, the highest batting average he's had in the four years he's spent there.
Red Sox sign Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo
Just last month, Castillo was allowed to sign with a professional team and MLB later declared him a free agent. About 28 teams scouted Castillo, but he eventually signed a 7-year, $72M contract with the Red Sox, a larger deal than the contract the White Sox gave Jose Abreu. Castillo's contract includes this year, but he may need some seasoning as he's a 27-year-old who hasn't played competitive ball in over a year. He's been compared to Ron Gant and Jacoby Ellsbury in terms of style of play and his power/speed combination has drawn comparisons to Andrew McCutchen.