Larry Lucchino to go after Randy Levine if a Sox-Yankees brawl breaks out tonight

By Craig CalcaterraSep 5, 2013, 11:31 AM EDT
31 Comments

He was joking, sadly, but how much money would you pay for the team presidents of the Yankees and Red Sox to throw down on national television? I’d personally pony up $47 for it:

 

Of course I doubt we see any fisticiffsmanship in this Yankees-Red Sox series, even with the recent history of Ryan Dempster plunking A-Rod. For one thing, I doubt that many Yankees are willing to go to the mat for A-Rod’s honor even if they’re all saying the right things about their teammate since he came back. More importantly, though, the Yankees are only 2.5 games back of a playoff slot and they’ve needed every bit of manpower they have to get that close.  They won’t risk suspensions when every game is basically a must-win.

Still: would love to see that Levine-Lucchino throwdown.

Nationals’ major leaguers to continue offering financial assistance to minor leaguers

Sean Doolittle
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
By Bill BaerJun 3, 2020, 8:12 PM EDT
1 Comment

On Sunday, we learned that while the Nationals would continue to pay their minor leaguers throughout the month of June, their weekly stipend would be lowered by 25 percent, from $400 to $300. In an incredible act of solidarity, Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle and his teammates put out a statement, saying they would be covering the missing $100 from the stipends.

After receiving some criticism, the Nationals reversed course, agreeing to pay their minor leaguers their full $400 weekly stipend.

Doolittle and co. have not withdrawn their generosity. On Wednesday, Doolittle released another statement, saying that he and his major league teammates would continue to offer financial assistance to Nationals minor leaguers through the non-profit organization More Than Baseball.

The full statement:

Washington Nationals players were excited to learn that our minor leaguers will continue receiving their full stipends. We are grateful that efforts have been made to restore their pay during these challenging times.

We remain committed to supporting them. Nationals players are partnering with More Than Baseball to contribute funds that will offer further assistance and financial support to any minor leaguers who were in the Nationals organization as of March 1.

We’ll continue to stand with them as we look forward to resuming our 2020 MLB season.

Kudos to Doolittle and the other Nationals continuing to offer a helping hand in a trying time. The players shouldn’t have to subsidize their employers’ labor expenses, but that is the world we live in today.