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

By Craig CalcaterraSep 5, 2013, 11:31 AM EST
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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.

Mariners claim Kaleb Cowart off waivers from Angels

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By Bill BaerDec 10, 2018, 3:24 PM EST
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The Mariners announced that the club claimed Kaleb Cowart off waivers from the Angels. Interestingly, the Mariners list Cowart as both an outfielder and a right-handed pitcher. Cowart has never pitched professionally, but the Mariners will try him as a two-way player next season, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. Cowart was a highly regarded pitcher in high school.

Cowart, 26, has played all over the field, spending most of his time at third base and second base, but also logging a handful of innings at first base, shortstop, and left field.  He hasn’t hit much at all, owning a career .177/.241/.293 triple-slash line across 380 plate appearances in the big leagues. It makes sense to try another angle.

Shohei Ohtani, of course, is helping to popularize the rebirth of the two-way player. In his first year in the majors after having played in Japan for five years, Ohtani won the AL Rookie of the Year Award by posting a .925 OPS in 367 plate appearances along with a 3.31 ERA over 10 starts. Don’t expect Cowart to hit those lofty numbers, but additional versatility could prolong his life in the majors.