Mariners Moose Tracks, 5/4/24: Luis Arráez, Bryan Ramos, and The Kirby Index

Hug Watch season has come early.

Good morning folks, and May the Fourth Be With You to all who celebrate! Let’s kick off the weekend with some links.

In Mariners news...

• Patrick Dubuque at Baseball Prospectus wonders what’s going on with the Mariners offense. ($)
• Oh man...what could have been.

Around the league...

• A blockbuster trade...in early May? That’s right: the Padres have acquired second baseman Luis Arráez from the Marlins for a trio of prospects and a relief pitcher.
• The White Sox are calling up top third base prospect Bryan Ramos directly from Double-A even though the youngster is running a .182/.265/.307 slash line with a 28.6% K-rate.
• Michael Rosen at Fangraphs has created a new measurement for pitcher command which he has aptly named the Kirby Index.
• Alex Chamberlain at Fangraphs explained how a pitcher’s release angle can influence whether a hitter sees a waste pitch as hittable.
• Chase Anderson has brought the Phiten necklace trend back, and someone finally got him to talk about it.
• The Seattle Met went behind the scenes at the Driveline facility to understand how their coaching takes players’ skills to the next level.
• I’m kind of surprised this hasn’t happened yet.

• Roku is in talks with Major League Baseball about broadcasting a Sunday morning baseball package.