Issue #531

The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!

⚾ Welcome! ⚾

Once again, yesterday was a fairly quiet day for offseason moves, except for two trades involving the Colorado Rockies:

  • Rockies trade RHP Angel Chivilli to the Yankees for 1B T.J. Rumfield. According to an article by Manny Randhawa at MLB, hard-throwing 23-year old Angel Chivilli will be in the bullpen mix for the Yankees during Spring Training. He has an option left, so could start the year in the minors, especially as his time with the Rockies hasn’t produced stellar results over the past two years with a 6.18 ERA and 71 K over 90.1 IP.

    25-year old 1B T.J. Rumfield has yet to make his major league debut, spending last season at AAA and hitting .285 with 16 HR and 87 RBI. The Rockies seem pretty open at 1B going into Spring Training, with candidates including Troy Johnston, Blaine Crim, Charlie Condon, and now Rumfield will get a look also.

  • Twins trade IF Edouard Julien and RHP Pierson Ohl to the Rockies for minor-league RHP Jace Kaminska and cash considerations. Again according to an article by Manny Randhawa at MLB, the Rockies are picking up the 26-year old Julien who has played mostly 2B, with some games at 1B, over the past three seasons for the Twins. He showed promise as a rookie in 2023 with 16 HR, a .263 average, and an impressive .381 OBP. But then his power and batting averages (.199 and .220) took a dip the past two seasons, though he continue to perform well at some time at AAA. Without a strong incumbent, Julien might be the favorite to win the starting 2B job with the Rockies, but he’ll need to do well during Spring Training.

    26-year old RHP Pierson Ohl made his major league debut with the Twins in 2025, posting a 5.10 ERA across 30 IP from three starts and eleven relief appearances. Primarily a starter as he’s climbed up through the minors, he’ll presumably be given a look during Spring Training for either SP or RP roles.


Today’s Trivia Question

One of today's Birthday Boys (see below) is Steve Sax. He had 290 of his 444 career SB while playing for the Dodgers. That ranks fourth all-time for the LA Dodgers — can you name the three ahead of him on their leaderboard? (Note: This is only covering the franchise's time in Los Angeles, not their earlier years in Brooklyn.)


Countdown to Spring Training!

Continuing with this fun series… Spring Training games are now just 22 days away, so here are some top players who had uniform #22 for extended periods of time (and the teams they wore it with):

  • SP Roger Clemens - Yankees (1999-2003, 07), Astros (2004-06)

  • SP Clayton Kershaw - Dodgers (2008-25)

  • SP Jim Palmer - Orioles (1965-84)

  • 1B Will Clark - Giants (1986-93), Rangers (1994-98), Cardinals (2000)

  • OF Andrew McCutchen - Pirates (2009-17, 23-25), Giants (2018), Phillies (2019-21)

  • 1B/OF Jack Clark - Giants (1977-84), Cardinals (1985-87)

  • OF Brett Butler - Braves (1981-83), Dodgers (1991-97) Mets (1995)

  • SP Jimmy Key - Blue Jays (1984-92), Yankees (1993-96)

  • SP Brad Radke - Twins (1995-2006)

  • SP Virgil Trucks - Tigers (1942-43, 46-52), Browns (1953)

  • SP Al Leiter - Mets (1998-2004), Marlins (2005)

  • OF Christian Yelich - Brewers (2018-25)

  • OF Juan Soto - Nationals (2018-22), Padres (2022-23), Yankees (2024), Mets (2025)

  • OF Jason Heyward - Braves (2010-14), Cardinals (2015), Cubs (2016-22), and two other clubs

  • OF Kevin McReynolds - Mets (1987-91, 94), Royals (1992-93)

  • SP Johnny Podres - Dodgers (1958-66), Tigers (1966-67)

  • SP Dennis Leonard - Royals (1974-86)

  • SP Allie Reynolds - Yankees (1947-54)


On this day in baseball history…

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history. All quoted descriptions are from baseball-reference.com.

📅 On January 29…

  • 1901: The bunt doesn’t get banned. “After rejecting a proposal to ban the bunt, the newly-named Rules Committee composed of Connie Mack, John McGraw and Charles Comiskey recommends no changes at this time.”

  • 1961: Two speedsters get selected for the Hall of Fame. “Billy Hamilton and Max Carey are selected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.”

  • 1967: Branch Rickey and Lloyd Waner are selected for the Hall of Fame. “Former Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey and Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Lloyd Waner are elected to the Hall of Fame by a unanimous vote of the Special Veterans Committee. In 1947, Rickey promoted Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers, effectively breaking the color line in the major leagues.”

  • 1988: The Dodgers sign Kirk Gibson. “The Los Angeles Dodgers sign free agent outfielder Kirk Gibson to a three-year contract worth $4.5 million. Thanks in large part to Gibson's fiery leadership, the Dodgers will win the National League pennant this season. In Game 1 of the World Series against the Oakland Athletics, Gibson, too hobbled to play the field, will hit a dramatic, game-winning pinch-hit home run off Dennis Eckersley.”


🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

José Abreu, Steve Sax, Jason Schmidt, Wilson Redus

José Abreu (1987)

  • So far has played 11 years in the major leagues as a 1B and DH, mostly with the White Sox, then 2023-24 with the Astros, and was a free agent throughout 2025

  • AL Rookie of the Year in 2014 after batting .317 with 36 HR and 107 RBI

  • Three-time All-Star, and was AL MVP in the short 2020 season after batting .317 with 19 HR and an AL-leading 60 RBI in only 60 games

  • Has had 25+ HR six times, and 100+ RBI six times including an AL-leading 123 RBI in 2019

  • Overall so far has 263 HR, a .283/.345/.488 slash line, and a 127 OPS+

Steve Sax (1960)

  • 14-year major league career, spanning from 1981-1994, as a 2B mostly with the Dodgers, Yankees, and White Sox

  • NL Rookie of the Year in 1982 after batting .282 with 49 SB and 88 runs

  • Five-time All-Star

  • Had 30+ SB ten times, with a high of 56 SB in 1983

  • Had career highs of 210 hits and a .332 average in 1986

  • Overall had 444 SB and a .281 average

Jason Schmidt (1973)

  • 14-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1995-2009, mostly with the Pirates and Giants

  • Three-time All-Star, including in 2003 when he posted a 17-5 record and led the NL with a 2.34 ERA

  • Had a 18-7 record, a 3.20 ERA, and a career-high 251 strikeouts in 2004

  • Overall had a 130-96 (.575) record, a 3.96 ERA, and a 110 ERA+

Wilson Redus (1905-1979)

  • 16-year major league career in the Negro Leagues, spanning from 1924-1940, playing for nine different clubs

  • According to the data available at baseball-reference.com he was a high-average hitter early in his career, with batting averages of .372, .324, .367, and .349 from 1925-1928

  • Had 22 HR and a league-leading 82 RBI in 78 games in 1928

  • Overall had a .304/.368/.477 slash line and a 126 OPS+ over 3,070 career plate appearances

Currently active players who were born on January 29 include SEA Ryan Loutos and CLE Connor Brogdon.


Baseball Quote of the Day

I’ve recently shared quotes about knuckleballs and spitballs, so today I’ll continue this theme and give four quotes about screwballs:

"The screwball's an unnatural pitch. Nature never intended a man to turn his hand like that throwing rocks at a bear." - Carl Hubbell

"Throwing screwballs is safer than throwing pitches that require baseball pitchers to supinate their pitching forearm through release." - Mike Marshall

"It's something that still works in today's game that nobody does. Fernando, Mike, all these guys back in the day, they threw it. You look at the guys that threw screwballs, there's a bunch of Hall of Famers. ... Baseball will always change. But it will always go back to what it used to be." - Brent Honeywell Jr.

"It was a cross between a change-up and a screwball. It was a screwup." - Bob Patterson, Chicago Cubs pitcher, describing a pitch he threw that was hit for a home run

⚾ I hope you enjoyed the newsletter today! ⚾


Today’s Trivia Answer

The top four on the Los Angeles Dodgers' SB leaderboard are as follows:

  • 490 - Maury Wills

  • 418 - Davey Lopes

  • 335 - Willie Davis

  • 290 - Steve Sax


Good Reads

Here I am providing one or more links to baseball articles I’ve enjoyed recently, whether by writers at MLB.com or elsewhere.

See recent issues of The Baseball Buffet for more recent good reads!

Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.

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