September Songs . . . or, strange things keep happening

By Jeff Kallman

Those who thought a season as strange as 2024 would stop as September came out to play, think again. Remembering that in baseball strange isn’t necessarily a terrible thing . . .

Glove Story Dept.—The Giants signing 32-year-old Matt Chapman to a six-year/$151 million extension that begins in 2025 can be seen two ways: locking down one of the game’s premier defensive third basemen who can hit for power or throwing good money after a guy who’s liable not to look so good in the final half of the deal.

This season, Chapman’s worth 6.0 WAR at this writing with 1.7 of it based upon defense. Not exactly the levels with which he led the American League back-to-back in his A’s days, but enough. But now comes the challenge of the Giants finding other ways to fine-tune themselves back to full contention.

Great Scott Dept.—The Chapman signing moves the Astros’ Alex Bregman to the head of the third-base free agency class to come this winter. Thank Bregman’s performance since early May, when he shook off season-opening issues to play more like himself including his .847 OPS.

Juan Soto will be the top prize of the upcoming free agent market.Photo byDan Schlossberg

They have something else in common: they share Scott Boras as an agent. Meaning the Chapman deal (never mind it being Chapman who wanted to stay in San Francisco) is just the opening song on what some see as Boras’s “revenge tour” following last winter’s less-than-vibrant market for a few Boras clients.

Socked Dept.—That’s the postseason-contending Mets, who just followed a sweep of the so-lowly-up-is-the-basement White Sox with a sweep of the not-so-lowly/not-so-great Red Sox to run their current winning streak to seven.

Ever since closing out their horrific (9-19) May, the Mets have been 52-31 (.627 winning percentage). It hasn’t all been against the lower-life forms of the game this year, but they’re facing a harsh stretch to come including two sets against the Phillies, one against the Braves, and one against the Brewers.

These Mets and their fickle fans (too many of whom still proclaim seasons lost upon a single bad inning) are about to re-discover what they’re really made of.

South Side Story Dept.—I’m saying it again, as I’ve said elsewhere: the White Sox may push the 1962 Mets out of the season-long futility record book, but that’s about all. This humourless bunch of who-knows-what haven’t got any sense of humor about themselves. Even in occasional triumph, such as beating the AL East-contending Orioles 8-1 (the carnage began with Nicky Lopez opening the game with a home run), these White Sox manage to suck.

The ’62 Mets sucked . . . with style. And a lot of great humor. Which is why they remain objects of affection to those who saw them (including moi) and those who’ve read of them. This year’s White Sox remain on track to be remembered as a boring bad dream.

California Split Dept.—The AL West-floundering Angels picked a remarkable way to split their two-game set against the NL West-owning Dodgers on Wednesday. With still-struggling Bobby Miller pitching for the Dodgers, the Angels dropped a five-run first inning including, back-to-back, a two-run single (Anthony Rendon) and a three-run homer (Mickey Moniak).

If only the Angels could hit like that or pitch the way they did (Griffin Canning and three relievers keeping the damage to one Dodger RBI single in the seventh) more often this year they might not have a tragic number of seven before September’s a quarter of the way done.

Savings Dept.—The Yankees have reacted to Clay Holmes’s battles of late by going closer-by-committee. Hands up to everyone (including me) who thought they’d miss the injured Jonathan Loáisiga far more than they thought. (Loáisiga went down for the season after undergoing ulnar collateral ligament repair surgery—internal-brace surgery with shorter recovery time, not Tommy John surgery—in early April.)

The Yankees plan to move Nestor Cortes to the bullpen for the weekend, then return him to the rotation when the Yankees play the Red Sox starting late next week. Help may also be on the way for their coming weekend with the Cubs if Clarke Schmidt really does return to the rotation after missing three months with a lat strain.

But are you getting the impression otherwise that the Yankees’ pitching overall may prove their proverbial Achilles heel down the rest of the stretch?

Jeff Kallman is an IBWAA Life Member who writes Throneberry Fields Forever. He has written for the Society for American Baseball Research, The Hardball Times, Sports-Central, and other publications. He has lived in Las Vegas since 2007, where he plays the guitar and writes music when not writing baseball. He remains a Met fan since the day they were born.