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FanGraphs | Sheryl Ring: Tigers pitching coach Chris Bosio was fired for making a racist comment to a clubhouse attendant, and now he might sue the Tigers for wrongful termination. Ring does a great job of going over the legal implications of being contracted versus the usual at-will Michigan employment, and how the Tigers would need a specific personal conduct policy on record for Bosio to have violated for it not to be breach of contract (potentially). It seems like Bosio is, luckily, on less-than-solid ground with these assertions.
Bill James Online | John Dewan: The best June defenders by DRS were Alex Gordon and Trea Turner, and the latter is one of the most improved fielders in baseball. For Gordon, it’s just surprising to see his defense stick around for this long into his career as his bat has completely deteriorated.
Tangotiger Blog | Tom Tango: Statcast introduced a new spray pattern chart that shows the distribution of batted balls within 200 feet of home. Tango describes the difference between what is “infield” and “outfield,” and that divider is usually around 220 feet based on the proportion of plays made by outfielders starting at that point.
The Athletic | Eno Sarris ($): Dexter Fowler has fallen off a cliff, to an extent that hasn’t been seen in baseball this year other than... Chris Davis. Is it possible that he bounces back, because the projections say he might? Probably not to the extent to which we think, because his exit velocity has taken a massive dive this year. This could be injury, or a loss of pop, or something else, but it’s definitely concerning.