Morning Mound Visit: MLB is also trying to get the umpires to take a pay cut

Shakeia Taylor | SBNation: Effa Manley is the only woman in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. She also had a complicated racial identity. Biologically born of white parents, she lived most of her life as a Black woman. Was she performing race for strategic gain or was she sacrificing her whiteness and the privileges that come with it out of solidarity?

Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich | The Athletic $: Players aren’t the only ones MLB is trying to convince to take pay cuts. Umpires and MLB negotiated payment for eight hours on Wednesday, but didn’t reach a conclusion despite the umpires reportedly agreeing to a 20 percent reduction in total compensation.

David Laurila | FanGraphs: Michael Kopech is one of the reasons I was unreasonably high on the White Sox before the season was suspended. Fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, Kopech is ready to blow triple digit fastballs by some dudes.