Rookie leftfielder Steven Souza Jr., who had been put in the game for defense, used all of his 6″4′ frame to stretch out and make a spectacular game-ending catch.

After the game, Zimmermann expressed his appreciation for Souza’s heroics by telling reporters,“Whatever he wants he can have. I’ll buy him anything.”

Upon hearing of Zimmermann’s offer, Souza joked that he’d take BMW, before giving the company line that he was just doing his job and doesn’t deserve anything from the hurler.

Now it looks like Souza is getting that BMW. According the Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore, Souza had this exchange with reporters before game 1 of the Nationals NLDS against the Giants.

What is Zimmermann getting you?

“A BMW,” Souza replied.

Seriously?

“Yeah.”

No, really?

“It’s getting shipped this winter,” Souza said.

What kind?

“I’m not sure,” Souza said, shrugging as he walked down the dugout and into the clubhouse.

Kilgore writes that he isn’t entirely sure if Souza was being serious, or was just messing around with the press.

It isn’t unusual for a pitcher to dole out thank you gifts after a no-no. Roy Halladay famously gave engraved Baume and Mercier watches to everyone who was in the Phillies dugout after he pitched a perfect game in 2010.

But a BMW would be a particularly meaningful gift for Souza. The 25-year old spent almost all of 2014 in the minors and his salary for the year is likely less than the sticker price for a 7 Series.

But the dude could flat out hit.  So the idea of the Ramirez being the Cubs new hitting — a rumor that has been floating about the web today — is a lot less ridiculous than the best of his Manny being Manny antics.

The former Red Sox and Indian actually coached top prospects at the Cubs’ Triple-A Iowa club this year, including Javier Baez and Jorge Soler and received rave reviews as both an instructor and a mentor.

“He was great. I learned a lot of stuff from him,” Baez explained. “He helped my approach to right-center, (following) his routine every day, going to the cage, the way he works. He’s always got a bat in his hand doing something, either swinging the bat or just hitting in the cage. He talked to a lot of the guys. A lot of people learned from him.”

Cubs GM Theo Epstein didn’t rule out the idea of calling Ramirez up to fill the hitters coach role on the big club when asked by the Chicago Sun Times yesterday.

“I want to see whether he wants to continue playing or not before I answer that question,” Epstein told the daily.

Ramirez had 77 plate appearance in Iowa, only OPSing .648. That plus him being 42 should probably convince Manny, who hit 555 home runs and had a .312 batting average over his 19-year big league career, to hang it up for good. However he is Manny, so you never know.

In addition to Beaz and Soler, Ramirez would be teaching hitting to Cubs squad which features Anthony Rizzo, one of the top young sluggers in the game, and 22-year old speedster Arismendy Alcantara. Uber prospects Kris Bryant, who spent 2014 in Double-A, is also likely to get a call up in 2015.

So there is going to be a lot of impressionable talent for Ramirez or whomever the Cubs’ hitting coach is to work with. Do you think Manny is a bold pick for the job, or a disaster waiting to happen?

Which is why there is something about this story that doesn’t quite compute. According to the Miami Herald, the Marlins are ready to offer their young superstar, Giancarlo Stanton, a bigger contract than Trout inked with the Angels earlier this season.

“The offer for Stanton – terms aren’t determined yet — would buy out the last two years of arbitration and first three or four years of free agency,” reports the Herald. “But the Marlins probably would need to top the six-year, $144 million deal the Angels gave Mike Trout, because that bought out only three free agent years. A six-year Stanton deal would buy out four free agent years.”

As you can see from the quote, because Miami will have to buy out more of Stanton’s free agent years on a similar six year deal, they would logically have to offer Stanton more money than Trout received.

That’s not to say Stanton is quite Trout’s equal; The Angels’ centerfielder has produced 28.4 WAR in 2175 career plate appearances, whereas the artist formally known as Mike has 21.1 WAR in 2640 plate appearances. But Stanton, who is just a little more than a year older than Trout, is probably the closet thing baseball has to Trout among the 24 and under set.

Stanton will be entering his second arbitration year in 2015. The Marlins got away with a relatively cheap $6.5 million salary in 2014 for Stanton because he had a down season in 2013. This year, however, Stanton had been best player in the National League before being sidelined with a gruesome facial injury he suffered on a beanball earlier this month. His next two arbitration years should approach or exceed the $20 million per Ryan Howard received earlier this decade.

So the Marlins are are going to have to pay to keep their promising core of Stanton, Jose Fernandez, Christian Yelich, and Marcell Ozuna together for the next couple whether or not they offer Stanton a long-term deal.

Will team owner Jeffrey Loria commit to more than two years? No matter what happens, we don’t see a no trade clause in Stanton’s Marlins future.

Of course mid-September would be an odd time to deal a player. Even one who chose to burn eyes everywhere with his shiny ankles. Perhaps Phillies fans believed Brown had been dealt because there have been a lot of articles suggesting the team’s front office was fed up with Brown — a former top prospect who’s had exactly one good month in his four year MLB career.

Between Brown and Ryan Howard, the Phillies have lost 2.3 WAR in 2014, despite first base and left field being the too easiest big league position to fill. So maybe a Brown trade was wishful thinking on the part of the Phillies faithful.

Any social media hint that Howard, and the $60 million left on his contract had somehow been dealt, will surely whip them into hysterics.

The minute and half long spot, titled “Made in New York is more catered toward the internet than it is TV. And judging by the reaction to it around the web, it looks like Gatorade has scored the viral hit they were after.

In the spot, Jeter gets out of a town car on his way to Yankee Stadium. He walks through the streets of the Bronx where he is greeted by excited fans. (Who are judging Jeter by his impressive body overall work, not his current .595 OPS.)

When Jeter finally gets to the ballpark he is greeted by an adoring crowd. Frank Sinatra’s legendary hit “My Way” plays throughout the commercial.

Gatorade is giving Jeter as grand a goodbye as any of the teams he terrorized for two decades. In addition to the commercial, Gatorade will also sponsor a full page ad in the New York Daily News and Sports Illustrated on September 28-29, in which Jeter will thank his fans.

Jeter recently passed Cap Anson for sixth on the all-time hit list. Tris Speaker, number five, still has 63 more hits than the Yankee captain at 3514. So Jeter will end his Hall of Fame career in the six spot. Not so bad, especially when you add those 200 postseason hits (and five World Series titles.)

The 23-year old is, however, going through the worst stretch of his career, slashing .195/.307/.537 over the past month. But he’s still maintained his knack for controversy, with the latest incident in the Chronicles of Yasiel having our hero arguing with Matt Kemp in the Dodgers dugout during their game against the Rockies.

As you can see, whatever Puig did to offend Kemp was discussed with manager Don Mattingly (and Puig’s interpreter.) After the game Mattingly refused to elaborate, calling it “family business.”

Speculation is Kemp was angry Puig — who is a fast runner — didn’t take third on an Adrian Gonzalez single which came right in front of Kemp’s plate appearance. The Dodgers won the game 11-3. There have been reports that the Dodgers dugout is “dysfunctional.” Mattingly responded to them be joking his team was “like the ’72 As,” who won their first of three straight World Series despite having a less than harmonious dugout.

Puig’s poor play of late has some calling him to be replaced in the lineup by well-paid bench piece Andre Either, stud rookie Joc Pederson or the unheralded Scott Van Slyke, who quietly has the best numbers of any member of LA’s famously crowded outfield.

So far Mattingly has been sticking with Puig, and the Wild Horse may be getting back on track; he’s 6-14 with two doubles over the last three games.

If he keeps hitting, this latest dust up will blow over. He reverts to his slump, it may be more ammunition for a change, as the Dodgers battle the Nationals for home field throughout National League post season.

You can’t really blame Papelbon for this. The Phillies decline has a lot more to do with injuries to Chase Utley, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, and the rapid decline of their highest paid player, Ryan Howard. Papelbon has actually been quite good in Philadelphia, saving 67 games with a 2.67 ERA between 2012-2013 and then really stepping things up this season, despite his widely discussed declining fastball speed.

Paps entered Sunday game against the Marlins with a 1.56 ERA and 31 saves. He was also leading all National League relief pitchers  (a group that includes Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman) in bWAR.

On Sunday afternoon Papelbon was pitching for a third straight day, having recorded saves in the first two games of the Phillies series against Miami. The Stanton-less Marlins got him in his third attempt to shut them down and did so in a big way, scoring four runs in the top of the ninth in what became a 5-4 victory.

The Philadelphia fans, restless after a pretty dreadful season from the highly-paid home team, finally had their chance to boo Papelbon. And boo him they did.

So much so that the excitable closer may have channeled Michael Jackson on the way to the dugout after his disastrous inning.

Upon seeing the what he took as an obscene crotch grab, umpire Joe West ejected Papelbon from a game he had little chance of returning to anyway.

After the game, Papelbon denied he had been trying to send a message back at the fans, saying he was simply “adjusting” himself.

“He basically came over and said I that did an inappropriate gesture and I had no clue what he was talking about,” Papelbon said of West. “That is when I got upset. I had no idea what he was talking about. I had no explanation. I was still obviously pretty heated from what had just transpired. Me and Joe we go way back. We don’t see eye to eye a lot of times.”

“I saw him gesture to the fans … and that’s not good,” second base umpire Joe West told reporters. “That’s what I saw, and so did the plate umpire. You can’t do things like that. I told him, ‘You’ve got to go.’ And then he charged out of the dugout and his head bumped into my hat. And I grabbed him and I said, ‘Get off of me.'”

“By no means was I directing anything at any fans,” Papelbon continued. “I mean, I have a four – and a five-year-old son and daughter. I am not out here doing inappropriate things. Come on this is baseball. This is what we do. Go look at the game and see how many people do that just in today’s game,” Papelbon said of his “adjustment.”

“Joe had no right to grab me by any means so I will file a complaint for that for sure.”

Papelbon also added he had no problem with the fans booing him.

“The fans come and pay their money and want to see a good game. They have the right to boo and do whatever they want to do but an umpire gets caught up in that and starts trying to look for extra things he may think are going on. Just umpire the game and I don’t think we would have been in this situation.”

What do you think? Should Papelbon have been ejected? Or is this another case of umpire “Cowboy” Joe West making the game about himself?

Joe West

Davis was only batting .196 with 26 home runs and 173 Ks for the year, although he had been a little better as of late. The suspension will cost the 28-year old the rest of the regular season and then the first eight games of the playoffs, assuming Baltimore gets that far. The Orioles, who have a ten game lead in the American League East, are virtually guaranteed a spot in the playoffs and still have a chance to catch the Angels for the best record in the American League.

But they will have to do so without Davis. Further complicating the suspension is that Davis had recently shifted over to third base to replace the injured Manny Machado, with Steve Pearce, who’s enjoying a breakout season at age 31, manning first for the Birds.

Kelly Johnson, who’s struggled in 2014, will likely be inserted into the lineup at third now that Davis isn’t available.

The Orioles still have plenty of power — thanks to Nelson Cruz and Adam Jones — and Davis’s glove wasn’t really an ideal fit at the hot corner. So it’s possible the team doesn’t miss a beat, especially if Pearce can continue to hit and Johnson can be useful.

But if they do make a deep postseason run it will be without Machado, Matt Wieters, who’s also out for the year with an injury, and now Davis. Something few would have thought possible going into the season, especially considering their division.

In a statement, Davis apologized for the suspension, saying he had an Adderral exemption last year, but not this year:

“I apologize to my teammates, coaches, the Orioles organization and especially the fans. I made a mistake by taking Adderall. I had permission to use it in the past, but do not have a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) this year. I accept my punishment and will begin serving my suspension immediately.”

Other players who have been suspended for Adderral– which isn’t deemed as serious as other PED use (hence the 25 game vs. 50 game ban) — include Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz.

While the sabermetric revolution has given us much better tools to evaluate fielding ability, there are still questions about how accurate these methods are. In fact, the two most popular forms of WAR still use fairly different metrics to asses fielding.

So perhaps the best way to judge fielding prowess is combination of sabermetrics and the old eye test. Using bWAR, which assesses fielding with an intricate +/- system, we’ve listed the top ten defensive players so far of 2014. The chances are that one of them is the best defensive player in baseball. With the help of videos, it’s up to your eyes to tell us which one.

10. Leonys Martin
bWar rates Martin the 10th best fielder in baseball and the Rangers CF’s defense has been one of the few bright spots in otherwise dismal season for Texas. The 26-year old Cuban import has also posted his best offensive numbers this year, and is quietly becoming one of the most valuable players in the American League.

9. Dustin Pedroia
It’s been a tough season overall for the Red Sox’s second baseman, who was shutdown for the season yesterday with wrist troubles. But the mighty mite never let his struggles at the plate bleed into his defense, which has been excellent throughout his career.

8. DJ LeMahieu
LeMaieu played all over the infield in the minors, but has settled in at second base as a big leaguer. With Nolan Arenado and Troy Tulowitzki to his right, it’s safe to say the Rockies have the best fielding infield in the National League, if not all of baseball.

7. Jhonny Peralta
There must be something in the water in St. Louis. Peralta is the latest in a long line of players who improve when the come to the Cardinals. The 32-year, a stealth MVP candidate if St. Louis makes the playoffs, is having the best year of his career in large part to his excellent defense.

6. Ender Inciarte
The most obscure name on this list, the 23-year old rookie has been revelation patrolling the middle of the spacious outfield at Chase Field. He’s probably going to need to hit a bit more to keep his spot in Arizona’s crowded outfield, but his glove has certainly been up to the task.

5. Josh Donaldson
The A’s recent implosion has taken some of the shine off of Donaldson’s great season. But he still leads all position players in WAR, and his leather at the hot corner is a big part of that.

4. Zack Cozart
It seems like every year Reds shortstop Zack Cozart gets better with the glove and worse with the bat. So while he might be baseball’s fourth best fielder by bWar, he’s become a real black hole in the lineup.

3. Jason Heyward
If this list was strictly based on runs saves, Heyward would be at the top. However, bWAR rightly adjusts for position, and right is the third least challenging spot to field on the diamond.

2. Andrelton Simmons
Last year Simmons may have had the best defensive season in MLB history. He hasn’t quite been that sharp this year, but the rocket-armed 25-year old is still a wizard at short.

1. Juan Legares
If you are wondering how the Mets are flirting with .500 despite a mediocre, injury-ridden roster and disappointing seasons from Curtis Granderson and David Wright, look no further than the amazing play they are getting from Juan Legares in center. The 25-year old, our pick for the best defensive player in baseball, validates the bWar system by also being their pick.

Who do you think the best fielder in MLB is?

Yesterday two prominent players — David Wright and Drew Smiley — were officially shut down for the season. A handful more might face a similar fate. We breakdown who’s just been declared out, and who may be out for the rest of 2014.

David Wright
The Mets third baseman will be shut down with a left rotator cuff inflammation. After playing on a Hall of Fame level his first five seasons, Wright’s numbers started to dip precipitously in 2009 — a decline widely attributed to the dimensions of the Mets’ new ballpark Citi Field. His numbers perked up again in 2012, when the Mets moved the fences in. However he had his worst season as a pro in 2014, battling shoulder issues all season. His performance (and his bulky shoulder) must be making the Mets brass very nervous, because they owe the 31-year old $107 million over the next five seasons.

Drew Smyly
The Rays acquired Smyly, along with Nick Franklin, in the David Price deal. Smyly’s always had great stuff, but the 25-year old was never really able to break out of the fifth starter/swingman role he had in the stacked Tiger’s rotation. Since the deal, the left-hander has actually outperformed Price. The Rays decided to shut him down because he’s pitched his Major League high in innings, and they may as well save him for next year when the hope to be back to their role as plucky contenders.

Dustin Pedroia
Let’s talk about wo weird the big-budget Red Sox have played over the last several seasons: A World Series victory sandwiched between two last place finishes. Their star second baseman hasn’t been much of help in salvaging their 2014 seasons. Pedroia’s posting a career low in most offensive categories and is OPSing 674 during the second half of the year. A bad wrist is likely contributing to his poor show at the plate, and the Red Sox are likely on the verge of shutting him down for the season with that injury.

Jimmy Rollins
Quick. Who’s been the second best shortstop in baseball in 2014 according to bWAR. Yup, it’s Rollins. (We’re giving it away be the heading.) The rejuvenated 35-year old tweaked his hamstring legging out a triple on Monday, and while manager Ryne Sandberg says it’s “day-to-day,” Rollins didn’t seem as optimistic. Don’t be shocked if we don’t see J-Roll again until 2015.

Brett Gardner
Right now, Gardner’s status is “out indefinitely” with a strained lower abdominal. The Yankees are hanging on by a thread in the wild card race, and a few more losses in the next week and they are down for. If Gardner can’t return before then, it’s unlikely he will at all.

Ryan Braun
After being a near certainty for the playoff a few weeks ago, the Brewers are now a game-and-a-half out of the final playoff stump. Ryan Braun’s poor play has been a big part of their sudden implosion. Manager Ron Roenicke admitted yesterday that his slugger’s chronic thumb condition is now affecting his whole hand. Braun, who’s OPSing 677 since the All-Star break, sat out a few games in the past week, and it’s starting to look like the Brewers may be better off shutting down the 2011 MVP completely.