Notes: LA Starts Fast In WS, Buc Hires & Temarr On USA Team; MLB News

At last, the World Series...

Pirates Stuff:

• 2B Temarr Johnson was named to the USA team that will play in the Premier 12 Tournament, featuring the twelve top-ranked international teams. Former Bucs LHP Rich Hill and hitting coach Rick Eckstein will join Temarr on the squad. The tourney starts November 8 in Mexico.

Temarr Johnson - 2023 MLB Pipeline

• The Pirates signed ex-Bucco RHP Yohan Ramirez, 29, to a minor league deal earlier in the month. He was 4-1-1/3.67 for the Pirates in 2022-23, but was 0-5-1/6.20 working for four! different clubs last season.
• Support group news: the Pirates hired Kevin Tenenbaum as their new VP of Research and Development. He had held that title for Cleveland since 2017 after a four-year run with the Orioles. 

Other Stuff:

• The Series kicked off in LA, and if ya like drama, ya got drama. Down 3-2 with two away in the 10th frame, the bases were juiced for the gimpy Freddie Freeman, and he banged the first pitch into the seats to give the Dodgers a 6-3 win in the Fall Classic lidlifter. It was the third straight World Series opener to go extra innings. In game 2, Shohei Ohtani partially dislocated his left shoulder in a 4-2 LA win behind a solid outing from Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Ohtani will be tested to determine the injury's severity/recovery time, although it appears to be minor. 

• Team WS notes -  The squads were no surprise, as both teams had their league's best record, the first time that the American League and National League's No. 1 teams butted heads since 2013 and only the fifth occasion in 30 seasons. The matchup also features five former Most Valuable Players expected to play—the most ever, including each league's home run leader (the Yankees' Aaron Judge and the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani) for the first time since 1956. This is the 12th time the Yankees and Dodgers have faced off in the Fall Classic (New York has an 8-3 advantage). The rivalry dates back to 1941, but this is their first WS meeting since 1981. The Yankees have claimed 41 AL pennants and the Dodgers have taken 25 flags. New York is seeking its 28th World Series title (last won in 2009) while the Dodgers seek their eighth crown, the last coming in 2020.
• Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball sold for $4.4M at auction, a record price for a sports ball of any kind.
• LHP Fernando Valenzuela of skyward gaze, screwball & Fernandomania fame, passed away at the age of 63. He was a Cy Young winner, Rookie of the Year, and 6-Time All-Star, earning the Cy, ROTY, an AS berth, a World Series victory and the Opening Day starting call/win as a 20-year old in '81.
• RHP Zach Thompson, who tossed for the Bucs in 2022 (3-10/5.18) after coming over in the Jake Stallings deal, signed a minor-league deal with Atlanta.
• RHP Geoff Hartlieb signed a minor-league contract with the Yankees. From 2019-21, his Pirates line was 1-1/6.97, and he's made stops with the Mets, Marlins and Rockies since then, amounting to 10 games worked among the three teams.