Daily Links: Raffy’s Contract, A Bullpen Shuffle, And Dumb Home Runs

In light of newly-extended MVP-caliber third baseman Austin Riley coming to town with the Braves, Alex Speier takes another look at a potential Rafael Devers extension. The best part is the little nugget where even Matt Olson himself admits that it’s dumb to compare him with Devers. Great job with that one, Chaim! (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

Tanner Houk is out and the bullpen has been seriously overworked. So Rich Hill, (awkwardly, one of the reasons the pen has been overworked) is volunteering to pitch in relief over the next few games. (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)

Chad Finn is always a must-read. Yesterday, he gave his thoughts on Sale, the trade deadline, and admits that he misses Dave Dombrowski. (Chad Finn, Boston Globe)

Speaking of Dave Dombrowski, if you haven’t been paying attention to the National League, you may have missed that the Phillies and their bizarre, “if you think about it, is defense really necessary??” roster are currently the most fun team in baseball. (Matt Gelb, The Athletic)

Over at the Defector, Kathryn Xu has a delightfully silly article about appreciating all of those dinky little fly balls that somehow end up as homers. There are graphs, so many graphs. (Kathryn Xu, The Defector)