Elephant Rumblings: Diamondbacks add (another) Marte; Reds sign Castellanos

A’s Coverage:

• Slusser: A’s Mailbag - Second base, bullpen questions heading into 2020... ($)
• Poindexter: Where The Oakland A’s Could Add Before The 2020 Season...
• Coffey: At A’s FanFest, the connection between fans and players — and those right-field banners — runs deep... ($$$)
• Ravani: Oakland not counting on gondola promised by A’s for proposed stadium... ($)
• Kleinschmidt: Why A’s young catchers excited Bob Melvin heading into 2020 season...
• Slusser: A’s coach Mark Kotsay a candidate for Houston manager’s job... ($)

MLB News:

• Gilbert: D-backs gear up for contention, trade two young prospects for OF Starling Marte...
• Sheldon: Reds finalize four-year, $64M deal with OF Nick Castellanos...
• Heyman: Reds considering trading former top prospect Nick Senzel...

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Ardaya: ‘It’s a loss that you can’t replace’ - On the legacy of John Altobelli...
• Rosenthal: Will the Astros go with a proven manager, or stick to their new-school identity? ($$$)
• Jaffe: Big Battles Looming - the Next Five Years of BBWAA Hall of Fame Elections...
• Callis: Best tools among 2020’s Top 100 prospects...
• Catalano: My Summer at Yankee Stadium...
• Posnanski: The Baseball 100 - No. 60, Pete Rose... ($$$)

Today in Baseball History:

• 1901 — The American League formally organizes as a major league, having been a top minor league in 1900: the Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Americans are admitted to join the Washington Nationals, Cleveland Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Chicago White Sox. Three of the original clubs - Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Buffalo - are dropped. League power aggregates in Ban Johnson as trustee for all ballpark leases and majority stockholdings, and with authority to buy out refractory franchises. Player limit is 14 per team, and the schedule will be 140 games. American League contracts give the Players Protective Association what it asked for, with five-year limits on the rights to player services.
• 1949 — The New York Giants sign their first black players: Negro League players Monte Irvin and Ford Smith. Both men are assigned to the Jersey City Giants (International League). Irvin will star for the Giants, but Smith will never make the major leagues.

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