Terrerobytes: Brett Lawrie offers explanation for injury

Suddenly and without warning, Brett Lawrie is the most interesting White Sox on Twitter.

A few days ago Leonardo DiCaprio’s "Before the Flood" inspired Lawrie to evangelize about the dangers of climate change.

Then on Friday, he apparently pinpointed the source of his mysterious leg/knee/hip/back problems that cut off his season in late July.

Lawrie looked like he finally figured out how to stay on the field, following up a 149-game season in Oakland by appearing in 94 in the White Sox’ first 95 games. Yet he didn’t get to a 95th game himself, as he departed the July 21 game against Detroit in the fourth inning and didn’t appear again this season. What was originally described as a tweaked hamstring later involved his quad, knee, half and hip, submarining two rehab stint attempts.

Having never worn orthotics, I can’t speak to the validity of this claim. I bring it forward only because it’s a potential first-hand answer to an ailment that didn’t receive a ton of coverage. The question about who "put" Lawrie into orthotics remains unanswered, and as of late Friday, he resumed tweeting about "Before the Flood" and DiCaprio’s appearance on "Ellen."

Terrerobytes

• The Game Plan: How the Indians Almost Won It All | FanGraphs Baseball

Remember how I said August Fagerstrom is doing great work this postseason? One MLB franchise noticed the same, and now this is his last post at FanGraphs, as he’s joining a mystery team’s front office. Again, it’s worth your time, as he delves deeply into what goes into forming a game plan against a postseason opponent. A key paragraph:

By that point, Callaway has taken the 80-page packet from the advance guys, broken it down, combined it with Atchison’s notes, Bere’s notes, and condensed it all into "a sentence or two" specifically tailored for each pitcher, regarding exploitable weaknesses in members of the opposing lineup or the lineup as a whole.

• Anthony Castrovince thanks late son | MLB.com

A different kind of story that’s worth your time. MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince is supposed to be impartial, but the Indians’ run connected him with a son who was never born.

• Is the Postseason Becoming Too Different? | FanGraphs Baseball

Dave Cameron wondered if the early hooks and heavy reliance on ace relievers threatened to make postseason baseball look little like regular-season baseball. This might explain why I was glad to see Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman stumble while running on fumes in Game 7 (well, Chapman more for other reasons, but still). Shorter hooks for non-elite pitchers might be in the immediate future, but until relievers are (re)trained to blow past the 100-inning mark, deeper bullpens will still be a key.

• The Royals have begun contract talks with Danny Duffy - Royals Review

Danny Duffy can reach free agency after next season, but extension talks with the Royals are in the works.

• Arizona Diamondbacks pick Torey Lovullo as manager - AZ Snake Pit

The Bostonization of the Diamondbacks continues. Arizona GM Mike Hazen (formerly the general manager under Dave Dombrowski) hired Torey Lovullo (bench coach under John Farrell) to be the D-backs’ new manager. Lovullo had been on those "future manager" lists seemingly forever, but his ascent was delayed by the wave of former players with no coaching experience (ahem).

• Indians News and Notes: Indians extend Terry Francona through 2020 - Let's Go Tribe

And speaking of managers, Terry Francona isn’t going anywhere.

Oh, and I guess I should include some coverage of the Cubs’ celebration.