Baseball fans tend to get a kick out of watching a major league position player mop up for the bullpen when a team is getting its clock cleaned late, and it makes no sense to waste another pitching arm.

It’s a bit of levity, or morbid curiosity, to take a little of the sting off a blowout loss. A day after infielder Jonah Bride put in two innings in a 14-3 loss to the Athletics in Sacramento, manager Rocco Baldelli said he hates putting a position player on the mound so much that he’s petitioning his bullpen to start paying for it.

Literally.

“I’m petitioning our bullpen to throw in a few bucks every time we have a position player pitch, a little thank you and pat on the back from the boys,” he told reporters before Friday night’s first pitch against Toronto at Target Field.

With one o

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