From the Insides Out

 

Well clearly you can see the problem with this Jays team. Bo gone, Tony Taters hurt, Kirk out for a month and a half, Vladdie and Springer slumping, Barger hurt, Gimenez and Sanchez cold. All the depth this team had last year and now they're throwing out Yohendrick Piñango and hoping for the best. Egad.

I think the Yanks series kinda said it all, and the Cubs series said a little more. Lightning isn't striking twice with this team, and I know how because it's June, The Month Where the Jays Get Inexplicably Hot, and they're still mid. The Yankees took 2 from the Jays, then the Cubs massacred them on Gausman's watch, to the point where even the highlight of the week, a sweep of the Red Sox, looked inadequate. Like yeah, you can sweep the Sox, anyone could do that, but you go up against a higher profile bad team like the Cubs and get rocked. Where's all the common men? Why are they playing so commonly?

Vlad Jr.'s clearly fallen off, he's only hitting .279 after a rough June and only has 4 homers and 31 RBIs this season. It's just a down year, and he does have those from time to time, but it's happening at such a rough time for this team. Without a solid leader, they need more from the secondary guys like Ernie Clement and Nathan Lukes, and that doesn't work as well. Only one guy on this team has over 10 homers [Kazuma Okamoto], and nobody has an OPS over .800, though Brandon Valenzuela is scraping up against it. It's just not a terribly interesting lineup, which is a shame because...look at what we just had! We just had 'even the bench can kick your ass'. We just had a swiss army knife of guys you've never heard of that hit .300. Now they're just guys you've never heard of AND WILL NEVER HEAR AGAIN.

It's making nice seasons from Dylan Cease and Trey Yesavage seem pedestrian. And let's not forget, the Blue Jays have a guy who's working on one of the best relief seasons in baseball, and that's 2025 trade deadline acquisition Louis Varland. Varland's having a terrific year, with an 0.86 ERA, 57 strikeouts, 15 saves and only 4 earned runs in 42 innings. It is dominance that Louie has shown since the beginning of his 2025 season with Minnesota, and he has only locked in further and further. This guy is one of the factors keeping the Jays on the side of good, along with some other bullpen compatriots [Tyler Rogers, Spencer Miles, Braydon Fisher]. But if the team doesn't hit, that can only do so much.

I still think the Jays have a shot, and they've shown slightly more consistency than Baltimore. If they can get Guerrero to start hitting again they have a chance, especially with Kirk back. I just see the flaws and the replacement level guys and I understand why they're not doing what they did last year. But hey, a lot can change in 3 months.

Coming Tonight: Well, he hasn't hit as many triples as last year so far, but he's still really dangerous at the plate. 

The Man Who Wasn't There [and Then Suddenly Was]

 

I think if you wanted to summarize 2020s pitching trends, for better or worse, you couldn't do much better than examining the career of Eduardo Rodriguez. He's been in the league since 2015, and has had some terrific seasons under his belt, including one that resulted in a World Series ring for Boston. This year he's having another nice year, with a 6-2 record and a 2.45 ERA in 15 starts. But something that's always been true with Rodriguez is that once he gives you a grade-a full season...the next year's probably a wash.

And that's the issue with pitching right now, the hard-throwing, all-or-nothing stuff is not sustainable, and ensures some guys are only good every other year. In many cases it means injuries every so often. In Rodriguez's case, the injuries are rare but the stinky in-between years of partial health despite making all the starts are there in their place. Last year for instance, Rodriguez had a 5.02 ERA despite making 29 starts and getting 154 innings. 2022, right when he signed the Tigers deal, was another off, slightly injured year that even included that bit where Rodriguez went MIA midyear. Rodriguez won 19 games in 2019, then missed all of 2020, came back and won 13, then went on his rampage in Detroit. The way he pitches, despite the highs, cannot sustain consistent, consecutive success. 

It's even more evident when Rodriguez is succeeding in the year that Gallen, Kelly, Pfaadt and Nelson are all wiped out because they've been on since 2022. So, those guys are either slumping or hurt, Rodriguez is handling the big games, Mike Soroka is too but...he's not throwing sustainably either, and after a terrific start, HE'S gonna be missing time. And remember, Corbin Burnes is already out this half, and might not even be back til late July. So now the goal is to try and find people who aren't too overexerted to pitch...and not overexert them by making them pitch. 

It wasn't like this in 1978, and I wasn't even alive then.

So I guess the pitching thing is gonna make it harder for the D-Backs to catch LA, because this sort of thing never happens to the Dodgers in a way that wrecks their chances. A shame, cause Carroll, Marte, Moreno, Perdomo and Arenado are all having great years. The bench is becoming a bit worrying though, and the young guys that should be providing depth really aren't. Ryan Waldschmidt and Jose Fernandez didn't have MLB staying power, Lawlar seems to be hurt yet again, Tommy Troy is more unassuming than anything and LuJames Groover hasn't done anything yet. It's half a team, and they're hitting more than the Padres, but without Soroka, and with Kelly and Gallen still struggling, I'm not sure how much longer they'll stay in second. 

I think this is just an unlucky team. They honestly were one Eduardo Rodriguez from squeezing into a wild card spot the last few years. Hopefully he doesn't go down again the next time they need him.

Coming Tonight: One of the most effective relief pitchers in baseball not named Mason Miller.

Our Own Supply

 

Going into this season, my greatest hope was that the Athletics would develop their own starting pitching assets. Because they're tried two different tactics that completely avoid those, and they didn't work. They first tried calling up other people's pitching prospects, and tried getting by with J.P. Sears, James Kaprielian, Ken Waldichuk, Frankie Montas and that ilk. This was not successful. So last year they started over and tried the other tactic, signing decent talent to pitch the big games and farming people under that. This hasn't worked either. Jeffrey Springs has been getting lit up all June for some reason [smirk], Severino strikes people out but can't keep runs down, Civale's a short term solution and the underneath guys from last season haven't made much of an impact. And again, I get why the A's have been so ashamed to bring up their own guys, because a lot of these guys haven't been turning out great in the majors. Joe Boyle was a misfire that's now struggling to stay healthy in Tampa. Joey Estes is very inconsistent. Brady Basso's been really ineffective. Even Luis Morales has struggled this year.

However...hope has arisen. There are two guys in this rotation who are homegrown [or at least were developed by the A's in some way], and they're the most integral starters right now. Finally. 

J.T. Ginn has been on the brink of legitimacy for a few years now, and I think he's finally breaking through. He was fine in a 2024 callup, struggled a bit last year despite some nice late starts, and now he's got a 2.91 ERA with a 1.164 WHIP, 68 Ks and a 2.7 WAR. He went from a rotation also-ran to the one sure bet for a while, and even at 27 he's showing some serious presence in this rotation. Also promising is recent draft pick Gage Jump, who's got a 2.37 ERA, 26 Ks and a 0.989 WHIP in his first five starts. Dude's 23 years old and clicking into place more than Springs, the veteran. This team also has Kade Morris back in the minors, and though he got killed his first start up he's still got a high ceiling. At some point, Henry Baez will be ready, and that will make things very interesting. 

It proves how much further the A's have come even in a year, and how close they are to really being a match in the AL.

Despite a rough week or so, the A's are at .500 and still in 2nd place, and have the offense to stay afloat for a while thanks to Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Tyler Soderstrom and Zach Gelof. In addition, some new elements have been added, and are aiding this team tremendously. Henry Bolte is playing CF everyday and hitting .317 with 34 hits in 33 games, becoming the kind of fixture I figured Colby Thomas would be this year. Jonah Heim has been a really strong backup catcher in his return to the A's, with 5 homers and 8 RBIs in 21 games [and I know what you're thinking- Heim and a guy named Bolt? What is this, 2019??]. Jacob Wilson is healthy and back to his old contact tricks. And Alika Williams is doing more as a utility infielder here than he did in Pittsburgh for some reason. It's really cool how all of this is coming together.

Unfortunately, because of the pitching, it's not .500+ baseball right now, but it definitely could be, especially if Nick Kurtz keeps at it. I dunno if people are making Ryan Howard comparisons yet, but they absolutely should be.

Coming Tomorrow- A guy that's pitched five terrific seasons. Unfortunately only two of them have been consecutive.  

Under-Armer

 

The good news is that Dustin May narrowly avoids an ironic punchline involving his name. His ERA in the month of May, over his whole career, is lower than any other months, at 3.65. Now, granted, he's only started 14 games in May in 7 years cause he's always hurt, but it's nice that it's not 'his name's May but he gets lit up every May'. Which is nice cause until last year, the joke was 'his name's May but he gets hurt midway through April'. Thankfully he's been healthier since 2025. I remember when we were calling him Gingergaard, cause he was a Noah Syndergaard-esque hard thrower with curly red hair, but now Syndergaard's moved onto a career in shit-stirring, so now May can actually stay healthy. 

This has the potential to be May's fullest, surest season since the pandemic-shortened 2020, and it's with a Cardinals team that is teetering on the brink of being good, which is weird to say about a team that's in 2nd place and 6 games over .500. For a while May, to me, was one of the signs that the team wasn't all the way there yet, as he was getting starts every 5 games and not really doing anything to warrant the job. Then he pitches a 1-hit complete game shutout against the Padres and it becomes clear he's gotten his stuff together. His last four or so starts have been pretty good, the Ks are flying as fast as they were in his peak in LA. Right now he's got a 3.75 ERA, 75 Ks and a 5-6 record, it reflects some early struggles but it's better than what caused LA to trade him in the first place last year. 

It's the Cardinals' rotation that still continues to confuse me, because they're rolling with McGreevy, May, Pallante, Liberatore and Leahy, and until recently they were all kinda getting by without doing anything over the top. Placefiller starters really. McGreevy has a 2.99 ERA but only 51 Ks and a 3-5 record, meaning he's very much at the mercy of the run support, and because Wetherholt, Herrera, Walker and Burleson have been pretty hot recently it hasn't been much of a problem. But...McGreevy being an ace while just being a serviceable leverage guy is...I dunno, man. The Guardians can pull it off cause they have Gavin Williams behind Messick. The Cards have Pallante and May positioned behind McGreevy where...and I'm sorry, but all three would be a 5th man on a better team. I'm sorry. I know they're making it work now and it's fine, but...I just don't see a guy who can serviceably nail a Game 1 of a playoff series. The 2019 team had Jack Flaherty at least. I don't know if McGreevy is there yet. Or if May is that guy all the way through a season.

I'm not disputing this team's ability to hit, though, as it's gotten them way over .500. Jordan Walker leads the league in RBIs with 57, and Alec Burleson's not far behind. Wetherholt's still looking like a major player in the ROY race. Nathan Church is real nifty as an outfield bat. Blaze Jordan seems to be the answer at third, and it takes the sting out of Nolan Gorman not being the answer there [get ready to learn St. Petersburg-ish, my dude]. And Nootbaar's healthy and heating up. 

There's a chance the Cardinals hear all this and make a major deal for a starter. I don't know if they can swing Skubal but they're exactly the kind of team that could surprise everybody for him. Or even a deal for Sandy Alcantara or something. Either somebody becomes the ace or they trade for one, and then they're there pretty much.

Coming Tonight: Arguably another team that doesn't really have an ace, and their closest equivalent. 

Kody-Pendent

 

There's gonna be a lot of talk in 20 years about how the 2020s were defined by second generation players, not just Vlad Jr. and Tatis and Bo and the Hollidays either. You still have guys whose dads had a cup of coffee [or at most a couple donuts in October] in the bigs, like Cody Bellinger, Ronald Acuna Jr., and eventually Eli Willits. 

Ironically, I remember pulling a Reggie Willits card out of 2007 Update. Around when I was looking for that elusive Roger Clemens Yankees card. 

Anyway, the point I was making was that this decade's been inundated with second generation guys who have dictated the direction of the game, and that's really cool. Which is why I wonder how the second-generation guys who were mid-to-low tier will be remembered. There have been guys like Daz Cameron, Cavan Biggio, Nick Gordon and Darren Baker who've tried to find success on name brand recognition alone and haven't gotten as far. Or someone like Ryan Weathers or Hunter Harvey, both of whom have found success but have struggled to sustain it due to injuries. 

I'm actually really intrigued by how Kody Clemens will be remembered, as he might be one of the strangest second-generationers in the league right now. His dad, obviously, is Roger Clemens, pitching icon and mildly controversial MLB figure. Kody made the bigs as a utility infielder, and isn't a pitcher, though the Tigers and Phillies did used to throw him out there as a last-chance mound option and he honestly didn't do too badly. 

With the Twins, Kody Clemens has become essentially a replacement level standout, providing excellent support and good production without being a bankable long term option. Right now he's hitting .250 with 11 homers and 28 RBIs, he's actually above average as a first baseman, and he sort of does his job. On a team like the Twins, where so many long term options are utterly refusing to do their jobs, Kody Clemens being a useful, important piece says a lot. Like, honestly I feel like this is the kind of team Clemens was made for? With the Phils he was useful, but I don't think he was asked for as much as a bench bat as he is here as a starter. I'm not sure if he works as much on a good team, and I know that's weird to say. Especially compared to Byron Buxton, who would be a terrific outfielder and hitter on any team but prefers to stay in Minneapolis because he loves the fanbase and the team. Clemens I think wants bigger things, and will possibly even be traded, but he needs a team like the Twins about as much as they need him. And comparing that to Roger Clemens's presence on any team he was ever on is wild. Roger Clemens made teams; Kody Clemens' teams make Kody Clemens. It's not bad, it's just different.

Barring Clemens and Buxton, still not a hell of a lot going on with this Twins team. They are, however, in third, and ahead of the Tigers for the time being, so they've gotta be doing something right.

Coming Tomorrow- One complete game shutout later and he's not looking like such a bad investment I guess..

Hot Wheels

 

I am amused by the fact that Zack Wheeler and Jacob deGrom seem to have the exact opposite career trajectories. deGrom has an unbelievable career start, then misses a ton of time to injuries and suddenly he's 38 and past his peak. Wheeler missed a ton of seasons in his 20s, locked in at 28 and never looked back, now pitching as strong as ever at 36. In about 10 years there's gonna be a lot of conversations about who was better, and at his peak, deGrom was better than anybody. 

But...let's actually compare. From 2018 til now, Zack Wheeler has a 98-53 record, a 3.06 ERA, 1530 strikeouts, a 1.056 WHIP and a 41.0 WAR. From 2014 til 2021, Jacob deGrom had a 77-53 record, a 2.50 ERA, 1505 Ks, a 1.011 WHIP and 39.7 WAR. That is...close. It depends on what you value. That's 198 games of deGrom vs. 227 games of Wheeler...with playoff starts. And...this period of Wheeler's career is still going, cause he hasn't left his peak yet. I thought there'd be a chance with that injury last season, but since he's been back, Wheels is 6-1 with a 2.01 ERA, 62 Ks and a 3.3 WAR. That is a 10 game period and he's still been one of the best pitchers in baseball. 36 years old.

Wheels' Phillies run has been absolutely legendary, like what if Roy Halladay never got hurt. He's been so consistent, so reliable, so likable and genuinely among the best in the league every year. Three times now he has been robbed of a Cy Young, and seeing as he already missed a month it's looking like it'll be four times. With Wheels, Sanchez and Luzardo, plus the possibility of Andrew Painter eventually getting his act together, this rotation seems to be sorted for a while going forward. This next week or so, maybe more, will be tricky, because with Painter down, we're left with a hole in the fifth spot, and no one is quite sure how to fill it. Alan Rangel maybe? Bryse Wilson? Possibly some Iron Pig having a nice stretch? Whoever it ends up being, they need to add some kind of stability, cause we weren't getting it with Nola and Painter together.

Similarly, filling right field for the rest of the year will be tricky with Adolis Garcia down. Gabriel Rincones and Derek Hill are both getting looks but aren't completely there yet. Dombrowski seems to have a plan for the deadline, but until then they just need to find a working fill-in, and I think that will be Rincones, who looks okay. Thankfully enough of the rest of this team is working that it's just those spots, but they're pivotal spots. Bryce is going cold again, but Turner's heating up, and Schwarber just keeps doing his thing, so I think there can be balance, and it can keep this Phils team moving forward.

We should be able to find leverage over the Mets, but given the fun Juan Soto had with Aaron Nola, you can't really tell. 

Coming Tonight: His dad apparently had the odd start in the majors, and now he's doing his own thing in a smaller market. 

Ray-versal of Fortune

 

Guys, I think that rainout the Rays had against the Yankees last month changed the course of their season. Before then they'd been on top of the world, since then they're 7-15. Mind you, they had 15 losses by that point in May anyway, and they've doubled that in less than a month. Could it be that resting a team on the laurels of an ace who hasn't pitched in 3 years, a speedy hitter who refuses to hit home runs, a production machine that can't play first, the single worst everyday hitter in baseball this decade, and the Rays' worst bullpen since pre-Cash, hasn't turned out to be as strong of a strategy as they thought?

I continue to not understand why the Rays continue to trot Taylor Walls out there. He's one of the best shortstops in the game defensively, that bit I understand, but that's literally it. He's once again absolutely refusing to hit and he's still getting the starts. If this Rays team was as good as it claims to be, there'd be someone who can actually hit playing shortstop and Walls would just be a sturdy ute. But they couldn't have that. I say that, but we've seen Cedric Mullins hit in Baltimore and it's just not happening here, he's a .198 hitter with barely any real upsides this year. The gap between the production core, Caminero, Aranda and Diaz, and everything else is ASTOUNDING. This is why you don't trade Brandon Lowe, because you go from a very varied, consistent lineup to three great power hitters and a lot of dead air. Throwing in Ryan Vilade and Ben Williamson helps on occasion but I don't know if they've really found a working model for success yet. That's a wild thing to say about a 2nd place team still in reach of a division title, but it seems true now.

And it makes the hitters that are working even more valuable. When the Franco thing happened, the immediate inclination was to rush Junior Caminero, and that's how we got like 2 seasons where Caminero would show up midyear, not do much and not make camp next spring. Then 2025 happens, he's for real, this is the guy...we're on firmer ground. Right now Caminero's hitting .272 with 15 homers and 33 RBIs. Not quite as huge as 2025 so far, but on a decent pace, and possibly on the way to another ASG nod. And he's only 22. I really think this guy is the future for Tampa, and I really think they ought to figure out a way to keep him on long term. It worked for Yandy Diaz, he's still an excellent power bat all this time later. They need to lock him down, and it sucks that a lockout might not even make that a further possibility. 

This team has enough production to keep ahead of the pack, and enough solid pitching seasons [Rasmussen, Martinez and until recently McClanahan] to equalize competitors. It just hasn't been as forceful since mid-May, and as such the Yankees have retaken the division [and considering what they've done to the White Sox this week, may hold onto it]. You can never truly count the Rays out, but unless they can fix the lineup dissonance this may be all they can do this year.

Coming Tomorrow- Undoubtedly the single most dominant pitcher of the 2020s. Like a switch flipped.

The Winds Just Aren't Picking Up

 

Fernando Tatis, in 2021, at age 22, hit 42 home runs in 130 games. Sometime after that he was involved in, depending on who you talk to, one or multiple motorcycle accidents, followed by a quad injury a couple years later. He has not surpassed 25 dingers since. 

So far this season, Tatis has hit...two home runs. It happens so infrequently now that one of them was hit in the ninth inning of a game in San Diego that a colleague of mine attended. Maybe it's cause he can't attend anymore games. But still, we've gone from 42 in a shortened season to 2 in 72 games. That's jarring. It's clear something's changed in his swing, and the power ceiling that was there in the early part of the decade might not be as high as it was.

However, Tatis is still having a positive season. .284 average, 79 hits, 26 RBIs. Not a worldbeater, but he's shifted to doing contact work that can aid the already contact-heavy Padres [Bogaerts, Cronenworth, and Merrill are also good in that department]. He's also still one of the team's best hitters. But...here's the thing. The idea was for Tatis and Machado, and to a lesser extent Gavin Sheets, to represent an ironclad power core for this Padres team going forward, and to this point they'd obliged. But now Tatis isn't hitting for power, Machado's power's gotten a ton more one-dimensional, and Sheets is doing more work than he honestly should be. So if this team doesn't really have a power game...and the solo contact guys are doing most of the work...then what are we even doing here? The depth's been sweated away, and when you're down to guys like Rodolfo Duran, Will Wagner and Samad Taylor needing to jump in, it's clear how much has strayed from the plan.

The Padres are hitting .218 as a team. A lot of that is due to Manny Machado not even pretending to reach .200, and Freddy Fermin, Jake Cronenworth and Nick Castellanos not finding it either. If the pitching wasn't better, especially the bullpen, this team would have no chance. But King, Vasquez, Buehler and Giolito are somehow doing enough to keep games close, and the bullpen can very easily finish it off. So as wild as it seems that THIS Padres team, with Tatis not finding the stands and Machado not finding the grass, is still a 2nd place team [and over .500]...well, they're pitching well. That's the key. It's not enough to lap the Dodgers, especially not now, but it's enough to keep them ahead of the D-Backs, who arguably have better individual starting performances and better hitting but keep getting their clocks cleaned by streaky teams. 

Who knows. Maybe they're gonna start hitting. Maybe Tatis is gonna start raking. But as it stands now, this is no way to hit one's way past the Dodgers.

Coming Tonight: It's an unsteady tightrope, being a marquee guy for a team who can't keep talent around, but this guy might have it figured out.

Salute Your Solution

 

That is an underrated genre of baseball nickname, the kind of nickname that paints the picture of the role he fills. You can filter out some of the fun ones that have another origin, like David 'The Renegade' Bender [that's his walk-up song] or Joakim 'The Mexecutioner' Soria. Something like Ryan Howard as 'The Big Piece', being the biggest piece of the Phillies' lineup, or Eric Byrnes as 'The Human Crash Test Dummy' cause he kept smashing into walls chasing fly balls, or even Jhostynxon Garcia as 'The Password', not just because of his randomly-generated password name, but because he's the last piece that unlocks the heart of that Pirates lineup.

So why is Ezequiel Duran the Solution? Because he's solved a number of the Rangers' problems this year simply while hitting well, anywhere they play him, when no one else will. 

The funniest thing about Duran being given 'The Solution' is that he's not even the first Rangers extra hand I'd consider having that role. The same year Duran came up, late 2022, a fellow ex-Yankee farmhand dealt to Texas for Joey Gallo also tried to find a role in the Rangers' lineup. His name was Josh Smith. It would not happen until 2024, where an injury to Josh Jung freed up third. That was when I thought Josh Smith felt like the solution, because he filled in strongly enough to allow for some competition over the next few years. Now he gets to play 2nd everyday in the wake of Semien's departure, and Jung gets 3rd back.

So what's Ezequiel Duran been doing? Pretty much everything else. So far this season, Duran has played shortstop, 2nd base, 3rd base, left field, right field and first base, and very well at that. He's also been hitting .281 with 35 RBIs, and currently has the highest WAR on the team with 1.7. Basically everything they've asked him to do, he's done exceptionally well. I did not expect Duran to be reborn as a superute contact guy but here he is, and where are Willi Castro and David Fry to stop him? Can't wait for Rangers-Marlins, where Duran and Javier Sanoja get to fight. I think that's how this works.

The Rangers, outside of Duran, are exceedingly okay right now. Jacob deGrom is doing his thing, but his ERA's just higher than usual. Carter and Seager were doing well then got hurt. Burger and Pederson are hitting, but not multi-dimensionally. Pretty much every starting pitcher is just doing okay right now, and we've seen them all do better, even for the Rangers. It's only really Kumar Rocker who's on new ground by being good. At least Jacob Latz has found a new niche as a rock-solid closer, I like that for him.

Look, it's good that the Rangers have somebody like Ezequiel Duran this year, someone who can do so much for them. It'd be nicer if they had a better team around him, but what can you do?

Coming Tonight [?]: There's a strong possibility that his swing's broken, but I don't think he's gonna let that stop him.

No Arms to Hold You

 

Almost the entirety of the Cubs' rotation is injured right now. Justin Steele, Cade Horton, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon. All hurt. A moment ago Edward Cabrera was hurt along with them but he's back now. Being without those guys hurts this team, because what the hell is left? Cabrera's playing hurt essentially, he's got a 5 ERA because he's not in ideal condition right now. Imanaga's got a 4.26 ERA and has gotten lit up more consistently than not. Colin Rea ain't it. Javier Assad's fine but there shouldn't be that much hinging on him. 

And so the most important guy in this rotation, as PCA hits cycles and Suzuki and Bregman hit 'em out...is Ben Brown. Career swingman, never got the opportunities, now a key starter with a 1.74 ERA and a .968 WHIP. Brown is your 2026-standard hard throwing young phenom, so you can guess why he hasn't been fully healthy the last few years. But right now he's basically all the Cubs have. And...last year, at least they had Cade Horton cracking the rotation and becoming a star. Before they had Steele going on a three month tear every year. In the Maddon/Ross days they had the depth to keep throwing solid choices out there the whole year. And now it's 'if Ben Brown doesn't nail a start we're screwed'. That's not good, man.

It's not due to lack of trying, really. The Cubs draft well, they sign well, they put together a rotation that, when healthy, can work. The issue is there wasn't enough depth this year, or, more specifically, the depth is just bad. Ideally the Colin Reas and Javier Assads are supposed to provide solid help in the event of a full rotation cratering, and they've just added to it. 

Sucks, cause the team's still hitting well. PCA heard everyone saying he's not as good of a hitter as forecast and started going off at the plate, with 13 homers and 35 RBIs. Suzuki and Busch have been heating up as of late, that's always a good thing. I think it's evident that Hoerner and Happ have cooled down but with the rest of the team doing well it's not much of an issue. Carson Kelly was not a one-year thing, the team's defense is great across the board, and at the very least the batting depth is there. But in this division, it means nothing if the pitching isn't great, and...considering Daniel Palencia's hurt again and Caleb Thielbar probably has to close now, it's probably going to get worse. 

The Cubs are in 3rd, trying to stay out of fourth. This week they have to play the Rockies, who honestly have a more concrete rotation schematic right now, and then the Jays, and they have to hope that the Pirates don't keep surging enough to strand them in 4th. A competitive year is still possible for the Cubs, but if we're waiting for the pitchers to come back it might be a longshot.

Coming Tomorrow- The Rangers have had a lot of problems this year. Luckily...they have a solution.

Attack of the Tristans!

 

When did the name 'Tristan' come back into prominence? There's a long gap between the Tristans of, like...medieval times, and like...the other best friend from the 4Kids Yu-Gi-Oh dub for some reason [and what did he accomplish, anyway? Did he ever play any of the card game? Did he do anything ever other than wacky shenanigans while his friends risked life and limb taking part in duels?]. And now we have Tristans again. Maybe 'Preston' died off and that's what replaced it. Either way, people are being named 'Tristan' again, and in a see of Kaydengh's and Bradlee's and Jurrangelo's, I guess it's fine? 

There's two guys named Tristan in the bigs right now who have almost the exact same career trajectory. Both of them kicked around multiple different MLB rosters without making an impact, both wound up in Tampa last year, both were not of use to the Rays and were set forth on other rosters and both are having surprising breakout seasons that cost their club far less than the people they were truly banking on this year. Both Tristans. Tristan Gray of the Twins, and Tristan Peters of the White Sox. 

Therefore, I am coining a new baseball term, right now, based on this current phenomena. This happens from time to time on the blogs. Thorzul coined the term 'pissant' for a player that only seems to do well against your team. Beardy or somebody coined the term 'bip' to refer to an excessive amount of one card or player in a package on purpose for a gag. Nick from Dime Boxes talked about 'short term stops', 'zero-year cards' and 'sunset cards', all terms I still use. But here, I wanna clarify what makes a Tristan, or a pocket Tristan if you will, what they are. 

A Tristan, as I'm making clear right now, is a nomadic major leaguer who comes to prominence with a team that is not his first organization, nor is it his second. This player has got to be in his late 20s or older by the time he makes his impact, and it has to be for a team that has enough money to bring on large contracts, or be let down by them. This player must become absolutely indispensable, out of nowhere, to the point where he runs the risk of becoming a 'magic hat' player [that one I coined a long time ago, a player who fuels a team's rise in the standings, and who, when taken away, results in the team reverting to their prior self]. Whether or not the success is sustainable does not matter. Some Tristans just keep being good for the rest of their career, some peter off almost immediately. 

Now, there is a difference between a Tristan and a Jabroni, and that difference is quality. Tristans hit .300, Jabronis hit .230 but smack homers like you wouldn't believe. So someone like T.J. Rumfield, whether he's a Tristan or a Jabroni is still on the fence because we're still not sure how much quality is built into his material. It's also important to note that a Tristan cannot be a known prospect who resurfaces and comes to prominence that way. Dominic Smith and Mickey Moniak cannot be Tristans because I knew who they were first. Nathan Lukes on the other hand? Without question. The Jays are his third team, his breakout was at 30, he's a .300 hitter that did better than Anthony Santander, and he's a really big part of the team now.

A lot of Tristans have shown up this year. Curtis Mead is almost certainly a Tristan. Carlos Cortes is definitely one, and that .300 average in May cemented it. Luis Torrens actually got an extension to keep being the Mets' backup catcher, making him one of the highest paid Tristans in the land; and no, a contract does not make a Tristan any less of a Tristan. Max Schuemann is at the point where if he keeps at it, he could be a Tristan. It's just too early to tell.

We should probably talk a bit about Tristan Peters, since that who this post is about. The Rays cut him last year, which a lot of Tristans actually have in common, and the White Sox took a flyer. In a year where Austin Hays, Derek Hill and Jarred Kelenic were supposed to have concrete outfield spots, Peters somehow made all of them obsolete. As the everyday centerfielder, Peters is hitting .294 with 21 RBIs and an .804 OPS. He makes up a heart of the lineup that's grown scarier over time, with Miguel Vargas, Munetaka Murakami, and now both Colson AND Braden Montgomery raining down on opposing pitching. This Sox team is in first place in the AL Central, and looks to stay there if the Guardians' injuries keep piling up. And it's guys like Peters who've gotten them there. I'm really happy for this team.

The White Sox being a first place team is very good for baseball. And if you wanna get to where they're at right now, I'd suggest finding a Tristan of your own. You can get 'em pretty cheap these days..

Coming Tonight: So many starters are getting lit up on the North Side right now that this guy's the closest thing they've got to stability. 

The Same Ozz it Was

 

There's a lot thrown around these days about which teams and players certain deities prefer over others, and I just want to say that the Braves losing 8-1 to the Mets, then turning around, regaining Drake Baldwin and getting to play the San Francisco Giants right on the heels of their 'half the pitching staff think standing up to Pride Night is akin to casting out Satan' run...that's cosmic retribution. You have the story of good men getting back up after a stunning loss and going to take down the true evil, the evil of intolerance, and that's something right out of a Sunday reading, isn't it? 

[I don't like saying stuff like this on the blog, but Landen Roupp and company are going right on my boycott list, along with the Rays who sat out Pride Night years ago and Blake Treinen. I can't believe I'm saying this, but these guys should be more like Josh Hader.]

Anyway, the Braves. Just when you think you've figured them out you get better. Alright, Strider's hurt, they're getting to Elder, well...alright, Hurston Waldrep's back this week probably, Martin Perez is surprisingly awesome, and they still have to face Chris Sale. There's a 35 and a 37 year old on this team who can throw better than most of the 28-year-olds the Giants have. And plus, here's Drake Baldwin again, continuing his plate vendetta from the first month and a half of the season.

The Braves are this good because they've laid the groundwork by placing all these people who can play well around their team, and they all are! They brought Matt Olson in to be a positive successor to Freddie Freeman, and he's been somehow better in points, with 20 homers and 51 RBIs already. Ozzie Albies has struggled the last couple years but he's back in full force now, hitting .279 with 10 homers and 37 RBIs, some of his most pivotal offense work in a while. Michael Harris II's also a .300 hitter now, he's got 14 homers and 41 RBIs, numbers he's only hinted at before. Mauricio Dubon and Dominic Smith have become excellent everyday players after being mostly bench guys for years. Even Jorge Mateo's having a comeback year as a bench piece, with 7 steals already. Losing Acuna is a rough development, but this team's been through that before. And gaining back Baldwin now is a really good thing. Because with this team, Baldwin was harder to replace than Acuna. A few weeks without Ronnie and they can throw Eli White back there, or Mateo even, and they'll be fine. A month or so without Drake and they were STRUGGLING. Sandy Leon had to be the main guy. Austin Wynns got thrown in there. It'd have been nice if Sean Murphy was around but I guess he's not that guy anymore. 

Even without Acuna, the Braves' offense remains one of the best in baseball, and so many of these guys can catch you off guard and do something incredible. And on top of that the bullpen's damn near untouchable and Sale's having another Cy Young caliber season. Even after a rough weekend, the Braves are still the best in the biz, and with Baldwin back they're even better. Cannot be disputed. 

Coming Tomorrow- The Rays gave up on him, he made them regret it in a different market. As is becoming the norm these days..

As If It Were the Plan All Along

 

In any other year, the loss of Aaron Judge, Max Fried, Giancarlo Stanton, Austin Wells and Trent Grisham could be enough to kill the Yankees. Yet somehow, this team, the 'run it back Yanks' that everyone thought would keel over, have kept moving even without them, won 2 of 3 against the Jays and retook the lead, deservingly, over Tampa. All by doing things that seemed confounding at the time but ended up working perfectly.

For instance...nobody really understood why the Yanks re-signed Paul Goldschmidt for this season. Very famously they have a 1st baseman, one who can hit, and Goldy's 2025 didn't end particularly well. But at 38, Goldy's still excellent defensively and a great clubhouse guy, so there were aspects that made sense. Ultimately, once Stanton got hurt he got more playing time, and then he got off to such a start that the Yanks kept finding ways to keep him in the lineup. Yesterday for instance they DH'd him and started Rice at 1st. I completely get it, because Goldschmidt has accumulated an .889 OPS, a .285 average and 31 RBIs just as a swing/backup bat. He's been insanely hot this month, and has become one of the team's most pivotal hitters...besides Rice of course [who had a 2-run bomb yesterday].

Then you have the infield depth thing. Bringing back Amed Rosario and putting weight on Jose Caballero seemed short-sighted, but both have been really helpful. Rosario's got 6 homers and 20 RBIs as a utility bat, McMahon and Chisholm are both heating up offensively, and Cabby's had a wonderful year so far, with 6 homers, 21 RBIs and 15 steals. His 3-run tank yesterday sealed the deal in the 9th, and while we didn't trade for him for the power material, it certainly helps. It's also cool that both Anthony Volpe and Cabby are surging right now rather than competing. Volpe was responsible for 2 RBIs yesterday, and is slowly building back up to where he was, despite some of his usual average issues. 

And then Judge and Grisham getting hurt is a blow, but when it gives Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones time in the bigs, it turns into a win. Jones is getting truly hot at last, has his first MLB homer under his belt, and 5 RBIs to boot. Jasson is ramping himself back up, and had a pivotal homer Saturday night on Red Bull fumes. If these guys can stay hot and begin to take the reins of the team, it's proof that this team is more than just Judge and Stanton [especially with Schlittler, Cole and Rodon surging]. 

Right now Bellinger, Rice, Goldy and Chisholm are leading this team and keeping them a major competitor in first. Hopefully when Judge gets back they're still a major competitor. Hell, hopefully they're still a major competitor by Friday, I'll be at 161st that night.

Coming Tonight: After a down season, he comes surging back at all facets, ironically the exact season his former battery partner struggles to stay healthy again.

There's No Need to Panic..

 

Now, I know the Guardians are going through injury troubles of their own right now, but how'd you like this to be you: one of your best starters leaves with a hamstring injury after keeping the opposing team down, then your best hitter, who's also your best pitcher, leaves after his knee, the same knee he spent a while rehabbing, flares up. And then the following game you get fleeced by the White Sox.

The Dodgers have come back from worse and won it all. Famously. And they still have enough on this team working that it may not be a great deal. Plus, Shohei Ohtani did come back last night and hit a home run, so his injury might not even be that bad. Same with Justin Wrobleski, who isn't going on the IL. But...already you are seeing the Dodgers trying to hold on, for dear life, to their luck. Because they know how quickly things can unravel if the centerpiece, Ohtani, is thrown off balance.

This is already looking like another MVP-caliber season for Ohtani, with a 1.06 ERA with a 6-2 record as a pitcher, and a 14 homer/41 RBI campaign, with a league-leading .946 OPS as a batter. I would honestly say he's done better as a hitter, and it took a little while for him to get going at the plate, but June has been a lot better for him, and he's looking like his old self. Wrobleski has also been a nice surprise, with a 2.95 ERA and a 7-2 record. He's a leverage pitcher mostly, but he's been really dominant, and has kept so many tough lineups down this year. The threat, even if minimized, of losing both of these guys should really be a reality check for this team.

Because so far this year they've lost Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, as they are prone to, they got Mookie Betts back after an injury and he's not really back yet, they lost Will Smith and have to deal with Dalton Rushing's defense daily, they lost Teoscar Hernandez and are now plugging career minor leaguer Ryan Ward out in left to platoon with Alex Call, and the guy they paid cornerstone money for at the top of the season is producing his most okay campaign to date. If this wasn't The Dodgers, all this not going to plan would sink them.

But, of course, they've got the division tightly, their nearest competition is either the Padres, who can't hit, or the D-Backs, who just got swept by the Marlins, and they still have Andy Pages, Freddie Freeman and Yoshinobu Yamamoto performing like absolute world-beaters. So even if this is an actual injury concern, it might not be much more than a small dent in this team's overall outlook. They're 7-5 in June, which, if you ignore how much better they were in May, is a good run. They can still take a loss to a team like the Angels or the White Sox, and with the Rays and Orioles coming up they may take a few more sizable ones. But the Dodgers are built to withstand these inconveniences, and at this rate they'll likely be alright.

Coming Tonight: Remember when we all thought it was a bad idea for the Yankees to bring this guy back? What a world that was, right?

All Caught Up

 

The Mariners currently have 5 guys with over 30 RBIs and four starting pitchers with 70 strikeouts. I've been wanting a balanced Mariners team for ages and we seem to be getting one now. 2024 was the year of the immaculate rotation with barely any run support, 2025 was the year of insane offensive production with shakier starting pitching than usual. Now everybody seems to be caught up. 

So...Julio Rodriguez is 25 this year. To this point, he's been in 3 all-star games, had two 30+ homer years, crossed 125 homers and has shown no signs of slowing down. This is another great year for Julio already, he's got 13 homers and 34 RBIs, plus 9 steals and 72 hits. I know there have been some years where it's taken him longer to really get going but he's made all this progress by 25. It's not Juan Soto crazy but it's still a lot. And in a year where Cal Raleigh's been out, and was not at 100% in April anyway, someone like Julio, and Randy Arozarena honestly, is way more valuable. You need your marquee guy to be worth his weight in gold. It's not happening with Acuna this year in Atlanta. It's not really happening with Mookie Betts in LA. But Julio is that guy for this team, and the team's way better for it.

I'm in awe that the Mariners have six healthy starters and they're all doing pretty solid work. Like, Luis Castillo's the weakest of the six this year, he's been running nonstop for like 4 years and it's taking its toll, but even he can have a classic start where he holds a team to only one run every now and then. Hancock and Miller are hot now because they've missed time and didn't burn themselves out. Gilbert's on an upswing, Woo and Kirby have had rough outings but are still putting in solid work. There's really not any scary options in the bunch this time around, and having a full, consistent bullpen has helped even more. 

I think the real issue is they still haven't broken away from the rest of the pack in the AL West. They're a very good team but they keep getting caught up in tough matches to teams like the Orioles and Padres and not legging them out. They've been doing much better lately, and have retaken the division lead, but after this Orioles series I do worry about their legitimacy. Especially with the Nationals up next, who, while not a league monolith or anything, certainly can run a pitching staff wild if given the opportunity.

We'll see what happens when Raleigh comes back as well. If that'll be the factor that gets them to take off.

Coming Tomorrow- How about that, a Dodgers pitcher breaking out on a rookie contract? 

The Bauers That Be

 

Not looking forward to the Brewers having to play the Phillies right now. Not that we're bad, but we're throwing Derek Hill out as a starter. The Miz game is the day Andrew Painter has to start. It's not gonna be pretty.

I don't know if the Brewers are the best team in the NL, but they might be the most lethal. Similar to the Braves, they've filled the lineup with people that are doing 100% what they were brought here to do, but unlike the Braves, there's like 5 or 6 more 'OH MY GOD' prospects waiting for one of the genuinely effective people to get hurt. We're still waiting on Jett Williams, Jeferson Quero, Jesus Made, Luis Lara, Cooper Pratt, Luis Pena even...and this team is currently extremely good without them. The infrastructure is there to insure that they will continue to be this good for a while. The Braves have some of that but not to this degree. Same with the Dodgers honestly.

Like, to give you an idea, the current mega-prospects who are working for this team at the MLB level are Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, Jacob Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison, Logan Henderson, Brandon Sproat and Shane Drohan, plus secondary prospect guys like Robert Gasser, Coleman Crow, Chad Patrick and Sal Frelick. That's already the majority of the team. And not only are these guys working, they're elite. Chourio, despite the late start, is having a phenomenal year, hitting .304 with 6 homers and 20 RBIs in 32 games. Turang's chasing MVP numbers again, with 10 homers, 11 steals, 42 RBIs and some of the best 2B play in the league. The Miz has a 1.50 ERA, 116 Ks and a 0.808 WHIP. Video game numbers. And Kyle Harrison, even after the Vegas start where you could tell that playing in an a-ball park really hurt the pitching, has a 2.72 ERA and 7 wins.

The triumph might be some of the people brought in for nothing. Last year Quinn Priester was a terrific bargain acquisition, and though he's yet to appear he looms large over the second half. Jake Bauers was a low-rent utility guy who'd succeeded in Cleveland and New York, and now suddenly he's the starting 1st baseman, hitting .277 with 12 homers [meaning his next one will mark a career high] and 43 RBIs. And even crazier is Andrew Vaughn, who's now splitting time with him, is still on fire, hitting .370 with 2 homers and 18 RBIs in 29 games. I might even throw in Gary Sanchez, who's become a terrific DH/backup choice in his later years and has an .845 OPS in 39 games. Even David Hamilton's become a terrific utility infield option, topping even Andruw Monasterio, who he was traded for.

The Brewers are an efficient, deep, varied team that can beat you several different ways, and look like they're gonna get even better as they go, with Woodruff and Henderson expected back soon. I am really worried that the Phils might not be able to get anything done against these guys this weekend, but...can you blame them if not?

Coming Tonight: I follow Mina Kimes on Bluesky, and she just had a very nice interview with this guy on there. Pretty sure he's the real deal.

Down Under the White Sox

 

The Guardians' downturn since the Phils series on May 22nd is understandable. One of the best teams in the bigs, constantly putting in new working pieces, of course they're gonna have a stretch where they can't play too well. Losing games to the Rangers, Red Sox and Nats, those are tricky teams even if their records don't show it. The Nats are a beast on the road, they've got nothing to be ashamed of. And being swept by the Yankees, meaning all the people pointing out that they don't do well against .500+ record teams can finally shut up, is understandable because the Yankees are extremely multifaceted this year.

But being in second in the division for the first time in a couple months while the 1st place team is the Chicago White Sox...that has got to hurt.

Yes, the White Sox are a good team, but the Guardians are better, and have been at this for longer. The Sox are currently without Munetaka Murakami, and just lost some games to Philly. But they're in first, and thanks to Braden Montgomery they're lifting back up. The Guardians haven't looked this beatable all year, which is odd because nothing's...really changed.

It's really just some cold spells at the moment that have shifted thinks. Chase de Lauter's been cold since April ended pretty much, and he's currently only hitting .254. He's only hit 3 more homers after starting the season by hitting 4 in his first 3 games. He still has 34 RBIs, leading the team, but the long ball has eluded him since April began. Rookie Travis Bazzana has the highest OPS on the team, and that's at .766. Meaning, as good as Ramirez, Rocchio, Angel Martinez and Kyle Manzardo have been, they're still very average statistically as hitters. Even Rhys Hoskins, despite his 6 homers, is only hitting .166. The ability is packed into this team, but statistically it doesn't look great after a rough 3 week stretch.

Travis Bazzana's 2026 start shouldn't be overlooked though. Dude came up a year and a half after being drafted first overall and is already looking like a natural. In 39 games he's got 4 homers, 17 RBIs and 10 stolen bases, plus some solid work at 2nd base. The Guardians already had several impressive pieces [including, somehow, Austin Hedges apparently], but Bazzana is the latest and greatest to really impress people, and it's looking like he'll be this good for a while. 

Also, and I don't even know if this is worth saying, but...the entire rotation's made all their starts and everybody has over 61 Ks. Some seasons are better than others [Williams and Messick are killing it], and Tanner Bibee's currently 1-7 despite a halfway decent campaign, but they're all reliable, healthy and up to the task. Maybe Slade Cecconi and Joey Cantillo could be a little more well rounded, but it's better than holding tryouts for a 5 spot in June. 

The Guardians's slide to 2nd does not worry me because they have the kind of team that's still destined for 1st, solely because they've shown more debilitating faults than their competitors. Injuries have killed the Tigers and Royals, the Twins aren't well put together yet, and the Chicago White Sox, while very good, are not a fully great team yet. I worry about the consequences of them dealing Derek Hill. Yes, Braden Montgomery means he's not as crucial, but that's a depth guy they could have used. I still think the Guardians are the team to beat, and however scary this stretch has been won't matter ultimately.

Coming Tomorrow- He's having another strong year at 1st for a team that is about to play my Phillies. Eek! 

Miss the Misery

 

So. To give you an idea. Christian Scott comes up for the Mets on May 4th 2024. He's called back down on May 31st. The Grimace thing happens on June 12th. Scott gets called back up to start July 3rd. From this start to Scott going on the IL on the 21st, the Mets are 8-7. Then, after Scott's injury, the Mets keep winning til they get to an NLCS. 2025 happens, it's hysterical. 2026, decent enough start, then the bottom falls out, everybody gets injured and the Mets wind up in last. And it is at this point that Christian Scott rejoins the Mets and becomes their best starter, with a 2.50 ERA in 8 starts.

I'm thinking the #1 question on Christian Scott's mind right now has to be 'how come I'm only up when the team sucks?' Like, we have a Met whose presence boosts the team, that is Francisco Alvarez, it's proven that the team is substantially better when he's healthy. But the Mets also have Scott, who is only healthy when the team isn't very good. Is he the jinx? Or is the team just so messy this year that it can't be helped?

Now, admittedly. Since May 27th, the Mets have been *better*. Since then they've been 7-4. That's very good timing, I think New York sports fans were conflicted over something from 5 days earlier, or Knicks fever kinda bled over into the Mets. I personally credit the upsurge to the outfield stylings of Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, who've been having great months. Benge is now hitting .264 with 7 homers and 26 RBIs. Ewing is hitting .270 with 24 hits and 7 steals in 26 games. And while Jared Young is not as Young as Ewing or Benge, he's still getting in on the fun with a .270 average, 3 homers and 7 RBIs in 21 games. With everything in this lineup that isn't working [[motions around]], it's nice that there can be a homegrown boost of genuine talent to help things along.

...which begs the question, would this team be better off if they didn't try to buy up all those contracts and instead let the team develop naturally? Maybe? They'd still have Brandon Sproat, PCA and Luisangel Acuna. 

Either way, the inadvertent side effect of loading up for this year is the big items they've taken on are getting eyed by competitors. Freddy Peralta's lowered his ERA to 4, and is having a very good season if you had no idea how good he was in 2024 or 2025. Marcus Semien's doing his usual thing of heating up after 2 months of progress have already gone by. Luis Robert should be back soon, and should be a July target. Some relievers might be on the block too. Probably not Devin Williams, he's suffered enough.

At the very least the Mets are a better team than they were, and have more immediate answers than just buying contracts. But they're still very far from competing, and they're nothing compared to a much sharper and fuller Braves team. So...unless they plan on really trying to see if Christian Scott is a jinx, it's probably more of the same from here on out.

Coming Tonight: I can't remember the last time that someone made breaking into the majors look so easy right from the jump. Maybe Skenes? Either way, this guy's immediately making waves.

Which Young People are the Good Ones Again?

 

The trouble with basing a team around a youth movement is that after a certain point it becomes akin to wrangling cats. And that's kinda where we're at in Boston. Obviously the veterans are gonna be taken care of. Willson Contreras, Wilyer Abreu, Sonny Gray, Aroldis Chapman, Ranger Suarez and IKF- no issues. They know the drill, and even the newcomers can take to Boston pretty easily. Suarez had a rough first few starts, he's mellowed out, he's now got a 3.18 ERA. Gray's even settled in, he's 7-1. IKF's been a really valuable utility guy, proving he can excel anywhere in the AL East except New York. 

But the kids...the kids that are supposed to be leading the team...it's just not entirely happening.

Roman Anthony in 2025 was hilariously inconsistent. He took a month to get going, then got hotter than hell to the point where, once he got injured, he became the 'magic hat' piece for this team. And so he starts the year healthy, and now he's hurt again. Marcelo Mayer has stayed healthy, but like last year he hasn't really gotten going yet. He's hitting .224 with a .600 OPS. This is not what was promised. Caleb Durbin cost this team Kyle Harrison, something that's gonna really haunt them going forward, and he's barely done anything this year, hitting .193. At least Isaac Collins has turned his season around. Durbin's just stalling in place. And Carlos Narvaez, after a breakout 2025, has regressed to a .200 hitter and has given the catching job back to Connor Wong essentially.

The most confounding detail of this Sox team is Jarren Duran, who's supposed to be the centerpiece of the whole thing. He's got 10 homers, 34 RBIs and 11 steals right now, which is not bad. But he is currently hitting .209, with a .655 OPS. That is heartbreakingly average. Duran is constantly put in position to be the hero, and while sometimes it does pay off, this should not be the central guy. Not when he's hitting .209. In 2024 he had a 9 WAR, and was one of the most impressive hitters in baseball. Now he's just as forgettable as he was back in 2021 when he was starting out.

What's nice is that the young players that ARE pulling their weight are mostly pitchers. Connelly Early and Payton Tolle, after debuting last August, have essentially taken over the rotation, and are in the midst of very strong breakout years. Early has made all his starts and has a 3.30 ERA with a team-leading 69 Ks. He's an impressive, consistent starter without being too flashy. Tolle is even sharper, with a 2.70 ERA and 54 Ks in 9 starts. In a year where Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet have let this team down, these two springing into action is exactly the right remedy, and is a surer sign of future value than Mayer and Durbin's antics. Also, lest we forget Ceddanne Rafaela, who's having a great contact year so far. There's even a chance Jake Bennett could make a further impact if he shakes off starts like today's, which wasn't even that bad but isn't to the standard of his compatriots. So it's not all horror stories from this youth movement, but the fact that it's a lot of that does not bode well.

The Sox have Texas and Toronto up next. I can't say with certainty that they're better than either. We'll see how the young guys continue to fare in a team very much made for them.

Coming Tomorrow- He hasn't pitched since 2024, and he's suddenly extremely valuable, which says less about him and more about the state of his team. 

Can't Keep Goodman Down

 

The good news is that, generally, the 2026 Colorado Rockies can be described as 'not as bad as last year's.' The bad news is that since April ended they haven't exactly been acting like it.

Look, here's what should sum it up. Yesterday the Rockies called up Cole Carrigg, a centerfield prospect looking to stake his claim on the team. To remind you, this team has already gone through so many 'here's the big new prospect' moments that haven't worked. This has been since like 2024. We've seen Drew Romo, Zac Veen, Yanquiel Fernandez, Warming Bernabel, Braxton Fulford, Jordan Beck, Ryan Ritter, Kyle Karros, Adael Amador, McCade Brown, Carson Palmquist and Bradley Blalock in the bigs, and with the exception of a few decent months from Beck, a solid week from Bernabel and maybe some of Karros's recent stuff, there's been little to no impact. 

The goal is to build a team upwards with young talent, and it's not gonna work if all of them can't play in the bigs. It's bad enough that there's two actual good pitching talents that absolutely refuse to stay healthy, meaning Dollander and Feltner are leaving major responsibilities to veterans on one year deals AGAIN. But the lineup is mostly replacement-level guys because the prospects aren't panning out. Brenton Doyle might even be cooked at this point. Dude started his career with two straight gold gloves and hasn't been competent since. 

So what is working? Well, once again, Hunter Goodman, who's got 17 homers and 31 RBIs already. Dude's a born hitter perfect for Coors Field, his power work has been very helpful as usual. T.J. Rumfield and Troy Johnston are having great offensive campaigns as supporting players. Jake McCarthy and Willi Castro are playing pivotal roles...seeing as Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle really aren't. The bullpen's still great, and Seth Halvorsen's finally stepping up in a big way. Feltner's been great his last few starts. Tomoyuki Sugano might be the perfect Rockies starter because he's a fly ball pitcher anyway and these guys are used to the air difference, plus he's efficient without overexerting himself. Everything else is kind of forgettable, especially the major pieces like Freeland and Tovar.

Hopefully Carrigg can provide some level of stability upon his call-up. I know they've got people coming, Roc Riggio eventually, Veen again at some point, and hopefully that can work better than what they've got. If they can eventually build something sustainable, then we can really talk, but until then it's gonna be stuff like this. And as long as it's not 2025-bad, I think we'll be alright.

Coming Tonight: In a very good sign for the club, the Red Sox are once again calling up homegrown pitchers who can actually keep runs down. 

Too Fun For the Majors

 

A couple years ago, when the White Sox were going for the all-time losses record, occasionally it would be said, 'oh, well this is a minor league team, isn't it?'. And that is what the 2024 White Sox felt like at times. The only star feels like he is rehabbing, the big pitching talent is being kept under preexisting MLB talent, the big prospect's bored out of his mind, most people are replacement level. Sad stuff.

So when I say that the Angels right now feel like a minor league team, that's not necessarily an insult. So far in 2026, we've yet to find a last place team that truly bores me to tears every time I have to write about them. Every last place team is interesting this year, from the somehow-superior Rockies to the disappointing but rallying Mets to even the backpedaling Royals. The Angels, being one of the candidates for last overall, should be an exhausting last place team. But they're not. Because they've somehow cobbled together a motley crue of former top prospects and have created the most surprising lineup in the bigs. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy who runs the Bananas is taking notes. 

Beyond Mike Trout, Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel, this lineup is so frigging weird. So first of all, you have Jo Adell, former top prospect, who will either hit 2 home runs and have the catch of his life or strike out 3 times and make an embarrassing error. No in-between. He's got 10 homers and 37 RBIs already, but at what cost? Then you have Oswald Peraza, consistently blocked in New York, playing everyday and hitting .270 with 7 homers and some terrific 2B play. 

That's basically the extent of the understandable lineup additions though. Cause then you get to the really wild stuff. Like Wade Meckler, former Giants farmhand waived this January, who's hitting .300 in left and is already an upgrade from Josh Lowe. Then you have backup catcher Sebastian Rivero, a career minor leaguer who had some cups of coffee with the Royals in the early 2010s who just went 5 for 5 with 6 RBIs against the DODGERS of all people. Just in the last few weeks you've had insane comeback campaigns from Jose Siri, who's hitting .375 with a 1.068 OPS, 9 RBIs and 2 homers in 19 games, and Nick Madrigal, who's hitting .346 with 9 hits in his first 10 games back. Both of these guys were dead on arrival after some injuries got them dropped by the Mets, and now they're succeeding in Anaheim.

AND! AND! Just last night the Angels brought up Trey Mancini, who hasn't played since his Cubs contract in 2023 didn't go well. He went 3 for 4 with an RBI. This is ridiculous, but somehow it's working. And to be clear, the Angels were thinking like this before as well, that's how Travis d'Arnaud, Jeimer Candelario, Adam Frazier and Yoan Moncada got roster spots. But like...none of them worked. So they brought in people who WERE doing well in the minors, and they're actually helping the team. This team beat the Dodgers 13-5 on Sunday. Not every team this season's gonna be able to say they scored more than 10 against the Dodgers.

Now, does this make them a competitor? No, not necessarily. They're playing the Astros and Rays this week, two teams that have been doing the 'whichever cheap guys can help the big league ballclub' schtick better, and for longer, than the Angels have. Last night the Astros squeaked one out. The Angels are still expected to finish in last, and I do not think this month's bonkers mentality is sustainable. But they're not exactly keeling over and dying, and they're not giving the fans a product that isn't worth going to games for.

I salute these piecemeal, ragtag Angels, for making things interesting when they could be otherwise cut-and-dry.

Coming Tomorrow- 

Good Heavens! An Actual Pirates Team!

 

It's so refreshing. Two straight years the Pirates have been basically a front for Paul Skenes's highlight reels and showcases for his agent, and now, finally, there's an actual baseball team to build around Skenes. Actual other ballplayers who can actually play well, and actual depth that can actually keep this team in the conversation for the next few months. Not that I figured it would never happen, but the fact that it hasn't in so long, and now we're here...is just really refreshing. There's actual things to talk about!

Bringing in Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum, Ryan O'Hearn and Jhostynxon Garcia onto this team is some long-awaited wise thinking from management, cause they've all greatly improved this team's output. Brandon Lowe's having another phenomenal year, with 15 homers and 41 RBIs already. He might make an all-star team at this rate. O'Hearn's hitting .286 with 9 homers and 33 RBIs, doing exactly what they signed him to do. Mangum's a .291 hitter that's also an excellent outfield depth piece. And Garcia, though the team doesn't completely have room for him yet, is a dangerous hitter who, when he has made contact, has done some damage. In addition, Bryan Reynolds is having his best season in a while, with an .805 OPS and 39 RBIs. Spencer Horwitz has an .846 OPS and is still surging. Oneil Cruz can obviously still rake in between the frustration. It's a very full lineup, and one that might only get better as they figure out some of the last few details [like an actual viable catching option, which is weird to say when Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez were supposed to be so good]. 

And then, right when Paul Skenes gets rocked for a few starts, Braxton Ashcraft is able to step up and take the brunt of the workload effortlessly. He's currently 5-3 with a 3.28 ERA and 86 Ks [more than Skenes!] This is a more human year for Skenes, as his ERA's over 3 and he's getting hit more often than usual, probably the effect of pitching for 2 years straight. The down seasons are gonna happen, just hopefully they're only this and not full burnout. You also have Jared Jones slowly returning to his old self, Bubba Chandler finding the strike zone, Mitch Keller trying to stay consistent and Carmen Mlodzinski all but assuring he'll be dealt in a month and a half. The bullpen's not great but it was a lot worse before. 

Just very refreshing to see a Pirates team this good, and one that's able to soundly beat the Astros, Cubs and Reds. This week they're playing the Dodgers. Considering how well the Braves series went, this could be similarly rough, but Skenes is pitching in one of these games, so maybe they'll keep things rolling.

Coming Tonight: The Yanks had nowhere to play him....but the Angels certainly did. And now they're being rewarded. 

Lugo for Broke

 

The Royals' season was already kinda going down the toilet, despite the amount of talent baked into it. But now, Bobby Witt Jr.'s got right knee soreness and it feels like the whole season could be hinging on it. Remember 2024, where everybody showed up and made this a formidable, varied team with so many different points to hit teams with? Now we're at 'if Witt's gone there's no point'. 

Cause like...when one of the big storylines of the WBC is 'look at Caglianone and Pasquantino go for Team Italy', and then they get back and Pasquatch hits .220 with a .650 OPS and Caglianone takes a month to get going, has a strong May then gets hurt...that's false advertising, man. Every spring for the past four years has been 'look at how well Vinnie Pasquantino's been playing', and then the season starts and he hits .220. He just does this. Mr. February. Right now it's Witt, Cags, Maikel Garcia and surprisingly Michael Massey who are the only people currently doing well in the lineup. Salvador Perez is technically hitting, but he's hitting .204. They're phasing him out of catching more and more, and while Carter Jensen is a slight upgrade, he's been slumping a bit lately. The lineup just doesn't have the forcefulness and depth that it used to, and even the Twins are doing more in that department right now.

As for the rotation...the draw in 2024 was that if you have Cole Ragans up top, then Seth Lugo and Brady Singer, and then Michael Wacha's your fourth man, it's still gonna be difficult. Having the depth of 'here are some young fireballers who can beat you and also here are two 34-year-olds who can also beat you' is how they got far in 2024. Now, Bubic and Ragans are hurt, Marsh is still hurt, Stephen Kolek's out on leave, and the sole lines of defense are Seth Lugo, who's good but not 2024 good, Michael Wacha, who's still very good, and Noah Cameron who's good now but took a while to get there...with the other two days' worth of options being Luinder Avila and a shrug....yeah, that's not deep. They're getting Kolek back tomorrow, that will help. And worse comes to worse they could try Ryan Bergert, if they needed to. But it's much less formidable now. Lugo's still a fundamentally good pitcher, he's got a 3.91 ERA and 64 Ks, but he's getting dangerously close to Chris Bassitt territories of innings-eating. Bullpen isn't great either.

The rumor is that, once Matt Quatraro loses his job this year [how the hell is Oli Marmol gonna out last this guy?], the Royals are gonna try to court Albert Pujols to take over, and that might help things, but...I dunno if this team is a managerial regime away from being fixed. If you keep putting people in position to hit and they don't hit, a new manager can't fix that. Maybe a new GM can, but we don't wanna talk about that yet probably..

Coming Tomorrow- So Paul Skenes has had a rough go of things lately, meaning now was an ideal time for another Pirates pitcher to step up. But then Jared Jones got rocked in his first start back. So it was up to this other guy.

Mead 'Em and Weep

 

2026 has already been a nice year for Australian ballplayers, and so soon after Liam Hendriks sort of trailed off. You've got the frontrunner for AL Rookie of the Year, Travis Bazzana, already taking to the bigs like a fish to water, he grew up in Australia then went to Oregon State. You've got Brandan Bidois, a relief specialist who just came up with the Pirates and has been doing alright for himself [or really just 'better than Justin Lawrence and Mason Montgomery were doing]. And then you've got Curtis Mead, who struggled to find an entryway with Philly, Tampa and the White Sox then was dealt to Washington right before the season started and is now an everyday guy. For a country whose biggest exports to this point were Dave Nilsson and Graeme Lloyd, things seem to be picking up for our friends down under.

Mead is the kind of hitter that the Nationals need right now, because his contact sensibilities click with this team, and he's still got plenty of prime years left. Right now he's got an .829 OPS, 9 homers and 28 RBIs. He's settling in as a corner infielder, primarily playing third but occasionally finding time at 1st. Considering how many sneaky contact guys are already on this team [Daylen Lile, Jacob Young, C.J. Abrams, Luis Garcia], Mead just seemed to arrive at the perfect time. And throwing an Australian journeyman with contact ability in with the people who were part of the plan to begin with is a very Toronto-esque strategy of just going for it. Why not Curtis Mead, especially if he's playing this well.

It's the same mentality that's made Foster Griffin a rotation staple this year, even after all that missed time overseas. It explains why Jorbit Vivas, former Yankee also-ran, is providing some recent utility flair. It's also why the team has been so patient with Zack Littell, after a scary start to the season. His last few starts have been really good, and he's back to allowing only 1 or 2 runs per game, winning his last five starts easily. It's a shame Littell's April was so snakebitten, but the guy who surprised people with the Rays and Reds last year is definitely still in there. 

The Nats know they're probably not a competitor this year, and are just trying to be the best they can given those circumstances. Fortunately, this 'why not' mentality has put them in 3rd place, a game above .500 and with one of the most run-scoring teams in the league. This week they've been chasing the D-Backs, a very good team, and have the Giants to play next. Even if the likelihood of the Nats being sellers is still high, they're doing more with a depleted team than anyone would have thought, and it might even mean that James Wood leading a team to the playoffs might not even be that far away.

Coming Tonight- One of those guys that finds himself after turning 30. The Royals have been loving his stuff.

The Rare Double Catcher Formation

 

The Baltimore Orioles currently have two catchers on their ML roster. Both of them have a 1.5 WAR, and both of them are hitting .273. They're both among the best hitting catchers in the game. One of them is signed til the end of the decade. The other...is former Rookie of the Year runner-up Adley Rutschman. And to make things clear...Rutschman isn't exactly a concession. 

Right now it's clear that Rutschman is gonna get the bulk of the starts at catcher because Samuel Basallo isn't great defensively. But you also can't leave Basallo out of the lineup, because he's hot as hell right now, so you have to DH him and free up any flexibility you might otherwise have. So any chance of having both Coby Mayo and Jackson Holliday in the lineup if they're both fighting for third is probably very small, meaning once again Coby Mayo's gotta try something else if he wants to play everyday. These guys are very lucky that Ryan Mountcastle's already out for a while, because he was already out of a job at 1st and now he's out of a job at DH. 

Thankfully, so much of this lineup is working right now that the overflow isn't an issue. Really only Tyler O'Neill is truly stinking it up out of this bunch, but Colton Cowser's been getting the bulk of the starts anyway and he's heating up. Basallo's .494 SLG is the highest on the team, and he's got 9 homers and 26 RBIs, making this a very confident full season statement from the 21-year-old. It's also nice seeing Rutschman fully taking advantage of his role on the team, as he's landed 36 RBIs in 46 games. Henderson, Ward, Alonso and Leody Taveras surprisingly are all nailing their assignments and making this a fluid, bankable lineup. No wonder they've lapped Toronto, and no wonder they're headed for .500. 

I do still think the rotation's a little shakier than it should be. We all thought Trevor Rogers had found his stuff again but now he's spotty like he used to be, with an ERA over 6 and a 3-6 record. Chris Bassitt's a little cooked as well, despite 4 wins and his usual innings-eating. Baz, Bradish and Brandon Young are a perfectly fine core but nobody's really excelling. Like, Bradish looks better than he has in a few years but his WHIP is up to 1.423. Hopefully somebody has a strong June, cause then I'll be a little surer about their long term chances. The bullpen's great though, Rico Garcia's having himself a year. 

The O's are 8-4 so far against all these division rivals. They swept the Rays, won out over the Sox and are going toe-to-toe with Toronto. Maybe this could be their year after all?

Coming Tomorrow- His name had been coming up a bit recently because the Rays traded Cristopher Sanchez to get him...and then they traded him to Washington before they could even benefit from him as a surprise corner bench weapon.

Hoo Lee Cow

 

Eighteen runs....against the CUBS???

Like, the Cubs aren't even that bad of a team, they've had ebbs and flows like everybody else. PCA will have a terrible snafu in centerfield and then he'll rock a triple or something. Jameson Taillon will bat the lineup around in an inning then have three straight 1-2-3 innings. They're inconsistent, but more on the side of good than bad. And they gave up 18 runs...to the Giants. Who also aren't bad, but really only emerge as a hitting giant occasionally.

So to recap how it all went down; Willy Adames hit 2 homers. Casey Schmitt hit 2 homers. Matt Chapman hit 2 homers. Jung Hoo Lee kept his hitting streak alive with an RBI double. Jonah Cox, who just came up last week, hit his first career home run as a pinch-hitter. The only starter without a hit was catcher Daniel Susac, who's generally been one of their best hitters outside of this game. Even Rafael Devers had 2 hits and an RBI, meaning even HE's getting hot, slowly. The whole lineup came together to rain down on the Cubs IN WRIGLEY. And now they've got two more games there...to see if they can do anything remotely similar.

My skepticism comes from the fact that, despite the team's .260 average, there's so many lapses in this team's formula that has kept them from really emerging. Rafael Devers is the biggest one. Even if he's currently leading the league in doubles with 20, he's still struck out 80 times and only has 7 home runs. The maddening tendencies, like the strikeouts and the poor defense and the attitude, are piling up, and it's become a similar struggle to his Boston days. I also look at Drew Gilbert and Bryce Eldridge, and they still haven't completely broken out a year later. You're seeing signs; Eldridge is hitting .286, but like Devers he has limited uses in the field. Gilbert's hitting .236 without much offensive production to speak of.

Which is why it's very nice that the core of the lineup has woken up in recent weeks, and Willy Adames, Jung Hoo Lee, Matt Chapman, Luis Arraez and Casey Schmitt have solidified some really nice seasons. Lee is hitting .322 with some insane contact perks this month. Schmitt has 13 homers and 35 RBIs and is still surging. Arraez, while not quite at batting title levels yet, is still hitting .325 with 76 hits. There's a lot about this lineup that's finally beginning to click, and just in time for Logan Webb's return as well.

I'm not sure if there's enough here for this team to really get going to extent they did yesterday, but there's more life in there than there was a month ago, and while they're far from reaching the Padres at the moment they're certainly hitting better than the Padres are.

Coming Tonight: They brought him up as a potential longterm catcher, then forgot they already had one. So now they have TWO young catchers hitting like crazy, which isn't the worst thing in the world.