Off the Walbert

 

The Anaheim Angels. Do people still go to games? Actually yeah, they still draw. Is Mike Trout sticking around? Probably, out of necessity at this point. Is there anything else really going on with this team this year? Not really.

The Angels are currently tied for the worst record in baseball with the Royals, with the Rockies a half game ahead. I'm kinda relieved this season isn't gonna have a mega-loser getting the bottom spot. Maybe some teams will lose 100 games, and it wouldn't shock me if the Angels lose 41 more games, but it's not like a 'worst ever' thing is happening this season. Then again, 'best ever' isn't exactly a competition either, as a lot of teams are more middle-of-the-road than anything. So what does that make the Angels? Just a regular bad team, I guess. Not painfully bad, not franchise-endingly bad. Just bad. And that's alright.

The Angels are led by three halfway decent rotation pieces, one of which is probably getting traded, one of which could potentially be traded, and the other is far too young and controllable to be traded but nothing's counted out. Reid Detmers is probably on the way out, he's pitching too well for his 3-6 record. Soriano maybe as well, he had a Cy Young case going but has evened out. But look at Walbert Ureña underneath them. 22 years old, brand new to the league, given a starting spot a month in, now he's got a 2.88 ERA, 78 Ks and a 1.6 WAR. His WHIP's a little high at 1.316, mostly from all the walks he gives up, but he's a pretty smooth, trustworthy young kid that could be a foundational piece for this Angels team. Then again I thought David Fletcher was gonna be a foundational piece for these teams and look how well that turned out.

The current incarnation of this lineup is actually a working model, and everybody who's stayed in this roster has a reason to be there. Denzer Guzman's getting starts at third, he's not terrific yet but the production's beginning to pop a bit. Wade Meckler's a decent depth outfield piece, and he's a .307 hitter with some random, Tristan Peters-esque everyman quality. Schanuel and Neto are the pillars, they're doing pretty well. Soler's past his prime but still hits the odd home run. Adell's good for cheap thrills. And Mike Trout still has a .863 OPS, 18 homers and 39 RBIs. It's not quite 2012 numbers but he's still more active than he's been in a while, and that's worth a lot to this team.

There really won't be much for this team to accomplish for the rest of the season sadly, other than some stuff for Trout's highlight reel and perhaps some previews for, hopefully, a fuller youth-decked version of this team next year. Grayson Rodriguez is gonna get more starts, but will they be closer to his Baltimore prime? Caden Dana will get another shot, but will this time be any different? Christian Moore will be back, but will he hit well against teams that aren't the 2025 Yankees? It'll all get figured out, and even if it doesn't, Angels fans will still flock to games.

Coming Tonight: He made it out of Arizona, and now in Denver he's somehow even more integral.

Press Restart?

 

As we speak, the Mets are currently handily conquering the Philadelphia Phillies on their home turf, which, to be fair, wasn't especially difficult for the AL to do the other night. And now, I assume, people are going to try to position this as a Mets second half comeback. They shouldn't.

The Mets are a team built on broken promises. The most important promises were to Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, and it was the promise of continued success. Both players were making the playoffs a lot more frequently before they ended up in New York. Lindor got to a World Series with Cleveland, Soto got to a World Series with the Nats and Yanks. Can they get to one with the Mets? Not this Mets team. You can see broken promises all the way down, like the promise of Luis Robert to be a superstar, or the promise of Bo Bichette to flip the family legacy and improve defensively, or the promise of Mark Vientos to deliver on what the 2024 postseason was teasing. So far this season the big additions have either gotten hurt or struggled mightily, the big stars are fighting with each other, and the rookies are doing the brunt of the work. 

Christian Scott, Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing, Zach Thornton and Jonah Tong should not matter this much to a team with this many all-stars on it. Yet none of them are delivering, so fine, the rookies will do. Thankfully Benge and Ewing were both ready, and are some of the few bright spots on this Mets team. Ewing is 21, and looking more confident than most 21-year-olds in his position, hitting .276 with 7 homers and 24 RBIs, plus a .789 OPS, in 57 games. He's currently leading the charge against Philly. This guy, as well as Benge, who's got 11 homers and 37 RBIs, could be dictating the next decade of Mets baseball, along with Nolan McLean if he figures things out a little more [then again Kershaw's sophomore year was kinda rough too].

But...at this point you have to wonder how much more of this Juan Soto is willing to take. The Mets' rise with him hasn't been immediate, which is already kind of a shock, but when the Yankees are still good without him, the buyer's remorse has to be a little real. Soto's still elite, he's got a .967 OPS, 21 homers and 51 RBIs, but would those RBIs be closer to 70 with a better team? He left the Nats and Padres because he wanted a unit, and he left the Yankees because....the Mets felt like more of a unit than the Yankees? I'm gonna go to my grave not understanding this, especially if current trends persist. We'd still get Bellinger, it'd be fine, but...it's a vexing move, even now.

The Mets will likely be a little better than they were, and become the second-half spoiler they usually are. But this is still not a competitive team, even with all these new guys giving their all. Maybe it will be next year, who knows. But this strategy needs to be rethought, seriously. A.J. Ewing was not meant to be the takeaway. Nice that he is, but he's salvaging a flawed situation.

Coming Tomorrow- That rookie Angels pitcher I was teasing this morning.

Can't Get There From Here

 

The Royals and the Reds are two teams that people thought would be doing a lot better by now than they actually are. They're in danger of selling. It is possible they can still deliver...but how?

The Reds made the playoffs last year, and got to play the Dodgers. That was their first problem. Their second was the continued revolving door of young, hard-throwing pitchers, which is once again causing them trouble this season. They just got Hunter Greene back, and he's slowly getting back to his old self, but they just lost Nick Lodolo, they're without Brandon Williamson again, and Rhett Lowder, while healthy, just doesn't have it right now. They have Andrew Abbott, Chase Burns and Greene all working...but the way this team works, the second something starts working or an element is added, something else will fall off. Eventually Lodolo will come back, it's a blister issue, but can they hold onto that before something else goes wrong?

The lineup is a different issue entirely. They have everybody in one place but most of them aren't doing anything. Eugenio Suarez was brought here to hit homers like he did last year, and he's hit only 11 thanks to injuries and general inefficiency. Stephenson, McLain, Friedl and Marte are all bowling gutter balls. McLain still struggling to meet .200 after everything he was supposed to do feels insulting. It's really down to Sal Stewart, Elly de la Cruz and J.J. Bleday to do all the work, with occasional assistance by Spencer Steer, who at least has 14 homers and 35 RBIs, and Nathaniel Lowe, who's also still an RBI machine. But it's a limp lineup with next to nothing to say, and when even the Pirates and Cardinals have more to offer, you're sort of stuck.

The thing about the Reds is I don't think they can sell too much because they're still in the rebuilding phase, but who knows if someone who's been there all decade, like Stephenson or Antone, will get dealt.

The Royals are a bit more open about what they're gonna be doing. The contracts are gonna go. Wacha's probably leaving, Lugo's probably leaving, maybe a few others. It's not the kind of thing where the big stars like Witt, Caglianone or Garcia are in danger, but there's a way for this team to still compete in the future without sinking under their own ambition.

And you can still see the Royals clinging to 2024 with this roster. Michael Massey's still out there trying to play everyday, and while he's better at it than he was he hasn't really gotten anywhere. Vinnie Pasquantino still isn't the guy he was supposed to be, and this year he's been very quiet, with 6 homers and 32 RBIs. Bubic and Ragans are working solutions but they haven't been sustainable this year, much like Carlos Estevez, Kyle Isbel and Jonathan India. You're seeing things evolve slightly, like Isaac Collins's decent work as an OF bat, Tyler Tolbert and his consecutive hits, and especially Carter Jensen getting reps behind the plate. Right now he's got 13 homers and 49 RBIs, which is a bit more on-target than the other Royals catcher at the moment, sad to say. Jensen's 22, he's a great hitting catcher, and he's got a future there. That's a start. Same with Caglianone and Witt, it's good that they're succeeding here. But there's just so much that hasn't held up, and the team can't really compete.

Even in a division where most teams are under .500, and a lot of the pack is just as disappointing, the Royals can't match up. They don't really have that x-factor right now, even WITH Caglianone and Witt. Even if they probably have more going for them than the Reds, they're further from competing at the moment. Hopefully both teams get to where they were supposed to eventually, but as it stands now...already looking like a long second half.

Coming Tonight: A rookie pitcher for the Angels who's taken advantage of the ample playing time. 

A Tough Half to Follow

 

Luis Garcia, I was assuming, was meant to be anticlimax.

The Nationals have a habit of putting their hopes on anticlimax players, and they've been doing it a lot since 2018. Even when Juan Soto was heating up the league, the Nats were going 'naw, Victor Robles is gonna be the guy'. That persisted for far too long. Then it happened with Carter Kieboom for far too long. You can argue it's happened with Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz, two prized prospects that have taken forever to actually blossom. Ruiz is doing better this year, but is Gray cooked? He might be. And the Nats just refuse to give up on these guys, even far beyond the expected timeline for a great player to take off. You still see Mitchell Parker kicking around in there, they haven't learned.

So Luis Garcia Jr., who's been in the leagues since 2020 and has delivered subpar defense and no offense since then, has now decided he's one of the best power hitters in Washington. Now. Six years in, at 26, right when everyone was about to give up on him. Is this....a payoff??? 

Here is what Luis Garcia Jr. has accomplished so far this year. A .284 average, 20 home runs, 68 RBIs, an .871 OPS. Now, Garcia's year-high for homers before this year was 18, for a full season. And to be clear...Luis Garcia has PLAYED...SEVERAL FULL SEASONS. The problem isn't that he's not there, the problem is that he's there and he's not doing anything. But now he can really hit. Those long-balls were all coming in succession the last month or so, and now he's genuinely a fearsome power hitter. Luis Garcia. And it's not even because this lineup can't hit for power, it absolutely can. I don't know if you all noticed, but the cleanup hitter in the All Star Game was a National. HE WAS THE SHORTSTOP. C.J. Abrams has 20 homers this year. Curtis Mead has 17 homers this year. And James Wood obviously can hit for power, he has 28 homers. So it's not like Garcia became a power hitter because nobody else would, he's become a home run guy IN ADDITION. That makes this team so much scarier, even if, logically, nothing else is gonna happen this year. 

It's just a matter if this is gonna become a regular occurrence for Garcia, because that would be nice. This Nats team is slowly coming together, with Mead and Nasim Nunez earning everyday roles, Daylen Lile showing definite staying power, Dylan Crews preparing to re-ascend to where many thought he'd end up [maybe HE'S the anticlimax], and Foster Griffin looking like a working anchor for the rotation. I think more pitching developments need to come together before I can take this team seriously, but as a sneaky spoiler with insane power ability, the Nats have been very surprising and very comforting. 

And if Luis Garcia's finally found his niche on this team, that makes it all worthwhile.

Coming Tomorrow [?]: Finally, the guy who might be the catcher for the next generation of Royals teams. Not a bad hitter either. 

Your 2026 MLB All Star Starting Lineups

 It's been kinda wild having the circus in town this week for ASG festivities. I haven't really had time to go to anything in Philly, I just started a new job and that's been taking up most of my time. But I've had colleagues going to ASG village, meeting some former players, going to the Home Run Derby and the Futures Game. And it's honestly really cool. Whenever Philly gets to host anything, it's always a lot of fun, and the city's usually its best self. I think we could have done without the booing yesterday at all HRD participants that weren't Phillies, but that is this city.

So tonight we've got an All-Star Game to play, and luckily it's one where the Phils are relatively well-represented. We've got three starters tonight, and three more that could appear as reserves. Keep in mind, the last time we hosted the ASG, all we really had to show for it was Ricky Bottalico. Which...I mean, cool player, had some nice seasons, I have his autograph, but the Phils were about to have Scott Rolen, Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Abreu and later Howard, Utley and Hamels, and this is the moment in history that belongs to the Phils? I like this moment a little better honestly. 

So now, as usual, I will ready the starting lineups, complete with newly-made all-star customs for the proceedings. As it's Philly, I will try and predict the crowd's favorability to any and all elements. You'll have to imagine, as I will, legendary Philly PA announcer Dan Baker announcing these names. There are some names I wish the rest of the world would get to hear him say, such as  'J.....T......REALMUTO'. But a 'JHOAN.....DURAN' may have to suffice.

So here we go, YOUR ALL-STAR STARTING LINEUPS.

First, representing the AMERICAN LE-

[five minutes of boos]

....AGUE. 

Leading off for the AL, starting in center field, from the Los Angeles Angels....MIKE TROUT

[and to be clear, him they applaud. He's from Millville, he's a local boy. Every year there's a rumor he's coming to Philly. We love him.

Batting second, the designated hitter, from the HOU-

[Five more minutes of boos]

From the Houston Astros...YORDAN ALVAREZ.

Batting third, and starting behind the plate, from the Oakland Athletics...[Dan Baker squints slightly] SHEA LANGELIERS.

Batting cleanup, the third baseman, from the Tampa Bay Rays

[scattered boos]

JUNIOR....CAMINERO.

Fifth in the lineup tonight, and starting the game at shortstop, from the Kansas City Royals...BOBBY WITT JR.

Batting sixth, and in right field tonight, from the New York Yankees....CODY BELLINGER.

[Cody emerges from the CBP dugout in a cloud of smoke, causing a still-in-New-York Jazz Chisholm to wonder how the hell Bellinger gets away with this]

Seventh tonight, the AL first baseman, from the New York Yankees....BEN RICE

[scattered boos from all the amish people who heard Nick Kurtz would be starting but hadn't seen the later updates that he dropped out]

Batting eighth, the left fielder, from the Detroit Tigers...RILEY GREENE

And batting ninth for the American League, starting at second base, from the Toronto Blue Jays...ERNIE CLEMENT.

[all of the hardcore Toronto fans who gamed the fan-vote so that all their favorites got in the final 2 but only the top overall vote getter actually made the team and he's batting ninth of nine stand and applaud]

[one Philly fan throws an empty Surfside can at them]

AND TONIGHT'S STARTING PITCHER

[the Toronto fans find that Philly fan and laugh at him]

FROM THE TORONTO BLUE JAYS.......DYLAN CEASE.

[more effusive applause from the Toronto fan base, despite the fact that had Cam Schlittler not decided to sit the whole thing out their boy would be coming in for the third and getting hammered by Kyle Schwarber]

And now....the starters for the NATIONAL LEAGUE....ALL-STAR TEAM.

[an attendant has to come behind Dan Baker to ensure he doesn't fall over in abject enthusiasm]

LEADING OFF.....THE DESIGNATED HITTER...FROM YOUR........PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

[applause for 10 minutes]

KYLE.......SCHWARBER.

[applause for another two hours]

Batting second...and playing left field...from the N-

[LOUD BOOS]

....EW YORK METS.

[LOUDER BOOS]

......JUAN.....SOTO.

In the third position tonight, and starting the game at first base...from the Los Angeles Dodgers...FREDDIE FREEMAN.

And in the cleanup spot for the NL, starting at shortstop...from the Washington Nationals...C....J....ABRAMS.

[Baker goes to his attendant 'no, you're right, it doesn't have the same ring to it']

Fifth in the order for the NL, and playing third base, from the Los Angeles Dodgers...MAX MUNCY.

[Muncy takes off his glasses to address the crowd and trips over a photographer]

Batting sixth, and starting the game at second base, from the Atlanta Braves....OZZIE ALBIES.

Batting seventh, and starting the game in right field, from YOUR.....PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES...

[more applause]

BRANDON....MARSH.

[The camera cuts to a row of five fifty-year-old moms wearing large Marsh beards, and cuts away at the exact correct moment]

Eighth in the lineup, and playing centerfield tonight, from the Los Angeles Dodgers....ANDY PAGES.

And batting ninth for the National League, and starting the game behind the plate...from the Atlanta Braves....DRAKE...

[the Toronto fans begin to stand again]

...BALDWIN.

And warming up in the bullpen, tonight's starting pitcher, from YOUR.....PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES.

[more very loud cheers]

CRISTOPHER........SANCHEZ.

[Dan Baker is finally able to fall back, where three batboys break his fall]

Well, if the game's anywhere near as lively as that might entail, we're in for a fun one. 

Figure it Out While You Still Can

 

Last year, it genuinely was as simple as 'the Orioles lacked drive to sign good free agents and the whole rotation got hurt', and that's why they were disappointing. So this year, they brought on Shane Baz, Pete Alonso, Blaze Alexander and Taylor Ward, some genuinely great additions, and have gotten strong full-to-majority season campaigns from four starters. And yet they're still in last. I don't even know, man. You set the deck for this team and they still manage to leave the table before anybody else.

I think the most disheartening part about this Orioles team is just how okay they are. You have five or six guys who you KNOW can deliver excellent work, and they're all kinda doing their thing without really providing a new benchmark. You have Pete Alonso, and he's been himself, he's got 21 home runs and 64 RBIs, leads the team in .OPS. It's very par for the course at this point. Obviously he's doing great, the fans love him, but you know he's done better. Adley Rutschman made an All-Star team, and confusingly was the only Oriole to do so, but we've seen better from him, cause 2024 happened. Gunnar Henderson has 17 homers and 42 RBIs but is only hitting .219. Even last season he was a saving grace, and he's just not wowing people this year. Even Taylor Ward has cooled down to a .256 average with only 6 homers and 25 RBIs. Things have just gotten really quiet, and for a team with this much power, it's maddening. Last night Samuel Basallo had a very well timed home run, and he's still having a strong enough rookie year, but that doesn't happen often enough. You're also wasting roster spots on three prized prospects [Holliday, Mayo and Beavers] who just aren't doing a thing in the majors right now. Mayo at the very least can hit home runs but he's losing playing time to Blaze Alexander. 

And it sucks that the lineup lacks a real identity, because this team could go deep just with Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Brandon Young and Shane Baz. Baz has struggled this year but he's had some real gems, and K'd 9 against Kansas City today. Rogers is also looking a ton better after his requisite flameout moment, and he's only given up 2 runs in his last 4 starts. Young, after a rough 2025 despite flashes of greatness, seems to finally have his priorities in order, and is a great looking starter at last, with a 7-2 record and a 3.42 ERA. And Bradish, while not 2023 good [jeez that really was THAT long ago..], has a 3.61 ERA and 106 Ks. Very much a 'don't wanna overexert myself' season but I'm glad he's healthy and heading up the rotation again. Meanwhile has anybody heard anything from John Means? Is he still alive?

The O's have so many pieces that make me think they could have legs, like Alexander, Rico Garcia, the long relief skills of Tyler Wells, Colton Cowser. This team just needs to click fully, and this weekend against the Royals they cemented something, as they've won 4 straight and are 7-3 in July. They could be gearing up to shock some people. Or, y'know...they'll do their usual thing and not really follow up on the vibes.

They Threw a Party, Nobody Came

 

So, to recap, the week leading up to the All-Star Game has included the best player in the league getting a minor injury and choosing to sit out the game, another guy who rightfully was nominated to start at 1st base getting hurt and needing to miss the game, the guy who'd be the only representative from the Pittsburgh Pirates leaving with a high pitch count and needing to miss the game, and a guy who should have been nominated from the start turning down a nomination after he already knew he wouldn't get to play in it anyway. Also, for some reason, every time someone from the AL withdraws from the game, 2 more Red Sox sprout in their place. 

As mad as I am about Wheeler missing the game, Logan Webb, who also missed time and still makes the game, is a solid enough choice, solely because I don't think anyone else has summed up the possibilities of 2020s pitching consistency like Webb has. There are so many contemporaries that could be consistent standouts like Webb if they were built well enough to withstand the wear and tear. Justin Steele, Corbin Burnes, Tyler Glasnow, Shane Bieber. Yet Webb is there every year, and has only had the occasional injury issue or the occasional down month. Though this will likely be the first year since 2011 where Webb doesn't make all his starts, he's still got a 3.86 ERA, a 1.156 WHIP and 80 Ks in 100 innings, a good line to put with a career of them. Webb passed the 1000 strikeout mark to begin the season, has a 3.42 career ERA, and will be making his third consecutive all-star game. I think we should just keep rewarding him for as long as he lasts, because somebody being that good and that sturdy for that long is rare nowadays. 20 years ago it'd be a Mark Buehrle type where he sort of ends up underrated, and I think that's still the case now with Webb, but Webb's more valuable now arguably. Everyone else on the Giants, either you hope he stays healthy [Ray, Mahle] or you hope he stays good [Roupp, McDonald]. 

The Giants being represented solely by Logan Webb and Luis Arraez might be a little mean. I would have put Matt Chapman in there, he's still one of the best third basemen in the bigs. Casey Schmitt could have also gotten a look, he's having a terrific year with 18 homers and a .281 average. But yeah, I see why Devers isn't there, he's still got some serious flaws as an all-round hitter, and I see why Jung Hoo Lee isn't there, he's good for singles but not as much for doubles, and I get that the Bryce Eldridge month has worn off. There's a lot of pop to this Giants team when things are going well, and Adames and Ramos, when hot, are very valuable. But it's tough getting everybody on the same page. It's also been a chore watching Drew Gilbert develop, he's simply not there yet, even three organizations in. 

It is possible the Giants will be selling in a couple weeks. I'm not sure what's really there to part with, maybe Ray or Arraez? Maybe Ryan Walker? They've got places to go but because so many guys are there for a while I'm not sure if it'll be anybody too big. Still, if they can get everybody in tune with each other, they could be closer than people think.

Coming Tomorrow- I'm not sure if it's time yet to talk about whether this guy's fully lived up to his rookie season but the longballs sure help me forget that.