With Meatballs

 

So, what are the Astros without Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Hunter Brown, Yainer Diaz, Lance McCullers, Josh Hader or Cristian Javier? Well...beatable, for one.

It should not have taken an injury-depleted year to illuminate the desperation of this Astros team. This organization has been so good for so long at replenishing the well and keeping the firm train of young players going, but take out enough of the core and you see the team for what it is. A bunch of people who've never known a year without success, trying so hard to do the same things they've done the last seven or eight times and getting frustrated that nothing's working. Yordan Alvarez is hitting .300 with 15 homers and 31 RBIs and I think he's growing concerned that this isn't enough anymore. When you don't have Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, Yuli Gurriel or even Altuve behind you, so much more is on you, and by that point the long ball isn't always enough.

Let's examine the rest of this lineup and see if we can spot the flaws. The outfield is young, which is impressive considering the rest of the lineup, but they're all honestly too young. Cam Smith, Brice Matthews and Zach Cole are all under 25, and have been tasked to keep the outfield afloat. Any help, such as Taylor Trammell, Joey Loperfido, or even the recently-activated Jake Meyers, seems ineffective. Meanwhile, Christian Vasquez is starting behind the plate everyday, and while he's doing alright for himself, he's coming off as little more than a replacement option. Same with Braden Shewmake, the former Braves prospect who made the team out of necessity, and is starting virtually everyday at 2nd. He's better than Brendan Rodgers, and is hitting .291 with 3 home runs and 7 RBIs in 19 games, but...is still very much a replacement option. The fact that it already feels like it's just Alvarez, Christian Walker and a bunch of scrubs isn't a great sign, especially since that's what it felt like at many points last year. Trammell was getting prime lineup space. It wasn't pretty.

The rotation's not terrific either. They're burning through starting options quickly, and are down to depth options. Peter Lambert, former Rockies prospect that I hadn't thought about in four years, has made 6 starts, and has 35 strikeouts- he's been a decent place filler. Tatsuya Imai, thought to be the kill switch in the offseason, has been awful, with an 8.31 ERA in 5 starts. It's gotten so dire that they're now stretching out former Giant Kai-Wei Teng as a starting option, and while it's sort of working so far, the fact that he may not have even been in the top 10 choices to start is pretty concerning. This is Reds levels of desperation.

Despite all of that, they have Mike Burrows and his 5.72 ERA, which...how is HE the one guy that stays healthy, and the return of Spencer Arrighetti. The man loves to strike people out, and he's been doing a lot of that so far, with 35 in 6 starts, plus a 5-1 record and a 1.50 ERA. His last start was looking like a no-hitter for a bit, until the Rangers got a hit literally the second I tuned in. In an era where the Astros can regularly be counted on for multiple young, lethal starting options, right now it's just Arrighetti. No rookies, at the moment, coming in to save the day...just replacement options. This is where we're at.

I assume that at some point people are gonna start coming back and the team will attempt to be good again, but you can only really put a bow on a team like this, you can't make it something else. The Phillies' issues at least could be fixed with a regime change. These are way more foundational, and way harder to come back from. But this is, at the end of the day, the Astros, and they do hate me, so we'll see how far they get this October.

[I'm joking, please don't actually be a playoff team this year.]

Coming Tomorrow- The Giants don't have a ton going on right now, but at least they have this guy.

Too Top-Heavy for the Bottom

 

The Pirates, more than any other team that I can currently gather, have a great deal of guys built like a transmission tower. Wide necked, large torso'd, top heavy shtarkers. Like...something I've seen in athletes that genuinely perplexes me is the kind of shoulder and chest muscle conditioning that makes you look like your neck is more of an afterthought than anything, it's more torso than neck. Takeo Spikes used to look like that, just the massive neckmonster roaming the countryside. And that's most of the Pirates right now. Konnor Griffin, Nick Gonzales, Ryan O'Hearn, Spencer Horwitz and Henry Davis just walk around looking like they're holding in their breath, they lean back and hits come flying out, and then they stand there in the locker room going '...yeahweplayedourbestoutthere...uhm...Paulcertainlygavehisall, but y'know...intheend...', etc.

I'm not implying there's cloning going on in Pittsburgh. It's rich to assume they've perfecting cloning technology when we've established that they can't even get the humidor to work. They're just getting their conditioning reps in and that seems to be helping. The Pirates are closer to good than they've been in a while. In fact, since they're over .500...they might just be...good. 

Nick Gonzales having a decent year proves this is all heading in the right direction, because he always felt like a placeholder infield guy to me, didn't really accomplish a lot. He CAN hit though, and now it seems like it's for a reason. He's hitting .318 right now with 48 hits [one less than team leader Oneil Cruz, wait WHAT??] and 19 RBIs. Yet to launch any long balls, but this team has Cruz, Ozuna and BRANDON LOWE for that. Gonzales is just a great contact guy to have around, and to see him looking well-rounded at last is a great sign. Also great to see Bryan Reynolds hitting well again, he's got 26 RBIs and 4 homers. Cruz has 10 homers and 32 RBIs despite the usual obvious flaws. And Griffin, while not a full world-beater yet, stole 10 straight bases successfully to start his career and has 20 RBIs. Those top-heavy brutes seem to be turning this team around, and with help from famed little guy Brandon Lowe and his outrageous power hitting. 

What's wild is we're beginning to see the limits of the starting pitching, which I figured would be doing most of the work by now. On Sunday the Phillies scored 5 runs off of Paul Skenes, which I did not think was possible. His ERA is now a measly 2.62, which means the Phillies and the Mets were responsible for keeping that thing above 2 pretty much. Mitch Keller is having a bit too many starts where he gives up 3 runs, and while the rest of the start is by and large fine he's just not as dominant as he was. Bubba Chandler's not the guy yet, Carmen Mlodzinski's more 'good' than great. At least Braxton Ashcraft's keeping the pace strong with a lot of innings of great work. Eventually Jared Jones is gonna get back here and level things a tad, but until then this unit just needs to rebound from a poor week and settle back in, which is still possible.

I just want the Pirates to stay above .500 and keep surprising people. The Cardinals and Cubs may have the momentum in this division, but the Pirates still have a lot going for them, and only hope to grow into themselves as we proceed.

Coming Tonight: The majority of his rotation is injured, but luckily he's fully healthy again, and surging. 

Enjoy Him While He's Here

 

The title of this does not imply that Byron Buxton would ever leave the Twins. He's said many times he wants to be a Twin for life, they want to keep him around, I can't see him playing anywhere else. The title refers to the fact that despite being one of the best pure hitters in Twins history, and a central figure of so many exciting Twins teams, Byron Buxton has never played a full 162 game season. The closest he's gotten is 140 in 2017, and 126 last year. Otherwise he rarely makes it past 100 games. He couldn't even play all 60 games of the 2020 season. There is always an injury or some scratch or something that prevents Buxton from impacting this team other than in 90 or so games.

The closest thing the Minnesota Twins to a guy who played their entire career in Minnesota and became a legend is Tony Oliva, Joe Mauer, or eventually someone like Kent Hrbek or Brad Radke. Puckett had a great career but it only lasted 12 years. Carew was terrific but left after a decade. Killebrew was a Washingtonian first. Santana left, Morneau left, Kaat and Blyleven left, etc etc. The Twins don't have an Ernie Banks or a Barry Larkin or a Cal Ripken, two decades of strong work. And what they have is good, but there's always a but. You get a top-tier hitter who excels at the game for 9 years, buuuut he gets hurt and retires in his early 30s. Or you get one of the best contact hitters of his era, but he decides he just doesn't want to play in Minneapolis after a while.

Byron Buxton has given grade-a, terrific performances...*when* he is healthy. He's only played 938 games in 12 years. He's hit 183 home runs, 459 RBIs, 812 hits. Half of his career is missing. I'm sure he'd have double those totals by now if he'd stayed healthy, and he may have even helped his team towards better postseason results, and more than that single measly postseason series win. But as is...the Twins just have an all-American hero who lifts the team whenever he is there, and is routinely extremely good. Buxton has a 31.4 WAR in that time, despite missing time, meaning when he is healthy, he's responsible for 4 or 5 wins on his own. This is the effect he has on the Twins, who've struggled the past few years.

Last season was our fullest picture in a while of Buck's full potential, and he hit 35 homers and 83 RBIs. At 32 years old, he's still got some peak energy left, and is trying to do everything he can to perform at this level before his body refuses to left him. So far this season, Buxton's post-30 upswing has continued, with 15 home runs, 23 RBIs and an .899 OPS. That is everything you want right there. Hitting great, still powerful, decent enough in the outfield, and still loved by everyone. The Twins are beginning to run out of pillars, as they've still got Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober but a lot of people have left. They just sent down Royce Lewis, which should tell you everything you need to know about what he's turned into. Keaschall and Lee have backslid, Zebby Matthews and Connor Prielipp are promising but not cemented yet. Buxton's really all they have that they know works right now, and even for a weaker Twins team, that's enough.

The Twins know they're not built like the Dodgers, so they're just trying to outdo everyone's expectations. And right now they're ahead of the Tigers in the standings, so mission accomplished there. Let's see what else they can do, and what else Buxton can help them out with.

Coming Tomorrow- I did not think he'd ever end up with a starting position on a competitive version of this team, but the guy sure can hit. 

Money for Dingers in 2026

 

So, to recap. Two of the most effective home run hitters in baseball signed new contracts this offseason. One has been called a necessary and needed move, the other has been questioned and criticized. Both are essentially doing what they were paid to do, but because one has done it a lot more frequently, and immediately, that one's seen as superior to the other one, who's younger and arguably more consistent.

Pete Alonso is 31 years old, and to date he's hit 272 home runs in 8 years. With the exception of 2020, only one of those years finished without Alonso reaching 35 home runs. The man is a hitting machine who makes the all-star team virtually every year, routinely knocks over 100 RBIs, and last year led the league in doubles with 41. Yet when the Orioles signed him to a 5-year deal a few months ago, the immediate response was trepidation. A lot of that had to do with the last time the O's gave a contract to a power-hitting 1st baseman, Chris Davis, where the power suddenly shut off without warning midway through. Yet I don't know if a lot of it was fair to Alonso, who through his first 7 seasons proved himself superior to Davis, and arguably more multifaceted. Davis was a good hitter with a few strong years; Alonso's a reliable lineup presence who can come through when you need him. 

So far for Baltimore, Alonso has 8 home runs and 26 RBIs. It looks inferior when you compare him to a guy who has, say, 20 homers by now, but knowing that Alonso regularly hits his stride midyear, and has hit 106 homers past the trade deadline in his career, it's not especially scary. The other thing you need to remember is that the Orioles' lineup right now is built in a way where Alonso doesn't always need to hit the home runs. Sometimes it's Gunnar Henderson or Adley Rutschman, sometimes it's hot-hitting rookie Samuel Basallo, and eventually it'll be Taylor Ward, who's surprisingly only hit 1 home run despite a solid contact spring. Alonso is the key power hitter, but it's not as on him as it may have been in New York. 

Not helping Alonso's value has been the generally mild start the Orioles have had, with a lot of missed opportunities, a disappointing start from newly-extended Shane Baz, the complete implosion of Trevor Rogers and a really messy May. There are elements of this team that work, like Basallo as an extra power bat and Rico Garcia's breakout year in the 'pen, but as a unit they're not on the same page yet, and it's led to disappointing baseball.

Now, as for Kyle Schwarber. He's 33 years old, has hit 360 home runs in 6 years, and signed a 5-year contract to DH in Philly til 2030. Again, Schwarber is the same kind of hitter as Alonso, he just strikes out a ton more and only recently remembered how to hit things other than home runs. But because Philly fans need that immediate source of dopamine, he's regarded a ton higher, and because he's hit 20 so far his contract seems like more of a win than Alonso's. Forgetting that...yeah, he's 33, and he strikes out 200 times a year. The power ceiling is always super high, and with that 20 HR mark he's already staring down his career high of 56 that he set just last year, but that's basically all the Phils are paying for. Well...that and having the ultimate clubhouse enthusiast, nicknamed DJ Schwarbs on account of his post-game music selection. He's the kind of guy you want on your team, and he's the kind of guy who makes you want to make a postseason run, as he's been proving since he woke up the Sox in 2022, or even his rookie year in 2016 in Chicago. 

The Phils are 14-4 since firing Rob Thomson and bringing Don Mattingly up, and Schwarber's power has been one key aspect of the surge. Bryce Harper's power has also helped, his one man spite mission against Dave Dombrowski has resulted in a .277 average, 12 homers and 30 RBIs. Brandon Marsh is hitting .327, Bohm and Stott are very quickly heating up, Sanchie and Wheels are lights-out [Sanchez just had a gem of a CGSO], Duran still works as a closing option, and those close games can be won [just look at the Pirates series, or last night's game against the Reds]. They're only a game over .500 and in 2nd, but they look better than they have all year, and as they head for a really tough week of matchups they have so much more life in them.

I think both power hitters will finish with seasons they can be proud of. I just hope the fans will take everything into account as they judge these contracts. Cause they really are the same kind of hitter, and they both deserve the same level of respect.

Coming Tonight: If he were to have stayed healthy in every season, he'd have around 400 homers and be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. But alas...

The Bounce-Back Kids

 

The thing about Ildemaro Vargas's 2026 season so far is that you would think it would be precedented. We've seen surprise breakout seasons from thirtysomething utility men before. Remember Donovan Solano's Giants run? He'd been a Marlins background guy for years, got to SF, suddenly became a multifaceted hitter who, if the 2020 season had been full, MAY have been an All-Star. Remember Marco Scutaro taking off in Toronto and becoming an all-star second baseman...with the Giants [okay I'm sensing a theme here]? Remember Mark Loretta becoming indispensable in his mid30s with Boston? Jose Valentin as a Dodger? It's happened before, in many different ways.

But...Ildemaro Vargas's work so far feels different. He was always a fun utility guy to have around before. Y'know, he'd give you 90 games, play all four infield positions, maybe crack a surprise contact hit, do something cool. Now, through 34 games, Vargas has already topped his season totals in RBIs, home runs and average, and is nearly there with hits and total bases. He's hitting .333 with 7 homers and 31 RBIs, has a .549 SLG, and is one of the most important hitters in a D-Backs lineup that also features Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo. Somehow THIS GUY is the centerpiece of this lineup. And honestly, I'm 100% here for it. Cause even as a utility guy with Washington and Chicago and Arizona and Minnesota, he was still a lot of fun. Never a starter, but always a handy guy to have around. And now...he hits homers and is a decision-maker. Not for a bottom tier D-Backs team either, this team's in third and near .500.

Inexplicable comebacks does seem to be the theme of this D-Backs team. Guys who were thought unnecessary or unneeded coming in to seriously help things out. James McCann's still getting reps as backup catcher at 36. Michael Soroka and Eduardo Rodriguez are both having serious bounce-back years following injury-plagued high ERA years. Paul Sewald, despite a 4.41 ERA, has 10 saves and seems to be keeping the job. Jonathan Loiasiga seems to have outrun the injury bug and has a 3.12 ERA in his new home. Bizarrely, rumors of Nolan Arenado's decline seem to have been incorrect, as he's hitting .273 with 6 homers and 23 RBIs, better than his Cardinals numbers around this time last year. 

And let's not forget about the fact that Corbin Carroll is delivering yet another peak season, continuing his stellar run with a .278 average, 7 homers, 24 RBIs and a league-leading 4 triples. This is the kind of damage you want Carroll doing, and he's very much normalized his brand of production. He's still looking for his first career 100+ RBI year, but even a fourth-consecutive 30+ steal year or another 30+ homer year [30/30 v2??] would suffice at this point.

The D-Backs are very much playing for the middle of the pack. They don't have the pitching to really chase the Padres or Dodgers right now, but they have the hitting to spoil them and keep in the conversation. Merrill Kelly just had a wonderful start, so if he and Gallen turn things around, and if Burnes returns at peak condition eventually, they could be a surprise wild card factor. How about that? Granted, we've said this before and it hasn't happened, but those teams didn't have the .300-hitting stylings of Ildemaro Vargas, now did they?

Coming Tomorrow- He's in his early 30s, he primarily hits home runs, and he just got a lot of money. This could be a recipe for disaster. It could also be incredible. 

The 'Starter' Division Leading Team

 

The A's are at .500...and in first place. It's already weird that the White Sox are over .500 and in second, but the A's commanding the AL West, despite the Mariners still honestly playing better baseball at times, is doubly weird. We knew it was gonna happen eventually, but...even A's fans can admit that this isn't the kind of A's team they expected to flock to first.

I mean, there's still more 'okay' than flat out 'elite' on this team, and that's still enough for first. Brent Rooker's hitting .204, and Butler and Soderstrom are still under .200. The idea was that the whole team would come together and keep down the competition, but what we have here is a streaky, inconsistent roster with the occasional lethal pops. Shea Langeliers is hitting .337, which is the highest average in the bigs. He also has 12 homers and 27 RBIs, which you could have guessed. Nick Kurtz has 29 RBIs, pivoting to all-around contact demolition rather than solely the long ball. Jeff McNeil's been very handy as an under-the-radar contact bat. And look at Carlos Cortes, former Mets farmhand now starting in the outfield and hitting .340 with 34 hits, 15 RBIs and 4 homers. Cortes is going crazy at the plate and providing that x-factor the team needs with three or four key pieces down for the count.

The part that's amusing me in all of this, still, is the success of the rotation despite the lack of a homegrown ace. The closest thing to a homegrown pitching talent they have right now is Jacob Lopez, and he's got a 6 ERA through 9 starts. It's all guys like J.T. Finn, dealt for Chris Bassitt, who's got a 3.12 ERA, and the contracted guys like Sevvy and Springs, who have high ERAs but stay in for a while. The big surprise has been Aaron Civale, after his years of journeying, finally settling and returning to his Cleveland numbers. He's 5-1 right now with a 2.70 ERA and 35 Ks, keeping runs down and not overexerting himself. It's not the ideal strategy but right now it's working, which can also be said for the low-key but effective bullpen. 

The A's have somehow found a working model. I was watching them for a bit yesterday, and apart from Kurtz' continuing on-base streak, there wasn't a ton to write home about, but it just seemed like an off day for them. This is a team that can come alive out of nowhere and outhit the majority of the league. They're hitting .252 as a team, pretty much the whole lineup has over 10 RBIs right now, they've got a hits leader and a doubles leader batting in the same frame...and they haven't even truly gotten going yet.

Coming Tomorrow- One of those cases where I'm relieved the rookie novelty subsided and we just get to enjoy how good of a player this guy's become. 

Red Above Water

 

Meanwhile, in the division where every team is good, the Reds, who are just a game over .500, are a fourth place team. 24 wins may be enough for 1st place in other divisions, but in a division where the Cubs, Brewers and Pirates are also there, and the Cardinals can go on a random streak denoted by unnecessary shiftlessness, it gets the Reds to fourth and that's it.

I think the Reds honestly should be lucky they're still above .500, considering that The Thing That Always Happens to the Reds has happened again. That's right, this frigging rotation can't keep from mishaps for five seconds. Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson are out, despite 2026 being long-awaited returns for them both, Hunter Greene isn't back til July, Andrew Abbott technically isn't hurt but is certainly throwing like the 2025 workload's caught up to him, and once again we're resorting to failsafe measures for that fifth spot. Right now Chris Paddack has it, they snagged him from Miami after that didn't work, and he was decent enough in his first start, only allowing 2 runs in 5 innings. But...this rotation was built to not have to resort to Chris Paddack. You build a team around Greene, Lodolo, Abbott, Williamson, Lowder and Burns, and then suddenly they all keep getting hurt. It didn't happen to this extent last year, but at least last year they still had Nick Martinez as a backup. Now he's a Plan A measure in Tampa. And as a reminder, the current failsafes if THIS rotation doesn't work are either Chase Petty, who was okay in a 2026 start, and Julian Aguiar, who...apparently is healthy again. We'll see I guess. 

Luckily Burns, Abbott and Singer have been enough of a backbone so far, and the bullpen's pretty excellent all-around, save for Tony Santillan's post-2025 hangover. But then behind that, most of the lineup isn't doing anything. Sal Stewart was great in April but quiet now. Friedl's not hitting, and neither is Will Benson, meaning a surprise J.J. Bleday comeback has been lifting the outfield. Stephenson's once again struggling, and without Trevvy he's all they've got. At the very least the initial Reds backbone is re-emerging, as Spencer Steer's hitting .263 with 7 homers and 17 RBIs, and Matt McLain's suddenly taking off with 5 homers and 19 RBIs.

And then there's Elly de la Cruz, still one of the most exciting players in the game. He's flirting with .300, got 10 homers and 30 RBIs, already stole 9 bases, has as many as 15 hits more than any other Red, and lives for every moment in the spotlight. Elly is like what would happen if Jazz Chisholm could back up his swagger with results. I knew the team would ultimately be built around this guy, and he's very much worth it, with an .884 OPS already. He looks like he's on track for another strong season, and hopefully this can lift the Reds.

As flawed as the Reds are right now, the injury overhead gives them the potential to bounce back eventually. The division's designed for these sorts of ebbs and flows, and the Reds have too much strength to really stay a lower-level competitor this year. I look forward to seeing what this team looks like in another few weeks, and how that compares to the rest of the division. 

Coming Tomorrow- A guy who's pitched everywhere since leaving Cleveland, and now finally seems to have regained his mojo. 

Dignity Returns to the South Side

 

Part of me doesn't understand, and part of me...sort of does? The White Sox have been cannon fodder for the past few years. So many pieces that don't work, so many under thought ideas, so many guys that just needed a place to play. And now, the White Sox are a game over .500, in second place in the AL Central, and have the fifth best record in the AL. AND they have a ton of pieces that fit perfectly, suddenly. I knew it was possible, but this soon??

Like, the lineup's just really come around, and within an instant. Sam Antonacci's hitting .274 and is playing left field pretty much everyday. Tristan Peters has settled in as a strong centerfield option. Drew Romo is filling in nicely as backup catcher and suddenly knows how to hit home runs. Miguel Vargas, who I feared was a placeholder guy, has 10 homers and 24 RBIs. Randal Grichuk is hitting like hell, which I think he could have done at any time in New York. And Munetaka Murakami...like...oh my god. Dude can't stop. He's got 17 home runs right now, which is exactly the kind of stuff everyone figured he'd be bringing to the States, but the White Sox were the only team that wanted him. Last night he, and the rest of the Sox, truly put on a show against their crosstown rivals, and made even the Cubs, an actual good team, look pedestrian. Colson Montgomery's heating up too, that's always a good thing.

EVEN ANDREW BENINTENDI HIT A HOMER. Do you have any idea how hard it is for this man to look good in these colors? The man fell off as soon as he hit town. Last two years it's like they were holding him hostage! 

The main reason this team has found success is a working rotation model. Y'see, the thing that happens when you form a rotation of a bunch of young, inexperienced guys is that they find experience and they get good. Davis Martin, despite the fact that he's 29 and has far too few MLB seasons under his belt to be 29, is giving an ace performance, going 6-1 with 59 Ks and a 1.61 ERA. Not a lot of AL pitchers have numbers that terrific right now, and he's making it look simple. Sea Burke, Erick Fedde and Noah Schultz are having strong performances behind him as well, and Anthony Kay's slowly getting the hang of things again. I do think Shane Smith's struggles have been the result of a full 2025 season coming back to haunt him, but he'll find his way back into the mix eventually. And look at Seranthony Dominguez remembering how to close. How he didn't do that in Philly is beyond me.

Obviously the other shoe has bound to drop eventually, and the Tigers will probably come back around the second they have a healthy rotation, but I'm just enjoying this moment where the White Sox actually look commanding and promising again. I feared it'd take decades. But for the moment, here we are.

Coming Tonight: The face of an organization that's once again having the same problems while he steals all of the bases.

If It Ain't One Thing...

 

The Marlins are having a hell of a time right now getting everything straight. So many pieces have been moved around only for something else to completely nullify the thought behind the move. There's so much to explain that it's hard to do so without coming off deranged.

So here's what I can gather immediately. 

The Marlins began the season with an outfield consisting of Owen Caissie, Jakob Marsee and Heriberto Hernandez. None of them are hitting. Caissie had a great first week, not much since then. They had Griffin Conine, who was hitting, but as it tends to happen, Griffin Conine got injured immediately. Heriberto's been moved to DH, Stowers is back...he's only hitting .200. The depth OF, Esteury Ruiz, despite having 7 steals, isn't hitting. 

Christopher Morel, who was supposed to be the starting 1st baseman this year, isn't hitting. He got the job because the Marlins didn't keep Eric Wagaman, who sort of was hitting. He was gonna take the majority of the reps and be backed up by Connor Norby, who lost the 3rd base job to Graham Pauley. Pauley isn't hitting, got demoted, and Morel, as established, isn't hitting. So Norby got the 1st base spot. He's...hitting well enough I guess. .726 OPS, 13 RBIs, he's fine. Javier Sanoja was promoted from utility guy to semi-regular 3rd baseman, he's hitting .250 without much pop at all. If it weren't for Edwards and Lopez, both hitting .300, they'd really be screwed.

The biggest twist has been Liam Hicks behind the plate. Last year he was brought in to replace an injured Nick Fortes as catcher, then Hicks got the majority of the reps when Fortes stopped hitting. Fortes gets traded, Hicks and Agustin Ramirez hold the catcher position, great success. This year...Agustin Ramirez has stopped hitting. In 2025, this was the only thing Agustin Ramirez could do properly. Now he's a .230 hitter with barely any power. Back to the minors with him. I'd suggest keeping Deyvvison de los Santos up long-term but apparently nobody wants to actually keep him in the majors. Hicks this season, though, has been wonderful, hitting .287 with 9 homers and a league leading 38 RBIs. I did not think, this time last year, that Liam Hicks could be an RBI leader, or even a borderline All-Star pick. But here we are. Unfortunately, to remind you, Hicks, Edwards and Lopez are the only people on this team who are actually hitting. 

I also think it's very funny that the Marlins cut Chris Paddack to make room for Robby Snelling, only for Robby Snelling to immediately get hurt in his first start. But that's more tangential than anything here.

Today, somehow, the Marlins upset the Rays in extras by scoring EIGHT RUNS in the 10th. They couldn't do that in regulation but the Rays' bullpen is so bad that they can do it in extras. The run scoring was thanks to people like Hicks, Lopez, Norby, Sanoja and Esteury Ruiz. It's as close as we're gonna get to a full team effort without Stowers as a locked-in central force. This team can still win games, and in the NL East that's a relief, but compared to the competition there's just not a ton that's working right now. There's the occasional bolt of lighting but through regulation the offense was limited to a Sanoja RBI and a Heriberto Hernandez homer. 

There's gotta be more than this. Cause as it it's just a lot of frantic chaos. Typically that leads to something. 

Coming Tomorrow- He's shifted into ace mode, his team's upsetting giants, and the guy playing me in fantasy this week started him. God help us all. 

Japanese Corner Infielders Hitting Homers

 

I have no idea what data the Blue Jays' GM saw that drew him towards Kazuma Okamoto and away from Munetaka Murakami, but regardless they seem to have found a good piece. It's wild to me. What the hell sets one apart from the other. They both hit home runs, one's just a bit more forthcoming about it than the other. It's like picking the Japanese Matt Chapman over the Japanese Adam Dunn, like...either way you're getting runs scored. 

Kazuma Okamoto has given the Blue Jays a solid everyday third base option who's strong at the corner and can hit for power. He's already hit 10 homers and 27 RBIs, even if he's only hitting .239. Because this team is resuming their ragtag hitting mentality, someone like Okamoto can fit right in with this team, who also has room for defense-friendly contact guys like Jimenez and Straw, hitting machines like Vladdie and Ernie Clement, and powerful secret weapons like Daulton Varsho. I do like that the Blue Jays can still find ways to evolve, even after perfecting a working model last year. I honestly don't feel Bo Bichette's absence. Ernie Clement can play second, Gimenez can play short, it all works out. I think the lack of George Springer's better numbers is a bit more concerning, but he is, to be fair, 36. 

I think the lack of the full-team unity thing that was present last fall has made things a little tougher for the Jays so far, they're in fourth and under .500 at the moment. Guerrero, Clement and Varsho are having good-but-not-great seasons. Not having Kirk, Barger or Lukes pares back the depth a tad. Crucially, the rotation needed to prove it was more than just its postseason three, and that's...not been verified. Berrios is out, Scherzer's out, Bieber's out. That alone is pretty striking. Cease, Gausman and Yesavage do make up a pretty sturdy top of the rotation, and Cease in particular has been lights-out so far, but beyond that? Patrick Corbin has been picking up more slack than he honestly should be. He's been fine, a 3.93 ERA in 7 starts, but we really shouldn't be here. The Cody Ponce experiment didn't seem to work, nor did the Lauer experiment. I'm not even sure who their fifth option is right now. If I had half a mind I'd give Ricky Tiedemann a shot but I imagine they're making sure he won't burst into flames the second he throws a pitch [much like Cody Ponce did]. 

It's clearly not the ferocious, unstoppable force that the 2025 Jays were, but I still won't count them out. There's enough people on this team that can surprise you, Okamoto being chief among them, and despite a messier start there's always room for yet another big June where they can jump right ahead. We'll just have to see how this year's iteration compares to previous ones.

Coming Tonight: He's not a very good catcher, but he was so good at hitting that he got the primary catcher traded last year, and the other option demoted this year. So he's gotta be doing something right.

Driving on Fumes

 

There've been some teams that have gone on insane runs that make absolutely no sense to me in a way where I need them to stop at once. The Padres are not in that category. I honestly wanna see how far they can take this. Their core's been vivisected and they're still chasing down the Dodgers. Bravo I guess.

Like, this is where I remind myself that baseball doesn't always work logically, because the Padres have their most anonymous rotation in some time, their top two hitters are playing horribly, the young outfielder that was supposed to carry onto the next decade isn't doing great, and they're honestly closer to a rebuild than competition honestly. And yet...they're 7 games over .500, a half-game behind the Dodgers and playing...yes, GOOD baseball. I just don't understand it. On paper it's not a good team, especially without Machado and Tatis's better numbers. You look at Fernando Tatis now and something is just plain broken. He hasn't hit any home runs, or really anything at all, and he's trying to get by on speed and that's not enough right now. We all saw this guy hit all those home runs, even off the HGHs. And then he gets hurt and...that's really it? 

I dunno, the Seidlers selling this team to a modern ownership group makes me think all hope isn't lost after this year, but if Tatis is gonna be doing that, Machado's gonna be hitting .190 and Jackson Merrill's gonna be plainly mediocre, you can't expect to stuff this team with contracts and see it rise up. The Mets are proving why this doesn't work, and they're proving it for like the third time. Build a team, don't plant it in the ground and watch as it grows backwards. Yeesh.

I think the reason the Padres are still surging right now is the understated strength of the rotation. Yes, even without Joe Musgrove or Nick Pivetta. You have Michael King once again proving the Yankees did a disservice making him a swingman, with a 2.63 ERA and 50 Ks in 9 starts. Randy Vasquez once again has a terrific record simply because he stays in long enough to recoup the win, he's already 4-1 despite a 3.05 ERA and some messier starts. The bullpen is along the same lines as last year's, though noticeably thinner and without a truly healthy Adrian Morejon. Mason Miller's dominance more than makes up for it though. Nice to see he's muzzled Jason Adam, now caught in a thankless setup role, though extremely well at that. Jalen Beeks ain't closing either, so he can't exactly cry favoritism. I am worried about the viability of the carousel of fading starters they have behind the two that work. Griffin Canning's clearly still in disrepair from last year, Walker Buehler's lost his bounce, Marquez didn't work and Waldron's struggling again, then you remember that J.P. Sears and Lucas Giolito are also waiting for their shot. Hopefully they have a better go of things. 

The Padres, even with everything that's misfired, are still a satisfying underdog coming right up against the Dodgers. If a Padres fan that WAS good enough couldn't unseat them last year, maybe a Padres team that isn't will get to do so in 2026. Don't ask me to make it make sense, though.

Coming Tomorrow- It only took a couple weeks for Jays fans to go from 'why did we sign this guy again?' to 'okay, never mind, that's friggin great'. 

Jung, Older

 

This is now the third season that's elapsed since the Texas Rangers won the World Series. Mind you, they won it with a young team of a ton of rookies and budding young stalemates. Josh Jung, Evan Carter, Jonah Heim, Wyatt Langford, Cody Bradford, Josh Smith to a degree, and eventually Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter. This would be their core going forward.

It's been three years. They have been to the playoffs zero years since. They've lost multiple big pieces, and others have spent time on the IL. Jacob deGrom, Corey Seager, Nate Eovaldi, and ultimately Langford, Carter and Jung, have lost time to injuries. And so here we are, 2026, the Rangers attempting to resume progress and fight the fact that time has passed. With the exception of Carter and Langford, this isn't an especially young team anymore, and people can see this.

Josh Jung, thought of as one of the first big pieces of the next dynasty upon his call-up in late 2022, is now 28 years old. Since his all-star 2023, he's spent one season nursing an injury, and the next season playing very okay, fine-but-unspectacular baseball. And now here he is again, hitting .300 and excelling once again. He's got 5 homers and 20 RBIs already, and is tied with Evan Carter for WAR lead of the lineup. Especially in a year where Corey Seager's gone deathly cold, a healthy, powerful Josh Jung [and Evan Carter honestly] s a very good thing. Behind him follow another great power-friendly Jake Burger performance, Brandon Nimmo making the Mets regret another one of their choices, Ezequiel Duran hitting .300 as a fill-in for Josh Smith, and Alejandro Osuna quietly drawing eyes while filling in for Langford. 

It's not the ideal incarnation of this team, but it's getting the job done to a degree. They're in 2nd place, behind Sacramento, and are hoping to fend off the Mariners as they continue to ascend to their promised spot in the standings. The A's and Mariners have their strengths and their lifelines, but they're both without a key player right now. The Mariners just lost Cal Raleigh to an injury, and the A's are now without Jacob Wilson for a bit. The Rangers' biggest omission right now is Langford, and they have Eovaldi and deGrom healthy and working. deGrom's certainly looking like his old self, with a 2.62 ERA and 57 Ks. 

So honestly, even given the Rangers' faults, I can't exactly count them out of a year like this. They're good enough to not go quietly, and have a different kind of fuel behind them than the Bochy-tradition-backed 2020s teams. So we'll see how this goes. 

Coming Tonight: One of two ex-Yankee starters finding success in San Diego right now.

Sho Stopper

 

Bit of a topsy-turvy NL Central year so far. We had the Brewers on the bottom for a bit, the Pirates in last for a moment, and now the Reds are down there after a rough week. But leading ever since that fateful game in Philly I went to is the Chicago Cubs. I'm once again choosing to take credit for this.

Could the Cubs simply have the most effective lineup in baseball? With the exception of Dansby Swanson, who's a .194 hitter with 25 RBIs, everybody's hitting. Moises Ballesteros is an everyday DH at the MLB level now, that's pretty damn cool. Dude's built like a lunchroom trashcan and he makes contact like crazy. Alex Bregman's having a slower start to the season than usual but he's still a good option at third. Happ, Hoerner, PCA, Suzuki and Kelly are all off to fantastic starts. PCA in particular is doing his usual multifaceted thing, with 10 steals and a ton of robberies to distract from his fairly pedestrian hitting. 

I think the biggest sign of this team's success has been the eventual blossoming of those Japanese contracts. Seiya Suzuki took a few years to really adjust to a 162 game season, and he's looking very confident now, hitting .274 with 7 homers and 16 RBIs. Dude's just a ferocious hitter and it doesn't surprise me that Chicago's taken to him. Same with Shota Imanaga, who's just a reliable, consistent hurler who doesn't need to be too flashy, a lot like a Masahiro Tanaka type. Imanaga's 4-3 with a 2.32 ERA and 59 Ks, the best line in the rotation thanks to some mixed bag starts from Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon and injuries to Matt Boyd and Cade Horton. Already this team has needed to resort to Colin Rea and Javier Assad for rotation spots, and aside from Imanaga it's honestly not pretty. But again, having Imanaga there gives them a leg up.

And also, just to be clear...the Cubs are still a winning team even with this rough rotation. Cabrera and Taillon still have ERAs under 4. They can still get you through a game without too much bleeding. Compared to 2025, Taillon looks way more trustworthy, despite those 11 home runs thus far. I don't know who the 'break in case of emergency' starter is from here on out, or if there's a rookie on the horizon, but I think they're closer to a decent rotation as they are than if they try an overhaul. Fundamentally, Cabrera, Taillon and Rea are good pitchers, they've just had some rough patches. 

The Cubs have lost 4 straight, need to upset the Braves tonight and then look to recoup momentum with a hometown brawl at Comiskey. There's a reason they're still in first, and there's a reason barring those weak patches this team hasn't been knocked off for long.

Coming Tomorrow- He won a World Series in his first full year in the bigs. Been a rough go of things since then though.

High on Enthusiasm, Low on Ideas

 

So here's something fun. When the Tigers signed Justin Verlander, bringing him home after 8 years, there was a staged photo opportunity of the rotation. JV, Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Framber Valdez and Jack Flaherty. Basically saying 'this is our pitching, get ready', etc. 

Last week, the Tigers only had Flaherty on their active roster. Just one guy of that immortal five. Hooboy.

To get here, a lot of shit had to go wrong. First JV got injured in his very first start, after giving up 5 runs. If he ever pitches again, hopefully it'll be halfway decent, but the man is 43 years old. Then Mize, after starting the season with a 2.90 ERA, got hurt. Then SKUBAL, with a 2.70 ERA in 7 starts, got hurt. Then Framber Valdez, shaky but still reliable, gets suspended for plunking Trevor Story after Story started a sign-stealing train on second base. And the Tigers were left with Flaherty, and his 5.73 ERA, plus Keider Montero who wasn't supposed to be needed for a bit but still has a 3.18 ERA in 7 starts and has done just fine. 

So in that interim period in between Valdez's suspension, the Tigers had...two active starters. And so they had to get creative. A lot of bullpen games, a couple openers, lots of long appearances from Enmanuel de Jesus and Drew Anderson. And then last night, they get Valdez back, he has a fairly decent start. But...now they're down to 3 valid starters and some bullpen games. They could, like, go and get Sawyer Gipson-Long from Toledo, but that seems to apparently be the coward's way out for this team. Why go and get the guy who's never had room to pitch in the majors the second a spot opens up? Why do that? I bet they're gonna trade him like they did with Matt Manning. 

Anyway, despite all that, the Tigers are trending upwards but still in 3rd place, underneath the White Sox who are on a better pace than they've been since the rebuild started. Not helping the Tigers is the fact that the lineup depth is diluted this year. Torres, Carpenter and Baez are all hurt. Torkelson, Vierling, McKinstry and Wenceel Perez are all slumping. Dillo Dingler leads the team in homers with 7. Hao-Yu Lee was brought up as a new infield depth option but he's not hitting either. Thankfully there's 3 guys hitting .300, but one of them is Cole Keith, with 6 RBIs to his name. Having McGonigle and Greene performing well is a very good thing, but it feels like much less of a team effort than usual for these teams. Greene's hitting .315 with 4 homers and 20 RBIs, building on his 2025 ASG season despite the usual defensive quibbles.

If the team isn't gonna hit as a unit, having a fractured pitching staff's gonna hold them back even further. Hopefully they can build on this and reestablish leverage in this division, but at the present moment it looks tougher than usual.

Coming Tonight: The latest Japanese pitcher to settle into comfortable success in the States. 

Everyday People

 

I remember back when it was news that Freddy Galvis hadn't missed a game from 2016 to mid-2019, and that was the extent of the streak. Remember Freddy Galvis? Good couple years back there, decent Phils infielder. Seems kinda silly now that we've got Matt Olson, who hasn't missed a game since 2021. Since Olson got to Atlanta he's not missed a game. Meaning after losing their 1st baseman since 2011, the Braves then got a first baseman...who literally plays everyday. And does so while hitting 40 or so homers.

This is the beauty of these Braves teams. It's the right kind of layering of talent, in that it's not egregious, it's not overspending the rest of the league. It's calling up great players and extending them, then signing great free agents in their prime, and picking the right guys to perpetuate the cycle. People have gotten mad about this team letting some key pieces go [Freeman, Fried, Swanson, William Contreras], but considering all the great players they've retained it's hard to be completely mad. They signed Olson early and since then he's been absolutely wonderful. Right now he's got a 1.019 OPS, a league leading 37 RBIs, 14 homers and a .294 average. He's on track for another terrific season, and could notch yet another 25+ homer year [he's already accumulated seven of those]. Recently Olson hit his 300th career homer, and at only 32 he's put together some underrated numbers, much like his former Oakland battery mate Matt Chapman. The Braves have some truly excellent players, and Olson, out of all of them, might be the one they're luckiest to have.

Especially considering that Ronald Acuna Jr. is once again injured. The good news is that Ronnie is not the 'magic hat' guy he seemed to be last year, as there's enough roster depth to stay ahead of every else. Drake Baldwin, Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris and Matt Olson still make this an elite lineup, and getting Ha-Seong Kim back certainly helps, despite how well Mauricio Dubon has done in his stead. Baldwin continues to be one of the best pure power hitters in the game, already at 10 homers and 37 RBIs. Dom Smith has been a surprisingly powerful DH bat, hitting .363 with 18 RBIs and 4 homers. I did not expect this guy to positively replace Ozuna but I guess being low-budget occasionally pays off. 

Also paying off is the stagnated, unconventional rotation tactic. People like Martin Perez, Reynaldo Lopez and J.R. Ritchie have swung in and out as needed, and activating key pieces has not obstructed the rhythm of the unit. Spencer Strider's looking decent 2 starts later, he's only allowed 3 runs and struck out 14. Perez has been the surprise, still in excellent condition at 34 and so capable in middle relief that he's back to starting. Meanwhile, Elder, Sale and Holmes have been strong at the top but you knew that. Sale's got 56 Ks by throwing smoke, Elder's got 53 Ks from pitch selection. Both tactics are working.

A lot's going right for the Braves right now. The other 4 NL East teams all struggling has helped as well, but so much has clicked, and though there's still time for things to falter, I've got a really good vibe about how this team's flowing. And having [to date] FOUR everyday guys certainly helps.

Coming Tomorrow- The future of his team has shifted, and he's got to do what he can to keep things on track. Unfortunately, all he can do right now is power hit adequately. 

Plan B Becomes Plan A

 

Barring one lousy week in April, the Yankees have been outdoing everyone's expectations to begin the season. Even their own. The thought going into 2026 was that Jose Caballero would be a replacement level patch for Anthony Volpe, Cam Schlittler would only do so much to cover for Gerrit Cole, and the bullpen would be rougher without Luke Weaver. Well...looks like the team's just leveled up then.

Cam Schlittler has picked up exactly where his 2025 left off and has been wonderful for us. Through 9 starts he's got a 1.40 ERA, 59 Ks and 5 wins [I'm writing this as his latest start is going on, I hope it becomes 6 [EDIT: DAMMIT DOVAL!!]]. He's young, durable, practically unhittable, and leads the league in ERA and WHIP. I'd hoped for a young pitcher like this, and he's definitely fit that bill. We're getting Carlos Rodon back today, and hopefully he's gonna make up for lost time with some 2025-esque starts. Even then, Rodon will make the already strong rotation even better, as Fried, Warren, Schlittler and Weathers have been very nice thus far. In the absence of Cole, we needed consistency, and right now we have it. May it persist.

The 'Cabby replacing Volpe' thing was something I didn't expect in concept but makes a lot of sense the more I think about it. Cabby's not just a great base stealer, he's a versatile, multitalented player who has so many uses. It's a bigger version of Gio Urshela in 2019. Cabby's hitting .264 with 4 homers and 14 RBIs, plus 13 steals. He seems to fit right in. And let's not forget Ryan McMahon slowly coming to life in May, Paul Goldschmidt being responsible for 2 RBIs last night, and Spencer Jones stepping in to hopefully show the big leagues what all the fuss is about. And if Topps thinks of a reason to make the cutoff for Update last week, robbing us of 2026 Spencer Jones cards....I will be quite upset.

It's very easy to whittle this team down to Judge and Rice and Bellinger, and while that looks nice on a magazine, it's a full team effort right now. All the pieces are coming together and keeping this team ahead of the pack. They've got one of the best records in baseball, one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, and some of the best power hitters in baseball. Now...it is only May, and this team has a habit of dropping momentum out of nowhere, so I seriously hope they remember that this is a marathon, and they need to pace themselves rather than burning themselves out too early. This could be the team that could go mano e mano with LA in the end, and we don't want them peaking here.

Coming Tonight: How did the Braves really managed to have two incredible 1st basemen in a row, back to back? They couldn't do that at third after 2012!

All in the Spectacle

 

Remember a couple years ago when Anthony Rizzo was in a terrible slump for months on end and it was only after it had gone on for a bit that the Yankees' trainers realized he had concussed at the beginning of the season and none of them had noticed? The Dodgers thought 'well, what if we had a GOOD version of that?'

Hence, Max Muncy, whose numbers fell off for a couple years, then went and got his eyes checked, got new specs, and once again is a tremendous contact hitter. Muncy's hitting .279 with 9 homers and 13 RBIs, hitting more accurately than he has in years. At 35 he's become one of the elder statesmen of the team, whose reliable output is still a crucial part of the team's success. I have to tell you, when Muncy came up in 2018 I did not predict that he'd mature into a Justin Turner-type figure. But that's pretty much what's happened, except Muncy is a better power hitter, hitting 35+ homers four times in his career.

I think the expectation was for Muncy to play more of a minor role in this team's success, but with Betts out, Ohtani hitting .278, Tucker with 4 homers and 20 RBI, and Freeman teetering over his peak, it's a welcome development. I think now you're beginning to see the next stage of the Dodgers experiment, because if Betts and Freeman are getting old, there's gonna need to be new working pieces. Tucker's definitely one of them, even if he's been okay at best so far. Alex Freeland's been surprisingly nice as a 2B replacement, he's hitting .253 and playing great defense. Andy Pages is the man, the myth and the legend even if I can't see him carrying the team much on his own. Dalton Rushing, uhh....I dunno, man. He hits a ton of home runs but he's got this attitude issue that I'm not sure about. We'll have to see.

I think this team has happened upon a working rotation schematic for the most part. Ohtani's pitching Cy Young caliber numbers every sixth day, Justin Wrobleski's become the best compromise money isn't buying, Yamamoto's still elite, Emmet Sheehan's doing alright, Sasaki still hasn't figured the majors out and Snell's gonna swap in for Glasnow perfectly. As it stands it's a durable model, and there's still River Ryan and a host of to-be-activated guys if things turn out similar to last June. Also, suddenly Tanner Scott can close games again. I dunno what happened back there but he seems to have figured it out again. Good for him.

The Dodgers are still ahead of the Padres for the division by 2 games, meaning for the first time this season, they have staved off being lapped. Let's see if this goes any differently from last year.

Coming Tomorrow- The Yankees don't get Carlos Rodon back for another few days, and they don't get Gerrit Cole back for another couple months, yet they still have a guy leading the league in wins, ERA and WHIP. Magic. 

One Missed Cal

 

Lot of law firm guys in the bigs these days. Emerson Hancock, Hurston Waldrep, Warming Bernabel. Just put an ampersand in between any of those and you're in business. 

Anyway, the Mariners have overcome a rough start by putting together an extremely even team. In the past it's been either all pitching or all hitting, here both sides are doing their part. There have been well-pitched months from Emerson Hancock, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo, in addition to welcome production from Randy Arozarena, Julio Rodriguez and Cole Young, the latter finally cementing himself as a worthy piece of this team. Brendan Donovan just came off the IL and is getting back to his old tricks as a contact bat. And even on a night where Hancock gets rocked a bit, you can't entirely count him out because most of his other starts he can go 6 strong without giving up many runs. After years of faulty appearances, seeing a more composed, confident version of Hancock is a welcome sight, especially alongside a healthier version of George Kirby. 

Now...there's a fundamental flaw in this team, and it's one that could be avoided over time but is worrying people already. This is a 2020s Mariners team, and everyone is performing pretty well...except for Cal Raleigh.

Raleigh is months removed from his coronation, his biggest season yet, and one of the best hitting seasons from a catcher since the 50s. To his credit, he has 7 home runs and 18 RBIs, which isn't terrible. But the multifaceted Raleigh who could also hit for contact and rely on assets other than power hasn't really shown up. He's hitting .175 with twice as many strikeouts as hits. The accuracy and power Raleigh showed frequently in 2025 has been sparse this year, and it's in a year where the team thought they could finally rely on him to lead things. Not that Julio and Randy CAN'T per se, but more is falling on them than previously figured, and it's a bit awkward at times.

Raleigh insists there's a larger issue, and he's sat a bit dealing with that thumb trouble, but hopefully it's as simple as that. Say the thumb heals and the rough patch continues. What then? What needs to be reassessed? 

The M's are good enough now that they can balance the work elsewhere, but they're being kept out of first by the A's. This division was supposed to be theirs, and it's been closer than they'd like. Hopefully they have it in them to pull away again this year, but with Raleigh struggling it's been put into question.

Coming Tonight: The opposite of Superman. He puts on glasses and becomes unstoppable.

Immediate Dividends

 

You know, I think a lot of people, at the end of the dealings the Brewers made pre-season, probably thought the biggest immediate piece they gained was somebody like Jett Williams or Brandon Sproat. But uh...looking like it's Kyle Harrison. Meaning the Giants saw what they had, relegated him to 5th starter, and traded him for Rafael Devers, and then the Red Sox barely used him and traded him for Caleb Durbin before anybody really realized what they had with this guy. 

And considering that he's in a pitching staff that includes Chad Patrick, dealt for both Jace Peterson and Abraham Toro before landing in Milwaukee, Quinn Priester, who was an afterthought in two different deals before landing in Milwaukee, and Coleman Crow, dealt for Eduardo Escobar and Adrian Houser in two different deals both teams currently regret, not even factoring Sproat in...it's very clear the Milwaukee Brewers know something that a lot of other teams don't. 

Think about it. Woodruff, Misiorowski and Henderson were drafted by them, the other guys were scouted and picked up for nothing. And they've all found success there. The rest of the team's full of that mentality. When they were dealt, nobody was thinking anything about Andrew Vaughn, Joey Ortiz, Brandon Lockridge and David Hamilton, and they've become vital pieces of this team. Lockridge is very much a 'use when Chourio is hurt' guy but he's not bad in his own right. Also, William Contreras is only on this team because the Braves wanted a catching upgrade and the A's wanted Manny Pina as a backup. So, you know, if you've lost hope in him, we'll take a chance. The gambles that most other teams take don't pay off as much as the Brewers' do because the Brewers just seem to have the right information most of the time. They do their homework, bet on the right horses and reap the benefits. 

So Kyle Harrison's very impressive debut is a shock to everyone...except the Brewers. 3-1 record, 35 Ks, 2.12 ERA...yeah, they knew. It's not a starring role exactly, as that would be the Miz's distinction, but it's arguably a better statistical start than the balls-to-the-wall flame throwing the Miz is doing. And if it's sustainable, and the Brewers can keep him around, that's a foundational guy. Funny how all these foundational guys keep showing up at the right time for this team. 

So even as this team is still technically a last place team, nobody's really referring to them as one because they're within reach of the nearest two teams and they're about to regain momentum due to the return of Jackson Chourio, already on fire. The Yankees series may make that a little difficult, but this is still a great team looking to surprise a lot of people.

Coming Tomorrow- For years he'd been the outer satellite of one of the most consistent rotations in the bigs. Now, when his team needs him the most, he's finally stepped up.

The Subtle Approach [As Usual]

1 game above .500. Hanging onto 1st place. Trying to contact their way out of a jam. Never a dull moment for these Guardians teams. 

It really is baffling, because this team has made some effort to not be just a young, speedy contact team. This year they got Rhys Hoskins. An actual power hitter who has hit tons of home runs. So far he's only hit 3, but he's a more drastic production idea than the usual approach for the Guardians, which is stacking 12 contact hitters together and hoping one of them gets to third in time. Right now the most important people on this team are guys like Daniel Schneemann, Angel Martinez and Brayan Rocchio, who aren't multi-tool superstars but are good enough to keep the team chugging along. Rocchio's back to his pesky 2024 self, playing great defense, stealing bases and smoking the occasional slap hit. Jose Ramirez currently leads the league in stolen bases and has only 6 home runs, which, while tied with Chase deLauter, is enough for the team lead. 

And it's working because there's a strong enough backbone behind it, and enough people doing their jobs efficiently to not ensure that they NEED a production monolith. Two of the top pitchers in baseball right now are on this team, Parker Messick and Gavin Williams. Williams is 5-2 and leads the league in K's with 60. The fans hoped he'd be this good as he came up, and he sure is. Messick has a 2.40 ERA and a .919 WHIP just by keeping the ball down and away from people. Even Joey Cantillo's no slouch either, he's 2-1 with 37 Ks. That and the bullpen have kept things very steady.

Where I worry is the continued promise of big prospects that go nowhere. Chase de Lauter is working, but he seems to be an anomaly. Kyle Manzardo is hitting .200 right now, with 36 Ks to his 20 hits. Juan Brito did not work in the bigs, and C.J. Kayfus had to go back down as well. Bo Naylor is still looking for that consistent season but can't reach .200. Even Travis Bazzana, an organizational sure thing, is only hitting .174 through his first 7 games. The big rush hasn't hit yet. Maybe it all will soon, but it's somewhat worrying. 

Still, it's a good time to at least have the fundamentals working, because it's enough to keep them ahead of Detroit. I think they're still a favorite for the division, though the Tigers could click once the injuries wear off. The Guardians are really one or two dimensions away from really taking off, and it's within reach.

Coming Tonight: As a return for Rafael Devers, he was seen as a failure. As a return for Caleb Durbin...he's fared much better. 

Complaining Works...Sort Of

 

'Fire the manager' syndrome is such a strange derangement. Because it leads you to believe that the actions of players, executives, opposing schedules and coaches can be excused if the manager gets canned. Forget that he got a team to a World Series, forget the years of equity, no, somebody's gotta pay, and it's that guy, and the turnaround will confirm it was his fault. It's never that simple, regardless of what any Philly sports fan would have you believe.

But so far, two teams have fired their managers, and both have seen some improvement. In one case it's a little more prominent. 

Let's start with the more basic case. The Red Sox. Going into this year it was a possibility that they'd suck, and even if they put money into the team, that wouldn't take away the fact that so many strong pieces have actively left. Alex Bregman did not want to come back, despite the wonderful year he had. Rafael Devers left as soon as he could. Nick Pivetta signed with a west coast team that was arguably headed in a similar direction. That anybody actually wanted to come back, regardless of whether or not it was someone who a lot of teams actively avoided signing [Aroldis Chapman], is surprising. But they built a strong enough team for 2026, and for a while it truly did not work. So out went Alex Cora, and the majority of the coaching staff, and in went Chad Tracy.

The Sox were 10-17 before the firing. They're 6-4 since. Not earth-shattering, not season-saving, but you can see things turning around.

Mainly, a lot of the pieces have evened out after some rough starts. Ranger Suarez and Sonny Gray struggled in early Boston starts, they've rebounded in recent weeks. Suarez now has a 2.77 ERA, and since Crochet landed on the IL has been the closest thing this team has to an ace. Caleb Durbin has also improved a bit since his dismal start, and you can slowly see Jarren Duran and Marcelo Mayer begin to pick things up. The main assets are still veteran guys like Willson Contreras and Trevor Story, which is somewhat concerning. I think Roman Anthony is on his way, but it feels like every time he's about to get going he gets hurt, much like a different New York outfielder.

At the very least, 38-year-old Aroldis Chapman is still a very sure bet in the ninth. I think Chapman wants to retire as a Red Sock, and is fully embracing his villain arc after reaching glory in New York. Good for him. He's still got that unsavory subtext to him, but damn if he's not a scary closing gun still. In 12 appearances he has 7 saves, 14 Ks and a 0.77 ERA. That's vintage Chapman. He doesn't have a particularly great bullpen behind him this year but he's giving his all.

It's still not entirely pretty, but you can see more life in the Sox than there was before, and that's a start I guess. I don't know if it means they're a challenger in this division this year, but who knows.

Now, as for the other team that fired their manager...

Gotta be honest...I didn't think firing Rob Thomson was the answer. He was a steady captain the last few years, got the team to a World Series, wasn't flashy or particular. There's a case to be made about whether or not his managerial style actually had an impact on the team or if he was a George Seifert type who inherited greatness and did what he could to contain it. But I didn't know about firing Thomson in April before things really got going. But, that's what the Phillies did. First Taijuan Walker went, then Thomson followed, and then Don Mattingly took the helm. 

And of course, since Mattingly took over, the Phils have been 8-1. Probably 8-2 by the end of the night, the A's have been hammering the hell out of them [as they tend to at times], but still. Something's clearly different. Bryce Harper's hitting again. Jesus Luzardo's found his control. The bullpen's turned into an impressive ragtag unit of guys that haven't pissed me off yet. Somehow Brandon Marsh is off to the best start of any hitter, hitting .336 with 4 homers and 19 RBIs. The big man has always been a lower tier Phillies weapon, and seeing him finally step up again is a very good thing. Would love to see something similar from Bryson Stott as well.

I think it's also helped that we've gotten Zack Wheeler and J.T. Realmuto back after some injuries, and they're still in pretty good shape. Wheeler's got a 3.12 ERA and 18 Ks in 3 starts, he's definitely his old self. J.T.'s hitting .265 and is still a great catcher. I dunno if he was worth everything we signed him for but he's better than Rafael Marchan, that's for sure. There's still some weak spots in the lineup, and there's still some guys that should be playing better right now [Bohm mostly], but this is an improved version of the team I saw last month right at the beginning of the losing streak. And if people are crediting Mattingly rather than just...the momentum swing that this team usually deals with, then whatever.

I think the Phillies have a better shot going forward than the Red Sox solely because the Phillies are built better right now, though admittedly both teams have an issue with young players not performing as well as intended. Still, we've got 5 months left and a lot of twists and turns, so both teams could be in opposite places weeks from now.

Coming Tomorrow- Infield specialist and occasional impressive bat for the team that is currently leading the AL Central. 

Building a Better Rockies Team, the Unhinged Way

 

Hey fun fact, the Colorado Rockies currently have four players with a WAR higher than 1. The first place Cleveland Guardians have the same amount. The second place Tampa Bay Rays, an actual good team, have only two. But the Colorado Rockies, the punchline of the bigs last year, have four players worth at least a win by themselves. Tomoyuki Sugano, Mickey Moniak, Antonio Senzatela....and Chase Dollander. And a year ago, maybe one of them would make sense.

Dollander has been one of the Rockies' top pitching prospects, he was their 2023 first round pick, Baseball America ranked him the #8 prospect in baseball prior to the 2025 season, and he progressed through the minors in essentially a year and a half. Forgetting for a moment...how crappy his 2025 major league stats were...Dollander still had a high ceiling of potential, and he still felt like an organizational gem. Therefore, him eventually getting his act together and leading the charge? Very likely outcome. Heading into this year it was a large possibility. So far in 8 appearances he's got a 3.38 ERA, 42 Ks and 37.1 innings, all better than any starter.

Which is to say...the Rockies have not been starting him.

So what they've been doing...is using Jimmy Herget or Brennan Bernardino as an opener, giving them an inning, and then letting Dollander go long and essentially carry out a start. I assume this is to ensure he doesn't get chased in the first, and if you give the heart of the order to a specialist then start Dollander off with mid-order guys, that's at least a better way of breaking him in. It's a little psychological, a little strategic. Unlike the 2018 Kevin Cash stuff, by all accounts the Rox COULD start Dollander if they wanted to, but right now they're choosing to do this. And it's working.

So...that's the *reasonable* WAR leader. Now the other three...

Moniak becoming a hit in Colorado isn't surprising. What's surprising is the Angels cut this man to make room for Tim Anderson, and he ends up finding his swing and becoming a hero for a Rockies team that needs a hard-hitting outfield bat. Obviously Moniak isn't the guy the Phillies were looking for at the draft, but he's definitely got his uses. Right now he's got 11 homers and 21 RBIs. Jordan Beck and Brenton Doyle don't have that much combined. Moniak currently leads the NL in OPS with 1.123. Coors Field, man...

Then you have the return of Antonio Senzatela, who's gotten his ERA down to 1.21, and he has done this...by becoming a long relief guy who goes 2 or 3 innings an appearance. Somehow this has worked, and the awfulness of his 2025 has not appeared yet. Perhaps because he's finally recovered from his injuries, or maybe it's the same psychological thing that Dollander worked through? Who knows. And then Tomoyuki Sugano, another guy that shouldn't have been cut, has taken his low-velocity/all-craftsmanship stuff to Denver, and it's working! He's got a 3.41 ERA through 7 starts. As Michael Lorenzen can tell you, you could do a lot worse in Coors Field. 

Is it weird to me that they're lifting the team past the levels of true awfulness? Or is it just weird that it's them and not Tovar, Goodman, Doyle and Beck as much? Little of both. Eventually a consistent young core is gonna form, and clearly it's not this year, but I'll take goofy stuff like this. It's more entertaining than the alternative.

Coming Tonight: A guy whose Hall of Fame case will eventually need to be discussed, which will really puzzle a lot of people I think. 

Trout of Nowhere

 

Only one time during the 2020s thus far have we seen a season from Mike Trout that's in any way comparable to his peak years in the 2010s. In 2022, despite only playing 119 games, Trout hit 40 home runs with a 0.999 OPS. It'd have been a big deal had Ohtani and Judge not been having MVP caliber years themselves. And then Trout kept missing swaths of seasons, then would show up for a month then miss the rest of the year. Last season he was relatively healthy but not 100%, and more strikeout-prone than ever without payoff. And so, of course, you worry the legendary run is over, that there's no real highlights left.

And then...suddenly...it's like he never left. 2026 so far has been peak Mike Trout, and while it felt like a mirage at first, it could not be more welcome. In 36 2026 games, Trout is hitting .262 with 11 home runs, 22 RBIs, a 1.000 OPS and 36 walks. This is Mike Trout. The Trout long balls mean something again, and have heft that they haven't had the last few years. He's as mobile as he used to be, as scary at the plate as he used to be, and...as solely responsible for the rise and fall of the team as he used to be. 

Because let's not kid ourselves...aside from Trout and Jose Soriano, the Angels don't really have much right now. I think Trout's used to it, though. So many Angels teams really just had Trout, and this is just another one. They're in last place right now and they're still trying to find an identity, which has been made even more difficult considering Trout is essentially dragging the team back to 2015 in a sense. This still isn't Zach Neto's team, or Jo Adell's team. No, this is Mike Trout's Angels, and that will continue to be the case for a little while. It was nice to see Neto wake up at the plate, though. He credits his last homer to a Pokemon pack break. Wait til he finds out they make some of those with other baseball players on 'em..

Yet, for the first time in a while, this season also has the suspense of 'is someone gonna try and trade for Trout at some point?' Every so often it happens, and while usually there's the default of Trout saying he'll be an Angel for life, this is a pretty dire point for the Angels. He's got 4 more years left on the contract, he can still play at the elite level, and...it may happen. As usual, signs point to the Phillies above all else, as he's from South Jersey, full Phils country, and back in the day Bryce Harper did a full recruiting mission. The most cynical of Phils fan would tell you we don't need another 30+ year old, and that would justify not wanting one of the best players in the game for them. Mostly I'd prefer this to the Dodgers getting another MVP. But that's if it happens, and I'm still not sure that it will. 

For now, I'm just enjoying seeing Mike Trout rake again. I know he did a bunch against the Yankees but I can't even be too mad about that. He's a future HOFer, a great baseball star, and I'm glad he hasn't completely faded off after 2019. 

Coming Tomorrow- What's this? An actual strong pitching performance in Coors Field??

Get the Balance Right

 

Miraculously, well into their rebuilding period, the Cardinals have managed a 2nd place team and a working, relatively stable lineup schematic with proven young stars and a plan for upward momentum. Just...don't look at the pitching.

It's wild that so many pieces of this team have come together to work now, rather than at any point before. Having Jordan Walker, J.J. Wetherholt, Alec Burleson, Masyn Winn and Ivan Herrera all hitting, and all hitting well, gives this team so much more to say than the last few years of transitional shrugging. Before, getting Burleson or Gorman or Carlson to do anything was asking for a lot. And now this lineup actually feels intimidating. Wetherholt's a genuinely great MLB infield option, with 7 homers and 18 RBIs in his rookie season. Burleson's putting together a strong campaign himself, hitting .269 with 28 RBIs already. Jordan Walker's already hit 10 homers and finally figured out how to fix his swing. The offensive production that was tricky before is coming so much more naturally now because this team is younger and has more urgency. Getting Arenado out of there was honestly the best plan.

But...that doesn't really carry over to the rotation, because getting rid of Sonny Gray, Steven Matz and Miles Mikolas just makes this an anonymous, unreliable group of misfits. At least the Nationals have some young guys they can rely on. What do the Cards have?? Michael McGreevy's got a 2.52 ERA but he's mostly a ground ball pitcher. Same with Andre Pallante. Matthew Liberatore was supposed to be the ace but he's got a 4.50 ERA. The idea is to keep runs down but the Cards are honestly a team just barely outscoring their opponents because the starting squad just isn't much at all. Having a good bullpen helps a little, as O'Brien, Romero and Graceffo have been good, but so many of the guys that were so reliable last year [Kyle Leahy and Matt Svanson mostly] are seriously burned out. So it just seems imbalanced, impractical and unsustainable.

The real question is whether the hitting is good enough, and the depth is strong enough, to build off this. Cause if not, there's a possibility Burleson could be dealt midyear, pushing the rebuild back a tad. The fact that they're enough of a force to be on the brink of competition is scary, especially for NL Central competitors, but the next few weeks will probably show how real they are. Especially as the Brewers and Reds balance themselves out a bit more.

Still...if this team can compete without pitching, it'd be pretty insane. Like I can't even remember the last time the Cardinals didn't have any pitching. The 90s I guess..

Coming Tonight: Oh you know...that guy everyone really likes. Guess he's not past his prime after all.