Bake-Off

 

Once again, you have to hand it to the Rays. They took talent that was lying dormant in another market, nabbed him for a bargain, made him a star and will now likely profit. Bryan Baker, you may have struggled to find stability with the O's, but now you're an all-star closer for a competitor. Somehow.

Baker I always liked with the Orioles because he was one of those constants that the fans loved. Made most of his appearances, did his job efficiently, balanced out the rough moments. I saw him pitch for the O's last year before he was traded and he seemed to have his stuff. The Rays must have known. They dealt for him, worked on some things, and gave him the ninth. So far he's got 25 saves with a 1.69 ERA, and has been the bright spot of a Rays bullpen that is doing its best without the homegrown depth it usually has. Ian Seymour, Cole Sulser and Garrett Cleavinger are usually viable options but they're not having great seasons. Casey Legumina still isn't the answer. They picked up Chris Roycroft and he hasn't been much better. Even late career Craig Kimbrel is flailing given the opportunity. I guess they can't have a young collective of ace relievers again for another couple years. 

It goes to show that the Tampa Bay Rays, most years but especially this one, specialize in having guys that can do one thing extremely well and most other things not well at all. They corner the market on niche specialists with no range. Where else can you find Nick Fortes, a catcher that doesn't hit and doesn't need to, Chandler Simpson, an ace-base stealer who hits triples but can't hit home runs, Ryan Vilade, who's built like an armed bodyguard but can't play left field, Richie Palacios, who...we're still not sure what he does well but the Rays sure need him, and Taylor Walls, the best infield defender in baseball with literally no offensive ability. The idea is these people don't need to be good at everything, they need to be good at the thing that they're best at, and pooling their resources together, they make a great team.

Now, granted, this only works because of the presence of a choice few multifaceted pieces, such as Junior Caminero, Drew Rasmussen, Shane McClanahan, Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda, but the Rays-ball mentality of putting in the guy that works the best vs. the most well known and expensive version just works. It's been nearly a decade of this, you can never count these teams out, they're never bottom feeders and they're always one strong month away from competing. Right now they're competitive. Does this have to do with the fact that the Yankees are in a downswing? I'm supposed to say no. But in all honesty, the Rays are very good this year, have had a very nice month, and despite losing three straight to the Red Sox, still have a nice hold on the AL East. It's an imperfect hold, and the Yanks are shooting back up again, but they're not exactly gonna lay down and die either. 

Coming Tonight: A minor league lifer, doesn't throw too hard, relies on trickery and pitch selection. Happens to come into a rotation spot with one of the best organizations in the bigs. Is now suddenly a decent name. 

Wake Up, Edman

 

So, Yankees-Dodgers was this weekend, which means it was high time for the Yankee fans to complain that they can't win anything and are still spiraling despite the fact that they had to play a very good team, with a very good lineup, and are missing Aaron Judge. Calm down, we're gonna flash forward two months and the worrying will have been for nothing.

The Dodgers continue to be annoyingly perfect. Obviously still flawed, but not flawed enough for anything to go wrong. Like, okay, Will Smith's out for another month and the everyday catcher is Dalton Rushing, a power hitter with a foul mood whose inability to get on the same page as Shohei Ohtani on the mound might lead to Ohtani just not pitching til Smith comes back. On any other team that could be a 'trouble in paradise' headline, a 'maybe they're not as good as we thought' moment. Nope, they're still winning games. Kyle Tucker, the big offseason acquisition, is hitting .244 with only 7 home runs. No big deal, he's still in the lineup virtually everyday and Alex Call can go in for him. Edwin Diaz, the other big offseason acquisition, is hurt for probably the rest of the year, leaving them without a working closer. Well, of course this is the part where Tanner Scott actually figures his shit out, brings his ERA back to 2.50 and notches 14 saves. The whole bullpen is ridiculous actually. It's 5 guys that just get up there, only allow a run or so and make their next appearance. And then maybe occasionally Eric Lauer is needed for long work. Even something that was supposed to work differently snaps into something that's efficient anyway.

Tommy Edman was hurt for a bit, as he tends to be, and now he's back and immediately one of the best hitters on the team again. In 23 games he's hitting .343, with 2 home runs and 12 RBIs, including that needed home run last night in the Bronx [that, of course, was their only run in that game]. This wasn't even a needed burst of offensive help, they have Teoscar Hernandez and Andy Pages, but Edman is that extra piece guy that makes a team like this better. Usually it's Kiké Hernandez, he's been hurt. To this point it was Alex Call, he pales in comparison. Edman's versatile defensively, he's contact-friendly and he can just go on a tear when you need him to. I have no idea how the Cardinals convinced themselves they'd be better off without him and with Erick Fedde. J.J. Wetherholt is nice and all but you need an x-factor guy like Edman to come in and do everything. It's why guys like David Freese and Jedd Gyorko were so important to these teams last decade.

The Dodgers are the frontrunner yet again, and the most efficient and successful team in the bigs, again. Their challenge will be to carry this all the way into October again and pull off the all-too-rare threepeat. Remember, the Chiefs couldn't do it. They went into New Orleans thinking the threepeat was on the horizon and then the Eagles kicked their asses. And they were never the same. The Dodgers, if they're not careful, could end up like that. It's not the most likely outcome, it's also likely they could once again waltz to the end without anyone stopping them and set up a lockout. But we'll have to see what develops. Because we don't know how long Ohtani will be missing starts for, and we don't know how long it'll take Tucker and Betts to heat up, and we don't know if somebody else can get hotter, like in 2019 and 2022. For now, I'll just expect the Dodgers' story to remain the same and brace myself for the idea of a hard right turn.

Coming Tonight: The Orioles tried to make this guy their relief ace. It didn't work. So of course the Rays have more success. 

Latz Entertainment

 

Jacob Latz is not only the perfect summation of what closing pitching has turned into in the MLB, he's also the perfect summation of the Texas Rangers. 30 years old, oft-injured, never an opening day starter, given the chance to just pitch the ninth and becomes an all-star...and also the best player on the team. A team that is currently first in the AL West and one game above .500, with multiple stars hurt and/or underperforming. Jacob Latz is successful because they gave him a chance...but he's also, even as the closer, the most successful player on the Rangers.

Like, I bet they're all really happy that Latz is working out in the ninth. It's been a while since they've had a good long-term solution there. Mostly they'll just have one-year experiment, an Ian Kennedy or a Kirby Yates or a David Robertson. Latz is a younger, controllable option who's still in excellent shape and is only getting stronger. Right now he's got a 1.57 ERA, 19 saves, 47 Ks, a 0.652 WHIP, and a 2.3 WAR, which is higher than that of, say, Jacob deGrom or Corey Seager or Wyatt Langford. It just proves how valuable great relief pitching is to this team, and Tyler Alexander and Jake Junis are similarly valuable. When a lot of the games are close and a lot of the lineup is underperforming...the bullpen can be the MVP.

The ideals have changed. This is a cheesier power team now, with Jake Burger and Joc Pederson among the most valuable hitters, and some of the usual contact guys [Evan Carter, Josh Smith, Alejandro Osuna] not really doing the job. It is somewhat promising that some of the formative pieces are hitting better, and Wyatt Langford and Josh Jung have OPSs over .800. Langford still hasn't put together the 162-game campaign he's been waiting for, but he's hot right now, and has 9 homers and 23 RBIs in 46 games. Brandon Nimmo is still good, if not April good, and Ezequiel Duran is still good, if not June good. But what worries me is that Corey Seager is still hurt, and wasn't playing at peak levels before the injury. I don't know if Langford is at the point where he can really carry the team on his shoulders yet. I know Evan Carter isn't. 

Obviously this team is doing right, despite a lot of mediocre seasons [MacKenzie Gore, Kumar Rocker, Kyle Higashioka], because they're in first. It takes a lot of turnarounds after rough starts, especially from Pederson and Nate Eovaldi. Eovaldi had a rough first month or so and now he's 9-7 with a 4.04 ERA and 120 Ks, which is much closer to his usual self. Pederson took forever to start hitting and now he's got 15 homers and 35 RBIs, meaning FINALLY the Rangers can enjoy Pedey as much as literally every other team he's played for has. This team has a healthy Jacob deGrom on it, so of course it's at least kind of good. But going forward, as the Mariners re-ascend the ranks, the Rangers will need to decide whether they're a momentum team or they're actually good this year. If they can build something and sneak in, it could be a factor nobody's expecting. 

Coming Tomorrow- A guy who hit a game-tying home run against my Yankees tonight.

Everything Lines Up

 

There's a plot point in the second Thor movie, which isn't very good, where like 9 different realms or universes are going to line up at the same time, like a solar eclipse but more cosmic, and it only happens once every hundreds of thousands of years and of course it's happening during the events of this film. Like when else would everything come together like that? This Milwaukee Brewers team is acting similarly to that alignment, because this team is consisting of so much random shit that may not ever align this way again. Could this be the best season of Jacob Misiorowski's career? Is this the peak of Jake Bauers's improbable comeback? Will we ever see Garrett Mitchell this healthy again? Will we ever see Logan Henderson healthy at all again? It's funny how it's all working out.

And let's be clear, there's already a lot of Brewers that have missed this window. Quinn Priester will not be appearing this season. Brandon Woodruff might have overworked himself into another shortened season. And this moment might not even require Jeferson Quero, Jett Williams or Jesus Made. Maybe it will, maybe they'll be late callups. But everything this Brewers team has done has been without those guys, and with this ever-shifting mass of very intriguing people.

To give you an idea. The only constant this season in the Milwaukee outfield has been Garrett Mitchell. AKA the guy that usually gets hurt a week into the season. Everyone else has missed time. Chourio obviously had his first month out, Perkins has been in and out, Frelick just went on the IL, Lara just came up, Lockridge is hurt. Mitchell's been the constant, and he's hit .277 with an .826 OPS, 8 homers and 45 RBIs. Far and away Mitchell's fullest season to date, and 5 years into his career. He's currently got Chourio and Lara flanking him, so that's a little more consistent, and Lara is beginning to pick things up. Also, Chourio is having the kind of year where, if he hadn't missed a month, he'd be getting MVP votes. 

I also think it's wild that Shane Drohan and Logan Henderson have swung in to replace Brandon Woodruff and Kyle Harrison, and they've done a bang-up job. Drohan had another strong start yesterday, he's got a 3.20 ERA, 76 Ks and a 5-3 record, he might be something for these guys. Henderson's fantastic too but he needs to stay healthy. Brandon Sproat is slowly getting his ERA down with some better starts, and Robert Gasser's doing his best, obviously waiting for Harrison to come back. I also think Craig Yoho has swung into the bullpen at the right time, and might be a keeper. 

I still think they're the secret team to beat in the NL this year, and they might go about as far this year as they did last year. The Dodgers and Braves have had off weeks, the Brewers have been pretty steady throughout. I think something can be done here, and though a lot of this team's window may close very soon, there's enough bubbling that they could stay this good for a while.

Coming Tonight: From a swing-in starter to a lights-out closer, a guy who's finally found the right niche with the Rangers.

Infrequent Shopper

 

The Chicago White Sox have won 3 of their last 5 games by scoring 9 or more runs, just got Munetaka Murakami back after the Home Run Derby, saw one of their guys hit the only home run at the All-Star Game, and now they might be BUYING at the deadline? They're still in first, they're over .500...they're a major player in the AL. They might be scouting for trades. YES, THESE GUYS. Just last year they were sellers and now they can actually afford to make some deals. How insane is that?

The really impressive part is that there's not a hell of a lot on this team that truly needs to be upgraded. The catching position's a little slow, but Kyle Teel was hurt for half the season so it's understandable. Maybe one more OF bat would help? Braden Montgomery's heating up, Tristan Peters is THE guy and Sam Antonacci's having a strong season, but is there a power guy that's a little more varied than Andrew Benintendi out there? Or was that just Murakami? It may need to be rotation depth honestly. Anthony Kay, Noah Schultz and Erick Fedde have done fine, but the drop-off is real. There needs to be somebody else that can supplant Martin and Burke. Maybe this is where one of the Royals guys goes? Maybe Michael King goes here? Who knows. 

At the moment, the White Sox are coming off some very impressive offensive work, and though they got shut out by the Jays today, they scored 12 runs off of them yesterday, including production by both Montgomerys, Sam Antonacci, Tristan Peters, Kyle Teel...and Chase Meidroth, who's quietly having another nice season. Meidroth last year was a forerunner for a lot of the youth movement, he came in before Quero, Teel or Colson Montgomery got here and was strong when nearly no one else is. A better full-squad showing this year has allowed Meidroth to fade into the background a little more, but he's still hitting .271 with 7 homers and 32 RBIs. He's a nice, steady mid-lineup bat with defensive perks. The White Sox are piling up lots of guys like that and have finally given way to actual tentpoles [Murakami, Vargas, Colson Montgomery]. Which is why the team works now, an actual order and dichotomy has emerged, and it's not just 'young guy hits single x9'. Vargas has become the guy, Murakami has cornered the market on power, Antonacci and Meidroth have a niche as contact guys, and Colson Montgomery's the oddball clutch homer guy. It works a lot better.

The idea here is to keep ahead of Cleveland and ensure that the predictable outcome [of Cleveland or Detroit winning anyway] doesn't snap on. The White Sox do have the power numbers, and the pitching stability, to do it but the inexperience of this team still worries me, and still could keep them from going all the way. It's really good come down to how the White Sox manage the deadline, and if enough of this momentum holds. 

Coming Tomorrow- An outfielder who always seems to get injured right before the door opens for him to start. Which has made this season, a solid and healthy one for him, a relief. 

Sonny Came Home

 

So. After starting the season with a disastrous run, losing Alex Cora and putting the future of the youth core in jeopardy, the Boston Red Sox have won 12 straight. Including 2 against the Rays. While, on one hand, cutting down the Rays a bit is good for the Yankees...the Red Sox may have transformed into a good team right before our eyes. They're in 3rd place now, at .500, might not even be selling anymore...and could be a serious problem.

I think the most indicative player on this team is Sonny Gray. They traded for him to get some kind of veteran presence on the team, it cost them Hunter Dobbins and Richard Fitts, fine whatever. Gray's April wasn't very good. And so people worried he was washed, as they did last year, and that the Sox made a rash decision. Then he evened out. And as it stands, Gray is currently 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA, a 1.098 WHIP and 85 Ks. One of the most under the radar great seasons in baseball, and it's been the backbone of this Sox team as they've inched their way back up. Gray is looking better than he has since Minnesota, and he's the ideal guy to lead them into the heat of this season.

A lot of 'ooh, I don't know about that' guys have been the center of the Sox comeback. Willson Contreras obviously, he was a supposed dead end financially, yet now he's the power 1st baseman they've needed since Devers' numbers, and mood, dipped. Contreras has a .921 OPS, 20 homers and 61 RBIs. Caleb Durbin was the Brewers' collateral to make room for Jett Williams [who still hasn't come up, by the way], and he's become a fairly decent corner bat, with improved 3rd base defense and some production. Jake Bennett was a 'well, if you insist' call-up and now he's got a 2.64 ERA in 8 starts. Even Patrick Sandoval seems to be back to his old tricks and helping this team.

That doesn't mean I'm not still concerned about the organizational depth. Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell have all been non-factors for this team. Jarren Duran is a .200 hitter who's barely above replacement level, despite his best efforts. Anthony Siegler and Tsung-Che Cheng have been decent filling in for infielders that are hurt, but are they the answers or just temporary solutions? I know it's not an issue if the team keeps winning games, but is this sustainable? Or is it just a passing summer fling that no one will remember in a year.

The Sox are hot, have leverage, and don't even need all their best pieces to win games. That's a dangerous skill. Doesn't automatically make them a playoff team, but it's more intriguing than most of what I saw from them in the first half.

Coming Tonight: A young second baseman whose team kicked the crap out of Toronto last night, putting THEM in last in the AL East. 

A Different Kind of Air Quality Concern

 

D'you think they're sitting in the Coors Field clubhouse, prepping for a game which is likely gonna have multiple longballs and unstable pitching, going 'gather round, the Pirates have called the game due to an air quality concern. Can...can teams do that?' The Rockies have had an air quality concern for 33 years now. They somehow got to a World Series in 2007, even with said air quality concern. I mean the smoke in the Northeast is bad, maybe it'll screw up the Pittsburgh humidor yet again, but...the Rockies are hearing this going 'thicker air?? what a concept'. Kyle Freeland's gonna find something to burn down so he can pitch decently again. 

Anyway, the Rockies are still last in the NL West and expected to stay there, but it's not without some fun performances from the hitters. Any way you look at it, this team has gotten great production from T.J. Rumfield, Hunter Goodman, Jake McCarthy, Cole Carrigg, Troy Johnston, Mickey Moniak and Kyle Karros. That's...more than a few. The issue with the 2025 team was not just the atrocious pitching, it was the anonymity of the lineup, the lack of power in a power park, all of the above. When you get guys who can mesh well with the park, and when they're all working, even if it's a bad team you're still going in the right direction. Cole Carrigg's been in the league for 31 games, and he has an .871 OPS, 22 RBIs and 4 homers. McCarthy is a .300 hitter after the D-Backs let him come over here, he's got 10 homers and a team-leading 53 RBIs. I did not expect Jake McCarthy to have more RBIs than Hunter Goodman, but here we are. Happy for him honestly, he was really struggling in Phoenix. Rumfield is getting some Rookie of the Year buzz, he's been skillfully on target without being solely a power bat; same thing with Troy Johnston. And then Goodman's 5 homers away from his 2025 total, so he's probably gonna be chasing 35+, maybe even 40. 

That's half the battle right there, this team can put their heads together and score runs, and it's not a full on cop-out every game. The pitching still leaves a lot to be desired, and the early lead the bullpen had has been basically shattered, with Victor Vodnik, Juan Mejia and Zach Agnos all having very rough seasons. Somehow Jordan Romano hasn't shat the bed too greatly yet, but it's early. Tomoyuki Sugano's hurt, so now it's down to Ryan Feltner and Gabriel Hughes to be the only people in the rotation to seem to be able to keep runs down this year. Michael Lorenzen is 3-9 with a 6.22 ERA. YEESH. Even if the team's hitting, this pitching staff still isn't it, and bringing in young, efficient options hasn't helped because it's impossible to pitch competently if half your season's played in Denver. It's purely impractical at this point. At least the Vegas stadium is gonna be domed. 

There's still fun to be had with this team. Maybe a trade or two, maybe some more breakouts, maybe some genuine promise from Carrigg, maybe even a Zac Veen appearance. But whatever happens will mostly be a side-plot to this already convoluted year, sad to say. Maybe some of this will carry over to next year, provided there's actually baseball next year.

Coming Tomorrow- Somehow one of the most consistent veteran pitchers left in the game if Verlander and Scherzer both retire. 

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.

Swallow This

 

How would you like this to be you. You toil in the majors for too long, struggle with injuries, make it over to a struggling Japanese league team, then do well enough to get an MLB contract with a decent team. Then the best player on your Japanese team comes over here to play for a last place team and then makes them a competitor, all while you're down in 4th. Peter Lambert must be going through it.

And it's not even like the 2025 Yakult Swallows were a bastion of baseball excellence or anything. The whole idea of Munetaka Murakami is a great player can make a bad team watchable, even if he doesn't always make them *good*. Aside from Lambert and Murakami, this team had some okay performances, and Domingo Santana trying his best, but like usual, they didn't compete. So to have them both over here and going in opposite directions is funny, especially considering that for a while they really weren't. The Sox didn't really conquer the AL Central until Murakami got hurt, before then he very much was lifting them. Currently Lambert is very much lifting the Astros, is their wins leader and ranks 4th in WAR. Very much the opposite of what both were after, and I guess one of them is relieved. 

Peter Lambert had instances of greatness with the Rockies, and definitely tried to make the most of pitching in Coors Field, but it just wasn't happening, and he never really broke through after his 2019 rookie season. So Japan happens, he does decently, and now he gets to play for the Astros. Lambert, in 14 games, currently has a 3.26 ERA, a 7-5 record, 74 Ks and a 1.150 WHIP, a very solid line. He is also...the best pitcher on this team right now. I remember when they brought him up I was really hesitant to embrace him, because I thought it was the Jason Alexander thing of 'we're bringing up a minor league also-ran cause he's all we have, now suddenly he's great'. That's always a 'oh screw you, Astros' thing for me, like if you can fix Peter Lambert then something's up. But no, he fixed himself in Japan, then came over here and ran the rotation. That's better honestly. 

The thing is...I don't think the intention was for all of this to be on Lambert. Hunter Brown is back now, he's carrying a little more, still pitching well, but Imai, Burrows, McCullers and Javier have all been disasters this year, and Spencer Arrighetti's beginning to fall apart as well. It's like the Nationals, where they got Foster Griffin to be the fifth man, and now he's kind of the 1st man and...I mean, there's your problem. The infrastructure should work so that someone like Jake Irvin or Josiah Gray or Mitchell Parker is actually up and doing their job and not making this the Miles Mikolas and Zack Littell show. The Astros, we just...ended up here. No disrespect to Lambert, who's making the most of a tough situation, but if he goes down again late in the year cause of the increased workload, it's on the Astros.

The Astros just got Jeremy Pena back, are in third but still under .500, and have to play the Rangers to finish out the first half. I don't think this team is competing this year, and I really hope I don't regret saying that.

Coming Tonight: He missed a few starts, came back stronger than ever and made an all-star team. That sound you hear is Zack Wheeler seething from across the country.

A Rally from the Rally-Killer

 

"I mean, I think it was kinda selfish, to be honest. Uh, everybody else was gettin' on, and.....y'know, home runs are rally-killers. Y'hit a 3-run home run or a grand slam, and it's just like....what now? Y'know? There's nobody on, nobody can drive him in. So...y'know, good for him, I guess..."

-Paul Skenes, barely stifling a smirk, on Ryan O'Hearn's 3-homer, 10-RBI game earlier this week.

For a .500 team, the Pittsburgh Pirates have way more going for them than anyone would have thought. Remember last week when only 1 all-star rep and people just sort of motioned to the team, where Brandon Lowe, Braxton Ashcraft and Bryan Reynolds were absolutely holding court? Well, Ashcraft's made it on, but the other two are arguably even more worthy. Bryan Reynolds is having a comeback season for the ages, with excellent run production and 57 RBIs already. Lowe has 21 homers, 64 RBIs and so far has been extremely healthy and reliable. And now we've got O'Hearn heating up, hitting .289 with 16 homers and 61 RBIs. O'Hearn is a messier player overall than his contemporaries, and his defense has really taken a hit since playing predominantly right field, but he's a very sturdy power bat with a lot more overall value than that, uh, higher profile DH they also got this year. This is a case of filling a team with non-overwhelming practical free agents rather than flooding the base with stars that are too big. Nick Gonzales and Spencer Horwitz and Bryan Reynolds fit right in with Lowe and O'Hearn, there's not a disconnect.

And even with the loss of Konnor Griffin, at least for a few weeks, the youth of this team is taking enough shape to not be much of an issue. Esmerlyn Valdez has only been here for 25 games, and he has 7 home runs and 18 RBIs. That's a .993 OPS, and that's gonna be a problem for other NL Central teams going forward. Keep in mind, they already know that Jhostynxon Garcia will be back at some point with a vengeance, and now they've got this guy too. Meanwhile, Jared Jones was looking pretty perfect the other day against the A's, and might finally be getting his groove back, and Ashcraft and Skenes are still very steady. It's really just Bubba Chandler whose inexperience is really showing right now, velocity notwithstanding. 

The thing you have to remember, ultimately, is that at the end of the day this is the Pirates. As good as they can be, for as long as they can be, there are still obvious flaws. The bullpen is bad enough that taking out Jared Jones after 6 perfect innings means we're not getting 3 more, almost automatically. Tyler Callihan, Billy Cook and Nick Yorke are still somehow not MLB ready. Mitch Keller really is struggling out there. There's also the issue of just not having the infrastructure and depth a lot of other teams have, which is why it's very much a cycle of scrubs trying to not be 26th in terms of usefulness. There's a way around it, and it does involve buying, but will this team be in position to do so in a couple weeks? I don't think they're sellers either, which is nice. But they're still in this grey area, where they could be good but can't completely commit because they're the Pirates.

For now, the offense can keep telling the real story, but if they want to beat the Cardinals and Cubs it's gonna need to be more than that.

Coming Tomorrow- The second most popular member of the 2025 Yakult Swallows to make the MLB this year. 

Back-Up Plans & Lack of Plans

 

Against all odds, despite their disastrous May, the Detroit Tigers have happened upon a working model for a 5-man rotation, have a competent and extremely good 6th man as a long reliever who can start again in the event of a trade, and are slowly getting Kenley Jansen within 14 saves of that legendary 500 mark, perhaps the last to reach it for a while. Now...I dunno what the hell can be made of the rest of this team, but all of that is an improvement.

The flaw of this Tigers' team is very evident now. Basing the team on two or three prospects and a horde of handy contact guys won't work if one of the prospects shit the bed and all the contact guys flicker on and off. Matt Vierling, Jahmai Jones, Zach McKinstry, Jake Rogers and Hao-Yu Lee populating this team is a fun concept if they're all doing what they're supposed to. If none of them are, and it really is just down to Riley Greene, Kevin McGonigle and Dillon Dingler, then what the hell was the point. You draft Torkelson high, you draft McGonigle high, you draft Max Clark high, and if it all goes to plan then that's your team. Well, Torkelson's had one good year and now is back to pissing people off. He's hitting .215 with some occasional power numbers and no real outside value aside from that. Clark is still, infuriatingly so, in the minors, and it hurts that much more when McGonigle, who was drafted lower in that same draft, is already a successful MLB player. Greene has been great but he still strikes out way too much. 

The guys they try to build the team around don't do what they're supposed to, and then the rest of the year becomes 'let's try this'. If you keep guessing wrong that many times, they're not the problem. It's the same with the contracts. You spend all that money on Javier Baez to get 1 good season and an immediate injury. Framber Valdez takes a pay cut to join the team, it's his most mediocre season yet. Meanwhile, Skubal's probably off to a team that will pay him TO play well, not FOR playing well. 

The Tigers are lucky of how many guys that weren't supposed to be much have become heroes. Dingler's an excellent hitting catcher, has 19 homers and 60 RBIs, and justly made an all-star team. Troy Melton was a relief guy they gave a try to this year, and he's been lights out in 8 starts, with a 5-1 record and a 1.82 ERA. And Keider Montero's flexibility has kept this team alive this year, being durable and dominant both as a starter and as a long reliever. Montero has a 0.986 WHIP in 94 innings, and will no doubt get more opportunities to start once Skubal is dealt. IF HE'S...I mean, is there any doubt at this point? He wants out, they're not gonna pay him, it's happening.

I wish this Tigers team had a better outcome ahead of them, but the dream might be over, especially if the guys they're really relying on aren't gonna perform while the guys with small windows of success [Skubal, Mize, Melton, Dingler] give their absolute all. Maybe I'm wrong. But it's not looking good.

Coming Tonight: 4-for-5 with 10 RBIs. And they said he'd be a liability signing.

Rising in the East

 

So, once again. To anyone who thought the Nationals would be the surprise breakout team in the NL East, you may be entitled to financial compensation.

The Miami Marlins are becoming something of an under-the-radar monolith, especially in the month. They were 26-34 leaving May, and they are now 25-8. Meaning they've almost doubled their entire prior win total in the last month and a half, and have only lost 8 games, 2 of which coming at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies...who they are currently tied with for second place, and three games behind the Braves. It's a wild development, but...it's one you wouldn't be called insane for seeing coming.

Let's remind ourselves, that the Washington Nationals, in spite of their uproarious offense, great base running and great new-school ideas...don't have much of a rotation. It's Foster Griffin and look out. Littell was on a decent pace but now he's getting lit up all the time. The Marlins had depth even before they became good. Max Meyer, Eury Perez and Sandy Alcantara were all there, dormant, even before they became the keys to this rotation's success. Sandy had a rough start, Perez had a rough start...look at 'em now. Perez now leads the team in WHIP with 1.105, and has 89 Ks and a 3.84 ERA. Meyer is still looking very sharp, with a 9-1 record, a 2.58 ERA and 116 Ks. And even if this isn't peak Cy Young era Sandy, the guy still looks good, leads the league in IP with 123 and has a 10-4 record with 92 Ks. The back half is a little shakier, it's Tyler Phillips and a pen game, but it's working. Way better than the Nats'.

And with the amount of offensive depth the Marlins came into this season with, a moment like this where almost every option is a good one is pretty satisfying. Kyle Stowers was hurt for a bit, then cold for a month. And NOW he's taking off again, with 12 homers and 41 RBIs, plus an .801 OPS, making up for lost time. Stowers is very much the same kind of power bat that blew up last year, and while his sustainability is still in question, he's still crucial to the team's current success. Owen Caissie just got injured, so Stowers, who'd been filling in at 1st, will get more OF time. But even still bench OF options Griffin Conine and Esteury Ruiz are still pretty good. Having to choose between Heriberto Hernandez and Griffin Conine is still a pretty nice choice. It also helps that Marsee seems to be heating up a little, and that Liam Hicks has no issue filling in at 1st while Joe Mack continues his excellent campaign behind the plate. Also very cool that Javier Sanoja seems to have won the race for third by default, and is getting time there everyday. 

The core of this team being Otto Lopez, Xavier Edwards and Kyle Stowers is something that I never thought would work, but they're winning games and outhitting great teams [THE MARINERS]. I hope it keeps going, and I hope they can shock some people further down the stretch. 

Coming Tomorrow- A Tigers pitcher that has stayed healthy all season and probably won't be leaving anytime soon. What a concept, right?

Trey Magnifique

 

First of all. The question on everyone's minds. HOW HAS DYLAN CEASE NEVER MADE AN ALL-STAR GAME BEFORE THIS?? He was good enough in 2022. He was good enough in 2024. He's hit 200 strikeouts in every season since the pandemic! I understand this has been a terrific season from him thus far but we didn't need to wait til now to get him to the ASG. At the same time, the Jays paid a bit too much for him, but so far he's been worth every penny. Phenomenal. Yes, he missed a few starts, but the quality wasn't sacrificed. Look at how far he went yesterday against the Giants. Incredible.

Okay. Onto our regularly scheduled Jays post. The Blue Jays massive really turned out at the ballot box earlier this month....I assume because Canadians are used to elections actually accomplishing something. People like Kazuma Okamoto, George Springer, Alejandro Kirk, Daulton Varsho, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Andres Gimenez and Jesus Sanchez made the final 2 for voting, which begs the question...what did they have against Nathan Lukes? Ernie Clement was the one the rest of the country agreed with, as he won the top voting share and waltzed to the first team. He deserves it. I also think Okamoto maaaaybe deserved it the way he's been playing recently. But no, everybody else missed out. A little 'serves them right', but generally the reserves pick more from the also-rans than this. And remember, John Schneider is MANAGING THIS TEAM. He could have done what Joe Torre did in like 2002 and elect everybody to the team anyway, but he decided, no, a lot of them don't really deserve it, let's just get the best guys. And yeah, that works too. 

It points to the fact that this Jays team may not be as great as the fans want it to be. The 2025 team, as fun as it was, was extremely flukey, similar to the 2015-2016 runs. It hinged on finding momentum at the exact right time and not letting go. The Jays this year haven't really found much momentum at all, because they don't have the team to hang onto it. Vladdie's not at 100% this year, the team has a .686 OPS cumulatively, there's an injury-plagued gaping hole in left that Jonatan Clase is now trying to fill, and only one guy has over 10 homers or 40 RBIs...that being the newcomer Okamoto. This isn't a particularly well-hitting team, which is such a shame after last year, the land of the .300 hitters and all. Aside from Clement and Okamoto, what's really going on here at all? Even Lukes and Varsho are slumping. 

Which is making this a waste of a similarly well-pitched year, after 2025. Cease and Gausman are very strong at the front, and Trey Yesavage is settling into a pretty breezy full season campaign, with a 3.13 ERA, 68 Ks and a 1.077 WHIP. Yesavage was very quickly-lauded in Toronto last year, and for a reason; he's young, he's likable, he's not flashy, and he gets the job done. His work in the postseason may have been the best pitching stats from a Toronto pitcher in over 30 years. I hope the Jays can reap the benefits of Yesavage for a while. I do, alternatively, worry about Shane Bieber, as he's looked pretty cooked in 3 starts back. I'd hate to think he was down for the count, especially after how good HE was last postseason. Without Berrios or Bowden Francis, the back half's failings are even more noticeable. But at least Louis Varland also exists, that helps.

I don't know what place there even is for the Jays this year, or what role they can fill. They could truly catch fire in the next month or so, but I don't know if that's enough in a sure-to-be contentious AL wild card picture. 

Coming Tonight: Hurt for a while, cold for a while...back to hitting dingers like he never left. 

A Decade Indoors

 

Considering that I always saw him as the young, fresh face that got traded for Jean Segura, it's wild to me that Ketel Marte's been in the league for a decade, and is now in his tenth season in Phoenix. This D-Backs team is deceptively young, it's wild that they have people who've been here over 5 years, or over 10 years, and are still good.

Marte's actually put together a pretty damn good career for himself. A cumulative 37.8 WAR, a career .822 OPS, 3 80+ RBI seasons, a power bat that shows up every so often and a .280 average. I don't think he's a future Hall of Famer or anything, but he is one of the most consistent players in his league, and a very steady guy to have around. The closest thing to a down period Marte's had was an injury-plagued 2021 followed by a still-not-100% 2022. But from 2023 on he's routinely been one of the best all-around players in the game, keeping the D-Backs in the conversation and meshing well with new stars like Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo. He's the guy you want to stick around, even if he's less in the category of 'elite' and more in the category of 'underratedly good'. 

Right now Marte is hitting .267 with an .810 OPS, 17 homers and 54 RBIs. For his standards, it's good if imperfect. It took a little longer for Marte's season to get going than usual, and while he does lead the team in homers and RBIs, it's a less all-around performance than usual. Compared to Carroll, who's good at everything right now, and is tripling all over the place. Marte is 32, and he's got 4 years left on the contract after this one, and he's very much still in his prime, but the time has come for the new breed to take over, and Carroll, Perdomo and Moreno are very much that.

What's troubling, though, is the lack of a next step after them. So far this season, the D-Backs have called up Jose Fernandez, Ryan Waldschmidt, LuJames Groover, Tommy Troy and Adrian Del Castillo....and none of them have worked. The same schtick every time, too. 'LOOK AT THIS GUY, HE'S ABOUT TO BE SO GOOD, GET READY', he hits .182 in 2 weeks, back to the minors, then the next one. Waldschmidt and Fernandez have promise, of the bunch, but it wasn't sustainable. If a 34-year-old Ildemaro Vargas is a better 1B bat than you, you're not ready yet. The rotation youth is similar. They tried Mitch Bratt, it didn't work. They are trying Jose Cabrera, he's been decent in three starts but not revolutionary. Kelly and Gallen are tired, Pfaadt might not be the answer, and it can't just be down to Rodriguez and Burnes next year. 

As good as this core can be, I'm still very worried about long term solutions, because none have shown up this year. And remember, this is a team with Druw Jones in its farm system. Remember him? He's still in double-A, playing very okay. A Rockies-esque 'stop and wait for better prospects' strategy might have to be in order very soon.

Coming Tomorrow: I reckon Canada's kinda sad their World Cup adventure ended so early, but at least they've got this guy to look forward to for a while.