Clayton "Under the Radar" Kershaw

When you're one of the best pitchers in baseball, having won 3 Cy Young awards and an MVP...you can afford to crouch behind Hyun-Jin Ryu for a season.

I'll be frank, this has been Clayton Kershaw's best season since 2017. True, right now he has his highest season ERA since 2010, with 2.83, but he's got a 10-2 record, he's got 122 strikeouts, and he's one of the most valuable pitchers on the team. He's not showing off. That's the main point of all of this.

I mean, back in the early days of the decade, he was REALLY showing off, leading the leagues in strikeouts 3 times and in ERA 5 times. But...he's gotten enough career accolades that he can just...have a perfectly solid season without there being many trumpets attached to them, which I can respect. I don't think it's an indictment on Kershaw's career arc, like 'oh, this is the end of his prime numbers', or anything like that. This is still a solid season for any other great pitcher, especially one playing for the best team in baseball. He's got two months left, and odds are he'll end up with like 17 or so wins, and 200 strikeouts, so we'll be fine. Kershaw's still a Hall of Famer, he's just having a normal-for-him season. Which is still awesome.

The rest of the team ain't too shabby either. Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin are covering some rotation spots, and it's all going well. May has been rightfully dubbed Gingergaard, while nobody seems to have followed my lead on calling Gonsolin 'Tony Clifton', because THAT IS WHO HE LOOKS LIKE. THAT DOUBLE CHIN ISN'T HELPING. Both have been great additions to the fold so far, and Kershaw, Maeda, Ryu and Buehler have been solid. Buehler is leading the team in strikeouts with 150, which is nice, even if we're not at Gerrit Cole levels quite yet.

And not only do we still have the Will Smith/Matt Beaty rookie combo still going wild at the plate, but Kris Negron, a guy who was less traded to the Dodgers and more DFA'd conveniently, is batting .400 with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs in 6 games. This is one of those teams where even the bench could kill ya if they wanted to, and with Pederson and Russ Martin on there, they certainly can.

The Dodgers keep impressing me more and more with every win milestone. I hope they keep it up.

Coming Tonight: One of the many trusted home run hitters in the Bronx.

Air Yordan

The Astros are one of those teams that just keeps surprising you, even when you think they're out of tricks. You think there's enough established players in the lineup? Think there's no room for rookies? Well, here's a rookie DH that might be there for years.

Yordan Alvarez burst onto the scene in mid-June as an alternate DH option to George Springer and Tyler White. Well, now Springer's stuck to OF spots and White's in LA, so now you know how well their endeavor went. Alvarez, get this, has 41 RBIS IN 41 GAMES. If my math is correct, that comes out to about 1 RBI per game. He's also got 13 home runs, and is hitting .340, which is a good place for a DH to be.

Alvarez has helped bring the Astros back to their early-season dominance. They've got 6 guys over 3.0 WAR, the entire lineup has over 10 home runs, Wade Miley has the highest rotation ERA with 3.05, and the lowest amount of strikeouts with 112, and...oh yeah, Aaron Sanchez, Joe Biagini and friends just no-hit the Mariners the other night. They're getting back on that incline, and are about to usurp the Yankees as the best team in the AL.

I mean, people have said that the Astros are heading to the World Series again, and while I am one of those people, it is important to note that people who lead in August don't always still lead in October. There could be some pitfalls they hit later this month, because...you know Greinke's not gonna be perfect right off the bat, and you know somebody else'll get injured. But they're still impressing the hell out of me, and they could keep their dynasty going for a little longer.

Coming Tonight: ...yeah, still the greatest pitcher in the game right now.

Newman, Old Problems

...remember back in, like, May, when these guys were in fourth and actually had a chance?

The Pirates are now second-worst in the NL, and this has happened because the once tight-knit NL Central race has broken wide open, as now the Reds, in fourth are 7.5 back, and the Cubs, in first, are nearing 60 wins. Progress from the part when everybody was a win away from each other.

Good news is now that they're in last, there's less pressure. They can let guys like Bryan Reynolds and Kevin Newman blossom into great young players without the spotlight yelling at them. Newman is having a nice rookie year as well, hitting .311 with 95 hits and 37 RBIs in 82 games. Reynolds is batting .333, and is making up for the loss of Corey Dickerson. And Josh Bell is one of the best power hitters in baseball, with an MLB-leading 89 RBI, and 34 doubles. This guy is not only for real, he is the new Pirates superstar, and it sucks he's coming to form on such a subpar Pirates team.

And with Lyles gone, Taillon and Brault injured, and only Trevor Williams, Joe Musgrove and Chris Archer holding up the rotation, it's nice that Dario Agrazal is also having a nice rookie year, with a 3.65 ERA in 7 starts. And at least Felipe Vazquez is still on the team, he and his 21 saves. The team may be in last, but this is not a completely cooked team, nor is it a team that's gonna be massacred in the offseason. There's still a core that needs one or two pieces more to be completely developed, and that could take another year or so, but I don't think this entire incarnation of the team will have to be dismantled in order for it to happen.

The Pirates of yore, the ones who made the playoffs, may be gone, but...that doesn't mean the Pirates are gonna go back to mid-2000s levels of sucking.

Coming Tomorrow- The Astros needed a DH. And BOY HOWDY, DID THEY GET ONE?

Tigers Update: There's No Point Edition

The Tigers lost their two best players last week: Shane Greene and Nick Castellanos are now playing for competitors, and working towards rings they had no chance of getting in Detroit.

So, where does that leave the worst team in baseball? Arguably in the right direction.

In the past week, the Tigers have called up two top prospects: catcher Jake Rogers, and right fielder Travis Demeritte. They're both 24, they've both cooked in the minors for a while, and they both have spots, finally, on the 40-man. Rogers' is really because their catching options are so dire right now, but Demeritte is up because Castellanos, their previous right-field option, is gone, and...any others can't hit after a while.

Rogers and Demeritte will hopefully break the trend of great prospects coming up and hitting like hell for a week only to hit .170 the rest of their time up. Because Christin Stewart, Greyson Greiner and Ronny Rodriguez have been big disappointments for their farm system, which needs to cough up ready players before the inevitable playoff run caused by the call-ups of Casey Mize, Isaac Paredes and Riley Greene. In like 2023.

The pitching prospects have done...a little better? Tyler Alexander and Spencer Turnbull have made the most of their call-ups, while Ryan Carpenter...has not. At least I can say with certainty that once Fulmer returns next year, and once Matt Moore figures out how to stay healthy, we could run with a Boyd-Fulmer-Moore-Turnbull-Norris/Alexander rotation. Which...in the grand scheme of things, is not bad.

The lineup is what needs the most overhaul work. Jeimer Candelario is probably their best offensive asset, and even HE'S batting .201. At least Brandon Dixon has FINALLY figured how to hit for average, with a .260 along with his [sigh] CLUB-LEADING 14-home runs. At least Miguel Cabrera's batting .283, despite his...general inefficiency. But even if the kids are coming, a LOT of this lineup needs to be thrown out, because none of it is working.

I don't know how many crappy Tigers teams I'll be forced to cover. At least the White Sox after a while picked a strategy and ran with it. And...interestingly enough, I'll be seeing how well they fare against my hometown team later today.

Coming Tonight: It's his birthday today! He's a hard-hitting rookie in a plummeting NL Central team, but at least he's a trusted asset by the time he's turned 26.

Marlins Update: Uh...

...yeah.

Yeah, this...this isn't fun anymore.

I was getting ready to start crowning the pitching staff as the next great mega-rotation, but...now that Trevor Richards and Zac Gallen are gone, we can't even get that? I swear to god, the concept of drinking and boating has RUINED this frigging team.

[I'm sorry. I'm very sorry. This joke may be wrong, but I'm not]

The rotation, as it stands, is just Jordan Yamamoto, Caleb Smith, Sandy Alcantara and Elieser Hernandez. So...is the plan to wait until Jose Urena returns mid-month? Is it to roll the dice on letting Wei-Yin Chen start a game? Do they give it to Adam Conley? Do they call up their best AAA option, which is [checks notes] [double takes] HECTOR NOESI???? THE HELL KIND OF PLOT TWIST IS THIS???

I mean, the bullpen is beginning to reform, and I think they want Jose Quijada to close games (or Adam Conley, I really can't tell?), so that's slightly less problematic.

I mean, good thing the lineup's working or else this would be another dire year for the Marlins. There's a strong core of Miguel Rojas, Brian Anderson, Starlin Castro, Garrett Cooper and Harold Ramirez, and Jorge Alfaro is continuing his record of being a slightly rusty starting catching option. Curtis Granderson is also a relatively reliable outfield option, which is...kinda nice I can still that in 2019. The bench, and rookie come-ups, are slightly disappointing, but...hopefully this team can build off this foundation. If not, this is gonna be a long couple years.

I wanna be optimistic for this Marlins team, but...since that fateful 2016 day, they've been consistently unable to sustain a core. And I'm worried it's gonna continue.

Coming Tomorrow- An offensive standout for the single most boring team to talk about in the MLB.

A Dahl's House

Kind of weird that a team that seems to have a lot of its roster, including its lineup, set in stone, is in last place in the NL West.

Look, with this division in its weirdness, a bad week can land a team in last, and recently the Rox have had several bad weeks. The entire month of July was atrocious for this team, with so many consecutive losses, and only 6 wins throughout the entire month. It's not really indicative of the team, as it's really the rotation that's slipped a bit, and Wade Davis has become less consistent.

The lineup is...pretty damn solid. The obvious standouts are Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story and Tony Wolters, but...David Dahl has come into his own in the outfield, and has platooned with Raimel Tapia and Ian Desmond for a relatively strong outfield combo. Hell, even Ryan McMahon has looked sharp, which definitely helps, considering that he looked pretty pathetic last year. And while Daniel Murphy's numbers are the most pedestrian that they've been since his Mets days, he's still got 59 RBIs and a .289 average, which isn't bad.

I honestly doubt this team will spend a great deal more time in last, considering who's on, and what's working. They're tied with the Padres for last, and they have a bit less right now, but...the Rockies' starting pitching, aside from Jon Gray, has become a bit more concerning, and the ERAs are the type of high that can be expected from Colorado.

I'm not thinking they're gonna accomplish much else this season, but the goal should be to stay out of last. Shouldn't be too hard.

Coming Tomorrow- Speaking of last place teams, this guy's looking like a serious performer for this specific one.

Where Does This Leave Them? Royals & Orioles

This is a variant on 'Crappy Team Roundup', which I did last August a few times to combine posts from teams I don't have a ton to write about. Seeing as people just got traded a few days ago, I do want to put into perspective what these teams still have, because some guys really got picked clean. Inadvertently, I wound up with the 2014 ALCS matchup. Oh, how I sometimes wish that the O's had made the Series that year.

We'll start with the Royals, who lost Jake Diekman, Homer Bailey and Martin Maldonado. At first glance, that looks like nothing, but as you zoom in, you realize that now their starting catcher is Cam Gallagher. This is the Drew Butera thing all over again. You limit your backup options so much, and you wind up with a bland backup once the trades come. Yes, this won't especially be a problem in a year when Salvador Perez returns, but...Cam Gallagher is a very okay catcher, and his backup, a rookie named Meibrys Viloria, is probably the better option, as he's a better hitter. But I imagine come next year he'll be traded to some team who needs a catcher and wind up with a career somewhere else, because the Royals are banking hard on Gallagher.

As for the pitching? The Royals slid Mike Montgomery into Bailey's open spot in the rotation, and it...hasn't especially worked. Montgomery has had a 7.94 ERA with 10 earned runs in 3 games, which is...honestly, the kind of start I would have expected from Homer Bailey. The rest of the rotation, Duffy, Keller, Junis and Sparkman, are all exceedingly okay. And while Diekman wounds the bullpen, they still have some decent arms left, like the wonderfully named Richard Lovelady (I knew I'd get a chance to write about him again)

So the Royals, while lessened, are still basically where they were before the deadline.

The Orioles faired...a little better.

There were swirling rumors that someone like Hanser Alberto, Mychal Givens, Jonathan Villar or Trey Mancini would be dealt, but they all stuck around. The only real piece that they lost was Andrew Cashner, who's dealing in Boston now, so on the surface you can't really see much damage.

But...these are the last place Orioles, though. The damage is beneath the surface.

Yes, only one starter was lost, but only Bundy and John Means are competent, and only Bundy is still healthy. Guys like David Hess, Gabriel Ynoa, and Asher Wojciechowski (wow, I spelled his name from memory this time), are filling starting spots, and they're not really doing a great job of it. And as for the bullpen...perhaps the fact that nobody was traded for in this bunch doesn't especially mean they were worth trading for.

Same kinda goes for the lineup. Yes, these guys can get some production, but not especially often. They still have 3 more years of Chris Davis to pay for, and are still waiting for Mark Trumbo to activate, and the rookies they banked on to carry the load, like Richie Martin, DJ Stewart, Cedric Mullins and Stevie Wilkerson, haven't really. And if Alberto, Villar and Mancini don't leave this year, they will certainly leave next year.

So...look...if the Orioles survived the deadline, that doesn't especially mean they still have a chance.

Coming Tomorrow- His team may be inching out of the NL Wild Card race, but he's still had a fantastic breakout season.