Trea Per View

 

Okay. This is the guy we thought we were getting when we gave him all that money. Like Harper, it took a solid year for him to get situated in Philly, but Trea Turner is doing exactly what made him one of the best hitters in baseball back in Washington and LA.

The only thing that has managed to stop Turner this year has been a brief injury back in May, but otherwise he's been phenomenal. A .339 average on the year, 35 RBIs, 12 home runs, and only 12 steals but again, he's missed time. Turner's .923 OPS is the highest of any Phillie not named Harper. And he narrowly defeated Mookie Betts to start an All-Star Game this year. Just like we knew he would, Turner's gone on a tear at the plate, and he's become one of the most beloved Phillies on a team with so many great players and great 2024 performances. 

The issue with Turner is that he's not as good of a shortstop as he used to be. There was an idea to move him back to 2nd and move Stott to short, but I'm not sure how keen they are at implementing that. It's very clear how much the quality changes at short once Sosa's moved in there. And yes, Alec Bohm isn't a great third baseman either, so like half of your infield is a liability. I've seen Turner make errors at short, and him being an awesome hitter definitely saves that. But this Phillies team has so many 'great hitter, can't defend' types. Schwarber, Castellanos, Bohm, now Turner. People want the Phillies to deal for Rooker, and we really don't need another DH right now. At least Robert and Arozarena can play the field. 

But yes, Turner still being a .300+ hitter certainly helps, and having him and Harper in the same lineup, and both surging, is definitely keeping Phillies fans optimistic. I know it's become a little rockier lately because the Pirates series didn't go well, and the A's series didn't go well, but this team still has a ton of momentum, a ton of great assets, and a full rotation. Neither Wheeler nor Suarez needed to go on the IL, and Tyler Phillips managed to slide right into Walker's spot and immediately start pitching like he's been here for years. Wheeler and Suarez ruled the first half, and now that they're slowing down slightly Sanchez, Nola and Phillips are heating up. This is how we conserve the rotation going forward, and I love that we're noticing wear without immediately risking injury. 

I think the Phils will continue to be this strong, and the deadline will certainly help. This team has a strong chance of succeeding this fall, and it's gonna require a core that stays hot, and keeps showing up in the big game moments. If Turner can keep doing this, we might be alright.

Coming Tonight: There hasn't been a lot said about the Guardians' rotation this year, but this guy's doing pretty well for himself. 

Mounting Tension

 

So you're telling me that the Detroit Tigers' scouts currently have men in Norfolk, looking specifically at Connor Norby, Cody Mayo and Kyle Stowers, three great organizational pieces that do not have room to play in Baltimore, while, the Orioles soldier on with a giant Tarik Skubal-shaped hole in their rotation? Is that what you're telling me? How about that?

Look, we'll know in like 10 days how many of these approximate deals and fits actually start going through. Cause we have heard a nice amount of, like, 'oh, the Pirates are looking at Jazz Chisholm' or 'ooh, the Red Sox want Garrett Crochet', but it's all mindless speculation til trades start actually happening. But the Tigers scouts arriving in Norfolk is a pretty consequential step. Because Norby and Stowers would get a ton of playing time in Detroit, and if it's not them there are other prospects they can choose from, because Norfolk is just full of people that can't fit on the O's right now. Like, forget that Holliday's trying to make his way back, there's all these other guys as well. It's getting kind of insane, actually, and it's a really good problem for the Orioles to have. Remember like 4 years ago when nobody wanted to play for this team? Now we're here.

The thing that is slightly concerning with the O's chasing Skubal is if you go back a year, you have a perfectly good reason why they should be wary about chasing a 'surefire' starting weapon. Hell, Jack Flaherty's literally on the same staff as Skubal right now. I think Flaherty was my #1 on last year's Trade Deadline deals list, which...yeah, didn't age well at all. Flaherty completely fell apart upon arriving in Baltimore. Now, Skubal is a much different pitcher than Flaherty, and has had less moments of out-and-out struggling. But there's still the factor that as good as this team is, they could still fail to make the leap.

Still, the O's are commanding the AL East at the moment, even as the Yankees try to claw their way back. Everybody in the lineup other than Jorge Mateo has over 30 RBIs, and four guys have over 50 RBIs. Ryan Mountcastle isn't the overwhelming power bat as he's been in past years, but he's still having a decent enough year, with 12 homers and 43 RBIs. Both Henderson and Santander are on the Top 5 HR list at the moment. Despite Bradish and Means being done for the year, Albert Suarez and Dean Kremer have improved as of late. I get why they want Skubal, they want a third piece after Burnes and Rodriguez. Their rotation isn't bad at the moment, but they have some B and C guys where there should be more A's, I get that.

It'd be amazing if the O's succeed at the deadline and do it in a way that doesn't gut their further development. I know, the Yankees winning it all would be incredible, but the O's getting there as well would also be amazing. 

Coming Tomorrow- I think it was the injury that made me slightly surprised he got an ASG nod, but then I remembered he hasn't not been amazing this year.

The Sunday of Suffering

 

I wanna bring you guys back to last weekend for a moment. Right before the All-Star Break. This was the moment something completely indescribable happened to me, and a friend, that I feel only existed as part of some wild cosmic justice. There was no sense in this. It still baffles me. But it happened.

So. I'm following the Phils game, and it's been a wild couple days. I was at the Park Friday night, Phils-A's, expecting, logically I might add, for the Phillies to be able to do something against one of the worst teams in baseball. I was mistaken. The A's roughed up Ranger Suarez, the bats were silenced, runners were left on base, the umps were screwing us and we looked pathetic. A's I had never heard of were getting RBIs. And then Lawrence Butler, who's been very meh this year, comes off the bench and hits a homer late. Like, to add insult to injury, here's a guy that could have been here the whole time kicking the shit out of us now.

The Saturday game was much better. I watched that game in a colleague's backyard, several beers crushed enjoying the moment. Tyler Phillips, the starter, was a local product, and he was pitching beautifully. The offense kept making it even more of a stretch for Oakland. It was an incredible moment, and perhaps the single most triumphant thing to come out of Pennsylvania that day.

But that Sunday, the day after, was something different. I was gonna have the Phils game on in the other room, and a good friend of mine, who comes from a family of Mets fans, was going to his first game at CitiField. I'd been wanting him to go for a while, that's a great stadium, and he was finally getting there. The Mets were playing the Rockies, who had German Marquez back but were still a last place team. I told him it'd likely be an easy win. 

The Phillies...for the umpteenth time during the runup to the ASG break, failed to appear. And not only were the A's on again, but they were crushing Michael Mercado. Evidently Phillips won the fifth starting position that day, because Mercado got chased by a triple-A team. But what was even more crucial was that Lawrence Butler who, again, had a really slow start to the season...had a three-homer day against us. Butler could power hit, I knew that, but 3 in one day against the best team in the NL? He had five homers before the Phils series, and he left with nine. We turned his season around. Good for us.

So I checked the Mets game, because I was at least hoping my friend Marc got something nice out of that day, and Pete Alonso had decked one early so I figured there was a shot. No...no, Jose Quintana got chased and the Rockies were leading. Even stranger, Michael Toglia, a corner guy so mediocre that I had no idea he'd even gotten to 13 homers by July...had himself...a three-homer day. The guy's hitting .190 and he hit 3 home runs against the Mets.

So let's recap. Two different obscure young guys for two terrible teams had three-homer games against teams that were better than them, on the same day. And of course they were the two games I had a vested interest in that day. I don't know what this says about Butler or Toglia or anything, but...it was just wild. The harbingers of doom are two people that no one would expect to have three-homer days.

The Rockies and A's aren't gonna have many other moments of pure subversion this year. Both will likely end in last, and both will get mediocre material out of Toglia and Butler this year. But they had that Sunday, that moment, to absolutely floor me. And they deserve props for that.

Coming Tonight: I never thought this guy would become such a consistent power hitter, and such a consistent starting infielder, but here we are.

How to Make an Entrance

 

The All-Star Break, being the dividing line of the regular season, seems to separate the big 2nd half stories from bleeding over into the 1st half. So if you debut right at the end of the first half, you need to make sure you make enough of an impression to still be a factor after people return from the break. And I think this year you had people that figured that out.

Right before the Reds went to break, everyone started talking about Rece Hinds. Not only did he debut with a bang, he debuted with some of the biggest exclamation points of any rookie in years. His first game featured a massive homer, then he cracked another one a game later. And he just kept going. At the moment, through his first nine games, Rece Hinds has a .353 average, 11 RBIs, 5 home runs, and a whopping 1.359 OPS. The man is not only hitting, he is mashing, and he's absolutely annihilating baseballs. Considering that in Louisville he'd only had 13 homers in 77 games, and was only hitting .216, this is a wild development.

It's also wild that Hinds was the Reds rookie that took to the majors so quickly. Jacob Hurtubise got a shot, but he hit .185. Blake Dunn got his opportunity, but he only had 1 hit in 12 games. Even second-year Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who was given the starting 1B spot out of camp, only hit .190 before getting injured. Of all the Reds hitters to make their way up, Rece Hinds was the big winner, and he did so in a way that commanded the attention of the league right before the ASG break. It's a fantastic turn of events. 

It's not certain that this start will mean anything for the rest of Hinds' career. It would be nice to think that this is just how frequently he'll power hit going forward. He has been quieter since coming back from the break. I kinda want him to keep going, though. Screw it, it'll be fun. 

Meanwhile, Drew Thorpe managed to make the majors this year two organizations later than he figured he would. Famously, Thorpe was a big pitching piece in the Yankees' organization, one of our most prized guys last year. And then he's the sole 'BIG PROSPECT' dealt in the Juan Soto deal. Thorpe was honestly the 'big deal' guy in there. Higgy and King were transitional pieces, Vazquez and Brito were depth options, but Thorpe was a starter of the future. And so the prospect of him in San Diego was somewhat alarming.

Then, as the Padres continued their push to compete in mid-camp, they traded for Dylan Cease, sending Thorpe to the White Sox, meaning he never even got to develop in the Padres' system. He made Spring Training starts for the Padres! And then he's off to Chicago. So it's wild that he gets to be a factor in their major league picture at all but, you know...they need guys. Everyone's either hurt of leaving for the White Sox, they need guys. And so he get called up in late June and gets to start some games.

Thorpe has had a pretty nice start for the Sox, going 3-1 with a 3.58 ERA and 19 Ks. He's had a really quick learning curve to the majors, he's not drowning under the weight of pitching for the worst team in the league, and he's coming off as confidently as he did in the Yankees' minor league system. This is extremely good for the White Sox, as they're already thinking about life after July, and how things will go if Crochet, Fedde or both get dealt.

The weird part is that as terrible as the White Sox have been this year, the rotation of Garrett Crochet, Erick Fedde, Jonathan Cannon, Chris Flexen and Drew Thorpe has honestly been pretty damn good. The closest thing to a pure innings eater is Flexen, and even he's got a 0.8 WAR, which is good for this team. Cannon and Flexen are just good at staying in and preventing complete meltdowns, while Fedde and Crochet are generally very good. Obviously taking them out of the equation will result in poorer results, as...I mean, does that mean Chad Kuhl and Nick Nastrini have to start games? Thorpe will at least ensure it's not a complete wash, but Crochet and Fedde are ensuring this hasn't been a 17 win team, even if 27 wins isn't lovely either. 

Thorpe definitely has legs, and needs to just keep performing to this level even as the team gets worse. This is not what he thought he'd be getting last year in Scranton, but this is the reality, and he's good enough to ensure it's not always this dire.

Coming Tomorrow- A guy who hit four homers against my team last weekend.

Peace, Love and Understaffing

 

The Marlins have SIX STARTING PITCHERS on the Injured list. Five of them are on the 60-Day IL. Two of them, Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez, have not made an appearance this season. There's a lot of talk this season about teams that have been screwed over by starter injuries, teams like the Astros, Dodgers and A's, but you haven't really heard much about the Marlins in this category, purely due to the theory that if they'd been any good this year then the pitching stuff wouldn't matter. 

I...I really disagree. The issue with this team is that if Luzardo had been 100%, if Alcantara and Perez had been healthy, then maybe the lack of run support would be less glaring, and this team would be closer to the Tigers or Mariners. If this had been a good season for starters, then they would be able to develop the minor league pitchers and ensure that they'd be ready for MLB action instead of being shoved right into the fire this year. Roddery Munoz will be a fine pitcher, I'm sure, but of course he has a 5.50 ERA right now. If he'd been able to develop naturally he wouldn't be pressured to be the Marlins No. 2 guy right now.

So who does that make the Marlins #1 guy? Trevor Rogers, who hasn't been completely healthy since 2021. He had an amazing rookie season, overtaxed himself resulting in a 5 ERA sophomore year, was injured for most of last year, and was still kind of rehabbing to start 2024. He is better now, and got his ERA below five, thanks to some really strong recent starts, including one where he had a no-no going til Elly de la Cruz had his say. Unfortunately, with the Marlins lack of run support he is 1-9, and even with Yonny Chirinos and Edward Cabrera behind him he's still the most experienced man in this rotation.

The Marlins are looking like they're gonna deal Jazz Chisholm, Tanner Scott, and possibly even Josh Bell. And if you're clearing things out and letting this team grow back in, even after a postseason year, you hopefully have people ready. I don't know who the heir apparent for this system is right now. Unlike a lot of rebuilding teams, there isn't really a guy that Marlins fans are waiting for. Like at least the D-Backs are waiting for Druw Jones, or the Reds are now waiting for Chase Burns. I don't know what the Marlins are waiting for. Better prospects in these trades? The pitchers to get off the IL? Bryan de la Cruz to finally hit over .250? 

It's such tonal whiplash for the Marlins. One year the excitement's there, the next year it's pointless. Over and over. And you hope for a reprieve but you don't know what that'll take. So you just have to hope something sticks, and for more than a year.

Coming Tonight: The Yankees gave him up. The Padres gave him up. Their loss, I suppose. I mean, y'know, they have Juan Soto and Dylan Cease now, but their loss.

Bo-Be-Gone?

 

After years of building themselves up as titans in a division that was already highly contested, the Blue Jays are looking like they're gonna let a lot of people walk this month. Kevin Kiermaier, Yimi Garcia, Danny Jansen, Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Turner and Trevor Richards have all been linked to trade talks, and there has been a buzz about the Jays moving one of their two foundational pieces, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. They both have another year of organizational ownership, but Vlad's stock is high, and Bo's young enough that he could be useful to any competitive roster. 

However, just today there appeared a snag in the plan, as Bo Bichette was placed on the IL with a calf strain. Bichette's 2024 numbers were already pretty lackluster, as he's only hitting .223 with 30 RBIs, but there is so much going for Bo as a multi-dimensional athlete with years left in his prime. You've seen it in the past few seasons, when Bo's on, he's one of the best in the game. He can hit 300, go for 175+ hits, chase 25 homers, and keep pounding for you. 2024, as it's looking, may be Bo's first season with a batting average under .290. My theory is whatever injury limited him late last year has taken longer for him to come back from, and he may just need to rehab that and come back fully in 2025.

That doesn't mean teams won't still deal for him, and it doesn't mean he won't still be a valuable asset this year. I just worry that this just might be a down year for him, and even if a competitor trades for him they're not gonna get much out of the rest of this season. Again, there's also the possibility that nobody deals for him because of the injury concern. You've seen this stop people [Zack Wheeler in 2019] and not stop people [Harrison Bader in 2022] in numerous trade deadlines.

The Blue Jays, in the meantime, don't seem to have much left to do this season, it seems. They're firmly in last, their ace Kevin Gausman wore himself out last year, and their other ace Jose Berrios wore himself out in the first half. They're without Jordan Romano, without Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and now without Bichette, so Canada, Hawaii and the 90s are all turning their backs on this team. South Jersey's still tuned in, as Davis Schneider, who's from a few towns over from me and is apparently a great guy, is still a crucial part of this team. The team has been getting a look at what the middle infield could look like without Bo, as Spencer Horwitz and Leo Jimenez have been excellent in middle-infield starts. And Yariel Rodriguez is at least assuring that there will be some starting security if people leave. 

But, even if Vlad and Bo stay, there's just not much excitement left for this Jays team to deliver. It looked so promising for so long, and yet here we are. Sometimes it doesn't work out. So hopefully it will eventually.

Coming Tomorrow- First Sandy Alcantara went down. Then Jesus Luzardo and Ryan Weathers went down. Then Braxton Garrett and Sixto Sanchez went down. Which leaves...uh...

Yaz If

In 2022, Mike Yastrzemski played in 148 games with the Giants. While it wasn't his best season, it was his most consistent one to date, and his fullest in his entire career. So far, thanks to injuries, it is the only year of Yaz's career to hit this mark. Comparatively, another Yastrzemski family member hit that mark fifteen times over the course of a 23-year career. 

Obviously there's a lot of factors at play here, like the frequency of injuries in this stage of baseball, the fact that Carl started his career at 21 while Mike was first called up at 28 [after years in the minors], and really the ultimate reality that Carl is just a better all-around player because he could hit for average more...and back then you weren't instructed to swing at everything. But it is kinda sad that Mike Yastrzemski hasn't achieved the level of consistency that his grandfather so memorably got to legend status with for the Red Sox. 

There are still perks, of course. Mike is off to a 2.0 WAR start, with excellent defensive numbers, in addition to 8 homers and 31 RBIs. He's not as overpowering as he was in 2019 or 2020, but he's also nearing his mid-30s, and he's already missed time this year. I really wish the O's would have let us see some of his peak years, but...y'know...apparently he wasn't ready for the 2017 Orioles, guys. 

Yaz is one of many very wild 'what would have happened?' stories on this current Giants team. Cause I do think about what would have happened if some of these guys had developed with the teams that drafted them. If Thairo Estrada actually got reps in New York at 2nd. If LeMonte Wade Jr. actually got to play 1st regularly in Minnesota. Hell, I even think about what would have happened had Heliot Ramos started playing like this in 2022 rather than just now. Things would look a lot different. But as it is, they're all playing for this halfway decent Giants team that's just trying to make something happen.

You're seeing them try to lift off again. Blake Snell's suddenly sprung back to life and has been peak Snell. Hayden Birdsong is already looking like a pro. Chapman and Conforto have had some hero moments. It just makes you wish that Lee and Soler had worked out the way some of these other guys have, because they're really almost there. They're just not catching fire like other NL West teams are, and it might do them in, even with Bob Melvin there.

For now, Yaz will have to make do with what he's got, and hope that it's enough. As usual.

Coming Tonight: From the talk of the baseball world to looking at where he's gonna be pawned off to.