Worldwide Sports News

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani won the ESPY Award for Best Single-Game Performance.

Boxing legend Mike Tyson, boxer/influencer Jake Paul and music producer DJ Khaled announced Ohtani as the winner during the show. Ohtani was not in attendance.

Ohtani received the award for a performance against the Milwaukee Brewers, where he hit three home runs and pitched six scoreless innings, striking out 10 batters, in Game 4 of the 2025 National League Championship Series.

Ohtani has played a key role in leading the Dodgers to back-to-back World Series championships.

He was the league's leading vote-getter but withdrew from the MLB All-Star Game this week due to inflammation and irritation in his left knee. The discomfort in the knee impacted his pitching mechanics, and he was recently pulled from a scheduled start for the Dodgers.

This season, he has 98 hits, 65 runs, 22 home runs and 58 RBIs in 88 games played. On the mound, he's produced an 8-2 record in 14 starts, allowing 55 hits, 21 runs (17 earned runs) and four home runs. He has struck out 95 and walked 26.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani wins ESPY Award for Best Single-Game Performance

It’s another Wednesday evening here at BCB After Dark: the coolest night spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and cool off with us for a while. There’s no cover charge. We have a few good tables available. The show will start shorty. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night I asked you for your predictions of where the Cubs would finish the season. There was a pretty solid bell curve in the votes at 41 percent of you thought that the Cubs would get the first Wild Card and thus, home field advantage in the Wild Card round. Another thirty percent thought that they’d get a Wild Card spot but on the road and 18 percent of you think the Cubs will win the Division but not get a bye. I don’t know. I think if the Cubs catch the Brewers, they get a bye, but it’s certainly possible Milwaukee crashes to earth but the Braves take off, so I’m not going to disagree too strongly with that position.

Here’s the part with the music and the movies. You can do with it what you will. We’re here to please.

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Tonight we’re featuring drummer Jeff Hamilton and the Jeff Hamilton Trio at the Jazz Port Townsend Festival in Washington in 2022. This is also a broadcast on KNKX Public Radio in Seattle-Tacoma.

Joining Hamilton are Tamir Hendelman and Jon Hamar on bass.

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I haven’t had much time to watch films over the past week or so, but I wanted to give you something. So tonight we’re featuring Canadian director Guy Maddin’s six-minute silent film The Heart of the World (2000).

Maddin is one of the greatest iconoclastic and experimental filmmakers around. I’ll recommend his surrealist mockumentary My Winnipeg (2007) for the way it weaves a fictional history of the city of Winnipeg around a fictional history of his own family. What drew me to it in the first place is that he found an 86-year-old Ann Savage, the femme fatale of the all-time great 1945 film noirDetour, to play his mother. But what kept me in was the terrific black-and-white imagery as well as the bone-dry absurdist humor. Maybe I’ll write more about My Winnipeg another day.

But The Heart of the World is a rapid-fire, surrealist silent film shot in the style of the early Soviet filmmakers like Sergei Eisenstein. The plot, such as it is, is about Anna, a scientist who studies the earth’s core, where a beating heart exists. Literally. Anna looks down a tube and there is a diseased heart at the center of the earth’s core.

Anna has two men in love with her. The first in Nikolai, a young mortician. The second is Osip, an actor playing Christ in a passion play and who stays in character the entire film. Nikolai tries to impress Anna with his embalming skills and Osip tries to impress her with all the suffering he does as Christ.

A third man, an industrialist, comes into Anna’s life, and he’s a caricature of how the Soviets portrayed rich capitalists. But that relationship is interrupted by the Earth suffering a fatal heart attack. Anna must then slide down to the earth’s core to prevent the end of the world.

So yeah, if that sounds nuts, it is. Maddin has the images going a mile a minute, all accompanied by the frenetic beat of the Time Forward! March by Soviet composer Georgy Svirdov.Maddin packs around 100 shots per minute into the six-minute film, which gives the film a feel like it’s a one-hour movie sped up into six minutes. The imagery, while absurd, is also fascinating. It’s at once familiar to anyone who has seen silent movies (especially Soviet silent films) but also fresh in the way Maddin throws it all in together into one big stew. In this way, The Heart of the World is both a a loving tribute to silent film and a silly parody. But in the end, Maddin reaffirms the power of cinema to change the world. Unless that’s just a joke too.

I could go on about The Heart of the World, but it would be better for you to just watch it and decide for yourself. At six minutes, it’s shorter and probably more enlightening than any podcast your listening to right now.

Here’s the whole short film.

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Welcome back to whomever skips the music and movies.

I don’t think I have to tell any of you the Cubs are going to have to add pitching before the Trade Deadline. The Cubs have stayed afloat in the playoff hunt with all the pitching injuries they’ve had. But if they want to make some noise in the postseason, they will have to get some good, healthy arms.

Jon Heyman made a little noise by writing that the Braves, Rays and Cubs are expected to be the most aggressive teams going after Tarik Skubal. Now Heyman gave himself a little wiggle room there by saying “expected” and not claiming that he’s talked to Jed Hoyer about it, but it is one of the first indicators that the Cubs are interested in the two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner. Heyman is probably repeating the scuttlebutt that the front office executives are passing around, but they generally have a good idea what the market for players is.

I’m not going to directly ask you about Skubal tonight because I’ve done that fairly recently. Three weeks ago, you weren’t so keen to give up a lot for a two-month rental in Skubal. But there is another pitcher who has been linked to the Cubs lately and that’s Twins right-hander Joe Ryan.

Ryan is a very good pitcher, but he certainly doesn’t have the track record of Skubal. He’s a two-time All-Star but he’s never gotten a single Cy Young Award vote, for example. You can argue that Ryan has been the better pitcher than Skubal this year, because he has been. Ryan has a 2.85 ERA and a 2.77 FIP compared to 3.09 ERA and 3.06 FIP. But it should be noted that Ryan had a similarly excellent first half of 2025 and then fell off a cliff after the All-Star Break. Skubal was also hurt for a part of this season. He struggled in his first three games off of the IL, giving up nine runs over 16.1 innings. But in his last three starts, he’s only allowed four runs over 16 innings, which is a 2.25 ERA. He’s also struck out 23 and walked just three in those 16 innings. In other words, it looks like the old Tarik Skubal is back.

Skubal is a hard-throwing lefty whose fastball averages around 97 miles per hour. He’s also got a sinker that also comes in around 96, an upper-80s slider and a change. All four of those pitches rate from above average to plus. The Cubs don’t have anyone on their staff with anything like Skubal’s arsenal.

Ryan, on the other hand, is a right-hander who gets by on movement rather than velocity. His fastball is a pretty average 93 mph, but it has very good movement and “rise.” Yes, I know pitches don’t really rise. It’s the illusion of rise. It’s what scouts call an “invisiball” because it’s so hard for hitters to get a read on it. It’s a plus pitch despite the lack of pure velocity.

But Ryan also has a splitter, a sinker and a sweeping slider, all of which are at least average or better. This year he also seems to have junked his changeup for a better knuckle-curve. All-in-all, Ryan may not be a Cy Young Award candidate in most years, but he’s a very good pitcher who could anchor almost any rotation in the majors.

All things being equal, I would still go with the pure stuff and track record of Skubal over Ryan. But there are two big factors that might push the discussion towards Ryan. For one, Skubal makes $32 million this year and Ryan only makes $6.2 million. You might say that’s Tom Ricketts’ money and I don’t care and I’d say I agree with you. But Ryan might leave more money in the payroll for a second player acquisition at the deadline that Skubal doesn’t.

But the other factor is that Skubal becomes a free agent at the end of this season and Ryan doesn’t become one until the end of next year. So a trade for Skubal is just for the final two months of the season and the playoffs. With Ryan, you get the end of this year and all of next. Yes, Ryan will be in line for a big raise next year, but he’s not getting $32 million like Skubal did.

Neither pitcher will be cheap in terms of the quality of players the Cubs would have to surrender to get them. Matt Shaw, Jefferson Rojas, Jaxon Wiggins, Kane Kepley and maybe even Josiah Hartshorn are the types of players that would have to headline a deal to get one of those two pitchers. In other words, at least one and maybe more of the Cubs top-four prospects or Matt Shaw would have to go in a deal. Before someone misunderstands me, no. The Cubs aren’t trading all five of those players for a pitcher. At least one of those five would have to go along with maybe two more solid prospects from farther down the rankings.

So tonight’s question is, all things being equal, which pitcher would you rather the Cubs have? Skubal or Ryan? That is, if both the Tigers and Twins would accept the same package for their pitcher, which deal would you pull the trigger on? I’ll let you vote “neither” if you want. Spoilsport.

Thank you for stopping by tonight. We’re so glad to see a friendly face. Get home safely. Call a ride if you need to. Don’t forget any personal items. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next week for more BCB After Dark.

Usually, making predictions is a great way for us to make fools of ourselves. Even speculating on the future can do the job, as the Purple Row community will see as the staff revisits and updates our State of the Position series this week from preseason prognosticating to midseason reflection and projection. 

That being said, making predictions is still fun. 

With that in mind, what are your predictions for the post-All-Star portion of the 2026 season. While we’d love to hear all your predictions — big and small — here are four categories for a guide if you want them. 

Category 1: What are your predictions for the final record? 

Some will measure this in wins and others in losses. For my pick, I am hoping and believing the Rockies will finish with fewer than 100 losses — even if it’s just by one or two games. So maybe 63-99?

Category 2: What player will have the best second half? 

It could be a pitcher or a position player. He could end the season with the Rockies or not. My prediction is that Kyle Karros continues to tear it up and finishes with 20 home runs and a batting average over .275. 

Category 3: Who gets traded?

Same deal — this could be a position player or a pitcher. I am leaning toward Antonio Senzatela, who could be a valuable arm for a contender in exchange for some future bullpen arms.

Category 4: Outside-of-the-box predictions

What’s something wild that will happen in the second half? This could be a single-game performance, a final stat total or anything you can think of. 

I think Jake McCarthy hits another inside-the-park home run, bringing his total on the year to three. I am also predicting Hunter Goodman finishes with 50 homers, making his Home Run Derby omission embarrassing for MLB.

What do you all think? Feel free to expand the categories!

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Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

A native of Alpharetta, Georgia, Marcus Ward attended Kings Ridge Christian High School. A four-year letterman there, playing football as well as baseball, he was a First All-Region Team honoree this past spring, helping lead the Tigers to a 30-4 record and their second-consecutive Georgia High School Association Final Four.

At the plate, the 6’, 175-pound left-hander stands closed, holding his bat high, wrapping it behind his head almost parallel to the ground. He swings with a slight leg lift, shifting his weight forward with a whippy, long levered, planar swing that he is currently able to level out against pitches upstairs. He sprays the ball around the field with gap power, regularly posting exit velocities in the mid-80s in exhibition games and reaching as high as 99 MPH, but his slim, athletic frame is likely to fill in and add some natural muscle mass and power.

In the outfield, Ward has shown the ability to track balls well and take expeditious routes to them. He has a quick first step and his above-average speed gives him plenty of range. Once put outs are made, he has a strong and accurate arm, with throws from the outfield measured as high as 84 MPH.

An outfielder for the Tigers, Ward was drafted as a left-handed pitcher by the Mets. This may be a clerical error, or they may be interested in trying Ward out on the mound, where his fastball has been clocked as high as 89 MPH, complemented by a mid-70s slider, mid-60s curveball, and low-70s changeup.

Ward has a commitment to Western Carolina University.

It did not take long for the Nats to agree on a deal with 11th overall pick Chris Hacopian. The Nats signed the former Texas A&M and Maryland star to a $5.7 million deal. This is notable because it is about $430,000 under the $6.13 million slot value of the 11th pick.

The Nationals have signed first-round pick Chris Hacopian to an under-slot deal of $5.7 million, per a source.

Slot value of the 11th pick is $6,133,500.

— Spencer Nusbaum (@spencernusbaum_) July 15, 2026

Those savings will be important, especially for the Nats to sign their third and fourth round picks. High schoolers Luke Williams and Cooper Harris are likely to take over slot deals to buy them out of their college commitments. Hacopian taking a bit of a hair cut will help them get those two players.

Do not get it twisted though, Hacopian was not one of those picks where the Nats reached to get an underslot deal. Hacopian’s talent fit in this range, with Baseball America ranking him as the 11th best prospect in the draft and MLB Pipeline ranking him 14th. 

Hacopian is arguably the best pure hitter in the entire draft. He makes a ton of contact while also hitting the ball very hard. The 21 year old also makes good swing decisions, and has walked more than he has struck out at every level. His bat is legit, and could reach an even higher level if he learns to elevate his hard contact more consistently.

With the 11th overall pick the Washington Nationals select Chris Hacopian!

The @AggieBaseball INF when healthy is one of the most lethal hitters in the country pic.twitter.com/fzmC8R8sOP

— Jack DeLongchamps (@JDelongchamps) July 11, 2026

We have already broken down Hacopian, and have a cool story about him coming tomorrow, but it is hard to overstate just how good of a hitter he is. Hacopian may not be the fastest or most athletic player around, but he is a true masher who also has great baseball instincts. Hopefully that baseball IQ can help him stick at second base.

As a cherry on top, Hacopian is from the area and grew up as a Nats fan. The Nationals posted a video after he signed where he walked onto the field, and seemed in awe of being down there. Hacopian has been a fan in the stands at Nationals Park many times. Now, he has achieved a dream of his, and is signing with his hometown team to make things even more special.

take it allllllll in, chris pic.twitter.com/h6GHuI2hBJ

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 15, 2026

Hopefully we get more signings in the next few days. The deadline is on July 27th, but ideally we would have things resolved before then. I have my eyes peeled on three high schoolers the Nats drafted in the 15th, 16th and 17th rounds. It is likely at least one of them signs, but hopefully the Nats can land two of the three. Catcher Francisco Rivero seems like the easiest sign of the three.

Landing one of Anthony Murphy or Isaiah Galason would take this draft to the next level. I am not totally sure if the Nats have the funds to pull this off, but we will find out in the next couple weeks.

It is always good to get clarity on your first round pick very quickly, and that is exactly what happened here with Hacopian. Welcome home Chris! It would be awesome to have two DMV kids in the lineup one day with James Wood and Hacopian. That could be a reality sooner rather than later given how advanced Hacopian is offensively.

Cooper Dossett was not only a well-known, high-profile high school prospect during his days playing at Har-Ber High School in Springdale, Arkansas, but he was a record-setting high school prospect; the right-hander set the Perfect Game national record by uncorking a throw from the outfield that was clocked at 100 MPH. A four-year letterman with the Wildcats, Dossett excelled on the mound as well as at the plate, with many scouts considering him one of the best overall players in the 2022 draft class from Arkansas and one of the best high school players nationally. Over the course of his Har-Ber career, he appeared in 79 games and hit .312/.432/.625 with 21 doubles, 2 triples, 10 home runs and 26 walks to 46 strikeouts while making 28 appearances on the mound and posting a 2.13 ERA in 98.2 innings, allowing 43 hits, walking 71, and striking out 188.

The two-way player had a strong commitment to the University of Arkansas and went undrafted in the 2022 MLB Draft, making his way to Fayetteville that fall. He appeared in two games out of the bullpen early in the season, but lost coach Van Horn’s confidence after allowing 4 runs in 1.2 innings and was not used again for the rest of the season during in-game situations. That’s summer, he pitched for the Green Bay Rockers of the Northwoods League to supplement his innings load, appearing in 13 games and posting a 4.83 ERA in 31.2 innings, allowing 29 hits, walking 18, and striking out 43.

In 2024, coach Van Horn gave Dossett a longer leash, but the right-hander failed to cash in on the opportunity, posting a 5.17 ERA in 15.2 innings over 14 relief appearances, allowing 7 hits, walking 7, and striking out 20. As if that were not bad enough, he injured his arm pitching in what ended up a 14-4 blowout loss against the Texas A&M Aggies on the final day of the regular season. He ended up tearing his UCL and requiring Tommy John surgery, which he got that fall. As a result of the recovery process, the right-hander missed the entire 2025 season. Draft eligible for the 2025 MLB Draft, Dossett did not hear his name called.

The right-hander returned to the mound this spring, his redshirt junior year. Appearing in 16 games, he posted a 6.88 ERA in 17.0 innings, allowing 12 hits, walking 12, and striking out 18. Following the end of the Razorbacks season, he played for the Williamsport Crosscutters of the MLB Draft League.

The right-hander throws from a three-quarters arm slot utilizing a full over-the-head wind-up, short-arming the ball. He threw from a low-three-quarters arm slot earlier in his Razorbacks career, and the mechanical changes seem to have been made in an attempt to improve his control and arm health. He utilizes a three-pitch mix consisting of a four-seam fastball, cutter, curveball, and the occasional changeup.

Dossett’s fastball sits in the low-to-mid-90s and has been clocked as high as 96 MPH this summer in the MLB Draft League. While that is barely passable velocity for a right-hander, and has an pedestrian four-seam fastball spin rate, Dossett is able to get a seam-shifted wake effect on the pitch so that it produces well above-average induced vertical break numbers, topping out as high as an elite 21.3 inches.

The right-hander’s cutter sits in the high-80s-to-low-90s, topping out at 91 MPH this summer with average horizontal glove-side boring action. His curveball sits in the low-80s and has power 1-7 break thanks to an above-average spin rate hovering close to 3,000 RPM. His changeup sits in the low-80s and is very firm, little more than a change-of-pace pitch to set up something else rather than a legitimate competitive offering.

The American League All-Stars dominated the National League yet again on Tuesday, July 14, winning 4-0 and earning their 11th victory of the last 13 Midsummer Classics.

With that out of the way, attention turns to the MLB trade deadline on Aug. 3. With less than a month away, the time has come for teams to decide whether they will buyers or sellers.

Some teams have obviously already fallen into one of those categories. The Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels are too far out of contention to be buying at this point, but each of those teams have great players that contenders would love to have for the remainder of the season.

Superstars such as Byron Buxton, back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and All-Star closer Mason Miller have all emerged as likely trade candidates. And of each them would instantly elevate any team they joined.

Here are our rankings of the top 10 MLB trade deadline targets:

Power ranking the ten best MLB trade deadline targets

Honorable mentions: 2B Luis Arraez, 3B Matt Chapman, RHP Casey Mize, SS CJ Abrams, RHP Sonny Gray, 1B Willson Contreras, LHP Josh Hader, RHP Jose Soriano, RHP Michael Wacha, LHP Robbie Ray, RHP Freddy Peralta

10. UTIL Casey Schmitt, Giants

Schmitt has burst onto the scene in 2026, offering solid offense and capable defense at a variety of positions. In just 2026 alone, the 27-year-old has played in the outfield and at every position on the infield. Couple that versatility in the field with 19 home runs and an OPS over .800 and that's a very solid player that any team would love to have.

Schmitt will enter his first year of arbitration in 2027, meaning he could be under team control for the next three years, albeit at likely increasing cost.

2026 stats: .280/.308/.497, 19 HR, 50 RBI, 1.6 bWAR, 126 OPS+

9. LHP Aroldis Chapman, Red Sox

Even at 38 years old, Aroldis Chapman is showing that he can still be an incredibly valuable arm. Chapman is in the midst of his second consecutive All-Star season and has recorded a 2.20 ERA with 19 saves through the first half.

While Chapman's price tag is hefty, this is an arm that could be worth it for the postseason. Not only has Chapman won two World Series in his career, but he's boasted an outstanding 2.30 ERA in the playoffs since 2016.

2026 stats: 2.20 ERA, 19 saves, 2.40 FIP, 11.3 K/9

8. LHP Reid Detmers, Angels

Detmers' 4.38 ERA is not indicative of what he brings to the table. He is a great strikeout pitcher with a remarkable offspeed arsenal. His 3.35 FIP and 3.38 xERA point that he has been rather unlucky this year.

The biggest issue with a potential Detmers trade is the likely cost. Reports indicate that the Angels will be looking for a package similar to what the Tigers would get for Tarik Skubal, the reigning back-to-back American League Cy Young winner. That price could drive several teams away.

That said, Detmers still has two years of arbitration left, meaning he could be a top of the rotation arm that costs a fraction of what Skubal does.

2026 stats: 3-6, 4.39 ERA, 3.35 FIP, 10.2 K/9

7. OF Jung Hoo Lee, Giants

A classic top-of-the-lineup bat, Lee offers remarkable contact skills, serviceable outfield defense, and low but enough pop to the gaps to be worth his price tag of $21 million/year over the next three seasons. He's currently experiencing his best season in the bigs and is entering his prime at 27 years old.

His high batting average and low strikeout rate make for a combination that any team could use to produce runs, and moving him out of Oracle Park could see his offensive numbers improve.

2026 stats: .302/.333/.429, 5 HR, 33 RBI, 116 OPS+

6. RHP Joe Ryan, Twins

An underrated arm in the big leagues for years now, Ryan is on a rather team-friendly contract with potentially another year under team control. The draw is obvious. Only six qualified pitchers have a better strikeout-to-walk ratio. His 2.85 ERA is far and away the best of his career, and he's still just 30 years old.

Ryan is a front-line starter on a team known for having enormous fire sales at the deadline. Ryan isn't just a likely candidate to be traded, he's a candidate that will draw numerous suitors and a hefty haul.

2026 stats: 6-5, 2.85 ERA, 2.77 FIP, 10.4 K/9

5. SS Jeremy Peña, Astros

Although Peña can be inconsistent when it comes to pitch selection, his plus defense and solid power/speed combo makes him an enticing option for any team struggling to find offensive production at shortstop. That said, there is a chance that the Astros hold onto Peña.

The Astros are still holding onto hope that they can contend for a World Series title despite lacking the roster to do so. Their farm system is also atrocious, meaning a trade of this magnitude could do their future good. Will they actually pull the trigger though? That's yet to be seen.

2026 stats: .287/.347/.426, 6 HR, 22 RBI, 116 OPS+

4. C Ryan Jeffers, Twins

Any time a team can find value behind the plate, it provides them with a massive advantage over their opponent. The New York Yankees are the first team that comes to mind when considering who could be interested in grabbing Jeffers' services. After all, their catchers have combined for -1.1 Wins Above Average, per Baseball Reference, good for 27th in MLB.

Jeffers' .538 slugging from behind home plate would give the Yankees' offense a massive boost almost immediately. Well, it would give any offense a huge boost immediately.

2026 stats: .292/.404/.538, 7 HR, 28 RBI, 160 OPS+

3. OF Byron Buxton, Twins

When healthy, Byron Buxton is one of the best center fielders in baseball, providing an immaculate power-speed combo and incredible defense at one of the sport's toughest positions. The three-time All-Star may be 32 years old and carry a history of injury problems, but he has played in atleast 100 games in two straight years and is on pace to do so again in 2026.

At just over $15 million a year and with team control through the 2028 season, Buxton would be an absolute steal if he can remain healthy through the rest of his contract.

2026 stats: .271/.328/.575, 25 HR, 45 RBI, 146 OPS+

2. RHP Mason Miller, Padres

It's hard to determine a definitive best player at any position, but Mason Miller might be as close to a unanimous selection as anyone. Undeniably one of the premier closers in baseball, Miller boasts electric stuff. His Baseball Savant page is littered with deep red. He's in the upper echelon of pitchers in every single countable stat with a fastball averaging more than 101 mph.

Of course, the question is whether or not the Padres are going to be willing to sell Miller. The Padres have said that they are unlikely to ship their All-Star closer elsewhere, but they have admitted to being open to the idea. That alone will be enough to get a myriad of calls as the deadline approaches.

2026 stats: 0.91 ERA, 25 saves, 0.53 FIP, 16.3 K/9

1. LHP Tarik Skubal, Tigers

What needs to be said about someone who has won back-to-back Cy Young Awards? While Skubal will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, he's done more than enough to prove how valuable he could be to a franchise looking to make a final push into the postseason. He's a pitcher that gives your team an indescribable advantage every time he steps onto the field.

While 2026 has seen Skubal deal with some injuries, he still boasts a remarkable 3.09 ERA and 3.06 FIP. He's also boasting the best strikeout-to-walk ratio of his career.

2026 stats: 5-5, 3.09 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 10.6 K/9

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: MLB trade deadline: Ranking the best trade targets for contenders

How y’all doing? I, personally, am ready for this break to be over.

The All-Star Game and related festivities came to a close last night – Sam’s got a recap on how our Braves represented us in the Midsummer Classic. Was it weirder than normal, or was it just me?

Anyways. The Braves will return to Truist Park to face the Rangers starting Friday. In the meantime, the floor is yours in the comments for any and all topics. Argentina’s inevitability, produce-parasite avoidance tips, or anything else on your mind? Go right on ahead.

On July 28, 2024, the Dodgers beat Houston 6-2, improving their record to 63-44. Miguel Vargas didn’t play in that game and would never play for the Dodgers again. The next day, the Dodgers traded him to the White Sox, who lost in Kansas City, dropping to 27-82. The Dodgers went on to win the World Series, and the White Sox set a modern record for wretchedness. 

Vargas hadn’t played much with the Dodgers, appearing in only 30 games with a 0.2 WAR. But still, he was on a great team, one that was the center of the baseball world. He got to play with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman. He was part of a franchise that was as competent and well-run as it was profligate, and there was arguably no better place to be. 

And then, the next day: the White Sox. The opposite of the Dodgers in practically every way, a team that was in a major city but still seemed somehow cowtown and one-horse and go-nowhere. A joke. His performance reflected and amplified how bad things were: he went on to slash .104/.217/.170, posting a -1.0 WAR and a remarkable OPS+ of 13. Michael Kopech, on the other side of that trade, pitched in the World Series. 

Somehow, the trade seemed to make the worst team in the modern history of baseball even worse. The enduring image of the season was Vargas sitting in the dugout, looking miserable and shell-shocked.

But, I thought at the time…why wouldn’t he be? He was a human being who went from what was probably the best professional situation he could be in to what was almost certainly the worst. It wasn’t just the record and the futility. The White Sox had just slammed their contention window shut with nothing to show for it except a laundry list of failed can’t-miss prospects, all of whom graduated to part-time elsewhere or out of baseball completely. Of course, he was shocked and staggered; of course, he had to wonder if this would destroy his career. Of course, it impacted how he performed. Wouldn’t you wonder the same things? Wouldn’t you be worse at your job? 

That, to me, is what makes Vargas’s mammoth homer in the All-Star Game one of the absolute highlights of the season. The ASG doesn’t matter, and the game itself was made even more absurd by MLB’s insistence that what baseball fans want is less baseball. Still, the fact that Miguel Vargas was there, that he came to play, and that he was grinning from ear to ear when trotting to first, is a perfect symbol of this improbable season. 

His 3.2 WAR puts him just outside the top 10. He’s got 21 dingers. An OPS+ of 135. And he’s clearly having fun playing baseball, something that seemed impossible just two years ago. Hell, even with a few green shoots last year, it still felt like spring would never arrive, and we’d be in a soggy gray March for years to come, looking for a sun that wouldn’t break through. 

Somehow, prospects are clicking. Routine plays are (mostly) being made, and so are plus defensive plays. Scraps from Tampa are All-Stars. High-risk, high-reward signings are all-stars. The ballpark is crowded and loud. An injured veteran is in the dugout every day, waving a magic wand and having the time of his life. I’m focused more on the field than the front office. I can go days of my life without even thinking about Jerry Reinsdorf. 

This is where I’ll clear my throat and say “this isn’t a great team and there are still too many bone-headed plays and Will Venable might be a bit too addicted to lefty-righty matchups and the pitching is still dangerously thin and we’re really only a few games over .500 and everything could crash and be in vain and all human yearning, as the man says, is vanity, vanity, vanity.”

But screw that. We’ve had a first half that no one could have predicted. We’re having fun again. Miguel Vargas is having fun at the All-Star game. The Sox once again matter, and belong. It seemed impossible just over two years ago, when Vargas’s professional life was pushed into a volcano. More than anyone else, he is the symbol of this wild rebirth. More than anyone else, he deserves it. 

No, of course not. Stupid of me to ask, really. I’m sorry. I’m trying to delete it. Oh no, wait. This post is an assessment of the latest SB Nation Reacts poll, so buckle in, voters, you’re about to see some results.

With no Giants-specific poll this week, respondents were asked about four different awards races.

An absolutely incredible bounce-back season for Alvarez, who was limited to just 48 games and 199 plate appearances last season. He still managed .273/.367/.430 with 6 homers in that brief period, but this season, he’s slashing .318/.426/.633 with 31 homers and 70 RBI in 96 games & 420 plate appearances. He’s on pace to shatter his previous career-high in home runs (37 set back in 2022) and the 29-year old is certainly hitting good enough to sell the idea of a designated hitter who’s not named Shohei Ohtani winning MVP.

Still, at just 22, Junior Caminero’s .279/.372/.555 with 28 homers and 59 RBI in 411 PA seems like a pretty serious threat to Alvarez. His defense at third base is less than stellar (-1 Outs Above Average, -8 Fielding Run Value — that’s the 5th-worst in the sport of any position) and should be counted against him for the purposes of a Most Valuable Player discussion. Still, the hitting is undeniable.

But the real answer here, with all due respect to Nick Kurtz — who I’m not going to discuss but is having a great follow-up season to his rookie campaign — who is but a first baseman, is Bobby Witt Jr., who has more rWAR than anyone on this list and who plays a premium position (shortstop). He’s the third-best defender in the sport in terms of fielding run value (+13), behind Pete Crow-Armstrong (+17), and JJ Wetherholt (+15) — an important aside: as I mentioned the other day, Luis Arraez is just 8 spots behind him at +8.

With all due respect to the indispensable, beautiful, and perfect Baseball Reference, I think FanGraphs’ wins above replacement is a more notable measure if only because more front offices have hired FanGraphs writers than Baseball Reference contributors. Given that, Bobby Witt Jr.‘s 4.8 fWAR is second-best in the sport behind Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 6.0 fWAR. Yordan Alvarez checks in at #4 overall (2nd in AL) with 4.4 fWAR… so, you know, I think this is the real race (Caminero is 15th overall at 3.2 fWAR — 7th in the AL).

Now, Ohtani is rightfully #1 because his combined hitting and pitching fWAR is 6.3, just ahead of Crow-Armstrong. Meanwhile, Soto leads Schwarber in fWAR, 2.9 to 2.5. The reason for the gap, I suspect, is simply that Schwarber has more homers (32) than Soto (21). But, Soto has played more games in the field than Schwarber (49 to 4) and has been better than Schwarber there. Schwarber has a -10.9 Defensive Runs Above Average despite logging just 27 innings in the field! Soto is also hitting 15 points better by wRC+ (163 to 149).

So, the respondents have it wrong in both races, and perhaps even more so here in the National League down ballot race. Not only have they miscalculated Soto vs. Schwarber, they’ve ignored two more deserving players, if we’re just looking at fWAR. Buckle up, Giants fans.

Here is the top 5 in fWAR in the National League right now:

5. JJ Wetherholt, St. Louis — 3.5 fWAR
4. Luis Arraez, San Francisco — 3.7
3. Otto Lopez, Miami — 4.3
2. James Wood, Washington — 4.6
1. Pete Crow-Armstrong — 6.0

I think it should go without saying that defense ought to be a component of a “Most Valuable” vote, and if voters were to downplay that part of the equation, then the hitting would have to be spectacular.

James Wood is the best hitter in the National League with a 166 wRC+. Then it’s Soto, followed by Ohtani, Crow-Armstrong, and Schwarber… Otto Lopez is 10th (137 wRC+) and coming in 19th in the NL is Luis Arraez (127). That’s how valuable Luis Arraez has been: his defense has made him more valuable than his hitting.

So, if there is one Giant who could compete for a postseason award, it’s Luis Arraez. And he’s not just “the rest of the field.” He compares quite favorably to the top 10 in the running and maybe even the top 5. Not referenced in this poll, but a point that could be significant in a possible MVP candidacy: he will probably win the NL batting title if he’s not traded outside the league (or traded at all).

Also worth noting: Since May 1st, Rafael Devers has been an even more valuable hitter than Arraez. His 154 wRC+ is 9th in the NL. He’d have to have a truly transformative 60+ games to close out this season to even get into the conversation, but he’s worth point out insofar as he has certainly outhit this idiot’s assessment and looks like he will end the season comfortably within his career averages and exactly where we all expected him to be before the season began.

david attenborough: [mumbling] skip. i dont like this animal. skip it.

— paddle (@ipaddlearound) June 25, 2023

(Though, if you haven’t looked into it yet, check out Cam Schlittler’s brief career. A 7th round draft pick out of Northeastern University who has shot up to being the Yankees’ co-ace.)

This is also a solid, close to obvious list with just a couple of exceptions. The top 4 in fWAR is Misiorowski (4.4), Sanchez (4.0), Jesus Luzardo (3.3), and Paul Skenes (3.2). Yamamoto and Sale are actually tied in fWAR (2.7) and trail Cincinnati’s Chase Burns (2.9) and Pittsburgh’s Braxton Ashcraft (2.8).

The only Giants within spitting difference of the top10 are Landen Roupp (2.1) and Logan Webb (1.9).

With Misiorowski facing some forearm fatigue, it’s possible that this final stretch of games sees him fall from the top spot, but it seems unlikely that any Giant will crack the top 5 and reassert themselves in this race. That’d be a shame because Logan Webb received Cy Young votes the past four seasons. It’s tough to bet against Logan Webb, but this season has certainly been more down than up.

Not referenced by this polling are the separate Rookie of the Year races. It’s plausible that Bryce Eldridge cracks the top 5, but as of MLB.com’s latest polling (June 8th), he was facing an uphill battle to go higher than that given St. Louis’s JJ Wetherholt, Cincinnati’s Sal Stewart, Nolan McLean of the Mets and Pittsburgh’s Konnor Griffin.

But what do you think? Do Luis Arraez, Bryce Eldridge, and Logan Webb have a shot at being in the running for any of these awards down the stretch?