Category: MLB

Mets right-hander Clay Holmes has seemingly avoided a worst-case scenario. 

The Post's Jon Heyman reports that the Mets starter will not need surgery on his fractured fibula. It remained unclear what Holmes would need to recover from the injury, but even the right-hander believed he would avoid surgery when asked, although he could not rule it out. If Heyman's report is correct, then it's good news for Holmes and the Mets.

However, Heyman points out that the latest guess for Holmes' return is early August. 

If the Mets can right the ship, getting Holmes back for the home stretch would be a bonus. When he went on the IL, Holmes was arguably the Mets' best pitcher. 

In nine starts, Holmes pitched to a 2.39 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP while consistently going deep into games. 

His shortest outing was the May 15 game against the Yankees when he pitched 4.1 innings. That was the same night he fractured his fibula.

Holmes suffered the injury when he took a 111.1 mph liner from Yankees prospectSpencer Jones.

The San Francisco Giants are dead. Long live the San Francisco Giants. They were killed by one of the funniest cases of oversteering in the history of professional sports when a former jock bound for the Hall of Fame roundhouse kicked an overhyped nerd into baseball oblivion to make sure the team stopped letting computers make decisions for them. The team instead became a creation sprung from Buster Posey’s memory of what his championship teams were like. Last season was rocky and this season has been an unmitigated disaster, another losing season (their 7th of the last 10 seasons) locked in before June! With the franchise firmly rebranded as a loser, what can we look forward to these next four months?

Just how bad can this bad team be?

Yesterday afternoon’s loss was certainly a microcosm of the season, but going 0-6 against the Diamondbacks over the past week has really started to create some separation from the early season and as the weather changes and other teams improve, it stands to reason that as bad as the Giants have been… it can be a lot worse.

With 56 games played, we can look at the current season in 14-game chunks.

Games 1-14: 6-8 (.429)
Games 15-28: 7-7 (.500)
Games 29-42: 5-9 (.357)
Games 43-56: 4-10 (.286)

So, the Giants scuffled when teams were still trying to get their bearing after launching from Spring Training and then once they did, the Giants were relegated to batting practice for the opposition. There are 106 games remaining in this season, which on the one hand is quite sad because the Giants are so bad, but on the other hand… well… I suppose there’s a chance we could see some improved play. That’ll be the tension opposing the “Yeah, but they’ve been so, so stinky to start the season that it would make sense if the stench was unwashable.”

Let’s just look at their schedule through the end of June. Tomorrow kicks off a 3-game series in Colorado. Then they play 4 in Milwaukee, then 3 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Host the Nats and Cubs then travel to Atlanta for 3 and Miami for 3. Host the Athletics for 3 and Atlanta for 3 before traveling to Arizona for more Diamondbacks. That’s 18 on the road and 12 at home. If you just apply their current winning percentages for their home/road split to this schedule (.357 road / .429 home), that’s 11-19 or 12-18, which would put the Giants at either 33-53 or 34-52 entering July. Here are the ten worst records in Giants history through the team’s first 86 games:

10. 2005 SF Giants: 37-49
9. 1900 NY Giants: 35-50
8. 1994 SF Giants: 36-50
7. 1943 NY Giants: 34-51-1
6. 1976 SF Giants: 34-52
5. 2017 SF Giants: 34-52
4. 1984 SF Giants: 33-53
3. 1956 NY Giants: 32-54
2. 1985 SF Giants: 31-55
1. 1902 NY Giants: 28-57

So, 16-14 just to stay out of the top 10 worst starts to a season and 13-17 to avoid paralleling the 2017 or 1985 seasons. But we’ve seen how these jabronis play and, well, when they’re not being overmatched talent-wise, they are impossibly stupid in the field. It’s your right as a fan to hope they turn things around, but there is no evidence to suggest that a turnaround is in progress and based on aging curves for the core hitters plus the current results about the same amount of evidence to start building a case that one might be possible. That schedule doesn’t obviously present the pathway to a nice winning streak, either.

The Giants have told us for 56 games that they’re a bad team out to dispense bad times. We should believe them.

The trade deadline.

Obviously. It’ll be like an organ donation, right? Which parts of the Giants’ corpse can help another team thrive down the stretch or even beyond? Buster Posey’s moves at last year’s deadline shows that he’s not afraid to purge a roster when he feels it’s due for improvement. The problem is, he’s running out of the previous guy’s guys to move… unless Logan Webb miraculously returns to form this season; and then, there might be an opportunity for a big move.

Robbie Ray, it feels like we hardly knew ya, but appreciate watching you pitch most of the time. Luis Arraez, way to play your way into being the Giants’ lone All-Star representative. Tyler Mahle, Harrison Bader, Adrian Houser… you think they’ll be sticking around? I have never understood the compulsion by some fans to do a Rain Manesque “Trade Chapman. Trade Chapman. Trade Chapman.” every day and I can’t understand why the Giants would try to convince Chapman to waive his no trade clause in order to facilitate a deal, but that might be the move a lot of people want to see and will really be paying attention to as the calendar turns to July.

The Giants can’t formally “rebuild,” but watching them remodel this termite-infested, water damaged house that was once the centerpiece of China Basin will be at the very least interesting to watch as the summer goes on.

The farm system’s success.

Winning is good, even when it’s just in the minor leagues. That all of the levels are finding success with age appropriate prospects is heartening to see, too. There aren’t a lot of Chase d’Arnauds leading the groups. Pick some players or pick a team to follow the rest of the year and you probably won’t be disappointed. Personally, I’ve staked my mental health to Jhonny Level’s success.

When I wrote up the Chicago White Sox series preview, I learned that the White Sox’s GM Chris Getz was previously their Director of Player Development (2017-2020), and it got me wondering if maybe Randy Winn, VP of Player Development, might take over as President of Baseball Operations once Buster Posey moved on. If most of the minor league teams win championships this year, I’d think that’d be a pretty big plus on his resume, and it’d be hard to argue against him being a pivotal part of the front office.

The palace “intrigue.”

Recently, I had to change a baby in an airplane bathroom. The changing table was more like a bowl in that it had a divot in it, presumably to make laying the baby down easier. It was not easier. The changing table was also very smooth, so the baby — who likes to stand when being changed — kept sliding around… along with all the items needed to facilitate the diaper change. This led to the following sequence: diaper off, baby steps then slides into discarded pajama pants, bringing them back underneath baby just as baby urinates, soaking the pajamas. While cleaning all that up, baby poops and while trying to hold the baby in one arm to clean up with the other, the baby keeps trying to move and slides around, stepping in the poop, stepping back onto the pajamas. The baby peed again. It was 15 minutes of pee-pee-poo-poo nightmares in a 3 ft by 5 ft space and once I left I felt like Buster Posey must feel every day trying to run a baseball team: confused, angry, annoyed at having to jettison stuff that cost a decent amount of money, and covered in human waste.

Each change he has made has led to more pee, more poo, and more stepping in both. Should he have boarded this particular plane? Probably not. For most of us who suspected we’d be seeing him learn on the job, all we get is the satisfaction of knowing that there’s no use getting worked up about the team’s record anymore. It’s going to take him a long time with many lessons learned the hard way in order to turn the franchise around. Which is why I advocated for him sticking around longer than 3 years. It’s why it’s worth keeping tabs on the minor leagues. This could be very painful for a long time but then turn around overnight.

But already we’re seeing discontent seeping onto the floor of this Dilettantes’ Ball. Posey’s slightly tense conversation with Brian Murphy on KNBR the other week was interesting in that he repeated “baseball is hard” more than I’d like to hear from an exec whose team isn’t so much losing to other teams as being embarrassed by them. Farhan Zaidi was a notoriously poor interview, too, and that Buster Posey has wound up sounding like him more often than not in such a brief time is funny and troubling. But Andrew Baggarly has pivoted to questioning the wisdom in hiring Hector Borg to the coaching staff. Tony Vitello has put it out there that he wasn’t as involved in the staff hiring as we were led to believe in the offseason. Buster Posey takes the blame for the team’s performance to this point and so this effort to hang some of that on the third base coach stinks, too.

Unrelated to the coaching stuff, but related to the Giants being bad, I enjoyed this posting from the other day:

It has all been amateur hour, and in an organization where Larry Baer won out over Peter Magowan and Bill Neukom, it’s pretty clear that things aren’t going to be getting “better” behind the scenes anytime soon, either. If the Giants were playing better, it probably wouldn’t matter too much, but with everything on the field able to be safely ignored, this front office and ownership group will probably get more stories written about them than they expected heading into the season.

You’re probably screaming at me for leaving out something about the young players developing. What of Bryce Eldridge? Or Jesus Rodriguez? Is Landen Roupp the Logan Webb replacement the Giants didn’t know they had until this year? Is Trevor McDonald? Will the bullpen be able to evolve into something above average? These are the obvious questions that should feel very heartening to see because it means the Giants have developed some potential major leaguers alongside all the failure and that’s before considering the players at the lower levels who are generating most of the excitement about what Randy Winn and the player development group have been doing (all of which you can track through Brady’s reporting here or at Roger Munter’s excellent There R Giants site). But I can’t help but think about the past 10+ years of Giants player development and conclude that while it’s nice to imagine a world in which the Giants draft and develop their own players who can serve as more than 20th to 26th on their depth chart, the reality is that we should keep our expectations low until proven otherwise.

That goes for everything related to the team. The championship era ended a long time ago, but now we’re past those era re-definining teams of the 80s/90s/00s/10s, too. You could maybe characterize those decades this way: Prospects/Bonds/Ballpark/Championships. What are the 20s? Disappointing? Disaster? Forgettable? Skip? Bust? Whatever it winds up being considered, what’s clear is that the Giants as we knew them are dead and gone. Nobody wanted to be in this situation on May 28th. I was hoping for a disappointing season that unraveled in August or September, as has been the custom for many years now. Was looking forward to sneaking away to catch a game and spend that time in Schrödinger Stadium, where the team could be either good or bad. But we know they’re just bad.

What’s next for the franchise is anyone’s guess, but a rebirth during this season is the only thing certain to be out of the question.

After exciting rookie Kendry Rojas got scratched from his start with elbow soreness (sigh), Simeon Woods Richardson (sigh, again) stepped in for a spot start which went about as well as expected. Also bad for the Twins, they were facing current AL Cy Young candidate Davis Martin (triple sigh). Let’s get into it.

Woods Richardson got some hopes up, but almost immediately lost the faith of Twins fans and coaches alike. He struck out the first two batters of the game before walking Miguel Vargas, allowing him to steal second, and then scoring on a Colson Montgomery single. SWR then allowed a double to start the second inning, but escaped scoreless thanks to a nice throw home from Tristan Gray with the contact play on. Then, things really fell apart.

With two outs and a runner on in the third inning, Sim allowed the next five batters to reach base, culminating in a bases-clearing double from 4,000 year old (pretty sure, don’t fact check me) Randal Grichuk to put the White Sox up 5-0. Wanting to limit the damage, the Twins turned to Andrew Morris who finally ended the inning and allowed everyone to move on with their day.

I would now like to gripe about the worst scoring rule in baseball. The concept of runs being earned vs unearned is, in essence, completely up to the official scorer. It’s what makes ERA less predictive of future performance compared to FIP or xERA, and is somewhat a relic of a past era. However, ERA is still important given it’s historical significance and as such, these rules do carry a lot of weight. A pitcher shouldn’t be punished for a bad defense, but what if the bad defense was from the pitcher himself?

All this is to say that the run Andrew Morris allowed should have been an earned run because the error was committed by Morris. If he didn’t earn that run, then who did? Pete Maki? Tom Pohlad? God? Please get back to me soon, Mr. Manfred. My family is starving and I cannot rest until this quandary is resolved. I’m just a man standing in front of an MLB commissioner asking him to artificially raise Andrew Morris’ ERA.

Anyway, the bullpen was actually nails the whole way, which was nice to see after Woods Richardson’s awful start. Morris, Travis Adams, Taylor Rogers, Anthony Banda, and Yoendrys Gomez combined to throw 5.1 innings while allowing no earned runs (though an unholy unearned one) and just four baserunners, and two of those from Morris.

Unfortunately for Adams, he was optioned after this game with Minnesota in need of a fresh arm. The Twins will likely need two pitchers with Rojas likely ending up on the IL as well. A corresponding move has yet to be announced, but Kody Funderburk and John Klein are healthy and on the 40-man, though neither has been particularly sharp of late. Cody Laweryson appears to be near the end of a rehab assignment, though his results have been less than encouraging as well. We could be in line for Marco Raya’s debut as he has been very good in May.

And, as you know by now, we’re taking detours to bad relief options and inane scoring rules because the Twins offense didn’t have almost anything to give this afternoon. The Twins finally got a second run after Martin left the game in the seventh inning, but were never able to get a big inning in this game or really any point this series. Minnesota never had more than one hit in an inning in this game, which simply won’t cut it.

The Twins lost the series 1-3, with two of those losses being very winnable. The non-SWR pitchers stepped up in a tough spot, but the lineup is missing some juice with Ryan Jeffers’ injury and Royce Lewis’ and Matt Wallner’s overdue demotions. The Twins need someone to step up alongside Buxton and there’s lots of talent to do that still.

STUDS

• The bullpen (Morris, Adams, Rogers, Banda, Gomez): 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R (o ER), 1 BB, 6 K
• Tristan Gray: 2-4, 2B, SB

DUDS

• Simeon Woods Richardson: 2.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 4 K; moves to 0-7 with a 7.74 ERA on the season
• Middle of the lineup (Lee, Larnach, Clemens): 0-12
• Every hitter: 0-6 RISP

The campaign to bring professional baseball to West Sacramento is officially underway.

Days after, West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero revealed there would be an announcement regarding the future of professional baseball to the city of Sacramento, she introduced “The Sacramento Pitch.”

The Sacramento Pitch is a campaign led by minority Kings owner Mark Friedman, who played a vital part in the development of downtown Sacramento and the Golden 1 Center sports and entertainment complex.

Joining Friedman are 11 other members that include Guerrero and Sacramento mayor Kevin McCarty, as well as former San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker, and former MLB player and Sacramento native Derek Lee.

“This is a defining moment for West Sacramento, and we’re ready,” Said Guerrero. “Major League Baseball is already seeing firsthand the passion, energy, and civic pride that exists here.”

The website breaks down the case into four different reasons as to why Sacramento is deserving of an MLB expansion team. “The site, the investment, the economic case, the market.”

The potential home of a future MLB ballpark in Sacramento is set to be placed on a 50-acre site in West Sacramento’s Bridge district, near Sutter Health Park, home of the minor league baseball team, the Sacramento River Cats, and the temporary home of the Athletics.

The renderings of the ballpark show the stadium facing along the Sacramento River, with the cities skyline view as the backdrop.

Followed by the view is a $1.8 billion privately funded investment in the campaign committee. The committee expects the project to generate $1.77 billion in revenue for West Sacramento. The market side of the campaign focuses on how Sacramento is one of the largest media markets in the country, with only one big 5 sports team.

“The region has grown roughly 10% over the past decade, outpacing both California and the nation,” According to the campaign’s website. “It has added more than 200,000 jobs since pandemic lows.”

They had balloons, baseball caps and a splashy video. They even had Dusty Baker, because any day with Dusty Baker is a good day.

And, as a campaign called “The Sacramento Pitch” unveiled its plan to lure a Major League Baseball expansion team to the state capital, the mayor made his pitch a blunt one.

“This region has earned its place in the majors,” Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty said Thursday. “And, frankly, MLB could use Sacramento.”

We’ll see. But, as McCarty and other dignitaries rallied in Sacramento, a more important gathering was happening in New York, at which MLB owners formally proposed the salary cap players have vowed to resist.

Read more:Shaikin: For Dodgers, getting to playoffs is not good enough for Mark Walter. For Lakers?

Whether owners can get a cap — either by persuasion through the fall and winter, or more likely by canceling games next spring so players go unpaid — remains to be seen. For Sacramento and the other American and Canadian cities pursuing two expansion teams, the outcome of collective bargaining could determine the fee MLB would charge for each one.

On Thursday, Sacramento unveiled a $4-billion proposal to land a team, build a riverfront ballpark and surround it with an entertainment district. By the time MLB is ready to expand — after collective bargaining, and most likely after new media rights deals in 2028 — baseball insiders suggest the expansion fee itself could be around $4 billion.

Said Barry Broome, president of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council: “If it’s a $4-billion fee, I’ll be surprised if there are too many people that would pay that.”

MLB never has had a salary cap. In 1994, the last time MLB proposed one, the players went on strike, and the World Series was not played.

Now, the league argues, payroll disparities are so great that only a cap can solve them. In its presentation Thursday, MLB noted the Dodgers paid more in luxury taxes last season than 16 teams paid in player salaries and cited a $446-million payroll gap between the Dodgers ($515 million) and the lowest-paying team, the Miami Marlins ($69 million).

The league also said fans in a large market have a 50% chance of seeing their team win the World Series by age 12, while fans in a small market have a 50% chance of seeing their team win by the World Series by age 73.

“Ultimately, the game is about hope and competition, and too many fans in too many markets have too little hope their team has a fair chance to win,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement.

The MLB proposal: a cap with a maximum payroll of $235 million and a minimum payroll of $171 million, with those figures including $23 million per team in player benefits. The Dodgers’ payroll would be cut roughly in half, although the league and the union would discuss ways to phase in such cuts over time.

Those savings help explain why the Dodgers — at least for now — would support a proposal that includes every team throwing their local television rights into a pool that would be marketed as one national package — one place to see every game, with no blackouts, and with revenue shared equally among teams.

The Dodgers’ SportsNet LA deal — $8.35 billion over 25 years — has provided the team with a massive financial edge in funding back-to-back World Series champions.

The MLB Players’ Assn. believes the owners can share all that revenue — from local television and other sources — and thus resolve financial disparities without capping player salaries.

“Billionaire owners are not seeking to cap their profits or asset values, only player salaries,” MLBPA executive director Bruce Meyer said in a statement. “This isn’t out of generosity or a desire to protect the game’s well-being. It’s a play to control costs, increase profits and maximize franchise values — all at the expense of players past, present and future.”

MLB owners have been distressed as franchise values — ultimately, sale prices — have not appreciated as rapidly as they have in other sports. A salary cap would offer owners the cost certainty — 50% of industry revenue, however that might be defined, would go to players — that limits financial risk in ownership.

In the NBA, which has a salary cap and media deals more lucrative than in MLB, the league reportedly anticipates bids in the range of $7 billion to $10 billion for proposed expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle.

In MLB, a prominent official with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly told me the expansion fee could range from $3 billion to $5 billion — on the lower end without a salary cap, on the higher end with a cap and the greater media revenues that could come with it.

That could leave Sacramento and the other MLB suitors — including Salt Lake City, Montreal, Nashville, Raleigh, Charlotte, Orlando, Vancouver and Portland — scrambling for more funding at a time the surprisingly common thought is an expansion fee would be about $2 billion.

In 2021, when Sportico estimated the average MLB franchise value at $2.2 billion, Commissioner Rob Manfred said that figure could be “where you would start” in evaluating an expansion fee. Sportico this year put the average franchise value at $3.2 billion, and the San Diego Padres sold last month for a league-record $3.9 billion.

In Sacramento, campaign chairman Mark Friedman said his group has lined up $1.8 billion in private and public funding and is in search of a lead investor, with the stadium site and tax rebates already arranged with local governments.

“We’ve set the table,” Friedman said. “All of the guests are in attendance. We’re simply waiting for the guest of honor.”

Broome said he spoke with representatives from two runners-up in the Padres bidding as well as “a group of billionaires from Texas.” It’s all tire-kicking for now, he said.

Read more:Travis Kelce buys stake in Cleveland Guardians, continuing trend of athletes becoming owners

For $4 billion, Friedman said, Sacramento can get a team, put up a stadium and surround it with places to eat, shop and play.

“We’re targeting being able to be competitive up to $4 billion,” he said. “If it turns out to be more than that, we’ll need to look at the numbers again.”

In the meantime, Baker was there to tell a few stories and put everyone in his hometown at ease, as he did for decades as one of baseball’s most acclaimed managers.

In his remarks, Baker celebrated the dozens of major leaguers who that come out of Sacramento.

“We had some of the baddest dudes in baseball — not only in Sacramento, but in baseball. We were proud of that,” Baker said.

“If you weren’t hitting — if you were hitting now like some of these guys are hitting now, .217 — man, we’d talk about you. Because, if you were from Sacramento, you gotta ball.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Welcome to the first Futures on the Corner. This will become a weekly piece where I, Matt Seese, will examine the ins and outs of Cleveland’s ever developing farm system. I currently do work as a prospects scout and evaluator for Prospects Live and have thoroughly enjoyed covering our farm system here on Covering The Corner.

Today, I wanted to throw out more of a blanket piece to kick this off: what promotions are coming?

We’ll start down in Hill City.

A-BALL

OF JUNEIKER CACERES | 18 | L/L
Caceres is not the 168 pounds MiLB.com lists him at. With a noticeable physical development, Caceres has seen his added muscle shrink areas of concern up in the zone. Combine that with some of the better plate discipline in the Guardians’ system, above average bat speed and EVs as well as a walk rate pushing 4% north of his strikeout rate, and Caceres is tailor made for a promotion to Lake County sooner rather than later. Caceres continues to be among the younger players at his level, and though the power numbers are slowly starting to come around, this kind of an approach is beyond his years.

LHP NELSON KELJO | 22
Keljo was a sixth round pick in last year’s draft out of Oregon State. At 6-foot-4, 230 pounds, Keljo is physically built to handle a starter’s workload, and he’s done exactly that thus far. A concern of mine with Keljo would be his command sustaining being stretched out from reliever to starter from college to the pros. Thus far, it’s largely not been an issue. Keljo has been efficient and at times dominant, largely carried by his fastball that sports some capable ride.

LHP HARRISON BODENDORF | 22
Bodendorf was also part of the ‘25 Draft class for the Guards, selected in the 10th round at pick 312. Drafted at 6-foot-5, 180 pounds, there’s some physical projecting to do here. Bodendorf is not going to overwhelm anyone, but up to this point, it hasn’t mattered. His upper 80s, occasionally low 90s heater is paired with a devastating changeup that’s currently inducing an incredible whiff rate and drawing weak contact when batters are lucky enough to get the bat to it. There’s definitely upside here despite the lack of velo. I think if any org finds that extra life here, it’s Cleveland, but some glove-side secondaries need to come along here for this profile to work long-term.

HIGH-A

AARON WALTON | 22 | R/R
Matt Dallas, you genius. Walton has cleaned up some lower half mechanical issues and is now getting his whole body in sync with his swing. It has resulted in a tremendous start to the ‘26 season that’s seen Walton produce some high end power. Walton is lifting the ball pull-side at a tremendous rate, and though there’s still some swing and miss here and the overall passivity within the zone concerns me, he’s damaging the ball better than just about anyone else in the Midwest League with an EV90 north of 107.

RHP BRAYLON DOUGHTY | 20
How’s this for aggressive? At just 20 years old, Doughty would become among the youngest arms in Double-A if what I’m asking for here happened this season. That being said, I believe if anyone is ready for it, it’s him. Doughty is the most polished prep arm the Guardians have had in their system since I started tracking prospects. His fastball continues to improve and find a stable velocity in the low-90s band, and should it find that next tick up in velo, he goes from mid to back-end rotation arm to SP2 ceiling. Should this happen, I’d anticipate him getting touched up a bit as he begins facing 24+ year olds with consistency, but it will further develop his sequencing, and that can only be a positive.

IF LUKE HILL | 22 | R/R
Besides Walton, there’s a few Lake County bats worthy of this, but none more than Luke Hill. Hill has been a bit of a revelation to the farm system. Drafted primarily off of his keen eye and quality swing decisions, Hill has seen that translate into a very real ability to do damage. Hill’s nine home runs at the moment of this typing is more than he ever hit at Ole Miss, he’s running an EV90 north of 105, and above all else, he doesn’t possess the ever concerning passivity that is currently at a ground swell in this system. Hill is selectively aggressive, attacks pitches in the zone, and is now driving them with legit pop. Not only should Hill get promoted, but he should be pushing for the top 10 of Guards prospects lists.

DOUBLE-A

RP CARTER RUSTAD | 25 | R/R
Rustad was acquired from the Orioles for Johnathan Rodriguez back in late March, and some of the best stuff of his career thus far has come in Akron. Rustad throws from a sub-25 degree slot with great extension. A three-pitch pitcher, he generates capable iVB on his fastball, typically around 17 inches, and ~8 inches of arm-side run while sitting 93-95 with the heater. He’ll work a solid slider off of that against righties and a changeup to lefties that gets over a foot of arm-side tail. At 25 and not R5 eligible for another year, a promotion to Columbus where Cleveland can get a clean look at him without any 40-man issues should he pitch well feels ideal.

On Thursday, Mets DH/1B Jorge Polanco spoke to the media from the Binghamton Rumble Ponies dugout.

The switch-hitter is working his way back from Achilles bursitis and a wrist issue, and is currently playing with the Mets' Double-A affiliate.

When asked about his current condition, Polanco smiled and responded that he is "feeling way better."

The Rumble Ponies began a four-game home stand against the Portland Sea Dogs tonight, but Polanco has the night off. However, he emphasized that he is ready to play tomorrow night.

"There is no rush, I want to get back when I feel good," Polanco stressed. "The main thing is to get better and to get healthy so I can help the team."

Polanco also revealed a potential timeline for his return to the Mets lineup, declaring that it should only be "two or three more games and I should be ready to go up [to the majors]."

He also reflected on New York's poor start to the season in his absence while also expressing hope for a future turnaround. 

"It hasn't gone the way we want; we want to win," Polanco said. "But I know that things are going to get better."

Polanco was asked about the impact that rookie outfielders Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing have made since entering the fray in Queens. He gave the greenhorns his vote of confidence, affirming that "it's great to have those kids... It's a plus for us, the energy they bring."

We, the spoiled denizens of Braves Country, have made our displeasure known about the recent offensive outages. Some of it warranted (dropping a series to the Nats at home). We may have said things we regret. 

I’m taking your Ronald Acuña Jr. apology forms riiight here. 

The Braves will finish 4-2 against the Red Sox this season, taking 2 of 3 in both Atlanta and Boston in the span of a week. 

The Braves are back in the win column and notched another series win, bouncing back after 1) last night’s shutout and 2) their second series loss of the year before Memorial Day. 

In the battle of lefties on the mound, Chris Sale grinded through five innings of work, throwing 96 pitches and allowing six hits, two earned runs, three walks, and striking out eight. He pitched around traffic in every inning, but got strikeouts in huge spots to end the threats in the first, second, and third. 

Thus ends the streak of 6+ inning starts for Sale, but he still got the win, adding to his streak of decisions so far this season. You can’t help but be extra appreciative of Sale when he’s at Fenway. He’s throwing 99 mph on his 92nd pitch of the game for a strikeout for us. For Atlanta. Matt Olson was entirely right to (mildly and apparently amicably) let Willson Contreras know not to chirp our ace. He kept us right in it, believing his offense would break through. 

And they would do exactly that – but before we get to the point where they broke it open, I want to give Jorge Mateo his flowers.

Mateo has made the most of his fluid role and limited playing time with the Braves. Called upon to DH, pinch run, or start at short like today, he has contributed in a myriad of underrated ways. He had himself a day today, going 2-for-4 with a double and two-out RBI single to get the scoring started off of Payton Tolle. Tolle was picking right back up where he left off in stealing the souls of Braves hitters. But he proved fallible, and Jorge had the first blow. Mateo’s single also set up a Dom Smith RBI single to make it 2-0 Braves in the fourth. A difference maker!

Those two runs felt huge, but Sale’s unlucky fourth (a barely-fair RBI double and RBI single) brought us a brand-new ballgame tied at 2-2. Ronald Acuña Jr. reached on a leadoff walk and collected a stolen base, but nothing further would be charged to Tolle after being lifted after 4.2 innings.

The top of the sixth was special. When have you seen the first three Braves hitters show bunt? Only Michael Harris II laid one down for a single, but Mateo and Smith took advantage of reliever Danny Coulombe’s lack of command and walked to load the bases. A brief game of chicken ensues: Eli White came in to pinch hit for Sandy León, Boston countered with a pitching change to go to righty Greg Weissert, and then White headed back to the dugout in favor of Mike Yastrzemski. Yaz’s good eye led to a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-2 Braves. Lineup card turned over, and there are still no outs. 

Ronald took a ball low. Weissert’s next pitch, a 93 mph sinker, was promptly sent a whopping 417 feet, soaring over the Green Monster for a grand slam. What a moment for Ronnie rocket #3 of the season.

The game continued while we reveled in that high for a while. Tyler Kinley (1.0 IP), Reynaldo López (2.0 IP), and Dylan Dodd (1.0 IP) would combine to throw four scoreless to finish out the game. Harris II and Ozzie Albies also wanted in on the fireworks and would tack on three runs via a solo homer in the seventh and a two-run homer in the ninth, respectively. 

The Braves improve to 38-19 and will have a happy flight to Cincinnati. Don’t watch that highlight again without turning in your apology form. 

Major League Baseball could make Sacramento a permanent home in the near future, at least that's the hope for city leaders and residents surrounding California's capital.

Regional leaders near Sacramento made their plans for a MLB team called "The Sacramento Pitch" in a news release from the Greater Sacramento Economic Council detailing commitments including a "fully entitled 50-acre stadium site" and nearly $2 billion in public and private funds.

The Athletics play at Sutter Health Park, a minor-league stadium in West Sacramento, after the A's relocated from Oakland, using Sacramento as a pitstop from 2025 to potentially 2028 before they ultimately land in Las Vegas where a new, state-of-the-art ballpark is expected to be completed by that year.

Sacramento natives and residing neighbors who were either A's fans from their Oakland days or now riding for their local team have gotten accustomed to having a professional baseball team in town, and there's buzz to keep one in the region when the league negotiates team expansions into two other markets - one on the West coast and another in the East.

Founder and chairman of Fulcrum Property and Board Chair of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council Mark Friedman believes Sacramento will be "impossible to ignore" when it's time to consider additional franchises.

"When MLB moves forward on expansion, Sacramento will be impossible to ignore,” Friedman said in a news release. “We have the market, the site, the capital, and the community. Sacramento is ready to compete — and Sacramento is ready to win.”

The Greater Sacramento Economic Council has plans for a 50-acre downtown site for a modern ballpark and mixed-use development. The project is said to have pinpointed almost $2 billion in private-public funding that includes $800 million in land and private investment and another $1 billion expected to come from the City of West Sacramento through tax increment financing, existing hotel taxes, and additional sources, the news release said.

“This is a defining moment for West Sacramento, and we’re ready,” West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero said in a news release. “Major League Baseball is already seeing firsthand the passion, energy, and civic pride that exists here. This region offers a practical and achievable path for long-term MLB success, and we have the financial capacity, community support, and clear vision needed to bring Major League Baseball permanently to West Sacramento. We’re built for this. We’re ready. Bring it on.”

The Sacramento Pitch is an organizational group of city and sports leaders spearheading the effort to bring MLB to Sacramento on a full-time basis. Among those individuals are notable baseball names from the Sacramento area, former Major League Baseball player Derrek Lee and World Series Champion, as a player and manager, Dusty Baker.

“I have always believed Sacramento is a major league city. Throughout my career, I’ve traveled across the country, and there’s something different about the people here. This community truly loves baseball,” Baker said in a news release. “For more than a century, this region has built a proud baseball legacy and developed generations of Major League Baseball players. I could not be more excited for the prospect of bringing a permanent MLB team here.”

Additional updates, tracking their progress can be found at thesacramentopitch.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sacramento lays out campaign for future MLB expansion team

TONIGHT’S GAME: Tonight, the Houston Astros (25-32) and Texas Rangers (25-30) will play the finale of this 4-game series at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX.

RHP Spencer Arrighetti (6-1, 1.32 ERA) will start for the Astros vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (5-5, 3.55 ERA).

Tonight will be Arrighetti’s 1st career appearance at Globe Life Field and his 3rd vs. TEX overall.

Rematch: Tonight will also be the 2nd time that Arrighetti and Eovaldi have faced each other. The last time was on July 13, 2024 in HOU in which both hurlers took a ND in a 2-1, Rangers win in 10 innings.

SPENCER’S GIFTS: Since making his season debut on April 15, RHP Spencer Arrighetti has been one of the top starters in the Majors.

With Friday’s win at CHC, he is now 6-1 in just 7 starts with a 1.32 ERA (6ER/41IP) and a miniscule .169 batting avg. (24 H allowed in 41.0 IP).

Since April 15, Arrighetti’s 6 wins are tops in the AL in that span.

Model of Consistency: Arrighetti has allowed 1 ER or less in 6 of his 7 starts and 2 ER or less in all 7 starts.

In May, Arrighetti is 3-1 in 4 starts with an 0.78 ERA (2ER/23IP).

Pitcher of the Month Candidate: Arrighetti is 3-1 in his 4 starts in May with an AL best 0.78 ERA (2ER/23IP). For the month, he has allowed just 13 hits in his 23.0 IP (.169 opp. avg).

TRIP FINALE: Tonight is the finale of this 10-game, 3-city road trip.

The Astros are 6-3 thus far on the trip, going 1-2 at MIN, 3-0 at CHC and 2-1 here at TEX with 1 game left to play. A win tonight would give the Astros 7 wins on a 10-game road trip for the 1st time since a 10-0 trip, June 7-17, 2018.

Home-Cooking: After tonight’s game, the Astros will return to HOU for a 9-game homestand, during which they will host MIL, PIT and ATH, respectively.

AIR YORDAN: Yordan Alvarez has been sizzling hot in this series at Globe Life Field, going 6×12 in 3 games with 5 HR and 8 RBI.

*Is the 1st Astros player with multi-HR in back-back games since Jose Altuve turned the trick, Sept. 4 (2 HR) and Sept. 5 (3 HR), also at Globe Life. Altuve’s 5 HR are a club record for a 2 game span.

*His 2 HR last night give him 20 HR on the season, which is a club record for the 1st 57 G of a season.

*He is the 5th Astros player with multi-HR in consecutive games. The others: Jose Altuve, 9/4-5, 2023 at TEX; Richard Hidalgo, 9/9-10, 2000 at CHC; Moises Alou, 8/13/2000 at PHI, 8/14/2000 vs. PIT; Doug Rader, 7/2021/1973 vs. NYM.

*Has matched the club record for HR in a 3-game span with 5. That record is shared by Jose Altuve (2023), Richard Hidalgo (2000) and Glenn Davis (1990).

*From Elias: The Astros record for HR in a 4-game span is 6, set by Glenn Davis, 6/1-4 of 1990.

*At Globe Life Field, his 17 career HR and 1.216 career OPS are the best of any visiting player. He has 17 HR and 37 RBI in just 33 games at Globe Life Field.

*From Sarah Langs: Only 4 MLB players have had 3 straight multi-HR games: 2003-Jeff DaVanon; 1969-Lee May; 1962-Frank Thomas; 1951-Gus Zernial.

Note: All 3 hit 6 HR in their 3-game spans.

*From Elias: The MLB record for HR in a 3-game span is 7, set by Shawn Green (5/23-25 of 2002). The MLB record for HR in a 4-game span is 8, set by Ralph Kiner, 9/10-12 of 1947 (DH on 9/11).

ON THE LEADER BOARD: Yordan Alvarez currently leads the Majors in OPS (1.085), SLG (.663) and TB (134).

In the AL, he is 1st in batting avg. (.312), T-1st in HR (20) and 4th in RBI (39).

200 CLUB: Last night’s win was #200 for Astros manager Joe Espada. Espada’s very first managerial win came via a no-hitter by RHP Ronel Blanco on April 1, 2024 vs. TOR.

RECENT STROS: The Astros have won 5 of 6, 6 of 8 and 8 of their last 12 games.

FOR STARTERS: Astros starters have a combined ERA of 3.34 (26ER/70IP) over the last 12 games (since May 15) with a 1.04 WHIP.

In that span, they have allowed just 41 hits in 70.0 for an AL-best .170 opp. avg. During that time, HOU ranks 1st in the AL in opp. avg., 2nd in WHIP and 6th in ERA. Additionally, Astros starters have allowed no runs 5 times in the last 12 games.

HOMER HAPPY: The Astros have slugged 14 HR in their last 6 games. HOU now ranks 3rd in the AL in HR with 74, just behind CWS (75).

WALKER, TEXAS HAMMER: 1B Christian Walker has 4 HR and 9 RBI in hits last 5 games.

For the season, he has been one of the top hitters in the AL and is currently T-2nd in the league lead in RBI with 40. Walker also ranks 6th in HR (15), 7th in TB (108) and SLG (.519) and 13th in OPS (.850).

Walker also has not committed an error in his 57 games played.

THE SILVER BOOT SERIES: The Astros are 4-2 vs. the Rangers thus far in the 2026 Silver Boot Series.

They took 2 out of 3 from Rangers, May 15-17 at Daikin Park in the 1st matchup of the series.

Dating back to last season, HOU has won 7 of their last 9 games vs. TEX.

Even Series: The two clubs have played each other 298 times in the regular season in their franchise histories, with the Astros holding a slight advantage, 150-148.

Recently, the Astros have had the upper hand, winning or splitting nine straight season series, going 97-53 against the Rangers since the start of the 2017 season.

The Silver Boot Trophy, which the Astros have held onto since 2017, is on display in the Centerfield Team Store at Daikin Park.

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 1969 – One night after his walk-off grand slam defeated the Phillies, Doug Rader is the hero again, this time with an RBI-single in the 10th inning for a 7-6, walkoff win over the Phillies in the Dome. Additionally, the win is the 10th straight for the Astros, tying the franchise record at that time.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Thursday, May 28, 7:05 p.m. CT

Location: Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX

TV: Space City Home Network

Streaming: SCHN+

Radio: KTRH 740 AM, KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

Houston Astros @ Texas Rangers

Thursday, May 28, 2026, 7:05 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

The Shed

RHP Spencer Arrighetti vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi

Go Rangers!

Game one of four in Baltimore.

There have been moves. McAdoo is up. Sosa is on the Il. I bet you didn’t know that inability to take a walk was something that could land you on the IL.

Seabold is on the roster, Chase Lee is headed to Buffalo.

It didn’t look like the feeble-hitting Twins would have much chance against Davis Martin, and that turned out to be right.

And it didn’t look like the Sox would struggle against an emergency starter rushed into action very shortly before game time, and that turned out to be right, too. Especially thanks to the incompetence of Twins manager Derek Shelton.

The Twins offense, which had scored only five runs in regulation in three games against lesser Sox pitching, looked hopeless against Martin, who holds the key to success against Minnesota: complete ownership of Byron Buxton. He did walk Buxton once, but got a K on a pitch around eye-high, running the star’s career against him to 1-for-12 with six strikeouts. He also held the rest of the Twins to two hits, both by Tristan Gray, who drove in the only run on Martin’s tab with a double long after the game was essentially over.

Just to show he’s not just all-throw-and-no-catch, Martin even made a nifty play on Trevor Larnach in the sixth.

Meanwhile, Minnesota had a problem — an even bigger problem than just being the Twins. Shelton, for some reason, decided to give hurler Taj Bradley (5-1) an extra day of rest, even though his last three starts had been excellent, rather than having him face a division rival. Then opener+ Kendry Rojas, ERA 1.26, was pulled due to elbow soreness, and Simeon Woods Richardson was rushed into duty on little warning.

Woods Richardson is mostly a starter, but he’d just pitched two relief innings on Monday and was in no way ready to go. He gave up a run on a Colson Montgomery single after Miguel Vargas walked and stole second in the first. Then Shelton left Woods Richardson in well past his sell-by date in the fourth, even after he’d loaded the bases on two walks and another Montgomery single. To no one’s surprise — except maybe Shelton’s — Tristan Peters then drove in a run on an infield single to give the Sox a 2-0 lead, and Randal Grichuk effectively put the game away with a double to the corner against a Twins offense too lousy to mount a comeback.

That made it 5-0 Sox, and after a Sam Antonacci single and an errant pickoff attempt, a Munetaka Murakami pop-up double stretched the lead to 6-0 after five.

The Twins finally scored on Martin in the sixth on a walk and Gray’s double. Will Venable decided to be kind to them in the seventh and inserted Jordan Leasure, but even he only gave up one run despite being hit hard by four straight batters. Tyler Davis and Grant Taylor each threw a scoreless inning to keep the final 6-2.

The win moves the White Sox to 29-27 and actually gets their run differential back to even for the first time since Opening Day. The Tigers, who haven’t won a game since roughly April Fool’s Day and got clobbered by the Angels today, are headed to town for a three-game series starting with Troy Melton making his second start of the year, going for Detroit vs. Erick Fedde for Chicago tomorrow night.

If I had a dollar for every time someone has brought up the Earl Weaver quote that momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher, I could probably take a nice vacation. It comes up so often it is kind of a joking cliche. Yet the reason it is deployed so often is there is an obvious truth to it. If your starting pitcher gets his butt kicked, then it probably doesn’t matter what you did the last three games. That winning streak is over. If your starting pitcher goes out and throws a gem, you’ve got a pretty good chance to keep the good times rolling.

The Orioles open up a series against the Blue Jays here on Thursday night with Chris Bassitt on the mound. Amazingly, he is kind of a defiance of the Weaver cliche. Bassitt has been pretty much terrible so far, with about three of his ten outings being anything like good. He has thoroughly earned the 5.51 ERA that he currently possesses. He is not on the path to looking like the $18.5 million contract that Mike Elias handed him for 2026 will pay off for the Orioles. He is neither pitching well nor eating innings.

Somehow, the Orioles are 7-3 in games that Bassitt pitches. Bassitt himself has come away with a 4-3 win-loss record, grabbing wins in games where he gave up five runs in 5.1 innings and three runs in 4.1 innings (relief outing). Always remember that pitcher win-loss records are not indicative of all that much.

Maybe Bassitt will surprise me and pitch well. The Blue Jays are not hitting very well over the last two weeks, with a .231/.298/.374 team batting line. Annoyingly, they are 9-5 in this time, because their pitchers are doing even better. In the same time, the Jays have allowed a .599 OPS and 2.65 ERA. Tonight’s Jays pitcher, Patrick Corbin, who has netted -3.4 bWAR since the start of the 2021 season, is worth more than any Orioles starting pitcher! No one would have been happy at the time if Elias had signed this guy. Two months into the season, though, those are the results.

Obligatory Orioles roster move of the day: The team optioned yesterday’s starter, Trey Gibson, back to Norfolk. They selected the contract of Cameron Weston from Norfolk. He has not been pitching well down there, or at least not getting good results. Good luck to him if he debuts. Also today, the Orioles activated Heston Kjerstad from the injured list and optioned him to Norfolk.

Orioles lineup

1. Taylor Ward – DH
2. Gunnar Henderson – SS
3. Adley Rutschman – C
4. Pete Alonso – 1B
5. Coby Mayo – 3B
6. Leody Taveras – CF
7. Tyler O’Neill – RF
8. Jackson Holliday – 2B
9. Blaze Alexander – LF

If the question is “Why is Tyler O’Neill playing?” the answer is probably that the team has zero confidence in Colton Cowser against lefty pitchers, but also I have zero confidence in O’Neill against any pitcher so, you know. Sunk cost time is approaching, if it has not already arrived.

Blue Jays lineup

1. George Springer – DH
2. Nathan Lukes – LF
3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 1B
4. Daulton Varsho – CF
5. Kazuma Okamoto – 3B
6. Jesús Sánchez – RF
7. Ernie Clement – 2B
8. Andrés Giménez – SS
9. Brandon Valenzuela – C

The Jays signed the Japanese infielder Okamoto as a free agent this offseason to hit home runs and he already has 11 home runs. Must be nice.

SeatGeek is the official MLB Ticketing Partner of the New York Post. We may receive revenue from this partnership for sharing this content and/or when you make a purchase. Featured pricing is subject to change.

The “Summer of George 3.0” is underway.

For the third straight season, the New York Yankees are giving away “Seinfeld”-inspired George Costanza bobbleheads.

This year, they’ll be handing out 18,000 tiny Jason Alexander statuettes — where he’ll likely be polishing off a calzone — on Thursday, Aug. 27 when Aaron Judge’s Bronx Bombers go toe-to-toe with Yordan Alvarez’s Houston Astros.

As “Seinfeld” fans may recall, George’s infamous run-in with the Italian delicacy comes from the Season 7 episode “The Calzone” where he accidentally gets his boss George Steinbrenner (voiced by Larry David) hooked on the folded pizza.

A minute into the episode, Steinbrenner asks Costanza “what is that you’re eating there? It looks pretty tasty?” before having his underling hand his lunch over.

“Big Stein wants a little taste” he adds before taking a sizable bite of the meal that comes complete with cheese, pepperoni and eggplant.

If you’d like to get a taste of your very own Costanza calzone bobblehead, tickets are available for the late August, dog days of summer contest.

Better yet, they’re surprisingly cheap.

At the time of publication, we found seats going for as low as $41 including fees on SeatGeek.

100-level seats start at $98 including fees.

In the event “Seinfeld” isn’t your thing, the Yankees have a number of other exciting giveaways coming up these next few months.

Personally, we’re most excited about the Aaron Judge MVP bobblehead (June 20), Cody Bellinger bobblehead (Aug. 21) and Josh Hart bobblehead (Sept. 25).

Also, we’d be absolutely remiss if we didn’t mention that other than the Pinstripers playing well this season, fans are lining up for the $10.99 ice cream fried chicken bucket at games.

“…what looks like a pair of fried chicken drumsticks is actually ice cream with a chocolate-covered cookie ‘bone’ center with a coating of white chocolate and candied corn flakes to give it that fried chicken look [and] is served in a souvenir mini ‘chicken’ bucket,” MLB.com reports.

Need a calzone bobblehead…and maybe an ice cream fried chicken bucket too?

We’re here to help.

Our team has everything you need to know and more about getting tickets for the Yankees George Costanza Calzone bobblehead giveaway game below.

Yankees George Costanza bobblehead giveaway day tickets

A complete breakdown of all Yankee Stadium section ticket prices for the Aug. 27 Yankees-Astros game with the George Costanza calzone bobblehead giveaway can be found here:

Yankees 2026 home game tickets

At the moment, Aaron Boone’s Yankees are sitting at 34-22 just behind the scrappy Tampa Bay Rays in the competitive AL East.

And, while that’s certainly exciting, we’re most jazzed about all the amazing giveaways the team has planned for the rest of the year (along with the Costanza bobblehead).

To make sure you’re fully up to speed on which games include special trinkets with your tickets (and Old-Timer’s Day!), here are all the remaining 2026 Yankees giveaways and special dates.

Note: Most freebies will be given to the first 18,000 fans. There are exceptions so make sure to arrive at the ballpark early.

Prefer a home game without giveaways? You can find the Yankees’ complete 2026 schedule here.

Jerry Seinfeld Beacon Theatre residency

Starting Oct. 24, Jerry Seinfeld resumes his ongoing Beacon Theatre residency.

As of now, the funnyman has ten shows booked at the classy Upper West Side performance space. To find the one that makes the most sense for you, you can find all Jerry Beacon dates below.

Want to see Jerry elsewhere? You can find Seinfeld’s complete 2026 tour calendar here.

Stream “The Calzone” “Seinfeld” episode

In the off-chance it’s been a few years since you’ve caught “The Calzone” — which originally aired April 25, 1996 and features subplots where Jerry dates a woman and Elaine goes out with a guy whose found “dating loopholes” — you can stream the fan-favorite episode on Netflix.

Note: “The Calzone” is Season 7 Episode 19.

Huge 2026 concerts

Hoping to catch a concert or three this year, too?

If the answer is a resounding yes, here are just a few you won’t want to miss these next few months.

• RUSH

• Bon Jovi

• Phish

• Gorillaz

• Wu-Tang Clan

Want to see who else is touring this year? Check out our list of all the biggest concert tours in 2026 to find the show that makes the most sense for you.

Why you should trust ‘Post Wanted’ by the New York Post

This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.