Category: Baseball

Today’s Reflections

Something is starting to feel familiar. Familiar, but different.

The Cubs’ bats are starting to come into form once again. That was proven in the games from Monday and Tuesday. Six batters in the Cubs’ starting lineup Monday had hits, with Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki, Alex Bregman and Pete Crow-Armstrong with a pair each, in the 3-2 walk-off win. Suzuki had the game-winning hit.

Then on Tuesday, every hitter in the starting lineup (even Kevin Alcantara!) had at least one hit. Suzuki and Carson Kelly each had a pair. Two of Swanson’s three hits were home runs, two of the five homers on the team.

But Shota Imanaga, who picked up the win Monday with 6.1 strong innings, is the only starter from the Opening Day roster that has not been injured. Matthew Boyd recently returned from the IL and had a bend-but-not-break outing Tuesday. And five of the OD bullpen members are on the IL, plus Colin Rea was an emergency move into the rotation.

While having a patchwork pitching staff, the Cubs have won 10 of their last 12 games. Yes, it’s another streak for the Cubs. But instead of the shocking runs from early in the season, where the feeling was, “Is this real?!!! Who cares — Let’s keep going, whoo!!”, the feeling is, “Is this ….. real?? When is it going to fall apart? When will the pitching injuries take a permanent toll on the team? Well, let’s keep going and see.” Not to be a downer here, but I feel there is definitely a stronger feeling of caution than there was in April and early May. Rightfully so.

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Tuesday’s game stories:

• Scott Held (Chicago Tribune {$}): Dansby Swanson hits 2 of Chicago Cubs’ 5 HRs in 9-7 win over the San Diego Padres. “Alex Bregman, Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong added home runs to help the Cubs win for the 10th time in 12 games.”

• Jordan Bastian (MLB.con): Swanson homers twice as Cubs win slugfest over Padres. “There are nights when Wrigley Field transforms into a hitter’s haven and teams understand that piling up runs is not only the goal, but required to find the win column.”

• Mike McGraw (Daily Herald): Change of strategy: Cubs belt 5 home runs, hang on to beat Padres. “The Cubs were ready to begin a new chapter Tuesday.”

• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune {$}): Chicago Cubs’ Alex Bregman downplays thumbs-down gestures after homering at Wrigley for 1st time since March. “Chicago Cubs’ Alex Bregman didn’t have any interest in providing insight into his post-home run thumbs-down gestures.”

Monday’s game stories:

• Vinnie Duber (Chicago Sun-Times): Another Wrigley walk-off: Injuries aren’t keeping Cubs from winning while attempting to weather storm. “Seiya Suzuki delivered the latest game-winning thrill at Wrigley Field, the Cubs’ 10th walk-off win of the season, keeping the victories coming while the team deals with an ever-increasing mountain of injuries.”

• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune {$}): Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki power the Chicago Cubs to an MLB-leading 10th walk-off victory. “Imanaga held the Padres to two runs on nine hits and four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings without walking a batter or allowing a home run on a humid, hot night at Wrigley Field.”

Assorted stories:

• Vinnie Duber (Chicago Sun-Times): Walk of life: Cubs’ patience at plate paying off as offense heats back up after monthlong slump. “The Cubs are baseball’s walk kings, leading the majors in that category, getting improved on-base numbers all over the lineup and taking to shouting out free passes with as much gusto as complimenting home runs.”
• Evan Sullivan (Cubs Insider): Pete Crow-Armstrong’s Explosive June Puts Him Alongside Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig. “Pete Crow-Armstrong nearly lapped the field in June, posting a 3.1 fWAR mark that left Detroit’s Dillon Dingler (1.8) in the dust. The numbers Crow-Armstrong generated are so outlandish that they’ve only been replicated in four other months by two players.”
• Michael Canter (Cubs Insider): The Rundown: Power Surge Propels Cubs Toward Potential Sweep, Nothing Imminent on Trade Front, Mets Expect to Make Sweeping Changes. “Chicago’s North Side Baseballers have an opportunity to complete the sweep while simultaneously treating us to day baseball on what should be a beautiful summer afternoon.”
• Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): Cubs News: Ethan Conrad debuts, Vince Velasquez elects free agency, Pete Crow-Armstrong home run derby. “With the 2026 MLB Draft a little over a week away, the Chicago Cubs’ 2025 first-round draft pick has finally made his professional debut.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune {$}): Column: Craig Counsell downplays the Chicago Cubs’ many challenges, but he was hired to solve problems. “This might be Counsell’s most challenging season as manager, though he won’t consider the possibility and isn’t interested in comparisons.”
• Jon Greenberg (The Athletic {$}): Cubs are hurting, but they’re also showing their mettle during a challenging time. “The Cubs picked up their 10th walk-off win of the season when Seiya Suzuki drove in Pete Crow-Armstrong with a hit off the ivy.”
• Tyler Courtney (LastWordOnSports.com): Are the Chicago Cubs’ Injuries Becoming Their Greatest Concern in 2026? “At this point, it seems like there is someone new is added every day, as the pitching staff has been destroyed. Now, they must find a way to overcome the injuries if they wish to stay competitive.”

Trade Talk:

• Vinnie Duber (Chicago Sun-Times): Jameson Taillon could make injury return before All-Star break, good news for Cubs’ battered pitching staff. “The Cubs are aiming to have Taillon, who’s been out since early June with a hamstring strain, make a rehab start this weekend, potentially setting him up for a return from the IL during the team’s final series of the first half.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): What we’re hearing about Cubs’ pitching plans: Trade expectations, comebacks and more. “Even as they juggle various pitching injuries, the Cubs are trying to focus on internal solutions until the draft and trade deadline.”
• Eddie Lennon (LastWordOnSports.com): 3 Strong Luis Arraez Trade Destinations. “He doesn’t hit for power. He doesn’t rack up elite exit velocity numbers. He doesn’t overwhelm with highlight-reel tools.”
• Tyler Edmunds (OnTapSportsNet): The Cubs Need to Stop Waiting and Go Get Sonny Gray. “The Chicago Cubs adding Sonny Gray from the Boston Red Sox would make a lot of sense for a team desperately needing pitching help.”
• Eddie Lennon (LastWordOnSports.com): 3 Great Landing Spots for Freddy Peralta. “Peralta still brings exactly what contenders want in October: strikeouts, swing-and-miss stuff, and the ability to shorten games when every inning carries postseason weight.”

Food For Thought:

John Lee Hooker (1917–2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist famous for his hypnotic, driving “boogie” rhythm and deep, gravelly voice. Born into a Mississippi sharecropping family, he pioneered an electric-style adaptation of Delta blues in Detroit. Over a career spanning five decades, he recorded over 100 albums, releasing classics like “Boogie Chillen” and “Boom Boom”.

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.

Surprise! I know it’s not Friday. But big thanks to Trenton! I’m going to be out tomorrow, so he graciously switched with me, and you get him tomorrow. I have even more good news for those who dislike my Friday Rumblings: I’ll be out of town the next two weeks. I believe Cullen and Max will be grabbing those, but I could be mistaken. Also, big thanks to them!

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At The Star, Jaylon Thompson writes about Kris Bubic’s status:

The Kansas City Royals have scratched left-handed starter Kris Bubic from his scheduled rehab outing on Wednesday. Bubic was set to pitch around three innings with Triple-A Omaha. It would’ve been his third rehab appearance with the Storm Chasers.

However, Royals assistant general manager Scott Sharp joined Sports Radio 810 WHB and said Bubic will return to Kansas City. He will undergo further evaluation as he deals with left-shoulder soreness.

“I wish I had a little bit better news,” Sharp said. “Kris was supposed to pitch tonight. I don’t think he’s going to. He’s going to come back to Kansas City. And we just can’t get the final little bit of soreness out there. We’ll continue to be hopeful with continued treatment and rest that we can get him back sooner than later.”

Anne Rogers writes about it as well:

Bubic was transferred to the 60-day IL on Wednesday, which was more of a procedural move rather than directly related to this new setback; the Royals needed a 40-man roster spot to add reliever Jose Cuas and call him up to the big leagues. The 60-day IL dates back to Bubic’s initial IL date on May 15, so he’ll be eligible to return July 14. With this setback, Bubic wasn’t going to be back in the next two weeks, anyway.

Some better injury news from Rogers?

Vinnie Pasquantino & Kyle Isbel participated in BP and defensive drills today. The plan was to get them to AZ to continue rehab later this week, but they're actually going to stay in KC to continue their work. Expectation/hope is that both go on a rehab assignment next week.

— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) July 1, 2026

ICYMI: Max wrote about some of the roster moves yesterday: Cuas and Dobnak up, Cerantola down, Seabold to IL, and Bubic to 60-day.

Max also wrote about Chourio and Mitchell going to the MLB Futures Game.

Going back to Thompson, he also wrote about Cole Ragans. He had surgery and is… you know what? He put it all in a couple of sentences. Better to read it from him:

Kansas City Royals ace Cole Ragans underwent left-elbow surgery Wednesday. Ragans, 28, is expected to miss the remainder of the 2026 season. It’s his third major elbow procedure as he previously underwent two Tommy John surgeries earlier in his career.

Fortunately, the game on the field is going better than off, right?!?

Loudest applause at The K so far is when the #Royals fans tried to pair an inflatable hot dog and hot bun together in the stands.

They were successful.

— Jaylon T. Thompson (@jaylonthompson) July 2, 2026

Listicles?

At The Athletic ($), Tim Britton and Chad Jennings list their trade deadline tiers:

Tier 6: Typical sellers
New York Mets
Colorado Rockies
Kansas City Royals – SP, RP

The Rockies expected to be here, the Mets and Royals less so. While Mickey Moniak and Freddy Peralta and Kris Bubic are useful pieces to move, these squads don’t really have the rosters to shake up the deadline by embracing a more aggressive sale. Maybe the Mets make some guys with team control available (like Brett Baty or Mark Vientos), but that would be because they’re enduring disappointing seasons that have depressed their value.

At CBS Sports, their baseball writers hand out halfway grades:

Kansas City Royals: F

Two years ago, the Royals made the playoffs. Last season, they had a winning record. This season, they are among the worst teams in baseball. The good signs (breakouts from Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone) are overshadowed, quite greatly, by the bad. Injury concerns with Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic linger and the bullpen is a complete mess. Injuries to Vinnie Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia haven’t helped matters, but the offense was lackluster even with them in the lineup. It’s just been all kinds of bad in K.C. this season. — Snyder

Finally, at ESPN, Anthony Gharib names the “Red, white, and bobby” bobblehead the best 4th of July giveaway.

And, just a quick little “around baseball” blurb, Happy Bobby Bonilla Day to all who celebrate!

Blogs?

Let’s lead off with Kevin O’Brien at Royals Keep “Three Ex-Royals Players Who Are Thriving With Their New Teams”:

While Clarke’s profile is flawed, which explains why the Royals were okay with letting him go, he’s been dependable for the Diamondbacks, even in medium- to high-leverage. He has 11 holds this year, his highest mark in that category since 2023 when he had 12 holds in 58 plate appearances. Clarke will likely surpass that number barring an epic collapse or injury.

Considering the Royals bullpen ranks 29th in reliever ERA and 30th in WHIP, Clarke would be a worthwhile arm to have right now, especially in the late innings. Lucas Erceg and Matt Strahm have struggled, and Carlos Estevez has only pitched in one game due to injury. The Royals closer likely won’t be back anytime soon after another setback, according to Anne Rogers.

Gotta be honest: kindof surprised Taylor Clarke is having a cromulent year.

At Into the Fountains, Craig wrote about Tuesday’s ugly loss (as opposed to last night’s, which I’m sure he’s writing about now*).

*I don’t know how last night’s ended up, honestly – the Royals were only down 2-0 when I finished writing this.

Blog Roundup?

• Also, Kevin O’Brien at Royals Keep: Chourio and Mitchell Name to All-Star Futures Game Rosters
• Philip Ruo at Royals Keep: Kansas City Royals Pitcher of the Month: June 2026
• Darin Watson at U.L.’s Toothpick: This Date In Royals History–1976 Edition: July 1 – Oakland scores three in the ninth to beat the Royals
• Jacob Milham at KOK: Royals Blake Mitchell’s prospect pedigree takes brutal hit after MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 update
• Nick Halden at KC Kingdom: Bobby Witt Jr. deserves more MVP buzz despite shortcomings of Royals roster

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Since it’s not Friday, I figure a couple of movie reviews of movies I watched a month or two ago feels about right. Also, I went back and counted – this entry pushes us past 200 Friday Rumblings movie reviews. It’s almost a lock that I will eventually collect all of them in a low-effort link post one of these days.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)

I didn’t care much for the first one, due to its scattered plot and characters.  This one is more focused.  It still has a few different plots, but they aren’t nearly as disparate – they all mostly come together in the end. Because of this focus, there aren’t as many laugh-out-loud moments as the first due to this focus on plot. It expands the, ahem, galaxy reasonably well, but I’m not sure how much further they can go with this.  As I said about the first, they tried too much kitchen sink with an origin story, lots about Bowser, Donkey Kong, Mario Kart, and more.  It’s left less ground to cover for the future.  Star Fox was a fine addition, and maybe we’re going towards Super Smash Bros.  In short, it’s pretty and works reasonably well, better than the first.  But it’s still mostly forgettable and, sadly, I think Nintendo’s movies will burn out sooner rather than later.

Zootopia 2 (2025)

The first was wonderful – one of the better animated movies of the last decade.  It’s a movie that didn’t assume kids are just dumb consumers and tried to teach lessons in genuinely creative and entertaining ways.  It took almost a decade, but Zootopia 2 mostly delivers, even if it suffers some sequelitis.  If you look too literally at this one, the main quest in this kids’ movie involves tracking down a 100-year old patent to disprove fraud.  Of course, it’s really about learning to be yourself and learning to live with and finding value in others. That lesson is, once again, taught within a colorful, lived-in world with multi-faceted characters, full of modernized lessons that don’t assume kids are dumb. It’s not as fresh or original as the first. And maybe it will age better on subsequent watchings (Spiderverse 2 did for me).  But it is a worthy sequel, and I’m ok waiting another decade if the Disney team wants to keep putting out

Elio (2025)

The next couple of movies are original IPs, which makes it even more unfortunate that both miss the mark.  This one starts with a colorful and interesting premise. However, it leans heavily on two common Pixar tropes: a tragic introduction to our protagonist that eventually melts into the “two unlikely companions” buddy pic. There are times when the movie dreams big: like the Carl Sagan’s bits and universe-building.  But, most of the time, it lacks the smartness or sharpness that Pixar used to traffic in. It feels paint-by-number: alien families are just like human families, communication misunderstandings between races that ham-handedly mirror those between our main characters, our protagonist and his new friend were always going to save the day, and he was always going to go back to his adopted family on Earth.

Some pieces of a much better movie might be in there, but the finished product is not it.  I wonder about the production difficulties. Adrian Molina co-directed Coco, which was easily one of the Pixar’s best movies of the last decade.  He was the original director of this film, which drew on his personal life story.  However, he left for (or was pushed to) Coco 2 – it’s a little unclear.  Some combination of the new directors, Pete Docter, and the 2025 political climate removed Elio (per wiki) as a “queer-coded character”. Allegedly, this made it “much more generic” and about “totally nothing”. That could have been the heart that the final cut lacked. I’ve always said that kids are almost always smarter than we give them credit for, and Pixar reliably made bank on that for 15 years. They can still surprise you, but those hits are mixed in with lots of shiny, brainless shlock or sequels of movies from when they were better.

Wish (2023)

Wish, perhaps unfairly, had the weight of Disney’s 100^th birthday on its shoulders. They tried to do an old-fashioned fairy tale, right down to the legacy Disney book introduction.  It employs an interesting style of animation and the more I watched it, the more gorgeous it looked.  I like the basic idea of the movie, but –  here come the buts – it takes a long time to get anywhere.  There’s not enough plot and too much filler (like Alan Tudyk) yet still gives short shrift to major plots like Simon’s betrayal and “redemption”.  Some of the morality is vague and questionable, particularly for an old-school fairy tale; the idea of stealing wishes and who those wishes really belong to is greyer than it needs to be. And, critically: the movie never quite feels earnest enough to live up to its message. I really wanted to like the “You’re a Star” scene and the animation is fun. But it’s also a reminder that metafiction is hard to do and this movie misses the mark more often than not.  Considering how much musicals rise and fall with their tunes, the music for this one is just… fine.  I appreciate that they really tried to make a new animated classic. They just weren’t up to the task this time out; Better luck next time. Unfortunately, because these failed, we’ll probably be treated to more safe, unoriginal sequels instead.

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Song of the day? How about we use one from one of the movies above?

Whenever I give updates on minor league stats, I’m always conflicted about how many players to include. Some of it is time management-related. Obviously, if I cover every conceivable player, it will take me time I sometimes don’t have. But I also am not particularly interested in writing 5,000 words for one of these either. So I inevitably have to exclude some players. So a couple weeks before the All-Star break and thus when I’m going to start squeezing in the first half updates, I thought I’d get a head start and tackle the rookie leagues, a league I haven’t actually done yet.

These are players you probably won’t need to know for many years and frequently never, but sometimes there’s a Raniel Rodriguez in the mix. Just two short years ago, Rodriguez was on a rookie league update and next year, he might see the major leagues. But most of the time, it’ll be like Ivan Herrera – he would have appeared in the 2017 update (if I was doing them then), he didn’t make his first MLB appearance until 2022, and he wasn’t a regular until 2024. Doesn’t make it not fun when a player makes it and you remember them from the first time you saw their name though.

Dominican Summer League

Hendrick Caña, RHP – 18

Stats: 4 GS, 15 IP, 29.9 K%, 4.5 BB%, 42.1 GB%, .415 BABIP, 3.00 ERA/3.03 FIP/3.74 xFIP

Caña has improved his K rate from 23% last year and his walk rate is a third of what it was last year while his GB rate has remained. While he has pitched fairly well, he has hit three batters – hence the weirdly high xFIP despite a phenomenal K/BB ratio. If you add the walks and HBP, it’s a 9 BB%, which is obviously not quite as impressive. But he has improved a lot nonetheless.

Daniel Gomez, RHP – 18

Stats: 5 GS, 17 IP, 24.6 K%, 5.8 BB%, 42.6 GB%, .319 BABIP, 2.65 ERA/3.96 FIP/4.17 xFIP

Gomez is pitching fairly similar to last year, although he has produced more swing and miss – his swinging strike rate last year was 11.9%, and this year it’s 15.4%. His K% has only marginally rose making me wonder if perhaps if we can expect more strikeouts by the end of the year. Gomez represents the last DSL pitching prospect I will post. Not a prospecty group here. The two 17-year-olds who’ve actually pitched any innings have been not good and I guess it’s different with pitchers, but I generally kind of ignore any 18-year-old in the DSL for prospect purposes.

Sebastian Rojas, C – 17

Stats: 79 PAs, .385/.456/.677, 10.1 BB%, 12.7 K%, .292 ISO, .400 BABIP, 157 wRC+

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: there’s a catcher in the Cardinals system destroying the ball. Is this guy going to get some prospect love over the offseason? I don’t think anybody is writing about the DSL guys yet, but I am just amazed that I blink and there’s another catching prospect.

Luis Estrella, OF – 17

Stats: 83 PAs, .333/.434/.580, 12 BB%, 27.7 K%, .246 ISO, .429 BABIP, 136 wRC+

Oh okay so this league is like that. Got it. That should be much better than a 136 wRC+, or at least it would be at just about any other pro league, but I see that the DSL is on some Coors Field shit. Not to diminish Estrella, but he seems like a probably bad defensive outfielder, because he’s played 11 games in RF, 3 games at 1B, and 3 games at DH. I feel like if you’re getting zero centerfield play at this level, it’s not a good sign. Throw in the strikeouts and proceed with caution.

Yeferson Portolatin, SS – 18

Stats: 79 PAs, .228/.443/.439, 25.3 BB%, 20.3 K%, .211 ISO, .282 BABIP, 123 wRC+

I normally wouldn’t make a point to post an 18-year-old’s stats from the DSL, but Portolatin was actually a better hitter last year. I’m not entirely sure why they didn’t take him to the stats – he had a 145 wRC+. Throw in that he’s a clear shortstop and I thought he was worth mentioning. I don’t know if it’s a difference in run environment or why he stayed in the DSL – but his ISO has improved from .148 to .211. His better line last year was almost entirely BB-related as he had a 29% BB rate, giving him a .483 OBP. But power genuinely seems to be up in this league.

Lucas Takahashi, OF – 17

Stats: 63 PAs, .261/.460/.261, 25.4 BB%, 27 K%, .000 ISO, .414 BABIP, 109 wRC+

Takahashi played last season as a 16-year-old and walked his way to a nearly average line. This time he’s actually got a decent average. That said, he’s yet to hit an extra base hit in 108 PAs at the DSL level. That’s not great. His most played position is CF so that’s the good news.

Michael Cordero, 3B – 17

Stats: 78 PAs, .246/.397/.410, 17.9 BB%, 28.2 K%, .164 ISO, .342 BABIP, 101 wRC+

Cordero also played a significant amount as a 16-year-old last season and I kind of wish he had made more progress from last season. He’s been better, but not by much, and most of his stats are very similar to last year. You hope a 16-year-old with a 95 wRC+ improves more than a 101 wRC+ the next season.

Roberth Castillo, 2B – 17

Stats: 69 PAs, .271/.362/.441, 11.6 BB%, 20.3 K%, .169 ISO, .333 BABIP, 91 wRC+

Yeah the run environment is crazy if that’s a below average hitting line. Castillo has played some games at SS too. I don’t know if he’s limited to 2B right now because of Portolatin, or if he’s more of a 2B who’s just getting reps at SS so he can be a fill-in. But you’d think he’d play more SS if the Cardinals thought he was one. Looking at these other lines makes it crazier that Takahashi can’t hit an extra base hit right now.

Florida Complex League

Xavier Cruz, RHP – 20

Stats (CPX): 5 G (2 GS), 15.1 IP, 43.5 K%, 12.9 BB%, 47.4 GB%, .190 BABIP, 3.52 ERA/5.98 FIP/3.12 xFIP

Low A: 2 G, 5.2 IP, 40.7 K%, 22.2 BB%, 50 GB%, .250 BABIP, 4.76 ERA/5.85 FIP/4.11 xFIP

This is a very strange season for a pitcher who seems to not actually know where the ball is going. It’s either going to be a strikeout, a walk, or a home run. He has struck out 38 guys in 21 innings, and he didn’t really slow down when he arrived in Palm Beach. He hasn’t allowed many flyballs either… it’s just it’s probably a homer if he does allow a flyball.

Gabriel Chinchilla, RHP – 19

Stats: 9 G (4 GS), 33.1 IP, 29.5 K%, 11 BB%, 44.7 GB%, .373 BABIP, 6.48 ERA/4.58 FIP/3.91 xFIP

Gabe, buddy, you’re almost there. We Gabes have to stick together. You have a fan for life. Looks like things just need to bounce his way more often – great K rate, decent amount of groundballs, too many walks, but not too bad. It’s just a very low LOB%, a very high HR/FB%, and a very high BABIP. I choose to believe you’ve been very unlucky.

Jan Cabrera, RHP – 21

Stats: 8 G (6 GS), 30.2 IP, 23.1 K%, 9 BB%, 57.3 GB%, .375 BABIP, 2.93 ERA/4.26 FIP/4.38 xFIP

As a counterpoint to the idea that only 17-year-olds are prospects in the DSL, Jan Cabrera exists. He was good, not great pitcher in the DSL as a 20-year-old. This year, he’s turned into a groundball machine (just 31 GB% last year). Granted, Cabrera still isn’t really a prospect, but he’s at least interesting.

Sebastian Dos Santos, SS – 18

Stats (CPX): 27 G, 112 PAs, .264/.429/.586, 19.6 BB%, 24.1 K%, .322 ISO, .315 BABIP, 143 wRC+

Low A: 11 G, 54 PAs, .200/.407/.300, 20.4 BB%, 27.8 K%, .100 ISO, .292 BABIP, 115 wRC+

Last year, the Cardinals had a few guys in the DSL who hit like the league was way too easy for them. Dos Santos was one of those players, and he made it looked like the complex league was too easy as well. That’s why he’s now in Palm Beach. So far, so good. Probably can’t walk 20% of the time forever, but I appreciate a patient hitter.

Miguel Hernandez, SS – 19

Stats: 36 G, 141 PAs, .259/.390/.500, 15.6 BB%, 24.1 K%, .241 ISO, .316 BABIP, 117 wRC+

I would not necessarily describe Hernandez as someone who made the DSL look too easy, but he had a very good season and he’s picked up exactly where he left off. For what it’s worth, because both he and Dos Santos are sort of shortstops, Hernandez has played a fair number of games at 2B. I’m assuming he became the full-time SS as soon as Dos Santos was promoted. It probably answers why Portolatin was left in the DSL actually.

Cristofer Lebron, 3B – 19

Stats: 37 G, 144 PAs, .280/.371/.488, 11.8 BB%, 24.3 K%, .208 ISO, .353 BABIP, 108 wRC+

Feels absurd to just say Lebron’s last name for obvious reasons, but that’s why he needs to make it. Lebron is having a solid season that if it continues, should put him line to spend next season at Palm Beach.

Kenly Hunter, OF – 18

Stats: 28 G, 109 PAs, .261/.398/.352, 15.6 BB%, 16.5 K%, .091 ISO, .319 BABIP, 99 wRC+

It just feels like the name Kenly Hunter should be a power hitter, so to it’s kind of surprising that he’s the opposite of that. He has played all three outfield positions nearly equally, though CF does top the games played. He also also stolen 11 bases to 1 caught stealing in these 28 games. Feels like he’s a centerfielder!

Juan Pablo Cabrera, C – 19

Stats: 26 G, 96 PAs, .273/.350/.416, 10.4 BB%, 17.4 K%, .143 ISO, .328 BABIP, 96 wRC+

Oh hey a relatively normal catching prospect! They do exist! Even so, this is pretty solid. Good amount of walks, not a lot of strikeouts, some power. He’s not going to be on a top 20 list, but he’s just really continuing to add to the catching depth.

Royelny Strop, OF – 18

Stats: 37 G, 137 PAs, .207/.350/.324, 16.1 BB%, 24.8 K%, .117 ISO, .276 BABIP, 76 wRC+

Pedro’s son struggled for most of his DSL tenure, but surged at the end, leading the Cardinals to bring him to Florida. So it should probably not be a shock to see him struggling to begin his rookie ball tenure in America. He’s not so overmatched though that I think it was the wrong decision. Hopefully, he finishes strong again this season.

Juan Rujano, C – 18

Stats: 21 G, 74 PAs, .227/.311/.348, 6.8 BB%, 29.7 K%, .121 ISO, .310 BABIP, 64 wRC+

Rujano actually had the better season than Cabrera in the DSL, but he’s gotten off to a rougher start. In fact, Rujano was actually ranked 29th on the Cardinals’ team list by Fangraphs entering this season. With that said, he’s also a year younger and it’s no cause for an alarm if an 18-year-old is struggling at this level.

Yaxson Lucena, OF – 18

Stats: 23 G, 88 PAs, .114/.295/.157, 19.3 BB%, 15.9 K%, .043 ISO, .143 BABIP, 33 wRC+

What an interesting line. Given the power and the BABIP, it’s probably safe to say that Lucena has been hitting the ball pretty weakly. But I do find him walking more than he’s struck out encouraging. For what it’s worth, Lucena is one of the hitters who laid waste to the DSL – he had a 141 wRC+. The approach is there, just not the punch.

Definitely covered more names than I would have if I tried to squeeze the rookie leagues into my normal update. And a couple names might end up on the normal update since they are now in Palm Beach. Not as exciting of a year in the DSL as last season (though maybe another Raniel!), but plenty of names to follow in the complex league.

Let’s start with the good news. The Cleveland Guardians beat the Texas Rangers in a classic 9-run punt lineup that featured David Fry leading off and Austin Hedges hitting a home run. Nick has the full recap here.

Ralphy Velazquez has been selected for the All-Star Futures game. Cooper Ingle has also been selected, but will not participate due to his recent MLB promotion.

Ralphy Velazquez is a ⭐️

Huge congratulations to Ralphy Velazquez on being selected to represent the Columbus Clippers in the All-Star Futures Game!#ClipShowpic.twitter.com/mWZOTe7bcY

— Columbus Clippers (@CLBClippers) July 1, 2026

Now, for some potentially bad news. Justin Campbell was slated to start in Columbus last night for his AAA debut. Campbell was pulled during warmups. Other than the below video showing where Campbell gestured to the training staff, there is no further updates at the time of writing.

This is the Justin Campbell injury. Pay less attention to the arm circle with his left arm and more at when he motions to the dugout. Appears to point towards his back. Hopefully not an arm issue. pic.twitter.com/h56N5H8L99

— Matt (@BelowAverageOPS) July 1, 2026

Around the League

The White Sox lost to the Baltimore Orioles last night, putting the Guardians just one game back heading into a four game series against the ChiSox.

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Yesterday, following a second straight loss to the increasingly unlikeable Washington Nationals, the Red Sox appropriately flew west into the setting sun to begin a nine game road trip. Their season is either on the brink, or already dead (depending on who you talk to), and their future is vastly uncertain.

Looking ahead, the trade deadline is still a month away (Monday, August 3rd at 6:00pm), but thanks to a bit of scheduling quirk and the All Star Break, there’s now just one homestand left for the Red Sox before we get there (July 17th through the 26th against everybody in the AL East other than the Yankees). So this has me wondering, when will the next meaningful baseball game at Fenway Park occur?

If you want to be wildly optimistic, you could say it will be their very next game there on July 17th, coming out of the All Star Break. If the Sox rip off something like a 7-2 road trip, they would still be close enough to sniff the third Wild Card entering that pivotal stretch, and it would very much be “game on” given how horrible the AL is this year and the likelihood of some big names coming back soon.

However, if you want to be wildly pessimistic, you could say the next meaningful game at Fenway Park won’t occur for another two years. Suppose the Sox have a disastrous west coast road trip and go something like 2-7? Then they sell pieces coming out of the break (officially ending contention in 2026) and run head first into a crippling lockout that wipes out the entire 2027 season.

The real answer is probably something in the middle, but I’m kind of amazed I don’t have to squint too hard to see either extreme.

Talk about this and whatever else you like in this tread, and as always, be good to one another! (Also, stay cool out there in this heat!)

Goalkeeper Jack Butland has left Rangers to join newly-promoted Premier League club Hull City for an undisclosed fee.

Butland's exit comes two days after Rangers signed Hull goalkeeper Ivor Pandur for £6m.

The 33-year-old former England international made 157 appearances in his three-year Rangers stint, winning the League Cup in December 2023.

Butland told the Hull City website: "The last few years playing at an incredible club like Rangers, somewhere I hold close to my heart, meant it had to be something really enticing to change that.

"The European nights and all the experience I gained up in Scotland, and my experience prior to that, are going to set me up perfectly for the challenge ahead this year.

"The Premier League is the best league in the world and, personally, it's a great opportunity to be on the biggest stage again. I believe it's the level I'm capable of playing at, and I've done it before."

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders:L, 9-5 vs. Norfolk Tides

3B Jonathan Ornelas 1-4, BB, K
C J.C. Escarra 3-5, 2B, K
2B Marco Luciano 2-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI, K — has had a hell of a year, 15 homers and .957 OPS across two levels
RF Yanquiel Fernández 1-4, 2B, BB, K
1B Tyler Hardman 0-4, BB, 3 K, SB
DH Ernesto Martinez Jr. 0-4, BB, 3 K
LF Kenedy Corona 1-3, BB, K
CF Duke Ellis 0-3, RBI, K, SF
SS Owen Cobb 0-4, K, fielding error

Don Hamel 6 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR (loss)
Eric Reyzelman 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR
Angel Chivilli 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K — has been sharp in Triple-A this season
Dylan Coleman 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

Luciano strikes lightning twice! 🌩️

It's the infielder's FOURTH two-homer game this season — two in Double-A @SOMPatriots and two at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.#RepBXpic.twitter.com/5JmhSRJfUm

— SWB RailRiders (@swbrailriders) July 2, 2026

Double-A Somerset Patriots:W, 5-3 vs. Hartford Yard Goats

CF Trent Grisham 1-3, 2B, BB — hard double in the fourth inning
1B John Cristino 0-1, K
DH Jace Avina 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB — great year continues, 16 dingers
RF Jackson Castillo 2-3, 2B, RBI, BB
LF DJ Gladney 2-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
3B Coby Morales 1-4, 3B, 2 K
C Miguel Palma 0-3, BB, K
1B Josh Moylan 1-4, 2 K, GIDP
SS Kevin Verde 0-4, K
2B Connor McGinnis 2-4, K , fielding error

Xavier Rivas 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 4 K — Somerset pitching combined for 19 (!) strikeouts, a franchise record
Miguel Arias 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 2 HR
Trent Sellers 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K
Hayden Merda 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K (win)
Chris Kean 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (hold)
Tony Rossi 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (save) — first save of the season for Tony

DJ Gladney DESTROYS his 14th HR of the season!

419 feet 📏
110 mph 🔥 pic.twitter.com/rwzTx1BFIW

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) July 2, 2026

High-A Hudson Valley Renegades:L, 5-3 vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks

2B Kaeden Kent 0-4, BB, K
SS Core Jackson 1-4, 2B, K
RF Wilson Rodriguez 1-4, RBI, K, CS
C Eric Genther 2-3
1B Kyle West 2-4
3B Roderick Arias 1-2, 2 RBI, BB, K, SF
DH Enmanuel Tejeda 1-3
CF Camden Troyer 0-4
LF Robbie Burnett 0-3, BB, K

Luis Serna 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 HR (loss)
Andrew Landry 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Wilmy Sanchez 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HR
Thomas Balboni Jr. 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

Wilson Rodriguez hits a hard liner into right field to score Kaeden Kent!😎 pic.twitter.com/lkWI5rTjxq

— Hudson Valley Renegades (@HVRenegades) July 2, 2026

Low-A Tampa Tarpons:W, 6-0 at St. Lucie Mets

SS Jackson Lovich 3-5, RBI, K
2B Hans Montero 1-4, BB, K
C Luis Puello 0-3, BB, 2 K
RF Logan Maxwell 3-4, 3 RBI, BB, K
3B Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek 0-3, 2 BB, K
CF Brando Mayea 0-4, BB, K
LF JoJo Jackson 1-2, BB
PR-RF Isael Arias 0-1
1B David McCann 1-4, RBI, 2 K
DH Ediel Rivera 1-4, 3 K

Thatcher Hurd 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K (win) — 2024 third-rounder had a ten-run disaster start in May, but has been nails since
Brian Hendry 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
Jose Martinez 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Jordarlin Mendoza 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K

Florida Complex League Yankees:W, 9-8 (9) vs. FCL Tigers — game was called with none on and two out in the top of the ninth due to inclement weather

3B Richard Matic 0-4, BB, 2 K
CF Wilberson De Pena 0-3, 2 K, SB
DH Queni Pineda 1-1, HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 3 SB
2B Leni Done 1-2, BB, 2 SB
LF Jose Castro 1-3, HR, 3 RBI, BB, SB
RF Francisco Vilorio 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K
SS Dexters Peralta 2-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, 2 SB — ten steals for the Yanks in this one
C Justin Capellan 0-4, 2 K, SB, CS
1B Diego Flores 0-3, 3 K

Sunayro Martina 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Marco Manzano 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K (win)
Brian Arias 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Jorge Luna 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 0 K
Rafael Arias 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K
Austin Breedlove 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (save)

Dominican Summer League Yankees: Off-day.

Dominican Summer League Bombers: Off-day.

It’s July — the trade deadline is in sight!

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to publish a series of articles that survey the league’s trade landscape as it relates to the Brewers. We’re going to start by looking at the team’s needs and surveying the league to see who might be selling before the August 3 deadline. In the following weeks, we’ll look at specific targets that could be available at the Brewers’ positions of need.

So — what are those positions of need?

Need #1: a high-leverage reliever

The most obvious place, and in my opinion, the most realistic place, that the Brewers could upgrade is the bullpen. Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe have both turned it around after shaky starts to the season, but beyond them, the Brewers can’t feel great about the state of this group.

Aaron Ashby leads the league in wins, but he’s being worked hard and hasn’t been as effective as he has been the previous two years. Ashby has 39 appearances, tied for the second-most in the National League, and his 50 innings pitched are sixth in the league among players who’ve primarily relieved this season. Given Ashby’s swingy history, he might be able to keep up this pace, but he’s been plagued by command issues this season; Ashby currently has his worst ERA, FIP, WHIP, H/9, HR/9, and BB/9 since he missed the 2023 season with shoulder issues (though it should be acknowledged that his strikeout numbers are the best of his career).

Chad Patrick’s recent issues are troublesome. After he looked so great in last year’s postseason, it looked like he was ready to be a high-leverage reliever, and he excelled in that role after moving back to the bullpen in early May. But the last three weeks have been bad; in six outings between June 10 and June 27, Patrick allowed 14 runs, all earned, in just 9 2/3 innings. His meltdowns contributed directly to two losses in those six games. Whether Patrick finds it again could be a sneaky harbinger of the Brewers’ success this season, and his last two outings have been scoreless, so we’ll see.

There are more questions. Grant Anderson doesn’t profile as a high-leverage guy. Shane Drohan has pitched well out of the bullpen, but he’s more of a long-relief guy than a high-leverage one. DL Hall looked good early but is again injured. Jared Koenig is back in the big leagues, but he’s working with diminished velocity and is a huge question mark. Craig Yoho may or may not be ready to contribute at the major league level, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to be given enough leash to prove anything. Joel Kuhnel is not the answer.

The Brewers have two high-leverage relievers, Megill and Uribe, even if their numbers this season aren’t as good as previous years. (I’m particularly unbothered by Megill’s “step back” — he struggled early but has a 1.33 ERA and 0.84 FIP (!) since April 14.) Depending on how you feel about Ashby, they might have three. At this point, there are too many questions around the other guys for me to consider them reliable.

This is certainly an area worth upgrading, but it’s tricky. Relievers are notoriously fickle, and the Stearns/Arnold Brewers’ track record on relievers acquired at the deadline — of which there are quite a few — is bleak. While the current front office has not shown a ton of aggression in the mid-season trade market, they have traded for at least one relief pitcher every trade deadline since 2017, barring the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

The stakes feel higher this season, and the proverbial cupboard is loaded. This feels to me like the most realistic place to make a meaningful upgrade to the roster.

Need #2: another starter?

It seems almost silly how much starting pitching major league teams need in 2026. Milwaukee started the season with 11 guys who could reasonably compete for a starting job with the Brewers, and that doesn’t include Ashby or Hall.

Well, here we are in early July, and nine of those 11 guys have started a game in the big leagues, the 10th is out for the season, and the 11th has pitched in long relief in the majors and is currently on the IL. The front office correctly identified that you need that many guys to get a pitching staff through a whole season, and their recent offseason moves have reflected that.

But do the Brewers need more? Quinn Priester is out for the season. Logan Henderson has missed time and will need to prove he can stay healthy. Carlos Rodriguez wouldn’t be much help even if he were healthy. Coleman Crow doesn’t quite look ready to contribute to winning yet, and he’s on the IL, too.

That leaves seven of those 11 guys healthy, but Chad Patrick is pitching out of the bullpen at the moment, Shane Drohan has been better from the bullpen (and probably belongs there, if not for all the injuries), and another, Robert Gasser, has yo-yoed between Nashville and Milwaukee this season. Brandon Sproat has looked great his last few times out, but he has a lot to prove. Brandon Woodruff looks healthy, but that will be a question all season.

Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison have both been excellent. But Harrison, at least, will need to prove that he can keep up his excellent level of play through a whole season, and particularly in the postseason when high-powered opponents will have scouted the crap out of him. Both of these pitchers —and this is also true of Henderson, Drohan, and Crow, too — will be running into innings pitched issues.

There are two ways the Brewers could go here if they choose to make a move. They could make a huge swing for one of the top arms available, or they could look for an innings eater to take some of the pressure and innings from the young guys. Both approaches have their merits and their risks.

Need #3: offensive help

It feels like a broken record to say that the Brewers need a power bat, so I’m not exactly going to say that they need a power bat. I’m instead going to suggest that they should at least explore the possibility of acquiring someone who will help offensively. The Brewers are not a bad offensive team, but they are a team that can look bad, and they are definitely a team that can have a three-hitter black hole in the lineup. That might be a big problem in the postseason.

The question here is how you go about upgrading the offense in a manner that is both a) realistic and b) logical, from a fit perspective.

One truth needs to be spoken: the Brewers are not going to bury Christian Yelich, at least not in the regular season. After a good first couple of weeks, Yelich has been alarmingly poor at the plate for most of the last two months. Since April 7, which was just the 11^th game of the season, Yelich is batting just .225/.313/.350 with only four home runs in 40 games. Worse, his Statcast page is the worst it has ever been; he’s not only not driving the ball with authority, but he’s also swinging and missing a ton. Yelich continues to be generally disciplined about not swinging at balls, but he’s whiffing way more than he ever has.

Moving Yelich into a strict platoon could help, though he’s barely been better against right-handed pitching than he has been against left-handed pitching in 2026. (His career numbers indicate a platoon could be beneficial.) But we probably need to accept the fact that Yelich — who makes about $24 million dollars a year for two more years after this one — is going to be around and will be in the lineup more often than not. This is ironic, as one of the most interesting ways in which the Brewers have exceeded expectations relative to their peers over the last few years has been by not playing players who aren’t helping, an action which is directly related to the fact that they don’t have many older, highly paid players. But it’s hard for me to see a scenario where Yelich’s playing time is reduced to anything other than a strong-side platoon role, and who knows — a couple of adjustments could get him right again.

Figuring out where this new bat would fit in is a challenge. The obvious answer would be third base: the single easiest way to upgrade the offense would be to acquire a third baseman who can hit, regardless of the side of the plate, but more likely as a right-handed hitter. The pickings are quite slim, which we’ll look into in a later installment.

Another option could be an outfielder. Milwaukee has been playing Blake Perkins frequently against left-handed pitching, and while he’s borderline competent from the right side of the plate and good in the field, that could certainly be upgraded. (Brandon Lockridge’s return could change this a bit, but while Lockridge is likely an upgrade on Perkins and is an overall useful player, he’s not exactly “short-term offensive upgrade” material. The same could be said for Luis Lara.) Jake Bauers has been getting starts against left-handed pitching, but has been just slightly above average; a good platoon bat would be an upgrade. It would also prevent you from situations where the lineup against a left-handed starter would include both Joey Ortiz and Perkins, plus one of Bauers, Garrett Mitchell, or Sal Frelick in a platoon disadvantage.

Given the numbers on the roster, a right-handed bat makes the most sense for an upgrade. Positionally, it looks like that would need to be either an outfielder or a third baseman, unless you were okay with acquiring an Andrew Vaughn-type that would be used essentially strictly as a soft-side platoon option with Yelich.

Who’s selling?

Now to the part that makes everything complicated: the league has kind of sucked this year. The Brewers, at 53-31, are one of just seven teams league-wide with a win percentage above .550. Right now, the leaders of the AL Central, the White Sox, are just 45-40. The leaders of the AL West, the Rangers (did you know that the Rangers were leading the AL West?) and Mariners, are both just 44-43.

This means a lot of bad teams still have hope. The Royals are last in the American League with a 35-52 record, but even they are only nine games back of a Wild Card spot. Only four teams in the AL — the Tigers, Red Sox, Royals, and Angels — are more than 5.5 games back of a Wild Card spot:

• The Tigers are in their last year with Tarik Skubal. They’ll probably trade him, but they might also decide to keep him and make a run at it.
• The Red Sox have an interim manager (and fired most of the rest of their coaching staff, too).
• The Royals will probably sell, but they’re not going to do anything that meaningfully damages their immediate future, given that they have one of the brightest young stars in the league.
• The Angels are interesting because they’re now under the management of John Mozeliak. It’s unclear how much power he has to reshape the team, given his “interim” role, but the Angels seem to think they’re in it every year, so I don’t see them selling off any major pieces. Beyond those, there’s not much here.

There are a few other AL teams that could sell if they don’t see their place in the standings improve in the next month. The Orioles, like the Red Sox, are way back in their own division and are eight games under .500, but again, they sit just 4.5 games back in the Wild Card. Minnesota has also hardly inspired confidence, and they are five games under .500, but the AL Central is totally up for grabs, especially with José Ramírez missing from the Guardians’ lineup. The Astros and Athletics, likewise, could turn into sellers with a bad July.

The National League is a little bit different; each division has at least one team that’s clearly ahead of the rest. But there’s a bit of a gap between the second and third Wild Card in the NL, and there are currently six teams separated by just three games in the running for the third and final Wild Card.

The NL teams likely to be sellers if nothing improves dramatically in the next month are:

• The Reds, though they also have a lot of pieces worth building around.
• The Giants, who are a high-priced disaster.
• The Mets, who are an even-higher-priced, bigger disaster.
• The Rockies, a perpetual disaster that could finally be ready to make smart decisions.

The teams that could go either way include:

• The Cardinals, who currently sit tied for the last Wild Card spot but who have a -10 run differential.
• The Marlins, who are overperforming expectations (and are always eager to get rid of anyone who might cost them anything), but were the best team in baseball in June.
• The Padres, another team firmly in the mix but with a negative run differential.
• The Pirates, who will probably not sell because this is the closest they’ve been to competing in a long time.
• The Nationals, about whom you could say the same.
• The Diamondbacks, who are playing roughly .500 baseball despite a -24 run differential.

There’s one other consideration that could affect the market: the CBA situation. If low-payroll teams think there’s a chance that there’s a salary floor in 2027, they could figure it makes sense for them to keep higher-priced veterans rather than trading them for more minor league or league-minimum contracts, rather than face the prospect of filling out their rosters by giving a bunch of money on a one-year deal to a lower-tier free agent just to get to the floor.

We’ll have to watch and see how the next month plays out to know for sure who will be available, but in the coming weeks we’ll look at some possible targets.

Hello, friends.

Here’s my hot take: It’s more fun when the Orioles win than when they lose. Yesterday, as they stopped themselves from getting swept by the White Sox with a 6-1 victory, we saw a glimpse of what this team could be if enough of its pieces regularly came together. Dean Kremer returned from the injured list and pitched great, Tyler O’Neill hit a homer and made a good play on defense, and the bullpen didn’t spoil it. Check out my recap of the game for more of the lovely totals.

A challenge that’s been in front of the Orioles all year is the need to stack together some wins. They have rather infuriatingly not been able to do it yet. Each time they fail to do so, the next opportunity becomes that much more urgent. The Wednesday win puts them at 40-48, 4.5 games out of the wild card but with five teams to pass. The math gets tough in a hurry if they don’t start fixing some of their problems, especially considering the inflection point of the trade deadline (August 3) being much closer than the end of the season.

They won’t have a chance to do that today since they’re off today. Waiting for them next are the Cincinnati Reds, a team that was strong through the end of April but stunk it up in May and June. Although they have a better record than the Orioles, Cincinnati is farther out of the postseason picture in the NL than the O’s are in the AL. That’s the way it goes. The Orioles could play well against the Reds or they could have another one of these sleepwalk series. They are capable of good things! That’s what makes the bad ones showing up so often such a source of frustration.

In less major league-focused news, MLB announced the rosters for the 2026 edition of the Futures Game on Wednesday. The game will be played at noon on July 12 in Philadelphia. I think it’s kind of a shame they don’t even give these players prime time billing, but that’s a whole separate thing. Most teams have two players who made one of the rosters. That’s true of the Orioles as well. Two of their 2025 high draft picks are going to be on the roster: outfielder/first baseman Ike Irish, and pitcher Joseph Dzierwa.

Irish recently cracked MLB Pipeline’s updated top 100 list, checking in at #84. He’s doing well for himself in High-A Frederick, hitting .266/.388/.467 so far this season. Dzierwa may not be on any top lists yet but he’s getting more hype within Birdland for his results in Frederick and then with Chesapeake. The 22-year-old lefty has a 0.917 WHIP between High-A and Double-A, with 96 strikeouts in 76.1 innings. His results did not drop off after being promoted. It’s exciting. These guys being recognized is nice for them. Hopefully they get to make the most of the chance to make some good memories.

A year ago, the Orioles had outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. and pitcher Keagan Gillies as their representatives in the game. I think that’s a step up in prospect quality this year, for whatever that ends up being worth.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Ryan Helsley experiences elbow discomfort warming up in Orioles win (The Baltimore Banner)
Yesterday’s win did not come without a cost. Helsley didn’t even make it out from the bullpen warmup before hurting too much to enter the game. He was already on the IL with elbow inflammation this year. Hopefully the next bit of news isn’t “the big one.”

Recapping the series of roster moves before Wednesday’s game (School of Roch)
A flurry of roster activity was involved in activating Kremer to make the start, plus adding a fresher reliver in Cameron Weston. More may be coming if Helsley’s situation turns into “put him on the IL right away.”

Creed Willems is forcing an interesting conversation (Orioles on the Verge)
What do you do with a guy OPSing .798 at Norfolk who’s seemingly blocked at any position the Orioles might have him play?

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 2013, the Orioles traded Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop to the Cubs for Scott Feldman. This did not turn out to be a good idea.

There are a pair of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2018-19 reliever Pedro Araújo, and 1963 pitcher Pete Burnside.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: author Hermann Hesse (1877), Baltimore native Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (1908), Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas (1932), stock car racer Richard Petty (1937), musician Michelle Branch (1983), and gold medal judoka Kayla Harrison (1990).

On this day in history…

In 1644, the English Civil War saw its largest battle as an allied force of Parliamenterians and Scottish Covenanters fought Royalists in the Battle of Marston Moor. The battle, waged by over 40,000 men across both sides, was a victory for the Parliamenterian side in part thanks to an Oliver Cromwell-led cavalry charge. The Royalist defeat limited their ability to gather further strength from a generally sympathetic north of England.

In 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved the Lee Resolution, which proclaimed all ties with Great Britain to be severed by an independent United States. More well-known today is July 4, since this is when the Declaration of Independence’s text was approved by the Congress.

In 1863, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and his 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry repulsed the Confederate attackers at Little Round Top in Gettysburg with a downhill bayonet charge. This was only one pillar of the Union’s defense in the three-day battle.

In 1937, Amelia Earhart made her last radio contact, after which she disappeared while attempting to make an around-the-world flight across the equator.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on July 2. Have a safe Actual Independence Day.

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets (38-37/4-4)

WORCESTER 6, SYRACUSE 5 (BOX)

Syracuse and Worcester went back and forth in this one, with Syracuse falling late. The Red Sox got off to a 1-0 lead in the second following a scoreless first, but a double by Ben Rortvedt and a ground out by Cristian Pache made it 2-1.

Worcester got the lead back, 3-2, in the third inning, and and score held until the fifth. Vidal Brujan reached on a fielder’s choice which allowed a run to score in that inning, making it three apiece. Both teams scored two runs in the seventh, with both Mets runs coming off of a Nick Morabito single. The comebacks stopped there, however, with the Red Sox driving in a run in the ninth. The Mets threatened with two singles in the bottom of the ninth, but could not muster up a game tying hit.

• 2B Ji Hwan Bae: 2-5, R, 2B, K, E (4)
• CF Nick Morabito: 1-5, 2 RBI, 4 K
• RF MJ Melendez: 1-5, 2 K
• DH Christopher Morel: 1-5, R, 2 K
• 1B Ryan Clifford: 1-4, BB, E (9)
• 3B Yonny Hernández: 1-3, R, K
• 3B Zack Short: 1-2
• C Ben Rortvedt: 3-5, 2B, RBI, K
• LF Cristian Pache: 1-4, R, 3B, RBI, 2 K
• SS Vidal Bruján: 0-2, R, RBI, 2 BB, K
• LHP Zach Thornton: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 1 HBP
• RHP Guillo Zuñiga: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
• LHP Joe Jacques: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 WP
• RHP Ben Simon: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP
• LHP Jefry Yan: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, L (2-1)
• RHP Dan Hammer: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (27-42/2-6)

CHESAPEAKE 8, BINGHAMTON 4 (BOX)

The final score for this game actually made it look closer than it was, because Chesapeake got out far ahead early. They scored three in the first, one in the second, two in the third and two in the fourth, which put them up 8-2 after four (the Rumble Ponies scored one in the first, with Nick Lorusso homering in the inning, and one in the third, with Nick Lorusso sacrifice flying someone home).

JT Schwartz drove in runs in the eighth and ninth, but it was too little, too late.

• CF Jose Ramos: 1-4, BB, E (6)
• 3B Nick Lorusso: 1-4, R, HR (14), 2 RBI, K
• 1B JT Schwartz: 3-5, R, 2B, HR (8), 2 RBI, K
• DH Kevin Parada: 0-4, BB, K
• C Vincent Perozo: 1-4, 2 K
• RF Matt Rudick: 2-4
• SS Wyatt Young: 1-4, K
• LF Jaylen Palmer: 1-4, R, 2 K
• 2B Nick Roselli: 3-4, R
• RHP Brendan Girton: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 2 HBP
• RHP Brian Metoyer: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP
• RHP Carlos Guzman: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
• RHP Zach Peek: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (25-40/7-4)

BROOKLYN 13, FREDERICK 7 (BOX)

Brooklyn took the lead in the second after a scoreless first, and really coasted from there. They scored their first run of the game on a throwing error, and their second on a Trace Willhoite single. The Keys got one back in the bottom of the inning, but Brooklyn put the game away from there. They drove in a run in the fourth, on a Yohairo Cuevas homer, and then dropped five in the fifth. They loaded the bases in the inning, Cuevas walked in a run, and Willhoite hit a grand slam to put the game out of reach.

The Cyclones added two in the eighth and three in the ninth (which included Cuevas and Mitch Voit home runs), which helped keep the distance as the Keys scored four in the eighth and two in the ninth.

• SS Mitch Voit: 1-5, 2 R, HR (10), RBI, BB, 2 K
• 2B Yonatan Henriquez: 2-5, R, HR (3), 2 RBI, BB, SB (14)
• C Ronald Hernandez: 0-5, 4 K
• 1B Corey Collins: 1-2, R, 3 BB
• DH JT Benson: 2-5, 2 R, K, SB (6)
• 3B Colin Houck: 0-3, 3 R, 2 BB, K, SB (5), E (10)
• RF Yohairo Cuevas: 2-3, 3 R, 2 HR (3, 4), 4 RBI, 2 BB, E (1)
• LF Trace Willhoite: 2-5, R, HR (5), 5 RBI
• CF Sam Biller: 1-5, 2 K, SB (6)
• RHP Robert Stock: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP
• RHP Noah Hall: 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 1 HBP, W (2-6)
• RHP Josh Blum: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
• RHP Tanner Witt: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets (33-33/2-7)

TAMPA 6, ST. LUCIE 0 (BOX)

For the second day in a row, St. Lucie was shutout by a score of 6-0 against the Tampa Tarpons. This time around, they mustered up just four hits (all singles), and two walks. They left seven on base, and went 0-6 with runners in scoring position. They threw a bullpen game, and two relievers (Jose Guevara and Elwis Mijares) surrendered all six of the runs, though one was unearned.

• SS Antonio Jimenez: 0-4, K
• 3B Jeremy Rodriguez: 0-4, K
• 2B Trey Snyder: 1-4, K, SB (9)
• 1B Julio Zayas: 1-3, BB
• CF Branny De Oleo: 2-4, K
• RF Simon Juan: 0-3, BB, E (8)
• LF Jackson Hauge: 0-4, 2 K
• DH Jack Scanlon: 0-3, 2 K
• C Francisco Toledo: 0-3, K, E (6)
• RHP Joel Díaz: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 WP
• RHP Jose Guevara: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, L (0-1)
• RHP Elwis Mijares: 1.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
• RHP Ernesto Mercedes: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• RHP Caden Wooster: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Rookie: FCL Mets (17-24)

FCL METS 2, FCL NATIONALS 0 / 7 (BOX)

• RF Bohan Adderley: 0-3
• 3B Vladi Gomez: 1-3, R, 2 SB (23, 24)
• CF Wyatt Vincent: 0-2, BB, K, SB (6)
• 1B AJ Salgado: 1-3, R, K
• LF Sam Robertson: 0-2, BB, 2 K
• C Josmir Reyes: 1-2, RBI, BB
• SS Anthony Frobose: 0-3, K
• DH Roybert Herrera: 0-2, K
• 2B Yorber Semprun: 0-2, 2 K
• RHP Nathan Hall: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
• RHP Eris Albino: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, W (3-0)
• RHP Franyel Diaz: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, S (1)

STAR OF THE NIGHT

Yonatan Henriquez and Yohairo Cuevas

GOAT OF THE NIGHT

Brendan Girton

The Detroit Tigers opened up their second-straight month with a sweep of the American League East leaders with a 6-2 victory over the New York Yankees in the Bronx on Wednesday afternoon. Troy Melton gave his team 6 1/3 innings of two-hit ball, and while the bullpen blew yet another save, a four-run 11th powered the good guys to the win.

AJ Hinch’s team remains on the road this weekend with a trip to the Lone Star State to take on the Texas Rangers starting — who are tied for first in the AL West — on Thursday night, when left-hander Framber Valdez will take the mound in the series opener. The 32-year-old put up a 3.21 ERA and 4.14 FIP in June over five starts, three of which he allowed just one run and the other two saw him cough up a four-spot in each.

For the Rangers, right-hander Nathan Eovaldi will toe the rubber looking to build on his gem last time out, in which he threw seven shutout innings allowing five hits and a walk while striking out nine. That was a vast improvement for the 36-year-old after posting a 5.11 ERA and 4.04 FIP in his other four June starts, surrendering four home runs while striking out 25 in that 24 1/3-inning stretch.

Here is what the matchup looks like on paper in Thursday night’s opener at Globe Life Field.

Detroit Tigers (38-49) vs. Texas Rangers (44-43)

Time (ET): 8:05 p.m.
Place: Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas
SB Nation Site:Lone Star Ball
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 88: LHP Framber Valdez (4-5, 4.05 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (8-7, 3.95 ERA)

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	FIP	fWAR
Valdez	17	95.2	18.5	8.2	52.2	4.17	1.0
Eovaldi	16	100.1	24.4	5.6	50.2	4.16	1.3

VALDEZ

EOVALDI

I think it’s safe to say that the Phillies have Paul Skenes’ number this season. They roughed him up for the second time this season after teeing off on him in Pittsburgh back in the end of May. Take a gander at this stat from friend of the site Paul Boye:

That’s what we like to call “being owned”.

On to the links.

Phillies News:

• The Phillies will have two representatives at the All-Star Futures Game to be played at Citizens Bank Park: Gage Wood and Wei-Hui Pan.
• Bryce Harper’s defense has regressed badly this season by most metrics. Here are some ideas on how he can improve. ($)
• The Phillies outfield needs help. Can they make do until the trade deadline? ($)
• You know all about Derek Hill’s recent heroics. But did you know that he paints his own cleats? ($)

MLB News:

• Nationals’ pitcher Cade Cavalli has issued a statement regarding the incident involving Willson Contreras of the Red Sox that instigated a benches clearing brawl.
• Mets owner Steve Cohen may have just fired manager Carlos Mendoza, but he is intent on not firing president of baseball operations David Stearns.
• Corey Seager is headed back to the IL with lower back inflammation.
• We are almost exactly one month away from the trade deadline. Who are the buyers, who are the sellers, and who is still stuck somewhere in between? ($)

It’s a lot easier than it used to be putting together rosters for Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. That doesn’t mean quality can’t slip through the cracks.

This year’s exercise, in advance of the July 14 affair in Philadelphia, will benefit greatly if, appropriately enough, America rallies in the final round of voting in this, her 250th year of existence.

See, in this era of online balloting, The Fans generally do pretty well. It’s just that this time around, six Toronto Blue Jays have been named as “finalists” for the American League, with a handful of them not deserving of the nod based on cold, raw data. Conversely, the Midsummer Classic is all about the zeitgeist of the game at the time. And Canadians’ fervor for their team – 44,000 jam into Rogers Centre, night after night – is worth celebrating, particularly as an example that almost any team can follow in these uncertain times of crying wolf.

Yet whether a handful more Jays join the top AL vote-getter, the beloved Ernie Clement, in Philly, there will certainly be a few All-Stars you might not have thought about. Here are six of them, all hoping the roster breaks their way when it’s released the evening of Saturday, July 4:

Juan Soto, OF, Mets

Remember this guy? Easy to lose him in the haze of all the misery in Flushing, yet Soto, still just 27, remains every bit as generational as we imagined. Though limited by injury to 66 games, Soto has nonetheless slugged 17 homers with a .298/.408/.563 line and leads all major leaguers with a 166 wRC+ and the NL with a 170 adjusted OPS.

And, lest we forget, he was not an All-Star last year.

This seems like a Captain Obvious pick but it’s also a clarion call to not take greatness for granted. Soto is among the outfield finalists in fan voting, but with the Mets’ 2026 debacle slowly unfolding, we can’t imagine he’ll outpoint worthy reps from contending teams. Perhaps the player vote will rescue him. But another All-Star shutout for Soto would be silly.

Otto Lopez, SS, Marlins

If your kids are clamoring for Luis Arraez, just tell them, “We have Luis Arraez at home!” That would be Lopez, who entered July 1 with six more hits than Arraez, a microscopic edge in batting average (.333 to .331) and an identical (.366) OBP while also stealing 16 bases. Oh, and he’s second in the NL with 3.6 fWAR. Most important, the Marlins are coming off a 20-6 June to place themselves in the thick of the NL wild card dogfight. They certainly deserve more than just a courtesy rep, which would figure to be starter Max Meyer. Second baseman Xavier Edwards would also be a fine option.

Hunter Goodman, C, Rockies

Good gravy: This dude has 26 home runs and a 119 adjusted OPS at the halfway point. As a catcher. Coors Field be damned.

Goodman seems a lock for Philly, but here’s where the roster vagaries come into play. The two “finalists” at catcher are the Dodgers’ Will Smith and Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin. Smith is never a bad choice but is having a league-average season at the plate and is on the IL with a neck injury. Baldwin is having a fantastic season, but injury has limited him to 60 games.

It would stand to reason that if Smith gets elected, Goodman would be added as an injury replacement. But the point here is that Goodman has that look of perennial All-Star – he earned his first nod last year – and deserves to be regarded as such. And as a foundational player for a franchise that looks more serious each month, Goodman is proof positive to the greater baseball world that the Rockies do, in fact, exist, a big reason why the All-Star Game is held, anyway.

Luis Garcia Jr., 1B, Nationals

A second baseman by trade, Garcia is in a tough spot, math-wise, now that he's primarily a first baseman and listed as such on the NL ballot, where he finished 10th. That belies a first half in which he smacked six homers over six games recently and a major league-leading 13 since May 22. Overall, he's at .281 with an .850 OPS and 16 homers.

A great year for a key cog of the major leagues' surprise leader in runs scored. Yet as a first baseman, Garcia gets rather easily overshadowed by finalists and All-Star stalwarts Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman. And they have to find a way to get Bryce Harper on the squad in Philly, right?

It all adds up to what figures to be a tough break for Garcia, even as he's one of the league's most productive players.

Michael Wacha, SP, Royals

Here’s a stat that actually doesn’t exist, but perhaps it should: Wacha is the only starter in the AL to average 19 outs per start. Wonky, huh?

But it’s also a rare and underappreciated skill. In an era when teams aren’t allowing many, or all, of their starters to face a lineup three times through, Wacha is actually getting them out three times a game, plus one more. As such, he leads the AL in innings pitched while ranking eighth in ERA (3.31) and 13^th in WHIP (1.14) and averaging 6.39 innings per start.

And any manager exhausted from juggling openers and followers, and reliever shuttles from Class AAA and back, would absolutely appreciate what Wacha does for them: Finding just 10 more outs, on average, the nights he pitches.

Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, Yankees

On paper, it might look a little obnoxious to include Goldschmidt. After all, Ben Rice is the club's primary first baseman and has a shot to win the fan balloting at the position. Two first basemen from the same team?

Yeah, those optics aren’t great at all, but at some point we need to make concessions to the modern game. And part of that is acknowledging the import of platoon players, even those on the short side of the equation. Goldschmidt falls 30 plate appearances shy of qualifying for league leaders, yet with 14 home runs, 41 RBIs and an .867 OPS in just 233 plate appearances, he’s kept the Yankees afloat at times this year. Against lefties: A .371/.456/.730 line, with eight homers in 103 plate appearances, helping the Yankees go 19-13 against left-handed starters. Goldschmidt lacks the gravitas of a Kershaw or Pujols or Miggy Cabrera to be a “commissioner’s special” pick or whatever they call it, but at 38, he’s still a borderline Hall of Famer and ex-MVP. Would be cool to see him in Philly.

Grant Taylor, RP, White Sox

For better or worse, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will debut the “reliever of the year” award for the AL and NL after this season. Recognizing All-Star relievers for a half-season of work can be even more volatile, particularly in this era when true closers are scarce.

So let’s consider Taylor: Tied for third in fWAR (2.1) among AL relievers, ranks fourth with 13.38 strikeouts per nine innings, a 1.98 FIP and has entered in high- or medium-leverage situations 19 of 28 games. It’s nothing that will get him a plaque at year’s end, but for an emerging club like the White Sox to post a 17-10 record in one-run games, a lot has to go right. Taylor – who has 16 outings of more than one inning pitched – is often a part of that.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB's should-be 2026 All-Stars: Seven players deserving a trip to Philly

The Yankees are agony right now. They flirted with winning yesterday, going so far as to look as though they were about to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, erasing a 2-0 ninth-inning deficit against the Tigers. Instead, they welcomed defeat like an old friend yet again, the seventh-consecutive game that they’ve done so. They drift three games back of the Rays, and we will sit through this off-day licking our wounds and hoping that, once some players start to come of the IL this weekend, maybe the team will be able to stabilize.

In any event, we’ll have lots on the site today to get you through the off-day. Our monthly check-in series continues, as Matt profiles the NL Central, Michael takes a look at the NL East, and Sam runs down the NL West. Also, Sam recaps the day that was in the American League yesterday, John continues our trade deadline preview with an analysis of the Angels as a potential trade partner, and Matt remembers Jose Canseco’s wild career on the occasion of his 62nd birthday.

Today’s Matchup:

Off-day.

Questions/Prompts:

1. Will the likely returns of Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon do anything to turn the tide right now?

2. Did you watch Team USA’s World Cup win last night? How do you think they’ll fare playing Belgium next week without their best scorer, Folarin Balogun?