Category: Baseball

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and president of baseball operations David Stearns each spoke to the media on Friday regarding updates on some of the team's key players before New York began a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field.

Jorge Polanco 'feeling better'

After dealing with Achilles tendinitis/bursitis since the beginning of the season which relegated him to either designated hitter or out of the lineup as he tried to manage his discomfort, Polanco was finally placed on the injured list on April 18, retroactively to April 15, with a right wrist contusion.

Since then, the switch-hitting infielder has begun to feel better and started to do some baseball activity on Friday.

"Playing catch, hitting from the right side," Mendoza said. 

The skipper said aside from that there's not much else to report on Polanco, but was then asked if he considers the 32-year-old to still be a ways away from returning. While Mendoza said it's a "tricky" situation, citing Polanco is still dealing with both the Achilles injury as well as the wrist issue, he also mentioned that Polanco "could turn the corner at any point".

A few moments later, Stearns was asked about the veteran's possible return status and said he considers him "week-to-week".

"Every day we get a little more information," Stearns said. "He'll go through some more testing this weekend. My expectation would be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday next week we'll be able to have a little bit more clarity, but the best we know right now is week-to-week."

After signing a two-year, $40 million deal in the offseason, Polanco is slashing .179/.246/.286 in 14 games.

David Peterson back in the mix

Peterson's last start for the Mets came on April 13 against the Los Angeles Dodgers where he allowed four earned runs in five innings. It was the third consecutive rocky start for the left-hander who also got hit hard to end last season.

In his next scheduled outing, New York decided to go with Tobias Myers for the first two innings before Peterson entered the game where he was much better, going 3.2 scoreless innings in relief. 

When his spot in the rotation came around again on Thursday, the Mets opted to start Christian Scott who was promoted from Triple-A. Once again, Peterson came in relief after Scott lasted just 1.1 innings and threw 3.1 effective innings to help New York seal the series win. 

Following his brief departure from the starting rotation, it appears Peterson has pitched his way back in, in some form or another, after the Mets sent Scott back down to the minors. Mendoza laid out the pitching plan for the next few days which includes an off day on Monday.

"We're gonna stay with Freddy [Peralta] today, [then] Kodai [Senga], Nolan [McLean], Clay [Holmes] after the off day and then we'll see," the manager said. "Whether it's Peterson starting that day or — we told Petey to be ready to pitch that day, so whether there’s an opener in front of him [or if] he’s gonna start, we still don’t know but that’s kinda what we’ve got going right now."

Part of the unknown relates to how New York uses Sean Manaea out of the bullpen before Peterson's turn in the rotation. Manaea, one of the Mets' long-relievers, last pitched on April 17 where he had his first bad outing of the season, giving up five earned runs in four innings. Prior to that, the left-hander had a 2.25 ERA in 10.2 innings and can give the Mets length from the bullpen if any starter falters.

"It depends on how we use Sean in the next few days, but we feel good with Petey starting, obviously, but again we still gotta play 3-4 [games]," Mendoza said. "We got an off day on Monday, but the one thing we told Petey was just be ready to pitch on Wednesday."

A.J Minter's timeline

Out for nearly a full calendar year with a left lat strain, Minter's return to the team continues to get closer. 

"We're still on the same timeline," Stearns said. "Early May. First week, 10 days of May I think is realistic. That's roughly, I believe, where his rehab stint goes through. 

"A couple of benchmarks we still gotta clear -- two out of threes, we gotta clear back-to-backs, sort of the dirty inning cleanup, those types of things. Make sure he feels good and then we'll get him back here and he can help us."

The left-handed reliever has made five rehab appearances in the minor leagues and has a 1.93 ERA in 4.2 innings.

Keeping Juan Soto healthy

Soto is once again DHing for the Mets on Friday as the team continues to do whatever it can to keep the superstar's bat in the lineup. In three games since his return from a calf injury, Soto has yet to play in the outfield.

Mendoza mentioned that he thought about having Soto play the outfield on Thursday, but had he done that Soto would have probably been out of the lineup today so he opted to DH him both days. It's something that will likely continue to happen as New York wants to be smart about how it goes about keeping Soto healthy. 

However, with Francisco Lindor now out for the foreseeable future with his own calf injury and the offense struggling before Thursday's 10-run explosion, the Mets will not run Soto into the ground.

"We’re not gonna put him at risk," Mendoza said. "If he needs a day, he needs a day. Just like finding ways to keep his bat in the lineup while we’re not putting him at risk… As much as we need his bat in the lineup, he’s gonna get days."

Friday at 6pm CT on SECN+, Saturday at 7pm CT on SEC Network, and Sunday at 12pm CT on ESPN2.

The Tejas Long Fedoras (#4)

‘26 Record: 30-8 (11-6 SEC). The Long Fedoras opened the season 16-0 in OOC play, but since conference play started, have come back to Earth a bit. In OOC play, they ate cupcakes and Coastal Carolina.

Once conference play started, they took 2 of 3 from Ole Piss at home, the lost a midweek game to Tarleton State, and then took 2 of 3 from Auburn at War Tiger Field. They then lost another midweek game against Houston, but would proceed to sweep The OK Boomers in Austin, before taking 2 of 3 from The South Cackalacky Game Penises in Penis-bia. Any losses to the Penises this year should crush your confidence, and, as such, The Long Fedoras then got mini-swept 2 games to none in Milkman Station to those aTm Cultists. Last week, they took 2 of 3 from The Ramajama Gumps.

It would be phenomenal if we could win this series, as at least it is at The Hawk. If we take at least one, I’ll be happy. Oh fuck that, I hate these Fedora-wearing slabs of beef. Run them out of town on a bachelorette party pedal tavern, please and thank you. M’Lady.

Player to Watch: #33 Jr. CF Aiden “Pride of Holy Ghost” Robbins (.368/.444/.737 with 7 2B, 2 3B, 15 HR, 41 RBI, and 10-11 SB).  How many leadoff hitters have 15 dongers right now? No, forget I asked that. I am absolutely not looking it up. For comparison, our own leadoff slugger, The Mancino Man, has 12. Robbins has been tearing the cover off the ball, so you pitch around him, right? Well… then he’ll be off and running. Shit. I hate going against complete players.

Anchor of Gold Tiger Beat Hottest Pitcher: #99 So. LHP Dylan “The Lost City” Volantis (5-0; 2.13 ERA; 12.26 K/9). The Long Fedora Ace/Mythical city penned by Plato just flat out dominates. Hope to catch him on an off day. I’m not sure he’s had one yet, so he must be due, right?

Andrew VU ‘04 2026 All-Name Team Nominee: Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle has a team of mostly normal-named humans, but who does he employ on his coaching staff? That would be Nolan Cain, Troy Tulowitzki, and frontrunner for the 2026 Andrew VU ‘04 All-Name Team Name of the Year Award, Max Weiner.

No notes.

On the Mound

Friday @ 7:00pm on SECN+

Vanderbilt #39 Jr. RHP Connor “The Spice” Fennell (3-1; 4.74 ERA; 11.05 K/9)

vs. Long Fedoras #99 So. LHP Dylan “The Lost City” Volantis (5-0; 2.13 ERA; 12.26 K/9)

The Lineup

See you in the comments.

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Braves:

Let’s talk about it.

The Milwaukee Brewers return home to American Family Field to begin a six game homestand against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Arizona Diamondbacks. The first matchup of this homestand is a doozy.

It’s a battle of the aces on the mound tonight with the wily veteran Brandon Woodruff pitching for the Crew while the Pirates will have the reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes. This is the back end of a back-to-back stretch against reigning Cy Young winners after facing Tarik Skubal on Thursday afternoon. It’s just the second time in MLB history a team will go through that.

Woodruff is 2-0 on the year with a 3.42 ERA while Skenes is 3-1 with a 3.27 ERA.

The Brewers made some roster moves ahead of Friday’s game. Tyler Black and Shane Drohan have been called up to the big league club.

“(Black)’s healthy and right now he’s one of our best 13 position players. Had a great spring, borderline made the club almost (out of spring).” Pat Murphy said “So it’s a no-brainer.”

Black will primarily play DH and first base for the Crew. Meanwhile Drohan is slated to be in bulk relief and is not currently scheduled to make any starts.

To make room, the Brewers optioned Carlos Rodriguez back to Nashville and designated Luis Matos for assignment. Matos hit just .200 (4-for-20) with a .438 OPS in nine games with the Crew. Rodriguez allowed one run in 4 IP across two outings during this stint with the Brewers.

As for the lineup tonight, Pat Murphy is stacking the lineup with left-handers against Skenes. William Contreras and Brandon Lockridge are the only true righties in the order. Brice Turang, Contreras, and Jake Bauers are atop the order. Tyler Black, just called up to make his season debut, is batting cleanup. Luis Rengifo gets the start at third with David Hamilton at short. Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, and Lockridge make up the outfield.

The Pirates have some lefties atop their order in Oneil Cruz and Brandon Lowe, followed by the switch hitting Bryan Reynolds. Konnor Griffin, the top prospect in baseball, is batting eighth.

The Brewers will be wearing their Wisco City Connect jerseys, still searching for their first win in the uniform after going 0-3 in that first weekend in them. They’ll have to do it against the best pitcher in the National League.

After placing star Francisco Lindor on the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain on Thursday, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and president of baseball operations David Stearns gave some more insight into the timeline for the shortstop.

Mendoza had said Thursday that Lindor will be "down for a while," but did not share any other information as the team was still reviewing his MRI results. He said Friday ahead of the team's game against the Colorado Rockies that Lindor will wear a walking boot for the next week and be reevaluated in three weeks.

"He's going to be in a boot for the next week," Mendoza said. "So trying to take the pressure off it. And then the other timeline we got is in three weeks we'll do reimaging. So that's the latest that we got here, he's going to be down for a while."

When asked about the best-case scenario for when Lindor could return, Stearns said they will need the full three weeks to determine that. He did note that the progression could be "relatively quick" if the next three weeks go as planned. 

"I can't even answer that right now," Stearns said. "I think we are not going to be able to provide really more substantive information for three weeks, I think we got to see where this is in three weeks. See how the healing goes and then we'll be able to provide hopefully some more clarity.

"From my understanding there, if all goes well, we can see a relatively quick progression there. But we'll see where we are in three weeks."

Mendoza also mentioned that the team did not get a medical grade on his calf injury as they're still determining the location of the strain in the calf. He said Lindor's calf injury is different from Juan Soto's, which was labeled a "minor strain," and caused him to miss 14 games.

"No. We still got a lot of people looking at this, because the location, where it's at, we want to make sure we're not missing anything," Mendoza said. "I asked that question too. They're not saying anything as far as the grades go. It's just the location and just want to be smart, making sure we're not missing anything there."

He added: "It's the tricky part. We knew like with Soto, we knew right away, the trainers, the location of it, we're going to be in a good place here. With Lindor, we're going to have to be careful."

Lindor suffered the injury while rounding third base before sliding into home during Wednesday's game. He said Thursday that he's hopeful on returning to the field "sooner rather than later" and wants to be back before the All-Star break. 

With Soto and Lindor's injuries occurring one after the other, the two superstars have barely played together this season. Stearns acknowledged that injuries happen to all teams, and New York will have to adapt once again with one of it's leaders sidelined for the near future.

"Injuries are part of this. Injuries to good players are part of this. We're certainly not the only team in baseball that deals with this and we just got to get though it."

After snapping a 12-game losing streak, the Mets will look to extend it's two-game winning streak without Lindor on Friday night when they kick off a three-game series against the Rockies.

Texas Rangers lineup for April 24, 2026 against the A’s: starting pitchers are Nathan Eovaldi for the Rangers and Luis Severino for the A’s.

We begin an exciting and no doubt action-packed series against the maybe, eventually Las Vegas A’s tonight. Alejandro Osuna is playing again. I know y’all like him and so I figured you’d be happy.

The lineup:

Nimmo — RF

Pederson — DH

Seager — SS

Burger — 1B

Jung — 3B

Carter — CF

Higashioka — C

Smith — 2B

Osuna — LF

7:05 p.m. Central start time. The Rangers are -140 favorites.

So, we ended up getting some interesting nuggets of news from the pregame press conference that Walt Weiss has before every home game. There’s one bit of concerning news, one bit of hopeful news and then something that seems obvious but it’s good to hear confirmed.

Let’s start with the concerning news, shall we:

Michael Harris II won’t start on Friday after all

There was a bit of an injury scare for Michael Harris II after he had to exit Thursday’s win over the Nationals during the seventh inning as a precautionary move. At first, it seemed like the “All Clear” was here after Harris said that he “expected” to play on Friday and then he was listed in today’s lineup as well.

Unfortunately, they’ve scratched him from today’s lineup and are now listing him as being “day-to-day” with the left quad tightness. You don’t want to expect the worst but when you consider the injury luck that this team has had to deal with in recent years, I think we’re all hoping to the baseball gods above that Money Mike’s quad doesn’t act up on him any further.

Raisel Iglesias could be back ASAP

Now granted, this doesn’t mean that Iglesias’ IL stint is going to be shorter than 14 days but apparently Weiss and the Braves training staff are encouraged with how he’s feeling so far. Weiss did state that Iglesias hasn’t started throwing yet but they aren’t expecting this to be a lengthy IL stint. Again, just like Harris, we’re all hoping that this is strictly just a two-week rest period for Iglesias and that there aren’t any setbacks between now and his anticipated return from the IL. For now, things are looking up in that department and the bullpen won’t have to hold down the fort for any longer than expected during Iglesias’ absence.

JR Ritchie will stick around for a bit

Didier Fuentes received the call-up but went right back down after his short outing on Wednesday night. JR Ritchie was called up instead and ended up delivering a very creditable debut performance in helping the Braves pick up the series win. Clearly the Braves’ brass liked what they saw, since Weiss told the media that Ritchie will be sticking around with the big league ballclub and he now has an opportunity to pitch his way into staying in the rotation.

Obviously, it’d be a pretty huge development if Ritchie ended up being ready for The Show already. It would also bring up some questions about where he’d fit in with the rotation once guys like Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach make their eventual returns from injury. It’s a good problem to have though, as you can never have too much pitching and having a talented young arm like Ritchie’s around would certainly be a positive for the Braves going forward.

Maybe the Giants won’t have such a bad season? That’s certainly on the table. Not just because they humiliated the Los Angeles Dodgers this week, but because they really have been playing slightly better over the past couple of weeks (8-6 since April 7th). And, yes, that’s because some of the key contributors have started to contribute and some surprises have emerged, but there are two key players who will be critical throughout the summer.

Jung Hoo Lee has temporarily hit his way out of the “bust” conversation concerning his free agency by hitting .320/.340/.440 over his last 14 games and 53 PA. It looks even better in a smaller sample, but the point is that for two seasons now he’s basically been an afterthought and the organization never had a contingency for that outcome. They dropped a massive deal on him because they hoped after a year or two of adjusting to the big leagues that he’d blossom into, well, basically a Luis Arraez type — high contact guy who could create traffic on the basepaths.

Lee started off last season on fire, with 43 hits in his first 36 games (151 PA). That triple slash of .312/.364/.507 (.871 OPS) was All-Star reserve-worthy, but the .251/.315/.374 (.690 OPS) he hit the rest of the way (114 games, 466 PA) should’ve had him looking for a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training in the offseason. His current full season line is basically equivalent to those final 466 and so it’s probably safer to assume that this is who Jung Hoo Lee is. But, if the Giants are going anywhere this season, they’ll need him to hit beyond that and closer to what he’s doing now.

Is there any hope of that beyond fanatical wishcasting? Yes!

Crack into that 466 plate appearances block of Jung Hoo Lee’s 2025 and you get something much more relief-inducing: one massive cold streak. There was a 46-game stretch (193 PA) where Lee was among the worst in the sport: .182/.269/.300. There were 6 doubles, 4 triples, a couple of homers, a trio of stolen bases, and 18 walks against just 17 strikeouts in there, but overall, pretty gnarly and, of course, substantial. But from July 2nd until the end of the season (68 games, 273 PA), he was a much more respectable .298/.348/.425 (.773 OPS). If you split it again and just look at his second half, that OPS does drop to about .758, which is now bordering on “not what you paid for,” though still, compared to the rest of the Giants’ typical lineup, not terrible.

So, there is reason to believe that Jung Hoo Lee has the tools to compete in the major leagues. In theory, one thing that JHL does that Arraez can’t do is hit for more power. That plus his ability to at least appear average in the outfield creates a balance in the lineup that otherwise doesn’t exist in his absence. The Giants don’t have anyone of his profile they could plug into right field, as much as we all wish it was Grant McCray. Hopefully, the flashes we have seen and are seeing right now are the things he can build on for the next time the league adjusts to him rather than the brief burp of momentary readjustment on his behalf.

Another strong point in his favor is that against 95+ mph fastballs, he’s hitting .286. He’s right there with the team leaders in that category:

Christian Koss (lol): 1-for-1 (1.000), 6/18 = 95+ (33%)
Daniel Susac: 3-for-4 (.750), 15/85 = 95+ (17.6%)
Jared Oliva: 1-for-2 (.500), 4/27 = 95+ (14.8%)
Jerar Encarnacion: 2-for-5 (.400), 29/119 = 95+ (24.4%)
Luis Arraez: 7-for-18 (.389), 101/391 = 95+ (25.8%)
Heliot Ramos: 9-for-24 (.375), 120/390 = 95+ (30.8%)
Drew Gilbert: 2-for-7 (.286), 28/106 = 95+ (26.4%)
Jung Hoo Lee: 6-for-21 (.286), 72/368 = 95+ (19.6%)
Below .200: Willy Adames (.182), Harrison Bader & Rafael Devers (.154), Casey Schmitt (.125), Patrick Bailey (.111), Matt Chapman (.071), Will Brenan (.000).

So, obviously, the Giants will need Adames, Devers, Chapman, and Heliot Ramos to hit, too, but the point is that having Arraez and Lee also in there does lengthen the lineup and make it more dynamic. The problem is that Lee has been bad enough for long enough that there’s certainly some doubt. And then there’s his injury track record, which is the big thing hanging around the other key player the Giants will need to be perform if the team is going to be good this season.

Landen Roupp is just like Jung Hoo Lee in terms of what he brings to the starting rotation. He lengthens it and makes it more dynamic. After he handled the Dodgers, I wondered if his combination of red ass and pitch repertoire made him the team’s new Ryan Vogelsong — a comparison I felt was apt given Vogelsong’s role as the organization’s roving pitching instructor. But then people pointed out that he doesn’t give up home runs, so, maybe he’s more like Matt Cain? Well, hmm. Maybe there is no 1:1 comparison out there just yet, at least in terms of Giants history.

Today, Roupp’s curveball leads the National League in Run Value (+4), tied with the Angels’ Jose Soriano and Pittsburgh’s Braxton Ashcraft. It’s got a 33% Whiff rate on it and just a 4.8% Hard Hit rate. From a Pitching+ perspective (104), he’s right there with Tyler Glasnow (105) and Tyler Mahle (104). Reminder of Pitching+ (emphasis mine — also, remember that 100 is league average):

Pitching+ is one of three models that, along with Stuff+ and Location+, attempts to look at the process underlying a pitcher’s performance in order to remove some of the noise that can be present when looking at on-field results. […]

Stuff+ looks only at the physical characteristics of a pitch. Important features include, but are not limited to, release point, velocity, vertical and horizontal movement, and spin rate. A pitcher’s secondary pitches are defined based on their primary fastball — with “primary” defined by usage in an outing — and so are judged by velocity and movement differentials along with raw velocity and movement numbers. 

Location+ is a count- and pitch type-adjusted judge of a pitcher’s ability to put pitches in the right place. No velocity, movement, or any other physical characteristics are included in the statistic. A breaking ball should go to different parts of the strike zone in 2-0 and 1-2 counts, and Location+ captures that phenomenon. Stringer-based command statistics that attempt to judge what a pitcher was intending to do with each pitch do not add predictive value to those models, so Location+ only looks at actual locations and implicitly assumes the intent is generally the same across the league in certain counts with certain pitches.

He is a big league pitcher and an above average one by every measure. He is also a late bloomer, having turned 27 last September. There are only 30 right-handed pitchers since 1975 to make 26 or more major league starts and throw 160 or fewer innings before their age-27 season and Roupp is #5 on that list at 157 IP in 26 starts prior to 2026. I think it’s instructive insofar as our hopes and dreams here. Is there a historical comparison to be had?

Trent Thornton leads the list with 160 innings, and that’s in large part from 154 IP and 29 starts made for the Blue Jays in 2019, his age-25 season. He had a 4.84 ERA and 4.59 FIP and would make just 6 starts combined in 2020 and 2021. He made one start in 2023 and that was that: he was a reliever the rest of his career. Adbert Alzolay started 27 games before 27 and most of those came in 2021, his age-26 season (21 starts). After 2021, he never started again. Glen Otto made 33 starts for the Rangers in 2021 and 2022 combined and hasn’t pitched since 2023, when he was used as a reliever in 10.2 major league innings. Jharel Cotton started 29 games between his age-24 & 25 seasons but that was it for him as a starting pitcher despite pitching two more major league seasons (2021 and 2022). More recent examples are Hayden Birdsong (ahem), the Athletics’ Joey Estes, and the White Sox’s Shane Smith. Roupp is basically better than this field, so there’s not really a good comp to be had.

I think we all know why, too: injury! He’s missed time from injury in every year of his pro career with two concerning ones cropping up last year (right elbow inflammation in July and knee inflammation in August). It’s a lot to ask of this #3 starter to get to 180 innings and maybe even 160 innings, but that’s the sort of contribution the team will need from him if 2026 is going to be memorable. Taking his above average performance as a given (which is risky, I admit), the more innings from the starting staff means less work for the bullpen. The Giants’ 837 innings from their rotation last year was just 17th in MLB. The top 10 teams all had winning records, and so figure it’ll take somewhere in the 860s to crack that list.

Every fan has their pet player who they think will be the key to the team’s success in a given season, and that’s fine — sorry to those who thought Bryce Eldridge might be a central figure in this post — but here are two players who the Giants simply can’t play well without. They might be able to get buy with some 0-for-4s from Jung Hoo Lee (who, to be clear, has had a lot of them), but his mere presence in the lineup can sometimes be enough to setup the other guys. Roupp, on the other hand, might be able to have a bad turn through the rotation if the other arms have done well, but otherwise, the Giants need Roupp to be as consistent as a peak Matt Cain or Ryan Vogelsong and simply shove when put in front of an opponent.

And yes, obviously, these two straws can only stir a drink that’s been made. If Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Willy Adames, Luis Arraez, and (long sigh) Rafael Devers don’t approximate their career norms and with the extraordinary caveat of general good health on the roster, then there’s no lineup for Jung Hoo Lee to lengthen or dynamize and no pitching staff for Landen Roupp to prop up.

But without either of these players, the Giants won’t be going far.

Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Cisforcookie asks:Is Grichuk the odd man out when Volpe returns with Rosario and Cabby both “able” to play in the OF?

He’s in the hot seat, that’s for sure. Randal Grichuk hasn’t delivered in his limited time on the field thus far, failing to make much of a difference in the Yankees’ “lefty killer” lineup that they’ve deployed more recently when faced with a southpaw starter. His Statcast page shows a hitter who is getting a little unlucky on the field, with high percentages of barreled balls and an average exit velo of 90 mph, but that means very little when the sample size is as small as it has been for Grichuk and the actual results are what they are. Being the last-minute addition to the roster and failing to provide a reason to consistently get more chances gives the Yankees an easy out if they so choose.

However, Grichuk is far from the only struggling Yankee in a limited role. J.C. Escarra hasn’t held down the backup catcher role well either, and Paul Goldschmidt is a backup whose main value appears to be a mentorship role more than anything else (more on him in a minute). On top of that, while Amed Rosario and José Caballero “technically” qualify as outfielder options, I’m sure the team would be a lot more comfortable with a tried and true regular outfielder serving as the backup. Similarly, while Ben Rice takes the lion’s share of starts at first and deserves them all with how hot his bat has been this year, but the team hasn’t tested his versatility behind the plate yet. The choice likely comes down to whether they like their chances with Rice serving as a backup catcher or one of the infielders covering a corner, and I’m 50-50 on which one of those is the route they’ll take. It’d be an easier one to make if Rice had played catcher at all this year, as I lean towards letting Grichuk ride things out a bit longer and sending Escarra down, but perhaps the team would rather their budding star not take on the wear and tear that the position holds. The clock is ticking though, and I imagine it’ll be between one of those two when the time comes to go to the chopping block.

ReadingYankee asks:It feels a bit early in the season to look at these division rankings and say this is how it is going to be. I mean, it’s not even 30 games. However, do these numbers really just represent who is good now and who no longer is, despite what we all predicted to be the case? (I.E. Phillies and Mets) Are we really looking at the division races right now in the way they will play out by the end of the summer? Or do these current rankings tend to change a whole lot from this point in the season? What tends to be the case from this point forward?

There’s plenty of time for variance, and the leaders in several divisions will likely flip-flop throughout the summer as teams get hot and start to break away from this conglomerate we’re seeing currently. That being said, the one thing you want to avoid is an ice-cold April, because it’s very easy to get buried and never catch all the way back up. Taking a look at last year’s standings on this date, it was clear to see that some teams like the Twins (9-16 at the time), Braves (10-14), and Orioles (10-14) were in far worse straits than anticipated, and those teams all ended up out of the playoff picture entirely. That’s without even touching the teams we knew were bad and turned out terrible, like last year’s White Sox and Rockies, but the Mets and Phillies treading water in the territory that those teams were in currently is a terrible sign.

Boston, Kansas City, and Houston all look like they belong in that similar category, though Houston is besieged by injuries while the other two are just plain playing bad. There’s the occasional team that can pull themselves out of an early tailspin, a la the 2019 Nats, but even setting their miraculous rise aside the odds of surviving being nearly double-digits games behind by the end of the first month are dire. The exceptions are few and far between, and it’s far easier to blow a big lead than surpass a monumental deficit with so many other teams chasing in-between.

The idiot that said, “Harper is coming” asks: Paul Goldschmidt and Ryan McMahon are doing their best to test the “batting average is not an important statistic” theory, each posting an identical .125 BA as of 4/23. McMahon is obviously going to get the longer leash of the two, but how long a leash are we talking? Should they at least be searching the market now to set up for a later deal? Is there any chance Lombard might be in their plans down the road this season? Is Rosario just gonna be the main guy?

McMahon is finding his footing at third again, looking more and more like the sharp defensive wizard that the team acquired him to be. That alone can carry him far, as long as the offense at least nominally improves. Goldschmidt is the tougher tell, because his limited role in the offense is two-fold: on one hand, it means less if he’s struggling if he isn’t expected to play a significant amount of games, but on the other hand it means it’s going to be even harder for him to get out from under the slump. Goldschmidt started 2025 off on the right foot, but as he ceded playing time he lost more and more from his bat, and it hasn’t looked any better now in 2026. It’s all well and good that he’s a mentor to Rice, and the first baseman has certainly looked a lot more comfortable at the position with the former MVP now actively assisting his development as opposed to competing with him for the starting gig, but how far can a player on the active roster drift into coach status before the team has to make a decision to benefit the overall roster?

We talked last week about where Lombard’s ETA stands, so I won’t dwell on the topic too long, but that isn’t an imminent decision forcing a roster crunch. At best, if Lombard stands out that well all season and the deadline acquisitions the Yankees could make don’t look appealing enough, I could see the move being made, but that’s a lot of qualifiers that have to occur for a bat that’s still in Double-A and yet to see Triple-A. Rosario has impressed in his role and earned a bit more starting time than I imagine the Yankees envisioned for him out of the gate, so trusting in him seems like the short-term solution while they monitor McMahon and the platoons that they’ve built into this lineup. If we’re still talking about McMahon as an automatic out by this time in May, then the conversation drifts towards shaking things up, but if he can pull himself back into the 80-range wRC+ hitter he’s been for most of his career that’ll play.

After yesterday’s injury scare and early exit, all looked well and truly precautionary for Michael Harris II. He was slated to bat fifth and play center in the lineup released by the Braves earlier this afternoon.

Unfortunately, Grant McAuley has reported that Michael Harris II has been scratched and is day-to-day with that left quad tightness.

With this change, everyone will move up a spot to accommodate Eli White getting the start in center and batting ninth. Riley will no longer be batting sixth (the lowest he’d been penciled in this season), but we are still on the lookout… he’s sitting on 499 career RBI. How do we think he’ll drive in #500?

We had hoped to avoid the worst, and it seems like we will. It just feels particularly tragic because Harris II has been an absolute machine at the plate and was rocking a streak of at least 1 RBI in five straight games. 

The Phillies are catching a break – it was five games ago he was a menace on Sunday Night Baseball, where he tallied a homer, two singles and a walk against tonight’s starter Andrew Painter and the relievers that followed.

The Phillies have made some roster changes since we saw them. Catcher JT Realmuto officially hit the IL with back spasms, making Rafael Marchán their primary catcher. They tried it one last time with Taijuan Walker, but even after using an opener his last outing, he struggled and they released him. And making the trip with the team is Zack Wheeler, who will make his season debut tomorrow night. 

Their lineup is only slightly different from the last time they were behind Andrew Painter (more on the pitching matchup here). Garrett Stubbs will make his second start at catcher since being recalled and bat ninth. Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm will swap to bat sixth and seventh, respectively.

Grant’s World Series might be retiring Bryce Harper in any form (Harper has one hit and three walks to make his OPS vs Holmes start with a 2). But Adolis García is also a formidable matchup. Although the Phillies fell to the Cubs in extras yesterday, García did make things interesting with a pinch-hit game-tying home run in the top of the ninth.

A fun note from the Braves comms team… The Braves have not won four straight over the Phillies to open a season since 2007. Could be a nice night for it.

On Friday afternoon just before the Colorado Rockies were scheduled to kick off a three-game series against the New York Mets, it was announced that right-handed pitcher Ryan Feltner is being placed on the 15-day injured list.

Feltner, 29, has been diagnosed with right ulnar nerve inflammation. He had been dealing with discomfort in his right triceps following his start against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 18th. The condition also caused some numbness in his fingers. Feltner was removed from his start against the San Diego Padres on Thursday after pitching just two innings and giving up two earned runs on two hits and a walk.

In a corresponding roster move, the Rockies will recall left-handed reliever Sammy Peralta from the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.

Peralta, 27, was claimed via waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this month. In seven appearances with Triple-A Albuquerque he has a 3.72 ERA with seven strikeouts and three walks over 9.2 innings of work. He will be just the second left-handed pitcher in the Rockies bullpen this season, joining Brennan Bernardino.

Peralta will wear no. 57, last worn by Angel Chivilli.

The Rockies will have additional pitching decisions to make over the next week. Kyle Freeland—currently on the injured list with left-shoulder soreness—will be available to return to the active roster on April 28th.

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The Mets shuffled a pair of right-handed pitchers in a Friday afternoon roster move, optioning Christian Scott back to Triple-A Syracuse and promoting veteran pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. to the major league squad.

Scott, who was promoted on Thursday, struggled in his season debut. In 1.1 innings pitched, he allowed one run, five walks, and a hit by pitch. It was the 26-year-old’s first big league start since July 21, 2024, after which he underwent Tommy John surgery.

Edwards was signed to a minor league deal by the Mets in December. The twelve-year veteran had a strong spring training, tossing 8.2 innings with two earned runs, three hits, and four walks to 11 strikeouts. In Syracuse, he hasn’t found the same success, pitching to a 5.29 ERA in 17 innings of work.

It remains to be seen how the Mets will fill the fifth spot in their starting rotation behind Freddy Peralta, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, and Kodai Senga. Edwards, David Peterson, Tobias Myers, and Sean Manaea are all candidates to give the Mets multiple innings going forward, regardless of whether any of them are stretched out to be a full-time starter.

Jonah Tong, a candidate for the role later in the season, has had an up-and-down start for Syracuse, throwing three gems on the road (a combined 1.88 ERA in 14.1 innings pitched) and two rough outings at home (a combined 14.21 ERA in 6.1 innings pitched).

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We're looking to head into the weekend on a winning note, with our expert MLB picks looking at two moneylines against struggling teams, as well as a NRFI bet with two underratedly good pitchers on the mound.

See why our MLB best bets for April 24 love the value on the Twins/Rays being quiet early, plus the Halos and ATL to win.

MLB expert picks for today

Pick	Odds
Josh Inglis: LAA ML	+104
Neil Parker: MIN/TB NRFI	-122
Joe Osborne: ATL ML	-138

Prices courtesy of Polymarket.

Josh Inglis' expert pick: Angels moneyline

Price: 49¢ (+104) at Polymarket

Let’s fade the Kansas City Royals, a weak offense that is especially bad against left-handed pitching. Only the Phillies and Rangers rank worse in wRC+ against southpaws, and Yusei Kikuchi is coming off his best start of the year — plus the winds blowing in should provide additional support. What may not be fully priced in is the Los Angeles Angels' edge in the later innings: Kansas City’s bullpen has been putrid all season, but has hit a new low, posting a 7.17 ERA over the last seven days while issuing plenty of walks... and allowing home runs at a high rate. This is a buy to -115.

Neil Parker's expert pick: Twins/Rays NRFI

Price: 55¢ (-122) at Polymarket

Tampa Bay Rays righty Drew Rasmussen has been sharp in three of four starts, sporting a 2.75 ERA and 0.66 WHIP, while holding opposing hitters to a .141 average. The Twins are countering with Taj Bradley, and he’s posted a similarly solid line with a 1.63 ERA and limited opponents to a .276 wOBA. Scoring in the opening frame also hasn’t been a calling card for either club: Minnesota has plated a first-inning run in just 32% of its games — and the Rays are even lower at 29.2%.

Joe Osborne's expert pick: Braves moneyline

Price: 58¢ (-138) at Polymarket

The Atlanta Braves come in red hot, winning eight of nine, while the Philadelphia Phillies have dropped nine straight. Andrew Painter has been average and was rocked in his lone road start this season, plus pitch count issues are a major concern tonight: He’s struggled to work deep into games, which is a dangerous flaw against a Braves lineup that leads the league in scoring and OPS vs. righties over the last two weeks. That puts even more strain on a Phillies bullpen that’s already overworked after using five arms yesterday.

More MLB best bets for today

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