Category: Baseball

The Atlanta Braves will be facing the Miami Marlins this evening in a matchup that brings two offenses on the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of runs scored.

The Braves are tied with the Chicago Cubs for the most runs scored in all of MLB since the start of July. They are also in the top seven since the All-Star break. The Marlins are twentieth in runs scored since the start of July and in the bottom three teams since the break.

The Braves will be facing Eury Pérez who sports a blistering 4-seam fastball that averages 98.1 MPH. The Braves have largely struggled against the 4-seam fastball as a team outside of Baldwin, Olson, and Harris who are all well above league average against the pitch. The interesting thing about this matchup is although the Braves as a whole struggle against Pérez’s best pitch, they have had his number. The sample sizes are small but the Braves have seven regular starters that have an OPS of .762 or better against him. Baldwin has two HRs against him and Acuña and Albies both have a HR against him. The caveat is all the seven players mentioned have between five and eight at-bats against him, making it a small sample to draft from.

The Braves were able to score three earned runs on Pérez in April in 4.0 innings, but Pérez has been on fire in his last five starts holding an ERA of 1.69 in that timeframe. It will come down to if the Braves actually have his number, or if he was just slow to start at the beginning of the season.

Lane Thomas already made his debut for the Braves, but with Pérez being a righty, one would have thought that Yastrzemksi would get the start in LF since Thomas has struggled against righties, but hits lefties well above average with Yaz being the opposite. That is not the case with today’s lineup. Now that Ha-Seong Kim and Sean Murphy are back, there was always going to be the question of how many starts they are going to get. We know Murphy is clearly the backup, but traditionally backup catchers get far more starts than backup shortstops. Kim seems to be in line to be a backup with how Jim Jarvis has been playing. Turns out, neither Jarvis or Kim is getting the start at SS today with super utility Dubón getting the nod. Sean Murphy is also making his return and will be at catcher batting ninth with Baldwin getting the start at DH.

Bryce Elder is pitching tonight and although his ERA since the start of July is 3.00, he has been one of the luckiest pitchers in MLB with a FIP of 7.14 and a BABIP against of only .208. There is no way his ERA is sustainable with those numbers. Hopefully the bubble does not burst tonight against a subpar offense.

Xaiver Edwards has nine ABs against Elder, Otto Lopez has eight, and Kyle Stowers has seven in their careers. Outside of those three, no other Marlin has more than five ABs against him. Lopez has been very successful against Elder with an OPS of 1.056 and Edwards has been almost as good with a .989. Stowers has an OPS of .821 due to a HR, but his average has been .143.

Looking simply at ERAs, one may think it will be a low scoring game. If we dig a little deeper, this may actually be a shootout.

First pitch is at 7:15 EDT.

The trade deadline was on Monday. But the Royals are still working out some deals!

Minor leaguers are not subject to the trade deadline, so the Royals have reportedly acquired infielder Jacob Berry from the Marlins, according to a report from Isaac Azout at Fish On First. Berry was hitting .251/.372/.362 with four home runs in 72 games at Triple-A and has yet to appear in the big leagues.

A third baseman with some experience in the outfield, Berry was a standout at LSU and was the #8 prospect for the 2022 draft, according to Baseball America. They wrote that the switch-hitter had advanced plate discipline and gap power to fall fields. There were some questions about his power from the right side, and his home run numbers have never materialized in the minors. The Marlins took him with the sixth overall pick – three picks before Gavin Cross, who will now be his teammate in Omaha.

The Royals are in full evaluation mode, and while fans shouldn’t expect too much out of these kind of trades, accumulating talent to see if anyone can break through is a good move. Berry was once a high upside prospect, and he demonstrates the kind of plate discipline this organization needs. It certainly beats signing some 30+ year-old hitter you thought retired two years ago to fill out your minor league roster.

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This evening, we're attacking nothing but arms! It may be leg day at the gym, but on the diamond, it's all about focusing on the starting pitchers.

Headlined by Reid Detmers, here are my three favorite MLB player props for Thursday, Aug. 5.

Best MLB player props today

Player	Pick	Odds
Bryce Elder	Over 2.5 earned runs	+100
Reid Detmers	Over 7.5 strikeouts	+119
Sean Burke	Under 6.5 strikeouts	-137

Bryce Elder Over 2.5 earned runs (+100)

The Miami Marlins roll into one of the better offensive matchups on the board. They feature four elite-rated hitters and two strong-rated hitters on Batters-Box's current season ratings.

They will face Atlanta Braves right-hander Bryce Elder, who has hit a few speed bumps over his last five starts. During that stretch, Elder owns a 4.32 ERA, 5.50 xERA, and 1.36 WHIP while allowing plenty of hard contact and barrels.

Four of Miami's six highest-rated hitters swing from the left side, and that's where Elder has really struggled. Across the last 60 left-handed hitters he's faced, he owns a 5.02 ERA while allowing a 48.7% hard-hit rate, 12.8% barrel rate, and just a 28.2% ground-ball rate. Those hitters have also produced a .393 xBA, .735 xSLG, and .360 xwOBA during that span.

The Marlins have started to turn things around after their July slump, and this is a great spot for the Fighting Fish to keep it rolling.

I'd play this down to -110.

• Time: 7:15 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: MIAM, BravesVision

Reid Detmers Over 7.5 strikeouts (+119)

One of the highest average strikeout rates on Wednesday's slate belongs to Los Angeles Angels left-hander Reid Detmers, who has put together an outstanding season.

Detmers carries a strong rating on Batters-Box's current season dataset while boasting an elite matchup wOBA and strikeout rating. Over his last five starts, he has maintained a strikeout rate north of 30%, and over his last three, that number has climbed to more than 36%.

The Baltimore Orioles present a favorable matchup for strikeout props. Baltimore has eight hitters above the league-average strikeout rate and has struggled to make contact against left-handed pitching. Over their last 60 at-bats against southpaws, seven hitters own at least a 23.3% strikeout rate, with four sitting above 30%.

Over the last week, Baltimore has a near-30% strikeout rate, so I'd play this down to even money.

• Time: 6:35 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: MASN, ABTV

Sean Burke Under 6.5 strikeouts (-137)

Coming off a 10-strikeout performance against the New York Yankees last week, Chicago White Sox right-hander Sean Burke will look to replicate that success against one of the hottest offenses in baseball.

Despite the Boston Red Sox hanging two touchdowns on the scoreboard last night, I don't expect the Red Sox to completely fall apart at the plate tonight. Burke has been outstanding lately, carrying a strikeout rate near 30% over his last few starts, but this is a completely different challenge.

Over their last 12 games, the Red Sox own a 126 wRC+, .356 wOBA, .811 OPS, and just a 22.6% strikeout rate. They've been even tougher to punch out recently, posting a team strikeout rate below 20% over their last six games.

It's a tough ask for Burke to dominate in back-to-back starts against two completely different offenses.

I'd play this down to -140.

• Time: 7:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: CHSN, NESN

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

For all the hand-wringing (much of it deserved) over the moves the decisions the Phillies made, the players acquired and the Trade Deadline moves not made, the core strength of the team have never been in doubt.

Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are star sluggers.

Jhoan Duran is an elite closer.

And the top three pitchers in the starting rotation match up against anyone else’s in baseball.

On Tuesday night, the Phillies notched yet another team shutout under their belts, a 5-0 suffocation of the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. They’re making this a bit of a habit.

The Phils are off to a hot start in August, winning their first four games by a combined score of 24-3. That includes back-to-back shutouts of the Orioles in Baltimore over the weekend (5-0 and 8-0) as well as 6-3 win on Monday night.

That’s three shutouts in their last four games, the last one nearly a complete game effort by Jesus Luzardo, who continues to establish himself as an annual Cy Young contender.

There can be no doubt, at this point, Dave Dombrowski’s acquisition of Luzardo from the Miami Marlins two off-seasons ago will go down as one of the best in franchise history. The two prospects the Phillies traded to get him, Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd, are still nowhere close to being Major League ready, if they ever will.

The 20-year-old Caba entered the 2025 season as a consensus top-100 prospect in baseball, but has not appeared on any lists in ‘26. In 68 games at High-A the middle infielder has a .745 OPS, bolstered by an outstanding walk rate but little else. He’s young, and there’s time for development, but this is not a star player in the making.

Boyd is a 22-year-old outfielder playing in AA. In 58 games his OPS is just .655, with only 10 extra-base hits in 193 plate appearances.

Luzardo, meanwhile, has become a bona fide ace.

He continues to flourish in his second season in Philadelphia and has been especially hot over his last 10 starts, posting a 1.98 ERA, 33.1% K-rate, 8.7% BB-rate, 0.97 WHIP and .175 batting average allowed. During that stretch, no pitcher in baseball has accumulated more fWAR (2.2) than Luzardo. He’s thrown the second-most innings over that timeframe, the most strikeouts (84), and has the sixth-lowest batting average allowed. He given up one or zero runs in seven of his last eight outings, and if you throw out his six-run start against the Marlins last week, his ERA would be 1.01 since June 23.

But let’s go back even further. He got off to a brutal start this season, with a 7.94 ERA after his first four appearances. Since then (19 starts), his 3.2 fWAR trails only Jacob Misiorowski (4.5), Chris Sale (3.7), and teammate Cristopher Sanchez (3.4).

Luzardo’s home/road splits still show him with a higher ERA at Citizens Bank Park (4.85) than on the road (2.01), but most of that was due to the damage inflicted on his first three home starts in which he gave up a combined 19 runs. After a five-run outing against the White Sox on June 5, Luzardo has now gone four straight starts at home allowing either one or no runs.

His mastery of lefties continues to be a strength, allowing a slash line of .156/.207/.193 this year. He’s given up just one home run to a left-handed hitter as opposed to 10 against righties, thanks mostly to a career-high ground ball rate of 50.4%. He has not had a season higher than 42.8%, which was last season. He’s coupled that with a 20.9% hard-hit rate that is his lowest since 2022.

Luzardo is incorporating his new-found sweeper more than ever. Introduced last season, it has become a game-changing weapon. He threw it nearly one-third of the time in ’25, 32.1%, with his 96.5 mph fastball used just as often (33.3%). This year, the sweeper has become his most-used pitch by far, tossing it 37.8% of the time compared to his four-seamer, 24.6%. Luzardo has essentially ditched his slider and become a four-pitch pitcher, utilizing a changeup 18.9% of the time (17.3% last year) and a sinker, 18.8% (10.8% in ‘25).

When Dombrowski made the deal to acquire Luzardo from Miami, there were question marks. He had been injured in 2024 and no one was sure if he could ever be a consistent, top-of-the-rotation starter on a consistent basis. He also was only under team control for two seasons (2025 and ‘26). The five-year, $135 million extension he signed back in March keeps him in Philadelphia for the entirety of his prime at an average of $27 million a season.

That’s a steal for a pitcher who is likely to finish in the top-five of Cy Young voting for a second straight season.

The Phillies have a number of weaknesses and concerns as they try to snag one of the NL’s three wild card spots. It’s been an up-and-down season virtually across the board.

But one thing they can count on is a playoff rotation led by three aces: Sanchez, Zack Wheeler and Jesus Luzardo.

Income from ticket sales and The Battery are really growing. The Braves reportedly raised prices on season tickets, and are reaping financial benefits. The Battery and Pennant Park are packed nearly to capacity. But the BravesVision venture is behind not necessarily in revenue, but the big payoff seems to be delayed. So let’s dig into some numbers. But first a brief aside.

We are fortunate that we are able to see into the financials of the Atlanta Braves. The other teams’ fans are so lucky. But that is the only reason that we cover it here. Please don’t confuse anything that you see in this post on on this site as an endorsement to buy, sell, or hold any financial instrument. I don’t have a take on BATRA/BATRK, and even if I did you shouldn’t listen to me. You should see out other financial advice for your situation. This is regardless if you think the Braves are owned by Liberty Media or Liberty National.

Top Line Numbers

• Total revenue of $305 million in the second quarter of 2026, down 2% from the prior year period. Total revenue of $377 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, up 5% from the prior period.
  • Baseball revenue decreased 4% from the prior year period to $276 million driven by six fewer home games played in the second quarter. Baseball revenue of $322 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, up 2% from the prior period.
  • Mixed-Use Development revenue increased 14% from the prior year period to $29 million. Mixed-Use Development revenue of $55 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, up 26% from the prior period.
• Total Adjusted OIBDA⁽¹⁾ of $12 million in the second quarter of 2026.
  • Baseball Adjusted OIBDA declined to $(6) million, down from $52 million in the prior year period.
  • Mixed-Use Development Adjusted OIBDA increased 18% from the prior year period to $21 million.
• Operating income (loss) declined to $(19) million in the second quarter of 2026, down from $42 million in the prior year period.

The most significant portion of their revenue, ticket sales, is very strong. They are basically where they are last year with 6 fewer home games than in the Apr-Jun portion of 2025. Mixed-Use Development continues to be strong, with 14% growth in Apr-Jun and 26% overall from last year.

BravesVision revenue delays

This really is the most significant part of the earnings results. The Braves promised us more numbers around BravesVision for this release as opposed to last quarter. And they aren’t exactly blowout numbers.

Have a look at the Media Related line in these numbers. This line was previously named Broadcasting. It makes sense now that we’re added streaming to the cable and over-the-air broadcasting. It’s down 10 percent from this quarter last year, and 12% for the year-to-date. There are a couple of things driving this.

Number one is that the schedule of payouts differs from their previous media rights deal contract and BravesVision. I interpret that to mean that they have numerous entities paying the Braves for commercials and that money trickles in at a different pace than last year. Jill Robinson stated: “distribution revenue payments will come in on a slower cadence than out traditional rights fee model payments were received… Advertising revenue will be paid following the month when the ad airs.” In light of that “since BravesVision effectively launched on April 1st, the 2026 fiscal year will not reflect a full year of distribution revenue.”

Number two is that under the old contract, it was up to Diamond Sports Group to find people to buy air time and pay the Braves. Right now, the Braves have to do it themselves. That’s what we want, honestly. But it’s taken some time to get that revenue stream off the ground, while simultaneously creating a new broadcasting and streaming venture. Braves fans were feeling some of the brunt of that as well, with the constant Alan Jackson ads earlier in the year.

It appears to be that but the end of 2026, they will get more for their media rights. But that payoff is definitely delayed. You can get the rest of the Braves dot tv season plus two seats for 20 dollars right now. That’s much lower than the other teams offerings. I don’t think that’s a comparison of demand and it’s merely a sale. Because if it’s not, woof.

Players’ Salary Tax, Parties, Stashed Cash, and Postseason Loot

The Braves still 300 plus million in available cash. That’s after starting a television network from scratch. Baseball related costs are up, because they’re not that cheap and players’ salaries have increased year-over-year. The Battery was able to draw more than 35,000 fans to the Battery during the World Cup. They are committed to draw people to the Battery regardless if the Braves are in town or not. Also, the Braves fell confident that the “162M issue” will be resolved well for the Braves. The Braves are taxed in a different manner to other teams with respect to players salaries. Terry McGuirk felt “we’re very confident we’ll have a legislative or a regulatory solution.”

The Braves were asked how the revenue could increase with a playoff run. Jill Robinson referred back to previous seasons’ Q4 data and said we should use it as a baseline. Otherwise, she refused to speculate and jinx the Braves (one of us, one of us). But if she won’t guess, I might try. The Braves had two Division Series matchups in 2022 and 2023. The revenue for those (IIRC) suggest that those games provided seven million dollars. So I’m guessing Division home games are worth 8-9 million now, NLCS one are 11-12 million, and World Series games around 15 million. But those guesses could be way off. I’m not gonna guess if the Braves will get there, but I will guess what the revenue might be.

Terry McGuirk and FanGraphs

Finally, Terry McGuirk gave a shout out to FanGraphs. At the top of the address, Terry walks everyone through the accomplishments of the on-field personnel. Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, and Chris Sale were mentioned. Also, we mentioned FanGraphs’ playoff odds. It’s interesting if this is a one-off occurrence, or they leverage FanGraphs as an organization. Yep, Terry likes his run differential numbers, and his FanGraphs.

Why the Marcelo Mayer trade doesn't seem too shocking anymore originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

When the news came across our feeds on Monday, it was a bit surprising. Once the return in the deal was reported, it was upgraded to shocking status.

Marcelo Mayer — No. 4 overall pick in 2021, top prospect in the organization from 2022-24 — traded away for … a 28-year-old reliever.

Giving up on such a highly touted prospect so soon, and doing it for a reliever — surely, this represents a flop of all flops, the likes of which this organization has never seen before.

Yet after just the slightest bit of research, it turns out that first-round picks haven’t meant a whole lot to the Red Sox organization — not this century, anyway.

While the team certainly nailed it with the 19th overall pick in 1983 (Roger Clemens), the 15th overall pick in 1971 (Jim Rice) and the 12th overall pick in 1994 (Nomar Garciaparra), the 21st century hasn’t netted the organization much in the way of cornerstone players. And a look through the names and careers in the first 25 years of this century does provide some perspective as to what just happened with Mayer.

The Best Players By WAR

You can evaluate players 17 different ways, but for simplicity’s sake, here are the rankings for the Red Sox’ first-round picks since 2000 by career bWAR.

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, 31.0
2. Clay Buchholz†, 16.8
3. Jackie Bradley Jr.†, 16.6
4. Andrew Benintendi*, 16.5
5. Jed Lowrie†, 15.4
6. David Murphy, 9.9
7. Daniel Bard, 8.4
8. Tanner Houck*, 7.5
9. Michael Kopech*, 6.0
10. Matt Barnes, 4.2
11. Matt Murton†, 3.3
12. Triston Casas*, 2.2
    *active player
    †supplementary first-round pick

Of the 42 first-round picks by the Red Sox since 2000, those are the best of the best.

Jacoby Ellsbury obviously flashed for a bit — in 2011 with a near-MVP season, and 2013 when he helped the team win a World Series — but was tremendously unremarkable in his 30s with the Yankees.

Clay Buchholz, likewise, flashed for two years — 2010 and 2013 — but essentially fell off a cliff thereafter. He was traded away in 2016 for infielder Josh Tobias, who never reached the majors.

Jackie Bradley Jr. popped as an All-Star in 2016 (.835 OPS) and in the 2018 ALCS (1.067 OPS, series MVP) while proving Gold Glove-level defense but didn’t hit consistently enough to stick around for the long haul. He left via free agency in 2020, came back briefly in 2022, but played his last MLB game in 2023, hitting just .176 over his final three seasons.

Andrew Benintendi was one of the highest Red Sox picks of this century at No. 7 overall, and he looked like a potential franchise cornerstone in his breakout season of 2018 (.830 OPS). But he’s never come close to matching that production, and he’s more or less played at a replacement level from ages 28-31 with the White Sox. He was shipped away in 2021 in a deal that only netted Josh Winckowski and Franchy Cordero (plus three prospects) for the Red Sox.

Jed Lowrie was a functional player for Boston from 2008-11 but was traded in 2011 for closer Mark Melancon. That could have actually been a value add for Boston, but Melancon happened to have the worst season of his career in his lone year with the Red Sox.

David Murphy was a valuable piece in the Red Sox’ trade for Eric Gagne at the 2007 deadline, Michael Kopech was a big piece of the trade to acquire Chris Sale in 2016, and Matt Murton was the other Red Sox player traded alongside Nomar Garciaparra in 2004, netting Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz for Boston.

That last quartet of players — Lowrie, Murphy, Kopech and Murton — could certainly be considered better uses of first-round draft picks in trades than Mayer, with Kopech being the most significant. Still, that deal also involved Yoan Moncada and two other prospects.

The Complete Misses

This is not breaking news, but the MLB Draft is the crapshoot to end all crapshoots. That’s why there are 650 rounds every year. (Technically, there are 20 rounds. If you want to be a stickler.)

And though Mayer absolutely represents a disappointment for the Red Sox — Chaim Bloom’s front office for drafting him, Craig Breslow’s group for developing, and the coaching up and down the organization — his brief Red Sox tenure was not the worst among top-12 picks this century.

The Red Sox drafted left-handed pitcher Trey Ball with the seventh overall pick in 2013. He failed to find success at any level but was nevertheless given a shot at Double-A Portland in 2017. Over two seasons, he posted a 6.06 ERA and 1.795 WHIP. With his pitching career shot, he took a stab at switching to outfield in 2019, an endeavor that lasted all of five games for the Gulf Coast League Red Sox.

The team’s other high pick this century was Jay Groome, a hard-throwing lefty who demanded a $3.65 million signing bonus. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and eventually reached Triple-A in 2022 but was traded to the Padres for Eric Hosmer. He never reached the majors in the Padres’ system.

Nick Yorke was another relatively high pick, taken 17th overall in 2020. At 24 years old, he still has room to grow, but thus far in his MLB career with the Pirates, he’s compiled a -0.4 bWAR and a .588 OPS over 60 games. The Red Sox traded him for Quinn Priester in 2024.

This next list is not intended to mean. It’s merely meant to show how first-round picks have often proved fruitless for the Red Sox.

• LHP Phil Dumatrait, No. 22 overall in 2000, bWAR -1.8
• RHP Michael Bowden, No. 47 overall in 2005, bWAR 0.8
• RHP Craig Hansen, No. 26 overall in 2005, bWAR -1.9
• LHP Kris Johnson, No. 40 overall in 2006, bWAR 0.0
• OF Jason Place, No. 27 overall in 2006, never reached majors
• RHP Caleb Clay, No. 44 overall in 2006, never reached majors
• LHP Nick Hagadone, No. 55 in 2007, -0.2 bWAR
• SS Ryan Dent, No. 62 overall in 2006, never reached majors
• RHP Bryan Price, No. 45 overall in 2007, -0.2 bWAR
• SS/P Casey Kelly, No. 30 overall in 2008, -1.3 bWAR
• CF Rey Fuentes, No. 28 overall in 2009, -0.6 bWAR
• OF Bryce Brentz, No. 36 overall in 2010, 0.0 bWAR
• RHP Anthony Ranaudo, No. 39 overall in 2010, -1.6 bWAR
• 2B Kolbrin Vitek, No. 20 overall in 2010, never reached majors
• LHP Henry Owens, No. 36 overall in 2011, 0.1 bWAR
• C Blake Swihart, No. 26 overall in 2011, -0.6 bWAR
• LHP Brian Johnson, No. 31 overall in 2012, 0.9 bWAR
• SS Deven Marrero, No. 24 overall in 2012, -0.4 bWAR
• RHP Pat Light, No. 37 overall in 2012, -0.7 bWAR
• INF Michael Chavis, No. 26 overall in 2014, 0.1 bWAR

Some of these players provided the Red Sox value in trades. Casey Kelly and Rey Fuentes were in the deal for Adrian Gonzalez. Nick Hagadone was in the deal for Victor Martinez. But for the most part, the Red Sox didn’t get much out of these first-rounders and supplemental first-rounders.

Too Soon To Tell

After taking Marcelo Mayer with the fourth overall pick in 2021, the Red Sox have made six first-round picks.

Catcher Kyle Teel (14th overall in 2023) and outfielder Braden Montgomery (12th in 2024) were traded to the White Sox in the deal for Garrett Crochet, and both have reached the majors.

Kyson Witherspoon, the 15th pick in the 2025 draft, was just traded to the Orioles as part of the package for Adley Rutschman.

Shortstop Mikey Romero (24th overall in 2022) is in Triple-A Worcester, pitcher Marcus Phillips is in High-A Greenville (with a 7.22 ERA), and shortstop Jake Schaffner (No. 20 this year) is just beginning his pro career.

Triston Casas (the No. 26 overall pick in 2018) may have graduated out of the “too soon to tell” list but nevertheless could still make something of his big league career.

So … What’s The Point?

Fair question. Glad you asked.

There’s not necessarily an overarching point, other than the reality that being a first-round pick in the Red Sox organization — or any organization, for that matter — doesn’t guarantee much.

While it’s no doubt a disappointment for a No. 4 overall pick like Mayer to never really take off for the Red Sox, he’ll simply join a long line of names who had the same story.

The Nats have really felt the losses of Curtis Mead and Luis Garcia Jr. lately. An offense that was once an unstoppable force has fallen on its face. During this road trip, the Nats are 3 for 46 with RISP. However, there is one new bat they added to the fold that really intrigues me, and it is Abimelec Ortiz.

Part of the reason trading Garcia made sense for the Nats was that they had a plug and play replacement in Ortiz. The Nats acquired the 24 year old in the MacKenzie Gore trade, and he has been mashing at AAA all year. He has an .845 OPS with 18 homers this season while having some bad luck mixed in as well. Ortiz is a big man who can punish baseballs, which is what he has been doing in the minors.

However, Ortiz is more than your prototypical feast or famine power hitter. This season he is striking out under 20% of the time in the minors. He is also whiffing and making contact at better than average clips. Ortiz has proven to be a complete hitter in the minors this year, with not many holes in his profile.

His swing decisions are not elite, but they are solid. That is good enough for a player with huge power and better than average contact skills. One of the great things about Ortiz is that he does a really good job tapping into his power. He is hitting the ball on the ground less than 35% of the time this year and pulling it in the air at an 18% clip.

This is a hitter that is built to do damage. His average exit velocity is over 91 MPH, his max EV is over 116 and his 90th percentile EV, a good measure of power, is at 107 which is elite. We still need to see Ortiz produce in the big leagues to be sure, but he seems like a pretty safe bet to be an above average hitter.

I have gone into plenty of numbers, but when you watch Ortiz, there is a lot to like. He is one of those guys that looks hitterish in the box. It is like that big kid on your little league team who just hits tanks. Ortiz has that sort of presence in the box. His swing is also really nice to watch with his quick hands and fast bat.

Ortiz has only had 6 MLB AB’s to this point, but I have liked what I have seen so far. He does not look overmatched by big league pitching at all to this point. The first baseman also looks very confident in the box. 

In Ortiz’s first at bat back in the big leagues, he hit his first career homer off of Aaron Nola. It was a majestic no doubt home run for the youngster. I have a feeling that we will be seeing quite a few of those down the stretch.

This offense has been in a real malaise lately. However, I think Ortiz is going to be one of the solutions rather than someone that holds this unit back. Ortiz really just seems to have everything you would want in a young hitter. He has the power, contact and a decent approach. Of course, the Major Leagues has a way of exposing guys, but I think Ortiz is a guy who sticks.

Ortiz can play first base, but his 5’10 height limits him a bit there. Ideally, he is a DH who occasionally plays first. That means he will really have to mash to have value. However, Ortiz seems like he is up to the job, particularly against right handed pitching.

It is easy for me to see a world where Ortiz is in that Vinnie Pasquantino, Jonathan Aranda or Alec Burleson tier of first baseman/DH’s who are not superstars but are productive regulars for a long time.

For a guy who was a tertiary piece in the MacKenzie Gore trade, that would be an awesome outcome. He still needs to prove it out on the field, but I am getting dangerously high on Abimelec Ortiz the more I look at him. The kid just hits man!

Every day, Pinstripe Alley offers updates on what the Yankees’ top American League opponents are up to through the Rivalry Roundup. The AL East is well-trodden ground there, but with the Trade Deadline behind us, we’re going to take a peek around MLB as a whole and check in with each of the other five divisions. Who’s surprising? Who’s underwhelming? Who’s simply mediocre at the moment? Read on and find out.

First Place: Milwaukee Brewers (70-43)

Top Position Player: Brice Turang (4.1 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Jacob Misiorowski (5.0 fWAR)

Not to editorialize too much in this space, but I believe the Brewers blew it.

It is a fact that Milwaukee has the league’s best record at time of writing. It is also a fact that they had the league’s best record in 2025, and all it got them was a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers in the NLCS. The one player who it felt Milwaukee could snag at this deadline to put them at close to level footing with the Dodgers, Tarik Skubal, is going to Los Angeles for somewhat less than a king’s ransom. The Brewers added only Dustin May and JoJo Romero from the Cardinals, Antonio Senzatela from the Rockies, and additional bullpen and catching depth from Cleveland in a marginal move most missed.

Over the past decade, Milwaukee has demonstrated that they have essentially solved the regular season. The postseason has proved a harder beast to tame, winning just two playoff series and falling to to LA in both the 2018 and 2025 NLCS. The franchise has never won a World Series and it’s been 44 years since they were even there, back when they were an AL team. The Brewers have tons of very good players, but lack the boundless star power of the Dodgers, star power which they used to absolutely bully the Crew up and down the field in October. Furthermore, with labor tensions on the rise and a potential work stoppage in the offing when winter comes, shouldn’t there be more urgency to go more all-in for the rest of this season?

The Brewers are not the only team guilty of being overly safe. But they’ve done all the hard work, constructing a formidable platform on which a superstar like Skubal would have perfectly fit, were they only willing to pull the trigger. Instead, they once again got gun-shy, putting together a good offer but not one that blew the Tigers away. The far tougher path awaits. I wish them luck.

Second Place: Chicago Cubs (65-49)

Top Position Player: Pete Crow-Armstrong (7.3 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Ben Brown (2.0 fWAR)

The Cubs were busy, busy bees at the deadline; and they had to be. Chicago remains comfortably afloat in the first Wild Card spot despite suffering through terrible injury luck, particularly in the rotation. So they went to work rebuilding their staff on the fly, and I think they did fairly well for themselves given a somewhat limited set of options.

First, the Jed Hoyer-led front office made a pair of deals with Toronto, a team which managed a shrewd buy/sell balancing act. Gone was DFA’d veteran Jameson Taillon, and in his place came Kevin Gausman. Gausman has not been ace material this year, and his walk rate has shot up, but it is far better to have him than to not. The Cubs continued with more of a lottery ticket by adding lefty Braxton Garrett, bolstered their bullpen with the Angels’ Ryan Zeferjahn, then concluded by bringing along old friend Clay Holmes (alongside Tyrone Taylor) from the aggressively-selling Mets.

In the aftermath, as MLB.com’s Mike Petriello noted on Bluesky, the Cubs now have a great collection of depth options in their rotation to go along with an offense which boasts NL MVP favorite Pete Crow-Armstrong at the top of the lineup. At the same time, none of their pitchers are the kind of guy you’d be pumped to see start the first game of a future playoff series. The Braves have Chris Sale; the Brewers boast Jacob Misiorowski; the Dodgers now have Skubal in addition to Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Maybe something with Gausman clicks down the stretch and he becomes the ace they need, but otherwise, it’s a lot of good-but-not-great arms. After Skubal came off the board, that’s essentially all that the market could provide. Credit to the Cubs for working within those confines to upgrade their roster as much as they could.

Third Place: Pittsburgh Pirates (57-58)

Top Position Player: Brandon Lowe (3.1 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Paul Skenes (3.6 fWAR)

In a departure from past seasons, the Pirates are both alive in the playoff hunt and adding to their roster at the deadline, albeit exclusively in the bullpen. After picking up Camilo Doval from the Yankees as a potential reclamation project—a project which the Yankees themselves attempted and failed to complete—Pittsburgh got more serious, trading for Luke Weaver from the Mets and Kirby Yates from the Angels. Those veterans (particularly Weaver) should give the Bucs more stability in their back-end as they look to end the longest active playoff drought in the Senior Circuit.

The warning signs for this team are everywhere, however. Paul Skenes has not looked like the best young pitcher in baseball this season, as a dip in velocity has allowed teams to get the jump on him. Ryan O’Hearn, one of their most reliable veteran hitters, suffered a nasty injury and will be out for another six weeks at minimum. He joins rookie Konnor Griffin on the IL; the shortstop may be back in time for the beginning of September, but it’s hard to know if Pittsburgh will be able to keep pace with a competitive NL in the meantime.

Still, the Bucs didn’t luck into being the second-highest scoring offense in the league most of the way through the season. They have a good collection of youth and experience in their lineup even despite the recent injuries, and have a fleet of young right-handed starters (including Skenes, who could always turn the corner) at their disposal. Too often, the Pirates have said “never.” It’s nice to see them at least say “maybe.”

Fourth Place: St. Louis Cardinals (56-58)

Top Position Player: JJ Wetherholt (4.0 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Dustin May (2.6 fWAR) Andre Pallante (2.0 fWAR)

The Cardinals shoved the Yankees into a locker on Monday night, and if that result had come before the deadline rather than a few hours after, it’s easy to wonder if the front office might have been tempted to take a different approach. As it happens, though, St. Louis decided to assume a modest sell position, dealing May and Romero to Milwaukee as previously mentioned while sending Team Japan icon Lars Nootbaar to the Diamondbacks right before the closing bell.

It was the right time to move off all of those guys; they’re talented but flawed players who didn’t figure to be part of the next competitive Redbirds squad. St. Louis has struggled to begin the second half, and their youth movement is still a work in progress. Make no mistake: the now-extended JJ Wetherholt is agreat player. So is Jordan Walker. Alec Burleson thumped three homers in the Bronx on Monday night; he’s pretty good too. But the pitching staff isn’t there yet, and neither is the rest of their lineup.

If nothing else, though, St. Louis has demonstrated they’re a team you can’t afford to mess with. To the other teams in this division, take heed: if you have the opportunity to put the Cardinals away, you need to do it, or else you may just see them in the playoffs.

Last Place: Cincinnati Reds (54-58)

Top Position Player: Elly De La Cruz (4.1 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Chase Burns (3.3 fWAR)

With Adley Rutschman and Liam Hicks taken off the table by division rivals, it appeared the Yankees’ only realistic path to an upgrade at catcher was Tyler Stephenson of the Reds. Even then, Stephenson’s defensive proclivities threatened to make it more of a lateral move, even with Austin Wells’ horrible 2026 season. Ultimately, Brian Cashman opted not to pull the trigger, and Cincinnati got no takers for their pending free agent catcher.

They got no takers for just about everyone, as it turned out—only flipping lefty first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to the cross-state rival Guardians and shipping Caleb Ferguson to the Cardinals just before the music stopped. It was fairly bleak for Reds fans. Cincy just didn’t have a lot of trade pieces worth getting excited about—that doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons to tune in to watch them.

Chase Burns continues to rise as a young ace for an exciting young pitching staff which continues to hold a lot of promise for the years ahead. Elly De La Cruz remains one of the most electric players in baseball, even though we may not see him steal 67 bases like he did in 2024 again. Sal Stewart is already a formidable heart-of-the-order bat for the Redlegs as a rookie; he could be there for a long time. Cincinnati is a terribly flawed squad, it’s true. But they don’t lack for hope.

ARLINGTON, Texas — It’s simple mathematics.

Six players subtracted from the Giants’ roster trade deadline means just as many opportunities for other, younger players over the final seven odd weeks of the regular season.

San Francisco wasted no time getting on board with the youth movement. After all the dust settled, the average age of the 26-man roster was 27.2 years old — tied for fourth-youngest.

“I think as much as anything it’s going to be an opportunity for us as a front office and a coaching staff to evaluate some of our players,” president of baseball operations Buster Posey said. “Some of them are going to get longer runways than they have in the past.”

These five players have the most to gain from the Giants’ trade deadline moves:

Marcelo Mayer

Talk about a change of scenery.

The California kid is back in his home state. He’s out of pressure-packed Boston and the weighty expectations of rabid fans who eagerly awaited his arrival as a top prospect.

Mayer has a chance to hit the restart button on his big league career that never quite got off the ground with the Red Sox. Remember, he is still only 23 with less than a season of MLB service time — lots of time for him to get his career .625 OPS closer to his .826 figure in the minors.

“[We] still believe there’s a lot of upside there,” Posey said.

Sure, it would be great if he was able to recapture what made him a No. 4 overall draft pick and a consensus top-20 prospect for four years running. But the Giants’ future hardly hangs in the balance. The infield is already crowded, and all this lottery ticket cost was a bullpen arm.

Once he is cleared to return from a stress reaction in his forearm, Mayer should be the regular starter at second base for the rest of the season. If anything, he’ll be part of an extra friendly competition for playing time next spring — with fellow Chula Vista High alum Casey Schmitt.

Blade Tidwell

After the trades of Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle, as well as the elbow surgery Trevor McDonald is set to undergo this week, the Giants have three vacancies in their starting rotation.

Tidwell was the first pitcher called up from Triple-A to get an audition and will certainly get more after limiting the Rangers to two runs on six hits over five innings. Needing 100 pitches to make it through the longest outing of his young career, he was determined to pitch more efficiently.

“I don’t want to be the five and dive guy,” Tidwell said.

He could have helped their beleaguered bullpen earlier in the season but was instead stretched out as a starter at Triple-A. All along, manager Tony Vitello said, “he was champing at the bit.”

He really only used his four-seamer and his best secondary weapon, a slider, in his brief look in the bullpen. As a starter, Tidwell recently added a curveball to expand his arsenal to six pitches.

Vitello, who coached him at Tennessee, described the stocky 6-foot-3 right-hander as a Skittle — “rough on the exterior but a little softer than people realize on the inside.”

Now, maybe fans will get a chance to get to know him as well as his college coach.

Keaton Winn

Vitello was asked about the situation in the back end of the bullpen after the Giants shipped away Erik Miller and Caleb Kilian, the last two arms to close games for them.

“Interesting,” he said with a nervous smile. “I think opportunity is the word that stands out.”

The Giants’ bullpen wasn’t strong to begin with, and it’s even more depleted of high-leverage, backend arms after trading its two most sought-after relievers at the deadline.

The brief experiment using Winn as the closer blew up when Vitello called on the former starter for a third day in a row for the first time in his career, causing a mild elbow strain.

But he’s back healthy and, almost by default, possesses the nastiest stuff of any of the remaining relievers. If he can rediscover the upper 90s with his fastball and combine that with his devastating splitter, that’s a closer’s archetype if there ever was one.

The job, if it even exists, is again his for the taking, especially after Dylan Smith allowed the Giants to be walked off Tuesday in Texas for the second time in his past three appearances.

Victor Bericoto

The primary reason the Giants were comfortable trading Heliot Ramos was because of the package of prospects he garnered in return (6-foot-7 lefty Henry Lalane and Kaeden Kent, whose dad just went into the Hall of Fame). But it probably wouldn’t have happened if Bericoto didn’t break out in the way he did this year before going down with an oblique strain.

All he did was hit: A spring training OPS of 1.121 that earned him the Barney Nugent Award as the top player in his first big-league camp. An .804 OPS in 43 games at Triple-A. And even better results in 24 games in the majors, batting .293 with four homers for an .857 OPS.

The 24-year-old Venezuelan is on the mend now — he just began a rehab assignment — and there should be a spot in left field waiting for him once he is fully recovered.

If not Bericoto, then maybe Bo Davidson gets his first look in the big leagues, though the undrafted community college product has run into trouble after recently reaching Triple-A.

Parks Harber is another worthy option, but the Giants may not want to add him to the 40-man roster with a lockout anticipated this winter. Davidson would also require a 40-man spot, but that’s a decision the Giants have to make this winter or risk losing him to the Rule 5 draft.

Adrian Houser

It was a bit of a surprise to see Houser enter in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s loss to the Rangers. But he only threw two pitches, and Vitello said that the shortest of Houser’s eight relief appearances since being demoted to the bullpen had no bearing on the conventional wisdom.

That being Houser’s likely return to the starting rotation.

With one more year left on the contract he signed last offseason, it’s worth seeing if Houser can perform in the role he was brought in to do, especially with how dicey next year’s rotation looks.

The results have been better since his move to the bullpen: A 2.08 ERA in 26 innings (though with a 4.17 FIP), opposed to the 5.73 ERA he posted in 14 starts to begin the year.

It might not end up looking all that different. Houser has thrown four-plus innings four times in relief, and the Giants will discuss using him behind an opener if he returns to the rotation.

Covering the Corner has heard from a source that the Guardians will designate Gabriel Arias for assignment when calling top prospect Angel Genao up for tonight’s game.

This comes after a particularly frustrating night for Arias in which he made an error that led to a three-run homer and struck out twice and left a small village on base. Overall, this season, Arias has an 85 wRC+ – compared to his career 76 wRC+ – and has played mostly solid defense at third and shortstop.

Overall, Arias’s arm was not enough to compensate for mental lapses in the field and, most of all, for his propensity to miss pitches in the zone and smack the few pitches he did hit directly into the ground. A career groundball rate of 52% and a zone-contact rate of only 72% is just not sustainable, no matter how hard you hit the ball… especially when your defense is just good and not excellent. I wish Arias well on whatever comes next. Perhaps he will make it through waivers to Columbus or try his wares at another organization hungry for shortstop options.

The most interesting part of this news is that with José apparently not going on the IL, I wonder where Angel Genao will get everyday at-bats as one would assume the organization wants for him. He will play third base when José DH’s and has a day , of course, but I also wonder if he could see reps at second base while the team lets Travis Bazzana DH, pushing Nate Lowe and Rhys Hoskins to mainly a platoon first base role (Hoskins not being able to hit lefties this year doesn’t seem to be something the Guardians believe is meaningful data). Arias going does remove the idea of him replacing Lowe and Hoskins defensively at first base late in games which is my only qualm… and it’s a small one.

The best news here would be if José is able to tolerate the pain to continue to play.

Good for the Guardians for continuing to be aggressive with their best bats as their offense continues to flounder. Feels like it has to pay off one of these days.

San Francisco Giants @ Texas Rangers

Wednesday, August 05, 2026, 1:35 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

The Shed

LHP Carson Whisenhunt vs. LHP Cody Bradford

Go Rangers!