Category: Baseball

The Phillies came into the 2026 season with an almost unprecedented number of players returning to the team yet again for another year. However, one player that was new was Justin Crawford, as it was all but guaranteed that the top prospect would be the Phillies starting center fielder to begin 2026. And that’s exactly what happened, as Crawford made his MLB debut on Opening Day and is still with the Phillies as we creep closer to the All-Star break.

Crawford was and is a polarizing player. The merits of his skill set and approach have been hotly debated as he progressed through the Phillies minor league system. Some believed that his groundball heavy hitter’s profile and low walk rates coupled with moderately high strikeout rates would make it difficult for Crawford to be a productive major leaguer. Others believed that his speed and ability to make contact coupled with good exit velocities would make him into a regular for a contending team.

Well, we are now 73 games into Justin Crawford’s MLB career as of yesterday. He’s slashing .243/.301/.339 with two home runs and nine stolen bases. Crawford started the year off well enough, hitting .267 with a .700 OPS through his first month in the big leagues. But he cratered in May, hitting just .195 with a .565 OPS as the Phillies began to platoon him to keep him away from left-handed pitching, against which he’s hitting .143 with a .374 OPS and a strikeout rate of 23.1%. He’s had a better June, hitting .275 with a .648 OPS through 18 games played as of June 24th. When things have gone well, Crawford’s contact ability and speed have been a welcome addition to the bottom of the Phillies lineup. When things have gone poorly, Crawford has been an automatic out and a black hole of offensive production with uncompetitive strikeouts.

Defensively, Crawford has been uneven at best, as he still looks like an unfinished product in center. Defensive metrics have their own biases and limitations, especially at this point in a season, but Crawford currently grades out as one of the worst defenders in baseball by defensive runs saved (-6) while being below average in outs above average (-2) and fielding run value (-2). By the eye test, Crawford has made some spectacular plays in center but has also struggled with routes at times and missed balls that should have been caught, especially by someone who possesses his speed.

The book is far from written on Justin Crawford’s rookie season, let alone his MLB career. But we have now read the first few chapters and should have a better idea of the type of player he is and possibly could be. So, has your opinion of Justin Crawford changed since the season began?

I know that no one really wants to remember last year, but the trip to San Francisco was a bit of a fulcrum point. Or, maybe, not a fulcrum point, but the part where the Braves were flipped off the deep end by a lever atop a diabolically-positioned fulcrum. Or something.

Specifically, the 2025 Braves ended May at 27-30. Not good, but playoff odds were still at about 50 percent, given the roster, the expanded playoffs, yadda yadda yadda. When 85 wins can give you a playoff spot, winning seven more games than you lose over four months isn’t really that hard of a sell. They then lost four straight at home, including two one-run losses to the Diamondbacks — the latter of which involved giving up a seven-run ninth to turn an easy win into another disaster. Just like that, playoff odds went from 1-in-2 to 1-in-3, because, well, 27-34 is a lot harder to overcome than 27-30.

Then they got to San Francisco, and the bottom more or less dropped out. The Braves were swept, first with two consecutive walkoff losses, and then another one-run loss. Playoff odds were now down to 1-in-4. It was their fifth straight one-run loss; they wouldn’t have another one-run loss until the last game of June. Part of the kicker, too, was that after this visit to San Francisco, they went 11-8 for the rest of June — exactly the kind of improvement they’d have needed before the meaty part of the skid. But since that meaty part existed, it wasn’t near enough.

The Braves right now are… it’s not similar, but the vibes (which were near-immaculate for two months) are similarly doomer-ish. The Braves have lost 10 of 13, they’ve lost four in a row for the first time all season, they’ve been officially swept for the first time all season, and it goes on. The lineup is both injured enough to look like those random 2025 lineups with a bunch of warm bodies, but instead of the stories being about exciting resurgences from scrapheap pickups like Dominic Smith and Jorge Mateo, the only thing to really talk about is how nearly the entire team, including, say, Matt Olson, has gone from jumping all over hittable pitches to a revolting combination of staring at strikes, swinging at balls, and weak contact without any super-noticeable reduction in swing speed. Probably the biggest killer was rushing Drake Baldwin back because the Braves decided they couldn’t live with worse-than-a-pitcher offensive production from their fill-in catchers, only to have Baldwin hit like those catchers upon his return. Nothing has killed the team more than going from a best-in-class to a worst-in-class spot, and then keeping the worst-in-class stuff going even without Sandy Leon. Without the elite-ish hitting, the run prevention (or lack thereof) is more exposed, as the Braves have had to make tougher pitching management decisions while also taking the foot off the proverbial pedal in terms of actually orienting those decisions towards winning today’s game. Combine that with stuff like, “now is the perfect time to give Chris Sale more rest” and, yeah, it’s a mess.

But, this is about San Francisco and the Giants, who won two games (and had a third rained out) in Atlanta not long ago. The Giants aren’t good, and they followed their time in Atlanta by getting swept in Miami, though they have won their first two against the Athletics in a couple of very low-scoring games. If the Braves can’t recover here, it might just be that same early-June slide from 2025, just… much, much longer given how good April and May were.

On a related note, I’m of two minds about the press discussion (or lack thereof) regarding the team. Early on, before we knew what was going to happen, a lot of staffers and players were giving sound bites about how Walt Weiss differed from Brian Snitker because he was more vocal, animated, and willing to put himself in opposition to players to get a specific reaction. In other words, they were suggesting that he’d get steamed when things weren’t going his way. Of course, that was basically irrelevant for two months when everything was going his way… but we’ve heard nothing about any sort of steaming or internal boot-to-butt antics.

On the flip side, though, it may be disingenuous to expect any management impetus when the players could (but probably wouldn’t? probably?) point to management decisions as a contributing factor to the disharmony. I don’t think any players would come out and say it, but they’re as aware of the load management and the pushing Sale back as anyone. So, who knows — maybe we aren’t hearing anything about Weiss metaphorically spear-tackling his guys because really everyone needs a spear-tackle. But that’s really a side note.

Anyway, hope the things get better soon, but given that the Braves don’t seem very committed to making them better, we’ll see whether San Francisco is more of the same or a turnaround that is best described as fortuitous rather than some other adjective, because I’m not sure there’s much of a middle ground.

Amid the flaming trainwreck that is the 2026 Red Sox season, there’s this very odd side note to consider. Specially, the Red Sox actually had a pretty solid offseason.

Now, “pretty solid offseason” is intentionally vague and highly subjective, but work with me here. As we approach the season’s halfway point, it’s worth exploring the moves the club did make last winter, and how much more maddening they makes everything that’s manifesting now.

Below is a list of the eight transactions I deem to be the most significant of the past offseason. For this exercise, I’m not interested in things like the Vaughn Grissom trade or signing Danny Coulombe and Tommy Kahnle for peanuts in the bullpen. I’m trying to stick to the headliners that have moderate to major impacts on the big picture. If you disagree with the list, feel free to let me know in the comments and we can hash it out there.

So without further ado, here we go in chronological order:

1)November 25, 2025: Traded Brandon Clarke and Richard Fitts to the St. Louis Cardinals for Sonny Gray and cash.

Right out of the gate, this one looks like a win. Going into the winter, one of the biggest items on the Red Sox shopping list was a No. 2 starter after they had to go with Brayan Bello in Game 2 of the Wild Card series last year against the Yankees. Amazingly, it looks like they got one before Thanksgiving.

Gray is sitting at 9-1 and nearly a third of all Red Sox victories this year have come in his starts. The money gets complicated, and will continue to get more complicated if he is moved in the next six weeks, but I don’t think there are any Sox fans who would take back this trade.

2) December 4, 2025: Traded Jesus Travieso and Jhostynxon Garcia to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Adonys Guzman, Johan Oviedo and Tyler Samaniego.

This looks like a mostly nothing deal right now and you could even argue it doesn’t belong on the list. Jhostynxon Garcia hasn’t found success in Pittsburgh and Johan Oviedo has spent almost the entire year on the IL. For now it’s a neutral, nothing deal, but I’d have to imagine we’re going to see a decent amount of Oviedo in the second half, so I thought it deserves mention as a deal that could become relevant in the coming months.

3) December 15, 2025: Traded Luis Perales to the Washington Nationals for Jake Bennett.

Another deal for the nerds but, so far, this one is going quite well for Breslow and the Red Sox. Jake Bennett fits the big lefty, long extension mold they covet, and he’s starting to settle into the back of the rotation after also posting a 1.60 ERA in nine starts with Worcester.

Perales still has a high ceiling, but has shown no signs of getting closer to reaching it yet in 2026. Long way to go here, but so far this is looking like another positive move.

4) December 22, 2025: Traded Blake Aita, Yhoiker Fajardo and Hunter Dobbins to the St. Louis Cardinals for Willson Contreras.

The craziest thing about the Willson Contreras acquisition is how much he’s exactly what the Red Sox needed on paper, and yet it hasn’t made a lick of difference in their record. He’s right handed, he mashes, he’s having the best season of his career slugging wise, he’s filled the hole at first base, he plays above average defense, he brings a veteran presence in the clubhouse, and he takes a good at bat in high leverage spots. How has this not mattered more?

In any case, the Red Sox desperately needed a big right handed bat, and Craig Breslow managed to get one at an extremely affordable price. Contreras has an .896 OPS, which is just 30 points off the highest OPS of any right handed bat in baseball thanks to the top seven guys all being left handed and some pretty interesting evidence starting to pile up that ABS is helping the lefties (each of the top seven OPS figures in the sport right now bat left handed).

Bottom line: This was a fantastic trade!

5) January 9, 2026: Signed Tyron Guerrero as a free agent.

A total reclamation project that’s blossoming before our eyes. The goods news is he’s throwing triple digit gas for the strikes. The bad news is he’s 35 and the prudent thing to do is likely move him for future value before the deadline. Still, this looks like another win for Breslow.

6) Mid January, 2026: Lost out on the bidding war for Alex Bregman to the Cubs and immediately pivoted to sign Ranger Suarez to a five-year, $130 million deal.

Here’s the key moment of the entire offseason. Through some combination of misreading the market, not locking Alex Bregman up earlier, and just genuinely poor communication skills, the Red Sox didn’t land their man. This led to a pivot to spend the money that was going to go to Bregman on Ranger Suarez because at that point in the offseason, there wasn’t much else left on the shelves.

On one hand, Suarez has been another excellent addition, and there’s a good chance we’re going to look back on this move extremely favorably by the time his five year contract is over. However, this also left the Red Sox with a surplus of starting pitchers and a gigantic hole at third base, which leads us to this:

7) February 9, 2026: Traded Shane Drohan, David Hamilton and Kyle Harrison to the Milwaukee Brewers for Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Anthony Seigler.

Undoubtedly, this is the most bitter transaction of the winter. Craig Breslow moved on from a young, cost controlled left handed starter who has been outstanding for the Brewers for a third baseman who just started hitting this month. Losing Harrison hasn’t hurt the 2026 Red Sox all that much as their issue isn’t in the starting rotation, and you can kind of see how Durbin was supposed to fit into the puzzle with his defense, but there’s no way to classify this other than a huge loss at this stage.

They better hope Durbin keeps hitting!

8) February 10, 2026: Signed Isiah Kiner-Falefa as a free agent to a one year, $6 million deal.

It’s certainly not a move I would have made (they needed to shoot higher), but at that price and with this team’s holes, he’s been fine as a utility man. If he comes off the IL quickly, the front office will probably be able to get a lottery ticket return for him at the deadline.

Adding all that up, again I say, “pretty solid offseason.” The biggest issues here are the moves he didn’t make. Breslow didn’t move Jarren Duran for 80 cents on the dollar to clear the outfield logjam. He didn’t move on from Brayan Bello when the had the surplus of pitching following the Ranger Suarez signing, and he didn’t go aggressively enough after another right handed bat. (Although to be fair, the right handed bats available have proved incredibly underwhelming. Even if you wanted Pete Alonso at first base, that means no Willson Contreras.)

Still, despite those warts, it’s feels borderline impossible the Red Sox are having the season they’re having in 2026 with that offseason coming off 89 wins in 2025. Then again, if you watch them play every night, you know the real issue here is they just don’t know how to play baseball as a collective unit. They don’t come back in games, they don’t pick each other up, they don’t take good situational at bats, they’re downright dreadful in clutch situations, and despite being well above average overall defensively, they manage to make their errors at the most inopportune times and almost never make a highlight reel play to save a game.

Long-term, this characteristic is a complete disaster and enormous changes are needed throughout the organization since being able to play baseball as a cohesive unit is kind of the whole point of the sport. However, when it comes to just the 2026 trade deadline, that doesn’t really matter. Unlike in the offseason where piling up value on a roster where the pieces don’t fit will absolutely come back to bite you in the caboose, it’s pretty much the name of the game if you’re a seller at the trade deadline.

You can be picky, you can drive the price up, and you can wait out for offers that will make your counterpart squirm because you have all the leverage. This is exactly the type of negotiation Craig Breslow is made for. So instead of swapping everything else out in the next few weeks and letting somebody new handle this on the fly, isn’t it better to let Breslow have the deadline and then radically alter the organizational philosophy after August 3rd?

Again, take a look at the offseason he had. Breslow is good at collecting value. Despite the unmitigated disaster this club has been on the field in 2026, he’s probably still the best man for this job for at least six more weeks.

Beyond that though, it’s going to take a much bigger reclamation project to fix the issues that permeate deep inside the organization. While sellers at the deadline play a game on paper, the rest of the league, as this front office has learned the hard way, does not.

For Hickory, Michael Trausch struck out one in a scoreless inning. Louis Marinaro struck out both batters he faced.

Marcos Torres was 3 for 4 with a homer and two stolen bases. Yolfran Castillo was 1 for 3 with a walk and a stolen base. Marco Argudin doubled and walked. Paulino Santana had a hit. Angel Arredondo had a hit and a walk.

Hickory box score

Hub City starter J’Briell Easley allowed four runs in 1.1 IP, striking out two and walking two. Owen Proksch struck out three in 2.2 scoreless innings. Brock Porter struck out five and walked three in 2.1 IP, allowing one run. Case Matter struck out two and walked three in an inning, allowing two runs.

Hector Osorio had a hit and a walk. Maxton Martin went 2 for 4. Gleider Figuereo, Chandler Pollard and Eduardo Mejia each had a hit.

Hub City box score

For Frisco, Bryan Magdaleno struck out four in two shutout innings.

Malcolm Moore was 2 for 4 with a homer. Keith Jones II was 2 for 3 with a double, two walks and a stolen base. Rafe Perich drew a pair of walks.

Frisco box score

Spencer Adams started for Round Rock. He was a second round pick of the Chicago White Sox in 2014 who, it appears, last pitched in affiliated ball in 2019. He didn’t pitch at all after 2019 until 2025, when he spent the season with Gary in the independent American Association. He was pitching for Gastonia in the Atlanta League before the Rangers apparently signed him so he could provide a body for Round Rock’s pitching staff.

Adams allowed six runs in 5.2 IP, including three homers, walking one and striking out two. Michel Otanez allowed five runs in 0.2 IP, striking out one and walking three. Ryan Lobus faced two batters, giving up a hit and retiring the other guy.

Cam Cauley homered. Aaron Zavala had a hit.

Round Rock box score

Meet the Mets

Well it was unsurpringly ugly yet again at Citi Field. The Mets gave up 20 runs in the doubleheader while scoring eight to get swept in the two games by the Cubs. The pitching was awful, the defense was atrocious, and the offense left a bit to be desired, but hey at least the Norwegians had fun.

Choose your recap Game 1: Amazin’ Avenue, MLB.com, Newsday, NY Post

Game 2:Amazin’ Avenue, Athletic, Daily News, MLB.com, NY Post

In what could be the start of a fire sale, the Mets traded David Peterson to the Cubs in exchange for prospect Cole Mathis.

About the only people having fun in the stadium, besides the Cubs, were the Norwegian World Cup fans who took in a baseball game while they are in town.

Nolan McLean looked like he actually might help the team win a ballgame but instead it all fell apart quickly, and it turned it yet another ugly loss in game one.

Keith Hernandez lamented the Pete Crow-Armstrong trade after watching him score against the Mets.

Before game two of the doubleheader, the team activated Francisco Lindor from the IL and designated Zack Short for assignment.

With his latest struggles, Carlos Mendoza announced that Kodai Senga will be moving to the bullpen for the foreseeable future.

Tyrone Taylor continued his rehab assignment in Triple-A as he works his way back from a hip flexor strain.

Around the National League East

The Braves were swept by the Padres with a 5-2 loss in the series finale.

Reynaldo López is returning to the Atlanta rotation after finding some success in the bullpen.

Eury Pérez outdueled Jacob deGrom in the Marlins’ 4-2 win over the Rangers.

The Phillies topped the Nationals by a score of 5-4.

Before their game against Philadelphia, Washington claimed reliever Justin Lawrence off waivers from the Twins.

Around Major League Baseball

The Cardinals promoted Bill DeWitt III to chief executive officer after serving as the team’s president since 2008.

The Giants’ Pride Night cap controversy is forcing MLB to decide whether they truly want to be inclusive to everyone.

The Red Sox will likely be sellers at the deadline and they have a few players who could be on the move as the trade deadline approaches.

Left-handed hitting is on the rise around the league and it might stem from the new ABS challenge system.

Mookie Betts slugged his 300th career home run against the Twins.

This Date in Mets History

Happy Birthday Carlos Delgado!

Last year, the Yankees and Red Sox met in an AL Wild Card Series that seemed like it could easily go either way. Of course, it went to a decisive Game 3, where Cam Schlittler delivered a monster outing, and the teams have gone in opposite directions since.

This year, the Yankees — while you can have your qualms about their play and the roster construction — are again a contender and enter this weekend with the best record in the American League. Meanwhile, the Red Sox have fallen way off the pace and are last in both the division and the AL as a whole, recently crashing past the Angels. Interim skipper Chad Tracy’s club is still missing big-name players like Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony, and their offense has been appallingly anemic. Entering play yesterday, only the underachieving Padres had a worse hitting corps by wRC+ (86 to Boston’s 89), and the Red Sox were also second-worst by total homers (65 in 77 games).

However, the two teams are now set to meet this weekend at Fenway Park. While the “throw out the record books when rivals meet” is too much of a cliché, we’ve seen the Yankees put in some iffy performances of late and the Red Sox still do have talent. With four games coming over the next couple days, let’s take a look at the probable pitching matchups for this series.

Thursday: Cam Schlittler vs. Connelly Early (7:10 pm ET)

The opening game of the series will be a rematch of Game 3 of the Wild Card Series last year. Schlittler began June with his first genuinely not-great start of the season, and has since responded by looking like his normal dominant self. He’s allowed just two earned runs combined over his last three outing, and struck out 13 batters during his last time out against the Reds. That’s a career best for him, besting even the aforementioned Wild Card Series Game 3.

Early was somewhat famously the man opposite Schlittler last year, as he was also notably a rookie getting a start in that massive game. His overall numbers in 2026 grade out as either side of average, depending on what stat you’re looking at. He has been hit by the home run bug a bit this year, having given up 14 in 15 starts, so that’ll be something the Yankees will hope they can take advantage of.

Friday: Will Warren vs. Payton Tolle (7:10 pm ET)

Warren’s numbers for the season are absolutely ones that you’ll take from a back-end starter; however, he often looks like he has the raw stuff to be even better than that. However, he just has too many starts like the last two, where he’s given up a total of 16 hits, even if he’s only been dinged for four earned runs in that time.

The Yankees have only gotten one previous look at the second-year Tolle, and it didn’t go well. Back in April, he struck out 11 batters while holding the Yankees to just one run on three hits. That being said, after a very good start — even beyond that outing — to his sophomore campaign, Tolle has struggled a bit recently. His ERA is 5.29 over his last three games, with his overall season mark going up nearly an entire run in the process.

Saturday: Gerrit Cole vs. Jake Bennett (1:10 pm ET)

Following a brilliant initial return from Tommy John surgery, Cole has looked a bit pedestrian of late. Returning from an injury that knocks you out for a full year is always going to produce some up-and-down results, but you’d like to see Cole fare better than the 5.95 ERA he’s produced over his last four appearances.

The Red Sox will be going with yet another youngster on Saturday, and this will be the Yankees’ first ever meeting with the rookie Bennett. He’s been decent so far in his career, and his coming off his best-ever major-league performance. Earlier this week against the Rockies, he shut out Colorado over six innings, allowing four hits, while striking out nine.

Sunday: Carlos Rodón vs. Sonny Gray (7:20 pm ET)

A 114 ERA+ with a FIP that suggests he could be a bit better is absolutely something worth taking from Rodón, especially considering that he’s probably the Yankees No. 4 when everyone is healthy. However, especially with his walks, he can often be a chore to watch. The Red Sox are one of the teams that walk the least in all of MLB, so theoretically, this is a chance to put in a good effort on that front.

The veteran and former Yankee Gray has been a bright spot for the Red Sox this year, with a 2.95 ERA over his 14 starts so far (and might already be on the trade block due to Boston’s spiral). One of those came against the Yankees back at the start of the month, where he and the Red Sox got the win. That wasn’t his best effort of the season, but he did manage to frustrate the Yankees enough for them to get just three runs despite eight hits.

The Mets conclude the four-game series with the Chicago Cubs with a nightcap on Thursday at Citi Field at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.

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Mets Notes

• Francisco Alvarez, who homered in both games of Wednesday's doubleheader, is 7-for-22 (.318) in his last six games with a 1.075 OPS
• Bo Bichette, who homered in Game 2, has been swinging a hot bat: 21-for-58 (.362) with nine extra-base hits, 13 RBI, and a 1.067 OPS in his last 14 games
• Freddy Peralta looks to bounce back from a rough outing in Philadelphia, when he allowed 10 runs on 10 hits in 2.2 innings
• Chicago is sending out left-hander Matthew Boyd, who carries a 6.00 ERA over his first 24 innings of the campaign, but the veteran is coming off his best outing: two runs on four hits over six innings against Arizona

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Today's Lineups

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Late Wednesday night, after a six-error game capped the most demoralizing day of a remarkably demoralizing season, the Mets… well, finally did something.

They traded struggling left-handed starter David Peterson to the Chicago Cubs, who spent the day beating up on them despite a rotation held together by a thread, in exchange for infield prospect Cole Mathis. Mathis, 22, has a .981 OPS across two Single-A levels this year.

Trading Peterson should not be read as a sign of surrender, nor an indication that the Mets are now in full sell-off mode, according to a person with direct knowledge of their thinking. They needed to try something different in their rotation, though exactly what that will look like remains unclear. And they liked Mathis, the 13th ranked prospect in the Cubs’ system, according to MLB Pipeline, one Chicago was willing to give up after a stunning series of injuries decimated their rotation in recent weeks. 

In other words, the Mets saw a chance to get value out of an asset they were struggling to revive. So they did it.

But if not a sign of surrender, the move does represent the first drastic, permanent change David Stearns and the Mets have made to their roster since the start of this season. Prior to Wednesday, their most substantial shake-up came when they called up outfielder A.J. Ewing in mid-May and decided to play him every day. Other than that, Stearns and his front office have been almost unfathomably patient with their major league roster -- particularly Peterson and his fellow struggling colleagues KodaiSenga and Sean Manaea.

Manaea looked like he had figured something out until he struggled again Wednesday. Senga will move to the bullpen in a last-ditch effort to extract value from a once-promising arm, a generous outcome for a veteran whom the Mets have given chance after chance out of necessity and lack of options.

Peterson’s last outing was yet another maddening combination of ground balls that did not help him, too many walks, and back-breaking home runs. The Cubs have the best defense in baseball, which might help him. Maybe all he needs is a fresh start. The lefty was the Mets’ longest-tenured player after Stearns purged veterans this winter. For whatever reason, Peterson simply could not recover his All-Star form with them this year.

His departure, combined with Senga’s move to the bullpen, leaves two holes in the Mets' rotation. Righty Christian Scott is expected to fill one of them when he returns from the injured list this weekend, joining Manaea, FreddyPeralta, and Nolan McLean in the starting corps.

Potential minor league reinforcements could include Jonah Tong, who is struggling to add to his pitch mix in Triple-A, Zach Thornton, who allowed five runs in four innings in his last outing, and Jack Wenninger, whose walk rates have deterred the Mets from calling him up sooner, even as his ERA and strikeout numbers look promising this year. Tobias Myers has returned to his bulk role in the big leagues, but he has been inconsistent recently, too. 

Perhaps the Mets will look outside the organization for reinforcement, though, as Stearns said when he addressed the media Tuesday, it is not always easy to find players via trade this time of year.

Even so, the Cubs found a much-needed starter late Wednesday night. Maybe the Mets can find one, too.

Do you know what’s really nice about this season and in particular, the position the Cardinals have put themselves in? It’s June 25th and we have over a month until the Cardinals have to make a decision on what to do at the trading deadline. One could argue, and I think I would argue, that the results over the next month and change have no downside. Think about it.

What if the Cardinals suck for the next 30 games? Cool. Selling just got super easy. Everything we assumed would happen this season at the deadline will happen. That’s our downside. That the trade deadline will work exactly as we just assumed it would work at the beginning of the season – and in April too, because I doubt many bought the good start then. Everything is still going according to plan. A lot of the individual performances have gone better than expected and that will probably remain true in a month still.

What if the Cardinals are still in a wild card spot? Cool. Great problem to have. The Cardinals have a tough decision, we as fans do not. The team as currently constructed can still sneak into the wild card if they sell, because it is too easy to make the playoffs nowadays – which is not me saying it is easy to make the playoffs, I’m saying it should be harder. Yes, I am a less playoff teams is the way truther. But if they don’t sell, well they got that far with this current team, there’s no reason they can’t keep it up for another couple months. Maybe they even soft buy for fan engagement reasons. Even better!

And yet, Cardinals fandom at large does not seem to be reacting as if this is the case. Most fans, or more accurately I’m sure the most vocal ones, are treating wins and losses as if this was a team projected for 1st in the NL Central to begin this season. It’s been an interesting development. But yeah I just think we should be treating this like the no lose situation it is, because the worst case scenario… is basically the original plan. You can’t say that very often. That’s the fun of a rebuild season, wins are almost gravy.

I am okay with the idea of both buying and selling at the deadline. Obviously under this scenario, you’re not buying anything impactful, because frankly selling makes no sense if you trade any legitimate pieces to acquire an upgrade. Unless it’s a player for more than just this year. But you can acquire a minor upgrade for an extraneous piece. Think something similar to the Luke Voit for Giovanny Gallegos and Chasen Shreve trade.

The Cardinals have players equivalent or close enough to Voit – at least at the value he had when he was traded – in spades: Bryan Torres is a pretty good parallel honestly, because he has a good projection and strangely, no real route to playing time here. Jose Fermin already waited three years for his shot, and they’re effectively the same player. One happens to be right-handed and has a much easier route to playing time. If not him, you still have Cesar Prieto, maybe somebody believes in Thomas Saggese, who is still just 24-years-old. There’s room for maybe two of these guys, and if you can get a bullpen arm for one of them, that’s a win-win.

One thing I think I can’t quite get behind is trading Lars Nootbaar if you’re trying to have your cake and eat it too. Like obviously, trade Nootbaar if we’re completely selling. Don’t trade Nootbaar if we’re going for a playoff spot. But if we’re doing the soft buy and sell thing….. I don’t think you can trade Nootbaar either. That seems like a true sell move to me. I understand the logic. Joshua Baez will replace Nootbaar.

I think a smart planning team would expect Baez to struggle. Maybe that’s just me personally. That’s not me saying he will automatically struggle. But if I have any intention of making the playoffs, I’m not assuming we see no drop-off from Nootbaar to Baez. I assuming the opposite. I’m assuming we’re getting Masyn Winn in 2023. Well maybe not that bad, but you get the idea. I am assuming that going from Nootbaar to Baez will be a rather huge drop-off for this year specifically.

Part of it is the type of hitter Baez is. He has been improving in the strikeout department and I expect that to continue, but I also think someone who strikes out 30% of the time for two months in AAA is probably going to strike out more than that in their first attempt at the majors. I just think that would be a smart assumption. And maybe he has the power to overcome that, but maybe it looks something like Nolan Gorman. Again, I am speaking purely of 2026, not his future.

I will also say it would be kind of clever of the Cardinals to do that, because I think it would be accepted by the fans. I think fans are truly bought into Baez being good immediately, and even if he’s not, I don’t think Chaim Bloom will get any shade for it. It’s a good sell move without seeming like a sell move. That’s half the battle with selling when in a playoff position. I personally think it would decrease the Cardinals’ playoff chances, but I don’t think most fans would think that way.

This is a much easier argument to make right now, when Nootbaar has a very good hitting line. I think if you assume he’s a career 111 wRC+ hitter, I’d get a lot more pushback on this one. I’ll be honest: I’m very doubtful Baez would be a good hitter this season after looking at the history of 30% K rate guys. It was pretty consistent and yes I know most of them weren’t highly regarded prospects and yes there wasn’t a directly comparable player to Baez, but I think it properly scared me about him this season. Even Joey Gallo wasn’t immediately a good hitter.

Again, to be extremely clear, I am supportive and fine with Baez being in the majors to end this year. Ideally he gets the Masyn Winn treatment, we get 45 days of him, the Cardinals may get a draft pick for him next season. But if I do that, I am not expecting the playoffs. That, to me, is a sign that the Cardinals are sticking to the rebuilding plan. I don’t believe it’s a have your cake and eat it too situation. I really don’t.

Nelson Velazquez

Something I did not expect with the Nelson Velasquez experience is probably the fact that he is completely unplayable in the outfield. Yeah I didn’t think it was going to be this bad. I am honestly a lot more pessimistic about his future role on this team because of his defense. Simply, because most of the time, the Cards can’t really put him at DH. Unless Ivan Herrera starts learning a new position, that DH spot is covered most games.

But he is a truly horrendous fielder. He has been replacement level this season. Think about the fact that he has a 139 wRC+ right now. His defense has been so costly that Fangraphs has him as a replacement player. Now, to be fair, he won’t be this bad defensively over a full season mostly because I don’t think it’s possible, but also he won’t have this good of a hitting line either.

Obviously, the small sample of 224 career innings at LF producing a -5 OAA is beyond unplayable, but that’s also not completely fair. So I will be as fair as possible. He was for some reason put in 225 innings at CF by the Cubs, which was predictably disastrous. He was worth -4 OAA in 225 career innings. He was also worth -1 OAA in RF in 448 career innings. So using some positional adjustment for the CF numbers, his current performance suggests he is a -12 OAA corner outfielder over a full season. That’s Jose Martinez territory.

And frankly, if he’s below average in RF but there’s something about LF specifically that makes him a truly bad fielder, the numbers would be worse than that. And since Jordan Walker isn’t going anywhere, we won’t find out if he’s playable in RF. Something worth chronicling, because it just gives him a very high bar for how good he has to hit. Which granted, is also true of DH, but not quite the same thing. Because you aren’t actually costing your team as a DH if you have an above average bat, you are in the field.

Triple-A: Durham Bulls (Rays) 6, Norfolk Tides 4 – Game 1

One bad inning sunk the Tides in this one. The top of the third inning saw the Bulls send 11 batters to the plate and score all six of their runs for the game off of five hits (including a two-run homer), two walks, and a hit by pitch. All six of the runs were charged to starter Trace Bright, but two of them came in after José Espada came on to try to quiet things down.

Anthony Nunez had a nice night. He tossed two shutout innings and struck out four. Josh Walker and Kyle Nicolas combined for a scoreless seventh inning as well.

Norfolk’ lineup outhit Durham’s 7-to-4, but they lacked much pop. Heston Kjerstad went 1-for-4 with their lone extra-base hit, a double, and three strikeouts. A rehabbing Dylan Beavers made his first appearance at Triple-A, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. José Barrero collected three hits, a run, and an RBI. Bryan Ramos had a hit, two walks, and two RBI.

Triple-A: Durham Bulls (Rays) 5, Norfolk Tides 3 – Game 2

The second game of the double header was a sloppy one for Norfolk. Their pitchers issued nine walks, and the defense made a pair of errors behind them. That meant that only three of the five runs allowed were earned by the pitching staff.

Yaqui Rivera started and gave up two runs on five walks and five strikeouts over 2.1 innings. Dietrich Enns followed and gave up three runs (only one earned) on a hit, two walks, and three strikeouts in his 2.2 frames. Andrew Magno and Cameron Weston worked one shutout inning apiece.

The first five hitters in the Tides lineup had one hit each, going 5-for-17 with three walks and four strikeouts as a group. The final four hitters went a combined 0-for-9 with two walks and two strikeouts. Kjerstad had one of those hits and drove in two of the team’s runs with a fifth-inning single. Jud Fabian had the other RBI on a sac fly. Beavers did not play in the night cap.

Double-A: Harrisburg Senators (Nationals) 3, Chesapeake Baysox 2

This was a standout performance for Baysox starter Juaron Watts-Brown, even though he was saddled with the loss. Over six innings the righty allowed just one run on five hits (one home run), one walk, and eight strikeouts. Cohen Achen came on for the seventh and would allow one unearned run due to an error by Anderson De Los Santos at third base. Juan Rojas was charged with a run in the ninth inning after walking the lead-off hitter, which came around to score after he was pulled in favor of Alex Pham.

Both of Chesapeake’s runs scored on solo homers in the ninth inning. Ethan Anderson hit his 14th of the year, and Aron Estrada smacked his 12th to bring the home team within one run. But there were few chances to score other than that. The team had only three at-bats with runners in scoring position and left a measly four runners stranded.

High-A: Frederick Keys 2, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals) 0

The Keys came out swinging, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning, which would prove to be all they would need to earn the win. RJ Austin led off with a single and quickly scored on an Ike Irish double. A wild pitch moved Irish to third base, and he then scored on a Victor Figueroa sac fly. The Keys would have just three more hits and zero runs for the remainder of the game.

Luckily, the Frederick pitching staff was on top of its game. Caden Hunter set the tone with five shutout innings in which he allowed one run, three walks, and eight strikeouts to lower his season ERA to 2.11. Richard Guasch worked a perfect sixth inning. And it was Riley Cooper to close out the final three innings, striking out five in the process.

Low-A: Fayettville Woodpeckers (Astros) 6, Delmarva Shorebirds 2

There were some positives in the latest Delmarva loss. For example, Jaiden Lo Re had two hits, a walk, an RBI, and a stolen base. The 19-year-old has a .918 OPS since being promoted to Low-A. Braylon Whitaker had a three-hit game. Raylin Ramos hit his fourth home run of the season.

On the pitching side of things, starter Christian Rodriguez looked good. Over seven innings he gave up two runs on seven hits, two walks, and two strikeouts. Kenny Leiner had a tougher day, coughing up four runs and only recording two outs. Zac Lampton did get the final out of the eighth inning, but not before allowing one of his inherited runners to score on a single.

Box Scores

Thursday’s Schedule

Norfolk: vs Durham, 12:05. Starter: Chris Kachmar (1-0, 5.17 ERA)

Chesapeake: vs Harrisburg, 6:35 pm. Starter: Evan Yates (4-3, 5.14 ERA)

Frederick: at Wilmington, 6:35 pm. Starter: J.T. Quinn (3-0, 3.30 ERA)

Delmarva: at Fayetteville, 6:35 pm. Starter: Esteban Mejia (0-4, 8.17 ERA)

The San Francisco Giants have had their fair share of bad injury news this year, but on Wednesday they got some good news on that front: Heliot Ramos is nearing a return. The Giants All-Star outfielder, who has been sidelined since mid-May, should be wearing a Giants jersey again soon.

Prior to Wednesday’s walk-off win over the Athletics, Giants manager Tony Vitello said that Ramos could potentially return this weekend, when the Giants host the Atlanta Braves. Ramos started a rehab assignment with AAA Sacramento on June 17, and has appeared in five games for the River Cats, hitting 6-19 with a home run, three walks, and seven strikeouts.

While Ramos’ return will be a welcome sight for the Giants, no one’s entirely sure how the Giants will make the roster work once he’s back. In Ramos’ absence, Casey Schmitt has moved from the infield to left field, where he’s been essentially an everyday player. Schmitt has been one of the team’s best hitters, and leads the Giants in home runs, so it’s not like they can move him out of the lineup to facilitate Ramos.

One possible solution was hinted at during Tuesday’s AAA game, when Ramos played right field for the first time since 2024. With Harrison Bader still sidelined, and neither Drew Gilbert nor Jonah Cox running away with the center field role, could the Giants shift Jung Hoo Lee back to the middle of the grass, and play Ramos in right field, while keeping Schmitt in left field? That’s certainly the best offensive arrangement the team can come up with, though the defensive arrangement is more befitting an October haunted house than an October baseball dream.

Of course, if Luis Arráez’s recent injury lingers, that could temporarily solve the problem, with Schmitt moving to second base, and Ramos slotting in at left field once more. We’ll just have to wait and see.

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants conclude their series with the Athletics this afternoon at 12:45 p.m. PT.

Today’s Reflections

It feels SOOOO good to put Dansby Swanson’s name first on the Cub Tracks page! Tuesday night, he had a two-run home run and an RBI double, followed by a three-run homer and a grand slam in Game 1 Wednesday afternoon. In his last five games (through Game 1 of the doubleheader), Swanson is 8-for-18 with four homers, 14 RBI and only two strikeouts. Here’s hoping that Swanson has found some magic in that bat.

In Tuesday’s game, PCA hit his 17th HR, extending his on-base streak to 24 games and his hitting streak to 11.

Michael Busch’s two-run home run Wednesday increased his team-leading RBI to 44.

I don’t want to gripe and worry about injuries at this moment — that’s done below. The Cubs have won eight of their last 11 games, so I’m just going to enjoy this mini-offensive resurgence.

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Wednesday’s Game 1 stories (Game 2 will be in the next Cub Tracks):

• Jerry Beach (Chicago Tribune {$}): Dansby Swanson’s 2 HRs and 7 RBIs fuel Chicago Cubs to 10-3 rout of New York Mets in Game 1 of doubleheader. “Dansby Swanson hit a tiebreaking three-run home run and added a grand slam Wednesday.”
• Bill Ladsen (MLB.com): Swanson slams Mets with 2-HR, 7-RBI outburst, “Shortstop Dansby Swanson continues to show signs of life at the plate.”

Tuesday night’s stories:

• AP (ESPN): Crow-Armstrong and Swanson homer off an ineffective Senga to power Cubs past Mets 9-6. “Coming off consecutive rainouts, Chicago scored five times in the second against Kodai Senga.”

• Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): Ridiculous Cubs replay review that screwed Pete Crow-Armstrong raises questions. “Naturally, PCA is at the center of the drama.”
• Mike Fitzpatrick (Chicago Sun-Times): Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell perplexed by rainout and irked by ‘terrible rule’.

The gamut of Cubs injury woes:

• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Cubs’ Avalanche of Pitching Injuries Reaches Insurmountable Status. Are They Stuck? “Correcting a previous post of mine: you do, in fact, gotta hand it to the injury gods. Those jerks are vicious, but a little bit hilarious, too.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Ben Brown, Edward Cabrera to IL as Cubs Make Several Roster Moves. “Thursday’s presumed starter (Brown) has a neck strain, and Cabrera is dealing with a hamstring strain. No word yet on a timeframe for either to return.”

Ben Brown has been dealing with neck issue for a little bit but was able to manage it until it prevented him from throwing his bullpen yesterday.

Brown is back in Chicago to see doctors.

There’s some concern it’s related to what happened with Brown’s neck in ‘24, Counsell said.

— Meghan Montemurro (@MegMontemurro) June 24, 2026

• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Edward Cabrera’s hamstring injury tests Cubs already tenuous pitching depth: ‘We’re in a rough spot’. “The sight of Edward Cabrera writhing on the ground in pain was not one Craig Counsell needed to see Tuesday night.”
• Bill Ladsen (MLB.com): Boyd ready to return from IL Thursday after shrugging off ailments. “Weather permitting, he hopes to pitch in a big league game on Thursday against the Mets.”
• Josh Davis (Clutch Points): Cubs LHP returns to mound for 1st time since setback. “Chicago Cubs left-handed pitcher Justin Steele started throwing activities on Monday for the first time since his UCL injury setback.”
• Tommy Erbe (OnTapSportsNet): Jed Hoyer Provides Pivotal Update On Justin Steele, Plans For 2026. “As Justin Steele continues to progress in health, Jed Hoyer provides a tentative plan for getting him back on the mound.”

Trade talk (including conflicting opinions):

• Paul Magno (Yardbarker): Chicago Cubs reality check: Is a big trade for pitching even worth making anymore? “The Chicago Cubs are absolutely not where they thought they would be at this point of the season.”
• Tyler Courtney (LastWordOnSports.com): Should the Chicago Cubs Consider Trading Seiya Suzuki? “Losing a player of his caliber is never easy, but there are plenty of reasons to consider it.”
• Matt Sullivan (Just Baseball): Why Would the Chicago Cubs Trade Seiya Suzuki? “The right fielder is a top offensive weapon for the Cubs, so why even think of moving him to a different team?”
• Alexis Farinacci (Diamond Centric): Early Trade Deadline Relief Candidates: Aroldis Chapman, Luke Weaver, & More. “In terms of relief pitchers, the Astros, Tigers, Red Sox, Royals, and Mets could be teams to monitor for dealing away relief pitchers ahead of the August MLB trade deadline.”

Assorted stories:

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): PETE CROW-ARMSTRONG CANNOT HELP HIMSELF. “This behavior cannot be stopped.”
• Matt Sullivan (Sporting News): Cubs select contract of former Phillies, Pirates righty starter amid Edward Cabrera injury. “Cubs select contract of ex-Phillies righty pitcher Vince Velasquez.”
• Tyler Courtney (LastWordOnSports.com): Should the Cubs Move to a Six-Man Rotation in 2026? “A Chicago Cubs’ six-man rotation continues to be a common discussion as the 2026 season progresses.” (This was before Brown and Cabrera went on IL, but an interesting topic nevertheless.)
• Vinnie Duber (Chicago Sun-Times): After bullpen bruising, Cubs pitchers need to get ready for next call: ‘That’s your job as a reliever’. “In the wake of Cubs relievers giving up eight runs and blowing a 5-0 lead Saturday, it’s on the hurlers to get back on the horse.”

Food For Thought:

Lemon Henry “Blind Lemon” Jefferson was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular and successful blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the “Father of the Texas blues”.

Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson’s performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.

Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin’ Hopkins.

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.

Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star talked about how Jac Caglianone’s error on Wednesday night turned out to be rather costly.

On Wednesday, the Royals got behind early. A costly error and some well-timed execution doomed the Royals in a 5-3 loss. In the third inning, the Rays scored two runs on an ill-advised throwing error from Royals first baseman Jac Caglianone.

Wednesday marked the 5th straight game that Bobby Witt Jr. was sitting out, here is Brian Murphy’s update

Witt was not in the club’s starting lineup for Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field, marking the fifth straight game he has been on the bench since suffering a Grade 1 MCL sprain during Thursday’s win over the Cardinals.

Witt has gone through on-field drills while wearing a knee brace before each of the team’s first three games against the Rays and said Wednesday that his knee has “been better every day.” He also said that he would be available off the bench if needed, but he ultimately did not play.

“We have to understand what the brace is going to do and how he feels,” Quatraro said Wednesday. “That communication with Bobby is paramount.”

Speaking of injured Royals, Kris Bubic made his first rehab assignment appearance last night in Omaha, here is what Jared Greenspan had to say.

Royals left-hander Kris Bubic resumed his rehab assignment with a 1-2-3 first inning for Triple-A Omaha on Wednesday night.

Bubic needed just eight pitches to retire the side in order against Triple-A Columbus. He mixed in four pitches and topped out at 92.7 mph with his four-seam fastball.

Bubic first landed on the IL on May 18 (retroactive to May 15) after experiencing left elbow soreness following his May 14 start against the White Sox. Though Bubic expected his IL stint to be a short one, he suffered a setback following his first rehab start on June 9 when he experienced shoulder soreness.

David Shields has struck out 10 batters in each of his last two starts; here is what Anne Rogers said about the Royals prospect.

Kendry Chourio, the club’s No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 74 overall, is just 18 years old and made his debut with High-A Quad Cities last week. His promotion reunited him with David Shields, who is 19 years old and the Royals’ No. 4 prospect.

Together, Chourio and Shields are two of just nine pitchers in their age-19 season or younger to reach High-A or better this year.

Shields has spent the entire season with Quad Cities, making 13 starts and pitching to a 4.03 ERA, which ranked fifth in the Midwest League entering Tuesday’s series opener. After posting a 2.38 ERA with Single-A Columbia last year and being named the Royals’ Paul Splittorff Pitcher of the Year, the lefty was eager to take the next step in High-A and face the challenges that have come with it.

The MLB trade deadline is coming up; here is the risks Mike Gillespie at Royals Keep says the Royals shouldn’t take.

With the Cole Ragans news from the other day, Kevin O’Brien of Royals Keep thinks the deadline plan is clearer.

Dansby Swanson has had a really tough year, however he did just drive in 15 runs against the Mets.

The Phillies keep snatching victory from the Nationals at the very last moment, Derek Hill (remember his homer off Strahm as a White Sox player?) this time did the damage.

The Paul Goldschmidt renaissance continues, this time against Tarik Skubal.

The Royals have lost in some rather sucky ways this year, but the Angels walk-off against Baltimore yesterday might’ve taken the cake.

Dodgers Mookie Betts hit his 300th career homer yesterday

The 2026 NBA Draft ended last night, here is all the picks

Your song of the day I Want To Know What Love Is by Foreigner