Category: Sports News

My father often told me in my abbreviated athletic career that mistakes were inevitable. Even the best athletes make mistakes, but it’s the type of mistake that matters. Physical mistakes are truly unavoidable, but mental mistakes are the real killers as they more likely indicate a lack of preparation or concentration. Tonight, the D-Backs featured plenty of both as they rumbled and bumbled their way to another series loss. Ironically, the first two innings were actually somewhat positive. The offense quickly struck in the first inning as Ildemaro Vargas worked a one-out walk, stole second base, and then scored on a Gabriel Moreno double for an early one-run lead. And on the other side, Jose Cabrera, in his fourth career start faced just one over the minimum through the first two innings. But that’s where the positive vibes ended. The Padres would score in five out of the next six innings while the D-Backs showed little fight outside of the last couple innings.

I’ve been very impressed by a lot in Cabrera’s first few big league starts. Torey Lovullo often gushes about his “mound presence” during games and he’s been remarkably good at finding ways to navigate traffic on the base paths through his first three starts at the big league level. But tonight was the first time that it looked like the moment was a little too big for him in my opinion and the game sped up for him. The first two runs he allowed were both walks that advanced into scoring position and then scored on clutch hits in the third and fourth, but the fifth was when the game really got away from him. After a quick first out, he uncorked a sweeper right into the “backside” of Fernando Tatis Jr, allowed him to steal second, and then misplayed a weak comebacker from Jackson Merrill. He was able to field the ball cleanly and looked Tatis back to second, but then inexplicably threw to the covering Vargas at second who immediately tried to salvage an out at first, but the throw was too late. Instead of two outs and a runner on second, Cabrera faced two runners on and just one out. Then, to make matters worse, he attempted a pickoff move towards Tatis, but was instead called for a balk to move both runners into scoring position for Xander Bogaerts who promptly plated them both and chased Cabrera out of the game. I won’t try to pretend to understand why Cabrera was called for a balk. I’ve watched a lot of baseball in my life and I’ve never fully understood the balk rule. I get that it’s designed to prevent the pitcher from deceiving the runner, but it is one of the few holdovers from an earlier era that confuses nearly everyone – including Lovullo who was tossed from the game when he asked for an explanation on the call.

The bullpen unfortunately had no answer to a subpar San Diego offense. Taylor Clarke was the second man to pass the bullpen gate, but he looked overmatched as the Padres ambushed him for four runs – including three straight run-scoring singles from Sung-Mun Song, Tatis, and Jackson Merrill. It got particularly ugly when Clarke tried to pickoff Song at first, but instead spiked the throw and Pavin Smith couldn’t corral it, allowing Song to advance to second. Max Kepler then couldn’t cleanly collect Tatis’ ball down the line that bounced back towards him, which allowed Tatis to move up another 90 feet for Merrill. It felt more like a carousel than actual base paths.

It’s certainly possible that the D-Backs manage to split the series tomorrow. Griffing Canning, the Padres’ starting pitcher tomorrow has scuffled his way to a 6.71 ERA and the team should have no shortage of motivation, but my confidence in the team has certainly been shaken over the past month-plus of games. They routinely find ways to lose winnable games and the pitching staff is far too inconsistent for a contender. There’s still plenty of baseball to play, but they’ll need to change the vibe around this team quickly to find some momentum before the Trade Deadline.

Yesterday, I went over the details of the draft and the Jays’ potential strategy. Today, a quick review of the farm, the shape of the draft class, and some names.

The Farm

Baseball America refreshed their farm system rankings the day before yesterday, in anticipation of the draft. They currently have the Jays 18th. Fangraphs has recently rolled out a new ranking methodology that has them 20th, although that still includes Trey Yesavage as a prospect. They’d probably drop into the mid-20s if he came off but other developments (e.g. Jojo Parker moving into the top 100, other systems graduations) were accounted for. MLB.com had them 15th before the season, but again that includes Yesavage.

Regardless of exactly where they go, the picture is of an org that’s in the below average mix but a clear cut above the truly bad systems like San Diego, Houston or Philadelphia. That’s actually not bad considering years of later picks (Parker last year was their only pick higher than 19th in five seasons), buying at the deadline and taking qualifying offer free agent penalties. Arjun Nimmala and Parker are a quality 1-2 on the position side, and the emergence of Johnny King, Nolan Perry, and Gage Stanifer among others point to the investment in the Dunedin pitching lab bearing fruit. They don’t have a ton of depth (and this draft won’t help), and while they have maybe five players with top 100 cases they don’t have anyone who definitely fits in the top 50.

Their impact prospects are mostly a year or two away, with the guys having an impact in 2026 or poised to do so being more role players like Sean Keys and Yohendrick Pinango, with the possible exception of Jake Bloss.

The Draft Class

This year’s class is considered unusually deep. There’s a clear big 3, comprising UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson, and Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey. Below that, there’s another fairly tight tier of 6-7 names (Mississippi high school outfielder Eric Booth jr., Florida prep SS Jacob Lombard, Florida prep lefty Gio Rojas, LSU outfielder Derek Curiel, Kentucky SS Tyler Bell, Georgia Tech OF Drew Burress, and UC Santa Barbara righty Jackson Flora, roughly) who will all probably go in the 4-12ish range. Then it’s a big, unusually flat group from the early teens to the early 40s that could see a lot of shuffling. That is, of course, good news for the Jays. It’s more likely than usual that someone who’d be a clear first round talent most years will be on the board at 39.

Names In the Range

Normally, I’d look at mock drafts and pick some players the Jays have been tied to. This year, that’s not really worth doing. At 39, in a class with this overall shape, we have no idea which way they’ll go and the few mocks that get that far are functionally throwing darts. Instead of getting anchored to any one guy here, use this list to get a flavour of the types of players likely to go in the 25-50 range.

High School Bats

• Will Brick: plus defensive catcher with a great arm, who could have a league average hit/power combo.
• Landon Thome: Jim’s son is a shortstop now, but probably plays third eventually. He has 25 home run power potential but questions about his ability to catch up to good fastballs up and inside.
• Taj Marchand: a funky swing and over aggressive approach leads to questions about his hit tool against pro competition, but he’s posted very good contact rates so far and has above average power potential. Will slide to third but could be a plus defender there with soft hands and a strong arm.
• Aiden Ruiz: undersized but an exceptional athlete, Ruiz is the best defensive shortstop in the class and a potential plus pure hitter. His size will cap his power well below average, but this spring he’s added muscle and has enough sneaky pop to punish mistakes. If he was Dominican he’d certainly already be a Blue Jay
• Trevor Condon: A plus centre fielder with some feel for contact but questions about power production with wood bats.
• Bo Lowrance: 6’5”, 200lbs with present plus power and room to keep growing. Unusually for a teen of his size, there are no major contact concerns and he projects as an average hitter. He’s slow, as you’d expect, but his feet and hands are quick and his solid arm gives him a good shot to stick at third base.
• Cole Prosek: well rounded lefty hitter with potential for above average contact and power, he’s a shortstop now but probably won’t stick, most likely moving to third. Committed to Ole Miss. He’s basically Great Value brand Jojo Parker, rounding down a little on every tool (more on the plate approach), although he’s also shown some aptitude to catch.
• James Clark: lefty shortstop with top tier baseball IQ and plus speed. Should hit for average and OBP but maybe not power, and might not have the range for short long term.

High School Arms

• Kaden Waechter: above average command of four above average pitches. Might not have ace upside but potential to be a quality #2/3 with better odds than most high schoolers of sticking in the rotation.
• Sean Duncan: the top Canadian in this draft had Tommy John surgery in May, but was tracking for the first round before that. He sits 93-95 with a smooth delivery and potential for above average command, with both a slider and change up that could be above average. If he falls far due to his injury he may opt to honour his commitment to Vanderbilt and shoot for top 20 money in three years.
• Coleman Borthwick: up to 98 with a slider that flashes promise and a starter’s frame, but conditioning, consistency and a third pitch will need to be the focus if he’s to stick in the rotation.
• Blake Bryant: a standout athlete with above average feel to locate three above average pitches in his fastball, curve and slider and a progressing change up. Nothing is plus yet, but at 6’5” and 180lbs he has room to add a little more power.
• Jensen Hirschkorn: Stuff was down a little this spring, but scouts seem to write that off as the byproduct of a grueling high end basketball season (the 6’7” standout athlete is a two sport prospect). When he’s right, it’s a fastball that sits 93 and touches 96 with loads of room to add velocity and a slider that flashes plus, with a change up that could be above average with development and potentially solid command. Probably the longest path to go but highest upside in the group.

College Bats

• Logan Hughes, Texas Tech: plus all around bat, with contact, approach and some power, but is limited to left field or first base defensively.
• Gaving Grahovac, Texas A&M: Flirted with the NCAA strikeout record in 2024, but rebuilt his swing while recovering from a torn labrum in 2025 and now makes adequate contact to go with easy plus raw power. Has played some third but is a pro first baseman.
• Jake Brown, LSU: college right fielder who has the speed and instincts to try centre as a pro, above average power and decent contact. Looks like a solid all around everyday player.
• Jarren Advincula, Georgia Tech: elite contact hitter (hit .484 in the ACC this year). Like many guys of that type, will need to learn an approach when he finally sees pitchers with stuff he can’t just hit. Little power and limited to second base, but should stick there easily.
• Daniel Jackson, Georgia: a standout athlete, but some concern that he doesn’t have the hands to stick at catcher. Plus power and showed improvements in his contact rate this year but hit tool is the big risk in his profile.
• Jack Natili, Cincinnati: should stick at a catcher and boasts a plus arm. It’s power over hit, but he’s done a solid job managing his strikeouts in college.
• Carson Tinney, Texas: Yet another catcher with a power bat. Should be average behind the dish with work, and it might be 70 raw juice, but he struck out more than you’d like in college and fell completely flat with wood bats in the Cape Cod League, so there’s risk to go with upside.
• Cade Sorrell, Texas A&M: Has the plus speed and arm to be a solid centre fielder or great in right, with above average power but an approach that needs a lot of refinement.

College Arms

• Jack Radel, Notre Dame: 6’5” workhorse pitcher whose stuff jumped up this season. Nothing is plus, but he has solidly above average command of five quality pitches. He looks like a high probability 3/4.
• Cade Townsend, Ole Miss: up to 98 with three secondaries that flash plus and decent command. It’s an easy first round skill set, but he’s undersized at 6’1” and 185lbs, missed a start with shoulder pain during the season, and wore down a little as the season went on. A lot of upside this late, but his body creates relief risk.
• Brett Renfrow, Virginia: improved as the year went on, moving into the fringes of the first round discussion. Good fastball, plus curve, and improving command. Looks the part of a mid rotation starter.
• Cole Carlon, Arizona State: Monster slider and fastball that sits 96 and touches 101, but neither of his curve or change up are currently much good. Command has progressed but there’s more work to do if he’s going to start.
• Hunter Dietz, Arkansas: Big fastball at 95, plus slider/cutter breaking ball, and a slow curve that’s a decent change of pace weapon. He has the command and frame to start, but barely pitched in ‘24 and ‘25 and some teams will be scared by the medicals.
• Logan Reddemann, UCLA: plus command of five pitches, the best of which are a 94mph fastball and an above average change up. All three breakers are quality, although none are plus yet. Didn’t pitch after April 17th with arm fatigue, which clouds what’s otherwise a clear first round profile.
• Ben Blair, Liberty: sinker-slider-command pitcher with a funky delivery and a strong track record of performance. A better change up is the only box left to check to become a dependable 3/4 starter who should rack up innings.

Looking for their first series win against the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2021, the Colorado Rockies fell short as they dropped the series finale 4-3. Despite an excellent rookie starting performance on the mound, the Rockies’ offense failed to back it up and capitalize on crucial scoring opportunities.

The Doctor is in

Making the first start of his big league career, Gabriel Hughes didn’t exactly sprint out of the gate. After getting Shohei Ohtani to fly out in the bottom of the first inning, Hughes battled his command through the rest of the inning.

Tommy Edman grounded a ball back up the middle for a base hit and moved to third on a double from Freddie Freeman. Hughes then walked Mookie Betts to load the bases, and then threw a wild pitch to allow a run to score, giving the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead. He then issued a walk to Max Muncy to load the bases again after a lengthy at-bat. After striking out Teoscar Hernández for the second out of the inning, Kyle Tucker then laced a two-run single to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. Hughes struck out Alex Call to end the inning, but had a pitch count of 39.

He rebounded nicely when he took the mound in the second inning, as he struck out Ohtani and Edman as part of a 1-2-3 inning. He followed suit in the third inning, striking out Freeman and Muncy in another 1-2-3 quick inning. The fourth and fifth innings also went in order, albeit with no strikeouts. Hughes recorded another strikeout in the sixth inning and ended up retiring 15 in a row before allowing a two-out double to Muncy.

His night ended having allowed three runs on four hits over six innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. After the 39 pitches in the first inning, he threw 55 pitches over the next five and ended up having a first-pitch strike rate of around 80%. He also generated 11 whiffs during the game and exhibited a nasty array of pitches.

“Gabriel Hughes was fantastic today,” said manager Warren Schaeffer. “You never know how someone’s going to react to their first start, first time in Dodger Stadium, first time against that lineup. I thought it was a great first start.”

“It’s a perfect example of what happens when you attack guys with good stuff,” he continued. “They have to adjust to you. He was just relentless with his attack and it worked for him.”

Early response

After the long first inning, the Rockies wasted no time trying to erase the three-run deficit. Facing Roki Sasaki with one out, Kyle Karros turned on a ball for his fourth career home run against the Dodgers, getting the Rockies on the board.

Two batters later, Edouard Julien joined in on the fun with a solo home run to right field, his third long ball of the season. Sasaki has been susceptible to the long ball lately, having surrendered nine over his last five games.

In the following inning, the Rockies managed to manufacture a run to tie the game 3-3. Brett Sullivan led off the inning with a walk and moved up to third base after a wild pitch and a groundout. He then scored thanks to a sacrifice fly by Mickey Moniak, his 38th RBI of the season.

The Rockies then had a chance to take the lead in the top of the fourth after TJ Rumfield singled and Karros doubled to start the inning. Unfortunately, Sasaki settled in to retire the next three batters to escape the jam. He continued to perplex the Rockies as he matched Hughes with a quick fifth and sixth innings of his own, retiring the final nine batters he faced. Sasaki went six innings, allowing three runs on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk. He threw 78 pitches, 56 for strikes, and generated 15 whiffs.

Night shift

For the third straight game, the Rockies would have to hope their luck wouldn’t run out in the late innings.

Braxton Fulford led off the eighth inning against Alex Vesia by bouncing a ball to third base that Muncy fielded but threw too high, allowing Fulford to reach. Jake McCarthy then followed with a hit to right field that bounced over the wall for an automatic double.

With runners on second and third with no outs, the Rockies emptied the bench by turning to Hunter Goodman as a pinch-hitter. Unfortunately, Goodman struck out on a high fastball for the first out of the inning. Cole Carrigg was then walked to bring Rumfield up to the plate, who struck out for the second out. Karros then flew out to right field to end the threat, and for the second time in the game, the Rockies failed to score after getting two men in scoring position with no outs.

The failure proved costly as the Dodgers jumped on Antonio Senzatela in the bottom half of the inning. Edman singled with one out to right field and moved to third on a Freeman single. Betts then singled to center field to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. Senzatela escaped the inning without further damage but the offense was unable to get anything going in the ninth as they were retired 1-2-3 by Tanner Scott.

The Rockies had five hits on the night but struck out 10 times with just two walks and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, the Dodgers had seven hits and went 2-for-7 with RISP despite also striking out nine times with two walks.

“We know we need to execute better to win, especially here,” said Schaeffer. “We just didn’t do it tonight. We’ve been doing it a lot lately, just not tonight.”

Up next

The Rockies head north to San Francisco to face the Giants for four games. Ryan Feltner (3-2, 4.27 ERA) makes the start for the Rockies while the Giants have yet to announce their starter.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:45 pm MDT.

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Mookie Betts’ first hit this series against the Rockies couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. With the crack of the ball against his bat, Tommy Edman scored from third, giving the Dodgers the lead.

And as Betts reached first, he pointed to Freddie Freeman, whose single put Edman in scoring position. It had taken a team effort to overcome another middling start from Roki Sasaki, and Betts, who had little to show before his game-winning hit, took the chance to highlight the joint contribution in the Dodgers’ 4-3 rubber-match win over Colorado (38-56).

“It feels great,” Betts said of his nine-pitch battle. “Helping the boys win, that’s really all it is. We play the game to win, and coming through in a big moment is kind of what, when you’re a kid, playing in the backyard, getting that hit is what you always strive to do, and fortunately, I was able to do it.”

Given a three-run lead in the first inning, brought to the Dodgers by a wild pitch and Kyle Tucker’s two-run, line-drive single to left field, Sasaki seemed set up for success.

Still, he gave away the lead as quickly as it came. In the second inning, he left a fastball too far over the plate, and third baseman Kyle Karros drove the ball over the left-center wall. The slider he dealt two batters later to second baseman Edouard Julien also crossed the zone too far over the plate, and Julien rounded the bases with another homer. In the third, a sacrifice fly by Mickey Moniak evened the scored, 3-3.

Read more:Dodgers Dugout: Dalton Rushing, Dave Roberts and a bunch of All-Stars

Sasaki’s troubles this season have been hard to pin down since his last win on May 23, as Sasaki tries to claw back the triple-digit velocity that’s escaped him as of late.

Against the Rockies, his fastball topped out at 99.1 miles per hour before steadily dropping to 98. He had managed five strikeouts in his six innings when manager Dave Roberts replaced him with Jack Dreyer, though the three earned runs couldn’t be ignored.

But Roberts also acknowledged the possibility that the pitcher had been tipping his pitches, possibly since he was playing in Japan, and Sasaki has tried to address it after a three-inning, six-run start last week. Even if he had fully self-corrected, his control issues remain. In the third inning, he walked the tying runner, Brett Sullivan.

“I’ve been working on a lot of things like the tipping stuff,” Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo. “Also, I need to make quality pitches.”

Sasaki regained some of his confidence in the fourth when he worked out of a two-base jam with two strikeouts and a flyball to right, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Roberts.

“You can see the demeanor walking off the mound, the confidence,” Roberts said. “For me, it was more of let him end on a high note, feeling good about his outing, and then go from there.”

The Dodgers’ problems were compounded by Alex Call wasting the team’s two challenges in his at-bat in the first inning when the team had already taken the lead. And maybe it would’ve been excusable if Call had driven in the runners on first and second, but instead he ended the inning on a strikeout, stranding both. Roberts called the situation an “outlier” and didn’t feel as though he needed to have a conversation with Call regarding the situation.

After the three-run first, the Dodgers (61-33) remained hitless until Max Muncy laced a double down the right-field line in the sixth, though to little avail. As the innings ticked forward, Colorado’s chances seemed to increase. The Rockies hold the best league batting average (.297) in the eighth and ninth innings (the Dodgers are fourth with .268). And the Dodgers relievers, within the same constraints, have a 3.83 ERA — not bad, but not in the top 10 either.

So when Alex Vesia struggled against the Rockies in the eighth inning and Muncy suffered a throwing error, Colorado seemed in position to score with the bases loaded and one out. Vesia struck out TJ Rumfield and Edgardo Henriquez (4-0), his replacement, retired Karros on a fly ball to right.

After Betts’ single allowed the Dodgers to take the lead, Tanner Scott (13) shut down the Rockies with back-to-back strikeouts, avoiding the team’s eighth series loss of the season.

“Didn’t feel great,” Roberts said. “Fortunately, we won a series, but that’s not the kind of way you want to do it.”

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Every game of this series between the Dodgers and Colorado Rockies was decided in the late innings. Mookie Betts delivered an RBI single in the eighth inning to give the Dodgers their second final-at-bat win of the series, 4-3 on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

The winning rally came against Antonio Senzatela, the longtime Rockies starting pitcher who has thrived out of the bullpen this year. Tommy Edman and Freddie Freeman each singled with one out to put runners at the corners. Up came Betts, who worked a nine-pitch at-bat before rifling a single up the middle to score the game winner.

The Dodgers are 14-0-4 in their last 18 series against the Rockies, dating back to 2022, going 47-15 (.758) in games against Colorado during that span.

That the game was still tied in the eighth inning required an escape by the Dodgers bullpen.

An error and double off Alex Vesia put a pair in scoring position with nobody out in the eighth. But he struck out his next two and gave way to Edgardo Henriquez, who induced a Kyle Karros fly out to escape the Dodgers’ second such two-on-nobody-out situation of the game.

Henriquez hasn’t allowed an earned run over his last 11 appearances and 11 2/3 innings. He earned his second win of the series, with all three games decided by one run.

Two paths to quality starts

Four straight Dodgers reached in the first inning, and three of them scored, two cashed in on a single by Kyle Tucker, one more RBI than he had over his previous 10 games.

Rockies starter Gabriel Hughes, pressed into duty for his first major league game and first start, stranded two runners in the frame with a strikeout of Alex Call, including two abominable ABS challenges during the at-bat. The 24-year-old Hughes, a 2022 first-round draft pick out of Gonzaga, retired 15 Dodgers in a row after those three first inning runs.

Max Muncy snapped the string with a double down the right field line with two outs in the sixth inning, but he was stranded by Hughes, who struck out seven in his six innings while throwing 72 percent of his pitches for strikes.

That early three-run lead for Roki Sasaki was gone by the third inning, including two solo home runs in the second inning. Sasaki’s 19 home runs allowed are four more than anyone else on the staff, including nine home runs over his last five starts.

But even with the early hiccups, Wednesday was a step in the right direction from Sasaki, who struck out five and got through six innings, the latter for the first time in five starts. Sasaki put two runners in scoring position with nobody out in the fourth inning, but escaped with no damage thanks to a pair of strikeouts. Four of his five strikeouts came over his final three innings, retiring his last nine batters.

Chip off the old block

Rockies third baseman Kyle Karros is the son of longtime Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros, who called Wednesday night’s game for SportsNet LA and has called six games against the Rockies this season involving his son. Karros homered in the second inning on Sunday, continuing a trend since debuting in the majors last August.

“A bullet of a home run at Dodger Stadium. You’ve heard that a couple hundred times,” Joe Davis said on the SportsNet LA call of the home run. “This time it’s Kyle.”

Kyle Karros has four home runs in 15 career games and 53 plate appearances against the Dodgers thus far, and five home runs in 117 games and 409 plate appearances against everyone else.

Two of those Kyle Karros home runs have come at Dodger Stadium, tied for 1,030th in the 65-year history of the ballpark, a mere 128 shy of his father’s stadium-leading regular season total.

Wednesday particulars

Home runs: Kyle Karros (8), Edouard Julien (3)

WP — Edgardo Henriquez (4-0): 1 up, 1 down

LP — Antonio Senzatela (8-1): 1 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 2 strikeouts

Sv — Tanner Scott (13): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts

Up next

After 13 game days in a row, the Dodgers take Thursday off before welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks to town beginning Friday night (7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA). Shohei Ohtani starts on the mound in the opener.

It’s Wednesday night here at BCB After Dark: the hippest hot spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re so glad you decided to stop by. Come on in and cool off for a while. There’s no cover charge. Come as you are. We still have a few tables available. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night I asked you to choose between for possible draft picks, which I left anonymous but you quickly figured out were Mason Edwards, Hunter Dietz, Zion Rose and Daniel Jackson. I meant it as a philosophical exercise rather than a pick of which player you wanted. But in any case, you seemed to want risk adverse pitching as 45 percent of you picked player one (Edwards). Another 33 percent of you would roll the dice on player two, the oft-injured but very talented Dietz.

Here’s the part where we listen to music and talk movies You can skip that if you want.

Tonight we’re featuring saxophonist Chris Potter joining pianist Emmett Cohen and paying tribute to the late, great “Saxophone Colossus” Sonny Rollins. The two are joined by John Patitucci on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums.

This is a song written Sonny Rollins, “Airegin.”

Between the World Cup and preparing for the Draft, I haven’t had time to watch any movies this week. I haven’t even got the chance to rewatch Eno on the Criterion Channel now that they’ve “regenerated” it with the start of the month.

So to throw something out for discussion, I’m going to ask you for your five “desert island” movies. If you’re stranded on a desert island and were allowed to take five films with you, which five would you take?

I’m not quite sure how you’re going to get the electricity to watch these five films on a desert island, nor do I know what you’d watch them on or in what format. You can give yourself a private theater with a portable generator that runs on seawater in this fantasy situation if you want.

So if you ask me tomorrow, I may give you a different answer. But today, here are the five movies that I’d spend my exile on a desert island with.

Double Indemnity

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Dr. Strangelove

Heathers

Mad Max: Fury Road

Maybe I should have picked movies I haven’t seen ten times or more already, but I think the point of this exercise is to pick the films that would mean the most to you. Maybe not the “best” films, but the ones that speak to you personally. The ones you want to kill time with.

So what are your five “desert island” films?

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

Cubs Vice-President of Scouting Dan Kantrovitz has been making the rounds this week in anticipation of Saturday’s MLB Draft. Mostly he hasn’t revealed the Cubs hand much, nor should he. But he did address the elephant in the room, which is the the Cubs farm system is very position-player heavy.

It’s not much of a surprise why the Cubs’ farm system is weak in pitching: they haven’t drafted many pitchers, and the ones they have drafted have tended to be in the later rounds and either are extremely risky or have very low upsides. Kantrovitz would insist that it’s not the Cubs’ philosophy to draft position players over pitchers. He says they’ve just been able to find more value when they’ve picked in position players. Position players are also much more likely to stay healthy, which is another reason the Cubs have more position player talent than pitching.

But the facts are this. Since the 2022 draft, when the Cubs took Cade Horton in the first round and took pitchers with 16 of their 20 draft picks, the Cubs have concentrated on hitters. Over the last three drafts, only four of the 15 players taken in rounds 1 through 5 have been pitchers. Only one of the six players taken in the top two rounds was a pitcher, second-rounder Jaxon Wiggins in 2023. Wiggins also not coincidentally happens to be the Cubs’ best pitching prospect.

Now the Cubs did go for quantity over quality in the later rounds last year. Eleven of their final 14 draft picks in the most recent draft were pitchers. But only two of the first six draft picks were pitchers and one of them, third-round pick Dominick Reid, was an underslot pick so the Cubs would have bonus money to sign sixth-round pick, high school outfielder Josiah Hartshorn. (To be fair, the Cubs fourth-round pick in 2025, Kaleb Wing, was also an overslot signing of a high school pitcher.)

Things were even more oriented towards position players in 2024. While the Cubs did load up on pitchers in rounds 11 through 20, only two of their first ten picks were pitchers and the first one, Ryan Gallagher, came in the sixth round.

But Kantrovitz seems to be softening his “best player available” at all times stand. You never draft for need because most drafted players take two-to-four years in the minors before reaching in the majors (if they ever do) and no team knows what their needs will be that far in the future. Except that we know that teams always need pitching these days and if somehow a team gets lucky and doesn’t, you can always trade young pitching.

Here’s one quote that Kantrovitz game Marquee this week.

It’s no secret we’ve invested less in pitching in recent drafts, so there’s probably more scrutiny on that position than historically …. You can’t take good pitching if you don’t take pitching. One thing we’ve looked at the last few years is how to allocate more of our draft pool to pitching without leaking wins or overall draft value – that’s always been our north star. . . This year, the reality is we’re probably going to be a little less dogmatic about sticking to that, and realize that practically, to get more good pitching, we just might have to take more pitching . . .

What Kantrovitz seems to be saying is that the Cubs aren’t going to reach for a pitcher if there isn’t one they like at that position, if they have one position player and one pitcher that are close in value, they may take the pitcher even if they have the position player ranked slightly higher.

So what do you think the Cubs should do? Should the Cubs take a pitcher in the first round, even if he’s ranked slightly less highly than an available position player? Should they stick to their guns and just take the best player available, no matter where they play? Or should they just admit that they struggle to develop pitching and concentrate on position players, knowing that they can always trade top prospects for pitching later?

Please note when I say “favor,” I don’t mean take a pitcher even if you have a position player ranked much higher. I mean if they’re close in your eyes, you would take the pitcher even if a position player is ranked slightly higher.

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Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Padres fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

San Diego Padres General Manager and President of Baseball Operation A.J. Preller is known as an uber aggressive front office executive. He seems to live for the trade deadline when he can use the players from the San Diego minor league system to find players to fill holes in the major league roster. Preller will not have the same type of player pool to deal from at the 2026 deadline, but that does not mean he won’t have opportunities to make deals, but the question is, “Should he?”

The Padres just completed a miserable eight-game losing streak and followed the win to break up the streak with another lifeless loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, losing 8-0 in the first game of their four-game series to start the week. The loss dropped San Diego two games below .500 and had them on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. The losing streak saw the Padres, who had been the top Wild Card team throughout the majority of the season, slip out of playoff contention while falling behind the division leading Los Angeles Dodgers by double digits.

The offense was the problem for San Diego throughout the season with the team ranking last in MLB in several categories. The thought at the time was the Padres could look to add to the offense at the trade deadline especially after losing Ramon Laureano for the season. In recent weeks, and especially during the eight-game losing streak, the starting pitching for San Diego has become erratic and problematic with multiple starters failing to complete five innings in an outing. The struggles of the rotation accentuated the laundry list of starters on the injured list. Yu Darvish was lost for the season prior to the start of Spring Training. Joe Musgrove landed on the IL before the end of Spring Training and Nick Pivetta joined them both on the IL not long after the season started. Matt Waldron, German Marquez and now Randy Vasquez have missed time with injuries.

Despite all of that, the Padres entered the game against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday night just a game below .500 and were looking to win their second game of the series in back-to-back days. Considering their current record and their current level of play, the trade deadline could prove tenuous for the Friar Faithful. San Diego could go on a run and play itself into the playoffs, but the Padres could just as easily continue to slide and play themselves out of the playoff picture. The Gaslamp Ball Padres Reacts Survey question this week is, “What should the Padres do at the trade deadline?” There is still a lot of baseball between now and the deadline, but it’s never too early to start planning for the future. Whether or not that future is in major league talent for this season or in prospect capital for the future remains to be seen.

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