Category: Sports News

Last week I posed this question to the FEED amidst another fairly disappointing and frustrating week of Mariners games and now it is time to rate you responses. As usual, I’ll be using my patented and very scientific Mariners Hot Take Ranking System:

Here we go!

Poster Aubrey says: “Lukewarm take: Julio, and it will be soon. Hot take: Alex Hoppe.”

First of all, speaking of Lukes, pour one out for Luke Raley who is apparently done for the season.

Bummer, man. But, Julio bouncing back? I mean, that’s what we all want and it’s what the Mariners need very badly to happen (one of several things), so is that a lukewarm take? Maybe an obvious one, but given how we haven’t seen Julio make a sustained return to his 2022 offensive output, I rank this as a BOSIO. A step above tepid, but not boiling. Now, the Alex Hoppe part, welp, learn to enjoy blue crabs smothered in Old Bay, buddy!

Blog Boss Kate Preusser says: “I believe in Colt Emerson’s ability to adapt and adjust – he’s been thrown to the wolves earlier than anyone wanted but I have a lot of faith in his approach and I think he will get back to it down the stretch here and get close to replacement level, which … is a fine outcome.”

I want to believe in Colt Emerson’s bat, and I think I do long term for sure, but this is a big (and unrealistic) ask for a rookie who just turned 21 last week. The fact that he’s hanging in there at 0.5 bWAR with sterling defense and occasional clutch hits like Sunday’s walkoff is a huge boost for this team. Expecting more than that at this point makes this take a bit spicy, but Kate did say “close to replacement level” which I guess he is slightly above right now, right? Unfortunately for this Mariners team, they may need 1 to 1.5 bWAR out of Colt in order to win the division and make any kind of decent playoff run with how things have been going. So, I’ll give this one an IWAKUMA for dangerous optimism.

Poster Rumdoodle says: “Carlos Vargas is going to be lights out. JP is done done.”

Okay, now we’re getting hot. First of all, nothing I’ve seen from Carlos Vargas and his glorious hair has ever approached anything resembling “lights out.” I will give him credit for that one very clutch save in 2025 down the stretch, but his control of the zone and his pitch location has always been tenuous at best. Suggesting that he’ll come back from a long injury rehab and start striking out the world is, well, I’ll have what Rumdoodle is having. Must be that good shit. And in regards to J.P. Crawford, first of all, how dare you? Second of all, this team needs their veteran hype man to be in the mix for any sort of postseason run. How else will they select a new post-win banger to listen to? So yeah, this take is pretty dang BRASH, almost bordering on CLIFF LEE-ish.

Poster Chris from Bothell says: “Donovan will bounce back and be a force for the rest of the season. Cal will… Well, let’s just say when the Mariners make the playoffs it will be despite him, not because of him.”

Multiple folks picked Brendan Donovan aka Bringo Dingo aka Isabelle would like to see proof of life of this man. So yes, Donovan returning and being able to play nearly every day without getting hurt again would be pretty huge for this lineup. Chris’s take on Cal is, well, depressing but that has been the tone of this nearly lost season for Raleigh. In fairness, his power does seem to be returning in fits and starts, but this team needs more than one dinger a week from this cornerstone of the lineup. Mashing 60 dingers, catching 121 regular season games in 2025, starting every game of a deep playoff run, and then fucking around with whatever the hell happened in the World Baseball Classic…..a catcher’s body can only do so much and he has clearly been pushed (well, pushed himself) past his limits. Cal is as tough as modern baseball players come, but we all have limits as humans. That said, 2-ish weeks of Cal hitting at or around his 2025 clip could literally make the difference between winning the division again or not. I still have hope he can do it. Giving this one the ol’ BRASH since Chris said the Mariners will make the playoffs even without Cal bouncing back.

Okay, moving along to a BONUS PROMPT.

As the resident sartorial shit-giver on the LL staff, I saw this post from the Mariners and immediately started thinking about A) how would I rank these 9 uniforms and B) which uniforms got snubbed? C) justice for for road greys!!!!

So, sound in the comments how you’d rank these 9 Mariners uniforms and give a shoutout to any particular favorites that were left off.

My quick ranking:

1. Teal. It will always be teal for me. #1 defender of teal. It’s the color that sets the team apart. Every winning Mariners team ever has worn teal.
2. Yellow S home whites
3. Sleeveless home whites (criminally underrated, sun’s out, guns out)
4. Steelheads
5. Current home whites
6. 70’s Trident era home whites
7. Turn Ahead the Clock night
8. City Connect
9. Sunday off-whites

NOTABLE SNUBS: 70’s and 80’s powder blue road unis, the current navy road uniforms (arguably their most popular current uniform??), the extremely dark navy blue tops from the early 00’s, the Spring Training and sometimes regular season powder blue tops from 2019-2022, and yes, THE ROAD GREYS from both the yellow S era (completely forgotten heaters) and the modern road greys which got unceremoniously axed in 2023.

All right, thanks for everyone who responded to the prompt in the FEED and let’s hear some Mariners uniform takes in the comments!

The final move of the Mets’ deadline sell off landed just before 5 PM yesterday, with Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor shipped off as a package to the Cubs. In return, the Mets received Jefferson Rojas, an infielder ranked 63rd on MLB pipeline’s latest top 100 and 99th at Baseball America.

Rojas’ overall profile is one of good tools, but not great ones—a bunch of 50s and 55s if you want this in the 20-80 scouting parlance. He’s a good third base defender who can play second, he’s got a good hit tool and a bit of pop, and he’ll steal you some bases. But he’s neither a Gold Glove defender nor a standout hitter nor an exit velocity monster.

How you value this archetype of player is an interesting question, particularly in contrast to players who have obvious standout tools (Emilien Pitre’s hit tool, Sammy Stafura’s power) but also obvious deficiencies (Pitre’s power, Stafura’s hit tool). On the one hand, being average across the board raises your floor, and gaining a half or full grade anywhere makes you a plus regular. On the other hand, going from a 55 tool to a 60 is a lot harder than going from a 40 to a 50; players like Pitre and Stafura typically have an easier path to getting their weaknesses to a “good enough” level than players like Rojas do finding a true strength to hang their hat on.

This is not to say Rojas is a bad prospect—he’s a high floor, likely major league contributor on the infield in the relatively near term. It’s more to point out that a more modern view on prospect value likely rates him somewhat lower than his pipeline ranking might indicate.

As a return for the combination of Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor, this is a totally reasonable return. Holmes is a mid-rotation arm coming off injury with a player opt-out, both of which reduce his trade value. Tyrone Taylor, despite his recent home run binge, remains a 4th outfielder, and is nowadays one that you’re less thrilled to see in center field. Taking this deal is a better idea than extending Holmes (look to Sean Manaea for a cautionary tale of how contracts for this type of player work out) and is far more value than the QO pick the Mets might’ve received had they held Holmes and then let him sign elsewhere.

That said, you can’t help but wish the return had been a bit more exciting. Maybe the rumored Arizona package would’ve been flashier, or perhaps the Mets could’ve pulled something similar to what the Cardinals received for Dustin May and JoJo Romero. Chalk it up as another deal that’s probably fine but maybe could’ve been more.

We’ll have full grades for every deadline deal the Mets make once all the moves for the deadline have been made. Check back in for those next week.

The dust has settled on the trade deadline, and there is now baseball to be played. If you have missed all the trade news over the last week, here is what you should know.

Chicago acquired starting pitcher Luis Castillo and reliever Huascar Brazobán, along with catcher Joey Bart and outfielder Brenton Doyle. The overall sentiment from my friends on this site is that the Brazobán addition is a solid move and the rest is simply meh. The hope is that, at worst, Castillo can eat innings, and, at best, he’ll provide some solid starts down the stretch. The front office did not have to give up any of its young core or its coveted prospects to make these moves, so, all in all, it seems low-stakes.

We shall praise all the powers that be for the one glorious move that sent Seranthony Domínguez to the Mariners in the Castillo trade. Though the reliever had allowed no runs in eight of his last nine appearances, I am glad that this raised his trade value rather than convince Chris Getz to keep him on the club. We are all officially marked safe from being traumatized by the righthander ever again. Don’t you even dare suggest that there is a chance the White Sox could face him in the playoffs and be burned in a completely different way.

It should be noted that both Cleveland and Minnesota made meaningful additions to their clubs as well. As much as I would love to sit comfortably with a three-game lead heading into August, these acquisitions are going to keep this anyone’s division. If the South Siders want to win the division, they’ll simply need to keep doing what they’ve done all season: have fun and win games. Those other, more boring teams are just noise to be drowned out.

Now that the trade news is settled, let’s get to the games the team played over the last week. As most weeks seem to be these days, this was a big one. The two teams sitting above Chicago in the current playoff standings awaited them, with the Yankees coming to town first. The first two games of the set did not go to plan, but the pitching got it together to split the series before heading to Tampa and taking a series from the American League-best Rays.

The New York series, like the Houston one last week, was winnable. The South Siders took an early 3-0 lead in the opener, but the game was tied 4-4 by the bottom of the fifth. Sean Newcomb, who has been one of the bullpen’s best arms, had a rough showing, giving up four runs and letting the game slip away.

On Tuesday, it was the Yankees’ turn to take a 3-0 early lead off of Anthony Kay. Though the pitching staff did not give up another run for the remainder of the game, the White Sox could not catch up in the bottom of the ninth and dropped the second game 3-2.

Wednesday and Thursday were both thrilling matchups that saw the Good Guys back on top. Both games went to extras, with a throwing error and a walk-off single from Edgar Quero getting Chicago across the finish line on Wednesday, and a walk-off walk from Tristan Peters getting the job done on Thursday.

The pitching staff was almost unhittable in Florida. Over 27 innings, they surrendered just three runs. You read that correctly. THREE! To put this into perspective, the Rays have the best home record in baseball. The team is slashing .264/.331/.430 in its home ballpark. During this weekend’s matchup, they batted .213. Their pitching staff has the seventh-best home ERA this season at 3.61. The White Sox offense scored 15 runs (13 earned) over its 27 innings. I did some math, and that’s a 4.33 ERA for the Tampa pitching staff over the three-game set. Consider me mighty impressed with my baseball team.

Friday’s game was special with Miguel Vargas, Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery all homering in the game. This is the fifth time this season that all three sluggers have hit a long ball in the same game. If they do it one more time this season, they will be the only trio to do so since at least 1900. Andrew Benintendi also homered in Friday’s game, but it was not nearly as historic as the other three.

Noah Schultz may have earned the loss in Saturday’s game, but it is exactly the type of outing he needed after having a rough go of it. He went five innings after Jordan Hicks opened the game, giving up the lone run of the entire ballgame on three hits. The young pitcher struck out four, but the more noteworthy stat from the outing was the lack of walks he issued.

In the rubber match on Sunday, the Rays started the game playing what I would describe as unstable baseball. Sam Antonacci led off the game by reaching on an error. He later scored on an error during Benintendi’s at-bat. Colson, who reached on a double, scored the second run of the game on a wild pitch. The scoring was abundant for the White Sox after that, driving in nine tallies, highlighted by home runs from Benintendi and Everson Pereira. Please enjoy Pereira’s home run as consolation for his DFA.

This week is shaping up to be similar to how July started. The club is headed to Boston, where they have to take on a Red Sox team that acquired Adley Rutschman and a slew of other reinforcements. When we saw them in July, they were in the midst of a 15-game win streak, and they have not slowed down since. Martin, Sean Burke and Castillo have their work cut out for them.

After a trip out east, the squad will head back home to take on the beefed-up Guardians. The weekend features Ozzie Guillén’s number retirement ceremony, so I am hopeful the celebration will carry the winning energy to the field.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Sox fans and fans across the country.

This week, we have a pretty predictable question for you, one that’s already been tackled by one writer on site, as well as in our post-deadline podcast: How did the White Sox do at the trade deadline?

It seems fairly clear that the White Sox at least matched what Minnesota accomplished at the deadline. It is more debatable whether the Guardians’ pickup of starter Foster Griffin not only offsets the White Sox getting Luis Castillo from the Mariners, but the entire Chicago trade deadline package.

But that said, it’s your turn to get out your red marker and give GM Chris Getz and the front office your marks for the trade deadline.

Seeking their third consecutive World Series title, the Los Angeles Dodgers face the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Tuesday, Aug. 4, the highly-anticipated debut of trade deadline acquisition Tarik Skubal.

Skubal, who won back-to-back Cy Young awards with the Detroit Tigers, is a free agent at the end of the season and joined Los Angeles in a blockbuster deal that further solidifies the club as World Series favorite again.

"They’ve been a pretty good baseball team without me," Skubal told reporters. "So I’m going to show up and kind of be a chameleon in a sense and fit right in with these guys and just gel with them.

"They’ve got the winning recipe. They know what it takes to win. I don’t. I’m going to lean on these guys, let them guide me and lead me."

Follow for the latest updates from Skubal's Dodgers debut on Tuesday:

43 Years Ago Today

On this day at Exhibition Stadium, Dave Winfield accidentally threw a ball that struck and killed a seagull during a game.

At first glance, it sounds like the setup for a joke.

During the bottom of the fifth inning, Winfield tossed his warm-up ball toward the dugout, inadvertently hitting a seagull and killing it.

Anyone who remembers Exhibition Stadium knows how much seagulls flocked to the place.

Debate swirled over whether Winfield acted intentionally. I once thought he might have aimed at the bird, but surely he assumed it would fly away. Hitting it from 80 feet required remarkable—if accidental—precision.

His manager, Billy Martin, quipped, “That’s the first time Winfield’s hit the cutoff man all year.”

Strangely, after the game, Winfield was arrested for causing “unnecessary suffering of an animal.” It’s unclear what the police were thinking—perhaps they disliked the Yankees as much as I do, but I wouldn’t have arrested him. Winfield was taken to the police station, and Pat Gullick paid his $500 bail for his release.

The following day, the charges were dropped. The crown attorney explained, “It is always a key issue to find criminal intent, and I am satisfied there was none here.”

Before the police arrived, Winfield’s teammates teased him about the incident. Afterward, however, the mood changed. As Billy Martin put it:

“I’ll tell you one thing. We will get their four starting pitchers arrested when Toronto comes down to New York next week. We will have somebody call the police and say they were molested in the hotel.”

That comment tells you everything you need to know about Billy Martin.

Paul Godfrey even traveled to New York to apologize to Winfield in person.

An autopsy revealed the seagull was already unwell before being struck, explaining why it didn’t avoid the ball. It was expected to die within the next couple of weeks regardless.

The following winter, Winfield visited Toronto with a painting depicting seagulls flying and a red maple tree, which he auctioned to raise $32,000 for Easter Seals.

The Yankees won 3-1. Dave Stieb went the distance for Toronto, allowing six hits, three runs, three walks, and five strikeouts. Shane Rawley earned the win for New York, also pitching a complete game.

Winfield finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

37 Years Ago Today

Dave Stieb lost a perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning. The previous season, he had lost no-hitters in back-to-back starts, each with two outs in the ninth.

The Jays came out on top, winning 2-1 over the Yankees.

The Yankees weren’t yet the powerhouse they’d become a few years later, but their lineup featured some strong hitters.

Here was their starting lineup:

Steve Sax

Luis Polonia

Don Mattingly

Jesse Barfield

Mel Hall

Rob Geren

Randy Velarde

Alvaro Espinoza

Roberto Kelly.

In the ninth, Hal Morris pinch-hit for Velarde, and Ken Phelps—of Seinfeld fame—pinch-hit for Espinoza. But it was Kelly, the ninth hitter, who doubled to break up the perfect game. Sax then singled to end the shutout, but Stieb retired Polonia to close out the win.

The Jays managed just five hits. George Bell had two, while Ernie Whitt and Mookie Wilson each drove in a run.

Stieb finished with a two-hit complete game, striking out 11 and throwing 90 pitches (65 for strikes). The win improved his record to 11-6 with a 3.90 ERA. He’d end the season 17-8 with a 3.35 ERA over 33 starts and 206.2 innings—a low total for him, considering he threw 288.1 innings in 1982—with just three complete games.

As August begins, over three-quarters of MLB teams are still well alive in the playoff race.

Such a competitive field is unusual this late in the MLB season.

USA TODAY compiled the number of teams within different games back brackets for each season through August 3 going back to 2012 and compared this year to the historical average and peak.

With seven teams within one to three games of a playoff spot, 2026 is tied for the most in the dataset, and 24 teams are either in playoff position or within six games — the highest total on record.

The median between 2012 and 2025 was five teams being within one to three games, and 18 total in a playoff spot or within six games.

DIG DEEPER: MLB trade deadline winners and losers: Dodgers, Red Sox and Phillies all in

Of course, it’s worth noting that 12 teams will make the playoffs in 2026, two more than the field size from 2012 to 2021. However, this season is unique, even among recent years.

Notably, no year between 2022 and 2025 had 24 teams either in playoff position or within six games. The closest was 2024, which had 22 such teams.

Plus, seasons prior to 2022 had levels of competitiveness that rivaled the highs of the seasons with bigger playoff fields. The 2015 season had seven teams within one to three games, while 2014 and 2016 had six. And 22 teams in 2015 were in playoff position or within six games.

But 2026 beats them all.

As written by former FiveThirtyEight journalist Neil Paine, this made almost every team in baseball a buyer on August 3’s trade deadline.

All this despite a growing narrative surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers' dominance amid back-to-back World Series wins and a trade for superstar Tarik Skubal. And sure, the Dodgers may be the best of the bunch — but the extreme parity in the 2026 MLB standings cannot be denied.

So as MLB enters its dog days, the playoff race is heating up alongside the weather — and maybe even to historical heights.

Methodology: USA TODAY compiled MLB standings through August 3 for each season dating back to 2012 and counted how many teams were in playoff position or within 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10+ games of a postseason berth. The COVID-shortened 2020 season was excluded from the 2012-25 dataset. Data was sourced from the MLB Stats API.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB is more competitive than ever. The numbers back it up.

The position-by-position look at the 2027 Texas Longhorns team starts with an infield led by star shortstop Adrian Rodriguez.

Catcher

Departures: Carson Tinney (draft), Andrew Ermis (transfer), Presley Courville (transfer)

Additions: Ian Armstrong (transfer), Brady Murrietta (signee), Jax Robinson (signee)

Returning: None

For a second straight year, Texas turned to the portal to land a high-level catcher, missing on Clemson transfer Nate Savoie before landing a commitment from Saint Mary’s transfer Ian Armstrong, who at the time of his pledge was ranked as the No. 22 overall player in the portal and the No. 30 prospect in the 2027 MLB Draft by Over Slot. Baseball America ranks

After slashing .364/.402/.576 with 55 hits, 11 doubles, three triples, five home runs, and 40 RBI in 2024, Armstrong was even better as a sophomore, leading the WCC with 16 home runs and batting .351 with a .416 on-base percentage, a .654 slugging percentage, and a 1.070 OPS. The first-team All-WCC selection notched 80 hits with 17 doubles, two triples, 51 RBI, and 53 runs scored. 

For Schlossnagle, high-level play behind the plate is a prerequisite for the position and Armstrong fits that mold with refined receiving ability, lateral quickness, clean footwork, and a plus arm.

Armstrong’s burgeoning power combined with an all-fields approach to hitting has turned him into a strong all-around batter as he heads to the Forty Acres with high expectations. Good bat speed allows Armstrong to produce an excellent contact rate on pitches in the strike zone, especially fastballs, and driving a breaking ball away out to center against UCLA in the Los Angeles Regional flashed his ability to handle offspeed pitches.

Signees Brady Murrietta and Jax Robinson will battle for the backup job. Perfect Game considers the two players prospects of similar quality, although Murrietta is perhaps ahead of Robinson defensively.

First base

Departures: Ashton Larson (transfer)

Additions: Sawyer Solitaria (transfer), Easton Autrey (signee)

Returning: Casey Borba

After splitting time between third base and first base in 2026, senior Casey Borba returns for his senior season as the projected starter at first base. Because Ashton Larson entered the NCAA transfer portal, the prime competition for Borba at first base will come from Kent State transfer Sawyer Solitaria, who also plays in the outfield and could be the designated hitter for the Longhorns in 2027, and signee Easton Autrey.

Last offseason, Borba opted against playing summer baseball to focus on improving his functional mobility in the field, improving as a third baseman in 2026 while also spending time at first base, but even as his power kept improving — up to 18 home runs — his struggles using the whole field to hit continued to limit his batting average as late-season struggles dropped it to .266 as his walk rate also decreased and his strikeout rate ballooned to 36.5 percent.

So Borba continues to have plenty to work on as a hitter. The swing and miss in his game combined with his reliance on his pull-side power limits his upside and could put his starting job in jeopardy next season.

One possibility is a platoon with Autrey to get the Coricana product’s left-handed bat in the lineup. A 6’4, 233-pounder with better physicality than the 6’1, 210-pound Borba, Autrey possesses prodigious power with elite exit velocities even using a wood bat at the draft combine. Autrey’s power is so elite that it was fully present two years ago, when he was capable of a 544-foot blast in a showcase.

Some projections put Autrey’s future in the outfield, so with Borba’s quality play defensively at first base, Autrey’s best path to playing time in 2027 may be at designated hitter.

Solitaria, a Kent State transfer who hit 16 home runs in 2025, is the projected starter at designated hitter with the portal additions crowding the outfield competitions, but could also be a factor at first base if Borba struggles.

Second base

Departures: Callum Early (transfer)

Additions: Lawson Behan (signee), Reiston Durham (signee)

Returning: Ethan Mendoza

The Horns also boast a returning starter at second base following July’s announcement from senior Ethen Mendoza that he’ll be back for a third season on the Forty Acres. Initially considered a draftable prospect during the season, Mendoza went undrafted after struggling with a shoulder injury for the second consecutive year and opted against signing as a free agent.

Mendoza had spent the offseason bulking up to further improve his power, which helped him hit 10 home runs in 2026, but his batting average dropped to .278 and the increased weight contributed to Mendoza only stealing 11 bases.

According to Schlossnagle, Mendoza will miss fall practice while recovering from his shoulder injury. Texas Tech transfer Linkin Garcia is the projected third baseman for Texas next season, but could play second if Mendoza isn’t available early in the season, although the Texas head coach does expect his starting second baseman to be healthy when the season begins. Long Beach State transfer Trevor Goldenetz also played some second base in high school before playing center field for the Dirtbags as a freshman.

For middle infield depth, the Longhorns also signed Lawson Behan and Reiston Durham, but the rankings for both players suggest they will need some time to develop.

Shortstop

Departures: None

Additions: Behan, Durham

Returning: Adrian Rodriguez

In Adrian Rodriguez, Schlossnagle has one of the nation’s best returning shortstops. After playing second base, third base, and left field in 2025 as a freshman, Rodriguez worked to improve his range at shortstop for his sophomore season, which paid off in an impressive campaign with a .964 fielding campaign.

Forced to undergo a second, midseason surgery on his left hand to remove a staple that was causing an allergic reaction, Rodriguez suffered the consequences as the persistent issue forced him to hit exclusively from the left side and continued to sap his power. Even so, Rodriguez still slashed .327/.417/.514 with 18 doubles, five home runs, 47 RBI, and 14 stolen bases, finishing the season red hot and proving his postseason capabilities.

As with Mendoza, the offseason priority is to finally get his hand healthy and gain as much strength as possible while maintaining his range defensively, a balance that leaned towards getting as lean as possible last year.

Early rankings from Baseball America have Rodriguez slotted as the No. 50 prospect in next year’s draft class.

Third base

Departures: Temo Becerra (graduation)

Additions: Linkin Garcia (portal)

Returning: Borba

Unable to land an elite infielder from the portal last year, Texas settled for Stanford transfer Temo Becerra, who brought a professional approach to the plate in hitting .301, but wasn’t able to sustain his early-season power surge. The Longhorns didn’t settle this offseason, landing Garcia from the Red Raiders.

A top-25 prospect in the portal when he quickly committed to Texas, the 6’5, 218-pounder has immense physical upside that makes him a potential first-round pick next July as a draft-eligible sophomore. Baseball American ranked Garcia as the No. 17 player in the portal.

In Garcia’s single season in Lubbock, he started all 55 games for Texas Tech, including 30 games at shortstop and 25 games at third base, batting .338 with four home runs and 59 RBI while tying for the Big 12 lead with 21 doubles, earning a spot on the All-Big 12 Freshman team. A contact hitter in his first collegiate season, Garcia had low strikeout and walk rates.

Given Garcia’s physicality and gap-to-gap power as a freshman, expect a big power surge for the California product in burnt orange and white similar to the improvement by Aiden Robbins, who went from six home runs for Seton Hall in 2025 to 24 for Texas in 2026. Working deeper into counts is part of the equation, as Garcia’s barrel rate and exit velocities are similar to Robbins.

“A guy like Linkin Garcia contacts the ball, doesn’t walk much, doesn’t strike out much, hits the ball on the ground a little bit too much, right? So, is that something that we can impact? We believe we can,” Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said last week.

Well at least it’s over. If you like a storm of rumors and a trading frenzy that last a whole weekend, the MLB trade deadline is right up your alley. But for fans of a team that had high hopes, failed, and sold off, you really just want to rip the band-aid off and move on. The Detroit Tigers farm system is now seriously upgraded, but their major league roster, more specifically their starting rotation, is in sketchy shape with the departure of Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize. Let’s consider where the organization stands after a pretty momentous week in Tigers baseball.

As much as it hurts the starting rotation to lose Skubal and Mize, the immediate impact to the team won’t be too terrible. They still have Troy Melton, Framber Valdez, and Keider Montero and plenty of spot starting options. Over the rest of the month, Jack Flaherty, Jackson Jobe, and River Ryan are all slated to return to action off the injured list. The team has no excuses if they just crumble into dust here. Ty Madden, Enmanuel de Jesus, and veteran lefty acquisition Jackson Wolf, who would need a 40-man spot, can help bridge the gap until those starting pitchers are worked into the fold. The Tigers coaching staff has tended to be at their best when confronted with adversity in the rotation, and Melton and Montero’s usual efficiency could moderate the added demands on the bullpen.

The impact of regular season Skubal is in big part his ability to give the Tigers consistent starts and help keep the bullpen in order while putting up really good outings. The other big impact an ace has is in the postseason when pitching staffs get more concentrated by the schedule and teams can get a higher percentage of innings in a playoff series from their top arms against the best competition. Neither of these is a major concern for the Tigers at the moment.

On the plus side, the Tigers position player group has improved markedly in recent weeks. Whatever Max Clark does over the final eight weeks of the season, he’s an upgrade over James Outman’s work and is giving the Tigers a good look at a pretty exciting and evolving core positional group. Eduardo Valencia remains a nice boost to an offense that spent three months trying to squeeze something out of Jahmai Jones. Hao-Yu Lee has been a nice contributor as well, while Ben Malgeri has given the Tigers a decently productive right-handed hitting outfielder with solid defensive chops, exactly what Matt Vierling struggled to provide for most of this season. At the same time, the return of Javier Báez and Gleyber Torres give them some added stability and spark for the rest of the season.

The big problem is the same problem they’ve had for two seasons now, and that’s their struggle to build a good bullpen with a dominant late innings, high leverage reliever or two to put games away late. It’s a lot harder to find any solace on that front, and while the Tigers can hope for another late run to the postseason, their inability to close out games continues to undermine any hopes that there’s some magic left in this season.

The Tigers did the right things at the deadline under the circumstances. They pulled off two good trades that restocked the farm system and the overall pitching staff. They have a talented group of position players under team control for a long time to come, and it wouldn’t be a big surprise if they now turn their attention to locking up Clark on a long-term extension. The Tigers will have Zyhir Hope, Josue Briceño, and Thayron Liranzo all in Triple-A next year, alongside solid secondary prospects like Brett Callahan and John Peck. They’ll also have a lot of payroll space to work with in what will probably be another compressed signing frenzy whenever the next collective bargaining agreement is arranged. Fears will continue that the league may lose part or all of next season, but those fears accompany every CBA and rarely is the game of chicken allowed to impact anyone’s bottom line in the end by costing the league games.

So, there are a lot of good reasons to just sit back and enjoy the Detroit Tigers without expectations for the rest of this season. Maybe they’ll still sneak into the postseason or at least make a run at it that gives the younger players some valuable experience. Others will be too frustrated with the way this season has gone and with the front office to be real keen on spending time and money on the club the rest of the way. The 2026 Tigers have been an exhausting, often entertaining, but ultimately frustrating team to root for, and it’s not a bad time at mid-summer to take a breather.

Scott Harris gave a lengthy question and answer session with the local media on Monday evening. He did a much better job acknowledging his own mistakes and failings and how they contributed to their failure than he did last year. That’s perhaps a sign of growth, but it’s also a sign that he’s getting too much practice at explaining why things didn’t go the Tigers way so far this season.

The fundamental issue in this front office remains the same. The pro scouting side of the front office, both scouts and analysts, have really struggled to identify pitching to acquire. Instead of catching undervalued names on the upswing, both starters and relievers, and targeting them for signings and trades, they’ve again and again signed or otherwise acquired pitchers who gave them very little or nothing at all, while wasting a lot of capital in the process.

At the same time, the Tigers have really struggled to develop the young pitchers acquired under Harris. Their player development process needs a real overhaul, at least in terms of how they condition their young pitchers to hold up to a professional workload. Part of the reason they haven’t been able to put together a good bullpen is simply due to a lack of internal options in the upper minors. As the large crop of pitching Harris inherited from Al Avila started to dry up, they had no answers. If they had a few starting pitching prospects closing in on the major leagues this year to convert to relief roles, or managed to trade and develop some high leverage arms, a lot less would have been required from an always sketchy crop of free agent relievers each season. Of course, another facet of having a good bullpen, is having a strong defensive group. They’ve made some strides with that recently, but this infield group has a ways to go on that front.

Scott Harris and Jeff Greenberg presumably will not be fired, but they are going to have to explain themselves to Chris Ilitch, and make a convincing case that they can overhaul their approach and get the pitching side sorted out. The Tigers’ future in 2027 and beyond looks very bright in terms of the young talent in the organization. However, unless they can improve their processes in pitcher evaluation, acquisition, and development, they’re still going to have a hard time getting over the hump and becoming a real postseason threat. A new rotation group of Troy Melton, Framber Valdez, Jackson Jobe, River Ryan, Keider Montero, and potentially Reese Olson, looks pretty good on paper heading into 2027. They’ll have money to spend as well, but again their track record in free agency has been pretty grim so far. Unless they figure out how to consistently put together a good bullpen, and spend their payroll more effectively on the pitching side, it’s all for naught anyway.

Objectively, the Tigers organization is in a really good place. It just doesn’t feel like it because faith in the front office is crumbling after a fast start in 2023-2024. Were a new front office to take over the Tigers right now, they’d be thrilled with the assets they have to work with at every level of the organization. There are no excuses available. Everything is still set up for them to be consistent contenders who, with a few shrewd moves, should be a real threat in October for years to come. The problem is that this has been the situation for three years now, and Harris and Greenberg have been unable to get them over the hump.

The fanbase will have to decide individually how much they want to invest time, money, and emotional energy in this club the rest of the way, but there is no teardown or rebuild coming. At the same time, the Tigers have played very good baseball for two months now, and they aren’t even totally out of the playoff picture this year after several other fringe contenders got worse all around them. There are no more excuses. They should be expected to contend in 2027, and expectations and pressure on this front office should be very high. If the deals they made at the deadline trend badly, and they fail to figure out the bullpen issues, the hot seat should approach unsustainable levels next season for the front office. For many, we’re already there.