Category: Sports News

At 48-54 with 13 days until the trade deadline, the Houston Astros find themselves in a historically unusual position: they are farther away from .500 (6 games) than they are from the AL West division lead (3.5 games).

So far, nothing about this team says playoffs, yet their proximity to the playoffs and their owner’s unyielding desire to make the playoffs cannot be discounted.

In an appearance on AREA 45 on SportsRadio 610 yesterday, longtime MLB insider Bob Nightengale reiterated that desire is still coming from Houston. Jim Crane is highly competitive and wants to be in the postseason. GM Dana Brown has maintained his belief in the team and his stance that the team will be buyers at the deadline.

Despite that, it is hard to ignore the emerging market. There will not be a lot of sellers, there will be a lot of buyers, creating a seller’s market. Nightengale asserted in his interview last night that there will be a premium on top talent available because there won’t be a lot of it, and the top talent available will be in high demand.

With that in mind, there is far more value in being a seller than being a buyer this deadline. With the looming work stoppage that is widely expected, it is unclear when the offseason in MLB will actually begin, let alone when baseball will actually be played.

Top prospects are at an even greater premium this deadline as well, due to the expected lockout.

This brings us to 3 realistic paths forward for the Houston Astros at the deadline: full buy, change-up, and full sell.

The Full Buy:

Houston goes all in on the postseason, and spares no expense. No one is off limits from the minors, and they go for an impact starter, a leverage pen arm and lefthanded outfield bat that can be a legit consistent contributor to the lineup.

Examples: Robbie Ray/Clay Holmes (SP). Luke Weaver (RP), Jake McCarthy/Mickey Moniak (OF)

The Change-Up:

Houston reallocates it’s spending to different positions. This is likely the hardest to pull off because it requires the most moving parts.

It would involve trading players from the major league roster to acquire different players of different skill sets and positions:

Example: Trading Christian Walker in one deal (likely for a reliever), and acquiring Luis Arraez (to play 1B) in another.

Moving AJ Blubaugh (whose role may be filled by Kai-Wei Teng) as part of a deal to acquire an established starter (Joe Ryan, Clay Holmes) or outfielder (Jung Hoo Lee, Seiya Suzuki)

Moving Bryan Abreu (who has lost his role as a leverage reliever but whose numbers since June 1: 2.66 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 26K in 23.2 IP indicate improved play) in deal for OF (McCarthy, Moniak, Lars Nootbaar)

The Sell Off:

This would be taking advantage of the market inefficiency for buyers and lean into what should be a big seller’s market:

They would make nearly anyone not named Yordan Alvarez and Hunter Brown.

They would look to get huge returns on Jeremy Pena, Josh Hader

They would look to get best possible returns on: Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker (with the preference to move Walker over Paredes), Steven Okert, Bennett Sousa, Bryan Abreu, Peter Lambert, Yainer Diaz

It’s a full out prospect grab with the intent of keeping some of those prospects to build with and then moving others to re-tool the team in the offseason by trading for imapct talent.

It would also take advantage of the money now off the books next season ($19M for Hader, $20M for Walker, approx $16M for Pena, approx $9.5M for Paredes, $5.75M for Abreu, approx $3M for Okert/Sousa combined = approx $73M) to re-tool in the offseason in free agency.

While it is currently unknown if there will be a salary cap for the next season, we know owners have dug in harder than ever to obtain this and seem willing to not play to get it. It is also unknown if teams will be required to get under the cap immediately or if there will be a grandfathering of contracts.

If teams had to get under immediately, there could be a number of “distressed assets” hitting the market as some teams would be forced to make decisions on which of their high priced talent they would need to move on from in a hurry. In that situation, just like in the market, cash is king.

As for which kind of path the Astros ultimately take, it may very well be a matter of how well they play the next 10 days. If they rattle off a 7 game win streak and get back to .500, could well be a buying path. If they fall back closer to 10 games under, it would make more sense to sell.

Which way do you think they will go? Let us know in the comments below.

Yesterday, Chad Tracy announced that Ranger Suarez would come off the IL and make tonight’s start against the Orioles as the club goes for its franchise record tying 15th straight win. However, as of this afternoon, there’s been a change of plans.

Ranger Suarez is no longer pitching tonight, as interim manager Chad Tracy said last night. They are going with Eduardo Rivera.

— Ian Browne (@IanMBrowne) July 21, 2026

The good news is this doesn’t appear to be injury related.

According to @ChrisCotillo, there’s been no “substantial setback” with Ranger Suarez that is stopping him from starting tonight.

They wanted to give him at least another day after pushing himself so hard the last few days. pic.twitter.com/4MIjFUbAwv

— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) July 21, 2026

That reasoning is obviously fishy. The club easily could’ve known they wanted to give Suarez an extra day after pushing him the last few when they announced his start last night. Instead, the real reason they’re pushing this start back is likely because of weather, which threatens to upend tonight’s game at Fenway Park. Here’s what the latest HRRR model is showing in a simulated radar from 5:00pm to just after midnight:

The general trend here will be thunderstorms all over the place early in the evening, and then then a gradual thinning in their coverage as they slowly fall apart the deeper we go into the night. It will almost certainly rain, and rain heavy, but it won’t rain all night long, so there’s a shot they get this game in late if they push it.

Knowing this uncertainty, the Sox probably think it’s a better idea to go with a bullpen game started by Rivera with Brayan Bello backing him up. It takes Suarez out of the messy weather, it gives the other starters more rest when Suarez does slot back in, and it also means that any potential starts and stoppages within the game won’t impact the Sox as much because they’re largely going with a bullpen game anyway.

We could be an incredibly whacky night at the ballpark given all the dynamics in play between the pitching, the weather, and the win streak. Stay tuned!

Garrett Crochet: ‘Tough to say' if missing rest of Red Sox season is possible originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

When the Red Sox placed Garrett Crochet on the injured list at the end of April, it was not supposed to be a long stay.

Yet with the calendar now closer to August than June, Crochet’s still nowhere near a return to the mound. And when asked Tuesday (prior to the game being postponed) if it’s possible that he might not pitch at all for the rest of the season, Crochet could not give a definitive answer.

“I mean, it’s tough to say. I mean, I’m not gonna make a claim like that,” Crochet said when asked if missing the rest of the season is a possibility.

Considering the diagnosis in April, Crochet lamented the current reality of his situation.

“It sucks,” he said. “Like, I understand why you asked the question. It sucks, though, because I remember when I went on the IL originally, I was like, maybe I’ll just miss one start. And then the way that the injury just kind of matured, especially with the setback following the first ramp, it just, it matured to a place where, like I said, it’s just completely different from the original diagnosis, which sucks. But the shoulder is complex like that.”

Crochet has recently ramped down his activity, with the lefty no longer throwing plyo balls as part of his recovery efforts. The 27-year-old said that he was “not making the progress that we were hoping to see” and had plateaued in the rehab, leading to the decision to remove throwing from his program.

Crochet was the runner-up for the American League Cy Young Award last season, his first in Boston, when he went 18-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 32 starts. He led the AL in innings pitched (205 1/3, which was only 13 2/3 fewer than the number of innings he pitched combined in the five previous seasons) and led the majors in strikeouts (255).

This year, Crochet posted a 7.36 ERA across four spring training starts before pitching a gem (six shutout innings, eight strikeouts, two walks, three hits) in an Opening Day victory in Cincinnati. Crochet then went 2-3 in his next five starts, posting a 7.88 ERA and 1.625 WHIP. That stretch included a stunning start in Minnesota, when Crochet allowed 11 runs (10 earned) in just 1 2/3 innings against the Twins. Crochet allowed five runs (all earned) in five innings his next time out, but he did pitch six scoreless innings in late April in Baltimore (which happened to have been Alex Cora’s final game as Boston’s manager).

After being placed on the IL, Crochet said he needed to build up strength in his shoulder. On Tuesday, he said the diagnosis remains the same.

Yet when it comes to when the training staff might feel comfortable with letting him throw again, Crochet couldn’t venture a guess.

“To be honest, I don’t really have an idea,” he said. “Just with the setbacks that I had in the past, we’ve been rightfully cautious. For me, I’m just kind of doing what I’m asked.”

And while Crochet was a fixture in the Red Sox’ dugout throughout the month of May and the early part of June, he’s been absent during this current run of success (14-game winning streak, wins in 19 of the last 21 games). Crochet said that his absence was initially due to some of his rehab work taking place during games, so that he could stay out of the way of the players who were actually active.

“And then it was like, man, we kind of got a good thing going here,” Crochet said. “And then I finished my work the other day in like the seventh inning and I was like, let me finish this inning in here and maybe I’ll go out. And then Wilyer [Abreu] hit the homer and I was like, ooh, I gotta stay inside.”

While superstition will always be present in baseball, Crochet admitted that he’s just doing what he can to help the streak while he remains on the IL.

“I think that there’s enough confidence amongst the group where they don’t really feel the need to press like that,” Crochet said. “But, you know, I’m gonna do my part.”

So I thought I’d go through this little exercise just for my own sense of ‘what the hell is going on’.

Over the last 22 games, four weeks (with the All Star break in there), the Jays are 7-15. They’ve averaged 3.5 runs a game. Quite the stretch run. The batters are hitting .214/.272/.337….which makes me wonder how they scored 3.5 runs per game.

Hot

Ernie Clement: Played in 21 games, starting 20. Hitting .316/.353/.392 with 1 home run, 3 doubles, 4 RBI, 1 steal, 4 walks and 5 strikeouts.

I mean, hot is overstating it, his OPS over the last month is .745 and his season number is .751. But I wanted someone on this side of the board. He is keeping to his one walk a week thing. I wish he would chase less, but this is the guy he is and it works for him. They aren’t going to be able to change him. I am worried that he won’t age well as a batter. Generally batters who age well control the strike zone. But we’ll see, he’s 30 now, and was an All-Star.

Cold

Brandon Valenzuela: Played in 10 games, starting 8. Hitting .129/.206/.226 with 1 home run, 2 RBI, 3 walks and 12 strikeouts.

Well, he was good earlier in the season. Brandon started one game at DH. He also played some first base. He caught 1 of 3 base stealers.

Vladimir Guerrero: Started 21 of 22 games. Hit .183/.264/.293 with 1 double, 2 home runs, 9 RBI, 9 walks and 21 strikeouts, with 2 stole bases.

DHed four times. Who would have thought he’d be a glove first first baseman. 21 strikeouts in 21 games isn’t what I expect from him. Bat speed is still great (92 percentile). But he’s not hitting the ‘sweet spot’ (17th). Expected batting average is still high (91st percentile). The fielding is still good, 4 outs above average but Savant says his arm strength isn’t what it used to be (17th percentile). And his chase rate, which was 89th percentile last year, is 40th this year. The commentators like to use the line chasing hits, and that’s likely fair. I often see people say what he should be doing, and I’m always thinking ‘If it was something that easy, you don’t think they’ve tried it.‘ I was hoping the All-Star break would help him out. Give him a few days to stop thinking about things. But that didn’t help. Right now, I’m hoping the off-season clears whatever is going on.

Andrés Giménez: Played in 20 games, starting 17. Hit .204/.246/.278 with 4 doubles, 5 RBI, 1 steal, 3 walks and 8 strikeouts.

Yeah, he’s not hitting. He is a plus 11 OAA, second in the AL to Bobby Witt. FanGraphs has him at a 1.4 WAR but we really need to score occasionally. Ok, more occasionally. The hope was that he would get back to what how he was hitting in 2022, but he’s gone the other way.

Kazuma Okamoto: Started in 21 games. Hit .215/.303/.418 with 1 double and 5 home runs, 16 RBI, 8 walks and 21 strikeouts.

He’s played third in all 21 games.Maybe a day off or a DH day, here and there, wouldn’t be a bad idea. He has 2 hits in the last 6 games and none since the All-Star break. His defense, minus the error the other day, has been fine. Fangraphs has him at a -1 outs above average.

Daulton Varsho: Played in 21 games, starting 20. Hit .189/.221/.284 with 1 double, 4 RBI, 3 steals, 3 walks and 15 strikeouts.

He’s costing himself a lot of money, he was set for a big payday in free agency but it isn’t going to happen now. FanGraphs has him at a plus 5 outs above average, not as good as he has been in the past. It seems like he has been better defensively of late.

George Springer: Started 13 games. Hitting .208/.263/.358 with 1 triple, 2 home runs, 4 RBI, 1 steal, 4 walks and 15 strikeouts.

He’s been better in his last three games.364 BA with a home run. Hopefully that will continue. He did play that one game in left field and didn’t look out of place. I wonder if anyone will want him at the deadline for his leadership or playoff experience.

Myles Straw: Played in 20 games, starting 7. Hit .147/.143/.265 with 1 double, 1 home run, 6 RBI, 1 strikeout.

A fast runner, whose OBA is lower than his BA. Someone ought to explain to him that getting on base is the way to use that speed. Oh well. His glove has been good, a +3 outs above average. He was a +9 last year, in less than double the innings of last year.

Alejandro Kirk: Played in 18 games, starting 15. Hit .204/.306/.296 with 2 doubles, 1 home run, 4 RBI, 8 walks and 6 strikeouts.

He’s actually done well in his last 8 games, hitting .286/.423/.381 so hopefully that’s a turn around point. And he’s thrown out 4 base stealers of the last 17 (24%) in this period.

Sean Keys: Played in 11 games, 10 starts. Hit .176/.200/.294 with 1 double, 1 home run, 5 RBI, 1 walk and 13 strikeouts.

He hasn’t exactly torn the cover off the ball since coming up. It is tough when you aren’t playing regularly, but that’s the role he’s in.

Yohendrick Pinango: Played in 8 games. Hit .176/.200/.294 with 1 home runs, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts.

He’s back in Buffalo. He is hitting .263/.349/.474 this month in Buffalo.

Inbetween

Nathan Lukes: Played in 21 games, starting 19. Hit .264/.329/.389 with 3 home runs, 4 RBI, 6 walks and 10 strikeouts.

Not hot….not cold. He’s been good since the All-Star break. I liked him in the leadoff spot.

Also Played:

Davis Schneider: Played in 4 games, starting 2. Hit .000/.000/.000 with 1 RBI, with 4 strikeouts.

He has hit 317/.473/.659 in Buffalo in July, which suggests he might be back soon.

IL

Jesús Sánchez: Should start a rehab stint soon.

Anthony Santander: I doubt he’ll be back this year.

Addison Barger: If he comes back this year, it won’t be until September.

The trade deadline is of course the hottest topic around the Phillies today. It’s a constant source of chatter since the needs the team has are seemingly obvious. That makes this question kind of easy:

Saying that the team needs all of these things is easy. Actually executing the deals is another thing altogether. Dave Dombrowski has the task ahead of him to make sure that the team is getting better by adding pieces to it, but will he be able to do so?

That’s the question.

The team’s lack of enviable talent in their minor league system means they probably don’t have the necessary ammunition to make all the trades they have to in order to plug the leaks in the team boat. He might be able to pull off one deal, maybe two. But adding all three pieces that are needed? Color me skeptical.

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

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

After years of almost fanatically refusing to hand out multiple years to any starting pitcher, or any kind of contract extension to any of his existing players, Mike Elias is on something of a roll. Or at least as much as doing three extensions over the past year, and two to starting pitchers over the past four months, counts as a roll. The weekend’s news about Kyle Bradish being extended makes it clear that he is actually willing to invest over multiple years.

There is another Orioles starting pitcher with an interesting case to be made to be worth an extension. That’s Trevor Rogers. It’s not as likely to come together for a variety of reasons, one of which is that Rogers is so close to free agency that he probably feels like he might as well wait and test the waters, even if the Orioles come to him with a reasonable extension offer.

For this week’s survey, don’t worry too much about the details like that. This is just about what you think. Should the Orioles sign Rogers? Make your choice below:

If your answer is yes, what do you think is a reasonable contract to give to Rogers? If you say no, what gives you pause? It has been a mixed bag for Rogers this year. His last eight starts or so are carrying on the masterful performance he was doing over the two-thirds of the season he pitched a year ago. The overall 2026 ERA is not something that screams big money.

Results will be analyzed later in the week, though you’ll be able to check in between now and then if you look at the results on the Feed poll, which is how these things will be handled going forward.

The Los Angeles Angels fired scout Justin “Boomer” Prinstein, who calls himself “The Baseball Spy,” earlier this season.

According to The Athletic, Prinstein was fired after he was seen filming Colorado Rockies coaches with a cellphone in his hand while working in the stands.

Prinstein was out on a scouting assignment, just before the Angels were set to host the Rockies from June 1-3, when he was reportedly spotted filming their coaches during a game by a member of the Colorado organization.

Despite filming by scouts being considered a legal practice, The Athletic reported that former Angels general manager Perry Minasian fired Prinstein right away and apologized to the Rockies front office, including their team president of baseball operations, Paul DePodesta, and general manager Josh Byrnes.

The Athletic went on and reported that Prinstein recorded on his own will, and the Angels will not face any punishment by Major League Baseball.

What Prinstein was filming remains a mystery.

Since the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal in 2020, Major League Baseball has tightened the rules on the use of video, and has continuously cracked down on any method that could help a team get an unfair advantage.

Prinstein was originally hired by the Angels in December, after previously working as an international scout with the Cincinnati Reds since 2023.

Before working with the Reds, Prinstein’s LinkedIn page says he wrote articles as a freelancer and worked as a podcast host of the show “The Baseball Spy,” where he covered the Astros sign-stealing scandal.

“The Baseball Spy” had a lifespan of five years but only featured two episodes between 2019-2024.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone appeared on the Talkin’ Yanks podcast on Tuesday and provided several injury updates.

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Max Fried nearing MLB return

Boone said Fried “looks really good.”

The left-hander will throw a rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Wednesday, throwing 60 pitches ahead of a big league return, the skipper added.

“And then hopefully be with us in Chicago for his next one,” Boone said, referring to the Yanks' three-game series against the White Sox beginning on Monday, July 27.

“Obviously not all the way built up at that point,” he continued. “But, hopefully, in a spot where we can build him [up] in his next outing.”

Fried, who landed on the injured list in mid-May with a left elbow bone bruise, made his first rehab assignment last Friday at Triple-A and allowed two runs on five hits (one home run) with no walks and three strikeouts over 3.0 innings, throwing 52 pitches (32 strikes).

In 10 starts before the injury, Fried had a 3.21 ERA and 1.005 WHIP with 50 strikeouts in 61.2 innings.

Giancarlo Stanton closer than many may think

Boone pushed back on reports that the DH was “not close.” 

“That’s not true,” the manager said of those reports.

“Someone in our front office came to me and [said], ‘Did you tell the media that G wasn’t close?’” Boone said later. “I’m like, no. I just said I don’t know when it is. So I think people just assumed that it was gonna be this long time, which I don’t anticipate it’s gonna be too long.”

Stanton was lost early this season to a calf strain and reportedly reinjured the calf while running the bases in mid-June. When Boone spoke about Stanton last week, he said the slugger had begun a running program, but there was no timeline for his return.

“He’s actually doing pretty well. I think he’ll be back in a reasonable amount of time,” the manager said Tuesday.

Asked if Stanton would play rehab games or return without them, Boone said, “We’ll see.”

“It’s obviously been a long time, so we’ll have that conversation when we get closer to that,” he said about rehab plans. “But I think he’s closer than [media reports indicated]."

In 24 games this season, the 36-year-old had three home runs and 14 RBI with a .724 OPS.

Aaron Judge still in waiting mode

The news on the Yankee slugger was more of the same, with Boone saying Judge will undergo imaging “again at some point,” but he didn’t know when that would be for sure.

“Kinda based on symptoms,” Boone said about the timetable for Judge to get his ribs re-imaged. “Over the last couple of weeks, feel like the symptoms have improved, which is good. And obviously, the last image showed healing. 

“So, yeah, just paying attention to that and hopefully, as those symptoms subside, we start upping the things that he’s able to do and then hopefully we get more confirmation [with] the next imaging that it’s healing even more, and we keep on rolling.”

Judge, who has been out of the lineup since July 5, underwent imaging on the injury over the All-Star break that showed improvements, but not enough for him to begin baseball activities.

In 59 games before the injury, the reigning AL MVP had 17 home runs and 38 RBI with a .248/.375/.533 slash line, good for a .908 OPS (151 OPS+, 149 wRC+).

Carlos Rodon throwing Tuesday

Rodon, who recently underwent a second round of PRP injections, will be throwing a side session on Tuesday.

“The idea is that he throws side today, another side, I believe, Friday or Saturday, and then a live [BP] probably next week,” Boone said. “So he’s doing well; he’s responded well to the treatments.”

Rodon originally landed on the IL with left elbow inflammation in early July, but the manager was encouraged about his progress.

In nine outings this year, the southpaw has posted a 3.30 ERA and 1.252 WHIP with 52 strikeouts in 46.1 innings.

Clarke Schmidt throwing another live BP 

Schmidt, who Boone said could return as a starter or into the Yanks' bullpen depending upon need, will throw a second live BP that should take place on Wednesday.

"Twenty pitches where he'll use all his pitches; last time he didn't spin it," the managers said of his 15-pitch effort on Saturday. "He looks good. He's kinda going through his live progressions, spring training, and hopefully be an option for us."

As far as Schmidt's role and being built up as a starter, the manager said, "We're at the building stage now, so we'll see as we go."

Of course, the timeline for Schmidt, who underwent Tommy John surgery last summer, is still up in the air.

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This week’s reacts poll follows up on a question posed by Marc Topkin in the Tampa Bay Times:

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The trade deadline is looming in just under two weeks. We’ve already seen some trades start to materialize, including yesterday’s trading of Seth Halvorsen to the Dodgers. But the biggest question on a lot of people’s minds is that of Hunter Goodman.

Will he be traded for what’s sure to be a large haul, or will he be retained by the Rockies to build around?

What do you think will happen? Let us know!

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