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The Toronto Blue Jays have designated Yariel Rodriguiez for assignment to make room on the roster for the addition of Tommy Nance:

Rodriguez was initially DFA’d in December. He cleared waivers and was assigned to the AAA Buffalo Bisons. Things went pretty well for him there, as he revamped his pitch mix to lean more heavily on his splitter and struck out 25 batters in 13.2 innings with a 2.63 ERA. That performance earned him a recall to Toronto last month. Things haven’t gone as well at the big league level. Rodriguez has posted a 7.71 ERA across 10 appearances, striking out just 6 of 45 batters faced against a dozen hits and seven walks. He’ll most likely clear waivers again, as he’s still owed the remainder of a $5 million salary this season and $6 million in 2027, with a player option for $6.3 million in 2028 that’s all but certain to be picked up. Most likely, he’ll go back to Buffalo to continue to serve as depth and hope he can finally figure out how to apply his stuff effectively against big league hitters.

Nance returns after missing nearly a month with forearm discomfort. The team leaned heavily on the 35 year old righty early in the season, to the tune of 20 appearances and 21 innings in their first 45 games. He was delivering, with a 3.86 ERA and peripheral stats that suggested he deserved significantly better than that, but the heavy usage evidently took a toll. It doesn’t appear to have been a major issue, though, as he was back on a mound within a couple of weeks and now returns to Toronto after just one rehab outing in Buffalo. He’ll bring sorely needed support to a bullpen that’s had to come up with a league leading 62 innings over the past two weeks.

Hopefully that’s just the beginning of the cavalry arriving, as Dylan Cease and Max Scherzer seem likely to rejoin the club this week. The Jays have fared better than could reasonably have been expected since Cease’s injury forced them to work with what amounts to a three man rotation, going 7-6 over the two week span, but “Kevin and Trey and pray for off days” can only work for so long.

Welcome back Tommy, and happy trails probably not for the last time Yariel.

Major League Baseball announced today that Astros OF/DH Yordan Alvarez has been named American League Player of the Week for the week of June 1-7. Alvarez hit .476 (10×21) in six games last week, recording six runs, one double, two home runs, nine RBI and five walks while posting a 1.386 OPS.

Alvarez leads the Majors this season in OPS (1.080), slugging percentage (.650) and total bases (154). He also leads the American League in home runs (22) and RBI (48) and is tied for first in extra-base hits (35). Additionally, Alvarez ranks second among AL players in batting average (.316), on-base percentage (.431) and hits (75), while ranking fourth in runs scored (45) and tied for fourth in walks (44).

This marks the fifth career AL Player of the Week Award for Alvarez and his second this season, having also earned the honor for March 30-April 5, the second week of the season. Alvarez has also won three AL Player of the Month Awards in his career, including for March/April earlier this season.

According to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, the Astros are preparing to place IF Nick Allen on the IL.

The slick-fielding Allen is batting .262 this season with a .304 OBP and .648 OPS. He had seen more duty of late with IF Braden Shewmake and 2B Jose Altuve both on IL recently. Altuve rejoined the lineup 3 days ago.

Whitcomb, 27, put up strong seasons at Triple-A Sugar Land the past 2 seasons but has struggled this year, batting just .231 with a .266 OBP and .646 OPS.

Across 331 games at Triple-A, Whitcomb is a .260 hitter with a .337 OBP and .819 OPS with 77 HR and 60 SB.

Whitcomb has never fared well at the MLB level although he has never really been given any kind of consistent opportunity either. Across 3 seasons, Whitcomb only has 90 AB across 54 G with the Astros. Whitcomb has batted .167 with a .219 OBP and .485 OPS with 2 HR and 10 RBI.

Whitcomb will likely serve as emergency insurance, with Brice Matthews filling in at 2B if Altuve should be unavailable or need a day.

If the San Francisco Giants have been too much of a bummer for you this season such that you’ve limited the amount of information you’ve taken in about them, then you probably missed how for the past month they’ve been the best offense in Major League Baseball. It’s a shocker for those of us who’ve been watching every game, too, believe it or not, and I’m going to try to make some sense of it.

The easy answer is that a group of guys started hitting to their career averages and 2026 projections and that simple regression to the mean timed out to look like an offensive explosion. Top that off with the franchise’s top hitting prospect in Bryce Eldridge and Orange-o, Black-o you’ve got the best lineup in baseball for a month. Except, looking at the numbers, it sure does seem like the Giants changed their approach in the offseason and needed two months to translate that approach to the regular season.

Overall, this collection of guys is walking well below their career averages. The team will probably wind up with the lowest walk rate in the sport come the end of the season (it currently stands at 5.9%, 1.6% behind the next-lowest team, the Toronto Blue Jays), which is incredibly impressive feat (derogatory) when you consider the offensive environment of the 21st century. Indeed, just seven teams since 2000 have ended a season with a walk rate of 6.5% or lower:

• 2002 Tigers, 6.1 BB% — record: 66-96
• 2005 Tigers, 6.3 BB% — record: 71-91
• 2007 Mariners, 6.3 BB% — record: 88-74
• 2008 Royals, 6.4 BB% — record: 75-87
• 2006 Cubs, 6.4 BB% — record: 66-96
• 2006 Mariners, 6.5 BB% — record: 78-84
• 2009 Giants, 6.5 BB% — record: 88-74

But I digress! Walks are evil in this new Giants era and earlier in the season the low walk rate was evidence of opposing pitchers gleefully throwing the ball right down the middle (basically) knowing that Giants hitters couldn’t do any damage. Right?

Well… yes. The data only points to this unfortunate fact.

Through May 6th and the first 37 games of the season, the Giants saw the most pitches in the strike zone (43.6%) of any team. The Dodgers, Brewers, and Nationals were 2nd, 3rd, and 4th about a percentage point behind the Giants in this respect. When you look at the other plate discipline statistics, the Giants aren’t such an obvious outlier that it would explain why they had scored the fewest runs and done the least damage except that once Giants made contact it was weak.

As a reminder, the Nationals were 4th in runs scored (205), the Dodgers 5th (196), and the Brewers 9th (181). The Giants were last (30th — 115) by a good measure (Mets, 29th — 134).

But look at that chart. The Giants were comparable to some of the better lineups in the sport through the first 6 weeks of the season or so in terms of swinging the bat. The only real difference — and it’s significant to be sure — is that the Giants, on top of seeing lots of pitches in the strike zone, were swinging at pitches outside of the strike zone at a really high rate. Given the results, it’s probably a decent enough conclusion that the Giants were making subpar contact on the good pitches and making plenty of the same quality of contact on the bad ones.

I’ll show that here with the expected weighted on base average. According to Statcast, the league average for that figure (the weighted on base average based on the quality of contact) is .320. Through 5/7/2026, only 3 Giants in the top 5 of hitters (and out of 18 who had an at bat) reached that threshold:

1. Jesus Rodriguez (9 AB), .391
2. Daniel Susac (23 AB), .386
3. Casey Schmitt (115 AB), .370
4. Heliot Ramos (134 AB), .318
5. Jung Hoo Lee (133 AB), .312

For comparison, 10 of 15 Dodgers were above that .320 mark, 8 of 18 Brewers crossed the threshold, and 6 of 14 Nationals did it, too. What a nightmare! What a disaster!

But you’re reading this a month after that mark and quite a lot has changed. The Giants have scored the most runs in the sport over their last 29 games (since May 8th: 157 runs) ahead of the White Sox (155), Dodgers (149), Brewers (148), Pirates (148) and Nationals (147). But beyond that, they’ve just been a good lineup: a 126 wRC+ that also leads the sport with a triple slash of .277 (1st) / .331 (5th) / .480 (1st). Their 6.5% walk rate is 29th (only Boston is worse at 6.4%), but their 19.9% strikeout rate is tied with the Dodgers for second behind the Diamondbacks (18.2%) and ahead of the Nationals (20.0%). And, by the way, the team’s season-long strikeout rate (21.1%) has kept them top 10 all season long with the Dodgers (20.2%) and Brewers (20.4%) and even Atlanta (20.7%) — the Nats are 11th (21.3%). The mark of a good lineup when the quality of contact is there, which it hasn’t been until right now.

But why has the contact gotten better? Have the players simply improved their timing? Are they jumping at the first pitch more often? Laying off those pitches outside of the zone?

The only real differences here are that the Giants are seeing fewer pitches outside the strike zone but they’re swinging even more and swinging more in the strike zone. That hasn’t changed the amount of contact in the zone, but as I’m about to show you with this other list, the quality of that contact has improved dramatically.

Over their last 29 games, 8 Giants have hit better than the league average in terms of xwOBA:

1. Jonah Cox (9 AB), .530
2. Bryce Eldridge (73 AB), .397
3. Eric Haase (34 AB), .364
4. Jung Hoo Lee (87 AB), .364
5. Heliot Ramos (31 AB), .356
6. Willy Adames (116 AB), .344
7. Rafael Devers (118 AB), .329
8. Casey Schmitt (116 AB), .326

And you can play around with the start date a bit if you want, too. If you adjust it to start on the Dodgers series in Dodger Stadium, then Luis Arraez becomes one of the 8. If you start it at the A’s series, then Matt Chapman becomes one of the 8 (Luis Arraez drops down to .315). If you narrow it down to the last 2 weeks then you still get about 8 guys who are hitting at or better than the league average just based on the quality of contact. All they’re doing is swinging slightly more and at pitches in the strike zone.

But it’s pretty clear that they’re getting off better swings. The team’s groundball rate through those first 37 games (44.8%) was the fifth-highest in the sport. Their 10.9% infield flyball percentage was 13th. A 6.6% HR/FB rate (lowest in the sport, of course). 23rd in pulled ball rate (38.7%). I know there’s a deep, unyielding group of baseball fans who can’t accept that the game has changed, but hitting the ball in the air in the modern game is more conducive to scoring runs and being a successful team. Over their last 29 games, their groundball rate has dropped to 38% (26th), their infield flyball percentage is 9.7% (20th), a 12.7% HR/FB rate, and a pulled ball rate of 40.2% (19th).

It probably helps that they’re seeing more fastballs than any other team in the National League (51.2%). That rate has gone down a bit since those first 37 games (52.3%), and even better: the average fastball velocity has dropped to 93.9 mph from 94.7 mph earlier in the season. Save for two notable exceptions, the Giants have gotten better against some average-to-bad pitching. A list of their opponents over these past 29 games with season ERAs:

• Pirates, 4.06 (15th)
• Dodgers, 3.17 (1st)
• Athletics, 4.58 (23rd)
• Diamondbacks, 4.19 (17th)
• White Sox, 4.38 (20th)
• Rockies, 5.60 (30th)
• Brewers, 3.26 (3rd)
• Cubs, 4.29 (19th)

This isn’t damning with faint praise! Good lineups are supposed to feast on bad pitching. This isn’t to say that the Giants do have a good lineup, but it’s plausible that they have an average enough lineup that if they could actually get their act together on the pitching side then 2027 could wind up being a really special season. But for this season, despite missing the playoffs, the Giants have actually started to realize the lineup they touted in the offseason. I think it’s sustainable based mainly on the fact that it is a bunch of guys hitting to their projections.

That should make for a summer that’s slightly more fun than the one we were pitched in April. So, if you’re wondering, the tl;dr version is that the Giants have hit better because their good hitters are hitting better. Bryce Eldridge coming in as the top hitting prospect and hitting like it with consistent playing time has not been a replacement for a lacking part, he’s been a huge addition. It’s so obvious but fun to see.

The Cincinnati Reds (31-33) face the San Diego Padres (33-31). San Diego has lost 11 of its past 13 games. Scheduled starting pitchers are Andrew Abbott for Cincinnati, with a 4.06 ERA, and Walker Buehler for San Diego, with a 4.53 ERA.

How to watch Cincinnati Reds vs. San Diego Padres

• Date: Monday, June 8

• Time: 9:40 p.m. ET / 6:40 p.m. PT

• Where: PETCO Park, San Diego, CA

• TV Channels: Padres.TV Presented by UC San Diego Health, Reds.TV, Gray Media, WXIX FOX19

• Live Stream:ESPN+, MLB.TV | Follow on Yahoo Sports

Team records

• Cincinnati Reds: 31-33 (No. 5 in NL Central)

• San Diego Padres: 33-31 (No. 3 in NL West)

Odds

• Spread: San Diego Padres -1.5

• Moneyline: San Diego Padres -138 (55.5%) / Cincinnati Reds +115 (44.5%)

• Over/Under: 8.0

Starting pitchers

Cincinnati Reds: Andrew Abbott (4-3, ERA: 4.06, K: 47, WHIP: 1.44)
San Diego Padres: Walker Buehler (3-3, ERA: 4.53, K: 49, WHIP: 1.28)

Weather: 69°F at first pitch

Ballpark: Capacity: 40,222 | Roof: Open | Surface: Grass

The Nationals came back nicely after getting swept by the Miami Marlins, taking 2 of 3 from the Arizona Diamondbacks in a weekend set. They still find themselves sitting at .500 with an even 33-33 record, looking to get back over the hump to begin the week. Pitching and offense were firing on all cylinders in the first two games in Arizona, before the lineup went silent in a 5-1 loss to narrowly miss a sweep.

San Francisco has been a large disappointment so far, with much of their roster underperforming, leaving them currently 12 games under .500. They are however, coming off a handful of good showings against the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs. Washington faces the top of their rotation heading into Monday, making for a series that could go either way.

Game 1 – Monday 9:45 PM EST

WSH: RHP Miles Mikolas (1-5, 6.39 ERA)

SFG: RHP Logan Webb (3-4, 4.25 ERA)

Mikolas was riding a pretty decent streak throughout May, but that came crashing down in his first June outing. He allowed 6 runs with 3 long balls across 6.0 innings against the Miami Marlins as a bulk reliever, with 4 of them coming in a crooked 4th inning. An opener is likely for the veteran righty again on Monday night, where he looks to bounce back and avoid falling into a similar scuffle that plagued the start of his season.

Some blowup outings have tanked the Giants ace’s ERA in 2026, but his most recent outing, a dazzling 7.0 innings of shutout baseball against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 3rd looked much more like the Logan Webb the league is used to seeing. He missed some of May with an injury, and the Nats will try to push him back into the bad habits that has his season ERA almost a full point above his career mark.

Game 2 – Tuesday 9:45 PM EST

WSH: LHP Andrew Alvarez (1-0, 3.54 ERA)

SFG: Adrian Houser (2-5, 5.29 ERA)

The southpaw is lined up to make his second start of the year on Tuesday night, and he produced a solid start his first time out there. His only run across 4.1 innings was a solo shot, and the Miami offense was neutralized even with some prolonged command issues. Length will once again not likely be in the cards for the swing starter, but another decent appearance could give the Nats time to jump on a struggling Adrian Houser.

Houser got torched in April but settled down for a respectable month of May where he posted an ERA just below 4. He’s also not given San Francisco much length and opposing lineups have worked his pitch count early and kept him from being truly effective. The impressive Washington offense could smell blood in the water early, and with the relatively unproven Alvarez on the bump, it’s paramount that they can jump on Houser quickly.

Game 3 – Wednesday 3:45 PM EST

WSH: LHP Foster Griffin (7-2, 3.63 ERA)

SFG: LHP Robbie Ray (4-6, 4.12 ERA)

Not much has seemed to faze Griffin to this point in the season, separating himself as by far the most reliable option in the Washington rotation. His arsenal continues to fool hitters and while the box scores aren’t elite, he’s doing enough for the Nats to stay in games. The goal should be for more of the same out of Griffin, and the Giants’ offense doesn’t pose a particularly elevated threat on paper.

Most of Ray’s outings have been adequate enough, with one 9-run collapse severely hindering his ERA. The veteran has looked decent enough to get outs without completely carving up teams, and Washington needs to put the pressure on him in the first few innings to continue riding Griffin’s hot streak.

The Philadelphia Phillies, second in the NL East at 35-30 record, face the Toronto Blue Jays, who are third in the AL East with a 32-34 record. This is the opener of a three-game series between the teams. The starting pitchers are scheduled to be Cristopher Sánchez for Philadelphia (1.46 ERA) and Patrick Corbin for Toronto (3.98 ERA).

How to watch Philadelphia Phillies vs. Toronto Blue Jays

• Date: Monday, June 8

• Time: 7:07 p.m. ET / 4:07 p.m. PT

• Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

• TV Channels: Sportsnet, SN1, TVA Sports, NBCSP

• Live Stream:ESPN+, MLB.TV | Follow on Yahoo Sports

Team records

• Philadelphia Phillies: 35-30 (No. 2 in NL East)

• Toronto Blue Jays: 32-34 (No. 3 in AL East)

Odds

• Spread: Toronto Blue Jays +1.5

• Moneyline: Toronto Blue Jays +154 (37.7%) / Philadelphia Phillies -186 (62.3%)

• Over/Under: 7.5

Starting pitchers

Philadelphia Phillies: Cristopher Sánchez (7-2, ERA: 1.46, K: 103, WHIP: 1.09)
Toronto Blue Jays: Patrick Corbin (2-2, ERA: 3.98, K: 37, WHIP: 1.38)

Weather: 65°F at first pitch

Ballpark: Capacity: 49,282 | Roof: Retractable | Surface: Artificial Turf

The New York Yankees (38-26) open a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians (37-30). The game is essentially a pick'em, with Cleveland at -117 and the New York Yankees at -103. Scheduled starting pitchers are Will Warren for the Yankees, with a 3.22 ERA, and Gavin Williams for the Guardians, with a 3.20 ERA.

How to watch New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians

• Date: Monday, June 8

• Time: 6:40 p.m. ET / 3:40 p.m. PT

• Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, OH

• TV Channels: FS1, Guardians.TV Presented by Progressive, YES

• Live Stream:ESPN+, MLB.TV | Follow on Yahoo Sports

Team records

• New York Yankees: 38-26 (No. 2 in AL East)

• Cleveland Guardians: 37-30 (No. 1 in AL Central)

Odds

• Spread: Cleveland Guardians +1.5

• Moneyline: Cleveland Guardians -117 (51.5%) / New York Yankees -103 (48.5%)

• Over/Under: 7.5

Starting pitchers

New York Yankees: Will Warren (7-1, ERA: 3.22, K: 70, WHIP: 1.20)
Cleveland Guardians: Gavin Williams (9-3, ERA: 3.20, K: 94, WHIP: 1.08)

Weather: 80°F at first pitch

Ballpark: Capacity: 34,788 | Roof: Open | Surface: Grass

Oh, how fast a week changes things. Seven days ago I led the mailbag opening with the belief that the Yankees were close to full-strength sans the return date of Max Fried being unclear. Then, we learned that Aaron Judge would be going on the IL for a fractured rib that he’s been playing through since the end of April, and likely will cost him significant time this year. The three-time AL MVP will not be able to defend his crown this year after winning the last two times, but more importantly the Yankees now have to navigate the summer without their captain setting the tone atop the lineup.

That was not the only concern coming out of the team in that span, though thankfully it was the only major one. Cam Schlittler looked a bit out of sorts in a start against Cleveland, losing a few ticks on his fastball velocity, but he rebounded well in his latest outing Sunday against Boston. Despite these worries, they’ve managed to go up in the standings and tie the Rays for first place in the division thanks to Tampa scuffling over this week. Can the team maintain a hold on first for the foreseeable future, or will they fall back into the Wild Card without Judge? Should Spencer Jones get a full-on tryout for the starting spot, or will Jasson Domínguez leap back above the depth chart once he returns? Can Schlittler keep his Cy Young candidacy going, or will he start to face more adversity? If you have questions like these, or anything else on your mind, send ‘em in for a chance to be featured in our Yankees mailbag.

Answers will run on Friday afternoon. All questions received by the night of June 11th will be considered. You can leave your submissions in the comment section below or by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

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A pair of struggling offenses hit Petco Park on Monday, June 8, with the San Diego Padres hosting the Cincinnati Reds in their series opener.

My top Reds vs. Padres predictions and MLB picks are calling for Cincy to eke out a low-scoring win tonight. 

Who will win Reds vs Padres today: Reds moneyline (+118)

It hasn’t always been pretty, but Cincinnati Reds starter Andrew Abbott has allowed three runs of fewer in each of his past seven starts for a surface 2.25 ERA that hides a 5.07 xFIP. 

I’m confident Abbott can continue his strong stretch despite the poor underlying metrics because the San Diego Padres rank last in baseball in wOBA against lefties, and they also rank last in the overall metric during their active 4-13 skid while averaging just 2.6 runs per game.

Plus, there’s nothing intimidating about Friars righty Walker Buehler’s well-above average 4.63 xERA.

I’d play the Reds moneyline to +100.

COVERS INTEL: The San Diego Padres have the lowest squared up contract rate and runs above average based on wOBA in the majors, which positions the Cincinnati Reds to win and for this total to come in Under the number.

Reds vs Padres Over/Under pick: Under 7.5 (+100)

In addition to the poor offense from the Padres, the Reds are without star Elly De La Cruz (hamstring) and have only scored 3.2 runs per game while ranking fifth-last in xwOBA during the six-game stretch.

Both teams have also trended toward their team totals Unders, with Cincy hitting in eight of the past 10 (+5.85 Units / 48% ROI) and San Diego in 31 of the past 45 (+15.20 Units / 29% ROI).

I’d obviously also play the Under 8.5, and the Under 7.5 to -105.

Reds vs Padres odds

• Moneyline: Reds +115 | Padres -135
• Run line: Reds +1.5 (-185) | Padres -1.5 (+155)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (-125) | Under 7.5 (+100)

Reds vs Padres trend

The San Diego Padres have hit the Under in 17 of their last 25 games at home (+8.35 Units / 31% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Reds vs. Padres.

How to watch Reds vs Padres and game info

Reds vs Padres latest injuries

Reds vs Padres weather

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