Are we all alive from last night? How do we even top that?
⚾️ First Pitch: 7:10pm EDT – Fenway Park, Boston MA
📺 TV: NESN
📻 Radio: WEEI
Red Sox look to keep surging vs. Athletics on Friday
A’s Shake Up Front Office
Today, the Athletics announced a mutual agreement to part ways with General Manager David Forst, who spent the past 27 years with the organization, serving as its general manager for the last 11 years. The A’s named Assistant General Manager Dan Feinstein as the Interim General Manager for the remainder of the season, while the team commences a thorough search for its next head of baseball operations.
Forst gradually ascended up through the team’s front office ranks, working as legendary general manager Billy Beane’s top lieutenant for many years. In November 2022, he took over as the A’s top baseball executive, as Beane shifted to a senior advisory role.
Forst’s Demise
Over the last few years, the duo of Forst and manager Mark Kotsey have failed to build and lead a winning team. Additionally, several of Forst’s trades and free-agent signings have failed to produce the desired results. For instance, this past offseason Forst signed free-agent pitchers Scott Barlow, Mark Leiter Jr. and Aaron Civale. Those three players are all no longer on the team’s active roster, with the injured Leiter Jr. the only one still employed by the A’s.
Yes, Forst’s job became difficult these past few years because of the challenge of convincing players to join a team playing in a minor-league ballpark. Much of the blame for that situation falls on Athletics owner John Fisher, who with the support of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, orchestrated the A’s move out of Oakland—bringing an end to the goodwill the franchise had built in a city where it won four World Series championships. However, as the owner, Fisher is far harder to replace.
Names to Watch
The Athletics should have no shortage of interested candidates, as the team already has a solid young core in place. With the addition of several quality pitchers and better luck on the injury front, the A’s could re-emerge as American League contenders sooner rather than later.
The organization could look in several directions to find Forst’s successor. One option is to promote from within, with Assistant General Manager of Player Personnel Billy Owens arguably the strongest candidate. Such a promotion would reward a longtime club executive while making him the first African-American to lead the Athletics baseball operations department.
Alternatively, the team could turn to a familiar face by bringing Farhan Zaidi back to the organization where he first established himself in baseball operations. His tenure as the San Francisco Giants President of baseball operations did not meet expectations, but perhaps a second stint in the same role would produce better results.
Last but not least, the Athletics could hire someone new to the organization. If they go this route, it would make sense to choose an executive from the Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, or Los Angeles Dodgers front office. Those four franchises have all demonstrated an ability to develop pitching and sustain long-term success.
What do you think of Fisher’s decision to part ways with Forst? Was it the right call, or should he have been given more time? Who do you think is the best candidate to replace him and help this team get back into playoff contention?
Cincinnati Reds get to prep for a 2027 season without Hunter Greene
‘Getting a second opinion in Los Angeles from Dr. Neal El Attrache’ is thinly veiled code for a baseball player about to go under the knife for surgery. The only question at that point, of course, is the level of severity, but if it’s a second opinion odds are there has already been at least one medical professional who has recommended the deepest, darkest depths of surgical options.
That’s even more so when it’s a pitcher who’s undergone both Tommy John surgery once, already, as well as a ‘cleanup’ procedure within the last four months.
So, it should come as no surprise that the news about the prized right elbow of Cincinnati Reds starter Hunter Greene was not good on Friday afternoon. He’ll need elbow surgery, for sure, with the level between internal bracing and an outright second Tommy John surgery to be determined once the docs get in there.
MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relayed the initial news.
Either procedure will dent Greene’s chances of making any sort of impact on the 2027 season. Internal bracing may get him back in a calendar year, while TJ typically takes a month or two longer than that. His 2026 season, obviously, is now kaput.
In other words, the news today is that the Reds officially get to not only try to navigate through a sea of landmines towards an outside shot at the last National League Wild Card spot without one of their co-aces this year, they also get to spend all winter trying to legitimately put together another one of those shots on a shoestring budget without one of the two players in whom they’ve actually invested money in over the last handful of seasons.
It’s backbreaking in many ways, since 4-5 WAR pitchers just don’t grow on trees. Even if the Reds have Greene’s contract insured for 2027 for the $15.33 million he’ll be owed, you can’t just go sign those guys – and definitely can’t for just that little. So, the Reds get to completely alter the way they approach the 2027 season strategically with today’s news, and I have little faith they’ll be able to pull that off.
Hell, even keeping Brady Singer around on a Qualifying Offer for ‘27 will set them back some $24 million, if there isn’t a lockout to shut everything down accordingly.
The good news, if there is any, is that there have been several MLB pitchers who’ve had Tommy John surgery twice and come back just fine. The likes of Nathan Eovaldi and Jameson Taillon are two, while Chris Paddack’s career at least didn’t completely flatline after his. Dustin May, similarly, has managed to get back to being big-league caliber even though he hasn’t yet reached the heights of when he first broke in.
So, maybe this is just another blip on Greene’s radar, even though it’s yet another injury that’s going to set the Reds roster back years in the process.
2025-26 Spurs Player Reviews: Harrison Barnes
Welcome to Pounding the Rock’s 2025-26 player reviews! The series will look at the players who finished the season with the San Antonio Spurs on guaranteed contracts and who played consequential minutes and/or a vital role (so no two-way players because we hardly saw them this year, no players who were traded away, and none of the deep bench centers, since they were both irrelevant and are now all gone).
Harrison Barnes
2025-26 stats: 77 games, 25.8 MPG, 9.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 38.8 3FG%, 4.6 3PA
Contract Status: 1 year, $8 million remaining (no options)
Age: 34
Barnes came into his second season in San Antonio entrenched as a starter and, initially, proved he deserved his spot. He started the season well, posting impressive numbers in October and November for a Spurs team that proved more ready to win than anticipated, even as it battled injuries. Before his inexplicable December-January slump, Barnes was shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc and earning praise on every broadcast because every three-pointer he took looked like it was going in. He was also doing the things expected of him outside his main role as a floor-spacer adequately, but the shooting was his main contribution.
Then December came, and as the days went by, Barnes started to look fallible from outside and not as springy on his drives and on defense. As the new year came in, Barnes was unrecognizable as a shooter, which made the general mediocrity of his other contributions stand out. His subpar rebounding for the position in particular was exposed by Julian Champagnie, who put an emphasis on cleaning the glass and was a more dynamic shooter to boot. Barnes was demoted to the bench, his role declined, and the Spurs might have considered moving on from him, using his expiring contract to get an upgrade at the deadline, if not for the cap constraints adding salary would have represented this summer.
Eventually, Barnes regained his previous form as a shooter, but by that point things had changed. Champagnie as a starter made it harder for opponents to put a center on Wembanyama, something that happened even when Barnes was hitting shots consistently. Keldon Johnson was slowing down a little but was still on a Sixth Man of the Year run. Carter Bryant was still getting minutes, and by that point starting to actually deserve them. More importantly, the Spurs were dominating opponents on both ends with their new starting unit and rotation, destroying teams on their way to the second seed in the West.
Barnes didn’t have a large role in the playoffs once San Antonio got there and didn’t make much of an impact on his limited minutes despite the occasional good stint. In the end, he was a serviceable backup who always stayed ready to play and was a positive locker room presence.
Looking ahead
In a way, Harrison Barnes’ role change is the perfect representation of the shift in expectations for the 2025/26 Spurs. The veteran forward was a perfectly fine placeholder for a team that probably went into the season with playoff aspirations, but once it became obvious that San Antonio was ready to contend, the margins started to matter and streamlining the rotation became a necessity.
The coaching staff did that last season and the front office got an upgrade this summer, so why is Barnes still in San Antonio? There seem to be many reasons. First, Barnes proved to be a consummate professional after arriving from Sacramento, on the court, in the locker room, and as a citizen. He consistently made charitable donations since his arrival in the city. His quiet leadership was likely valuable to a very young roster filled with high-profile lottery picks, a status Barnes once possessed. He proved to be extremely durable and always eager to play, never complaining about his role. It’s not a surprise the Spurs were willing to bring him back on a small deal, even though they have too many forwards on their roster now.
The other reason is that Barnes can still play. He struggled in a tiny role in the postseason but finished the regular season averaging 39 percent from beyond the arc despite shooting under 30 percent for an entire month. He’s neither a bruiser who can guard bigger players and rebound nor a ball handler who offers secondary creation, but he knows his role and tries his hardest on defense. As the months passed last year, he wasn’t as effective using the change of pace on his drives to create room to finish at the rim, but he’s a crafty player. There are much worse options as injury insurance and as a depth piece in case of a trade that depletes the forward rotation.
Barnes could also be trade bait himself on his expiring contract, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see him leave San Antonio next summer, unless he takes the minimum, as the team gets more expensive. If he does, he’ll still be a success story, considering how productive he was and the fact that the Spurs were paid to acquire him. For now, he’s still on the roster, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get some minutes when Mitch Johnson needs shooting.
Top performance
December 2 vs. Memphis Grizzlies: 31 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 7-12 3PFG
Six of Barnes’ seven games scoring 20 points or more happened between November and December, as he looked spry and deadly from beyond the arc. In his best game of the season, he helped a Spurs team missing Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle take down the Grizzlies. The early stretch in which Wemby was out but San Antonio kept winning proved that they had a strong roster and not just a superstar, and Barnes was a big part of keeping the team afloat during that time.
Final Score: C+
Up next: Julian Champagnie
Previous Reviews
Start of Friday's Yankees-Braves game delayed due to rain
The start of Friday's game between the Yankees and Atlanta Braves has been delayed due to inclement weather in The Bronx.
New York announced that it expects to start the series opener with Atlanta at approximately 9 p.m.
Left-hander Max Fried is expected to be the starter for the home side in the first game of the three-game weekend set. Fried enters with a 3.12 ERA and 0.987 WHIP with 68 strikeouts to 23 walks in 75 innings over 13 starts.
Fried is still working his way back to full health after missing all of June and most of July with an elbow ailment. In his three outings since his return from the IL, while working his way back under a pitch count, he has surrendered four runs on eight hits and four walks over 13.1 innings. The southpaw has tallied 18 strikeouts and manager Aaron Boone has been encouraged by what he's seen.
"I feel like the stuff has been really good; the second time out, struggled to get a little bit of a rhythm," Boone said on Friday, referencing a short outing in Chicago's southside. "But I feel like overall he’s throwing the ball really well. I feel like the stuff’s really good, so yeah, really encouraged."
However, Fried will once again be on a bit of a pitch count. "Almost," the skipper said. "He's not all the way up to like 100 [pitches], but he's getting there."
The visitors from Atlanta, who are riding an eight-game winning streak and are 15-5 since the All-Star break, are expected to turn the ball over to right-hander TylerMahle for his first outing with the club after coming over in a trade deadline deal with the San Francisco Giants.
In 18 starts with the Giants, the 31-year-old posted a 5.13 ERA and 1.394 WHIP with 89 strikeouts to 37 walks in 94.2 innings.
Game #116: Athletics at Red Sox Game Thread
Things are not going well for the A’s right now. Losers of eight straight, the A’s are getting awfully close to the Angels at the cellar of the American League. Ideally let’s stay out of worst place the rest of the season. The club has a tall task in front of them though as they travel to the home of the hottest team in the entire league. So naturally the A’s will sweep them, right?
It’ll be right-hander Jack Perkins getting the ball this evening looking to be the stopper for the squad. The young arm has had a tough overall year, whether in the bullpen or in the rotation. He got off to a decent start here in the second half before getting roughed up for six earned runs last time out. On the bright side, the start before that was against these same Red Sox and he had arguably his best start as a big leaguer, firing 5 2/3 innings while allowing just two runs in an eventual Boston win.
Here’s the Athletics’ lineup for the series opener:
The club is mixing things up a bit with Bolte/Wilson atop the lineup, followed by Heim and Soderstrom in their usual positions of catcher and left field.
We’ll see Tommy White at third base this evening, meaning Max Muncy is at the hot corner tonight. Brian Serven is serving as the DH tonight with Lawrence Butler in right, and the club will see a new face in Jonathan Ornelas at the keystone.
Meanwhile Boston has their own young starter on the bump tonight in Payton Tolle. Tonight’s contest is a rematch between these two pitchers from last week, when Boston took the win. The left-handed Tolle, in his first extended look in the Red Sox rotation, has a 3.18 ERA in 18 starts, which has been a huge reason why Boston looks postseason bound.
And Boston’s starting nine tonight:
Red Sox on a winning streak, A’s on a losing streak. You’d be a fool to bet against us tonight. Let’s go A’s!
Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA
Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, A’s Cast
Chicago Cubs vs. Kansas City Royals preview, Friday 8/7, 7:10 CT
Friday notes…
- STARTING A ROAD TRIP: The Cubs are 5-4 this year in first games of road trips. Last year, they finished 4-8. They are 5-4 on Friday on the road. Last year, they finished 4-9. They are 8-10 in first games of series on the road. Last year, they finished 9-17. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
- THREE IS THE NUMBER OF THE COUNTING: With yesterday’s 3-2 win, the Cubs are 5-6 when they have scored exactly three runs and 63-19 when they have scored three or more. They are 4-30 with two or fewer: 10 shutout losses, 1-11 with one run and 3-9 with two. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
- TRIPLE DIGITS: The winning run yesterday boosted the Cubs’ run differential for the season to triple digits for the first this at the end of a game this season. They are +100, 595-495. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
- TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: Ricky Gutierrez scores the winning run in a crazy ninth inning in a 5-4 Cubs walk-off win over the Rockies. During this game former Bear Steve McMichael was ejected from Wrigley Field by plate umpire Angel Hernandez for making comments dissing the umpires during the seventh-inning stretch. It happened 25 years ago today, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2001.
Cubs lineup:
Royals lineup:
Kevin Gausman, RHP vs. Daniel Lynch IV, LHP
It has been noted elsewhere that while Kevin Gausman’s ERA is high (4.38), his FIP (3.50) is right in line with his career norms, and now he has the Cubs defense behind him.
It also should be noted that Gausman’s worst start of the year (two innings, seven runs) came against Cubs hitters June 19 at Wrigley Field, and in his 22 other starts he has a 3.94 ERA.
His last start against the Royals was Aug. 1, 2025 in Toronto. He allowed five runs in six innings, not so great. Current Royals are batting .267 (20-for-75) against him, but a lot of that is Starling Marte (8-for-15, three doubles, a home run). So keep Marte down and this could be a good game for Gausman.
As you can see below, his repertoire is pretty simple: Four-seamer, splitter, slider. Seems to work well for him.
According to this, Daniel Lynch IV, who has been a reliever all year, is being given a full starting rotation shot due to injuries. More:
Lynch has been mostly a one-inning guy all year. The most pitches he’s thrown in any game is 32, and that was back in May. He last pitched on Tuesday, so who knows how long he will go. He has never faced the Cubs and the only Cubs who have seen him are Alex Bregman (1-for-1) and Michael Conforto (0-for-1), so that’s pretty meaningless.
Incidentally, if you are wondering about the “IV” after Lynch’s name, here’s the explanation.
Here is the weather forecast for the area around Kauffman Stadium.
Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.
Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Royals site Royals Review. If you do go there to interact with Royals fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.
The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.
You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).
At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.
The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.
You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.
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Stokes question that refuses to die; why Aussie selection race is set to explode — Talking Points
The countdown to cricket’s greatest rivalry is officially on.
Today in sports history, Aug. 2
Aug. 2
Today in sports history
Today is Aug. 2. On this date in:
1907: Walter Johnson made his major league debut for Washington, beginning a Hall of Fame career that produced 417 victories.
1912: Golfer John McDermott successfully defended his U.S. Open title, becoming the first American-born golfer to win the championship twice.
1921: A Chicago jury acquitted the eight Chicago White Sox players accused in the Black Sox scandal, one of the most significant legal outcomes in baseball history. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned them from Organized Baseball for life the following day.
1952: Seventeen-year-old Floyd Patterson captured the Olympic middleweight boxing gold medal in Helsinki, launching a career that later led to the world heavyweight championship.
1959: Willie McCovey hit the first home run of his career for the San Francisco Giants. He finished with 521 homers and a plaque in Cooperstown.
1972: Houston Astros star César Cedeño hit for the cycle against the Cincinnati Reds.
1973: George Brett made his major league debut with the Kansas City Royals, collecting a hit in the first game of a Hall of Fame career that yielded 3,154 hits.
1979: New York Yankees captain Thurman Munson died at age 32 when the plane he was piloting crashed near Canton, Ohio. The Yankees immediately retired his No. 15.
1980: Thomas Hearns stopped Pipino Cuevas in the second round in Detroit to capture the WBA welterweight championship.
1980: Herb Adderley, Deacon Jones, Bob Lilly and Jim Otto were enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1982: Oakland’s Rickey Henderson stole his 100th base of the season, becoming the first player of baseball’s modern era to record multiple 100-steal seasons.
1987: Cincinnati Reds outfielder Eric Davis hit a walk-off homer against the San Francisco Giants for his 30th of the season, making him the seventh major league player to record 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in a season.
1987: Kansas City Royals rookie Kevin Seitzer went 6-for-6 with two home runs and seven RBIs in a 13-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
1993: A group led by Peter Angelos won a bankruptcy auction for the Baltimore Orioles with a then-record bid of $173 million, setting a new benchmark for the value of a Major League Baseball franchise.
2005: In a five-team, 13-player trade announced by the Heat, Miami acquired Antoine Walker, Jason Williams and James Posey in what was then the NBA’s largest trade.
2012: Gabby Douglas won the Olympic women’s gymnastics all-around championship in London, becoming the first Black woman to capture the title.
2012: Michael Phelps won the Olympic 200-meter individual medley for the third consecutive games, becoming the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three Olympics.
2015: Inbee Park won the Women’s British Open at Turnberry to complete the LPGA career Grand Slam.
2020: Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for a record seventh time despite completing the final lap at Silverstone with a punctured tire.
2024: French swimmer Léon Marchand won the Olympic 200-meter individual medley in an Olympic-record 1:54.06, completing a four-gold performance in which he set an Olympic record in every event.
2024: Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei won the Olympic men’s 10,000 meters in an Olympic-record 26 minutes, 43.14 seconds.
2024: San Francisco’s Blake Snell threw the first no-hitter of his career, blanking the Cincinnati Reds for the Giants.
— USA TODAY Network
This story was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of information gathering, review, editing and publishing. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: Today in sports history, Aug. 2
Game Discussion: Milwaukee Brewers (72-43) vs. Minnesota Twins (57-59)
After a 3-1 series victory over the Pirates, the Milwaukee Brewers turn their attention to their western border and welcome the Minnesota Twins to town for a three-day weekend set. The Twins, despite low external expectations before the season, are hanging around in the American League playoff race, but they’re coming off of a series in which they lost two of three to the lowly Kansas City Royals.
Minnesota’s lineup is not the issue. This group boasts plenty of punch, even with their central star, Byron Buxton, on the injured list; the Twins are just five runs behind the White Sox for most runs in the American League this season (though the top seven teams in runs scored are all in the NL, so Minnesota is just 10th overall). The Twins’ weakness this season has been on the pitching side, especially in the bullpen, though they made a couple of moves to shore up that unit at the trade deadline with deals that brought in relievers Jeff Hoffman, AJ Minter, Tommy Nance, and starter Dean Kremer.
Tonight, the Twins will throw righty Zebby Matthews, freshly recalled from Triple-A St. Paul in the wake of Joe Ryan’s glute injury and subsequent IL placement. Matthews has bounced back and forth between the majors and minors this season, and will be making his 15th start for the Twins; in 81 innings in his previous 14 starts, Matthews is 4-8 with a 5.22 ERA and 5.03 FIP. Matthews doesn’t walk a ton of batters but his home runs are up quite a bit in 2026 while his strikeouts are down quite a bit, an unenviable combination.
In response, Milwaukee will pitch Shane Drohan, who makes his 13th start and 23rd appearance for the Brewers. In 88 innings overall this season, Drohan has a 3.48 ERA and impressive 3.03 FIP, but arguably his biggest contribution has been his consistency; in six starts in July, Drohan went at least 5 2/3 innings each time out, and except for one unfortunate game against the Rockies, he allowed three runs or fewer in all of them.
Jake Bauers is notably back in the lineup at first base for the Brewers after missing a couple of games with abdominal issues. This does finally enact the “move Christian Yelich down in the lineup” plan that was delayed when Bauers was scratched earlier this week, though Yelich will bat sixth tonight instead of the seventh position he was originally slated for. Also notable is that David Hamilton continues to get starts at third base against right-handed pitchers, while Joey Ortiz is on the bench for the fourth straight game. Cooper Pratt is at shortstop, with Brice Turang in his usual spot at second, while William Contreras catches and the outfield goes Jackson Chourio-Garrett Mitchell-Luis Lara from left to right.
A big note about the Twins’ lineup tonight: it’ll be the debut for the team’s #2 prospect via MLB Pipeline and their #29 prospect overall, Kaelen Culpepper. (Kaelen is not, no matter what Google’s AI tells you, related to Daunte.) Culpepper is a 23-year-old who was the Twins’ first-round draft pick in 2024 and boasts solid tools across the board. In 74 games for St. Paul this season, Culpepper hit .271/.367/.478 with 15 doubles, 14 homers, and 17 stolen bases in 20 tries. He’ll start at shorstop and bat seventh tonight, just in front of old friend Victor Caratini.
First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network.
New York Mets vs. Pittsburgh Pirates: Zac Thornton vs. Carmen Mlodzinski
New York Mets vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, August 7, 2026, 6:40 p.m. ET
The Pittsburgh Pirates are getting ready for three games set this weekend at PNC Park against the New York Mets.
This would be Mitch Keller’s turn in the rotation, but a season-ending injury with his right arm will bring Carmen Mlodzinski back into the rotation. Mlodzinski last started a game on May 25 but was moved to the bullpen for June and July. Now that the calendar has turned to August, he is back in the rotation as the team’s fifth starter.
He started against the Mets in the first series of the season back on March 29, where he pitched 4.1 innings, giving up 6 hits and 2 runs as the Pirates won 4-3 in 10 innings at Citi Field.
The Mets are giving the ball to rookie Zac Thornton, who is making his seventh start of the season. He is 2-2 with a 2.88 ERA. In his last start on August 1 against the Miami Marlins, he pitched 4.2 innings, gave up six hits, and took a 6-2 loss at home.
With Mlodzinski back in the rotation, the Pirates hope that he can help the team in a position of need with the starting rotation in a bind.
Location: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA
Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet Pittsburgh
Pitching Matchup: Zac Thornton (2-2, 2.88 ERA) vs. Carmen Mlodzinski (6-3, 3.15 ERA)
BD community, chime off in the comments section below for the game day thread. Enjoy!
Mets at Pirates: Lineups, broadcast info, and open thread, 8/7/26
Mets lineup
- A.J. Ewing – CF
- Francisco Lindor – SS
- Bo Bichette – 3B
- Carson Benge – LF
- Jared Young – 1B
- Marcus Semien – 2B
- Brett Baty – RF
- Jorge Polanco – DH
- Luis Torrens – C
Zac Thornton – LHP
Pirates lineup
- Jake Mangum – CF
- Brandon Lowe – 2B
- Bryan Reynolds – LF
- Esmerlyn Valdez – RF
- Spencer Horwitz – 1B
- Nick Gonzales – 3B
- Ronny Simon – DH
- Jared Triolo – SS
- Rafael Flores – C
Carmen Mlodzinski – RHP
Broadcast info
First pitch: 6:40pm EDT
TV: WPIX
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2
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Bucks Reacts Survey Results: Jon Horst owes us an explanation
This week, we’ve garnered your thoughts on trader drafter Jon. Often praised for his ability to secure heists via trade, Horst’s drafting reputation has, well… been a point of contention.
Prior to polling, it seemed that Bucks fans were largely down on Horst as a drafter, but what seems to be consensus and what’s actually consensus are sometimes two completely different things. As a teacher, I see this all the time. On this occasion, however, the voting—and consensus—is clear: Horst sucks.
In truth, it’s hard to ignore the reality of Horst’s draft selections. D.J. Wilson is out of the league. Jordan Nwora is too. Andre Jackson Jr. is hanging by a thread (though he may have found a lifeline), as are MarJon Beauchamp, Chris Livingston, Tyler Smith, and AJ Johnson—if they haven’t already dropped. You know it too:
G may: It was a failure in team building. There’s no reason to nuance it. He had picks. He missed worse than Rickie Weeks swinging for the fences on a curveball in the dirt in the leadoff spot.
R984: No high picks, sure. But look at where Miami picked the collection of good players we just got from them. 1 out of 6 isn’t good enough. Not nearly good enough.
Theshackman: No. And if you think about this as “overall return on draft capital” (picks traded away) it looks even worse.
While the majority of fans (51%) clearly think Horst has let the Bucks down with his selections, it’s not so cut and dry for all, with 36% of voters thinking it’s nuanced:
Knuckles: My answer then was in the middle: we need to draft better moving forward and fortify our floor, and lean into player development, but that is not where the Bucks were for a while. We have a new identity now to lean into and we should, but I also don’t want to ignore the nuance that led us to making some of these choices in the first place.
Sportsfanwisc: I went with the middle ground. The NBA as a whole gets a D grade for player development. Around the draft and polls such as this I scroll through NBA drafts as a sobering reminder out of 60 picks only 20 to 25 will play any meaningful minutes.
Kaz5: My point is only that drafting guys is really, really challenging. Even going off of the best information available at the time, no one really, truly knows what is going to happen. That doesn’t mean that you give each and every GM a pass every time, but keep in mind that nothing in the draft is certain.
Of course, the empaths among us, despite making up just 13% of voters, weren’t without rationale either:
BucksInMA:I think people are a little harsh – Donte outperformed his draft slot and Horst’s second round success in genuinely really good.
BenDrankin3000: I chose he has been treated too harshly. I think he deserves some criticism for drafting, I just think a lot of the criticism has been a bit over the top. He didn’t exactly have a ton of high picks to work with.
In all, it seems Horst has indeed lost broken his compass when it comes to the draft—at least as far as fans are concerned. Here’s hoping Burries’ and Ament’s play this season is good enough to start righting that ship.
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Yankees fans dissatisfied with deadline moves
Even with many tries, one probably would not have been able to guess the Yankees’ moves at the 2026 Trade Deadline, making evaluating them a very peculiar task. With that in mind, we asked for your help with a poll that asked you to grade the Yankees’ deadline.
Before getting into it, we wanted to thank all 240 of you who voted in this poll, with the overwhelming results pointing to some form of disappointment.
A little over two-thirds of the votes went to options C and D, the two with very distinct definitions—C highlighting the frustration with not adding a catcher when the need was obvious, while D stressed the negligent way it approached the bullpen, failing to add any significant pieces to complement this unity.
Despite having the second most home runs in the sport, the Yankees’ offense is only number 10 in wRC+. Recent struggles and injuries aside, one of its primary issues has been the absolutely horrid production from the catching position.
Yankees catchers in 2026: .191/.268/.299 – 29 RBI (lowest in baseball)
The point about Austin Wells’ missed time contributing to this putrid line loses a lot of weight when he is still the number one responsible player for it. Granted, he and the rest of the catching depth chart do find a way to provide value above replacement on the defensive side, as our good friend Michael Zeno illustrated in this late May article here. In the end, that only takes you so far.
Maybe Hunter Goodman was unattainable, and perhaps Ryan Jeffers was no longer so easily available after the Twins decided to go for it, but not to do anything at all is a bad look. The counterpoint to this is that the one team that acquired a big-name catcher in this deadline did so by paying a price that the Yankees and other buying clubs were probably right in not doing so—or at least reasonably justified. As the old saying goes, the Red Sox made the Orioles an offer they couldn’t refuse.
For those of you who voted for option D, admittedly a higher number than I expected, there is probably a consensus that the level of performance this bullpen has shown across 162 doesn’t entirely match the trust it invokes come playoff time. After all, the Yankees do have the second-lowest bullpen ERA in the sport. Not to mention the feeling with bullpens that you can always get a bit better.
While the argument with catchers may primarily lie in just how brutal the production has been this season, with relievers the focus is different: all the opportunities that the market presented, each one of them passed up by the Yankees. While The Athletic and Cashman himself claimed the report that the Yankees had offered Will Warren for Adrián Morejón was untrue, it wasn’t a shocking proposition in terms of the Yankees seeking bullpen improvement.
Thinking it over, one might be inclined to believe this proposal didn’t happen. Had the Yankees been willing to part with Warren to improve their bullpen, one would figure they would have found a way to add someone else if the Padres had closed that door. Regardless of any conversations the Yankees may or may not have had with San Diego, they chose to stand pat. Luke Weaver, A.J. Minter, Ryan Zeferjahn, Erik Miller, Morejón himself, and several other productive relievers of different levels were all dealt for various prices, and the Yankees didn’t acquire any of them.
From a broader look at this voting, the frustrations towards not adding a catcher or a reliever share a similar outlook. Had the team made a bigger splash to improve its lineup, these two frustrations might not carry the same weight. The fact that most fans probably carry reservations about the potential impact of Luis García Jr. and Heliot Ramos inevitably affects how we view the lack of additions to the bullpen and the catching position. It is all connected.
Garcia’s home run in his first game in pinstripes was a nice welcome moment, but it’ll take more for everyone to buy in. Ramos doesn’t even have that impressive 2026 track record to back a bit more optimism. Sure, both of these players are more than capable of adding further depth to this lineup, but accounting for all this team could do, all they needed to do, and all that they ultimately did—seeing this in the light of what is expected of them—the frustrations are understandable.
It might not be the most pertinent item on the agenda—one could even debate the validity of letting it dictate the voting—but pointing out a lack of ammunition to make the moves that this team ultimately needed also falls on the front office. If you require a lot of help and lack the firepower to acquire it, at least in the way you’d prefer, then something has gone wrong along the way. Not having the farm system that allows you to be aggressive is of your doing.
These survey results are sponsored by FanDuel.
Brandon Clarke's cause of death revealed: How Memphis Grizzlies star died
Former Memphis Grizzlies player Brandon Clarke died earlier this year from the effects of heroin and cocaine, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office announced on Friday, Aug. 7. The office ruled Clarke's death to be an accident.
Clarke was pronounced dead by authorities on May 11 after being found unresponsive in his bedroom, according to Friday's announcement. A deputy medical examiner conducted an examination of Clarke at the DME’s Forensic Science Center on May 12 and the cause and manner of death were certified Aug. 7.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office stated that its report will be available at a future date. Clarke was 29 years old.
Clarke was the No. 21 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft out of Gonzaga and enjoyed initial success in the league, earning all-rookie honors while averaging a career-high 12.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He signed a four-year, $50 million contract extension with Memphis in 2022.
Clarke's sudden death happened almost six weeks after he was arrested in Arkansas for improper passing, possession of a controlled substance, fleeing and exceeding the speed limit and trafficking a controlled substance. He had just finished his seventh NBA season, all of which he spent with the Grizzlies.
Clarke allegedly led Cross County Sheriff's Office deputies on a miles-long chase on April 1, with speeds reaching over 100 mph, and was found with over 230 grams of kratom in his possession, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Memphis Commercial Appeal, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Clarke's career had been derailed in recent years by injuries. He played in just six games during the 2023-24 season due to a torn Achilles and missed all but two games this past season due to calf and knee ailments.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brandon Clarke's cause of death revealed: How Memphis Grizzlies star died