Worldwide Sports News

The Baltimore Orioles have claimed center fielder Luis Robert Jr. off waivers from the Mets, and with that, the 29-year-old’s brief tenure with the Mets has come to an end.

Known as an injury-prone player before the Mets traded for him ahead of the 2026 season, Robert missed a huge chunk of time this year with a lower back issue. He played in 58 games for the Mets, made 218 plate appearances, and hit .223/.303/.399 with 10 home runs, a 96 wRC+, and 0.5 fWAR. He’s earning $20 million this year and has a team option for 2027 at the same salary with a $2 million buyout in the very likely event that the option is declined.

For now, the Mets save some money, and Robert joins Pete Alonso and company in Baltimore as the Orioles attempt to make the playoffs via the third Wild Card spot in the American League. At the moment, they’re 68-69, one game back of the Guardians for that spot, a half-game ahead of the Rangers, and one game ahead of the Rangers. And if the Twins, Mariners, or Tigers were to go on a brief hot streak, they’re not totally out of that playoff picture yet, either.

To replace Robert on the active roster, the Mets have reinstated Mark Vientos from the injured list. The 26-year-old has hit just .211/.256/.388 with 11 home runs, a 76 wRC+, and -1.1 fWAR, which has made him the sixth-worst in baseball among position players this year. He’s made just 254 plate appearances and had been on the injured list since early July with a fractured hand.

And last but not least, the Mets are planning to call up outfielder Nick Morabito when rosters expand tomorrow, per a report from Will Sammon.

The Yankees completed their homestand this weekend with about as good of a result as you could ask for. After dropping two of three to Houston and getting just one run scored in the finale of that series, Friday’s 1-0 nailbiter of a win against Boston and subsequent shutout loss to them on the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday brought back concerns of their stagnant offense. However, they ripped through the final two games, scoring nine in the nightcap to split the doubleheader before blasting their way to 16 runs in the finale on Sunday to take the series and the season record against Boston. They now stand four games up on the Red Sox in the standings, but with that tiebreaker in hand they’ve got an extra game of protection should these two teams remain in the top Wild Card slots and face off to start October.

The final month of the season is now in front of them, and they’ve got both a sizeable gap on Boston to uphold while also facing a nearly-identical gap between them and Tampa Bay for first place. Their penultimate series of the season lines them up to deal with that problem head-on, but if the deficit isn’t more than a game or two by then the odds of totally flipping the standings are negligible. Is the offensive eruption they had this weekend a sign of the lineup finally clicking, or will the droughts keep popping up? Was Will Warren’s performance in the finale the best start he’s had in his career, and can he follow it up with more down the stretch? How much are you expecting from Aaron Judge as he gears up to jump straight back into an MLB lineup without rehab games? 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 September 3rd will be considered. You can leave your submissions in the comment section below or by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Baseball spent the last three days running like Facebook marketplace.

Luis Robert Jr. sold. The Mets put the center fielder on waivers Saturday, essentially putting an ad out for the other 29 teams to let them know he was available. By Monday afternoon he was an Oriole. New York gets nothing back except salary relief and a waiver fee. No prospect, no draft pick, not even cash considerations. The Mets are just happy they are out from under the $3 million left on his deal.

Eugenio Suarez and TJ Friedl did not sell.

Cincinnati put both on waivers last week and told the other 29 teams they could have either one for the cost of their salary. Friedl's cost about $700,000. Nobody bit. He is still a Red, So is Suarez. And everybody knows the Reds were willing to give them away.

Welcome to waiver claim season.

Nearly a month after MLB's official trade deadline, teams are looking for depth and potential at little cost and risk. They have been perusing the waiver wire like a marketplace for nearly a month. Monday was the last day that they could make a move and have it matter in October.

So, here's what's happening.

The Dodgers ended August on a high note with a win on Sunday in Detroit, but the month itself was quite mediocre, with an offense that left a lot to be desired.

The result was a losing month, going just 13-14 in August, following a ho-hum 13-11 in July. The Dodgers were outscored in July (113-105), and August was more of the same, scoring 104 runs and allowing 106. This marks the first time the Dodgers were outscored in consecutive months since April, May, and June 2013. That was the first season of a 13-year stretch of consecutive playoff berths, a streak that will hit 14 this year despite the last two months of meh.

The main positive of August was getting both Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow back from months-long stints on the injured list, and putting the Dodgers postseason rotation in place, along with the acquisition of Tarik Skubal joining Yohsinobu Yamamoto. Those four combined for 2.22 ERA in 16 starts with 116 strikeouts against only 26 walks in 97 1/3 innings, with a 23.6-percent strikeout-minus-walk rate.

Roki Sasaki, Eric Lauer, Justin Wrobleski, and Emmet Sheehan combined for 11 starts, plus one relief appearance, with a collective 6.83 ERA, 16 home runs allowed, and a 9.9-percent strikeout-minus-walk rate. The Dodgers lost eight of their 11 starts.

Fun fact

Tommy Edman has been hit by 10 pitches this season, the most by a Dodger since Freddie Freeman in 2024. Five of those hit by pitches came in a 12-day span from August 17-28, after Edman was also hit by five pitches in July. Per the Dodgers, Edman is the first player in franchise history to get hit by five pitches two months in a row since Dan McGann in May and June 1899 for Brooklyn. The only other Dodgers player with two five-HBP months in the same season is Justin Turner, in April and September 2017.

The Dodgers had their second straight month of offensive malaise, headlined by a road trip through Atlanta and Detroit last week that saw the Dodgers score only 17 runs in six games. The Dodgers scored two or fewer runs nine times during August, which was pretty much in line with the rest of their season.

Alex Call led the Dodgers with an .830 OPS in August, but only batted 22 times. The only other players with an OPS that started with an eight were Max Muncy (.828, 19 RBI) and Andy Pages (.802 in 19 games before a fastball broke his hand).

Freddie Freeman had no home runs in his 26 games in August, with a 96 wRC+. Regulars Mookie Betts (97 wRC+), Teoscar Hernández (89 wRC+), Kyle Tucker (69 wRC+) and Edman (67 wRC+) were all below average offensively.

They couldn’t get much traction against opposing starting pitchers. Excluding the three games at Coors Field from August 17-19, starting pitchers against the Dodgers in August had a 3.29 ERA while averaging 5.58 innings per start.

The difference over the last two months for the Dodgers has been the lack of big games, scoring six runs or more only six times in August, their worst such month of the season.

Not being able to blow teams out led to a lot of closer games, with 15 of the Dodgers’ 27 August games decided by one run. The Dodgers were 7-8 in those games.

On the season, the Dodgers are 29-14 in blowouts, games decided by five or more runs, tied for the second-most blowout runs in MLB. But that’s after having only two such wins in July, and only two blowout wins in August — on August 17 at Coors Field, and Sunday in Detroit.

After slugging only .395 in July, they slugged just .378 during August, ninth-lowest in MLB. Two powerless months in a row was only one fewer than the total number of sub-.400 slugging months the Dodgers had in the previous seven seasons combined.

Up next

Only four weeks remain in the regular season, and the Dodgers play 25 games in 27 days beginning Tuesday. Fifteen of the final 25 games are at Dodger Stadium, and the Dodgers in September only play two series against teams with winning records — the 69-68 Marlins (September 11-13 in Miami) and 72-65 Padres (September 22-24 in Los Angeles).

Today’s the final day of August, which means that we’re knocking on the door of the crucial month of September. Every team in baseball will get an opportunity to add two players to their roster for the final month of the season and as such, the Braves have decided to go with a balance of veteran presence and young talent that could potentially make a big impact.

Friend of the site Grant McAuley is reporting that the Braves have decided that their two September callups will be RHP Blake Burkhalter and INF Kyle Farmer.

As Grant mentioned in the post above, Burkhalter has been doing a very good job down on the farm this season, with the vast majority of those 35.2 innings coming at the Triple-A level with the Gwinnett Stripers. He’s sitting on a 1.48 ERA (31 ERA-) and a 2.77 FIP (58 FIP-) across 24.1 Triple-A innings. As evidenced by the impending call-up, it sure seems like the Braves have decided that Burkhalter deserves a shot in the bigs and he could certainly help out a bullpen that has continued to get the job done throughout the season. Burkhalter’s first appearance will be his big league debut, so that’s exciting to think about.

Burkhalter made our Battery Power prospects list of players who’d likely be called up to the bigs in 2026, so there’s that. It also would behoove you to look out for his cutter, which our crew deemed as the best on the farm.

Meanwhile, the Braves have clearly decided to shore up their depth at the big league level by bringing Farmer back into the fold. Farmer (who was actually part of the Opening Day roster, believe it or not) had actually been released back in July but the Braves brought him back on a minor league deal on July 28 and his numbers in the minors (.227/.289/.255, .270 wOBA, 50 wRC+) have been very similar to what he produced across 12 games and 16 plate appearances with the Braves in the bigs (.267/.250/.333, .238 wOBA, 52 wRC+).

Basically, I’d imagine that Farmer will be stashed directly on the bench and he’ll get occasional pinch hitting/running duties and could possibly get a start if the injury bug gets bad or the Braves put out a Day After Clinching lineup if all goes well and they hold on to the divisional lead.

Reports surfaced on Sunday that infield prospect John Peck would be promoted to Detroit to make his major league debut on the road against the Minnesota Twins. The Tigers seventh round pick back in 2023 out of Pepperdine University, the recently turned 24-year-old was always a quality defender, but over the past year he’s broken out with the bat. He reached Triple-A Toledo in late June, and now that rapid rise will culminate with a promotion to the major leagues.

The Tigers draft strategy under amateur scouting director Mark Connor, who has done a pretty brilliant job overall, has often seen them selecting undervalued athletic middle infielders and center fielders with contact skills for cheap draft bonuses. The idea is that by stockpiling this type of player to save money for other more prominent names in the draft, the Tigers will get more bang for their buck overall. If just one player like this blooms in terms of plate discipline and power in their mid-20’s per draft, these classes are going to turn out much stronger than just the big bonus names.

The 2023 draft is the first test of this strategy, and both outfielder Brett Callahan and infielder Peck are the prominent examples of just how well it can work with good player development. The Tigers already have the likely AL Rookie of the Year in Kevin McGonigle, along with blue chip center fielder Max Clark in the big leagues out of the 2023 draft class. You can’t do much better with two first round picks, and now Callahan and Peck, each of whom received a bonus under $250,000 have reached the Show with a chance to help turn their draft class into perhaps the best in team history.

Peck was Pepperdine’s starting shortstop when the Tigers paid him $222,500 to sign as their seventh round pick. Coming from a lower tier baseball power, and flashing minimal home run power, Peck’s value was mostly tied up in his glove on draft day. He hit six home runs in 49 games during his junior year, so he didn’t get any significant national attention. Frankly his 21.7 percent strikeout rate didn’t really fit the profile of a light-hitting, contact first athlete, but the Tigers liked his raw power and his chances to develop in pro ball, and they’ve been proven correct so far.

Even so, there are still major questions about Peck’s bat and whether he’ll be able to adapt to major league pitching. The Tigers are moving him up very aggressively here, and it’s not as though he tore Double-A and Triple-A up this year to a degree that would lend a lot of confidence to a fast promotion. Peck showed out pretty well back in spring training, building on a modest 2025 breakout that saw him jump to Double-A late in the season. He arrived in camp with more good muscle on his six-foot frame, and the adjustments he’s made over two seasons to lower his hands and simplify his path to the baseball continued to pay dividends as he made plenty of hard contact in camp and showed his ability to drive balls to the opposite field as well.

The Tigers sent him out to Erie to continue to build on his 25 games look there at the end of the 2025 season. Peck provided some confirmation of spring impressions by cranking 10 homers and stealing 19 bags in 58 games there from April through late June. He still struck out quite a bit for a player without huge power numbers, punching out 25 percent of the time, while walking just 5.5 percent of the time. More selectivity was required for Peck to avoid getting himself out on the ground a lot, but that didn’t really show up at all. He did some damage, but he still hit the ball on the ground nearly 50 percent of the time he put something in play. He slashed .285/ .328 ./511 for the SeaWolves, and the Tigers decided to move him, along with Callahan, up to Toledo in late June.

Peck never got a chance to settle in at the Triple-A level. He suffered a leg injury in just his second game with the Mud Hens on June 24, and missed about six weeks. The nature of the injury was never made public, but we’re guessing hamstring. Peck only returned to Toledo from the injured list and a rehab stint last Tuesday, playing one series with the Hens. There’s nothing wrong with throwing him into the deep end for a month since he’ll be added to the 40-man roster this fall, but he’s basically skipping Triple-A and doesn’t have the discipline and contact numbers to justify such a rapid promotion.

Defensively, Peck can play shortstop but he has some trouble there throwing on the run from tough angles. He’s very good at both third and second base, occasionally misplaying a ball, but making some stellar plays as well. His arm strength is plenty, but again he can get a little wild at times throwing on the move. Right now, I don’t really view him as a future everyday player, but rather more of a right-handed hitting Zach McKinstry with a little more raw power to cash in if he can start putting more balls in the air to the pull side.

Still, defensive versatility is really valuable, and here it’s allowing Peck to skip right over a more highly regarded hitting prospect in Max Anderson. Anderson plays second base but isn’t particularly good there and doesn’t have the speed, agility, or arm to really handle the left side of the infield at all. The Tigers don’t really have a spot for Anderson right now. Peck isn’t really an everyday shortstop but he can hang there, and he’s at least an average defender everywhere else and can probably learn to play some corner outfield as well.

Rosters don’t expand until Tuesday, when the active rosters grow from 26 to 28 players, so someone will have to be demoted if Peck is coming up for Monday night’s game. Veteran outfielder Corey Julks seems the most likely player to be designated for assignment, to make a spot on the 40-man and active rosters for Peck.

Expect Peck to struggle at the plate in September. He’s looked good since coming off the injured list, but again we’re talking about six Triple-A games with which to acclimate to that level, let alone the major leagues. Peck controls the zone decently, doesn’t chase excessively, and makes plenty of contact in the strike zone. It’s just that a lot of that contact is on the ground. He’s not so fleet of foot that he’s going to pressure infielders and beat out a lot of infield hits.

John Peck is very much still a work in progress. His defensive versatility, above average speed and raw power, and a solid approach at the plate say he has a solid chance to develop a lot further as a hitter and potentially turn himself into an everyday player, or close to it, but he has a lot of work ahead of him to get to that point. There are going to be growing pains. Hopefully he has some good moments, takes his lumps, and can carry some lessons into the offseason that will help him make the Opening Day roster in 2027. Just don’t expect a whole lot from the bat right now. Playing with the major league club will give him exposure to the best pitching in the world, and allow the coaching staff to work with him both on his hitting but to clean up some of his actions defensively. The opportunity for development is right there for him, but this is definitely still a work in progress.

The stage is set to kick off the Atlanta Braves makeup game against the San Francisco Giants.

Let’s look at these rosters.

Drake Baldwin is leading the team off with Mike Yastrzemski set to finish in the nine-hole. After this matchup will be the trip to Washington, so the Braves will need to carry their momentum while they’re still at home.

Atlanta will be led by Bryce Elder on the mound, and he hasn’t had the best results as of late. This could be the turnaround he needs to boost back his confidence and help the team come out with a win.

And for the Giants, behind former Braves’ pitcher Anthony Molina, they’re looking to put a stop the Braves’ winning streak.

There are five players on their roster who are batting over .400 against Elder, and holding over an .800 OPS.

The Braves have to decide which version will show up to keep their streak alive.

Tune in at 6:05 p.m. ET to watch it all play out.

The Mets are activating infielder Mark Vientosoff of the 10-day IL.

The Mets had a spot on the active roster after outfielder Luis Robert Jr. was claimed off waivers by Baltimore earlier in the day.

Vientos suffered a fractured right hand on July 9 when he was hit by a pitch while facing Kansas City Royals righty Michael Wacha.

Vientos began a rehab assignment on Aug. 21, and he's been on an absolute tear at the plate over the past week or so, hitting five home runs in his last four games. He had a huge performance on Sunday, blasting three home runs as the Syracuse Mets pitched a combined no-hitter against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.

He's in Monday's lineup as the DH and batting cleanup.

"I think today, obviously he hit three home runs yesterday so I think the smart thing is to get him in the lineup as quickly as possible and see if he can do that again here," interim manager Andy Green said.

Overall, it's been a down year for the 26-year old. He's hit just .211 with a .644 OPS to go along with 11 home runs and 35 RBI. 

It will be interesting to see where and when Vientos plays upon returning, as Greenhas said the infielder does not have a "perfectly laid path" for playing time upon his return. With Bo Bichette playing third base, Jared Young getting most of the time at first, and Juan Soto seeing most of the time at DH since his return from the IL, Vientos will likely see most of his action at first against left-handed pitchers.

"Lefty on the mound, obviously losing Luis Robert today we had a hole in the lineup so he fits right in at the DH spot today." Green said. "What I said before still rings true and I reinforced it with him as well like ‘I don’t know how your opportunity is gonna unfold this month. I do know if you play really well you’ll play more’ and that was the encouragement and the clarity I tried to give him… Excited to watch him play today."