Here’s the latest from around the American League:
- The Astros have weathered the absences of several top starters, though the team is surely looking forward to welcoming them back in time to make a full rotation assessment before the trade deadline. First in line seems to be righty Lance McCullers; as Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle writes, the excellent young hurler is set to return to the bump on Saturday. He has missed time with a lower back issue, but it doesn’t appear to be cause for much concern in the bigger picture.
- Meanwhile, fellow Astros righty Charlie Morton is scheduled for a short rehab outing tonight, as Kaplan further writes. The hope is that he’ll be ready to make it back to the MLB hill before the All-Star break. Morton has been quite a pleasant surprise, despite the time missed for a lat strain. He has not only provided 57 2/3 solid innings, posting a 4.06 ERA, but has shown the promise of delivering even better results. Morton is sitting in the mid-nineties with his fastball while carrying 10.1 K/9, both of which dwarf his prior full-season marks.
- The division-rival Angels continue to face pitching questions of their own, but decided to pass on a chance to add veteran righty Doug Fister to the active roster — instead allowing him to return to free agency by exercising his opt-out clause. Los Angeles did want to keep the veteran around, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, who tweets that GM Billy Eppler asked Fister to keep working with the organization’s Triple-A affiliate. But Fister’s camp evidently sees greater opportunity on the open market, where he could conceivably find a MLB roster spot if there’s a team that has an immediate need for pitching and believes Fister is prepared to return to the game’s highest level.
- It still isn’t clear what the Yankees will do at the first base position for the rest of the year, but it’s an increasingly interesting question. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch looks at the latest. There’s some renewed hope that youngster Greg Bird can work back to health, as he’s set to resume baseball activities soon following a cortisone shot in his problematic ankle. But he’s a total question mark after a long layoff and distinct struggles at the plate this year. Meanwhile, manager Joe Girardi offered a tepid review of Chris Carter, who’s currently the preferred option. Prospect Tyler Austin has been productive at Triple-A, but is also whiffing at a hefty rate. GM Brian Cashman says that he thinks the club is still best-served by relying on Carter for the time being, while offering optimism that the internal options will come through this year. Still, it’s fair to wonder whether the Yanks will end up exploring the trade market this summer.
- It seems the Red Sox are positioned to land the top Venezuelan prospect when the new July 2nd signing period opens, Ben Badler of Baseball America writes. Catcher Daniel Flores draws rare praise for his skills behind the dish. And while there’s still some work to do with the bat, Badler says there’s still power to be tapped into for the switch-hitter. You’ll want to read the entire post for a full sense of just why Flores is seen as such a special prospect. It seems Boston could return to the international market with a bang after finishing a one-year ban on bonus pool-limited signings.
No reason why Chris Carter is still around.
So that power means nothing? Hell he hit 40+ home runs last year
And was still a bad baseball player
I’m sorry but leading the National League in homerun and games played last year does not constitute a bad baseball player, the Yankees signed him for his raw power knowing full well he struck out aplenty.
The Brewers non tendered him over like 6 million dollars and didn’t have a replacement at the time. He’s certainly not a good player
What does games played have to do with it and when you hit .220 and provide no value elsewhere while striking out like every few abs I think you’re a bad player
I said it before, and I’ll say it again: I think power means nothing when you’re Adam Dunn without the walks!
Unfortunately, Carters home runs are down. He only has 8 this season meaning if he continues at this pace he’ll be between 16-20
Carter is the worst overall player I’ve ever seen play first for the Yankees for this extended period of time. And let me add, if George was alive, Carter would have been gone a while ago.
George would be 86 if still alive, so I’m not so sure he would be so involved in the organization. That, “If George were still alive” saying From Yankees fans is really dated, and becoming more and more irrelevant each passing year.
Sox Troll
Georgie didn’t always make the brilliant moves some of the yankee fans here wish he had and some of us that have been around the block a few times can gladly point them out..
Georgie Loved a less than notable catcher by the name of Joel skinner around 30y ago.. so muchso that he thought ‘ole Joel would be his starting catcher heading into the ’87 season and publicly stated so.. Richie gedman was a FA and had been one of the better ones up until then.. Skinner? Lucky to be in the game at all,
Don’t give me that George was infallible crap.
Hey JohnSilver,
Stick to your Red Sox and stop being a “Yankee Expert”. Joel Skinner?????REALLY!
Who said George was infallible?
He simply said that George S would not have put up with Carter’s failings and that is probably pretty accurate.
The Yankees run totally in a different way as does the rest of the league today as it has for some time. Whether he would have been able to adapt is very suspect indeed but he would have been too old to maintain control over decision making as he did in his prime, and yes he did make some wopper mistakes with personnel but every Yankee fan can always say he tried his best!
He tried his best?!?!? Hmmm….I think we can safely say that all owners “try their best”
Not the Wilpons. They use the Metsies as their piggy bank.
And others (John Henry included) run their teams with their egos. Is that trying your best? I mean, look at last year’s WS. Tito and Theo were banished. Lol
And then do we know he behind the scenes maneuvering afterwards. Awesome drafting and player development was interlaced with stupid free agent signings (Pablo and Hanley). Was that all the deposed GM’s desires for free agent. Now look at the current situation with the new GM, who’s outsized ego was obviously attractive to JH. Trader Dave is giving away whatever was left in the farm for overpriced veterans. Speaking of overpriced, who authorized what inevitably will go down in history as the WORST free agent signing ever. David Price will drag them down for years to come.
Good news for the fans for the rest of baseball:
At lesser they won’t be able to cheat by parking their bad moves in Pawtucket to avoid luxury tax.
Hahahaha!
Really….ask the Astros or Cubs owners and their fans after tanking for several years to build up their frats systems to make the runs they are now.
If you were a season ticket holder for either team, I don’t think in good conscious that you would say their owners were trying their best.
The Wilpons have been soaking the Mets fans for decades Rocky. Their best chance was with the dream team pitching staff which they proceeded to destroy. Incompetent management and staff was reckless for decades as well.
Remember the rehab and recovery of:
Carlos Beltran*
Jose Reyes*
*in their prime seasons they were continually on the DL.
Starting with Johann Santana they
overused and abused pitchers to shorten their careers.!
Do you remember the affects of letting Johann throw what, 135+ pitches to get his no hitter? “TC’s” head was up his a-s in not taking him out after 90 or so pitches. He was NEVER the same pitcher
After that game.
And dumb mets’ fans support the team with ALL of the DRAMA?
George wanted to win more than the majority of baseball owners. You’re insane if you think otherwise. He was outspoken on players who didn’t earn their paycheck and outbid everyone on players he thought would bring him a championship, even if it was way too much money. Luxury tax? He didn’t care. He wanted to win championships. If they didn’t, the season was a failure. Ask the Mets if they want an owner like that.
Sox Troll
And if George were alive they would have traded away the youngsters and have more fat bloated contracts they would be regretting. Times, they are a changin’…
Nobody is upgrading until the deadline, and only writers and analysts are speculating. The speculating means nothing at this point. Remember Schwarber was the guy the Cubs brought up without playing all year to win the series and now he was just sent to AAA hitting .179 for the year. This just shows that all players have a wide range of ability and it is impossible to know at what end of the spectrum they are going to play. Mid season upgrades rarely are the difference in a good team winning the championship.
Except that the Indians wouldn’t have made the World Series without Miller and the Cubs might not have won it without Chapman.
Chapman… Miller… Cueto… didn’t make much of a difference?
“Mid season upgrades rarely are the difference in a good team winning the championship” by far one of the dumbest things I’ve seen so far. If that terrible anecdotal statement were true then why would any teams bother making trades? Do you know more than MLB GM’s? I’d like to see what the Cubs or Indians would think about what you just said
There’s a pretty long history of mid season trades making a big impact. Plus, you’re on a website that’s largely based around such moves.
All of you who responded understand he said “mid-season,” not “deadline,” right?
Everyone is getting crazy over Carter. He was a lottery pick. It filled the position but didn’t really work out. So what. It was a 1 year $3mm deal. It’s not like we signed him to 5/$19mm per