With two weeks remaining until the All Star break, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Manning to return:
The Tigers are poised to welcome one of their young starters back from the 60-day injured list today, as right-hander Matt Manning is expected to start tonight’s game against the Rangers. Manning, out since April with a fractured foot, posted a 4.63 ERA in 11 2/3 innings of work across two starts prior to the injury. He’ll need to be added back to the 40-man and active rosters before he can make his start today, teeing up the possibility of multiple corresponding transactions ahead of this evening’s game.
Detroit’s rotation has been ravaged by injuries. Alex Faedo, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Spencer Turnbull are each currently on the injured list in addition to Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize, who both have yet to throw a pitch this season. Those rotation woes could worsen yet, as left-hander Matthew Boyd left yesterday’s start in Texas with elbow discomfort. As noted by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, manager AJ Hinch indicated to reporters that Boyd will undergo testing today to determine if he will need a trip to the injured list.
2. Muncy to return:
Dodgers slugger Max Muncy is expected to return to the lineup today, with manager Dave Roberts having previously indicated the infielder will play third base upon his return. Muncy’s return figures to provide the Dodgers with a significant power boost, as the 32-year-old has connected for 18 home runs in just 251 plate appearances this season.
Muncy’s return to the lineup figures to displace 25-year-old Michael Busch, who has been covering third base in the absence of Muncy and utilityman Chris Taylor. However, Roberts recently indicated to reporters (including Jack Harris of The L.A. Times) that Busch could continue to draw starts by shifting over to second base following Muncy’s return. That would take playing time from 23-year-old Miguel Vargas, who has struggled to a .150/.246/.300 slash line in 70 plate appearances this month. Busch has also struggled since his June 16 recall from Triple-A, posting a similar slash line of .192/.250/.308 in a smaller sample of 28 plate appearances. Using both players in a timeshare at second base could offer Roberts the opportunity to optimize matchups for the youngsters going forward.
3. MLBTR Chat Today:
With MLB’s trade deadline just over a month away, many expected contenders headed into the season are finding their paths to the playoffs getting slimmer and slimmer. If the events of the season so far have spurred any questions in your mind about your favorite team or the league as a whole, MLBTR’s Steve Adams is holding a live chat with readers at 1pm CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
With Muncy back, both Busch and Vargas can play 3rd base, maybe Dodgers can ship one of them to find help in the outfield?
How high of a trade value would either have right now? LA already has a few OFers with similar slash lines as those 2 and really, can LA expect significant upgrade out of those guys? Maybe toss in one of the better young SP gets a convo going but I don’t see trading my hot hitting OFer for your anemic hitting INFer is my thought.
I’m sure the dodgers have prospects and player depth that they could use to swing for an outfielder, but aside from just possibly being included as part of a deal at the lower end of it, I don’t think to many teams are going to jump at the chance of getting people that aren’t even hitting .200 just because they can play third base. Most teams have players who can play third base but don’t hit. So it wouldn’t be an upgrade for anyone. It’d just be adding to their emergency “just need a glove to put there” depth.
If they wait a few more weeks Cody Bellinger might be available.
You may push the irony alert button now.
Feel like they’d go after McCutchen over the reunion tour.
I think Cutch is a DH only and his chances of being traded are low. Seems like he’s always performed at a higher level on the Pirates anways.
McCutchen isn’t getting traded unless he asks to, which I find unlikely given that he A: took a massive paycut to come back to Pittsburgh, B: wants to stay here, and C: agreed to a handshake NTC. Plus I don’t think I would rely on Cutch in the outfield anymore, unless it was in a once-a-week type situation.
Maybe but they need stability in CF and McCutchen doesn’t provide that anymore.
Wil Myers is sitting on a couch waiting for the call at only league minimum!
Gosh, I wonder why!
Snakes would swap Kyle Lewis for Miguel Vargas.
Why are live chats so few and far between lately?
They seem to be short a writer with Simon leaving recently.
Through April and May, Vargas was holding his own. Even though his average wasn’t up there, he was still giving competitive AB’s with an OPS + at or above league average. So, there was a lot of hope. But lately, he hasn’t even been giving competitive AB’s. His swing appears longer than earlier in the year. Maybe he needs a reset in AAA.
Busch is currently giving quality AB’s even though that stats aren’t there yet. I’d like to see him get some consistent AB’s even after the return of Mad Max.
The typical challenges of young players face while adjusting to the majors. The usual medicine for hitting a setback is sending them down for awhile, but the Dodgers don’t really have that luxury this year.
Muncy will be making fielding errors & raiding the buffet in no time!