As the 2023 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Tigers vs Braves doubleheader:
Yesterday’s game between the Tigers and Braves at Comerica Park was postponed yesterday due to rain, leaving the clubs to partake in a doubleheader today, the first game of which will begin at 12:10pm CT this afternoon. Fans who had tickets to yesterday’s game can read about their options for exchanging the tickets here. Last night’s expected starters, right-handers Reese Olson and Spencer Strider, will start the first game of today’s doubleheader, while Michael Lorenzen will take the mound for the Tigers in game two. Atlanta’s game two starter has not yet been announced, though Evan Woodbery of MLive notes that AJ Smith-Shawver has previously been listed as the Braves’ starter for the game.
2. Giants to promote Matos amid injuries:
After outfielder Mitch Haniger and third baseman J.D. Davis both suffered injuries that took them out of yesterday’s game for the Giants, San Francisco appears poised to promote one of their top prospects in Luis Matos. As noted by Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, both Matos and infielder David Villar could be active tomorrow, though Kapler noted that Davis’s injury may not require a stint on the IL, leaving the club to call up just one of the duo. It would be Matos’s first call up to the big leagues, though the outfielder is already on the 40-man roster.
A consensus top 100 prospect heading into the 2022 season, Matos saw his stock drop last year when he hit .211/.275/.344 in 92 games at High-A. The 21-year-old has rebounded in a big way in 2023. After posting an excellent .304/.399/.444 slash line in 133 Double-A plate appearances this season, Matos was promoted to Triple-A where he’s proceeded to mash to the tune of a .398/.435/.685 slash line in 116 plate appearances.
3. Bido to debut for Pirates as Cubs monitor Happ:
Joining Matos in his potential major league debut is Pirates right-hander Osvaldo Bido, who is poised to start today’s game against the Cubs. The 27-year-old Bido has posted a rather pedestrian 4.55 ERA in 55 1/3 innings of work at Triple-A this season across twelve appearances (10 starts). In three seasons at the level in his career, Bido sports a 23.7% strikeout rate, though it’s paired with an elevated walk rate of 12%. Bido is not yet on the 40-man roster, but the Pirates have multiple vacancieis, meaning only an active roster move will be necessary to promote Bido.
On the other side of the diamond the Cubs are set to monitor the health of left fielder Ian Happ, who was pulled from the game with a right calf issue, as noted by MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. The loss of Happ for significant time would be a significant blow to a Cubs team that is already without center fielder Cody Bellinger. Youngster Christopher Morel took over for Happ in left field during last night’s game and could continue to see playing time in the outfield if Happ misses additional time.
Lucky for Matos he gets to start his career against the Cardinals team.
Cards are now percentage points ahead of WAS with the worst record in the NL and 14 games under .500, now in hot pursuit of OAK & KC. If anyone can get them there it’s Ollie Marmol.
I find it hard to believe that the Cardinal’s FO would sit idly by while a team with such a vaunted history is among the worst in bb. To be honest, it’s embarrassing. Arenado and Goldschmidt can’t do it all. Obviously they have to get some SP. They have the players to pull off a trade or two. What are they waiting for?
honestly I don’t think it is SP as much as it is catching. The same way the giants struggled to find footing without posey the cards are doing without molina right now. The backstop affects all things including the pitching performances – picking up pitching isn’t going to help until they feel good about who they are throwing to
The Cardinals front office doing anything require them admitting they made a mistake, and I don’t think Mo has that in him.
The way they’ve handled Contreras so far is the premier tutorial on what not to do with a catcher to build their confidence.
That first sentence of the Tigers-Braves section made my brain hurt. Not that this takes much these days, but still.
I’ll take the entire Pirates piece to say it had the similar effect. After last night’s debacle, it’s hard to imagine Bido righting the ship. I admittedly don’t have a good feeling about this road trip
Losing Brubaker created a problem for the Pirates when they should have looked into other pitchers that were available during spring training after it was determined he’d be lost for the season.
Bido has an ERA of over 4 which isn’t a good sign for a team that struggles to score runs
They thought they would have Burrows in reserve but lost him a few games into the minor league season too.
Maybe it’s time to give Priester his major league debut.
Similar to what Cornwisper said, I too don’t have a good feeling about this road-trip
As I’ve said repeatedly, I concentrate on the big club and rely on numerous folks here to relate what’s going on with minor league prospects. And Burrows’ name is one we always heard as headed to the Pirates rotation
Yeah, his injury as well as Brubaker’s did a great deal of damage to the idea of starting pitching here in ‘23 and perhaps ‘24. To hear that Priester is having a rough time in AAA and that the real pitching studs are at the lower end of the farm is disheartening, to say the least
I’m not giving up on Oviedo and Ortiz just yet. They’re young and struggles are to be expected. I don’t know if we’ll ever see Contreras as a starter again
It’s going to be very interesting to see what, if anything, the Pirates do at deadline time. Not sure if they’ll be buyers or sellers, and not sure exactly who’d qualify as a trade candidate. But it’s hard to see them not trying to find a few arms that are closer to breaking through to the mlb level
I believe that they will be a buyer at the deadline. No one really has been giving up anything in the way of a starting pitcher yet. That won’t happen until closer to the deadline. Will be interesting to see how Cherington approaches his first deadline as a buyer of MLB talent as opposed to buying prospects for the rebuild. They are not really ready to compete to get to a WS so I really don’t want them to look for a pure rental just to get into the playoffs. I would not be opposed to parting with some prospects to get a controllable pitcher with some upside for more than just this season.
While I am in favor of trying to trade for a controllable pitcher at the deadline, and also realize that Cherington has a better baseball mind than the previous GM, they also need offense.
And which prospects do you trade? Neither Endy or Davis should be available and they are what seems to be their best offensive players that should see promotions to the Bucs this year.
I tend to think that unless the Pirates are within striking distance of winning the NL Central, they’re either going to stand pat or sell
Simply put, I think Cherington worked hard to rebuild the farm and isn’t going to be inclined to deal prospects, even though they may be deep at places like middle infield
And really, I tend to believe he has a 5-year plan in place where contending is concerned and just think that right now, the fact that they are in contention in a weak division is a minor surprise
Like TheMan3 has said, it’s hard to see any team wanting guys beyond Endy or Davis anyway, judging by what we’ve heard and seen of the youngsters
From the glut of middle infielders not named Cheng or Johnson. Might consider Gutierrez but it would have to be a good add for the Bucs.
I think he makes a deal if it makes baseball sense not only for this season but for a few more seasons. The rebuild has come to the MLB roster and he will need to start adding now if they are to truly compet in 24 or 25
Thanks for the article Nick, but Matos had a down year last year because he was not healthy all season that curtailed his minors career. He’s healthy now and a year older, and putting it together. Good luck Luis! Welcome to SF!