With just six days until the trade deadline, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Will the Cardinals and Hicks hammer out an extension?
The Cardinals are one of this trade deadline’s few clear sellers with multiple interesting rental options for buyers to pursue. That group of players includes right-hander Jordan Hicks, though Katie Woo of The Athletic indicated that Hicks ultimately may not move at all. The sides are reportedly having discussion regarding a multi-year contract extension that would keep Hicks in St. Louis long-term. While the Cardinals would be expected to move Hicks before the deadline if an extension doesn’t come together, Woo notes that there’s optimism a deal could be done as soon as today. In the event that Hicks signs, the Cardinals would still have a pair of rental relievers to market in Chris Stratton and Drew VerHagen, though neither would be expected to command a return similar to Hicks, who sports a 2.25 ERA and 1.92 FIP dating all the way back to mid-April.
2. Song’s final rehab appearance:
Phillies right-hander Noah Song is expected to throw two innings in a final rehab start for the club’s Triple-A affiliate today, per MLB.com. Song, 26, did not pitch professionally from 2020-2022 due to his service as an officer in the US Navy. The Phillies selected him in the Rule 5 Draft this past offseason anyhow due to his impressive stuff and strong numbers in the minors prior to his military service, giving him an opportunity to reach the big leagues for the first time in his career. That was derailed by a back issue that sent Song to the 60-day IL to open the season. The maximum time for Song’s minor league rehab assignment is set to expire later this week, meaning the Phillies will have to decide whether to add him to the active roster or return him to the Red Sox organization. In 9 2/3 innings of work in the minors this year, Song sports a 3.72 ERA and 29.8% strikeout rate.
3. Astros getting healthy, gaining on Rangers:
After winning the first two games of their current three-game set against the Rangers, the Astros head into the series finale tonight just one game back of their division-leading rivals. A win tonight would put the clubs in a tie for first place in the AL West, and Houston appears likely to get reinforcements from the injured list ahead of tonight’s game, which will begin at 7:10pm CT. Both Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve could be activated from the IL today, adding a pair of high-end bats to an Astros lineup that ranks just ninth in the AL with a roughly league average 101 wRC+ since losing Altuve to injury earlier in the month. Alvarez has hitter, slashing .277/.388/.589 (166 wRC+) with 17 homers in 242 plate appearances this season. Altuve has been limited to just 32 games this year due to injuries but has still managed to slash .261/.374/.479 — good for a wRC+ of 138.
Song is not ready for the bigs, right ? He will either be returned to the Red Sox or the two teams can work out a trade.
If Song looks like he has anything to offer the phils could put him on active roster and DFA Covey. he has had his chances with phils. If he gets claimed then we lose him if NOT he accepts the assignment. Meantime Song joins team & pitches the same low leverage situations that covey would.
Hawai’iPhil, your post should be pinned at the top and any opinions differing be given a thumbs down….oh those days…
Spent a few years on Kapiolani Blvd in the mid ’00’s….
When u buy a scratch off lotto do just scratch the barcode or do you play the actual game?
Song belongs on the Red Sox. Time for MLB to step in and make it so. Enough Philandering.
The whole military service thing was grossly mishandled by MLB, national embarrassment.
As you were, enjoy the day.
Mald, seethe, cope
“Song belongs on the Red Sox”
Lol. Okay buddy.
Couldn’t agree more. Dombrowski is willing to ruin a talented young veteran’s baseball career just to troll his former employer. It’s embarrassing for the Phillies, and an indictment of Dombrowski’s character in my opinion.
That’s so insane. I love that you believe that.
So the guy pitches mop up for 2 months. He would probably be built back slowly in the minors, anyway, if that was allowed. How would this ruin his career? Even if the Phillies don’t keep him, some team will claim him, and he won’t get back to Boston.
Ok, so the Red Sox have to trade for Dan Bard and Dan Norris, but only if they get Song back, for obvious reasons.
Same ole Story, same ole Song and Dans, my friends.
If you walk this way, you too can dream on.
@whyhay and @JBY,
Your references of belonging and ruination meet the clinical definition of kooky talk. No judgment, we’re all here to help.
….grossly mishandled by the Red Sox.
Truth…
At the time of the Rule 5 draft, there was no info about whether or not Song would be allowed by the Navy to play baseball. So, it made no sense for the Red Sox to add a guy to the 40 man roster who hadn’t pitched in over 3 years and might not pitch for even more years. They could have put him on the 40 man roster and then moved him to the Military List (which is what the Phillies did), but I think that makes no sense either because he accrues service time on the Military List. So, he could have spent 3 more years in the service and then be in A ball while eligible for arbitration. Imagine that.
Cardinals are a clear seller? I have never been so unsure on how clearly the FO surely will sell clear pieces to sell.
The problem is they no long want to sell when they learn the real value of their players compared to what they believed the value to be. It’s like when you believe you are given what you to be an expensive commodity but when you go to resell it, you learn that you have a replica or a knock off of it and your commodity isn’t worth the gas it took to get it appraised.
Well put, Straws.
I literally laughed out loud at your especially good final line about a knock off commodity’s value vs. the price of gas. And by literally, I mean literally.
I can only assume that you are talking about the news that they would be interested in Logan Gilbert. I’ve got news for you, so would the other 28 teams. The Mariners aren’t looking to move him, but it wouldn’t be completely ridiculous to ask for Gilbert in exchange for Donovan or Gorman. That’s how trade negotiations start. The Athletics reportedly asked for Nootbaar and Gorman for Murphy. The Cardinals declined that trade and moved on. It is just a gross mischaracterization to say that the Cardinals are overvaluing their assets. Literally every team does the exact same thing, and I also mean literally, literally.
Very true; in hindsight Cards would jump at that offer if it freed them from another bad FA experience…
I think it is a little more complicated than that. Gorman has made significant strides with both the glove and bat this year. It seemed like the right call back then and I’m not sure it still isn’t the right move for the future.
Excellent analogy. They overvalue their own players, and when they see they’re not gonna get top major league ready prospects back for them, they pivot to plan B which has no relevance to the fact they need to revamp their pitching staff. Mozeliak I’d not used to being a seller, and it shows.
Alvarez, Urquidy, and Altuve are far better than any other pickups they can get at the trade deadline.
Been waiting for those 3 to come back.
Amazing that the rest of the roster kept the team close in the race.
Not even August 1 yet. If they’re even 80% healthy I take the Astros for the AL West, and very possibly the World Series again. A great organization and a great team.
Mornin’ Samuel – I posted yesterday in an Ohtani thread that it was not superstars that make the game interesting, but the fact that Astros were hanging tough with JP France pitching like an ace, and Chas McCormick as our MVP – and that, for THAT reason, Mike Elias will be EXTREMELY careful at the trade deadline.
Superstars don’t go to the post-season; TEAMS do. That fact seems lost on MLBTR and all other baseball sites. Additionally, I don’t think France or McCormick EVER made anybody’s top prospect lists; yet, here we are.
Even Brandon Bielak would be a positive addition to every other team’s starting rotation, as things stand. Astros (and Orioles) are genius-tier brilliant organizations.
I doubt that Bielak was ever in anybody’s top 100 prospects list, either.
Astros Hot Takes;
I believe the Astros are the best organization in MLB; have been for years; and are in the top-tier of all-time (amazing that Theo Epstein walks on water but who is it the built the Astros?). 8 straight years of contending in a free agent era? Is someone kidding?!?!?
But you’re right – the kids and the media don’t get it. They like to look at numbers like spin rate and W’s vs. K’s and launch angle…..for some reason they aren’t interested in W vs. L and which teams show up for the stretch run and playoffs.
Did you know Ohtani! is the greatest MLB player of all-time? Two years ago I was told it was going to be Soto. We’ll see who will be the greatest player of all-time in 2 years.
Song isn’t going to end up on the Red Sox or the Phils. When the Phillies inevitably put him on waivers a teams like the A’s or Royals will stick them in their pen for the rest of this year, then probably stretch him back out as a starter for next year
Good point… though I believe the Phillies will try to carry Song in that Covey role another commenter referenced above as a stop gap until they can call up an additional reliever on September 1 for that role and essentially bench Song for the rest of 2023.
When you pick up a player in the Rule 5 draft, you either keep him on the 40 man roaster or he gets returned to his original team. He does not pass through waivers.
Or you can trade him to another team willing to keep him on their 26 man roster.
Rule 5 players do need to pass through waivers before being offered back to their original team.
“Rule 5 Draft picks are assigned directly to the drafting club’s 26-man roster and must be placed on outright waivers in order to be removed from the 26-man roster in the subsequent season. Should the player clear waivers, he must be offered back to his previous team for $50,000….”
mlb.com/glossary/transactions/rule-5-draft
Come on. Just don’t. Hicks is still a thin skinned, disinterested, beta male. His little run of success isn’t proof that he has turned a corner. It isn’t proof that your pitching program works. It’s a small sample anomaly. Keep your money in your pocket. Hicks is a few million dollars away from being Carlos Martinez.
He’s been consistently unreliable for years including this year. Very weird decision.
How did you get this deep insight into Hicks’ psyche?
Logic is no consideration to them….
They’re desperate….
Their actions have made them so.
He’s a thrower, not a pitcher. He aims in the general direction of the strike zone and has a sky-high walk rate.
He also has a low level of determination.
Just A song before I go
All of you guys talk too much.
hote stove season baby
hot stove season baby
This time of the year is equivalent to Accountants and April 15th for the MLBTR Guys
Baby, the stove is hot! ‘Tis the season!
Trying to get a sense of what he is looking for in free agency is probably just due diligence. Bullpen arms (with very few exceptions) are totally interchangeable. It would be a mistake to re-sign him.
Don’t forget about Sakda Song from Supermega Baseball.
The Hicks resigning is just them trying to appear diverse. If they traded both he and Jack Flaherty,(depending on what culture Flaherty claims to be a part of that day) they would be left with only one black player and that dude just got there this year.
This is one of the most ignorant things I’ve ever read here, and that’s no small accomplishment.
The Songs rights will be traded in the next 5 days to someone who can keep him on the roster like the Rockies or Royals
“Alvarez has hitter?” Hire an editor.