As the 2023 season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Brantley nearing return:
Astros veteran Michael Brantley hasn’t played in a major league game since June 26 of last year due to difficulties while rehabbing from right shoulder surgery he underwent last summer. The 36-year-old outfielder appears to be on the brink of returning, however, with signs pointing to Brantley’s 2023 debut coming as soon as today. When Brantley takes the field, it will mark his fifteenth season as a big leaguer. Brantley is on the 60-day IL, meaning the Astros will need to make room for him on both the active and 40-man rosters before he can return to action.
The veteran outfielder will add an additional left-handed bat to the Houston lineup alongside Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, and could prove to be a potentially impactful one as well; Brantley sports a .306/.368/.464 slash line with a 128 wRC+ since joining the Astros in 2019. With the exception of an injury-marred, 11-game season in Cleveland back in 2016, he hasn’t had a below-average offensive campaign since 2011. Brantley’s return seems likely to cut into the time at DH available to young catcher Yainer Diaz, which could in turn mean Diaz takes more starts behind the plate away from veteran Martin Maldonado going forward.
2. Harris teases external 40-man add:
As noted by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris spoke to 97.1 The Ticket yesterday morning about the club’s vacancy on the 40-man roster after infielder Isan Diaz elected free agency. Harris suggested that he is “going to try to fill that spot soon,” though he also added that the roster-move “would not be a call-up” of a prospect not yet on the 40-man roster like Colt Keith or Justyn-Henry Malloy. Petzold suggests that a recently DFA’d veteran like Noah Syndergaard or Jurickson Profar could receive a big league deal from the club, similar to the club’s addition of catcher Carson Kelly earlier this month.
3. Acuna approaches history:
Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. has long been considered the favorite in the NL MVP race, even as teammate Matt Olson, former teammate Freddie Freeman, and fellow right fielder Mookie Betts have made strong cases for themselves in recent weeks. Acuna had another big night yesterday in spite of a wild incident in which a pair of fans rushed him on the field in Denver, hitting his 29th home run of the season while stealing two bases.
Acuna now sits at 61 stolen bases on the season, having extended his major league lead in the category over Oakland’s Esteury Ruiz to 10, and his NL lead over Arizona’s Corbin Carroll to a whopping 21. With a 60-bag season already secured, Acuna is just one home run away from becoming the first player in major league history to post a 30-60 season. Overall, Acuna is hitting .335/.418/.572 with a wRC+ of 166 in 601 trips to the plate this season.
Although the Tigers are starting to look.decent…….this Beamer guy is like molasses…..
You know,some of us are old….we really don’t feel like waiting around half a decade for our team to actually TRY TO WIN.
It was doable this year and they punted…..
Very, very disappointing.
Go, Lakeside Jewlers!
Maybe Harris will talk Barry Bonds out of retirement? He’s probably better than most of the Tiger hitters.
a very shrunken barry bonds
He’d still hit the ball out of the infield more than Miggy in the last three years…
Tork, Riley, Skubal, Manning and a slew of mediocre players are hitting their peak right now… I don’t understand why Harris doesn’t build on this and try and win now in a very weak division. Once you are in the playoffs, anything can happen. Especially with solid pitching and a few hitters getting hot at the right time.
Patience, Grasshopper. At 26, Skubal is the oldest of the ones you mentioned. Riley is the youngest at 22. I hope that is not “hitting their peak right now.” If the Tigers went “all in,” they might beat the Twins and get slaughtered in the playoffs, all while draining their farm system. That is not the way to build an enduring team. The pieces are coming together, give it time.
Yeah, let them not try to win for a couple of years and THEN get slaughtered in the playoffs by the better teams from the East and the West.
How would they drain the farm system? What makes you think they’d get slaughtered in the playoffs? Teams with the best records seldom win it all. So many wildcard teams make the World Series.
We’ve had enough patience.
They didn’t make the moves when it mattered because they might have had to pay someone’s salary or.lose a guy or 2 to waivers.
Cheap bst4ds. No exerted effort to win, just pocket the cash. It doesn’t matter now does it? 2 weeks ago, it might have.
Tell me it’s not about.the money.
Ill8ch would.have had to sign off for Harris to piss a couple of $M down the toilet by making the tough decisions now.
As a professional, Harris would look like an idiot, costing extra million of.dollars in salary.
Illich would have had to ok that in order to make a last ditch effort push.
He obviously didn’t. So…they saved a couple million.
It makes sense. They kept the cash and said…hey…..this is a business and that is millions of dollars of salary…..
It’s why they are so slow. Schoop is.an example….a couple of.guy they should cut will.be claimed or not and the Tigers owe the salary…..
Winning is not the focus in Detroit. It’s obvious.
I was shocked how bad defensively they were. Maybe it was just a bad series, but I don’t remember any of Hinch’s Astros teams being that bad in the field.
They weren’t that bad until recently. Lots of miscues from Tork, Rogers, and Short. Not sure why. Maybe they are giving up and thinking about the offseason.
Another Harris jewel! SMFH, I hope to god Chris Illitch grows a pair and rectifies the problem he created by signing Harris! He’s nothing but a dumpster diver, I know most Tiger fans would prefer to see JHM or Colt, Dingler, Flores, or any other minor league player over the crap he’s been getting
@The Saber-toothed Superfife Mets fans know how you feel. The rotation rounding into form prior to the Deadline, a lineup of average MLB hitters or better in spots 1 through 8 on any given day, everything the team needed to supplement its stars and complementary players available for fringe prospects, the team just 6 GB, and Steve Cohen punts not just 2023, but 2024 as well.
Disgraceful. We feel ya.
Braves fans think SB is the only stat that matters, and Freddie Freeman isn’t even the best player on his own team
I’d vote for Ha-Seong Kim by default *ducks*
I’m sure they appreciate home runs too.
Only stat that matters?? That’s one of the least interesting of his stats. I’m more impressed by his plate discipline/OBP than his speed/power. I truly never thought he’d mature to become someone that rivaled Freeman for AVG. I think that’s getting lost in all of his other gaudy numbers. Betts is making a serious case for MVP, but it’ll be interesting to see how their 4-game series plays out (and rest of the season).
Betts Freeman and Olson are all having great MVP caliber seasons.
Acuna is just a bit better.
In what way?
Acuna .335/.418/.572/.989/164
Betts .312/.406/.606/1.011/169
Freeman .340/.415/.583/.998/166
Olsen .272/.381/.597/.979/159
No aspersions on Acuna, but he doesn’t actually lead in any offensive category except OBP, and only by a hair. OPS+ likes Betts and Freeman more. Also worth a reminder that Betts is doing that thing with his bat while dividing defensive time between RF, SS, and 2B, and playing them all well.
I love Mookie. Always have. You make a good argument.
Mookie is also great in the field.
Both Acuna and Betts I would have ahead of Freeman.
All four of these guys I really like.
Some may recall preseason here, many times I said Olson would hit 50 hr this year.
Got raked.
I guess the power speed combo of Acuna gets him edge.
But if you choose Mookie can’t really argue.
I don’t think the 1B position is as valuable. Though both are excellent both sides of the ball.
One of the most interesting mvp race in years
It’s interesting for sure. The Dodgers have been forced to shuffle the cards defensively and they couldn’t do it without Betts. I get to watch him every day, so I admit to being biased, but for my money, what Mookie is doing this season really puts the V into MVP. But I believe he plays in the wrong time zone to win it.
I watch a lot of ball , mlb fan , no favourite team , love dodger telecasts , Steiner and Orel ( one of my fave ball players of all time btw) are just great in the booth. Many games are late night for me and Charlie’s voice is so soothing.
Agreed with Steiner. Also, SF Jon Miller does that for me, taking me back to Sunday Night Baseball (RIP Joe Morgan).
Hate the Mets, but really enjoy Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez, also.
Yeah, Betts wins so far in most cats. I think when people say that, they’re referring to the historic numbers, fwiw, that Acuna is putting up, though Betts leading in fWAR is pretty indisputable. Would be interesting to see Acuna put up some historic numbers (I think 35-75 is realistic), but not get the MVP. It would be interesting.
If someone tried to judge by the comment section you would probably get the idea that MLB has a bias for ALL time zones. Go figure.
Acuna also leads in the offensive categories of RS and SB.
There’s still a month to go. Highly doubtful one of these guys doesn’t separate themselves from the others before game 162.
In the event they all continue on current pace, it would be easy to make a case for either Acuna or Betts, not as easy for Freeman and Olson.
If the season ended today, I think Betts gets it. I was just pointing out the other two offensive stats Acuna leads in.
I’m just so happy MLB through rule changes has brought back speed as an integral part of the game. It’s a more enjoyable game to watch when players like Acuña are empowered to use all their tools.
With that being said, I wouldn’t take issue with Betts being named MVP. He’s certainly very worthy.
You can’t give much weight to RS since it’s really a team stat. But sure, Acuna is definitely a force on the base paths. No argument there.
I believe everyone in baseball knows about the time zone bias, and once in awhile you’ll hear a player mention it. Teams playing most of their games when half the country is in bed makes a difference to how much coverage their players get.
@RunDMC The narrative-manufacturing industry is in overdrive tonight, as if 60 SB and 30 HR was somehow more valuable than 61 SB and 29 HR. Their arousal over round numbers is frankly bizarre.
Er, make that “as if 60 SB and 30 HR were somehow more valuable than 59 SB and 31 HR.” Carry on.
Acuna changes the game so much with his bat; speed, defense and arm. He maybe be the best all around player in the game
Is his defense really that good though? 4.5 tool player. One of the best players in the MLB has to have his warts.
His stolen base total is out of whack compared to prior years and thus, those stats moving forward will be hard to compare due to the bigger bag of 23, rule changes and of course the mitts they started wearing years ago. He’s a great player having a career year but…
@Spaced-Cowboy — honestly, it’s the worst part of his game, but he’s getting much better. Sometimes he has bad reads (-7 OAA vs. Tatis’: +10 or LF Schwarber’s: -16), but I think it’s the last that comes back after his injury considering that’s how he got injured. His arm and speed makes up for a lot of that, but it’ll be interesting to see how it looks even next year. He seems great at addressing weaknesses in his game in the offseason, imho.
Asterisk time coming for SBs?
Acuna is the NL MVP!!
So this is Dodgers fans way of saying all the care about is HR’s then right?
Matt Olson would like a word
Doubt very seriously Olson even thinks he’s the got a real shot…
The Tigers signing Certified Booty Juice (TM) in Profar or Syndergaard instead of just bringing up a prospect and seeing what they got would be the most Rockies thing the Tigers could do.
Spot on about this. It seems like Malloy and Keith first need to learn how to pitch as well to warrant a call up.
Scott Harris learned from Farhan. Just wait for the disappointment when you guys start trying to sign free agents.
When Brantley returns, this unleashes the best possible lineup for the Astros since 2019: Altuve, Bregman, Tucker, Alvarez, Diaz, Brantley, Abreu, Pena, McCormick. As long as the pitching has a better September and October than they did in August, it should be enough for another deep postseason run. I’m expecting the Rangers and Mariners to beat up on each other a little with all the head-to-heads they have the last month, so as long as the Astros take care of their easy schedule the rest of the way and don’t get swept in their final meetings with the Mariners and Rangers, they might just eek out another AL West title.
“they might just EEK out another AL West title.”
The AL West can be such a mousetrap. Teams come out of the woodwork. Pitchers throw hard cheese. So many games are squeakers.
It will be Noah…Tigers are just in need of starting Pitching to complete the last month of the season..and if they can fix Noah…he may stick around next year…
I like the idea of Noah Syndergaard in Detroit but not Jurickson Profar. The Tigers need to keep building. Profar will take playing time from young players.
HBD Thor. You’re a Tiger
*Hanshin Tiger
Profar has been so bad this season that B-R still has his photo as him in a Padres uniform
40-40 > 30-60
Still has over a month to hit 11 bombs
But is 40-40 > 35-75? (Which is where he’s likely headed.)
I’ve heard great reports about Casey Mize’s recovery from last summer’s TJ. I think it is still too soon, but activate Mize and put him in the bullpen? I’d rather do that than sign has-beens like Thor and Profar.
Brantley reminds me of the legend of the ghost ship the Flying Dutchman. Many sightings, but it never appears, doomed to sail the high seas forever, cashing its million dollar checks in perpetuity…..
Ruiz needs to be starting everyday…not sure what the A’s are thinking.
The Tigers do not need Syndergaard or Profar…please no.
I hope Brantley returns today. Will they use a lot after being out. I think will use enough as DH. Diaz they need to start him behind plate more. Maldy will
Be done with Houston. Has not had the skills. Too often comes up and granted 2 outs has a runner can get home if only. This could be it for Brantley. Not sure will be with Houston next season. Whether Dusty and coaching staff will not sure. But let Brantley give something this last month. Also pitching. The starters Framber has struggled. Javier most definitely as did not go 5 and throws too many pitches. Maldy has not been able to get him right even with Diaz Javier struggled. Urquidy helped out of bullpen last night. JV does enough. May not always be on but gets 5 or 6. But again hope Brantley helps and whomever call up Sept 1
Regarding MVP and other awards … isn’t it time to stop giving out two awards.
NFL doesn’t give MVP to a guy in each conference , nor does nba or nhl.
We dont have two leagues anymore.
We have two conferences.
White sox reviewed the footage and said this acuna incident ocured outside the ballpark.
I thought henderson had this 30/60 record but he came close with 28/60+
Henderson does have the record for breaking up the most no hitters by virtue of lead off hr.
Cancel the post game show!
I thought Cesar Tovar broke several no nos up?
tovar lead in getting the only hit in a one hit game.
its a strange stat since no hitters can be broken up in any inning, even with more hits..
Brantley has an obp up over .450 in the minors. Must have those poor kids absolutely terrified to come in with something on him!
Profar to Detroit…….we need a third baseman.
Josh Donaldson
LOL
The Tigers Payroll this year is ranked 20th….and that is about where they will finish. Just to get to an average payroll next year they need to add an additional 40$MM/yr.
They are currently at total payroll of 120$MM but 160$MM is the Median. You don’t have to have the largest payroll, but to be competitive they need to increase their payroll by an extra 80+$MM/yr and get to 200ish .
From my perspective on the outside looking in…… i don’t think the Tigers GM realizes their window is right now. Skubal, Mize, Manning, Faedo, Rogers, P Meadows, Greene, Torkelsons + others clocks have all started. Right now is the time they need to trade some top prospects for legit MLB talent. They need a 3B, 2B, and Power OF. They think they can replace 3rd with Colt Keith or Malloy but those players offensive profiles will be offset by their defensive profiles. Based on what i’ve heard is Torkelson could play 3rd better than both. Tigers have too many guys with that profile already ie Carpenter.
They will be free’ing up 80$mm dollars per yr by Miggy + Schoop + A Meadows + Lorenzen + Boyd etc all being gone to FA. That will put there committed Payroll next year at a whopping 40$MM. They need to sign Chapman and a legit OFer with pop this winter.
That extra 80$MM per year to spend by free’ing up those salaries is just to get them back to the low team payroll they have this year. The additional extra 80$MM payroll they need to compete should be added on top of that. That extra though will likely be used for extensions on players above.
I don’t think many Tiger fans want to see them spend money or sign some big name just to grab headlines. Please, No!
We want a real team.
You have to have a balanced roster. best teams are pieced together using all facets via trades, FA, international signings, and home grown players.
If you only have home grown talent you that you rely on you’ and I will be dead by the time tigers are in a championship series.
Chapman has been a .200 hitter since before the all star game. He started out extremely hot but has gone stone cold.
Eduardo Rodriguez will opt out but they’re stuck with Javier Baez.
Those bigger bases are making a big difference in the Stolen Base category
In light of Acuna’s current productivity, it’s absolutely mind-boggling to consider how much money he’s left on the table in that ultra team-friendly extension he signed a few years ago.
A quarter of a BILLION+ dollars, maybe!?
Still not a peep on this site about Kyle Harrison. Huh.
@biff Here you go:
Kyle Harrison had a terrific outing last night – the kind of big-league outing that Giants fans can dream on. Were a loooong way from knowing if he can sustain the kind of command he demonstrated in this game, but we’re very exited and hopeful that he can.
You’re welcome.
If played for the Yankees, you would have heard something.