As relayed by Chandler Rome of The Athletic, Astros GM Dana Brown went on the club’s pregame radio show to discuss the status of veteran outfielder Michael Brantley, who has battled a shoulder injury throughout the year and only appeared in 12 games for the club to this point as a result. According to Brown, Brantley has been dealing with renewed soreness but has been “battling trying to get back” and that he felt “a little better” after taking batting practice today. Brown hopes that he’ll be able to return to the lineup for the club’s series against Seattle, which begins tomorrow.
With Brantley sidelined, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker are the left-handed hitting regulars on the Astros, with righty bats Jake Meyers and Mauricio Dubon having spent time in center field while Chas McCormick moves to left to cover for Brantley. With Alvarez working through an ailment of his own, it’s possible that Brantley won’t return to the lineup until he’s ready to play the outfield, with manager Dusty Baker having recently stated that the club is looking to avoid playing Alvarez on the field due to his elbow issue. Brantley has slashed .262/.273/.429 to this point in the season, though that stat line only represents a tiny sample size of 44 trips to the plate thanks to Brantley’s injury woes.
More from around the American League…
- Star White Sox slugger Luis Robert Jr. exited today’s game against the Red Sox due to knee soreness after stealing his 20th base of the season. He was replaced in the game by outfielder Trayce Thompson. According to Scott Merkin of MLB.com, Robert will be evaluated further tomorrow in Chicago. Robert has been a rare bright spot in what has been an otherwise brutal White Sox season, with a .264/.314/.542 slash line and 38 home runs through 144 games this season while playing quality defense in center field. If Robert requires a stay on the shelf to end the season, Thompson, Oscar Colas, and Adam Haseley figure to be the club’s options in center field going forward.
- The Yankees have been without right-hander Frankie Montas all season, though it’s possible that could change before he departs for free agency this offseason. As noted by Greg Joyce of the New York Post, manager Aaron Boone told reporters this afternoon that it’s “possible” Montas could make his way back to the big leagues before the end of the year, as the club and player are still talking about next steps for the 30-year-old. Montas made his second rehab start at the Triple-A level yesterday, tossing two scoreless innings on 25 pitches with two strikeouts.
- Rays infielder Yandy Diaz exited today’s game against the Blue Jays due to what what the club has termed right hamstring tightness, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. While the severity of the injury is not currently known, with the postseason creeping ever closer an injury of any significance would be a significant blow to the Rays. The club has already lost Brandon Lowe and Luke Raley to injury, and Diaz has been the club’s top offensive performer with a .327/.407/.515 slash line in 594 trips to the plate. Fortunately for the Rays, the club has a deep bench of quality youngsters including Junior Caminero, Jonathan Aranda, and Curtis Mead who can help cover for injuries, though the hole Diaz would leave in the lineup headed into the postseason would be difficult to fill. [UPDATE: Rays manager Kevin Cash told Topkin and other reporters postgame that Diaz’s removal was “more precautionary” in nature than a serious injury concern, and that Diaz is now feeling better.]
A real manager would have had Robert stop stealing bases a month ago. His goal of hitting 40 home runs is probably toast now… and worse, he has a new injury to deal with.
Sad part is that White Sox fans think Roberts is a good player. He has major flaws. First is his inability to walk. 30 walks in 595 PAs is pathetic, and 5 of those were intentional. Second, he can’t hit with runners on base. He’s Mr. Solo Home Run. How do you bat in an RBI position of the lineup, hit 38 HRs, and only have 42 additional RBI?!! Thats six rbi per 100 plate appearances. Most full time 2B with no power drive in 42. Lastly, he is a lazy fielder. He’s fine on balls hit to CF, but relying on him to backup his fellow OF is a risky proposition. Junior has All-Star tools. He just needs to lose the personal goals, like getting into the 40/20 club. He is part of the problem with the CWS, and if they get a trade offer from a team that doesn’t realize it, they should take it.
Let’s see… Not a good player bc he doesn’t BB; Homers only when runners aren’t on base; poor defensive range; only cares about personal stats. This has to be a troll post unless you’re still living in the 80s.
Not a troll, and not living in the 80’s. Its 2023, and blaming lack of RBI on TA doesn’t explain why he doesn’t hit with runners in scoring position. Even back in the 80’s they referred to that as choking. It basically is the problem the entire team has, and is the current culture. Calling him a Gold Glove CF simply means you don’t watch other teams. I am not saying he doesn’t have talent. I am saying he gets less out of that talent than he should. If Machado was a teammate, he’d be telling Roberts “It’s not about you!”
“Robert 1st Sox rookie Gold Glover since 1966”
Robert is a gold glove center fielder with elite power. The fact that Anderson has been awful all year has hurt Robert’s RBI total.
Next season, Anderson will be playing for a new contract and Robert will drive in 100+
Must mean Roberts will be hitting 60 Hrs then, to get to 100 RBI.
His 162 game average has him at 33 home runs and 93 RBIs.
Oops
A real manager could care less about one of his players statistics.
First: “A real manager could care less about his players statistics.”
Should be: A real manager shouldn’t care about his players’ statistics.
Second: It’s not about the statistics, it’s about the manager knowing what is motivating his players and getting ahead of it, so it doesn’t hurt the team.
Why didn’t the Yankees non tender Montas?…It’s clear they won’t be re-signing him and the trade costs were already sunk, so keeping him didn’t really accomplish anything except paying his salary.
Perhaps because he was still re-habbing & under the supervision of Yankee trainers…probably some obligation to see that thru.
Prob has a performance claus with 20 steals and 40 HR.. How many players have done 20/40?
The Yankees may squeeze one start of Montas this season. Once again Billy gets the last laugh over Cashman on the trade front
Look up who the A’s got for Montas before saying something uniformed.
Montas hasn’t been uniformed all year.
Look up who the A’s got for Montas before commenting.
I wonder what Chaim Bloom is up to these days?
Astro’s showing their a** to the world against K.C. is not a very good look, and they haven’t clinched a playoff spot yet. Texas may be helping them beating on Seattle, but they go on the road the last 6 games, and the next three at Seattle. Can they win today ?
As a Detroit fan I’m excited for next year as Houston has only won 13 more games than Detroit right now. That’s less than 3 wins a month. When you look at Houston’s lineup production that is really close for Detroit to be only that far off of them. The Tigers are getting better.
Houston should bring the buzzer back.
When oh when is Casey Mize gonna pitch again? It seems like he hasn’t pitched in two years.
He’ll be ready for next year. He had a set back so his TJ recovery will be a year and a half. That’s longer than hoped for, but not that unusual.
While I understand the excitement, it’s misguided to compare Detroit to Houston, this season or really at all. Win differential could be used as a compare tool, I guess, but that’s not indicative of much.
Houston has been subpar this year due to countless missteps by their manager, injuries, and overall poor play against subpar teams. However, they will have a new manager next year and they have an owner who is committed to winning, every year. Like every owner should be. Unfortunately, Detroit’s owner has not shown that same commitment, along with many others. It’s unfortunate and I wish baseball would force those owners to sell. It’s hard to grow the love of the game when half of the owners are perfectly fine with their ballclub being lackluster year in and year out.
Off-Topic, random: Pet Peeve when reading after-game summaries … when the losing team’s starting pitcher is quoted and he sounds all pumped up because he pitched a quality start or otherwise very solid outing YET HIS TEAM STILL LOST. So amongst all the gloom & doom post-loss remarks/analysis from the manager and others you have juxtaposed their starting pitcher gloating. It just kind of rubs me the wrong way; the pitcher should he saying he could have pitched better because his team didn’t win. Okay rant over.
But Alvarez started in LF today?
I’d ,like an MLBTR “mercy” rule. Once it has posted articles on nine separate terrible trades or signings by Cashman, they wait until the following week before mentioning yet another.. Fair?
Create your own website. Then make the rules.
And the best of the day to you as well. Just having a little fun (as a Yankees fan, I need the distraction)–certainly didn’t mean to disturb you.
Time to move forward from Brantley who was an excellent hitter when healthy, Chas has had a good year and can play everyday.
I agree that it is time to move on from him, and also from Dusty Baker