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JP Sears Generating Trade Interest

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The Athletics are getting plenty of trade interest in left-hander JP Sears, according to a report from Jeff Passan of ESPN, though Passan adds that the A’s are unlikely to move him. It’s a similar situation with right-hander Mason Miller, as Passan relays that the A’s are willing to listen to offers but don’t appear likely to make a trade. That tracks with previous reporting on Miller, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic said about a month ago that the A’s were willing to listen but had a massive asking price.

Sears came over to the A’s as part of the 2022 deadline deal that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Yankees. Since then, Sears has been the most reliable and consistent pitcher on the Oakland staff as other arms have either been hurt or underperformed. He made 32 starts last year and tossed 172 1/3 innings, leading the club in both of those categories by a decent margin. Ken Waldichuk was second in both columns with 22 starts and 141 innings.

Here in 2024, he’s been the rock of the rotation yet again. The A’s currently have Waldichuk, Paul Blackburn, Ross Stripling and Alex Wood all on the injured list. Sears is once again leading the staff with 12 starts and 67 1/3 innings pitched.

While the A’s surely appreciate that quantity of work, the quality has been more decent than it has been outstanding. Sears had a 4.54 earned run average last year along with a 21.9% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate, with all those numbers coming in fairly close to average.

Sears has dropped his ERA to 4.01 here in 2024 but that may be more due to luck than anything else. His 6.9% walk rate is a slight improvement over last year but his 16.3% strikeout rate is a significant drop. His batting average on balls in play is .239, which is well below the .278 mark he had last year and this season’s league-wide average of .286. His 35.6% ground ball rate is below average as well. His average exit velocity, hard hit rate and barrel rate are all in the 32nd percentile or worse among qualified pitchers, according to Statcast.

Even if a bit of regression is coming, he could still serve as a solid innings eater with good control. His 4.32 FIP and 4.75 SIERA on the year aren’t as nice as his ERA but aren’t disastrous either. That can have value to an Oakland club cycling through struggling pitching prospects and injured veterans.

Whether it will be valued enough by another club to get Sears away from the A’s remains to be seen, as they should be in no real rush to move him. He came into this season with one year and 81 days of service time. That means he won’t even qualify for arbitration until after 2025 and isn’t slated for free agency until after 2028. If they don’t find any particularly enticing offers now, they can simply keep him around as part of the rotation core as they gradually try to emerge from this rebuilding process, which seems to be the most likely scenario at this point.

But the case for making him available could be his age. Sears was sort of a late bloomer, not reaching the big leagues until his age-26 season. Though the A’s can theoretically control him for years to come, he’s now 28 years old and will likely be in his early 30s by the time the club is competitive again. Perhaps that will compel them to consider pulling the trigger on a deal while his value is at its highest. With pitchers liable to suffer significant injuries at any time, there’s also a case for the club to proactively strike a deal before that happens to Sears.

Whether anything can come together will likely depend on the offers that are coming towards Oakland. Since Sears is cheap and controllable and fairly reliable, they will likely need a decent return to get a deal done. As mentioned, Sears is more a reliable mid- or back-of-rotation guy than an ace, but that could hold appeal to clubs with so many pitching injuries around the league.

White Sox Open To Offers On Luis Robert, Garrett Crochet

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The White Sox are baseball’s worst team by a long shot and seemed to acknowledge that likelihood even before the season began when they traded Dylan Cease to the Padres in spring training. San Diego is already reportedly interested in yet another Sox pitcher, lefty Garrett Crochet, and ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the Sox are open to offers not only on Crochet but on center fielder Luis Robert Jr. Passan categorizes the ChiSox as “open for business” and lists Robert, Crochet, Erick Fedde and virtually all of the team’s short-term veterans as players who could be moved between now and the trade deadline.

Fedde, Tommy Pham, Paul DeJong, Mike Clevinger, John Brebbia, Tim Hill and other players who aren’t signed long-term — Fedde is signed through next season, the others are all free agents this winter — all stood as obvious trade candidates to begin with. I wrote about Fedde’s trade candidacy for MLBTR Front Office subscribers a couple weeks back. DeJong recently said on 670 The Score in Chicago that he and Pham both fully expect to be traded. That anyone from that group is viewed as likely to change hands is only logical.

Names like Robert and Crochet being available is far less certain, even for a rebuilding club like the Sox, given the amount of club control each has remaining. In Robert’s case, he’s signed through the 2027 season in the form of a $12.5MM salary this season, a $15MM salary in 2025 and a pair of club options valued at $20MM apiece (both with a $2MM buyout). Crochet entered the 2024 campaign with three years of big league service, meaning he’s in his first arbitration season and has another pair of seasons of club control beyond 2024.

It bears emphasizing that the Sox being “open” to offers or “willing to trade” either player is far different from the team actively shopping said players. That open-minded approach is also far from a guarantee that either will be moved. The substantial control remaining beyond the current season means Chicago GM Chris Getz will set an enormous asking price on both players, and both will still retain tremendous trade value into the offseason and even into next year’s deadline if a deal doesn’t come together this summer.

Robert, still just 26 years old, returned from the injured list yesterday after an absence of nearly two months. He suffered a Grade 2 strain of his hip flexor early in the season and was sidelined for the bulk of April and the entirety of May. He wasted little time in reminding the type of impact he brings to a game, going 2-for-4 with a homer in his return effort. The Cuban-born five-tool standout has played in only eight games and taken just 33 plate appearances this season but carries a .250/.273/.594 batting line with three homers.

Last year saw Robert take his always tantalizing game to new heights. The dynamic center fielder stayed healthy for a career-high 145 games and posted a stout .264/.315/.542 batting line with a career-high 38 home runs, 36 doubles, a triple and 20 stolen bases (in 24 tries). Robert ranked in the 84th percentile of MLB players in terms of sprint speed, per Statcast, and was among the league leaders in barrel rate. He’s a premium outfield defender with plus range and an above-average arm — evidenced both by gaudy Statcast percentile rankings and by career marks of +13 Defensive Runs Saved and +24 Outs Above Average in 3116 innings of work.

Durability and an over-aggressive approach at the plate are the primary knocks on Robert, who is two months into his fifth MLB season and already has five career IL placements for injury (plus another shorter stay on the Covid-related injured list). Robert played in 56 of 60  games during his rookie showing in the Covid-shortened 2020 season, but he logged just 68 and 98 games in 2021 and 2022, respectively, and he could finish the 2024 season with fewer than 100 games played as well, thanks to one already lengthy absence. He’s now had significant strains of his left and right hip flexors, in addition to an MCL sprain and a wrist strain in his career.

In terms of Robert’s approach at the plate, the results are strong so it’s hard to be too critical. But Robert rarely walks (career 5.3%) and chases pitches off the plate more than nearly any player in the sport. Since his 2020 debut, only Salvador Perez, Harold Ramirez and Javier Baez swing at more balls out of the strike zone than Robert’s massive 46.3% (at least among qualified hitters). His 54.6% contact rate on such swings is well below average, and his career 83.2% contact rate on pitches in the strike zone is also a couple points south of par. It hasn’t led to an exorbitant strikeout rate just yet — Robert has fanned in 25.5% of his career plate appearances — but it’s a less-than-ideal trend that could worsen if Robert loses what Statcast currently measures as elite bat speed (seventh fastest in the majors, on average).

There’s little precedent for a player of this quality with this level of affordability and team control being traded. Robert is owed just under $8MM through season’s end as of this writing plus another $45MM over the next three seasons. Three-and-a-half years of an MVP-caliber talent at a maximum rate of $63MM is a raucous bargain by today’s contractual standards. Teams may be wary of Robert’s injury history and free-swinging ways, but he’s signed for the remainder of his 20s and would be a legitimately franchise-altering deadline acquisition if a team can put together an impressive enough trade offer. Robert might not quite command the type of haul the Padres sent to the Nats for Juan Soto a couple years back, but he’s closer to that level of value than the standard deadline trade candidates. Getz alluded to as much in the offseason, calling Robert “one of the best players in baseball” and noting that he was a “difficult player to trade.”

There are similarities, in terms of trade value, when it comes to Crochet. It’s rare to see a high-end pitcher with two and a half seasons of club control traded at the deadline. Crochet is extra appealing given that his injuries and former role in the bullpen have tamped down his first-year arbitration price. He’s being paid only $800K this season. He’ll be due a pair of notable raises in each of the next two offseasons but still isn’t likely to command even $15MM in salary over those two years.

The 24-year-old Crochet’s transition from reliever to starter hit a brief snag with a trio of rough outings in mid-April, but he’s on an absolute tear right now and looks the part of a frontline starter, as one might expect for a former first-round talent who has long been touted to have ace upside. In 13 starts, Crochet is sitting on a 3.49 earned run average with vastly better fielding-independent marks (2.87 FIP, 2.48 SIERA). That’s due largely to his elite strikeout and walk numbers; Crochet has punched out 33.7% of his opponents against just a 5.4% walk rate — all while keeping the ball on the ground at an above-average 45.9% clip and averaging a blazing 96.9 mph on his heater.

Since that set of consecutive rough outings in April, Crochet has been on another planet. Arguably baseball’s best pitcher in that time, he’s logged a 1.35 ERA with a 53-to-7 K/BB ratio over his past 40 innings. Crochet allowed five, seven and five earned runs in his run of three straight rocky April outings. He’s yielded two or fewer runs in each of his ten other starts this season.

Rival clubs might be wary of how well he’ll hold up over the course of a full season in the rotation. It’s a fair qualm, as Crochet pitched just 25 innings last season and didn’t pitch at all in 2022 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. This year’s 69 2/3 innings are already a new career-high for the lefty, who entered 2024 with only 85 1/3 professional innings total (majors and minors combined). That said, even if there are concerns about Crochet fading down the stretch, there’s considerable long-term upside, as one would imagine the effects of a full starter’s workload will be more normalized for him in 2025 and 2026. If he wears down later this year, he’s also quite familiar with pitching in short relief.

Any trepidation about how he’ll hold up this year hasn’t stopped the Padres from reaching out to the White Sox. They’ve reportedly inquired on the lefty and have strong interest in him, which makes sense given not only Crochet’s dominance and San Diego’s need for arms, but also his minimal salary and the Friars’ relative proximity to the luxury tax barrier. Adding one of the game’s most dominant pitchers while barely even advancing your luxury tax line ought to hold overwhelming appeal for the majority of the team’s highest-spending clubs. At the same time, Crochet’s minimal salary also makes him appealing to small-market clubs with payroll concerns. Short of the innings worries, he’s an ideal trade target.

Because of that, the asking price on Crochet figures to be extreme, just as it will be with Robert. If Getz and his team genuinely make both available and play some bidders against one another, the Sox could genuinely overhaul the entire farm system with this pair of trades — to say nothing of deals involving Fedde, Pham and the other previously mentioned veterans. It’s going to take an enormous package of prospects to pry either player from the Sox, but with widespread mediocrity permeating the National League and leaving few teams in position to truly wave the white flag on the 2024 season, it could be a seller’s market. There’s no salvaging this lost season for the South Siders, but getting one or both of these trades right could wildly accelerate their rebuilding efforts.

Cubs Prospect Cade Horton Shut Down With Subscapularis Strain

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Cubs pitching prospect Cade Horton has a moderate subscapularis strain, reports Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune on X. The righty will be shut down for three to four weeks and then will have to build back up at that point.

Horton, 22, is one of the best pitching prospects in the sport and may have been trending towards a major league debut this summer, but the odds of that have clearly been reduced by this injury. Selected seventh overall in the 2022 draft, Horton tore through three levels of the minors last year. He tossed 88 1/3 innings between Single-A, High-A and Double-A with a 2.65 earned run average. He struck out 33.5% of batters faced in the process while limiting walks to a 7.7% clip.

Based on that strong professional debut, he was a consensus top 50 prospect coming into 2024. Baseball America gave him the #25 slot, FanGraphs put him at #18 and ESPN at #30, while Keith Law of The Athletic had him at #49.

Here in 2024, he went back to Double-A but carved up opponents in four starts. He tossed 16 1/3 innings in those, only allowing two earned runs. He struck out 18 batters and gave out just two walks.

He was then promoted to Triple-A in May while the major league rotation was dealing with a few issues. Justin Steele, Jordan Wicks and Kyle Hendricks were all on the injured list at that time, with Hendricks also struggling badly prior to his IL stint.

With Horton charging into Triple-A and the major league rotation treading water, the stars seemed to be aligning for him to be pitching at Wrigley in short order. But his first five Triple-A starts didn’t go well, with 15 earned runs allowed in 18 innings. It’s possible that the injury started to creep on him and impacted his results, as his 13.6% walk rate demonstrated an uncharacteristic lack of control.

Regardless of when the injury started bugging him, the poor Triple-A results and this shutdown will obviously erase any momentum towards a major league debut for the time being. Since he’s going to be shut down for most of June, he’ll likely need the majority of July to build back up. That aligns roughly with the July 30 trade deadline, which will be an interesting situation to monitor for Cubs fans.

The club performed well in April but struggled in May, currently sitting on a 30-31 record. That’s good enough to hold the final Wild Card spot in the National League at the moment but there are seven clubs within four games of catching Cubs, making it a fairly tenuous position.

Assuming the club hangs around the postseason picture, they could look for starting pitching reinforcements in the coming weeks, though the rotation is in decent enough shape at the moment. Steele has since returned from the injured list while Ben Brown has stepped up and staked a claim to a rotation spot with a 3.33 ERA on the year. Between those two, Shota Imanaga, Javier Assad and Jameson Taillon, no one in the rotation has an ERA higher than Steele’s 4.10. Wicks is also rehabbing and could be a candidate to rejoin the group in the coming weeks.

Taking all that together, the path for Horton to get to the big leagues is currently much tougher to see than it was just one month ago. Regardless, the Cubs will be hoping to get him back on track in the weeks to come as the need for another starter can pop up at any time. It would also be good to get him some more innings for the long term, as he only has 34 1/3 so far this year with the Cubs undoubtedly hoping for something close to a full starter’s workload next season. He had Tommy John surgery in 2021 and is still working on getting fully stretched out for the long run.

Brewers Place Robert Gasser On Injured List

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1:40pm: Gasser is on his way to Los Angeles to meet with Dr. Neal ElAttrache for a second opinion, per Rosiak on X.

1:05pm: The Brewers announced today that they have recalled left-hander Aaron Ashby and right-hander Tobias Myers from Triple-A Nashville. Lefty Robert Gasser has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 2, with a left flexor strain while right-hander Janson Junk was optioned to Triple-A Nashville.

Gasser, 25, started on Saturday but he felt tight and sore in his elbow after that start. Manager Pat Murphy gave a positive update yesterday, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on X. “There’s a possibility he could miss some time,” Murphy said. “But from the first MRI, I guess it looks pretty normal.”

Despite that perspective, it seems that either the club decided to be cautious and let Gasser’s arm heal up or further testing revealed something more concerning. It’s unclear exactly how long the club currently expects him to be out of action at this point, but he’ll miss at least a couple of turns through the rotation while on the IL.

An injury to a pitcher’s throwing elbow is always a concern but it’s an unfortunate development for the Brewers even if Gasser is only slated for a short stint on the IL. He has performed well in his first five career starts with a 2.57 earned run average thus far. His acclimation to the major leagues will now be put on pause and the team will lose yet another rotation option.

Brandon Woodruff is going to spend the entire season on the injured list after last year’s shoulder surgery. Wade Miley had Tommy John surgery and won’t be able to return this year. Jakob Junis initially went on the IL due to a shoulder impingement but had his return delayed when he was hit by a batted ball during batting practice. DL Hall is out due to a knee sprain and Joe Ross due to a strained lower back.

Despite all the rotation injuries, the club is 36-25 and six games up on the Cubs in the National League Central. Ashby is going to take the ball today and the club is off tomorrow. They can then turn to Freddy Peralta, Bryse Wilson and Colin Rea through the weekend but will need to figure out how to construct their rotation beyond that.

Junis started a rehab assignment last night but only tossed two innings and probably needs a few more outings before rejoining the big league club. Ashby could stick around but he has an ERA of 6.80 in Triple-A this year and his one previous MLB start saw him allow four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. Myers has made seven appearances for the big league club this year but with a 5.40 ERA in those.

Given the rotation uncertainty and the club’s position in the standings, it seems highly likely they will be looking for starting pitching prior to the trade deadline at the end of July. Quick returns from Junis, Gasser and some others would obviously improve the situation but there should be plenty of room for additions. Peralta is a legit playoff game starter but Wilson just moved in from the bullpen this year while Rea is a journeyman who’s about to turn 34 years old and only striking out 15.8% of opponents.

There are still plenty of teams trying to suss out their deadline approach but there are some clear sellers right now. The White Sox are the worst team in baseball and should be marketing Erick Fedde, while Garrett Crochet could be available as well. The Marlins have already started selling and could make Jesús Luzardo or Trevor Rogers available. The Angels have Tyler Anderson, Griffin Canning and Patrick Sandoval as plausible trade candidates. Plenty of other pitchers could become available depending on how clubs like the Tigers, Blue Jays, Mets, Astros and others fare in the weeks to come.

Astros To Select Nick Hernandez

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The Astros announced they have selected right-hander Nick Hernandez to their roster, with left-hander Parker Mushinski optioned in a corresponding move. Righty José Urquidy, who is slated for season-ending surgery, was be transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Chandler Rome of The Athletic relayed the moves on X prior to the official announcement (link one and two).

Hernandez, 29, was just acquired from the Padres last night in a cash deal. He had signed a minor league deal with the Friars in January and has been pitching well this year. He tossed 23 2/3 innings for Triple-A El Paso with a 1.90 earned run average, despite the hitter-friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League. He may have benefitted from an 84.5% strand rate and 4% home run to flyball ratio, but he also struck out 34% of batters faced.

The Astros were intrigued enough to send some cash to San Diego and bring Hernandez back to his original organization. The Astros drafted Hernandez back in 2016 but he reached minor league free agency after the 2022 season, eventually pivoting to the Padres.

He’ll now have a chance to improve his small-sample major league stats. He tossed three innings for the Friars last year but allowed four earned runs, leaving him currently sitting on a career ERA of 12.00. He was outrighted off the roster before re-signing on a minor league deal coming into this year.

The Astros essentially had a free roster spot to use with Urquidy set to miss the rest of the year. The same is true of Cristian Javier, as he’s slated to undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow. He’ll eventually be transferred to the 60-day IL as well, giving Houston another roster spot to work with, which could lead to another small deal or waiver claim in the near future.

Mets Release Omar Narvaez, Jorge Lopez

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The Mets announced Wednesday that they’ve released veteran catcher Omar Narvaez and right-hander Jorge Lopez. Both were designated for assignment last week, and both are now free agents. New York also selected the contract of catcher Joe Hudson from Triple-A Syracuse, moving righty Shintaro Fujinami to the 60-day injured list to open a roster spot. Hudson is a candidate to serve as an extra player for the Mets’ London Series against the Phillies, where each team will be granted a 27th player.

The 32-year-old Narvaez is playing out the second season of a two-year, $15MM contract he signed in the 2022-23 offseason. He had the right to opt out of said contract following the 2023 season, but after a .211/.283/.297 showing in his first year with the club, he unsurprisingly passed on that opportunity. He’s struggled even more in 2024, hitting just .154/.191/.185 in 69 trips to the plate.

Though his run with the Mets was dismal, Narvaez was a quality regular for several years leading up to that deal. From 2018-22, he slashed .254/.337/.397 between the White Sox, Mariners and Brewers — even landing an All-Star nod with the ’21 Brewers. Milwaukee also worked with Narvaez to dramatically improve his glovework — specifically his framing skills — improving upon the below-average grades he drew during his time with Seattle and Chicago.

Any team in need of some catching help could take a flier on Narvaez and would owe him only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. That sum would be subtracted from what the Mets still owe him, but they’re on the hook for the bulk of his $8MM salary regardless. The Marlins and Cubs have had the game’s worst production behind the plate this season, and while Narvaez himself has had an extremely rough go of it, his track record might be appealing to them or another club with suspect backstops.

Lopez’s time with the Mets ended in controversial fashion. The right-hander, showing ample frustration after a poor outing, angrily lobbed his glove into the stands as he walked off the field. After the game, when asked about his actions, the Puerto Rican-born righty said he did not regret his actions and offered a candid assessment. Lopez, speaking his second language without an interpreter by his side, has stressed that he intended to state that he had been “the worst —-ing teammate” in MLB (presumably due to that outburst). But it was difficult in the moment to discern whether he’d said “worst teammate” or called the Mets the “worst team,” and when asked to clarify, he suggested both (again, without an interpreter/translator at his side).

The situation was further muddied by Lopez telling the media that he hadn’t spoken to Mets management about the issue, when he in fact had discussed it with manager Carlos Mendoza. The Mets wound up designating Lopez for assignment. In the hours after the incident, it came to light that he’s also been dealing with significant personal distress. His young son is on a transplant list and awaiting a donor. Add in that Lopez has previously spent time on the injured list due to anxiety issues, and it becomes clear that there’s far more at play than simply losing his temper and some mistaken words.

As with Narvaez, any club can now sign Lopez and owe him only the prorated minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. The manner in which his Mets tenure drew to a close will likely impact his market, but while not excusing his actions, it’s also easy to look at the situation from personal/human standpoint and understand why things may have unraveled for the 31-year-old righty.

Lopez pitched fairly well with the Mets, logging 26 1/3 innings of 3.76 ERA ball. A sub-par 17.1% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate both lead fielding-independent metrics to take a more bearish view of his work, however (4.65 FIP, 4.46 SIERA). Lopez had a breakout 2022 showing with the Orioles and Twins but followed that up with a sub-par 2023 campaign spent mostly in Minnesota.

After a brilliant start to the season in which he was unscored upon into May, Lopez hit a rough patch and wound up taking some time away from the Twins due to his anxiety. He expressed gratitude to the team for allowing him to focus on his mental health upon his return to the club. Unfortunately, his results following the break were still sub-par, and the Twins wound up flipping him to the Marlins in a deadline deal sending Dylan Floro back to Minnesota.

Taken in totality, the last three seasons from Lopez have yielded solid, if inconsistent results. He’s pitched 156 1/3 innings and logged a 4.03 ERA with a 20.7% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 51.2% grounder rate. Lopez’s strikeouts and ground-ball tendencies have trended downward since 2022, however, as has the velocity on his power sinker — which at at 97.8 mph in ’22 but averaged 95.4 mph with the Mets this season. Whatever comes next for the right-hander, the hope beyond the baseball field is that his son finds the donor he needs and that Lopez continues to prioritize his mental health.

Turning to the journeyman Hudson, this will be the 33-year-old’s first time on a big league roster since the 2020 season. He’s appeared in 18 big league games and taken 33 plate appearances, going 5-for-30 with a double, two walks, six strikeouts and a sacrifice in that time. The former sixth-round pick has been with nine organizations in his professional career, including brief MLB stints with the Mariners, Angels and Cardinals. In 19 games with the Syracuse Mets this season, he’s hitting .222/.364/.444 with three home runs and three doubles.

Cubs’ Hoyer On Deadline Approach, Needs

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The 2024 Cubs surged out to a 17-10 start for the season’s first month, turning in a +20 run differential and looking every bit like a favorite in the National League Central. The script has flipped over the past month-plus, however, as Chicago has gone 12-19 and allowed 25 more runs than they’ve scored in the 31 games since. They’re now six games back of a Brewers club that holds a relatively commanding lead in the division.

Thankfully for the Cubs — and many other non-division leaders in the National League — the 2024 NL is rife with mediocrity thus far. Only four NL clubs have a winning record more than a third of the way through the season. Chicago’s modest 30-31 standing on the season is actually enough to give them a one-game lead for the third NL Wild Card spot. (Conversely, the 33-27 Twins hold the top Wild Card spot in the American League.)

With the Cubs still squarely in the playoff picture and just under eight weeks to go until the 2024 trade deadline, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer is unsurprisingly looking ahead with a buyer’s mentality. The longtime Cubs exec chatted with The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney about his team’s recent play, conceding that they’ve “played poor baseball in a lot of ways” but expressing confidence that there’s a turnaround on the horizon.

Hoyer added that he’s “constantly looking to improve our team” and more specifically lamented the lack of home-run power on his squad. “You need to be able to homer at the right times,” said Hoyer. “And you need to be able to score in bunches. That’s something we haven’t done, especially early. … You got to put pressure on the opposing manager. You got to get into the bad part of the bullpen. We haven’t done a good enough job.”

The Cubs are a middle-of-the-pack team on the season as a whole, with 60 round-trippers on the year. But over the past 30 days, Chicago’s 24 home runs are tied for 22nd in the majors. In that span, the Cubs rank 29th in baseball with a .216 average, 21st with a .299 on-base percentage and 28th with a .347 slugging percentage. Their combined 23.7% strikeout rate is also the sixth-highest in the majors.

Digging in a bit further, the Cubs have seen strong production from Cody Bellinger over the past month. Ian Happ has hit for a low average with a middling OBP but shown plenty of power. It’s been the inverse for Michael Busch, who’s hit .189 and flailed away with a 37% strikeout rate but also drawn walks in more than one of five plate appearances, keeping his batting line afloat with a strong OBP.

The rest of the roster has struggled all around at the plate, with particular difficulty from Dansby Swanson and (to a lesser extent) double-play partner Nico Hoerner over the past month. Both are premium defenders who are signed long-term, however, so neither will be displaced anytime soon.

Bellinger has played some more first base recently in light of Busch’s contact struggles, but that’s left further questions in the outfield, where Seiya Suzuki has struggled upon hie return from the injured list and Pete Crow-Armstrong has yet to find his stride in a small sample of big league at-bats. Over at third base, Christopher Morel has struggled on both sides of the ball recently — yesterday’s home run notwithstanding. The Cubs’ catching tandem of Yan Gomes and Miguel Amaya, meanwhile, has been one of the worst in baseball from an offensive standpoint, combining for a .176/.220/.261 slash.

Speculatively speaking, the most straightforward areas at which to add would be third base, catcher or designated hitter. A third baseman with some power and a solid glove would be particularly prudent, as it’d allow Morel to move to more of a DH-heavy role. There might not be many such hitters on the market, however, particularly if the Rockies stick to their reported desire to hang onto Ryan McMahon. If the Astros wind up selling, impending free agent Alex Bregman is a logical target, but Houston GM Dana Brown recently downplayed the notion that Houston would trade pieces away. Toronto GM Ross Atkins took a similar approach in suggesting trades of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and/or Bo Bichette don’t “make any sense” for his club.

The market could have a few catchers available, particularly if the Blue Jays or Rockies are willing to part with impending free agents Danny Jansen and Elias Diaz. Of course, the trade market will continue to come into focus as the deadline draws nearer and as teams more firmly cement themselves as playoff contenders or more decisively fall back in the standings.

Taking a bigger-picture look, Bellinger’s ability to play all three outfield positions and first base gives Hoyer and his staff some flexibility in the type of hitter they pursue. If Busch continues to struggle, he could be optioned to Iowa, with Bellinger taking over first base on a full-time basis and the Cubs targeting an outfielder. If Busch can rebound, the Cubs could pursue any outfielder whose bat they covet, knowing Bellinger could slot into any of the three outfield slots, and that he, Happ, Suzuki and a new acquisition could rotate through the outfield and DH slots.

However they choose to go about it, the Cubs seem likely to be in the market for some extra punch heading into next month’s trade deadline. That’ll surely be true of many teams looking to bolster their rosters, but Chicago’s need is a bit more acute — and the roster offers multiple points for potential upgrades.

Dinelson Lamet Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Dinelson Lamet, who’d been pitching with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City, has elected free agency, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. Presumably, the minor league deal he inked with the Dodgers back in February contained an early June opt-out date that he chose to exercise.

Lamet, 31, briefly had his contract selected to the big league roster earlier this season. He pitched just 4 1/3 innings before being designated for assignment, clearing waivers, and accepting an outright assignment back to OKC. The former Padres hurler allowed just one earned run in that brief MLB stint. He’s spent the rest of the season in the rotation down in Triple-A, where he’s logged a 4.82 ERA, 22.5% strikeout rate, 12.9% walk rate and 44.4% ground-ball rate in 37 1/3 innings. Lamet’s bottom-line results have improved of late (3.81 ERA over his past six starts), but his command remains problematic (13.6% walk rate in that stretch).

Early in his career, Lamet looked the part of a potential rising star in San Diego. He debuted in his age-24 campaign back in 2017 and notched a hefty 28.7% strikeout rate while holding his own with a 4.57 ERA over 21 starts. His 2018 season, however, was lost to Tommy John surgery.

Upon returning in 2019, Lamet lowered that ERA to 4.07 while upping his strikeout rate to 33.5% and cutting his walk rate to 9.6%. By the time the 2020 season rolled around, the 6’3″ flamethrower looked to be putting it all together. Lamet made a “full” slate of 12 starts during the pandemic-shortened season and posted a brilliant 2.09 ERA with a career-best 34.8% strikeout rate against a better-than-average 7.5% walk rate. He finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting.

Lamet opened the 2021 season on the injured list due to inflammation in his right forearm — a worrying development for a pitcher just three years removed from UCL surgery. He was activated in late April and eased into the season with a series of two- and three-inning “starts” and long relief appearances. San Diego pushed his workload more in the summer months, as Lamet made several five-inning starts before landing back on the injured list with further forearm troubles. When he returned in September, he was a full-time reliever — and that’s been his primary role since.

Lamet posted a 4.08 ERA in 315 2/3 innings over parts of five years with the Padres, striking out nearly 31% of his opponents along the way. He was struggling through what looked like a lost 2022 season when traded to the Brewers as a financial component of the ’22 Josh Hader blockbuster, however. Milwaukee immediately designated him for assignment, at which point the Rockies scooped him up on waivers. Lamet had a decent finish in Colorado, which helped him to avoid a non-tender, but he posted an 11.71 ERA in 27 2/3 innings between the Rox and Red Sox in 2023.

All told, Lamet has pitched to an 8.25 ERA in 64 1/3 big league innings dating back to Opening Day 2022. It’s an unsightly track record, but he’s turned in decent results as a starter with the Dodgers’ top minor league affiliate and can now market himself as an option to a team needing immediate rotation depth or any club seeking bullpen help.

Angels Release Hunter Dozier

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Infielder/outfielder Hunter Dozier has been released by the Angels, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had signed a minor league deal with them in January but will now return to the open market in search of his next opportunity.

It’s understandable why the Halos took a shot on Dozier. He’s still being paid by the Royals as part of the extension he signed with that club many years ago, so it was essentially a free look at a guy who was once a capable big league hitter.

Unfortunately, they didn’t see much to like in that free look. Dozier took 214 plate appearances for the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, while lining up at all four corner spots, but struck out in 29.9% of them. He did hit seven home runs but only walked at a 5.6% clip. His .222/.268/.394 batting line is unimpressive in a vacuum and even moreso in the hitter-friendly context of the Pacific Coast League, as it translates to a 56 wRC+.

That’s a significant drop from where he was a few years ago. With the Royals in 2019, Dozier hit 26 home runs and walked at a 9.4% rate. That is now known as the “juiced ball” season when home run tallies were up all across the league, but his .279/.348/.522 slash line was still considered 23% better than league average in that environment. In the shortened 2020 season, his power seemingly corrected a bit with six homers in 44 games, but he also increased his walk rate to 14.5% after being at 9.4% the year prior.

The Royals seemingly felt that Dozier was in the process of a breakout and they decided to invest in him. Going into 2021, which was his age-28 season, Dozier and the Royals signed an extension which guaranteed him $25MM over four years. It also contained a $10MM club option for 2025 with a $1MM buyout.

But his production cratered from essentially the moment the ink was dry on that contract. He hit .226/.289/.391 over 2021 and 2022 while striking out 26.7% of the time and walking at just a 7.4% rate, with that combined production leading to an 84 wRC+. Last year was even worse, as his strikeout rate jumped to 31.9% and he produced a line of .183/.253/.305 in 91 plate appearances before getting released at the end of May.

Dozier hasn’t been in good form for a while but the Royals are still paying him for the rest of the year, so perhaps another club will follow the Angels’ lead and give him a minor league deal, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.

Joel Kuhnel Elects Free Agency

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The Blue Jays sent right-hander Joel Kuhnel outright to Triple-A Buffalo but he elected free agency instead, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. As a player with a previous career outright, he has the right to elect free agency instead of accepting another outright assignment and has exercised that right.

Kuhnel, 29, was only with the Blue Jays a short time and didn’t join the major league club. The righty was designated for assignment by the Astros at the end of April and then flipped to the Jays in early May for cash. The Jays kept Kuhnel on optional assignment for a few weeks, adding to their bullpen depth, before they acquired Ryan Burr and nudged Kuhnel off his roster spot. Kuhnel tossed 8 2/3 innings for Buffalo with a 1.04 earned run average during his brief time in the organization.

He will be able to market himself as a power arm, though one that generally gets more grounders than strikeouts. He has 85 2/3 innings of big league experience with a 6.30 ERA, with his fastball velocity averaging in the mid-90s. His 19% strikeout rate in that time is a few points below average but he has kept 52.2% of balls in play on the ground while also limiting walks to a 6.3% rate. Since the start of 2021, he’s also thrown 82 minor league innings with a 4.28 ERA, 15.7% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate while getting opponents to pound the ball into the ground about half the time.

The fact that Kuhnel cleared waivers suggests that no club was willing to give him a 40-man spot, but he should be able to land a minor league deal somewhere. If he eventually gets a roster spot again, he is in his final option year and will therefore have a bit of roster flexibility for the remainder of 2024. He will now head out to the open market and see what opportunities are available to him.

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