Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Crews to debut:
Just a few months after Pirates right-hander and 2023 No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes made his big league debut, he’s now set to be joined in the major leagues by his former LSU teammate and No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 draft: Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews. The 22-year-old Crews was a consensus top-10 prospect in the sport entering the year and has slashed .270/.342/.451 in 100 games between Double-A and Triple-A. Crews has swatted 13 home runs, posted an impressive 25-for-30 record on the basepaths, walked at an 8% rate and fanned in 20.5% of his plate appearances.
With regular right fielder Alex Call hitting the 10-day IL over the weekend, it seems likely that Crews will take the lion’s share of starts there alongside fellow top prospect James Wood in left and glove-first speedster Jacob Young in center. That will likely leave struggling veteran Joey Gallo relegated to a part time role as a first baseman and DH alongside Juan Yepez and Andres Chaparro. Crews’ first big league appearance is set to come at home in D.C. against the Yankees, who will be starting southpaw Nestor Cortes (4.00 ERA) in tonight’s game.
2. Moore being evaluated for elbow issue:
Veteran southpaw Matt Moore is dealing with an injury scare after exiting yesterday’s loss to the Blue Jays in the middle of an at-bat against infielder Ernie Clement. Moore’s departure was preceded by a two-run homer served up to Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk, but Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to note after the game that the lefty’s exit was due to an elbow issue rather than his performance. Angels manager Ron Washington told reporters after the game that the club’s current plan is to re-evaluate Moore today after they travel to Detroit for tomorrow’s game, so it’s possible an update on the 35-year-old’s status won’t be available until then. It’s been a tough season for Moore, who was one of the best lefty relievers in baseball from 2022-23 but has seen his ERA balloon to 5.03 in 48 1/3 innings this year. His strikeout rate has dipped below 20% while his walk rate has crept up to a hefty 12.4%.
3. Taylor on waivers—with more to come?
Yesterday saw the Pirates place center fielder Michael A. Taylor on waivers, offering any of the league’s other 29 clubs the opportunity to claim the veteran for nothing other than the remainder of his contract. Taylor figures to be the first of several veterans waived in the coming days, as out-of-contention clubs hoping to shed a bit of salary while presenting veterans an opportunity to join a postseason push for the season’s final month.
Given the fact that players acquired after the calendar flips to September are not eligible for postseason rosters, players placed on waivers over the next few days are likely to have the best odds of being claimed. Just under a year ago, the Angels were the most proactive team in parting ways with players via the waiver wire when they allowed a handful of veterans headlined by Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to hit the waiver wire.
Crews is an old school ball player. I see Andrew McCutchen when I watch him play. Good luck, DC. Geaux Tigers!
What does that even mean? How is he like mccutchen and what does old school player mean? Crews has nothing particularly different about him than 80% of players. He will be good but not a superstar.
You can’t use the term “old school” and then reference someone still playing. If you had said “I see Stan Musial when I watch him play” that might have actually made sense.
… Andrew McCutchen is an old school ball player. It’s a common reference understood by 98% of the readers on MLBTR. “Can’t” – appreciate the rule-check. The MLBTR police are working hard today.
Sorry but not mentioning the history that will be made in Boston today is surprising and disappointing.
Which is…….?
Flanster – I didn’t mention specifics because I wanted to see if Nick knew.
This afternoon Danny Jansen will become the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game.
It’s kind of a big deal.
It is not. No one cares.
Not only that, but Jansen was at the plate for the Jays with a 1-0 count when the game was suspended.
Now he’ll be calling pitches against the at-bat that he started.
lester – Actually the count is 0-1, and if there was 2 strikes instead of one, then Jansen (not his pinch hitter) would have been charged with the plate appearance.
Which would have meant Jansen would have been trying to help his pitcher strike out …. himself!
And imagine if the Jays had acquired McGuire and he was the one catching for the Jays today. LOL
This is great stuff, baseball fans worldwide are really enjoying this first-ever event!!! Shame there isn’t an article here on it yet, but I would guess there will be eventually.
It’s not like the game is the same day. The game has been suspended for months. It’s kindve ridiculous to even make it a big deal.
If it were the Mets involved, you and other Mets fans would make it a huge deal.
Mets – Anything that has never happened before in MLB is a big deal to nearly every baseball fan. But of course people are entitled to disagree if they have a different definition of “big deal”.
The national media, including non-sports media, has been making it a big story ever since Cora announced Jansen would be catching.
It’s certainly bigger than the Mets having the Hawk Tuah girl throw out the first pitch on Camp Day. LOL!!
You’re right, it’s 0-1.
It would be ironic if Jansen had contested the umpire’s strike call then.
Is the same umpiring crew working the games today, by any chance?
Sure. Would care less.
Sounds like she got your attention. I guess the Mets PR stunt worked. I bet that got more clicks then a game suspended from May having a back up player nobody cares about traded to the other team. I bet more people on this baseball site know Hawk Tuah girl then what’s his name playing for the Red Sox today.
Mets – I heard about it only while driving in NY with WFAN on the radio, as they were ranting about the appropriateness of honoring her on Camp Day with several thousand kids in the stands.
And you’d probably lose that bet, most of the fans here aren’t into Tik Tok and other “influencers”.
You’re the second random person to bring her up in a response to me in a baseball conversation. Obviously you all have some infatuation with her. I had to look her up to even respond the first time.
Mets – The fact you accused me of “obviously having an infatuation with her” after I just told you the only reason I know about her is because I was listening to WFAN …. that obviously says a lot about you and your motives.
My motives? You brought her up. I think they were your motives.
Right, Mets, and you were the one insinuating that a suspended game with first-time-ever implications moment is “kinda ridiculous” in the first place.
Mets – You intentionally falsely accused me of being “infatuated with her” even after I explained to you how I knew her.
And obviously the only reason I brought her up was because of the Mets connection, in response to your claiming MLB history today is “ridiculous”.
I stayed on the subject of baseball, but you chose to make it personal.
Just learn from it and move on.
You’re joking right? You didn’t stay on the subject of baseball at all. You tried to be clever and now you’re trying to act like my father. I hope you had a good time with your historic once in a lifetime game today. I’m sure you will never forget it but next time don’t try to be a wise ass if you are going to get your feeling hurt with a response.
Mets – You’ve proven to be an immature classless snowflake who couldn’t handle the fact that I responded to your juvenile reply, and then you went personal.
Didn’t stay on baseball? How DUMB to make up even more lies about me when the facts are right there and couldn’t have possibly been edited.
I posted about the Danny Jansen game.
Then because of YOU I posted about the Mets.
NOWHERE did I post anything unrelated to baseball until YOU made it personal, and now you continue to lie about it? Seriously?
Don’t bring your daddy issues up with me. I don’t give a damn how old you are, I treat everyone here like adults and I expect everyone to act like adults. I’m not gonna apologize for it just because your daddy acts like an adult.
How dense are you to not even realize I very politely gave you several outs and very nicely ignored your ignorant personal insults at first, but you kept coming back for more probably because you’ve been coddled your entire life and are used to always getting your way.
YOU made it personal. There is nobody to blame but YOU.
If YOU had stopped the bullcrap false accusations against me when I politely explained my knowing what i knew, this could have ended right there.
But NO, you kept right on acting like a dbag by repeating the same damn false accusations against me. So what the hell did you expect, that I would just walk away out of fear or something?
THAT is why kids like you have such a hard time in this world, because you have zero humility or integrity and you are incapable of standing up like a man and owning your mistakes.
Congrats, you took yet another interesting and fun factoid and turned it into a totally unnecessary juvenile drama-filled bullcrap back-and-forth instead of taking your well-deserved L and moving on.
Grow the hell up.
Needless to say I’m done with you.
Fever Pitch:
At first I wondered if maybe 5 RedSox fans were rallying to show their full support for the Front Office.
Now THAT would be history….
lester – You missed it! Millions of Sox fans showed their full support for the front office every day until Dombrowski was forced out 5 years ago.
Not a surprise considering they are the most intelligent, passionate and devoted fanbase in the world!
@Fever Pitch
Thumbs up for the comment. Have always had a great time in Boston. Not sure about intelligence, but would agree about passionate devotees… 😉
UK – I think the fact that Boston is one of the most highly educated cities in the country has something to do with it’s reputation. When you’ve got Harvard, MIT, Brigham & Women’s, Mass General, and Dana Farber all within the city, that will attract a lot of highly intelligent people.
But you’re right, there’s always that low-IQ element in every group. Like the Sox fans who think the home white jerseys they bought with the player names on the back are “authentic-looking”. LOL!
@Fever
One of my favourite bars on the planet is the Duke of Cornwallis within a throw of Fenway. Consequently, I’m bringing down the IQ by proxy…
Fever,;your bias is showing. I could say the same for Cubs fans!
UK – Never been to that one, I’m more of a Cask N’ Flagon bloke.
My question to you …. what’s your preference, warm ale or a cold lager?
I don’t drink anything warm. LOL
@Fever Pitch
I’d be after cold ones myself. You guys make some excellent cold IPA’s which I always enjoy.
We’ll have to agree to disagree….
Coop – Yes I’m just supporting my peeps after a gratuitous shot was taken at them ;O)
Sox and Cubs fans will always be a kindred spirit, so many similarities between the two organizations.
I’d say it’s more like a novelty of MLB history or a good baseball trivia question.
Imagine being put on waivers knowing that the White Sox have the first shot at you. IF you’re making $2M or less, that is.
@avenger
The White Sox haven’t called me (yet) and I’ll be marginally cheaper. I’m yet to see an ageing leg spinner hit the show. Especially an English one. But I’m ready….
@30 Parks
Got to agree with you, and wonder why so many people on MLBTR are incapable of having a discussion. It really isn’t too hard to say “Good points well made, but I disagree”. With some reasoning.
As a general rule if we thought quicker and typed more slowly fewer of us would look like imbeciles…. Myself included…
Agreed, A’s. I genuinely enjoy reading the comments on MLBTR – much baseball knowledge to consume. Symptom of the times – civil discussions are few & far between. Have a good day, A’s.
30P
“Symptom of the times – civil discussions are few & far between. ”
“Still with me? Going too fast? Read slower. You’ve never heard of player comparisons?”
People love echo chambers, to hear a differing opinions opens up the terrible possibility that one might be wrong about something, or at least under-informed (a large portion of the commenters on this site). It’s probably a reflection of society – people don’t feel heard but don’t want to take the time to listen.
I personally like hearing all of the takes, it’s surprisingly entertaining to see how one event can be spun into conspiracies, over-arching generalisms about statheads vs. old school, etc. I still learn stuff about baseball every day, by watching it, reading things here and doing my own research (especially into the business side of things). By the time I’m an expert, the game will have changed enough that I’m not.
Well said, Pirates. Be well, my friend.
@Pirates Pundit
Now that is a brilliant comment. Personally, I’ll never be an expert, and will enjoy floating on the flotsam….
Considering Dylan Crews’ minor league performance with a 20.5% strikeout rate and an 8% walk rate, how might his projected MLB wRC+ be influenced by his ability to adjust to major league pitching, particularly in high-leverage situations? Additionally, how could his baserunning efficiency (25-for-30) impact his overall WAR if he maintains or improves his success rate in the majors?
Joey Gallo is still on a MLB roster as he approaches the sixth anniversary of the last time he ended a season above the Mendoza Line.
Good for Joey and that we fans and front offices assess and value players differently.
FG projects Crews for an 82 wRC+ and 0 WAR rest of season