As the 2025 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Doubleheader in Kansas City:
Yesterday’s game between the Rockies and Royals was postponed due to weather and will be made up today in a doubleheader. The makeup game will take place immediately after the previously scheduled game, which is set to begin at 1:10pm local time. According to Anne Rogers of MLB.com, fans who have tickets to today’s game are welcome to attend both games while fans who had tickets to yesterday’s game will receive a credit for the value of their tickets that can be applied to tickets and suite rentals, though they’ll need to purchase tickets for today’s game in order to attend the doubleheader.
Today’s first matchup is between Rockies righty German Marquez and Royals ace Cole Ragans. Marquez had his last fully healthy season in 2022 and so far this year the rust has showed; he’s been torched for an 8.27 ERA in four starts. He’ll look to get things back on track against Ragans, who finished third in AL Cy Young award voting last year and has started his 2025 season with a 3.58 ERA and a phenomenal 36.8% strikeout rate. Game 2 features Colorado rookie Chase Dollander making his fourth career MLB start against veteran Michael Lorenzen, who has pitched to a 4.57 ERA in 21 2/3 innings of work this season.
2. Will McKenzie be traded?
The Guardians made the tough decision to designate righty Triston McKenzie for assignment earlier this week. The news was simultaneously surprising and in some ways a long time coming, as McKenzie last pitched a full season in back in 2022 and has largely been ineffective since then. Despite his 5.46 ERA in 97 1/3 innings over the past three years, however, McKenzie is still just 27 years old and looked like a potential front-end starter back in 2022. He avoided surgery following a 2023 UCL injury but has never recaptured his pre-injury form.
McKenzie is nearing the point where he’ll need to be placed on waivers to be claimed by any of the league’s other 29 clubs, so if the Guardians hope to work out a trade involving their talented but struggling righty, they’d need to do so soon. Any acquiring club would need to be willing to commit an active roster spot to McKenzie, who is out of minor league options. He’s being paid $1.95MM this year and has two additional seasons of club control.
3. Beltway Series sweep on the line:
The Orioles have been among baseball’s most disappointing teams this year, with a 9-14 record that puts them dead last in the AL East. That’s been even more apparent during this week’s Beltway Series against the Nationals, where they’ve dropped the first two games in the three-game set. Washington is hardly a powerhouse, sitting two games below .500 and 6.5 games back of the Mets in the NL East, but they’ll nonetheless enter tonight’s game (scheduled for 6:45pm local time) with a chance at a sweep. Talented southpaw MacKenzie Gore will be on the mound for D.C. after looking excellent in his first five starts of the year. He’ll be facing fellow southpaw Cade Povich, a former top prospect who has struggled to a 6.38 ERA in is first four starts of the 2025 campaign.
I think gore ends up being a better Robbie ray/ Orlando Hernandez.
I like what I see from him.
Birds wagered on the young talent and they seem to be choking under the pressure!
There’s that polite diagnosis and the one I’ve been telling people for about a year, that Elias doesn’t know what he’s doing at the major league level.
Oldest rotation in baseball. Platoons all over the diamond. No players on multi-year contacts – O’Neill will count when he exercises his option since he knows he won’t make more money after this abysmal year.
Tib – It’s not an option, it’s an opt-out …. but yeah it’s highly unlikely he does opt out, he’s been awful. Especially shocking that he’s only 2-for-21 with zero extra-base hits against LHP.
Elias is one of the worst GM’s in baseball. He had some really good scouts that told him who to draft and they are gone now.
Right, Elias was given an open wallet by Rubenstein and he said “Nah I got this.” Philosophically opposed to signing free agent pitchers to long term deals and willing to die on that hill.
He still made horrible choices with the money had available. He has still made horrible trades with the prospect capital he had.
The birds wager on young talent was a good one. Their offense, comprised primarily of that young talent, is sitting 8th in the majors by OPS+, and that’s with a struggling Gunnar Henderson. Once he gets going, they’ll be a top five offense.
The problem is the ghastly pitching. The pitching staff is dead last with a 5.45 team ERA, the only team with an ERA in the 5’s. Their league worst ERA+ is 70. The second worst team (Washington) has a 83.
That means Baltimore is 13% worse then the 29th place pitching staff.
You can go with a made up stat but their actual OPS is 18th in baseball. Their offense isn’t very good either and they will be looking to have to trade Henderson after next year before they lose him to New York or Los Angeles in free agency and max out his trade value. Their offense will most likely get a lot better but there is zero hope the pitching staff gets good enough to be very good. They wasted their window and the few good young players they have will be gone soon.
Stats aren’t “made up.” They’re mathematically calculated. You denigrate a “made up stat” (ERA+) then base your opinion on —-wait for it—-another “made up stat” (OPS.)
How is a plus stay calculated? It’s a human being putting their determination on how pro factors and such influence the real number. OPS is very mathematical and easy to calculate. There is no dispute on the calculation. OPS+ plus is not and is influenced by an unknown person who determines what teams should get a boost.
Don’t change the argument. You were whining about ERA+ being a “made up stat” not OPS+. “ERA+ takes a pitchers ERA and normalizes it across the entire league. It accounts for external factors like ballparks and opponents. It then adjusts, so a score of 100 is league average, and 150 is 150% better than the league average. The Formula: League ERA, adjusted for park factors x 100.” You can go to Fangraphs and other sites if you need information on how advanced stats are calculated.
Any stat with a plus is made up. ERA or OPS. This conversation is OPS. You telling me to go to fangraphs is telling me you don’t know how it’s calculated. I don’t rely on fangraphs for any stats that isn’t mathematical verifiable as they are an admitted biased group. So how does a ballpark factor into it? You get a ballpark like Wrigley that can be a total hitters park or pitchers park depending on the weather and time of year. It’s not like the foul lines and bases change according to ballpark. Then you also get a park like Colorado that is considered a total hitters park but the team puts balls in dehumidifiers to negate the effects of the ballpark. The ballpark factor changes daily for weather and time of day but that’s not in the equation.
“OPS+ plus is not and is influenced by an unknown person who determines what teams should get a boost.”
You seem to be misunderstanding it. OPS+ normalizes for park factors and era. It’s not some person just randomly deciding it. Flat OPS is a poor way to value a hitter because a .900 OPS for a player on the Rockies is a bit different from a .900 OPS on the Mariners. OPS+ lets you normalize the OPS.
I disagree with that. Colorado dehumidifies the balls to negate the park factor. What about playing games in Colorado in April and September when it is 30 degrees and snowing? Arenados numbers didn’t change when he left Colorado to St. Louis. The plus stats are an attempt to level the playing field for players but don’t include weather, time of year, time of day and many other variables. It’s a very limited stat that should be taking with a huge grain of salt.
The young talent is there but there are ominous signs of regression from most of the group. Only Holliday looks better so far in 2025 than he did in 2024. The team overall continues to have trouble getting guys on base and when they do, hit with RISP. Very one dimensional with a lot of guys who swing freely and don’t take many walks. Carrying who basically amounts to a pinch runner in Mateo (1 hit all year) for 3.4M on a roster spot is another example of wasting a little money for no reason.
But the pitching staff is beyond hopeless. Elias sat on his hands at the winter meetings while pitchers went off the board. There were reasonable trades to be had but the Orioles waited. Then when it got late they threw money at Morton, Sugano, etc.
The waiting continues, with all the poor play, no one pays for it. Morton is still scheduled to start Friday, Perez has been bad for 2 years now, still has a spot, Mateo’s still on the team, Hyde is still the manager, the mistakes continue. No one’s accountable, so everyone just drifts along.
I think the Orioles are in a good spot for ’26 but they have a lots of needs.
They need Kjerstad, Holliday, Cowser, Westburg, Mayo and Basallo – all need to improve.
They need Bradish to return to form.
They need Wells to be a three or a four.
They need one of Povich, McDermott or Young, or any of their prospects to be a four or a five with upside.
Rodriguez at this point is a bonus. Sugano numbers arent terrible, but I doubt they bring him back. Maybe Rogers and Kremer can find new life in bullpen roles. Maybe Kyle Gipson sticks as depth in the rotation.
I like Heaney, Mahle, and Jon Gray for the O’s, a reunion with Eflin, maybe a reunion with John Means or the possibility of stretching out Luke Weaver or Shelby Miller. Both could be inexpensive options in FA, but they need to sign an Ace this off season.
Orioles are cooked in ’25.
Wells and Bradish are 4/5 types who’ve overachieved. They need to forget about them and the injury prone guys like Means and get some better talent. Heaney would be a start. He baffles me so much. Never seen him but as a Pirates fan, I see him dominating with a 90 mph fastball, it’s insane.
Bradish is definitely not a back end arm. Watched him since he made it to the bigs. Guy is a front end starter. What will he be after he returns from tjs. Not sure but he has “it” and will be an ace if he can return to form.
My apologies. I actually was thinking about Dean Kremer, not sure why I confused the two. Bradish did pitch like a top starter for a while, they need him back in the worst way. Still not a fan of Wells who is an ok starter for a bit then gets worn out.
The Orioles had a weird resurgence where they turned around starters who were ordinary/bad and got much better in a season.
Wells has never pitched much more than 100 innings in a season and gets hit hard, I agree he’s a 4/5 type if he’s in the rotation (more a swing/long relief) and tell people don’t get fooled by his WHIP.
Bradish flashed top level stuff for about half a season and carried #2 level stuff for most of a season. But he hasn’t stayed healthy long enough to rely on it. He comes back a 3.
Don’t even mention free agent or trade possibilities who would require commitments, that’s not what the Orioles do. They insist they can get by without it and not worry about ending up exactly in the situation they find themselves in.
Heaney was great with the Dodgers and had some really good stretches with the Rangers, he is only 34, he should get paid on his next deal but has to get through the season, I think if a team was willing to take some risk off his plate, they could extend him at a bargain. My proposal is a long shot but I think the Pirates should sign heaney and trade Skenes, I can only imagine what Skenes ask is.
The only way they are going to get a great pitcher is to trade from their position player depth. From that list you gave of young guys needing to improve, you could put together a nice trade package for a strong starting pitcher and maybe more.. I’m not sure what your qualifications are for an” ace” since everyone definition seems to be different, but you could probably get a Sonny Gray or a Joe Ryan or, if you are gambler, Sandy Alcantara.
Do you think it’s okay for a starting pitcher to be excited and happy after a very good performance -even though- his team lost the game? Like let’s say he gives up two runs through seven innings with 10 K’s, but his team lost because the bullpen gave up the winning run in the 9th and the offense couldn’t execute. I don’t think pitchers should be all gushy and exuberant after a showing like this, even though it’s a fantastic individual performance on paper…it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It’s a team sport fella.
I think it’s OK to be pleased with your individual performance despite a team loss, so long as one is respectful of their teammates. You win some, you lose some; pick yourself up and do better tomorrow. No sense in moping during a long season and no sense in not celebrating positive aspects when they happen.
If its a pitcher coming back from injury, and they have finally turned the corner, sure, they can be excited even after a loss. I would think the team would be excited for them, too.
With Gore on the mound against the lowly O’s is an easy sweep.
Since this article pertains to the Orioles somewhat and since there is no other article about it, I’ll post this here: The Orioles announced former Orioles Outfielder Chito Martinez died on sunday. No cause of death has been given, he was 59 years old.
Martinez was and remains the only MLB player born in Belize. R.I.P. Chito
@Rsox
What happened to that guy? 124 & 115 wRC+ and then fell off the cliff with a -62. This Wiki page says “After his power dropped dramatically in 1992, Martínez quickly faded away.” How did his power drop dramatically? And he just gave up a few years later?
Not sure. He spent much of ’93 in AAA as the Orioles went with Mark McLemore in RF for much of the season. He only got into 43 games at AAA so not sure if there were injury issues or not. He spent ’94 in the Yankees system and hit 16 Home Runs and hit 4 playing for the Rockies AAA team in ’95 and that was it. Could be that 1991 was an outlier due to lack of scouting information?
On a side note; the cause of death has now been given as a heart attack