Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:
1. Brewers go for 11 in a row:
The Cubs have been leading the pace in the NL Central this year thanks largely to the breakout of Pete Crow-Armstrong and their offseason acquisition of Kyle Tucker. The Brewers have been on an incredible tear in recent weeks, however, and now sit in a first-place tie with Chicago. After going 16-9 in June, Milwaukee has gone 12-3 in July — including wins in each of their last ten games. They completed a sweep of the NL West-leading Dodgers last night that pulled them even with the Cubs at 59-40 on the season.
Milwaukee technically remains in second place after dropping three of five games played in the season series between the two clubs so far, but with more than 60 games left to play for both teams (including eight against each other), we’re in for a close battle down the stretch. In the short-term, the Brewers will look to keep their win streak rolling against the Mariners and star righty George Kirby. An early-season injury and a rough return from the IL have left Kirby with a pedestrian 4.50 ERA in ten starts, but he’s looked more like himself since the start of June with a 3.18 ERA and 3.07 FIP in 45 1/3 innings. The Brewers will counter with right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who has made just two starts following a long road to recovery from his own injury woes but has pitched to a sterling 2.61 ERA in 10 1/3 frames.
2. Series Preview: Yankees @ Blue Jays
The Yankees have fallen out of first place in the AL East, and they’re set to get the opportunity to fight their way back to the top this week with a three-game set in Toronto. The Blue Jays have a three-game lead over New York, meaning a sweep for the Yanks would pull them into a tie for the division lead. That effort starts tonight with southpaw Carlos Rodon (3.08 ERA) on the mound versus veteran righty Kevin Gausman (4.19 ERA). Rookie Cam Schlittler will make the second start of his career tomorrow opposite Max Scherzer, who’s just a week from his 41st birthday. The series will conclude with Yankees ace Max Fried (2.43 ERA) on the mound against veteran righty Chris Bassitt (3.89 ERA).
3. Trade activity on the horizon:
The month of July has been relatively quiet in terms of the trade market so far, but that figures to change in the coming days with just ten days left until the trade deadline. While plenty of teams are still weighing whether to buy or sell, signals about the impending decisions are becoming more clear. Milwaukee’s recent hot streak was enough for GM Matt Arnold to more or less take trading Freddy Peralta off the table, for example, while on the other end of the spectrum recent struggles in Cleveland have led the Guardians to at least listen on high-end relievers Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith. Orioles GM Mike Elias effectively confirmed yesterday that he’s in active discussions regarding his club’s impending free agents. With the deadline creeping closer every day, the dam could break and unleash a flurry of deals any day now.
Yeah who would have thought LA would be such pushovers.
“Trade activity” so far is all talk and no action.
With half of the league making the playoffs, that isn’t surprising. Any action will most likely wait for the last couple of days before the deadline to get started.
A little less conversation a little more action.
Acoss1331: I’m sure the GMs have been talking behind the scenes to put the finishing touches on trades. Better hurry up!
Avenger,
Pretty sure Houser gets traded from the White Sox pitchers. He’s having a good season.
@This one belongs to the Reds
That’s why we need to scrap the deadline and let teams trade all year.
Pushing it back a week or two one can make the case, but the abuses that occurred in the past show that there is a purpose that drives a deadline.
The sports world is already too mercenary in nature, with fanbases suffering a disconnect too often. No need to pile on even more. Having each team focus on team-building over time is more constructive.
@CarverAndrews
Sadly, team construction and building went out the window when the players thought they should be free agents instead of being a member of a professional baseball team. I’d blame the players for being greedy instead of focusing on team-building over time.
@Old York – I might be old school, but you are leaning Heritage Foundation with that perspective. ; )
So basically you are a Reserve Clause guy where players should be tied to the whims of the team for their ability to get paid for their entire career. I know that slavery is more in vogue today under the current cluster of idiots in the oval and their attendant cult, but I have not heard that argument in the baseball world since I was a kid.
@CarverAndrews
I don’t think I’m saying that but you’re claiming that teams need to be focused on team-building instead of just trading players all the time, which was a thing decades ago but with player free agency, they can go where they want for the dollars, so it doesn’t matter in today’s market if player X was with the organization for 10 years, if he’s traded, that’s how the market works today and players prefer free agency over being tied to one team for their whole career. So, in my mind, I don’t have a problem with removing the trade deadline.
@OldYork – Well, after reviewing your post that was kind of an inescapable conclusion to make, but I will take your word for it.
The art of team building has certainly changed, but if one looks at history in the Reserve Clause times, it was not as if team building was much of a thing that allowed every market to compete when you see the teams that were winning year after year. In fact, the teams at the top were even fewer as they had even greater muscle along with a short path to the World Series.
The key issue is the vast disparity between the smallest markets and the largest ones today, and team-building requires a vastly different approach for the small guys even as baseball attempts to mitigate the market inequities.
Overall, however, an intelligent front office can manage to perform the team-building process in this era quite handily, and a trade deadline that hits by mid-August hardly constrains them in any way.
The deadline is partly meant to keep teams from a late rater dump (say in mid-September) to allow for the wealthy teams to radically alter a playoff roster…something that it is hard to argue with from an even playing field perspective. Do we really want to see a team bring in 4 stars on an expiring contract in September in the spirit of fair play? Every league has a deadline for that stuff and for good reason.
@CarverAndrews
It isn’t my money being used for bringing guys in for September. None of what you said really made an argument that suggests we should have one other than all the other leagues have it.
@OldYork – Well I would disagree but when one uses the approach that you just did, it is no longer worth any engagement. Take care.
Terrible idea that won’t happen
The Brewers traded a couple of prospects to Boston for Quinn Priester in April and turned him into a mid-rotation piece. They traded Aaron Civale to the White Sox in June and got Andrew Vaughn, who has been on a heater. I wouldn’t say no action. The Brewers and Cubs might leave the Reds for dead.
Brewers made a pair of nice trades for two legitimate pieces, they have players to trade for another bat and will be in contention.
The Reds pitching is good enough to keep them around until September with Greene returning, it’s Greene, Abbott, Lodolo, Burns and Singer – best rotation in MLB outside of LAD (with a healthy Snell) and SEA (with a heathy Gilbert and Kirby). The Reds pen is pretty good too. Marte has emerged and McClain has started to hit some, he had a .287/.367/.437 split in June. They have pitching that can win them games and the prospects to add a good bat and an RP at the deadline. They should go for it this season, they can compete with the Cubs and the Brewers.
Dbacks’ sweep of Cardinals means they are back on the fence between being buyers or sellers or both. (It’s a 3 dimensional fence!)
It’s literally going to come down to the last day for a lot of teams. I’m sure Mike Hazen and the rest of the front office is working on all the what if scenarios leading up to the deadline.
I love how it’s universal now (as the article indicates) that Max Fried is an “ace”. I praised him for half a decade and always insisted he was (at this point) better than Spencer Strider and the true Braves ace yet the majority of people didn’t seem to buy it until…goes to the Yankees…miraculously he’s obviously an ace. To see him pitch is to understand. The last couple of years he had gotten off rhythm a bit with an IL stint here and there. Dude’s a pitcher from another generation. Knows how to pitch. Granted I know many knew around 2021-22 but people underrated him because ERA is seen as fluky (it is somewhat) and he doesn’t strike out a TON. Career ERA under 3 until recently.
It’s a relative term, but clearly the Yanks ace on a Cole-less rotation. His last few years he was off-and-on the IL via forearm/blisters (that are flaring back up now) and had some sickness issues in the postseason (since ’21) that were really maddening. Can’t shake his dominance in ’21 (clinching game SP) and regularity, but the closer he got to free agency, the more fans had to remind themselves of the bulldog he was.
Yea. Admittedly was ranting there. Always loved Fried tho. Always that talk too of “not being a big game pitcher” when actually nothing could be further from the truth imo. He merely had some abnormal happenings at the wrong time (getting very sick and losing weight right at end of season, getting hit with a line drive in the 1st inning of a playoff game-come to mind).
It’s time for Russ Atkins to show that he can turn
“His talk into Positive Actions”… Will he still be measured by his constant “underachieving “ standards , ALL TALK AND NO ACTION? OR will he confidently make powerful decisions that launch the Toronto franchise into a fresh, new era or dominance, competing with the best of the best and leading the sprint to capturing the AL East title, repositioning the BEST of the American League by smashing through the World Series with a silent dominance , while at the same time demanding to host the 2028 All-STAR CLASSIC!!!??? We’re about to find out !!!
I love how the Blue Jays being the hottest team in baseball is actually a story about the Yankees.
I get your point, but are the Blue Jays the hottest team in baseball?
Depends what time frame or definition you want to use for “hottest”.
Since May 1st, the Jays have the most wins in the MLB with 44, one ahead of the Brewers 43.
They’ve won 16 of their last 20 games.
If they’re not the #1 hottest, they are at the very least one of the hottest.
Exactly. And on MLB.com and ESPN, the narrative is not around how the Brewers have won 10 in a row, but how Ohtani has hit a few HRs in losses.
The reality is that American sports media coverage is looking for clicks and engagement, so everything gets framed to get the attention of places like New York, Chicago or LA.
Places like Milwaukee or a Canadian city don’t get them the kind of attention they want/need.
You’re going to take that media bias and enjoy it! /sarcasm
Yankees could offer their Cade Smith in a package for Guardians’ Cade Smith.
milb.com/player/cade-smith-694696
I think all the FO handle this wrong start getting in the front of this and do trades earlier. Like the Orioles if they go out in mid June and find 2 or 3 pitchers that could be worth it and yes pay a little more they might be sitting 3 or 5 games over 500 and they start getting h moment along with the clubhouse jellying. Or bring that young catcher up. Heck coaches or other catcher call the game from bench. Teams can do stuff they did in the past or think outside the box.
Gms are risk adverse because they aren’t emotionally driven and most of them went to ivy league schools.