Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Trout goes for a milestone:
Mike Trout was the greatest player of the 2010s, a three-time MVP and would be a surefire Hall of Famer even if he retired today. His accomplishments in the game speak for themselves, but he’ll enter tonight’s game against the Mariners in Anaheim with a chance to reach another major milestone. Trout knocked in the 999th run of his career in last night’s lost to the Mets when he clubbed a solo home run, and now he sits on the precipice of being the latest addition to the 1000 RBI club. The outfielder is currently in the midst of his healthiest season in years and has done well for himself overall, with 18 home runs in 76 games and a 15.2% walk rate to go with his .237/.359/.467 slash (125 wRC+). Trout will look to knock in another runner when tonight’s game starts at 6:38pm local time, with rookie Logan Evans (3.81 ERA in ten starts) on the mound for Seattle.
2. Morton’s final start in Baltimore?
The trade deadline is a matter of days away at this point, and prospective trade candidates around the game are gearing up for what could be their final starts in their current uniform. Today, that’s true of veteran right-hander Charlie Morton. Morton landed with the Orioles on a one-year deal this past winter and has emerged as a frequently talked about trade candidate despite his lackluster 5.58 ERA on the season. He’s looked like a much better pitcher since returning to the rotation after a stint in the bullpen back in May, with a 3.78 ERA and 3.45 FIP across his last nine starts. His most recent outing against the Rays was a clunker, however, as he surrendered seven runs in just 5 1/3 innings. A strong start this afternoon against the Guardians in Cleveland would surely go a long way to reassuring potential suitors that Morton could provide rotation stability down the stretch.
3. Series Preview: Blue Jays @ Tigers
A series between two division leaders in the AL kicks off this evening when the Blue Jays head to Detroit for a four-game set against the Tigers. Both clubs have fairly solid leads in their division, with the Tigers a whopping eight games up on the next best team in the Central while the Jays lead the Yankees by four games in the East. The series could still have implications in terms of positioning between the two teams, as both eye a potential bye through the Wild Card round this October.
Detroit enters the series just half a game back of both the Blue Jays and Astros as the three clubs jockey for the AL’s top two records. They’ll send right-hander Reese Olson (2.71 ERA in 12 starts) to the mound opposite Jays lefty Eric Lauer (2.80 ERA in 15 appearances/nine starts) for tonight’s game. Toronto veteran Jose Berrios (3.87 ERA) will take on Detroit youngster Keider Montero (4.28 ERA in 12 appearances/eight starts) tomorrow, with veteran Kevin Gausman (4.01 ERA) set to go opposite reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal (2.19 ERA) on Saturday. The series wraps up on Sunday with Max Scherzer (5.14 ERA in six starts) on the mound opposite Jack Flaherty (4.77 ERA).
Please for the love of God we do not want Morton in Boston … which means that’s probably where he’s going.
Shane Bieber says hold my beer.
Hold my biebeer
Boston needs a real ace like the Mets. Unfortunately, I hate to admit it. Both teams have the money and prospects to get anyone they want. Boston could get Skenes for Anthony and more if they wanted. Who says No Pittsburgh or Boston??
Pirates
Boston has an ace in Crochet. Buehler, Bello, and Giolito have all pitched very well lately its the spot that has been occupied by Houck/Dobbins/Fitts that needs an upgrade.
Pirates have already said no to many teams inquiring about Skenes.
Skenes isn’t going anywhere. And even if he got moved a team would have to give up a fair bit more than when Soto was moved. Not really worth it no matter how talented Skenes is
Fever,
Breslow is already working the phone and talking to Elias lol
Acoss – Breslow is probably trying to upgrade the catcher position by acquiring Jansen for the second consecutive trade deadline.
Blows my mind that Trout is still kind of above average, despite his downfall from his elite abilities.
Define average. He’s not playing as well as the article suggests he is.
127 OPS+ is much better than average, K.O.C. C’mon man!
Like I said define average.
He’s a bad base runner and defender. There is more to baseball besides OPS troll. And the writer seemed to ignore that for nostalgia purposes.
Do you know what OPS+ even means?!? Lol troll, hope you have a nice day pal. 🙂
Cards – Rockies get first shutout win in 221 games, how does that make you feel?
Do you know what WAR is? Thats how intelligent people judge a baseball player’s contributions to their team in 2025. They dont use OPS+.
Trout is hitting. But he isnt doing all the other things anymore that had previously made him the best player in the game. Age and injuries has clearly caught up to him.
Getting old sucks. Perhaps Trout can find a girlfriend half his age. That helps right?
Here’s hoping the Cards get shutout in the next 4 games… now with extra salsa thanks to posts like this! >.<
I have declared Gwynning the winner of this comment section!
Well at least San Diego won something today. Because on the field……not so much……..
Average = Cardinals for over a decade now.
1,710ish hits for MT is a stat that blows my mind.
101 is kind of above average, 125 is closer to elite. Dude can’t be hurt forever. Wonder how much angels will pay of his remaining salary if Phillies threw painter and miller their way 🤔
It’s not up to the Angels. Trout has a full no-trade.
Define average
Average big leaguer?
Average starter?
Wellllllll, the Phillies would not trade Painter for a broken Trout who is DHing these days.
I love Trout, but you so thoroughly overestimate his value moving forward to any other team. The contract is severely underwater; he is clearly not every going to be the same player and one must figure that he will be injured much of the time.
Painter and Miller? Insane – if Arte pays down over half of the contract then perhaps a few relevant pieces come back but nothing from the top 100.
Plus, until Trout says he wants out this is pointless as an exercise.
His value is tremendous if his contract amount is reduced by a 100 mil. Painter and miller combined aren’t worth that. 135 million gets him down to 10 mil per season and that would def be the top lineup in baseball. Trout would be much better in that lineup too !
Painter is at peak value. He dominated less competition like 3 years ago and somehow is riding that accomplishment bc he hasn’t done much since. I’d def trade him now if anyone will take him as a centerpiece for a star just like they did sixto Sanchez
@bigwhiffa – I love the enthusiasm, but math is your friend. To get him to $10M AAV the paydown is about $126M.
* Why would the Angels do that?
* The trade return should be based upon Trout’s surplus or negative value once the contractual details are agree to.
* The biggest concern for value is 5 more years of a guy that cannot stay on the field for years now.
* If I trade Painter and Miller, I trade them for a rising star with surplus value, rather than a guy that could easily miss well over 50% of this remaining time.
Trout is great…awesome…love the dude. But if I am playing beerpong GM I have to look at reality.
Angels throw away more money than any franchise in professional sports. Atleast they’ll get a couple players back this time !
Phili is capped out and in the luxury. So trade for a guy who’s already arb eligible and his price will rise, trade for trout at a fixed price and you get an elite bat for a set amount. Plus law of averages says trouts gotta be healthy at some point !
Phillies might do Miller for an unreliable Trout, but not Painter and no way in hell both.
If we take away his name value (and there is some value to him for marketing purposes but leaving that aside), and just evaluate him on the past four and a half years, and then look at the contractual obligation that remains not a single team in baseball would pay a cent for him in trade. So why would the Phils even consider a top 20 prospect in trade?
Even if Trout decided that he wants out, this would be an incredibly difficult trade to put together. HoF career; injury history; declining production; little defensive value moving forward and a humongous contract. Angels will want something real in return and any trading partner has to look at 2026-2030 Mike Trout with a realistic evaluation.
Serena’s 45.
Angels blew it by not trading Ohtani and Trout at their “peak values”
in separate deals when they had more holes in their team tham Swiss Cheese.
Fo sho ! One of worst moves in past 20 years !
Mike Trout a sure fire HOF..hmm.
I agree, it is questionable – not sure fire.
He has strikingly similar numbers to Lance Berkman who is not in. I’d prefer to call Trout “probable”
I’d be surprised if any eligible player with a WAR of 87 or higher is not a Hall Of Famer, with the exception of those linked to PED use.
Dave Parker recently got elected with a WAR of only 40.
Berkman’s overall numbers aren’t close to Trout’s.
Lance Berkman was a fine player who really deserved strong consideration for the HOF.. but not a great comparison to Trout.
There are certainly some close key counting offensive stats.. but Trout has achieved that in less career ABs. That is to say nothing of Trout’s defense, stolen bases and hardware – where he towers over Berkman.
If this were 20+ years ago, I would probably agree with you. Based the standards from modern HOF voters, they are less concerned about milestone counting stats. Trout is easily a HOF’er by modern standards.
Trout and Berkman’s numbers aren’t close? Really?
Trout .296/.408/.576/.984
Berkman .293/.406/.537/.943
I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume you’re a pretty good guy, but I would recommend checking out the numbers before you make statements
While I see your point MuteButter, you gotta check the counting stats and compare that to career ABs. Trout will swim easily downstream into the HOF. Current career WAR alone assures that, and he’s not done yet.
Lance Berkman ate Rhinoceros hormones for breakfast
The MVPs assure him.
He was a lock for the HoF after the 2019 season.
If on July 24th, 2020, someone had said Trout would be, on July 24th, 2025, looking for his 1000th RBI I would have thought that person nuts. He was tremendous in the 2010s, he’s a first ballot HOF, but wow, what a tough way to wind down a career. Hopefully, he can stay on the field and remain moderately productive
When a guy plays at 110% their entire career it catches up to them. It caught up to Pujols and he had a similar second half of his career. Harper slid on that wet bag at 1b and he never played the same way again he was smart in that sense. But Harper also has never been that elite all around player he was before that injury. You gotta make choices sometimes.
It’s time for Trout to come home and win a championship. The Phillies are waiting and desperate for another title with their current team.
Definitely not criticizing the effort. Benchmark outfielders from an earlier era–Williams/Musial/Mays/Aaron played hard, stayed healthy. Mantle,,,not. as much.
Harper is 32, plays a less demanding position now, and will probably DH in 5+ years. He’ll play until he’s 40. Averaging 20 home runs, a low number, that’s 500 plus. And 2 MVPS.
Trout is also 4 homeruns away from 400, another impressive milestone to a fantastic career. He’s finally healthy and he’s been productive, that’s probably the best part for baseball.
Tigers going to have trouble winning 1 of the 4 games against Toronto the way their bats have gone dead and their pitching has become suspect.
Every team has rough patches like the NYY, Dodgers,Mets, Phillies etc…
Tigers will win the AL Central and be a very tough opponent im the playoffs.
Mike Trout has averaged one RBI every 6.98 PAs. Not as good as Babe Ruth, though, with one RBI every 4.80 plate appearances. Joe DiMaggio had one RBI every 4.99 PA and Juan González had one RBI every 5.10 PA.
I miss the legendary Juan González.
@Old York. RBIs/AB is a valuable stat but is also very subjective. There’s a lot to consider. A better tool might be the percentage with runners in scoring position? Trout hasn’t been surrounded by much talent and when the team did finally have some talent he was mostly injured. Even now, the team doesn’t see a lot of baserunners setting the table so the opportunities are still on the lowerside.
People that watch the team and Trout will tell you that at the start of the season he was trying to do too much and was chasing balls outside of the zone, which isn’t typical of Trout, but is a reflection of why his numbers are down. Since returning from his recent stint on the injury list he has begun to look more like his former self, and his numbers have been climbing. I think a 30 Hr projection is still above average right?
I’m okay with is salary, I’ve enjoyed watching him play, he is good to the fans, and plays from the heart. He has kept the team interesting and every year, people such as yourself have something to say about him so that means he is still relevant.
If the team would let him, he’d be in the outfield playing right now. He’s not in his 20s but he can still play the outfield and run well. It isn’t that he cant… it’s just more logical to keep him in the line up rather than risk having to keep him in the dugout.
Anyway, just my take as a dedicated fan of the team.
@Oldhalo
Sorry, I didn’t mean it to be a serious post. I understand that it’s not the most useful stat but kind of fun anyway. Kind of interesting though, to think about how productive Ruth was with the team they had in NY. Essentially, he was driving in 1 run per game, if he was getting 4 ABs a game.
Or Darryl Strawberry and David Justice. Though, those two played with much better lineups….
13 game homestand for the Angels so you have to believe he’ll reach it in front of the home crowd.
Whats amazing to me is the fact that he has so few RBI’s for so many Home Runs. It’s an indictment on the Angels inability to construct a decent lineup around him during his prime
That is why he should have been traded at peak value for a truckload of top young players and prospects.
Trout=brittle
Tigers look dead. See how the next 6 games go but it looks like they should sell similar to the franchise model of the Rays. Make above market offers to players you want to keep but if they pass then trade them. They would build a monster of a team starting in 2 years that would be dominant for 7 years.