Here are three things to keep an eye on around MLB today…
1. Goldschmidt injury watch:
Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was unavailable for yesterday’s game after suffering a knee injury in Tuesday’s rout of the Twins. The team announced yesterday that Goldschmidt has a low-grade sprain with some inflammation. Goldschmidt told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that he’s hoping for a “short-term” absence and thinks there’s a chance he could avoid the injured list entirely. The Yankees are off today, though it’s hardly uncommon for clubs to provide medical updates even on off-days. Goldschmidt, who’ll turn 38 next month, has cooled considerably since a blistering start to the season. He’s still hitting .276/.331/.422 overall (108 wRC+), but nearly all of his production came in April and May. Since June 1, he’s hitting just .207/.259/.340 (63 wRC+) in 203 trips to the plate.
2. Muncy being evaluated for potential injury:
Max Muncy was scratched from yesterday’s game after feeling discomfort in his right side, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. He’ll be further evaluated today. Muncy’s season has been the opposite of Goldschmidt. The 34-year-old slugger got out to a brutal start but caught fire in late April and has been in vintage form ever since. Muncy drew the ire of Dodgers fans when he opened the season with a woeful .167/.283/.231 performance through his first 25 games (92 plate appearances). Since then? Things look a little different. Muncy has turned in a mammoth .294/.427/.592 batting line with 17 home runs and more walks (18.8%) than strikeouts (15.7%) in his past 255 plate appearances. He’s averaging 91.6 mph off the bat in that time and sporting an enormous 53.3% hard-hit rate. By measure of wRC+, he’s been 80% better than average at the plate since late April.
Obviously, an absence of any note would sting terribly for Los Angeles, particularly in light of the team’s recent slide in the standings. The Dodgers have dropped four games in a row and are just 12-21 over their past 33 games. Making matters worse for L.A. is that the red-hot Padres have won five straight games, leapfrogging the Dodgers for sole possession of first place in the National League West.
3. Top Cubs prospect set for debut in home country:
Cubs fans should get their first look at top outfield prospect Owen Caissie today, as he’s reportedly set to be recalled from Triple-A as catcher Miguel Amaya heads to the injured list. As if his first call to the majors isn’t sweet enough, the Canadian-born Caissie will get the opportunity to make his debut in his home country, as the Cubs wrap up a road series against the Jays in Toronto.
Caissie’s name has kicked up in trade rumors both in the offseason and at the recent trade deadline, but the Cubs held onto him — and all of their other most highly regarded prospects — amid a surprisingly quiet deadline. Caissie, a 2020 second-round pick, has slashed .289/.389/.566 (143 wRC+) with 22 homers, 26 doubles and two triples in 404 plate appearances during his second run through the Triple-A level. While his production has improved in his second stint at the level, Caissie’s problematic strikeout rate remains largely unchanged. He fanned in 28.4% of his plate appearances in 127 Triple-A games last year and is at 28.2% through 93 games in 2025.
Along with the Caissie story, let’s not forget the Cubs starting pitcher Boyd was drafted by the Jays and included in the David Price trade with Detroit in 2015
That’s some full circle stuff right there, thank you for sharing! Let’s see how Caissie does against your Blue Jays!
Hey Across, anther little tidbit, Hoffman was drafted by the Jays the following year and included in the 2015 trade with the Rockies for Tulo and is now the Jays closer.
s/o Troy Tulowitzki man, one of my favs
@jaysfansince1977
Nice to see him back in his home state. The Big, Beautiful, 51st state!
Hey Old York,
NEVER going to happen, Canada will never ever join the States,
I should hope not! I love Canadians, but our styles are much different.
Idiot
Better solution – let Canada be Canada; build the wall around Texas and then have ICE place the entire magasphere inside the wall and they can do whatever the heck that they want in there. The other 49 states will get along just fine after that.
Carver, Texas could hold the people well enough but you need the planet Jupiter for their egos.
I’m sure America will do well with the mondani and aoc in charge. I’m sure you want the dsa running America. I’m guessing you are a well off white person, so you will be part of the ruling class
Bait used to be believable
@Oppo nacho
It’s not bait… just facts.
Americans being ignorant about their place in the greater English Empire. Fact….
@Jerry Hairston Jr’s Toupee
Gotta blame the French for interfering in that Empire. If it wasn’t for the French, America wouldn’t exist. We would be one country already.
Ah yes, the myth of American “independence”. 250 years later and the Empire still thrives. The illusion keeps England out of harm’s way. Disgruntled adversaries strike out against the puppet, with the master hidden safely behind the curtains. It works. Confused terrorists fly planes into the Twin Towers instead of Big Ben….
What is that conspiracy theory and how is 9/11 being talked about on a baseball article about Paul goldschmidt
The bigger question is: Why do people bring politics here?
@Steinbrenner2728
I don’t know why people go there. I just said it was nice to see him back in his home state.
Lol at the dodgers. They need more payroll!
@Boycottsidneysweeney
Yankees need some more payroll too. Maybe $1B isn’t enough to field a proper baseball team, in today’s economy. Maybe it should be $2B or $3B.
San Diego Padres: August Champions.
If the Dodgers don’t get the pen sorted in the next couple weeks, they’ll be battling the Reds for that third wild card spot….
MLB teams shouldn’t have “enough” payroll.
Is this “rachelmaddowishot” again? Come on, man
“Muncy drew the ire of Dodgers fans ”
SOME Dodger fans.
Imagine drawing your ire
1) about a baseball player’s performance at all. Ever.
2) about a baseball player’s performance in fewer than 100 PA
Because a lot of “fans” are STOOPID.
The ire is real just look at the people giving Michael conforto death threats
Wives in LA are having a rough week
Every team has their bad fans and their ire.
Caissie’s strikeout rate has gone down every month this year. 22.5% in August so far. Regardless, he can’t be much worse than the Cubs outfielders currently. Let’s see if he can spark something.
Sucks it comes at Amaya’s expense tho. That was brutal.
Hope it’s just a sprain like they say. From the look of it when it happened, I thought maybe he tore something when he hyperextended. Regardless, hard to watch.
Considering how bad all the outfielders are doing, a couple days off for those guys with Caissie subbing for them is exactly what they need.
Assuming LA stops with the stupid blunders, they will go as far as the health of their staff and the “wisdom” of Roberts takes them.
Well, strikeouts just dont have the negative stigma t they once did. Don’t want to be Get Off My Lawn guy, but back in the day, there was pride in sluggers not striking out 100 times. Now some of them are double that amount. Caissie can join teammate PCA in that regard.
The expectation was that guys would strikeout 100 times or so, and walk 100 times or so. At least that’s how guys like Jim Thome and Frank Thomas did it.
The Yankees lineup looked good with Rice at C, Goldy at first and Stanton in RF. Defensively the Yanks aren’t all that good, Stanton’s arm can’t be that strong in right with the injuries he had early in the season and he is t a great fielder. Rice isn’t a great catcher but Iike that lineup.
That was the best lineup the Yanks have fielded all season.
I can see Bellinger getting some starts at first base with an outfield of Dominguez, Grisham and Stanton if Goldy needs a day off. They have some interchangeable pieces with Rice at C and Bellinger getting some starts at 1st.
Yankees don’t trust rice at catcher which is why he plays 1st and DH in the big leagues
Also if they put rice at catcher then Austin wells will have no path to playing time
Let’s really try to be a little bit realistic here….and I know that’s tough in this forum.
Sure, it’s a day and bad happening removed, but Caissie is now actually taking Berti’s spot on the roster and not Seiya’s or that of PCA, Tucker or Happ.
I get (and somewhat am part of it) the Chicken Little theory to the Cubs offense, but we shouldn’t expect 30 AB per week (maybe 9-12) per week from Caissie.
I suspect he will be used like Castro was on his arrival to give the OF/DH spot a breather, but let him contribute what he is asked by the Cubs, not the authors of this page.
Watching for the lineup today thinking maybe Caissie at DH and Seiya off against Scherzer.
Having Seiya off the bench late could be a good thing.