Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Hoskins to be activated:
The Brewers are expected to activate first baseman Rhys Hoskins from the injured list today, as relayed by Sophia Minnaert. Hoskins, 32, hasn’t appeared in a game since July 5 due to a thumb sprain. At the time of his injury, he was hitting fairly well with a .242/.340/.428 line. He’d connected on 12 homers and 12 doubles in 318 plate appearances with an 11.8% walk rate. Hoskins’ role is not quite certain as he returns to the team given the performance of Andrew Vaughn since he joined the club on July 7. The former No. 3 overall pick has slashed .308/.370/.503 with a strikeout rate of just 14.8% in 209 plate appearances following his change of scenery. Perhaps Hoskins could get some time in at DH, but Christian Yelich returned to the lineup at the position yesterday after nursing a day-to-day ailment. If Hoskins makes it into today’s lineup, he’ll face off against right-hander Jack Leiter (3.74 ERA) of the Rangers later this evening.
2. King to return:
The Padres are welcoming a notable veteran from the injured list: right-hander Michael King. King has made just 11 starts this year due to injuries but has been fantastic when healthy enough to take the mound, with a 2.81 ERA and a 27.5% strikeout rate in 57 2/3 innings of work. As the Padres look ahead to the postseason in October, King is sure to be one of their top starters and could even get the nod for Game 1 of a playoff series. First, of course, he’ll be getting back into a regular rhythm in the final weeks of the regular season. His first opponent will be the Reds, who are sending Zack Littell (3.81 ERA) to the mound against King at 6:40pm local time in San Diego.
3. MLBTR chat today:
We’re just a few short weeks away from the postseason, and the teams that remain in the race are engaged in a mad dash to finish the season strong, whether that’s for playoff seeding or the right to play in October at all. Whether you’re invested in these final weeks of the season or already are turning your attention towards the upcoming offseason and free agency, MLBTR’s Steve Adams has you covered in a live chat at 1pm CT later today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Christian Yellich’s contract expires in just a couple of years; the time to extend his contract is *now* while they still can. Would be devastating if he left.
Pay the man whatever he wants to keep him, give him whatever contract he wants. If he wants free private box suites for life, just give him the stupid free private box suites. Don’t make the same mistake the Yankees made with Soto. If he wants private separate hotel suites barricaded from the rest of the team and free private flights to be included in the contract, just give him the stupid hotel suites and private air travel. Don’t be petty.
He’s 33 now and can be a free agent at 37. You want them to extend his contract to age 42 and give him whatever he wants?
9 years, $315 million would be a good first offer from the team. And that offer would buy out the remaining 2 or 3 years on his current contract.
Bruh, you have to be trolling here.
He’s almost 34 and still has 3 guaranteed years and $85 million (including his mutual option buy out) left on his current deal, and he is basically a full time DH at this point of his career. He wouldn’t get anywhere close to $300 million even if he was a free agent this offseason.
Stan – He’s not serious. He has been spamming with identical suggestions of nonsensical contract extensions for several players. Most likely he’s a passive-aggressive Baltimore fan who is bitter that other teams have been giving out sizable extensions.
I don’t even realky know why anyone rational would be upset about that when the only 3 young Orioles players who are viable extension candidates currently (Gunnar, Westburg, Holliday) are all Scott Boras clients.
Besides Basallo, who has already been extended, there isn’t really anyone else worthy of a long-term commitment who would realistically sign one right now.
King – I hear what you’re saying, but ultimately it’s the players who decide on extensions …. not Boras.
As one example, Xander signed a very team-friendly extension with the Red Sox ….. Boras was his agent.
The odd exception to the rule does not disprove the rule.
And there have been rumblings in the baseball media that both Gunnar and Holliday were approached by the FO about extensions sometime after Rubenstein assumed control of the team last year and neither were interested.
King – It’s not really a rule if there are exceptions.
Jose Altuve, Stephen Strasburg, Elvis Andrus, and Blake Snell are a few more Boras clients who signed extensions.
It’s okay for you to say most of Scott’s clients don’t sign extensions, but then again some players who hire him tend to do so BECAUSE they want the most money and don’t mind switching teams.
In the end, I’m right ….. it’s always up to the player.
Of course it is ultimately up to the player, but so is their choice of which agent to sign with, and the ones that choose Scott Boras usually do so because they want that big free agent contract, and since Gunnar and Holliday both reportedly rejected the Orioles’ extension overtures in the past year or so, that seems to be true yet again in this situation.
King – Okay so we are finally on the same page.
KF
The idea that exceptions to rules don’t disprove rules is absurd
Yes. The fact that some Boras clients sign extensions disproves the rule that Boras players don’t sign extensions. Period.
You need to make a new rule.
It’s not absurd at all actually.
Just because there are a handful of exceptions one can cite (some of which are over a decade old now, i.e. Strasburg and Andrus) doesn’t make it reasonable or realistic to expect it to happen in any one particular instance, which was my original point.
Floch – For the record, I didn’t list all the exceptions I can cite.
I listed a few examples, period. I’m not gonna spend a lot of time doing research when I know whatever number I provide won’t be sufficient according to you.
That is all.
I looked into it myself and did not find many examples of note beyond the ones you previously cited.
It’s just not a particularly long list in the end, which pretty conclusively supports my original point that anyone angry about the Orioles’ current Boras clients not being extended is being completely unreasonable/unrealistic.
Floch – Just for spits & giggles, how would YOU know what was offered and whether or not they were fair and acceptable offers?
Maybe the O’s lowballed Scott’s clients, or maybe his clients are demanding an unreasonable amount.
You know what they say about assumptions ….
I don’t, obviously, but from the reporting, it certainly sounds like they shut the Orioles down almost immediately, and since, as we have previously established, Boras’ star clients like Gunnar almost never sign pre-FA extensions, anyone getting angry about it not happening is just being silly since it was never particularly likely to begin with.
Nice to hear from your wife, Christian. I hope she’s doing well.
.270/.350 27 HR 15 SB
You’re welcome.
Very good slash line. Now can he keep it up for 4 more seasons? Doubtful. They’ll be ready to move on from him after his contract expires following his age 36 season.
Dude, he’s signed through 2028 and will be 37 when he hits FA w/ chronic lower back issues.
how do you people not realize hes a troll…. God save our society
So in your mind the low-life scum shell of miguel cabrera was worthy of the idiotic contract that Dave Dumb-browski gave him against all common sense, but the still extremely highly productive, and much more physically fit and much better quality person and much better looking (not even remotely close) Christian Yelich shouldn’t get it? Ok.
choof – Agreed, the same type of spamming for quite some time now. It’s amazing what some people will resort to for attention.
@choof
How does an imaginary ‘god’ save anything and what society are you trying to save? Society is what is constructed by the existing individuals interacting in that location. Are you trying to save that specific society or a society that has long disappeared? Can you provide more details as to who exactly is saving what? It doesn’t seem you fully comprehend what your actually saying…
Oh cool another troll! Did you use AI for that comment for old time’s sake?
choof – Yeah, and is it any surprise he’s a Dombrowski hater?
@choof
Well, I do my best to reply to trolls in the same manner that they post. You want attention and I’ll give it to you. Now, tell me, did you troll with AI or did you use your own brain power to write that?
@CheddarBayJesus
I responded directly to someone’s throwaway line (“God save our society”) and challenged the logic behind it. My tone was skeptical and pointed, but I weren’t pretending to be endlessly polite while asking them to “explain themselves again and again.”
Now, for your accusation:
What sea-lioning usually is:
A person keeps showing up, acting like they’re just innocently asking questions (“oh, can you cite a source?” … “oh, but can you show more evidence?” … “oh, but what about this one edge case?”).
The goal is to exhaust the other person while maintaining a mask of politeness.
In my reply, I weren’t trying to drag them into an infinite Q&A loop—I was directly critiquing their wording and meaning. That’s closer to rhetorical nitpicking or philosophical pushback than sea-lioning.
As for you calling me a “sea-lion” might just be using it loosely as shorthand for “annoying pedantry” or “you’re overanalyzing,” even if it’s not technically the right label.
Now, do you want to actually have a conversation or are you also here to be a troll, just like choof always is?
Nice response, friend… unfortunately I don’t feel like reading all that. I hope you have a fulfilling day
You will stop the anti-God postings right now, Old York.
That’s enough.
@choof
I understand. Trolling is a tough job and you have a lot of work to do. Enjoy the rest of your day…
@Yards of Camden
I attended the church of McDonalds today… Will you be joining me next week?
@CheddarBayJesus
I didn’t know the trolls were out in force today. Must be payday?
I think Yelich needs to file a restraining order against YoC.
@CheddarBayJesus
Baron & I don’t get along so we avoid each other…
So you disrespect God and then you disrespect God even further by promoting factory farming and the suffering of animals.
Wouldn’t want to be you.
Yards
Muted
See how easy it is
The man is constantly on the edge of a career ending injury. In 2028 he will be 36 and at that age I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes that mutual option and will be 37 by the time he’s a free agent. There is no rush here, and possibly no need.
Orders of magnitude better looking than “miggy”
The Padres game is 6:40pm local time, not 7:40pm.
The Padres had their 61st sellout last night out of 69 home games.
Pretty darn amazing how they turned a team that was typically in the bottom 1/3 to one of the games biggest draws.
Absolutely. Good for them! San Diego has the perfect climate to enjoy a ballgame, and that holds true from late March-November, so sell outs on weekdays are great to see and almost should be expected. It should have always been this way, but at least this ownership group recognizes that! They’re operating the right way.
@padrepapi
It’s proof that if you invest in the roster, fans invest in the seats.
A quality product on the field will get you sellout crowds.
Rays :give side eye:
pp
“Preller sucks!” /Sarcasm
The issue with Brewers right now will be who goes down between Seigler or Perkins. You have Chourio and and Frelick who can handle cf. get Bauers some at bats in corner outfield then Hoskins and Vaughn some firstbase/ DH at bats. They would be fine defensively then. As far as signing extension that’s the only thing Brewers off-season should be about manly Conteras, Woodruff and Peralta priority.
Its got to be Seigler, at the very least of the two. Perkins has been hitting and plays elite defense in CF. Seigler doesnt have much value on this current team in a playoff push.
Dustin May to the IL for the Red Sox. Sox #6 pitching prospect Connelly Early to start this evening vs the A’s
Here’s hoping for a Phillies-Brewers NLCS if only to hear the ovation Hoskins gets at Citizens Bank Park.
they aren’t going to cheer him to pinch hit in a 4-3 game in the 7th inning.
Went to a Sounds game Aug 32 when Hoskins was on rehab assignment. I looked up his salary ($18 million), and told me son he was probably taking the team out after the game and footing the bill.
Ooops Aug 31st
It’ll be interesting to see how they play 1B and DH will Hoskins and Vaughn split time in those 2 positions or will Yelich go back to LF. Between those 3 players they need to be in the lineup every day if healthy
Not really necessary to have them all in the lineup. Hoskins and Vaughn are not more valuable than Collins. Perkins is also much better defensively in CF than Chourio.