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Cashman: Yankees “Believe In” Anthony Volpe Despite “Tough Stretch”

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Anthony Volpe’s underwhelming season has made the shortstop a topic of controversy in the Bronx, and more attention was generated this week when it was revealed that Volpe has been playing with a small tear in his left shoulder labrum since May 3.  Trying to play through this shoulder problem has clearly impacted Volpe’s performance — not only has he hit .197/.248/.378 in 418 plate appearances since suffering the injury, Volpe’s formerly excellent defense has drastically fallen off.

Speaking with ESPN’s Jorge Castillo and other reporters on Friday, Yankees GM Brian Cashman noted Volpe’s “tough stretch” and said that “this isn’t the season we expected or he expected.”  That said, Cashman gave a vote of confidence to Volpe, saying that the 2025 season “doesn’t change our viewpoint of what he’s capable of,” and that he is still the Yankees’ choice at shortstop going forward.

“He’s someone that we can count on and we believe in….I think he’s a really talented guy and I think he has a chance to be a positive impact, obviously,” Cashman said.

Volpe was hitting significantly better (.239/.333/.453) in his first 135 plate appearances of the season pre-injury, so it could be that his labrum tear prevented a potential breakout year.  Still, Volpe’s full-season numbers aren’t far off the .228/.288/.373 slash line he posted over 1290 PA in his first two Major League seasons, so it isn’t as if struggles at the plate are a new problem for the 24-year-old.

Outsized expectations have followed Volpe ever since his emergence as one of baseball’s top prospects, and the Yankees’ decision to debut him as their Opening Day shortstop in 2023.  While the team itself has always been quick to downplay the “next Derek Jeter” hype, the Yankees’ immediate installation of Volpe in an everyday role has stood in stark contrast to the club’s more infrequent usage of most other top minor leaguers in recent years.  If anything, Volpe’s critics are sure to argue that Cashman’s continued confidence in Volpe is part of the problem, and that the Yankees should be more open to upgrading at shortstop.

While Cashman has made some rather blunt critiques of other New York players in the past, it only makes sense for the GM to continue his public support of Volpe, and there isn’t any reason to yet suspect that the Yankees aren’t viewing Volpe’s rough year as anything but a by-product of his shoulder injury.  Since Volpe is only entering arbitration eligibility this coming offseason, his three remaining years of pretty inexpensive team control make him an intriguing asset on a team loaded with big salaries and a hefty luxury tax bill.  If Volpe is able to get healthy and break out as, in Cashman’s words, “a quality, above-average regular shortstop in the game,” that’s a major boost for the Yankees on every front.

Still, finding another inexpensive shortstop candidate could change the equation, and one such player may have already been found in Jose Caballero.  Acquired from the Rays at the trade deadline, Caballero has hit .263/.358/.439 in 68 PA in the pinstripes, which far and away represents the best offensive stretch of his three MLB seasons.  The utilityman has also pitched in at both corner outfield slots, second base, and third base, but most of Caballero’s time has come at shortstop in the wake of Volpe’s increased missed time.

Volpe hasn’t played since Tuesday after receiving a cortisone shot in his ailing shoulder, paving the way for Caballero to step into regular shortstop duty.  Boone told Castillo and company that “we’ll see” about who plays shortstop when Volpe is ready to return, which hints that the Yankees could be considering a timeshare at the position.

The longer-term issue of Volpe’s health is also a lingering question.  Cashman said more will be known once Volpe receives more tests, and while the GM “wouldn’t rule…out” an offseason surgery, “as of right now, there’s no surgery recommended.  There’s not even an IL recommended.”  Should Volpe indeed end up going under the knife, he’d very likely miss some time and perhaps an extended amount of the 2026 season, leaving the Yankees in need of another shortstop.

Cardinals To Activate Nolan Arenado On Monday

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The Cardinals are activating veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado ahead of tomorrow night’s game against the Reds, as noted by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Arenado is on the ten-day injured list, meaning a corresponding move will only be needed to clear space for him on the club’s active roster.

Arenado, 34, was perhaps the most frequently speculated upon trade candidate of the 2024-25 offseason. Although multiple teams, including the Astros and Red Sox, were reportedly involved in negotiations to deal for him, Arenado remained in St. Louis for the 2025 season after blocking a trade to Houston and Boston’s decision to pivot towards signing Alex Bregman. Unfortunately for St. Louis, Arenado’s fifth season with the Cardinals figures to go down as the worst of his career. In 96 games this year, Arenado has hit just .235/.294/.366 with ten home runs.

That’s undeniably lackluster offensive production for an everyday player in the big leagues, and it’s surely all the more frustrating to produce at that level for an eight-time All-Star and multi-time MVP finalist like Arenado. The veteran’s bat slipping has been accompanied by a similar decline in his defense. The stalwart who once won ten consecutive NL Gold Glove awards at third base was worth just +2 Outs Above Average on the infield this year. His +6 Defensive Runs Saved is a bit more impressive than that, but still leaves him in a three-way tie for eighth in the majors among third basemen.

Arenado’s disappointing season has come alongside an equally disappointing one for the Cardinals. With a 72-77 record, St. Louis finds itself in fourth place in the division and seems unlikely to even reach .500 this year, marking their second sub-.500 campaign in three years after they pushed just over .500 with an 83-79 record last season. The team’s future is in flux somewhat with longtime president of baseball operations John Mozeliak set to step aside after this season and hand the reins of the organization off to Chaim Bloom, former chief baseball officer of the Red Sox who was announced as Mozeliak’s successor in St. Louis last year.

With a new head of baseball operations set to take over, the Cardinals are surely hoping to finish on a solid note. Those efforts will now include Arenado, who was sidelined by a shoulder strain in late July and has been on the shelf ever since. Nolan Gorman has handled every day duties at the hot corner in Arenado’s absence, but with the veteran set to return tomorrow it seems as though Gorman will move into a timeshare with super utility man Brendan Donovan at second base and perhaps pull occasional starts away from Ivan Herrera at DH. Gorman has a 95 wRC+ overall this year after he was sidelined by an injury around the All-Star break, and since his return in August has found himself mired in a slump on offense.

Roberts: Roki Sasaki “Open” To Pitching In Relief

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Roki Sasaki has been on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City for 31 days now, meaning that he would normally need to be activated from the injured list or pulled off his rehab assignment today. That’s not the case in this instance, however, as manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Fabian Ardaya) on Friday that Sasaki dealt with “a calf situation” during his rehab that extended the time he could be allowed to spend in Triple-A. He’ll make at least one more start in the minors, per Roberts, at which point it’s possible he’ll move back into pitching in MLB games.

Sasaki, 23, was perhaps the single most coveted free agent available last offseason after he made the decision to be posted for MLB clubs early. Sasaki’s decision meant that clubs couldn’t spend more than the sum of their international bonus pool money in order to lure the right-hander into signing a contract with them, meaning that virtually every team in baseball got involved in the Sasaki sweepstakes. The Dodgers ultimately came out on top, and while many at the time thought they had just locked up an ace for pennies on the dollar Sasaki has struggled in his first season stateside.

The right-hander posted a 4.72 ERA in eight starts for the Dodgers while walking (22) nearly as many batters as he struck out (24) before being placed on the injured list with a shoulder impingement back in May. He’s been sidelined ever since, and after he made his first rehab start at Triple-A on August 14 he’s not shown many signs of improvement. Those 18 2/3 innings of work with Oklahoma City have seen him pitch to a 6.75 ERA. While his 13.6% walk rate and 18.2% walk rate are both marginal improvements over his numbers in the big leagues, they’re still far below par in terms of command and not close to what one would expect from someone with Sasaki’s electric stuff.

Talented as the youngster is, it’s fair to wonder at this point whether the Dodgers would really be best served having Sasaki start big league games in the middle of a pennant race that figures to go down to the wire. Roberts didn’t specifically state what role Sasaki would take up upon returning to the big league club, but he did note that his “impression” is that Sasaki would be open to pitching in relief for the team if that’s what the club requires. With some combination of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto exceedingly likely to make up the Dodgers’ postseason rotation anyway, perhaps Sasaki could benefit from moving to the bullpen and focusing on maximizing his stuff in shorter bursts.

If Sasaki can prove to be effective in a relief role, that could be a huge relief for the Dodgers headed into the postseason given the struggles key relief arms like Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, and even Blake Treinen have faced this year. With those late-inning veterans scuffling, the Dodgers already seem likely to rely more on young, talented hurlers like Alex Vesia and Jack Dreyer in high leverage situations moving forward. It would be a massive boon for the Dodgers if Sasaki can be part of that mix headed into the playoffs.

Cubs Place Owen Caissie On 7-Day Concussion IL

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The Cubs announced this afternoon that they’ve placed outfielder Owen Caissie on the 7-day concussion-related injured list. Outfielder Kevin Alcantara was recalled from Triple-A to replace Caissie on the active roster.

The move comes just one day after the Cubs recalled Caissie to the big league roster and optioned Alcantara to the minors. Caissie started yesterday’s game against the Rays but exited the game after hitting his head against the outfield wall at Wrigley Field while making a catch. Manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Vinnie Duber of the Chicago Sun Times) that Caissie was being put through the concussion protocol after yesterday’s game. Evidently, Caissie’s symptoms were severe enough that they opted to place him on the shelf and get him time to recover.

That decision well might bring Caissie’s first season in the big leagues to an end, depending on the severity of his concussion symptoms. If that’s the case, he’ll end 2025 with just 12 games and 27 plate appearances in the big leagues, during which he collected five hits (including a double and a homer) and one walk against eleven strikeouts. That cup of coffee pairs with a strong performance with Iowa this year, where he slashed .286/.386/.551 with 22 homers and 28 doubles in just 99 games. A consensus top-50 prospect in the game, Caissie could get a lot more runway with the Cubs come next season if Kyle Tucker departs the club via free agency in the offseason.

For now, however, his roster spot will go to Alcantara. A fellow top Cubs prospect generally viewed as sitting near the back of the league-wide top 100, Alcantara has appeared in just three games this year. He’s gone 1-for-7 with three strikeouts this year and figures to serve mostly as a bench piece for the Cubs in the coming weeks, though injuries could offer him more opportunities. Both Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki are currently unavailable; Suzuki due to an illness that has left him day-to-day in recent days, and Tucker due to a calf issue that’s sent him to the injured list. Fellow top prospect Moises Ballesteros (7-for-28 with three extra base hits) is getting a look at DH at the moment, and that leaves right field open for some combination of Alcantara and Willi Castro until Suzuki is ready to return to games. Once Suzuki is back, Alcantara, Ballesteros, and Castro will all be competing for playing time until Tucker’s eventual return to the lineup.

That might not be for a while, as Counsell told reporters (including Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic) on Friday that Tucker returning as soon as he’s eligible to be activated on Tuesday is “unlikely right now.” Perhaps that stance could change in the coming days, but Tucker has not yet resumed running since he was placed on the injured list. While the Cubs aren’t in danger of losing their playoff spot at this point, getting the star’s 140 wRC+ bat back into the lineup with enough time for him to get settled in before the playoffs begin seems sure to be a top priority for the Cubs over the season’s final two weeks.

Jose Altuve Exits Game With Foot Discomfort

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September 14: GM Dana Brown told the Astros’ pregame radio show today (as relayed by Kawahara) that, while Altuve is set to be out of the lineup, he’s expected to miss “two days tops” due to the foot soreness he suffered from last night.

September 13: The Astros removed veteran star Jose Altuve from their win over the Braves in the third inning today due to what the team has termed “right foot discomfort.” The specifics of Altuve’s ailment weren’t immediately clear, but manager Joe Espada told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle) after the game that Altuve’s foot began bothering him after he ran the bases in the third inning, leading them to take him out of the game as a precaution.

Espada noted that Altuve is still being evaluated, but the update seems fairly encouraging. It goes without saying that losing Altuve for any amount of time would be a substantial blow to the Astros at a crucial point in the season. They have a measly half-game lead over the Mariners pending the outcome of tonight’s game in Seattle, and the Rangers lurk just two games behind them. While most division leaders have their spot in the postseason locked up at this point, the Astros actually have just an 80.0% chance to make it to October according to Fangraphs, aren’t even favored to win the AL West despite the marginal lead they’re clinging to.

Altuve will be crucial if the club is going to avoid getting overtaken in the postseason race, much less make an impact once they get to October. The longtime second baseman has begun playing some outfield this year due to the team’s lack of quality depth on the grass, although he’s largely split time between second base and DH in more recent weeks. Altuve has been slumping recently, with a .208/.276/.383 slash line n 38 games since the start of August. Those numbers aren’t exactly encouraging, but with a 112 wRC+ on the year and no below average performances since 2013 excepting the shortened 2020 season, Altuve is a relatively safe bet to bounce back if healthy.

The Astros will now need to weigh whether to have him play through the foot issue that’s currently ailing him, or to try and work in some extra rest for him (or even place him on the IL) despite the hotly-contested pennant race the Astros find themselves in. If Altuve does need some time off, the presence of deadline pickup Ramon Urias and longtime utilityman Mauricio Dubon as viable second base options should help to lessen the blow somewhat. Yordan Alvarez occupies the DH slot on most days at this point, leaving the outfield to some combination of Altuve, Dubon, Zach Cole, Taylor Trammell, Cam Smith, Jesus Sanchez, and Jake Meyers on any given day.

Meyers is the only true everyday player in that group, though Cole has gotten off to a hot start and could see regular playing time if he can keep the good times rolling. It seems likely that if Altuve is dealing with a nagging foot issue, the Astros will try to keep his time in the outfield to a minimum. That could mean a larger opportunity for Cole while Sanchez and Smith platoon in right field, leaving Taylor Trammell to spell Cole and see use primarily as a reserve player.

Things could get more complicated if the team makes a deep enough run in the postseason that Isaac Paredes manages to work his way back into the conversation, however. A hamstring injury that seemed as though it might be season-ending sidelined Paredes nearly two months ago, but he decided to forgo surgery in favor of rehabbing in hopes of returning for the postseason. While there’s still no timetable for his return, Espada told reporters (including Kawahara) that Paredes is taking live at-bats at the club’s Spring Training complex in West Palm Beach and has begun to run the bases. It’s not clear what intensity Paredes is currently running at, but Espada said the current plan is for him to simply continue ramping up his at-bats, running, and ground balls at third base in hopes of a return.

If Paredes were to return to action at some point this year, that would leave the Astros with a bit of a positional logjam. Paredes is capable of playing third base, first base, and DH. Carlos Correa and Christian Walker currently occupy the infield corners, however, meaning that Paredes would most likely have to push Alvarez and his lackluster glove into left field by taking up the DH role. If he’s healthy enough to play the field at some point this postseason, it’s at least plausible that the Astros could try Correa at second base with Altuve in left field to fit Paredes at first and keep Alvarez at DH, but there’s plenty of problems with that plan. Correa has no experience at the keystone as a professional, for one, and given Altuve’s own lackluster defense in the outfield it’s debatable how much of an upgrade he would even be over Alvarez.

That could leave Paredes limited to a bench/pinch hitting role in the playoffs if he returns and the Astros don’t want to risk using Alvarez in the outfield, though obviously that would be a great problem for Houston to have considering Paredes’s talent (he made the All-Star game and crushed 19 homers in just 94 games) and the fact that him becoming a factor would likely mean they made a fairly deep postseason run, given his uncertain timeline.

Rangers Activate Adolis Garcia

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The Rangers announced this morning that they’ve activated outfielder Adolis Garcia from the injured list. Dustin Harris was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to create a spot on the active roster.

Garcia, 32, has spent the entire month so far on the injured list due to a quad strain. The veteran has had a tough year this season, hitting just .235/.277/.408 with a wRC+ of 87. While he’s hit 18 homers with 13 steals and even posted a career-low 24.8% strikeout rate, walking at just a 5.1% clip with his lowest hard contact rate since he became a regular player in 2021 has led Garcia to post below-average numbers for a second straight season.

While Garcia’s numbers haven’t been anywhere near the level they were from 2021-23, when he made two All-Star appearances and won a World Series with Texas, he’s actually improved to around league average as the season has gone on. Since June, Garcia is hitting .254/.292/.432 with a wRC+ of 99,  That’s unlikely to be enough production to stop Garcia from being a non-tender candidate this winter, but with the Rangers still hanging on in the playoff picture it’s valuable to get a league average bat with power and speed back into the lineup for the final weeks of the season.

Garcia is in the lineup and batting fourth today, and he’ll likely push Michael Helman and Alejandro Osuna into a platoon with each other going forward. With the Rangers just two games back in both the Wild Card and AL West races, the Rangers will hope that Garcia can help make up for the ongoing absences of Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Evan Carter from the lineup—not to mention the club’s losses in the rotation like Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle.

It seemed as though the Rangers might be in for another injury scare last night when Chris Martin abruptly exited last night’s win over the Mets. Fortunately, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News provided a positive update on Martin’s status after the game. Grant noted that while Martin had felt some “tingling” in his hands during last night’s appearance, the Rangers do not believe the situation will require a trip to the IL for Martin. That’s surely a relief for Texas, as an IL stint at this stage in the calendar would end Martin’s regular season even if he missed only the minimum time. Martin has been a key piece of the Rangers’ bullpen when healthy this year, with a 2.54 ERA and 3.30 FIP in 39 innings of work.

As for Harris, the 26-year-old made his big league debut with the Rangers last year and has appeared in just 21 big league games over the past two seasons. A .217/.280/.435 hitter across 50 trips to the plate, Harris has experience at all three outfield spots in the majors and has showed solid pop in his bat despite a 30% strikeout rate. He has some experience at the infield corners in the minor leagues as well, but has stuck exclusively to the outfield in the majors. He’ll head back to Triple-A and wait for his next opportunity, which at this point may not come until next season.

Blue Jays To Promote Trey Yesavage For MLB Debut

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September 14: Yesavage will start Monday’s game against the Rays, manager John Schneider told reporters (including Nicholson-Smith) today. Schneider went on to make clear that Yesavage’s role beyond Monday’s game has not yet been decided. Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet adds that Schneider told reporters that Yesavage is not on an innings limit this year.

September 13: The Blue Jays are promoting right-hander Trey Yesavage to the majors, according to a report from Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Yesavage is expected to be active on the MLB roster for Monday’s game against the Rays in Tampa.

Yesavage, 22, was selected 20th overall in last year’s draft by Toronto. Viewed by most draft prospect evaluation services as a top-15 talent in his class at the time, he earned some top-100 prospect consideration this past offseason despite not having made his MLB debut yet thanks to a dominant 40.4% strikeout rate a 2.03 ERA in 15 starts for East Carolina last year. Yesavage began his season at the Single-A level and was promoted three separate times throughout the year. He made just four starts for High-A Vancouver before he was promoted to Double-A, and despite a 4.50 ERA in 30 innings at that level 38.0% strikeout rate was enough to convince Blue Jays brass to promote him to Triple-A last month.

Since then, he’s pitched to a 3.63 ERA in 17 1/3 innings of work while striking out 36.1% of his opponents. That’s an impressive enough figure that the Blue Jays decided to scratch Yesavage from his scheduled start with Buffalo tomorrow and call him up to the majors, though it shouldn’t be taken to mean Yesavage is completely without flaws. The youngster has walked 10.5% of his opponents this year, including 15.3% of his opponents at Triple-A. Those struggles with his command have generally been made up for by his impressive stuff, headlined by a fastball that sits 94-95 to go along with a splitter and a slider.

While the Blue Jays are still hard at work fending off the Yankees (who sit just three games back of Toronto in the AL East), they’re more or less assured of a spot in the postseason at this point. The club has a veteran rotation featuring Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer, Shane Bieber, Chris Bassitt, and Jose Berrios as things stand. Yesavage is very unlikely to bump anyone from that group from the postseason rotation. It’s at least plausible the Jays could use Yesavage in spot starts over the season’s final weeks to help them line up their ideal postseason rotation for a potential Wild Card series, but the Jays have a real shot at a bye through the Wild Card round and would most likely benefit from seeing what Yesavage can do out of the bullpen.

Toronto’s bullpen has been flagging in recent weeks. Closer Jeff Hoffman has an ERA near 5.00, and deadline acquisition Louis Varland hasn’t taken to Canada very well despite his success in Minnesota earlier this year. With the late innings looking like a major question mark for the Jays headed into the postseason, trying Yesavage out of the bullpen and seeing if he can use his impressive stuff to dominate major league hitters in short bursts could result in the Jays having another power arm for their relief corps to lean on in October if the experiment goes well.

All that talk of October may sound confusing, given that the league’s rules state that a player may not be on a club’s postseason roster if not on the 40-man roster come September 1. There are ways around that, however, and one such loophole that would allow Yesavage to make a postseason roster this year is that clubs are allowed to replace players who are eligible to be activated off the injured list but not yet healthy enough to return, so long as the replacement was active in the organization prior to September 1. Yesavage meets those conditions, and the Jays have plenty of players who he could be considered a replacement for, such as Yimi Garcia.

Yesavage’s September call-up means that he’ll get at least a bit of major league service time this year, but we’ve long past the time where he would be in danger of losing rookie eligibility for the 2026 campaign. Toronto will need to create space on their 40-man roster in order to officially call Yesavage up to the majors on Monday by designating someone for assignment.

Braves Select Luke Williams, Place Jake Fraley On Injured List

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The Braves announced a pair of roster moves this morning. Outfielder Jake Fraley was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained right oblique muscle in a move backdated to September 11. To replace Fraley on the roster, Atlanta has selected the contract of infielder Luke Williams. The team already had a vacancy on its 40-man roster, so no additional corresponding move was necessary to accommodate Williams.

Fraley, 30, began his career as a second-round pick with the Rays back in 2016. He was swapped to Seattle in the Mike Zunino trade in 2018 and spent parts of three seasons with the big league Mariners before being shipped to the Reds as part of the return for Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez prior to the 2022 season. Fraley had blossomed into a solid enough platoon bat by that point, and in 373 games from 2021 to 2024 he hit a respectable .254/.340/.416. He finished just shy of a 20/20 season in both 2023 and ’24, with 18 homers and 21 steals in the former campaign followed by a 19-homer, 20-steal effort in the latter.

Taken together, that all paints a picture of Fraley as a perfectly solid contributor to an MLB club. He suffered a bit of a slump this year, however, and hit just .232/.332/.387 for the Reds this year with numbers that got progressively worse as the season continued. That led to Cincinnati designating him for assignment, and the Braves jumped at the opportunity to claim him off waivers given their struggles to find adequate production in the outfield this year.

Fraley’s role ended up being a fairly minor one, however, as Jurickson Profar’s return from his early-season suspension and Michael Harris II’s late-season resurgence at the plate largely pushed him out of the conversation for regular playing time. He’s made just nine appearances for Atlanta this year, hitting .304/.333/.348 across 24 trips to the plate. He’ll now miss at least the next week due to this oblique strain, though with the Braves out of the postseason and minimal time left in the regular season it’s possible his 2025 campaign has now come to an end.

Replacing Fraley on the active roster is Williams, who played in 38 games for the Braves earlier this year before being outrighted to the minors. Now in his fifth MLB season, Williams bounced between the Phillies, Giants, Dodgers, and Marlins before settling with Atlanta in a depth role for the 2023 season. He’s a career .213/.271/.281 hitter who offers virtually no value with the bat, but does possess a solid, versatile glove that allows him to play quality defense all over the diamond as needed. Williams will join Eli White, Vidal Brujan, and Nick Allen in the bench mix as the Braves head into the final weeks of the season.

Latest On The Orioles’ Managerial Plans

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The Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde back in May, and since then Tony Mansolino has taken over managerial duties on an interim basis. Mansolino has done reasonably well in the role, as the Orioles have gone on to post a 54-50 record during his time as their interim manager. Turning a team that had one of the worst records in baseball around enough that they’ve won more games than they’ve lost over the past four months is an impressive feat, but Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball suggests that this success doesn’t necessarily mean that Mansolino is a lock to be hired on a permanent basis.

Instead, Dubroff suggests that newly-minted president of baseball operations Mike Elias is likely to conduct a “lengthy” search, and while Mansolino could still be hired in the end the vacancy is likely to attract interest from a number of interesting candidates. It’s easy to see why that would be the case, when comparing Baltimore to the other teams with managerial vacancies. The presence of Paul Skenes gives the Pirates tantalizing potential, but they’ve already wasted his first two seasons under club control and have shown little interest in investing in the team’s payroll to improve the on-field product. The Rockies may not be quite as bad as the 2024 White Sox, but they’re close enough with 108 games already lost this season. The Nationals, meanwhile, have been mired in a rebuild for years and have struggled to get consistency out of even their most talented pieces.

By contrast, the Orioles have an impressive group of positional talent led by a legitimate star in Gunnar Henderson. Jordan Westburg and Adley Rutschman are reliable, proven pieces, and young talents like Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo, and Colton Cowser offer reason for optimism that more offensive output is on the way in future seasons. While the club’s pitching staff needs work and the offense is perhaps a little too reliant on young talent stepping forward next year, Baltimore seems likely to be more aggressive in improving the team this offseason than any of the aforementioned clubs on top of having a stronger baseline of talent.

Given the likely attractiveness of the Orioles job, Dubroff suggests that a wide range of potential names could emerge as candidates. He specifically name-checks a handful of former managers such as Brad Ausmus and Scott Servais and a trio of active bench coaches (Ryan Flaherty of the Cubs, Danny Lehman of the Dodgers, and George Lombard of the Tigers). One name Dubroff makes clear will not be leading the Orioles’ dugout in 2026 is former manager Buck Showalter, who he notes would “not be a good match” with Elias.

One internal candidate aside from Mansolino gets a mention from Dubroff, as well: John Mabry. Mabry was hired as a senior advisor not long after Hyde’s firing, and brings 14 years in the big leagues to the table as well as stints as a hitting coach for the Cardinals, Royals, and Marlins. Dubroff describes Mabry as a “long-shot” candidate for the role, however, which makes some sense; it would be something of a surprise if the Orioles decided to go with an internal hire and didn’t simply retain Mansolino in the role, given his overall success this year.

While it stands to reason that the Orioles are at least considering many of the names Dubroff mentioned, it should be noted that with two weeks to go in the regular season it’s very likely that the full field of managerial vacancies and candidates won’t come together for a while yet. Atlanta skipper Brian Snitker, for example, has not yet decided on whether he’ll retire following the 2025 campaign. There’s always the possibility that another position or two open up as we get closer to the end of the season, when teams around the league take the annual opportunity to evaluate their dugout and front office personnel.

Dodgers Place Will Smith On Injured List

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The Dodgers announced this evening that they’ve placed catcher Will Smith on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 10, due to a right hand contusion. Catcher Chuckie Robinson was recalled to replace Smith on the active roster.

Smith, 30, has enjoyed a career year with the Dodgers this season as he’s hit .296/404/.497 and landed his third consecutive All-Star appearance. Unfortunately, he was struck by a foul ball on his throwing hand on September 3. He sat out for nearly a week before he returned on September 9, but he hasn’t appeared in a game since. Manager Dave Roberts had previously described the issue as a matter of pain tolerance for Smith, as his ailing hand won’t heal before the end of the year at this point.

That seemed to suggest that Smith and the Dodgers were ready to have him play through the injury while talking days off when possible, but Roberts today told reporters (including Sonja Chen of MLB.com) that “not enough improvement”  has occurred in Smith’s ability to play at this point to continue giving him a spot on the roster and playing without a true backup catcher. Dalton Rushing is already on the injured list due to a shin contusion, which meant that third-string catcher Ben Rortvedt was the only option on the roster who was available in recent days.

Now that Smith has been placed on the shelf, there was room to get Rortvedt some help in the form of Robinson. Robinson has just 51 games in the big leagues to his name, and in that time has hit just .132/.170/.194 with a career wRC+ of -3, meaning he’s 103% worse than a league average hitter. It’s hardly a robust offensive profile, but he’s a very well-regarded defender and his right-handed bat could pair with Rortvedt’s lefty bat to form something of a platoon behind the plate, though neither player is offering much with the bat from either side of the plate.

Solid as Robinson and Rortvedt are defensively, it goes without saying that another week without Smith is a major blow to the Dodgers. He’s arguably been second only to Shohei Ohtani as the team’s most important player this year, and without him impacting the club on both sides of the ball everyday it’s been difficult for the Dodgers to lock up the NL West this September even while the Padres have gone 6-12 over their last 18 games. Surely, L.A.’s lead would be much larger than 2.5 games at this point if they had Smith in the middle of the lineup alongside Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.

That makes losing Smith for at least another week a tough pill to swallow, but at this point the Dodgers seem to view it as a necessary sacrifice in order to get Smith as healthy as possible in time for the start of the postseason. The Dodgers have just a 6.8% chance of clinching a bye through the Wild Card series according to Fangraphs, which means that Smith won’t get a substantial break between the regular season and the postseason to rest. The remaining regular season games are far less important than that three-game Wild Card set coming up in October, so it’s understandable that the Dodgers would be prioritizing getting Smith ready for that series at all costs at this point.

Given the nagging, day-to-day nature of Smith’s injury, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him activated after a minimum stay on the injured list. With that being said, it’s possible the Dodgers will want to give him as much time to heal up as possible over the final two weeks of the regular season, so perhaps they’ll take a more careful route with him and wait to bring him back until it’s time for him to tune up ahead of the postseason.

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