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Inside the Diamond is your one-stop shop for everything MLB! From in-depth analysis of the latest games and breaking news, to minor league prospects we've got you covered. Join us for insightful discussions on the game's history, current events, and future trends. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just getting into baseball, Inside the Diamond has something for everyone.
What is up?
Welcome back to the Inside
the Diamonds podcast.
And I am your host, Chris, CJ,
or whatever you want to call me.
You're stuck with me for the
next 30 to 45 minutes.
As you can tell, I'm solo tonight.
And as you can tell if
you're watching this on YouTube,
I got a little cooked this
weekend for Father's Day.
Watched a lot of baseball this weekend.
Followed a lot of baseball.
And so I'm here to break it all down.
We're recording a night
later than normal because
of the Celtics championship last night.
So I went and watched that
and bumped into tonight.
And CJ is on vacation.
Hope he's having a good time.
Hope he's having some fun.
So let's get right into things.
Let's get right into
everything because it's
been a chaotic week.
And if you're in the New England area,
I don't know if it's
happened throughout the whole country,
but we're right now
experiencing a heat wave.
It's hot.
and so with that I'm going
to start with the hottest
teams of the week and this
might be a segment that I
do when I'm by myself
because I think just talk
about the hot teams of the
week and maybe I'm done I'm
not cursed anymore I don't
know we'll see so the first
hottest team of the week I
want to talk about is the
new york mets and how do
you know it over their last
10 games eight and two ten
four and all of june a team
that we all counted out and
if you're a baseball fan
you kind of them out too
And they got hot.
This might be their month.
Since they had a mascot come
throw out the first pitch
the other night and took
pictures with their mascot.
And that was Grimace from McDonald's.
And since he was there and
threw out the first pitch,
they've won six straight.
You might see him start
showing up for other teams
if they're going to keep winning games.
But.
Some numbers I crunched
today and I want to look them over.
Their lineup is hot.
Their lineup is hot.
J.D.
Martinez, 14 games.
This guy just hits the ball.
He's got a 315 average with a 1.015 OPS.
Three home runs, eight runs scored,
and 13 RBIs.
There might not be a hotter
hitter on the planet other
than Aaron Judge,
who left tonight's game if
you're watching the Yankees-Orioles game.
But, wow, what a month for him so far.
Francisco Lindor is another one, 14 games,
296, 937 OPS, three home runs as well,
13 runs scored and seven RBIs.
Their lineup is just
clicking on on cylinders.
It's literally Brandon
Nimmo's next 13 games, 333 average,
860 OPS, one home run, 10 runs scored,
10 RBIs.
They can't be stopped.
And the name that everybody
knows from that team is Pete Alonso,
the polar bear.
14 games, a .259 average with an .831 OPS.
Three home runs, nine runs scored,
and 12 RBIs.
This guy's hot, too.
Now,
you talk about from the first name to
the last name I mentioned, J.D.
Martinez and Pete Alonso.
Those are two names that are
talked about for the deadline.
And the deadline's, what, August?
August.
Stay hot, and you're moved.
J.D.
's more likely than Pete Alonzo,
but I'll get to more about
Pete Alonzo a little bit later on.
On the mound,
their best pitcher has been Luis Severino,
and what a bounce back here.
This month, two starts, 1-0, 1.29 ERA,
1.21 whip.
This season, he's 4-2 when 13 starts.
With a 3-12 ERA, a 1-17 whip,
60 strikeouts, and 70 innings pitched,
This guy just found himself,
and all he did was move across town.
Was the Yankees pitcher for
the longest time,
and then all of a sudden he
goes to New York and figures it out.
He might be an arm that gets moved.
This week,
because we're recording a day later,
so we're not doing typical
Monday recording,
he's got Texas for two to
finish out the week.
He's at three against the Cubs.
And most likely because he's pitching.
I forget actually when he pitches.
Could he pitch in the Cubs series?
Pacing the Rangers is tough,
but the Cubs can't hit right now,
and I'll get to them a
little bit later on.
The next team,
and I can't believe what I'm saying,
this one's still with the NL East,
the Washington Nationals.
They're 8-2 in their last 10,
just like the Mets.
So the Mets win, Nationals win.
They just keep pace.
The Nationals took 3-4 from the Braves,
2-3 from the Tigers,
and they swept Miami.
You can beat the teams you have to beat.
you beat the teams that you
guys find sneak wins out
against the good teams and
that's what they did
against atlanta and they're
theirs is pitching I got a
couple bets that have been
hot you know lane thomas 10
games 351 average 1.152 ops
four home runs 10 runs
scored and 18 rbis cj
abrams one of my favorite
players on that team 10 games
351 average, 1.050 OPS, two home runs,
eight runs scored, 10 RBIs.
But then you turn to the pitching,
and this is where things
get interesting with this team.
You take out Patrick Corbin,
who's struggled this year.
I mean, you don't take him out, but,
I mean, he struggled.
He doesn't look good.
Sorry, Mackenzie Gore, two starts.
This is since June 6th to 17th,
their current stretch.
2-0, 150 ERA, 1.08 whip, 12.8K per nine.
Mitchell Parker, two starts, 2-0,
1.53 ERA with a 0.91 whip.
Jake Irvin, two games started, 2-0,
0.75 ERA, 1.08 whip.
Combining all their starters, 6-0,
57 in a third innings pitched,
an 8.6K per nine.
a 1.41 ERA, and a 0.98 whip.
This week,
they got a chance to keep getting better.
They got three against Diamondbacks.
That series starts tonight.
This weekend,
they got three against the Rockies.
There's no reason why you
can't come out of that this week,
you know, what, 3-3, 4-2.
You know, maybe now that I mention them,
they come out of the week, you know, 2-4,
1-5.
I don't know.
But there's no reason.
The way you're playing ball,
you're in the hunt.
Why are they a game back of the wild card?
That whole wild card is a cluster.
So they're right there.
We'll stick with the National League.
We'll go to the Central now.
A team that I mentioned that
may have broken the curse was the St.
Louis Cardinals.
In their last 10 games, they're 7-3.
They're back in a playoff spot.
And not just back in a playoff spot.
Granted,
it is by a half game or maybe a game,
but they're holding the
fifth seed in the wild card
in the National League,
the second overall wild card spot.
They split with Colorado.
They took two or three from the Pirates,
who I mentioned was going
to be right there with them.
They took two or three from the Cubs,
and they had one against the Marlins.
But, you know, it is what it is.
You're not going to win every game.
They got this young kid, though.
Ivan Herrera.
Seven games.
This guy is mashing the ball.
409 average.
A 980 OPS.
He's got five runs scored and three RBIs.
I mean, he's not mashing.
He's not hitting home runs,
but he's getting on base fast.
He's scoring runs.
He's helping the team out.
Like,
the average is just – this guy's
hitting the ball.
Hitting the ball.
The other one is Brendan Donovan.
He's 10 games, 316 average, 771 OPS,
one home run, four runs scored,
four RBIs.
This team is hitting the ball.
You turn the mound, they're pitching.
They're pitching.
Miles Michaelis, two games started, 1-0.
A 0.68 ERA in those two starts.
0.45 whip and a 7.43 K per nine.
That's where you start.
And then the big offseason
acquisition for them was Sonny Gray.
He's got two starts.
He's 1-0 with a 1.84 ERA.
A 0.82 whip.
A 7.98 K per nine.
This team's pitching.
They're not just doing it with the bats.
And again,
I didn't mention knowing Aaron Ina,
Paul Goldschmidt.
This team's doing their thing.
This is the Cardinals team
that everybody knows.
So if they can keep it up, great,
because the Cardinals in
the playoffs is fun.
I hope they do.
I hope they sneak in because the Giants,
I like them.
They're not that fun to watch lately.
There's other teams in the NFL I like.
You know,
the Brewers probably are going to
run away with the division,
but there's Reds, you know, Pirates,
Cardinals,
and the Cardinals are fun to
watch right now.
The next team I'll move to,
the next two I have for the
hardest teams of the week,
are both in the American League East.
We're going to start with
the team that's trying to come back,
and they've got a series
right now that's one of my
most watched series for the week.
The Baltimore Warriors.
They're in it in two in their last ten.
11-5 in June.
They took, in the last ten games,
they took two or three from Atlanta,
or not the last ten games,
but the most recently,
they took two or three from the Braves,
who I said was a potential
World Series matchup.
Or that was my prediction.
But then my new one that I
said last week's podcast,
203 from the Phillies.
This team's just taking care
of the teams they have to beat.
And that's behind Gunnar Henderson,
nine games, 325 average, a 997 OPS,
three home runs, nine runs scored,
seven RBIs.
Listen, I like Bobby Witt.
Excuse me.
I'm a big Bobby Witt guy.
As much as I don't like the Royals,
I like watching Bobby Witt.
Gunnar Henderson's the real deal,
and he should be the
starting shortstop for the
American League at the All-Star Game.
He's just hitting.
He's just producing.
That's all he does.
The other name in that
lineup that's really gotten
hot is Anthony Santander.
He's got a .289 average with a 1.060 OPS,
five home runs, seven runs scored,
eight RBIs.
Guy that,
when I wrote an Orioles article
about trading prospects
because the outfield was crowded,
he was the name that everybody mentioned.
Trade him.
I would love to, I'm curious,
if you're an Orioles fan,
you trading him?
You want him gone?
He's stroking the ball right now.
And you've got a series against, you know,
team leading American
League East right now,
and you want him gone?
I don't know what he's done tonight,
but is that the guy you want gone?
They've got so many outfields coming.
So there's a lot of question
marks in the outfield there.
You know, we talk about Colton Couser,
Heston Kersted.
There's Enrique Bradfield.
I've mentioned Judd Fabian.
There's outfielders coming.
I'm sure I probably forgot a couple.
What do you do?
Why not trade the guys that
haven't produced in the big leagues yet,
like Bradfield?
I like Fabian a lot.
I think I've liked Fabian
since he was at Florida for college.
Bradford, I also like, too,
for Vanderbilt.
He's got speed.
He could be a guy who put in the nine hole,
does speed, has speed, gets on base,
and he flipped the lineup over.
And there's a guy that I'll
talk about in a little bit
that does the same thing.
On the mound, between Corbin Burns,
Cole Irvin, Grayson Rodriguez,
Kyle Braddish,
since the stretch of June
7th to June 17th, they're 7-1.
59 of the third innings pitched,
a 9.4K per nine.
A 1.97 ERA and a 1.03 whip.
Now listen, when they got Corbin Burns,
we all knew they got an ace.
But Grayson Rodriguez needed
a bounce back season.
And he's doing it.
He's had his injuries.
Kyle Bredis just got hurt the other day.
He's out.
Corbin.
Again,
this goes back to they need a pitcher.
They need a starting arm.
But what they're putting up right now,
this team is going to be
lethal come October.
They'll be a must-watch.
This week, though,
is their real test because
they have the Yankees for three,
and I can't tell because
they're in the little box
of MLB band-aiding,
but it looks like it's 4-0
Yankees right now.
So that might be a loss tonight,
but I'll get to tomorrow's
game for them a little bit later on.
But they get three against
the Astros this weekend,
who I slowly figure things out.
They lost Justin Verlander,
so that's a series they should take.
They're going to be in that
hunt right with the Yankees
the whole season.
And they could be a wildcard team.
They could very well be
playing the first week of
playoffs when nobody had them doing that.
But they'll find a way.
I expect them at least, at the very least,
to be in the ALCS,
unless they get the Yankees and the ALDS.
But we'll have to see how
things shake out there.
The final team that was hot this week.
Since I'm in New England, since it's hot,
we've got a heat wave.
Let's talk about the Boston Red Sox.
They've won six of their last eight.
And now we talked about it
last week about how they
had a tough stretch,
a very tough stretch.
And they split a series with
the Chicago White Sox.
How do they answer that series?
They took two or three from the Phillies,
the best record in the National League.
How do they answer that the weekend?
Oh,
they took two or three from the Yankees
with the best record in the
American League.
Six and eight.
I mean, six and two in the last eight.
Taking care of business.
And it's not Raphael Devers.
You know, Tyler O'Neal did his thing,
but they're missing guys.
They're missing key bats that are around.
Tristan Goss isn't there.
And if you watch him at baseball,
what a great interview that was.
And some people may not have liked it,
but what a great interview that was.
But we're going to start from the top.
Leo Petter hasn't missed a
game this season.
And I wrote an article today
that he's becoming a star.
And this guy needs to be at
the All-Star Game in Texas.
Has to be.
And the fact that he's not
even in the top 20, excuse me,
I went through that list the other day.
If you haven't done it,
MLB released their rankings
for the All-Star Game and
the voting and all that stuff.
Go through it if you get a chance,
because I went through it,
and this guy should be in
the top at least 50.
Maybe you're not voting there,
but he should be in at least the top 50.
Jaron Duran, eight games.
A .382 average.
A 1.021 OPS.
He's got 10 home runs, 4 RBIs.
This guy's in the top 5 in doubles.
Top 10 in doubles.
Top 10 in triples.
This guy gets on base.
And the thing I wrote about
that I love watching about
him is he can draw a walk
and he'll get on base.
He turns that walk into a triple.
Like he could be on third
base in the blink of an eye.
He changes a game.
He's a game changer.
Get this guy to the All-Star game.
I actually think about a month ago,
you have the conversation,
do the Red Sox trade
Willier Abreu or Jaron Duran?
I love Willier Abreu.
I like him a lot,
but I'm not trading Willier Abreu.
I'm keeping Jaron Duran.
The next one I'll go to is Connor Wong.
Seven games, he's got a .333 average,
865 OPS, two runs scored, and four IPIs.
This guy's fun to watch.
And we talk about Kyle Teal
as the next coming for catcher.
The bat's going to be fantastic.
But Connor Wong and Kyle
Teal platooning behind the plate?
I love that.
And I like reaching the wire.
I do.
But behind the plate,
Red Sox got some questions.
Another bat, Tyler O'Neal.
He had a knee injury.
Came back.
He's been figuring it out.
Since in this current stretch,
five games played, a 318 average,
a 1133 OPS, three home runs,
five runs scored, seven RBIs.
Now, granted,
he hit two home runs last night.
So two of those three home
runs were last night.
But he's finding his stroke.
And if he stays healthy, again,
this goes back to they got
a problem in the outfield.
They have prospects coming,
and that's the future.
But they got a logjam right now.
You got to get his bat in the lineup.
Well, he's going to be back soon.
He's starting a rehab assignment tonight.
Got to figure that out.
The final one is my, besides Durant,
my other favorite Red Sox
player to watch right now,
Zidane Rafaela.
And he was in my top 100 to
start the season.
Eight games played this season.
A .448 average.
A 1.105 OPS.
He has a home run,
which he hit last night.
Seven runs scored in three RBIs.
Now he leads the Red Sox in RBIs.
He leads all rookies in RBIs.
This guy's not getting the
recognition he deserves.
And he plays center field and shortstop.
So the two key positions you need.
And he's covering both of them.
Which will go to the trade deadline.
If the Red Sox are buyers,
it opens the door for them
to either acquire a
shortstop or a center
fielder or an outfielder.
And allows the opportunity
where you can put Raphael or wherever.
It doesn't handicap them to say,
I need a shortstop.
You can get a center fielder
and Raphael goes to shortstop.
Yes,
I've seen articles where they need
shortstop.
That's what they keep saying.
But you have one, too, if you need one.
So it doesn't handicap you
and close the door on possibilities.
And finally,
the other person I want to
talk about who left last night's game.
Thankfully, it's not serious.
He's probably going to miss
tonight's game.
Should be back tomorrow.
If not,
probably over the weekend against
the Reds.
That is David Hamilton.
And this guy was – I shut on him.
He couldn't hit the ground ball.
He couldn't catch the ball.
He hit the ball.
In this stretch, eight games played,
a 3-10 average, a 9-19 OPS, two home runs,
eight runs scored, and five RBIs.
I mean, that's a key bet.
The way he's hitting the ball,
the way he's been,
you need him in the lineup.
He's a key piece.
And you really don't need a
shortstop at that point if he's in.
If he's hitting like this.
Now, granted...
They're still trailing on the wild card.
They're losing right now.
This week coming up,
they've got two more
against the Jays tonight and tomorrow.
They've got three against
the Reds this weekend.
You come out this weekend 4-2.
I'll take 3-3,
but you've got to chase some twins.
You've got to figure out a
way to keep up with them.
I'd rather 4-2.
5-1 would be fantastic.
Right now they're down 3-2
in the bottom of the seventh.
They just missed a key opportunity.
So...
I don't know how I feel
about tonight's game anymore.
They got Bayo tomorrow.
I don't know how I feel about Bayo.
He's been hit or miss lately.
He's got a 5-plus ERA.
It might be 5 exactly.
I'm not key on it right now,
but this team is fun to watch.
And if you watch Sunday Night Baseball,
because it was prime time.
So if you like baseball and
you listen to this, it was prime time.
They broke the franchise record.
They had nine stolen bases
against the Yankees.
Now, that was how a scorer's game plan,
steal the base.
They knew Jose Trevino couldn't throw.
They faced the Yankees again
the weekend of the 4th of July.
If Trevino's behind the plate,
are they stealing again?
Could they break that record?
Making Red Sox-Yankees must watch again.
And I said last week, you know,
everything I said about Verdugo,
he hits a home run, his first at bat,
and he runs around the bases saying,
this is my house.
How does he knock a trope?
That brings back the Red
Sox-Inkies rivalry.
He said the words to fuel it.
His antics fueled it.
Should have brought it back.
But overall,
that whole weekend series was
fantastic to watch.
I had a great time watching it.
That was great baseball.
It's great to see the Red
Sox play that kind of baseball.
So when they play again the
weekend of the 4th, I hope you tune in.
Now,
before we switch over to the coldest
teams of the week,
which I wish I was cold.
We're going to talk about joining us.
So as you can tell,
I'm on myself the last couple weeks.
So if you're looking to come
talk some baseball,
we've got a spot for you.
JC will be back.
But we've got extra room for you.
I've got the screen right in front of me.
You've got room for a third box.
So you want to come talk baseball,
we've got that for you.
You want to come bring a
podcast here and do your
podcast under our network, love that.
You want to come right here, come do that.
We've got everything for everybody.
So if you've got questions, again,
my email is
sealavalleyatinsidethediamonds.com.
The last name is
L-A-V-A-L-L-E-E at insidethediamonds.com.
You can reach out to me.
You should meet me in email.
We can have a conversation on email.
And if it doesn't work out for you,
then fine.
That's fine.
But, hey, take a chance.
So we're going to move on
now to the down bad this
week or the coldest teams
because I wish I was cold.
The first one is the Shadow Cubs,
and this is J.C.
's territory because this is
his team besides the Red Sox.
Their last 10 games, they're 3-7.
They took 1 of 4 from the Reds.
They dropped 2 of 3 to the Rays.
They dropped 2 of 3 to the Cardinals,
a team that they're chasing now.
And right now, this week,
they're only 1 against the Giants.
Their offense in this
stretch from June 7th to June 18th,
They have a .228 batting average,
a .644 OPS.
They're averaging 2.9 runs a game.
They got a 7.6K per game,
and they're giving up
three-point runs per game.
They got to figure out that offense.
And there was talks of them
being in on Vlad Guerrero Jr.
from the Jays.
We'll talk about that later.
I have a little conversation for that.
There's a lot.
There is a lot.
So, I don't know what to do with that.
I hate seeing that.
Like, they're a good team.
They're fun to watch.
They're just struggling right now.
Their offense in this
stretch is hitting .228 with a .640.
Oh, sorry, I just read that.
This week,
they got two games against the Giants,
three against the Mets.
Tough stretch for them.
Like I said,
the Mets are one of the hottest teams,
so we'll see what happens.
The next team I want to talk
about that's down bad,
the Detroit Tigers.
Same as the Cubs, three of their last 10.
They dropped two of three of the Brewers,
two of three of the Nationals,
two of three of the Astros,
another dropped the opener to the Braves.
They're playing tonight.
I have a buddy who's a Braves fan.
He reached out to me and said,
should be a good series.
I said, should be.
Reese also pitched great last night,
but the bullpen just couldn't do it.
They drop it two to one.
I literally said to him,
Wednesday's the game.
You have to win that game.
But then I remember the
pitching matchup was Tarek
Skubal versus Reynaldo Lopez.
And I don't know how I feel about that.
I trust Skubal more than anything.
And honestly, going to that,
aside from Skubal, they're in trouble.
Skubal's got 14 games.
He's 8-2, 220 ERA, a 0.90 whip,
98 strikeouts, and 86 innings pitched.
After that, they got to figure it out.
The lineup's got to figure it out.
Riley Green,
if you go with the all-star voting,
there isn't a single Tiger
in the top of any voting.
And this is a team that I
had winning the division,
and multiple people had
winning the division.
Right now I'm going Royals.
I think the Royals are the
best team in that division.
The Guardians look good,
but I think there's
something coming there.
They don't have the pitching
to keep up all year.
The Twins are good,
but I think they fall off too.
I think injuries just plague the Twins.
That's their thing.
The other name in the
rotation that I do want to
talk about is Jack Flaherty.
Is Jack Flaherty back?
He's got 13 starts this year.
And, again,
I don't go by record because the record,
in Scruple's case, I do because, you know,
he puts you in a 2-0 game, whatever.
But Flaherty is 4-4.
He's got a 3-0-1 ERA.
He's got 100 strikeouts,
which is fifth in baseball to this point.
0.95 whip.
His numbers are similar to 2019,
which in 2019,
he finished fourth in the
National League Cy Young voting.
Watching Flaherty do what he
does on a weekly basis now
is fantastic to watch.
Like,
that is a game that I want to watch
is when Flaherty pitches.
Now,
it's funny because I've had this
conversation the other day
with somebody where,
do you think the Tigers
realized they might have made the mistake
They gave Flaherty a one-year deal.
Do you think they wish that
was flipped and Flaherty
had the two-year deal?
But that's just what I go back to,
and I've talked about this
every week with JC, by myself.
We all know I like pitching.
Is this the Chris Fetter effect?
Is Chris Fetter showing that
he can fix pitching?
He did with Michael Renzen last year.
You know, he fixed his pitching.
But we'll have to wait and
see what he does the rest of this year.
We'll have to see come
trade-in line where he is.
Is he here?
Is he somewhere else?
I don't know.
This week,
the Red Sox just tied with a
Tyler O'Neal home run.
This team, I'm telling you, no quit.
And make that Tyler O'Neal's
third home run in the last
two games and actually make
that his fourth home run since June 9th.
And it was a sole home run,
so that's eight RBIs and nothing.
This guy's hot.
And if he stays healthy,
that kind of clicks.
The Tigers this week,
they got two more against
the Braves tonight and tomorrow,
and they got three against
the White Sox this weekend.
So they realistically could
go 3-3 this week.
I don't want to say at best
because they could go 4-2 at best.
The final team I'll talk
about from the Colts for
the week is a team that I
had finished in last place
in their division,
and they're just proving it
right now for me.
That's Tampa Bay Rays.
Same thing as the other two teams.
They're 3-7 in their last 10.
They got swept by the Orioles.
They took two of three from the Cubs,
and they dropped two of
three to the Braves.
Their pitching has been the problem,
and that's what I said when
I had them finish in last place.
Their starting pitching,
one and six with a 52.2 innings pitch,
and they have almost a five ERA.
You can't have that from
your starting pitchers.
You can't have that.
You're not going to make the
playoffs with that.
And the Rays are in the
conversation every year.
Like,
I would have gladly put them in the
conversation because –
They're not a bad team.
They're just dealing with injuries,
and the pitching that they
have isn't the answer.
Now, here's the thing.
They got three games against
the Twins to start tonight.
That could be huge for the Red Sox.
Well, see what happens there.
That could be huge to get
them back into things, too.
Then they have three against
the Pirates this weekend,
and they're going to face Paul Skeets.
So that's another thing to watch.
Paul Skeets on Sunday,
which means I think Jared
Jones on Friday.
Tough three-game series for the Rays,
who have dropped three of their last ten.
Now, we'll shift to the news of the week.
And not really the news.
This is my opinion.
I wrote an article about it the other day,
and it's one of my pieces.
The Seattle Bears are a lot
of fun to watch,
but they're not in the
conversation of the Orioles
and the Yankees right now.
And the reason they're not
is because they need a bat.
So I went and crunched some numbers,
and I didn't crunch the power numbers.
It is what it is.
I wanted to just look at some things.
They have a 221 team average,
which is 28th in baseball.
They have a 667 OPS,
which is 25th in baseball.
And they have 288 run score,
which is 24th in baseball.
Now,
if you heard all those stats during
the conversation about the
A's and the White Sox,
you hear those numbers,
you think fourth place.
Which is fair.
But I went back and I looked.
I shouldn't even have to look.
Everybody knows the answer.
Go into pitching.
They're starting pitching.
They have a 330 ERA,
which is fourth in baseball.
A 1.01 whip,
which is the best in baseball.
They have 401 strikeouts,
which is second in baseball.
There was no secret that
this team had great pitching.
Which is why they hold a
nine-game lead in the
American League West.
Could you imagine where
they'd be sitting right now
with another bat or two?
And in the article I wrote the other day,
I mentioned Luis Robert.
I mentioned Peter Lonzo.
I mentioned Bo Bichette.
But this team has prospects.
So at the end of the day,
if there's a name that
comes out in the next
couple weeks where it's like, hey,
this guy's under control for two years.
He's a bat.
We don't need him.
We can't use him.
Or they're just going to
move the contract.
The Mariners should come call him.
And that puts them in the tier of Orioles,
Yankees, Mariners.
This team should be there,
and I'm glad they're
leading the division.
They're fun to watch.
I like October with Seattle in it.
It's good baseball, great pitching,
which we all know I like,
but they need something in the lineup.
They've got to figure that out.
Julio Rodriguez can't carry
the load himself.
So we'll get something.
You know, Pete Alonso at first base,
put him fourth in the lineup.
That's a fun lineup.
Bo Bichette,
I know he's having a down year.
You put him at shortstop, or J.P.
Crawford second.
You know, you can mix and match pieces.
It's fun to watch.
We put Luis Robert in right field.
We've got a guy on the
fourth spot of your lineup
that can mash the baseball.
Go do that.
There's moves to be made there.
They can be better.
They can be a fun ride this year.
They can make the World Series.
We could be sitting here.
I talked the last two weeks, Yankees,
Dodgers, Orioles, Phillies.
There's your World Series previews.
The Mariners will get a bat.
They play somebody on the
weekend like the Dodgers, the Yankees.
It's a must-watch series.
That'll be on my list.
You'll get that series preview every time.
But they got to get
something because the
offense is struggling.
Moving on to the offense.
Go to a different team.
And tell West as well.
The Los Angeles Dodgers had
a tough blow this week.
Or last week, I guess.
Mookie Betts,
the hit with the pitch on the hands.
He's out six to eight weeks
with a fractured hand.
I just mentioned a name,
and I've heard rumors of it already.
Do they go get Boba Shett?
They made a trade last week
with the Blue Jays.
They got Kevin Vigio.
Vigio could play second base.
You could move somebody to short,
or Vigio could try to play short.
But Big Show's having a tough season.
I saw some report,
and I don't know if it was true or false.
I seen they reached out to Trey Turner.
Now,
if the Phillies want to trade Trey Turner,
that's asinine.
The idea of trading your
shortstop when you're the
best team in the National
League is just ridiculous.
But that's a move that can be made.
And Mookie's in the MVP conversation,
so that's an even tougher loss.
Played 70 games this year
with a 292 average, an 861 OPS,
nine home runs, 48 runs scored,
and 33 RBIs.
Guy gets on base.
He hits behind Otani and Freeman,
so they're going to drive him in,
so his runs are going to go up.
But now he's out,
and I might struggle without him.
I mean, Freeman and Otani won't,
but they got a lot of issues,
and they're not done there.
Their top offseason prospect,
their pickup was Yoshinobu
Yamamoto besides Otani.
Otani was number one.
Yes, I know.
But Yamamoto was the one
that was prized by a lot of teams.
They wanted pitching.
And he went to L.A.
And there's no timetable for
his return yet.
They said it wasn't season-ending,
so that's good.
But, you know, this season is numbers.
So he's posting a – he's got
14 games started, a 6-2 record,
74 innings pitched, a 2-9-2 ERA,
a 1.07 whip, a 10.22K per nine.
Now –
That includes his bad start
rough outing in Korea against the Padres.
You take that out,
he's 6-1 with a 2.34 ERA, a 1.01 whip,
and his K-9 goes down to 10.11.
That's a tough loss.
Now they are getting Bobby Miller back.
He's scheduled to start
Wednesday against the Rockies.
And then the news the other day,
Clayton Kershaw is on a
rehab assignment with Rancho Cucamonga.
So you're getting two solid arms back.
And I said it all along.
This team's going to have an
arm problem if everybody's healthy.
I said it before the season.
I said that, you know, James Paxton,
expect him for the first half,
Kershaw for the second half.
But if he stays healthy,
they're going to have a
logjam in their rotation.
They're going to have to figure that out.
Are they in trouble?
No.
Not at all.
They'll be in the playoffs.
They're probably winning the NL West.
I mean, they're going to nine-game lead,
and the Giants are the
team's second-half trail lineup.
Padres and the Diamondbacks
are nine-and-a-half back,
entering to play tonight.
there's no way they're going
to get caught.
They have too much talent.
There's just no way.
So they're not in trouble.
But if Yamamoto's injury
turns out to be something
where he comes back, makes a start,
and he leaves again because
he left Saturday's start,
they could be in trouble.
I mean, they do have pitching depth.
There's no issue there,
but they could make a move
by mistake and trade a
pitcher and they get
somebody that they think
they need and it doesn't work out.
So right now they're not in trouble.
They're going to be in the playoffs.
But for the long haul in the
playoffs and the deep October run,
they could be in trouble.
They could be,
especially if you line up
against the Braves,
who are hot at some point.
You know,
right now they're obviously
dealing with their issues.
But they could have
something like last year
where they run into a dimeback team,
and that's it for them.
You know,
there's always that Cinderella
team that comes in, could make some noise,
and they're in trouble,
especially if they have injuries.
So that would be something to watch.
I'm going to go with the pitching again.
And big one, Garrett Cole,
the ace of the Yankees pitching staff,
will make his return on Wednesday.
Cole has made three rehab appearances,
two at AA Somerset and one
at AAA Scranton
Wilkes-Barre with the Rail Riders.
In those three starts, he's got a 0.73 ERA,
a 0.48 whip, 19 strikeouts,
and 1,230 innings.
He looks like he's Garrett Cole.
But the Yankees,
their starting pitching is unreal.
This season, 419 innings pitched,
they're 35-15.
with a 290 ERA,
which is 10th best in baseball,
a 112 whip, which is 3rd best in baseball,
and they have an 8.55K per night,
which is 12th best in baseball.
And that's all behind Luis Gil.
Yes, I'm done with the Gil.
We're sticking with Gil.
I heard it all weekend when
I watched that series.
Luis Gil.
14 starts the season.
This kid's 9-1 with a 2-0-3 ERA,
which is third in baseball.
A 0.98 whip, which is 11th in baseball.
96 strikeouts, which is 10th in baseball,
and 80 innings pitched.
He's the favorite right now
for Rookie of the Year.
I don't know.
Garrett Cole may be the
number two come playoff
time if this is how things are going.
But...
We'll see.
And I mentioned his name a
little while ago since I'm
watching the Red Sox game.
The Red Sox just took the
4-3 lead looking to win
their seventh and their last,
what did I say, nine?
Seventh and their last nine.
And today, Rafael, another RBI.
This guy's up 41 now.
Unreal what this kid's doing.
We're going to move to the
team that they're actually
playing against right now.
That's Toronto Blue Jays.
And I saw this on Twitter the other day.
I don't know how true it is, but...
Hazel May, who covers the Blue Jays,
retweeted it,
so my guess is it's pretty true.
Somebody posted a tweet out
there that they got an
email about their season tickets.
And now season tickets,
the payment process is
typically needed in August or September.
Well,
this season they're requesting it
July 22nd,
which is eight days before the
trade deadline.
That opens the conversation to the door.
Is this team selling?
And they're just doing this
because they want the fans
invested to know they're
invested for next season.
Like, are we talking Guerrero's gone,
Barrios could be gone,
Gossman's could be gone, Bichette.
They've already traded Biggio,
and Biggio wasn't great,
but now is the conversation
open to moving pieces?
We'll have to see.
But I thought that was
interesting because that
spoke to me as if they're
going to be selling.
And I think, you know,
their next couple of series,
I don't know who they have
after the Red Sox.
I believe it's actually it's
Cleveland again, then the Red Sox again.
They struggle in those two series.
There could be a trade
conversations coming in ASAP.
So it's a lot to see over the next, what,
probably seven to 10 days
and see where they're at.
But that could be why they
move the payment process up.
Just an interesting little
situation going on there
north of the border.
And so now we've reached the
final two segments and the
same as every week.
This week,
I'm going to do something a
little different.
So we're going to hit to the
prospects and just some
news that I saw in the last 48 hours.
The outfielder from the
Washington Nationals organization,
he was playing at Harrisburg.
He's the fifth ranked
prospect on the top 100,
and that's Dylan Cruz.
He's an outfielder.
He was drafted last year out of LSU,
played with Paul Skeens on
the national championship team.
He's got a .274 average this year,
.789 OPS, five home runs, 38 RBIs,
26 runs scored, and 15 stolen bases.
He's been promoted to AAA.
So he'll be playing with the
Rochester Red Wings.
Great news for him.
What makes me question, though,
is James Wood getting the
call to Washington.
That's why the call-up's happening now,
because James Wood needs to
be in Washington.
And Chance,
who covers the Nationals for us,
him and I have talked about
this every week.
Why is James Wood not in AAA yet?
The other news today was a
little tough one as a Red Sox fan,
and I followed this guy.
If you haven't seen it yet,
I do my down on the farm every week.
This guy has climbed up my rankings.
He's climbed up a lot of
people's rankings.
It's Luis Perales,
and it was announced today
that he will be undergoing
Tommy John surgery,
so he is done for the year.
This is a kid that this
season in nine starts
between high A and double A,
2-2 with a 2.94 ERA, a 1.31 whip,
and 56 strikeouts.
He's made two starts at
double A with Portland,
and in those two starts,
he left the second one.
He went 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA, a 0.82 whip,
10 strikeouts,
and seven on third innings pitched.
This kid was just fun to watch.
So it's a tough loss for the
Red Sox organization.
Again, double A, so, I mean,
he can come back next year,
probably be at high A or double A.
And we'll see him climb again.
But it's a tough loss right
now because he was from the watch,
especially as far as that AA team,
because they got so many
prospects that are from the watch.
And some aren't even in the
top 10 for that team.
Like Christian Campbell is
the guy that the article
will come out tomorrow,
prospect of the week in the AA.
And he just got called up.
This is his second week in Portland.
And he's smoking the ball.
Again,
it's a call-up right there that
makes me think, okay,
are they going to move Marcelo Meyer, AAA,
or Kyle Thiel?
Those two guys have to get
called up soon in AAA.
But we're going to speak with Kyle Teal,
one of my prospects of the week.
He's the 28th ranked
prospect on our rankings
playing at AA Portland.
He had a hit in every game last week.
Went 10 for 20.
I mean,
500 average in a week is ridiculous.
I wish I could do that.
Had a double, a home run, three RBIs.
Seven runs scored.
Three walks and a stolen base.
Get this kid up to Worcester.
It has to happen.
He's hitting 313 this season
with an 897 OPS.
Seven home runs, 40 RBIs, 44 runs scored,
and five stolen bases.
This is your future catcher
for the Red Sox.
Get him up.
Let's see what we have.
He needs to be called up soon.
The other one is the 77th ranked prospect.
He was acquired by the New
York Mets last season in a
trade that included,
I believe it was the Max Scherzer trade.
And it's Luis Angel Acuna.
He's playing a double A for
the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.
He had a hit in every game
last week as well.
These guys just hitting the ball.
He went 10 for 23.
He had two doubles, a home run, five RBIs,
five runs scored, a walk,
and a stolen base.
This season, not his greatest deal,
260 average with a 682 OPS.
He's got four home runs, 22 RBIs,
53 runs scored, and 23 stolen bases.
This kid might need to look at AAA.
But those are your prospects of the week.
And some little prospect update.
I'll add the prospect update
going forward for the next couple weeks.
just to give a little update
from what I see from
different sources and see
who's getting called up,
what top 100 prospects are
getting called up so
everybody knows about them.
And if you're in the area, in the market,
and you want to go see that team,
get a chance to.
The final segment tonight is
the series to watch.
And this week,
I know because I'm recording
late on Tuesday, it's a little tough.
This series might be over by
the time you get to it,
but it was Yankees-Orioles.
Two teams leading the American League.
Two best teams in the
American League right now.
Must watch TV.
Again,
the pitching matchups don't line up
exactly the way that people
would have been thrilled about.
Garrett Cole's going
tomorrow against Cade Povich.
Not a deal for a pitching matchup.
I would have loved Colton
Burns versus Garrett Cole,
which might be game one of
the ALCS or whatever.
The final two for the weekend.
Braves-Yankees.
I'm just excited to see.
Braves are without Strider.
They're without Acuna.
Max Reed pitched last night,
so Max Reed will get Sunday.
It's going to be a fun series to watch.
And it would have been if
the Braves were healthy.
Again, they could be.
I mean,
they could very well be the team there.
But it would have been one
of my World Series previews.
The other series is the
Orioles and the Astros.
And the only reason I say
that is the Astros are the Astros.
They can hit.
So what kind of Orioles team
do the Orioles hit?
So what kind of series are
we going to get?
So that's why that makes the
cut for my other series to
watch this weekend.
I'll be watching Red Sox Reds, obviously,
but I wanted to give you
something that's not Red
Sox as a series to watch this weekend.
So that's about all I have this week.
Kept it short.
Sorry I said 30 minutes to start.
It was 45.
But, hey, we got everything covered,
and we'll continue with the
hottest and coldest for the week.
Obviously, I had five and three this week.
Maybe next week it's four and four.
We'll keep it rolling.
I will be solo again next week.
JC is still on vacation.
So hope he's having a good time.
Hope he's having fun.
I hope you enjoyed your baseball coverage.
And I hope you get to tune
in to some good games this weekend.
And I hope you have a good week.
And we'll see you next week.
Enjoy.