what's up and welcome back
to the inside the diamonds
podcast I am your host
tonight chris again I'm
doing this solo it's fourth
of july week we've reached
the dog days of summer I
probably said that last
week of june but it's
officially july things are
rolling it's hot um we got
fireworks tonight so I'm
gonna try to do this in 30
to 45 minutes and I'm sure
with everybody traveling
for family plans and parties
You probably don't want to
listen to me ramble on for about an hour.
So I'm going to try to keep
this maybe 30 minutes.
But there is a lot to get to.
And so we're going to start
this right off.
And, you know, we've been doing this.
This is, what, my fourth week solo.
And the last three weeks,
we started doing this hot and cold.
So far, I think it's cool.
Plus,
it actually keeps me more in tune
with other things going on
around the league.
So we're going to start off with the hots.
The first hot team from last week,
the San Diego Padres.
And...
came in the fenway they took
two or three and my god did
they take two or three I
take friday and saturday
they just dominated those
two games I it was to the
point I didn't do it but it
was to the point as a red
sox fan where I was
watching them and I almost
had to shut it off but jack
samaro friday night mini
machado saturday and sunday
the red sox came through
13-1 on sundays they just
do what they do on sundays
they can't win fridays apparently
If you don't know what I'm talking about,
there's an article I wrote the other day.
I think it was Saturday
where I talk about the Red
Sox and their struggles on Saturday.
And there'll be a more
in-depth article on that coming soon.
But with that,
the Padres are 8-2 in their last 10.
They're off tonight.
But Jackson Merrill,
that kid is the real deal.
There was a reason why he
was in my top 10 to start
the year for prospects.
In this 10-game stretch,
Hitting 381 with a 1.133 OPS,
got four bombs, seven runs scored,
12 RBIs.
Kid's proving he can do it.
Manny Machado, 10 games, 400 average.
1.144 OPS, four bombs, nine runs scored,
12 RBIs.
Between those two, that's eight bombs,
16 runs scored, 24 RBIs.
Ridiculous what they're doing.
Jake Cronenworth, 10 games, 317, 852 OPS,
2 bombs, 14 runs scored, 7 RBIs.
The last one is Jerickson Profar.
9 games, 250, with a 725 OPS, a home run,
5 runs scored, and 8 RBIs.
This lineup is just cruising.
They're doing it without
Fernando Tatis and, wow, Bogarts.
Bogarts hasn't really been
doing much since he signed
with the Padres.
But if anyone thought these
stuff had to miss,
they're not missing a beat.
On the mound, Dylan Cease.
I wasn't big on him.
There was a lot of people
talking about him coming to the Red Sox.
I didn't like the idea of it.
I thought the asking price was too much.
The Padres liked it.
They made a deal.
They got him.
In the last 10 games,
he's made two starts.
He's 1-0.
He's got 11 and two-thirds innings.
14.7K per night on that stretch.
309 ERA and a 0.94 whip.
The ERA is a little high,
but I like the whip under one.
I like the fact that Kaepernick is over 10,
way over 10.
And that's in 11 and two-thirds innings.
He's proven it.
So that's a hot team.
They're going to be fun to
watch this next week.
We'll get to them a little bit later.
There's more to cover about them.
The next one,
the other team we're going to talk about,
especially later, is the New York Mets,
but 16-8 in all of June.
And I know I wasn't going to
put them in the hot,
but they lost two or three
over the weekend to the Astros,
but they're 16-8 in June.
And so I crunched the
numbers for all of June.
So just for instance, Francisco Indoor,
24 games, 290 average, 872 OPS,
four home runs, 20 runs scored,
and 11 RBIs.
That is just wild.
what he is doing.
Looks good.
He's playing good.
Another one, Brandon Nimmo, 23 games.
He's got a 315 average with a 1.004 OPS,
six home runs, 24 runs scored, 21 RPIs.
It's a power bat.
That's what they need.
Pino Alonso is another one,
but we'll get to him in a minute.
Mark Vientos, 23 games, 277 average,
910 OPS, seven home runs, 17 runs scored,
17 RPIs.
This team just puts up runs in June.
Now, again, it's the Mets.
Do they fall off?
Who knows?
I mean, it seems to happen all the time.
They were leading the division.
I don't know if it was last
year or two years ago they
had the division.
It seemed like they were going to win it,
and they've collapsed.
Pete Alonzo, 24 games, 272 average,
898 OPS, 5 home runs, 16 runs scored,
and 19 RBIs.
And finally, the other one who,
if they can't get – I mean,
they're in this,
but if they fall out or
something happens –
24 games, 272 average, 874 OPS,
4 home runs, 11 runs scored, 20 RBIs.
He's a guy that could be
moved to another team
that's looking to make a run,
looking for a power bat
that can get a job done.
So that's a team to watch.
They're in it now.
Coming in July when things
start down the trade deadline,
things start to get figured out.
One bad week.
I've seen it.
You see it for a lot of teams.
So that'll be fun to watch.
I'm watching them right now.
It's 2-1 Nationals in the
top of the sixth.
We'll get to why I'm
watching this game in a little bit.
The third and final hot team
is the Houston Astros, and they are hot.
And I said it to you when we
had JC on a couple weeks ago.
They're a team that I'm not worried about.
You knew they were going to get hot.
You knew they were going to figure it out.
They've won nine of their last ten.
They're 11-4 in their last 15.
They just won again today.
So those records are without today's game.
They just did it again.
With the win today,
they're now three games
back of the Mariners.
They're right there.
They're coming.
And they're doing this with
– I didn't even realize it
when I did last week's
podcast because I think I
did them as hot again.
And Verlander's out.
So they're doing this
without Christian Javier.
Jose Urquidy, I believe, is also out.
And then Justin Verlander.
That's three pretty good
pitchers you're missing.
The bats have been there.
Jose Altuve, 14 games, a .351 average.
999 OPS with three home runs, 11 RBIs,
and 11 runs scored.
Not a bad little recent stretch for him.
Yano Diaz, 14 games, a .382 average,
an .873 OPS, has not hit a home run,
got 12 runs scored and eight RBIs.
Jordan Alvarez, this guy is just,
every time, he's a must-watch bat.
12 games, a .302 average, a .904 OPS,
two home runs, eight runs scored,
six RBIs.
The last one is a surprise, Jake Myers.
14 games, 250 average, and 817 OPS.
Two home runs, nine runs scored,
and seven RBIs.
The lineup's producing.
They're getting runs.
They're taking care of business.
The next one is the two
pitchers on that team, too.
Let's start with Hunter Brown.
I mean, this guy.
Three games started,
3-0 with an under .50 ERA,
an under one whip, and a 10.4K per nine.
That's what you need.
You lose three arms like they have,
and they just – another one
comes back out.
It's like watching – I'm not
going to compare them to the Dodgers,
but the Dodgers are a team.
They lose an arm.
Okay, who's next?
And they just find progress everywhere.
The next final one is Ronel Blanco.
Three games, he's 2-1 with a 1.83 ERA.
Another whip, under one, 7.8K per nine.
So – and as I said before, Mets hot team.
They just took a 3-2 lead in
the top of the six against the Nationals.
So –
I mean, and like I said,
the Mets are rolling.
They're rolling.
And I don't know if you
watched on Twitter or anything,
but Friday night,
Jose Iglesias performed a
concert on the field.
And all weekend I've had that song.
My son loves that song.
It's a banger.
It's a fantastic song.
It's called Oh My God.
And I think he goes by
Candelita or something like that.
Something that the team's vibing to.
I mean,
the whole team was on the field
jamming to the concert.
They were having a good time.
They were all smiling.
Like, it's clearly...
They've all mushed together,
and there's a lot going on there,
and you can see it's working out.
I mean, they had a hell of a June.
Now can that translate to July?
They just came back from a
2-0 game where I put this on, so...
they're doing it I don't
know if they can again it's
it's the mets so like you
know jc asked a couple
weeks ago do I trust the
astros I said I think they
come back the mets do I
trust them to continue it's
the mets and so it's a
whole different situation a
whole different
circumstance I don't know I
i I hope so because I like
when you know the mets are
good I like when baseball
all together like the big
name teams like that are
good it's good for baseball
So they get baseball good for the Mets.
I hope it works out.
I don't know if they'll make the playoffs.
I don't know what they've got to do.
So I don't know what moves
they can make or what they
can do to get better.
But it'll be interesting to
see what happens a couple
of weeks where they go.
Now we'll get to the cold.
The first one is the Seattle Mariners.
Might as well transition
right from the Astros to the Mariners.
Mariners are 3-7 in their last 10.
Leo Jones is hitting just
above 100 in those 10 games.
The 262 OPS has not hit a home run,
has not driven a run, has one run scored.
Mitch Garver hitting a buck
29 with a 566 OPS, two home runs,
four runs scored, four RBIs.
Ty France, 143 average, a 479 OPS.
One home run, three runs scored, two RBIs.
The big one, though,
is this team is built on their pitching.
And that's what it was said
all year when JC and I picked them,
I think, to win the division.
Luis Castillo,
who was in the conversation
for a Cy Young candidate,
he's in his last three
games 0-2 with a 7.04 ERA, a 1.63 whip,
and a 3.52 walk per nine.
That's just not Luis Castillo baseball.
And that's a big reason why
this team has fallen.
The next and final one,
I only did two for the cold this week.
The Washington Nationals,
who I'm watching right now.
Three and seven in their last ten.
And they were climbing.
They looked like they could make a move.
They were in third.
Now they've fallen behind the Mets.
They're in fourth.
So we'll see what happens with them.
But... So... In their last ten...
We got Jesse Winker hitting
a buck 72 with a 693 OPS, two home runs,
four runs scored, four RBIs.
Joey Manessas, 162 average, a 427 OPS,
has not hit a home run, three runs scored,
and five RBIs.
Nick Sunzel, a 176 average, a 470 OPS,
one home run, two runs scored,
and two RBIs.
The one back carrying this
team is CJ Abrams.
He's hitting .469 in his
last 10 games with a .1388 OPS,
two home runs, 10 runs scored,
and six RBIs.
He's putting the team on his back,
so the games that are winning is C.J.
Abrams helping out.
The problem is the rest of
the lineup's not,
and it's not helping on the mound either.
Mackenzie Gore, who is their big guy,
they're pretty much their
number one this year.
Two games, so he's 0-2.
He's got a .630 ERA, a .190 whip,
and a .450 walk per night.
Mitchell Parker,
who had been pretty good
since he got called up,
0-1-1 in his last two starts,
a .485 whip and a .136 whip.
You've got to turn that around.
And Patrick Corbin's not been good.
So you've got to find something.
So with that,
we're going to move right along.
Those are the hot and colds for this week.
And we're going to talk about joining us.
So right now,
we're about to hit the
biggest month of the season.
We got the draft that's coming up.
We got prospects in the Futures game,
which is All-Star weekend.
We got All-Stars.
We got Home Run Derby.
And then we got the trade deadline.
So there's a lot to write about.
And this is the best time to join.
I mean, it really is.
Because at the end of the day,
if you want to come in and
you want to say, say, for instance,
you're a team that I just
put on the cold list,
like you're the Mariners,
and you have a chance to
win the division.
Well, you need a bat.
You want to come in,
you want to talk about them,
how they need a bat,
and what games you want them to go get.
You've got an outlet to come do that.
You know,
if you're a team like the Blue
Jays and you want to talk
about is it time to sell Guerrero,
is it time to sell Bichette,
you can come do that.
So there is opportunities.
It doesn't matter if we have
a writer there.
We can always take an extra.
There's always something to write about.
Some people have different
ideas than other people.
I mean,
I have the most random ideas where
I'm sitting there in my
chair one night watching
baseball and something pops in my head.
I got to write this down.
I'll write it in my notes
and I'll save it for the
next day and I'll write it, you know,
edit it and do it all
before I publish it the next day.
Or I'll do it that night if
it's that important.
But there's something always
pops in my head.
Every team.
And I'll do something for
any team that pops in my head.
So if you want to do that,
come reach out to me.
All right.
Again,
the email is SteelaValley at
InsideTheDiamonds.com.
And there's also the link
right below if you're
watching on YouTube is
InsideTheDiamonds.com slash join us.
So let me know.
All right.
Let's start with the news.
At least the news that I put down.
Tanner Houck.
I'm going to get this out of
the way quick because he's a Red Sox fan.
Roughed up in his last start
on his birthday.
Okay.
Tough birthday for the guy.
If you haven't heard the clip,
he literally said after
they asked him what he was
going to do to go out or whatever,
he said, I'm just going to stay home.
That was terrible.
He went four and a third innings,
gave up nine hits, eight runs,
seven earned, one walk, four Ks,
three home runs.
It's the most he's allowed this season.
He had the best ERA entering that start,
and it rose to the sixth best.
He was expected to be the
starter for the All-Star game.
Now who knows if he makes
the All-Star team.
It's in question.
He should because of what
he's done all year,
and one bad start shouldn't dictate that,
but it's in question.
His last five starts, though,
I shouldn't say it's been one start.
He has gone 2-1,
but I've said it time and time again,
you can't go by a win-loss record.
He's got a 4.85 ERA, a 1.18 whip,
and a 9.1 K per night.
to the point where I'm going
to transition right into my
next topic where I talk about, you know,
the Cy Young candidates.
And I had Tanner Hawkins,
one of my favorites,
to win the Cy Young after
my obvious pick.
But he isn't right there for me right now.
I debated that if he got to
the All-Star break doing
what he was doing,
I'd sprinkle some money on it,
do a little gambling on him
to win the Cy Young.
But I'm out on that now.
I don't think that's happening.
So with that,
we're going to go right into
the AL Cy Youngs.
It's down to me.
At this point in time, now we have, what,
probably 80 games left,
maybe a little less for some teams,
maybe a little more for some teams.
To me, as of right now,
the American League is down
to a two-horse race.
It's Tarek Skubal and it's Colvin Burns.
And Tarek Skubal came out
and did what he did last week.
He went against the Philadelphia Phillies,
who are one of the best
teams in baseball.
He went seven innings,
did not allow a run on three hits,
and walked one and struck out seven.
Now,
this is a Phillies team that he faced
before Bryce Harper and
Kyle Schwarber got hurt, and he did that.
So the conversation has to start.
With that, this season...
9-3 with a 2.32 ERA and under one whip,
112 strikeouts, and 97 innings pitched.
Coburn Burns is the other one.
Now,
there's been rumors that the Orioles
have the pieces,
and with Scooble under
control and the Tigers not being in it,
they could move Scooble.
The Orioles could put a
package together and go get Scooble.
Now we're talking the two
pitchers that I have as the
Cy Young in the same rotation,
going against each other as
a one-two combination.
Now Scooble's under contract,
so he could stay,
and it helps the Orioles going forward.
Burns is a free agent after this year,
so we'll see.
As a Tigers fan,
I don't want to give up Scooble,
but I love the trade
because I like the Orioles,
and I want to see what they
do with a good one-two punch like that.
And they've got injuries,
so it wouldn't be a bad move.
problem is, is what do you give up?
And that's where we have to
have the conversation.
But Colton Burns against the Rangers,
seven innings pitch, one earned run,
nine hits, zero walks, and five Ks.
Got to be in the conversation.
I mean,
he was the favorite coming into the
year with Garrett Cole,
and Garrett Cole we'll get to in a minute,
but it's school on Colton
Burns right now.
Now,
Next week we should talk about it.
I will talk about it.
I think the NL Cy Young.
I'll put five candidates in,
go through how they did the week,
and I'll see how their season's going.
I'll put that in my notes
for next week or before or
after we get this off.
The next one, and I said it.
I don't know if I said it
last week or two weeks ago.
Luis Hill.
When is the struggle coming?
Because I didn't think as a
rookie he could do it all year.
It's come.
His last two starts, five and two-thirds.
12 earned runs, 12 hits, 6 walks, 3 Ks.
In those two starts, his ERA in those two,
a 19.05.
He's got a 317 whip.
He goes tomorrow on Tuesday.
So if you're listening to this on, well,
you'll listen this Tuesday.
So he goes today.
So is he due for a rebound?
We'll see.
I mean, he's got to figure it out.
He's going to go Tuesday,
and he's going to win
Sunday against the Red Sox.
So we've got to figure it out.
The next one, Garrett Cole.
And I was all gung-ho to
come in here and say, man,
he struggled since he's
been back because he
pitched the other day against the Mets,
and his second start since
coming off the injury list,
he went four innings, gave up seven hits,
six runs, four walks,
and didn't record a strikeout.
I think they believe they
had four home runs as well.
I was all ready.
I'm like, okay, is this a problem?
Is this part of the Yankees issue?
Then he pitched against the
Blue Jays yesterday,
and he looked like Gary Cole again.
He didn't go as much as he normally would.
He went five innings, gave up three hits,
one earned run, one walk, and six Ks.
In two starts, he's got a seven-year array,
a 1-6-7 whip,
and his next start comes
against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.
Moving right along.
I hope he's back because he
makes the Red Sox-Yankees
rivalry a lot better.
As a Red Sox fan,
it's fun watching Rafael
Derriss take him to right field,
especially Yankee Stadium,
and just watching that.
Actually,
it seems like more or less he
takes him to center field
when they play Yankee Stadium.
So the other pitcher that has struggled,
Ranger Suarez.
This guy was leading baseball in the ERA.
Clearly,
Cy Young can't go for the Phillies.
He's competing against his own teammate,
Zach Willer.
But in his last two starts,
he's 0-1 with 10.2 innings pitched,
a 6.75 ERA, a 1.78 whip.
I mean, wow.
His ERA is now up to 227.
I don't know what's going on there.
I hope they get it figured out.
I think he's going to
actually pitch against the Braves.
I think it's his next start.
But you've got to figure that out.
The next one,
Christopher Sanchez from the same team.
He stepped up with Suarez's struggle.
He came out the other day.
I believe it was yesterday.
No, it was Saturday.
Complete game shutout of the Marlins.
Gave up three hits and
didn't walk anybody and struck out nine.
That was a beautiful outing.
So the Phillies are just
doing it everywhere.
If Suarez is going to struggle,
Sanchez will get you.
If Noah's going to struggle,
Wheeler's got you, and vice versa.
If they all click come postseason time,
watch out for them.
We're going to move right
into the National League wildcard.
I mean, this whole race is so much fun.
The Padres and Cardinals,
are they pulling away?
Are the Mets staying hot?
They can get back in it.
Their two game is back.
Are the Diamondbacks making their run?
They're two and a half.
Paul Skeens and Jared Jones,
can they get there?
Are they going to put them
on an innings limit?
Are they going to restrict them?
They're three games back.
The race is so wide open.
There's really to the point
where you'd say there's two
teams not in it.
And that's the Marlins and the Rockies.
They're double-digit games
back from the wildcard race.
So it's wide open.
So with that,
let's start with what's coming up.
So the team that's first in, the Padres.
They got the Rangers for
three games and the
Diamondbacks for three games.
What I really like when I
was going through this
today is a lot of these
teams are facing each other.
And the first one right there,
you got the Padres facing
the Diamondbacks.
Could the Diamondbacks sweep
and they're back in this?
Right back to it.
I mean, we're going to continue.
The Cardinals.
They got three against the
Pirates starting tomorrow,
and then three against the Nationals.
Two more teams that are
chasing the Cardinals for that last spot.
And I just said it.
The Pirates are three games back.
They come in, they sweep the Cardinals.
And a sweep is hard,
so I'm not saying they're
going to do that.
But they come in,
they sweep the Cardinals.
They're tied.
I mean,
they need help right in front of
them with the Mets and the
Diamondbacks and the Giants.
But...
They come in.
They sweep the Cardinals.
They're right back in this race.
And they got the arms to do it.
The bat's starting to click.
Can we see what happened with that?
They could go at somebody.
They could go at a bat.
The next one's the Mets.
They got the four against
the Nationals this weekend.
They got three against the Pirates.
Another team.
They go five and two, six and one.
Are they right in the wild card spot?
And again, it's July 1st.
We are, what,
two weeks from today is the
Home Run Derby.
So we're at the All-Star
break in two weeks.
So once we get to the All-Star break,
what's this going to look like?
That podcast is going to be a lot of fun.
We're going to watch the Home Run Derby.
So what's that going to be like?
We're going to continue with
the Diamondbacks.
They got a tough one.
This is where they as a team
could fall out of this if
they don't play their cards
right and get the job done this week.
They got three against the Dodgers,
three against the Padres.
The Dodgers were running
with the division.
So you go one and two, they're fine.
That's not going to hurt you.
You get the Padres, though,
and you don't go two and
one against them.
You go one and two.
You could find yourself falling.
And they could be at the
bottom of this list.
The Giants are right behind them.
They got three against the Braves,
a team that's right above
the Padres and the Cardinals.
And they're not...
But, I mean,
they're the third-best team
realistically in the National League,
I think,
even with the injuries they've had.
So it's a tough series for you.
Then they've got the Guardians,
who lead the American League, et cetera.
So they could be a team
that's the same thing.
They struggled this week,
and they're in trouble.
Pittsburgh Pirates,
we said they got the
Cardinals for three and the
Mets for three.
The Nationals got four against the Mets,
and we already said they
got three against the Cardinals.
Again, that's a team.
What are they, three and a half,
four back?
You get seven games.
You go two and five, three and four.
You could be out of it.
I mean,
there's still a week to go before
the All-Star break.
So being out of it going
into before that next week
isn't the end-all, be-all.
You can go form to the next
week and you're back in it.
So really it's the week
after like the Monday after
the all-star break.
When that podcast does,
we'll have to really go and
say who could make the move to get it.
Where are we at?
Who's falling out?
And that goes to the next
two teams who really could
follow the reds this week.
They have a chance to go
realistically two and four.
Cause I think the way it lines up there,
you got two and four.
They got three against the Yankees.
That could very well be them
getting swept.
And they got three against the Tigers,
which realistically,
Tarek Skubal is going to
pitch probably in that game.
Because I believe he pitches tomorrow,
so I think he would get Sunday's start.
That's essentially,
they could lose four games right there,
and they're out of it.
Finally, the Cubs.
They got three against the Phillies.
The lineup's not producing.
You go against the pitching
staff of the Phillies.
That could be a problem.
Then they got three against the Angels.
You realistically can come
away 3-3 this week,
and you're still in
contention in that case.
You can't lose.
If you can come away
stealing one of the answer
to the Phillies and you
drop one to the Angels,
you're still okay.
You're 3-3.
But really,
this is a week where these
teams that have six games have to go 4-2,
and the teams that have
seven games have to go 4-3, 5-2.
You have to have a winning
week to continue to keep
doing what you're doing.
You just got to win every series.
Even if it's 2 out of 3,
if it's 3 out of 4,
If it's four games, if you split,
you're okay.
I mean,
the Red Sox just did to the White Sox,
and then they took two or
three from the Phillies and
two or three from the Yankees,
and they're right back in
the playoff spot.
Now they're not.
They're a game and a half
behind the Royals and I
think two or three behind the Twins.
So they're not there right now.
But, you know, it's one good week.
One good week and you're back in this.
And all these teams, I think at max,
I think the distance is
like five games back behind the Cardinals,
who have the last wildcard spot.
So a big week in the Cardinals struggle,
you're in this.
You're holding a playoff
spot if the other teams in
front of you struggle.
And thankfully,
it seems like from the schedule,
a lot of these teams are
facing each other.
Like I said, you got, what's it, one, two,
three, at least five matchups, I think,
this week altogether, if not more,
of teams facing each other.
They're ahead of them or
right behind them in a wildcard spot.
So this race is going to be...
Absolutely wild.
And like I said,
continue with the playoff talk.
I mean,
the American League is the same thing.
The Orioles and Yankees are
fighting for their AL East.
The Red Sox are now eight and a half back.
Are they in one division?
No.
It's between those two teams.
I think the Yankees fall off is coming.
I think it's the Orioles
division that is going to
end up taking it away.
They need to go get another arm,
and they know that.
So they're probably going to do that,
and that's probably going
to be what puts them way
above the Yankees.
The American League Central,
you've got the Guardians, the Twins,
and the Royals.
They're all right there.
Can the Guardians hit a rough stretch?
I mean,
the Guardians have the best record
in the American League.
Who saw that coming?
Because I had the Tigers win the Central,
so I didn't see it coming.
The AL West, I just said it earlier.
The Astros have closed in.
They're right there.
So that division is wide open.
The National League East,
you got the Phillies and the Braves.
That's really it.
And really, it's the Phillies.
But they just lost Bryce
Harper and Kyle Schwarber.
They're on the 10-day injured list.
So that opens the door.
The Braves can come back,
but the Braves also have
their own injuries.
So it depends what happens there.
That's a series this weekend
that we'll talk about in a little bit.
Then what else do we have?
The National League Central,
that division is wide open.
The Brewers aren't running
away with that division,
but right now it's not a race.
It could be if the Cardinals
get there and you have a two-team race,
but it's not like it's just
gone to the Brewers.
They could have a bad week, bad two weeks,
and the division is wide open again.
Then finally, the National League West,
it's the Dodgers.
The Padres are hot.
They could get there, but realistically,
probably not going to happen.
Who knows, though?
I mean, that could, you know, they got,
like I said, Texas and Arizona this week.
The Dodgers got Arizona and somebody else.
Arizona sweeps them,
and then the Padres come
and sweep Arizona or take
two or three from the Dodgers.
And then the Padres sweep
the Diamondbacks.
The Diamondbacks could be
right back in this.
They're not out of the race.
It's just we all say the
Dodgers may have so much talent.
But they do have their own injuries.
Mookie Beck's hurt.
Yamamoto's hurt.
Kershaw,
I believe the other day I saw that
he was rehabbing at AAA.
He suffered a setback.
They're struggling with
their own issues right now.
So we'll see what happens with them.
So that'll be a fun race to
cover in the next couple weeks.
I wish I had the fan graphs
odds for playoffs.
I'll have to bring that for next week.
I'll bring that for the
National League wildcard race next week.
And, yeah.
So,
we're going to move right along to the
prospects.
So, this week I kind of went with three.
I did two hitters and
pitcher because two hitters
really stood out to me that
I couldn't distinguish
either one as the clear all,
be all hitter of the week.
From the top 100,
we're going to start with Spencer Jones,
this guy.
If you're not familiar with him,
I watched him in the spring
breakout where they had
that game with all the prospects.
And this guy, double A for the Yankees,
looks like Giancarlo Stan.
That's his height,
and he's hitting from the
left side of the plate.
And he's just a tough out.
This last week,
he went 9 for 27 at four doubles,
three home runs, 12 RBIs,
five runs scored in a walk.
I'm surprised.
I say this with the Red Sox
prospects all the time.
Why haven't their AA
prospects been promoted?
Why isn't he at AAA?
They just lost Jason
Dominguez to an injury.
The whole conversation with
the Yankees fans was when
Giancarlo Stanton inevitably gets hurt,
Dominguez will replace him in the lineup.
That's why he was rehabbing at AAA.
He was ready to come out.
Now Dominguez is hurt.
Who knows how long he's out for?
So if Stanton inevitably gets hurt,
who's going to replace him?
I mean, they do have options up there,
but you bring a bat like Spencer Jones.
Let's see him at AAA.
Let's see what he does.
You open the door for a possibility.
He comes in.
You could move somebody like
Dominguez who has injury issues.
Why not?
It's a left-handed bat at
that stadium with that porch.
It would be a great idea.
Maybe not moving Dominguez, but somebody.
There's options.
The next bat is Kobe Mayo, who personally,
this guy who's playing at
AAA for the Orioles,
is a name that I've seen
floated around a lot if
Tarek Skubal was to be
moved by the Tigers.
That Mayo could be the guy,
part of the package that goes to Detroit.
And that's a nice bat to get.
I'd like an arm with it.
I mean, like,
Povich doesn't do it all for me.
I could throw somebody else in there.
But Kobe Mayo's been a hell of a bat.
Last week, he went 9 for 22 with a double,
3 home runs, 9 RBIs, 4 runs scored,
3 walks, and an intentional walk.
He's hitting .317 this year.
He has a 1.067 LPS, 20 home runs, 54 RBIs,
and 43 runs scored.
The guy's proving it.
It's running to the issue now, though,
where you have him, Samuel Basalo,
who's a double-edged bowie,
You've got, you know,
they're just blocked.
Basalo can play catcher in first base.
He's blocked by Rushman, you know,
but then you have the
conversation of first base
and third base.
Well, Mayo's first base and third base,
so which one do you prefer,
Basalo or Mayo?
I've seen,
based on articles I've written
for the Orioles, that people, you know,
they go back and forth on
which one they prefer.
With Camille being able to play third,
he's blocked because
essentially you're going to
have probably Jackson
Holiday at short and you're
probably going to have
Gunnar Henderson at third.
So that blocks him.
So now what do you do?
And also Jordan Westbrook hasn't been bad.
So essentially he's kind of blocked there.
Like it's just.
It's a block everywhere.
That's how good the Orioles'
farm system is with prospects.
I've said it time and time again.
You have Colton Couser in the outfield,
Heston Kersted.
You've got Jed Fabian.
You've got Enrique Bradfield.
You've got Santander's been hitting well.
There's just guys all over
the place that they have
the pieces to move to go
get that big name on.
And they didn't have to give
up anybody for Colton Burns.
They gave up Joey Ortiz and Hall.
And yes,
those were good prospects they're
producing right now in Milwaukee.
They're part of the reason
Milwaukee's in the division, but
They're not two guys that
you had to move that killed
your farm system.
You know, a deal that includes Fabian,
Mayo, Kovic,
and somebody else could get a
deal done for somebody like Scooble.
I don't know if I would do it,
but it could be something
that the Tigers say yes to.
And does it handicap you?
I mean, you could say Fabian or Bradfield.
It's, like, literally interchangeable.
You could take one of those guys in,
one of those guys out.
And then, you know,
if they want an all-field
bat that's proven –
You could do Couser.
I don't know if they would
move Courage today because
he's been hitting well.
But there's just so many
options that team could do to move.
So it would be interesting what happens,
especially with the deadline.
But Mayo, great season down in AAA.
Interested to see what happens.
Does an injury involve him
getting called up?
Will he be up in September?
Be something to watch.
Next we're going to talk
about Bubber Chandler.
That was my pitcher of the week,
and I think he was last week too.
But he made one start this past week.
He went six and two-thirds
in and he's about to win,
giving up two runs on three hits,
walked one, and struck out 11.
So think about that.
He recorded 20 outs and 11
of them were by way of the strikeout.
This guy, again,
double A. He's pitching for Altoona.
Now, we talk about schemes.
We talk about Jared Jones.
This is another name that
could get a call up to AAA
in Indianapolis at some point soon.
And if he can do it up there,
You could add him to the
rotation next year,
and we're talking about
three pretty good arms.
Now, they need a lefty,
and I've said Solometo,
but I believe he's on the
development list.
So there's arms.
There's moves.
It'd be interesting to see
what they do because they have pitching.
I mean,
do they move Boba and go get a bat?
Could that be something that happens?
Like there could be a bat available,
and they're in the race.
They go at a bat.
It's making it so much talent.
And I like, there's another player down,
I believe he's in single A or high A,
Tamar Johnson, second baseman.
Putting him with O'Neal Cruz
would be a great combo up the middle.
And then, you know,
Davis hasn't really worked out for them,
but see if he can figure it out.
And then you have another outfield piece.
You know, they have pieces.
They can make it work.
They can be a team that
really runs that division with the Reds.
You could have the rivalry
of the Reds and the Pirates.
I think back to, what was it,
the last time I really
remember the Reds in the playoffs.
Like,
I feel like the Pirates and the Reds
were always the
Teams competing for that wildcard game.
You know,
Johnny Cueto dropping the ball
because it was so loud.
You know, Pittsburgh being there.
So the last prospect I want to talk about,
it's not his production
from last week or anything.
It's more on the lines of
he's making his debut today.
And if you give me one second,
I'm going to pull up what
he's done today.
But last week in the minors,
in three games,
he went five for 12 with three doubles,
four RBIs, two runs scored in a walk.
The season with AAA.
Rochester,
he's hitting .353 with a 1.058 OPS.
He's got 10 home runs, 37 RBIs,
44 runs scored.
And I don't know if you just saw that,
but the whole house just turned blue.
There's a bunch of something
going on outside.
I told you fireworks.
That's Fourth of July week.
So, yeah, so everything,
I just caught my eye.
So sorry about that if
you're watching on YouTube.
Tonight, in his big league debut,
he did record his first big
league hit and his first
big league at-bat.
He's going one for three with a strikeout.
I mean,
nothing like getting the monkey out
here back to start your
professional career and
having a hit in the first at bat.
So,
this is a guy that I'm very excited
about.
He's the third-rate prospect
in our top 100.
If you're a Nationals fan,
you've got to be excited.
He's finally up.
It's time.
Dylan Cruz isn't far behind him.
I don't think he's been
promoted from AA to AAA.
So,
it's just a matter of time before he's
up.
There's a lot of good
prospects in AA for Harrisburg.
Um,
So the future is bright in Washington.
It's another team that, you know,
doing what they're doing
this year where they've been third,
they've been fourth.
They got the pieces coming.
Now they need pitching.
They got to figure that out.
Gore's a good pitching arm.
Parker's looked good this year.
Again, I said both those guys earlier,
they've had rush stretches
over the last week, week and a half.
They figured it out, though.
You know,
they could be a team that would
be a problem in the next two years,
three years.
And they could be back in
the conversation for a World Series.
I believe they won it, what, 2019?
Yeah, 2019.
So they could be right back there.
So we're going to wrap this
up like we always do.
We're going to go with the
series of the week.
Big two for this week,
and now it's Monday.
It's a late schedule.
We have three games.
We had the Blue Jays and the Astros,
the Mets and the Nationals,
and then we have Brewers
and Rockies going on right now.
None of those three games
are in the series to watch
this week for me.
So if you're listening to
this when it comes out,
the first one I have is the
Orioles-Mariners.
Two teams leading their division.
Mariners are going the wrong way.
Orioles are coming up.
You know,
they're competing with the Yankees.
They had a bad week last week.
They're going four and six
in the last ten.
But it's two teams that have
struggled in the last couple games.
But if they can figure it out,
they're going to be a problem.
And the Orioles,
I'm not really worried about them.
The Mariners might be a
little worried with the bats.
So we'll see what happens in that series.
The other one is one we
mentioned earlier with the
whole wildcard chase.
It's Cardinals-Pirates.
I don't know who the
pitching matchups are.
I believe I saw Gibson was in there.
I think Michael is.
I saw Jones was in there.
I didn't see Paul Skeen,
so I don't know what
they're going to do there.
He's pitching Thursday for 4th of July,
and I just didn't see it yet.
It's not out yet.
But he usually goes after Jones,
so I'm intrigued to see
what they do there.
But that series is a key one
for this wildcard race.
The Final Two, they're coming this weekend,
and you should know it's coming.
Sunday Night Baseball is one
game from the three-game series,
but it's Red Sox, Yankees,
and Yankee Stadium.
The Red Sox just took two or
three from the Yankees a
couple weeks ago.
They're eight and a half
back of the Yankees and the Orioles.
They're trying to case that
they're back into this
wildcard discussion.
Look for them to be ready to go.
The Red Sox, I believe,
are going to face Garrett
Cole on Saturday and Luis Hilo on Sunday.
I think it's Rodon or Cortez on Friday.
I believe the Red Sox will
have Cutter Crawford, Tanner Houck.
I think Crawford Sunday.
I think Tanner Houck is Friday,
and I believe Saturday will
be Wienkowski unless they
go something different.
So some decent pitching options there.
Wienkowski pitched.
He made his first start
since coming back up.
He pitched in Bayo's relief
the other night.
He's looked good in those two appearances,
the start and the relief appearance.
Could be something to watch
on Saturday against Cole
because the Red Sox seem to
hit Cole well.
It's going to be a fun
series this weekend.
That's probably going to be
the main thing I watch this weekend.
The last series to watch
this weekend is the
National League East race.
It's the Phillies and the Braves.
They've got three games this weekend.
I think the Phillies run
away with that series,
but if the Braves want to
stay in this division race,
they've got to win that
series to find a way to do it.
They took care of business
to start the year,
but they were fully healthy then.
They're not fully healthy now.
We'll have to see what happens.
And that is it for me.
I'm thinking about doing a
watch party either for the
All-Star game or the Home Run Derby.
If that's something you want
to do and you think that's a cool idea,
let us know in the comments.
Or let us know on Twitter if
I put it out there and do a poll.
See what happens,
see what we get for turnouts.
So there's a lot that could
happen in the next couple of weeks.
There's a lot of things we could do.
And we'll see what happens from there.
I hope everybody has a happy 4th of July.
I hope everybody has a good
time with their family.
And I hope everybody enjoys
some baseball and whatever
else you want to do over
the next couple of days.
And I hope everybody has a good holiday.