Kuzul

The injury affects us all. 

Giancarlo Stanton’s bad luck continued Friday night as he injured his left wrist whiffing on a swing against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Miami Marlins knew their superstar slugger was hurt Friday night, but the extent of his latest injury was not known until Saturday morning, when it was confirmed Stanton has a broken hamate bone that will cause him to miss 4-6 weeks. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal first had news of the severity, and ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian followed with specific details.

The news caused even casual baseball fans to shake their heads at the ongoing plague of bad luck attached to Stanton’s young career. Because of that bad luck, he played 150 games in a season just once in his six years with the Marlins.

Stanton, at age 25, should be one of Major League Baseball’s most marketable players with his cartoonish power, herculean build and electric smile. But once again, the game is deprived of his star power by an injury that seems freakish. And again, bad luck is halting a career that has already taken off but is having trouble reaching full altitude.

“Just on a swing my bat dug into my hand a little bit,” Stanton said after the game, according to Christina De Nicola of Fox Sports Florida. “Didn’t feel the greatest, so just get it checked out and know for sure what’s going on. I think it just kind of got worse and worse (during the game).”

Since the 2012 season when he was on his way to having a monster year, Stanton has been unable to avoid the debilitating injury. First, it was a knee injury and then an abdomen strain that sucked 39 games from his 2012 season. In 2013, it was shoulder, thigh and ankle injuries that cost him 46 games.

And we all should remember too vividly what happened last season. Stanton was hit in the face by a fastball last September that caused facial fractures and dental damage. The injury forced him to miss the final 17 games of the season, one in which he had established himself as a legitimate National League MVP candidate.

Like this year’s hamate bone, that HBP can be viewed as a freak injury.

Call it bad luck or call Stanton injury prone. Whatever you choose, this is not only bad for the player and the Marlins. This is bad for baseball, a sport that needs all its young stars to shine as brightly as possible while it tries to reach a younger, more diverse demographic that tends to gravitate more toward football and basketball.

Stanton, along with a player like Bryce Harper, would be the perfect pitchman for the sport. If only he could keep himself on the field long enough to put up truly eye-popping numbers in an era when offense is muzzled.

Stanton’s counting stats obviously suffer with his injuries. He has never eclipsed 37 home runs in a season, a total he’s reached twice. The first time he hit the mark was in 2012, when he played in just 123 games. The second time was last season before taking the fastball to the face.

This season, Stanton was already at 27 after going on a June home run binge that saw him collect 12 in a 21-game span. He, along with a handful of other players, could have legitimately chased the 50-home run benchmark. Stanton, and maybe a couple others, could have also had a real shot at 60.

With hamate fractures, there are mixed results when it comes to players returning with their power in tow. If Stanton comes out on the down side upon his return, baseball could lose one of its most dynamic power hitters for longer than this DL stint.

Stanton, who in the offseason signed a 13-year, $325 million contract extension with Miami, struck out three times Friday. His comments on his final whiff—the swing that put the baseball world on notice of a possible injury—could also apply to his latest wound being one in an already long line of frustrating ailments that have kept him from becoming the power-hitting demigod his talent certainly warrants.

“[The injury happened on] one of my at-bats prior, but this one was the icing on the cake,” Stanton said, per De Nicola.

The same line could be uttered by MLB and its fans who truly care about the state of the game and how it is marketed to the next generation. The sport has been sitting on an out-of-this-world season from Stanton for several years now, and the first half of this one seemed like it would finally give it to us. He had played in all but one game in 2015 and had been among the game’s elite hitters.

“It’s certainly not great news when you lose a guy that means what he means to this ball club and to baseball,” Marlins manager Dan Jennings told reporters Saturday, per Shandel Richardson of the Sun-Sentinel.

It’s unclear what this latest Stanton injury means to the Marlins, but it certainly could make them sellers at the trade deadline. Just as important, though, is the fact that baseball is once again deprived of a full season from one of its stars.

Maybe this is the last significant injury of Stanton’s career. Maybe he returns and is as good as ever, his power returning with him. Or, maybe not.

Right now, the game waits and sees, as we all do, with the hope that Stanton’s plague is nearing an end.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The time to reconsider some things is upon us.

The Major League Baseball season is nearly three months old and is just shy of the halfway mark for games played. Through the 70-plus games already in the book for each team, there have been pleasant surprises and disappointments.

Because of those occurrences, chances are everyone’s preseason predictions have taken some dings along the way. It’s not like the entire world picked the Houston Astros to be leading their division heading into the All-Star break or the Washington Nationals to struggle to separate in theirs, right?

So, based on what we’ve seen so far, some tinkering with predictions is in order.

At the near-halfway point of the season, here are some revised playoff guesstimates with division winners and Wild Card holders for both leagues.

Begin Slideshow

The hype machine is out of service.

Disappointment has surpassed hope as the overwhelming emotion. 

A scapegoat has already been unfairly blamed because it was the easiest, most predictable target.

As the three-month mark of the season and the All-Star break creeps near, the San Diego Padres are running out of excuses, remedies and time. The offseason makeover that made the Padres a popular pick for the postseason and led star acquisition Matt Kemp to call general manager A.J. Preller “a GM rock star” just seems empty now, a rebuild lacking enough substance to take the club into the realm of sincere contender.

The franchise that had finished third or worse in each of the previous four seasons currently sits in fourth in the National League West, 6.5 games out of first place and six games out of a wild-card spot. Kemp, Justin Upton, James Shields, Wil Myers, Derek Norris and Craig Kimbrel were legitimate reasons for the hype, but through 75 games the Padres are five games below .500.

And a little more than a week ago, manager Bud Black paid the price for the underwhelming first half as Preller fired the longtime, respected skipper. Since then, the Padres are 3-7.

I’m a big Bud Black fan. He’s a really good guy and a quality manager. The Padres not living up to offseason hype isn’t his fault. Too bad.

— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) June 15, 2015

The offense, which was supposed to be dramatically better than it was last season, had a .241/.296/.371 slash line entering Thursday. Those numbers were all below league averages, as was its wOBA (.292) and wRC+ (88), although all these numbers were slightly better than in 2014.

Kemp has been the biggest letdown. After being about the best offensive player in the majors in the second half last season, he is having a brutal 2015 for his new team and was recently moved to the leadoff spot for the first time since 2010 in hopes of igniting his bat.

“Still have a lot of at-bats to go and a lot of things to do,” Kemp told Tyler Kepner of the New York Times this week. “I’m not worried, I’m not panicking.”

The pitching staff, which was supposed to be bolstered in the rotation by Shields and in the bullpen by Kimbrel, has also failed to live up to its billing. The rotation’s ERA, FIP and home run rates are all worse than league average, according to Fangraphs. And the bullpen suffers from all the same afflictions.

The overall defense is about the worst in the majors, and, as expected, the outfield defense is as well, Fangraphs numbers say.

Of the team’s next 15 games, 10 of them come on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Texas Rangers. 

“The Padres a little over a week ago dismissed Bud Black as manager. Last 10 games: 3-7. The managerial change so far has not worked,” analyst Dan Plesac said on MLB Network on Thursday. “This is a team in transition right now, and I think they, along with the [Chicago] White Sox and [Seattle] Mariners, need to get something going prior to the All-Star break, because I think the All-Star break is when you find out if you’re for real or if you’re on the outside looking in.”

Time is still an ally for now. There are still 87 games to play, and the rest of the NL West has failed to drown the Padres in their wake. Injuries to the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants have prevented them from fully stepping on the gas, so the Padres are still breathing with more than half the season remaining.

Fan interest also remains. The Padres have drawn nearly 1.1 million fans this season, which is still in the bottom half of the league. But for the franchise, its attendance is up by more than 15 percent from last year, when it drew just over 27,000 fans a game. This season that total is more than 31,000 a game.

Talent-wise, few teams can boast what the Padres can. That is why the offseason was filled with promise. That is why fans are showing up. It is why the team’s record is such a source of news.

“We haven’t gone out there every day with high expectations since 2010, when we had a really good team and you just knew you were going to win every time you went to the ballpark,” Will Venable, the longest-tenured Padre, told Kepner. “We expect that with this group, too. We have some guys with some serious track records and a lot of success in this game.”

The hope is Kemp’s second half this year resembles his second half last year. It is that Andrew Cashner finds a way to start stranding more runners and giving up fewer homers. The hope is that Myers stays healthy enough to be a dynamic offensive player, and that Shields starts striking out hitters again and keeps the ball in the ballpark.

Their shortcomings have cost the Padres a manager. They have made San Diego one of the game’s biggest disappointments, and they have it looking up at three teams in a division in which it was expected to contend.

Time still holds hope for the flawed Padres to rebound. But the grasp is weakening by the day and by the loss.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

There are several reasons for the Houston Astros’ stunning position at the top of the American League West standings. 

A decent enough rotation led by dominant ace Dallas Keuchel; a dominant bullpen that is on a historic pace, threatening to set the record for lowest WHIP in a season since 1920; a powerful lineup that is among the best slugging teams in the majors; and a defense that is surprisingly effective at preventing runs.

You can point to a number of factors for the Astros sitting three games ahead of the Texas Rangers in the AL West, pushing their competitive clock ahead by about two years.

George Springer is yet another, even if everyone is failing to fully acknowledge his rise as one of baseball’s young stars.

George Springer isn’t in the top 15 AL outfield vote which is an oversight. Product of how season started.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) June 22, 2015

“He’s definitely All-Star worthy,” manager A.J. Hinch, a member of the AL All-Star coaching staff, told reporters Sunday. “There’s some talented guys out there, but he should absolutely be in the conversation.”

Springer’s candidacy got off to a slow start this season following a breakout rookie year in which he slugged .804, hit 20 home runs and accumulated a 126 OPS-plus in 345 plate appearances.

Even though the Astros won 24 of their first 34 games to stun the American League, especially in the West, Springer, hitting anywhere from second to fourth in the order, batted .185/.327/.387 with a .713 OPS and 40 strikeouts in that time. Sophomore slump was written all over his season with that start, but things turned around in a hurry for the 25-year-old right fielder.

Springer, drafted 11th overall in 2011 and a top-25 prospect heading into last season, has unloaded in the 31 games since. Entering Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels, Springer hit .379/.434/.589 with a 1.023 OPS, eight doubles and six home runs. He has struck out 35 times—that will most likely always be a part of this game—but the non-strikeouts were far more productive during this stretch as his BABIP was an incredible .494.

He also went into Monday with a 14-game hitting streak, which was snapped Monday. During this recent run, he has been the team’s leadoff man in all but four of the games. Springer has a .440 OBP out of that spot and has become a dangerous source of power as six of his 12 home runs have come from place in the order.

Before Springer, Jose Altuve had been the team’s primary leadoff man. He has since dropped to third as Springer has emerged up top.

“I feel pretty excited about hitting behind, for me, the best hitter in the big leagues right now, which is George Springer,” Altuve told the Houston Chronicle’s Evan Drellich on Monday.

Part of Springer’s success this season has been an ability to hit the ball to all fields. He has adjusted to how he is being pitched as a power threat and is more willing to hit the ball up the middle and the other way for hits than in 2014. 

He is pulling the ball nine percent less than he did last season, more than seven percent more of his balls are being hit to the middle of the diamond and nearly four percent more are going the other way, according to FanGraphs data.

“I understand that the object is to get to first base and I think that’s helped slow me down,” Springer told reporters Sunday. “Instead of me trying to hit a home run every single time, you know, I just understand that if I just take a nice, easy, controlled swing and get to first base for who’s ever up behind me, our offense can go.”

Springer is a soft speaker, often discussing himself with as few words as possible. Modesty is not a problem for a player who is eighth in FanGraphs WAR among all American League outfielders this season and fourth over the last 30 days going into Monday. His season OPS-plus was also up to 142 through Sunday.

“No,” Springer told reporters Sunday when asked if he’d thought about making the All-Star team. “I’m just out here trying to help us win. We’re on a good streak right now.”

It is time, however, for the baseball-loving world to start recognizing Springer as one of the best right fielders in the game. He hits for power, gets on base, can steal a few—13 in 15 attempts—and is developing as a defensive right fielder.

Even if he does not burst onto the national stage this year as an All-Star, he is showing he has the tools to do so very soon. Possibly in October.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

That asking price isn’t looking so outrageous right now.

Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer surprised nobody by throwing his first career no-hitter Saturday. It came against the Pittsburgh Pirates and with little drama, as there was hardly a close call. And considering how dominant the ace right-hander has been recently, this might have been the least surprising no-no in Major League Baseball history.

Scherzer entered this home start against the Pirates coming off a road outing in Milwaukee in which he lost a perfect game on a broken-bat blooper by Carlos Gomez in the seventh inning last Sunday. This time, the perfect game was broken up with two outs in the ninth inning—by Jose Tabata’s elbow. Scherzer hit him with a two-strike pitch before polishing off what ended up being somewhat of an anticlimactic finish despite the zero hits, zero walks and 10 strikeouts.

He became the first pitcher since 1944 to allow one or fewer hits in consecutive complete games. Just, wow.

And his next start could come against a putrid Philadelphia Phillies lineup. That will be a must-watch game involving a last-place club.

#MadMax is not from this planet. #LightsOut pic.twitter.com/tL2VmVCYGR

— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) June 20, 2015

Because we are in about the sixth installment of the Year of the Pitcher, feats like Scherzer’s do not have as much pizzazz as they once did. There have been 25 no-hitters since the start of the 2010 season and at least two per year since the 2007 season. We have also seen pitchers in both leagues sweep the Cy Young and MVP awards since 2011. 

Regardless of the regularity of no-hitters and overall pitching dominance in this era, the Nationals are looking marvelous for shelling out the seven years and $210 million it took to land Scherzer over the offseason. In Year 1 of the deal, he has produced a 1.76 ERA, 123 strikeouts and 14 walks in 102.1 innings, and the Nationals have won nine of his 14 starts. 

“Tenacity is the key,” Nationals manager Matt Williams told reporters Saturday, prior to the no-hitter. “He’s a fun-loving guy for four days a week, and then the fifth day when he pitches, he’s a different animal.” 

Scherzer has been a bargain in an age when we know 30-something pitchers with long-term contracts do not get to hold that kind of distinction. As the game penalizes higher payrolls with taxes and teams try to curb their long-term spending, Scherzer is a rarity so far.

Even some of his teammates think so.

Someone give that guy a raise. @Max_Scherzer

— Drew Storen (@DrewStoren) June 20, 2015

The Pirates were evolved enough to comprehend the kind of sheer dominance Scherzer had just smothered them in.

“You have to find it in your baseball heart,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle told reporters, “to appreciate that performance.”

Scherzer will turn 31 in about a month, and he is well on his way to a third consecutive season of pitching at least 200 innings. He is already the National League Cy Young Award front-runner and has easily been the most dominant pitcher in the majors. 

He has shown signs of only getting better, and now that he is in the more pitcher-friendly league, we could see more of this from Scherzer for the next few seasons.

Because he just reached his prime in 2013, it is entirely possible for Scherzer to abuse lineups well into his next decade. Comparing him to one of the best pitchers the sport has ever seen might not be totally fair at this point, but it’s not an absurd thought that Scherzer could go into his late 30s with the same kind of production Randy Johnson had—125-42, 2.63 ERA, 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings and a 175 ERA-plus— between ages 32 and 38.

There is risk. Everyone knows that. The Nationals knew that when they signed Scherzer, as did every team that was unwilling to plop more than $200 million on the table for a pitcher entering his 30s—a time when pitchers typically do not age well and decline is imminent.

That history aside, Scherzer looks like the best free-agent pitching signing in a long time. While CC Sabathia (pre-extension) and Zack Greinke have been good, even great at times, Scherzer’s start with the Nationals has already been otherworldly in an era when such pitching hyperbole is commonplace. This near-perfect game is just more early proof.

Whenever he declines—which he will over the duration of his seven-year deal, and the Nationals are funneling him $35 million annually—it could all be worth it. If Scherzer is the ace who leads the franchise to a World Series, its first ever, at any point in the next seven years—again, if he is the arm leading—the entirety of the contract will be worth spending for the softer years.

If he puts a trophy in the case, then yes, Scherzer will be a bargain.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

One of Bud Selig’s primary goals in adding a second wild-card playoff spot to both leagues was to put more teams in postseason contention, creating more excitement and fan interest throughout the summer.

A consequence of achieving that goal has been tamping down the trade buzz heading into the All-Star break, one of the game’s most exciting and heavily debated portions of the regular season.

Before the second wild-card spot was implemented for the 2012 season, as many as 10 teams could easily be declared sellers at this point, as they’ve fallen well behind each league’s best second-place club. But in the era of the second wild-card berth, more teams are willing to hang onto their assets and reach for the play-in game.

As a result, only five teams can realistically declare themselves sellers right now, and even that number is arguably too large as some of those teams still see themselves as a hot streak away from contending. And, unfortunately for the trade season, those teams are correct in assessing their chances.

That leaves only two teams as true sellers at this point—the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers. However, teams are scouting pieces of several other clubs in case those hot streaks never come.

While many of the trade chips are good fits for several contending teams, we will look at the perfect fit for each player based on production, cost, value and need.

Begin Slideshow

Manny Machado showed the upside early.

He showed why his major league debut was an anticipated event. He showed why so many scouts and the Baltimore Orioles believed he could be great. He proved he was well worthy of being the third overall pick in the 2010 draft.

Machado’s 2012 debut gave us glimpses of him being a five-tool player. Someone who could hit, hit for power, run, throw and play defense with the best infielders the game had to offer.

But over the next two years, injuries and a bit of immaturity threatened to snatch back one of baseball’s young, budding superstars before the game got a chance to fully enjoy what he had to offer. Two major knee injuries required surgery—one to each joint, limiting him to 82 games last year—and may have flattened his career arc entering 2015. Machado has also proven to be a combustible player over the past two years, getting himself ejected three times through occasional overreactions.

This season has still hinted at the maturity issue, but his production is back on a significant uptick, and he may very well be pushing himself into the American League’s Most Valuable Player conversation by the time the All-Star Break arrives.

Manny Machado has been raking since May. Now he’s got AL Player of the Week honors to prove it. pic.twitter.com/iqL4drzfVD

— MLB (@MLB) June 15, 2015

Over Machado’s previous 28 games leading into this week, he hit .298/.350/.482 with an .832 OPS, five home runs and four doubles. The numbers were not on-another-planet fantastic, but they were very good and could be an indicator of what is about to come.

Especially since this week is off to a pretty good start, too.

Machado went 3-for-4 with home runs in his first two plate appearances, scored three times and knocked in three Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies. Both home runs left little to no doubt at impact where they’d end up, and his first one started an onslaught that led to eight Baltimore home runs, a franchise record.

Machado is doing his damage as a leadoff hitter, a role manager Buck Showalter put him in May 2. He took over the spot for good May 7 after bouncing around the lineup for the first 25 games.

“The more he does it, it almost seems like he is running a little more, bunting a little more, kind of taking on the attributes of a leadoff guy kind of by osmosis,” Showalter told reporters, per Joey Nowak of MLB.com. “He is running better than he ever has as an Oriole.”

Machado never had more than 13 stolen bases in the minors, but he already has nine in 10 attempts this season.

The new role has not affected Machado’s power stroke, which has always been on a flat swing plane anyway. Seven of Machado’s 13 home runs have come out of the leadoff spot this season.

“It is a win-win,” Machado told Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com Monday about hitting at the top of the lineup. “You get more at-bats, you get to see more pitches and I think it has helped me out. Becoming a hitter, learning how to hit, learning situations and learning the game. It’s been fun hitting leadoff.”

Aside from learning, Machado is also still maturing. He is just shy of three weeks away from his 23rd birthday, but it was just a little more than two weeks ago that we saw Machado’s third career ejection. It was a strong reaction that left home plate umpire Toby Basner no choice other than thumbing Machado out of the game.

It was not the first time Machado has a surprising reaction to what seemed like a minuscule event. Last June he reacted dramatically when then-Oakland A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson tagged him out on what seemed like a routine play.

That led to yet another sign of immaturity later in the series. Machado flung his bat down the third-base line after a pitch was too far inside for his liking. He was ejected from the game and later received a five-game suspension that virtually everyone agreed was fair.

Unsolicited advice for manny machado: accept the 5-game ban, then grow up.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) June 10, 2014

The hope is that Machado will learn from his mistakes and continue entertaining with his on-field prowess. However, his reaction to his latest ejection does not bode well for that happening anytime soon.

“Why would it be [a concern]? I’ve got hopefully 20 more years in my pocket to play baseball,” Machado told the Baltimore Sun’s Dan Connolly about his temper. “There’s going to be more where that came from. You still have got to keep grinding and keep your head up and keep playing some baseball.”

When Machado sticks to just playing baseball, and not acting foolishly to perceived slights, he is one of the game’s current wonders. He can do everything we ask of a player on the baseball diamond, and do it at an elite level.

His recent run of production is more evidence of that. And as long as he can keep doing it while staying in good health and in a good frame of mind, we are witnessing the reemergence of one of the game’s most special players.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The immediate thought was “bust” after the 2014 season.

Maybe because it was the New York Yankees paying out the contract and were already in the process of paying out a few others that could be labeled in a similar way—Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran. It could have been that the player was starting a huge long-term contract shortly after his 30th birthday.

But most of all, it was Brian McCann’s numbers. All of them, from the five years and $85 million on his deal to his .232/.286/.406 slash line and .692 OPS. All were below 2014 American League averages except for his .406 slugging percentage, and they all shouted McCann’s could be another fat contract the Yankees would regret agreeing to.

There was even the belief that McCann, a heavy-hitting catcher from Athens, Georgia, could not handle playing under the hot spotlights in New York.

“New York is not Brian. That’s my opinion,” Terry Pendleton, McCann’s former hitting coach with the Atlanta Braves, told the New York Post‘s Dan Martin about a year ago as McCann struggled in his first season with the Yankees. “I knew if he chose New York, there would be more than he expected or knew about. He’ll never be comfortable with that.

“If I had to choose where he went, nothing against the Yankees, they’re one of the best organizations around,” Pendleton added, “but I think he’d be more comfortable in Texas.”

That was a strong opinion and made national news last July. But a calendar year later, the outlook on McCann has drastically changed.

@BBTN Brian McCann.

— Adam Caragine (@AJCaragine13) June 15, 2015

McCann is fourth among catchers in American League All-Star balloting, but he is more than six million votes behind Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez, so he has no chance to start. But that McCann had nine home runs, 39 RBI and a .264/.324/.473 line through Sunday means he could be a reserve. His .796 OPS, .342 weighted on-base average (wOBA), 118 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) and 1.6 WAR in the same time frame were all better than Perez, according to Fangraphs.

That WAR also is second on the Yankees among position players.

McCann making an All-Star team would be a nice accolade. More important than his candidacy, though, is that his offensive numbers are playing a critical role in the Yankees being at or around the top of the AL East standings all season.

McCann was mostly healthy last year—he missed six games because of a concussion and two with a sore foot—so his poor production was baffling, especially when you consider he averaged an .827 OPS, 119 OPS+ and 21 home runs for the Braves in the previous eight seasons, according to Baseball-Reference. He also made seven All-Star teams in that time.

Last season was bad overall, but it was particularly bad in the second half. Despite 12 home runs in August and September giving him a respectable season total of 23, McCann hit .219 in August and .222 in September. His OBPs were .282 and .281, respectively. His power and ability to handle the pitching staff were the only things that justified keeping him in the lineup, because he was mostly bad in every other offensive aspect.

This season there is no such concern about McCann’s offensive abilities. The home runs are still there as he’s taken advantage of his left-handed swing and Yankee Stadium’s short right-field fence, with seven of his nine homers coming at home, and all of them having been pull shots, via ESPN Home Run Tracker.

He’s been the team’s best hitter at home. His .464 wOBA and 201 wRC+ lead the team at Yankee Stadium, as do his .414 OBP and .696 OPS through Sunday.

“It’s one of the big reasons we went and got him, because we thought his swing was built for this ballpark,” manager Joe Girardi told the New York Post‘s Howie Kussoy. “It’s shown up.”

McCann himself understands the importance of taking advantage of his surroundings.

“It sets up good for my swing. It’s nice hitting here,” McCann told Kussoy. “When you’re hitting top of the rotation starters, that’s what good teams do.”

McCann has been a bit luckier this season, his BABIP rising by 48 points proving as much. Aside from that, making slightly less soft contact and taking more strikes, which has led to a nearly 4 percent strikeout increase, there is not a lot to tell us why McCann has been a better hitter.

As long as it continues to happen, McCann will no longer be viewed as another of the Yankees’ busted acquisitions, and the better their chances to return to the postseason for the first time since 2012.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The lightening rod has struck again. And with that, his critics will surely strike back.

Alex Rodriguez woke up Saturday with 1,999 RBIs to his professional name. How he was aided in getting them—his immense offensive talent, his teammates being on base and, of course, the drugs—is irrelevant to the record books.

By the time he laid his manicured head on a Baltimore hotel pillow, A-Rod had taken down another milestone. His 666^th career home run produced RBI Nos. 2,000 and 2,001 on Saturday, making him just the second official major league player to, somewhat literally, have a ton of RBIs.

Alex Rodriguez becomes the 2nd player to reach 2,000 RBI since the stat became official in 1920. pic.twitter.com/6UJ4oRTvKY

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 14, 2015

He trails only Henry Aaron’s 2,297 in the Major League Baseball hall of records since the game did not tally RBIs before 1920. Aaron holds the all-time unofficial record, with Babe Ruth (2,214), Cap Anson (2,075) and now the game’s all-time most controversial player as the only others in the club.

Career RBI leaders (since baseball actually was played before 1920): Hank Aaron 2297, Babe Ruth 2214, Cap Anson 2075, Alex Rodriguez 2001.

— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) June 14, 2015

People will undoubtedly scoff at Rodriguez’s numbers. He brought that criticism on himself when he decided to tangle with performance-enhancing drugs only to be outed twice, the second squealing costing him all of the 2014 season.

His team, the New York Yankees, barely acknowledge his feats anymore because of all of it. One home run no more special the previous or the next, 2,000 RBIs no different than No. 1,999 except for the fact that they are helping keep the Yankees afloat in the thick American League East as Rodriguez vies for the league’s Comeback Player of the Year honor.

But just because the Yankees brass has decided not to honor, or pay, Rodriguez when he reaches certain milestones, it does not mean it is not special. Baseball loves its record book, and like it or not, A-Rod is all over it and in rarefied company.

Not Barry Bonds, not Lou Gehrig, not Stan Musial, not Ty Cobb or anybody else who has ever played the game aside from the others mentioned before have collected 2,000 RBIs. When a player is better than those men at anything that has to do with playing baseball, he should to be appreciated.

Rodriguez’s PED scandals have not just tarnished his reputation. In the eyes of many baseball players, executives, media members and fans, they have scribbled all over the hallowed record book with a brightly colored permanent marker, transforming a masterpiece into a joke.

Rodriguez is obviously not the only player to do so, but he is the best and most heavily scarred. He is the face of an era, in the most despised way possible.

Because of that, it is easy to ignore his greatness or simply brush it off as a product of synthetic [insert substance here]. It should not be that way.

While an RBI is not a great way to determine a player’s production or value, it still means something. And reaching a number that only three other magnificent offensive players before him have should not diminish the entirety of Rodriguez’s accomplishment.

The same can be said about his 600^th home run, or when he recently passed Willie Mays on the all-time home run list. It will hold true again next week when Rodriguez becomes the 29^th member of the 3,000-hit club.

People might not like how or what he used to get there, but the sheer impressiveness of the feats should not be lost on them, or anyone.

And that Rodriguez is this productive as he approaches his 40^th birthday is impressive as well. Considering the last time we saw him in the batter’s box before this season he was a mess, his 11 home runs and .883 OPS as the team’s No. 3 hitter are almost shocking.

7 of A-Rod’s 12 HR this year have either tied the game or given the Yankees the lead.

— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) June 14, 2015

Then we remember that we are talking about maybe the most prolific hitter the game has ever employed, with or without the artificial flavoring.

In a society that loves to forgive its stars after it chastises them, there is none of it for A-Rod. He’s for too long attempted to fool baseball fans and lie about it. And in a game that is rooted in and sometimes defined by its history, that is something a player just can’t do, no matter how great he is or was.

As long as he remains healthy, Rodriguez will keep on knocking over milestones and climbing higher in the record book. Baseball and its fans will continue to despise him for it. It’s just how things works these days when it comes to Rodriguez.

Even if that is the case, though, his accomplishments should still be appreciated and celebrated.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Jose Fernandez is still learning how to make a deliberate comeback. 

He is coming back from the first significant injury of his baseball life. It’s been a long process to this point as he nears his return to the Miami Marlins sometime within the next month, if everything stays on schedule. His natural tendency is to throttle forward and punch it, especially since he hasn’t pitched in the majors in more than a year. 

That is why the Marlins must protect their ace from himself.

The 22-year-old Fernandez made his first rehab start Saturday since having Tommy John surgery in May 2014. He cranked it up, as he is known to do, his fastball topping out at 99 mph in the 54-pitch outing for Class A Jupiter. His two strikeouts both came on 97 mph fastballs.

“That means I was a little amped up,” Fernandez told reporters after the game.

The outing was a success despite Fernandez allowing five runs on eight hits in three innings because he came out of it healthy. And as long as that continues to happen, the final lines will not matter too much. 

The lines that will matter during Fernandez’s rehab are those of the Marlins. Where they sit in the National League East standings at the time their ace is set to return should have more of an effect on how he is deployed going forward.

Their need for Fernandez is voided if they continue to torpedo downward in the standings. Their season is already wasting away at 10 games under .500 and seven games out of first place with three teams in front of them. They are farther back in the wild-card standings, with more teams to beat out.

Their rotation has been depleted with Mat Latos, Henderson Alvarez and Jarred Cosart all on the disabled list with Fernandez, and none of them have been very effective when they have been healthy. Through Monday’s action, the rotation’s ERA is 4.42, which ranks 11th out of 15 NL teams. Heading into Monday’s loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, in which fill-in starter Brad Hand lasted less than an inning and allowed six earned runs on six hits, the Marlins also ranked 11th in the NL in WAR (2.4), per FanGraphs.

The injuries to Alvarez, Latos and Cosart—those three were expected to lead the rotation during Fernandez’s injury—have been significant, but so have their shoddy performances.

“Is it a big blow? Absolutely,” manager Dan Jennings told reporters. “Those guys came into the season one, two and three.”

Because of where the Marlins stand, and how they got there in the first place, Fernandez is undoubtedly eyeing his return to stall the rotation’s struggles and find a way to pitch the Marlins back into relevancy. But that is the thought process of a young pitcher and completely unrealistic, as the Marlins are far from a single pitcher on an innings limit saving their season.

The bullpen has thrown 195 innings, the second-highest total in the league, and its ERA (3.74) and WHIP (1.33) are 11th.

The offense ranks 11th in OBP (.309), OPS (.686), weighted on-base average (.301), 12th in slugging percentage (.377) and 13th in weighted runs created plus (87), according to FanGraphs.

Fernandez has been patient through his entire recovery, and in spring training he even acknowledged he had surprised himself with that fact.

“Knowing how I am, I thought I was going to be crazy,” Fernandez told reporters in February. “It hasn’t been easy. But I think this surgery teaches you a lot. It teaches you as a person and teaches you how to be patient.”

But patience can wear thin. The Marlins as a franchise know that—their 2012 fire sale is plenty of proof—and the team’s standing could make their ace a little jumpy as his return date draws closer.

Fernandez is on a five-start plan with strict limits on pitch counts. His next start is expected to be Friday, and then the Marlins will discuss his next steps in the process.

What should also be discussed is if the Marlins can realistically find their way back into the playoff race. And with that, reassuring themselves that Fernandez’s tight leash cannot wriggle loose at any point, especially if games become meaningless after his return. Fernandez has to continue surprising himself with patience.

“No pain. I feel great. I’m really proud of the progress I’ve made in 3 months. Being patient is the biggest thing.” -José Fernandez

— #VoteMarlins (@Marlins) August 13, 2014

He is a franchise cornerstone, the pitching equivalent to Giancarlo Stanton. Handling his comeback with the utmost care is the way to go. No matter what.

So far, Fernandez seems to understand that.

“I feel really, really healthy,” Fernandez told reporters after his rehab start, “and I can’t ask for anything else.”

Neither can the Marlins.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com