Fact: The San Francisco Giants have now lost six straight games, their longest losing streak of the 2016 season.
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Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig suffered a hamstring injury on Thursday against the Washington Nationals.
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Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Puig won’t play Friday against St. Louis but will be available off the bench in an emergency.
Alanna Rizzo of SportsNet LA reported that Puig is likely to start on Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Puig has battled minor bumps and bruises all season, including a left shoulder issue, a minor knee contusion and nagging hamstring discomfort that has again reared its ugly head.
Puig has posted a disappointing .257 average and .698 OPS a year after struggling with a .255 average, 11 home runs and 38 RBI during an injury-riddled 2015 campaign.
Should Puig miss more time a season after appearing in just 79 games, the Dodgers have plenty of capable bodies to turn to as replacements. He’s been unable to recapture his All-Star form from 2014 for the last two years, so it might be better for the Dodgers to get a new hitter in the lineup.
For the time being, Scott Van Slyke should garner the most consideration to fill Puig’s vacant right field post as manager Dave Roberts contemplates ways to tinker with his lineup in the days ahead.
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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu was scratched from his start on Wednesday due to elbow discomfort, according to Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times.
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Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported “Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman acknowledged an exam took place, saying there were ‘no notable changes’ from past MRIs and that rest is the prescribed course of action for now.”
Ryu, 29, has started just one game since 2014. He missed all of 2015 with shoulder issues that eventually required surgery on his left labrum, and he missed the first three months of the 2016 season with more shoulder woes. He made his only start of the year on July 7, pitching 4.2 innings and giving up six runs on eight hits and two walks.
It’s been a disappointing two years for Ryu, who flashed a lot of potential with the Dodgers in his first two seasons. He is 28-16 with a 3.28 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP in his career.
It’s another blow for a Dodgers rotation that has been beset by multiple injuries this season. Superstar Clayton Kershaw and starter Alex Wood are on the disabled list, while Brett Anderson hasn’t made an appearance yet this season.
The Dodgers also placed Casey Fien on the DL while reinstating Joc Pederson and recalling Luis Avilan—who will slide into the team’s bullpen—from Triple-A in corresponding roster moves.
Kenta Maeda, Scott Kazmir, Bud Norris and Brandon McCarthy will remain the core of the team’s rotation, with Kershaw sliding back into the mix once he’s healthy.
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With the Colorado Rockies falling out of the postseason race, they’re likely to become sellers before the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline, with Charlie Blackmon a prime candidate to be moved.
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During an appearance on 106.7 The Fan (h/t Pete Medhurst), Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said that a rumor from Jon Morosi of MLB Network stating the club is reportedly “showing interest” in Blackmon is “not accurate.”
Blackmon, 30, is having another excellent season, hitting .307 with 12 home runs, 43 RBI and 10 stolen bases.
Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported earlier in July that the Rockies were shopping both Blackmon and star outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.
Dealing either (or both) would make sense for the Rockies. As of July 20, the team is six games under .500 (43-50), 13.5 games out of first place in the NL West and eight games back in the NL wild-card hunt. Both players are 30, and while Blackmon is up for arbitration after this year, per Spotrac.com, Gonzalez is under contract through 2017.
Plus, the Rockies would be dealing each (or both) in their primes and amid excellent seasons, likely ensuring a lucrative return.
Blackmon, meanwhile, would certainly improve Washington’s lineup at the top of the order. As Morosi noted, the team is 30th in leadoff OPS and 28th in center field OPS, so Blackmon would be a huge upgrade.
You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.
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Despite struggling through arguably the worst season of his career, San Diego Padres starting pitcher Andrew Cashner is reportedly generating leaguewide interest ahead of the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline.
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Jon Morosi of Fox Sports reported that “rival [executives] believe Padres [general manager] A.J. Preller wants to move [Cashner] before [his] Thursday start.”
However, Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com noted that Cashner is expected to pitch on Thursday against St. Louis, citing a source who said they were “99.9 percent” certain no trade would happen before then.
According to Rosenthal, several teams could make a run at acquiring Cashner, with the Texas Rangers standing out as one of his primary suitors, per MLB.com.
The 29-year-old currently sports a record of 4-7 with a career-worst 5.05 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. His strikeout rate has also dropped since last season with 53 K’s in 67.2 innings. In 2015, the 6’6″ righty posted 165 K’s in 184.2 innings.
Injuries have been a big issue for Cashner in recent years, including this season, as he had a stint on the disabled list in June with a strained neck.
The past two campaigns have been a struggle for the former first-round pick of the Chicago Cubs after he seemingly came into his own in 2013 and 2014 as a potential top-of-the-rotation starter.
Between 2013 and 2014, Cashner posted a modest 15-16 record, but he had an impressive 2.87 ERA and 1.13 WHIP.
He hasn’t been able to get back to that level, but he has the makings of a low-risk deadline acquisition, should a team opt to trade for him.
Cashner is set to become an unrestricted free agent during the offseason, which means the commitment in terms of salary and term will be minimal.
Texas is a sensible landing spot since there are question marks in its rotation outside of the one-two punch of Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish.
With Colby Lewis and Derek Holland injured, the Rangers staff is lacking depth, but Cashner can provide it as long as he remains healthy.
Even if Cashner proves to be little more than an innings eater down the stretch, he is a worthwhile acquisition for the Rangers or any other contending team in need of pitching help since it doesn’t figure to cost a ton to get him with free agency approaching.
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With first baseman Wil Myers in the midst of his first All-Star season, both he and the San Diego Padres are reportedly open to working out a long-term contract.
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According to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Myers and the Padres aren’t interested in having discussions during the season, as they plan to wait until the offseason before hammering out details.
Per Spotrac.com, the 25-year-old is making just over $500,000 this season and is arbitration-eligible in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
According to Lin, Myers made it clear that he is content to play out the rest of the 2016 campaign before worrying about his future with the club:
I don’t think anybody would ever be opposed to talking about money, but as far as that’s concerned, I want to go out every day and just play. I don’t want to worry about extension talk, I don’t want to worry about money. I just want to go out and worry about each at-bat I have. … Obviously, we’ll listen to anything, but when that time comes up, we can discuss it then.
The former third-round pick of the Kansas City Royals also expressed confidence in the direction of the team and a desire to be part of the turnaround moving forward:
I love San Diego. I love every part of it. Obviously, winning is more important to me, being a competitor. It is tougher to play games that aren’t as meaningful, but I really believe that the Padres have a legitimate plan in place. I think what they’ve done this season is going to lead to something special in the future.
They’re spending a lot of money, and that’s what the Royals did from ’07 to 2012. They signed a bunch of players, they drafted great players, they spent money on the draft. I think that’s kind of the model that mid-market teams need to go after, and I think that’s what we’re doing here. And I think it’s going to be a great thing for us coming up in the future, and hopefully I can be around for that.
The 2016 season is Myers’ second with the Padres after coming over in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, and he has broken out in a big way. Along with a .289 batting average and .355 on-base percentage, the North Carolina native has already set career highs with 20 home runs, 61 RBI and 15 stolen bases.
Myers has struggled with injuries for much of his career, especially last season when he appeared in just 60 games, but he is trending toward becoming an elite all-around player when healthy.
The Padres have remade their roster and shuffled several big-name players in and out of town in recent years, but Myers is a key building block and potential franchise guy they can’t afford to lose.
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As the San Diego Padres plan for the future, they continue to raid the Boston Red Sox‘s loaded farm system to find answers.
Per Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald, the Padres acquired minor league right-hander Anderson Espinoza from the Red Sox on Thursday. Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported the Red Sox received All-Star left-hander Drew Pomeranz in the deal.
The Padres know Boston’s farm system well, having acquired outfielder Manuel Margot, shortstop Javier Guerra, infielder Carlos Asuaje and lefty Logan Allen in exchange for Craig Kimbrel in November.
It’s an excellent system to raid if you need prospects, which the Padres do after Baseball America ranked their system as the 25th-best in Major League Baseball in February.
Espinoza gives the Padres an electric arm they can potentially build their starting rotation around in the future. He is a risky bet at just 18 years old, but the Venezuelan is already pitching in Low-A and has held his own.
Those numbers are especially impressive considering Espinoza started the year as the youngest player in the South Atlantic League.
Oh, did I mention the stuff?
Espinoza has a dazzling arm that scouts are drooling over. MLB.com ranked him as the 34th-best prospect in its most recent update, offering this synopsis of his talent:
Because of Espinoza’s small stature, big stuff and precocious command, he draws some extreme comparisons to Pedro Martinez. With little effort in his delivery, he usually works at 94-97 mph with his fastball. Both Espinoza’s tight curveball and sinking changeup are more advanced than those of the typical teenager, showing the potential to become plus pitches.
The main concern as Espinoza continues to climb the ladder will be his durability. He’s been terrific so far, but he has thrown only 76 innings over 17 starts. He also stands at just 6’0″ and 160 pounds, per MiLB.com.
As Espinoza continues to move through the minors, he will have to take on a greater workload while continuing to pump 90-plus mph heaters and sharp curveballs every fifth day.
A reasonable comparison is Carl Edwards Jr., whom the Chicago Cubs acquired from the Texas Rangers as part of a trade for Matt Garza in 2013. He is taller than Espinoza at 6’3″, but he’s also thin at 170 pounds and struggled to stay healthy as a starter in 2014 before the Cubs moved him to the bullpen.
The team can use Espinoza as a closer or high-leverage late-inning reliever. But it didn’t trade an All-Star left-hander who has two more years under team control in hopes of finding a bullpen arm.
Espinoza’s ceiling is off the charts, making him a worthy gamble for the rebuilding Padres.
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San Diego Padres starting pitcher Drew Pomeranz reportedly will be traded in the midst of a career season.
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According to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres have agreed to deal Pomeranz to the Red Sox in a trade that “is believed to include one of the Red Sox’s better prospects.”
Pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza is headed to San Diego as part of the trade, according to Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald.
Lin reported at least 10 teams have expressed interest in Pomeranz.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported that the Miami Marlins have interest in Pomeranz along with Jake Odorizzi of the Tampa Bay Rays and Rich Hill of the Oakland Athletics.
FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal reported the buzz surrounding Pomeranz, who has gotten poor run support this year, leading to an 8-7 record despite a 2.47 ERA.
According to ESPN.com’s Samuel Henken, Texas initially drafted Pomeranz out of high school all the way back in 2007. It would be quite the story if he were to end up in Arlington nearly a decade later.
A dearth of quality starting pitching has held the Rangers back from further greatness in recent years. This season’s club sits atop the American League West thanks in large part to an improvement in that area.
Adding a younger arm like Pomeranz to a staff that’s tied for seventh with 49 quality starts in 2016 will only aid Texas’ cause to claim the division crown.
The 27-year-old was recently selected as an All-Star for the first time and tossed a one-hit fourth inning on Tuesday night for the National League squad.
When Pomeranz was asked what the highlight of the All-Star Game was, he said, per the Padres’ official Twitter account, “Besides playing here in our home park, it’s being around all these guys.”
He seemed to be at home in San Diego, yet since the Padres are among the worst teams in the National League, they need to be thinking about rebuilding the roster.
Although he doesn’t have elite velocity, Pomeranz relies a lot on his fastball, which hovers in the low 90s rather consistently, per Brooks Baseball. Pomeranz also throws an effective cutter and sinker, but his curve is what really baffles batters.
Such a diverse pitching arsenal keeps hitters off balance, as he’s yielded only a .184 opponents’ batting average and logged 115 strikeouts in only 102 innings of work this season.
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With Yasiel Puig mired in another disappointing season, it’s reported the Los Angeles Dodgers may look to move the young outfielder ahead of the August 1 MLB trade deadline.
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Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal noted Saturday that the Dodgers could be open to moving the 25-year-old before Aug. 1.
Puig has failed to capture the magic of his 2013 rookie season, during which he finished with a slash line of .319/.391/.534 while mashing 19 home runs and 42 RBI in 104 games. After making the All-Star Game and leading all Dodgers offensive players in WAR (5.3) in 2014, per FanGraphs, Puig started to tail off in 2015.
He appeared in only 79 games last year, batting .255 with 11 home runs and 38 RBI. Through the first half of 2016, Puig’s regression has continued. In 266 plate appearances, he has seven homers, 28 RBI and a .258/.316/.389 slash line.
Puig is still capable of creating moments of magic, such as his impressive throw from right field to nail Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story at third base in April:
However, those highlight-reel plays have become fewer and farther between over the course of his four-year career.
On June 28, the Los Angeles Times‘ Andy McCullough reported MLB executives with whom he has spoken don’t envision Puig ever topping his first year or possibly even his sophomore campaign, which limits his potential trade value.
Puig won’t become a free agent until 2020, so the Dodgers aren’t working against a tight deadline. They can choose to wait until next year to see whether his numbers improve, thus increasing his worth on the trade market.
However, Los Angeles will have a logjam in the outfield when Andre Ethier (leg) and Joc Pederson (shoulder) return from the disabled list. Trading Puig might also bring back a starting pitcher, which the team desperately needs.
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Catcher Buster Posey is the face of the San Francisco Giants. He’s got a National League Rookie of the Year Award and NL MVP trophy in his case, among other accolades. He’s arguably the strongest thread that runs through the team’s trio of recent championships. And he’s an All-Star once again, for good reason.
We say this, then, with no offense intended to Posey: Brandon Belt, the Giants’ other position-player All-Star, is emerging as the team’s offensive leader and one of the key drivers behind San Francisco’s first-half success.
Belt, who is headed to his first Midsummer Classic courtesy of the final fan vote, went 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI in Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The victory raised the Giants’ record to an MLB-best 56-33. The “Baby Giraffe,” meanwhile, is the qualified team leader in average (.301) and OPS (.929).
He’s second on the team with 10 homers to Posey’s 11 and second in RBI with 47 to shortstop Brandon Crawford’s 58. And he paces the National League with 27 doubles.
Right fielder Hunter Pence is on the shelf after undergoing hamstring surgery in June, but Belt has capably filled the gap as a middle-of-the-order force (though he may need to work on his inspirational-speech game).
Belt has shown flashes of elite potential since he debuted in 2011. Last season, he hit .280 with a career-best 18 home runs but missed four games with a groin injury in April and suffered a season-ending concussion in September that was still causing him dizziness in November, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Now, he appears fully healthy and ready to join the upper echelon of big league first basemen, particularly when you consider he’s been among the top five defensive players at the position since 2012.
What’s the explanation for Belt’s offensive surge, other than a talented 28-year-old entering his prime?
One notable difference has been plate discipline. Entering play Sunday, Belt had drawn 53 walks, just three shy of his career high.
That’s created a virtuous cycle with his increased pop, as McCovey Chronicles’ Grant Brisbee opined: “His improving patience and power seem to be a feedback loop, with the improved eye leading to better pitches to hit and the better pitches to hit leading to more doubles and homers.”
In May, Belt credited a mechanical adjustment he made at the plate late last season, right before his concussion.
“I’m back to seeing the ball, not guessing,” he said, according to Schulman. “The results are not very good when I guess. For a few years, I was just searching for something to hold on to. I think I’ve found it.”
Much of the attention this season has gone to the top of the Giants rotation, as 2014 World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner owns a 2.09 ERA and winter addition Johnny Cueto is 13-1. Both men are All-Stars, as well they should be, and superlative pitching has been the bedrock of San Francisco’s budding dynasty.
But as Belt joins Posey, Bumgarner and Cueto for the festivities in San Diego, his profile should be on a precipitous rise.
If the Giants do their even-year thing again, Belt will surely be a key reason why. Heck, if he continues at this pace, he could grab a few MVP votes of his own.
All of this makes San Francisco look exceedingly smart for locking Belt into an affordable five-year, $72.8 million extension in April that bought up three seasons of potential free agency.
Alongside Posey, Crawford, second baseman Joe Panik and third baseman Matt Duffy, Belt is part of a homegrown infield core that’s signed or controlled through at least 2020.
With their three Commissioner’s Trophies since 2010, the Giants have come to expect greatness as a matter of course in years divisible by two. Here’s Belt, delivering right on cue.
He’s refined his approach. He’s an All-Star. He’s swinging the biggest stick on the winningest team in baseball.
Whatever the Chinese calendar may insist, we’re dubbing this the Year of the Giraffe.
All statistics courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.
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