As the 2024 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world heading into the weekend:
1. Series Preview: Brewers @ Cubs
The Brewers and Cubs are at the front of the pack in the NL Central with respective records of 19-11 and 19-13. That one-game gap in the standings means that this weekend’s three-game set between the clubs at Wrigley Field could allow Chicago the opportunity to take the lead over Milwaukee or allow the Brewers to take a more commanding lead in the divisional race.
This afternoon’s game will see youngster Hayden Wesneski (0.87 ERA) make his second start of the season after moving out of a multi-inning relief role to cover for injured rookie Jordan Wicks. Wesneski will take the ball opposite right-hander Joe Ross (5.40 ERA) at 1:20pm local time this afternoon. Saturday’s game will feature Brewers youngster Tobias Myers (4.50 ERA) facing Cubs veteran Jameson Taillon (1.50 ERA). Javier Assad (1.97 ERA) is expected to take the mound for Chicago on Sunday, and Milwaukee has announced staff ace Freddy Peralta (3.21 ERA) as their probable starter for the game amid a five-game suspension for throwing at Rays outfielder Jose Siri. Peralta is currently appealing.
2. Eovaldi to undergo MRI:
The Rangers’ rotation may have been dealt a major blow yesterday when veteran right-hander Nathan Eovaldi exited his start against the Nationals in the sixth inning due to a bout of right groin tightness. As noted by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, manager Bruce Bochy told reporters that the club is “being cautious” with the 34-year-old, and that he may “need some rest” before returning to the rotation. Grant adds that an MRI has been scheduled for today to determine the severity of Eovaldi’s injury.
Eovaldi has excelled with a 2.61 ERA and a solid 3.55 FIP across seven starts this season. In the event of an IL placement, the Rangers could turn to Jack Leiter or Owen White could take the ball in Eovaldi’s stead, though both former top prospects struggled in cups of coffee at the big league level earlier this season.
3. Mets 40-man move incoming:
The Mets are set to begin a three-game set against the Rays today, and Game 2 of the series tomorrow will mark the big league debut of one of the club’s top pitching prospects. Right-hander Christian Scott has emerged as a consensus top-100 prospect after posting a 3.20 ERA with an excellent 38.3% strikeout rate in five starts at the Triple-A level this year, and he’ll be promoted to the big leagues to take the ball opposite Rays righty Zack Littell (3.27 ERA) on Saturday.
The Mets will need to make corresponding moves to accommodate Scott on both the 40-man and active rosters. The transaction to clear space on the 40-man roster could be telling regarding the timetable of veteran lefty Brooks Raley, who is facing a potentially lengthy absence due to an elbow issue that may ultimately require surgery. If the Mets expect Raley to be out until July, they could transfer him to the 60-day IL to make room for Scott without needing to risk losing a player from the organization.
NYM may have a bit of P roster maneuvering to do. Megill nearly back. Peterson back in perhaps in June. Lucchesi pitching well in AAA.
Don’t worry, there’ll be more injuries coming. Seems to be inevitable
The Crew need to take advantage of missing Imanaga and injured Stelle.
Crew generally struggles against young pitchers they haven’t seen before, so I have my doubts on this one. However, they’ve been playing with a little grit lately and may just go on a tear to let these guys know they’ll be around all day and all year to battle.
Kripes, man, that’s a huge overgeneralization.
Was it though? 3 hit shutout with 8Ks for the Wesneski kid. I watch these guys enough to make educated generalizations. They also scratched a few runs out against the bullpen. Scrappy team on a beautiful day for baseball.
But the sample size is way too small.
For this season yes. It’s just been that way over several seasons. I’m not sure if it’s a coaching gameplan thing, how to attack these guys, not enough scouting or a complete coincidence, but it’s been noticeable.
Also, an injured Bellinger and Suzuki… Cubs offense has gone through the wringer.
You would have to think Ranger fans are happy to hear it’s Eovaldi’s groin and not his arm at this point.
You ain’t wrong there Uncle Mike
@Unclemike1526
Got to be the pitch clock. Pitchers groins need time to rest between pitches, too. /s
Hence the ‘no sex before the game’ unwritten rule York…
Or at least none of that Kama Sutra stuff for sure.
The thing is groin injuries can be nagging, and if Eovaldi comes back not at 100% or if he even has it in his head, he might unintentionally favour one leg over the other, and then you get a back, shoulder, or elbow injury.
Hopefully, none of that happens, but he’s not out of the woods yet
Cubs are basically a fifth of the way done with the season and today will be their first intra-divisional match up.
Have not played a division rival yet.
On the other side of town the White Sox have already 20 games against the AL Central and are 2-18 in those games.
The Cubs have to fare much better than .100 baseball to dominate the NL Central.
I expect low scoring games between the Cubs and Brewers like they’ve played against each other for awhile now. Having Belli and Suzuki out definitely hurts. The Cubs young P’s have stepped up and answered the call for the most part. Brown has been great but doesn’t get deep into games yet and they’re being careful with him. I wonder if it would be wiser to let him try to be a late inning arm for now rather than send him down to start when Steele comes back? That’s going to be an interesting decision especially with Alzolay’s struggles. Morel was obviously putting so much work into his glove that his bat suffered but he seems to be coming out of it. PCA has actually been pretty good with the bat and isn’t chasing the way he was at AAA. That’s been impressive to me. Cubs pen has been the inconsistent part but Keegan Thompson has been 2021 Keegan which is nice. CC is using KT the same way Ross did and led to his demise though which I don’t like. Mostly because of the short starts I suppose. Almonte also looking good which is cool because he didn’t look that great in the Spring. Should be interesting.
This is the one down side of the Cubs starting pitching, Assad is lights out the first two times through the order but has been rocked the third time. Cubs never stretch their starting pitchers out on AAA more than I think around 75 pitches so they have no experience going deep into games. All that is fine as long as you have a couple arms able to give you solid long relief but one of our long guys is in the rotation due to injuries.
Frankly, as for mentioned, I’d bring up Horton and move Wesneski back to long relief. Thompson and Wesneski are ideal for long relief because they are shaky at first, then settle down. Both have good enough stuff to typically get through the initial inning fairly clean.
Drascoo let me ask you a question. Does Happ look right to you? I know he has a hamstring thing going on but it looks to me like it’s worse than they think. I catch him limping around every now and then and I expect if Bellinger and Suzuki weren’t hurt he’d be on the IL. Thoughts? It looks like it hurts him swinging also.
Uncle/Dras—in yesterday’s game did either of you find it not a little peculiar, but crazily absurd that Counsell pinch hit for PCA in the 11th AFTER Madrigal had doubled with nobody out?? And this is not about Dansby striking out because neither of the last two strikes were anywhere near the zone.
I get the left on left—-but why not bunt PCA–get Madrigal to third and then pinch hit Dansby for Gomes??? On the road you play for that second run, don’t you? Amaya to catch the bottom of the 11th, PCA still out there, etc.
Cubs lost that game in the top of the 11th just as much as they lost it in the bottom of the inning.
I think they lost the game in the 5th when he took out Brown and brought in Keegan. I would have let Brown figure it out himself and then brought Keegan in fresh. I know Keegan got out of it but Brown needs to learn in that situation. Counsell has made some curious moves this year to be sure but they’re the kind managers always make. Look smart when they work and dumb when they don’t. Plus he’s dealing with a lot of guys he wasn’t supposed to deal with in tough situations. So I think it’s a feeling out process. At least I hope so. And he’s said he hates bunting.
I find a lot of CC’s moves questionable. I get that he is learning the pen and has access to more information than I do but I seriously think I have a better handle on the Cubs relievers than he does.
As for PCA, yes absolutely. Gomes historically has hit lefties well but I think there was more value in simply attempting to move the runner over and keeping a plus plus defender in center. It would have made a bit more sense if the Cubs were at home in a walk off situation to pinch hit.
To Uncle, I think it’s pretty obvious Happ is hurting. The guy started the season so good and has fell off a cliff since he injured his hamstring. He’s been a liability with the bat and in the field.
I also think if you bring Thompson in, you bring him in for multiple innings regardless. If your starters are not going long and you need to burn your long man then burn your long man. Right now the Cubs are middle of a stupid long consecutive game streak and you have to manage not only to win a single game but look further down the road. I personally, knowing Wesneski probably isn’t going deep today, would have left Thompson in until the 8th or 9th depending on how things were looking and then optioned him for a fresh arm (as much as I hate the optioning rules now).
Did anybody else crap in their pants when Counsell brought Alzolay into a 1-0 game?
Another fantastic start ruined by a lackluster offense and Alzolay. What the heck is wrong with that guy? To the point where he needs DFA
Besides Wesneski I mean.
Cubs rotation is whats keeping them in it. With the injuries, the offense has struggled at times and the bullpen is bad.
Absolutely brilliant non-sequitur deduction.
Sherlockian… Einsteinian… the first to connect how the White Sox are doing with how the Cubs should be doing.
Bravo.
MLB is jacked. The Brewers/Cubs are done playing each other on July 24th barring a rain out. They both have off July 25th. The Cubs are done with the Cardinals in early August and the Brewers early September.
Yeah they didn’t respect the rivalry with the Cards. The Cubs finish up with the Athletics, Nationals , Phillies and Reds. I think MLB figured the games with the Reds will be more important than the games with the Cards. They might be right but finishing up with the Cards might have been more heated whatever the standings looked like.
Uncle, I think we may all be thankful for that ten game stretch of the Rockies, A’s, and Nationals in the heart of September.
Also, need to pray that everything falls right and those open dates stay open. Remember a few years back when they had something like 42 games in 41 days and they just couldn’t keep up?
If baseball wants to keep this “balanced” schedule then they actually need to make it balanced, ie Central teams go out West and play West Coast teams, limiting travel and teams are facing the same opponents around the same time. Given that we are all playing the same teams the same amount of times outside the division, this seems too easy to not make happen.
Not to mention this is the first series of the year that the Cubs are playing a division opponent.
#freeBauer2024
Yes. Any team that signs him will be getting.a “free Bauer.”
And big ratings.
Free him from pitching in Mexico? He decided to do that. MLB teams aren’t required to hire him.
They aren’t required to hire Shohei Ohtani either. What’s your point?
The weirdo will never have a job in MLB again.
How is he a “weirdo?”
I agree. Just because he throws off a little Patrick Bateman vibes doesn’t mean he’s a weirdo.
I wonder if he’d sign a 4yr/4m deal with the Sacramento A’s… A second chance while giving the team some potential upside to offset the negative aspects. I don’t think a 1 year deal at the minimum will ever be enough to sway a team to take the gamble… but 4 years at 1m a pop… perhaps. Maybe let him opt out of the last year if he throws a combined 500 innings with an era under 4.00.
It’s hard to imagine a team in Vegas being too moral to employ the likes of Bauer and if there is one fan base the owner isn’t terribly worried about offending it’s the A’s. It seems like a natural fit.
Tbh they could get him for the league minimum with individual club options at the league minimum for the next 10 years.
I see the cub fans already whinnying about not having Suzuki and Bellinger. Damn, ya missing the .225 hitting Bellinger is a disaster. Yet the Brewers are missing the .333 hitting Yelich.is nothing…
Hoping MLB didn’t send the horrendous umps that screwed the Brewers the past week or that gifted the cubs the game in NY.
cub fans whinny!
this is a mental image that I will never forget
Implying that both batting average and a small sample matter, all in one comment.
Good stuff
Someone’s Little Sister-ism is showing here.
Also, it was a Brewers fan who pointed out the Cubs’ injuries.
Go sniffle in your widdle room.
Yeah, no excuses from either side. Play ball. But Cubs are the little sister here. In last 5 seasons the best Cub win total is 84. Brewers have had an 89, 95, 86 and 92 in that time.
ohmy- I’d actually be cool with putting Happ on the IL as horrible as that would be to have your whole starting OF out at once. Happ doesn’t look right to me. Seeing the Cubs OF of the future, Canario, PCA and Caissie together would be awesome if they weren’t playing the team ahead of them in the standings. So who’s whining?
Don’t know about this division? 1st to last in division may be close at end of season.
not if Pirates keep their best player in AAA all year.
Pirates pitching been decent.Just don’t have enough contact pure hitters? Head scratcher. Pitchers have to have runs.