Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Contreras to return:
The Cardinals are set to activate Willson Contreras from the injured list today, manager Oli Marmol told reporters yesterday (link via MLB.com’s John Denton). The final step before Contreras will be officially activated is a medical evaluation upon joining the club in Atlanta today. The news caps off a surprisingly fast return to action for Contreras, who was initially expected to miss ten weeks after suffering a fractured arm when he was struck by a swing from Mets DH J.D. Martinez.
Contreras is now set to return nearly a month ahead of schedule, and it couldn’t come at a better time for the Cardinals. The St. Louis club surged back into postseason contention during Contreras’ absence and will now plug the same bat that hit .280/.398/.551 in their first 31 games back into the lineup. Contreras’ return also dovetails with a recent injury to young Ivan Herrera, who had been filling in behind the plate but is now on the shelf with a back injury. That’s left the Cardinals with a third-string catching duo of Pedro Pages and Nick Raposo in recent days.
2. Orioles roster move incoming:
The Orioles will recall outfielder Heston Kjerstad to the major leagues today for what will be his third stint with Baltimore. The 25-year-old top prospect has hit just .205/.286/.364 in 50 trips to the plate in the big leagues but has torn up the Triple-A level. In 56 games this year, the former No. 2 overall pick has slashed .301/.397/.601 with 31 extra base hits (16 homers) in 258 plate appearances.
In order to make room for Kjerstad, the Orioles will need to make a corresponding move. Typically, that move could simply come in the form of optioning another player to the minors, but the Orioles’ bench lacks optionable players aside from veteran outfielder Austin Hays, who’s been on a hot streak (.333/.380/.569) since returning from the injured list last month. MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko suggested yesterday that the club could designate utilityman Nick Maton for assignment to make room for Kjerstad, but there’s no official word from the team just yet.
3. Guardians update on Fry?
The Guardians suffered a tough blow yesterday when slugger David Fry was pulled after the second inning due to inflammation in his elbow, as noted by The Athletic’s Zack Meisel. Meisel adds that Fry is currently being considered day-to-day by the club. MLB.com’s Injury Tracker adds that Fry was set to be evaluated further after yesterday’s game and that the Guardians hope to know more about his status today.
Much of the Guardians’ success on offense can be attributed to Fry, who has slashed an otherworldly .312/.429/.526 (172 wRC+) while splitting time between catcher, DH, first base, left field, right field and even third base for Cleveland. There’s no replacing that blend of production and defensive versatility, but if Fry lands on the IL, the Guardians could turn to top prospect Kyle Manzardo to take over Fry’s spot in the first base/DH mix while Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges take on a more traditional role as a catching tandem.
Losing Fry for any extended period of time would be a big blow to the Guards, but Daniel Schneeman has been pretty Fry-esque himself in the month of June. Like Fry, he is absolutely mashing the ball, giving the team positional flexibility (2B, 3B, SS, and all 3 OF positions), and didn’t debut until age 27
Cleveland may be fried.
Not great for the Indians. Essentially 6 guys on the team are creating runs and carrying the team. Losing one is not great. At least it’s not Kwan. He should be starting the AS game.
Doing my 5/day to get Mr. Kwan in. Sorry Kyle.
If Willson is in ATL today…he ain’t playing. Game’s in The Lou.
Exactly!
Can you imagine if Fry was on the Yankees instead of the Guardians? They’d be undefeated and their fans would be petitioning Cooperstown for early admission while he’s still playing. But, alas, he’s in Cleveland, so he’s just another small piece of news. Probably overrated and wasting his career on a team that won’t win anything. Such a shame. Bad for baseball.
Wow, you are really bad at trolling.
Yet Cleveland has a better record than the Yankees. I guess they are going to win something.
Sarcasm intended. Certainly not trolling Guardian fans.
Understood.
@Mets6986??
While it would be nice for them to win it all, with the current playoff system, it doesn’t favor those with the best record. Best of 3 series and you’re out. Teams going into the playoffs as a wild card have a better chance as there are more of them and in a 3 or 5game series, any team can win 2 or 3 in a row. I wouldn’t put any money on the top teams making it to the championship.
The thing that worries me about the Guardians is that their starters are going about 5 innings per start and they are racking up a lot of bullpen innings as a result. I think the teams that do well in the postseason have not worn out their relievers. Anything near 70 innings starts to worry me for a long postseason run. Their top 3 guys could be over 70 and their next 4 guys could be close to 70. That’s dangerous in my opinion. Stretching out their starters an extra inning could do the bullpen a favor, but that’s easier to say than to make it happen. Getting a safe lead in some games maybe lets you stick with your starter. And for that, Fry is important.
@ Old York:
3 of the last 10 World Series’ were won by the team with the best regular season record. 5 of the last 10 World Series’ were won by a regular season league leader.
Nothing is guaranteed but being the best team in a league gives you a pretty good shot at the World Series.
I agree and I’m worried about that also. I’m hopeful when Gavin Williams returns, he can go a bit longer and maybe the use Cookie in the bullpen as a multi-inning option, especially blow out games, put him in in the 6th and let him finish the game.
Look at the past few years since they’ve had the extra wild card expansion. It doesn’t benefit the best team.
The most recent format change was 2022
That’s a sample size of 2 seasons
And still…
Astros led the AL and won the World Series in 2022
@Canuckleball
It’s a basic numbers game though. You’ve got more WC teams at play so you’ll have more success with the WC team than you will with the top team.
If your bet is either of the 2 league leaders vs all of the wildcards as one selection together then yes.
If you’re an individual team, or a bettor who has to select one single team, the best odds are with a league leader, not with any one wildcard team.
Actually, after taking a closer look, it’s not close.
Over the last 10 seasons (minus 2020 due to the weird format):
There have been 18 league leaders (9 seasons, 2 leagues)
4 of them have won world series for a winning percentage of 22.2%
In that same time there have been a total of 40 wildcard teams in those 9 playoff seasons.
3 have won a title (Rangers 2023, Nationals 2019, Giants 2014)
That’s a winning percentage of 7.5%
Almost 3 times more likely to be right if you pick a league leader over any particular wildcard team.
@Canuckleball
That’s not fair, Canuckleball. You just crushed my opinion with facts and data. That’s like a Mortal Combat move to finish me.
Fatality!
Cleveland should have a better record playing in an inferior division, whereas the AL East is bigger, stronger and better than the Central.
With the balanced schedule, and playing every team, every year, there is not a lot of difference in the schedules. It used to be every other series was against the Royals. Its just not like that anymore.
Styme the AL Central is 39-55 against the AL East. Would you like a second opinion? They are still below .500 taking out the White Sox record. Under no circumstance should Cleveland be compared to the best teams in the AL East. They would be lucky to be in 3rd if they were back in that division.
The guardians are 10-6 vs the East… good try though
JRam your Indians errrrrr Guardians just swept the Blue Jays which means your inferior team was 7-6, AND you have not faced Baltimore yet. You’re also 1-2 against the Yankees.
Nice try. Your team is not in a good division or as great as you think.
Please give me any evidence why the Guardians aren’t a good team. And while we’re talking small sample sizes (3 games against the Yankees), they won in Baltimore last night. Should the Guardians be punished for sweeping a bad team? Also, I never argued for the Central being “good” or on the same level as the East
Your last line basically sums up my argument. Thank you. While your Guardians reside in arguably the worst division in baseball, your evidence can be summed up by your team’s lacklustre performances in the postseason after that 2016 run.
The punishment should be adding two teams to the league and going back to East/West format so your team can fight for third place.
Your argument isn’t valid lol
Great news about Contreras coming back. I hope he’s not too rusty. Hopefully he’s used as DH often for the first few weeks
Pages has been so good with the pitching staff and behind the plate that I can see Contreras only catching a couple days a week for a while.
Cards are not in Atlanta. No transaction on Contreras yet.
The Cardinals are 2 games over 500 and have had quite a few injuries up until this point. And this has also happened while getting very little out of Goldschmidt and Arenado. I have seen better Cardinals teams but this team has a shot. Hoping for a big trade.
Hopefully Kjerstad gets a legit opportunity this time. He has a ton of potential I think he’s going to be a great hitter for years to come.
The Orioles have such a good team any criticism is nitpicking a bit but they could use a right handed hitting outfielder and a lefty starter. A good deadline move or 2 and they look like the team to beat.
Orioles players have had some injuries they’ve worked through, and it’s not easy to get playing time for all those on the roster.
The hitting and fielding coaches have straightened out Cedric Mullins, while Austin Hays is looking like himself recently as well. Pitching coaches are bringing along Cade Povich while Cole Irvin needs to make some adjustments.
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It seems that when the cars of MLBTR posters need an alignment, they do research on where to buy 4 new tires.
Samuel I enjoy your comments quite a lot. I’m not ready to join the Cedric Mullins is straightened out hype train. I know he’s swung the bat better as of late. I think he still has a lot more to do. That said, it is a crowded outfield with this move by the O’s. If the OF is Hays, Cowser and Santander with Mullins and O’Hearn, not sure how many at bats Heston is getting – and who’s losing at bats.
Samuel is a front-runner. Not long ago he was telling everyone what a terrible organization Baltimore was, and extolled the expertise of Minnesota, St. Louis, Houston, and KC. Don’t believe a word he says.
If I do not know you, Windowpane, it means you have not done enough.
If we are being honest, wasn’t Baltimore a horrible organization for a couple decades? We would not call their 1998-2022, 25 season stretch a great success.
They have Austin Hays
Maybe someone who Samuel hasn’t muted can ask him what the hell car tires have to do with major league baseball.
The list of those not muted by Samuel is extremely small. He muted me during a Dansby Swanson free agency discussion because I laughed at him for saying that “Kevin Newman is a much better overall SS than Swanson.”
Yeah I am sitting here trying to figure out what that analogy meant.
Samuel is a front-running troll.
As long as the Cardinals finish ahead of the cubs it’s all that matters to me. Anything else would be gravy!