As the calendar flips to July, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Wood to debut:
One of the game’s very best prospects will make his big league debut today. Twenty-one-year-old outfielder James Wood had his contract selected this morning and will be in the lineup at Nationals Park tonight against the visiting Mets. Acquired from the Padres in the Juan Soto trade back in 2022 as part of a package that also included breakout star CJ Abrams and lefty MacKenzie Gore (the latter of whom will, coincidentally, take the ball for the club tonight opposite New York’s David Peterson), Wood is a consensus top-five prospect in all of baseball now.
Wood has shot through the minor leagues since joining the Nationals and took Triple-A by storm this year with an eye-popping .353/.463/.595 across 52 games in his first taste of action at the level. The budding star figures to slot directly into the regular outfield mix in Washington, where the club is currently relying on Jesse Winker and Lane Thomas in the corners alongside Jacob Young in center field.
2. Guerrero dealing with soreness after HBP:
Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. suffered a scary incident yesterday when he was struck in the hand by a pitch from Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole. X-rays after the game were negative, according to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, who added that the slugger noted two of the fingers on his hand were still “quite sore” following the game. Guerrero doesn’t intend to let soreness stop him from returning to the lineup for today’s game against the Astros. He told Davidi that there’s a “90 percent” chance that he’ll be back in the lineup today, although he did acknowledge the possibility that overnight swelling could change those plans.
The Blue Jays are desperately trying to climb back into playoff contention after falling 7.5 games out of the final AL Wild Card spot with a 38-45 record. Guerrero figures to be a huge part of any winning streak the club manages to pull off, as his .297/.375/.471 slash line not only leads the team but stands out as his best season since finishing second to Shohei Ohtani in AL MVP voting back in 2021. He’s been particularly hot since putting a tepid month of April behind him, and Guerrero has now slashed .341/.407/.539 in his last 240 trips to the plate.
3. Brewers 40-man move incoming:
The Brewers are expected to activate outfielder Garrett Mitchell from the 60-day injured list today and have reportedly already cleared an active roster spot for the 25-year-old by optioning top prospect Tyler Black to the minor leagues. Before Mitchell can officially be added back to the roster, however, the club will need to clear space for him on the 40-man. Milwaukee has no obvious candidates to be transferred to the 60-day IL currently on the shelf, so it seems fair to expect the club to designate a player for assignment this afternoon before tonight’s game in Colorado. The club’s first-round pick from the 2020 draft, Mitchell will be joining a crowded outfield mix that features Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio in the corners on a regular basis, flanking a center field platoon of Sal Frelick and Blake Perkins.
Don’t forget CLE Gavin Williams making his season debut Wed vs. CHW. Over/under 9 strikeouts?
No matter who’s pitching against them it’s over/under 9 strikeouts for the white sox every game
“Over/Under”
Under: They’ll limit his innings.
They’ll limit his IP, but he could go 5 IP and still get 9 IP based on his recent rehab results and he’s facing CWS (though I’m surprised to see SEA leads MLB (by quite a bit) in team strikeouts).
O/U: I took to mean place your bets. Thats my bet. Limited innings is just my reasoning.
I’m guessing the Pirates lead MLB in strikeouts looking.
He could go 4 innings and still get 9Ks
He got 20 SO in 12 IP (AAA) during his rehab stint, albeit giving up 7 ER (7 BB) showing the rust.
Run
Under
Also, maybe should have set the “line” at like 9.5 for what should be obvious reasons
“at like 9.5”
Or more like 5.5. In 2023, Williams had 16 starts and only reached 9 twice.
And before anyone asks, happy Bobby Bonilla Day.
ChuckyNJ
Ah yes. The day where people who either don’t understand finance or weirdly enjoy interest payments talk about a completely normal thing.
Today is also Griffey Jr.’s last day of being one of the highest players on the Reds payroll.
Hmmm looks like deterred contracts have been around long before Ohtani signed one lol
For the Red Sox, Manny Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia are 2 of the 20 highest paid players
Both deferred & “deterred” contracts have been around quite a while.
Hoping I can tune in to see Wood’s debut today
Single in his first PA
My guess is Vinny Capra gets the DFA
The Nat’s Juan Soto trade just keeps looking better and better. It could end up as one of the game’s best overall trades and there’s no way the Nats would have been this improved by signing Soto long term.
Yeah this is what fans of the White Sox should be looking at. This is why you don’t give Crochet an extension or keep Robert around. No it doesn’t always work out like this but it can and when it does the team trading their star can come out way ahead.
“Fans of the Whitesox”..Some good points. The best baseball deals are done without regard to nostalgia or emotion. If you’re consistently going nowhere(losing)with your star(or stars), then you should always trade your star, since you can almost certainly continue losing without him. I can only dream of what the California Angels might look like today had they traded Ohtani with 1.5 yrs of control left. They certainly never came close to winning with him.
I think Ohtani is a unique situation. People talk about guys selling tickets but who shows up to watch Garret Crochet? Only die hard baseball fans. But Ohtani was a huge draw. And last year Trout got hurt right after the deadline which crushed the Angels hopes. I think the Angels were in a tough situation with Ohtani.
The Soto trade is actually the least expected outcome. According to some talking heads I heard last week, citing a report done recently, teams acquiring big name MLB players almost always get the better results.
You have to factor in salary. The Yankees traded for Soto and he’s playing great of course but part of the equation is the Padees couldn’t afford to pay him and build a team around him.
It’s why I think Preller is the most overrated GM. One would think that he is the GM of the Nationals.
I really liked James Wood and his appearance on Family Guy
Deeds is a terrible writer. There should be NO COMMAS in this sentence: “the latter of whom will, coincidentally, take the ball for the club tonight opposite New York’s David Peterson.” This idiot kid misses basic rules of punctuation all the time. Hire someone who can actually write well.
MLBTRnthe
Adios
This CBeisbol guy is a huge weirdo