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The MLB trade deadline is just three days away. After that I’m sure you’ll see a lot of articles about which teams where winners and which teams where losers. I thought we’d get a jump on that, but with a twist. Instead of looking at the trades that where made and how they will affect the pennant race let’s take a look at them and see how they’ll affect your fantasy team.

Let’s start with the biggest name that’s been traded so far Manny Machado who went from the Baltimore Orioles to the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is an easy one. Machado was having an MVP caliber season with the worse team record wise in baseball and there’s no reason to think that won’t continue. Machado may even have a chance to pick up some more RBI’s and score more runs for his fantasy owners being in a better hitting line up. The return of a healthy Justin Turner would give Machado even more of a chance to produce, but even without Turner it’s still a fantasy Win.

Let’s go with Machado’s teammate Zach Britton next who was traded from the Orioles to the New York Yankees. If you drafted and held on to Britton you where expecting him to return and pick up some saves for you, but he’s not going to get too many of those opportunities now. In my category leagues Holds is one of the categories; so Britton will be able to contribute in those leagues, but I most other leagues it’s going to be difficult to get a contribution from Britton for the remainder of the season. This one has to go down as a fantasy Loss.

Let’s stick with the Yankees as they also acquired left handed pitcher J.A. Happ from the Toronto Blue Jays. Happ picked up 10 wins with a Toronto team that was under .500. You have to think that a move to a contender should be good for him, but you never know. Happ has been om a bit of a downward cycle as he hasn’t pitched more than 5 innings in his last three starts and over his last seven starts his ERA is 5.20. Now he’s moving to a hitter friendly ballpark, but he’ll also have a better hitting team behind him even without Aaron Judge for a few weeks. I think this will be a Win for you fantasy team.

The Boston Red Sox also picked up a starter as they traded with the Tampa Bay Rays for right hander Nathan Eovaldi. The first thing that comes to mind is will Eovaldi stay healthy. Even think season Eovaldi didn’t make his first start until May 30th. He appears healthy and four of his last five starts have been very good. Moving to the best team in baseball should also be a big plus. All things point to this being a fantasy Win. 

The Milwaukee Brewers have made a couple of moves the first one being a deal with the Chicago White Sox for reliever Joakim Soria. With the White Sox Soria was the guy at the end of the bullpen getting the opportunity to get a save. He’s not going to be getting those chances with the Brewers. Soria has performed well in the set up role before which is what he’s expected to do for Milwaukee, but if you took a chance and drafted him I fantasy you took him as a closer. With that being said this ends up as a fantasy Loss.

The other deal the Brewers made was last night as they acquired Kansas City Royals 3rd baseman Mike Moustakas. This trade adds another power bat as Moustakas has hit 20 ho runs this season and is coming off a 2017 season where he posted a career high 38 home runs. With Eric Thames being out injured Moustakas should side nicely into that role of left handed power hitter for the Brewers. Being added to a better line up should also help Moustakas as he shouldn’t be pitched around now. This looks like a fantasy Win. 

The defending World Series champion Houston Astros have also made a couple of moves. The first one was acquiring catcher Martin Maldonado from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Maldonado has always been looked at as a good defensive catcher and a quality handler of a pitching staff, but he did post a career high 14 home runs last season. The question here is going to be playing time as I how much will he get. Max Stassi has dome a nice job filling in for the injured Brian McCann; so you have to figure right off the bat Maldonado is going to be sharing time. When the veteran McCann returns he’ll need the at bats to get ready for the playoffs. With all of this working against Maldonado this one is a fantasy Loss.

The Astros also added some bullpen help last night as they picked up Ryan Pressly from the Minnesota Twins. It was thought that the Astros might be looking for a closer, but Pressly is a set up guy who’s appeared in 51 games this season and has posted 8 holds. Pressly’s ERA is a little higher than most would like for a reliever, but I think this is another situation of a player going to a better team. This is a tough call, but I think this one will go down as a fantasy Win.

The Chicago Cubs added to their starting rotation picking up former World Series MVP Cole Hamels from the Texas Rangers. Hamels has had some struggles this season. I his last start Hamels gave up 7 runs in 5 innings and over his last seven starts has an ERA of 6.69. A lot of Hamels trouble has been associated with pitching in Texas where during the summer months the baseball really jumps at the Ballpark at Arlington. Is a change of scenery what Hamels needs? This season and last season Hamels ERA has been over 4.00, but he has had success in the National League before. I think the move to the Cubs will be a positive for Hamels and while he may not match the stats he had the last tie he was in the National League I think his numbers will improve. This should be a fantasy Win.

It had been reported that the Philadelphia Phillies where interested in adding a middle infielder and that’s what they did when they traded with the New York Mets for Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera is a career .270 hitter, but is ahead of that number this season and has hit better than that the last two seasons. Cabrera also appears to be on his way to posting a career high in home runs; he has 18 home runs right now and his career high is 23. Cabrera has played 2nd, short and 3rd in his career, but this season he has exclusively played 2nd base. I’m not sure where the Phillies are panning on playing Cabrera, but he fits what was perceived as their need. As long as Cabrera continues to get regular at bats with the Phillies there’s no reason he shouldn’t continue to put up the numbers he’s been doing all season; so this should be a fantasy Win.

Another team that went out and traded for a position of need was the Arizona Diamondbacks as they acquired shortstop Eduardo Escobar from the Minnesota Twins. Escobar was the Twins best player this season posting a .274 batting average with 15 home runs and 63 RBI’s. What’s paid off for fantasy owners with Escobar this season is he has a MLB leading 37 doubles this season. This looks like a good move for a Arizona team that is 1 1/2 games out of 1st place in the National League West and are currently holding the second National League wild card spot. Escobar is moving into what is a better hitters parks; so this should be a fantasy Win.

I saved this trade for last because I’m guessing it doesn’t affect too many leagues, but it will have an affect in the two 20 team leagues I’m in.

The Colorado Rockies added to their bullpen acquiring Seunghwan Oh from the Toronto Blue Jays. It appeared as though Oh was going to get some save opportunities in Toronto and earlier on he did, but converted just 2 of 5 save chances. Oh had his trouble in the closing role for the Blue Jays and was shifted into more of a set up role where he did well. Oh’s ERA is 2.68 in 48 games. The Rockies have a very crowded bullpen and I’m not sure how many chances Oh will get plus his home game are now in Coors Field. I think the combination of this many this one a fantasy Loss.

I think we got all of the major trades that should affect your fantasy leagues as of right now. Let me know n the comments if I missed one or what you think of these deals.

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The Baltimore Orioles rebuild started by sending Manny Machado to the Los Angels Dodgers and it continued last night with the trade of Zach Britton.

Britton was dealt to the New York Yankees for three prospects all pitchers. Dillion Tate is a right handed pitcher who was 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 15 starts at Double-A. Right hander Cody Carroll and lefthander Josh Rogers where both pitching in Triple-A. Carroll has pitched in 32 games and is 3-0 with an ERA of 2.38 with 9 saves. Rogers was 6-8 with an ERA of 3.95 in 19 starts.

The Orioles kept all three in the minors at the levels they where at. Tate went to Double-A Bowie while Carroll and Rogers where assigned to Triple-A Norfolk.

Britton’s season didn’t start until June 12th as he had Achilles tendon surgery in the off season. He’s appeared in 11 games for the Orioles going 1-0 with an ERA of 3.45 with 4 saves.

Britton isn’t quite back to that dominant closer form he showed before getting injury, but he hasn’t given up a run in his last 8 appearances and truth be told the Yankees don’t need him to be that guy. Britton has been used in back to back games, but hasn’t pitched more than an 1 1/3rd in a game this season.

Britton strengthens what looked to be an already strong Yankees bullpen. Aroldis Chapman has an ERA of 2.03 while Dellin Betances (2.55) and Chad Green (2.63) have ERA’s under 3 while David Robertson has a respectable 3.05 ERA. Jonathan Holder and A.J. Cole have also contributed to the Yankees bullpen success. Adam Warren recently returned from injury while Chasen Shreve has had some struggles this season.

The addition of Britton will allow the Yankees to match up late in games against left handed hitters without having to stretch Chapman out. Britton also has the closing resume to give Chapman a day off if needed.

Britton is in the final year of his contract and since he was dealt mid-season the Yankees will not be able to give him a qualifying offer. That means if Britton signs with someone other than the Yankees next season New York won’t receive any compensation for him. The Yankees are also picking up the remainder of Britton’s 2018 salary which is right around 4.38 million dollars.

There where a lot of teams interested in acquiring Britton and the Yankees getting him is as much a game of keep away as it is improving their own bullpen. It was reported that the Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs where two contenders interested in Britton. Now they’ll have to look elsewhere and the Yankees won’t have to face Britton if they where to meet up with the Astros in the post season.

With Britton, Brad Hand and Jeurys Familia all being traded it’s going to be difficult for a team to find a closer type of pitcher. Even though everyone seemed to think that the Oakland A’s should be sellers and deal their closer Blake Treinen they decided to go a different route and traded for Familia. With the Pittsburgh Pirates on an 11 game winning streak which has got them back into striking distance of a wild card spot they’ll more than likely hang into their closer Felipe Vazquez. So who’s that leave out there?

Fernando Rodney has converted 21 of his 26 saves chances for the Minnesota Twins. Rodney is 41 years old and in his 16th season, but can still get the job done. The Twins are 46-53 and it doesn’t look like they’ll be catching the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central; so they might look to trade Rodney. Rodney would be owed the remainder of his $4.25 million dollar salary for this season and he has an option for next season at the same salary, but he could be bought out for $250,000.

The Texas Rangers aren’t going to be contenders this season and there has been a lot of talk about them trading Cole Hamels, but would they deal their closer? Keone Kela is just 25 and has converted 23 of his 24 save chances this season. The price tag might be a little high for Kela as he doesn’t reach arbitration until this coming off season and can’t be a free agent until the 2022 season. There are some reports that the Pirates have contacted the Rangers about Kela’s availability.

At 43-60 the Detroit Tigers have played better in the first year of their rebuild than I think even they expected, but with the rebuild going on I’m sure they’d be open to dealing their closer Shane Greene. Greene has converted 20 of his 23 saves chances this season, but does have an ERA of 3.86. Greene is 29 years old and goes into arbitration next season and can become a free agent in 2021.

The Chicago White Sox are in the exact same position that the Tigers are. Jokim Soria is closing for the White Sox this season and has converted 16 of his 19 save opportunities. Soria is 34 nd in his 11th season. He’s actually spent more time pitching as a set up man than he has a closer; so it shouldn’t be difficult for him to work back into that role. Soria is making $9 million dollars this season and has an option for next season at $10 million dollars, but the contract has a $1 million dollar buy out.

I think the hot name on the relief front will be Raisel Iglesias of the Cincinnati Reds. Iglesias has converted 19 of his 22 save chances this season, but has an ERA of just 2.20. Iglesias is 28 years old and any team acquiring him would have him under control for four years if they wanted to. Iglesias is eligible for arbitration in 2021 and would be allowed to become a free agent in 2022. Interestingly there are teams out there that have mentioned that they’d be interested in seeing if Iglesias could become a starter, but that would be next season after a full spring training of being stretched out as a starter. the Reds seem to have been rebuilding for quite a few years without much success. Would they move Iglesias for a package of prospects and try to speed up that rebuild?

There’s a pretty good list of closers that could be traded before the July 31st deadline. Did you see someone that your favorite team should be looking at? Or is there someone that isn’t listed that should be? Let me know in the comments.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is also available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

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With 63 wins so far this season the Houston Astros have the second most wins in Major League Baseball trailing only the Boston Red Sox who have 66 wins. The Astros are currently in 1st place in the American League West 4 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners. Houston looks like a serious threat to win back to back World Series, but they seem to have one glaring weakness.

After back to back relief appearances where he had given up a run the Astros sent their closer Ken Giles to Triple-A. Giles was 12 for 12 in save opportunities, but had an 0-2 record with an ERA of 4.99 in 34 games this season. On July 10th Giles came into a game against the Oakland A’s with a 4 run lead. He threw just 8 pitches and was charged with 3 earned runs as the A’s managed to comeback and beat the Astros 6-5 and while Giles wasn’t involved in the decision he was the pitcher who allowed the A’s to get back into the game. This was Giles last appearance before the Astros sent him to Triple-A.

The Astros acquired Giles in a seven player deal with the Philadelphia Phillies in December of 2015. Houston received Giles and Jonathan Arauz in return for Mark Appel, Harold Arauz, Tom Eshelman, Brett Oberholtzer and Vincent Velasquez. Appel was one of if not the Astros top pitching prospect at the time of this deal and it was a bit of a surprise that Houston traded him.

While Giles was looked upon as someone who would develop into a top closer even though when he was with the Phillies Giles was mostly used as a set up guy. He did do a little closing for them picking up 15 saves in 2015. Since going to Houston Giles has been up and down. He picked up 15 saves for Houston in 2016, but had an ERA of 4.11 and blew 5 save chances. Last season Giles converted 34 of 38 saves chances and posted an ERA of 2.30, but he had some struggles in the post season. Giles appeared in 7 post season games; he was 0-2 with an ERA of 11.74 over 7 2/3rd innings. Giles did convert 2 of his 3 post season save chances, but once wasn’t used in a save situation during the World Series.

With the pitcher they thought was going to be their closer now in Triple-A; who will the Astros use to close out games? Hector Rondon has closing experience and it looks as though he may be the guy at the end of games for the Astros right now. Rondon is 1-2 on the season with an ERA of 1.57. Rondon has convert 8 of his 11 saves chances this season. Chris Devenski and Brad Peacock also have 2 saves this season. Devenski has blown 3 save chances this season while Peacock has 3 blown saves.

If those are the Astros three choices to close games. Do you see them staying with this bullpen set up? Or will the be active in the trade market?

I’m sure the first name that is going to come up is Zach Britton of the Baltimore Orioles as it seems as though Britton and Manny Machado are going to ever team. Britton is coming back from an injury plagued 2017 and hasn’t been throw into the full time closer role yet in Baltimore. Britton has 2 saves in 3 chances and is 1-0 with an ERA of 4.26. While Britton’s name comes up quite a bit in trade talk he’s not the only one that could be dealt.

Th other name you heard a lot not only this season, but last season as well is Brad Hand of the San Diego Padres. It’s always been thought that Hand would be traded to a contender and used as a set up guy, but he’s the Padres closer. Hand has converted 24 of 29 saves and is 2-4 with an ERA of 3.05 this season. Hand has a very friendly team contract and the Padres have resisted moving him, but I’m sure if the right offer came along they’d have to consider it.

The New York Mets have made it clear that they’re willing to trade anyone; so maybe Jeurys Familia could be a target for the Astros. He had a couple of years as a dominant closer, but after a difficult 2017 season he’s had a difficult time returning to being dominant. He’s appeared on 39 games for the Mets this season and has an ERA of 2.95 while converting 16 of his 20 sav attempts. Familia will be a free agent at the end of the season.

Another name that has popped up here and there is Raisel Iglesias of the Cincinnati Reds. Iglesias is 28 years old and won’t hit the free agent market until after the 2021 season; so any team that acquired him would have him under control for three more seasons. Iglesias has converted 19 of his 22 saves chances this season. He’s 1-1 with a 2.41 ERA. Interestingly there are teams that would like to turn Iglesias into a starter after this season. He has made 21 career starts, but hasn’t been a regular starting pitcher since his 2015 his rookie season.

I haven’t heard a lot of talk about this closer, but with the Pittsburgh Pirates 5 games under .500 you have to wonder if they’ll listen to offers for Felipe Vazquez. He’s converted 21 of his 25 save chances this season and is 3-2 with a 3.15 ERA. This is Vazquez first season as a full time closer. He’s signed through the 2021 season, but has two option years on his contract; so any team that dealt for him could keep him until 2023 if they choose to.

Those are some of the top closers out there that could possibly be traded. There have been some other names mentioned. Kyle Barraclough of the Miami Marlins has been mentioned, but it would probably be a situation where he’d be acquired to fill a set up role. Barraclough has just recently started closing games or Miami. The Marlins do have 38 year old Brad Ziegler who has quite a bit of closing experience, but like I mentioned recently was taken out of the closers role for the Marlins. I’m sure the White Sox would move veteran closer Joakim Soria. He just resumed closing games for the White Sox as he was taken out of the closers role for a short period of time. but has converted 14 of his 17 save chances. Shane Greene is just returning from the disabled list, but had converted 19 of his 22 saves chances before going on the disabled list. With the Detroit Tigers in rebuild mode I’m sure they’d listen to offer for him.

Now it’s not only the Astros that are looking for a closer as the Phillies are also front and center in pursuit of one. Philadelphia has been linked to Britton as well as Machado. There was a report this week that the Phillies have “upped” their offer to the Orioles quite a bit to try to acquire not only Britton, but Machado in the same deal.

Which team o you see pulling the trigger first on a closer; the Astros or the Phillies?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but the podcast is also available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

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I’ll be the first one to admit that I wasn’t buying the Atlanta Braves at the start of this season, but now that’s it July and they’ve found a way to stay atop the National League East I think I have to start looking at them as a serious playoff contender.

Atlanta currently has a 2 1/2 game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies and a 7 game lead over the team I thought would run away with the division the Washington Nationals.

The Braves four game winning streak did come to an end last night as they lost 8-5 to the New York Yankees. The Phillies where able to pick up a little ground as they beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 for their third win in a row, but the Nationals dropped their fourth game in a row 11-4 to the Boston Red Sox.

The Braves decided to start their rebuild after the 2014 season and they’ve made the fastest progress out of any of the teams that have torn down and rebuilt in the recent future, but are the Braves in position to win a World Series?

There where a few questions about the Braves offense coming into the season, but they have pretty much been answered. Ozzie Albies did go through a little slump, but all players do that. He is currently the team leader in home runs with 18. Ronald Acuna Jr. just returned from an injury that kept him out about a month. He is 7 for 22 with 2 home runs since returning from his injury. Nick Markakis has always been thought f as a solid hitter and this season he’s hitting .326 with 10 home runs and a team high 58 RBI’s. Of course you can’t forget Freddie Freeman who’s hitting .309 with 16 home runs and 56 RBI’s.

There are a few questions on offense though. The Braves have been using a the veteran combination of Kurt Suzuki and Tyler Flowers behind the plate. It seems to be working out so far, but there will always be questions thee. Dansby Swanson has been playing better than he did last season when he actually ended up back in Triple-A, but he’s still hitting just .246. The biggest question the Braves have is at 3rd base. Ryan Flaherty got off to a hot start, but has cooled down. Charlie Culberson has also had some moments this season, but has never been an everyday player, The Braves even took a look at Jose Bautista at 3rd base for a short period of time. Now it’s Johan Carmago who’s being given a chance to be the everyday guy there. Carmago took over at shortstop last season when Swanson was sent own and hit .299, but this season in 62 games Carmago is hitting .259.

Will the Braves try to upgrade at 3rd base?

Atlanta does have 20 year old Austin Riley in Triple-A, but he is currently on the 7-day disabled list. Riley sprained the posterior crucial ligament in his knee diving for a foul ball; so ay chance of him being the guy at 3rd base will probably have to wait until the 2019 season.

The Braves do have a strong farm system and could use some of those payers to upgrade at 3rd base if that’s the position they decided to go after. It is possible that the Braves add a pitcher instead of an offensive player.

Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb have shown they can pitch at the major league level. Julio Tehran does have an ERA of 4.21 this season, but has a resume that shows he’s a quality starting pitcher. After that there are some questions in the Braves rotation. Veterans Brandon McCarty and Anibal Sanchez have been filling out the starting rotation, but McCarthy is currently on the disabled list with right knee tendinitis. Sanchez has been a pleasant surprise going 3-2 with an ERA of 2.89 in 10 games; 9 of which have been starts. McCarthy is 6-3 in 15 starts, but has an ERA of 4.92 and has a history of injuries.

The Braves have tried some of their young starters at the back of the rotation with varying success. Matt Wisler, Luiz Gohara, Mike Soroka and Max Fried have all made starts for Atlanta this season. It looked as though Soroka was going to be the guy who held down a rotation spot, but he landed on the 60-day disabled list with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Fried now looks like the guy who could find a spot in the rotation. Fried has pitched in 6 games this season with the last 2 being starts. On the season he is 1-2 with an ERA of 2.55. In his 2 starts Fried has thrown 11 2/3rd innings giving up 1 earned run while walking 7 and striking out 17.

Do you see the Braves adding a starter?

Arodys Vizcaino has been a solid closer for Atlanta this season; he’s appeared in 30 games this season and is 2-2 with an ERA of 1.82 while converting 15 of his 17 saves chances. Vizcaino hasn’t pitched since June 17th as he was just activated off the disabled list yesterday. The Braves have some young set up men in front of Vizcaino that have had some success. A.J. Minter has pitched in 39 games and has a 2.75 ERA. Dan Winkler has appeared in 37 games and has an ERA of 2.34. Jesse Biddle has pitched in 26 games and has an ERA of 2.59 while Shane Carle has appeared in 35 games and has an ERA of 2.93. They’ve all done the job for the Braves out of the bullpen, but they’re still young pitchers. Minter is 24 years old, Biddle and Carle are both 26 years old with Winkler being the oldest of the group at 28 years old.

Do you see the Braves adding a bullpen piece?

If the Braves do decide to make a move or two there are going to be plenty of players available and with the Braves farm system they shouldn’t have any problem finding teams interested in dealing with them.

It’s difficult to get to this spot in baseball and there’s not guarantee that a team can get back. Atlanta has done a nice job of rebuilding their franchise and have managed to find themselves in contention earlier than I think they even though they would be. Do the Braves need to go for it? and move a top prospect or two to fill one of the needs they currently have? Or should they sit tight with their young players and continue to develop them?

You can listen to the Sports Tie Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter @Burketime

Will the Baltimore Orioles be the key team at the July 31st trade deadline?

By now everyone has heard the Manny Machado talk, but he’s not the only Orioles player a contender might be looking for at the trade deadline. Of course the main reason everyone thinks the Orioles will trade Machado is because he’s a free agent at the end of the season and they don’t see him resigning with Baltimore. Now Machado isn’t the only Baltimore player that is in the final year of their contract with the team and it’s possible that besides Machado we could see three other Orioles get moved if the team decides to clean house and rebuild.

Adam Jones is in the final year of his contract with the Orioles and while he’s not quite the same player he was a few years ago he could definitely help a contender. Jones will turn 33 this season, but he’s putting up solid numbers. He’s hitting .289 with 10 home runs and 31 RBI’s. Don’t forget that Jones is also a top defender and has won four Gold Gloves in his career. Jones will make a total of $17,333,333 million dollars this season; so it may not take a top prospect to land him depending on how much of his remaining salary a team would be willing to pick up.

With starting pitchers not working deep into games anymore just about every team in baseball needs bullpen help and the Orioles can supply that.

Even though he was hurt coming into this season there was still quite a bit of talk about Baltimore trading Zach Britton. He made his season debut on June 12th and has appeared in seven games this season. In six of those seven games Britton didn’t give up a run. He did struggle in an outing against the Atlanta Braves where he was charged with four runs in just 1/3rd of an inning. Britton will make $12 million dollars this season and is just 30 years old. As Britton rounds back into that closer form he could be a big add for a contender at the back end of their bullpen.

While the Orioles are working Britton back into the closing role Brad Brach has been the guy holding the job down. Brach has saved 10 of the 12 save chances he’s had this season, but has also been a quality set up guy. Brach has pitched in 32 games and has an ERA of 3.86. Brach could be a steal since he’s only going to make $5,165,000 million dollars this season; so it’s an easy salary for a team to take on while adding a good bullpen piece. Brach is 32 years old and has always been a high use bullpen; so a contender could get a lot of work out of a reliable set up guy like Brach.

Those are the four Orioles in the final years of their contracts that I think will draw a lot of interest on or around the July 31st trade deadline, but there are some other Orioles that could get dealt if teams where willing to meet Baltimore’s asking price.

Jonathan Schoop has one more year of arbitration before becoming a free agent in 2020. Could e draw some interests as the trade deadline nears. Schoop has battled some injuries this season and is off to a slow start hitting just .202, but he is coming off of a 2017 season where he posted career highs in home runs with 32 and RBI’s with 105. If a team believes that Schoop is more the 2017 player than the guy who’s had some issues this year there’s a chance that he could be an upgrade at 2nd base for a contender.

If there’s a contender out there looking to add some power to their line up maybe they’ll take a look at Mark Trumbo. Trumbo is signed through 2019; he’s making $12.5 million dollars this season and his salary goes up to $13.5 million next season. Those aren’t astronomical salary numbers in today’s game. Trumbo missed some time with an injury, but is hitting .268 with 8 home runs. While Trumbo’s best fit might be as a Designated Hitter he can play the corner outfield spots and even some 1st base. Trumbo hit a career high 47 home runs in 2016 and has only hit less than 22 home runs once in his career and that was in 2014 when he played in just 88 games.

Do you see the Orioles cleaning house and rebuilding? It’s not really something they’ve done before, but it seems to be the way baseball is going. The Orioles aren’t known for trading their top player either as their owner Peter Angelos has always been against it. Is this the year that General Manager Dan Duquette can convince Angelos to possibly move a player or two and see if they can get younger in return. With the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees looking like they’re set to contend for the next couple of seasons is this the right time for the Orioles to tear things down and see if they can get themselves back into contention in the AL East a few years down the road.

It was starting to look like Josh Donaldson was getting close to returning to the Toronto Blue Jays, but now it appears as though he won’t be returning until the second half of this season.

While fielding ground balls in Florida as part of his rehab program Donaldson had an issue with the calf that has kept him out since May 28th. An MRI was performed and it showed that Donaldson has a acute strain of that calf muscle. Toronto has shut Donaldson down and he’ll be reevaluated in three weeks.

Donaldson is in the final year of his contract that’s paying him $23 million dollars this season. Donaldson has been limited to 36 games an is hitting .234 with 5 home runs.

Before the injury there was some talk that the Blue Jays would entertain trade offers for Donaldson as their top prospect Vlad Guerrero Jr. is a 3rd baseman, but with the injury set back Toronto won’t have much time to showcase Donaldson as a trade piece. Of course the Blue Jays try to get Donaldson through waivers after the July 31st deadline, but will have to wait and see what the Blue Jays want to do with him once he returns from injury.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live o BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

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It seems as though in the last week or ten days there’s been a coupe of prevalent  statements going around Major League Baseball and I don’t know how anyone came to these conclusions.

Now both of these talking points concern Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; so let’s look at these and see if they’re even possible.

Here’s the first one. We don’t talk about Mike Trout enough.

Now unless the networks are going to dedicate an entire show to Trout I’m not sure if there’s a way networks could talk about him more than they do now. I don’t know how they could talk about Trout anymore than they do right now, but for some reason someone got the idea that they’re not talking about him enough. I guess they don’t watch the other shows on the networks they work for.

Considering in the last six seasons Trout has won two MVP awards while finishing three times and fourth once and in the seasons he didn’t win these shows talked about him until their viewer ears bleed. I can still remember hearing multiple shows last season try to give Trout the MVP award even though he was injured and played in just 114 game and the Angels weren’t even in the playoff race.

If you thought that the various shows that cover baseball brought Trout’s name up a lot get ready to hear it even more.

Here’s the second one. Mike Trout is underrated.

Now since a lot of the shows that talk about Trout are televised from the East coast they’re off the air by the time Trout’s games are over. Now I don’t believe this makes him underrated, but it just puts him behind.

Trout is currently hitting .328 and is tied for the major league lead in home runs with J.D. Martinez at 23. Trout also leads the majors with 62 runs scored. He has also drawn the most walks in baseball so far this season with 67. That puts him 11 walks ahead of Bryce Harper who is second in that category.

Now with the big numbers Trout has out up so far tis season and especially the fact that he’s got big home run numbers there’s no way he can be considered underrated.

Now if either of these statements where considered true there is a way Trout could change them. Get the Angels into the playoffs. This is Trout’s 7th full seasons at the major league level as he just played in his 1000th game, but he’s only played in three playoff games and he didn’t perform well in them.

In 12 post season at bats Trout has 1 hit which gives him an .083 batting average. His one hit was a home run and he did draw 3 walks, but the Angels where swept in that series.

Trout is clearly the best player in baseball right now and is on track to end up in the Hall of Fame when his career is over. I actually like Trout as a player. It’s just the stupidity that the media shows around him that I get tired of.

Remember when the Los Angeles Dodgers got off to a 12-16 start the all of the baseball media wrote them off? Now the funny thing is they won’t remember this either and they’ll say that they believed in the Dodgers all along, but any fan who pays attention knows better than that. They talk about how it looked like the Dodgers window to win was closed after going to the World Series last season and there was even some talk about them looking into trading Clayton Kershaw.

I’m not a big believer in burying a team a month into a season, but I guess it gives the media something to talk about and then when or if the team comes back they can talk about how they never gave up on them and they knew they’d be back in the race. I don’t know what’s wrong with owning up to something you said, but I can pretty much guarantee that you won’t hear any of the talking heads on television admit that they said the Dodgers where done.

Speaking of those Dodgers they are now 38-35 and find themselves in 2nd pace in the NL West just 2 1/2 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kershaw hasn’t pitched sine May 31st. Not bad for a team that was written off just a month into the season and now Kershaw is returning to the mound tonight.

Kershaw didn’t get off to the kind of start to the season that people expected and then he had a couple of injury issues.

Kershaw made 7 starts for the Dodgers and then went on the disabled list with bicep tendonitis on May 1st. Kershaw spent the entire month of May on the disabled list as he returned May 31st to make a start against the Philadelphia Phillies. After 5 innings in that start Kershaw was removed and landed back on the disabled list with back strain.

Kershaw has made 8 starts this season and while his record is just 1-4 his ERA is very good at 2.76. In three of Kershaw’s four losses the Dodgers have scored 1 run twice and 2 runs once; so you have to think with a little bit of run support Kershaw won-loss record would be respectable.

Now originally the Dodgers had scheduled Kershaw for a minor league rehab start tonight, but instead he will come right back to the major league team off of the disabled list and will start tonight against the New York Mets.

The Dodgers not only will get Kershaw back tonight, but Rich Hill returned from the disabled list on Tuesday. Hill pitched 6 scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs, but the Dodgers did lose the game 2-1.

Even with Kershaw and Hill back in their the Dodgers still have a couple of starters on the disabled list. Hyun-Jin Ryu was moved to the 60 day DL and isn’t expected to return until the end of July as he recovers from a groin injury. Rookie Walker Buehler was fantastic filling in while the Dodgers dealt with their injuries. Buehler went 4-1 in 9 starts with an ERA of 2.63 before landing on the disabled list with a microfracture to his ribs. Buehler could possibly return early next month.

The Dodgers where just one of a couple of teams that where written off very, very early this season. It appears as though they’re back in the NL West race and unless they get hit with another big round of injuries you have to think they’ll contend for a playoff spot. I guess those people on television did something my mother always told me not to do. It looks like they counted their chickens before they where hatched.

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