Things That Make You Go “Hmmmm…”

According to Shi Davidi, Roberto Osuna plans to plead not guilty to the sexual assault charges he is facing. He is supposed to have a hearing this Monday but will reportedly not attend and will not have another court date for 2-3 weeks. This doesn’t appear there will be a result to this legal problem anytime soon.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Kevin Kiermaier is on track to be activated from the DL. Kiermaier is returning from surgery to repair a ligament in his thumb. He has been good in his first few rehab outings, so he should be safe to return to your lineups for the weekend.

According to Jon Morosi, the Yankees and Mariners have expressed interest in J.A. Happ . Happ has been fantastic this season, throwing 82.2 innings with a 3.48 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP, and over 10 strikeouts per nine innings. He is in the last year of a three-year deal, so it likely wouldn’t take much to get him as other pitchers that are under team control.

According to Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic, the Mets are beginning to listen to offers on “virtually everyone.” They are likely to move anyone that is not under contract for future seasons. This would include Jeurys Familia , A.J. Ramos , and Asdrubal Cabrera . The Mets will likely listen to offers on Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom , but since they are both under team control for a few more seasons, the price will likely be extremely high.

 

That Happened?!?

Kelvin Herrera has been traded to the Washington Nationals for prospects Kelvin Gutierrez , Blake Perkins, and Yohanse Morel. Herrera will likely join the backend of the Nats rotation, but most likely as the primary set-up man as closer Sean Doolittle has been fantastic this season. Doolittle is usually good for a DL stint at some point, so Herrera could get some saves rest of the way, but he would need a long-term injury or implosion to unseat Doolittle.

Nick Pivetta threw 7.1 innings, striking out 13 in the outing. Pivetta allowed two runs, both on solo homers. While the two homers weren’t great, he limited damage throughout the contest and his breaking stuff was absolutely filthy. This is a good sign considering his struggles as of late. Pivetta is a borderline top 30 pitcher rest of the way.

Pablo Sandoval hit his sixth home run of the season on Monday. Sandoval has been very productive in limited time for the Giants, but with Evan Longoria out for the next 6-8 weeks with a broken hand, the Kung Fu Panda has a shot at regular at bats. Sandoval is hitting .271/.340/.457 this year with a .300 average and an OPS of .860 against right-handed pitching. He has also played remarkably well defensively.

Caleb Smith threw four innings on Monday versus the Giants. He allowed four earned runs in the contest and struck out four. Smith was pedestrian in the outing which could be blamed on just returning from family leave, but he also is just a mediocre pitcher that is largely aided by the larger pitcher’s park in Miami. His next start is scheduled to be against the Rockies in Colorado, so that seems like a big regression opportunity.

 

What We’ll Be Watching Today

Rich Hill returns to the mound. Hill has been on the DL with another blister but will be activated in order to start game two of the double header versus the Cubs. It is unlikely that he can go deep into the game even if he is good, as the Dodgers will likely be careful with him in his first game back in the Majors.

Blake Snell versus Justin Verlander and Chris Sale versus José Berrios . (Swoon)

Cole Hamels versus Jason Hammel . Two aging pitchers on tanking teams. Should make for a lot of runs for the offenses.

Can Brandon Nimmo stay hot? Nimmo hit two home runs versus the Rockies yesterday. Nimmo has been on fire over the last month, hitting .306/.394/.685 with 10 home runs and six stolen bases. He has been so good that the Mets have been rumored to be contemplating sending down Michael Conforto once their entire outfield is healthy. Nimmo is has outperformed expectations of him, but while he will obviously not keep this up, he appears to have established an everyday role in New York and should be owned in all formats.

Is Nick Williams ok after this?

 

 

 

Williams said after the game that he was okay, so it seems that removing him was more precautionary than anything else. However, with teams and the league more closely watching head injuries, he may miss a day or two as they see if concussion symptoms present themselves.

Is Eric Lauer legit? Over his last three starts he has a 3.45 ERA and 6.89 strikeouts per nine innings. He is still struggling with walking batters, but the Padres get the Athletics at home who have the lowest walk rates versus left-handed pitching.

 

Baseball. Lots of baseball.