Week 14 will run longer due to the All-Star Break so no results yet
MLB TALK
• As Cleveland gears up to host the All-Star Game this Tuesday, some sobering news from the organization. Righthander Carlos Carrasco, who’s been struggling through a difficult season already, was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia last month. He’s undergone treatment and has resumed strength and conditioning training but has no timetable for his return.
• Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera, on administrative leave since May 28 has been suspended for the remainder of the regular season. The criminal charges initially brought against him following his arrest have been dropped but commissioner Rob Manfred determined that Herrera had violated the league’s domestic violence policy and made the decision that Herrera will sit out the rest of the season and should the Phillies make the playoffs, be ineligible to compete then as well. He’ll be required to attend a treatment program and forfeit just over half of his salary. Philadelphia owes him approximately $17 million the next two seasons and an additional $3.5 million in buyouts after that. Herrera has disappointed on the field the last season and a half so how eager they’ll be to welcome him back in 2020 remains to be seen.
• Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli has long been one of the league’s most respected players defensively and often an adequate performer at the plate with a very discerning eye for the strike zone. Unfortunately he’s also been prone to concussions, he’s been out since May 25 with his current one which is at least the sixth one of his career (going back to his rookie season with the Yankees in 2008). Cervelli announced that he’d no longer be catching from this point forward, as the toll these repeated concussions have become increasingly difficult for him to live with. No word on his future position, though corner infielder seems likely for him.
• The Mets tumultuous season has taken another beleaguered turn. After a loss to the Phillies this past Friday which wasted a strong start from ace Jacob DeGrom, GM Brodie Van Wagenen assembled manager Mickey Callaway and his coaching staff and reportedly lashed out at the group as a whole, culminating in Van Wagenen throwing a chair across the room and ordering Calloway to “conduct his fucking press conference.” Calloway looks increasingly unlikely to return to the Mets next season and the team seems to be positioned to sell at the July 31 trade deadline (the, as of late, hot hitting Todd Frazier and pending free agent Zack Wheeler in particular should find themselves in demand) and put their faith in the young talent populating their minor league system for the future.
• One of the most talked about potential trade deadline acquisitions in the league is Blue Jays righthander Marcus Stroman. He left his most recent start with “pectoral cramping” but has had a solid season otherwise. Stroman has expressed a desire to remain with Toronto long-term but also admitted recently that he expects the team to move him. Along with Giants lefthander Madison Bumgarner, there are many options for teams to fortify their starting rotations before August.
What’s on your minds as we hit the All-Star Break? What’s your team’s second half holding for them do you think?
