Mets, Padres urged to make Luis Robert Jr. trade
The New York Mets and San Diego Padres are teams vying to make a World Series appearance this season. Both teams lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 MLB Postseason and are trying to improve their lineup to make another run this time around.
Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr. is a player to keep an eye on ahead of the MLB Trade Deadline. There is quite literally no point in the White Sox keeping him on the roster, and a change of scenery is best for both sides. The Mets and Padres are two teams who could make a move for the outfielder, and according to ESPN, are urged to do so.
Robert Jr. is not having a good season with the White Sox, but he has the potential to be a very good player. Injuries have taken over his career, and he has yet to really play a full season in the majors. In 2023, he played 145 games, which is the most in his career by a ton. The only other time he played at least 100 games was last season in their historically terrible campaign. This year, Robert Jr. is batting just .177 with five home runs and 24 RBIs. His Slugging Percentage is just .281, and he has a WAR of -0.1. He desperately needs a change of scenery.
The Cuba native could be a great fit for the Padres. Bradford Doolittle of ESPN broke it down:
'The Padres have rolled out a motley collection of non-producers in left field, which has yielded them an overall slash line of .200/.248/.286 with four homers at the position. Upgrade opportunity! Luis Robert Jr. might work if the Padres are convinced he has nowhere to go but up, as his .546 OPS is barely above that of the Padres' left fielders. However, A.J. Preller handles it, San Diego can't leave this hole unfilled.'
As for the Mets, they need a center fielder. Doolittle thinks Robert Jr. could be a good fit for them, and he would play on the East Coast closer to home.
'Center is an obvious position of need for New York, which seems like a great landing spot for Luis Robert Jr.'
It's unclear if the White Sox are motivated to want to move him right now, so closer to the deadline makes more sense. For now, the Padres aim to even the series against the Dodgers on Tuesday, and the Mets begin a series against the Washington Nationals.
Related: Phillies get crushing Aaron Nola injury update after MRI
Related: Angels add Giants trade piece to roster after Chris Taylor injury
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New York Times
19 minutes ago
- New York Times
Fernando Tatis Jr.'s power is missing. His contact point may be to blame
The San Diego Padres need more power in their lineup to put them over the top. The team is 25th in the league in slugging, and would be in a worse spot if it didn't make so much contact. The Padres could use some more oomph from Fernando Tatis Jr., in particular. Though the 26-year-old outfielder is having a fine season based on patience, contact, base running and defense, the power isn't there. In fact, he's having the worst slugging season of his career. Advertisement So where's that power for Tatis? Why is it down from the level he established early in his career and even the past couple of years? After Tuesday night's game, Tatis has now gone a career-worst 106 consecutive plate appearances without a homer. His previous high was 94, which was set earlier this season. 'I'm just trying to be a good hitter, get on base, and yeah, I'm not hitting homers,' he said this past weekend regarding his lack of over-the-fence power. 'He's hit the ball hard. It's a lot of things that you want to see,' Padres hitting coach Victor Rodriguez said recently. 'Controlling his effort level, swinging at good pitches and being able to hit the ball to all fields.' It's true that Tatis is swinging the bat fast and hitting the ball hard, as his hard-hit rate is 15th-best among qualified hitters. But that hard contact is not coming in the air. And that may have something to do with where he's making contact with the ball. Throughout a swing, the bat has different angles with respect to the ball approaching the plate. As the bat comes down from the shoulders, through the hitting zone and then back up, it creates different 'attack angles.' Here's an animation, courtesy of Baseball Savant, showing Alex Bregman hitting a home run — look at the angles of the bat throughout the swing. As you can see, if Bregman had made the contact later in the path of the ball (deeper), his bat would not have had the same loft. If he'd made the contact earlier in the path of the ball (out in front more), it may have had too much loft. This concept is why getting the ball out in front of the plate has been associated with power — the bat is more likely to have a good attack angle on the ball that will lead to power. Advertisement This contact point is now tracked on Baseball Savant as the 'intercept point,' and Mike Petriello showed on that the best overall production and the best power production is at 36 inches out in front of the batter's center of mass. The best intercept point for contact is 30 inches. Since baseball started tracking the intercept point, Tatis has not had a lower intercept point in any month than the 27.6 inches he's showing this August. In other words, he's letting the ball travel deeper into his bat path more than ever. That has been great for putting the ball in play, and so his contact and strikeout rates are the best of his career, but it's also pushed his power production down to the lowest point of his career. It's clear from the numbers and the eye test that he's been tinkering with his stance and his approach all year. 'I'm still searching and just trying to compete every single day,' Tatis said. The difference between his stance and intercept point late last year (left) and this past month (right) shows just how much more open his stance is now, and how much further he's letting the ball travel in the zone. He's standing more spread out this year, with a more open stance, closer to the plate and further back in the box. Even recently, he's made more changes, as he's gone from an average of 41 degrees open before this past weekend to 10 degrees open, more like he was last season. He's still letting the ball travel four inches further before making contact, which may just be robbing him of power. 'Anything that you hit the other way and you get results (on) is always a good sign,' said Rodriguez, who has a different take on the subject. 'You let it travel, and you just went with it, instead of trying to do too much with it.' Looking at comparable players, Tatis has top-quartile bat speed and a 30-degree swing tilt — a swing that's on the flatter end but not as flat as the swings for Randy Arozarena or Corbin Carroll. We can look for comps based on those two aspects alone, and we'll find a list of 25 players that run the gamut from Seiya Suzuki and Bobby Witt Jr. to Nathaniel Lowe to Christian Walker. Advertisement Now, let's separate that group by who lets the ball travel (lower intercept point) and who goes and gets the ball out front (higher intercept point). The entire group averages a 30-degree tilt and a 73 mph swing speed like Tatis, but the difference in results between the 'let it travel' and 'go get it' groups is fairly stark, given how much else they have in common. To recap, all of these players swing equally fast and have similarly shaped swings, but the hitters who go get the ball out in front get 25 points more slugging by hitting the ball at the right angles more often. As a group, the 'go-getters' pull the ball more, hit the ball in the air more, barrel the ball more and have better overall production. It's one thing to say that Tatis needs to get the ball out in front more, and another to do that successfully, as his hitting coach points out. Tatis is pulling the ball in the air less than ever, but could the problem be that he wants to pull the ball in the air more often? 'I think a lot of times it's because you want to,' Rodriguez said of the desire to lift and separate. 'You want to. And when you want to, what do you do? You open up and you cheat. But when you don't want to and you're in a good direction, you let the ball and your hands do the work. When you're trying to pull, that's when you get into trouble. But when you're in a good position … and the ball is inside, you react the right way — you lift it. So it's a matter of staying with a good approach to the big part of the field and letting his ability — his quickness — take over.' Letting the ball travel has been good for Tatis' strikeout rate so far this year, but has dampened his power production. Even getting the ball out in front another three inches, as he did last season, could get him back the power he's been missing this year. Perhaps it's wise to embrace a few more swings and misses if that aggression out front brings back the homers. But the trick might be, somehow, to go get that ball without opening up, attacking within ideal mechanics. Controlled aggression. So simple when you say it that way. Spot the pattern. 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USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
As Mets fight for life in NL playoff race, can rookies pitchers bail them out?
WASHINGTON — Anointing Nolan McLean the savior of their season is the last thing the New York Mets want to do. After all, for as much energy and magic McLean provided in winning his major league debut at Citi Field on Aug. 16, he's just a 24-year-old barely a year removed from putting the bat down for good and focusing full-time on pitching. 'We want him to be himself. We don't want to add any extra pressure,' says manager Carlos Mendoza of McLean, who struck out eight in 5 ⅔ scoreless innings against the Seattle Mariners. 'We want him to continue to go out there and give us a chance to win.' Yet McLean's assimilation will take on a heavier tone if the Mets' veteran arms aren't able to turn around a second half where hitting a collective wall has dented their NL East title hopes and imperiled their playoff outlook. McLean's gem stopped a slide in which the Mets lost 14 of 17 games, part of a two-month pattern in which their starting pitchers' fortunes have virtually flipped. Oh, Mets starters rank seventh in the majors in ERA (3.71), but due to a variety of factors, are just 27th in innings pitched. And their slide in output and quality coincided with the Mets' struggle. They held a 5 ½-game lead in the East on June 12 yet thereafter began the first of two seven-game losing streaks. And then Griffin Canning, a fill-in turned savior who posted a 3.77 ERA in 16 starts, tore his left Achilles June 26. Clay Holmes, returning to a starting role after six years in the bullpen, was brilliant in his first 16 starts, the Mets winning 11 of them as he averaged nearly six innings a start with a 2.97 ERA. But finishing this marathon has proven challenging: Holmes is averaging less than five innings in his last nine starts, the Mets losing five of them, as he's posted a 5.02 ERA and his strikeout-walk ratio has shriveled to 1.66. Sean Manaea? An oblique strain and loose bodies in his elbow delayed his debut until July 13, but the Mets have lost six of his seven starts as he's thrown no more than 86 pitches. Frankie Montas has been relegated to long relief. Kodai Senga hasn't made it past five innings in eight of his 19 outings. And yet here the Mets are, 67-58, a discouraging 5½ games behind the Phillies yet holding a tenuous grip on a wild card spot, a fate they learned last year could lead to the NL Championship Series. Hanging on may depend on a kid or two bailing them out. From three-way player to one McLean's 6-2, 214-pound frame is straight from central casting for a pitcher it belies the fact he's an absolute freak athlete. Forget two-way player: McLean was a three-way guy when he reported to Oklahoma State, with designs on pitching, hitting and playing quarterback for the Cowboys. Yet it was apparent after his freshman year that he had a surefire future on the diamond. He hit 19 homers as a sophomore and had OPS marks of .936, .992 and .911 in three seasons as a Cowboy. On the mound, he pitched just 57 innings but was selected in the third round by Baltimore as a draft-eligible sophomore. The Mets bested that, drafting him in the second round in 2023 as a two-way player, figuring nature would take its course. Come last summer at Class AA Binghamton, McLean was averaging a strikeout an inning as a pitcher – and a punchout in 52% of his plate appearances as a hitter. For the Mets, nature was healing and McLean's decision was easy. 'I've always been able to throw the ball. It's just that last year, when I was hitting still, I was getting tired pretty early,' McLean tells USA TODAY Sports. 'And as a starting pitcher, you want to get deep into ballgames. That was something I really wanted to get better at. 'I felt like the only way for me to do that was to have my legs and my full body underneath me which, luckily, once I set the bat down, I was able to get that second wind later in the year last year and carry it into this year.' Indeed, McLean was a different cat when he returned to Binghamton, acing AA ball with a 1.37 ERA in five starts and getting summoned upstate to Syracuse, one stop shy of Queens. He was even a little more dominant at Syracuse, punching out 10 batters an inning and posting a 1.10 WHIP, maintaining his stuff through 16 appearances. Blessed from a young age with the ability to spin the baseball, McLean threw a curveball that registered 3,511 rpm, more revolutions than any curve measured at the big league level this year. Meanwhile, the Mets were taking on water, their staff incessantly dogged by injuries and poor performance. Veteran Paul Blackburn was designated for assignment, making room for McLean along with 15 friends and family who converged on Queens from North Carolina for his debut. 'It was special, just getting to see them after the game, they'd known how hard I worked to get to that point in my life,' says McLean, 'Being able to see them at a pretty emotional point was pretty awesome to be a part of.' It seemed almost equally emotional for Mets fans. They roared in approval when the video board caught McLean in the dugout on a couple of occasions, after his work was completed. Their hunger for help has probably not been sated. Mets fans are keeping a close eye on the progress of Jonah Tong, who was promoted from Class AA to AAA last week and, pitching at Syracuse the same day McLean threw in Queens, posted an almost identical line: 5 ⅔ shutout innings, with eight strikeouts. While it would certainly be a rush job to summon Tong before season's end, the club also has invested around $420 million in payroll this season, including projected luxury tax penalties. There will be no shorts taken to ensure a playoff berth in this, the first year of Juan Soto's 15-year, $765 million contract. 'The team's ready for it' Of course, the best way to ensure October baseball would be for the Mets' current starters to turn it around. To that end, All-Star lefty David Peterson, coming off the worst start of his season, dominated the Washington Nationals on Aug. 19. After blowing a big lead and giving up six runs in 3 ⅓ innings to Atlanta, Peterson took a shutout into the eighth inning and dominated the Nationals in an 8-1 victory. With 37 games left, they're still up on Cincinnati for the last wild-card berth. Peterson's gem kicked off a stretch of 16 games in 16 days where it behooves the starters to get deep – not just to preserve a bullpen stretched beyond belief but stabilize this season. 'The team's ready for it. We know how to handle it,' says Peterson, who completed at least seven innings for the sixth time this season. 'It's really important where every guy goes out there and we're trying to give the team a chance to win and go as deep as they can. 'Guys work their butt off and I'm confident we'll keep the momentum rolling.' Mendoza couldn't suppress a grin pondering what Peterson's eight innings and a blowout win meant to a side that saw 10 of its past 15 games decided by three runs or less. 'For him to go eight, it was really good. Solid, in complete control, and it was good to see, after his last outing, to see him bounce back that way,' says Mendoza. 'Haven't played a game like that in a while. 'We're going to need those guys. Especially in this stretch.' The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Baseball fans would take a hit if Rob Manfred's latest idea about expansion and radical realignment becomes reality
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Say it ain't so. Advertisement 'The problem with the proposal is that it's too logical, it makes so much sense, just as it works in the NHL and the NBA,' says Jane Leavy, the preeminent baseball biographer whose Advertisement 'But baseball is different. It can't presume the way those leagues can to eliminate the perquisites of its history, and so what makes sense doesn't always work for baseball. 'It's like, 'Erase the record books, erase the collective unconscious, wipe the slate clean.' Baseball is too much trapped by its history, I understand that and I get that, but it also is indebted to its history in ways that younger sports are not.' Manfred would do it all anyway, determined as he seems to write a lasting personal legacy over what's best for the game. He's already overseen dramatic change, some of it excellent (the pitch clock), some of it OK (universal designated hitter, extra-inning ghost runner), and some of it bad (automated balls and strikes, automatic intentional walks). And he's pushed back on some truly awful ideas (such as the golden at-bat). But this latest salvo shows once again how much of his own baseball soul is missing, a willingness to use the inevitability of expansion to fundamentally alter baseball fandom and history as we've known it. 'In my mind, I think if we expand, it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign,' Manfred said on the ESPN broadcast. 'I think we could save a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel. I think our postseason format would be even more appealing for entities like ESPN because you'd be playing out of the East, out of the West, and that 10 o'clock where we sometimes get Boston-Anaheim would be two West Coast teams. That 10 o'clock slot that's a problem for us sometimes becomes a real opportunity for our West Coast audience.' Advertisement We get it — baseball hasn't expanded since the 1998 addition of the Rays and Diamondbacks, and has two existing teams, Las Vegas (via Oakland) and the itinerant Rays awaiting new stadiums. Travel demands have indeed grown, but part of that is on baseball for adding regular-season interleague play. And let's be honest, the private chartered life of a baseball player is not the same as flying commercial. Plus, baseball could help that problem with smarter scheduling on its own, grouping cross-country road trips and emphasizing division rivalries. But Manfred would rather blow it all up, or at least bring the idea to the upcoming bargaining table with the players' union, attempting to curry favor with ideas as better for player well-being, while ignoring what it might mean to longtime fans who thrive on those rivalries, who grew up with those adversaries, who invested those emotions. 'I don't like any of that,' Hall of Famer Jim Kaat agreed. 'What's the World Series going to be like without the competition of the two leagues?' Kaat already is on record about baseball So, apparently, is the link to the past. 'You can see that incrementally they've been working toward this. I've heard about it for years,' Leavy said. 'I understand, but there's got to be a way to balance the needs of growth and modernity without erasing the game's essential self.' Advertisement Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
