Latest news with #FanGraphs
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Red Sox Predicted to Trade Alex Bregman Amid Uncertain Free Agency
Red Sox Predicted to Trade Alex Bregman Amid Uncertain Free Agency originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Boston Red Sox are three games below .500 (29-32) and 8.5 games out of the American League East race. While not out of the Wild Card hunt, the clock is ticking on whether Boston will be a buyer or seller by the trade deadline. Following an offseason in which the team made pivotal acquisitions, such as trading for pitcher Garrett Crochet, the front office is willing to steer in a different direction to correct course before it is too late Advertisement Among potential options is trading away outfielder Jaren Duran to the San Diego Padres, who have shown interest in the 2024 All-Star, according to Denis Lin of The Athletic. Such a move would likely be to open up a position for top prospect Roman Anthony and bolster the roster elsewhere. Yet, If the Red Sox are open to trading away Duran, CBS Sports' Matt Snyder asks, who else could Boston consider selling? Boston Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman (2) runs the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Texas Rangers during the fourth inning at Fenway Fluharty-Imagn Images Atop Snyder's list is third baseman Alex Bregman. Although injured at the moment, Bregman is having a career resurgence in Bean Town, batting .299 with 11 home runs and an OPS above 930. He is also locking down the hot corner with six defensive runs saves, tied for second among third basemen, according to FanGraphs. Trading Bregman would be the ultimate sell-high move, one Boston may want to consider, given his contract status. Despite signing a three-year, $120 million deal this offseason, Bregman has an opt-out clause following the season. If the Red Sox record continues to fall in the A.L. East, Bregman and agent Scott Boras may have their eyes toward another free agency payday – a scenario the Red Sox would likely want to avoid. Advertisement On the other hand, by trading away Duran and calling up Anthony, Boston may believe it can give the team the spark necessary to make a playoff push alongside Bregman. The Red Sox are entering a pivotal stretch of the season with nine of their next 12 games being against A.L East opponents, including six against the New York Yankees. If Boston can come out with an above .500 record, momentum may shift closer to adding pieces at the deadline rather than considering selling high on Duran or Bregman. Related: Red Sox Get Major Update on Right-Handed Pitcher's Health Status This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
Hamilton Spectator
4 days ago
- Sport
- Hamilton Spectator
Blue Jay Anthony Santander hits IL, Alan Roden returns
Anthony Santander 's first season in a Blue Jays uniform went from bad to worse on Friday afternoon when he was placed on the 10-day injured list with left shoulder inflammation. Santander initially sustained the injury crashing into the outfield wall to make a catch against the Los Angeles Angels on May 8. Later in that game, he also jumped into the stands trying to catch a foul ball. The 30-year-old outfielder sat out the next series, but returned May 13 against the Tampa Bay Rays. Despite the time off, the injury did not heal and Santander had been trying to play through it until now. 'There are still a few swings, both right-handed and left-handed, where he can feel it,' Jays manager John Schneider said. 'He was on board with (the IL), just wanting to be 100 per cent. I give him credit for grinding through it. It's not an easy thing to do, when you're struggling, too. I think giving him some time to get right and then attacking the work the way we want is the goal.' The first two months of Santander's season were a nightmare. After hitting 44 homers for the Baltimore Orioles in 2024, the Jays rewarded him with a five-year contract worth $92.5 million (U.S.). He has been a shadow of his former self ever since. In 50 games, Santander is hitting just .179 with six homers and 18 RBIs. His .577 on-base plus slugging percentage is the seventh lowest in the majors among all qualified hitters. He has also been worth minus-0.7 wins above replacement per FanGraphs. He's under contract through the 2029 season, so the Jays have to hope his lack of offensive production was more tied to injuries than regression. He is not eligible to return from the injured list until June 3. 'He had an MRI last night,' Schneider said. 'We're still reading through it a little bit. I don't know the course of action, if it's going to be an injection or rehab. It just got to the point where it was bothering him and you can't put the work that you want to put in volume wise.' Rookie outfielder Alan Roden was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo. After being demoted in early May, the 25-year-old hit .361 with three homers and 12 RBIs for the Bisons.
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
The Rockies are monumentally, laughably, historically bad
The Colorado Rockies aren't just losing; they're making history. With nearly a third of the season gone, they've failed to win a single series, endured repeated blowouts and plummeted to the bottom of the majors in a host of statistical categories. A once-proud franchise finds itself spiraling toward an unprecedented level of failure. The Rockies entered the weekend with a 9-47 record — a full nine games behind baseball's next worst team, the Chicago White Sox, who are themselves just a few months removed from setting baseball's modern record for futility. So as the losses pile up and the numbers grow more alarming, we need to start asking: Could the 2025 Rockies be the new worst team in modern MLB history? How bad has it been so far? Whether you look at traditional stats or advanced metrics, it's been unbelievably grim. Entering Friday's games, the Rockies were averaging just 3.2 runs per game, the lowest output in baseball. Their on-base plus slugging percentage stood at .638, 29 percent below average, and they had hit only 46 home runs, tying them for third fewest in baseball. Most dramatically, the Rockies were creating runs at a rate 36 percent below the league average (64 weighted runs created plus, or WRC) after adjusting for league and park effects. If that holds, it would be the worst mark in MLB since 1948, per FanGraphs. Outside a few top performers, the lineup struggles with consistency and plate discipline, leading to frequent strikeouts (27 percent of plate appearances, the second highest rate in baseball, per FanGraphs) and missed scoring opportunities. That's fueled Colorado's run differential of minus-175, nearly double that of the next-worst team. That projects to a season-ending differential of minus-532, which would shatter the modern MLB record of minus-349 set by the 1932 Boston Red Sox. The White Sox finished with a run differential of minus-306 last season. Colorado's pitching staff has matched its hitters in woe. Through Thursday, the Rockies' earned run average sat at 5.55, the highest in baseball, and they were allowing an average of more than six runs per game. Opposing hitters had scored almost 98 more runs than we would expect based on the number of men on base and outs remaining in the inning, and the staff had the lowest strikeout rate (17 percent) in the league. Injuries have only made things worse. Ryan Feltner is recovering from back spasms, Chase Dollander is sidelined with arm issues, Austin Gomber is on the 60-day injured list with a shoulder injury and reliever Ryan Criswell is out for the year after Tommy John surgery. Even the healthy pitchers have struggled. Starters Kyle Freeland (0-7), Germán Márquez (1-7) and Antonio Senzatela (1-9) all have bloated earned run averages (each is over 5.80; the league average is 3.96), while rookie Carson Palmquist has an ERA near 9.00. A few bright spots exist in the bullpen but the Rockies' lack of depth, poor performance and bad luck with injuries have made their pitching staff a disaster. Defensively? You can probably guess. The Rockies had committed 47 errors through Thursday, the most in MLB, and were easily leading the league in throwing errors (28, six more than any other team). They had the league's third-worst defensive runs saved (-34), a metric from FanGraphs that quantifies how many runs a player saved or cost his team defensively compared to an average player at his position. (It incorporates range, throwing, double plays and other factors to evaluate overall defensive performance using detailed play-by-play data.) The overall result is nine wins through 56 games, the worst start by win rate in the modern era, surpassing the 1904 Washington Senators' 9-44-3 showing. Not only have the Rockies yet to win a single series; they have been swept in nine of them, including a four-game sweep by the Philadelphia Phillies earlier this month. Their .161 winning percentage has them on pace for a 26-136 season, which would surpass the White Sox's modern record of 121 losses. By my estimate, in fact, the Rockies have a 68 percent chance of losing at least 122 games. I got to that number using this year's BaseRuns (found at FanGraphs) and the Log5 formula. BaseRuns is a way to estimate how many runs a team should score and allow, based on what actually happened on the field — like hits, walks and outs — rather than the order those events happened in. It removes luck and timing to give a clearer picture of team performance. From those expected runs scored and allowed, we can calculate a more accurate win rate than just by looking at wins and losses. Using this win rate in the Log5 formula for head-to-head matchups helps us better predict how a team is likely to perform moving forward. (The Log5 formula was created by baseball analytics legend Bill James and is useful because it adjusts for the strength of both teams — and incorporates home-field advantage — making it more accurate than just forecasting based on overall record or past matchups.) These two tools can be used together to simulate the rest of the Rockies' season 10,000 times, with the results recorded for each simulation. If the Rockies do indeed achieve that dubious history, the appearance of the two worst MLB teams in a century in back-to-back seasons wouldn't be random or coincidental. It's instead the result of structural incentives in the draft, front office strategy and the economic disparity baked into modern baseball. Richer, smarter teams have widened the gap with the have-nots through elite scouting, player development and analytics infrastructure — in addition to piles of money. This growing imbalance is visible in the numbers; at this point, the 2025 season has the widest gap between MLB's best and worst teams in modern history, and the highest standard deviation of win percentage since the 1800s. In other words, these miserable teams aren't isolated failures, they're the predictable outcome of a system that quietly enables extreme losing. Teams with the worst records gain access to the highest draft picks and often receive extra selections through competitive balance rounds. These struggling clubs can then stockpile cost-controlled young players. Revenue sharing cushions financial losses for noncompetitive franchises, and the absence of a salary floor makes tanking less punitive than in other sports. Although that can't fully explain the misery of the 2024 White Sox and 2025 Rockies, until MLB addresses the underlying financial and competitive dynamics, it's likely we will continue to see teams challenge the sport's records for futility.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Alex Cora worried Red Sox may fire him? Here's what he said
With the Red Sox sitting four games under .500 at 27-31 and riding a five-game losing streak, there's no doubt the club is underachieving. But a disappointing first third of the season doesn't mean manager Alex Cora is worried about getting fired. Asked whether or not he was worried about job security on 'WEEI Afternoons' with Andy Hart, Nick 'Fitzy' Stevens and Ted Johnson, Cora said he was not. Cora received an extension to become the second-highest paid manager in major league history in July, signing a three-year deal in the $21-22 million range. Advertisement 'No, not really,' Cora said Thursday. 'From my end. I actually don't ask coaches about that. I just ask them to do their best on a daily basis. But I can answer that question personally: No.' Cora's Red Sox were just swept in Milwaukee and are 10-16 in May. They are a staggering 6-15 in one-run games and suffered two such defeats at American Family Field this week. 'I feel like every day we go out there and we're doing our best,' Cora continued. 'It hasn't happened for us. You look at the season and having conversations with some people this morning, I was like, 'It's a weird one, right?' because it feels like you're in every game but it's not going your way. 'Just a tough stretch for us and for me as a manager and we've just got to be ready for tomorrow. We've got a big series coming up here in Atlanta. Hopefully, we can win two out of three or sweep it and get this bad taste out of our mouth.' Advertisement Cora is a favorite of ownership — and team president/CEO Sam Kennedy — and was thought to be given major security when he signed his deal last summer. As of now, despite Boston's rocky start, there are no indications that the Red Sox are considering moving on from Cora. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, in just his second season running the baseball operations department, is also thought to be safe. Still, Boston has dug itself quite the hole early. As of Thursday's off day, the Red Sox are 9½ games back in the American League East and 4½ games out of the wild card race and have an 18% chance to make the playoffs, according to FanGraphs. 'It's not early,' Cora said. 'I've been saying that... It's the first third of the season we have played and we're playing under .500. We have fallen behind a lot of games in the division. Obviously, there's a lot of ways to make it to the playoffs. But if we're going to talk about playoffs, we just have to play better. I think the first goal is to get back to .500 and start winning more games.' In the immediate future, Cora said, the focus for the Red Sox needs to be on slowing things down and trying to win some games. 'There's certain times in the season when things are going great that you can run freely and try to score from first, try to steal from second, steal bases and all that. Try to force plays,' he said. 'In this case, if you look at it the last two or three weeks, every play matters. So slowing it down is the most important thing.' More Red Sox coverage Read the original article on MassLive.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Juan Soto vs Ronald Acuna Jr: Breaking down stats of MLB's next-generation greats
Image Source: Getty Juan Soto and Ronald Acuna Jr. are the two biggest young stars in baseball, and it all starts with fans being amazed at the skill they both possess. Soto is playing for the New York Mets, and Acuña is playing for the Atlanta Braves. Here is the comparison of all their stats in 2025 (hitting, power, and speed). Juan Soto and Ronald Acuna Jr's 2025 stats face-off In 2025, Juan Soto and Ronald Acuña Jr. showed why they're baseball's top young talents, each shining in different ways. Soto had a batting average of .275 and knocked in 109 runs for the Mets, hitting 35 home runs, reports Thanks to 132 walks, he managed a .410 on-base percentage. Soto stayed on the field for every game and reached base in 139 of them, making him someone teams can trust. Acuña played in just 49 games for the Braves due to an injury, yet he still managed to hit at a 40% average, as well as homer 4 times and steal 16 bases.. His .539 wOBA and 105.3 mph average exit velocity show he hits hard and runs fast. Also Read: Aaron Judge vs Shohei Ohtani: Comparing head-to-head stats of MLB's most electrifying talents Soto's great at staying consistent and getting on base, while Acuña's speed and power make him exciting when healthy. Both are amazing, and their rivalry in the NL East makes their games super fun to watch. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Free P2,000 GCash eGift UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo Fans love arguing over who's better. Injury impacts and future potential Injuries changed the 2025 season for both Soto and Acuña, but they're still set for big futures. Acuña missed 112 games after hurting his left knee on May 27, 2025, per Even so, he stole 16 bases and hit balls at 105.3 mph, showing he's a star when healthy. Soto played every single game, which is rare for an outfielder, proving he's always ready. His 5.5 WAR, according to FanGraphs, puts him among the best in the NL. Acuña should be back by May 2026, and his past, like hitting 40 homers and stealing nearly 40 bases in 2023, shows he could be an MVP again. Soto's .930 OPS and steady play make him a huge part of the Mets. Both players are young, in their mid-20s, so their rivalry could light up the NL East for years. Fans can't wait to see Acuña return and how he matches up with Soto's amazing consistency in 2026. Juan Soto and Ronald Acuña Jr. are more than just stats; they're baseball's future. Soto's knack for getting on base and playing every game makes him a Mets superstar, while Acuña's speed and power thrill Braves fans. Their 2025 seasons showed their skills, even with Acuña's injury. Soto's consistency gives him a small lead, but Acuña's exciting play keeps him close. As NL East rivals, their games are always a blast. Fans can watch them face off next on June 1, 2025, at 7:10 PM ET, when the Mets play the Braves. This game will be another big moment in their awesome rivalry. Get IPL 2025 match schedules , squads , points table , and live scores for CSK , MI , RCB , KKR , SRH , LSG , DC , GT , PBKS , and RR . Check the latest IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings.
