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New York Post
25-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Ex-MLB manager Joe Maddon suggests drastic Anthony Volpe move for struggling Yankees star
If former MLB manager Joe Maddon were at the helm of the Yankees, the floundering Anthony Volpe would be heading back down to Triple-A. 'I think there's got to be some consideration, or thought, or talking about him possibly going back down,' Maddon said Thursday on MLB Network's 'MLB Now.' 'He's going to be a very good player in the years to come, but in the meantime, his confidence, for me, is at an all-time low.' Maddon said he thinks the Yankees should look to acquire a veteran shortstop at the upcoming trade deadline – 'somebody that can catch the ball' – as a temporary measure to allow Volpe to regain his confidence in the minors. 3 Anthony Volpe looks on during a game against the Mariners in July 2025. JASON SZENES FOR NY POST 'Send him down, let him get straightened out a bit,' Maddon said. 'He's gonna come back very soon.' Volpe, 24, is in the midst of a brutal stretch both at the plate and in the field. He's hitting just .214 this season with a .686 OPS and a .154 average in his last 30 games. He's also among the MLB leaders in errors with 13. Still, the Watchung, N.J., native is in his third season as the Yankees' everyday shortstop, and a minor-league stint at this point would be drastic. 3 Anthony Volpe during the Yankees-Mets series in July 2025. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post 3 X When MLB Network host Brian Kenny questioned Maddon's take on the situation, the former Rays, Cubs and Angels manager doubled down. '[Francisco] Alvarez did it with the Mets, and he came back, and so far he's been a different player,' Maddon said. '[Alvarez] is a younger guy, though,' Kenny replied. 'I'm a little stunned. You think it calls for that drastic action?' 'From what I've seen, I'm seeing him make a lot of mistakes he shouldn't be making,' Maddon said. 'Guy looks like he needs a reset mentally as much as anything for me. Slow the game down, get your fundamentals back together, breathe again, and in the meantime, just get somebody to catch the ball.' Maddon, 71, won the World Series with the Angels in 2002 and with the Cubs in 2016, and is a three-time Manager of the Year (2008, 2011 and 2015). He added that he wouldn't be worried about damaging Volpe's ego by sending him down at this point in his big-league career. 'I think we're really sensitive,' Maddon said. 'It's just the sign of the times that we get overly sensitive about doing the right thing.'
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Prominent MLB insider proposes Braves trade Ronald Acuna Jr. for Juan Soto-like haul
Could the Atlanta Braves do what once was thought unthinkable and trade Ronald Acuna Jr.? A prominent MLB insider is making the case as to why it might be time for the Braves to part with the former National League MVP. During an appearance on MLB Network's 'MLB Now,' New York Post's Joel Sherman believes that the Braves could receive a Juan Soto-like haul if they were to deal Acuna. Advertisement The biggest reason to trade the four-time All-Star? Sherman doesn't see the Braves being a winning team anytime soon, as they are 38-46, mired in fourth place in the National League East and are dealing with multiple injuries to their rotation, including Spencer Schwellenbach who went on the IL Wednesday with a fractured right elbow. He also points to the fact that second baseman Ozzie Albies and center fielder Michael Harris have regressed offensively, while the Braves don't know what they will have with outfielder Jurickson Profar who is coming back from an 80-game PED suspension. 'Can you see a championship in the next few years? I don't, because Albies has gone the wrong way, Harris has gone the wrong way, [Chris] Sale will be 37 next year, you don't have depth in your farm system,' Sherman explained. 'This has been a great period for the Braves. Seven straight years in the playoffs, six division titles, one championship. By the way, we won that championship without Acuna. He got hurt. We played the last four months of last season without Acuna and made the playoffs again.' After this year, Acuna still has three years and about $51 million left on his deal, and if he was made available at the trade deadline, he would instantly become the top offensive bat on the market. The Braves are expected to test the market for designated hitter Marcell Ozuna and reliever Raisel Iglesias, who will both be free agents at the end of the season. However, they won't move the needle in a prospect haul like Acuna would. Advertisement 'Do we want to try to take another seven-year run? I would say let's have a serious meeting about whether it's time to do that,' Sherman said. 'Acuna, in this marketplace without offensive players of this stature, you could make the Juan Soto trade. Who can I make the Juan Soto trade with?' The Washington Nationals were able to remake their franchise by trading Soto to the San Diego Padres. In return, the Nationals received: All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams Left fielder James Wood (22 home runs, .938 OPS) Pitcher MacKenzie Gore (3.08 ERA, 129 strikeouts in 17 starts) Outfield prospect Robert Hassell III (made MLB debut this season) Pitching prospect Jarlin Susana (4.15 ERA in six Double-A starts) Sherman believes that one team that could align with the Braves in an Acuna deal would be the Seattle Mariners as they have nine top-100 prospects, according to Acuna would be able to slide into right field for Seattle and dramatically improve production from a position that's been a sore point for the franchise. Since returning from his second ACL injury that ended his 2024 season after 49 games, he is slashing .350/.467/.610 with nine home runs, five doubles, 32 runs scored, with a 199 OPS+ and 2.1 bWAR in 35 games. Advertisement Related Headlines
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Cubs Legend Joe Maddon Reacts to Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Decision
Cubs Legend Joe Maddon Reacts to Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Decision originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Two-way Japanese sensation and Los Angeles Dodger, Shohei Ohtani, is in the midst of his second season with the team after signing a record-breaking 10-year $700 million dollar contract in the 2024 offseason. Advertisement Ohtani, now in his eighth major league season, is riding the momentum of a historic year. Fresh off his third MVP award and becoming the first player ever to achieve a rare 50-50 season—recording 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases—he capped off last season by winning a World Series championship with the Dodgers. After spending the entirety of last season sidelined from the mound and focusing on recovery from a right elbow UCL tear, Ohtani made a much-anticipated return in 2025 making his Dodgers pitching debut against the division rival San Diego Padres appearing as an opener. Los Angeles Dodgers two‑way player Shohei Ohtani (17)Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images Former MLB manager Joe Maddon, who managed Ohtani during his tenure with the Los Angeles Angels from 2020 to 2022, shared his thoughts on the Dodgers' decision to use him as an opener on an MLB Now segment. Advertisement He explained, 'Shohei came to the United States and signed to do both things. I think it would really bother him to not or just be told unilaterally that he cannot do that. I know the injury situation is a possibility, whatever, but he's here to do those particular things.' Maddon went on to explain the potential game plan for Ohtani moving forward, 'I would pay more attention to number of pitches thrown as opposed to innings thrown moving forward. Maybe up to 75 pitches, something like that, and get him out.' Ohtani dazzled his last time on the mound in a fully healthy season as a starting pitcher, finishing with a 3.14 ERA, a 10–5 record, and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings pitched before undergoing elbow surgery. Advertisement Related: Dodgers Send Andy Pages Message After Incident With Padres Manager Related: Dodgers Make Unexpected Announcement Before Padres Game This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 24, 2025, where it first appeared.
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Sandy Alcantara Off To Poor Start, Imperiling Marlins Present, Future
Miami Marlins catcher Agustín Ramírez, left, and starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara talk during a ... More baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong) No, the Miami Marlins were not one of the majority of MLB clubs entering 2025 with designs on a playoff spot. They were well aware of their lot as non-contenders, and entered the season with an everyday lineup filled with career minor leaguers with limited upside. Ditto their starting rotation, with a couple of major exceptions. Youngster Eury Perez has a fairly extreme ceiling, and is in the midst of rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. By midseason or so, he could be ready to take the ball in major league games that count. Despite a lengthy rehab, he just turned 22. Then there's recent staff ace and 2022 NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara. He too underwent Tommy John surgery, in October 2023, and at age 29 took the ball on opening day of this season. To put it mildly, things haven't gone quite as planned in his first six starts. 2-3, 8.31, with an ugly 19/17 K/BB ratio and 26 hits allowed in 26 innings. There's simply no way to spin those numbers positively, and the eye test has been at least as alarming. A typically insightful 'MLB Now' segment the day after his most recent start featuring Al Leiter with host Brian Kenny and Joel Sherman about summed it up - as much as anything else, the sheer volume of non-competitive pitches thrown in his last outing against the mighty Dodgers is cause for concern. So where have we come from, where are we now, and where might we be going with regard to Alcantara? Remember - there's a huge elephant in the room here. Alcantara's greatest long-term value to his club is as a trade asset. He's guaranteed $17.3 million this season and next, with a club option for $21.3 million in 2027. If he's an ace, that's a bargain, and he could bring a much-needed haul to the perennially rebuilding Marlins. But if he is what he currently appears to be…..well, that's another story. Alcantara may have won the 2022 Cy, but my batted ball-based evaluation system didn't consider him particularly deserving. He would have been 5th on my hypothetical ballot, behind Aaron Nola, Carlos Rodon, Corbin Burnes and Max Fried. He was exceedingly lucky on grounders that season, with a 59 actual, Unadjusted Grounder Score compared to a much higher 108 adjusted mark. Overall, his 76 'Tru' ERA- about equaled his 77 FIP- and was way above his 58 ERA-. He made a run at NL Contact Manager of the Year honors (Fried prevailed), with an 84 Adjusted Contact Score. His ability to rack up grounders and minimize liners and walks while muting contact authority of all types made up for a middling K rate. In 2023, Alcantara when slightly backward in many respects. His K rate dropped from 23.4% to 19.8%, over a half standard deviation below league average. His grounder rate remained high and his liner rate low, though both crept in the wrong direction. Despite all those grounders, his contact management performance was basically average (98 Adjusted Contact Score), and his 'Tru'- checked in at 93, right in line with his ERA- and FIP- (both at 94). My methods had him as the 14th best qualifying NL starter. Then injury struck, putting him on the shelf until this 2025. In spring training, we heard a lot of talk about the resurgence in his velocity to pre-injury levels. And sure, when you're a guy who bumps 100 mph with both of his fastballs and sits in the upper 90s, that sounds impressive. But his velocity isn't all the way back - all four of his primary pitches, his four-seamer, sinker, changeup and slider have all lost at least a full mph since 2023. That's not insignificant. And let's drill a little deeper into his arsenal to get a better feel for his overall pitching profile. In 2022, 2023 and 2025, he has never thrown a single one of those four offerings more than 30% of the time. He really doesn't own a go-to out pitch - he relies on the interaction among all four. Each season I issue pitch grades for all of the qualifying offerings of every MLB starting pitchers with 135 or more innings pitched, based on their bat-missing and contact management performance relative to the league. All four of his pitches got 'B' grades or better in both 2022 and 2023, but only two (his changeup in 2022 and his four-seamer in 2023) got 'A' grades. The sinker got a 'B+' in 2022, the slider did the same in 2023. The rest were average 'B' grades. This shows that any of his pitches has flashed above average at one time or another, but just as importantly, their respective floors were at the league average level. While Alcantara has a reputation as more of a contact manager than a bat-misser, he showed bursts of excellence in both disciplines in 2022-23. His four-seamer was an above average bat-misser in 2022 and 2023, while his changeup also was in 2022. His changeup, sinker (both in 2022) and slider (in 2023) stood out with regard to contact management at one time or another. Now it's too early to run any meaningful contact management numbers for 2025, but we can make some cursory conclusions based on some surface level numbers. After never allowing higher than league average exit speeds on any batted ball type in 2022-23, he's allowing higher than league average authority on flies (95.0 mph), liners (96.4 mph) and grounders (87.3 mph) in 2025. His liner rate allowed is way up. He's allowed 10 of his 24 hits with his sinker, his second most frequently used pitch. And he's allowed six hits - half for extra bases - with his four-seamer, his third most frequently used pitch. That's pretty concerning. The bat-missing trends aren't good either. Alcantara's overall swing-and-miss rate was 12.3% in 2022 and 12.2% in 2023. Pretty good for a pitcher with an ordinary K rate. Lots of swings and misses, plenty of weak contact works. This year, his whiff rate is down to 10.6%, and the biggest issue surrounds his most important pitch - his four-seamer. While the four-seamer is the game's least effective pitch, and overall usage has been trending downward for years, the great ones have great fastballs. So even though Alcantara took a slight step backward in 2023, the emergence of an 'A'-grade fastball was heartening and gave me good feelings about his future. His pitch-specific whiff rate had climbed from 10.8% in 2022 to 14.2% in 2023. Well, it's sitting at 6.2% thus far in 2025. If you could localize all of his issues down to a single number (beside the walks), this would be it. There are plenty of questions to be asked here, and some should be directed at Marlins' GM Peter Bendix. Was Alcantara ready for a full workload as of Opening Day, or was the club perhaps a little too aggressive to get him off to a good start and enhance his trade value? Sure, his velo looked good in the spring, but was he stretched out to the level one expects of their #1 starter? Pitchers have been in Alcantara's situation many times before. Some take a while to bounce back - but do - others continue to struggle, and some re-injure themselves. Heck, just last year Garrett Crochet got off to a terrible start with the White Sox coming off of TJ, righted himself and then got dealt to the Red Sox for a king's ransom at the deadline. This could go in any number of directions. But all eyes will be on Alcantara when he makes his next starts, when the opposition isn't as formidable. A lot is at stake for both player and team.
