MLB Rumors: Trevor Story returning Tuesday for Red Sox, more on the way
For as much as Boston Red Sox fans can rightfully criticize Chaim Bloom for his lack of action at the trade deadline and, even before, in the offseason, the club hasn't been done any favors when it comes to injuries this season. But with the season seemingly on the verge of slipping away, the cavalry is coming.
That will start on Tuesday with the 2023 season debut for Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story. Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reported on Monday that Story will be activated as he's ahead of schedule with his rehab and has hit every checkmark to get back on the field for Boston.
Between Double-A and Triple-A, Story hat 40 at-bats in the minors as a rehab assignment and accrued a 1.117 OPS with four home runs, nine RBI and a stolen base.
Getting Story back will be massive on several fronts. For one, it's an upgrade to the lineup over Yu Chang or Pablo Reyes at shortstop, while also potentially providing a defensive upgrade as well. They've lacked that defensive consistency all season, so getting it here will be huge.
But that's not all. Speier also reported that Red Sox manager Alex Cora plans for Chris Sale, who was dominant in his last Triple-A rehab outing, will start for Boston on Friday. Meanwhile, Garrett Whitlock will make what they hope is his final rehab showing in Worcester on Wednesday and join the bullpen for the weekend. Tanner Houck is also slated to make another rehab start this week.
If there was ever a time for the Red Sox to get healthy, it's after getting swept in a crucial series against the Blue Jays. Thankfully, it seems as if that might indeed be the case.
MLB Rumors: Mets DFA Brett Baty, continue season of misery
The pain that New York Mets fans have been forced to endure this season is well-documented. Most infamously, the high-dollar roster that Steve Cohen constructed sits in fourth-place in the NL East and well out of the wild card race, leading to the club trading away both Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander at the deadline, among others.
But now the misery is continuing, though perhaps in less obvious ways.
On Monday, the team optioned one of its former top prospects, third baseman Brett Baty, back to Triple-A Syracuse, as reported by MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. Baty had struggled mightily this season in the majors, slashing .216/.289/.331 over 86 games this season with the Mets at the big-league level.
DiComo noted that the organization believes that going back down to Syracuse and the Triple-A level will be best for Baty's development. Having said that, it's a tough pill to swallow that this season that has been such a mitigated disaster is actually made worse when you consider that Baty was supposed to be a cornerstone for the future as the organization's No. 2 overall prospect last year.
Buck Showalter and the Mets brass are selling this as a "time out" and trip to "take a breath" for Baty, but it feels worse than that in the construct of this season for New York. They were hoping that Baty, who had dominated Triple-A pitching, would immediately help a contender. Instead, the team is a bottom-dweller that won't have Baty on the roster for at least a bit after this latest move.
Not great.
MLB Rumors: Braves are perfect fit for former Yankees top prospect Deivi Garcia
If there was a big criticism to level against Alex Anthopoulos for how he handled the trade deadline for the Atlanta Braves, it was the lack of addressing the bullpen. Yes, the club did trade for Pierce Johnson and veteran Brad Hand, but there were plenty of fans and analysts who believed the club could've done more to solidify itself as the leading World Series contender.
The New York Yankees might've just dropped a gift right in the Braves' lap on Monday, though.
After a fall from grace within the organization and in baseball circles' opinions alike, the Yankees designated former top prospect Deivi Garcia for assigment on Monday. Garcia was a Top 100 prospect in baseball in both 2020 and 2021, but has struggled mightily to live up to that hype with an ERA in Triple-A of 5.67 this season as a reliever. This comes after New York essentially gave up hope that he could be a starter with bad years in 2021 and 2022 in the minors as well.
At 24 years old, though, there's no reason to believe that Garcia isn't a worthwhile reclamation project, especially for an organization like the Braves who have shown an innate ability to develop young players and, at other times, polish diamonds in the rough. This would definitely be a case of both when it comes to Garcia.
Admittedly, there's a good chance that Garcia wouldn't be an immediate help for the Braves bullpen this season. He's simply shown no signs with the Yankees organization that he's ready to be a major-league reliever. At the same time, though, with the need for some younger arms in the system, he fits the bill of what the Braves should be looking for, a once-promising prospect who has struggled that, in essence, the stud minor-league development of the Braves system can potentially fix.
