MLB Rumors: Astros get brutal injury news on Yordan Alvarez
The Houston Astros' trip north of the border did not go to plan. Not only did the club lose ground in the AL West behind the division-leading Rangers after dropping the final three games of the four-game series against the Blue Jays, but now the team heads to Cleveland without one of its biggest stars and most important pieces: Yordan Alvarez.
Alvarez left Thursday's loss in Toronto early with an injury and, as it turns out, it's worse something just precautionary.
On Friday, the club placed the star DH on the IL with "left oblique discomfort" and will send him back to Houston rather than traveling with the team to Cleveland so he can undergo further evaluation and treatment, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic.
Alvarez has continued to deliver as one of the best power-hitters and run producers in baseball this season, slashing .272/.384/.579 on the season with 17 home runs, 11 doubles and an absurd 55 RBI.
The Astros offense isn't barren with Alvarez out of the lineup but it is certainly lesser. While midseason injuries are something every MLB teeam is forced to weather, the fact of the matter is Houston is in an unfamiliar position in the division with the surge of the Rangers to start the season and anything to set them back could be detrimental, which an extended Alvarez absence could certainly qualify as.
More importantly, the "discomfort" label of the injury does raise some alarms. Getting evaluated in Houston should provide more clarity on the injury, but the fact that they don't initially know the cause is concerning and is something to monitor, particularly in relation to how long he could be out of the lineup and, as such, how long the Astros will be missing his big bat.
MLB Rumors: Should Yankees demote Anthony Volpe so he can get right?
Coming into the 2023 season, you couldn't have a discussion with a New York Yankees fan without them bringing up the excitement around top prospect Anthony Volpe making the Opening Day roster and his future in baseball. And the start he got off to only furthered that.
Volpe came out of the gates hot with several nice plays, including a 2-for-4 showing in his second game of the season. But since then, things have been middling at best for the rookie and, at times, even worse than that.
For the season now, Volpe has just a .618 OPS on the season, hitting only .188, while also having made seven errors this season. And that has raised the question of what the Yankees can do to help him get out of his slump.
Perhaps demoting him back to Triple-A should be the move?
That, however, is quite the conundrum for the Yankees. There isn't a shorstop on the current 26-man roster in New York that could immediately take over. Moreover, they have seen Oswald Peraza on the big-league club this season already, the most likely replacement for Volpe, and the results weren't great, particularly at the plate.
At the same time, Volpe is viewed as a potential future franchise cornerstone for the Yankees, meaning whatever the move is to get him right should be of the utmost importance. And if things continue to trend downward — his OPS has dropped from .678 in April to .592 in May to now .461 in early June — New York needs to explore the possibility of sending him back down to relieve some pressure and refind his offensive prowess.
MLB Rumors: Did Cardinals fall backward into spark plug with Luken Baker?
Still sitting in the basement of a totally getable NL Central, the St. Louis Cardinals have been looking for any type of spark that would get the club to start finally living up to expectations and pushing for a playoff spot.
Jordan Walker was the first attempt at this at the start of the season and, though he's back in St. Louis after getting demoted, the top prospect for the Cardinals hasn't totally delivered. Another top prospect, pitcher Matthew Liberatore, has helped boost the starting rotation, and helped the pitching overall with Steven Matz finding new life in the bullpen. But even then, the spark they've needed has still overall been missing.
It turns out, someone who is not one of the club's top prospects is looking like he could be the one who gives the Cardinals what they're looking for: Luken Baker.
Baker, who was the 75th overall pick in 2018 out of TCU, has worked his way up through the Cardinals system slowly and finally got called up on June 4. Since then, he's played two games and has flashed a bit by going 3-for-8 in his small sample size.
Admittedly, it's not been perfect. Of the five at-bats when he didn't get on base to this point, Baker struck out in four of them. At the same time, though, this offense has badly needed someone who can come in and deliver some juice to a too-often lifeless lineup. He has displayed, at the very least, the potential to provide that from the DH or first base (whichever Paul Goldschmidt isn't playing) and also has a Triple-A resumé this seasont to suggest he can keep doing that after posting a 1.076 OPS and 18 home runs in 54 games this season with Memphis.
Time (and more opportunities) will tell if Baker can be the spark the Cardinals have been lacking, but the early signs are promising that they may be getting exactly what they need from this hidden gem not even inside the organization's Top 30 prospects.
