Pitching Grips

David Banks-Imagn Images Imagine a video game designed around failure. One where winning isn’t defined as completing a set of objectives, but rather as finding the most creative, painful, and improbable ways to avoid completing the task at hand. I haven’t heard of such a game, but I’m convinced that it must exist, because the Reds are speedrunning it before our very eyes. Entering May, Cincinnati was 20-11 and in sole possession of first place in the NL Central. To that point, they hadn’t been more than a game out of the division since April 3. One week later, the Reds are now 20-18, six games back, and in sole possession of last place in the division. Now, measuring strictly on length of losing streak, Cincinnati’s skid isn’t nearly as notable as the 12-gamer put up by the Mets or the 10-gamer that contributed to the dismissal of Phillies manager Rob Thomson. But by several other measures, the last week of Reds baseball has been an even more profound and excruciating experience of f...

2:01 Jason Martinez : Welcome to the RosterResource chat! Always a pleasure to join you all and talk some baseball. Here we go … 2:01 Metsox : Whats up with Jose Fernandez’s playing time? He seems to young to sit on the bench, but maybe isn/t? Could the DBacks move Marte, which they want to do apparently, and create space for him? Could he move to OF. He hits the ball hard and has been solid so far. 2:04 Jon Becker : He’s playing a decent amount, but it’s damn near impossible to sit Ildemaro Vargas with the way he’s hitting. As for the OF, he’s never played there as a pro and I haven’t seen anything about him getting work there, so that’s probably off the table for now. It’ll be interesting to see what they do when Carlos Santana is back, since Vargas/Fernandez getting playing time makes the most sense but I don’t think they’d DFA Santana based on such a small sample size since he’s such ...

Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images On Tuesday night, the Astros came away with a big win against the Dodgers, but they suffered an even bigger loss, as an ankle injury in batting practice resulted in Carlos Correa being pulled before the game. The exact extent of the injury was not initially known, with the shortstop/third baseman scheduled to visit a specialist today, but Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reported late this morning that Correa will have surgery and miss the rest of the 2026 season: Astros source: Carlos Correa will have surgery on his left ankle and will be out for the season. A devastating injury blow for the Astros. — Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) May 6, 2026 This didn’t seem like the sort of mild sprain that’s healed by a bag of ice and a weekend spent watching old episodes of Top Chef with your foot elevated. Indeed, the initial returns Tuesday night were already pretty concerning, with McTaggart reporting that “ the expectation was that Correa w...

Brett Davis-Imagn Images I don’t think many would quibble with me too harshly if I characterized the last two seasons for the Atlanta Braves as dreary disappointments. In 2024, the Braves were generally believed to challenge the Dodgers for the title of best team in baseball. This held true for about six weeks, but for the rest of the season, they suffered myriad injuries and played .500 ball, barely hanging onto a wild card spot before quickly being dispatched by the Padres. Going into 2025 with the hope for a healthier, bounce-back season, nothing of the sort happened. Atlanta finished at 76-86, the franchise’s first losing season since 2017. Expectations coming into this season were more muted. While the Braves were expected to be competitive (the FanGraphs projections were more optimistic than ZiPS), the excitement was certainly dampened compared to the previous two years. So far in 2026, the Braves have defied the pundits and computers, dominating the NL East and spor...