Welcome to the opening, our new weekday morning series here on mlbtr! Nick Deeds will walk you through three things to watch for in MLB, with our typical hot stove leaning.
As the calendar shifts to November, here are three things we’ll be watching across the baseball world:
1. Game 3 of the World Series was rained out, improving Philly’s pitching matchups
yesterday’s opener cited the availability of phillies aces aaron nola and zack wheeler among the biggest hurdles philadelphia faces heading into their stay at home from game three, and that hurdle has been partially removed due to the postponement of last night’s game: aaron nola is now in line to start game 4 tomorrow with regular rest, while houston is opting to keep their rotation order, leaving ace justin verlander to start game 5 with an extra day off, the same decision the phillies made for wheeler in game 6, with noah syndergaard likely set to take the nola’s spot starting in game 5, which could allow him to throw deeper into the game than him. he would have if he pitched last night, as previously planned. tonight’s game will see southpaw ranger suarez stomp for philadelphia against houston’s lance mccullers jr.
2. albert pujols officially retires
The retirement of albert pujols sees one of baseball’s all-time legends walk away from the game, but it also raises a question that, as recently as this spring, would have been unexpected: how is St. louis is going to replace the production of him? Pujols hit a phenomenal .270/.345/.550 in his final season, good for 154 ops+ which ranks as his best mark since 2010, when he was 30 years old. nolan arenado refuses to opt out, eliminating a major offseason question for the cardinals, but pujols’ retirement combined with the impending retirement of veteran wide receiver yadier molina strong> are going to leave st. louis with a lot of work to do this offseason. After all, only aaron judge posted a better offensive season than pujols in 2022 among pending free agents (min. 300 pa), and no catcher in baseball has the kind of illustrious reputation as a catcher and defensive game. -caller who has molina. Speculation has swirled early this offseason connecting the Cardinals with their division rival Cubs’ longtime catcher, Willson Contreras. contreras represents a particularly intriguing option for st. louis, as he could help cover the loss of both pujols and molina, giving the cardinals a quality right-handed bat to drop into the dh slot on occasion while also shoring up a receiving corps that includes andrew knizner and ivan herrera.
3. the oropendolas have a surplus in the table for 2023
baltimorebaseball’s rich dubroff this morning discussed a looming jam in the orioles infield this offseason, suggesting that if trades aren’t made, ramon urias may be pushed into a utility role due to the imminent arrival of jordan westburg in addition to the presence of gunnar henderson and jorge mateo. Dubroff points out that this ignores players like terrin vavra and joey ortiz, who could be out of playing time if no changes are made to the infield mix. The Orioles’ entry into the infield market as a seller hoping to acquire winning pieces now would be an interesting development, as pitching is the clearest need for a team that lost john means due to tommy john surgery earlier this year. and only had one starter who made at least 20 starts with a 100+ era+. they would be interested in adding a player like urias in case it hits the trade market.