The Baseball Buffet for 8/1/2025

Issue #353

The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!

⚾ Welcome! ⚾

The 127th day of the season featured a very short slate of Thursday games:

• TBR 4, NYY 7 - The Yankees got to Ryan Pepiot early, with three runs in both the first and second innings (4 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 4 K). Giancarlo Stanton hit a 2-run HR in the first, and Ben Rice hit a 3-run HR in the second. Marcus Stroman was doing well before allowing four runs in the fourth inning, but then Yerry De Los Santos struck out five over three shutout innings, and Jonathan Loáisiga pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.

• ATL 12, CIN 11 - This game got crazy. The Reds took a 3-0 lead after three innings, with Elly De La Cruz hitting a 2-run HR, his 19th of the year. The Braves came back and tied it up at 3-3 through seven innings. They then busted out for 8 runs in the top of the eighth—and did so without any homers. With the game seemingly over, the Reds had other ideas and scored 8 runs of their own in the bottom of the eighth, including a 3-run HR by newly acquired Ke’Bryan Hayes, and a 3-run HR by Spencer Steer. Perhaps tired or confused by what they had just collectively experienced, both teams failed to score in the ninth, so the game went into extras, tied 11-11. In the top of the tenth, with a runner on third and one out, Marcell Ozuna hit a sacrifice fly and Matt Olson scored. That would end up being the winning run as former Reds pitcher Raisel Iglesias came in for the bottom of the tenth and secured his 13th save.

• TEX 0, SEA 6 - The Mariners scored their six runs in the middle innings, including HR in the fifth by Cole Young and Cal Raleigh, his 42nd of the year. Eugenio Suárez, who played for Seattle in 2022 and 2023, returned to the team in a deadline deal and was 1-4 with a double and run scored in his debut. Meanwhile, George Kirby pitched well (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) and three relievers combined for the 4-hit shutout.

Standings

I am providing current standings as part of The Baseball Buffet (regular standings by division most days, wild-card standings on Wednesdays.) The image below is a modified version of the text-based standings at Plain Text Sports, and here also is a link to the official standings at MLB.com.

Today’s Trivia Question

Andrew McCutchen recently hit his 10th HR, which means he has at least 10 HR in the first 17 seasons of his career, making him one of only 11 players to begin their career with at least 17 straight 10+ HR seasons. Who has the record for the most?

Who’s on the move?

In this section I won’t list 26th-man moves, or every time a team shuttles relievers back and forth to AAA to keep a stock of fresh arms in the bullpen. I’ll focus on the biggest, more impactful demotions, promotions, and injury list changes (for a full list, see all the latest MLB transactions).

🤕 Placed on the IL

• BAL Zach Eflin - 15-day IL (low back discomfort)

➡️ Traded

• The Athletics traded RHP Mason Miller and LHP JP Sears to the San Diego Padres for SS Leo De Vries (A-level), RHP Braden Nett (AA-level), RHP Henry Baez (AA-level), and RHP Eduarniel Nuñez.

• The Minnesota Twins traded SS Carlos Correa and cash to the Houston Astros for LHP Matt Mikulski (A-level).

• The Arizona Diamondbacks traded 3B Eugenio Suárez to the Seattle Mariners for INF Tyler Locklear (AAA), RHP Hunter Cranton (A-level), and RHP Juan Burgos.

• The Pittsburgh Pirates traded RHP David Bednar to the New York Yankees for C Rafael Flores (AA/AAA), C Edgleen Perez (A-level), and OF Brian Sanchez (A-level).

• The Arizona Diamondbacks traded RHP Merrill Kelly to the Texas Rangers for LHP Kohl Drake (AA/AAA), RHP David Hagaman (A-level), and LHP Mitch Bratt (AA).

• The Cleveland Guardians traded RHP Shane Bieber to the Toronto Blue Jays for RHP Khal Stephen (A/AA).

• The Baltimore Orioles traded 1B/DH Ryan O’Hearn and OF Ramón Laureano to the San Diego Padres for LHP Boston Bateman (A-level), INF Cobb Hightower (A-level), RHP Tyson Neighbors (A/AA), INF/OF Victor Figueroa (A-level), INF Brandon Butterworth (A-level), RHP Tanner Smith (A-level).

• The Los Angeles Dodgers traded RHP Dustin May to the Boston Red Sox for OF James Tibbs III (AA/A) and Zach Ehrhard (AA/A).

• The Tampa Bay Rays traded RHP Taj Bradley to the Minnesota Twins for RHP Griffin Jax.

• The San Francisco Giants traded RHP Camilo Doval to the New York Yankees for RHP Trystan Vrieling (A/AA), C/3B Jesus Rodriguez (AAA), 3B Parks Harber (A-level), and LHP Carlos De La Rosa (Rookie level).

• The Minnesota Twins traded OF Harrison Bader to the Philadelphia Phillies for OF Hendry Mendez (AA) and RHP Geremy Villoria (Rookie level).

• The Baltimore Orioles traded OF Cedric Mullins to the New York Mets for RHP Anthony Nunez (A/AA), RHP Raimon Gomez (A-level), and RHP Chandler Marsh (A-level).

• The Tampa Bay Rays traded INF José Caballero to the New York Yankees for OF Everson Pereira and a player to be named later or cash.

• The Baltimore Orioles traded RHP Charlie Morton to the Detroit Tigers for LHP Micah Ashman (A/AA).

• The San Francisco Giants traded OF Mike Yastrzemski to the Kansas City Royals for RHP Yunior Marte (AAA in 2024).

• The Milwaukee Brewers traded LHP Nestor Cortes to the San Diego Padres for OF Brandon Lockridge.

• The Chicago White Sox traded RHP Adrian Houser to the Tampa Bay Rays for INF Curtis Mead, RHP Duncan Davitt (AA/AAA), and RHP Benjamin Peoples (AAA).

• The Miami Marlins traded OF Jesús Sánchez to the Houston Astros for RHP Ryan Gusto.

• The Minnesota Twins traded INF/OF Willi Castro to the Chicago Cubs for RHP Sam Armstrong (AA) and RHP Ryan Gallagher (A/AA).

• The Arizona Diamondbacks traded RHP Shelby Miller and LHP Jordan Montgomery to the Milwaukee Brewers for a player to be named later or cash.

• The Kansas City Royals traded C Freddy Fermin to the San Diego Padres for RHP Ryan Bergert and RHP Stephen Kolek.

• The Los Angeles Dodgers traded OF James Outman to the Minnesota Twins for RHP Brock Stewart.

• The Washington Nationals traded RHP Kyle Finnegan to the Detroit Tigers for RHP Josh Randall (A-level) and RHP R.J. Sales (A-level).

• The Cleveland Guardians traded RHP Paul Sewald to the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later or cash.

• The Colorado Rockies traded RHP Jake Bird to the New York Yankees for 2B Roc Riggio (A/AA) and LHP Ben Shields (AA).

• The Pittsburgh Pirates traded LHP Taylor Rogers and cash to the Chicago Cubs for OF Ivan Brethowr (A-level).

• The Detroit Tigers traded RHP Matt Manning to the Philadelphia Phillies for OF Josueth Quinonez (Rookie-level).

• The Minnesota Twins traded LHP Danny Coulombe to the Texas Rangers for LHP Garrett Horn (A-level).

• The St. Louis Cardinals traded RHP Phil Maton to the Texas Rangers for LHP Mason Molina (A-level), RHP Skylar Hales (AA/AAA), and cash.

• The Washington Nationals traded LF Alex Call to the Los Angeles Dodgers for RHP Eriq Swan (A-level) and RHP Sean Paul Liñan (AAA).

• The Pittsburgh Pirates traded LHP Bailey Falter to the Kansas City Royals for LHP Evan Sisk and 1B Callan Moss (A-level).

• The New York Yankees traded INF Oswald Peraza to the Los Angeles Angels for OF Wilberson De Pena (Rookie-level) and international bonus pool money.

• The Athletics traded OF Miguel Andujar to the Cincinnati Reds for RHP Kenya Huggins (A-level).

• The Toronto Blue Jays traded INF Will Wagner to the San Diego Padres for C Brandon Valenzuela (AA).

• The Detroit Tigers traded LHP Dietrich Enns to the Baltimore Orioles for cash considerations.

MLB Debut

• TEX RP Luis Curvelo - The 24-year old pitched the final two innings of the Rangers 6-0 loss to the Mariners, striking out three and only allowing one hit and no runs. Before the call-up, Curvelo was pitching as a reliever at AAA Round Rock and had a 3.26 ERA with 40 K in 38.2 IP.

League Leaders

Cal Raleigh hit another HR yesterday, and with the deadline acquisition of Eugenio Suárez, the Mariners now have two of the top five on the MLB HR leaderboard. Also of note… the large gap after Suárez to the sixth most homers so far this year…a 9-HR gap? Huh.

• 42 - SEA Cal Raleigh

• 38 - LAD Shohei Ohtani

• 37 - NYY Aaron Judge

• 37 - PHI Kyle Schwarber

• 36 - SEA Eugenio Suárez

• 27 - TBR Junior Caminero

• 27 - CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong

• 26 - DET Riley Greene

• 26 - CHC Seiya Suzuki

On this day in baseball history…

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history (for a longer list, see the feature at the Baseball Almanac or the Bullpen feature at Baseball-Reference.com):

📅 On August 1…

• 1941: Lefty Gomes walks 11, but pitches a shutout. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Yankees southpaw Lefty Gomez breaks the major league mark for walks in a shutout by issuing 11 walks in a 9-0 victory over the Browns.”

• 1962: Bill Monbouquette throws a no-hitter. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Nothing less than Bill Monbouquette's no-hitter is necessary to defeat Early Wynn and the White Sox, 1-0. The Red Sox pitcher improves his record to 9-10.”

• 1970: Willie Stargell slugs 2 HR and 3 doubles. Willie Stargell’s good game led the Pirates over the Braves, 20-10. That seems like a pretty rare combination (2 HR and 3 doubles), and sure enough it has only been done five other times, all after Stargell: Steve Garvey (1977), Kelly Shoppach (2008, in a 13-inning game), Jackie Bradley Jr. (2015), José Ramírez (2017), and Luis Urías (2021).

• 1972: Nate Colbert hits 5 HR with 13 RBI in a doubleheader… with a twist. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Nate Colbert ties one major-league record with five home runs, and sets another with 13 RBI, as the Padres take a doubleheader from the Braves, 9-0 and 11-7. At age 8, on May 2, 1954, Colbert had been at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis to witness Stan Musial hitting five home runs in a doubleheader.”

• 1977: Willie McCovey sets new NL record with 18 grand slams. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Giants first baseman Willie McCovey establishes a new National League record by hitting his 18th career grand slam.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Madison Bumgarner (1989) was the first-round (10th overall) draft pick of the San Francisco Giants in 2007. He made his major league debut briefly in 2009, the first of his 15 years in the majors (11 with the Giants, and 4 with the Diamondbacks.) An All-Star each year from 2013-2016, Bumgarner had between 199-251 strikeouts in each of those years with a 2.86 ERA and 64-37 record. Overall for his career he had 134 wins, a 3.47 ERA, and a 110 ERA+. In the postseason, Bumgarner was usually outstanding, taking home both the NLCS MVP and World Series MVP honors in 2014, and overall accumulating an 8-3 record and 2.11 ERA in 102.1 innings of work. He was also one of the best hitting pitchers of his era, with 19 HR, 19 doubles, and a .172 average in 731 plate appearances.

• Adam Jones (1985) was drafted in the first round by the Mariners in 2003 and briefly played with Seattle before being included with four other players in a trade to the Orioles after the 2007 season. Jones blossomed in Baltimore, hitting 25+ HR in seven consecutive seasons while also playing great defense in CF, earning four Gold Glove Awards. A five-time All-Star, Jones overall had 282 HR, a .277/.317/.454 slash line, and a 106 ERA+.

• Gregg Jefferies (1967) was the first-round (20th overall) draft pick by the New York Mets in 1985. He demolished minor league pitching at A/AA in 1986 and then AA again in 1987 and was a highly touted prospect at that time. Playing a mix of 3B, 2B, 1B, and LF over his 14-year career, Jefferies led the NL with 40 doubles in 1990 and generally had a nice combination of power and speed, with seven seasons with 10+ HR and four seasons with 20+ SB, including a high of 46 in 1993, his first of two consecutive All-Star campaigns. Overall, Jefferies had 126 HR, 196 SB, a .289/.344/.421 slash line, and a 107 OPS+.

Currently active players who were born on August 1 include COL Ezequiel Tovar and ATL Dylan Lee.

Today’s Matchups

Today we have a full slate of Friday games (15), so there are lots of possibilities. Some games and pitchers that jump out to me are:

• DET vs. PHI is an important inter-league series between two winning teams, and game one features Jack Flaherty (4.51 ERA, 137 K in 109.2 IP) vs. Ranger Suárez (2.59 ERA, 90 K In 93.2 IP).

• SFG vs. NYM features two good pitchers in Robbie Ray (2.93 ERA, 134 K in 129 IP) and David Peterson (2.83 ERA, 101 K in 121 IP).

• TEX vs. SEA is a key AL West series between two teams fighting for at least a wild card spot. Seattle took game one yesterday, and today we have Jack Leiter (4.09 ERA, 83 K in 92.1 IP) and Logan Gilbert (3.36 ERA, 105 K in 72.1 IP).

Also on the bump today are HOU Hunter Brown, NYM David Peterson, MIN Joe Ryan, NYY Carlos Rodón, LAD Clayton Kershaw, SDP Nick Pivetta, and AZ Merrill Kelly

HR Watch

Predicting who might hit a HR on any given day is a challenge. But here are a few to consider based on opposing SP past performance:

• ATL Sean Murphy, 5-11 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. CIN Brady Singer

• ATL Matt Olson, small sample but is 3-9 with 2 HR vs. CIN Brady Singer

• SEA Julio Rodríguez, small sample but is 6-11 with 2 HR vs. TEX Jack Leiter

• SEA Cal Raleigh, small sample but is 3-8 with 2 HR vs. TEX Jack Leiter

• PIT Andrew McCutchen, 4-15 with 2 HR vs. COL Antonio Senzatela

• NYM Cedric Mullins, 4-12 with 2 HR vs. SFG Robbie Ray

Hits Watch

If you play MLB’s Beat the Streak mobile game, or otherwise bet on/parlay players to collect hits, I’ll try to provide some good options in this section. In addition to the HR Watch guys listed above, here are some others to consider based on opposing SP past performance:

• TOR Ty France, 12-25 with a HR and 5 doubles vs. KCR Michael Wacha

• NYM Starling Marte, 9-25 with a HR, a triple, and 3 doubles vs. SFG Robbie Ray

• PIT Tommy Pham, 6-15 with 2 doubles vs. COL Antonio Senzatela

• CHC Dansby Swanson, 6-12 with a HR and 3 doubles vs. BAL Trevor Rogers

• TBR Yandy Díaz, 5-12 with a triple vs. LAD Clayton Kershaw

Who is streaking?

Active hit streaks

• 13 - SDP Luis Arraez

• 9 - PIT Tommy Pham

• 9 - TEX Josh Jung

• 9 - CLE Kyle Manzardo

• 9 - NYM Mark Vientos

• 8 - SDP Manny Machado

• 8 - CLE Steven Kwan

• 7 - KCR Maikel Garcia

Active HR streaks

• 2 - HOU Yainer Diaz

• 2 - BOS Jarren Duran

• 2 - PHI Brandon Marsh

• 2 - ATH Brent Rooker

• 2 - BOS Trevor Story

• 2 - NYY Anthony Volpe

Who might struggle today?

Betting against any given player to not get a hit is tough, as guys in the starting lineup get at least one hit in a game more often than not. That said, here are some guys who clearly have struggled against their opposing SP today:

• PHI Kyle Schwarber, 2-23 with 8 K though one hit was a HR vs. DET Jack Flaherty

• PHI Trea Turner, 1-11 with 5 K though the one hit was a HR vs. DET Jack Flaherty

• TEX Marcus Semien, 4-35 with 7 K though one hit was a HR vs. SEA Logan Gilbert

• TEX Ezequiel Duran, 1-11 with 5 K vs. SEA Logan Gilbert

• TEX Josh Jung, 0-14 with 3 K vs. SEA Logan Gilbert

• TBR Brandon Lowe, 1-12 with 5 K vs. LAD Clayton Kershaw

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

Andrew McCutchen has 10+ HR in his first 17 seasons. The record is of course held by Hank Aaron who had 10+ HR in all 23 of his major league seasons. Aaron had 13 HR in his rookie season, and 12 and 10 HR in his final two seasons.

Good Reads

Here I am providing one or more links to baseball articles I’ve enjoyed recently, whether by writers at MLB.com or elsewhere.

• What we learned from a wild Trade Deadline, by Anthony Castrovince at MLB, 7/31/2025

• 6 winners of the Trade Deadline, by Will Leitch at MLB, 7/31/2025

• 5 contenders who made huge bullpen additions at Trade Deadline, by Mike Petriello at MLB, 7/31/2025

• Ranking the 25 top prospects traded ahead of the Deadline, by Sam Dykstra at MLB, 8/1/2025

• Stats of the Week: From rookie's 4-HR game to 41-year-old's 11-K game, by Sarah Langs at MLB, 7/31/2025

See recent issues of The Baseball Buffet for more recent good reads!

Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.

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