[jaa36]

That Aaron Nola trade is not looking too bright on my part. He just suffered another elbow injury and this time will require Tommy John, and so will miss the rest of the season AND next while I'm paying him a cool $39.5M for 2027. Oops! We went 13-16 on the month and are now 60-70 overall. Still just eight games back of the fourth wild card- we have kind of treaded water in that category- but it has not been a good year. Hueston Morrill is hitting .195 and has emphatically broken my streak of good Rule 5 picks. Arturo Figueroa is hitting .220, and I anticipate declining his option for next season. Similarly, I probably won't offer arbitration for Zac Susi and let him go as well.

In our final trade of the season, I sent Andres Munoz and a minor leaguer to the Twins for two highly-rated minor league pitchers, Rocky "The Wizard" Bell and Andy Moore, and minor league outfielder Luis Almazan. Bell was last year's #4 overall pick, Moore was this year's #7, and both have a chance to make an impact in the majors. Almazan is fast and should easily hit .300 but has no power and limited defensive abilities. It was a good haul for a reliever (Munoz) who had pitched well over his seven-season career (3.43, 44 saves) but was on an expiring contract.

Despite the rough season, I extended 2024 and 2025 Manager of the Year Fredi Gonzalez and bench coach Mickey Morandini for four more years.

Around the league:
-The NL East remains a dogfight between the Braves, Nationals and Mets, all of whom are within one game of each other.
-Cody Bellinger (LAD) hit his 400th career home run.
-Josh Donaldson (LAA) got his 2000th hit.
-The Red Sox traded Michael Kopech, who has over $140M left on his contract, to the Mets. So there's hope to get rid of Nola!