MLB Stock Up, Stock Down: Blue Jays, Rangers, Mets, Diamondbacks

It was another wild week in Major League Baseball.

Some MLB teams saw their week go from a high to a low from series to series, a pitcher continues to dominate for his new team, one team’s manager has a week to forget, and a National League West Division team continues its surprising 2023 season with a first-year pitcher. All of that will be covered in this week’s edition of Stock Up, Stock Down.

Stock Down: New York Mets

After being rained out last Saturday, the New York Mets and Cleveland Guardians played a split doubleheader the next day at Citi Field and it was a chance for the Mets to get some momentum before hitting the road.

They took advantage of the situation by sweeping the doubleheader, winning Game 1, 5-4, then riding the right arm of Justin Verlander to a 2-1 win in Game 2. They won the first game of the series Friday night, 10-9, in 10 innings with a three-run bottom of the 10th and winning it on a Francisco Lindor walk-off single.

Momentum is just what they needed as they are looking to turn around their disappointing season. It didn’t happen.

After sweeping the Guardians to get to two games over .500, they went to Chicago and dropped two out of three against the Cubs, a team that had lost seven of eight games entering the series. That’s not an opportunity that New York wanted to waste at a time when it looked like they were turning a corner.

The Mets have crept into a Wild Card spot and closed within 5.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves, but a three-game series in Chicago in late May was the perfect time to pick up some momentum and they failed to do so. One step forward, two steps back for Buck Showalter’s crew, and don’t say that all games in a long season don’t matter. Not when a team like the Mets have high hopes for this season and have been inconsistent.

Stock Up: Nathan Eovaldi

A Boston Red Sox loss is turning into a Texas Rangers’ gain.

Boston let right-hander Nathan Eovaldi hit free agency following the 2022 season and the Rangers swooped in and signed him over the winter and so far, the returns have been good. The best of Eovaldi showed in a 6-1 Texas win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

Eovaldi gave up one run on six hits, striking out five and walking one on just 104 pitches. What was even more impressive than his line was it was done on a complete-game effort, something that’s rarely done anymore in the majors with analytics taking over the game and managers wanting to match up late in games. A five-run lead gives a manager a little more room for error in terms of pulling a pitcher and Eovaldi took full advantage of the run support he got from his teammates.

In beating former Red Sox teammate Rich Hill, Eovaldi improved to 6-2 with a 2.60 ERA and 66 strikeouts in just under 70 innings pitched. Texas owns the third-best record in the American League this season, and is two games up on the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West, all while Jacob deGrom, a former Mets ace, is injured. It’s time people started paying attention to the Rangers in 2023.

Stock Down: John Schneider

They were here last week, however, it was a rough week for the Blue Jays, mainly manager John Schneider. After losing three out of four at home against the New York Yankees, they hosted the Baltimore Orioles for three games over the weekend. It’s safe to say that Toronto and Schneider have seen better days.

They lost the first game last Friday 6-2, but things really fell apart on Saturday and Sunday. In the top of the sixth in a 2-2 game, Alek Manoah struck out Adam Frazier with runners on base. The two exchanged words with Manoah telling Frazier to go back to the dugout, but little did Toronto’s right-hander know that he was too, but he was forced there by a major mistake by Schneider.

Two batters after pitching coach Pete Walker made the first trip to the mound in the inning, Schneider went out there to calm down and talk strategy with his pitcher and infielders. After a short discussion, Schneider turned to go back to the Blue Jays bench when home plate umpire Dan Iassogna stopped him and told him that Manoah needed to come out of the game as it was Toronto’s second trip to the mound from the dugout of the inning. How it was possible that Schneider didn’t realize it was the second trip is stunning, actually.

To add insult to injury, Baltimore rallied with three runs in the eighth inning and one in the 10th for a 6-5 win. Sunday, the Orioles completed the sweep with an 8-3 victory. After a 4-6 homestand, the Blue Jays traveled south to Tampa Bay for a four-game set with the first-place Rays.

After splitting the first two games, they dropped the final two games of the series to fall 10.5 games back in the AL East. Hopes were high going into the season in Toronto, but they are starting to bury themselves in the standings.