Stock Up, Stock Down: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, more

The last seven days have offered a little bit of everything. Several teams continue to play very well in June, some big make players continue to slump and a new surprise team has taken over the lead in the National League Central.

In the latest edition of Stock Up, Stock Down, let’s take a look back at some of the good and some of the bad over the last seven days.

Stock Down: Giancarlo Stanton of the New York Yankees

You can file this under, it’s just never going to work out for Giancarlo Stanton and the New York Yankees. I know, I’m not breaking any news. However, the fact that the Bronx Bombers still owe him $118 million is mind-boggling. What they’re getting from him is not good.

Stanton has three hits in his last 37 at-bats, one home run, 14 strikeouts, three walks, and a hit-by-pitch. He isn’t even getting the trust of manager Aaron Boone to be able to play in the field.

What’s making his struggles stick out, even more, is the Yankees’ offense which has basically been nonexistent in the absence of Aaron Judge. It’s one thing to be shutdown by good pitchers, but New York was just swept by the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park and did so by scoring just eight runs in three games, including five in the series opener … and they still lost by 10 runs.

Stanton getting hot is not going to solve the Yankees’ offensive woes, but it can go a long way into helping them fight off the Toronto Blue Jays and Red Sox and avoid falling into the AL East basement. This is a contract that GM Brian Cashman is stuck with and a player that is on the decline.

Stock Down: Pittsburgh Pirates

Through the first couple of months of the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates were one of the good stories of the season. They were sitting on top of the National League Central Division standings, getting good pitching, timely hitting and even locked up star outfielder Bryan Reynolds. Things haven’t gone as smoothly in June, mainly the last seven days.

Pittsburgh showed up at American Family Field for a three-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers and got swept, dropping into second place in the division. Looking to turn things around at home, the Chicago Cubs were not having it and they promptly swept the Pirates and all of a sudden, after finding themselves in first place a week ago, they slid down to fourth place thanks to an 11-game Cincinnati Reds winning streak that has them in first place and the Cubs playing better.

During their losing streak, the Pirates have been shut out three times, including twice on back-to-back days by the Cubs at home. They scored one run in the series final on Wednesday and have scored just seven runs in the last week. Everything that was going right for them early in the season seems to be going wrong for them now.

Teams learn about themselves during stretches like this in a 162-game season. For Pittsburgh, their makeup will be tested with their next two series, four against the Miami Marlins and three against the San Diego Padres. This is not a make-or-break week for the Pirates, but a big week in terms of how they respond to adversity.

Stock Up: Chicago Cubs

Yes, the Reds and San Francisco Giants have been good recently, as have the Philadelphia Phillies and Red Sox. One team quietly playing well has been the Cubs.

They have won eight of their last 10, Marcus Stroman has turned into an ace and, in his latest outing, he went seven innings, scattered five hits, walked one, and struck out five in a 4-0 shutout of the Pirates. That followed up Drew Smyly’s five-inning scoreless outing the night before in an 8-0 Chicago win.

Offensively, the Cubs are coming up with big hits at big moments. For instance, in their win Monday night, five of the eight runs were driven in with two outs in an inning then, one night later, Mike Tauchman and Tucker Barnhart each had home runs. Their 10-game run has come at the hands of the Pirates and Baltimore Orioles (who they won two out of three from last weekend). They now head to London Stadium for two games against the St. Louis Cardinals.

There have been plenty of surprises in June and recently, the Red Sox and Cubs are making noise. Chicago is in a better position to make bigger news in a wide-open NL Central, but Boston is going to make things interesting in the AL East. Pittsburgh and Stanton need to figure things out before things can spiral even more out of control than they currently have.