Game Day: Monday, July 27th

It's a new week, the last full week of play in the month of July and the last week of games before the trade deadline on August 3rd.  

Most of the chatter around the league is regarding potential trades that may or may not be made this week.

All the speculation about trades is exciting initially and then it's exhausting.  I'm looking forward to August.

There have been a few trades already and one major trade between the Washington Nationals and the Boston Red Sox that saw Red Sox rookie Connelly Early traded for Nationals diamond in the rough, Curtis Mead.  This was an exciting trade.  Finally, all the anticipation pays off.  

Mead was initially signed by the Tampa Rays at the age of 19 as an International free agent out of Adelaide, Australia.  I once met some aussies who said Adelaide is full of bogans.  Bogans are akin to hillbillies here in the United States.

He posted strong numbers in his first season in the minor leagues and was a top prospect for the Rays for a year or two before getting the call to the big leagues in 2023. 

He didn't so much fail to produce as much as he failed to get consistent playing time.  Mead was never prioritized in Tampa with Brandon Lowe and Junior Caminero in the infield mix.  His mediocre performance in a utility role led the Rays to trade Mead at last season's deadline to the Chicago White Sox.  It was a good trade for Chicago.  They flipped veteran free agent pitcher, Adrian Hauser, for three prospects and it seems that Mead was in some sense the B-side of the deal.  

The White Sox didn't prioritze Mead either.  Curtis Mead was designated for assignment earlier this season by  Chicago and he was out of minor league options.  Had he cleared waivers, he would likely have remained with the White Sox but the Nationals claimed Mead on the waiver wire and worked out a trade for the Aussie baseballer.  

Mead found some playing time in Washington and posted some pretty good numbers.  They are in line with the performance that made him a top prospect in Tampa.  It seems that all Mead needed was consistent playing time and a team that prioritized him as a player.  

Washington did and they have been handsomely rewarded for doing so.  Connelly Early might have been Boston's best pitching prospect at the end of the '25 season.  He made his MLB debut in '25 and over four starts, Early posted a 2.33 ERA in 19.1 innings.  He racked 29 strikeouts and only walked four batters.  Those are Tarik Skubal sort of ratios and Early was a rookie.  

It was a great start for the young hurler out of UVA and good enough to land him a job in Boston's starting rotation this season.  He was the first player called up when injuries took out Johan Oviedo and Garrett Crochet.  Early didn't disappoint, in fact, if it weren't for Sonny Gray, Early would have been Boston's best starting pitcher over the first half of the '26 season.  

Early in July, the rookie hurler was placed on the IR with elbow inflammation. Two weeks later he was traded to the Nationals for Curtis Mead.

The Nationals turn a waiver claim into one of the best young pitchers in baseball and they'll have five seasons beyond 2026 to see what he can do.  

It was a great trade for Washington.  For the Red Sox, Mead could really a good player too.  He is also under team control for the next four seasons.  

Here's the big issue in Boston.  Mead is going to be in a time share at 2B once again with Romy Gonzalez and Anthony Sieglar both certain to get at-bats. He didn't play well when he wasn't getting everyday at-bats in Tampa.  If Boston doesn't prioritize him with an ample everyday role, there is a very strong possibility that he will again regress to being the sort of player who gets traded for Adrian Hauser.

That's it for Game Day today.  It's been raining all afternoon here in the midwest and it looks like there could be some more rain moving in here in the next hour or two.  At first glance, I like Zach Wheeler and the Phillies tonight.  I'm going to give the games a look and see if I can put together a pick tonight.  Stay tuned.  


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