u/TheSocraticGadfly

Mikolas tossed along with Contreras in the latest Willson stupidity, which will likely get him suspended. Add to that him reportedly arguing with fans on Instagram during the game and having what looks like a smartphone in his left butt pocket to allow him to do that ....

Mikolas stupid enough to come after Contreras; good that we moved on from both of them for mind-screwed reasons as well as no skills reasons with Mikolas.

Mid-afternoon, so not the fully saturated and softer colors of evening.

Lake Isabella, California. Nice place for putzing around, especially if you're looking to break up a drive from Death Valley to Sequoia.

I've seen most of the wrens of the US now; Carolina, where I live, Bewick, cactus, canyon and rock in the Southwest, Pacific in the Northwest, leaving sedge, marsh and winter.

The Park Service is now under orders to be Sgt. Schultz or whatever and "say nothing," at least beyond generic information.

Back wall of my office. (We have a row of trees, primarily hackberry, behind us.)

Just months after getting moved! Per the Boston Globe, linked via MLBTR, he said he'd be open. Details:

>“If someone came to me from the Red Sox and made a decision that that’s the direction that this team was going to go, I would be open for a conversation,” Gray said. The 36-year-old righty declined to indicate whether geography would play any sort of role in his decision process.

He'd be a rental; he has a mutual option for next year, but as MLBTR notes, those never get picked up by both sides.

That said, it's doubtful Boston will get THAT much for a 36-year-old low-K rental pitcher.

Pixley National Wildlife Refuge, spring vacation. I had seen a couple of them a couple of years previous, in Colorado,

On ESPN power rankings. That said, the team is just seventh in the National League on run differential.

Bloom has done the one roster improvement I talked about a couple of weeks ago, when I posted an ESPN link about what if anything the Cards should do near the trade deadline. Will Blaze Jordan be even a partial answer for third, versus the optioned-down Gorman? He can't be worse, can he, with the bat, and he looks good in initial small sample size. That said, he wasn't that great on range at 3B in his various minor league stops. But, even there, his RF/G in the minors isn't much worse than Gorman with the Cards.

The OF appears reasonably settled with the return of Noot and that's that.

IF, again, IF the Cards are in this position in a month or a bit, should they do anything? The only thing to really look at is pitching. Again, as I said then, I'm not talking about an earthshaking move, but something more around the edges. And, besides, it doesn't have to be a normal trade. Could be a waiver claim if a noncontending team puts a somewhat pricey pitcher out there. Or could be somebody clearing waivers.

North Texas, new butterfly lifer

If Harrison and Misiorowski aren't enough, per a piece yesterday, maybe this will be the magic for the Brewers in the postseason. ESPN reports Cooper Pratt is coming up.

>The Brewers called the 21-year-old Pratt up from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday before opening a three-game series with the Cleveland Guardians. They made room for Pratt by designating third baseman Luis Rengifo for assignment.

Here's where he's at:

>Pratt was hitting .241 with a .349 on-base percentage, six homers, 32 RBIs and 17 steals in 58 games with Triple-A Nashville this season. He batted .238 with a .343 on-base percentage, eight homers, 62 RBIs and 31 steals in 120 games with Double-A Biloxi last year.

Maybe not fantastic, but, ESPN's depth chart for the team shoved him to the starter's spot. Looking at Joey Ortiz, who had a flash two years ago but nothing since, it's understandable.

As a reminder, the Brewers signed him to an MLB-type contract this spring before he ever played a game in the show:

>Brewers officials showed their faith in Pratt when they signed him on April 3 to an eight-year deal that includes club options for 2034 and 2035. The $50.75 million contract includes escalators that could raise the value by $10 million if he repeatedly finishes high in MVP voting and the team exercises those two options.

We'll see now if this was the right move.

Looks like a juvenile frog in the first. Slug in the second.

Little blue heron, Hagerman NWR. Not sure if that's a small frog or what in the first photo.

OK, I'll show you a few males today; maybe a couple of females in a couple of days. Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge.

The Dodgers are officially considering him "day to day" for right now.

Sounds crazy in what was supposed to be a rebuild year, as Brad Doolittle notes at ESPN, but in his June stock watch, the Cards are rated No. 10 in MLB on playoff qualification odds, at 52.5 percent.

>There's no reason for Chaim Bloom to be in a rush, as this surprise contention is found money for the lead exec in his first season at the helm for the Cardinals. His most tradeable players -- Riley O'Brien, JoJo Romero, Lars Nootbaar -- should remain alluring right down to the deadline, if subtracting turns out to be the way to go. But if St. Louis keeps this up and remains in solid playoff position by late July, then Bloom and his staff must determine how aggressive they want to be in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season.

All interesting.

As for "most tradeable"?

Noot has value primarily because next year is his last arb year, right now. (Edited; B-ref weirdly had it as his first, yet 2028 as FA eligible.) It remains to be seen how well he looks as he gets back more into the flow of things from his surgery.

JoJo? I hate trading lefty relievers, even though LOOGYs no longer exist. But, for that reason, if the team slides, yeah, he's got trade value. But not a lot, because he's an FA next year.

Riles isn't even arb-eligible until next year. That and his current saves work makes him a hot trade deal if the team does slip.

If there's still a chance of something a month from now? I want a better 3B than Gorman. With Scott down to Memphis, and presumably Noot in center, we may build on the current record otherwise. Other than fixing 3B, I'm OK with not making any big moves in the lineup, and definitely not in the rotation.

What else could say summer is fully here on the US southern plains?