Ryan Johnson gives up two homers in loss to Boston

Ivan Herrera is the Cardinals’ most sought-after catcher, but the team, understandably, loves his bat, so their asking price is very high. With many other teams concerned that Herrera is not a good enough defender to remain a catcher, there doesn’t seem to be a match between what the Cardinals want and what other teams will pay. The Cardinals also love having Pedro Pagés as a backup catcher, so the left-handed hitting Crooks, who is just 25 years old and won’t be eligible for arbitration until 2029, could be used to entice teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, or Rays, among others, who are looking for another catching option.

The Red Sox seem to prefer Otto Lopez and prefer to add a shortstop at the deadline, but Red Sox assistant general manager Taylor Smith was previously with the Rays and was instrumental in acquiring Xavier Edwards from them previously. Edwards lacks the arm to play shortstop, but he has played there in the past and could help until Trevor Story or Marcelo Mayer are back from their injuries. Edwards is hitting .292/.373/.401 this season with six home runs, 18 steals, and elite contact metrics at the plate. He’d also likely cost less to acquire than Otto Lopez.

This seemed like a likely outcome after Sands returned from a forearm strain only to immediately return to the injured list with an elbow strain. According to Hayes, “Sands said the procedure will remove loose bodies and bone spurs in his right elbow, and he’ll receive a platelet-rich plasma injection.” We’ll have a clearer timeline for his return after the surgery.

The Giants didn’t have a starting pitcher listed, but it will be Whisenhunt, who allowed four runs in five innings against the Angels his last time out. The performance was more encouraging than the stat line, as Whisenhunt leaned into his changeup for 15 whiffs and 76 percent strikes. That’s an approach that should work for the left-hander as long as he can locate his fastball up in the zone. He will likely remain in the Giants’ rotation for the rest of the season and could emerge as a streaming option.

Harrison, who has been on the injured list since July 11th, allowed just one hit, walked three, and struck out five. We don’t have Statcast readings from High-A affiliates, so we don’t know the velocity and shape of his pitches, but he looked healthy and threw 68 total pitches. The Brewers have said his next start will be in the big leagues at some point next week. Harrison was electric to begin the season before posting a 5.34 ERA across 32 innings in his final seven starts. Injury may have played a role in that, but we generally prefer to keep a starter on the bench for their first start after coming off the IL anyway.

Ohtani was held out of Thursday’s game due to his troublesome left knee, which led to a start for Kiké Hernández.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Emmet Sheehan will start Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Henriquez made a brief appearance Thursday, retiring one of the three Mariners he faced in the seventh inning. He probably won’t pitch more than inning against Boston.

Hernández’s 412-foot homer off Alex Hoppe in the sixth was his first in four weeks and ninth overall. He’s currently sitting at .192/.263/.329 for the month of July, but he has one day left to improve on that.

Sasaki’s splitter did most of the work tonight. He threw it 37 times in the 90-pitch outing and got 10 whiffs and four strikeouts with it. Meanwhile, it produced no hits or hard-hit balls the seven times it was put into play. Sasaki remains rather difficult to trust, but this makes four solid outings in a row, and with arguably baseball’s best team backing him, he’s not a bad play in shallow leagues at the moment. He’ll likely pitch in Chicago against the Cubs next Wednesday, though it’s possible he could be pushed to Friday in Arizona instead.

Díaz’s velocity was down a bit from Wednesday, but he allowed only a single and struck out two of the four batters he faced. He’ll definitely be down Friday after this, and Tanner Scott, who set him up for a second straight game, likely will be, too. Perhaps that will result in a save chance for Evan Phillips.