Mookie Betts crushes two home runs in loss Monday

It’s possible we’ve seen Volpe for the final time this season with top prospect George Lombard Jr. set to take over as New York’s shortstop until further notice. The 25-year-old drew constant criticism for defensive miscues and never quite lived up to the stratospheric hype he generated in the minors. He’s still only 25 years old, which means there’s probably another organization out there willing to roll the dice on him down the road.

Lombard will make his major-league debut against the Cardinals on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. The 21-year-old remains a work in progress from an offensive standpoint at this stage of his development, but he’s shown some real over-the-fence pop at the Triple-A level this season. He’s a phenomenal defender and projects as New York’s long-term answer at shortstop, which means they can finally end the bizarre José Caballero and Anthony Volpe timeshare once and for all. He may not provide an instant fantasy impact outside of deeper leagues, but Lombard in a prospect worth monitoring closely, even in shallow mixers.

Kim returns to Atlanta’s roster for Tuesday’s series opener against the Marlins. The 30-year-old has been out since early July with right middle finger inflammation. He’s been a complete non-factor at the plate this season and can be ignored for fantasy purposes.

Murphy returns to Atlanta’s catching rotation behind starter Drake Baldwin for his first game action since mid-May. The 31-year-old wound up missing nearly three months with a fractured left middle finger.

Ritchie has compiled a serviceable 4.50 ERA and 53/36 K/BB ratio across 58 innings at the highest level this season. There isn’t really a spot for him with Atlanta after they picked up a couple arms at the trade deadline.

Karinchak has been up-and-down with Atlanta for the last couple weeks. The 30-year-old has allowed just two runs over 9 2/3 innings of work during that span.

Atlanta decided to move on from Mateo with Ha-Seong Kim back from the injured list after he hit .240/.285/.380 with four homers and 10 steals in 137 plate appearances this season. It’s possible he’ll attract some interest on waivers as a potential bench option somewhere else.

Bieber gave up a 419-foot fly to Taylor Trammell in the fourth that would have been a homer in 25 ballparks and a 403-footer to Christian Walker in the fifth that would have left the yard in 11, but both were flyouts tonight. Bouncing back nicely from last week’s bizarre start against the Nationals in which he walked six and was pulled in the first, Bieber had two walks and six strikeouts tonight. Still, given that he’s been rather homer-prone, he’s not a great play this weekend in Philadelphia.

Gus Varland had the night off after throwing 31 pitches in Sunday’s loss. With Jeff Hoffman out of the mix, that put Rogers first in line for a save. Rogers is up to 50 innings with a 1.62 ERA this season. He’s yet to allow a homer.

Javier had made just one start in five appearances since coming off the IL a month ago and gave up three runs in three innings then. Tonight’s showing was quite a bit more promising, especially since he was throwing his secondary pitches harder than had all season. He’s probably not going to turn into a mixed-league option, but if he keeps throwing the way he did tonight, he will be helpful to Houston’s cause. He’ll likely face the Padres on Sunday.