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Cardinals Announce Nolan Arenado News Before Dodgers Game
The St. Louis Cardinals have fallen out of playoff contention in recent weeks, sitting at 57–58, and have shifted toward a clear rebuild after trading All-Star closer Ryan Helsley at the deadline. One name that surfaced in trade rumors but will remain with the club through season’s end is veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado. Now in his fifth season with St. Louis after being acquired from the Colorado Rockies ahead of 2021, the 34-year-old is enduring the worst offensive stretch of his 13-year career. Through 96 games, Arenado is hitting just .235 with a .660 OPS and 10 home runs—both career lows. Cardinals Provide Nolan Arenado Update To make matters worse, Arenado was placed on the 10-day injured list on August 1 with a right shoulder injury. Ahead of Wednesday’s series finale against the Dodgers, manager Oli Marmol announced that Arenado will report to Jupiter, Florida, on Friday to begin a rehab assignment. The club hopes that once his shoulder strengthens, he’ll be able to return to game action soon. "#STLCards third baseman Nolan Arenado will report to Jupiter, Fla., on Friday to begin a rehab assignment, manager Oliver Marmol said. The club’s thinking is that after his shoulder strengthens, he could soon appear in games there." Arenado’s Legacy Remains One of the Game’s Best Arenado acknowledged that the shoulder has bothered him for much of the season, suggesting it may be a factor in his struggles. He initially resisted going on the IL, but the discomfort eventually became too much to play through. Despite the down year, Arenado’s career remains incredible. Between his time with the Rockies and Cardinals, he’s earned eight All-Star selections, ten Gold Gloves—cementing his status as one of the best defensive third basemen ever—and five Silver Slugger awards. Since joining St. Louis five seasons ago, he’s batting .266 with a .779 OPS, 116 home runs, and 415 RBIs, helping the team reach the postseason in 2021 and 2022.
Padres already demoting one of their trade-deadline acquisitions
The Padres announced they’ve optioned JP Sears to Triple-A El Paso. They recalled reliever Sean Reynolds and will go with a nine-man bullpen in the short term. Sears will spend at least 15 days in the minors unless he’s brought up to replace a player going on the injured list. San Diego acquired Sears alongside Mason Miller in last week’s massive deadline deal. The 29-year-old southpaw made his team debut Monday night. He allowed five runs in as many innings on 10 hits and a walk against the Diamondbacks. Sears took the loss in a 6-2 defeat. He’d carried a 4.95 earned run average over 22 starts with the A’s. Monday's performance pushed his ERA to 5.12 across 116 innings. It’s a bottom-10 mark among pitchers to log at least 100 frames. Sears had the highest home run rate among that group, offsetting his nearly league-average 20.3% strikeout rate and solid 6% walk percentage. This is the first time in two-and-a-half years that Sears heads to the minors. He broke camp with the A’s in 2023 and has been in the majors since then. Sears has also avoided the injured list for that entire time. As a result, he’s tied for fifth in MLB with 87 starts since the beginning of the ’23 season. The durability is the big selling point, as his production (4.62 ERA/4.56 SIERA) over that stretch is that of a fifth or sixth starter. The demotion shouldn’t have any impact on Sears’ service trajectory. He has already surpassed the three-year mark and will qualify for arbitration next winter. He’s under team control for three seasons beyond this one. While he’ll probably be back up at some point this year, it may require an injury elsewhere in the rotation. San Diego optioned Randy Vásquez over the weekend. They have a four-man rotation of Dylan Cease, Nick Pivetta, Yu Darvish and deadline acquisition Nestor Cortes. Darvish and Cortes will get the ball for the next two outings. San Diego is off Thursday and could turn back to Pivetta and Cease on extra rest for their first two games of the weekend series against the Red Sox. That’d point to the series finale on Aug. 10 as Michael King’s return date. King threw 61 pitches in what is expected to be his final rehab start on Sunday, via the MLB.com injury tracker. He’d be on six days' rest for his first MLB appearance since he went on the injured list in late May with a nerve problem in his throwing shoulder.
Gap between star WR Terry McLaurin, Commanders revealed
As of Thursday morning, the Washington Commanders and Terry McLaurin remained in a contract stalemate after the 29-year-old wide receiver in the final year of his current deal requested a trade. During Thursday's edition of the ESPN "Get Up" program, NFL insider Jeremy Fowler noted that the Commanders and McLaurin are locked in "a classic standoff" as McLaurin allegedly looks to secure "parts" of the five-year, $150M deal that the Pittsburgh Steelers gave DK Metcalf this past March. "They have been far apart," Fowler said about the negotiations between the Commanders and McLaurin, as shared by Joseph Zucker of Bleacher Report. "...[McLaurin] has wanted metrics of the DK Metcalf contract, which is $32M. I'm told the Washington Commanders have only been slightly above where he was before, which is $23M. So take that gap, that's $7M to 8M that they have to bridge." Fowler added that Washington "has got some calls about McLaurin" this summer because "there's some interest league-wide" in learning whether or not the wideout could become available. For what it's worth, numerous reporters have said since McLaurin went public with his trade request that he likely won't go anywhere before Washington opens the season with a home game against the New York Giants on Sept. 7. ESPN's John Keim mentioned that Washington's joint practice with the New England Patriots on Wednesday showed that the Commanders "need McLaurin back on the field" as soon as possible. That's understandable, as McLaurin recorded team highs of 117 targets, 82 receptions and 1,096 receiving yards to help quarterback Jayden Daniels become the Offensive Rookie of the Year for the 2024 season. Additionally, McLaurin finished the 2024 campaign ranked second in the entire NFL with 13 touchdown catches. As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook continued to list a Washington team coming off a trip to this year's NFC Championship Game sixth among the betting favorites at +1800 odds to win Super Bowl LX. Perhaps Wednesday's joint practice will spark more positive conversations between McLaurin's camp and the Commanders that will result in the playmaker rejoining summer practices as soon as early next week.
Five NBA coaches starting 2025-26 season on hot seat
When an NBA team is struggling, it can change the players or the coach. With free agency all but done, rosters are set — so it's the men on the sidelines who are most vulnerable. Here are five NBA coaches who will start the season on the hot seat. 1. Willie Green, New Orleans Pelicans Green is in a precarious position entering his fifth season with the Pelicans. His team took on future salary to add Jordan Poole from the Washington Wizards in June, a win-now move, but also added two lottery picks in Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen. They traded next year's first-round pick to get Queen, so they expect to make the playoffs. Still, the team's success depends on the health of Zion Williamson, who has missed a combined 199 games over the last four seasons. Green's short leash is partly because his new bosses, Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver, didn't hire him. With Queen already injured, Green will be an easy scapegoat if the Pelicans struggle to start the season. 2. Nick Nurse, Philadelphia 76ers Nurse is in his third season with the 76ers, where he had a first-round loss in 2024 and a miserable 24-58 record last season. Now the Sixers are hoping for better health for the entire roster, from big man Joel Embiid to last summer's big free-agent signing, Paul George, as well as a return for second-year guard Jared McCain. But there's no reason to expect Embiid and George to improve their health when they're a year older and have had more surgeries. With Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey all on long-term maximum contracts, Philly doesn't have a lot of simple fixes — except on the sidelines. 3. J.J. Redick, Los Angeles Lakers The Lakers were a very different team when they hired J.J. Redick to be their head coach, fresh off his gig hosting a podcast with their franchise player, LeBron James. Now, James has only one year left on his contract, while Luka Doncic signed a maximum extension. Redick led the Lakers to the third-best record in the Western Conference, but made questionable moves in the playoffs, like using only five players in the second half of a loss. His job security depends on whether Doncic likes playing for him. If not, the team that fired Frank Vogel two years after he won a title and axed Darvin Ham after two seasons won't hesitate to cut ties with Redick. 4. David Adelman, Denver Nuggets Adelman performed remarkably after taking over the Nuggets with three games to go in the regular season. He led Denver to a seven-game victory in the first round before falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the next round. The Nuggets gave him the permanent job in May. The shadow looming over Denver is that three-time MVP Nikola Jokic declined an extension this summer. If the Nuggets think keeping Adelman will help them re-sign Jokic next summer, he's in good shape. If not, Michael Malone can tell Adelman that Denver won't think twice about making a change. 5. Doc Rivers, Milwaukee Bucks The Bucks were forced to retool after Damian Lillard's Achilles tear, losing Brook Lopez and adding center Myles Turner. There's uncertainty about how the new team will do, or whether superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo wants to stay with the Bucks. With two first-round series losses as Bucks coach so far, Rivers could be done in Milwaukee, especially if his best player wants out, too.
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