MLB Today: Time for Marcell Ozuna to Go?
Marcell Ozuna is scuffling badly this season. (All-Pro Reels)
Why are the Braves holding onto Marcell Ozuna? He’s in a 1-for-15 skid and is now batting just .085 for the season. Really?
Two years ago, Ozuna was on the Kevin McReynolds career trajectory, which is actually better than it sounds — McReynolds may not have been an All-Star, but he was very solid hitter who twice received MVP votes, including a third place finish in 1988.
Ozuna, meanwhile is a two-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove winner, but right now last season’s (sort of) bounce back is looking like a mirage. Given that just two years ago he tried to strangle his wife and then had a DUI arrest last summer, there’s plenty of baggage here that a World Series team does not need.
We don’t completely doubt Ozuna’s ability to recover and be a real asset again, as he’s done it several times over the course of what’s been a highly inconsistent career. Hell, there’s a reason he ranked as high as he did in our Top 150 Outfield Rankings heading into the season.
But we can foresee a situation in which Ozuna finds himself on the bench more and more going forward as this slump deepens. He may still be mashing in the virtual world (see video below), but in the real world, he’s no longer a mixed league option.
Quick Hits
- Max Meyer, No. 75 on our Top 100 Prospects rankings, is progressing from early-August Tommy John surgery. He’s graduated to throwing from 90 feet, which means he should be ready for some mound work in May. Meyer is unlikely to help you this season, but is definitely a dynasty asset worth stashing if you have the space.
- When we slotted Kerry Carpenter inside the top 130 of our 2023 Outfield Rankings, we suggested he was ready for a fairly significant role in Detroit this season. He came through huge in the first game of the doubleheader on Tuesday, hitting a walk-off homer as part of a three-hit game that also included a double and two RBI. That gave Carpenter homers in three of the last four games before he went hitless in the night cap. He looks like a solid pickup in deeper AL-only leagues right now.
- A couple of years ago, we recommended Owen Miller, but that pick didn’t really pay off until later in his rookie season. Last year, he graduated into a full-time player and made progress, but not enough to warrant Fantasy attention. Now in Milwaukee, Miller is hitting very well early on, albeit in a minor role, but given his multi-position eligibility, he has some appeal in very deep NL-only formats.
RotoRob Tune of the Day
San Francisco rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company formed in 1965 and remained active until 1968, when Janis Joplin left the band. They had two other stints (1969-1972, and 1987 to present). From the fantastic compilation album Something’ Else Again!, here’s one of the band’s classics, “Summertime,” first released on the 1968 album Cheap Thrills. The song is originally a jazz standard penned by George and Ira Gershwin for Porgy and Bess and has been covered by countless artists over the years.
