51ºÚÁÏ

They may have noticed Edman enjoying an excellent start this season while beginning his five-year, $74 million deal that the Cardinals were never going to give him. Edman hit .253 in April with an .804 OPS.

And then Edman’s chronic ankle issues took him down again.

notes that since Edman returned from his first stint on the injured list on May 18, he struggled to a .596 OPS while battling right ankle discomfort and weakness.

Then he reinjured the ankle while running the bases against the Tampa Bay Rays. “Just stepped on the base weird and kind of put my ankle position it didn’t want to be in,� Edman told reporters.

Overall, Edman, 30, is batting just .228 with a .667 OPS. While he once again tries to build strength and stability in the ankle, prospect Alex Freeland will play second base now that Max Muncy has returned from the IL to play third base.

When playing at 100 percent, Edman brings unique ability to the Dodgers. He can play all over the field, including shortstop and center field. He is a switch-hitter who can add speed on the bases.

He can be a perfect fit to the Dodgers, giving manager Dave Roberts another versatile player for mixing and matching.

But Edman can’t do that while playing on a bad ankle.

“It’s a bummer,� Edman said. “It’s tough, because I’m just trying to kind of play the game hard, take advantage of certain situations. But it’s tough to do that when I don’t feel I have the stability there that I need. It is frustrating and it kind of takes away a part of my game.�

All his efforts to push past the injury -– dating back his days in 51ºÚÁÏ -– have failed.

“I’ve been doing anything that you can imagine, rehab stuff every single day and soft tissue, doing treatment after the game, so I don’t know what else I can do,� he said.

For now, the Dodgers will move on without him.

“I don't know how long it's going to be, but I do think that he'll be back at some point,� Roberts told reporters. “And I think the main thing is that we just find how we can kind of make sure that this doesn't happen again.�

Here is what folks have been writing about Our National Pastime:

Jeff Passan, : “The Cubs and Red Sox entered deadline season in search of the same archetype: a high-end starting pitcher with multiple years of club control. Both exited with that need unfulfilled. Boston came close. The Red Sox were willing to part with a number of high-end prospects to land right-hander Joe Ryan from the Minnesota Twins. But that wasn't expressed until the deadline was nearing, and the Twins were so deep in other talks to disassemble their roster, the prospect of moving Ryan had lost appeal. The Cubs landed Michael Soroka from the Washington Nationals the day before the deadline, but the trade demands for Ryan, Nationals left-hander MacKenzie Gore and right-handers Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera of the Miami Marlins were too high for Chicago's liking. he balance the majority of front offices try to strike is not easy. They want to win this year, but they also want to win going forward. What's most telling is that these are two organizations with enormous expectations -- and limitations. When the Red Sox dealt Yoan Moncada in 2016, they were consistently a top-five payroll team. Hoarding young, affordable players wasn't nearly the imperative it is now, when for the past three seasons Boston has entered Opening Day with a payroll outside the top 10. When the Cubs made the Aroldis Chapman deal in 2016 and the Jose Quintana deal the next season, they were consistently a top-six payroll team. Over the past five years, their Opening Day payrolls have ranked 12th, 14th, 11th, ninth and 12th, respectively.”

Dayn Perry, : “Is it fair to call it an upset when a team repeats as division champs? That's the dilemma with which the Brewers are presenting us. For a while now, they've seen an annual exodus of core contributors -- both on the roster and in the dugout/front office -- and the Brewers seem not to miss a step. That's very much the case in 2025. The current juncture finds Milwaukee with the best record and best run differential. Second in MLB on both counts? That would be the second-place Cubs. Clash of Midwest titans, this one. The Brewers must deal with a couple of keenly felt injuries to two of their rising stars, Jackson Chourio (hamstring) and young fire-baller Jacob Misiorowski (shin bruise), and the Cubs have a significantly easier schedule the rest of the way. Maybe that makes the Brewers the underdogs? Recent history suggests they're just fine with such a role.”

Jim Bowden, The Athletic: “Weirdest Trade: The Red Sox acquiring lefty Steven Matz from the Cardinals for first-base prospect Blaze Jordan. I just didn’t understand the move for Boston: adding a 34-year-old failed starter-turned-reliever who is making $12.5 million (and will be a free agent at season’s end) for Jordan, who has slashed .304/.373/.486 between Double A and Triple A this year.�

Ray Ratto, The Defector: “It is a measure of the history of the Florida/Miami Marlins that Sunday feels like the third-biggest day in franchise history. It wasn't, but this is what happens when your franchise has two World Series victories and seven other playoff games in 33 years . . . The moment in question being when the Marlins swept the New York Yankees at home before 101,000-some-odd announced mammals over the weekend to get their once-dismal record to a deliciously mediocre .500, and in so doing moved within hailing distance of the final wild card spot. That last thing doesn't seem like much, and it probably isn't, but the Marlins' fan base has decided that the Yankees are their archrivals despite the fact that Yankees, who are in a different league, barely acknowledge that the Marlins even exist. Yankees fans weren't even sure the Marlins existed in 2003 when the Marlins beat the Yankees to win their last World Series . . . The Miami Marlins, who used to be the Florida Marlins and have played in ProPlayer, Sun Life, Land Shark, Marlins, and now loanDepot Parks, and who used to be run (spectacularly badly) by Yankees icon Derek Jeter, have been trying to make Miami care about them for two decades now. Their dearth of results and Miami's warrior-like indifference to the presence of a Major League Baseball team within city limits have prevented a groundswell of anything except more ennui. It’s inspiring, in a way. Something happened to the Marlins six weeks ago, though, and nobody can put their finger on it, mostly because most people have better things to do with their fingers. Without the benefit of a trade or miraculous minor-league promotion, the team started winning.� 

Theo DeRosa, : “Parting with (Mason) Miller certainly wasn’t easy, but the A’s were well compensated. They landed MLB Pipeline’s No. 3 overall prospect – 18-year-old shortstop Leo De Vries -- from San Diego as the centerpiece of the blockbuster deal. The highest-rated prospect ever traded at the Deadline, De Vries is off to a strong start at High-A Lansing, going 5-for-15 with two extra-base hits in his first four games. The A’s also received Padres No. 3 prospect Braden Nett and two of San Diego’s other top-20 prospects in the trade. Losing Miller will hurt, but adding so much talent to the farm system made the A’s the top choice here, and it wasn’t close. The Orioles were another club taking advantage of the Padres’ Trade Deadline aggressiveness, landing SIX San Diego prospects -- four of whom were ranked in the club’s Top 30 -- for O’Hearn and Laureano. The O’s also received prospects in exchange for players such as Mullins, Andrew Kittredge, Seranthony Domínguez and Ramón Urías.”

Megaphone

"We knew the velocity was trending down, We talked through that extensively. Given the market, given the asking price . . . we felt like it was a good bet to make. Right now, it's not looking like a good bet."

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, on newly acquired pitcher Mike Soroka landing on the injured list with a shoulder injury.