The Buzz — Sunday, July 26

Juan Soto

The take Soto on IL with Grade 2 left calf, out significant time

The crowd has this right — a Grade 2 strain is a partial tear, not a tweak, and Andy Green already said this one is worse than the right calf that cost Soto nearly three weeks in April. The Mets expect him to miss more than 2.5 weeks, which puts the floor somewhere in August or September, not next spring.

What gets lost in the panic is what the Mets are actually losing: a .947 OPS that ranked second in the majors, 21 homers in 84 games, and the only bat on the roster that made the All-Star team. This is a lineup built around one hitter at an MVP level, and now it has to prove it can score without him for a month or more.

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Salvador Perez

The take Perez new Royals all-time HR leader past Brett

318 home runs, past George Brett's 317, and the ball went 401 feet to left at Comerica Park — a game-tying shot in a 3-2 Royals win, not a cosmetic blast in a blowout. He had tied Brett three days earlier, so the record-breaker came without a long wait. The 318 rank seventh all-time among catchers, behind names like Piazza, Bench, and Fisk. Brett sent a video and called to congratulate him. The record is settled, and it was earned behind the plate.

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Dylan Cease

The take CG one-hit shutout vs Red Sox boosts Cy Young buzz

The one-hitter is the headline, but the Cy Young case was already built. Cease owns a 2.46 ERA with 167 strikeouts over 113 1/3 innings, and those numbers were in place before he took a no-hitter into the sixth and finished with 12 strikeouts on 120 pitches Saturday. The complete game puts a visual on what the rate stats were saying — the AL All-Star starter having his best season, on a club going nowhere, giving voters a moment they will remember.

One detail worth flagging: his fastball sat near 93 in the first inning, well below his typical 97-98. He still struck out 12 and allowed one hit. The velocity rose as the outing progressed, but the fact that he carved without his best heat early tells you the stuff plays even when the radar does not. That is what a Cy Young season looks like — adjusting mid-start and still dominating.

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Shohei Ohtani

The take Ohtani knee delays mound work but he still DHs daily

Dave Roberts said hitting and running does not affect Ohtani's knee, and the evidence backs him — Ohtani tried to stretch a double into a triple Friday night. You do not go for a triple on a bad leg. He was back in the leadoff spot as DH on Saturday, same day he skipped his scheduled bullpen. The crowd has this one right: the knee is a pitching problem, not a hitting one.

But the word that should hold your attention is regression. Ohtani felt uncomfortable during a 30-pitch bullpen Wednesday in Philadelphia, and Roberts said there was a little bit of regression from that session — the knee got worse after mound work, not better. He last pitched July 3. He received a lubricant injection July 12. We are three weeks past his last start, and the next bullpen has no date.

The two-way picture: 1.79 ERA in 85 2/3 innings as a pitcher, and a .920 OPS with 22 homers as a DH. The pitching was elite before the pause; the hitting has not missed a beat across 15 straight starts in the leadoff spot. The question is not whether Ohtani is still valuable — he is, every night. The question is whether the two-way version comes back this season, and every week the mound work gets pushed back, the answer drifts toward no.

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Carlos Beltrán

The take HOF inductee at today's Cooperstown ceremony

Today in Cooperstown, Carlos Beltrán gets his plaque with a Mets cap — the third player to wear one, after Seaver and Piazza. The career: 435 home runs, 312 stolen bases, nine All-Star teams, three Gold Gloves. He is one of five players with 400 homers and 300 steals. The Astros scandal delayed the trip — 46.5 percent on his first ballot — but 84.2 percent on his fourth year settled it. The resume cleared the bar on its own. The waiting was about everything else.

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