Bryce Harper’s absence will hamper the MVP campaign

Bryce Harper has an outside chance to be ready (and playing at right field) in August after a small tear in his UCL was confirmed late last week. It’s obviously a worrying situation, though Harper went offensive immediately upon diagnosis and delayed his PRP injection a few days to dominate the Dodgers over the weekend before missing games against the Padres. (He obviously decided he didn’t want to miss the Dodgers.)

Harper could sculpt a second straight MVP from the DH spot, but a questionable Philadelphia defense becomes all the more in doubt when one of their better defenders can’t play the field.

Brandon Nimmo appears to be a potential free agent for the Phillies, who took Odubel Herrera back because they couldn’t find anyone better. Of course it’s not easy to bid against Steve Cohen. In any case, Nimmo is making a lot of money from his performance this year.

Jarred Kelenic’s demotion looked suspiciously well-timed as the Mariners made their rare trip to Queens, where he would have faced a barrage of questions. In any case, he earned the demotion after hitting .140 this year and .173 in exactly one year in the bigs. … A scout opined Seattle’s methods hadn’t helped Kelenic, 22. The M-way, according to the scout, is “try to punch everything in the air, pull everything, don’t worry about the strikeouts,” before adding, “That kid was just a really good hitter, used the whole field and fought with two punches. You convinced him to just go after power and it messed him up.” …

I repeat, the trade between Kelenic, Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz was won by the Mets. The Amazin’s have a 3.6 WAR and a true closer, the M’s a minus 0.2 WAR and a puzzle. … A worse trade for the Mariners: Pablo Lopez to the Marlins for David Phelps. At some point the M’s have to stop running non-stop. The only record they set is the number of trades. …Scouts love Mariners rookie RHP George Kirby (Rye HS).