New York MLB teams in early trouble, plus a Cy Young-worthy reliever?

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The Yankees and Mets are running parallel losing streaks, Mason Miller is shedding his human imperfections and Ken tells us about JJ Wetherholt’s calmness. Plus: have we ever got a frozen yogurt story for you (no, really).  I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup! They were just swept, bringing their losing streak to five games. Their star infielder has been making questionable baseball decisions. Their offense has been struggling. And now they have to face a hot L.A. team. You guessed it: we’re talking about the Yankees … and also the Mets. The parallels are many, so here’s one more: coinciding articles, ranking the concerns of each. Steve Cohen can afford failed gambles, but the Mets can’t afford much else going wrong. They’re 7-9 and in the cellar of a division that features not one but two teams (Marlins, Nationals) who are looking better than expected, and two others (Phillies, Braves) who are expected to contend for a division title. (Maybe the arrival of Tommy Pham will help?) From my most recent notes column: When Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown compares rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt’s makeup to that of All-Star catcher Will Smith, it’s about as big a compliment as he can offer. Brown got to know Smith during his tenure with the Dodgers from 2018 to ‘22. And the thing that strikes him about Wetherholt is the same thing that struck him about Smith: The kid never panics. Cardinals reliever Ryne Stanek, a 10-year veteran, also had high praise for Wetherholt, saying, “He just acts like he’s been here, in a good way. He isn’t trying to make any moment too big. He’s just playing his game.” Stanek added, “For him to go out of his way to be a jerk, it just feels like it would be hard for him.” The biggest story with the 8-7 Cardinals — and one of the biggest in baseball — is the awakening of right fielder Jordan Walker, who on Sunday hit his major-league leading seventh home run. After making mechanical adjustments to correct his bat path, better enabling him to elevate the ball, Walker says, “What I’m trying to do, and what I need to keep doing, is turn my brain off during my at-bats. All the work happens in the cage.” Wetherholt, like Walker, is 23, and also figures to be part of the Cardinals’ renaissance, whenever it might occur. The Cardinals drafted him seventh overall out of West Virginia University in 2024, two places ahead of where the Pirates took shortstop Konnor Griffin, a high schooler from Mississippi. Wetherholt, listed at 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds, previously went undrafted out of Mars Area H.S. in western Pennsylvania, where his coach was Andy Bednar, the father of Yankees closer David Bednar. “I had no looks,” Wetherholt said. “I wasn’t that good.” Steve Sabins, a longtime West Virginia assistant who took over as head coach in June 2024, recalled Wetherholt as a lightly recruited, undersized second baseman for a Pittsburgh-area travel-ball team. Wetherholt played in men’s leagues, college leagues, anywhere he could. Even then, he showed a unique ability to drive the ball to the opposite field. For the rest on Wetherholt — and notes on the Yankees, Dodgers, Guardians prospects and more — click here. Here’s what Mason Miller has done so far in 2026: Seven games, 7 1/3 innings, 19 strikeouts, one walk, one hit, no runs for a 0.00 ERA and 0.273 WHIP. But that’s a small sample size. So why don’t we take a look at Miller’s line since being traded from the A’s to the Padres at last year’s deadline? Twenty-nine games, 30 2/3 innings, 64 strikeouts, 11 walks, eight hits, and two earned runs. That’s a 0.59 ERA and a 0.620 WHIP.  And, as Jayson Stark pointed out in last week’s Weird & Wild column, that doesn’t count the postseason (eight outs, all strikeouts, no hits). And if you wanted to count the WBC, that would be an additional 12 outs (10 strikeouts, no hits). That’s a long enough streak for Dennis Lin to start saying the murmured parts out loud: Is Miller a candidate to become the first reliever since Eric Gagne in 2003 to win a Cy Young award?  Doubtful. The 23-year gap already tells us how hard it is for a reliever to “out-value” the league’s best starting pitcher. This is also the first year of a new BBWAA award to honor the league’s best reliever. Miller is surely on pace to be the inaugural winner of that award. But if he keeps this up, he’s going to make the Cy Young topic a hotly debated one in press boxes around the league. More Padres: In this story about the Padres starting Fernando Tatis Jr. at second base for the first time in his big-league career, Padres manager Craig Stammen had this to say: “Maybe him concentrating on playing second base unlocks him at the plate, he stops thinking so much about it and just uses his natural talent to take over.” In two starts at second base, Tatis is 5-for-9 with a walk in 10 plate appearances. I want to take you back to the 2023 World Series. I was sitting in the press box with Sam Blum and Cody Stavenhagen when Sam pointed out to left field. “You see that big Crèmily ad out there?” Of course I did. I’d watched plenty of games in Arizona and Anaheim that year. It was some new ice cream company, or something, right? Why? He pulled up the website, which touted the product as a keto-friendly frozen yogurt company that used its profits to “empower girls globally.” One problem. There was nothing available for sale on the site. Why would you pay that much money to advertise in a big-league ballpark if you didn’t have any product? Well, two and a half years later Blum and Stavenhagen have the answer to that question, with this story on Crèmily, and the man at the center of the mess: Steven Delaportas, who has lawsuits and shady dealings in his past … and present. It’s a wild ride that includes two MLB teams, a family farm in New York and KoЯn. For what it’s worth, at time of writing, Crèmily’s Instagram (1,950 followers) and Facebook (205) profiles are still up, if you wanna see the image they were projecting. But that website we visited back in 2023 is … well, it’s probably still a scam, just a different kind: It’s now what appears to be an Indonesian gambling site. (Sorry to my bosses at The Athletic if I endangered my work laptop by visiting the site, but I did grab a quick screen shot so none of you feel the need to go there out of curiosity.) Just some typical baseball newsletter material. Katie Woo and Will Sammon have a great behind-the-scenes story on how the Dodgers were able to sign Edwin Díaz (with the help of Kiké Hernandez). The story of the weekend: The unveiling of the Ichiro statue in Seattle went comically wrong. (Kudos to the Mariners social team for a good joke.) Fortunately, the statue was fixed within hours. Andy Pages might have the least star power in the Dodgers’ lineup. He’s also been their best hitter this year. What a great story by Mitch Bannon: Before Ernie Clement was a postseason hero for the Blue Jays, he was just a college kid whose infectious joy worked for his team (and occasionally against him). The White Sox are calling up LHP Noah Schultz, who is expected to make his MLB debut on Tuesday against the Rays. The 22-year-old was ranked No. 95 on Keith Law’s Top 100 prospects list. Baseball lifer Phil Garner passed away over the weekend at 76 years old. Tyler Kepner’s obituary for Garner has quotes from many former teammates and players he managed. The owners of the Denver Broncos have bought a 40 percent stake in the Rockies. Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Our panel’s ranking of the latest City Connect unis. 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms