Around Baseball

[Howard Roark]

Handsome Jake's first MLB HR:

http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=29306635

 

Helps Henderson Alvarez win his 2nd game of the season.

 

-shedding tears laced with butthurt-

[jays_fever]

Possible lifetime ban for A Rod coming this weekend, looks like MLB may bail out the Yankees

[z3r0s]

Possible lifetime ban for A Rod coming this weekend, looks like MLB may bail out the Yankees

 

As much as I hate A-Rod... that situation smells.

[FireAlexAnthopoulos]

If A-Rod wasn't a Yankee, a lifetime ban wouldn't even be considered. No doubt, the MLB would love to clear that contract off their favorite team's books.

[DwightDM]

Henderson Alvarez is going to be (is?) a great pitcher in the NL, especially in that big park.

[TheHurl]

Yan Gomes just threw out Danks stealing 2nd. Baserunners are now 9 for 21 against him. I'll admit I didn't see him being this well rounded...Hard to believe that he's not just a better catcher than JPA, well right now he's a far better hitter too. He's the ultimate back up catcher right now.

[Angrioter]

Henderson Alvarez is going to be (is?) a great pitcher in the NL, especially in that big park.

 

He's not the big deal. Jake Westbrook 2.0

[DuckDuckGose]

Yan Gomes just threw out Danks stealing 2nd. Baserunners are now 9 for 21 against him. I'll admit I didn't see him being this well rounded...Hard to believe that he's not just a better catcher than JPA, well right now he's a far better hitter too. He's the ultimate back up catcher right now.

 

Rogers also looks like a decent backend SP in the AL East. Who would've predicted this when that trade was made?

[DwightDM]

He's not the big deal. Jake Westbrook 2.0

 

No he won't be a superstar or anything. But I think he'll be a pretty reliable mid-rotation innings eater with potential for more than that. A 2-4 WAR SP logging big innings is a pretty nice asset. HR's were part of his problem here but in Miami that shouldn't be as big of a deal.

[DuckDuckGose]

Stockpiling guys like Rogers who have great arms is the key to building a pitching staff. Some of them will hit. Hopefully AA now realizes this.

 

I don't think stockpiling is his issue at this point, he has a really hard time letting go! I think the last few seasons he has really tried to add depth but, has just failed to get enough arms for the rotation.

[Arkadium]

Stockpiling guys like Rogers who have great arms is the key to building a pitching staff. Some of them will hit. Hopefully AA now realizes this.

 

Although Rogers is coming down to earth and looking pretty unspectacular lately. Can't imagine there's much chance he'll be in the rotation next year.

[Angrioter]

Chris Sale is getting beat up by the tribe!

 

Oh yeah, the Buccos are going for a 5 game series Sweeeeeep of dem True Cards tonight. Actually the Cards were swept by the Dodgers prior to this series.

 

LETS GO PIRATES *CLAP, CLAP* *CLAP, CLAP, CLAP*

 

f***. Killing my fantasy x 2

[DuckDuckGose]

It's because he's allergic to Free Agency. There are always guys with good arms but bad previous-year stats available for nothing. Smart teams snap them up.

 

I'm fully expecting a terrible overpay to land Garza this off-season.

[TheHurl]

Stockpiling guys like Rogers who have great arms is the key to building a pitching staff. Some of them will hit. Hopefully AA now realizes this.

 

doing it with guys with options is the hard part of that. You can't stockpile if you can't send them down if they aren't working out. This is a skill he needs, building a 40 man roster. It's been a mess for 2.5 years now.

[CHRIS]

Although Rogers is coming down to earth and looking pretty unspectacular lately. Can't imagine there's much chance he'll be in the rotation next year.

 

Esmil is probably hitting the wall a bit. Bit of a tough scenario trying to identify if his more recent struggles are due to fatigue-ish reasons, or if the league is figuring him out. I wonder if he's going to be the next phantom injury in order to shut him down.

[TheHurl]

Ryan Raburn with 2 HR's in this Indians win (sweep, 2nd 4 game sweep of the sox this season). I remember one of the Rotographs guys doing his outrageous predictions last season and he predicted Raburn would be a top 10 2B. I jumped in with both feet (things he wrote made sense) and picked up Raburn in almost every pool. Now this year in a part time role he's putting up the numbers that writer was expecting. I get amazed when I see part time guys putting up numbers like he has. Indians bench (Raburn, Gomes, Aviles and Giambi) putting up almost 5 WAR. Oakland is an extreme example of letting their bench succeed but Cleveland is doing it with guys that I just couldn't have seen succeeding.

[TheHurl]

Yeah, that's an understatement to say the least. Handing away assets doesn't go over very well. He always seems to be backed in a corner.

 

In a better built team guys like Stroman, Stilson and even Pillar could be added much easier and the team would be able to see what they have. That's what lost seasons like this one should be by this point

[Arkadium]

Esmil is probably hitting the wall a bit. Bit of a tough scenario trying to identify if his more recent struggles are due to fatigue-ish reasons, or if the league is figuring him out. I wonder if he's going to be the next phantom injury in order to shut him down.

 

Looking at his velocity chart of his FB for this year, he does seem to be losing some velocity as well the velocity has been varying more (not sure if that is intentional to throw off hitters)

[Orgfiller]

Looking at his velocity chart of his FB for this year, he does seem to be losing some velocity as well the velocity has been varying more (not sure if that is intentional to throw off hitters)

 

I cannot say with certainty but this probably has a lot to do with him moving to the rotation, so he sacrifices a bit of velocity to be able to go deeper into games, not very uncommon for pitchers that make the transition from to the pen to the rotation. Also yeah there is probably the fact that he is not used to pitching too many innings in one season and is starting to wear down.

[o2cui2i]

grand slam for Blanco

[Angrioter]

Machete Blanco attack again

Grand Slam against Ryan Dempster

[BlueJayWay]

grand slam for Blanco

get the f*** outta here

[gruber92]

Machete Blanco attack again

Grand Slam against Ryan Dempster

 

MACHETE !!

 

I miss you.. f*** Thole

[FireAlexAnthopoulos]

I give up - the Rays deserve this division but the horseshoe-up-the-ass Red Sox are going to fluke their way to the division title. Pathetic chokejob by the Mariners.

[4thOFan]

Fluke lol

[Arkadium]

MACHETE !!

 

I miss you.. f*** Thole

 

Are you sure? 7 hits in 44 ABs. Blanco hasn't been able to hit above .200 in the last 2 seasons... he's done

[fatcowxlive]

Apparently a whole bunch of players are going to be suspended for PEDs? Holy s***.

 

A-rod might be banned for life too

 

I thought bannings are supposed to be called on Friday? We'll see!

 

Cruz is out with an injury (quad I think, but day-to-day), and the trio won't be suspended (Colon, Grandal, Melky)

[gruber92]

Are you sure? 7 hits in 44 ABs. Blanco hasn't been able to hit above .200 in the last 2 seasons... he's done

 

Yeah like Thole is tearing it up. At least Blanco is better defensively,imo.

[gruber92]

lol........your opinion is wrong. Thole is a far improvement on this squad in regards of Machete if you hadn't noticed, not to mention the value in age, smarten up, bro.

 

How about we say they are both garbage.

[Deadpool]

How about we say they are both garbage.

 

I maintain faith that in a reasonable sample size, Thole is considerably better than JPA. Now, that's not a ringing endorsement or anything, but Thole has put up decent numbers in the majors in the past, whereas JPA never has...

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/comparison.aspx?playerid=9689&position=C&page=0&players=697,81

 

The only stat that JPA has ever been above the "league average" line has been SLG, and not by a lot.

 

Also, Thole's BB% is crazy at the moment... but again, SSS!