Players’ Weekend Cometh? The only thing that cometh is the nightman.
AGENDA
Episode 291 – The Metronome Of Mediocre Right-Handers
The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!
In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Rhys Hoskins’ crazy power surge, Adam Rosales probably not being related to Sean Rosales, Clue Heywood, trusting Luis Castillo, Dinelson Lamet’s consistent upside, digging deep on Zach Davies, looking back at the Jedd Gyorko trade, the return of Regressano Respaigne, the bananas AL Wild Card race, Doug Fister’s outrageous start, Matt being back on the Tim Anderson train, Homer Bailey maybe figuring it out next year, the Tigers/Yankees fracas, and CC Sabathia’s career arc.
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Meanwhile in Detroit…
https://twitter.com/MLB_Roundup/status/900809131254272000
And that’s really only part of it!
All told, benches cleared three different times and there were eight ejections. Just a wild afternoon that got out of hand in a hurry.
On the Agenda:
Today’s Prospect Stock Watch takes a look at three triple-A players worthy of a big-league opportunity but they are blocked in their current organizations. One player has a minor league option remaining for 2018 with the Astros, while the other two could be available through the Rule 5 draft in December. One of those two players is also heading into minor league free agency.
Tony Kemp, IF/OF, Astros: An excellent college performer at Vanderbilt, Kemp was selected in the fifth round of the 2013 draft by the Astros. The lower levels of the minors proved to be little challenge for the infielder and he reached triple-A in 2015. Unfortunately, strong depth at the big league level (Jose Altuve and Marwin Gonzalez) has kept Kemp at triple-A for the past three seasons despite solid numbers.
He’s even increased his versatility to no avail. His 2017 triple-slash line sits at .328/.373/.469 through 110 games and he has nothing left to prove at the level. Kemp, who turns 26 in October, will enter 2018 in a similar position — still stuck behind Altuve, etc. And with one minor league option remaining, he could be destined for another round in triple-A unless the Astros do him a favor and move him to a club with a question mark at second base or with a need for a strong bat off the bench.
It turns out that closers, agents and fantasy owners aren’t the only ones who care about saves. In something of a surprise move, Dusty Baker summoned Sean Doolittle for the eighth inning of the Nationals’ series finale against the Astros on Thursday night. With switch-hitting Carlos Beltran and lefties Brian McCann and Derek Fisher due up, there was a certain logic to Doolittle being brought in, but that was apparently not Baker’s only consideration. Both MASN’s Mark Zuckerman and the Washington Post’s Jorge Castillo tweeted that the Nationals’ manager wanted to give Brandon Kintzler a chance to reach 30 saves. He has been stuck on 28 since getting traded from the Twins to the Nationals on July 31.
So, yes, it was Kintzler who pitched the ninth with a 3-1 lead, but that was quickly erased by a Josh Reddick RBI single and a Yuli Gurriel RBI double. Kintzler is still two saves away from 30, so we should not be surprised to see him get at least a couple more chances to pitch in save situations. While Doolittle has not been as effective against right-handed hitters as he has been against lefties, his .225 wOBA allowed against righties entering Thursday’s game hardly seems like reason enough to hold him back from facing the top of the Astros’ batting order.
Read the rest of this entry »
The season numbers aren’t great but we’ve picked up some steam over the last few weeks and hopefully will finish strong. As always, if you have any suggestions or tips, please feel free to mention them in the comments section, and thank you for reading.
Here’s how we’re doing so far this season (through half of Week 19)
34-34 record
4.72 ERA
7.7 K/9
2.3 K/BB
1.43 WHIP
37 quality starts
Here are this week’s recs (with team wRC+ for this season in parentheses):
RHP Jhoulys Chacin – 35.5% ESPN – v. SFG (83), v. LAD (109)
It’s easy to love the Giants matchup and really hard to get on board with the Dodgers one — they’re the second-best offense in the game — but Chacin has been really, really good since an up-and-down start to the season. Since posting a 5.77 ERA through the first two months of the season, he’s gone 3.00, 2.51 and 3.58 in the three months since. On the whole, what does that look like? It’s a 3.02 ERA, .667 OPS against and a K/BB ratio of 72-39 over 89.1 innings/15 starts. Those numbers over what’s basically half a season would certainly garner a higher ownership figure. He’s faced the Dodgers twice in that stretch as well, allowing just one earned run over 10 innings. Read the rest of this entry »
Paul fills in for Eno today!
Well, I didn’t win the Powerball. Again. My plans to buy a major league team will have to wait. Meanwhile, the $250 million jackpot (after lump sum penalty and taxes) buys less and less of a team. Even the financially insolvent Marlins cost over a billion dollars. Oh, I have an idea.
AGENDA
You wouldn’t know it if you were just focusing on his 3.42 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, but this has easily been Cole Hamels‘ worst season as a Major Leaguer. His SIERA, xFIP, and FIP have all jumped above 4.00 for the first time, while both his xFIP- and FIP- have surged into the triple digits for the first time (higher is worse). Hamels missed two months of action thanks to an oblique strain, but since it was a non-arm injury, we certainly couldn’t blame it for the collapse of his underlying skills. What’s going on here?
I wish these two would get their own reality show: