The Roto Riteup approves of this troll job by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.:
??Today will FOREVER be remembered as the day Vlad Guerrero Jr TROLLED all of baseball by faking his call up.??https://t.co/N4o688NcYi
— MLB Memes (@MLBMeme) May 14, 2018
• I got swamped last night during my chat on Peralta questions. I just didn’t know much about him so I went and watched his debut.
• It looks weird in that he is nearly falling down on every pitch and just averaging 90 mph on his fastball. It reminds me of high pitchers trying to reach 85-mph.
• Fastball: It sat at 87-95 mph with some nasty glove-side run. It could be considered a cutter at times. He used it like Mariano Rivera did by changing the spin. Partway through the game, MLB Gameday started labeling some of his pitches as cutters. It was not two separate pitches since there was no unique spin-velocity grouping
On Friday night, Gabe Kapler told reporters he would continue to use Hector Neris as the Phillies’ closer if he presented them with “the best option.” The next day, Kapler clarified what that meant in a discussion with the righty, who has amassed 34 saves going back to last season. The Phillies’ manager told Neris he was no longer going to have a designated closer. Instead, he would employ Tommy Hunter, Luis Garcia, Seranthony Dominguez and Edubray Ramos, along with Neris, in a variety of roles, with each getting chances at saves based on matchups.
On Sunday, the Phillies took a 3-1 lead against the Mets in the bottom of the sixth inning, and then Kapler went to work, sequencing his relievers in preparation for a ninth-inning save. He brought in Tommy Hunter to face pinch-hitter Dominic Smith and Amed Rosario to start off the seventh inning, and he retired them via strikeout and ground out, respectively. However, Hunter failed to get left-handed Brandon Nimmo to make the final out, as he singled, and Kapler kept him in for switch-hitting Asdrubal Cabrera. The Phillies do not currently have a lefty in their bullpen, though Hunter (.264 wOBA allowed), Garcia (.196 wOBA allowed) and Dominguez (no hits allowed in five plate appearances) have all had success against them this year. Upon Cabrera driving in Nimmo with a double, Kapler turned to Garcia to retire Yoenis Cespedes for the third out.
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The lede – a very temporary paid job as my subordinate – is buried in section five.
AGENDA
This year, the Baseball Savant pages at MLB.com have shared even more data, as new metrics are being calculated and published for our analytic pleasure. The Expected Statistics page calculates a hitter’s expected batting average, slugging percentage, and wOBA. Sweet! Though I can’t recall any exhaustive research studies on the predictive power of their expected metrics, I know the Statcast guys are top notch and trust they have done a good job.
How I envision my return from vacation being:
Long standing-o for McCutchen in his return to Pittsburgh ? pic.twitter.com/rDNZoYkkde
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 11, 2018
What it is actually like:
?Ay yo I’m slippin’, I’m fallin’, I can’t get up? pic.twitter.com/qEMHxEBgWe
— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 11, 2018
5/13/18
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| 7:32 |
: Time to get started |
| 7:33 |
: Here are the FAAB reports from the 2 Tout Wars 15-team leagues: |
| 7:33 |
: Mixed Auction |
| 7:33 |
: Name: FAAB (out of $1000) |
The Orioles and Rays played a double-header on Saturday, and in Game 1 the Orioles gave the save opportunity to none other than long-time “LIMA” favorite Mychal Givens. He entered the game with one out and a man on first in the eighth inning, and proceeded to get Daniel Robertson to get under an 0-2 slider for a fly-out before allowing a single that Manny Machado could’ve made a play on.
With two-on and two out, Givens fired a 97 mph fastball to the inside-half of the plate on Brad Miller to get him to fly-out to Adam Jones on a fairly tough play. He came back out for the ninth, getting two quick outs on four pitches before going down 3-1 on Carlos Gomez. The end result was a groundball back at Givens for the final out. It was Givens first career save. Brad Brach did convert a save a day prior, and has tallied three-straight scoreless appearances with a 5/1 K:BB ratio since taking a loss on May 4th against the Athletics.
For the second night in a row, Raisel Iglesias nailed down a save for the Reds. In getting the final two outs of his club’s 6-2 win over the Dodgers, he extended his string of scoreless appearances to seven. During that stretch, Iglesias has three saves and win. To be sure, he’s been missing a lot of bats, but when Iglesias has allowed contact, it’s been of the airborne variety. Of the 15 batted balls he has permitted, only four were grounders.
For the second time in three nights, Tyler Clippard was used as a closer would be. After securing a save against the Mariners on Wednesday, Clippard tossed a perfect top of the ninth inning on Friday, keeping the Blue Jays tied with the visiting Red Sox. Like Iglesias, Clippard has had past and current success as a closer despite some strong flyball tendencies. Calling Clippard’s flyball tendencies “strong” is actually a gross understatement. His career ground ball rate is 28.4 percent and so far this year, it’s a microscopic 18.2 percent.
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