MASH Report (7/31/14)
Thanks to both of you for caring enough about injuries on the trade deadline day to read my article. Well, I here is the latest injury information. Now I need to get back to reading about potential trades.
• James Paxton is an interesting pitcher who should be coming off the DL soon, possibly on Saturday. Before going on the DL, he was putting up some good numbers: 30% K%, 5% BB%, 56% GB% in two starts. According to recent reports from his minor league rehab appearances, his velocity may be down ~2 mph from his early average of 94 mph.
Paxton done after 78 pitches with one out in the fifth. He threw 47 strikes. Fastball touched 95 mph. Secondary stuff much better today
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) July 27, 2014
Paxton throws 14 pitches/9 strikes in his first inning of work with Tacoma. Fastball was 93-94 mph. — Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) July 27, 2014
Also, he may be a wild because of his > 10% BB% in his minor league starts. Teams in need of a pitching boost should be targeting him to see if he can help down the stretch. With a possible Saturday, owners can evaluate his numbers and see if they need to buy in for next week.
• Another pitcher to use done the stretch is Derek Holland. His velocity reports are a little discouraging.
Holland fastball sat 92 and topped out at 94.
— Anthony Andro (@aandro) July 31, 2014
A 92 mph fastball is ~1.5 mph less than last season (93.6 mph). I don’t like him as much as Paxton coming back.
• C.J. Wilson seemed to be dealing with a hip issue in addition to his sprained ankle. He now states both have been worked out. We may find out soon since he may start this weekend for the Angels.
• Coco Crisp is going to be dealing with neck issues for the rest of the season.
Crisp’s symptoms have mainly been on the right side of his neck, and they’ve caused him the most problems when the switch hitter is batting from the left side.
Paparesta said the best remedy likely will be an offseason of rest.
“I think we’ve all come to the conclusion that it’s something we’re gonna be battling the rest of the season.”
• Justin Hunter at Beyond the Box Score looked at Cody Ross’s struggles when returning from the DL.
As you would probably expect, Ross struggles the most in his first seven days back from injury. It’s probably a good bet that most players will have a similar struggle. In Ross’ case, his power numbers seem to be impacted the most in the first seven days back from injury. In fact, his power numbers seem to be impacted the most overall.
Fastball Velocity Watch for Pitchers Returning From the DL
• Boone Logan’s fastball velocity is at a three year low.
• Joel Peralta is down near his three year lows also.
Players on the DL
(*) 15 Day Disabled List
(**) 60 Day Disabled List
(***) 7 Day Concussion List
(****) Free Agent
Red colored entries are updates since last report.
Major League Report
On DL
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
Is Wainwright hurt? He was never exactly the Ryan Express, but it seems like his K/9 has fallen off a cliff the last 2 months (I haven’t looked at numbers, just feels that way), and he’s been overall a much less effective pitcher than he was in the calendar year preceding that period (ie, the period when he shook off the TJ rust and regained ace status).
He definately is showing some issues. Velocity down from 2013. Zone% declining and some release point issues. Might be a sell high time.