MASH Report (8/21/14)
Like Monday, a really light on material today. Tomorrow, I promise to have a bunch of PAIN, SLOW, HURT and Zone% reports for consumption.
• Daniel Hudson is making some minor league rehab starts and is throwing his fastball around 93 mph.
His velocity has returned to pre-surgery levels. Arnsberg says Hudson has routinely pitched in the 93 mph range, even hitting 95 mph on consecutive pitches.
The velocity is close to his pre-TJS days. Stayed tuned to see if he can get back to his 2009 to 2010 production levels.
• One of the worst possible articles on pitching through an injury was written in the last couple of days. I will let Craig Calcaterra at Hardball Talk introduce the stupidity. If you then feel you need to kill some brain cells, you can head over the original article.
• I have some concerns with Michael Pineda, his velocity dropped like a rock late in his start yesterday.
He is just getting back to pitching full time, so he may experience some bumps. It would be nice to see a more consistent value though.
• The Dodgers seem convinced Hyun-Jin Ryu will be back after minimum time on the DL. I would not be surprised one bit if it takes longer. Core/trunk injuries always take longer than expected to come back from.
• Saturday’s start for Justin Verlander will be huge. He might not be able to make the start. And even if he does, there is no way to know how he will perform.
• Allen Craig should be off the DL tomorrow.
• Andrew Cashner is expected to return from the DL this weekend.
Fastball Velocity Watch for Pitchers Returning From the DL
• After having some concerns with low velocity reports from his minor league rehab starts, Gerrit Cole’s average fastball velocity was fine yesterday.
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
Minor League Report
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.
That’s insane what that writer said about Darvish. That is the 2nd writer in Tx that ripped Darvish this year. I recall one article claiming Darvish was the reason the team was so bad this year.
Any thoughts on Carlos Beltran? Seems he re-injured his elbow and could be hampered with it the rest of the season. I own him, but could pick up JD Martinez, Josh Reddick, Oswaldo Arcia or Josh Willingham as potential pick ups. I normally would wait and see, but need some offensive help and I think Beltran could be shut down if he does not progress quickly.
Also, how much do you trust Cashner and deGrom in their first starts back? Cashner has a tasty match up, but seems unlikely to throw more than 80 pitches and deGrom has a tougher match up with Dodgers, but doesnt seem likely to be very limited in terms of pitch counts.
I don’t like the inconsistent playing time with Beltran.
I would take Arcia, especially if you need power, 4th highest ISO and 8 HRs in the 2H. Looks like he is healed and kicking some ass.
I think you paint them in the same light. As a pitcher right now, I like deGrom, Cashner has me worried. Truthfully, I don’t know.
Ok, thanks for the advice. I was excited for Cashner coming back, now I am a bit nervous to see what he does. I was hoping he could help ease the pain of Garrett Richards, but looks like I can’t lose Bartolo Colons waiver wire number just yet.
I hate trying to guess who is going to do what this time of year when teams start shutting down starters and thinking about next year.
Right now, I would concentrate on starters on contending teams. I am not sure the league depth, but pitcher like Jason Vargas and Rick Porcello will keep getting the call every 5 days as their teams fight for the playoffs.
Not only was Pineda’s velocity down. He was doing a lot of stretching and fidgeting in between pitches towards the end.
Thanks for the info.
Thoughts on DeGrom going forward? He’s available on the wire but shoulder injuries scare me. Because of his DL stint, should have around 50 IP left this season, so maybe 8 starts? Alternative options include the likes of Fiers, Salazar, Carrasco, CJ Wilson. Thanks Jeff!
With only 50 IP, maybe you could move to a staff of just RP. I would not waste innings on iffy starters.