Fact #1: The NL East is the worst division in baseball. The division leader would be no better than 3rd in any other division and would be 5th in the AL East.Fact #2: The Nats would need to win 16 games in a row and have the Braves lose 16 in a row to climb into 4th place in the NL East.Happy 4th. Don't trade Dunn!...
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Jordan Zimmermann is getting a lot of fantasy love lately. I was on this guy in late April. He out-pitched Josh Johnson yesterday. Cody Ross hit his 14th bomb of the season of newly acquired Sean Burnett. Ross is slugging .633 vs. left handed pitching this season. Josh Johnson left the game after only 3.1 innings. No injury, just a rain delay and 4 walks to go with a rising pitch count. Ricky Romero continues to impress. He's stranding over 85% of runners and his FIP is a run higher than his ERA before his start yesterday. Walks and the AL East are my concerns, but he's definitely a guy worth rostering right now. He's only owned in 33% of Yahoo! leagues. Brad Bergesen impressed against the Red Sox. He's not going to strikeout a ton of guys, but he's keeping the ball on the ground and keeping the walks to a minimum. His next start comes against the Mariners. If you need a spot start, he's worth another go. Yovani Gallardo struck out a career high 12 in 7 IP against the Mets. If Gallardo can reduce his walk rate, he's basically Lincecum light. Gil Meche, coming off a "dead arm" period, threw 121 pitches in only 6 innings. His arm looked fine with a fastball sitting in the mid 90's, but minor injuries have been an issue this season. If I'm A Meche owner (or a Royals fan) I'm not happy about the pitch count at all. Billy Butler, 4-4, continues to outperform James Loney, but it seems no one is paying attention. Jason Hammel has been pitching well for the Rockies lately. He's not quite the ground ball pitcher Aaron Cooks is, but he is getting enough groundballs and limiting walks to be an NL-only add. Troy Tulowitzki got cold just as fast as he got hot two weeks ago. I think he'll finish with an AVG around .270. Jimmy Rollins took another o'fer, but so did most of the Phillies against Jair Jurjjens who only allowed 1 hit. Justin Verlander was touched up last night. That makes two less than spectacular starts in a row. I'm not reading much into it. Jose Contreras has struck out 8 batters in 3 of his last 4 starts. Randy Wells pitched well again and got his third straight win. I'd start him again at home vs the Braves in his next start. Johnny Cueto brought back the strikeout last night against the D-Backs. Of course the D-Backs are second only to the Marlins in team strikeouts. Kevin Millwood and Jered Weaver squared off in a battle of the "sell highs". Neither faired particularly well and neither are likely to repeat their first half numbers in the second half. Nelson Cruz left with a back injury. It didn't sound serious, but I never like to hear about back problems. Keep an eye on the situation. Albert Pujols did not hit a homerun, but he did go 2-2 with a stolen...
Read more | 2 Comments | Tags: Adam Wainwright, Adrian Gonzalez, Albert Pujols, Baltimore Orioles, Billy Butler, Brad Bergesen, Cincinnati Reds, Cody Ross, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Fantasy, Fantasy Baseball, Florida Marlins, Gil Meche, Jason Hammel, Jered Weaver, Jimmy Rollins, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann, Josh Johnson, Justin Verlander, Kansas City Royals, Kevin Millwood, Los Angeles Angels, Matt Cain, Milwaukee Brewers, MLB, Nelson Cruz, Philadelphia Phillies, Ricky Romero, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Troy Tulowitzki, Washington Nationals, Yovani Gallardo
Told you about Burnett... Joel HanrahanAt 27 he's probably older than you think so it's time to stop saying "maybe he'll be..." and starting saying "this is what he is" OK first of all he strikes out a ton of batters. 9.00+ K/9 the last two years. This isn't a fluke. Basically his minor league numbers don't drop below 7.2 K/9. Well, how is his walk rate? Could be better. 4.5 BB/9 last year, 3.9 this year. Still with those two ratios you'd expect a better season than the Bacsikian one he's tossing out so far. Is he giving up too many homeruns? Not really, 0.83 HR/9. Too many hits in general? Oh, there you go. His LD% has shot back up to 25% (same as it was in his rough 2007) and it shows; 50 hits in 32.2 innings. Thing is, that is far too many. We'd expect a 25% LD rate to be...
Read more | 4 Comments | Tags: Elijah Dukes, Joel Hanrahan, Lastings Milledge, mlb, Nationals, Washington Nationals
OK took a longer look at it yesterday and... Sean Burnett He IS getting by with smoke and mirrors. I said that initially because his K-rate and BB-rate hadn't changed much from last year and yet his ERA drastically improved. 2008: 4.76 6.67 K/9, 5.40 BB/9 2009: 3.08 6.40 K/9, 4.18 BB/9 Ok that is an improvement and you can also point to a slight improvement in giving up the longball (1.11 HR/9 to 0.84 HR/9) but still over a run and a half improvement? His FIP is 4.50, his opponents BABIP is .218 his LOB% is 78.2%. Basically all fancy stat indicators say he's going to regress. And it could be hard and fast. A 24.1% LD rate? That's not good. For those not into fancy stats here are some other sobering numbers 2007 ERA : 4.48. 2006 ERA : 5.16 This was in AAA. Sure he was on the...
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Let's just establish this immediately: Austin Kearns is not a quality Major League Baseball player. He was at one time, 2007 was the last time, but no longer. He's 29 years old, doesn't play the outfield well, is batting .197 with 3 HR and 16 RBI, and slugging percentage of .322 [actually an improvement over last season]. In other words, he doesn't really belong in the Majors, not even on the worst team in the Majors. He might do better in AAA, but considering his age it is probably time for Mr Kearns to consider his life after baseball. [That's Mr Kearns in the photo to the right, doing what he does not do best -- playing baseball.]And yet, he continues to be employed by...
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In my latest piece at BDD, I look at the Morgan/Milledge + others trade from the Nationals side.Check it out....
Read more | Discuss | Tags: BDD, Joel Hanrahan, Lastings Milledge, MLB, Nyjer Morgan, Pittsburgh Pirates, Sean Burnett, Washington Nationals
Ladies and gentlemen, here are your links for Wednesday. And, since we took off yesterday, you get double the fun... Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jeff Suppan, due to make $12.75-M this season, has struggled so far in 2009. Suppan is currently 5-6 with a 4.86 ERA and 1.66 WHIP, a performance that has hovered near replacement-level. So how are Brewer fans taking out their frustration, you ask? By attempting to auction off Suppan on eBay. Tom Verducci published his All-Star ballot yesterday. You can compare his picks to the staff of Around the Majors' by following the link. Eric Seidman had an interesting post over the weekend about why we need to consider sample sizes before making conclusions about a player's hot streak or slump. Friend of the site Sarah Green produced her All-Hot Team over at UmpBump. This next link deserves its own post, really. Tommy Rancel, who attempted to unlock the Zobrist...
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The Pittsburgh Pirates had a busy day on Tuesday, pulling the trigger on two different trades.In the first move, Pittsburgh sent veteran Eric Hinske to the New York Yankees in exchange for low-level minor leaguers Casey Erickson and Eric Fryer.While Erickson and Fryer have limited upside, the Pirates really didn't have any need to keep Hinske on the roster anymore. Thus, it's hard to knock the organization for trying to get some value in return, anything, for the soon-to-be free-agent's services.Erickson, already 24 years old and still pitching in A-Ball, is certainly not an elite prospect. Plus, he has already transformed into a reliever, limiting his potential value down the road. He has been successful at Charleston in the Carolina League, though, posting a 2.25 ERA and 2.54 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) mark. The 6-foot-3 right-hander, a 10th-round selection out of junior college back in 2006, has produced rates of...
Read more | 1 Comment | Tags: Eric Hinske, Jim Bowden, Joel Hanrahan, Lastings Milledge, MLB, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Sean Burnett, Washington Nationals
Imagine your favorite team is on pace to lose 100 games this season. It's sickening, gut-wrenching, to think of a wasted year when your team is just that bad. But a 62-100 record, as bad as it is, equals out to a .383 winning percentage. Imagine what it would be like, then, if your team couldn't even win 30% of their games. A .296 winning percentage -- the highest sub-.300 figure possible -- equals out to a 48-114 record. Amazingly enough, that's the record the Washington Nationals are steaming toward this year. When I saw just how atrocious a year they were having, I decided to look deeper. Just how often has a sub-.300 winning percentage happened in the history of baseball? The answer is that it's relatively uncommon, at least in the modern era. Among still-active teams in the 134-year history of baseball, it's happened 25 times. ...Read more
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MLB Outsider's Jaymes Langrehr and Kurt Evans debate the issue: Which contending team most needs to make a deal before the July 31 trade deadline in order to stay in the race? Jaymes Langrehr argues that the Brewers desperately need starting pitching:As we get closer to the trade deadline, a good number of teams are developing clear needs that need to be addressed if they're going to stay in playoff contention. Some teams will be able to cope with their weaknesses and still make the playoffs due to their other strengths. Other clubs will need to make a move if they have any chance at contending in the second half.The Milwaukee Brewers are a prime example. Heading into this season, they knew that their pitching wouldn't be as good as it was down the stretch last season. Given the strength of their offense, however, they figured to be in okay...Read more
Washington Nationals' pitcher Jordan Zimmermann has a 3-3 record and a 4.65 ERA through 12 starts (69.2 innings) in 2009. Not that impressive, I'll give you that, but over his last four starts he has a 1.90 ERA while striking out 22 and walking six in that span. As could be expected, Zimmermann's ERA has dropped from 6.07 to 4.65 over those four starts, which have all come in June. In his most recent outing on Thursday night, Zimmermann allowed five hits and one run in seven innings against the Boston Red Sox. He also struck out six and walked just one as he kept the prolific Boston offense in check and got his first win since April 26. So far in his rookie campaign, Zimmermann has been able to miss a lot of bats (8.9 K/9) without sacrificing his control (2.6 BB/9). His batting average-against has dropped from a high of .301 after his May 17...Read more
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After weeks of hype, Stephen Strasburg is finally property of the Washington Nationals. Now only a couple questions remain -- are the Nationals going to be able to sign him, and will he be able to live up to the hype?It's pretty obvious that the Nationals are going to be under immense pressure to get Strasburg under contract, which works in Strasburg's favor when it comes to negotiations. I'm also sure Scott Boras will consider that Washington has shown interest in possibly having Strasburg pitch in the major leagues by the end of this season. In order for that to be a possibility, Washington will need to get Strasburg under contract as soon as possible in order to give him some tune-up innings in the minor leagues. If he waits until the mid-August deadline to sign, the chances of him pitching in Washington this year will be very slim.It's clear...Read more
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There must be something in the water in Washington, D.C. Their team just can't seem to do anything right. Let's take a closer look at their season of woe, which has thus far produced a 13-34 record, putting them on pace to win a meager 45 games this year.Their troubles began on March 1st of this year, when the team's GM Jim Bowen resigned. It wasn't because of mismanagement, no, Bowen hung 'em up because he was being investigated by the FBI for skimming signing bonus money from his Latin ball players. On top of that, as the awesome uniform sports blog Uni Watch has noted, the Natinals Nationals haven't exactly been on the ball with their gear this year. From a misspelled team name to upside down player numbers to their numbers actually falling off, it's been one baffling act of buffoonery after the next with them. The Moves...Read more
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MLB Outsider's Jaymes Langrehr and Kurt Evans debate the issue: Which experience is better, going to a Major League Baseball game or going to a minor-league one?Jaymes Langrehr says MLB's quality is top-notch:Where I grew up, I was about a three-hour drive east away from Milwaukee County Stadium, and a three-hour drive west away from the Metrodome. I was literally stuck in the middle of nowhere when it came to the MLB map, and looking back, I was definitely jealous of the kids who were able to spend their summers buying cheap Brewers tickets and move their way up to field level (because it's not like anyone was sitting in those seats, anyway). Still, the few major-league games that I was able to attend were incredible -- even though the home team almost always got crushed. Even when your team stinks, there's something special about a Major League game that...Read more
Purke - Let's Play Two
MLB Outsider is hosting a 2009 MLB mock draft, where bloggers from all over come together in an attempt to project the draft results that will take place June 9. DC Pro Sports Report's Thomas Threlkeld picks for the Washington Nationals at No. 10. The Nationals follow up the Strasburg pick by taking another pitcher, Matthew Purke, out of Klein High School. Follow the mock draft here.With the 10th pick in the amateur draft, the Nationals will select LHP Matt Purke. Why? Take a look at the Nationals' ERA. Despite investing heavily in pitching over the past two drafts, the Nationals will continue to build arms. Bats, heavy ones, are easier top come by via free agency and through development than good, quality pitchers. Strasburg at #1 will provide almost immediate help to the pitching-needy Nationals. Purke, on the other hand, will need minor league development. Purke will be another...Read more
Washington's Ryan Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to an even 30 games Tuesday night, and it's not like he's doing it cheaply. In the past 10 games, only two of them have been one-hit efforts for Zimmerman -- not only is he getting a hit every game, but he's getting a hit in what seems like every at-bat.So, of course, the question is whether or not he can keep it going and legitimately make a run for Joe DiMaggio's record.The answer? Of course not.That's not a slam against Zimmerman, but better hitters than him have reached the 30 game mark and fallen flat on their faces. Why? When you've gotten a hit in every game for a month, the media starts to take note. They start asking questions about it every day, before and after the game. Every at-bat is closely analyzed and critiqued. Zimmerman's been lucky enough to get...Read more
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