Baseball

Dodgers Spotlight: Another Weapon They Didn’t Need

By Sam Fels 1267 0

It’s bad enough that the Dodgers have a weaponized, flexible, young lineup that’s been punching holes in the ozone all season. The Dodgers have run roughshod over the National League now for basically two and a half seasons. Sure, last season’s record and needing a 163rd game to win the division doesn’t sound like it, but any of their underlying stats told you that they were the class of the Senior Circuit. They apparently are determined to set that record straight this season.

In the past couple seasons, the Dodgers rotation has been good, but beyond Clayton Kershaw it had been more to the functional side than dominant. Perhaps that’s what kept them from capping it all off with a World Series wins, as true nuclear lineups like the Astros and Red Sox essentially pummeled them.

Not so anymore. Kershaw doesn’t even have to be Kershaw anymore, and they’re still rocking five starters with ERAs under 4.00. Walker Buehler promised this last year, Rich Hill infuriatingly has been this effective his whole tenure there. But Hyun-Jin Ryu is the real surprise. Then again, the real surprise is that he’s been upright for more than four or five starts.

Ryu hasn’t made 30 starts in six seasons, and he’s only crossed 20 twice in the five seasons since. So taking the ball every fifth day already this season is something of a win. And of course, when he is, no one has been able to touch him. He currently has a microchip of an ERA of 1.36, a WHIP of 0.80, and a FIP of 2.62. All of which lead the National League (he’s second in FIP behind Scherzer barely) and make Ryu your clubhouse leader for the Cy Young.

Ryu has been using a sinker more often this year instead of his fastball, but it’s his fastball that is showing a heightened effectiveness. Whereas in the past hitters managed a .283 average against his fastball, it’s only .203 now. Ryu is getting more whiffs and foul balls off it, but the contact is just about the same. But Ryu seems to be combatting the new swing planes of hitters by using it only in the upper part of the zone. See for yourself:

Another change is that Ryu is using his change more. He’s throwing it a quarter of the time, up from 18% last year. That’s how he’s been getting all the grounders, as nearly 60% of the changes that are put in play end up with grass stains. It’s become his go-to, as he throws it more than any other pitch with two strikes.

There is an element of mirrors to Ryu’s season so far. He’s got a .248 BABIP, which is some 40 points below his career average. And he’s getting a 94 left-on-base percentage, which clearly won’t last. The Dodgers have a great infield defense of course, so the higher number of grounders should lower the BABIP. But more of those runners will score. Ryu’s 1.6% BB% is simply ridiculous, and would be the lowest since Carlos Silva’s 1.2% in 2005 and no other marks since 1980. Maybe he can keep it up, but it hasn’t been done in a very long time or at all.

Combined with Buehler, Kershaw, and Hill, the Dodgers have a rotation that can slice through anyone in a playoff series, which obscures perhaps their one mini-weakness which is the bridge to Kenley Jansen (who hasn’t been his normal self this year). As if they didn’t have everything already.

Baseball

Series Preview – Yankees at White Sox: Blood Money

By Andy Jonathan 1251 0

  VS  

Records:  Yankees 41-25  White Sox:  32-34

Gametimes: Thurs/Fri/Sat 7:10pm.  Sunday: 1:10

TV: NBCSN

The Evil Empire: PinstripeAlley

Probable Starters:

Thursday:  JA Happ vs Ivan Nova

Friday:  CC Sabathia vs Lucas Giolito

Saturday: TBD vs Reynaldo Lopez

Sunday: Masahiro Tanaka vs Odrisamer Despaigne

PROBABLE LINEUPS

YANKEES

1. DJ LeMahieu (2B)

2. Aaron Hicks (CF)

3. Luke Voit (DH)

4. Gary Sanchez (C)

5. Didi Gregorius (SS)

6. Clint Frazier (RF)

7. Kendrys Morales (1B)

8. Gio Urshela (3B)

9. Brett Gardner (LF)

 

SOX

1.  Leury Garcia (CF)

2. Tim Anderson (SS)

3. Jose Abreu (1B)

4. James McCann (C)

5. Eloy Jimenez (LF)

6. Yonder Alonso (DH) (SIGH)

7. Jose Rondon (3B)

8. Yolmer Sanchez (2B)

9. Ryan Cordell (RF)

 

The Evil Empire comes to town for a 4 game set this weekend, with the Yankees splitting a double header against their crosstown counterparts the Mets this past Tuesday, with them banging out 16 runs between the two games.  The Yankees haven’t had as much luck with the win column in June, constantly flip flopping with the Rays for first place in the division.  That hasn’t stopped them from hitting the shit out of the ball during that span, however.

This is a different Yankees team than the one that visited back in April.  While Giancarlo “Mike” Stanton and Aaron Judge are still on the IL along with Luis Severino the rest of the team has mostly gotten healthier.  The replacements for the ones that haven’t continue to hit at a prodigious pace, with DJ Lethal LeMahieu leading the way with his .316 average and 47 RBIs.  Doughboy Luke Voit and Gary Sanchez are pummeling the ball right now, with a combined 37 home runs between the two of them.  With the return of Didi Gregorious to the lineup after Tommy John surgery there aren’t too many weak spots in the lineup as it stands right now other than Brett Gardner, and he’ll get punted to the bench when Stanton comes back in the next week or two.

As far as their pitching staff goes, this unit is currently anchored down by Masa Tanaka who currently has an ERA that sits in the mid 3’s.  James Paxton had strung together a few solid starts in a row before the wheels came off against the Mets on Tuesday.  He didn’t make it out of the 3rd inning while giving up 6 runs.  He got booed off the mound by the New York “faithful”, and may have his turn in the rotation skipped as a result.  Personal favorite CC Sabathia is also still here, the retirement train still chugging along with a 3.66 ERA.  JA Happ is still struggling to string together decent starts, and he stands as the Sox best chance to pull out an easy win this weekend.

As for the Pale Hose, after their split with the Nationals earlier this week they still sit 2 games under .500, with their odds of getting past that not looking great.  With both Lopez and Nova on tap this weekend, they’re going to need to have better control than they’ve shown of late if they want to see the 5th inning, Nova in particular.  Giolito gets his sternest test to date against this lineup of mashers and it will be interesting to see how he responds.  O-driss gets his second start in a Sox jersey, and if he can replicate what he did against the Nats on Monday night, I’ll be shocked.

 

This could be ugly…

Baseball

Yankees Spotlight: The CC Sabathia Farewell Tour

By Andy Jonathan 1284 0

Just gonna get this out of the way right at the front.  I like CC Sabathia, always have.  When he came up with the Indians back in 2001, I loved the way he pitched.  He just didn’t give a shit.  Walked out to the mound with his jersey 12% tucked in, hat askew, and just threw smoke.  This was back when the Sox teams were nothing to sneeze at, too.  Frank Thomas, Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome.  It didn’t matter who was up there, he just toed the rubber and THREW.  Much like Johan Santana with the Twins back then, you couldn’t help be impressed.  Those opening years his ERA was always hovering right around 4ish, but you never seemed to notice because the Indians rosters back then were hilariously loaded.  Shit, Cliff Lee had a 5.53 ERA in 2004 and STILL won 14 games.  CC was different, however.  You could always just see that this dude was destined for something greater than the Mistake By The Lake.

As his career moved on, this became clear.  The last 3 years in Cleveland you could see the switch flip.  He became a pure workhorse, winning 48 games between 2006-08, and going the distance in 20(!!!) of them.  His ERA went down almost a full point by the time he was traded to the Brewers at the deadline in 2008, and he tried his damnedest to drag Milwaukee to the promised land (nope).  After that, it was time for him to get paid, and that’s exactly what happened.  The Evil Empire signed him to a 7 year deal worth $161 million, the largest ever given to a pitcher at the time.  He responded by winning 19 games that season with a 3.30 ERA and helped the Yank to their first World Series trophy in almost a decade.

Usually when a player, especially a pitcher, signs a wacky deal like the one CC signed, the odds of him finishing that contract with the same team are pretty damn low.  Not only did Sabathia finish that contract, but signed two extensions after it.  During the 2013-15 seasons, injuries began to plague the big man.  This really isn’t a surprise when you look at the innings he pitched up until this point.  He battled through them and came back healthy in 2017, in which he had something of a renaissance.  He started 26 games that year, racked up 14 wins and 150 innings.  The Yankees believed (rightly so) that proper management of his innings, combined with the introduction of a cutter to his repertoire after years of a mostly fastball/slider 1-2 punch would extend his shelf life. It worked, as the now 39 year old CC is one of only 7 other pitchers to ever win 100 games with two different teams.  He missed some time at the beginning of this season, mostly because doctors were putting a stent into his heart, but he still made it back in time to beat the Sox in April.

As his career winds down to a close, all you have to do is  look at his career statistics and you’ll see a six time all star, and a first ballot hall of famer.  He’s won 248 games and counting, struck out over 3,000 batters in 3450 innings, and won the AL Cy Young in 2007.  He won a world series in 2009, and been nothing but classy his entire career.  There’s really nothing else for him to do, except retire on his own terms, which I have the utmost respect for him doing.  Despite him playing exclusively for teams that I despise, I’ll truly miss seeing him pitch.  Just not when he was pitching against the Sox.

Baseball

Series Wrap – Cubs Lose Two Of Three In Colorado: The Rocky Mountain Way Can Kiss My Ass

By Sam Fels 1329 0

Game 1 Box Score: Rockies 6, Cubs 5

Game 2 Box Score: Rockies 10, Cubs 3

Game 3 Box Score: Cubs 10, Rockies 1

Maybe I just forget every season, or I truly didn’t realize how torturous series in Denver are. Or maybe it was not wanting to lose the buzz from that homestand so quickly, and maybe losing just two of three doesn’t do that. I leave that to you. But good god, you’re never comfortable, sure something will go wrong, and the more you watch them you’re sure the Rockies are some gimmick team that are helpless outside their own environs. It feels cheap in a way.

Anyway, each team got a blowout and the Rockies got the coin-flip. While the massive bullpen meltdowns are no more damaging, though harder to watch, it’s the slow leaks that feel worse. Sure, Montgomery just hung one pitch that got hit to goddamn Telluride, and then Cishek was the victim of some fiendish BABIP Kung Fu Treachery with Murphy’s ball hitting the motherfucking bag. Maybe Rizzo doesn’t get there anyway, but I’m willing to bet he would have. Even McMahon’s game-winning hit was a product of Coors. You can say all that.

But that’s the problem. Even when the pen isn’t actively lighting itself on fire it still leaks a run here or there, and in close games that’s all it takes when the other team has a decent pen. Montgomery might not be as dependable as he was, and his 5.17 ERA and 1.7 WHIP suggest he’s not. Perhaps the yo-yoing of his role has finally taken its toll.

The Cubs still have a few weeks to survive until Craig Kimbrel arrives, and even then the pen won’t be sorted unless Carl Edwards Jr. finally finds the fountain of control, Cishek proves he’s not still dragging from last year, and either Maples finds that same fountain or they acquire someone or Brandon Morrow actually comes up for air. It’s the only thing holding this team back.

Anyway…

The Two Obs

-Schwarber now tickling a .900 OPS out of the leadoff spot. Everyone can kiss my ass and call it a love story.

-It’s funny how we feel differently about Yu Darvish‘s start than we do about Jon Lester‘s on Sunday, even though they were both four runs over six innings. Obviously, one held the opponent down to give his team a chance to come back while the other coughed up a lead. But that’s mitigated by this being Coors Field. Darvish didn’t walk anyone, which is a big step. Of late, Yu is losing his slider less, and his straight fastball more, which is probably a little easier to control. It’s getting there, and while he might be the highest-paid starter which makes his #5 status feel wrong, it’s still a hell of a fifth starter to have if that’s how things are right now.

–Cole Hamels got half-whiffs on any change-up the Rockies swung at today, which is probably the only way to get out of that dungeon alive. Your curve is going to be affected, but your change won’t. Hamels has been nails his last three starts, which makes it unfortunate he’s the only one the Cubs won’t get to use against the Gashouse Gorillas this weekend.

-Boy, Victor Caratini is putting to rest those overcooked fears from Spring Training that Willson would get too tired come the end of the year, huh? Caratini has also been a plus-framer so far this year, whereas Contreras has been just about even.

-Heyward is a good weekend from getting up over an .800 OPS again, which would be more than acceptable.

-Quintana has shied away from using his change the past two starts, both against the Rockies. Both starts saw him give up three runs but one was in over seven innings where he didn’t get out of the fifth last night. When he doesn’t use that change, he becomes a two-pitch pitcher which is a real problem when he can’t locate the fastball.

-Boy the Rockies get red-assed, huh? To be fair the whole thing was dumb. They weren’t trying to hit Kris Bryant twice in a game, and I don’t know how hitting Arenado makes Bryant un-hit or will prevent anyone from hitting Bryant again. We really think a pitcher on another team is even going to know about this, much less think, “I’m not going to throw inside to one of the best hitters in the game because they might plunk my guy?” Awfully complicated. Baez putting one 450 feet away is how you do it. Do it more often.

Onwards…

Baseball

Giolito And The All-Star Game

By Sam Fels 1330 0

You may expect me to come here and shit on the All-Star Game and tell you it doesn’t matter if Lucas Giolito starts it for the American League or not. And then do various Rock impressions and references, which I’ll be doing anyway around my house because that’s how I get through the day. But that’s not what I’m here to do.

The ASG has lost some gloss to everyone, I think, but mostly that’s because of how the game is played. Everyone gets in, everyone gets on a roster after expansions and injuries and pitchers declared ineligible. The every team rule also is a bit stupid, but at least that one I understand. It wasn’t the tie in 2002 that cheapened it, it was the response to it. Not everyone needs to play in it, and keeping the best of the best on the field longer would go some way to restoring the luster of it. Then again, I totally understand those who would rather catch a flight home somewhere around the 7th inning and get a mini-break in during a very long season.

That said, the All-Star starter still carries a lot of weight, at least to me. It’s the spot that can’t get borked by some stupid fan campaign to load votes onto whoever a fanbase has decided needs to be there. It doesn’t get altered by the every team rule, because it’s just about the only spot where the best player for the first half gets his role without any bullshit. Sure, he might have to bow out if he starts on the Sunday before or whatever the rule is, but he gets the title. Those who take the mound on that Tuesday in July first, there’s something special about them. They are unquestionably the best at what they do for that season at that point.

So the question now becomes should Giolito be the AL starter in Cleveland? Yes, of course. What’re you stupid? Get outta here. I ain’t got time for this.

Ok, obviously it’s not that simple. Giolito does have the best FIP in the AL, and the third best ERA behind Jake Odorizzi and Charlie Morton. By fWAR, Giolito is the best pitcher in the league right now. According to Baseball reference, he’s behind Mike Minor, Verlander, and Matthew Boyd. So let’s just say fuck Baseball Reference, huh? (I don’t mean that. Love you, BBREF). By ERA-, which does take park effects into account, Giolito trails Odorizzi and Morton as well. When it comes to ERA, I would argue that both Odorizzi and Morton play behind significantly better defenses than Giolito does, though the Twins only have the significant advantage in the outfield.

I suppose it would be hypocritical to argue that MLB should step in, but this is a league that’s had a hard time marketing new stars and getting them into the consciousness of the casual sporting public. And Odorizzi or Morton are hardly household names. But Giolito carries more weight, as he plays in a team that’s been dormant for a while. Sure, Morton plays for a team that they need to get ANYONE to watch, and his selection it could be argued would remind people that the Rays exist. They also gave Blake Snell, deservedly, the fucking Cy Young last year and still no one cares. The Twins are the new hotness as well, so Odorizzi along with the raft of others they’ll have at the game could lead that charge.

But of the three, it feels like the selection of Giolito would be part of a start of something, a marker in a career that could go just about anywhere. This is probably as brightly as Morton or Odorizzi will burn. It would, hopefully, not be the pinnacle of Giolito’s career.

He’s going either way, and will probably get on the mound. And that will be a thrill for Sox fans as they wait for meaningful baseball again. But give him the full ride.

Baseball

Series Wrap – Sox Split Two with Nationals: Eloy Hit One to Indiana, That’s All I Care About

By Adam Hess 1375 0

Game 1 – Nations 12, White Sox 1

Game 2 – Nationals 5, White Sox 7

The White Sox have kind of existed within this realm of having a good record but being a mostly bad team for a while now, and this two game set with the Nats kinda proved that to be the case even further. Now at 32-34, the Sox appear to be close to competency and at least theoretically in the Wild Card hunt, but they also split a 2-game series with a team with a worse record than them and had a -9 run differential in the process, leaving them at -55 on the season as well. So really, they aren’t that good but kinda look like they are. Anyway who cares, Eloy hit a ball to the moon.

THE BULLETS

– The White Sox had something called Odrisamer Despaigne start for them on Monday, which is a hilarious insult to everyone’s intelligence but also somehow not exaclt a bad move? Listen, if you want Dylan Cease in the majors at this point, I certainly won’t argue with you on it because I agree, but at this point the motivations are clearly not financial anymore. They have the year of control in the pocket, Super-2 is gone, so it’s not about money. They clearly think there is something developmentally that still needs to be done, and hey I am not really gonna argue with them because even if I am a fool, arms are the one area I just kinda trust the Sox on even when I don’t agree. Sam had wonderful thoughts on this yesterday as he slowly descends to becoming One Of Us. Despaigne also held up his end of the bargain in the game, and the bullpen fell apart, so it’s fine. The wins and losses mean nothing this year so if he needs to start another one, so be it.

– Yoan Moncada tweaking his back is certainly a major problem. One thing that I have just come to accept about Yoan is that he tends to milk it when he is hurt or suffering discomfort, like when he hobbled back to the dugout after scoring from second base last week only to remain in the game and have it not really be anything to worry about. But backs are a different animal. Luckily it didn’t sound too serious, and Sox have today off for him to rest, but the Sox would be wise to take it slow here and let him make sure he’s 100% before coming back. I’d prefer if that didn’t involve an IL stint, though.

– Similar to Despaigne, I was pleased with the start Manny Banuelos turned in on Tuesday. It was nothing special, but after a bad first inning he kept control and didn’t let the game blow up on him. Banuelos’ starts are really just glorified bullpen days, so him getting you through 4.2 innings is more than fine. I’m glad Ricky didn’t try to hold out on him in the when he got in trouble in the 5th to earn him the win, but I also am not convinced that wasn’t mostly because it was said glorified bullpen day. If that had been ReyLo, I bet he stays out there and the inning blows up. But it didn’t!

– Eloy hit a ball forever far. They called it 462 feet and I think that was just a moment of dyslexia and they meant 642. There is simply no way that centerfield concourse is only 60 feet behind the dead center wall. I refuse to believe it.

– As much fun as the home run was, I was more impressive with Eloy’s phenomenal walk in the first inning that preceded Wllington Castillo’s grand slam. Patrick Corbin sliders are nothing to joke about, and Eloy spit on two of them in the dirt in a two-strike count to force Corbin to beat him, and worked a walk out of it. To me, that’s far more evidence of his growth and progress at the plate this year. We knew he could hit balls into orbit, but he hadn’t proven to major league pitchers he could lay off low breaking balls. If they need to find new ways to beat him moving forward, they could be looking for a long time.

Baseball

Is There Anything To Be Salvaged With Carlos Gonzalez?

By Sam Fels 1712 0

No.

 

 

…all right fine. We can try and dig a little deeper into this, but there isn’t much point. What I find curious is that on the day the Cubs unveiled Craig Kimbrel, Theo Epstein was asked about Gonzalez and Albert Almora Jr., who has lost playing time to the former’s arrival. Theo’s quote was basically that Gonzalez was here to be a bat off the bench, and Almora needed to play.

Gonzalez has started four of the past six games. If you want to know why Joe Maddon has not received a contract extension, here’s a piece of evidence for you.

Let me present some numbers:

.169/.242/.186  .429 OPS  9.1 BB% 31.8 K%

.258/.287/.536  .823 OPS  3.8 BB*  15.4 K%

The former is Gonzalez’s numbers in May, and the latter’s are Albert Almora’s. Now, Almora’s aren’t exactly breathtaking, but they come out to an above-average offensive player, just, who plays plus defense. Gonzalez’s numbers make doves cry, and his defense really isn’t any good anymore either.

It’s been three seasons since Gonzalez was an above-average offensive player, and that’s accounting for the Coors factor. His power zapped away in 2017 and hasn’t really ever come back, though the .467 slugging off the bench would be fine. You’d take it. We all understand that in searching for a left-handed bat simply to replace Ben Zobrist and maybe take PH ABs from Daniel Descalso and his other interpretation of sadness at the plate, the options you can have for free are limited. It’s a free roll of the dice.

But you’re still going to get snake-eyes. And it’s fine for now because Kyle Schwarber has carried the outfield, and Gonzalez has cobbled together a couple hits that has fooled everyone into thinking he can still hit, which he can’t. Unless his .211 average since joining up really makes something stir in your bowels.

So I’m trying to see what the Cubs think they might be able to mine here, and my hope is that Joe Maddon is only trying to get CarGo in a rhythm before he’s reduced to simply pinch-hitting and spot-start duty. The only thing I can fathom is that the Cubs think they can get CarGo to go the opposite way more, which he actually does well but doesn’t do often. CarGo has been a pull everything guy for most of his career, settling for somewhere between 20-25% of his contact going the opposite way. CarGo has consistently run an average over .400 on balls the other way, though that might have something to do with being shifted against a lot and there being a lot of open territory there. But that’s belied somewhat by most of his contact the opposite way is still in the air, where a shift wouldn’t do much about it.

That’s about as near as I can figure, and his homer the other night, certainly a Wrigley product given where it landed, is hopefully a sign that CarGo is willing to change his approach to salvage another year or two in the majors. Beats working at Sears, as we know.

Still, it’s awfully harsh on Almora. I’m not Almora’s hugest fan–he hits way too many grounders and is slow, but this May was his first plus-month in the majors since the first half of last year thanks to an injection of power. There were still way too many grounders, over half his contact was, and maybe the Cubs have already concluded he would crash back to Earth with that. Still, May saw Almora hit the ball harder than he ever has, and his .253 BABIP in the month suggests he had to fight through fortune to produce a plus-month instead of ride the wave as he did last year.

It wouldn’t be a big deal, and it probably isn’t anyway yet, if Jason Heyward were hitting. But he’s not. So Joe Maddon is essentially tossing another outfield spot away on a hunch that isn’t going to play out, whereas Almora still allows us to be curious about what could come next. To boot, CarGo’s defense just isn’t that good in right.

I get the impression this won’t be a problem come July 1st when everyone sees CarGo is toast, but you never know with Maddon. And by then Almora might have lost all his momentum. He’s at least the devil we don’t know completely yet instead of the corpse we do.

Baseball

The White Sox Are On Message With Dylan Cease, They Just Don’t Seem To Know It

By Sam Fels 1332 0

You can certainly understand White Sox fans’ frustration. When Lucas Giolito isn’t pitching, thanks to injuries or various incompetence, having to suffer through Manny Banuelos or Ivan Nova or earlier Ervin Santana or Dylan Covey (“Dylan Arrieta” according to Fifth Feather) isn’t a great way to extend one’s lifespan. Especially with Dylan Cease sitting at Charlotte, and seemingly putting up numbers that would warrant a look. Certainly a look over the circus clowns that have toed the slab (god I love baseball terminology) for the Sox so far.

Still, if you look at what the Sox have done with their other pitching prospects, it makes perfect sense that Cease isn’t here yet. Between the Cubs and Sox systems, Cease has thrown 336 innings in the minors over parts of five seasons. How much did the others go through? Michael Kopech threw 383 innings in the minors before coming up for brief air last year. Giolito threw 367 in the Nationals system before he got a brief call to DC, and then the Sox piled on another 128 in Charlotte for him upon arriving under their tent for a total just under 500. Reynaldo Lopez had thrown 307 innings in the Nationals system as well before getting his own cameo in the Capital, and then the Sox piled on another 121 in AAA for him after his trade for a total of 428 innings in the minors. So only Kopech has thrown a similar total of innings in the minors to Cease before being called up, and that was just a shade under 50 more innings. Kopech is also now on the shelf, so take that for what it’s worth.

Scouting reports suggest that while Cease is getting the results in Charlotte, the process is still a touch wonky. He’s falling behind in counts and powering through with his fastball, which works there but definitely won’t work in the majors, especially as it gets hotter on the Southside and it returns to its normal air-traffic control disturbance. The other side is that Cease isn’t getting any luck considering the amount of ground-balls he’s giving up, and he might actually benefit from getting to pitch in front of what’s been for now at least a plus-infield defense.

Of course, every pitcher is different and no plan should work for two people. Everyone’s still guessing at this, of course.

Still, it’s a little jarring when Rick Hahn comes out and compares Cease’s promotion timetable to that of Eloy Jimenez’s, because we all know that Jimenez’s was bullshit. Jimenez was ready to be in the majors last year, and probably even pretty close to the start of the season and everyone knew it. The Sox kept him in Charlotte thanks to the CBA and getting another year of control, and guised it as the normal, “Oh he needs to work on his defense (this is left field, people),” or “We just want to make sure he’s ready.”

There are no such concerns with Cease, which makes the comparison to Jimenez pretty weird. The Sox appear to be enacting the same plan with Cease that they have with all their other pitchers, and that’s the story they could easily stick to. And fuck, even with that plan, it took Giolito a full-season and plus to become this. Lopez hasn’t become anything yet, and Kopech has his arm in ice. So maybe they’re figuring it out with the rest of us.

Hahn’s probably on the right track here, he should just avoid mentioning Jimenez when describing that track. Doesn’t really support the argument.

Baseball

Series Preview – Nationals vs. White Sox: Mini Discontent

By Sam Fels 1077 0

vs.

RECORDS: Nationals 30-35   White Sox 31-33

GAMETIMES: Monday and Tuesday at 7:10

TV: WGN Monday, NBCSN Tuesday

NOT THE EXPOS: Federal Baseball

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

Anibal Sanchez vs. Odrisamer Despaigne

Patrick Corbin vs. TBA

PROBABLE NATIONALS LINEUP

Trea Turner – SS

Adam Eaton – RF

Anthony Rendon – 3B

Juan Soto – LF

Howie Kendrick – 1B

Matt Adams – DH

Brian Dozier – 2B

Gerardo Parra – CF

Yan Gomes – C

PROBABLE WHITE SOX LINEUP

Leury Garcia – CF

Yoan Moncada – 3B

Jose Abreu – DH

James McCann – C

Eloy Jimenez – LF

Yonder Alonso – 1B

Tim Anderson – SS

Yolmer Sanchez – 2B

Charlie Tilson – RF

 

The Sox and Nats finish out what is essentially a split four-game series the next two nights, leaving the Sox with the rare Wednesday off before the Yankees and all their fans smelling of sauerkraut show up for four through the weekend. In the interim, the Nationals spent the weekend in San Diego, splitting four with the Padres. That included hitting four consecutive homers off Craig Stammen yesterday to get a win, and it’s not like Stammen is on my fantasy team or anything and I’m not bitter at all.

It continued a soft push toward the middle for the Nats, who have won 11 of their last 15 since getting swept by the Mets. They’re still not really close to .500, much less ready to push the Braves or Philies, but they’re at least not loitering down with the Marlins as they were.

The offense has tuned up for them, as all of Kendrick, Rendon, Dozier, Suzuki, and Soto are on fire the past couple weeks. The Sox will know all about Suzuki, who has seemingly been the hitting version of Bruce Chen to them for his entire career, no matter where he’s plying his trade. That’s the last thing the Sox need right now.

The Sox will get another face-full of Anibal Sanchez, who pretty much rubbed their ass in the moonshine last out in DC. They’ll also get a first look at Patrick Corbin, who has been chum in his last two starts, giving up nine runs over 7.2 innings to the Reds and Padres. But on his day he can make you look pretty dumb.

As always with the Nats, their bridge to Sean Doolittle is rickety and unstable, and is pretty much the Tacoma Narrows bridge. Of late, Tanner Rainey, Matt Grace, and Wander Suero has held down the fort ok, and if that continues the Nationals have it in them to make a run in the NL East. Especially as the Phillies haven’t really gotten away.

For the Sox, they’ll continue to refuse to call Dylan Cease up even though Dylan Covey is now on the IL and they’re on their like 12th starter. So the wonderfully named Odrisamer Despaigne will get the call to bring his underwhelming repertoire to Comiskey, and to call him a journeyman would be something of a disservice. The Sox are his fifth organization in five years, perfecting the “have arm, will travel” career arc. He’s a seat-filler, but that’s apparently what the Sox think they need right now. They don’t have anyone listed for Tuesday night, so we could all be in for the Manny Banuelos experience again.

In other moves, Jace Fry is also on the IL and Nicky Delmonico was released to follow The Backstreet Boys on tour, as is his destiny.

A weird two-gamer before the always anticipated visit of the Yanks. Off we go.

 

Baseball

Nationals Spotlight: Patrick Corbin, Sliding Into Your…Everywhere

By Sam Fels 1151 0

There is something pretty simple about identifying your best pitch and deciding you’re just going to throw the ever living fuck out of it and see what happens. Most pitchers have decided they need a mix to get through a lineup two or three times. Then there are pitchers like Patrick Corbin, who stand out on a rock and say things like, “I throw a goddamn slider half the time and I dare you to do anything about it.”

The past two seasons, which just so happened to be the last two seasons before free agency for Corbin in Arizona, he decided that’s what he was going to do. Only two pitchers threw more sliders than Corbin in 2017, and only Jhoulys Chacin threw more last year. You could understand why, as according to FanGraphs it was the most valuable slider in the game. When toting that kind of weapon, it’s probably best you use it as much as you can, especially when you’re eying a contract with nine-digits on it, as Corbin got from the Nationals.

The scary thing for the Nats, or maybe it should have been, is that pitchers that lean that hard on a slider don’t tend to do very well long-term. Last year the top slider-throwers were Chacin, Corbin, Luis Severino, Jakob Junis, and Jon Gray. Chacin and Junis have ERAs over 5.00 this year, and Severino has yet to throw a pitch thanks to a lat strain. Only Gray has improved on what he did last year, and only marginally really.

In 2017, the top slider-throwers were Chris Archer, Corbin, Jason Hammel, John Lackey, and Ervin Santana. Archer has backed up since, and you don’t need me to tell you what happened to the other three.

The year previous, Madison Bumgarner made his way into the top five as far as throwing a slider, and then 2017 was the first year he ever got hurt and ended up missing about half the season. Same goes for Michael Pineda. It’s a very hard pitch to maintain its sharpness over multiple years and also your health. This is the needle that Corbin is trying to thread.

It would appear Corbin is somewhat aware of this, as he’s backed off of it a bit, throwing it 5% less than last year and replacing it with more fastball usage. It seems to have cost him some strikeouts and increased his walks, but he’s still got an ERA and FIP under 4.00. He’ll be hard-pressed to ever match the 11 K/9 that he put up last year, and if that’s what the Nationals thought they were paying for, well that’s on them.

The thing is, Corbin’s slider is getting more movement, both down and across the zone, than it did last year:

So he might be better off just riding and dying with it, whenever that might be.

That doesn’t make his signing any less weird. Yes, the Nationals definitely had a hole in the rotation after Scherzer and Strasburg, and you wouldn’t want any part of this in a playoff series. But does that matter if you’re not getting to the playoff series? The Nationals have a pretty middling offense–partly due to the growing pains of Victor Robles and Juan Soto–and a woeful bullpen. They also have an overmatched manager. Was another starter really highest on the shopping list?

It’s definitely a Cerberus of a top of a rotation. It’s just a wonder if that’s worth it when it’s getting you 80 wins.