Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports points out that Jason Hammel has outperformed Jeremy Guthrie so far this season. The right-handers were traded for one another this offseason (with Matt Lindstrom also going to the Orioles) and Hammel has pitched well for Baltimore, while Guthrie is on Colorado’s disabled list. Here are more notes from Rosenthal:
- Some considered Hammel a “passive competitor,” but Dan Duquette and the Orioles viewed him as a dependable innings eater. Hammel, 29, has a 1.73 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 through 26 innings for his new team.
- Though Yankees GM Brian Cashman says his team did more background work than ever before acquiring Michael Pineda from Seattle, one rival executive says his club grew concerned. The right-hander showed diminished velocity in his final start of the 2011 season after struggling in the second half. Pineda will miss the 2012 season with a shoulder injury.
- The Pirates aren’t scoring many runs, but rival executives like the trio of Alex Presley, Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutchen at the top of Pittsburgh's order, Rosenthal writes.
- Tigers starters other than Justin Verlander and Drew Smyly have struggled so far this year, and rival executives expect Detroit to make a strong push for rotation help by the July trade deadline.
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin told Rosenthal that Carlos Gomez would generate approximately as much interest as Yoenis Cespedes if you put him in a tryout camp. Gomez, who is two months younger than Cespedes, could be a late-bloomer, Melvin said.
He likes Gomez so much that he’s riding the pine every other day.
There’s a difference between HAVING the skills and being able to USE them…
Exactly!
Gomez looks pretty great to start the year. I could see him getting regular playing time pretty quick here, especially with Nyjer Morgan playing like garbage.
So that’s why Tony Plush has been Tony Hush…
Sounds like its time for a tryout for Gomez.
1st of all I have no idea as to what this means “Passive Competitor”. I tried googling it and it was of no help.
Does anyone feel badly for the Yankees? Come on they have been among the top teams in the league for a very long time.
Also, has anyone noticed that the Red Sox are only one game under .500?
Lastly, as to whether the Tigers have a rotation problem isn’t the most important thing out there. What is important or at least it’s my observation it is, they have a Team Chemistry problem. With Victor Martinez getting hurt, that really messed up the works!
“Does anyone feel badly for the Yankees?”
Do you really expect anyone to answer Yes?
Of course the rivals executives like the trio of Presley, Tabata, and McCutchen at the top of the batting order. They get to beat the Pirates on a daily basis.
Much of the Pirates offensive woes come from the fact that they can’t hit with runners in scoring position. The top trio can definitely get on base, and if the Pirates could develop Pedro Alvarez and another hitter into power threats, the Pirates could really throw that division into disarray.
Their pitching staff is good enough to win, and Hanrahan is an intimidating closer.
The Pirates don’t have anyone who can hit with any consistency outside of Presley and Cutch, those guys aren’t the problem. Neil Walker is batting cleanup out of necessity and while he drove in runs last year, it was simply a matter of batting in that spot of the order.
The dream scenario is Pedro continuing to build enough confidence that he can be that cleanup hitter and drive in more runs instead of killing rallies with strikeouts. Jones is streaky and is a stopgap at best, McGahee has produced good numbers before and looks like a pretty solid hitter. The other problem is the bottom of the lineup is pretty much an automatic out. Every time NH tries to sign a veteran FA, they fall flat on their faces. Barajas should be close to losing his everyday catcher’s job and Barmes isn’t doing that Cedeno wasn’t able to do cheaper. It won’t get any better until they get more impact hitters and not veteran stopgaps.
I should say every hitter he signs fails because the veteran starting pitchers he’s brought in: Bedard, Burnett, Correia, Grilli, Cruz have been good.
They’re just not consistant. Alvarez is getting some confidence, Walker is solid, and McCutchen is awesome
I know a lot of people hated cedeno, but he posted average offensive numbers, with above average defense. For very very cheap. Pirates are paying more for Barmes who has not been able to produce yet. It takes some time to get used to a new team. Still shocks me the pirates let go of cedeno. Not the greatest player but not bad by any means
Pirates should fire their hitting coach for good. Every player that comes to the organization does worse than they did somewhere else
I thought that only happened in Atlanta. You know, Dan Uggla, Nate Mclouth, Alex Gonzalez, Garret Anderson, Troy Glaus, Mark Texeira, etc.
Hopefully those days are over with Greg Walker
Gomez = Cespedes…. Like if you LOL’d at that
This isn’t Facebook, son. Go like things elsewhere