Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte earned his first Major League win today, tossing two scoreless frames to help the Athletics notch a 7-4 victory over the Diamondbacks in 11 innings. While Venditte is known mostly for his singular pitching style, he’s also posted a decent 3.31 ERA over 16 1/3 relief innings for the A’s in his rookie season. Here’s more from around the AL West…
- There is a growing sentiment within the Angels front office that David Freese should be re-signed, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports, though things could change once the team hires its new general manager. Freese is admired for his clubhouse leadership, and while the Angels’ slump obviously isn’t solely due to Freese’s DL stint (he’s recovering from a fractured finger), it’s worth noting that the Halos are 11-23 since Freese’s last game. The former World Series MVP has just a .240/.309/.397 slash line and 11 homers in 353 PA this season, though Gonzalez surmises he could strong interest in free agency given the lack of third base options on the market. If the Angels aren’t willing to bring him back, they could turn to Kaleb Cowart or Kyle Kubitza at the hot corner.
- While the next Mariners GM will have to fix some significant weaknesses on the roster and in the farm system, it’s not impossible that the M’s could contend as quickly as next season, Larry Stone of the Seattle Times writes. Perhaps most intriguingly, Stone suggests that the new GM will have to at least consider the idea of trading Felix Hernandez, which would both clear payroll space and restock the farm with some blue chip talent. Stone stops short of advocating that a Hernandez trade would or should happen, however, and it could be a moot point anyway since Hernandez has full no-trade protection.
- Sam Dyson and Jake Diekman didn’t just upgrade the Rangers bullpen by themselves, but their acquisitions also helped reinvigorate Keone Kela, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. The righty was demoted to Double-A on Aug. 1 to keep his arm fresh, a move Texas could afford to make with their new arms in the pen. Since being recalled on Aug. 11, Kela has recorded 12 strikeouts (against just one walk and four hits) over 9 1/3 scoreless relief innings. Kela has put up strong numbers in his rookie season, posting a 2.72 ERA, 3.93 K/BB rate and 59 strikeouts in 53 innings.
This may be asking a lot, but could you do me a favor and not put Freese and the Rangers in the same post? That would mean a lot!
Sincerely,
My heart
Uh trading Felix is a horrible idea. It shouldn’t cross people’s minds.
While I agree, just imagine the return they would net from the Red Sox. You’d be force to include atleast 2 of their untouchables.
From a PR perspective, it is a terrible idea. It makes some sense with regard to stocking the farm and opening up some money though.
Felix fast ball lost a little so now is the best time to trade him because the M’s will get a ton of players for him. They could get 3 legit players for him plus a couple of prospects. Starting pitchers over 30 always decline with age.
On the face of it – yes, it seems nuts. Felix is the Seattle Mariners. But – icons come and go, good PR isn’t a substitute for a winning team, and unless Seattle can dump some money and get some talent in the farm, the fans will be frustrated anyway.
Years ago, I couldn’t imagine Ichiro playing anywhere else. But, time changes everything.
Felix’s value is only going to go down from here, capitalize.
The only “horrible idea” is dealing in absolutes.
There are many situations in which trading Felix Hernandez is a horrible idea. However, there are many, many scenarios where such a trade would be the best thing the franchise could possibly do.
No player is untouchable. As an Angels fan who has spent far too many hours of his life watching the current best player in the game destroy the opposition, I can come up with plenty of scenarios where I would trade Trout. Now, the probability of such a move is incredibly low given my asking price. Every player has a value and if I can get more value by trading a player I make that move.
As the officially unofficial armchair GM of the Texas Rangers, I am prepared to offer you one of Gallo/Mazara, 1 other top 5, 2 other top 10, and 2 other top 30s, and I’ll throw in Jurickson Profar for King Felix.
Way better idea for the Mariners than trading Felix is finding a new scouting director who can actually identify talent. What a welcome change that would be.
If the Mariners need a new scouting director (I don’t follow them), then that would need to happen before any trade of Felix anyway. No point trading him if you aren’t confident your front office is going to capably manage the return.
It’s a shame that injuries and an early decline have soured what was once such a promising career for Freese. From his debut in 2009 through his World Series MVP in 2011 up to his lone All-Star year of 2012, Freese was an excellent all-around hitter (well, when he managed to stay on the field). But ever since he hit 30, he just hasn’t been the same hitter.
Someone have any explanation as to why we traded Sam Dyson, who is a controllable, effective arm out of the bullpen, which is an area of need for the Marlins
Because they are the Marlins