Here’s the latest from around the NL West…
- The Padres have optioned infielder Ryan Schimpf to Triple-A, calling up right-hander Jose Valdez in a corresponding move. Despite Schimpf’s team-leading 14 homers, he has been an overall below-average performer at the plate, hitting .158/.284/.424 with a whopping 70 strikeouts over 197 plate appearances. A .145 BABIP is partially to blame, but as MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell notes, Schimpf has also seen a drop in average exit velocity, which is particularly damaging to an extreme fly ball hitter like Schimpf (and especially when such a hitter plays half his games at Petco Park). Cory Spangenberg will take over at third base for Schimpf, with second baseman Yangervis Solarte also moving over for the occasional start at the hot corner.
- The Dodgers activated southpaw Luis Avilan from the disabled list but placed another reliever on the injured list, as Sergio Romo will hit the 10-day DL with a left ankle sprain. Avilan (who has a 3.00 ERA, 2.5 K/BB rate and a 12.00 K/9 in 15 IP this year) has missed the last two weeks with triceps soreness in his throwing arm. It has been a much tougher ride for Romo in his first season as a Dodger; the former Giants closer has allowed five homers over his 19 2/3 IP to balloon his ERA up to 6.41. By comparison, Romo has only surrendered most than five homers in an entire season just twice in his previous nine years.
- Daniel Descalso tells the Arizona Republic’s Scott Bordow that the Diamondbacks were interested in him from the very beginning of free agency, and he picked the team in part because he felt he could fill a need for left-handed hitting infielders. The utilityman signed a one-year, $1.5MM deal with the D’Backs last winter that also includes a $2MM club option for 2018. Descalso said that he received interest from several teams over the offseason, including his former club, the Rockies.
- Descalso is one of many unheralded veterans signed by the Diamondbacks over what looked like a pretty low-key offseason on paper, As Bordow writes, however, players like Descalco, Gregor Blanco, Chris Iannetta, J.J. Hoover, and others have not only helped on the field, but manager Torey Lovullo credited their veteran experience with helping the younger players perform as well.
Torry Lovullo was and still is an excellent and HIGHLY underrated coach and now manager. Eventually, he will finally receive the credit and recognition he deserves, but he is a true teacher of the game and he understands the finer points of what it takes to build, create, and sustain a winning atmosphere and winning culture.
He understands the vital and paramount role having a cohesive clubhouse plays in establishing that winning atmosphere. Like I said, he knows how imperative it truly is to have a solid mixture of youth and veterans in your clubhouse …
The man is HIGHLY respected around the game of baseball, and the Diamondbacks are truly fortunate and very LUCKY to have him as their manager. Their newly minted front office made a real CULTURE ALTERING hire when they brought Lovullo on board…
By far it was one of the most underrated moves this off-season, and, fortunately for the D-Backs, it will impact their franchise for many, many years to come.
THANK YOU. All CAPS is the best way to get your point across.
I AlWaYs tHoUgHt tHiS WaS tHe BeSt wAy tO GeT yOuR PoInT aCrOsS
But if you say it’s all caps, then I guess I must be wrong…
Capitalizing FIVE words out of SEVEN sentences isn’t much to complain about..At least I form mostly complete sentences, break up large blocks of text, use semi proper grammar and punctuation, and know the difference between there, their , and they’re..Those are things to complain about…
It was just for a point of emphasis, and since you cannot bold your text on here, I chose to capitalize those words…I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to kill anyone, nor start a caps happy trend. So, I think you will live bud..
braves, dont worry about the dumbazz who tries to be a smartazz
Wish we kept him instead of Farrell, the Red Sox looked good the half a season Lovullo coached for
Totally agree
I definitely would have hated to see him go, if I was a Red Sox fan.
I was truly hoping the Braves would go after him, but the clubhouse wanted good ol’ Snitker instead. Which he has earned the job, but he is definitely not even half the manager or coach Lovullo is…
I don’t think it will be too long before he is included in the conversation of being one of the best current managers in baseball. Obviously, he hasn’t been a manager nearly long enough to tell, but if I was a betting man, I would put my chips on Lovullo over almost any other manager…
With numbers like that, it’s a wonder than Schimpf wasn’t optioned sooner.
*that
I know this is being extreme, but I couldn’t help thinking, “With a .158 batting average and 14 homers, did he EVER get a hit that wasn’t a homer?”
Yeah I could definitely see there being some Joey Gallo-type vibes coming from Schimpf, haha.
14 of his 26 hits were home runs
He always walked more than anyone else on the team
The Ks are the downfall to his BA
He’s the most extreme TTO guy that may have ever played. He doesn’t swing at anything unless he can hit it out of the park, he has the highest launch angle by far in baseball, never hits into double plays…super unique player. If he could play defense he’d probably still be a major-leaguer.
Before this story on the NLW turns into yet another Red Sox discussion, the NLW question that has to be asked by NLW fans is: are the Rockies are for real?
I think if their pitching can hold out, then yes. Guys like Sentzatela and Freeland have been nice success stories so far, and their bullpen is doing well too. Also, they still have guys like Jon Grey that will be coming off the DL eventually. It’s still a little early in the season, but I think they do have a shot at contention. Overall, I think it’s going to be a close three-way race between Colorado, Arizona and Los Angeles of course.
True. Both Arizona and Colorado had the potential to be surprising this season, thought so at the start. But a team like Colorado, with so many wildcards, we expect them run into trouble sooner rather than later. More than two months in, and no sign of it so far.