Ten teams were reportedly in attendance on Sunday to watch Rays right-hander Nathan Eovaldi pitch in New York, and he didn’t disappoint. Eovaldi delivered seven near-perfect innings against the Mets, striking out nine (against no walks) and allowing one hit. The Yankees, Diamondbacks, Braves, Brewers, Cubs, Giants, Reds and Marlins had scouts on hand to witness the performance, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports, though he notes that all of them aren’t necessarily interested in Eovaldi. The Yanks and Marlins are already familiar with Eovaldi, who has pitched for both teams in the past. Miami’s not going to buy Eovaldi, though, as it’s well out of contention and he’s a pending free agent. But the Yankees are World Series hopefuls who need a starter, so perhaps they’d consider a reunion with Eovaldi. The 28-year-old has returned from 2016 Tommy John surgery to post a 3.35 ERA with 8.19 K/9, 1.12 BB/9 and a 48.8 percent grounder rate over 48 1/3 innings.
- More on the Rays, who are “closely watching” the Nationals’ farm system as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline draws closer, Jon Heyman of Fancred reports. The Nationals are interested in Rays catcher Wilson Ramos, per Heyman, which jibes with an earlier report from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. “There’s no sign” the Nationals have made any progress in trying to pry elite catcher J.T. Realmuto from the Marlins, Heyman writes, so Ramos may be the Nats’ best hope to upgrade behind the plate. Ramos spent 2010-16 in Washington and has landed back on the team’s radar amid what may be an All-Star season for the 30-year-old.
- With the Pirates having fallen to 41-48 since a good start to the season, “the optimism has turned to realism,” general manager Neal Huntington told reporters Sunday (via Jerry Dipaola of the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review). Huntington went on to explain that he projected the Pirates would win 78 to 82 games this year, but he was hopeful they’d exceed expectations. Instead, with the deadline looming and Pittsburgh nine games out of a playoff spot, the team looks like a seller in the making. Huntington will make a decision on the club’s direction in the coming days, it seems, as he noted that “this is one of those weeks where 4-4 doesn’t do us a lot of good. We need to make up some ground in a short period of time and we need to show we can continue to do that.”
- At 39-50, Cincinnati sits below Pittsburgh in the NL Central. But the two teams have been going in opposite directions in recent months, with the Reds having played respectable ball of late. As a result, they’re not necessarily inclined to sell this summer unless returns are compelling, president Dick Williams told Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. “Really, almost the whole 25-man roster is controlled beyond this year other than (Matt) Harvey,” Williams said. “That puts us in a good position of not feeling like you have to do anything with guys. You can be opportunistic. We want to have a very successful second half. We believe we’ll have the players here to keep this momentum going.” And even though the Reds have turned things around since firing manager Bryan Price on April 19 and replacing him with interim skipper Jim Riggleman, they’re not ready to hand the reins to Riggleman on a full-time basis, per Williams.
HarveyD82
the optimism turned to realism. Honesty!
Darth Alru
Offseason: We want to do everything for this team to be in the best position to win WS in 2018.
July 8th: We entered the season thinking we are just below .500 with hopes of overachievement.
Wow! That’s a winning spirit!
Darth Alru
And those 4-4 comments. I find them delightful. Remember, how he said year ago that if Pirates beat Brewers 4 times in 4 games he will improve the roster before the deadline? Guess we can call NH the most honest man on Earth.
TJECK109
That belongs to Donald Trump. I’d say NH and Nuttless are the most honest men in sports
bravesfan88
Riggleman never seems to get the credit he deserves, or idk maybe it is just me thinking he’s severely underrated.
However, he did a solid job in Washington, and didn’t get an extension, and now look at the awesome turnaround he’s done in Cincy with really only Riggleman being the sole change for that team..since their turnaround…
Alot of people say a great manager only really positively changes the outcomes of about 5-6 games, over the course of a season, as compared to an average manager…BUT, Alot of people also don’t give enough credit to how a great manager can set the standard and tone in a clubhouse/locker room…
Riggleman is a fairly “old-school” kind of manager, yet he has always managed to get the most out of his guys..He might not be on the cutting edge with shifts, line-up construction, analytics, etc., but his players know he has their backs, and they will fight for him until they don’t have any left. He allows his players to play somewhat care-free, have fun, yet they still play fundamental baseball and play with discipline..
If the Reds don’t keep Riggleman as their next coach, they’ll be making a huge mistake..There isn’t a coach out there that’s a better fit for this franchise, aND he’s already proven he has the respect and approval of this team..PAY THE MAN!!
schellis 2
He’s also proven if he doesn’t get paid before his contract is up he’ll walk out on a team
joeshmoe11
As a Reds fan… PASS. Steady stream of bunts, bunts, and more bunts. Won’t use “closer” unless it’s a save situation. It’s 2018, we’ve learned that bunting, esp with the guy who’s leading the league in avg and OPSing .900 is a dumb idea and that outs are a finite quantity so giving them away is idiotic. Lost last 2 games in Cubs’ final at bat with Iglesias sitting in the bullpen
msjrn509
He is one awesome manager of the bullpen and that’s where you win or lose.
jwr0223
Why would scouts watch Eovaldi pitch against the Mets? Doesn’t prove anything!!!
ncaachampillini
Now that’s funny.
Michael Birks
I wonder if Boston would have the chips to get Ramos if Vasquez misses more than the 10 days?
tv 2
no reason to offer Riggleman a deal now but they keep playing well through August he should get a 2 year contract. it would just be an insult to interview and mess with the club house for no reason
joeshmoe11
Why hire Riggleman without even interviewing other alternatives? If they decide, after doing due diligence and exploring several candidates, that he’s their guy (please god no, this is 2018 and the game has evolved past his strategy) then hire him. But not before, that’s idiotic
BrandonGregory74
They need to look at other alternatives, but I think the combination of Riggleman/Darwin/Pat Kelly needs a fair shot. Their work with this downtrodden group has been remarkable.
As far as Iglesias goes he did throw about 40 pitches to get through 5 outs the other day. Unfortunately there’s been a chink in the armor of Hughes/Lorenzen/Hernandez and Iglesias has had to go longer than an inning more than usual. Iglesias hasn’t look particularly sharp either so maybe a couple days rest is needed.
holecamels35
Neal is probably jumping for joy that the Pirates are losing, the Pirates need a chance, this who deal is getting old.
The “pitching guru” has regressed all the pitchers with his outdated pitch to contact method, none of the young guys are having an impact other than Meadows, and they aren’t willing to get a top 3 starting pitcher, and insist on trotting out 4-5’s and wondering why they aren’t competing with the Cubs and others.
slider32
Right now if I’m Cashman I am thinking of trading for both Eovaldi and Harvey, they are pitching better right now than the others on the market. Yanks can win any series with them and will not have to give up any of their top players. Both have proven they can pitch in NY.
agerst1574
Could not disagree with you more. If the Yankees got Harvey, it would be a horror show. Harvey needs to stay away from NYC. Nor am I convinced that he could survive in the AL East. He would be eaten alive.
Yanks had Eovaldi once and that was enough. Very mediocre when he was here.
Darth Alru
This 78-82 comment is priceless. Realism? Everyone who has brain and don’t wear pink glasses on eyes knew from the moment the Submarines (sorry, the Pirates) traded Cole and Cutch that they will have around 70 wins or below this season (and probably next three). And when after all the profits and free money they received they’ve spent exactly zero on major league contracts, it became even more obvious. No consistent rotation, no bullpen, horrible defense, awful, sometimes disgraceful baserunning and coaching. They were destined to fail before the season started and they are where they are belong right now.
You can’t win if you have a mentality of a loser. You can’t win if mediocrity is your goal. You can’t win if you don’t spend at least reasonably. Delusions will bring this club to nowhere.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
“Everyone who has brain and don’t wear pink glasses on eyes knew…”
Speaking of priceless comments.
Darth Alru
I knew you personally would like it, expert (nope).
66TheNumberOfTheBest
You knew that I love English that sounds like it was Google translated from Chinese?
Thanks. Appreciate the effort.
dcahen
So Darth, you started your rant with the Cutch & Cole trades, then laid blame to coaching, bullpen, base running, etc.; none of which has any relation to the trades. In my opinion, the trades were good, maybe great in a couple years. Wish we could’ve gotten more for Cutch, but there was no real market for a declining former star who had come across as a bit of a prima Donna last year. He had to play CF & bat 3rd for the Pirates, but plays RF while the Giants put anybody in CF & only lately has batted 3rd for them, but his numbers suggest he should bat about 7th. Cole has fared well away from Searage, like Morton. The Pirates should take note & dump him along with Hurdle. They ruin young pitchers, period. But with the way the team started, there’s no way you knew they’d only win 70. All their free money wouldn’t buy one star player, sorry. With the BS luxury tax, the big market teams will always win way more than the small market, especially over the long haul. There is no competitive balance in baseball period.
Darth Alru
The Pirates should dump most of the FO, first and foremost those who develop players in the minors. Everything I mentioned – links of one chain that started long long time ago. You can’t just blame Hurdle and Searage for having at best AAAA talent in the system, that always not ready to play on MLB level after all those years in the farm. Pirates are bad at draft, like it or not, it’s a fact. They have worst development department. They produced just one star caliber player in 10 years, and he is playing Astros now. That’s a fact too. So it’s no drafting, no spending, bad or incredibly stupid trade/claims/signings, bad roster management in regular season, yeah, coaching that probably exhausted itself and above that hope for being lucky to be just above average. You can’t expect good results with actions or mentality like this, whatever excuses you gonna find afterwards.
The way they started? They started well because of 3 reasons: weak schedule, cold weather that they adapted better than many, and for some way slow start from divisional rivals. Now everything on its place, which is not surprising at all. You may disagree, but to me it was very predictable.
rusty2489
sounds like u described the cardinals also. lol
jorge78
The Pirates are fools…..
driftcat28 2
I’m really happy for Eovaldi. He looks like he’s finally put it together. His stuff has always been good, just never got the results. I was a fan of his in NY and would be happy if that’s who Cashman ends up getting. Wouldn’t have to give up much to get him either
mikeyank55
I second that idea! When Nathan came to the Yankees he had gas but no confidence or control of his secondary pitches. He eventually became coachable and it was a real shame when he was injured because he had come into his own as a complete pitcher.
The Rays took a chance on him and should be rewarded with a mid level prospect (AA or High A’s) for the rental.
Let’s hope that Cash closes this deal because Nathan’s upside is closer to the 2 slot than most of the lot.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
Other than being better than expected in the first quarter and worse than expected in the second quarter, this is pretty much what most reasonable people expected for the Pirates.
They need to trade their veterans for mid tier A ball prospects with upside (like James Shields for Tatis Jr. at the time) and accumulate lotto tickets.
Where optimism needs to turn to realism is asking questions about whether the coaching staff has fallen behind the times. The hitting coach openly mocked “launch angle” a year ago and the pitching coach still preaches “pitch to contact” in a juiced ball era where contact leaves the yard.
bigdaddyk
Um so Ramos jumped cervili as the number 1 catcher on the market. Add Nova to the Nationals will will take injury riddled robbles straight up.
Freese back to st.louis for an arm and Wong.
Mercer for a lotta ticket. Call it a day
random name generator
You are dreaming of Nova and Cervelli get you Robles, he is one of two players that Rizzo called untouchable. If Realmuto isn’t netting the Marlins Robles, Cervelli certainly isn’t.
haustebt
“Respectable of late”…. They have been quite a bit better than respectable since the beginning of June.
IURULES
Good move for Cincinnati Reds