Some items from both the NL and AL West divisions…
- The Dodgers are moving Kenta Maeda and Ross Stripling to the bullpen, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Athletic’s Pedro Moura and the Los Angeles Times’ Andy McCullough). The club was facing a rotation overload with Alex Wood and Hyun-Jin Ryu both coming off the DL this week, though Stripling’s role change is a bit of a surprise given how well he has pitched. Roberts said he hopes to let Stripling start again at some point this season, though the Dodgers have a greater need in the bullpen with Kenley Jansen on the DL for the near future. Maeda has also pitched well this year, though he “appears there [the bullpen] to stay,” McCullough said. It’s probably safe to assume that the team’s pitching plans will continue to remain somewhat fluid, given how Dodgers seem to be constantly dealing with injuries, yet they also get consistently good results from just about everyone they slot into the rotation.
- Baseball America recently released its updated organizational talent rankings, rating all 30 teams on the quality and depth of prospects in their minor league pipelines. The Padres took the #1 spot, rising from third place in BA’s previous ranking from earlier in the season. San Diego is deep enough is both pitching and position player prospects that “general manager A.J. Preller’s biggest task is sorting out which prospects are keepers and which ones should be traded to speed the big league club’s rebuild.” The full 30-team ranking is available to Baseball America subscribers.
- The Angels announced that left-hander Tyler Skaggs has been placed on the 10-day DL due to a left adductor strain, with righty Eduardo Paredes called up from Triple-A in a corresponding move. Skaggs was only just activated yesterday from a DL stint with the same injury, and he also missed time in July due to a problem with his right adductor. No stranger to injuries throughout his career, Skaggs has already tossed a career-high 116 2/3 innings this season, posting a 3.78 ERA, 3.51 K/BB rate, and 9.5 K/9.
- Astros manager A.J. Hinch provided some updates on injured players to reporters today, including MLB.com’s Christian Boutwell (Twitter links). Chris Devenski and Brian McCann are on pace to begin rehab assignments soon, while outfielder Jake Marisnick is facing a lengthy absence after being placed on the DL yesterday with a groin injury. Marisnick will be out of action for “at least for the next few weeks,” Hinch said, possibly not returning until the September roster expansion.
- The Rangers’ “de-load” program for pitching prospects focuses on “acclimation, education and, they hope, injury prevention,” for these prized young arms, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. The idea behind the program is to help better prepare these minor leaguers, some of whom are just out of high school, as they begin their careers in professional baseball. This includes sessions on everything from physical fitness to charting pitches to even just how to conduct oneself in a clubhouse. Interestingly, there isn’t much actual pitching (whether in practice or games) involved in this program. “Let’s get their bodies and minds right on a daily basis so that when they are ready to pitch, they’ve got building blocks,” said Paul Kruger, Rangers assistant director of player development. “We wanted something that could be used to build a better routine from Day One.”
It would be nice to view one article I dont have to pay for a monthly subscription especially when that was probably the first time I’ve been on baseball america in a long time.
Anyways, hope to see stripling back soon. The way hes pitching this season and the allstar appearance, I was hoping he would stay in the rotation
BA lost me as a customer, and I’ve been reading it for thirty years. Their website is atrocious, and they just don’t give you any info that you can’t get elsewhere for free. Milb.com, Mlb.com and Stickles are a lot more informative.
I was also a long time subscriber but new ownership gutted the magazine…..
Do you get paid for the work you do? Just curious.
Who doesnt? I’m not complaining about them charging people to read. That’s how it works to read newspapers and news on that company’s site.
I think we are fortunate mlbtr doesnt charge and has few advertisements like draft kings because they post some damn good stuff. But I’m barely on there. Today was the second day this year I think I’ve visited baseball America’s site. So I dont need a subscription. But there is always one article every so often that intrigues me. Makes me want to read it.
But I dont want to pay for a subscription if I’m not going to read anything else on the site for another few months or even a year. Kind of why I made a suggestion to their customer service about maybe just charging to read a certain article.
Dont know if they’ll do anything and I dont think I should expect anything.
I do, and so do the writers of this site, Fangraphs, ESPN and other “free” models, HOW they get paid is far less important than IF they get paid.
Ya but I want to get value for my dollar. BA has ceased being, not only a reliable source, but anything more than “filler” info. And their website is a cluster-fluff; mis- direction, etc.
In its time, it was quite the thing. But the train has left the station. They just didn’t react quickly enough to increased competition. And I’m sure their site was generated by some “400- lb. fat kid sleeping in his mom’s basement”. .
Why a fat kid? Can’t a skinny kid screw up, too?
Walker Is a great pitcher but tbh IMO he’s kinda overrated
Contradicting much?
People are calling him the right handed kershaw. No way
I fully expected two of Maeda, Stripling and/or Buehler to become significant bullpen pieces by September 1. Kenley’s condition simply hastened the decision.
The bullpen will be fine, IF Maeda and Strip can be allowed to remain—and assuming Kenley is back and healthy in short order. The real question is Ryu and Wood. They will need to step in, demonstrate health and be effective for the next six weeks. I am not as confident about that.
The bullpen has never been fine all season, and we’re seeing right before our eyes how much of its lackluster performance (at best) depended on Jansen. I don’t see why anyone is still looking for proof that you can’t build a bullpen for a contending team with one quality arm supported by a bunch of castoffs. The lid is off that dumpster fire now. Time to have a closer look and believe what your eyes are telling you.
That 1 quality arm has the 2nd biggest bullpen contract in baseball. You cant have expensive setup men and a closer. The last 4 games Dave has been horrible at managing the bullpen. The tools were there to win friday and saturday. Dave was the one who blew it.
Roberts plays the cards he was dealt by the FO, and it’s his fault they’re mostly deuces? Come on, at least half of this bullpen doesn’t belong on a contending team. Roberts can’t hide them in the clubhouse forever, eventually he has to play them. We’ve seen this movie before, haven’t we?
The FO had lots of opportunity to upgrade the pen before the deadline, but all they got was somebody just as awful as what they already had. Post deadline they passed up F. Rodney, who the A’s got for basically nothing. How smart is that looking right now? For the A’s, pretty smart. Not so much for the Dodgers.
Instead of criticizing Roberts, we should be sending him a crate of Excedrin because his FO has handed him a migraine.
Yesterday Roberts decided not to go back to Fergeson for the 9th after he dominated the 8th. Then panicked because Arenado (who has hit a home run off any guy he faces often in the NL West) had a home run off Alexander to bring in Chargois who has proven not to have control while under pressure. Going to Rosscup for a 2nd inning on friday then bringing in Floro after the damage was done. Thats on Dave. As for Rodney trusting him in a big spot is about as good as trusting Baez
Roberts has to manage what he’s got, and going back to the same arms over and over because half of his bullpen is junk isn’t the answer. A manager has to think about tomorrow’s game, and the one after that. The solution is clearing the junk out of the bullpen, and that falls to the FO. But I knew this was going to be said. It’s always the manager’s fault. He’s always the one who makes the bad choices. No FO ever fires itself.
I’d rather have Rodney than Baez on any month of Sundays and that says more about Baez than the other guy. The point is they passed on every opportunity to upgrade, so we are where we are, and that comes as no surprise to me.
Roberts just did it again. Putting his guy in an impossible spot by intentionally walking TWO hitters. Gave them a free ralley.
Yeah why can’t he synthesize a better bullpen on the spot? I mean he’s got plenty of thin air, doesn’t he? Bad manager. Bad, bad manager.
Hand the other team free pressure by loading the bases. Floro allowed 1 base runner. It was the manager that allowed the other guys to get on
Of course. Roberts was pitching, after all.
Okay, I get the message. Fire Dave Roberts. The FO has nothing to do with any of this, nothing whatsoever. And you know what? That’s the way they look at it too.
So is it the FO’s fault that Roberts keeps putting Baez in? Rodney was a great pickup for the A’s and a miss by the Dodgers after 1 inning? You’re likely one of those fans who were pissed when LA wouldn’t trade a prospect named Kershaw for Halladay.
Utter nonsense. At least half of the bullpen is total garbage, and that’s entirely on the FO. So what is a manger supposed to do, bury the garbage and pitch the other three or four who aren’t garbage every day? In what baseball book is that going to happen, let alone, work?
The facts: Four bullpen loses in the last six games means the bullpen stinks, in anybody’s book. This pen has never been better than mediocre and the only thing keeping it above the level of stinkatude was Jansen. With him out the flaws that were baked in from the start are right out in the open. Everybody should have been able to see it before, but now it’s out in plain sight where it can’t possibly be missed by anyone.
Or so I would have thought.
Good thing Stripling wasn’t 12-0. Roberts would have skipped the bullpen and sent him straight to AAA
Except that it worked last year.
Congrats to A.J. Preller for having the #1 farm system. When he was first running the team, it seemed like a hot mess even after his trades for Wil Myers and others. But now things seem to be coming together. We’ll see.
Aaaand then there’s Eric Hosmer.
That one was a definite head-scratcher.
Nobodys perfect LOL.
Skaggs is injured again? In other news, water is still wet.
But is water wet?
No.
By definition, water is wet.
It’s pretty nice to see the Padres take that #1 farm ranking. Preller has built such a deep talent line. I’m excited to see what the future holds!
I’m rooting for the Friars and hope they continue to develop these guys. It’ll be cool to see SD finally win a championship but I’m not holding my breath.
that #1 farm rating is good, kinda sorta. it suggests hope but there’s no guarantee hope comes to fruition, after all, it’s just hope.
but then again, never deprive a man of hope — it may be all he has.
Kenta gets moved to the bullpen, conveniently when his bonuses are starting to threaten the Dodgers’ luxury tax threshold.
Urias to close short-term for the Dodgers upon his return?
If Padres didn’t have Myers and Hosmer contracts and knew how to trade correctly they would be in lot better place. Seeing some nice pitchers come up which is good