Here’s the latest from around the American League…
- In an interview with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (link to Bowden’s Twitter feed), Athletics GM David Forst said that Matt Olson is expected back in the lineup within the next two weeks. Olson underwent surgery to move his hamate bone from his right hand back on March 22, and while no timeline was given, MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted that players who underwent similar procedures typically were able to return within six-to-eight weeks. If Forst’s projection is correct, that would put Olson on the low end of that time frame, which is good news for the A’s. Olson hit .250/.339/.502 with 53 homers over 876 plate appearances in 2017-18, and also delivered some outstanding defense at first base, earning him a Gold Glove last season.
- The Athletics have been talking to shortstop Marcus Semien about a contract extension, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes (subscription required). This isn’t the first time the two sides have discussed a longer-term deal, as Semien and the A’s were known to be talking as far back as July 2017. Since that time, Semien entered into his arbitration years, and is earning $5.9MM this season with one more arb-eligible year before hitting free agency after the 2020 season. He’ll be 30 years old when he reaches free agency, so Semien could potentially be interested in locking down an extension now (as so many players have in the last two months) rather than face a potentially scarce free agent market as a player entering his 30s. Semien posted a career-best 3.7 fWAR in 2018, making some great strides in his defense while delivering another season of slightly below-average (95 wRC+, 96 OPS+) hitting.
- Also from Olney’s piece, he speculates that the Red Sox could become a popular deadline seller if the team continues to falter throughout the season. It’s still very early, of course, and the Sox did just complete a three-game sweep of the AL East-leading Rays. But if Boston did fall out of the pennant race, players who could be free agents in the offseason (i.e. Rick Porcello, Mitch Moreland, and opt-out candidate J.D. Martinez) could all potentially be moved for some needed prospects. Perhaps more importantly, moving some salary could also allow the Sox to get under the maximum luxury tax penalty threshold of $246MM. It would only be a one-year reload for the club, as the Red Sox would look to contend again in 2020 in their final year of team control over Mookie Betts. It doesn’t seem too likely, by the way, that Boston would look to shop Betts, even though he has rebuffed the team’s overtures about a contract extension.
- The Blake Swihart era in Boston came to an unceremonious end on Friday, as the Red Sox dealt Swihart and $500K of international bonus pool money to the Diamondbacks for minor league outfielder Marcus Wilson. The Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato looks back at Swihart’s rocky development through the Sox farm system, which included injuries, multiple position changes, and an inability to truly unlock his heralded hitting potential even in the minors. As highly-touted a prospect as Swihart was, “the organization could never come to a clear consensus on his ability. There was always a disconnect and it existed through multiple regimes in the front office and field staff,” Mastrodonato writes. This manifested itself in a seeming lack of confidence in Swihart as a regular catcher, though Mastrodonato notes if the Sox were going to deploy Swihart at different positions, it was unusual that Swihart wasn’t considered to fill Boston’s third base void prior to the 2017 season.
They couldve gotten a lpt more if they didnt extend Sale and Bogaerts- both horrible deals that never should have even been discussed.
2 month hindsight? Bogaerts is a 26 year old quality SS. He was going to get that money one way or the other. They are trying to win another WS or two. Olney suggesting a sell off is laughable. That’s not happening unless this team is horrible. Which is highly unlikely. This a good baseball team off to a terrible start.
Olney is a blockhead…
When is this site going to stop publishing anything Olney says.
I am not a Bosox fan. But to say they even might be sellers totally dismisses the rest of their season.
MLBTR. Please no more Olney. He’s an idiot.
Better than Rosenthal, IMHO.
Why answer a Philly fan clown like that? They hate their players as soon as they go 0-4. When Sale and Bogey heat up (which they already are) it’ll be said what a great foresight this was.
Semien and the A’s will definitely work something out. He won’t cost a lot with an extension, which is appealing for the A’s.
And he could always stay at short or move over to second if Jorge Mateo keeps hitting. Mateo is looking damn fine this season thus far.
Does Semien have experience at 2nd? Mateo’s speed and defense would be such a nice addition to this lineup. Barreto looks to be a bust.
When we shift he basically plays second. I believe Mateo could fit at second as well, but has the stronger arm of the two. I would prefer if Profar wasn’t our everyday option at second, unless his bat really picks it up. Even if his bat picks it up he’s not been good on defense there this year. Lots of throwing errors. Mateo had made 4 errors in 64 chances which isn’t great but isn’t horrible.
Might also be a little soon to tell if Mateo is finally reaching his potential, but he’s making good contact and his approach seems to be a lot better. More line drives to center and right, not striking out nearly as much. Do far so good.
White Sox used him at second and third because he was blocked at SS, and yes, unfortunately, Barreto is looking like a bust. Almost every guy in that Las Vegas lineup have been hitting great except Barreto. He’s been atrocious.
Semien has improved to be an above average defensive SS. You’re Not moving him off the position for some unproven kid. Mateo’s K’s are down but he’s riding an ustainable BABIP in his small AAA sample size. There’s no reason why he wouldn’t be the guy who shifts to 2B, not Semien.
.674 OPS isn’t really “atrocious”, calm yourself down there buddy. If he hit a homer tomorrow it goes back to up to .800 so, yeah. April. Please stop making statements like that now, it makes you look really dumb.
The only relevant argument you made was small sample size. There are two aspects of Mateo’s game that make me believe this is more sustainable. Exit velocity is one, but since neither of us have that data we can toss that out. I will say that a good number of his hits have been center field line drives, opposite field line drives and line drives in general. He has the speed to easily leg out soft ground balls, so his BABIP will always be a little “unsustainable.”
He isn’t going to hit .370 forever, but he’s showing a much improved approach at the plate regardless of strikeouts.
Sure, conceivably a guy like Mateo could put up a BABIP in the .340 or .350 range. He’s at .438 in AAA. Its an encouraging sign he is performing but he’s still not taking walks which for a guy with his speed is not something you’d like to see. But the K’s are down a lot. We’ll see if it can continue moving forward. Mateo has shown throughout his young minor league career that he isn’t very consistent. I hope it changes really. He has all the tools that could make him a special player.
He could very easily improve his pitch recognition with the major league club. Chapman did it, Semien did it. He’d be surrounded by guys that learned to take their pitches, which will help.
He likely won’t learn that against scrubs in Triple A who throw an overabundance of strikes, and because he doesn’t hit tons of home runs guys pitch to him.
Was atrocious to strong of a word to use? Maybe, but he hasn’t been particularly good, and he certainly hasn’t lived up to expectations so far. I hope he can turn it around.
By the way Strike Four, I could care less what you think of me. My statement was not completely outlandish, and I think anyone would look at his stats and agree he has not been good this year. Certainly, not the stats you would like to see from a prized prospect.
Also Strike Four, there is a little thing called respect. Learn about it. I’m sure it’s difficult to comprehend for rude obnoxious people such as yourself, but all it takes is a little self awareness and self control.
Onley’s a pip. The Red Sox have played absolutely horribly, offensively, defensively, base running, game skills, etc., etc., etc. Been absolutely awful.
And they’re 5 games out. That means they have to pick up one game per month for the rest of the season.
And this against two train wrecks (Toronto, Baltimore), a team that’s obviously shot its load, and won’t react (because they never do) in Tampa, and a team that can’t stay healthy (NY).
If Dombrowski’s doing anything (and you KNOW he is), it’s figuring out how to supplement the core. He’ll add the pieces he has to.
Sox are still the odds-on favorite to repeat.
They are not odds on favorites to repeat. That is a betting line reality not your feelings about the Sox.
Bob said the Red Sox were head and shoulders above the league this offseason also. Its clear he doesn’t have the most unbiased view here. It’s a good team but they certainly aren’t the favorites. For good reason, there are plenty of uncertainties. Whatever holes you think DD is going to patch up is easier said than than done. You’re real low on legitimate trade pieces and the luxury tax line is heavily slanted against you for every dollar you spend at this point. Even if things were firing on all cylinders for the Red Sox right now the Astros are every bit as good and they have the prospects to come up and impact or to use as capital to acquire a real impact player. Red Sox need a lot to start to rolling their way.
Bob is somewhat of a….how do you say…..HOMER!
Might want to check the line in Vegas there Bobby.
Exactly how will he “add pieces” without trading from his current major league roster assuming somebody wants what he offers, and with that farm system of theirs at this point!
Admit is Sox fans….its tough to repeat when everything went right in the season you won it in…..which was last year!
Saying that the Red Sox might become sellers is absolutely pure speculation. The only way that happens is if the Red Sox get a rash of major injuries. It’s actually kind of silly to speculate on a team like the Red Sox dumping veterans less then a month into a 162 game season. Let’s see what it looks like in the middle of June.
The key word there is “might”. I might win the lotto tomorrow if I buy a ticket. He didn’t say they were definitely going to do it. Olney is a fool. You will be way better off if you just skip his articles. It’s not like you would learn anything from them anyway.
It’s possible they could miss the playoffs. Unlikely but it is possible. However, are they going to determine they’re out of it by July to sell? No way. They have as good of a shot as anyone in the AL not named Houston once they’re in. They aren’t blowing the team up in July barring something drastic happening. IE. Betts and JDM blowing out their ACL’s or something.
It’s April and people are talking about selling? That’s a clown comment, Bro.
Uh, that comment also came from your own pitcher Price who said I believe something like if we don’t start playing better, the team may begin to sell off pieces who might leave after this year anyway!
I agree about Olney but not such a “clown comment Bro” at that!
Rocky you can’t come on here and bash Red Sox fans for being homers when you’re one of the biggest Yankees homer around. Let’s settle down.
If you think my comment is bashing then you are sadly mistaken Bub……all I said is what one of your own players said all over the news the other day and agreed that while Olney is a clown, maybe his OPINION on this matter isn’t such a farce……please you need to relax.
And, I don’t think much of my commentary is homer based…..just reactions to the consistent Yankee bashing that goes on and yes I will defend my team!
Let’s discuss the elephant in the room. Will the Yankees be sellers at the deadline?
Depends on whether teams will line up for exceptional players on the IL don’t you think?
Yea because all Yankees players are exceptional.
Exactly. I wish no one said anything about April baseball. Just enjoy it, let the game play out and start talking about the directions of all the teams in June.
Olney is a block head n needs keep his mouth shut. I hope the Sox rebound, and look at their schedule. Seems like the Commissioner is an Evil Empire fan, it’s horrific their schedule, but you never hear them whining.
You hope he keeps his mouth shut because you hope he isn’t right…yeh, yeh, yeh, the commissioner is a Yankee fan at heart…blah..blah…blah…spoken like a true Sox fan who is frankly looking for excuses….the Yankees are playing just as horrifically as the Sox and its a wonder they can even field a team with 14 players on the IL…but go ahead with your conspiracy theories…..they are comical reading!
How are you complaining about the schedule? Stop it. They’ve lined up against the A’s, DBacks, Jays, Orioles and a hurt Yankees team. Followed by the A’s, White Sox’s, and Orioles. I don’t know how any team could possibly make it through those stretches. The Sox have underperformed thus far, and has zero to do with the schedule. Olney has every right to speculate, because well that is his job.
Boston has played 6 home games out of 22 games way to early to speculate anything. I don’t care what Price said he doesn’t make any decisions on this team and for Olney to speculate that the Red Sox will be heavy sellers is funny especially on April 21st. The Red Sox play 10 straight home games after sweeping Tampa in Tampa. Something tells me they will be just fine. When I say they will be just fine I mean they will compete for the division with no thought of blowing up the current team. Olney’s article is just clickbait.
Semien is highly under rated. And lol anyone does is wait for him to fail and be replaced by the next Uber-prospect, but he keeps going out there giving good effort while these “next-best-thing-since Miguel Tejadas” can’t get past AAA for three years. The guy’s a ball player every day, dedicated and focused so leave him alone or trade him to a team that will respect him. The A’s have bigger worries AND a lot of talent. Quick, name the two starting outfielders not named Davis who will get 500 at bats. Yeah, me neither.