Rays left-hander Brendan McKay has been dealing with shoulder stiffness early in camp, Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times writes. McKay’s “fine,” though, according to manager Kevin Cash. He long tossed from 120 feet Friday, and the hope is that he’ll throw his first bullpen session of the spring in the next couple days. If healthy, the 24-year-old figures to rack up at least some starts for the Rays this season. McKay totaled 13 appearances and 11 starts last season, when he pitched to a 5.14 ERA/4.03 FIP in 49 innings. He – like his organization as a whole – is an unconventional player, as someone who’s also capable of hitting. Two-way McKay batted a respectable .239/.346/.493 with five home runs in 78 Triple-A plate appearances last season. He only garnered 11 trips to the plate during his first MLB campaign, though.
- The pricey Dee Gordon has seemingly become superfluous to a Seattle team that doesn’t figure to contend this season, the last guaranteed year of his contract. The Mariners are planning to start Shed Long, not Gordon, at second baseman. However, although Gordon and Long are friends, the veteran’s not ready to give up his position, as Greg Johns of MLB.com relays. “I’m the best player in the locker room,” Gordon said. “I’m the best player when I walk on the field. Y’all ain’t seen it. I’ve been hurt. I’ll just get ready and you’ll see something fun.” Injuries did limit Gordon to 117 games last season, but it has been a couple years since the speedster has been productive. He turned in a 60-steal, 3.6-fWAR campaign in 2017 – his final season as a Marlin – but has combined for 52 stolen bases and 0.5 fWAR over 1,009 plate appearances as a Mariner. In an ideal world, they’d probably like to get his $14.5MM guarantee off the books, but they haven’t been able to do it on the heels of back-to-back replacement-level seasons for Gordon.
- The Astros’ pitching depth has taken a couple blows. The team shut down right-hander Rogelio Armenteros on account of soreness in his elbow and shoulder, and it has also shut down fellow righty Riley Ferrell because of shoulder soreness, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The 25-year-old Armenteros threw 18 innings in the majors last season; he spent most of the year at the Triple-A level, where he pitched to a 4.80 ERA/5.08 FIP with 9.07 K/9 and 3.31 BB/9 over 84 1/3 innings. Arm injuries are nothing new for Ferrell, who dealt with biceps tendinitis last season and didn’t pitch much as a result. Miami took him from Houston in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft, but the Marlins returned him to the Astros last June.
Wouldn’t be happening to Gordon if he had just learned a little patience at the plate and to take a walk, even a 15% rate. how many players in this day fail to reach 10%? One time that was considered low and would see multiple guys every season over 100 easily, but those days are gone, same with 100k’s being a bad thing and now every team has several well over that amount.
A guy with all the speed a Gordon still has even could have racked up more SB’s than he did, with learning to control that impatience just a little.. Not to mention made his contract not a dumpster fire so soon with such a low OBP and low .SLG%, hit singles or not at a steady rate.
Gordon was only good when he was taking PEDs. Without them he has been bad to mediocre throughout his career. I was very happy when the Dodgers traded him and that was before he got caught cheating. Even with his raw speed making him the fastest guy on the Dodgers roster, he was not their best base stealer simply due to the fact that he is not a very intelligent player.
Why would pitchers avoid the zone on a guy who slaps singles. Impatience or not pitchers will challenge Gordon in the zone.
Among qualified hitters nine players had a walk rate over 15% last year. After that an additional 36 players had a walk rate over 10%.
If the robot umps ever do make it to the big leagues, players are going to have to learn how to put the bat on the ball more often. Strike zone has become way too small these days. Computer controlled zone with cause walks to drop, which will be a positive outcome for the game. Too much non-action today with all the K’s and BB’s.
Combined with the juiced ball and a fixed strikezone, we’re going to see football scores. I think the league will adjust robots accordingly to prevent that from happening. Starting pitchers won’t be able to stretch the zone during the course of a game and catcher framing will be less important.
The robots will be an upgrade as long as we cooperate. They just need our clothes, our boots and our motorcycles.
From my experience watching pitch tracker on MLB.com balls are called strikes 9 times for every 1 time a strike is called a ball. The strike zone is large, not small. 90% of the time a player protests over the calling of a strike, especially a third strike, they are right. The strike zone is large, not small.
A computer controlled zone would make the game of baseball far, far easier for hitters who know the strike zone. Walks would skyrocket.
While that in theory would make Gordon a better player, the on-base and XBH skills aren’t there and never will be. He plays to his strengths namely speed.
Here’s a question for most of you. Would a guy like Billy Hamilton, Dee Gordon be more productive if they hit for a high average with a low K%, or went with a Joey Gallo, 3 true outcomes approach, minus the power for the most part?
Frankly, Hamilton and Gordon’s main problem is that they’re not good base runners. Instead of always chasing the stolen base, they should just work on fundamentally sound base running: running the bases correctly on singles and doubles, taking advantage of errors, that kind of thing. Do that well, and you add far more value than stealing 50 bags while getting caught 15-20 times.
If you look up the advanced metrics, you’ll find that sound base runners like Trout, Brett Garner, and even some slower guys, produce more value on the bases than these 50 SB guys, simply by knowing how to go from first to third on a single, or how to score from first on a double (and, perhaps even more importantly, how to run the bases SAFELY: because getting thrown out once offsets a whole week’s worth of flashy base running plays).
And yes, if they did that, and then coupled it with an approach to hitting that values a walk correctly (it depends on context, but in a lot of cases, a walk is just as valuable as a single), they would be a lot more valuable. The could never be as valuable as someone who hits for power (because the threat of the HR is part of the reason why guys like Gallo or Judge walk so much), but they would still be a lot more productive.
Apparently steroids don’t help you walk.
If Dee Gordon is your best player you’re team is in trouble
His opinion.
I think the Mariners’ best player right now is the fart Robbie Cano left behind.
good! had dipdip not snitched him angels might have been in deep pile!
Huh
Him angels, big pile. Me John Big Tree.
I picked the wrong time to stop sniffing glue!
They bought their tickets. They knew what they were getting into. I say let ‘em crash.
Asstros ought to have AAApitching up here all year! The starters should of been banned
Hey Scooter, not happening. And your team isn’t getting that 2017 trophy. Pull up your big boy pants and move on with your life.
Typical Astros fan
Imagine that! You cheat and people don’t want to play with you anymore. My 5 yo nephew doesn’t understand it either.
These takes have now become BEYOND CRAZY! People just love to pile on and blame others for their problems, especially in today’s toxic media environment. Why would Astros starting PITCHERS in 2020 have to pay a penalty for what Astros HITTERS did 3 seasons earlier? It, quite literally, doesn’t make any sense.
Because “outrage!”
Because Orange team bad
Because they use foreign substances to gain an advantage. It’s not a secret or anything. Half season or so seems more reasonable to me personally.
I’m sorry. Was there another investigation that I am unaware of, or are you just throwing things out of your brain because it sounds good?
Ironically, there’s more tangible proof of Fiers using pine tar than any of the Astros. Also didn’t know you conducted an investigation. Bravo
“I’m the best player in the locker room,” Gordon said. “I’m the best player when I walk on the field.”
That’s a great way to make friends with your teammates. What an arrogant jerk.
If your best player is a guy that can’t have a slugging percentage over .400 without steroids, you know you suck, which the Mariners do.
Little harsh for a team rebuilding.
He’s not actually the best player though…
Guys the astros cheated
What?!?
when?
Who cares?
Swap Dee Gordon and Justin Dunn for Wade Davis and Colton Welker. The M’s get a bullpen bounce back candidate, the Rox get a second base bounce back candidate. Gordon’s speed in Coors would really play well also. He would lead the league in triples. The M’s get an IF prospect and the Rox get a RHP prospect. Both could easily contribute this season with Welker possibly succeeding Kyle Seager and Dunn becoming the latest pitcher to try his hand at Coors.
Could be a win/win.
Ha what? The Mariners don’t need anything more than they need starting pitching.
The Mariners have no infield prospects in their top 15. They have several right handed starters. They would also probably like to trade Seager and could possibly recoup the prospect in that deal. The Rockies have several infield prospects in their top 15 and no right handed starters. It makes sense.
Sure everyone always needs more pitching, but sometimes you have to focus on other more immediate areas of need.
They have JP Crawford and Shed Long. They’d be idiots to start trading young pitching at this point. Baseball is about developing your talent. Develop it.
You can’t steal first base
Sure you can. Anthony Rizzo and Derek Dietrich do it all the time when they stick their armor-plated elbow over the plate and get hit.
Yes you can. If the catcher drops strike three, you can steal first base if you reach before he throws you out.
Swap Gordon for Tyler Chatwood.
I look for the Astros to trade for a starter before the trade deadline if the 4th &/or 5th starters aren’t contributing …
Astros will really have to overpay for any trade.
Teams have had no concerns with picking up Astros or Red Sox players during this whole debacle, it seems. I don’t think a GM would use a trade as an opportunity to grandstand.
Who’s trading with them
Your mama.
Th other 29 teams are.
Starting pitching seems to be more valuable than anything else right now. Low end starters may be available, but quality starters are going to cost an arm and a leg. For every team.
Ban the Houston Astros from 2020 post season play.
If they’re so bad without cheating then why worry about them?
Nothing to do with worry. Just a basic sense of morality.
Should the Red Sox also be banned for doing the exact same thing?
If the Mariners are not expected to contend this year, will I ever see them as a contender? I’ve been waiting a lifetime already! Let’s clean house at the management level, and then rebuild fan confidence with some intelligent player decisions.
They’re rebuilding right now.
The Mariner’s management has been rebuilding the team for years, with no great end of season results — just the excuse that it will take several more seasons to see the fruits of their efforts. I want to see “new” management that can take the steps to manage players to “Rebuild The Confidence of the FANs” so that we will make the playoffs soon, rather than eventually! That takes guts and money — not hanging in with worn out heroes of the past.
I hate when the author misspells the title. Should read: McKay, Gordon, Cheaters
The Astros need to rethink their whole farm system. I know trashcan banging wins titles, but when your young pitchers get sore elbows and shoulders from it, you gotta come up with a better way to cheat. Maybe a buzzer under the shirt?
Or acquire free agents… is that McCullers guy for real? Every time an Astro opens his mouth he buries himself even more.
I mean, they’ve already picked up free agents or made trades for pitchers. Young arms coming down with problems is something that has been happening around baseball. Kopech, Honeywell, on and on and on. And LMJ is pretty good, not much to it.
Astros should have to tell teams what pitch they are throwing every frame, all season, as punishment. And those involved should be sitting next to Pete Rose. Like MVC, Jose Altuve