May 24, 2013

This Week In Baseball: May 19-26

Gausman On His Way: The Orioles need pitching help and they have one of the brightest pitching prospects in the minors named Kevin Gausman. So what should they do? Bring him up of course. The Orioles have been very aggressive with their prospects, bringing them up and letting them sink or swim (see: Manny Machado) the past year and a half. John Sickles has Gausman's profile while Beyond the Boxscore swoons at Gausman's pitching arsenal. His debut was pretty mediocre.

Soriano Should Keep His Mouth Shut: Not Alfonso, but Rafael. Soriano hung a pitch that Gregor Blanco of the Giants crushed to right field on Tuesday night. Harper, probably fearing the brick wall, just stopped running and let the ball go over his head. This did not sit well with Soriano and he let the press know about it.  Of course it took him about five seconds to retract what he said.



This Is One Way To Get Fired By The Astros: The Astros are terrible, the fan apathy towards them couldn't get lower, and no one wants to subscribe to the channel they're on in Houston. So of course the team would have to fire a vendor that took his snow cones into the restroom for he could take a dump. That makes complete sense.


Sell! Sell! Sell!: White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf has told his children that after he dies they should sell the White Sox and keep the Bulls. This shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone. Reinsdorf loves baseball but the Chicago Bulls can print money while the White Sox barely have any fans show up. And since he's always thinking in dollars and cents, it makes sense that he would tell his kids to sell the White Sox and keep the Bulls.

Oh My: Somehow Baseball Prospectus found old photos of baseball players appearing in Playgirl during the 1980's. Some of the players featured were hall of famers like George Brett and Rickey Henderson. Some of the other photos included old managers like Phil Garner and current Washington Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty. Needless to say it took the Nationals players about five seconds to print out t-shirts with McCatty's photo on them and show them off for the camera. The DC Sports Blog has the photo.
Jesus Sent Down: I've always had a theory that when prospects are with the Yankees, they're normally way over-hyped. Just because they could potentially put on pinstripes doesn't necessarily mean they're going to become great players. Case in point is Jesus Montero. When Montero was in the Yankees system everyone praised his bat but also acknowledged that there was no way he could ever be a full-time catcher. Montero was traded to the Mariners before the beginning of last season and has been terrible. He's been terrible this year at the plate (.208/.264/.327 is his slash line this season) and even worse behind it and don't even dare watch him run the bases has now been sent down to the minors. Another over-hyped Yankees prospect or just another point that the Mariners are cursed?

Not a Matter of If but When: Eventually Don Mattingly will be canned by the Dodgers. They've struggled all season and the manager will always be a scapegoat. In Dodger land though Mattingly might have a partner in his exit and it's the player he benched on Wednesday, Andre Either. Either has been dogged by trade rumors before the season and his struggles so far suggest he could also be on his way out with Mattingly.

Games of the Weekend: A look at the best games and pitching matchups of the weekend.

Friday, Philadelphia at Washington, Kendrick vs. Zimmerman: Philadelphia is only a game behind the Nationals in the standings and five games out of first place. Kinda tells you how mediocre the NL East has been this season. Then you have this wonderful pitching matchup on Friday night between the surprising Kyle Kendrick and the Nats most consistent pitcher Jordan Zimmerman. Should be a fun one.

Saturday, Texas at Seattle, Holland vs. Hernandez: Not a very good slate of games on Saturday so the Texas-Seattle, Holland-Hernandez game is sadly the best one to choose from. King Felix was roughed up in his last start for the Mariners proving that he is indeed human.

Sunday, San Diego at Arizona, Marquis vs. Corbin: Yes this is really a pitching matchup to watch. Jason Marquis has been a pleasant surprise for the bland Padres while Patrick Corbin has turned into the staff ace for the Diamondbacks.

1 comment:

  1. I would be more outraged at that Astros story, but how many restaurants have we all gone to where something like that has probably happened.

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