This Week in Baseball: 4/20-4/25

The RA Dickey Decline: RA Dickey won the NL Cy Young in 2012. He was traded to Toronto and just the Blue Jays luck he's declined badly north of the border. Beyond the Boxscore takes a look at Dickey and found out that he's not getting as many groundballs or swing-and-misses as he did in 2012 leading to his current lackluster results.

The Worst Swing Ever?: I've never seen a guy swing at a pitch that is intended to be a pitch out. I know the hit-and-run was called but my God Elvis Andrus put that bat away and let the A's catcher sail the throw to centerfield before you hurt someone.

Prospect Watch: Fangraphs is a underrated site when it comes to prospect watching in the minor leagues. This week's prospect watch takes a look at Bubba Starling in the Royals minors. Starling was a high draft choice in the 2011 draft, signed a huge bonus, and hasn't done squat in their system. Fangraphs broke down his mechanical issues that keep him in the bust category last year and according to them those issues haven't improved this season. The poor Royals can't catch a break with their prospects.


Where Fans Live: The New York Times unveiled interactive maps showing where fans live where there are teams are close to each other. Zoo With Roy also has interactive maps showing where Phillies fans live in New Jersey and where Mets fans live in New Jersey.

Prospect of the Day: John Sickles takes a look at Twins prospect Jorge Polanco. Sickles describes Polanco as a player with good on-base skills, contact skills, and gap power. My first thought was Polanco is a lot like Marco Scutaro. #RIP

It's Going to Be Hard For Arizona to Replace Gibson and Towers: Or at least that's what Ken Rosenthal wants you to believe. Unlike when Arizona hired Gibson and Towers, Arizona doesn't have any clear successors during the season if they fire their manager and general manager. I'm sure this won't be that big of issue though knowing the trigger happy managing general partner of the Diamondbacks.

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

Friday, Kansas City at Baltimore, Ventura vs Jimenez: Here's a name to keep track of this year, Yordano Ventura. He's Kansas City's hot pitching prospect and he's lived up to the hype so far this season. Meanwhile Ubaldo Jimenez is pitching for the Orioles and he's been terrible so far this season.

Saturday, Texas at Seattle, Lewis vs Hernandez: King Felix is always a must watch for me personally. And speaking of the Mariners, it didn't take long for them to become bad. They just snapped a 8 game losing streak. WELCOME TO THE NORTHWEST ROBINSON CANO!

Sunday, Pittsburgh at St. Louis, Volquez vs Wainwright: I gotta give the Pirates credit. They managed to resurrect Francisco Liriano's career and now it looks like they're resurrecting Edison Volquez's career. Wainwright meanwhile is doing Wainwright things so far mainly pitching well and shutting down opponents.