The Herd:
Because of calling up Casey Fossum, and DFAing Nelson Figueroa, the Bisons find themselves with a three-man rotation. They solved the SP4 situation by activating Freddy Garcia… I assume if Figgy clears waivers, he’ll be back, but either someone has to be signed here, or either Ryan Coultas or Fernando Nieve need to be called up from the B-Mets.
(of course, five minutes after I wrote this the Mets announced they had signed OF Wily Mo Pena to a minor league deal)
In looking over the current stats of the relief crew, the one stat that stands out is there isn’t one save yet this season. In addition, John Switzer (6.23), Connor Robinson (6.75), and Carlos Muniz (5.14) have not gotten off to a great start.
Keep your eye on RP/CL Roy Merritt, a 23-year old playing for the B-Mets… 5 games… 5 saves… 0.00 ERA… 0.47 WHIP.
Lucy:
OF Carlos Guzman is currently 6th in the league in BA: .389… 7th in OPS (1.019)… 12th in slugging (.556)… and 5th in OPS (.463).
2B Greg Veloz is currently 19th in the league in BA: .326… and 16th in OPS (.396).
OF Brahiam Maldonado is currently 11th in the league in OPS (.970)… 6th in slugging (.970)…
SS Reese Havens is currently 13th in the league in OPS (.920)… 14th in slugging (.550)…
3B Zack Lutz is currently 20th in the league in slugging (.471)…
RP Emary Frederick leads the league in lowest ERA (8.0 IP, 0.00)… and leads the league with the lowest WHIP (0.38)…
SP Angel Calero is 8th in the league in ERA (0.82)… 12th in strikeouts (10)… and 12th in WHIP (1.00).
SP Scott Shaw is 16th in the league in ERA (1.50)… and 9th in the league in WHIP (0.83).
SP Eric Niesen is 18th in the league in ERA (1.80)… and tied for 12th in WHIP (1.00).
SP Brad Holt is 9th in the league in strikeouts (12).
Gnats:
Press Release From Team:
Sean Ratliff homered and Jordany Valdespin was 3-for-4 as the Sand Gnats extended their winning streak to five games with a, 3-1, victory over the Charleston RiverDogs Monday night at Historic Grayson Stadium. Elvin Ramirez (2-0) worked six scoreless innings for the win while Erik Turgeon notched his first save. It was certainly a pitcher’s duel through the early frames as Ramirez and RiverDogs’ starter Andrew Brackman (0-2) battled it out. Brackman’s lone blemish was a leadoff home run by Ratliff in the second inning that gave Savannah the early 1-0 edge. With the bases loaded and two down in the fifth, Valdespin hit the ball to the right side of the infield when the ball came up and struck Charleston’s Brian Baisley in the shoulder. He was unable to get up to field the ball and Savannah’s Eric Campbell scored from third to extend the lead to two. Baisley would remain in the game. Brackman worked six innings while allowing just five hits to go along with eight strikeouts. After a 62-minute rain delay, play resumed in the seventh inning. Charleston would score one in the eighth off reliever Jimmy Johnson but the Gnats would get it right back in the bottom half of the frame. Ratliff and Rafael Fernandez also collected multiple hits for Savannah. Both Ratliff and Campbell have reached base safely in all 11 games played thus far. With Valdespin going 3-for-4, he extended his hitting streak to nine-games. The five-game win streak by Savannah is its longest winning streak since the Sand Gnats won five in a row from May 26-30, 2006 as an affiliate of the Washington Nationals.
Mets Alumni:
RP Jason Isringhausen will start a major-league rehabilitation assignment today.
Washington Nationals optioned OF Lastings Milledge to Triple-A Syracuse. - This is a surprising move, but only because of the name involved. Josh Willingham deserves to start more often and the club has an incredible glut of outfielders and first basemen. Something had to give to get everyone playing time, and Milledge was the choice to go down due to what those in the game call a laissez-faire attitude. Milledge's talent is undeniable and will likely have a 20/20 season before he retires, but his motivation is in question. He has been late for team meetings and shown an indifferent attitude, but Milledge won't be held back significantly because of this. Teams will play him, and if he produces, they'll deal with his attitude. At the same time, Lastings needs to adjust his behavior because it's costing him playing time right now. No one knows if Lastings will take this demotion to heart, but even if he doesn't feel the need to suddenly become the example in the clubhouse for everyone to follow, all he has to do is be on time and aware of what is expected of him. It's not hard to simply follow the rules. Roughly 800 people do it in the big leagues every year.
The 1982 and 1983 Twins were young and talented teams. They didn't win many games, but the nucleus of future success was there: Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky. . .there was a good core here. The pitching wasn't very good, which held the team back. Frank Viola, one year out of college, went 4-10, 5.21 in 22 starts, but he seemed to have the best arm among the starters. He struggled again in '83, but in '84 he broke out with an 18-12, 3.21 season. His breakthrough and the arrival of a young energetic outfielder named Kirby Puckett kept the Twins in first place for much of the season, until a final collapse dropped them to an 81-81 record. Viola was also the ace of the 1987 World Championship team. He is my favorite Twins lefty because, once he broke through in ‘84 he was the first YOUNG Twins pitcher I remembered who didn't scare me every time he took the mound. He was a pleasure to watch.
Gerrit Cole, RHP, UCLA - A few especially masochistic Yankee fans have been following Cole's college career at UCLA, and one recently e-mailed me to ask what went wrong in the negotiations that kept the club's first-round pick from last June from signing. The truth is, nothing really went wrong, the kid just had a change of heart—as any parent would explain, trying to gauge an 18-year-old's emotions is a difficult thing. Still, the regret is understandable, as Cole has stepped into UCLA's Friday starter role (the college equivalent of an ace) and not missed a step, striking out a career-high 13 against Washington on Friday while allowing only one hit over eight innings. With nearly twice as many strikeouts (71) as hits allowed (36) in 51 1/3 innings, Cole is lining himself up for a top five selection in 2010, so the Yankees won't even have a chance to take him again.
2 comments:
if Figgy doesn't make it back to Buffalo, my guess would be that Nieve would be promoted. I was surprised he was assigned to AA in the first place..
the Mets deactivated Nieve this afternoon, which just adds to the drama.
Mack
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