10 Biggest Takeaways from Week 19's MLB Action
This week brought teams to their 50-game marks, signaling the stretch run for the 10 postseason spots and Major League Baseball’s exciting scoreboard watching.
But Week 19 of this season brought us more than just wins, losses and jockeying in the standings. It brought us stupid quotes from a floundering team, a stupid decision from a franchise with an already spotty track record and more trade rumors, among other happenings.
The Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals showed they will be forces through the season’s final turn. The Washington Nationals and Houston Astros showed they are vulnerable, and the San Francisco Giants took us back to the simpler times of the late '80s and early '90s.
More important than all of that, Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell announced Friday he was fighting a “highly curable” form of cancer and will not coach the team for the remainder of the season. He learned he had lymphoma earlier in the week, and chemotherapy will start next week.
The Farrell news is the latest in an eventful MLB week. We wrap it all up here in Bleacher Report’s 10 takeaways from Week 19.
Not so Fast, Blue Jays
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The Toronto Blue Jays have won 14 of their previous 16 games entering Saturday, and they had an 11-game winning streak within that stretch to go from seven games back in the American League East to the top spot.
However, the New York Yankees won’t be dispatched so swiftly after all.
The trade for shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, ace David Price and bullpen stability sparked the Jays’ run, but for all the attention they’ve received, they went to bed Friday in second place behind the boys from the Bronx. And the Yankees took back that position by beating Price, the new Toronto ace, scoring all four of their runs in the decisive eighth inning.
Price was dominant through seven, but he allowed three consecutive hits before being removed, leading to reliever Aaron Sanchez giving up a three-run, go-ahead homer to Carlos Beltran. While Price was good for most of the start, beating him in front of a boisterous Toronto crowd is the kind of thing the Yankees can rally around.
Until that inning, the Blue Jays had shut out the Yankees for 33 consecutive innings, the longest such streak by any team against the Yankees since 1934.
The Blue Jays should still be the favorites in the division, though. They have the better offense. They have an ace for the rotation. They’ve improved the bullpen. And despite Friday’s loss, they are currently the more complete team.
With all that said, don’t expect them to run away with the division. This is likely to be a scrap that lasts into the final weeks of the season.
Kyle Schwarber Can Rake
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When the Chicago Cubs called up catching/hitting prospect Kyle Schwarber in mid-June, it was with the caveat that he would be sent back to the minors after the team was done visiting American League parks, where the designated hitter is part of the game and they could use him. And sure enough, despite a .982 OPS in 23 plate appearances, Schwarber was optioned back to bus rides and bad food after the AL stretch.
But when Cubs catcher Miguel Montero went on the disabled list about a month later, the Cubs recalled Schwarber and started working him in as a left fielder. The team knew it could not demote his bat a second time even when Montero returned.
Schwarber has made the Cubs’ decision-makers look wise in that way. In 31 games entering Friday, Schwarber batted .330/.420/.621 with a 1.042 OPS, eight homers, four doubles, a triple, 25 RBI and a 31/14 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Those numbers were highlighted Thursday when Schwarber collected three hits, two of them home runs, and drove in four.
He went 0-for-3 Friday, but he walked, scored a run and drove one in. The Cubs are 21-11 in games he plays.
“I’m trying to keep my head buried and not even look at it,” Schwarber told reporters about his approach. “Once you start pressing and doing things you can’t control, that’s where I’ll start getting into slumps.”
As long as any slump does not come on too strong over the next 40-plus games, Schwarber will be a big reason why the Cubs return to the postseason for the first time since 2008.
Again, the Dodgers Will Not Trade Yasiel Puig
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It was undoubtedly a situation stemming from the Los Angeles Dodgers doing their due diligence in exploring the revocable waiver trade market, but ESPN’s Jayson Stark reported Tuesday that the team put right fielder Puig on waivers and he was claimed. The Dodgers pulled him back immediately without discussing any trade scenarios. The team that claimed Puig was unknown.
This does not mean the Dodgers want to trade Puig. It is more likely that they don’t, and several players from every team are put on waivers despite that team having no desire to trade them. Puig is one of those players, and the Dodgers are one of those teams.
Puig, when healthy and playing up to his ability, is one of the best offensive outfielders in the majors. The fact that he will make $19.5 million over the next three seasons makes him one of the game’s bargains. So, of course, a team would be willing to claim him. There is virtually no risk in doing so.
Before the non-waiver trade deadline, there were several rumors regarding Puig, including that the Dodgers were willing to listen to offers for him as well as the team informing Puig he would not be traded.
Puig is a polarizing player, and that kind of figure is almost always going to be the subject of at least mild trade rumors. But that the Dodgers front office pulled him back after he was claimed was a clear sign those rumors are nothing more than rumors. Have fun with them if you must, but Puig is likely to be a Dodger for at least four more years since he can’t become a free agent until after the 2019 season.
The Nationals Keep Saying Dumb Things
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This started almost two weeks ago when Jayson Werth claimed the National League East was the Washington Nationals’ to lose despite the New York Mets being in first place and looking like the better team.
This week brought us more ridiculousness from that clubhouse. On Wednesday, Werth was at it again, telling Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports, “When you make the run at it down the stretch, it’s easier to chase than to be chased. You know?” Unfortunately, Werth may be the only one who knows since the rest of the free world believes being in first place is better than being in second at any time of the season.
The Nats weren’t calling it a week with that gem from Werth, though. Second baseman Anthony Rendon spoke into tape recorders after Wednesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers pushed Washington 3.5 games behind the Mets.
“How many games left?” Rendon asked reporters. “I feel like y’all are the only ones worried about us. Don’t worry about us. Y’all worry about y’all selves. We’ll be all right.”
Well, OK then. The Nationals will be all right. We no longer have to worry about what is causing them to be the most disappointing team in the sport. The NL East is still their division to lose because it’s better to chase than be chased, y’all.
The Marlins Handled Jose Fernandez’s Return Poorly
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It is not unheard of for there to be complications, albeit minor ones, when a pitcher is coming back from Tommy John surgery. Jose Fernandez is no different, and we know that now since the Miami Marlins placed him on the disabled list Monday because of a bicep strain that was originally called shoulder stiffness.
Fernandez has been very good over seven starts this year, posting a 2.30 ERA in 43 innings and a 53/10 strikeout-to-walk ratio. But the Marlins have also allowed him to throw more than 90 pitches four times, and in his first outing he reached 89. In the start before the one that caused the shoulder discomfort, Fernandez threw 112 pitches in six shutout innings, in which he struck out 10. In the next, he threw 76 before complaining about his shoulder the next day.
So much for babying him back. The Marlins seemed content with letting him pitch as if he had no limitations. As longtime baseball insider Peter Gammons tweeted, there was no reason for the Marlins to allow Fernandez to pitch so much, especially when they are playing for nothing more than trying to not be the worst team in the National League.
And now Fernandez and manager Dan Jennings are hoping he can pitch before the end of the season. That just seems completely absurd. Fernandez has proven he’s back, so there is no need for him to get back on the mound in 2015.
But this is sort of what we’ve come to expect from this franchise. It has certainly shown an ability to mismanage resources and disappoint fans in recent years. The mishandling of Fernandez was no different, but it is incredibly unfortunate.
Jose Reyes Adds Nothing but Payroll
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Jose Reyes could return to New York. The New York Yankees could solve their second base problems. It seems like a decent idea—if Reyes was not a shell of the player he was in 2011 when he was an All-Star and had a 144 OPS+.
The Colorado Rockies acquired Reyes when they traded shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to the Toronto Blue Jays before last month’s non-waiver deadline. However, the Rockies didn’t seem overly excited about it considering Reyes has a .237 OBP and nearly $55 million remaining on a contract that runs through 2017.
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported Friday that the Yankees have had contact with the last-place Rockies about Reyes, but general manager Brian Cashman sounded like the idea had no legs.
“Adding money in the short term and long term, how does it fit?” Cashman said to reporters, not addressing Reyes specifically. “[Owner] Hal [Steinbrenner] is open to money, that’s never an issue. Hal is also sensible and practical and not doing something just to do it.”
The Yankees like shortstop Didi Gregorius, but the five second basemen who have played the position this season have combined for a .205/.261/.385 slash line, although Stephen Drew has 15 home runs and 11 as a second baseman. The Yankees will be in the market for a second baseman at some point soon, but Reyes, his decline and his expense would not be the smart buy.
Brewers’ Brass Better off Letting Go and Changing Direction
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The Brewers have been grasping at straws of contention for some time, and they’ve come up completely empty. Aside from a red-hot first month of last season, the small-market team has shown no signs of real promise now or for the immediate future but has still refused to go into complete rebuild mode.
GM Doug Melvin, one of the most respected men in the game in his position, announced his resignation this week, and while such a move was not shocking, it is stunning that the organization is still hanging onto its past and seems unwilling to allow its new GM to pick who works for him, specifically as the team’s manager.
“It's hard to imagine someone better on paper [than Craig Counsell]," owner Mark Attanasio told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Two World Series rings. It still looks like he could get into uniform and play. He was a head of the players association. He worked in the front office with Doug.
“If somebody comes in and thinks they can come up with a better name, they would probably do that at their peril in the interview."
Counsell may very well turn out to be an outstanding manager, and it’s possible that the team’s next GM wants him to stay on. But that is not the point. The point is that an organization that has been to the postseason only twice in Melvin’s nearly 13 years in charge is already closing its mind to different thinking and a certain portion of qualified candidates.
The Brewers’ decisions in the recent past have put them in a position where they cannot realistically expect to contend in a loaded National League Central within the next few seasons. They have a so-so farm system ranked in the bottom half of the majors by Baseball America, and their major league rotation is a liability with no help coming through the system.
That is why letting go of the past and changing direction would be sensible.
Miguel Sano: One of MLB’s Next Superstars
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On Wednesday, Miguel Sano had his first multi-home run game for the Minnesota Twins. He also drove in six runs and walked, pushing his slash line to .295/.409/.571 with a .980 OPS+. Sano’s early success has come over 144 plate appearances (35 games).
The sample size is small, but it is also larger than that of Kyle Schwarber, the Chicago Cubs slugging prospect who is having praise heaped all over him because of the outstanding start to his career.
But Sano has been quite impressive as well, and that Wednesday performance highlighted the start of his. Possibly because he plays in Minnesota for a team that is not creating any buzz—it is 3-7 in its last 10 games—or legitimizing itself as a playoff contender, Sano’s rookie season has existed in near obscurity.
Paul Swydan of Fangraphs took a look at players with similar sample sizes in their rookie years, and he found that only 27 players, including Sano and Schwarber, have produced a 150 or better wRC+ in a similar number of plate appearances. While the list is peppered with elite hitters and one-hit wonders, Sano’s walk rate is high on the list, and that he sees more than four pitches per plate appearance shows he can sustain this kind of success because he does not chase out of the zone.
Sano’s stamp on the game might not be visible to all right now, but if this is a brief preview of what he will do in the future, he will surely become one of baseball’s superstars.
Jerry Dipoto Becomes Red Sox Asset
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When Jerry Dipoto abruptly walked out on his duties as GM of the Los Angeles Angels in July after butting heads with stubborn manager Mike Scioscia, it seemed only a matter of short time before he was in another organization’s front office, either running it or helping it become better.
Turns out it is the latter for now as the Boston Red Sox hired Dipoto on Wednesday as something of an interim consultant and objective evaluator for the organization’s major league and minor league talent. In that role, Dipoto can thrive because he does not have to be the man in charge, something that another executive said Dipoto had room to improve on if he is ever a GM again.
“Very good pitching insights, but he did not sell the ‘data’ word properly and lacked much tact in Arizona [when he was interim GM in 2010] by letting people go,” the executive told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. “He struggles with people skills in a management environment, but he has great ideas, some out of the box.”
It is clear the Red Sox need help in evaluating their own talent, whether it is determining how to use players at the major league level or which minor leaguers are expendable in trades. They just got it in Dipoto, and that could be a boost to the Red Sox returning to prominence in the American League East next season.
Giants’ 'Full House' Brilliance
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Any kid or young teenager growing up in the late 1980s and early '90s was aware of the show Full House and the antics of the three adult males and the three kids under what was supposed to be their (hilarious) supervision.
Well, many of the players on the San Francisco Giants’ roster were also aware of the show, and the team is hosting a Full House theme night at AT&T Park on Sept. 30. As a way to promote it, the players shot their version of the show’s opening credits, and they did a brilliant job of it.
The lighter side of MLB can be quite entertaining.
