The 2016 Major League Baseball Player Chatter, News and Fantasy Thread...

[supersaintjames]

the mets finally won a game

[Jrod124]

the mets finally won a game

Yo-Yo clutch pinch hit homer!

[Andy117]

the mets finally won a game

I know and it was only their 5th in a row.

[LT Profits]

the mets finally won a game

Um, 9 of their last 11 I think.

[EmpireMaker]

the mets finally won a game

The Mets have been on fire, they have been hitting homers like crazy and their pitching is solid.

[EmpireMaker]

Harvey even got a win today.

[Cross]

They will be a tough out when the bats come around.

[BarkingToad]

Braves have a .280 slugging pct and 3 home runs total in 21 games. I'm sure they'd hit better if they were in their new stadium.

[Chi_archie]

Braves have a .280 slugging pct and 3 home runs total in 21 games. I'm sure they'd hit better if they were in their new stadium.

its getting rediculous

[LT Profits]

its getting rediculous

Has any player hit three home runs in a game yet this year? If not and it happens in the next few days while Atlanta remains homerless...

[supersaintjames]

lets go mets

[supersaintjames]

the 1 time i bet against the mets they clean out my account

[BigSpoon]

Has any player hit three home runs in a game yet this year? If not and it happens in the next few days while Atlanta remains homerless...

Andrew McCutchen did it two days ago at Coors Field.

[koz-man]

Jake Arrieta is done after 5 innings and 92 pitches with the Cubs leading Mil 5-1. A 31 pitch first inning may have forecasted the end to a quality start streak which had reached 24 games. He's still in line for his fifth win while his ERA after his first month is 1.00.

[El Nino]

Also in Arizona, where formerly good pitchers go to die. Makes the accomplishments of Schilling and Randy Johnson more impressive, although huge strikeout guys like them are the ones that can overcome the stadium.

Yeah, the amount of walks speaks to a larger problem than just the venue though.

[Andy117]

Braves have a .280 slugging pct and 3 home runs total in 21 games. I'm sure they'd hit better if they were in their new stadium.

They're a seriously bad team. 110 losses is a distinct reality. Maybe more.

[Cross]

And the braves beat a decnt team, ha.

[EmpireMaker]

In a stunning development, Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon has been hit with an eighty-game suspension for PEDs, according to a league announcement. He tested positive for the banned substances exogenous testosterone and clostebol.
Needless to say, the news represents a sudden turnaround for a player who had risen to become one of the game’s more celebrated personalities. Gordon, the 28-year-old son of longtime major leaguer Tom Gordon and brother of Twins’ prospect Nick Gordon, inked a five-year, $50MM extension with the Marlins over the winter after an excellent 2015 season.

Gordon will sacrifice about half of his $3MM salary for the present season under that contract. He’ll also obviously miss out on a chance to defend his National League batting and stolen base titles from a year ago. And if Miami manages to right the ship — an even taller order now with Gordon out — he won’t be eligible for postseason play.
It seems likely that the Fish will turn to Derek Dietrich to occupy at least a good portion of the time at the keystone. He has plenty of experience there, though he’s not much of a fielder. The left-handed-swinging 26-year-old is a promising hitter, though. Alternatively, the club could utilize Martin Prado at second while deploying Dietrich and/or Chris Johnson at third base.
Regardless, the overall mix is substantially weakened. Gordon was off to a slow start this year, but he doesn’t need to keep up quite his 2015 pace to be of value. He had already enjoyed a breakout in the season prior before being dealt by the Dodgers, but Gordon stepped up even further in his first year in Miami with a .333/.359/.418 slash, 58 stolen bases, and highly-regarded glovework.
To be sure, Gordon is not the lumbering slugger who is traditionally associated with performance enhancing drugs. But this represents the latest reminder that such substances aren’t reserved for bulking up; they can also improve athletic performance in other ways and, especially, aid in injury recovery.
Quite unlike the situation facing the Blue Jays with regard to Chris Colabello, who was also just suspended, the Marlins are committed to Gordon via the aforementioned contract. Miami will simply need to hope that he’s able to repair his image and maintain his performance on the field upon his return.
That’s the message given by club president David Sampson, who said the organization was disappointed but would welcome Gordon back when his suspension ends. (Video via the Miami Herald.) The Marlins did not learn about the suspension until today, per Sampson. Miami has obviously have placed high expectations on Gordon to “do whatever is necessary to make it up to our fans, to his teammates, and to this organization.”
Gordon apparently decided to drop his appeal at this time, making the suspension effective after tonight’s game, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports tweets. (Notably, Gordon just finished helping the club to a four-game sweep of his former team.) It’s still not clear precisely when the positive test occurred, though it’s certainly possible that — as with Colabello — it took place at some point during Spring Training.

[Chi_archie]

oh Dee

[El Nino]

Hard to get popped for "T" most of the good stuff is gone from your body in 12-36 hours.

[BigSpoon]

At least Dee has not claimed he has no idea how he tested positive like Colabello did.

[koz-man]

On This Day: Clemens strikes out 20

Thirty years ago today, Roger Clemens made history by becoming the first major league pitcher to strike out 20 batters in one game.

[Cross]

Clemens, on lots more juice than Dee!

[EmpireMaker]

The Pirates announced on Friday that they have extended their entire coaching staff through the 2017 season. The club did not announce a new contract for skipper Clint Hurdle, though Hurdle was already signed through the 2017 season himself, whereas the coaches’ contracts ran through the end of the current campaign. The new contracts mean that bench coach Dave Jauss, pitching coach Ray Searage, hitting coach Jeff Branson, third base coach Rick Sofield, first base coach Nick Leyva, bullpen coach Euclides Rojas, assistant hitting coach Jeff Livesey and bullpen catcher Heberto Andrade will all return for another season. Searage, in particular, has become particularly notable in the national media due to Pittsburgh’s success in rehabilitating pitchers that have endured recent struggles (though the Bucs did lose noted pitching specialist Jim Benedict to the Marlins’ front office this past winter).
A few more notes out of the NL Central…

• Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant underwent an MRI this morning which confirmed that his right ankle is mild in nature, writes MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat. Bryant is out of the lineup today in favor of Javier Baez and may miss a few games, tweets Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, but the reigning National League Rookie of the Year isn’t expected to require a trip to the disabled list and should be back in relatively short order. Obviously, that’s good news for a Cubs team that has already lost Kyle Schwarber for the season and had to place catcher Miguel Montero on the 15-day disabled list yesterday.
• As we’ve heard recently, the Cubs and ace Jake Arrieta remain far apart in extension talks. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter) says that Arrieta remains focused on securing a seven-year deal, as was the case back in Spring Training, but the team is currently only comfortable with offering the reigning Cy Young winner a four-year extension. That type of deal would run through Arrieta’s age-34 season, whereas Arrieta’s preferred contract length would extend into his age-37 campaign. Dominant as he may be, it’s understandable that the Cubs are hesitant to guarantee both Arrieta such a substantial amount through age 37, especially considering the fact that with free agency about 18 months away and a huge salary already in the bank, Arrieta and agent Scott Boras probably don’t feel the need to offer a considerable discount in terms of average annual value. Beyond that, the Cubs are already paying Jon Lester into his age-36 season, and promising that type of cash to a pair of pitchers into their late 30s is wrought with risk for the team.
• Though he started the Brewers’ third game of the season, right-hander Taylor Jungmann was optioned to Triple-A by Milwaukee today, the team announced. The 26-year-old made a very strong debut in 2015, logging 119 1/3 innings with a 3.77 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 46.3 percent ground-ball rate, but he’s struggled tremendously in 2016. Thus far, Jungmann has yielded 21 earned runs in 20 2/3 innings, and he’s walked as many batters as he’s struck out (13). His velocity is also down two and a half miles per hour from last season. The Brewers called up reliever David Goforth in the interim, but they’ll need to make a move to add another starter in advance of Jungmann’s next would-be turn in the rotation, which would come on Tuesday. As MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy points out (on Twitter), Jungmann now faces the unenviable task of attempting to find the solution to his struggles in one of the game’s least-favorable pitching environments: Colorado Springs.

[Otters27]

Pitching in Altitude can help you get better even if you get roughed up a bit

[BarkingToad]

At least Dee has not claimed he has no idea how he tested positive like Colabello did.

Yeah, at least there was no lying drama about it.

[Chi_archie]

On This Day: Clemens strikes out 20

Thirty years ago today, Roger Clemens made history by becoming the first major league pitcher to strike out 20 batters in one game.

what a dominant peformance that was

[mr. leisure]

Dee is busted !!

[koz-man]

Pitching in Altitude can help you get better even if you get roughed up a bit

It can also crush a young players confidence too...

But, I understand your point also.

[Andy117]

Dee is busted !!

He sucks anyway, one tool player.

[BigSpoon]

Brett Cecil loses another game for the Blue Jays bullpen, 0-5 now. He should not be used in any high leverage situations in the near future.

[EmpireMaker]

How the EFF is Cecil still going out there late in games, I'm not sure I could even have him on my roster.

[mr. leisure]

Cecil is 0-5 with a 5.79 ERA

[Otters27]

Grienke loses to Rockies at home. Can we continue to see mediocre performances

[BarkingToad]

Cecil is 0-5 with a 5.79 ERA

Why don't the Blue Jays just get rid of him or use him for long relief? Season isn't even 1 months old.