Brewers are the luckiest team in baseball, unbelievable.
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- Though the season has been a disastrous one for the Rangers, the club is seeing some encouraging signs out of some young relievers late in the year, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Jose Leclerc has been one of the best relievers on the planet over the past few months, allowing just two runs in a span of 32 2/3 innings dating back to June 20. In that time, the once-erratic Leclerc has turned in a phenomenal 51-to-11 K/BB ratio and allowed a mere 10 hits. There are some encouraging signs from 26-year-old Connor Sadzeck as well, despite a dismal 10 walks in 9 1/3 innings since being recalled from Triple-A. Sadzeck is averaging 97 mph on his fastball and has shown some mechanical improvements, interim skipper Don Wakamatsu explained to Grant. Namely, Sadzeck has been able to speed up his delivery while maintaining his premium velocity after previously struggling to work quickly with men on base in the minors. Leclerc, 25 in December, has solidified himself as the Texas closer heading into 2019 and is controlled all the way through 2022. Sadzeck, meanwhile, should get every opportunity to earn a spot after whiffing 53 hitters in 42 minor league innings.
- Speaking of Wakamatsu, Wilson writes in another column that the Rangers’ interim manager is expected to remain with the team even if he is not ultimately hired as the new full-time manager. Wakamatsu is under contract through next season as the bench coach and tells Wilson he’d like to be with the team regardless of whether he’s selected as Jeff Banister’s replacement. GM Jon Daniels told reporters, including Wilson, that the organization is still “gathering information” and has yet to speak to any potential candidates about the managerial vacancy.
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rockies are hot
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rockies clinch a playoff spot with 8th straight winComment -
Orioles won't even win 50 gamesComment -
ELIAS: The longest win streak entering the postseason (for a team that made it) is 15, by the 1960 Yankees. If the Rockies were to win out (their final 2 games), it'd be a 10-game streak, which would be tied for 4th-longest entering the postseasonComment -
Cardinals out possibly.Comment -
Exciting races still with 2 games to go .Comment -
Dodgers clinch a playoff spot, all to play for tomorrow.Comment -
David Wright made one last start tonight, after being gone for 2 years. Now retiring.[quote=jjgold;5683305]I win again like usual
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[quote=Whippit;7921056]miami won't lose a single eastern conference game through end of season[/quote]Comment -
1 game playoffs for the divison between cubs and brewers rockies and dodgers then losers game for the wild card between cubs and dodgers, is that too much to ask
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With the Rangers heading into the offseason in dire need of starting pitchers, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News runs down several options they could consider in the coming months. Red Sox pending free agent Nathan Eovaldi is among them, and the Rangers “have always liked him,” Grant writes. The 28-year-old returned from 2016 Tommy John surgery to post a 3.81 ERA/3.60 FIP with 8.19 K/9, 1.62 BB/9 in 111 regular-season innings between Tampa Bay and Boston. While Eovaldi could be a realistic offseason target for the Rangers, the same may be true of Giants left-hander Derek Holland, who’d “love” to return to Texas, according to Grant. Holland – who, like Eovaldi, is a soon-to-be free agent – was a Rangers draft pick in 2006 who had a largely successful run with the franchise through 2016. After a couple down campaigns, the 31-year-old has revived his career in San Francisco, where he has put up a 3.61 ERA/3.89 FIP with 8.88 K/9 and 3.51 BB/9 in 169 1/3 frames this season.
More from Grant (links here):
- Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara may undergo right thumb surgery after the season, Grant reports. The thumb has troubled Mazara throughout the second half of the season, including when he sat out from mid-July through mid-August, and has likely played a role in his poor post-All-Star break production. After recording a .789 OPS in the first half of the season, Mazara’s down to .679 in the second half. Texas will know more on the 23-year-old after he visits a hand specialist Tuesday.
- Assuming he’s healthy, Mazara’s sure to once again occupy a starting spot in the Rangers’ outfield next season. There’s uncertainty in center field, though, as Grant points out. While Delino DeShields has been excellent in the field, his offense has been woeful. And slugger Joey Gallo, who has played some center of late, may not be a long-term fit there. “I don’t think I’m a center fielder,” Gallo said. “But I’m not against it. It definitely affects you physically. But it also gives you a lot more value. Can I do it? I’ve already done it this year. I do think it adds to what I can do to help a team win.” Along with Deshields and Gallo, Texas has Carlos Tocci and Scott Heineman among its in-house options, and general manager Jon Daniels suggested the team could add center field help over the winter. Regardless, it seems he’s prepared to field inquiries for the outfielders already on hand. “I feel like the outfield is an area of depth,” he said. “I think it’s an area we will get hit on [by trade requests] this winter. Everything is interconnected.”
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played poker with this guy at our local track few years ago, he was drafted 1st round overall by the pirates, been following him a bit, has a cannon of an arm really good defense only question can he hit in the big leagues, think he has a chance be pretty good
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The Dodgers are now tied with the Rockies for first place in the NL West, but the Nationals have decided not to start their ace, Max Scherzer, against the Rockies on Sunday. A tiebreaker game to decide the division is looking very possible. The Dodgers will reportedly start Walker Buehler.Comment -
Fantastic sports day today !Comment -
Exciting day today for NL westComment -
Looks like two game 163's on Monday for the NL Central and NL West.Comment -
How's it going today guys?Comment -
please tell me joe mauer is not a hall of famerComment -
I can already tell you guys that the Dodgers will beat the Rockies.Comment -
No Kershaw, so Dodgers might have trouble.Comment -
cmon rockiesComment -
The Seibu Lions will make left-hander Yusei Kikuchi available this winter via the posting system, according to a report from Sankei Sports (hat tip to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times). The 27-year-old isn’t eligible for full free agency until 2020, but reports from earlier this year indicated that Kikuchi was interested in testing himself in Major League Baseball, and it had been expected that the Seibu Lions would accommodate his request.
Kikuchi immediately becomes one of the most intriguing members of the 2018-19 free agent class, as he has posted strong numbers over eight pro seasons (all with Seibu Lions, apart from five starts in the Australian Baseball League in his rookie year). Kikuchi has a 2.81 ERA, 8.0 K/9, and 2.43 K/BB rate over 1035 1/3 career innings, and particularly stood out after recording a 1.97 ERA and 10.4 K/9 over a career-best 197 2/3 frames in 2017.
Despite taking a bit of a step back results-wise (3.08 ERA, 3.40 K/BB rate, 8.4 K/9) this season, Kikuchi still drew quite a bit of attention from Major League scouts. Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman recently wrote that “most teams have been to Japan to see him this year,” specifically naming the Royals, Padres, Dodgers, and Phillies as interested suitors. Evaluators from the Brewers, Giants, Red Sox, and Rangers also recently watched Kikuchi, as per the Kyodo News’ Jim Allen (Twitter link).
For an idea of what Kikuchi brings to the mound, Fangraphs’ Sung Min Kim provided a scouting report before the season, while MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi had a look at Kikuchi’s 2018 season back in August. Kikuchi has a strong slider and a fastball in the 92-94mph range (that has touched 98mph at its fastest) as his two primary pitches, and he has worked both a changeup and a curveball into his repertoire this season, as former big leaguer and current Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Frank Herrmann told Morosi. Herrmann warned that Kikuchi’s slider wasn’t as effective this year as it was in 2017, which led to Kikuchi leaning more heavily on his two secondary pitches. Kim used Patrick Corbin as a partial comp for Kikuchi, as another left-hander with a strong fastball-slider combination, with the caveat that Kikuchi’s usage of the curve roughly 10% of the time is a notable difference between he and the Diamondbacks hurler.
Kikuchi’s durability could also be an issue, as shoulder problems have bothered him at several points during his career, including this season. Kikuchi “had not reached the qualified amount of innings pitched in a season until 2016,” Kim writes. The southpaw is listed at just 6’0″ and 194 pounds, and thus doesn’t have the big frame that would more easily project as capable of handling a regular turn in a Major League rotation, so interested teams could be wary of how Kikuchi would hold up health-wise. That said, with more and more teams using their bullpens in creative ways, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Kikuchi eased the big leagues by pitching receiving an extra day of rest, working on a limited pitch count in starts, or any number of other possible answers if his shoulder is of particular concern.
Kikuchi first appeared on the Major League radar screen back in 2009, when he considered taking the unusual step of signing with an MLB team as an amateur rather than an NPB club. It’s interesting that several of the teams — the Dodgers, Rangers, Red Sox, and Giants — interested in Kikuchi almost a decade ago are still keeping an eye on him now, after he has established himself as a quality starter in Japanese baseball.
There was some thought earlier this year that Kikuchi could land a $100MM contract from a Major League team, though it’s possible that price tag has dropped thanks to the slight dip in form and the shoulder problems that Kikuchi dealt with over the 2018 season. Kikuchi’s age and experience makes him exempt from the international bonus pool system, so he is in line for a very lucrative multi-year contract rather than the limited deal that Shohei Ohtani had to settle for as a 23-year-old last winter.
Kikuchi also looks to be the first major name whose arrival in North American baseball will be covered by the new posting agreement between MLB and NPB. Under the former agreement, Japanese teams would receive a posting fee that maxed out at $20MM, whereas now teams will receive a posting fee that is determined by the size of the contract that the player signs with his new Major League team. Morosi notes that a player must be posted between November 1 and December 5, and the player will have a 30-day window to negotiate with teams after being posted.Comment -
That's a tldr imo. Good luck guysComment -
Play in games today to avoid the play in gamesComment -
Monday, for the first time ever, we have two MLB tiebreakers.
Two teams in MLB history have won a one-game tiebreaker & gone on to win the World Series:
1978 Yankees: won tiebreaker for AL East, ALCS, then WS.
1948 Indians: won tiebreaker for AL Pennant, then WS.
It's 2018, an even anniversary....Comment -
Expanded rosters are still available for Monday's tiebreaker games and statistics will count towards the regular season.
Then everything starts over with 25 man rosters beginning with the NL wild card game on Tuesday. Both of Monday's tie breaker games plus the NL wild card will be seen on ESPN.Comment -
NL Cy Young award is so tough to call this season. deGrom, Nola or Scherzer?Comment
