Nothing teams like to do better than have a mini-run just when they sell. Doesn't mean that much for the Nats (another sweep and we'll talk) but they really did a number to the Reds. Not sure who hates the Reds outside of someone harboring 1970s grudges but if you are - good weekend for you.
Now it's three straight above .500 teams Padres, Cardinals, and D-backs. So 7-2? three more sweeps?
The big thing from the weekend for me was the starting pitching both Gore getting wild enough to get pulled after 2 innings and Jake Irvin looking much better after a long rest. We'll be watching the next starts to see how this carries forward.
Anyway I'm on vacation so we'll see how often I post. Yes yes I know. "How often do you post anyway?" Hey man! Not cool!
Let's all agree that if Wood hits a homer I will post the next day. Make me work James.
4 comments:
I went to the Saturday game. Was excited to see Gore (and even got his bobble head!), but he was struggling to find the strike zone. Hopefully he rights the ship in his next outing
If we trade a couple more relievers....i am told that there are multiple, young, controllable relief pitcher in our minors who would be given a chance. Our overworked bullpen would also be helped by having some relievers with options.
Does anyone knows who these players are and which ones would be bringing the most experience and success?
@SG - You've heard correctly - there are quite a few kids showing promise, but obviously relievers are all volatile and none of these guys is a slam dunk. For example, a lot of folks want Willingham DFA'd these days, but he would have topped a list like this a year ago. I hope he can find whatever he's lost because he looked great coming into his callup last year.
So with that caveat, here are the folks who I think are promising and ready or close to it.
Brzykcy - On the 40, missed last year recovering from TJ. He was excellent before his injury but has only pitched 20 innings since coming back. His control is a bit worse than it was, and that was never his strong suit, but the strikeout stuff is still there. The team might not rush him due to injury recovery concerns, but he would have been in the majors last year if not for the injury.
Ribalta - R5 eligible this offseason, improved from solid last season to great this season at AA, got promoted to AAA and has been solid over 20 innings. Also has mediocre BB/9 numbers, but maybe Doo can help with that.
Sinclair - R5 eligible this offseason, repeating AA and just lights out. No prospect pedigree but has ben solid or better his whole time in the minors.
Schoff - Pretty similar career arc to Sinclair, a little better than him last year, a little worse this year. Problem is he strained his oblique in early June. Reports having him throwing, but hasn't begun a rehab assignment yet, so who knows how quickly he could be ready. Also R5 eligible this winter.
Cronin - We DFA'd him last year amid a spell of terrible results at AAA. Later they figured out that he was dealing with a back problem. He had surgery to fix it last winter and came back in May. He's been almost literally unhittable, but only in high-A. For a 26 year old who has had success in the upper minors, those results don't really mean anything. But it's good that he's healthy and he could move quickly as soon as they fully believe in his recovery.
Grissom - Just turned 23, was great in A and A+ last year, and great in A+ and AA this year. Not R5 until after next season, so he (and Cronin) are likely in the back of the line, but in some ways he's the most promising of the bunch.
These guys are all right handed except Cronin, and Ferrer and Garcia also have options. So if we can keep 3-4 roster spots for these 8 guys, the team will have a lot of more flexibility nest season than we've had this year, both in terms of handedness matchups and in terms of streaming guys when the pen gets over-extended.
@sms. "Promising relievers" is never part of the articles on hot prospects, so I have never heard of most of these guys. This is a great overview and much appreciated.
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