The Nationals finally addressed their struggling bullpen yesterday by acquiring relievers Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson from the Oakland Athletics. In return, Oakland received veteran reliever Blake Treinen and prospects Sheldon Neuse and Jesus Luzardo. Luzardo was a third rounder out of high school last year who has just 14 professional innings to his name. As such, I don’t have a KATOH projection for him, but Eric Longenhagen gave him a 40 FV in the offseason in his offseason writeup of the Nationals system.
Neuse was Washington’s 2016 second-round draft choice out of the University of Oklahoma. He was an excellent hitter in his last season of college, slashing .369/.465/.646 with 12 steals over 55 games. He has carried his hot hitting over to pro ball, slashing .291/.349/.469 at the Low-A level this year while playing shortstop.
| 12:00 |
: Happy Monday, folks
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| 12:00 |
: Let’s get started ….
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| 12:01 |
: Oh, and this is a GoT-free zone
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| 12:01 |
: Should the Jays buy, sell, or retool for ’18?
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| 12:02 |
: We have the Jays with an 11 percent shot to reach the postseason http://www.fangraphs.com/coolstandings.aspx
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| 12:02 |
: Not great
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Jay Groome recently found himself in the news for reasons not of his doing. Thirteen months ago, he was in the news for reasons that were: the 6-foot-6 left-hander was drafted 12th overall by the Red Sox out of a New Jersey high school. He could have gone even higher. As our own Eric Longenhagen wrote this spring, Groome was “arguably the most talented prospect in the 2016 draft.”
Given his age and experience level, it is very much raw talent. The 18-year-old southpaw has just 10 professional games under his belt, the last four of which have come with Low-A Greenville. Groome’s calling card is a curveball that Longenhagen called “potential plus-plus,” and his fastball has been clocked as high as 97 mph.
Groome talked about his nascent development — and his power repertoire — in late June.
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Groome on having a simple approach: “Everything I’ve learned — everything I know — comes from my father, or from myself, just trying to perfect my craft. I’ve always done what feels good for me and what looks good. I just throw all of my pitches.
“A couple of times on the showcase circuit they would have the Trackman, but I never paid attention to it. I’ve never looked into what my spin rate is, or anything like that. I’m not a big physics guy on how all that stuff translates to them hitting the ball or not hitting the ball. I just go out there and throw the ball and try to hit my spots; and if they hit it, they hit it, and if they don’t, they don’t.”
Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric forefather Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game.
How are they calculated? Haphazardly, is how. An explanation of the components and formulae which produce these NERD scores is available here. All objections to the numbers here are probably justified, on account of how this entire endeavor is absurd.
Most Highly Rated Game
Milwaukee at Pittsburgh | 19:05 ET
Suter (27.1 IP, 94 xFIP-) vs. Kuhl (85.1 IP, 110 xFIP-)
The author’s haphazardly calculated algorithm has identified today’s Brewers-Pirates game as the day’s most compelling due partly to Milwaukee’s chances of winning the division (about 64% accrording to the coin-flip method) and also to Brent Suter’s surprising competence as a member of the Brewers’ rotation (he’s recorded an 83 xFIP- over three starts). Why else that algorithm has identified this game as the day’s most compelling, though, is due to the pace at which Suter works.
Consider the following table, which includes the top pace marks by starting pitchers (minimum 10 innings):
| Name | Team | IP | Pace | zPace | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brent Suter | Brewers | 17.0 | 17.2 | 3.2 |
| 2 | Madison Bumgarner | Giants | 34.0 | 18.3 | 2.7 |
| 3 | Amir Garrett | Reds | 58.1 | 18.9 | 2.4 |
| 4 | Tommy Milone | – – – | 26.0 | 19.0 | 2.3 |
| 5 | Kyle Hendricks | Cubs | 61.2 | 19.1 | 2.3 |
| 6 | Adam Conley | Marlins | 27.2 | 19.3 | 2.2 |
| 7 | Jason Vargas | Royals | 106.1 | 19.8 | 1.9 |
| 8 | Andrew Moore | Mariners | 24.0 | 19.9 | 1.8 |
| 9 | Brett Anderson | Cubs | 22.0 | 19.9 | 1.8 |
| 10 | Dallas Keuchel | Astros | 75.2 | 20.0 | 1.8 |
| 11 | Michael Wacha | Cardinals | 85.2 | 20.0 | 1.8 |
What one finds here is that Suter works a second faster per pitch than the next resident on this list, Madison Bumgarner, and that he works two seconds more quickly per pitch than the sixth-fastest-working pitcher. League average among starters is 23.6 seconds between pitches, or roughly six seconds slower than Suter. Over the course of a 100 pitches, in other words, Brent Suter saves 10 minutes of everyone’s life — time which one can then dedicate to the consumption of a long Russian novel or other improving book.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio.
There was a time when Griffin Canning looked like a sure-fire first-round pick in this year’s draft. The UCLA ace had a dominant 2017 season, ranking sixth in the nation in total strikeouts while exhibiting promising stuff, good command, and smooth mechanics. He seemed like the type of pitcher who could fly through a farm system and quickly make a big-league impact. Three days before the draft, Baseball America predicted that Canning would be selected by the Yankees with the 16th-overall pick.
Yet when draft day came on June 12, dozens of picks passed by without his selection. Every team in the first round passed on him, as did every team in the competitive-balance round. In the latter stages of MLB Network’s draft telecast, Canning was chosen by the Angels with the 47th-overall pick. On June 9, he appeared destined for a $3,458,600 bonus — that is, the value MLB had assigned to the 16th pick. Instead, he took the $1,459,200 earmarked for the 47th selection. In a matter of days, Canning watched his expected price tag get slashed by 58%.
The cause of Canning’s draft-stock plummet was an ominous MRI that revealed a vulnerable pitching elbow and shoulder. These injury concerns are not a surprise; last month, I examined the workloads of the draft’s top college pitchers and found that the star UCLA Bruin was used very heavily. His alarming usage rates and murky MRI warrant a deeper investigation of how longtime UCLA head coach John Savage manages his pitchers. Is Canning’s case emblematic of a culture of overuse in the program? Let’s check.
No trade-deadline need has ever been clearer, has ever been more obvious, than the Nationals’ need to acquire some help in the bullpen. It’s been an annual concern, which means you could call the Nationals front office experienced, but the bullpen this year has been a disaster. They still have a massive lead in their division! A playoff entry is all but guaranteed. Yet the Nationals want to someday get beyond just making the playoffs. They’d like to win a damn series, and these last few months, they haven’t had good relievers.
Do you consider yourself a fan of our in-house statistics? The Nationals bullpen ranks last in baseball in WAR. Do you prefer to give more credit for events that have actually happened? The Nationals bullpen ranks last in baseball in RA9-WAR. If you’re bigger on storytelling statistics, the Nationals bullpen ranks 26th in baseball in WPA. To address the area, the Nats have swapped with the bullpen that ranks 27th in baseball in WPA. Here are the players:
Nationals get
Athletics get
On paper, this is a big double-get for the Nats. On paper, these were some of the better relievers available. Certainly, moving forward, Dusty Baker can feel better about his bullpen than he did yesterday or the day before. The risk is that things aren’t always as promising as they look on paper. The Nationals know that better than most teams.
Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric forefather Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game.
How are they calculated? Haphazardly, is how. An explanation of the components and formulae which produce these NERD scores is available here. All objections to the numbers here are probably justified, on account of how this entire endeavor is absurd.
Most Highly Rated Game
New York AL at Boston | 20:05 ET
Tanaka (102.0 IP, 88 xFIP-) vs. Price (53.0 IP, 104 xFIP-)
Were the season only a month or two old, the author’s haphazardly constructed algorithm would have likely identified this afternoon’s Giants-Padres games as the day’s most promising — based, that, on what appears to be that contest’s superior pitching matchup (based on 2017 performance, at least). However! As the season continues, the aforementioned algorithm weighs more heavily the seasonal leverage of the clubs involved. San Francisco and San Diego, possessing no reasonable chance of qualifying for the postseason, are playing what amounts to a well-attended exhibition game today. As for New York and Boston, however, each possesses a very reasonable chance, thus making the consequences of any one game (such as this one) much greater.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Boston Radio.
When I first spoke to Clint Frazier, he was 18 years old and playing in the rookie-level Arizona Summer League. A few months removed from being selected fifth-overall by the Cleveland Indians, he had a sky-high ceiling and a lot to learn. He also had — as I wrote in the introduction to the interview — “as much power as any player who was taken in the 2013 draft.”
The Loganville, Georgia native is now a Yankee, having gone to the Big Apple as the centerpiece of last year’s trade-deadline deal that sent Andrew Miller to Cleveland. He made his big-league debut thirteen days ago.
On Friday, I asked the colorful outfielder if he is essentially the same guy I interviewed four years ago.
“I’m a more experienced guy,” answered Frazier. “When I was younger, I was seeing beyond the fence — I was trying to hit a lot of home runs. Now it’s more of just being a hitter, trying to square up the baseball and letting the tools that I have play.”
I reminded the rookie that he’d talked about the importance of using the whole field in our earlier conversation. Read the rest of this entry »
Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric forefather Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game.
How are they calculated? Haphazardly, is how. An explanation of the components and formulae which produce these NERD scores is available here. All objections to the numbers here are probably justified, on account of how this entire endeavor is absurd.
Most Highly Rated Game
New York AL at Boston | 16:05 ET
Severino (106.2 IP, 69 xFIP-) vs. Sale (127.2 IP, 61 xFIP-)
This game features one of the best pitchers in the American League by every reasonable measure against the actual best pitcher in the American League by every reasonable measure. What else it features is a pair of clubs with encouraging but inconclusive postseason futures. This, like almost anything including bufala mozzarella, is a very promising recipe.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Boston Radio.
Each week, we publish north of 100 posts on our various blogs. With this post, we hope to highlight 10 to 15 of them. You can read more on it here. The links below are color coded — green for FanGraphs, brown for RotoGraphs, dark red for The Hardball Times and blue for Community Research.
Read the rest of this entry »
