Trevor Story is a rookie. He is a shortstop. Twenty-five games into the season he has out-homered Adrian Gonzalez (293 lifetime homers), Matt Holiday (278), Joey Votto (194), Ryan Zimmerman (201) and Jason Heyward (97). Combined.
Nolan Arrenado has hit twice as many home runs as . . . the Atlanta Braves.
The Major League leader in batting average and slugging percentage is Aledmys Diaz. Yes, THE Aledmys Diaz. The rookie shortstop from Cuba is hitting .423 for the Cardinals. See what warmer relations can do?
Dallas Keuchel last April: 3-0, 0.73. Dallas Keuchel this April: 2-3, 4.41.
Robinson Cano has slugged eight home runs in April. He didn't hit his eighth last year until July. The year prior his eighth home run came in August.
Mat Latos, 2015 -- 4-10, 4.95 for three teams. Mat Latos, 2016 -- 4-0, 1.84 for the White Sox.
Through July of last year, the Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley was batting .125 with one homer, two triples and three RBIs. Through April 2016 he's hitting .273 with a homer, four triples and 13 RBI. He had more triples and RBIs in yesterday's romp over the Yankees than during the entire first half last season.
Jake Arrieta (5-0, 1.00) may be for real.
Dee Gordon is suspended for 80 games for using performance enhancing drugs. He has smashed eight home runs in more than 2000 plate appearances. Keep that in mind next time you profile someone as a steroid user.
Travis Shaw is hitting .314/.385/.500 and vacuuming up grounders at third base for the Boston Red Sox. He's the guy replacing Pablo Sandoval, who hit .245/.292/.366 before injuring himself tripping over his own belly last year. Sandoval subtracted from the Sox a win against replacement last season at a cost of $17.6 million. For less than the point-six of that, Shaw has already earned Boston more than a win this season, a 7.2 WAR pace. So the actual, rather than average or theoretical replacement value of the Kung Fu Panda is minus-8 wins and $17 million lost. If you prefer the glass half full, Shaw's actual value replacing Sandoval is 8 wins + $17 million.
Mike Moustakas has scored 11 runs and knocked in 11 runs. He's singularly accounted for seven of each with home runs. Those Royals teammates haven't helped him much.
The Marlins are hitting .267 and have scored 85 runs, a little more than three per game. The Cubs are hitting a mere .255. They've tallied 136 runs, a little more than five per game. Good old batting average.
Showing posts with label Mat Latos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mat Latos. Show all posts
01 May 2016
11 February 2016
How Far the Mat-y Have Fallen
From 2010-2013, Mat Latos was a rotation stalwart for the Padres and Reds, posting a 51-35, 3.27 line, fanning nearly a batter per frame, averaging just under 200 innings and serving as ace of the staff.
Always known as a bit of a hothead, Latos verbally flipped off the Reds when they sent him to Miami for prospects. And there, his strikeout rate plummeted, ERA skyrocketed, good health evaporated and general prospects disappeared. By the end of last season, which he spent hopscotching across three Major League and two Minor League teams, the Mat Latos baseball chapter appeared closed.
This past week, with Latos slinking towards baseball oblivion, the desperate White Sox inked him to a one-year, $3 million deal in the hopes that he can recover some of the magic of his first four full seasons. In an age of $15 million qualifying offers, the relatively paltry free agent sum Latos commanded is testimony to how little teams now value him. An ace 12 months ago, he is today barely in the deck, and if his results don't improve quickly, he'll enter trivia answer status a year hence.
The familiar arc of Latos's career will play out again for someone else this year, as every year. Some reliable hurler or another will, in baseball terms, suddenly fall off the cliff, and the team confidently dependent on his performance will unexpectedly suffer in the standings. That it will occur is certain; to whom is the mystery and what makes predictions such slippery business.
Always known as a bit of a hothead, Latos verbally flipped off the Reds when they sent him to Miami for prospects. And there, his strikeout rate plummeted, ERA skyrocketed, good health evaporated and general prospects disappeared. By the end of last season, which he spent hopscotching across three Major League and two Minor League teams, the Mat Latos baseball chapter appeared closed.
This past week, with Latos slinking towards baseball oblivion, the desperate White Sox inked him to a one-year, $3 million deal in the hopes that he can recover some of the magic of his first four full seasons. In an age of $15 million qualifying offers, the relatively paltry free agent sum Latos commanded is testimony to how little teams now value him. An ace 12 months ago, he is today barely in the deck, and if his results don't improve quickly, he'll enter trivia answer status a year hence.
The familiar arc of Latos's career will play out again for someone else this year, as every year. Some reliable hurler or another will, in baseball terms, suddenly fall off the cliff, and the team confidently dependent on his performance will unexpectedly suffer in the standings. That it will occur is certain; to whom is the mystery and what makes predictions such slippery business.
08 March 2015
Reds in Black and White
What's up with the Cincinnati Reds?
During the interregnum between seasons, Billy Beane quixotically swapped future for present and present for future simultaneously, arousing furrowed brows among the cognoscenti. When the smoke cleared, though, it became more apparent what he was doing -- moving around the puzzle pieces for the best fit -- present and future.
In the Queen City, it's a bit murkier. Walt Jocketty's moves leave the Reds neither fish nor fowl, neither erecting nor bulldozing, neither contender nor rebuilder. A 76-86 contingent last season, the Rouge spent the off-season adding all of Burke Badenhop -- a middle reliever worth four WAR over his seven-year career. That will hardly serve as bulwark against the off-loading of starters Mat Latos and Alfredo Simon.
When those deals landed during the Winter meetings, it appeared Jocketty had either begun emptying the cupboards for a retrenching or cleared payroll space to acquire some badly-absent lumber. But then the flurry ended without a single flake more. What to make of a team teetering on mediocrity that jettisons 40% of its rotation -- about the only thing that worked last season -- and leaves it at that?
The answer is that four-fifths of the staff turns free agent after 2015 without any prospect of the cash-strapped club signing all of them. Jocketty is locked in on Johnny Cueto, whose 55-24, 2.48 and 17 WAR in his last 102 starts (over four seasons) argue that he's the runner-up for best pitcher in the NL. And Jocketty's keeping Mike Leake, a reliable #3, along with already-signed Homer Bailey and young flame-thrower Tony Cingrani. So he flipped injury-bitten Mat Latos and Simon, a flash-in-the-pan candidate, for a quartet of promising minor leaguers.
Fair enough, but what of the campaign ahead? The Redlegs are counting on a renaissance from their phalanx of injured stars -- Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce, plus sophomore-year improvement from Billy Hamilton and his .292 OBP. The trio of Votto, Phillips and Bruce contributed a combined win against replacement last year, less than what any one of them could be expected to deliver in 2015. In addition, either Ryan Ludwick will improve over his 112 games of wretchedness or a random replacement -- say, an armadillo -- will staff left field and add a win to Cincinnati's record.
Manager Bryan Price must also count on cornerman Todd Frazier and backstop Devin Mesoraco maintaining most of the 7.5 WAR they added in 2014 over their previous best. It wouldn't hurt either if glove-first shortstop Zack Cozart could stop getting worse with the stick. His .568 OPS last year was the exclamation point on a year-long sentence of Reds' hitting woes.
Stranger things than all the above have happened, but the betting line puts the team in the NL Central's fat middle, dueling Milwaukee and Pittsburgh for last place. Maybe then they re-sign Cueto and Leake and re-climb the hill in the future.
During the interregnum between seasons, Billy Beane quixotically swapped future for present and present for future simultaneously, arousing furrowed brows among the cognoscenti. When the smoke cleared, though, it became more apparent what he was doing -- moving around the puzzle pieces for the best fit -- present and future.
In the Queen City, it's a bit murkier. Walt Jocketty's moves leave the Reds neither fish nor fowl, neither erecting nor bulldozing, neither contender nor rebuilder. A 76-86 contingent last season, the Rouge spent the off-season adding all of Burke Badenhop -- a middle reliever worth four WAR over his seven-year career. That will hardly serve as bulwark against the off-loading of starters Mat Latos and Alfredo Simon.
When those deals landed during the Winter meetings, it appeared Jocketty had either begun emptying the cupboards for a retrenching or cleared payroll space to acquire some badly-absent lumber. But then the flurry ended without a single flake more. What to make of a team teetering on mediocrity that jettisons 40% of its rotation -- about the only thing that worked last season -- and leaves it at that?
The answer is that four-fifths of the staff turns free agent after 2015 without any prospect of the cash-strapped club signing all of them. Jocketty is locked in on Johnny Cueto, whose 55-24, 2.48 and 17 WAR in his last 102 starts (over four seasons) argue that he's the runner-up for best pitcher in the NL. And Jocketty's keeping Mike Leake, a reliable #3, along with already-signed Homer Bailey and young flame-thrower Tony Cingrani. So he flipped injury-bitten Mat Latos and Simon, a flash-in-the-pan candidate, for a quartet of promising minor leaguers.
Fair enough, but what of the campaign ahead? The Redlegs are counting on a renaissance from their phalanx of injured stars -- Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce, plus sophomore-year improvement from Billy Hamilton and his .292 OBP. The trio of Votto, Phillips and Bruce contributed a combined win against replacement last year, less than what any one of them could be expected to deliver in 2015. In addition, either Ryan Ludwick will improve over his 112 games of wretchedness or a random replacement -- say, an armadillo -- will staff left field and add a win to Cincinnati's record.
Manager Bryan Price must also count on cornerman Todd Frazier and backstop Devin Mesoraco maintaining most of the 7.5 WAR they added in 2014 over their previous best. It wouldn't hurt either if glove-first shortstop Zack Cozart could stop getting worse with the stick. His .568 OPS last year was the exclamation point on a year-long sentence of Reds' hitting woes.
Stranger things than all the above have happened, but the betting line puts the team in the NL Central's fat middle, dueling Milwaukee and Pittsburgh for last place. Maybe then they re-sign Cueto and Leake and re-climb the hill in the future.
16 December 2014
If the Astros Aren't 2015's Astros, Who Are?
After the departure of Biggio and Bagwell, and repeated attempts to climb halfway up the mountain by swapping prospects for temporary fixes, the Houston Astros finally collapsed into a vortex of eternal mediocrity. When a new owner arrived in Houston in 2011, he cleaned out the front office and found a GM who was capable of flipping veteran assets for future value.
What followed has been three years of abject baseball poverty followed by a 2014 in which the rising stars picked off the opposition 70 times. Having this off-season inked Grade A relievers Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshek to free agent deals that address what ails the Astros most, the team is now poised to exit the vortex completely and make a run at respectability, with contention not far down the road.
So if the Astros are no longer the Astros, and the Pirates sport a winning-season streak, and the Cubs are emerging from hibernation, and their South Side counterparts are signing everyone who will, who is this year's Astros?
Which team is gutting the lineup in a reverse-engineered effort to rise later by crashing today?
It can't be the Padres; you need veteran talent before you can trade them for prospects. The Rockies don't fit the bill; they've slept through all the trade talk. And as semantically satisfying as it would be for Arizona to claim the mantle of turning to ashes for a phoenix-like rise later, the Dbacks are not so inclined.
This year's Astros won 90 games two years ago and maintain the core of that squad, yet they're lowering the lifeboats this off-season. It's the Cincinnati Reds, who cashed in two of their starters -- Alfredo Simon and Mat Latos -- in deals that brought prospects but cost five wins against replacement. Both pitchers will begin getting expensive this year and reach free agency in 2016.
When a 76-win team sheds five wins it either has no plan or it's aiming to bunny-hop to contention in future years. If another shoe drops; like a trade of Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto or Johnny Cueto; that will be a sure sign. If shoes stay on feet, then the current moves will be head-scratchers. Simon and Latos are too much to sacrifice if this team wants to compete in 2015 and they didn't bring enough back to punt the year and expect an immediate return to contention.
The Reds aren't a bad team -- probably somewhere between their last two records, not good enough to compete for a title but not bad enough to tear it down. So with the Cubs ascendant and St. Louis & Pittsburgh still at fighting weight, Cincinnati management may have concluded that the timing, not to mention finances, justifies an all-out strategy rather than all-in. What's curious about it is how far the Reds need to fall to really retrench. Catcher Devin Mesoraco, Votto, Phillips and third baseman Todd Frazier comprise four-fifths of an All-Star infield. Cueto, Mike Leake, Homer Bailey and Tony Cingrani still anchor a middling rotation and the Cuban Missile, Aroldis Chapman, is a human highlight reel out of the pen.
Then there's Billy Hamilton. He's a threat to score every time he gets to first. He starts doing that more often and YouTube could blow up.
In other words, the Reds would have been an odd choice for 2015's Astros before the winter trading commenced. But if they're not the 2015 Astros now they could join the 2011 Astros in the vortex of eternal mediocrity.
What followed has been three years of abject baseball poverty followed by a 2014 in which the rising stars picked off the opposition 70 times. Having this off-season inked Grade A relievers Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshek to free agent deals that address what ails the Astros most, the team is now poised to exit the vortex completely and make a run at respectability, with contention not far down the road.
So if the Astros are no longer the Astros, and the Pirates sport a winning-season streak, and the Cubs are emerging from hibernation, and their South Side counterparts are signing everyone who will, who is this year's Astros?
Which team is gutting the lineup in a reverse-engineered effort to rise later by crashing today?
It can't be the Padres; you need veteran talent before you can trade them for prospects. The Rockies don't fit the bill; they've slept through all the trade talk. And as semantically satisfying as it would be for Arizona to claim the mantle of turning to ashes for a phoenix-like rise later, the Dbacks are not so inclined.
This year's Astros won 90 games two years ago and maintain the core of that squad, yet they're lowering the lifeboats this off-season. It's the Cincinnati Reds, who cashed in two of their starters -- Alfredo Simon and Mat Latos -- in deals that brought prospects but cost five wins against replacement. Both pitchers will begin getting expensive this year and reach free agency in 2016.
When a 76-win team sheds five wins it either has no plan or it's aiming to bunny-hop to contention in future years. If another shoe drops; like a trade of Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto or Johnny Cueto; that will be a sure sign. If shoes stay on feet, then the current moves will be head-scratchers. Simon and Latos are too much to sacrifice if this team wants to compete in 2015 and they didn't bring enough back to punt the year and expect an immediate return to contention.
The Reds aren't a bad team -- probably somewhere between their last two records, not good enough to compete for a title but not bad enough to tear it down. So with the Cubs ascendant and St. Louis & Pittsburgh still at fighting weight, Cincinnati management may have concluded that the timing, not to mention finances, justifies an all-out strategy rather than all-in. What's curious about it is how far the Reds need to fall to really retrench. Catcher Devin Mesoraco, Votto, Phillips and third baseman Todd Frazier comprise four-fifths of an All-Star infield. Cueto, Mike Leake, Homer Bailey and Tony Cingrani still anchor a middling rotation and the Cuban Missile, Aroldis Chapman, is a human highlight reel out of the pen.
Then there's Billy Hamilton. He's a threat to score every time he gets to first. He starts doing that more often and YouTube could blow up.
In other words, the Reds would have been an odd choice for 2015's Astros before the winter trading commenced. But if they're not the 2015 Astros now they could join the 2011 Astros in the vortex of eternal mediocrity.
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