Baseball Chatter 04/24

Ivan Nova walked his first batter of the season last night. In 84.2 innings pitched since joining the Pirates, Nova has only walked four batters.

Daniel Murphy was booed at City Field last night, even before he hit a grand slam in the first inning. He was a triple shy of a cycle on Saturday and he is hitting .386 with eight home runs and 25 RBI in 22 games against the Mets since joining the Nationals in 2016.

Mets fans aren’t booing Murphy, they are booing the Mets management for not re-signing him..Poor Mets fans.

I don’t understand the booing. He took them to the World Series. That part I don’t understand. Plus, Murph didn’t do anything to cause it, didn’t say anything adverse about the Mets organization that I know of, or any of the players. He’s a gentlemanly-type warrior. I’m glad we have him.Dusty Baker

A gentlemanly-type warrior? Leave it to Dusty

Brandon Phillips is batting second now, which will hopefully lead to more RBI for Freddie Freeman, who has already hit seven home runs with only nine RBI.

Gary Sheffield is the only player since 1920 to have fewer than nine RBI and seven homers. who had eight with the Marlins in 1996.

Andrew Benintendi is the first Red Sox player to go five for five in a game since Babe Ruth.

Indians starting pitchers went 5-0 with a 1.53 ERA after five games of their six game road trip. Then Danny Salazar

 threw 35 pitches and allowed three runs n the first inning last night, and the streak was over.

Danny Salazar’s first four starts have reaped uneven results. He leads the team in strikeouts (36) and walks (11) and is tied for first with Corey Kluber with 23 hits allowed.

Kenta Maeda is not inducing ground balls like he did last year because batters are figuring him out. He gave up four home runs to the Diamondbacks on Saturday and six earned runs overall in five innings. His velocity is up on all his pitches, suggesting he is healthy. Manager Dave Roberts has hinted that he may push Maeda’s next start back.

I think the difference from Kenta, for me, is that the ball is up. I think that the idea of being stubborn down in the zone, and we are talking about the hollow of the knee, not above the knee — major league down is the hollow of the knee. If you look at the damage he’s given up, it’s above the knee. And also, missing out over the plate.Dave Roberts

I think the lefties are hitting off me more than the righties, and I think I have to change my plan. Since the results aren’t there, maybe I am rushing a little and trying to be more result-oriented rather than process-oriented.Maeda

He is half right, because while lefties are owning him, righties are too.

Maeda should be benched in all Fantasy Baseball formats for the time being. If you can’t bench him, replace him.

The Mariners designated Leonys Martin for assignment on Sunday, even though they are on the hook to pay him $4.15 million this season. He was hitting .111 with a .172 OBP with zero minor league options left. Mario Mendoza had nothing on Martin….The Pirates are interested in picking up Martin to replace Starling Marte, no club in baseball is going to take on the full $4 million salary.

Dan Vogelbach was called up to share time with Danny Valencia at first base. Valencia will be the next guy to lose his job in Seattle if he doesn’t fix his .145 average, like today. Vogelbach was batting .309, with three doubles, two home runs, 14 RBI and an .882 on-base plus slugging in 16 games at Triple-A Tacoma.

Carlos Martinez has given up five hits, six walks and four runs to the 22 batters he has faced in the first inning. His ERA in the first inning is 9.00 right now. Someone mentioned in the chat room that he needs to warm up longer. I agree.

Clayton Kershaw was crying because Tyler Anderson took to long jogging to the bullpen, and delayed him throwing the first pitch.

That was one of the more disrespectful things I have been a part of in a game, I really didn’t appreciate that. The game starts at 7:10 and has started at 7:10 here for a long time. Just go around, or finish earlier. But yeah, that wasn’t appreciated for sure.Clayton Kershaw

Stephen Strasburg is having a baby, well his wife is having the baby and he is going to be out on paternity leave for a bit.

Injury News

Ian Desmond could need “as little as three or as many as 10” rehab games in the minors before he is ready to come back, according to manager Bud Black. Might as well just leave him down there until he gets hurt again. Just sayin.

Manager Mike Scioscia claims that Cam Bedrosian should be fine after the required 10 days, but Bedrosian was dealing with groin issues back in February as well as in early March. Even though the Angels have eight pitchers on the disabled list right now, they still have options for the ninth inning. Bud Norris, Blake Parker and Jose Alvarez in that order.

David Dahl returned to the Rockies clubhouse after an MRI showed his rib is nearly healed. He will start to throw and lift weights, then hit off a tee, then take batting practice…

Rockies prospect, German Marquez, gave up two runs while striking out nine on Thursday at Triple-A Albuquerque, and has 18 strikeouts without a walk over 10 innings. He could be the guy called on to replace the injured Jon Gray in the rotation as early as Tuesday.

Team News

Rays starting pitchers averaged 4.94 innings pitched over the past 12 games. Their hitters, on the other hand, have scored 24 runs in the first inning, the most in the majors.

The Mets are 10 and 27 in their last 37 games at home against the Nationals.

The Royals still rank last in runs scored. They have nine less than the White Sox, who rank 29th. It should come as no surprise that they:

  • Rank last in OBP, .269
  • Rank last in AVG .209
  • Rank 26th in BB 48
  • Rank 29th in Hits 122

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