Baseball Chatter 06/12

Do yourself a huge favor and don’t be a dick when you make trade offers in your Fantasy Baseball league. There are two easy ways to do this.

1. Pay attention to what the other team needs
2. Quantity is not the same as Quality. Three mediocre players do not add up to one great player no matter how you look at it.

Manny Machado hit off a tee and fielded some ground balls yesterday. He was available to pinch hit so he should be back in the lineup soon

Robbie Ray has 48 strikeouts and only one earned run (.24 ERA) over the last 37 innings

Andrew Miller has one earned run and a .29 ERA over the last 31 ⅓ innings.

Edwin Encarnacion is hitting .361 with a .409 on base percentage and five home runs over his last 17 games

Mike Moustakas is on pace for 44 home runs which would be a Royals season record

Ivan Nova is the first Pirates pitcher in more than 30 years to pitch at least six innings in each of his first 13 starts.

Michael Saunders is hitless in his last 15 at bats and has the worst on base percentage in the National League.

Chad Kuhl is throwing his four-seam fastball 99 mph, and started also making use of his curve

In his last two starts, he’s taken to the curveball like nobody I’ve seen in 43 years in the game.

That guy who’s gone out there the last few times with the velocity that’s real? I think we just need to let that guy go pitch. He likes pitching with emotion. He likes pitching with that fastball. I believe he can have some success with it.

To throw that curveball on the same plane as the fastball, elevated atop the strike zone, it can be a lethal weapon. We’re encouraging him to go out and pitch with his heartbeat. Don’t try to think about trying to be the guy you were last year. What you’re feeling now, go use it to your advantage.

He’s shown the ability to maintain the velocity for 90 pitches. The two-seamer, he’s still got it. Is it going to be 90 mph anymore? I don’t know. The changeup might be his ground-ball pitch. The four-seam fastball is real, and it’s live.

He can go up and in, down and away. There is some angle there. Clint Hurdle on Kuhl

Teams

The A’s are still making errors at a record pace. They have the most in baseball, with 62. They are 9-23 on the road and lost for the eighth time after getting at least ten hits. Their defense is killing them.

The Braves have grounded into the most double plays in the National League, 66.

The Astros have hit 38 bombs over the current 19 game home run streak, the longest in Astros history.

The Blue Jays have won 13 of their last 19 games, hitting homers in 33 of 38 games since May 1

Last night was the second game in Dodger Stadium history where both teams hit four home runs

John Mozeliak suggested that the Cardinals will make some big changes in the organization soon. He also mentioned that Randal Grichuk would be coming back soon with an opportunity to play every day.

Injury Updates

Taijuan Walker is getting close to returning to the D-Backs rotation, so one of Randall Delgado, Patrick Corbin or Zack Godley will move to the bullpen. I bet Godley keeps his job as a starter.

• Corbin 5-6, 5.38 ERA, 1.61 Whip
• Delgado: 4 GS, 1-1, 3.66 ERA
• Godley: 7 GS, 2-1, 2.44 ERA

Greg Bird has played in three games at Triple-A, but Girardi wants him to get more reps at the plate before he returns.

Our people have determined that he’s not ready to come back yet, I kind of look at the numbers everyday, he’s doing OK. I think he’s been off for a while and he needs some at batsGirardi on Bird

There is also no timetable for Jacoby Ellsbury to return from ‘concussion symptoms’

Ryan Braun is making progress but there is no timetable for him to even start a rehab assignment

Carlos Rodon made his second disappointing rehab start yesterday. He has been injured all season with ‘upper bicep bursitis’, which isn’t even a real thing because bursitis occurs in the elbow or the knee. It is safe to say that he has biceps tendonitis, which is a result of shoulder (rotator cuff) problems, so who knows what is going on there.