Baseball Chatter Jan 29

Dee Gordon only walked four times last season for the Marlins. He also made it very clear to Mariners management that he isn’t good at taking walks. When he did make an effort to walk more, he ended up just striking out a career-high 107 times.

Here is a recent interview Gordon did with ESPN

The Nationals had eleven different starters take the mound last season A.J. Cole is looking to get the last open spot in the Nationals rotation

A.J. Cole threw the ball extremely well his last seven starts last year. His stuff was good, it up-ticked at the end of the season, and of course we love [Erick] Fedde. He’ll be healthy and have some major league time under his belt, so we feel good about where we’re at. So what we’ll be looking for is depth, just because it’s a very long season and very few seasons you go through with five starters.Nationals GM Mike Rizzo

Mariners GM Jerry DiPoto believes the Mariners rotation is good enough to enter the season “I don’t think there is another team in the American League West (besides Houston) that outpaces us in terms of starting rotation. Frankly, I’m not sure that with the exception of last year’s playoff teams — the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros — I don’t think there is another team in the American League that can say definitively that their starting rotation is better than ours.”

He also says that Marco Estrada will be given an opportunity to be the fifth starter in the rotation

Marco will be given every opportunity to make our club, We’re very bullish on what Marco’s going to be. He’s athletic. He throws strikes. He has an out pitch in his change-up. Is he a fly-ball guy who’s going to give up a couple of homers here and there? Yes. But he’s more of a neutral pitcher who’s going to get them to hit it on the ground.Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto

Josh Hader will probably start the season in the bullpen. Hader had a 2.08 ERA and struck out 68 batters through 47 ⅔ relief innings in 2017.

Jimmy Nelson is doing some light throwing and remains optimistic, but there is no set return date, however some say to expect him back in June

General manager Farhan Zaidi tells us not to expect prospect Walker Buehler to be in the starting rotation to open the 2018 season. He will likely start the season at Triple-A Oklahoma.

They Dodgers will play it safe with Buehler by limiting his workload to about 135 innings in 2018

Nolan Arenado wants to play for a team that tries to win every season.

The opportunity to play in October every year is what I want, I want a team that tries as hard as it can to make the playoffs every year.Nolan Arenado

Is Colorado that team?

I think so. I mean, obviously we are in a tough division when it comes to the Dodgers and the Giants. And the Diamondbacks are good, too. But I think the future is much brighter in Colorado than it’s been in the past. That excites me and makes me very aware of what’s going on here. There is something to be said for being with an organization for your whole career, I definitely believe in that, I admired Todd and I admired Derek Jeter; guys who stick with one team their whole career. So I have a lot of respect for what Todd did. But at the end of the day, I don’t want to be in Todd’s shoes where I only go to the playoffs twice in my career.Nolan Arenado

Share this Post

Leave a Reply