Gavin Floyd made his Braves debut last night and halted the team’s seven-game losing streak with seven brilliant innings, allowing just a run on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts against the Cardinals. That victory gave Atlanta a half-game lead over the Nationals in a surprisingly competitive NL East. Only 2.5 games separate the Braves from the last-place Phillies in the standings. Here’s the latest from one of baseball’s most competitive divisions…
- The New York Post’s Ken Davidoff writes that for all of the successes that Sandy Alderson has had since taking over as GM of the Mets in 2011 — including the trades of Carlos Beltran and R.A. Dickey — his inability to craft a serviceable bullpen tarnishes his reputation. As Davidoff points out, 19 different pitchers have earned a save for the Mets since 2011. He goes on to opine that if the Mets were ever to aggressively pursue veteran relief help on the trade market, this is the year to do it.
- The Mets are discussing when to promote prospects Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom, assistant GM John Ricco told WOR 710 AM (via Metsblog’s Matthew Cerrone). Ricco said he and VP Paul DePodesta are in agreement that they want to wait until the pitchers have nothing left to prove in the minors. Said Ricco: “…rushing one of those guys and putting on pressure and creating a situation where they’re the savior is not something we’re looking to do.”
- Corey Seidman of CSNPhilly.com examines Cole Hamels’ performance since signing his six-year, $144MM extension with the Phillies and comes to the conclusion that Hamels hasn’t lived up to the expectations set forth by that deal yet. Hamels has the 44th-best ERA (3.56) since the time his extension was signed, despite being the game’s sixth-highest paid pitcher, he adds. Seidman notes that it’s understandable for the Phillies to have paid Hamels so much, given his status as one of their best homegrown talents ever, but he wonders if the team should have traded him then attempted to re-sign him the following winter.
- Following up on his colleague Adam Kilgore’s examination of Ross Detwiler’s curious usage last night, James Wagner of the Washington Post spoke with manager Matt Williams yesterday about the left-hander’s usage. “We’d like to get him in there more. We’ll make plans to do that. [Monday] is an example of we gotta hold him, hold him because we didn’t know how it was going to go today. Turned out that Blake [Treinen] pitched well and we had to get him an inning today and it just didn’t work out. He’ll get back in there.” Wagner also looks at how Treinen has been handled curiously in the minor leagues; Treinen had pitched just one inning in a week’s time prior to Monday’s start.
