The Pirates’ trade of minor league starter Clayton Richard to the Cubs might not seem like huge news on the surface, but the move could prove to be significant if the Bucs have injuries in the rotation, Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes. With Richard out of the picture and the team’s rash of injuries, the Pirates’ organizational starting depth has been compromised. Manager Clint Hurdle is not yet terribly concerned about it, saying “I still think we are in a place where we are covered. If something were to happen here and we lost two starters, that might change. We have lost our surplus. We had great depth at one point, now our depth isn’t as deep.” Richard, 31, was a productive starter for the Padres before shoulder issues derailed his career. In both 2010 and 2012, he put up 200+ innings with a sub-4.00 ERA. He last appeared in the big leagues in 2013, struggling badly before ultimately going under the knife.
A few more notes from the game’s Central divisions…
- Just one week ago, the Tigers were locks to be buyers at this year’s trade deadline, but James Schmehl of MLive.com examines the possibility that they could become sellers in the wake of Miguel Cabrera’s injury. As Schemehl notes, the Tigers have a number of appealing trade chips in David Price, Yoenis Cespedes and Rajai Davis — each of whom is set to hit free agency at season’s end. However, Schmehl also notes that the team has made a significant investment in winning this season and may be more likely to add a pair of relievers with an eye on the postseason. Asked about the possibility of becoming a deadline seller, manager Brad Ausmus replied, “That’s not really my call, but I’d be surprised.” Given the Tigers’ win-at-all-costs approach over the past few seasons, it would be a surprise to me as well to see them as deadline sellers, though perhaps they’ll take a similar route to 2014 and deal from their big league roster as a means of strengthening the current on-field product.
- The New York Post’s Joel Sherman makes a bleak comparison for Tigers fans, writing that Justin Verlander has become Detroit’s version of CC Sabathia. Verlander is in the first year of a five-year, $140MM extension and has struggled to deliver any form of positive results over the past two seasons while dealing with injuries. He notes that GM Dave Dombrowski even talks about Verlander in the same manner that his Yankees counterpart, Brian Cashman, discusses Sabathia. Sherman quotes Dombrowski: “We don’t think you will see MVP-season Justin, but he can still be a very good pitcher and that would be really big for us. … He has just been a little inconsistent. We just need him to get more comfortable.” Verlander’s not showing quite the depleted velocity that Sabathia has, however, so perhaps there’s hope for him yet.
- The Royals should make an aggressive play to acquire the Reds’ Johnny Cueto prior to the deadline, opines ESPN’s Christina Kahrl. She feels that the Royals are already strong favorites to win the AL Central, but adding Cueto gives them the rotation depth necessary to be a force in shorter playoff series. With Cueto and perhaps a returning Kris Medlen in the fold, Kahrl notes, the Royals can be shielded from the need to start Jeremy Guthrie in a pivotal postseason contest.
Tigers will not be sellers. As the Giants proved, you only need a “Wildcard #2” ticket punched and one hot ace pitcher to win the World Series.
Price/Sanchez alone are good enough to win the World Series, IF they are on their game on September 1st.
Assuming Miggy is 100% by Sept 1st, they will have a lineup that is much better than the Giants last year. They just need some luck and health.
Especially in the AL, all the playoff teams (atm) seem to be missing an ace, Houston’s the exception.
Chris Archer is looking like an ace for TB this year.
As I do sometimes, yesterday I was running through the box scores from all of the games.. I was surprised when I got to Houston’s.. They have very few players hitting over .250 on the year.. With the constant mentioning of a need for additions to their rotation I am wondering if they are going to be this years version of the 2014 A’s.. With a lineup that is lacking and a rotation that is lacking they seem to be all smoke and mirrors this season..
Medlen, Ventura, Vargas, Liriano. Why would you have to start Guthrie anyways
oh I meant Volquez not Liriano
The Tigers will not be sellers this season, though they should. The 2015 version of the Detroit Tigers is more than just a player away from making a run, and standing pat or buying a starter/bullpen piece will not move the needle very much. This team just has too many holes to cover up from inconsistent starting pitching, a very leaky bullpen and an inconsistent RH hitting dominated lineup. Also, there is absolutely no organizational depth to cover injuries and/or poor performance. That is the price you pay for always being all in.
This trade decline season will an extreme sellers market and the Tigers front office needs to maximize their assets so as to reboot and start making a run again in 2016. If not, this team will be in the baseball wilderness for the next 5-7 years and heading toward 40 years without a world championship.
Oh, and please, no comparing the 2015 Tigers to last year’s world champions. The Giants didn’t win last year, or the other two championships, from luck or good fortune. A well run organization, good drafting, and strong organizational depth that allows a kid to come up and play well when the lights are brightest. It wasn’t a cosmic accident.
If the Tigers had the Giants luck, they would have two titles.
No way you can look at what MadBum did last year and attribute it to “a well run organization”. They won because he was incredible beyond any pitcher in the history of Baseball… way beyond what anyone could have predicted. They were the #2 Wildcard that won less than 90 games. Not some kind of “super team”.
They barely got in the playoffs and they alternated good and bad years. And they made poor decisions just like the Tigers. Tigers have actually been much more consistent (4 straight AL Central titles), but with bad luck due mostly to Miggy injuries at the worst possible time.
The 2015 Tigers have a BETTER team on paper on July 6, 2015, than the Giants did heading to the playoffs last year.
First of all, teams on paper are not worth the paper they’re written on. Second, your constant theme is luck, or as I like to call it, a cosmic accident. The Giants did not win three world championships because of luck and I promise that not one single MŁB organization believes such a thing. It’s insulting to the Giants organization and the game of baseball.
I will grant luck for a singular at bat, a particular pitch or a play in the field, but to insuate that a team can win the annual baseball tournament on luck is just silly and condescending. If Dave Dombrowski believes such witchcraft, he should be dismissed immediately.
GMs get teams to the playoffs. What happens in the playoffs is largely luck. Period.
If you polled all 30 GMs, I would not be surprised if ALL 30 agreed with that statement.
That is why guys like Delmon Young have 1.000 OPS in multiple playoff series, when their OPS in the regular season is below average. It is LUCK. There is no logical reason for it. Otherwise, all 30 teams would be fighting to get Young right now.
Luck does play a large role in the playoffs due to the small sample sizes involved. The Giants have been pretty fortunate over their WS runs.
Take a look at Oakland. 8 playoff appearances over the last 15 years, five division titles, ten seasons of 88+ wins, yet no World Series appearances and they’ve only twice made the ALCS.
Meanwhile, in that same time frame, the Giants have six playoff appearances, 4 division titles, nine seasons of 88+ wins, but they have four World Series appearances and three Championships. Luck (ie certain players getting hot or cold for a week or two) certainly plays a role in this.
Its not luck its clutch hitting.. The Giants win because when the playoffs role around they are generally functioning well as a team.. Where as superstar heavy teams like the Yankees Dodgers and Tigers tend to rely on their superstars.. Guys like A-Rod perform really well in the regular season and seem to have trouble in the post season.. In the rest of the world that is called cracking under pressure not luck.. Luck has as much place in baseball as Scioscia’s “feel”..
They won because Kansas City matched up historically bad against a top lefty who could be run out in key games on short rest.
The Tigers pretty much played the first half without Nathan,Verlander, VMart, Avila and Rondon. Let’s see how they do with 4 of them back before we write off the season.
It’ll be an interesting few weeks for the Tigers. They’re currently 6.0 games behind the Royals for the division, and 1.5 games behind the second wild card slot. Neither is insurmountable. Even with the loss of their best player, the talk of being a seller is premature.
However, of the Tigers 22 games between now and the deadline, 11 of them are against teams currently ahead of them in the Wild Card race. If the team falters early on without Cabrera, then there’s the potential they could be by 7 or 8 games back by the end of July with teams like Baltimore, Minnesota, Anaheim, Toronto, Tampa and even Texas all ahead of them. That’d be a big deficit to overcome and a lot of teams to need to leap frog. At that point, a sell would seem more likely.
Talks of selling seem to come from how they are maybe viewed beyond this season.
Excellent breakdown of the current situation. This is a complicated mixing of goals even if they do win at a .600+clip in these 22 games. To be buyers they are saying we feel that a World Series title is possible or that we must stay in the hunt to keep the fans and $$$ rolling in. A big piece of the puzzle is the new TV contract coming up and the need to keep eyeballs on the tube.
If its a title they chase, they will need to get at least one #1.5 or #2 SP to secure a playoff spot and then compete in the playoffs. They can’t rely on Simon or hope JV will return to 2014 form this year. Also at least one solid, reliable bullpen piece is needed. If they are buyers, the moves made will answer the question regarding a title.
Another issue is the rumor of clubhouse problems with players and their rookie manager. Many feel that if upper management wants to make a serious run at quality FA like Price, Davis, Cesepedes, and Soria, a change in manager needed.
The Tigers’ shortcoming this year is due a weak back end of the rotation. They will be fine if they trade for a number 4 starter. No way they sell when they are just a game or two out of the wild card spot with that core.