The Astros will option righty Lance McCullers Jr. to Triple-A after his rough outing last night, Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle reported on Twitter and the team later announced. Manager A.J. Hinch says that the team is hoping to provide a break to the rookie, who may not even take the hill while he’s down, as Ortiz adds (Twitter links). McCullers has been outstanding since receiving an aggressive promotion to the big leagues at age 21, putting up 76 2/3 innings of 3.17 ERA pitching with 9.3 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9, but that line looked even better prior to yesterday’s dud, in which McCullers allowed seven hits and six earned runs while recording only one out. That’s just one game, of course, and McCullers still surely features in the team’s plans the rest of the way. But Houston does need to manage his innings, as he’s already exceeded his prior career high for a single campaign, so it could be that the club will use this as an opportunity to save some bullets. There could be down-the-line implications as well, though it’s not likely a driving consideration since the team needs a fully available staff. McCullers has only picked up 78 days of service on the year thus far, and will be held under 130 total days even if he comes back right after the minimum ten day stay on optional assignment. That makes him a somewhat marginal future Super Two candidate, with any further time away from the big leagues decreasing his odds.
- It was time for the Red Sox to nudge departing President and CEO Larry Lucchino out the door, writes Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald, who says that undertones in the recent announcement suggest that ownership decided upon a change in direction. Buckley does credit Lucchino with a huge amount of credit for Boston’s successes (on and off the field) over his tenure.
- With Lucchino heading out, there could be more changes in store for the Red Sox front office, the Herald’s Michael Silverman writes. The baseball operations department is unlikely to carry forward without at least some modifications, says Silverman, who reports that a new executive could well be placed on top of or alongside GM Ben Cherington.
- While Angels lefty C.J. Wilson will seek a second opinion on his left elbow, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports, but it seems unlikely at this point that he’ll decide against season-ending surgery. Though the team has floated the idea of a rehab plan that could get him back in action late in the year, says Gonzalez, Wilson does not seem favorably disposed toward that option after battling with bone chips all year. “In the meantime, I’m working out and staying in shape, just in case they come up with some other magical course of action,” Wilson said. “But it seems more like a Hail Mary at this point. I want to pitch — that’s why I’ve pitched this whole time.”
If McCullers spends less than 20 days on option the rest of the season, he will get the service time back. This means he could still end up with the 140 days at the end of the 2015 season and be a solid super two candidate in two years.
Chance they option him now for rest…then again to effectively shut him down for the season?
man my Angels are a pathetic mess
The McCullers situation is exactly why teams trade prospects for rentals. These young players are definitely dynamic, but on the whole they aren’t experienced enough to maintain their composure during pennant races, let alone the postseason. Sure you might occasionally find a Michael Wacha or a Yordano Ventura that pitches lights out in the postseason, but they are the exception not the rule.
There’s also a difference between trading them away and overexposing them. Not being comfortable putting them out there in a pennant race is different than trading them.
McCullers will also be hitting an innings cap as well. They could just be resting him to use into Sept
Scott Kazmir doesn’t have an “innings cap” (a ridiculous concept IMHO, but that’s another discussion) so it was smart to trade for him. These games in August count just as much as the games in late September. The most important ability of any player is availability. I’m not saying that McCullers or any other specific prospect should have been traded for a veteran. I was just saying that it is understandable why vets replace them in late season rotations.
An innings cap might be kind of ridiculous, as it doesn’t relate to pitches thrown…but a cap of some reasonableness is fairly smart.
Oh..absolutely smart for a team like Houston right now to have about 6 starters available. They got to competitiveness sooner than expected… That’s how McCullers got to the big leagues in the first place…a normal projection of them just trying for .500 has him making an appearance in June possibly and normally shut down at 150 innings or wherever they’d want him at. Nice problem to have.