Ichiro Suzuki earned $400K in bonus money for reaching the 300-plate appearance threshold last week. As per the terms of Suzuki’s one-year, $2MM deal with the Marlins, Suzuki will earn an additional $400K for every 50 PA past 300, up to 600 plate appearances. Between Marcell Ozuna’s demotion and injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich, Suzuki has seen quite a bit more playing time than expected this season. With 332 PA after today’s action, Ichiro looks well on his way to adding at least another $800K to his 2015 salary, though he could lose some at-bats to younger outfielders once the rosters expand. Here’s more from around the league as we wrap up the weekend…
- The Marlins are considering lowering the walls and bringing in the fences at Marlins Park, team president David Samson tells Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The stadium has finished at or near the bottom of the Park Factor home run rankings since opening in 2012.
- The Reds placed Manny Parra on the DL today with bicep tendinitis in his left shoulder, the third time the southpaw has hit the DL this season. John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer (on Twitter) thought that Parra would be a good trade candidate for the Reds, but that’s now an impossibility with him on the DL until at least September 4th. Parra has been solid when healthy, posting a 3.24 ERA and 3-to-1 K/BB rate over 25 innings and pitching well against both left-handed and right-handed batters. He drew some trade interest prior to the July 31 deadline though that buzz was scuttled by an earlier DL stint.
- Joc Pederson has lost his job as the Dodgers’ everyday center fielder, manager Don Mattingly told reporters (including ESPN’s Mark Saxon). Enrique Hernandez will take over in center for the time being. Pederson enjoyed a huge start to his rookie season but has been in a protracted slump since early June, hitting just .168/.328/.298 with six homers over his last 259 PA.
- In July of this year, Mike Morse went from the Marlins to the Dodgers to the Pirates. Morse admits that he was hoping for a return to the Giants, but he’s happy with how everything turned out, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. “If there was one place at the time I would have wanted to go, it was the Giants, not knowing that I’d get an opportunity here in Pittsburgh,” said Morse, who entered today with an .821 OPS over 25 PA as a Pirate. “Now that I see everything here, it’s awesome.”
- Ian Kinsler wasn’t thrilled at the time of the deal that sent him from the Rangers to the Tigers, but he now tells Katie Strang of ESPN.com that the change of scenery worked out for the best. “It’s a good place to be. There’s no hidden agenda,” Kinsler said. “The owner is all in, the [former] general manager, Dave Dombrowski, was all in. [Current] general manager Al [Avila] is the same way. There’s no difference between behind the scenes and in your face.”
Joc needs a couple of weeks in the PCL to get his confidence back again.. I think most of this slump is in his head but who knows maybe it only took MLB pitchers a couple of months to figure out how to approach him for an easy out.. It has happened to several top prospects before him and it will happen to a bunch more after him.. I think he will make adjustments and come back strong again though..
Once Major League Pitchers figure out the weak spots in your swing , they are Merciless in exposing it, Look at Dominic Brown of the Phillies , Both have big Looping swings, Brownie like Joc have yet to change their Batting approach and just shorten their swings. I Guess it’s hard to change approach when for most of your career it got you by, Major League Pitchers are obviously are a lot more sophisticated, and almost Staffs have at least 90% of staff that throw Breaking Balls and Sliders that even Ted Williams would have trouble Hitting on a consistent basis. Just the same , I wish them BOTH luck !
Are the Marlins really going to run Ichiro out there when they could save a few bucks–and see some of the younger players?
Oh Kinsler…he still sounds sour. But nah. It’s all good, right? Good riddance, cry baby, selfish jerk.
Pederson has a .358 OBP and plays great defense, absolutely stupid decision by Mattingly.
.358 in the second half? That’d be pretty amazing with a batting average under .160 in that time span. Well…I guess looking back the post says his obp is down to .326
.358 for the full season – way more important than arbitrary sample scale cutoffs. He’s a rookie, he’s not providing negative value, you let him take his lumps and he will be better for it.
I’ll disagree in saying the crashing numbers are coming from a rookie. It’s easy to overexpose someone. This same token says let the Mariners play Zunino….and it also says Utley is an mvp candidate.
Dude , He Just needs a Rest !
I think he would have stayed in CF if he could have been a threat on the base paths. It is strange how a guy that is so athletic and has Maury Wills at his disposal can not steal a base. 20 Walks in the Month of August is 2nd to only his June which was 22 Walks. July was by far his worst month. He actually was drawing walks at his normal rate again this month like the person said above. He is being pitched around it took him the entire month of July to figure this out. .413 OBP for August is pretty good but if you aren’t going to have power numbers with it you need to be a threat on the base paths. He also cut his strikeouts down nearly in half from his bad month of July, 17 down from 31 which is basically his monthly average.
Would also add he has a .130 BAbip in August their is a good chance Joc did figure it out just the atrocious month of July and bad luck caught up with him.
If like that rebounding obp to come with a veteran. With a young player like Pedersen who might be in an actual pitch recognition funk…its possible to damage his development just to get those walks for the team.
It makes you really appreciate what Goldschmidt and Harper can do when they may only get one hittable pitch any given game, Pederson just isn’t ready to be that type of guy. He has a long ways to go as far as figuring out when to extend the strikezone and when not too. I think he is being shown a great deal of respect by pitchers though to pitch him in such a manner.
I usually keep watching guys when they continue to hit later in their rookie season. By that point the league has adjusted and they’ve had to show they can adjust. Guys like Goldschmidt and Harper are special…they also have ability to make adjustments pitch to pitch.
The best I ever saw at making in at bat adjustments was Ryne Sandberg. He could look horrible on a swing…and if a pitcher wasn’t careful on the next pitch Sandberg would yank it down the line on to Waveland.
I watched Mike Trout play half a season of A ball. He also made in at bat adjustments like no one Id seen since Sandberg. Trout looked like a minimum of Andy Van Slyke as a big leaguer. He might have actually not needed ANY minor league at bats….but the power was a bit of a surprise. All the talk then was the Mantle comps… I’m not sure he has the 50hr power…but he does have the other tools
Read Above ! His swings are too Wide , He needs a short swing approach like a Freddie Freeman , he will still hit 20 Home Runs.
George Springer slashed .231/.336/.468 and everyone acted like he was the second coming but .214/.357/.441 from a very similar type of player warrants job loss? Terrible, stupid and terrible move by LA. Give him a series off or something, but to come out and say this is just more horrendous management by Mattingly who honestly should lose his job if LAD doesn’t make the WS this year.
A new Hitting Coach , would start the Process to help.
It’s also possible the Dodgers see something else, or don’t want to expose him during a pennant race. These benchings also have a notorious way of being short lived.
Joc’s Stealing bases in Minors against Pitchers that can’t hold you on and Catchers that have Weak to Average arms and can’t throw accurately is not a measure of Stealing ability. However , Donnie would be a better Manger for the Power Teams like the Blue Jays / Yankees than the Dodgers that need to produce runs from hitting for average.
I see Mattingly subbing in Joc late in games when the Dodgers are winning. However, I also see the bull pen giving up the runs when the Dodgers are winning, so I guess it’s moot whether he’s in or out at this point. This next series in Cincinnati will indicate a lot.