We’ve had plenty of updates out of the NL East today with full posts on the Mets, Phillies, and Braves. Here’s some interrelated pitching notes from our nation’s capitol.
- Bronson Arroyo will have a real opportunity to make the Nationals roster, writes Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. Arroyo had the chance for a near-guaranteed job with the rebuilding Reds. He opted to join the contending Nationals in part because new manager Dusty Baker and others in the organization are familiar with him. Said Arroyo, “I tend to be the type of guy who’s not gonna wow you with my bullpens.” He explained that his personal brand of consistency over flashiness takes time for scouts to evaluate. Health remains a concern for the veteran. he felt pain in his elbow when rehabbing last year, although scar tissue was blamed for the discomfort. Arroyo will apparently compete with Tanner Roark for the fifth starter job.
- A future Nationals rotation member, Lucas Giolito, won’t be making the opening day rotation, writes Janes. Instead, he’ll take time this spring to familiarize himself with the habits of veterans like Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Gio Gonzalez. He’s expected to begin the season in Double-A and could be on the short list for call ups if injuries befall the starting five. His goal is to reach the majors this season, but that could be out of his hands if the starting five pitch well.
- Two minor league signings, Matt Belisle and Burke Badenhop, will also have a legitimate shot to earn a job, writes Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. Four relievers are locked into jobs – Jonathan Papelbon, Shawn Kelley, Oliver Perez, and Yusmeiro Petit. Sophomores Felipe Rivero and Trevor Gott can be optioned to the minors if they don’t outperform their veteran competition. Even if both make the bullpen, that could mean there is one spot for Badenhop or Belisle. Of course, the loser of the rotation battle – Arroyo or Roark – may also find themselves in the bullpen.
- In typical free-agent-to-be form, Strasburg tells reporters he isn’t thinking about what’s next, relays Bill Ladson of MLB.com. He’s looking to bounce back from a mixed season that included fantastic peripherals (10.96 K/9, 1.84 BB/9) and a disappointing 3.46 ERA. So long as he remains healthy, he’s in line for a possible record setting contract. Interestingly, Strasburg’s spot may eventually default to Giolito next season.
It’s kind of surprising that the nats got Badenhop and especially Belisle on minor league deals. These are the type of signings that can put a team over the top, and both could easily turn out to be this years Will Harris
Roark needs to request a trade or a release if the Nats aren’t going to let him start.
Asking for his release probably won’t work, tho I’d like to see him win a starting gig somewhere, especially if Arroyo is the competition.. It could depend a lot on when he runs out of MiLB options.
If he can’t beat out Arroyo, he doesn’t deserve to start. It’s not like they are setting the bar high.
Said Arroyo, “I tend to be the type of guy who’s not gonna wow you with my bullpens.”
The only thing that wow’s anyone about Bronson Arroyo is that over his entire career he somehow made almost 100 million dollars with a 4.53 career FIP.
The bad thing is Arroyo might have actually been worth 100 million throughout his career. Im pretty sure someone broke down how much 200 good not great innings were worth per year, and its about 10-12 million. And he was so conistent and healthy until he went to Arizona. He though nine straight seasons with 199 or more innings and at least 32 games started
That does make sense, and holy lord are these guys wildly overpaid. There are NBA superstars who never made that much….
Hot take: The US government needs to regulate MLB. They’re making too much money and are too powerful now. Soon no parent will bother with other sports because MLB players who are basically warm bodies get paid like superstars from other sports – why would you tell your athletic kid to not play the game that is a) not a contact sport and b) pays below average players like megastars?
Why on earth should the government regulate MLB because they’re making too much money? Jesus, man. The money comes from the owners and the revenues, not from taxpayers. Eventually TV deals — the current golden goose — will dry up and the salaries will decline. In the meantime, good for them. NFL players can be cut pending injury. That sucks. MLB players get huge guaranteed contracts for being the talents that they are.
Also, remember that FIP is a predictive measure not a measure of quality. If you get a lot of groundballs and throw 240 innings with a 3.29 ERA, you helped your team an immense amount. Even if you gave up 30 homers.
This is not a hot take, it’s the same old dumb argument that always makes the rounds. Government regulating private industry always works out so well.
They’re not overpaid at all. Teams bring in billions of dollars in revenue and the people who are most responsible for the revenue (the players) are well paid. Just like most other industries. Also, the NBA has the most highly compensated athletes in the world. In 2014-2015, the average NBA player earned $4.58 million, compared to the average MLB player at $4.17 million. When you consider the baseball season is twice as long as an NBA season, baseball players almost seem underpaid.
The US Government has already thrown the Constitution away and has no Constitutional authority to regulate the salaries of any business.
It is crazy you look at guys in the NHL like Jonathon Toews and Patty Kane who are the highest played players at something like 10.7 million. Those are two bonafide superstars and are a couple of the best athletes in the world. Theyre making what a 5th starter or good utility player might make
No, you are wrong, please re-read what FIP is:
fangraphs.com/library/pitching/fip/
“In one sense, using FIP is extremely easy because it’s designed to look exactly like ERA. This means that you can read and use FIP exactly like you would typically use ERA.”
So yeah, zip it.
Baseball isn’t as athletic as Basketball, those players are true athletes, Pablo Sandoval is not.
That’s what I’m saying….
How much money does the best high school teacher in the country make? The NHL doesn’t bring in nearly as much revenue as MLB does, which means that Jonathon Toews is proportionally much less valuable than Yovani Gallardo