Athletics lefty Felix Doubront has suffered “fibrous tearing” in his pitching elbow, trainer Nick Paparesta tells Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area (Twitter links). A second opinion will still be needed before a course of treatment is determined, but a surgical option seems to be on the table. The 28-year-old southpaw had been lined up for fifth-starter duties, at least to open the year.
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- Angels left-hander C.J. Wilson is still waiting to be cleared to begin ramping up, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. Wilson, 35, is building up strength in his balky shoulder, and says he expects to need a full month to get ready once he’s allowed to begin a throwing program. Los Angeles will need everything it can get from the veteran, but it remains unclear at present how long it will take for him to make it back to the big league rotation.
- Luke Gregerson will open the year as the Astros’ closer, manager A.J. Hinch announced and Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports. The 31-year-old will reprise his 9th-inning role of a year ago, beating out recent addition Ken Giles for the job, though certainly the young flamethrower will be knocking at the door if a need arises. For the time being, said Hinch, Giles will “pitch in a couple different roles, depending on what the highest leverage situation of the game would be” — including, perhaps, some save chances. Even the analytically-inclined Astros apparently believe that roles matter, though; as Hinch explained: “for the purposes of getting guys prepared, I think it’s important that they know sort of generally how they’re going to be used.”
- Meanwhile, the Astros don’t have interest in now-free agent first baseman James Loney, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports on Twitter. Houston views that position as “set” with Spring Training in the books, he adds. Tyler White figures to get the first look, though players such as Marwin Gonzalez, Evan Gattis, Jon Singleton, and rising prospect A.J. Reed could factor into the picture as well.
A few thoughts on Giles;
A very expensive acquisition for a set up man
Hinch will be able to deploy Giles in high leverage situations without concern of using his closer in non save situations.
The decision saves the Astros millions in the long run
Davis and Betances are proving the best pitcher in your bullpen should not be the closer any more.
Agree
Really? Davis is KC’s closer.
Stros have 5yrs of control, so there is no valued finalized in this acquisition as of yet. He could become the closer by May, who knows?
5 prospects for a set up man would be a lot, that’s without considering how highly some were thought of.
As for the savings…saves pay in arbitration,
And if Gregerson continues to prove capable I really like the move
Think of it more like: “5 prospects for a shutdown reliever who can pitch in any inning”.
yup…. the trade looks absolutely horrible for the Astros today.
Stros should do what the A’s did with Doolittle and sign him to a deal that buys out some arby years, like a 5/30 deal so it won’t matter if he closes and saves 50 games, which would normally skyrocket his salary into the $10M a year range.
Maybe it’s just me, but “fibrous tearing” in the elbow doesn’t sound so good.
Setup men have more value to a team than a closer. I know it is the fashionable thing to want to believe closers are important, but, frankly, it just isn’t true. Setup men pitch in higher leverage spots, generate more value for the team, and are far more important. Your best reliever should be your setup man. Closers are a fantasy idea, not a real life thing.
That’s not true, but what is true is that a good reliever is a good reliever, title be damned.
Can’t wait til we get over this and stop giving titles to relievers, they’re such a fickle lot it’s rather silly to give them specific roles. If a reliever holds LH hitters to a sub .500 OPS and there’s 3 lefties due up, then that pitcher should pitch to them no matter what inning it is. Relievers are matchup guys, and we have that idea already in place with LOOGYs and whatnot, but we have this entirely arbitrary “closer/setup” dichotomy that just doesn’t make sense in terms of pitcher management. If a reliever is good, then you you use him in the most important leverage situation. If you need to end the game, bring in the guy who will get the outs based on matchups, it’s that simple.
Saves, along with pitcher win-loss record and holds, should also be done away with entirely. Quality Start % for starters and Clean Inning % for relievers. All ya need!
Quote Brian Kinney much?? I can see the REAL baseball people dislike saber know it Alls.
When I look at last year’s numbers, I tend to see that the pitcher used in the highest leverage situations was the CLOSER. (Bill James Handbook).
No doubt in my mind that their is a HUGE difference between gettin 3 outs in the 8th as opposed to gettin 3 outs to close the game.
Bigger difference coming in with guys on the bases instead of them being empty.