The Athletics have a history of adding veteran starters to eat innings and serve as mentors within otherwise young rotations, and the team will again be looking to add such a pitcher this winter, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle writes in a look at the starting situations on both Bay Area teams. “You have to bring in the right guy in that situation. Not just any veteran or experienced guy can come in and play that role, so we’ll certainly survey the market and be opportunistic,” Oakland GM David Forst said. As for the Giants, they seem pretty set in the rotation, as they’re counting on better health and/or returns to form from Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija and Matt Moore, with Ty Blach and Chris Stratton competing for the fifth starter’s job.
Here’s more from both the AL and NL West divisions….
- Improved health, a lower arm slot and an altered slider all led to Brad Peacock’s breakout year, though as recently as this Spring Training, Peacock seemed a longshot to make the Astros roster or even stay in Major League Baseball, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle writes. “We thought we were going to Japan, honestly,” said Peacock’s wife Stephanie. Dan Straily’s emergence in 2016 made the Astros hesitant about giving up on another arm, however, and Peacock found a roster spot when Collin McHugh began the year on the DL. The rest was history — over 132 innings as a starter and a reliever, Peacock posted a 3.00 ERA, 10.98 K/9 and 2.82 K/9 rate. He’ll make his first postseason appearance today as Houston’s starter in Game 3 of the ALDS.
- Rich Hill is no stranger to reinvention, and after the curveball that fueled his late-career revival began his fail him early this season, The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh illustrates how Hill moved away from his signature pitch. Hill began to utilize his fastball to great success, what the southpaw’s heater lacks in speed (89mph), it makes up for with excellent movement. Cutting back on the curveball usage also may have helped Hill avoid the blister problems that plagued him in 2016. The end result was another strong season for the Dodgers lefty, as Hill posted a 3.32 ERA with 11.01 K/9 over 135 2/3 innings.
- The Rockies have almost $54MM in payroll coming off the books this winter in the form of Carlos Gonzalez’s salary and over $33MM in “dead money” paid to players no longer on the roster, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. Between that large sum and another $24MM being freed up by other impending free agents, Colorado has plenty of cash to spend this winter, though some of those funds could go towards re-signing some of those players, perhaps Greg Holland and Jonathan Lucroy. Saunders also wonders if the Rockies could look into extensions for Charlie Blackmon, DJ LeMahieu (free agents after 2018) or Nolan Arenado (after 2019).
First one!
Holland started well and finished poorly. Bye-bye Greg and Lucroy. You just won’t get the bang for the bucks Lucroy will want. But please do extend Arenado, Blackmon and LeMahieu. They are fine fellows and dedicated hard workers. That is the main reason for their fine batting numbers-not Coors Field.
Arenado isn’t affected by home/away. But you better look at Blackmon again. He is an average center fielder when not at Coors.
They’re most certainly affected by Coors Field. Doesn’t mean they’re not good players regardless (Blackmon and Arenado are great), but the field definitely matters.
Well, good news. The Rockies are going to be at Coors for at least 25 more years and I’m pretty sure any Blackmon extension will be shorter than that. So your point is completely irrelevant.
Blackmon won the batting title this year, that is based on average, unless you are saying that all of those hits were a result of a fast infield I don’t know what you are getting at because he still hit .279 away which isn’t bad at all
Blackmon is an excellent all around ballplayer anywhere. Go Tribe!!
coors field won the batting title not blackmon, i he wants to be thought of as good batter for his career he . He need to leave coors for his own good. No player from colorodo should ever win MVP for hitting
Cargo to Toronto!
more dead money for you
I like Lucroy also, if he doesn’t want the bank. Get a closer.
DJ is not going to get extended. Brendan Rodgers is their 2nd baseman in 2019.
Or they could trade him for pitching? Probably the easiest way to bring an impact arm to Coors.
Rodgers will be the shortstop. Story will get moved.
I agree Story will be the one that gets moved. Hopefully the Rockies get something of value for him, though I can’t imagine his value will be that much when they move him.
Blackmon and DJ are due for a raise that’s going to eat up about 10-15 million of that available money. Anyway, the Rockies should avoid Holland, his luck finally turned in the second half.