A few pitching notes from around the majors…
- Rangers right-hander Tim Lincecum’s ongoing blister issues forced him to postpone a bullpen session Sunday, according to TR Sullivan of MLB.com. Given that he didn’t pitch at all last season and then went without a contract until March 7, Lincecum was already behind schedule before the blister on his right middle finger cropped up last month. It’s now unclear whether he’ll be ready by the beginning of May, the Rangers’ target for him entering the season.
- Pirates righty Joe Musgrove is eligible to come off the 10-day disabled list Monday, but that’s not going to happen, manager Clint Hurdle told Jerry Dipaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and other reporters Sunday. Musgrove, who’s dealing with a muscle strain in his right shoulder, will first need to make multiple rehab starts, per Hurdle. Right now, though, he’s in a “no-throw” period, the skipper revealed. Musgrove, 25, was arguably the headliner in the Pirates’ return for righty Gerrit Cole, whom they traded to the Astros over the winter. Cole’s thriving in Houston, yet the 7-2 Pirates have held their own without him thus far.
- The Mets will recall righty Zack Wheeler for a start in Miami this upcoming Wednesday, Mike Puma of the New York Post was among those to report on Twitter. It’ll be the first time the ballyhooed quintet of Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom Steven Matz, Matt Harvey and Wheeler have taken consecutive turns through New York’s rotation, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com notes. Wheeler, whose career fell off track after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2015, opened the year in the minors and tossed five innings of six-strikeout, one-run ball in his initial Triple-A start of 2018 on Friday. He’s likely to be a short-term fill-in for the Mets, who are awaiting the season debut of Jason Vargas. The southpaw underwent surgery on his right hand last month.
Wheeler needs a change. Let’s someone else take his 10 walks a game.
Not sure how the Mets pitchers are called homegrown as wheeler and syndergaard were acquired from other organizations not drafted by the Mets
I was thinking the same thing. Noah was Toronto and Wheeler was SF
I think he’s using the term due to all of them going through the Mets farm system at some point.
Homegrown doesn’t mean home-born.
Yes, it does. Hone grown means the player has only spent time in the organization. Wheeler spent time in the s an Francisco minors system and syndergaard with the jays. Not even close to homegrown.
Wheeler made 38 minor league starts in the mets organization and Syndergaard
Made 50 before appearing in a major league game. They at the very least finished off the development. It’s not like they were prospects who were sent over and made a handful of starts before hitting the ML team.
Come on Dodgethis… calm down. You both made stupid comments. No reason to jump down Reflect’s throat.
Who cares?
You all need to fill your day with other things.
Musgrove needs to come back as a reliever. The 6th inning has been a complete train wreck so far and Musgrove excelled in the pen last year. Brault should continue in the rotation with Kingham and others in the wings.
Agree bro. The bucs need bullpen help, and Musgrove have the skills to do it there.
Brault can also move back to the pen. He also has the skills to be that middle guy that can give you more than an inning. Either would be a fine upgrade.
I’d much rather have him in the pen, going off by splits. (1.26 ERA, .813 WHIP, 9.3 K/9 in 35.2 relief innings).
So… because Chris Sale and David Price put up good number in the pen when they first came up, you wouldnt have moved them to the rotation? Many TOR starters did not perform great their first year in the majors. Give it time. Has Ray Searge lost his touch?
Ray hasn’t turned anyone around the last couple of years like he had previously, but most of his success came with vets not young guys
Comparing Sale and Price to Musgrove? X-D
Musgrove has struggled as a starter. Pirates starters have been fine so far.
Musgrove excelled as a reliever. Pirates relievers have struggled.
What clearer case for a swingman is there?
When Sale came up the White Sox were fighting for a playoff spot in 2010 and they had a veteran staff in 2011 from what I remember. Pirates are in a different situation and can allow young arms to get their starting experience now rather than later.
I disagree he could be very valuable in the pen but I feel like he has the potential to be a solid number three starter in the long run
Pen for now, and if rotation falls of badly move him in?
Let the results dictate the plan. I’d be fine letting Brault make a few starts while Musgrove rehabs BUT if Musgrove moves to the pen full time, they have to give Tyler Glasnow a chance to start (assuming his new found success continues).
His ceiling is so high that him panning would make the Pirates legit playoff contenders.
I agree, but whatever they decide, they should not rush Musgrove (or any of their young hurlers). They have enough possibly interchangeable parts to let the results dictate what they do. I’m not totally against Musgrove starting just because he wasn’t successful starting in Houston; I just want the best players in the positions where they are the most successful.
Josh Smoker has been brutal so far. Not sure how much rope the organization is gonna give him, but it might be time for him to take a trip to the DL when Musgrove returns.
Really would love to see the Mets give Wheeler a shot as a reliever. I think he has the potential to be a dominant late inning reliever, and would be more productive for a team out of the pen over being a starter.
Might as well give it a shot. Wheeler has never been very good nor able to stay healthy very long as a starter. Perhaps going all out for shorter stints would work for him. Like to see him have something of a career.
He was good and healthy when he first came up. His first two seasons were great. Hard to say what he can do at this point but I doubt you see gsellman,Lugo, and Wheeler all in the pen. I imagine they want to keep one of them stretched out.
Yeah – imagine Lugo, Gsellman and Wheeler able to give you 2 or 3 lockdown innings, with Blevins, Ramos and Familia waiting…
Yeah, I imagine that as an 81 win team at best.
You obviously haven’t been watching the Mets this year and seeing how well lugo and gsellman have been doing in the pen. Keep your negative comments to your own team.
Or else what?
It will all hinge on hitting and bullpen. If they get both they can get into the dance. If not…81 seems fair.
This is intriguing to me, just imagining Wheeler going 1-2 innings and presumably letting his FB Velo even higher!? Not to mention he could stick to 2-3 pitches and possibly be a filthy reliever.
What we dont know, and the Mets likely do, is whether his arm and shoulder require the rest of a starter, or whether the more frequent appearances out of the pen might be bad for his health.
If Kerry Wood was able to transition to the bullpen and stay healthy, it would be obvious that the bullpen workload is less taxing than starting..
Wheeler reminds me of Jason Isringhausen. Both of them were hyped, soon to be members of the next wave of Mets starters. Fellow Generation K members Bill Pulsipher and Paul WIlson suffered from numerous injuries during their Mets tenures as well.
Isringhausen still had injuries after he transitioned to the bullpen permanently, in Oakland, but he also managed several injury free seasons, while excelling in the new role. As I believe Wheeler will as well.
Agreed. I think the potential is still there, and would like to see the Mets try to get the most out of him before he winds up on another team like Andrew Miller and the Marlins missing out. Wheeler has the stuff and works well against a lineup the first time through. It’s the second and third time through the order he begins to struggle, and by the fifth inning, he’s at 100+ pitches.
Musgrove or no Musgrove, the return for Cole (who was never going to resign here) already looks pretty good.
Michael Feliz had a bad first game on a cold day in Detroit but has had 4 scoreless outings since and looks like a solid 7th inning guy with great stuff.
Colin Moran is hitting .345 with 1 HR and 8 RBI in 8 games and has played decent third base.
Rooting hard for Moran. He would be the Stros starting 3B if it weren’t for Bregman, not that I’m disappointed lol. He made a change to his swing last year and has taken off. He is going to be the headliner imo.
Does it really? You’ve got Moran. Have you seen G Cole’s first two starts? Pretty good
He wasnt dissing Cole. He just said he likes what the Pirates got back.
A) Gerrit Cole was never going to resign here.
B) When was the last time Gerrit Cole pitched that way here? He was an immature baby who pouted, whined and melted down at the first sign of trouble. He’s too embarrassed to act that way in a clubhouse full of rings. Good for him for growing up, but it wouldn’t have happened here.
C) How’s Clint Frazier doing?
I’m fine with the return. Thanks.
Spot on as always!
All correct. I liked Cole’s feistiness when he was pitching well, but it grated on me big time when he was giving up homer after homer. I wish him nothing but success in Houston but I won’t miss him even if he wins a Cy Young: it was time for him to move on. Moran is the key to this whole deal IMO, and so far so good. As long as Moran is more Garret Jones than Brant Brown, the deal is looking fine.
Yikes. Easy killer. I’m a Moran fan but they’ll need a solid contribution from Musgrove for this deal to look good. It’s week two so there’s really nothing to draw on right now regardless.
Verlander is the perfect mentor for Cole.
I remember watching Wheeler refuse to sign autographs at the Mets minor league camp years ago. Been great seeing his career tank ever since. Karma.
Really? When I saw the Mets in Minneapolis at Target field a few years ago Wheeler went out of his way to sign literally hundreds of autographs and took pictures with every single fan who wanted one. Maybe he learned it would be in his best interest to be bit more accommodating?
One would hope so. This was after he received his first big league invite. I remember some big attorney from NY who was a huge Mets fan that was trying like hell to get a ball signed by Wheeler for his elderly father. After Zach snubbed everyone all day and acted the fool, the attorney finally launched his plea that it was for his father, and Zach grudgingly signed it. Sadly, I see this more and more from young players these days. I just shake my head.
So how much did that attorney get for the signed ball on ebay?
Exactly!
A lot more than he’d get now?
You are judging a person for not signing a ball on a single occasion…you are the one that sounds childish and petty, not Wheeler. If they start signing, everyone wants an autograph and then he has to turn people down. He might have an appointment, bus ride to the next minor league city, team dinner, or a plethora of other obligations that leads to him not wanting to sign on a particular day. Grow up and don’t make a character judgement out of it.
I base this on multiple exposures, citing one instance in particular. There were maybe 6 people tops, and he denied them all throughout the day when his only obligation was to sit with his fellas pitchers who had the day of and watch the minor league games on the backfields. Every other player was obliging and courteous. He had no place to be, there was no crowd, in fact every one of your possible reasons is invalid. I question if you even read what I wrote. There was no bus ride, it was at the complex during minor league spring training. You seem the childish and igonorant one, drawing conclusions without facts.
meh, a player has the right to not sign autographs if he doesn’t want to. Doesn’t really say much about them as people.
Semantics. It can actually say a lot about your general character and how you treat others. Not absolute, but def a good indicator.
I can’t wait to see Mitch Keller come up for the Bucs…When he’s ready!
Exactly. Hopefully the Bucs have learned some lessons about which prospects to build around and about letting those guys take their own sweet time to develop.
After last season the last thing the Mets need to do is get rid of pitching right now be patient fans