Mariners fans in particular will want to read up on the club’s faded ace, Felix Hernandez, in this piece from Scott Miller of Bleacher Report. The veteran hurler has taken his downfall hard, but he’s still working to rediscover the magic that once made him one of the game’s very best pitchers. Of course, his lost fastball velocity means the odds are long; it’s still in full retreat despite the fact that Hernandez says his “body feels good” after dealing with injuries over the past two seasons. It’s a well-conceived and well-paced story — at once deep and, refreshingly, not unnecessarily lengthy — with some notable observations from current and former M’s personnel and others close to Hernandez.
More from the AL West:
- Athletics second baseman Jed Lowrie acknowledged today in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link) that he has had some contact with the club about staying on past the present season. The team’s interest in maintaining the relationship has been known for some time, but it’s interesting nevertheless to hear Lowrie address the matter. To this point, Lowrie says, talks haven’t moved past an initial expression of interest. But he says he likes it in Oakland and believes he fits the club well, so it certainly sounds as if the good vibes flow in both directions. No doubt that’s due in some part to the immense success both player and team have found this year. It’s a second-straight eyebrow-raising season at the plate for Lowrie, who owns a healthy .276/.360/.455 slash since the start of the 2017 campaign. He has set himself up for an interesting trip onto the open market — if nothing comes together first with the A’s.
- In yet more unwelcome health news for the Athletics, righty Trevor Cahill has gone down with a rhomboid muscle strain, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The upper-back ailment comes at an uncomfortable proximity to the postseason, though it seems as if the expectation is he won’t miss more than a single start. To be sure that things aren’t more serious, Cahill is headed in for an MRI.
- Angels southpaw Tyler Skaggs was able to work up to a 48-pitch sim game today, skipper Mike Scioscia tells reporters including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). It’s still not clear whether he’ll return to the majors this year, though that figures to be a topic of discussion in the coming days. The 27-year-old, who is rehabbing from an adductor strain, is looking to extend his personal-best 116 2/3-inning, 3.78 ERA showing on the season. Whether or not he’s able to do so, Skaggs has impressed and now seems to be one of the club’s best bets to provide quality frames in 2019 — if he can stay healthy. Skaggs will likely command a nice raise in his second-to-last trip through the arbitration process after earning $1,875,000 this year.
- It’s still not clear when Rangers prospect Willie Calhoun will get his first real crack at the big leagues. As T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com writes, Calhoun had seemed likely to see much more action in the 2018 season. Instead, after a relatively tepid season at the plate at the Triple-A level, Calhoun is seeing scattered time late this season. It seems the organization still wants to see more from the key piece of last year’s Yu Darvish swap before clearing the way. Beyond his known deficiencies in the field and on the bases, manager Jeff Banister seemingly hinted that there are some strength and conditioning steps that the youngster could take to improve.
- In other Mariners news, the club will part ways with Triple-A skipper and longtime big leaguer player Pat Listach, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times recently tweeted. That’ll put an end to a four-year run at Tacoma for the former infielder, who has at times been mentioned as a future MLB managerial candidate.
2600 IP
Time to retire
MetsYankeesRedSox, the grim reaper of MLB playing careers.
So Greinke should go ahead and hang it up as well right?
Verlander too….2700+.
Colon would have never even worn a Mets uniform.
Slight difference between Verlander and Felix you’ve got to admit
The only criteria you sighted was “2600 IP Time to retire”. hence the comments.
More than slight
Lol….grim reaper, I like that!
I said it before and I’ll say it again… Way too many miles on that arm right from a young age. Doesn’t help he doesn’t exactly keep himself in top shape…
Exactly
Skaggs and quality don’t belong in the same sentence. He should have been traded at the trade deadline, while teams were fooled by his first half of the season. Skaggs has never made it through an entire season, without landing on the DL. The includes the minors. Hopefully some sucker will over pay for him.
If Felix is in the starting rotation come opening day next year, then there is a serious issue
Oh he totally will be. Just like Mechiro will be on the 25 man roster to start the year. It’s the Mariner way man. Never moving forward….
You knew this was going to happen. I remember watching him pitch and they would leave him out there late in the games and high pitch counts. I remember 1 game a couple years ago they were up 8-0 after 7 innings over 100 pitches in April. Here he comes out to try to pitch all 9. Why up 8 runs early in season don’t stress out the arm. M’s used to make he pitch to many times late in the game and he would fade late in the season because of it.
Willie Calhoun really needs to shed weight. There’s no excuse for an athlete’s potbelly at the age of 22. He’s gained some considerable adipose pounds between his college days at Arizona in 2014
https://i.imgur.com/NSk62WT.jpg
… and Texas
https://i.imgur.com/vZTZp8M.png
Dietary modifications and a rigorous workout regime should do the trick.
As an M’s fan it makes me sad to watch the decline of Felix. They wasted his prime surrounding him with garbage and he’s probably going to go down as the greatest pitcher of all time to never pitch in a postseason (unless he goes elsewhere).
No, he is not even close to the greatest pitcher to never play in the postseason – that title easily goes to Fergie Jenkins.
I think this is more a case of Felix not staying in peak performing conditions than the Ms using him too much when they didnt need to. His stats indicate that he pitched roughly 6 2/3 innings per outting so far. Thats not unheard of. In fact all the big name pitchers I looked up (Glavin, Kuofax, Gibson and Mussina) all had equal to or higher numbers for innings pitched per start.
Felix threw the most incredible, physics defying pitch I’ve ever seen to Maicer Izturis years ago.
A class competitor, absolutely brilliant innhis prime. I’m glad I got to see him several times, even if my team came up short most of them.
Calhoun has all the tools to be an all star hitter. Hope he doesn’t waste it. It’s concerning hearing about conditioning issues.
Just shut Felix down for the season. The Mariners are once again out of contention. No reason to put any more mileage on that arm when the rest of the season is a formality. Give him the winter to rehab, let him try again next year. If 2019 is a dud, let him play out his contract and then retire.
That interview with Felix was something else. Seeing a fallen hero as a human being was enlightening.