Some news and notes from around the American League West…
- While Spring Training impressions were limited due to the mid-March shutdown, the Mariners were still encouraged by the progress demonstrated by some expected key players, manager Scott Servais said this week on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link, with audio). In particular, lefty Justus Sheffield and righties Justin Dunn and Logan Gilbert looked to have taken notable strides. Sheffield, the centerpiece of the Mariners’ James Paxton return, allowed two runs on five hits and no walks with 12 punchouts in eight spring innings. Dunn, acquired alongside Jarred Kelenic in the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz blockbuster, whiffed 10 hitters in six innings while holding opponents to two runs in 6 2/3 frames. Gilbert, Seattle’s first-rounder in 2018, pitched four shutout innings with four strikeouts, no walks and one hit. The M’s are hopeful that this trio can soon ascend to the big league rotation alongside Marco Gonzales as the organization emerges from an accelerated rebuilding process. There’s clearly more to the belief that strides were made than those surface-level stats, but the trio’s showing nevertheless was heartening for Mariners fans.
- Rangers slugger Joey Gallo spoke with reporters about the dimensions of the newly constructed Globe Life Field, noting that the team’s new home park was “playing big as hell” during his batting practice session (link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). Gallo pointed out that the park is particularly deep in center field, where it’s 407 feet straightaway. That said, as Grant points out, the distance may not make a huge difference for Gallo, whose home runs to center field have averaged 434 feet in distance. GM Jon Daniels added that Gallo has been hitting with the roof closed, and opening it while hitting game balls against live pitching could change things. Still, it’d be a notable change for the Rangers to suddenly find themselves in a pitcher-friendly or even neutral park after long playing in one of the game’s most hitter-friendly stadiums. Gallo did offer positive reviews of the park’s artificial surface, calling it the “best turf I’ve ever been on” and touting its lack of “lingering side effects.” Gallo acknowledges that Rangers players were worried about the surface heading into the season, but his early experiences have allayed some of those concerns.
- The Astros are facing a potential exodus in the outfield this coming offseason, and Jake Kaplan of The Athletic notes in his latest mailbag column that they’re looking at a similar slate of departures post-2021, when Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, Carlos Correa and Lance McCullers Jr. could all hit the open market. Houston will see George Springer, Michael Brantley, Yuli Gurriel and Josh Reddick hit the market after whatever type of 2020 season we get. Given their poorly regarded farm system — not to mention the loss of draft picks in 2020-21 — the ‘Stros are faced with an increasingly precarious position. It’s of course possible that the Astros could yet work out some extensions with various members of that core, but it’s also eminently apparent that a fair bit of roster turnover can be expected in the next couple of years — with several high-profile names likely to depart.
Future in Houston doesn’t look bright.
They are just throwing meat out there for the haters.
Regarding where the Astros are at…
They still have 5+ years of Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker.
They go with players they resigned in Bregman and Altuve.
The rest of the pieces of moving parts.
Hopefully they don’t end up in the Tigers situation with a bunch of big old contracts. I’d like to see a return they could get for one of their superstars like Bregman or Altuve now though.
I’ve wondered if they’ve been tempted to blow it up. But it’s entirely possible that nobody wants the baggage that comes with them, or that GM’s don’t want to do Houston any favors. Or both. There’s a real bitterness still very much present. Easy to see how it might be difficult to get proper value for players like Bregman and Altuve. That might change in a year or two, but it will be interesting to see what happens next offseason.
There’s a real bitterness among fans, yes. Don’t confuse that with the response from baseball GMs if Alex Bregman was suddenly available.
The Astros had 3-ACEs in 2019. They already lost one. In 2021 they will lose the other 2 and probably their third best starter as well. No team can lose that without taking a huge hit. Also, quality SS and CF don’t exactly grow on trees. Those and catchers are the hardest positions to fill. The Astros may never have another CF who will produce like Springer, and they don’t have a SS prospect in their system anywhere close to Correa quality. The Astros are looking at some huge downgrades.
bunch in my opinion cheaters. So who really knows who’s good or not.
Well, if they couldn’t get it done with the full cast last year, it certainly isn’t going to get any easier with a fraction of the talent moving forward.
And these points were made before the scandal broke, they’re simply getting a little more attention now because we’re getting closer to the finish line with that first wave.
Has nothing to do with throwing meat for haters.
The talent is controlled.
Altuve
Bregman
Alvarez
The rest of the players are moving parts.
They have five years with Yordan Alvarez.
The question becomes Kyle Tucker. Does Tucker become a quality OF.
Those 4 right there can carry the lineup.
Regarding Pitching.
The Astros have 5-6 young pitchers that are controllable who could end up becoming solid SP.
You have already seen Urquidy.
So, Springer, Brantley, Verlander, Correa, and Greinke can be replaced by “moving parts”? Tucker can potentially answer one need, but Houston will have three.
The pitching is even more grim. Whitley has yet to assert himself, and even if he does, they already lost Cole and are set to lose Verlander and Greinke.
There’s no denying Houston will be facing enormous challenges trying to maintain a contending club at the level they’ve been accustomed to.
Yes, they still have 5-6 POSSIBLE quality SP. So does every other team in baseball. 90% chance none of them come anywhere close to the quality of Verlander, Cole or Grienke. Yordan Alvarez has 1 year. It was as better than he or anyone else could have ever hoped for. He is not going to continue to hit at a .313/.412 50-HR 150-,RBI per year pace. His results are going to decline/normalize. It is very unlikely Alvarez and Tucker will be able to equal the production of Springer and Correa.
Offense Ill agree but cmon starting a staff from scratch ? Ask the Angels how good that works out…
ALSO youd be a fool to think Houston wont be one of the last places Free agents want to sign anytime soon….
They do have Geronimo Pena’s son
Correa is going to be a rough choice. Matters what Pena’s son does.
Regarding Alvarez.
Alvarez is a legit player. The guy crushes bad pitching.
He is going to have a few huge seasons in his career.
How many of those teams have a pitcher who struck out 100 in 60 innings at the major league level
Josh James
How many of those teams have a pitcher who dominated a start in the WS
Urquidy
How many have a pitcher who struck out 40% of major league hitters in limited action
Abreu
How many have a pitcher who has pretty much struck our 15/9 Innings in the minor leagues
Whitley
Josh James has been a disaster to this point…promise sure…but nothing but a disaster to this point……his k/9 though does look pretty good 😉
Why you say that? Money talks and you see it every off season (in all sports). And they’ll still be a top 5 team.
So you have 1 player with a whole 84-IP in the mlb with an ERA over 4.00 and 3 prospects. 2 of them are not in the top 100, the other is #19 but had a 7.99 ERA in 60 nnings in the minors last year. That’s maybe, MAYBE, middle of the pack for upcoming pitching.
Two of them are already on the major league roster
Urquidy has started and won a WS game.
Tell me any of these prospects that have done the same
Regarding Bryan Abreu.
Don’t care where they have him. He has tremendous upside.
He is perfect for what the Astros want to do.
Hard fastball and very good 12 to 6 Curve.
There is a reason why he struck out 40% of major league players in his debut.
Abreu is a future #3 on a solid staff.
Are any of them anywhere near as good as Verlander, Cole or Grienke? If not, then the quality of the Astros rotation is on the downslope. I can see that you love your prospects, but I just don’t think they are going to be anywhere near as good as you think they are.
Look how much Verlander, Cole and Greinke cost
Astros never really paid for all them in the same year.
They have Verlander and Greinke for the next 2 years.
Astros in 2015
Kuechel
McHugh
Feldman
McCullers
Roberto Hernandez
Brought Scott Kazmir back to Houston for some time
They won 86 games
In 2017 before they traded for Verlander
Most of the year
Fiers
McHugh
Kuechel
McCullers
Charlie Morton (He was becoming Morton we seen now)
McHugh
Won 100+ games
Look how much the Astros get back with Verlander and Greinke
If the Astros can get 2 pitchers who can provide QS they can get by because they will be only paying those players at a pre arb rate or first year arb.
Astros will then have $$$$$ to spend on holes if they can get their young players to step up.
All you need is 2-3 SP
Kyle Tucker
Maybe someone like Straw or Toro.
The reason why the Astros had things going is because we adopted the Cardinal Way.
That is using our farm system
IMO that is going to continue. Not ever going to have the biggest budget in the game but if we can bring up at least 1 if not 2 players every year from the minors we are doing things correctly.
Yes they adopted the Cardinal Way…they cheated and got caught.
@LouisianaAstros you need about 30 good players to contend, you named 4. A’s have more of those than any team in the AL West.
A’s will sell their team.
They don’t have the budget to keep all those players in the next 2-3 years.
I think the astros are still the team to be in 20′, especially if Urquidy and Whitley take that step forward. Once Springer and a few other pieces leave at the end of 20′, expect the A’s to overtake them. But when the A’s lose Semien then what? I know he didn’t carry the team, but that’s a huge loss. They get worse in 20′ also. That’s sets the ground for the Rangers and Angels. Both teams won’t lose big pieces, both have money to spend (especially Texas), if those teams get some good free agents/trades, expect one of them to overtake the west in 21′. Bold prediction.
Bryan Abreu is another.
Whitley
Urquidy
Abreu
Josh James
Out of those 4 at least 2 will become solid starters if not more.
Whitley is more mental.
He looked totally different in the AFL.
He didn’t like getting demoted IMO.
Angels have little to spend till 2022 when Fat Albert comes off – Even after that it doesnt get pretty with money to spend
Then they have J up for 28 on the books 2022 and Trout Rendon for 75 so over 100 for the trio-
They are not a 200 mill team…
Where/when does the pitching ever come from ?
And ofc the fans want to resign Simba after this year for 15-20 mill per as well……… but hey at least he kinda helps the pitching?
All of you can fight it out for second place
Truthfully don’t see any team in the AL West competiting with the Astros this year.
Like what was said the A’s have some tough choices before 2022
Springer is hitting free agency at a terrible time. Big contracts will be hard to come by next offseason with the financial situation baseball and the nation is facing. Then add the cheating scandal and the timing couldn’t be worse. The Astros won’t have a problem signing free agents if the money is right, players aren’t going to turn down the best contract. And while team officials will know guys like Springer or great players, they will also know if they sign him they are risking making part of their fan base upset.
Springer could try to get a short term contract, maybe even one year back with the Astros and try again next year, but he will be a year older and has a history of injuries.
I think they sign him long term and lose Correa, but Correa has a worse injury history and will be in the best free agent SS class ever
Either way the Astros offense will be fine for a long time. The pitching will be the key, lot of upside arms but not a single one is proven
What exactly are those tough choices the A’s have to make before 2022? Whether or not to tender contracts to Olson and Chapman in their second year of arbitration-eligibility? Extend Canha and Manaea?
They have one issue at hand: Semien. Nothing else is alarming at the moment and their best prospects will all be pre-arb.
They have roughly 28 million on the books for 2022 and only 1 million in 2023, which is the buyout on Piscotty’s option.
You didn’t do your homework.
The closer you get to FA the less value a player has.
Unless Oakland has a new revenue stream you are going to see Billy Beane do what he did after 2014 pretty soon.
Not going to go into the final year with Olson and Chapman
They have Olson and Chapman through 2023 and plenty of space for extensions.
This shouldn’t be difficult to understand since I already gave you the numbers.
Also James, Urquidy, Whitley Martes, Toro,…
Not trying to be arrogant about it and hopefully the Astros continue to be blessed.
But some organizations know what they are doing with pitchers.
Astros are one.
Look at the number of pitchers that have came through the organization since 2014.
Verlander was on a decline
Cole wasn’t Gerrit Cole
Houston Kuechel hasn’t been the same since he left.
Charlie Morton is another who the Astros really worked on.
Strom and the organization itself knows what they are doing.
Seems decades ago the A*tros were accused of turning the air current up.
This trash canner team should be banned for life.
100% agreed .
I would imagine that few, if any of those guys will want to extend their contracts with the Asteriks. After the cheating scandal, the best hope for the best players on the 2017-2019 team, will be to get a new contract on a new team and “start fresh.” If they play well with another franchise, when it’s time to retire, their career body of work will look better if they got out of Houston after this scandal. My opinion only….
I’m not sure any of the hitters are on a HOF projection so they will follow the money. As long as they get paid they aren’t worried how they look at the end of their career.
Really? Jose Altuve wasn’t on a HOF projection? He’s only 29 and has over 1,500 hits. He’ll probably get to 3,000, and not even because of his longevity.
He turned 30 yesterday, FWIW.
Jose altuve will never even be considered into the hall of fame.
You’re a jackass lol
Even if it ended tomorrow, Jose Altuve’s on-field career belongs in the HOF, but he should never be allowed in.
No
Strike Four, you condemn Altuve for cheating but you’re ok with players juicing and taking PEDs, which is considered by the league to be cheating. Sit down.
Every great player I ever remember from the A’s cheated.
If any team shouldn’t open their mouth about cheating it is Oakland.
They did have Canseco and McGwire
Altuve has 3 batting titles, 2 stolen base titles, 4 times led league in hits, a MVP and a WS ring, and likely has 5 years minimum left in the tank. I would say he will be considered for the hall of fame.
Lol
Cry some damn more, will ya?! LMAO
How are things in Jackson Heights, Randy?
They’ve been better, me & the boys are going back out on tour soon, just waiting on Covid to take it’s ass back on somewhere!
I hope Globe Life Field is a pitchers park, with the 1,2,3 we have right now, it would kind of work to our advantage. And if it plays hitter friendly with the roof open, when we have Lyles or Gibson starting, we can open the roof because god knows they’ll need run support lol.
Joey Gallo said it is definitely a pitchers park, especially to dead center. He made a comment to JD he hoped they moved the fences in!
That awful pen the Rangers have sure speaks to the park being pitcher-friendly.
Though I’m pullin’ for Sheffield and Dunn to prove themselves as legitimate starters, I wonder if one or both will end up in the bullpen. Though that would disappoint some fans, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if they could still offer spot-starts, long-relief, or finish out the late innings.
M’s starting pitching is encouraging news indeed. The story is not so much in the positive results from ST games it’s how they went about their success- I’m surprised Steve Adams didn’t mention Sheffield’s use of a 2 seam FB. He looked like a much more confident pitcher- that 2 seamer helped him drastically improve his command.
Yusei Kikuchi’s also looked really good in camp, he ‘cleaned up’ his pitching motion, there’s a lot less moving parts. His cleaner and more compact delivery helped him gain 3-4 mph, his FB was up to 95,96. That’s a game changer, it brings a bigger gap in the speed between his off speed pitches. If MLB goes back to the 2018 baseball I think you’ll see a much improved YK, we should see more bite on YK’s put-out pitch: his slider. Granted, we ARE talking about being optimistic about Seattle pitchers after watching them perform in ST games and one has to keep in mind the Mariners are really, REALLY good at one thing- effing things up!!!
M’s are by far the worst team in the West.
A’s are a 100+ win team
Astros and Angels are 85-95
Rangers are 80-90
M’s could be a 100 loss team even if Kikuchi and Sheffield are decent.
Better chance of the A’s trading Semien than winning the AL West.
I guarantee you that the Mariners are not a 100 loss team.
Toycannon- haha exactly! They’ll be lucky to play 100 games this yr. Or unlucky if you think about what we Mariner fans have had to endure for 2 decades!
Thank you for saying that the Rangers are 80-90, but tbh I think the Angels are right there with us as 80-90. With their weaker pitching staff I think that the angels are right there with the rangers.
who says the angels aren’t going to add more starting pitching?
The A’s don’t have a good enough rotation to be a 100+ win team.
Think you mixed up Oakland and Houston
Strike Four, thanks for you’re insight and opinion! It was 100% relevant to the original posters well-thought out comment.
The M’s are the worst team in the AL West. It would be weird if they weren’t, since they’re the only team rebuilding.
Wheelin Jerry has done a great great great job cleaning the books
Before the virus there were even talks of Seager waiving his 3rd guaranteed year if traded,(he would prob get a say in where in this case) I bet Sea wished they moved on that quicker if there was any truth in the matter there- Braves would be a nice fit-…Post virus I dont see Seager giving tht 15 mill option up in 2022
The only thing we can say for certain in Sea this year is Dee’s not going to get his 600 pro-rated plate appearences this year to kick in another year- Once him and Seager are purged the final steps have been taken
Seager could feasibly still fit in with the 2022 team, especially if Marte progresses nicely and looks poised to debut in 2023.
I hoping he does, Stevil. He really improved in so many aspects of his game last year. Beat the shift? Check! Increased mobility and range defending the hot corner? Check! Ability to hit Southpaws? Yessir! Hit to Left Field with power? Uh-huh! Last yr he had his 2nd highest BB/PA in his career. His SeCA was the highest total in his career. (.341) Just beating out his .340 from his best season in MLB-2016. His OPS+ in the 2nd half was 125. His month of August was unreal- posting a 182 OPS+ This was his line for Aug> .323/.417/.699/1.116 OPS What!!?
What imbecile decided to re-introduce artificial turf?
Transparent aluminum?!?!
Aye, that’s the ticket laddie!
Astros are cheating scumbags!
That comment added a lot of insight and depth to this article. Always funny to see the Astros living rent free in these clowns heads 24-7.
Wow, original.
Thank you
Like Rangers park is going to have its roof open when its
100 degrees in April!!??
I’m sure Crane (Astros owner) will do some “profit taking” and
authorize a mild tank/rebuild since his wallet has been affected by the virus. I’m sure the fans will hear all kinds of excuses: “the drain on reserves”
“the pain must be felt by all”
“these unique times we live in.”
Mark my words…..
The Mariners and the Astros are a perfect example illustrating the cycle of sports. The Astros are about to lose some of their top talent that helped them win a WS and be competitive for the last few years. A lot of those players were grown from the minors. The Mariners have been bad for the most part since 2001. They now have the chance to develop young players and replace the Astros – if things go according to plan.
Before anyone comments – yes, I am aware the Astros cheated and that also contributed to their success. I am just focusing on the players and their abilities.
Astros have Altuve and Bregman locked up
Alvarez for 5 more years
Kyle Tucker
The questions are at C, 1B, SS, CF and LF
Three of those positions aren’t hard to find talent
The Astros also drafted a C last year and have Pena coming up.
There is a chance they resign Correa or George Springer.
I remember to this day arguing with a Boston RS Fan about their minor league system in January of 2005.
They had it ranked 24 or 25.
Telling them they didn’t have any talent.
All the players he mentioned
Papelbon
Lester
Brandon Moss
Pedroia
May have been a couple of others. All became decent MLB players
The Astros I believe are in a similar position.
Some have them at 15 while others in the 20’s.
But IMO there are quite a few major league players there.
Not what it was but in terms of producing major league talent.
I wouldn’t count players like Abraham Toro out.
Weird that you keep repeating what the Astros have, I think everyone here knows where they stand.
But you literally listed the three hardest positions to address: C, SS, and CF. And then there’s the pitching. No matter how great you think their coaches are, replacing 3 aces is the equivalent of Mission Impossible.
And everything is getting harder for Houston. They ticked off the entire baseball world. Nobody wants to sign with them and they no longer have the chips that they can afford to trade for MLB-ready talent.
Astros made two playoff appearances without those aces.
Verlander didn’t come until the end of 2017 and they already had the best record of baseball.
That is after 2021 on two of those.
Both positions they have minor League talent.
Wishful thinking to think the Astros are in trouble.
You’re delusional if you think they aren’t.
The Mariners were purchased and saved from moving in 1992 by Fusajiro Yamauchi of Nintendo of America. While we M’s fans are grateful for this, the downside was that Yamauchi seemed to oversee the team as strictly a corporate investment. We got the new and spectacular stadium. We got playoff appearances in “95, ’97, 2000 & 2001. Piniella, Edgar, Arod, Griffey, Randy, and many others. Averaged around 3 million fans a season for several seasons in a row. It was all good for awhile. But it seemed clear that this owner had no passion for the team. I don’t believe he ever attended a single game. Unbelievable really. Ownership and their passion to win matters. The team was sold in 2016 to a local group (for a really healthy profit) and we all hope they have the passion. For Mr. Yamauchi it was a fine investment. But seemingly that’s all the M’s were to him.
Bpax- the good old days eh? The Kid, Randy, ARod and Piniella. I was just recently looking up Griffey and ARod’s numbers in each of their seasons in Seattle- ridiculous! I forgot Alex had a 40/40 season for us, I also forgot Griffey had 3 straight years of at least 140 RBI’s! His 97’ and 98’ seasons were unreal.
I’m glad you mentioned Piniella- it’s easy to forget his brilliance. For ex: game 1 vs CWS in the 2000 ALDS, it’s the 10th inn, Mike Cameron is on 1B Edgar is up at the plate. Cammy almost gets picked off at first, instead of relaying signals Lou comes out to have a conversation w him. This rattled the pitcher who’s afraid Cammy is running on the next pitch so he pitched out which then got Edgar into a hitters count, on the next pitch Cameron is able to steal 2nd. Gar now knew he’d get a pitch to hit then hit it over the fence. Game over Ms win game 1. After the game everyone wanted to know what Piniella said to Cammy when he walked out to 1B. Lou said, I just told him “the Nasdaq was down 113 pts and Cisco was a helluva buy!” Hahaha What he actually said was “go ahead and run cuz they’re not going to pitch to Edgar right now.” Lou was brilliant at in game management and handling the media. We’ve yet to have a manager who’s been anywhere near as good as him. Good old days indeed!
At least the Astros got in one asterisk before disintegrating.
Bang, buzz, karma!