As the 2023 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Harrison to make Giants debut:
The Giants are poised to promote left-handed pitching prospect Kyle Harrison today prior to his planned start against the Phillies on the road. Harrison, 22, was a third-round pick in the 2020 draft by the Giants and came into the 2023 campaign as a consensus top-40 prospect in baseball, pushing as high as the top-20 on some lists. While Harrison’s run-prevention numbers at Triple-A this year haven’t been anything to write home about (4.52 ERA in 67 2/3 innings of work), between the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League and Harrison’s fantastic 35.6% strikeout rate at the level, it’s easy to see why San Francisco thinks it’s time to give the youngster a shot. Harrison is not yet on the 40-man roster, meaning the club will have to make a corresponding move to clear space for him.
2. Houck to return:
Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck is poised to return from the injured list for tonight’s game against the Astros in Houston, as noted by Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. It will be Houck’s first return to a big league mound after being struck in the face by a comebacker, resulting in facial fractures that ultimately required surgery. Houck, 27, has had a difficult season to this point with a 5.05 ERA across 13 starts, though a 4.21 FIP, 4.16 SIERA, and 3.82 xFIP all could indicate better days on the horizon. Houck’s return likely spells the end of fellow righty Nick Pivetta’s return to the rotation, with the 30-year-old hurler presumably heading back into the relief role he dominated in earlier this summer.
3. MLBTR Chat Today:
September is fast approaching, and the league’s 30 clubs are all pushing full steam ahead into the stretch run. Although we’re nearly into the season’s final month, just over half the league still has 10% or better odds at a playoff spot, per Fangraphs. If you’re curious how your team will hold up over the season’s final months, what their plan for the future is, or have a question about one of the many deals that went down at the deadline last week, MLBTR’s Steve Adams is hosting a live chat with readers at 1pm CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Harrison walks a lot of hitters. 4.8 BB9 career in the minors (walks per 9 innings pitched) and 6.6 BB9 in AAA this year alone. It is something to follow as his career develops.
That’s a lot of walks. He’s going to need to have a high groundball percentage to mitigate all that traffic on the bases.
Big Brain Bloom should send Whitlock to the Bullpen, but he won’t
Unfriendly reminder that Corey Kluber is making $3 mil more than Michael Wacha this year. Wacha won his 10th game last night.
Joely Rodriguez is so hurt/godawful, his agent negotiated a days spent on the active roster escalator bonus. F***ing genius
Bloom has to go
I believe Garrett Whitlock is in the bullpen to stay. That experiment I think is over for good. He just can’t handle starting and I think Alex Cora knows it.
There’s a reason wacha couldn’t get more in FA. Has to do with the fact 3 of the last 4 years he’s spent over a month on the IL with recurring shoulder issues. Whitlock is already in the bullpen
Wacha has an unusual contract, but it’s fairly clear that SD was only willing to take a certain amount of risk with him. Wacha essentially has a three year $18.5M total guarantee after this year, but if he stays healthy and pitches this well, SD could keep by exercising a two year $32M+ player option for $6M in 2026. $38M is a lot of money for a guy who is likely to pitch just 120-something innings for you.
Wacha gets paid below market rate if he’s worth more than market rate. If he’s as bad as Kluber was (I say “was” because he’s been so bad, the Sox let him fake an injury to stay off of the mound so they could save face), then he’s $3 mil less expensive
Point is, he’s not, and I say now like I said in December that running it back with Wacha > hoping Kluber keeps it under 5.00 for 150 innings
BizzyDat got a bat in the bell tower. Wacha was a multi-year more expensive contract than Kluber.
Whitlock is in the bullpen (you would know that if you were a fan and not a troll).
With Sale, Paxton, Whitlock all coming off injuries, Bloom did not want to sign Wacha (injury history) to a multi-year contract. IMO, I am glad he did not re-sign Wacha.
If Harrison’s ceiling was Blake Snell (good but little inconsistent and last 5ip) would you take it?
Snell won a Cy Young and could win another this season, so of course you would take that
lol no chance Snell wins the Cy Young this year
>lol no chance
> Snell wins the Cy Young this year
No chance, eh? Snell is 3rd (and almost tied for 1st) in WAR for pitchers.
WAR for Pitchers
1. Webb • SFG 4.0
2. Gallen • ARI 3.9
3. Snell • SDP 3.9
4. Kershaw • LAD 3.2
5. Senga • NYM 3.2
Wheeler • PHI 3.2
7. Steele • CHC 3.1
8. Strider • ATL 3.1
9. Kelly • ARI 3.1
10. Abbott • CIN 2.9
I guess you can use whichever WAR (bWAR) here fits your narrative, but looking at fWAR, Snell is ninth. HIs innings count is also behind some of the other contenders (33 IP behind Webb for example) and his 5.2 BB/9 is atrocious. I know bWAR doesn’t use projections/FIP for their calculation, so that explains why Snell ranks higher there.
> I guess you can use whichever …
> fits your narrative
vtadave,
My point was simply that he could win, just like fred-3 posted. Even if he is 9th in fWAR. I’m not writing to a narrative. I don’t like or dislike Snell. I’m not on his committee to be reelected Cy Young award winner. If he has a good end of the season and others falter, there you go. Could. Not should or I want.
Kapler will have Harrison on like a 50 pitch limit.
Farhan’s ego will likely cause the Giants a playoff spot. The Giants needed another starter or 2 at the deadline, but he didn’t want to do that because that would be admitting he made a mistake in the signings of Manaea and Stripling this winter. So now they have just 2 competent (and Cobb has been bad just as bad as Striping and Manaea since the 2nd half). Once their luck runs out in these opener games they’ve been winning, this team could be under .500.
Also, this team can’t hit either.
Sox need a boost to the rotation, hopefully Houck can give them that.
Wander now on Trevor Bauer Purgatory list. With MaClanahan and Wander now done Rays take a big hit.
Wander is on administrative leave because the Dominican Law Enforcement is still investigating. Not really comparable yet. Now if Wander is still on leave or suspended after the legal investigation is complete and if he is not found guilty of anything you will then have a very valid point.
An arbitrator heard both sides and ruled that Bauer deserved the longest suspension in MLB. Bauer never provided a defense. Seems his only reply has been that the penalty was more than the crime required. I wouldn’t put that in the “not found guilty” column.
Was not speaking of Bauer, He was not charged with a crime but did admit to the incident which was still a violation of his personal conduct clause according to the Arbitrator. I was speaking of Franco and if he was suspended even if not found guilty/not charged/wins a civil suit., then @Unclemike1526 could compare the cases,. Still early in the criminal investigation to try to compare the treatment of both players.
Eh to me this is a way of stashing him on an obligatory list (because of the union) and this means that they haven’t found irrefutable evidence yet. So the investigation continues.
I wish this site would allow commenting on all articles. People disagree, without talking about things how do we ever get anywhere??
They used to but things got out of control so can’t trust some of the people making comments here. As with any restrictions on people, a few ruin it for the rest.
a lot of the time (especially w/heavy topics) things veer off-track..It either turns political, aggressive (when in disagreement) and personal..so, in return, we won’t get anywhere and we all become that dog that tries to chase it’s tail..
I didn’t know that there were topics that prevented comment. I haven’t come across one
DBH -Typically its topics related to legal wrongdoing and some sort of investigation.
@GA. Thanks for the info. Those types of topics generally hold very little interest to me, so I never noticed.
Tim Dierkes, You need to work on your sure site formatting. Ads are covering content on mobile.
Why doesn’t this show up in the Giants feed?
It is a conspiracy to annoy Giants fans 🙂
Doesn’t show on the RSox feed either.
New topics don’t always show right away in team feeds. Sometimes take an hour or so