As the march towards the postseason continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Castillo to undergo MRI:
Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo is scheduled to undergo an MRI after suffering a left hamstring strain in yesterday’s game against the Cardinals. It’s been a relative down season for Castillo by his lofty standards, as the 31-year-old has pitched to a 3.64 ERA (102 ERA+) with a 3.93 FIP in 175 1/3 innings of work through 30 starts. Castillo has still been a key part of Seattle’s playoff hopes as he forms a rotation (alongside Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, and Bryce Miller) that is arguably the finest in the entire sport.
That excellent rotation will be key to the club keeping the last vestiges of its playoff hopes alive. At 73-71, Seattle has just a 7.7% chance (per FanGraphs) of making it into the postseason with about three weeks to go in the regular season. That precarious positioning makes even a single missed start potentially devastating for the Mariners, but a longer absence could put a dent in their chances of success in the playoffs even in the improbable event that they manage to squeak into the postseason. Righty Emerson Hancock (4.76 ERA, 5.43 FIP in nine big league starts), would likely take over Castillo’s rotation spot were the veteran to go on the injured list.
2. Graterol to return:
As noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, the Dodgers are expected to activate right-hander Brusdar Graterol from the injured list before today’s game against the Cubs. Graterol suffered a hamstring strain just over a month ago in his first appearance of the 2024 season after a season-long battle with shoulder inflammation. The club will need to make an activate roster move in order to activate Graterol.
The 26-year-old was dominant for L.A. last year with a 1.20 ERA and 3.03 FIP in 67 1/3 innings of work, and the Dodgers are surely hoping he can bring that kind of elite production to the back of their bullpen down the stretch and into the playoffs. After all, the club’s 4.35 ERA and 4.47 FIP out of the bullpen since the start of July are both below average, with the latter figure landing in the bottom six among all big league clubs. The club’s struggles to close out games have been largely solved by the deadline addition of Michael Kopech, but the return of Graterol should give the club another late-inning option alongside Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, and Daniel Hudson.
3. Will the Braves bring up Biggio?
The Braves acted quickly on the heels of news that their injury replacement for Ozzie Albies, veteran Whit Merrifield, had himself suffered a notable injury when he fouled a ball off his foot, resulting in a small fracture. While a visit with a specialist determined that Merrifield wouldn’t further aggravate the issue by finishing out the season and would be able to return to the field as soon as the pain in his foot allowed, that didn’t stop Atlanta brass from acquiring second baseman Cavan Biggio over the weekend. Though Biggio wouldn’t be eligible for the postseason, will the Braves nonetheless look to select his contract to the big league roster? Such a move would require the club to not only clear a spot on the active roster, but also make a 40-man roster move in order to accommodate Biggio.
Castillo having a “down season.” Most teams would take that in their rotation every day of the week and twice on Sunday, including his former club.
Funny, I haven’t heard what a great trade the exalted one made lately for some reason.
Clearly that trade hasn’t worked out as hoped so far. Andrew Moore sadly looks like a ‘never-will-be’ and Levi Stoudt is already gone for nothing.
Having said that, Noelvi Marte is not 23 yet. There is still time for him to develop. And Edwin Arroyo looks interesting and next year after recovery from the non-throwing shoulder injury, he could get back on track to being an interesting prospect/player.
As for Castillo, he should be looked at as a disappointment relative to expectations. He was putting up ace or near-ace type performances in Cincy almost every year while pitching half his games in a hitter friendly park. Now he pitches half his games in the pitcher friendliest park in the majors, and that park is the only thing keeping his numbers looking decent. He has an ERA over 4 on the road (all the Seattle starters have road ERA’s a run higher then their home numbers). Castillo’s ERA+ of 102 (which factors in parks) tells you he’s a league average pitcher this season, also known as a #3.
He was supposed to be their best pitcher and he really hasn’t been that guy. It’s possible of he was still pitching for the Reds, he’d be getting lit up at home the way he’s been pitching.
That trade feels like a move where both teams, on some level, might feel like they didn’t get what they thought they were getting.
Heck, it’s conceivable that if Castillo keeps trending downward, and at least one of Marte/Arroyo becomes a productive everyday player, The Reds might eventually win this trade.
As a CLE fan I can tell you Castillo would be the ace of our staff this year, so I truly appreciate what you’re saying.
Canuckleball love the name but around here we call you guys from the North Canuckleheads. That is another story though. T-Mobile being a pitcher friendly park is not necessarily true in July Aug and Sept. there isn’t a lot of Marine Air and it is warm enough the ball carry’s. That being said the Seattle needs to change their approach to hitting. The HR or K hitters need to be gone and contact hitters brought in. Those contact hitters will still he hit HRs in the summer but will get more hits in the cooler months. Always good to have a HR guy or 2 in the line up but building a team around your park is better. Plus there are some hitters who don’t have trouble hitting here. The woes of the Ms is the Ks league leading Ks leaves runners on base that kills scoring chances.
Well, not looking good for my 2024 World Series predictions of the Pirates/Padres vs. Mariners. I might get one of those correct, though
This year The Padres have that feel/aura that championship teams have, but they had that same feeling in 2022 but didn’t make it
Padres or dodgers win the NL
@sad tormented neglected mariners fan
I have no problem with being wrong and my original prediction wasn’t based on logic but just taking the two WS teams from last year and considering the Spring Training record of 2024 and making a prediction that way. I knew I wasn’t going to be correct but honestly, I think the Padres have a decent chance to win the NL championship. They have a fairly good team overall. With that said, I’m probably wrong and it will be something like Brewers or Mets.
The Padres might not make the playoffs, their WC lead has shrunk to 2 games over the Mets and Braves. Mets own the tiebreaker, so 1 essentially game with them.
Graterol is a beast, just gets injured too much….also the fact that Luis Castillo is having a down season with those stats just tells you how good of a pitcher he is…biggio? I’m a jays fan…don’t understand why anyone would sign him..he’s not good…like at all.
Femboy: It’s the name effect with Biggio, the same reason Pete Rose Jr kept getting chances well into his 30s.
I didn’t even know there was a Pete rose JR XD
But I agree, biggio is not good, and never will be…expect him to be out of the majors in about 1-2 years lol.
(blue baron)
BB
“It’s the name effect with Biggio, the same reason Pete Rose Jr kept getting chances well into his 30s”
Confirmation bias
There are a bunch of similar players who are not closely related to former MLB players who play in the majors despite not being starter quality.
YOU don’t think of those players because YOU are the one succumbing to the name effect.
DodgersBro: No. The players without famous names get one or two chances, and if they don’t produce, they’re gone.
Offspring of famous players can fail as Rose Jr did and Biggio has, and they receive many more chances.
It’s not that difficult to understand.
BB
“The players without famous names get one or two chances, and if they don’t produce, they’re gone.
…
It’s not that difficult to understand.
”
No. It’s not difficult to understand
You’re just wrong
But present your evidence
(You won’t. At best you’ll post Biggio’s batting average)
Same went for Dale Berra in PIT. In his case he actually did have some legit skills, but he got way more rope with the Pirates than if his last name was Jones.
Solaris
Dale Berra seems like a terrible example
He struggled through his first 5 seasons: -0.3 fWAR in nearly 900 PA. Basically replacement level. But then over the next two seasons he rewarded the Pirates with 4.8 fWAR in 2 full seasons. His next season was back around replacement level and then he was gone
Seems more like the Pirates stuck with him and were eventually rewarded
Which might be something to keep in mind when looking at players like Biggio
DodgersBro
Jose bautista is a good example of that
“Getting chances well into his 30’s”…True that. And MLB ain’t the only place that having the “right” last name will be a major asset. It can also help when your dad’s in the Whitehouse too.
FSF
“biggio? I’m a jays fan…don’t understand why anyone would sign him..he’s not good…like at all.”
He’s produced at about a .9 fWAR per 600 PA pace this year. That’s a bench player and one of the best 1000 players in the world easily.
DodgersBro
Yes, but even most bench bats are better than him…
Biggio is below average….below average OPS+, OPS, batting average, never has had over 100 hits in a season, barely hits homers..
He’s a TERRIBLE fielder, with an OOA of negative 1, and has a way below average range/arm
on his baseball savant page:
5 of 19 yes 19 categories are IN THE RED…that’s HORRIBLE.
Even as a bench bat, he’s horrible…and you cant (or dont) even want to throw him on defense because he’s a bum defender as well!
I rest my case.
FSF
“I rest my case”
You don’t get to just rest your case without supporting your case
“Yes, but even most bench bats are better than him…”
Citation requested
“He’s a TERRIBLE fielder, with an OOA of negative 1,”
Negative 1 is literally 1 below average. “Terrible” is a totally subjective term but literally 1 play below average wouldn’t seem to qualify by any rational definition. Even considering that he’s only played like a third of a season (from memory, I didn’t look it up right now) and prorating for that, he’d only be at -3. Again, subjective, but -3 is more “below average” or “bad” to me, than it is “terrible”.
This year has been an absolute nightmare for Cavan, but prior to this year, he had been a slightly below average hitter and a fielder who can handle most positions on the diamond at a slightly below average level.
Most teams don’t have silver sluggers or gold glovers on their benches. Biggio has been a serviceable bench piece for years now. Not a stud or even a starter, but certainly useful off the bench.
Bad and terrible are synonyms…so you could go either way, they both mean bad in one sense…
Also to note the better bench bats/players.
I don’t have a ton of names in mind, but players like Brandon belt, Kyle higashioka, maikel Garcia…ETC.
FSF
“Bad and terrible are synonyms…so you could go either way, they both mean bad in one sense…”
Both are vague and subjective
In my experience “terrible” is much worse than”bad”.
My first Google result for “terrible definition” is from the Oxford dictionary
“terrible
adjective
1.
extremely bad or serious.”
Belt was a starter for a long time. So not really an apt comparison.
I don’t see much evidence for Garcia being much better than Biggio.
Higashioka is a catcher, that’s a totally different thing
There are plenty of players like Ben Gamel, Willie Calhoun, Mike Ford, Brad Miller, Rowdy Teller, Ildemaro Vargas, Travis Jankowski, Daniel Vogelbach, etc who aren’t every day players, and are mostly worse than Biggio, who have hung on in the big leagues and who didn’t have a HoF father
DodgersBro: This is a baseball discussion thread, not an academic or courtroom setting, and you are neither moderator, professor, or judge.
Lighten up. You’re just as full of it as any of us.
BB
“You’re just as full of it as any of us.”
Nah. You’re way more full of it
Present your evidence to support your assertion. You know, the skill you should have learned in middle school.
DodgersBro: No. I owe you no explanation.
Don’t take yourself so seriously.
BB
“No. I owe you no explanation.”
That’s how reasoned discussion works. It’s not about “owing” anyone anything.
Someone makes a claim and explain their reasoning for that claim.
Otherwise it’s just some idiot spouting off whatever nonsense they want.
That’s why we’re taught to provide support for our arguments beginning in middle school, if not earlier.
But, “reason” doesn’t seem to be something that you excel at.
“I owe you no explanation”. What a joke you are
DodgersBro: You should change your username to Mr KnowItAll since you think you know everything.
But seriously, you have your entire life to be a jerk. Give yourself a break and take today off.
BB
“Mr KnowItAll since you think you know everything.”
You confused me for you
:shudders with disgust:
YOU are the one who thinks YOU know something that you don’t know
YOU don’t know if players with baseball lineages get more chances than players without them. You’ve never actually looked into it.
YOU just think YOU know because YOU think YOU know.
Biggio is one of the most fungible infielders in baseball—make that fungible PLAYERS in baseball.
Why the heck are AC Milan and New York Yankees releasing clothing collab? Is one of them planning to take over the other club?
“Take over the other club”…I imagine it’s because soccer style apparel is a $10B+ business worldwide and MLB apparel is not. Teams will always do whatever it takes to sell more jerseys and apparel.
Biggio is so bad …he should spell Cavan with a backwards K!
In order to activate Graterol the Dodgers will presumably have to DFA Nick Ramirez, who they selected just yesterday.
BSLA
Or Honeywell
Or option Grove
Or someone else to the IL
Likely he was just up to help cover the BP game
Honeywell has a nasty screwball
With another move needed tomorrow for Yamamoto.
Exactly. So this is why both Ramirez and Honeywell probably go. Unless they opt to put Kershaw on the 60-day. A heartbreaking outcome for him and fans, but quite possible.
If the Braves think Ozzie is going to be out for at least 10 days and they want to bring up Biggio in the meantime, then they could put Ozzie on the 60-day. He’s already at 50 days on the IL.
Bring up Biggio, Braves! Signed, a Dodgers fan.
Castillo’s down year has really killed my fantasy team too….his latest injury cost me winning the week this week. I know Injuries are part of the game, but they suck when they happen, and I’ve has more than my fair share to my team this year. BUMMER
Graterol should be out for the season. Thats what the initial report was. But because LA probably has the most expensive doctors too he magically healed. Best team money can buy.