Angels To Sign Chris Carter
The Angels have agreed to a minor league deal with first baseman Chris Carter, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. He’ll rake in $1.75MM if he makes the Angels’ roster and could earn up to $600K in incentives, Jon Heyman of FanRag reports.
The 31-year-old Carter could provide the Angels a replacement for fellow first baseman C.J. Cron, whom they traded to the Rays on Saturday. But Carter will have to spend the next several weeks rebuilding his stock in camp after he fared horribly in the majors with the Yankees last season. The powerful Carter hit just .201/.284/.370 with eight home runs and a .168 ISO over 208 appearances with New York before the club jettisoned him. Carter then caught on with Oakland on a minor league pact, but he didn’t return to the majors with the A’s. He instead took 154 PAs at the Triple-A level and batted .252/.357/.511.
Of course, the righty-hitting Carter isn’t far removed from leading the National League in home runs (41) as a Brewer in 2016, so he could emerge as a quality buy-low pickup for the Angels. While Carter has always been prone to strikeouts (he owns a career 33.3 percent K rate) and low batting averages, his .217/.312/.456 line across 2,853 big league PAs has still been 9 percent better than average, according to FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric (Cron has been 7 percent above in 1,475 PAs). Carter’s power (.239 ISO, four seasons with at least 24 HRs) and patience (11.5 percent walk rate) are to thank for that.
In the event Carter does find his way to Anaheim, he’ll join a team whose first base/designated hitter options were among the majors’ worst last year. Albert Pujols and Luis Valbuena are the Halos’ most prominent holdovers at those positions from 2017, and they’ve since added DH candidate/potential ace Shohei Ohtani.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Expansion, Free Agency, Bucs, Jays, Giants, O’s, Mets
This week in baseball blogs…
- Expos Reloaded urges MLB to add multiple expansion teams.
- Nyrdcast searches for the causes of the slow free-agent market and the increase in arbitration hearings this offseason.
- Pop Fly Baseball names the most underrated team in each league.
- Pirates Breakdown reacts to David Freese‘s critical assessment of the club.
- BP Toronto notices a trend with respect to pitchers the Blue Jays have signed to MLB contracts in recent offseasons.
- Know Hitter agrees with the Giants’ win-now approach.
- Stats Swipe analyzes Lance Lynn.
- Camden Depot weighs in on the Orioles’ signing of Andrew Cashner.
- Good Fundies compares new Met Todd Frazier to Jason Kipnis, whom they nearly acquired.
- Chin Music Baseball lists six dark-horse MVP candidates for 2018.
- The K Zone looks for the secret to Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage’s success.
- World Series Dreaming explains how the Cubs could divvy up innings with various rotation setups.
- Baseball Takes argues against the notion that the Indians’ window is closing.
- Call to the Pen names three Phillies entering make-or-break seasons.
- Clubhouse Corner touches on labor unrest and teams that could be in for rough years.
- Underthought looks beyond the traditional saves stat to determine how closers performed in 2017.
- STL Hat Trick has five reasons for optimism regarding the Cardinals’ offseason.
- Motor City Bengals, using Baseball Reference’s player comparison tools, predicts how each Tiger will fare this year.
- Hardball Via Hardcore shares its Mariners spring training preview.
- Dodgers Way offers a position-by-position breakdown of the team’s farm system.
- The Point of Pittsburgh explains why the Pirates may not be able to extend Josh Bell or Jameson Taillon.
- Puckett’s Pond is OK with the Twins coming up short in the Yu Darvish sweepstakes.
- District On Deck lists five spring training storylines for the Nationals.
- Jays Journal looks at PECOTA and FanGraphs projections for Toronto.
- DiNardo’s Dugout (podcast) discusses the Cubs’ new-look rotation and other subjects.
- The Sports Tank expects Rick Porcello to bounce back this year.
- Rox Pile highlights two things already learned about the Rockies this spring.
- The Runner Sports (links: 1, 2, 3, 4) responds to the Twins’ Jake Odorizzi pickup, ranks the A’s top 25 prospects, delves into some recent Justin Verlander comments, and reacts to Goose Gossage’s bashing of Yankees GM Brian Cashman.
- NY Yankees Digest predicts the AL award winners for 2018.
- The Junkball Daily ranks the top 10 third basemen from 2017.
- The 3rd Man In profiles and interviews draft prospect Griffin Conine, son of former major leaguer Jeff Conine.
- Big Three Sports talks with Vancouver Canadians pitching coach Jim Czajkowski about Blue Jays prospect Nate Pearson.
- East Village Times interviews Padres pitching prospect Nick Margevicius.
- Pinstriped Prospects names seven non-40-man Yankees who could debut in the majors this year.
- Notes from the Sally previews the West Virginia Power, the Pirates’ South Atlantic League affiliate.
- Rotisserie Duck uses SABR Defensive Index to see if the right players won Gold Gloves last season.
- Jays From the Couch has high expectations for young catcher Danny Jansen.
- The Giants Cove calls the team’s front office an “embarrassing circus.”
- Keith’s Mustache projects the Mets’ season-opening roster, while Bronx Bomber Ball does the same with the Yankees.
- Everything Bluebirds sees Curtis Granderson as the Blue Jays’ best leadoff option.
- Mets Daddy believes the club needs to add another reliever capable of handling left-handed hitters.
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Extra Innings UK wraps up the week’s headlines and articles in international baseball.
Submissions: ZachBBWI @gmail.com
White Sox Outright Dylan Covey
The White Sox have outrighted right-hander Dylan Covey to Triple-A Charlotte, thus opening up a spot on their 40-man roster, James Fegan of The Athletic reports on Twitter.
A fourth-round pick of the A’s in 2013, Covey spent the first few years of his professional career in Oakland’s system before joining the White Sox in the December 2016 Rule 5 draft. The 26-year-old Covey ended up playing a fairly prominent role in Chicago last season, but he struggled mightily in his first taste of major league action.
Across 70 innings (18 appearances, 12 starts), Covey logged a 7.71 ERA/7.20 FIP with 5.27 K/9 and 4.37 BB/9. While Covey did keep the ball on the ground at a respectable clip (48.5 percent), the fly balls he allowed tended to lead to disaster. In fact, he surrendered 2.57 home runs per nine – the worst mark on the team and the third-worst figure in the majors among those who amassed at least 70 frames.
Latest On Pirates’ Josh Harrison
After the Pirates traded franchise cornerstones Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole last month, utilityman Josh Harrison suggested he’d like to play elsewhere if “the team does not expect to contend this year or next.” The Pirates haven’t done anything to assuage Harrison since then, he explained to reporters (including Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) when he showed up to camp on Sunday.
Regarding a conversation he had with general manager Neal Huntington, Harrison said: “At the end of the day there wasn’t anything said or done that was like, aw man, I can breathe easy. He talked to me, said he wants to win and this or that. At the end of the day I said it’s about action, not speaking.”
Harrison also knocked the Pirates for a lack of transparency – “Some of it goes with not knowing the direction. I understand the business side. Every year, there’s going to be guys coming in and going out. You just want to know where we stand as a team, where you stand as a player” – and backed up teammate David Freese‘s recent comments criticizing the Bucs for an absence of “accountability.”
“I don’t care how we do it, but things need to be done,” Harrison declared. “As Freese said the other day, it’s got to be urgent and not just from a couple guys, a couple people in the office. It has to be top to bottom. You talk about Freese, he’s a World Series MVP. The guy’s been there. He knows what it takes to win. I think it will go without saying that he and I, even some of the comments he mentioned, had been conversations we’ve had during the season. It’s been brought to light.”
Although Harrison isn’t content with the state of the Pirates, it’s unclear whether they’re interested in trading him or whether there’s even a market for his services at this point. The New York teams and Toronto have shown the most reported interest in Harrison since last season ended, but both the Mets and Blue Jays have made several moves to address their infield and outfield in recent weeks. Consequently, both teams are likely out of the running for Harrison.
The Yankees still don’t have a proven second or third base solution, meanwhile, and credible free agent options are dwindling. However, the Yankees only have in the neighborhood of $10MM to $15MM in spending room as they try to stay under the $197MM luxury tax line, which could help prevent a deal from occurring even if the Pirates are open to trading Harrison.
While Harrison’s $6.825MM luxury tax number for 2018 is affordable, it still might not be palatable for the Yankees, who have recently passed on similarly valuable, similarly compensated free agent infielders (Todd Frazier and Eduardo Nunez, for instance) and could use their remaining money to address their rotation – which is an area they’ve prioritized. Passing on expensive veteran infielders would enable the Yankees to allow promising prospects Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar to sink or swim at second and third, respectively. Torres could start the year in the minors, in part because it would give the Yankees an extra year of control over him, but they’d only need to wait until mid-April to promote him.
If no trade materializes by Opening Day, the 30-year-old Harrison will start his eighth season in Pittsburgh. Harrison is in the last guaranteed season of the four-year, $27.3MM extension he signed with the Pirates in 2015. He’ll earn $10MM this year and could make up to $21.5MM over the following two seasons, depending on whether his employer picks up his options for 2019 and ’20.
Braves Working To Sign Peter Moylan; Royals Remain Interested
11:20am: Moylan to the Braves might not be a foregone conclusion. The Royals remain interested in re-signing him, per Bowman (Twitter link).
8:37am: The Braves are attempting to complete a deal with free agent reliever Peter Moylan, Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweets. It’s unclear whether it’ll be a major league pact for the 39-year-old Moylan, who already has two stints with the Braves under his belt (2006-12 and 2015).
The right-handed Moylan spent the previous two seasons in Kansas City and combined for a 3.46 ERA with 6.92 K/9 and 3.55 BB/9 across 104 innings, including 59 1/3 (his most since 2010) in 2017, when he led all pitchers in appearances (79). The sinker- and slider-throwing Moylan notched a superb 61.3 percent groundball rate to rank eighth among qualified relievers during that two-year span.
Moylan’s success with the Royals was particularly surprising after he combined to throw fewer than 40 big league innings with the Braves and Dodgers from 2011-15, owing to a laundry list of injuries. The Australia native dealt with back, shoulder and elbow problems at various points during that stretch, and he missed all of 2014 after undergoing the second Tommy John surgery of his career. Moylan then rejoined the Braves prior to the 2015 campaign on an unconventional deal, one in which they picked him up as a player/coach.
If he’s able to catch on with the Braves for a third time, Moylan will become the elder statesman of a bullpen that hasn’t added any other proven commodities since finishing last season 26th in ERA (4.58) and 27th in fWAR (1.1). Braves relievers especially struggled versus right-handed hitters, who slashed .264/.339/.450 against them. Moylan, meanwhile, limited righties to a meager .161/.244/.236 mark and has held them in check throughout his career (.204/.269/.295). Although lefty-swingers have roughed up Moylan (.296/.422/.430), he has nonetheless managed a 3.00 ERA during his 390 1/3-inning career.
NL East Notes: Braves, Nats, Gio, Phillies
The Braves are attempting to add an outfielder, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets. With soon-to-be ex-Ray Corey Dickerson now available, Morosi wonders if Atlanta could emerge as a suitor for him. The Braves currently have two entrenched starting outfielders in center fielder Ender Inciarte and right fielder Nick Markakis, and all-world prospect Ronald Acuna is charging toward the majors and should take over left in the near future. Speculatively, after Acuna comes up, Dickerson could bump Markakis from a starting role. Not only is Dickerson likely the better of the pair, but he’s much younger (28 to 34) and comes with two years of control to Markakis’ one.
Now for the latest on a couple of Atlanta’s division rivals:
- Given that he’s in the last year of his contract, left-hander Gio Gonzalez realizes he may not be in a Nationals uniform in 2019, Jamal Collier of MLB.com writes. Gonzalez would like to remain in Washington, though. “I’ve been here for seven years. To me, this is home,” he said. “That being said, I have to do my part.” If he’s unable to work out a new deal with the Nats in the next year, Gonzalez would hit the open market at the age of 33 – a prospect that’s not too appealing these days, Collier notes. “To see these guys get a team, it would make you feel a little more comfortable, a little more safe,” Gonzalez said of all the unsigned veterans remaining with spring training underway.
- Right-hander Joe Ross, one of Gonzalez’s teammates, is making encouraging progress in his recovery from the Tommy John procedure he underwent last July, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com reports. Ross is currently throwing off flat ground from 75 feet and aiming to return to the Nationals sometime after the All-Star break. “That’s in my head, for sure,” the 24-year-old said of potentially making an impact in 2018. “My arm will dictate that. But that’s how I feel, and I’m looking forward to helping the team in the second half.”
- If the Phillies don’t acquire starting pitching help, there’s a chance they’ll turn to a nine-man bullpen at times this year, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription required). It doesn’t appear the Phillies have a rotation capable of working deep in games, observes Gelb, who points out that they’ll be able to shuttle most of their relievers between the majors and minors throughout the season. Further, rookie manager Gabe Kapler is known for outside-the-box thinking and comes from a Dodgers organization that’s unafraid to use its bullpen rather often. Kapler admitted Saturday that a nine-man relief corps may be an option for Philly. “I can envision a couple of different scenarios that would allow us to carry nine in the ‘pen,” Kapler said. “Now a lot of that is a little too early to X and O about, but how cool would it be to have that level of depth and those many mix and match options to go after the opposition? That would be a pretty cool thing for us.”
AL Notes: Moose, Royals, Rays, Dickerson, O’s, Mauer, Ellsbury
The Eric Hosmer era is over in Kansas City, and free agent third baseman Mike Moustakas could become the next Royals cornerstone to head elsewhere. Although general manager Dayton Moore said earlier this month that Moustakas hasn’t prioritized re-signing with the Royals this offseason, it’s still possible he’ll re-up with KC, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag (Twitter link). Now that the Royals are out of the running for Hosmer, they have the funds to bring back Moustakas, Heyman notes. There hasn’t been a strong market for the 29-year-old Moustakas’ services this offseason, but if the qualifying offer recipient does leave the Royals, they would net a compensatory pick in this year’s draft. They’re already in line to receive two, thanks to the departures of Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain.
More out of the American League:
- The Rays would’ve been the biggest story in baseball last night if not for the Hosmer news, having designated outfielder Corey Dickerson for assignment in an eye-opening move, acquired first baseman C.J. Cron from the Angels and traded righty Jake Odorizzi to the Twins. It wasn’t at all surprising that the Rays dealt Odorizzi, who had been in trade rumors for months, but it was unexpected that they only received a borderline top 30 Twins prospect (Single-A shortstop Jermaine Palacios) in return. General manager Erik Neander addressed that, telling Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and other reporters that the Rays “probably have him valued quite a bit higher than some of the public publications.” Ultimately, with the Rays set to begin full-squad workouts on Monday, parting with Odorizzi and Dickerson was something they had to do, according to Neander. “You just don’t want a cloud of uncertainty hanging over our group,” he said. “It was time to move forward.” Even if the Rays end up cutting Dickerson and getting nothing back, they’ll justify it as essentially trading two years of control over him for three of Cron and saving money in the process, per Topkin. After parting with Odorizzi and Dickerson, the club could use its added “financial flexibility” to “reinvest” in free agency, Neander said Sunday (Twitter link via Topkin).
- A Dickerson trade was not imminent as of last night, Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported (Twitter link), but a deal could come together with the AL East rival Orioles, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun suggests. The Orioles, who have been on the lookout for a lefty-hitting outfielder for months, “will undoubtedly inquire about Dickerson,” Encina writes. Dickerson has impressed Orioles manager Buck Showalter in the past, relays Encina, who adds that being in the same division hasn’t stopped the Rays and O’s from swinging deals at previous points (Baltimore acquired infielder Tim Beckham from Tampa Bay last season, for instance).
- Set to wrap up his eight-year, $184MM contract this season, Twins icon Joe Mauer tells Phil Miller of the Star Tribune he and the team haven’t engaged in any extension talks. But Mauer plans to continue his career in 2019 “if I can still contribute,” and the first baseman is hopeful he’ll still be in a Twins uniform then. “This is where I want to be. This is where my family is, where my daughters are growing up,” said the St. Paul native. “I have no intention of going anywhere else. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.” The former superstar catcher enjoyed a strong year at the plate in 2017 with a .305/.384/.417 line in 597 PAs.
- Yankees center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury was somewhat popular in the rumor mill during the winter, but he informed Jack Curry of the YES Network and other reporters Sunday that the team never approached him about waiving his no-trade clause (Twitter link). It would’ve been (and would still be) a tall order for the Yankees to move Ellsbury, who hasn’t delivered as hoped during his four-year Bronx tenure and still has another $68MM left on his contract. He’ll spend the spring trying to reclaim his old job as New York’s starting center fielder, a role Aaron Hicks usurped in 2017.
AL Notes: Machado, Yanks, Tribe, Salazar, C. Santana, Rangers, Cashner
Orioles infielder Manny Machado “wants to be a Yankee and the feeling is mutual,” Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes. The Yankees were among the teams that tried to trade for Machado over the winter, so it’s no surprise that they’re continuing to eye him a year before he hits free agency. Regarding offseason trade rumors, Machado said, “Thank God nothing went down and I was able to come back, and see my guys that I’ve been with for seven years.” Although the 25-year-old is content to be an Oriole for now, it seems highly unlikely he’ll remain with them past this year, considering the massive contract he’d land on the open market. And while the longtime third baseman plans to spend the rest of his career at shortstop, where New York has a quality starter in Didi Gregorius, the Yankees would find spots for both of them, Nightengale suggests.
More from the American League…
- The Indians announced Friday that right-hander Danny Salazar “experienced an onset of right shoulder rotator cuff inflammation” last month during his offseason throwing program. The 28-year-old is “a couple weeks” behind the rest of the pitchers in Indians camp, per the announcement, though he has at least resumed throwing. It certainly doesn’t appear as if Salazar is presently dealing with a major injury, but the shoulder trouble isn’t entirely insignificant. Salazar missed roughly six weeks of the 2017 season due to shoulder troubles, and he has a history of right elbow issues as well. He’s also seen his name pop up in occasional trade speculation, most frequently being linked to the Brewers, though one would imagine that ongoing shoulder issues would temper some of the interest that other clubs may have in Salazar.There’s not yet any indication that Opening Day would be in jeopardy for Salazar, whom the Indians have penciled into a rotation spot alongside Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer. Josh Tomlin and Mike Clevinger are both on hand as options for the fifth spot. Injuries limited Salazar to just 103 innings last season, during which time he posted a 4.28 ERA with a gaudy 12.7 K/9 mark against 3.8 BB/9.
- Before he joined the Phillies on a three-year, $60MM contract in November, longtime Indians first baseman Carlos Santana proposed a five-year, $75MM deal to Cleveland, the player told Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com. However, “the Tribe was never seriously engaged with him at all this winter,” Castrovince tweets. Shortly after Santana left the Indians, they added replacement Yonder Alonso on a much cheaper pact (two years, $16MM).
- Texas had interest in re-signing Andrew Cashner before he accepted Baltimore’s two-year, $16MM guarantee Thursday, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels confirmed to TR Sullivan of MLB.com. However, not only did the Orioles make Cashner a better offer, but it seems he wouldn’t have been a lock to remain a starter with the Rangers. “We talked to him and gave him a range of what we were thinking,” Daniels said. “He got a better deal. We even asked him if he would pitch in the bullpen, but he got a commitment to start, a multi-year deal, a good deal from Baltimore.” In 2017, his only year with the Rangers, Cashner paced their starters in ERA (3.40) and finished second in innings (166 2/3), though his success came in spite of a league-worst K/BB ratio (1.34).
Steve Adams contributed to this post.
Phillies Sign Fernando Abad
1:35pm: Abad’s deal comes with a $2.5MM salary if he makes the Phillies, per Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (Twitter link). Cotillo confirms that Abad could earn up to $3.1MM, as Heyman reported earlier.
8:10am: Abad has until March 22 to earn a spot on the Phillies’ roster, Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reports. The deal includes a mutual option for 2019, Sanchez adds (Twitter link), which Heyman tweets is also for a potential $2.5MM.
7:48am: The Phillies have reached an agreement with left-handed reliever Fernando Abad, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag. Abad will receive a non-roster invitation to spring training, as Craig Mish of MLB Network Radio first reported, and will have a chance to earn $3.1MM if he makes the Phillies, per Heyman (Twitter links).
The 32-year-old Abad will join a Phillies relief mix which is light on lefty options, evidenced by the fact that Adam Morgan is the sole southpaw in the club’s projected season-opening bullpen. Abad may stand a solid chance to make the team, then, and if he does, he’ll bring a respectable track record to Philadelphia. The former Astro, National, Athletic, Red Sox and Twin has pitched to a 3.65 ERA with 7.68 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 40.7 percent groundball rate across 317 2/3 major league innings. Abad has limited same-handed hitters to a subpar .234/.287/.383 line along the way.
Abad was effective in 2017, his only full season in Boston, where he logged a 3.30 ERA with 7.63 K/9, 2.89 BB/9 and a personal-high 45 percent grounder rate over 43 2/3 frames. He was also tough on both righties (.250/.312/.384) and lefties (.224/.288/.348), though the majority of his work (34 innings) came in low-leverage situations.
West Notes: Lincecum, Giants, Rangers, Rox, Reynolds
Both the Giants and Rangers came away impressed after watching free agent right-hander Tim Lincecum‘s showcase on Thursday, per reports from Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area and Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Unsurprisingly, Giants brass has a fondness for Lincecum stemming from his mostly incredible run with the franchise from 2007-15. On whether they’ll try to reunite with Lincecum, general manager Bobby Evans said: “It’s up to the competition of what clubs are bidding on him, and I can’t speak to that yet. It’s early. We obviously are all rooting for Timmy. Selfishly, anything he does, we would love for it to be in a Giants uniform, but sometimes opportunities on the business side dictate otherwise. But we’re always rooting for him.” The Rangers, meanwhile, are likely to continue pursuing the 33-year-old, according to Grant.
- The Rockies have shown some interest in re-signing first baseman Mark Reynolds since last season ended, yet the 34-year-old remains on the open market. Reynolds told Bill Ladson of MLB.com that he doesn’t know why he’s still unsigned, but he’s continuing to hope for a return to the Rockies after playing with them from 2016-17. “It would be my first choice. It was a great situation. I was good there the last two years,” said Reynolds, who combined to hit .274/.354/.471 during those seasons. “It’s something that I felt was a great fit. But I can’t control what they are thinking. I played there to prove that I’m very capable of playing at that level. … But the Rockies are a good fit, and they are a playoff team and that’s something I’m factoring in my decision as well.” The Reynolds-less Rockies do have in-house first base options on hand in prospect Ryan McMahon and utilityman Ian Desmond.
- Rangers infielder Jurickson Profar hasn’t developed as hoped since his days as a top prospect, and now that he’s out of minor league options, he could be in another uniform soon. Profar hopes that’s not the case. “I know this team loves me a lot, and I love them,” the 24-year-old said (via Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram). “I’m ready to help them win. I just want to play and help the team win. I know I can do it.” Profar was a non-factor last season in Texas, where he hit .172/.294/.207 over a small sample of 70 plate appearances. Left field was Profar’s main position with the Rangers in 2017, but they’re only planning to use him in the infield this spring, per Wilson. He’ll have difficulty carving out a regular role, though, with Joey Gallo (first base), Rougned Odor (second), Elvis Andrus (short) and Adrian Beltre (third) entrenched as starters.
- Rockies outfielder Gerardo Parra underwent surgery on the broken hamate bone in his right hand last Friday and could miss four to six weeks, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports. While Parra is “going to be fine,” according to manager Bud Black, Saunders notes that his injury could open the door for David Dahl to steal a starting spot in right field. Dahl came on the scene in impressive fashion as a rookie in 2016, but a rib cage injury kept him from the majors last season and limited him to 82 minor league PAs. Parra, on the other hand, hit a Coors Field-inflated .309/.341/.452 in 425 trips to the plate.