Free Baseball: Week 3 in MLB
Listed in:Leading Off - Insert Pun Involving Matt Cain's Name
On Deck - Charlie Manuel: How Many Kinds of Crazy?
In The Hole - Derek and Alex's Traveling Carnival Takes a Turn
Leading Off
I was at the Sunday afternoon Giants-Diamondbacks game in San Francisco. I get all the news I need from the weather report, and it said there were chances of showers. In fact, the Giants gave away umbrellas at the gate. However, the weather report was misleading. Instead of drizzle and gloom, we got one hour and fifty-six minutes of sunshine and Matt Cain's utter domination. On the second pitch of the game, Eric Byrnes lined a single to left. Arizona didn't get another hit until Byrnes led off the ninth with another single. This season, Cain has thrown 29 innings in four starts, striking out 21, walking 13 (gulp), giving up only 11 hits(!), and putting up a 1.55 ERA. For his career, the 22-year-old has now thrown 257 innings, struck out 226, allowed a batting average of .203, and fired his way to a 3.64 ERA.
After his last three starts, in which he allowed 1 hit in 7 innings at San Diego, 2 hits in 7 innings at Colorado, and then tossed a 3 hit complete game at home against Arizona, Cain has to be considered an early frontrunner to start the All Star Game in San Francisco. Furthermore, Cain's emergence as a bona fide ace adds credence to the notion that the best collection of young pitching talent in baseball belongs to the team that is also the butt of the most AARP jokes in baseball. This season, Cain could be close to what Jason Schmidt was at his peak. Barry Zito, who will turn 29 in May, is a known quantity. While I've emerged from extreme denial to accept that his contract is a pretty bad one, I can take solace knowing that he's likely to be a well above average pitcher for the next couple years. Noah Lowry's performance last season was troubling, not in the least because of an oblique injury sustained while pitching, and his most important peripheral numbers are on a negative trend, but he's still only 26, and recapturing his form of 2004 and 2005 is definitely not out of the question. The organization's ace in the Triple-A hole, though, is Tim Lincecum. BP recently anointed him the best RHP prospect in baseball, and, let's face it, the guy has been filthy in the minors and by the All Star break probably won't have anything left to prove at that level. Push Russ Ortiz to the 'pen, insert Tim the Enchanter, and suddenly 4 of 5 starters are on the good side of 30, with 32-year-old Matt Morris as a potentially better than league average starter holding down the back end of the rotation with Lowry. And all of that is before considering that Jonathan Sanchez's minor league track record dictates he get a chance to show what he can do as a starter, though he could also be a valuable contributor to the big league bullpen this season.
Which team would you argue has a better collection of young pitching talent for now and the near future? Detroit is probably the only squad with comparable present-day young talent, and Florida's young starters are still proving who they are, so it's hard to tell with them.
Get used to it. The San Francisco Giants are loaded with young pitching.
On Deck
Brett Myers has been a legitimately great starting pitcher for two years running. He's also probably the best pitcher the Phillies have right now, even despite his awful start to the season, and despite Cole Hamels's promise. So what in the name of Adam Brody plus Meg Ryan equals dramedy fun is Charlie Manuel doing putting Myers in the bullpen? I can't fathom how insane this is. Last season, after the Reds-Nats trade debacle, I called Ben before he'd heard about it from anyone else and had fun with him as I gave him the names the Reds gave up and listened to him flail for names the Nats might've given up, going from Soriano to Johnson to Patterson before he gave up and made me give him answers. We were too dumbfounded to laugh at Wayne Krivsky that day, and when Ben called me with the Myers news, our reactions were similar. On the one hand, I'm intrigued that we might be seeing Manuel descending into erratic behavior and his rational mind deteriorating. On the other hand, Philly fans haven't exactly won much good will in these parts. At least there's evidence some of them see this for what it is: the equivalent of switching Aramis Ramirez to second base and batting him eighth because he's gone into a bit of a slump.
In The Hole
Through 17 games...
Derek Jeter: 320/393/400, 6 errors
Alex Rodriguez: 371/432/986 (That's not a typo. ARod is slugging 986.), 2 errors
What does all of this mean? ARod is having a super-hot streak at the plate. Meanwhile, Derek Jeter is not hitting with as much power as he's capable of, and he's having a rough go of it in the field. That's it. There are no moral implications. ARod is not a better person because he's hitting well. Jeter is not suffering from a character flaw that has caused his struggles. These things happen. ARod should have been playing shortstop for the Yankees all along, and Jeter should have moved to either second base or center field. I'll say the same thing when ARod ends the season around 300/390/560 and Jeter ends the season around 310/380/450.
Comments
Detroit is probably the only squad with comparable present-day young talent, and Florida's young starters are still proving who they are, so it's hard to tell with them.
Let's not forget the Mets; they've got Maine, Perez and Pelfrey in the rotation. Maine is oldest at 26. In the minors they've got Phillip Humber. All four should be quality major league pitchers for years to come. Perez has legit number one stuff (see 2004) and despite being woefully inconsistent, you can't deny the talent is still there. (15 Ks and 2 ER in 14.2 innings against arguably the best lineup in the NL this year so far) Maine is solid - flyball heavy but that's fine at Shea. Pelfrey should be in the minors, but has top end of the rotation ability. Humber's got at least middle of the rotation stuff. Let's not forget Jason Vargas, who was pretty good as a rookie a couple of years ago and I believe is still under 25.
So yeah, for all the talk about them being short in the rotation, the Mets do have a quantity of quality young arms. Are they on the Giants level? Don't know. But I'm definitely excited about the prospects of the Mets rotation going forward.
Posted by: Ben Valentine | April 23, 2007 6:27 PM
One quibble with your thoguhts on Myers to the pen...I'd say that Hamels is better than him at this point. Sure it's soon, but he's had 27 starts in the majors and has a 3.82 ERA and 1.22 WHIP, and improves that with every single start.
Posted by: chris | April 23, 2007 7:00 PM
thanks for the plug btw
Posted by: chris | April 23, 2007 7:03 PM
I agree with you that the Giants' pitching is looking great. I got to cover a Tacoma Rainiers' game a few weeks back when Lincecum was pitching, and he was amazing. I think he could be better than Cain. Gasp! But the hitting, that's another story, unfortunatley. Frandsen will be good, I think, but beyond that... who knows? At least we'll have a lot of money freed up to buy some pop.
Posted by: kevin | April 26, 2007 9:40 PM