Strike Zone: Notes: Raisen The Reliever
The Cardinals are planning on shifting Jhonny Peralta to third base upon activating him from the disabled list on Tuesday, which would put Matt Carpenter at second base. The idea is that Aledmys Diaz is now the long-term shortstop, and while I don’t necessarily disagree with that, I worry about the ramifications of the move for the rest of this year. Diaz hasn’t been as error-prone lately as he was early on, but he still looks like a below average defender at short. Carpenter is a supbar second baseman. I was expecting Peralta’s return to provide a boost defensively for a team that rates as one of the worst in baseball so far. Instead, it could make things worse, which is especially bad news for Adam Wainwright and Jaime Garcia.
Still to be determined is whether Diaz is worth the trouble. Since his outrageous start, he’s been a mediocre hitter (.254/.287/.405 in 126 at-bats) for twice as long as he was a great one (.468/.500/.823 in his first 62 AB). He especially wouldn’t seem to be a No. 2 hitter with his walk rate (7 unintentional walks in 199 PA this season). Diaz needs to outhit a Kolten Wong–Jedd Gyorko platoon by a significant margin to make the defensive downgrade worth it, and I just don’t think it’s very likely to happen (although what’s helped make things incredibly confusing for Mike Matheny this year is that the left-handed hitting Wong has hit lefties better than righties and the right-handed Gyorko has hit righties better than lefties).
Really, it’s the defense that’s the issue. Peralta is still the Cardinals’ best shortstop. I don’t know if Diaz would make for a good second baseman or not. The Cardinals declined to play him there in the minors, but he did start five games there in the Arizona Fall League last year. The Cardinals have the biggest groundball staff in the majors and don’t strike out a ton of batters. They’re in as good of a position as any team to sacrifice offense for defense. Instead, it looks like they’ll go the other way, at least for a little while. Until that changes, my expectations for Wainwright and company are lowered.
AL Notes
– Given the modest price they paid, the White Sox’s acquisition of James Shields wasn’t a bad idea. It’s scary putting Shields in U.S. Cellular given how remarkably homer-prone he’s been as a Petco pitcher the last year and a half, but it’s not like he’s being brought in with the expectation that he’ll be a difference-maker; he’s just a fourth starter and obvious upgrade from Erik Johnson. Any value that he still had in deeper mixed leagues is gone now. I placed him 75th among SPs in the June rankings last week. He’d be a bit outside the top 100 now, though he should have a little value in AL-only leagues.
– Luke Gregerson isn’t exactly getting tattooed — he went the first two months without allowing a single homer — yet five blown saves in a 25-day span is a ridiculous number, one that left the Astros with little choice about removing him from the closer’s role (even if they did end up winning four of the five games in which Gregerson blew saves). What was interesting was that when Gregerson needed a day off May 26, manager A.J. Hinch chose seventh-inning guy Ken Giles over eighth-inning guy Will Harris to fill in for the day (Harris pitched a scoreless eighth and Giles went on to get the save, though he did give up a run). It suggested Giles was still first in line to replace Gregerson despite all of Harris’s success the last two years. However, it was Harris who stepped in Sunday to get the save, with the caveat that Giles had pitched two innings the night before. Even though Giles has pitched well since the beginning of May, Harris has still been better at every turn and would seem to deserve the opportunity to step in for Gregerson. Since Harris closed with ease Sunday, retiring all three batters he faced, he’s probably the better bet of the two for now. Both are worth owning in all formats.
– When Greg Bird went down with a season-ending torn labrum in February, it left the Yankees without any protection in the event of Mark Teixeira getting hurt or becoming ineffective. Or both. They could have given Alex Rodriguez another trial at first, but he looked uncomfortable in brief action there last year. Carlos Beltran would have made sense, but he wasn’t interested. The Yankees best hope now is Robert Refsnyder, who has done well in very limited major league action the last two years, even though he hasn’t excelled in Triple-A since 2014 (he had an .845 OPS in 77 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2014, a .761 OPS in 117 games last year and a .745 OPS in 35 games this year). Since he has second-base eligibility, he could prove useful in mixed leagues, though there’s little reason to rush right out and pick him up. There aren’t any obvious upgrades available in trades right now, but I do imagine the Yankees will be players for free agent Justin Morneau, who could return from elbow surgery after the All-Star break.
– Joey Gallo was supposed to be the one to break into theTexaslineup if the team decided to reduce the roles of either Mitch Moreland or Prince Fielder. Instead, Jurickson Profar played so well as the replacement for the suspended Rougned Odor that he forced himself into the mix, drawing back-to-back starts over Fielder at DH during the weekend. I’m still skeptical about Profar being of use in mixed leagues. He wasn’t dominant in the PCL before his callup (.284/.356/.426 in 169 AB), and he’s not going to steal many bases. I think he’s ready to be a solid starting infielder for some team, but the Rangers probably aren’t that team, and he needs to be an everyday guy in order to amass much fantasy value. I’d pass.
Gallo, on the other hand, would be extremely interesting if the Rangers decided to give up on Moreland or Fielder. He’s excelled at Round Rock, hitting .295/.440/.667 with 10 homers and a reduced, if still rather prodigious, strikeout rate (32 in 134 plate appearances). I think it’s about time the Rangers sent Moreland to the bench and gave Gallo a chance (Profar would need a crash course at first base if the Rangers wanted to play him over Moreland).
– Blake Swihart’s ankle sprain was pretty awful timing for the Red Sox, what with backup catcher Ryan Hanigan going on the DL on the same day. Chris Young will serve as the starting left fielder for now, making him a nice short-term pickup in mixed leagues.
NL Notes
– After getting designated for assignment by the Dodgers on Sunday, Carl Crawford’s best hope is that the Angels will want him after he clears waivers. He’s probably not as finished offensively as he’s looked this year, though his defense has degraded to the point at which he’s not going to be a particularly good regular even if he does manage to hit .300 for a spell. Still, the Angels have gotten absolutely zilch from left field this year and could use him there and as an occasional DH. If they don’t want him, then he’s probably looking at a backup gig somewhere. He’d be an upgrade for the Phillies or Braves, but there’s little reason for either of them to sign him as a stopgap. The Giants need help with Hunter Pence down, but I’m guessing his defense will scare them away.
– Trevor Rosenthal’s wildness isn’t as big of a concern as it’s been made out to be. He missed badly with some pitches in a non-save situation Friday, walking all three batters he faced, but then, he’s walked a total of one batter in his other four most recent outings. I think part of it is a lack of activity, which would be solved by the Cardinals generating a few more save chances. His stuff is fine, and he’s struck out 30 batters in 18 innings this year. Even if he has to be removed from the closer’s role for a brief spell — and I don’t think it’ll come to that — it shouldn’t be for long.
– The news that the Reds are putting Raisel Iglesias in the bullpen once he returns from his latest round of shoulder woes was pretty disappointing, but it’s not like they don’t know that he’s their most talented starting pitcher. Of course, the decision brought with it immediate speculation about him becoming a closer. I don’t think that’s the way the team wants it to work out — both for financial reasons and for the possibility that he could return to the rotation later this year — but it can’t be ruled out, given that no one else seems very capable of holding down the job. If Iglesias were to become a closer, the Reds would be looking at paying him quite a bit more than the $32 million he’s currently guaranteed over the course of his seven-year deal, since he can opt out of his current salaries once he’s eligible for arbitration and closers do extremely well in arbitration. I would hope the plan is more to use him in a middle role and to try him again as a starter in August. But given the possibility of saves, he shouldn’t be dropped in mixed leagues.
– As admirable as it was that David Wright was putting all that work in to try to play for the Mets every day, the odds were clearly stacked against him being a decent regular the rest of the way. I’m not sure the Mets are worse off with Wilmer Flores at third base anyway, though that assumes that he can continue building on last year’s .263/.295/.408 campaign in his age-24 season. If I’m the Mets, I don’t go trading for a third baseman without taking a long look at whatFlorescan do.
– It will be interesting to see if the Mets look for some way to work in Dilson Herrera with both Wright and Lucas Duda down. Herrera was banged up at the beginning of the minor league season, which has taken a little bit of toll on his numbers, but he’s hitting .297/.338/.522 at Las Vegas in his last 42 games. The Mets, though, have declined to try him anywhere other than second base, and while Neil Walker has plenty of experience at third dating back to his minor league days, he hasn’t set foot at the position since 2010. It doesn’t seem like there’s any plan in place to see if Herrera can help, but he could always force the issue by going on a tear in the PCL.
– On the plus side for the Mets, Travis d’Arnaud opened a rehab assignment on Sunday, going 1-for-5 for Single-A St. Lucie. With the team having big problems scoring runs of late, he could provide quite a lift, should he be able to stay healthy for any length of time. If he’s available in your mixed league, he’s worth a pickup.
– With 15 saves in 16 tries, Jeremy Jeffress hasn’t given the Brewers any reason to give Will Smith a try in the ninth. It could happen on occasion anyway, since Smith figures to be trade bait this summer and showing some ability to close could help his value, but I don’t really think the Brewers will go there unless something happens with Jeffress. It’s not like the contenders interested in Smith would want him as a closer.
– That Trea Turner callup doesn’t seem likely to amount to much. Even after he went 3-for-4 on Friday, he wasn’t in the lineup either of the next two days, suggesting that he’ll head right back to Triple-A when Ryan Zimmerman is activated from the paternity list. Danny Espinosa’s glove outweighs Turner’s bat in Dusty Baker’s mind.
