Around the League 2020 Edition

madbum is the ace we need right now

I don't know if we were ever in on him, but I can think of a few guys that some of the posters here wanted to sign (me included in this critique) who I am so happy went elsewhere. It's early and it's a quirky season (and he is recovering from an injury in 2019), but McCutchen looks terrible. Brantley is doing well though.
 
Zach Plesac of the Indians becomes, as far as I know, the first player sent home for not following health and safety protocols.
 
Zach Plesac of the Indians becomes, as far as I know, the first player sent home for not following health and safety protocols.

He should have been sent home for wearing the butt-ugliest Hawaiian shirt during an interview I saw with him the other night.
 
madbum is the ace we need right now

I hope that was a tongue in cheek statement.

Mad Bum was removed from today's game in 2nd inning. He has lost about 4-5 MPH on fastball(about 88 today). He is complaining about a sore back.


From MLBTR

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told reporters including The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan that big-ticket free-agent acquisition Madison Bumgarner was removed from today’s game due to back spasms (Twitter links). Bumgarner is returning to Phoenix to be looked at by team doctors.


The big question with Bumgarner regards his velocity. The former World Series has averaged just 87.9 mph on his four-seamer this season after an average of 91.4 mph last season. The fear with this kind of velocity drop is that there’s an arm issue, though there’s been no indication of that from Bumgarner or the Diamondbacks.
 
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I hope that was a tongue in cheek statement.

Mad Bum was removed from today's game in 2nd inning. He has lost about 4-5 MPH on fastball(about 88 today). He is complaining about a sore back.


From MLBTR

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told reporters including The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan that big-ticket free-agent acquisition Madison Bumgarner was removed from today’s game due to back spasms (Twitter links). Bumgarner is returning to Phoenix to be looked at by team doctors.


The big question with Bumgarner regards his velocity. The former World Series has averaged just 87.9 mph on his four-seamer this season after an average of 91.4 mph last season. The fear with this kind of velocity drop is that there’s an arm issue, though there’s been no indication of that from Bumgarner or the Diamondbacks.

Francoeur said during the broadcast today that he only threw one fastball in that game that hit 88, and the rest were all below that. So "about 88" is actually too generous.
 
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A mediocre pitcher taking shots at his former team two years later. Love it.

Kinda have to give him a little pass - hometown kid who wanted nothing more than to succeed here. He wasn't given much of a chance to become an important part of our pen.

There's at least a little truth in what he's saying - we've proven to be really good at developing mediocre Pitchers to the point that they don't seem to find success while they're here...Morton, Wood, Sims, Gant, Hale, and Wisler have had varying levels of success at times after getting away from here while no one from the Newk/Touki/Wright/Wilson crowd has exactly become useful a starter yet. I'm sure the hype machine helps skew things plenty, but there's something in our development process that puts this huge wall between huge successes at the lower levels followed by strong showings at Gwinnett and having the "it" factor that makes them feel they belong at the MLB level that anyone other than just a couple guys (Julio/Soroka/Fried) can seem to get over.

Every organization deals with that frustration on different levels, but it just sucks a little more when you're generally referred to as a "pitcher factory".
 
Speaking of former braves pitchers, did anyone else catch Gausman pitching yesterday?
Dude was hitting 99 with his fastball and looks To have added a few mph to all of his stuff.
Looked pretty dominant.
 
Kinda have to give him a little pass - hometown kid who wanted nothing more than to succeed here. He wasn't given much of a chance to become an important part of our pen.

There's at least a little truth in what he's saying - we've proven to be really good at developing mediocre Pitchers to the point that they don't seem to find success while they're here...Morton, Wood, Sims, Gant, Hale, and Wisler have had varying levels of success at times after getting away from here while no one from the Newk/Touki/Wright/Wilson crowd has exactly become useful a starter yet. I'm sure the hype machine helps skew things plenty, but there's something in our development process that puts this huge wall between huge successes at the lower levels followed by strong showings at Gwinnett and having the "it" factor that makes them feel they belong at the MLB level that anyone other than just a couple guys (Julio/Soroka/Fried) can seem to get over.

Every organization deals with that frustration on different levels, but it just sucks a little more when you're generally referred to as a "pitcher factory".

Wood was good in Atlanta. Outside of his amazing half season with the Dodgers in 2017 where he picked up a couple of ticks on the fastball before his arm gave out, I think he pitched as well in Atlanta as he has in Los Angeles (not counting Cincinnati). Morton is a unicorn of sorts. He wasn't all that great in Pittsburgh (although I didn't like the McLouth trade at all) and it wasn't until he hit Houston that he truly blossomed. Gant was only in the system for a season and a half (although, again, I didn't like the Garcia trade--here's hoping Ynoa comes through). Wisler and Hale have bounced around. I always liked Wisler and still hold out some hope for him. He's moved to the bullpen and could develop into a decent middle relief option. The thing about Wisler is that he's now in his fifth system at age 27 (28 in September) and that either says his stuff is enticing or that there's something odd about him. I won't can't asparagus (intentional malaprop), but his mound behavior while a Brave was puzzling and he seemed to get rattled fairly easily. I still follow him and hope for the best because I did think he had something. We'll see on Sims. Always had big-time stuff but couldn't put it all together at once and was getting teed up with regularity in Atlanta. I always thought he needed an "out" pitch and maybe he's found one. I don't know whether I blame the Braves' staff on that or not.

As for the current crop, I've only seen Wright pitch once but I wasn't impressed on Saturday. Lots of stuff, but he doesn't trust it. Of course, we were saying the same thing about Fried when he first came up. Toussaint may have turned a corner, but I want to see consistency. Again, I don't know if that can be laid at the feet of the development staff. They can't make a guy consistent. Newcomb could develop into a solid reliever, but again (as in the case of Sims), he doesn't seem to have a go-to "out" pitch. I think we all have to wait on the 2016 guys. I just think they rushed Wilson.

There has been a lot of turnover in the minor league instructional staff over the past decade with the two GM changes and I don't know how (or if) that contributes to the issue at hand. It shouldn't affect guys taken under the new regime, but some of the guys may have experienced growing pains due to changes in the system's tutors. I don't think that can be quantified in any way and I honestly don't know if the teaching mindset has changed. Add to that the fact that guys will see new pitching coaches as the move through the system and maybe I am putting too much stock in the transition.

So it's frustrating, but it's important to remember the guys we are criticizing are still young and have been forced to learn at the big league level to some extent. But I agree that we aren't the pitching factory we supposedly were during the 1990s.

I guess I'm a little more disappointed how a lot of the hitters don't seem to know what they are doing. Curious to see how Pache and Waters look when they arrive, but I'm wondering if a lot of these guys have been set back after their time in the Rocket Wheeler "get your hacks" School of Hitting. Lot of guys--many drafted high--who seemingly have contact issues.
 
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A little surprised AA didn't poke around on Dietrich after he was floating around again - guess that means they expect to get Schebler back.
 
LOL Stroman.

Hard to fully blame them given Covid wrecked his year with the team, but ultimately they gave up two quality arms for 11 starts in a season they finished 3rd.

Sort of amazing how horrifically that team has been run since the WS run with those amazing young pitchers.
 
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