Pigs in pokes, and the sacrifice pleasing to Dios

There were some pretty dramatic transactions between June and July.  And July is already 5 games old for most of us.  I wonder who has come out smelling best, and worst, in the initial returns on their June/July moves.

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Portland: 3 – 0, 19 – 8  (.289, .349, .474; 30 ip., 8 er, 2.40 ERA). The Rosebuds traded Taylor Williams for Carlos Martinez and Aledmys Diaz for James Pazos in a desperate attempt to bring their pitching up to the level of the league-leading Wolverine staff.  They also spent $2,000,000 on Brad Keller in the draft, and $500,000 on Ben Gamel.  Gamel is batting .111, .273, .111 in 11 July plate appearances — that’s the good news (for the rest of us).  Carlos Martinez has 6 innings, 2 earned runs as a Rosebud (compared to Williams’ 1 scoreless inning) and Pazos has added another scoreless inning — not so good news.  And here’s the bad news: Keller has 8 ip, 1 er, despite having just flashed into existence (as far as I knew) Tuesday morning when he was put up for bid.  As consolation, let me offer this: the Rosebuds’ leading July hitter, that man Gleyber Torres (.400, .500, .800) just went on the 10-day DL with potentially career-ending hip strain. Well, ok, probably not career-ending, but he may be out for the rest of July.  Hey, Wolverines, let’s make some hay while the sun is shining

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Old Detroit: 3 – 1, 33 – 16 (.327, .373, .521;  51.3 ip, 26 er, 4.56 ERA). All right, say the W’s, if the ‘Buds want to take away the best pitching stats, we’ll take their best hitting stats! The Wolverines drafted no one, entirely out of character.  Then, in a desperate attempt to keep up with the Johnsons, they traded June draft find Alen Hanson to the Pears for old friend Jose Iglesias.  Now that the W’s have all the Iglesiases, surely their fortunes will improve. Jose Iglesias so far in July:  .316, .300, .368 — yes, the dreaded “OBP lower than AVG” syndrome of the undisciplined hitter, thanks to a sacrifice fly. Meanwhile Raisel Iglesias sports a 9.00 ERA over 3 innings. Sigh.  If owning all the Iglesiases isn’t the sacrifice pleasing to Dios, what is?  It’s probably whatever Trea Turner is doing: 3 for 5 yesterday with two homers, including a grand slam, and 8 RBIs. Or any of the other 5 Wolverines OPSing over 1.000 this month.  Like Austin Hedges (1.286) or Mallex Smith (1.881).

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Canberra: 3 – 2, 14 – 12 (.221, .284, .303;  38 ip, 6 er, 1.42 ERA). The Kangaroos stood pat this month, which if you know anything about Kangaroos, is a shocker. But why scramble for new players when your old ones start July with a team ERA of 1.42?  Well, maybe because they also combined for a .587 team OPS, “highlighted” by three alphabetically adjacent players all with 12 at bats and .167 slugging percentages:  Billy Hamilton, Rhys Hoskins and Scott Kingery. All those hurt but Hoskins hurts most with his .083, .143, .167 line so far in July.

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Brookland:   2 – 3; 25 – 34. (.235, .340, .458; 45.7 ip, 33 er, 6.50 ERA)   Brookland snagged two players in the draft: Jonathan Loaisiga and John Jay.  Aaron Hicks has led the Out offense so far in July:  6 for 14 with two doubles and four homers — plus 5 walks for a 2.008 July OPS.  Jon Jay has pitched in a useful 6 for 17 with 2 HBP (.353, .421, .353).  Alas, it those offensive accomplishments were offset by poor pitching, especially Zack Godley’s near chulk (4 ip, 7 er) and Jeremy Hellickson’s full chulk (4 ip, 8 er), but also Loaisiga’s 4 ip, 3 er clinker. On the other hand, neither of the Outs’ castoffs (Jordan Lyles and Ryan Sherriff) seem to have appeared in July at all.

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Cottage: 3 – 2; 24 – 20. (.248, .329, .447;  33 ip, 12 er, 3.27 ERA).  The Cheese didn’t need to draft anyone after pulling off possibly the biggest blockbuster trade in EFL history: Trout, Schoop and one of the Barneses for Margot, Moncada, and Grandal. They also snagged Franklin Barreto off the waiver wire. So how did the new Cheeses fare so far in July? Barreto has gone 0 for 1. Margot is batting .154, .214, .154. Moncada may be breaking through, finally, now that he’s left the stultifying summer heat in Flint Hill: .304, .333, .609.  But the real find is Grandal:  7 for 10 with two doubles, a triple, a homer and 5 walks, for a monster 2.200 OPS.  Aw, but the Tornados have nothing to worry about. They got Trout, right? So I’m sure they will come out of this smelling like Rosebuds.

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Flint Hill:  3 – 1, 23 – 11. (.252, .330, .472;  46 ip, 23 er , 4.50 ERA). The Tornados swept through their own roster like some kind of violent wend storm, flinging bits far and wide. Out went Margot, Moncada, Grandal, Pollock, Buxton, Banda, Cotton and Iwakuma. That’s 8 players, more than a quarter of the roster.  In came Trout, Schoop, Barnes, Paxton, Bieber, Bauers, Castellanos… and Diego Castillo (to give the castellanos a castillo for shelter).  How do these groups compare?

Well, first off, we need to note that 4 of the 8 exports haven’t appeared in July, leaving the following:

Exports: 66 PA, .321, .424, 1.014. No pitching. Those are some pretty generous exports there.

Imports:  62 PA, 14 h, 4 2b, 4 hr, 4 bb:  .226, .273, .484;  17.7 ip, 4 er, 2.04 ERA.

But the key get was Mike Trout.  He is batting .143, .294, .286 as a Tornado. But there’s hope for Tornado fans: he’s done facing Mariner pitching for a while.

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Pittsburgh: 2 – 2; 17  – 20  (.261, .328, .382; 32.3 ip, 32 er, 8.91 ERA). The Alleghenys made significant revisions to their pitching staff, exiling two pitchers and an infielder for three new pitchers.  Ryan Borucki (7 ip, 2 er) and Lou Trivino (1.7 ip, 0 er) have done far better (2.08 ERA) than the holdovers among the Allegheny pitchers (30 ER in 23.7 ip, for a robust 11.41 ERA).  Lance Lynn’s quadruple chulk (1.7 ip, 7 er) and David Price’s double chulk (3.3 ip, 8 er) are the anchors to the Allegheny ERA.  But take heart, Allegheny fans!  That ERA is dropping. Before yesterday’s 8 ip, 2 er performance from Luke Weaver, it was 11.11.

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Kaline: 2  – 2; 23 – 23 (.278, .366, .457;  39.7 ip, 23 er, 5.22 ERA ).  The Drive sent prized project James Paxton away, three months before his contract expired, for outfield stud AJ Pollock.  Paxton hurled 8 shutout innings this month. Pollock has gone 2 for 10 with a double and two walks.  So far not so good — but Pollock has all of 2019 to balance the accounts.

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Peshastin: 1 – 2; 8 – 14.  (.211, .270, .381;  31.3 ip, 14 er, 4.02 ERA).  The Pears shunted off two more expiring contracts (Iglesias and Pazos) for infielders bound by contracts for 2019 (Hanson and Aledmys Diaz), taking advantage of pennant fever among the contenders (or would-be contenders) for the crown.  Dividends on Diaz are delayed: 1 for 10 so far, a simple single. Hansen is showing better returns early: 4 for 14 with a homer and a walk, for a fine .833 OPS.

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Haviland:  1 – 3; 15 – 29. (.228, .329, .333; 26.7 ip, 21 er, 7.09 ERA) Despite at least two attempts to pry him away, Bryce Harper is still a Dragon: .111, .304, .333  in July.  (Whew!). So in the end the Dragons neither bought nor sold this time around, acquiring no one in the draft — maybe a bit depressing considering pitching stalwarts Covey, Glasnow, Newcomb, and Nova all allowed more runs than innings pitched already this month.

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DC: 2 – 3, 20 – 29. (.275, .302, .497;  23 ip, 10 er, 3.91 ERA). The Balk balked at all offers, and even on attending the draft.  Three straight starters finished 6 innings with 3 earned runs allowed (Alex Cobb going 6.7), which is only so-so. But they have been backed by 4.3 innings from relievers, with only 1 earned run allowed. Mostly what they need from their pitchers is more, not necessarily better: that’s really only 3 games’ worth of pitching.