No League for Old Men

 

 

Old Detroit:  “L”, 6 – 3.  (51 PA, .234, .294, .468;  2 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).   Marcus Semien homered and doubled to lead his new team to victory.  Four other Wolverines doubled, too. 

 

He isn’t a candidate for Old Detroit’s Franchise Player, but infielder Luis Garcia should get some attention.  He is not on the OD active roster.  He went 0 for 4 for the Toledo Mudhamsters yesterday. But he also appears on Baseball Reference as the best starting pitcher of the day, hurling 6 sparkling shutout innings. If the Cheese can have two players named Shohei Ohtani, I want to have the other Luis Garcia, too.

 

Old Detroit would have made Felix Hernandez its first Franchise Player. Since I think Franchise Player status would only be awardable on the expiration of a contract, I might have been tempted to use it on Kyle Schwarber last year.  That would have been a poor choice.  I need to save it for Walker Buehler after his rookie status expires at the end of the 2022 season.

 

                               

 

Flint Hill:  W, 1 – (-4).  (53 PA, .125, .208, .167;  18 ip, 4 er, 2.00 ERA).  Oh that enviable ERA.  Yu Darvish and Julio Urias combined for 12 ip, 4 er, and Carlos Rodon topped it off with 5 more scoreless innings.  But then, also, oh that hitting.  Jarred Kelenic had two doubles to account for 1/3 of the Flinty hits, and all of the Flinty extra bases. 

 

Clever Tornado management, invoking “expiration of a contract” as the gateway to a Franchise Player designation, might be tempted to name Kelenic is FP to keep him out of the Rookie Draft. But we would anticipate this shrewd move in advance for one and say it is unavailable until the player’s rookie status expires. 

 

The T’s have a ton of players on contracts expiring this year. Twenty of their 30 players will be gone.  They just obtained Alex Bregman last week – shouldn’t a franchise player have spent more time than that on his team before earning FP status?  Tim Anderson is a possibility, I suppose. Musgrove, Marquez, or Eovaldi?  Maybe you stretch to grab one of those so next year’s task of assembling a competitive roster isn’t quite so gargantuan.  Or maybe you save the FP… except the only 2022 contract right now is Tanner Scott, who is probably a wonderful person and all. Anthony Rendon’s veteran deal expires in 2023, but do you want to use your FP to tie up a person late in his career? I think if I’m the Tornados I might save my FP until 2024, when Bo Bichette’s rookieness expires.

 

 

DC:  L, (-6) – 7.  (45 PA, .167, .222, .214;  1 IP, 0 ER, 0.00 ERA)  How does a team lose 6 runs on a day it plays a game?  Well, that hitting line is a good starting place at which to inquire. Benching Matt Chapman 100% is kind of startling, especially since Will Leitch thinks the A’s should retire his number.  Taking out Chapman’s 2 for 5 with a double pushes the Balk toward that runs-scored sinkhole.

 

As of this morning, the Balk have scored 60 runs in 8 games, about 7.5 per game.  So yesterday they would have had to have scored 66 runs in 7 games, or almost 9.5 per game. I don’t think that’s possible.  So I am guessing we have an error in the BR data, either yesterday or today. 

 

While we watch for this anomaly to sort itself out, let’s consider whom the Balk should name as their Franchise Player.  DC has only 6 players with contracts expiring this year. In 2022 Xander Bogaerts and Bryce Harper’s contracts expire.  Either of those would be good candidates for a Franchise Player.  Bogaerts will turn 30 on October 1, 2022. Harper doesn’t turn 30 until the 15^th of the same month. Advantage Harper!

 

 

Peshastin:  L, 4 – 5. (34 PA, .258, .294, .355;  5 ip, 2 er, 3.60 ERA).  I  think 5 ip, 2 er is the most common outcome of a pitching performance this year – well, no, relievers going a scoreless inning is more common.  The Pears did it three times yesterday.  But for starters, and maybe for teams as a whole, I feel like I keep seeing 5 ip, 2 er over and over.  It’s solid, so it’s good if it’s routine.   But if you’re taking on replacement innings for your other two innings on a day, it’s not all that great.  Especially when the offense is just a little off its prime, with only two walks and two doubles adding any pizzaz to that .258 batting average.

 

The Pears have 10 2021 contracts. Mitch Haniger has been the most valuable of them this year.  With Haniger still a Mariner, and the Top Pear’s soft spot for Mariners, he might give into the impulse and install Haniger as the Pear Franchise Player.   But if he can restrain himself until 2023, Juan Soto will become eligible for FP status.  I have a feeling Phil would kick himself when October 2023 rolls around if an injured and traded-to-the-Yankees Mitch Haniger is sitting in his FP box while Soto is lost to the general market.

 

 

 

Kaline: “L”, 7 – 2.  (48 PA, .313, .313, .625;  7 ip, 2 er,  2.57 ERA).  What a fine day at the old ballpark in Oak Harbor!  Four home runs (Adames, Judge, Winker and Conforto) spiced things up nicely. If only someone had drawn a walk!  Kwang Hyun Kim got through 4 innings with 2 earned runs scored, but Mark Melancon and Garrett Whitlock cleaned up with a combined 3 ip, 0 er.

 

Melancon and Whitlock have contracts expiring in 2021, but putting a pretty good reliever in one’s only Franchise Player spot sound sub-optimal, especially when ther Drive also have 13 other 2021 contracts expiring. Jose Altuve is one of them – but as a Drive for only a little over a month now, and being 31 already, maybe there’s a better option. 

 

Like Aaron Judge! Who has been a Drive his entire Rookie tenure, and is only 29 years old.  On the other hand, his best year was 2017, his first as a Drive, when he hit 52 homers and OPSed 1.049.  He’s OPSing a respectable .879 now, but he’s been fading for four straight years now.  Also, he’s a Yankee – but Tom has deeper wells of grace in him than I do, so maybe he can overlook his poor life choices.

 

 

Haviland:  L 6 – 12. (32 PA, .250, .344, .500;  5.7 ip, 7 er, 11.05 ERA.)  Nice hitting, highlighted by Brandon Lowe’s home run and doubles by four Dragons, including returned prodigal Aristides Aquino’s pinch-hit version.  But the pitching!  Jesus Luzardo, in his second outing for the Marlins, coughed up 7 earned runs in 4.7 innings. Combined with his 5 ip, 3 er outing on Monday, the Marlins must be wondering what they’ve gotten themselves into.  He’s not on course for a retired number in Miami. 

 

Luzardo’s chances of the Dragons wait until 2024 to make him their Franchise Player also took a hit.  Aristides Aquino, on the other hand, would make a great story: drafted as a rookie by the Dragons, dropped, and then brought back on a one-year deal, then made Franchise Player.  It would be so heartwarming, so inspirational – and if he can PS better than the .536 he is doing so far in his return to Haviland, so cool.

 

But the most formidable Dragons are known for their patience. Aquino will not distract the Chiefest of Calamities. If Amed Rosario doesn’t blossom before his rookie status expires next year, he can wait to see if Pablo Lopez or Brandon Lowe does by 2023 – or maybe Ramon Laureano rights his ship by then.  If not, there’s always 2024 when Michael Kopech’s rookie status will finally expire, along with Luzardo, Corbin Martin, and AJ Puk.

 

 

 

 Cottage:  W 2,  L (-1);  8 – (-1). (40 PA, .278, .350, .583;  19.7 ip, 6 er, 2.74 ERA) Robbie Ray led the pitching with his 6 scoreless innings.  Mitch Keller turned in yet another 5 ip, 4 er stinker – still pitching for the Corvallis Curds, so it didn’t hurt the Cheese. Alex Verdugo, Yandy Diaz, and the just-acquired ex-Wolverine Adolis Garcia all homered to drive the Cheesy offense. 

 

Only 5 Cheeses expire this year, and two are debutants ineligible for elevation to Franchise Player in our hypothetical world. But none of those, nor any of the 2022 class of expiring contracts, are likely to distract the Head Cheese from his 2023 prized Franchise Player prospect: Shohei Ohtani. 

 

Unless it’s Abraham Toro, the 2024 gem kyped from the Wolverine roster in last winter’s Rule 5 draft, who is hitting .425, 489, .750 as a Mariner playing second base.  Doggone it. People shouldn’t be allowed to get away with thievery like that.

 

 

 

 

Pittsburgh:  L, (-2) – 5. (32 PA, .148, .21, .222; 10.7 ip, 5 er, 4.21 ERA)  Vladimir Guerrerito – no, I mean Gutierrez – spun a 6 ip, 1 er gem, only to watch the newbie Tylor Megill, hard won in hot bidding last week, spoil things with 4.7 ip, 4 er.  Unfortunately, the Allegheny offense was not ready to pick up after the Megill’s mess.  Max Muncy and Dansby Swanson doubled, constituting half the A’s hits and all their extra bases.

 

The Alleghenys have 13 contracts expiring in 2021, but nine of them are debutants ineligible for Franchise Player status.  Dansby Swanson might be tempting when his rookie status rubns out this fall, but he’s been good, not transcendent.  Max Muncy has bordered on transcendence – I wish I still had him – but he’s under contract until 2023 and will be getting old then.  Would the Allegheny have to wait until 2025 to see how Luis Robert and Christian Pache pan out?

 

 

 

Canberra: L, 7 – 7. (45 PA, .262, .311, .405;  5 ip, 3 er, 5.40 ERA). Not quite 5 ip, 2 er, but close – and had it been,  Chris Flexen would have sealed a badly needed win for the Mariners. Kyle Tucker and Manuel Margot each got 3 hits, Margot including a double while Tucker add a stolen base for almost the same effect. Wander Franco homered and Tommy LaStella tripled to round out the team’s cycle.

 

Wander Franco is a deb, so he’s out as a Franchise Player at this time. Mike Trout would be tempting to permanently cement into the lineup without salary cap implications when his current contract expires this fall – note how a Franchise Player rule would rule out a few of the most outrageous tanking trades!   But there’s also Vlad Guerrero looming in 2024.  I think I’d go for Trout now and figure out something for Guerrero later.  If he’s still dominating in 2024, he’d be a MIGHTY BIG trade piece to someone who has an open Franchise Player slot.

 

 

Bellingham:  W, 4 – 1.  (32 PA, .321, .406, .321;  16 ip, 3 er, 1.69 ERA)  Charlie Morton pitched brilliantly for 6 shutout innings, and Shane McClanahan pitched solidly for 7 more (3 er) to pace the fine Cascade pitching.  The Belles also hit well, with 9 hits, 3 walks, and a hit by pitch, but all that produced only 4 runs because there was no power hitting at all. 

 

The Cascades are carrying 12 2021 contracts, 5 of which are Debutants. Jonathan India might be the best, but I don’t think he’s likely to be Franchise Player material, and he’s a deb anyway. The rest of the roster has many solid players, but transcendence is in short supply.  If things haven’t changed by 2024, the Belles would be a good candidate for that blockbuster Vlad Guerrero trade we were just talking about.

 

 

Portland:  W, 6 – 0. (33 PA, .290,.333, .516;  13 ip, 2 er, 1.38 ERA)  Once AGAIN the Rosebus have perhaps the best day in the league  (probably second to the Cheese this time) gaining 0.2 games on the Wolverines.  That man Luis Urias clouted a pinch-hit home run, and Tyrone Taylor added a triple.  Diego Castillo got through a scoreless inning to put the finishing touches on a game after Adbert Alzolay and Tyler Alexander combined for 12 innings with 2 earned runs.

 

The Rosebuds trimmed their 2021 contract down to 6, none of which are great Franchise Player prospects.  2022 doesn’t look much better.  The Rosebuds might as well wait until 2023.  By then Luis Urias will have turned into the All-Star he was touted to be. If he doesn’t, fellow Old Detroit reject Eric Lauer will be winning the Cy Young. They can’t both miss.

 

And even if they do, it’s only one more year until Nick Senzel’s soon-to-be-stunning rookie tenure runs its course.  You can’t lose, picking up Wolverine refuse.