While we await Friday evening’s draft, and the subsequent resumption of EFL competition, here are a few things I’ve noticed here in the gap.
1. The EFL hitters leading in August WAR according to Fangraphs are (with MLB rank):
10. Jace Peterson, KD (1.268 OPS, 0.4 WAR : .412, .444, .824)
15. Carlos Correa, PP (1.146 OPS, 0.4 WAR: .250, .333, .813)
16. Brad Miller, KD (1.132 OPS, 0.4 WAR: .375, .444, .688)
20. Jake Lamb, HD (1.308 OPS, 0.4 WAR: .462, .462, .846)
21. Jonathan Schoop, CC (1.285 OPS, 0.3 WAR; .571, .571, .714)
25. Yasmani Grandal, PP (1.288 OPS, 0.3 WAR: .500, .538, .750)
27. Nick Ahmed, PA (1.038 OPS, 0.3 WAR; .400, .438, .600 and apparently a ton of outstanding defense).
28. A.J. Pierzynski, CK (1.192 OPS, 0.3 WAR: .462, .500, .692)
29. Anthony Rizzo, OD (1.308 OPS, 0.3 WAR: .462, .462, .846)
30. Yunel Escobar, CC (1.162 OPS, 0.3 WAR: .375, .412, .750)
This isn’t all that impressive, actually, since our share of the top 30 is 9. We got 10, but 9 of those 10 are from the bottom half of the top-30 list. Former EFLers ranked ahead of us include:
1. Nelson Cruz (1.873 OPS, 0.7 WAR)
2. Lucas Duda (1.589 OPS, 0.6 WAR)
5. Yangervis Solarte (1.596 OPS, 0.5 WAR)
6. Buster Posey (1.274 OPS, 0.5 WAR)
7. Ben Zobrist (1.826 OPS, 0.5 WAR — ouch, Cottage! You gave in to the Free Zobrististas one month too early!)
8. Asdrubal Cabrera (1.250 OPS, 0.4 WAR)
9. Adrian Beltre (1.268 OPS, 0.4 WAR)
3. The pitchers aren’t as interesting at the top, since no one has started more than once. Canberra’s Martin Perez overcame his tough, tough season so far to come in second on August WAR with 0.4 WAR for his 8.3 shutout innings.
4. The BOTTOM ranking pitchers are more interesting. For one thing, Lance McCullers is only the 33rd worst August pitcher according to WAR, his meltdown (see below) zaccounting for only -0.1 WAR despite his league-leading 162.0 August ERA. The EFL WAR losers for August are:
7. Cam Bedrosian (CK): 1 ip, 1 er, 9.00 ERA, -0.3 WAR.
8. Eddie Butler (CC): 4 ip, 7 er, 15.75 ERA, -0.3 WAR.
12. Jeff Samardzija (HD — go Jeff!): 4.7 ip, 17.36 ERA, -0.2 WAR.
24. Doug Fister (PR): 6 ip, 5 er, 7.50 ERA, -0.2 WAR.
27. Phil Hughes (CC): 5.7 ip, 4 er, 4.76 ERA, – 0.2 WAR.
28. Lance Lynn (PA): 5 ip, 4 er, 7.20 ERA, -0.2 WAR.
5. Wolverine debutant Lance McCullers uncorked an octodecal Royal Chulk Monday, surrendering 6 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning. The key blow was Adrian Beltre’s triple, which paved the way for Beltre to hit for the cycle. He (McCullers, not Beltre) was immediately demoted to the minors, officially to allow him to rest his arm. That’s an ERA of 162.0 for August. I don’t think he’s going to make the active Wolverine roster this time.
6. The Boston Red Sox just signed a free agent pitcher named Austin Glorius. He’s been assigned to the Lowell Spinners. I think our man on the East Coast should run up to Aberdeen, Maryland Sept 2, 3, or 4 to scout Mr. Glorius for the EFL scouting combine.