I don’t understand the apparent attachment to Adrianza. Yes, he’s out of options, so he’d have to go on the waiver wire before being sent to Rochester. At this point, I think I’d roll the dice that somebody claims him.
This means we’ll see more of Astudillo or Gonzalez in the outfield, and I’d rather be in the position of having to play Gonzalez at short for a few innings than sacrifice range in the outfield on days one of the primaries is resting.
No offense to him, but I would find it perfectly acceptable for someone else to claim Adrianza were he to be sent through waivers. They've gotta have a better bat in the minors that could be brought up for pinch hitting duties.
If they waived Adrianza and sent Duffey down, they wouldn’t need to demote Cave to clear space on the active roster. (Assuming they’re not sending him down for some other reason.) They could bring Stewart up for the spot start, see how he does, and send one or neither of Stewart & Romero back down after the game.
In just over 900 major league plate appearances, he has a career line of .239/.299/.348/.647 with a 77 OPS+ and a 0.8 WAR. His defensive metrics are average to slightly below average. He's about as replaceable as you can get.
Cash for Clunkers
Out of curiosity, I just looked to see how Ronald Torreyes (615 MLB PA, 81 OPS+, 1.5 rWAR) is doing in AAA. Suffice it to say that his OBP is only twelve points above his listed weight (160 lbs).
I guess that’s what job security looks like for a replacement-level player.
González has 2243 innings at short, including 269.2 last year. DRS rates him average for his career but bad the last two years. UZR agrees on the magnitude. I can't say I'm bothered by him adding another 100 innings this year as the backup over Adrianza.
Adrianza is pretty much the definition of a replacement-level player, in that you can always pick up a guy like that for very little if you need one. I assume A-Stud is the fourth outfielder now, and while I'm all for getting him more playing time I'm not sure outfield is his strongest position.
I would also note that we are now back to thirteen pitchers and just three bench players, two of whom are primarily catchers.
Stewart is being recalled for this one game. Because they don't know what they are getting from Stewart, they called up Romero as a multiple-inning reliever since Duffey was taxed yesterday, so I'm guessing that this is just temporary and the extra bench player will return after Stewart is sent back down.
I hope you're right. My skepticism is based on Rocco's statement the other day that with twelve pitchers, they're "playing a man short in the bullpen". I take that to mean he thinks they really need thirteen.
And to be clear, I wouldn't automatically be opposed to thirteen if they were all good pitchers. But if the thirteenth guy is going to be of the De Jong/Vasquez type, I'd rather have the extra bench player.
And I suppose the other point is that if they were all good pitchers, you probably wouldn't need thirteen of them.
Co-sign on all of this.
UZR shows Marwin was absolutely brutal at shortstop last year for the Astros and below average for his career. He's been above average in the corner outfield overall. Jake Cave has been horrible in the corner outfield spots, according to UZR, for his career.
That's why he's Jake Cave and the Bad D
+1
So immediately, Rocco puts Adrianza at second and Astudillo in right and benches Buxton and Schoop against Verlander. I have no idea why he thinks it would be better to do this than have Astudillo at third and Gonzalez in right field. Gonzalez was signed for his versatility and has only played third with Sano out. Well, one guess would be because Stewart is supposedly more of a ground ball pitcher, so maybe the infield defense will be more important. That's about all I can come up with.
Maybe if he's starting with the assumption that we don't have much chance to win anyway, he figures it's a good time to rest a couple of players. He obviously isn't going to come out and say that, of course.
He's giving Houston a fighting chance
Well, Adrianza is 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts career versus Verlander, so maybe he thinks he is due? For Astudillo, maybe they just want him out there for the entertainment factor?
Stewart’s not showing much evidence of being a ground ball pitcher tonight.
In an additional move, the Twins activated Gabriel Moya from the injured list and optioned him to Rochester.
First round of golf today for this guy. 10 over par after 8 holes which isn't a surprise. However, parred the next 9 holes before bogeying 18. I don't think I have ever shot par over 9 holes ever in my life. Had 2 eagle putts that I couldn't convert into birdies. Missed four birdie putts inside of 8 ft. I will take an 83 in my first round of the year. It was a beautiful day. I am bracing to come back down to earth during my next round. Because that's golf.
Verlander Ks over/under tonight?
5 since he's going to be knocked out in the 3rd inning
Stewart to start and Romero is back up too. Duffey and Cave back to AAA.
I don’t understand the apparent attachment to Adrianza. Yes, he’s out of options, so he’d have to go on the waiver wire before being sent to Rochester. At this point, I think I’d roll the dice that somebody claims him.
This means we’ll see more of Astudillo or Gonzalez in the outfield, and I’d rather be in the position of having to play Gonzalez at short for a few innings than sacrifice range in the outfield on days one of the primaries is resting.
No offense to him, but I would find it perfectly acceptable for someone else to claim Adrianza were he to be sent through waivers. They've gotta have a better bat in the minors that could be brought up for pinch hitting duties.
If they waived Adrianza and sent Duffey down, they wouldn’t need to demote Cave to clear space on the active roster. (Assuming they’re not sending him down for some other reason.) They could bring Stewart up for the spot start, see how he does, and send one or neither of Stewart & Romero back down after the game.
In just over 900 major league plate appearances, he has a career line of .239/.299/.348/.647 with a 77 OPS+ and a 0.8 WAR. His defensive metrics are average to slightly below average. He's about as replaceable as you can get.
Cash for Clunkers
Out of curiosity, I just looked to see how Ronald Torreyes (615 MLB PA, 81 OPS+, 1.5 rWAR) is doing in AAA. Suffice it to say that his OBP is only twelve points above his listed weight (160 lbs).
I guess that’s what job security looks like for a replacement-level player.
González has 2243 innings at short, including 269.2 last year. DRS rates him average for his career but bad the last two years. UZR agrees on the magnitude. I can't say I'm bothered by him adding another 100 innings this year as the backup over Adrianza.
Adrianza is pretty much the definition of a replacement-level player, in that you can always pick up a guy like that for very little if you need one. I assume A-Stud is the fourth outfielder now, and while I'm all for getting him more playing time I'm not sure outfield is his strongest position.
I would also note that we are now back to thirteen pitchers and just three bench players, two of whom are primarily catchers.
Stewart is being recalled for this one game. Because they don't know what they are getting from Stewart, they called up Romero as a multiple-inning reliever since Duffey was taxed yesterday, so I'm guessing that this is just temporary and the extra bench player will return after Stewart is sent back down.
I hope you're right. My skepticism is based on Rocco's statement the other day that with twelve pitchers, they're "playing a man short in the bullpen". I take that to mean he thinks they really need thirteen.
And to be clear, I wouldn't automatically be opposed to thirteen if they were all good pitchers. But if the thirteenth guy is going to be of the De Jong/Vasquez type, I'd rather have the extra bench player.
And I suppose the other point is that if they were all good pitchers, you probably wouldn't need thirteen of them.
Co-sign on all of this.
UZR shows Marwin was absolutely brutal at shortstop last year for the Astros and below average for his career. He's been above average in the corner outfield overall. Jake Cave has been horrible in the corner outfield spots, according to UZR, for his career.
That's why he's Jake Cave and the Bad D
+1
So immediately, Rocco puts Adrianza at second and Astudillo in right and benches Buxton and Schoop against Verlander. I have no idea why he thinks it would be better to do this than have Astudillo at third and Gonzalez in right field. Gonzalez was signed for his versatility and has only played third with Sano out. Well, one guess would be because Stewart is supposedly more of a ground ball pitcher, so maybe the infield defense will be more important. That's about all I can come up with.
Maybe if he's starting with the assumption that we don't have much chance to win anyway, he figures it's a good time to rest a couple of players. He obviously isn't going to come out and say that, of course.
He's giving Houston a fighting chance
Well, Adrianza is 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts career versus Verlander, so maybe he thinks he is due? For Astudillo, maybe they just want him out there for the entertainment factor?
Stewart’s not showing much evidence of being a ground ball pitcher tonight.
In an additional move, the Twins activated Gabriel Moya from the injured list and optioned him to Rochester.
First round of golf today for this guy. 10 over par after 8 holes which isn't a surprise. However, parred the next 9 holes before bogeying 18. I don't think I have ever shot par over 9 holes ever in my life. Had 2 eagle putts that I couldn't convert into birdies. Missed four birdie putts inside of 8 ft. I will take an 83 in my first round of the year. It was a beautiful day. I am bracing to come back down to earth during my next round. Because that's golf.
Verlander Ks over/under tonight?
5 since he's going to be knocked out in the 3rd inning