By the shores of Miccosukee,
By the shining Canal-Water,
R. A. Dickey threw one pitch he
Oughta maybe notta.
R.A. Dickey, one out away from logging 7 scoreless innings, instead gave up a 3 run pinch-hit homer to Tyler Moore, and that was the ballgame. Dickey ended up allowing 5 hits, 3 earned runs, and 3 walks in his 7 innings, while recording only 1 strikeout. Dickey has been doing what he was brought here to do, whatever one thinks of the decision to bring him here to do such.
The Braves parlayed 8 hits and 6 walks into a single run. The RBI – so maligned at the Macro level, yet its importance so apparent at the Micro level.
The Braves still took the series, 2 games to 1, but fall to 2 and 3 on the road trip. Freddie Freeman went 2 for 5 to raise his batting average to .344. We’ll try again Monday night in Toronto.
The funniest thing I ever heard about Miami: The worst open in the history of baseball.
At what point do you give Sims a shot? His numbers at AAA are absurd. More than a strikeout per inning and a 4:1 K/BB ratio after 7 starts with a .171 average against.
Both Collmenter and Colon have been terrible. If Colon gets lit up in Toronto, I wouldn’t be against cutting the former and moving the latter to the long man .
Past that, unfortunately, neither Blair or Wisler have shown anything to the point that the next man up would probably either be Newcomb (still with a BB/9 > 4) or Weigel.
Topline numbers, especially in small samples, don’t tell the full story with minor league pitchers. Read scouts’ accounts of Sims’ performances. He has improved. But as his BABIP shows, he’s benefited from some hard-hit outs, and he’s still creating problems for himself, albeit fewer of them, with wildness.
Some scouts were putting a 70 on Max Fried’s curveball at the end of last season. Someone else can beat this drum from here, but it’s not necessarily about a pitching prospect’s K/9 and it’s certainly not about any of their ERAs. Aaron Blair’s topline numbers looked great in AAA last year too in an even larger sample. Didn’t mean he was ready. The indications that his success would not carry over at the ML level were always there.
1 — My guess is that they give Colon until June, so that Sims can avoid Super Two status.
After a hot start, Brandon Phillips is hitting .118 in the month of May.
@1
I’d like to see him too. I think he is having to throw a lot of pitches to get those strikeouts. They are also paying Colon $12 million. They aren’t going to pull the trigger quickly on him.
@4
I am willing to give him a pass. He has been playing hurt.
Reay has a new challenger for BJ Poet Laureate. Nice recap.
With Sims I’m not worried about him being a Super Two. I’m worried about making sure that he can really consolidate his games because he’s been so uneven the last couple of years.
I think Colon and Dickey are both with this team and in the rotation until the all-star break. This team overpaid for them to eat innings and to potentially bring back some value. I think the FO also realized that they rushed Wisler/ Blair and they wont do that again with any of these other guys.
About Sims: The comment I read, on another site from someone who watched his last start, described his fastball as 91-92 mph on the gun yesterday–not “mid-nineties” as in the past. That’s fine… You sure can’t argue with yesterday’s results, and maybe lower velo was partly why he walked only one batter.
The thing I remember about Sims from televised spring training appearances was a mid-nineties fastball that looked “straight” to my layman’s eyes, and that he didn’t seem to command very well anyhow. But his breaking ball looked sharp and generated a lot of poor swings.
If this lower 90s fastball is now “his fastball” it might work just fine with that breaker of his… Anyhow, if the good results hold for a couple more starts I’d say it’s time to give him his shot–as you say, never mind Super Two status.
Guys, we did not “overpay” for Dickey. It was $7.5 million for a guy who had 6 straight seasons of 2+ WAR until last year’s 0.4 WAR turd. He’s a knuckleballer who has a good chance of rebounding to 2 WAR production at 41, and if he does that, we can choose to keep him for $8 million next year. It’s hard to find a free agent pitcher who can give you 200 marginal innings for $7-8 million. It’s likely to end up a “meh” deal, but in the best case, it’s a great value.
Alex wood NL player of the week. 21 Ks in 11 innings pitched.
Sims today 6.2IP 2H 0ER 1BB 10K. Huge strides so far this season.
That was yesterday, but yes, a continued step in the right direction.
Yes, Dickey has been just fine. Bart, EOF, Krol, and Teheran (not being his usual self) have been the problem. Dansby and the bench on the offensive side are the problem. Dickey is who they thought he was. The team didn’t have much margin for error, and 7 of the 25 players underperforming from reasonable expectations is enough to sink a 75 win team’s season.
Big Sexy opens the series against the Jays tonight. He has a chance to get back on track.
On the other hand, given his last couple of starts, an MLB record is within reach. On May 13, 1911, the NY Giants faced St. Louis. The Giants scored what is still a MLB-record 10 runs before having a batter retired in the first inning. (Interestingly, in the second inning, Rube Marquard came on in relief for the Giants and struck out 14 batters in 8 innings, the MLB record for strikeouts by a reliever. The Giants won 19-5.)
In his last start Colon was halfway to the record start, giving up 5 runs without recording an out. Just 5 more doesn’t seem so hard.
Big Sexy should market a fragrance called “Bartolo’s Cologne.” It would smell of sweat and rosin, and packed with heart and knowshowtowinnitude. His marketing team is missing an opportunity.
Here comes the Colon Blow.
Well, Colon blew his shot at the record–but I’m not complaining.
Seriously, he is all about fast ball command. There is no reason to think he can’t pitch as he did the last couple of years. OTOH, he has almost no margin for error. If he’s off just a little, and his fastball catches too much of the plate, it’s batting practice.
Actually, Leo Mazzone would tell you that fastball command is the key for all pitchers. (Even someone like Niekro or Dickey needs to keep the “get it over” fastball from catching too much of the plate.)
@6 – Thanks coop.
Freeman is better than Heyward
Freddie does it again. Nice that there were some men on base this time.
Freeman is better than just about everyone right now
@6, good to know Harry, there goes my cover…
Challenge for you @5, previous thread…Wright/Klesko/circles – who/what is being referenced?
Rogers Center, Toronto…DYK? Dale and Roy each paid half of the construction costs. That triggered the automatic statues clause.
How about that? It’s the middle of May and Kemp and Markakis have trade value.
@21. So much better than Heywards 697 OPS from a non premium defensive position it should not even be debated any more
Ian Kroll
it is now evident that Chief was right after all
No more, he was pleading
3 walks, we suggest he file a legal proceeding.
The Alex Wood trade was too stupid to fathom at the time it was made. In hindsight, it is even worse.
@24 – To give you an idea what I know, until I went back and looked at it I thought you were talking about David Wright.
Josh Collmenter might not be very good
The Great Gatsby
no matter how good your at-bats be
when throwing to Freddie at first
lean forward else likely prepare to be cursed.
I agree that Dickey is giving us the production we’re paying for, and I would add that knucklers have an added value just by virtue of being knucklers. Some reckon they can throw an opposing teams’ batting out of whack for several days, regardless of in-game results. Maybe that’s a thing, but mostly I’m talking about the entertainment value to fans. The knuckleball is one of the uniquely basebally things that make baseball my favorite sport, and I know I’m not alone on that. I’m of the belief that, if your team is gonna suck anyways, you might as well have a knuckler. Hell, I believe that you outta have one even if your team is great.
@17
Colin Blow was my suggestion when Mac asked what kind of cereal Melky would be, years ago. But obviously it suits Bartolo better. I remember Melky as Melk Dud anyways.
We need Kemp and Cakes to continue to OPS 1.000 until the break. That could make things very interesting on the trade front. Strong outfield bats are scarce, and someone is always in need.
Wow, the NL East is terrible
recap up.