The BP Mailbag returns with questions for Will Carroll, Chris Kahrl, Nate Silver, and more. How did the Mets avoid losing a first-round draft pick this year after signing free agents? Are the Padres unlucky or could their injuries have been prevented? What were the Tigers thinking when they traded for Alex Sanchez? Dig in and find out.
The Diamondbacks and Royals take a surprising turn toward elite college talent in their drafting. The Phillies underachieving hitters have held them back from a run at the playoffs. Plus more Prospectus Triple Play news and notes out of Arizona, Kansas City, and Philadelphia.
Derek Zumsteg’s latest Breaking Balls takes a closer look at Edgar Martinez’s Hall of Fame candidacy, sparked by an onslaught of e-mail.
It’s not quite a Phil Nevin thing, in that you’ll have to take my word for it, but earlier today I was reading this article where Roy Oswalt was discussing his new adjustment to his pitching motion, a slight turn of his right (push) foot. My immediate thought was “Angle? Man, he’s going to hurt himself.” I won’t try to explain the mechanics of it in this short space, but stand up and try it yourself. Push off an invisible rubber with your foot both parallel and at an angle. Make sure you drive your leg and get a good hip rotation. Feel that? Yeah, so did Oswalt.
No determination has been made, but comments Oswalt made after the game seem to indicate that he’s headed back to the DL. Remember that red light? This clearly wasn’t what I was expecting, but longer term, the groin injury could take some of the stress off his arm. The Astros obviously have a great bullpen, but with their ace down again, that bullpen and the back of the rotation will be taxed. The extra workload could be a big factor in September.
While the Mariners are certainly one of the more creative teams when it comes to dealing with the DL, this latest tale surrounding Kaz Sasaki is perhaps too strange to be anything but true. If the suitcase story holds, then Sasaki should miss near the minimum. If not, and this is some cover for the back injury–or shoulder injury that many think Sasaki is dealing with–then it’s all up in the air. As in his last stint, we’ll know nothing from the normal channels on how to assess this.
It’s a cliché to say that the great thing about baseball is that you can always see something you’ve never seen before. Of course, comments like that reach the point of cliche because they’re true.
Last night, the Houston Astros lost their ace starter, Roy Oswalt, in the second inning to a groin injury. This messed them up so much that they went on to use five relievers in completing the first no-hitter against the Yankees in almost 45 years. Peter Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel, and Billy Wagner combined to strike out 11 batters in tossing the first six-pitcher no-no in MLB history.
I’m a Yankee fan, and while I’m frustrated by this team’s lack of depth and its terrible problems scoring runs, this was just cool. There’s not a ton of analysis to be done here. No-hitters happen, and while the Astros’ bullpen is probably more likely to do it than your average starting pitcher–getting lots of strikeouts helps, and the five relievers who threw average 10.1 Ks per nine innings–it’s not like you can predict something like this. It was just one of those great baseball events, the kind of game that makes memories for the faithful and turns the uninitiated into fans.