MLB Weekly Wrap-up (Week of 7/20/15)
With the trade deadline less than a week away, the first major domino has fallen. The Reds have several key players available on the trading block, and as a result, several baseball executives thought that the Reds needed to make a major move in order to jumpstart the flurry of trades throughout the league. On Sunday, the Reds traded their ace, Johnny Cueto, to the Royals in exchange for left-handed pitching prospects Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb, and Cody Reed. Cueto has been one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball over the past few seasons. Since 2010, he has not posted an ERA higher than 2.82, and last season, he had career highs of 20 wins and 242 strikeouts, all of this while pitching in hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark. Cueto will be a huge upgrade to a Royals rotation that is 22nd in ERA and 29th in innings pitched. Imagine what he can do in a more pitcher-friendly ballpark with the best defense in baseball behind him. The Royals are now the heavy favorite to win the American League and return to another World Series. For the Reds, they get three promising prospects, led by Finnegan, who was a 2014 first round pick and who pitched in the postseason last year; all of this for a guy with two months left on his contract who was not going to re-sign in Cincinnati. It’s a win-win for both teams, and now perhaps the rest of the trade market will be set in motion.
Speaking of ace pitchers on the trading block, Cole Hamels is another coveted player for many teams ahead of Friday’s trade deadline. The lefty made what could be his final start for the Phillies on Saturday, taking on the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Scouts from several teams throughout the league were in attendance to gauge the performance and to determine if he would be a worthwhile acquisition. Hamels was sensational and literally unhittable. He tossed MLB’s third no-hitter of the season, striking out 13 batters en route to a 5-0 Phillies win. The historic performance could not have come at a better time for the Phillies, who are in desperate need of a major overhaul. The team has the worst record in baseball and needs a complete rebuild from top to bottom. The no-hitter from Hamels, combined with the lucrative package that the Reds got for impending free agent Cueto (Hamels is under contract through 2018) should be enough to get the Phillies some solid prospects in return for their ace. Only two pitchers since 1900 have been traded in the same season after throwing a no-hitter, and it appears very likely that Hamels will be the third.
Dodgers ace Zack Greinke has been on quite the roll lately. As noted in last week’s wrap-up, Greinke had not allowed a run in six straight starts, bringing his consecutive scoreless streak to 43.2 innings and putting Orel Hershiser’s record of 59 consecutive scoreless innings on the radar. Greinke had his scheduled start pushed back to Sunday after leaving the team to see the birth of his child, but he took the mound against the Mets with an eye on inching closer to history. He made it through the first two innings unscathed before getting into a jam in the 3rd inning. Greinke hit the leadoff man, then allowed a single that gave the Mets runners on first and third with no outs with the pitcher, Jacob deGrom, coming to the plate. deGrom hit a grounder to first, but the fielder’s choice allowed a run to score, ending Greinke’s impressive streak at 45.2 innings, which ranks 6th on the all-time list. He surrendered one more run in the 6th inning and ended up getting a no-decision in the 3-2 extra-inning loss. Greinke may not have broken the record (even at 45.2 consecutive innings, he never really threatened it), but his performance over these past few weeks has been masterful. Hershiser’s record is probably untouchable, but Greinke’s run was still one of the best ever and likely won’t get the credit it deserves.
Hottest Team: San Francisco Giants (5-1 last week)
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For the second consecutive week, the Giants are the hottest team in baseball. They dropped their series opener last Monday in San Diego, but since then they have won five straight games, taking the series against the Padres and then sweeping the Athletics. The Giants are 8-1 since the All-Star break, which is the best mark in the league. Their pitching has allowed three runs or less in seven consecutive games as they continue to chase down the Dodgers in the NL West (the Giants trail by only one game). On top of that, this team could be looking to acquire another top-of-the-line pitcher ahead of the trade deadline, with both Hamels and David Price being rumored as potential options. If they can pull off a blockbuster trade, it could be enough to shift the balance of power in the division and vault the Giants back into the familiar territory of World Series contender.
Coldest Team: Boston Red Sox (2-4 last week)
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After entering the All-Star break on a 5-2 stretch, the Red Sox were only five games below .500 and still had slim hopes of battling back to earn a playoff spot. A strong start to the second half would have made the Red Sox buyers at the trade deadline, but the team’s play since the break has been anything but strong. An 0-7 road trip effectively eliminated the Red Sox from playoff contention: they lost all four games to the Angels and suffered a three-game sweep against the Astros. They did return home at the end of last week to take two out of three from the Tigers, but the damage had already been done. The Red Sox have the worst record in the AL and are 12 games behind the Yankees in their division. They will likely now try to sell at the trade deadline without many players that other teams would be interested in. What should have been a loaded lineup on paper has been anything but, and the mediocre pitching staff has been the worst in the AL. It looks like Sox Nation will be enduring yet another losing season.
Best Hitter: Joey Votto – Reds (.500 AVG, 2 HR, 4 RBI last week)
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The knock on Joey Votto has always been that he is sometimes too patient at the plate and lacking the typical power numbers of a middle of the lineup guy. However, he is a great overall hitter and really has no weaknesses with the bat. Votto has been the best hitter in the league since the all-star break. In edition to racking up hits, he is also frequently drawing walks (nine of them last week). In Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Cubs, he reached base a total of nine times. Votto was the NL MVP in 2010, and he signed a 10-year, $225 million extension in 2012, keeping him in Cincinnati through the 2024 season. He has battled leg injuries the past couple of years, but he seems to be returning to form in 2015 with a .303 AVG, 18 HR, 48 RBI, and a .420 on-base percentage thus far. The Reds have begun to rebuild their roster, but a healthy Votto provides a cornerstone and veteran leader for the franchise going forward.
Best Pitcher: Rubby De La Rosa – Diamondbacks (2-0, 0.60 ERA, 7 SO last week)
Image courtesy of Associated Press
With Greinke’s run of consecutive scoreless innings coming to an end, there is finally a new player being recognized as best pitcher of the week. Rubby De La Rosa was once a prized prospect with the Dodgers organization before being sent to the Red Sox. However, after a couple of mediocre seasons there, he landed in Arizona. De La Rosa has been up-and-down in his first season with the Diamondbacks, but he was phenomenal in his two starts last week. On Tuesday, he pitched 7 innings and only gave up 1 run in a 3-1 win against the Marlins. Then on Saturday against the Brewers, he pitched 8 shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits and striking out 6 in a 2-0 victory. These outings don’t mean a whole lot for the Diamondbacks in the standings (they are 8.5 games out of the NL West division lead), but they do give us a glimpse of some of De La Rosa’s vast potential that the scouts saw in him a few years ago.
