Tyler Clippard has officially been named the closer for the Athletics. Nice that they aren't going to mess around with a committee. Coming over from the Nationals, Tyler has an impressive pedigree. Clippard is the only man in baseball who has appeared in at least 70 games each of the past five seasons. Over those five seasons here is an average Clippard effort: seven wins, 2.88 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 10.04 K/9 and six saves. How great is that level of production? Compare those totals to Corey Kluber's Cy Young effort: 2.44 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 10.27 K/9. Meanwhile, Sean Doolittle is set to start playing catch Friday. He's just starting to play catch folks. Doolittle is likely a month away from returning from his shoulder woes. Isn't it at least possible that Clippard does so well that the Athletics put the lefty, Doolittle, in the setup role when he's healthy? Just a thought.
Kevin Gausman is an impressive talent, one of the most talented young righties in baseball actually. The expectation all along is that he would open the year as the Orioles 5th starter after closing out last season pitching decently (3.72 ERA, 1.35 WHIP with 62 KS over his last 75 innings). Well, now we're hearing that he might end up in the pen. "Until everything shakes out, I want him to be ready to do both things," manager Buck Showalter said of Gausman. Is that good for a youngster, to leave his role up in the air? Meanwhile, if the team passes on the talent that is Gausman it appears likely that the 5th starter will be Ubaldo Jimenez. The lanky righty went 6-9 with a 4.81 ERA and 1.52 WHIP last season for the Orioles over 125.1 innings. I really don't see the logic of going Ubaldo over Kevin. Let's hope the Orioles agree.
Jonathon Niese is dealing with some fatigue in his pitching shoulder. He claimed that he changed up his delivery a bit Thursday, and the result was less pain and a better effort. Niese is a fine grab in NL-only leagues, but given that he's failed to reach 160 innings pitched in two of the last four years you shouldn't be doing any reaching to add the lefty to your club.
Carlos Rodon has dominated in spring with 19 strikeouts over 12.1 innings. The White Sox have continued to maintain that they are thinking about him as an option for the bullpen, but with each successive outing of dominance the specter of him remaining in the rotation grows (the Sox brought up Mr. Sale slowly, using him out of the pen before starting him at the beginning of his career, and they might do the same thing with Carlos). Still, Rodon has dominated and the Sox starting staff isn't exactly teaming with talent right now (woof - John Danks). John Paul Morosi had an interesting take on Rodon. Whereas an offensive player is called up and rarely demoted if performing, teams can choose to handle their pitchers differently and still maintain control of a player into the future. We keep hearing that the Cubs will demot Kris Bryant and then call him up in two weeks. Those two weeks are key. It allows teams to maintain one extra year of control before a player becomes a free agent. So the Sox could leave Rodon up in the bigs, start him until the staff stabilizes, and then send him down for two weeks in May, June, July whatever to get those two weeks back. Might they do that? Possible, but I still think he ends up working out of the bullpen if they keep him around to start.
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Danny Salazar has been demoted to Triple-A Columbus by the Indians. Salazar allowed seven runs in 3.1 innings in his outing Thursday, and clearly the brass had seen enough. Instead of Salazar we'll be seeing Zach McAllister run out there every five games. Let's compare the two hurlers career numbers.
McAllister: 4.38 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 7.41 K/9, 2.45 K/BB
D. Salazar: 3.89 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 10.28 K/9, 3.70 K/BB
I know Salazar has struggled, but his numbers are clearly superior to Zach, and the eye ball test further tilts things in the direction of the demoted Salazar (Player Profile). This news obviously means that T.J. House (Player Profile) has made the Indians' rotation as well.
Speaking of White Sox arms...
Chris Sale he threw a simulated game Friday and reported no issues with his foot. At this point, barring a setback, it appears likely that Sale will return to the bump for the Sox on April 12th against the Twins. Can he make 30-straight starts after that? We'll just have to wait and see but history suggests maybe not.
Masahiro Tanaka has been named the Opening Day starter for the Yankees. I'm not impressed. For my thoughts see my Big 3 Video for March 27th.
Justin Verlander strained his triceps Friday and had to be removed from game action. The team says he will be fine. Even if he is fine, I want no part of the vet. See his Player Profile.
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@BGar15 - how early would you take Matt Harvey in a 12 team h2h 5x5 league?
It's not about what round --- it's about when the other top arms are going off the board. I will say this. For me personally Harvey is an SP3 in mixed leagues. Others will have him as an SP2, some even an SP1. So to answer your question... I will take Harvey when the 30 or so arms I have ranked ahead of him are off the board. For more on the DAILY UPDATED RANKINGS just click on the link.