WHEN WILL THE PHENOM BE UP?
Carlos Correa may be up soon, that’s what Jon Heyman reported on Twitter. Not going to question Heyman and his sources, he certainly is more tied in than I am, but really? Here’s what I see. Correa entered the season as a top-5 overall prospect in baseball according to Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB.com. He’s an immense talent. He’s also 20 years old. He hasn’t seen a single game above Double-A, a level at which he’s only appeared in 25 games. He is murdering Double-A hurlers though hitting .382-6-28-22-13 in 25 games (the 13 steals are crazy high – as if the rest of his game hasn’t also been crazy good). But how close is he to the bigs?
Super 2 status... What is Super 2? A player becomes eligible for arbitration after three seasons (players are tied to teams for six years before becoming free agents). However, the players that rank in the top 22 percent of players in terms of games played in their second season can qualify for Super-2 status, i.e. they can qualify for arbitration a year early (simply, if you are granted Super-2 status you can become a free agent after two years of service time, not three). When is that date? No one knows exactly because it has to be figured out based on players service time, but it’s generally after about 60 days each year meaning that the second week of June is usually a safe time for a team to call a guy up to miss Super 2 status. That’s another month without Correa at least if Super 2 status matters to the Astros, and I for one believe it does. I would not expect Correa in the big league for at least a month. But there is this…
“There’s a good chance we’ll get him up (to Class AAA) this month,” GM Jeff Luhnow said. “If we don’t feel like we’re getting the production out of that spot, out of that position on the infield and (Jed) Lowrie’s still a ways away and we feel like Carlos gives us the best chance to win games,” Luhnow said, “that’s a scenario that leads to him potentially being here sooner than anticipated.”
We shall see, but I’m just not a huge fan of stashing guys on your bench who aren’t even in the big leagues unless you have a minor league spot, if you are in a very deep league (i.e. 15 team mixed leagues), are in a keeper league or play in a league specific setup.
JUNKY PITCHERS
Mike Fiers allowed five runs over five innings to the Dodgers Thursday. That poor effort – on the heels of two outings in which he allowed two earned runs and struck out 18 – was a total disappointment. He’s still sporting a super impressive 12.74 K/9 mark but that’s about the only possibility. Through six starts Fiers has walked 4.25 batters per nine. He’s also been hammered by the long ball to the tune of a 1.82 HR/9 mark. That’s stupid high and more than double the 0.88 mark he posted last season. I’d hold if I owned him. Don’t give up on Fiers, but keep a wary eye trained on him.
Drew Pomeranz Thursday allowed four runs while recording 4.1 innings of outs against the Twins. At the end of the game his ERA is 5.12 and his WHIP 1.39. Through six starts he’s only had one outing with less than three earned runs allowed and in each of his last five starts he’s failed – every time – to last 5.2 innings. How do you trust that?
INJURED PITCHERS
Masahiro Tanaka threw 50 times from 60 feet Thursday. I don’t care. Still not interested and neither should you be.
Kyle Zimmer went to my alma mater the University of San Francisco. He was taken with the 5th overall pick in the 2012 Entry Draft by the Kansas City Royals with the belief that he would be a #2/3 starter in the big leagues (Baseball America had him ranked as the #23 prospect in baseball last year, #75 this season). It just hasn’t gone that way for the righty hurler. Limited by injury after injury, Zimmer is now dealing with another setback in his attempt to return from shoulder surgery. “He said, ‘I just don’t understand,’” Assistant general manager J.J. Picollo said. “There’s nothing you can do. You’ve just got to keep working and keep moving forward.” I’m rooting for you Kyle.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).