MARINERS SURGICAL UPDATES

Three Mariners hurlers had surgery recently.

Steve Cishek had a labrum procedure on his right hip. The recovery for such a procedure is 4-6 months meaning he could begin the 2017 campaign on the shelf. Cishek, a 30 year old righty sidewinder, posted a strong 2.81 ERA and 1.02 WHIP last season. He did blow seven save chances but he also saved 25 games and added nine holds as he struck out 10.69 batters per nine. He also posted a solid 2.95 BB/9 rate, below his 3.34 career mark, but that came with a 44 percent ground ball rate that was the second worst mark of his career. Given that he is unlikely to be healthy for the start of next season he should not be viewed, as of this writing, as a legit closing candidate for the Mariners.

Taijuan Walker had arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle to remove a bone fragment. He should be 100 percent well before Spring Training begins. A big fan of Walker is this scribe. A gifted 6’4” 24 year old righty, Walker suffered many ups and downs in 2016. Ultimately he reversed his 11-8 record from 2015 going 8-11, though he did drop his ERA (4.22) and virtually matched his WHIP (1.20) from the previous season (1.24). Here’s what you need to know. (1) He strikes guys out with a 8.12 K/9 rate for his young career. (2) He doesn’t walk many with a strong 2.50 BB/9 rate. (3) His career WHIP, over 357 frames, is a solid 1.21. (4) His career GB/FB ratio of 1.11 is average. The issue for him is the long ball. Walker has allowed a HR/9 rate of 1.36 for his career, and the rate was laughably high at 1.81 in 2016. When his 17.6 percent HR/F ratio normalizes, his mark in the just completed season, his homer rate will fall and with it his ERA should improve. Buy at a discount next season. This is an impressive arm.

Tony Zych had right shoulder biceps tendon transfer surgery. He should be ready for the start of Spring Training. Zych missed a good deal of time during the season with a rotator issue, but the good news is that the rotator cuff did not need a repair. Zych, a right reliever, has appeared in 25 games at the big league level with an impressive K-rate of 12.66. He walked 10 batters in 13.2 innings in 2016, but with a healthy arm he could dominate in a setup role next season.

KURODA HANGING THEM UP

Hiroki Kuroda is 41 years old and still pitching in Japan. As a 40 year old last season he went 11-8 with a 2.55 ERA. The righty is pitching in the Japan Series right now after a 3.09 ERA and 10 wins over 151.2 innings in his age 41 season. He will finally retire at the end of the season.

DID YOU KNOW…

Cole Hamels had an 8.97 K/9 rate in 2016. That was higher than Jon Lester at 8.75.

Ricky Nolasco walked 2.00 batters per nine. That was lower than the 2.08 mark of Kyle Hendricks.

Ervin Santana allowed 0.94 homers per nine innings. Masahiro Tanaka was at 0.99.

Martin Perez had a 52.3 ground ball rate. Noah Syndergaard was at 51.2 percent of his batted balls.

Robbie Ray had a 3.45 xFIP. Madison Bumgarner was at 3.54.

PLAYOFF NOTES

Trevor Bauer’s injured finger was a disaster. I would post pictures here but I don’t want people to vomit. For real. Here are a couple of looks at his injured finger. It was ugly. Picture 1 and Picture 2 (which is actually a short video). As I wrote about Monday in this piece, the quick hook means that Corey Kluber will start Game 4 for the Indians. The Indians say Bauer could be available for Game 6 or 7, but that seems like a foolish thing to say given how bad Bauer’s finger looked Monday night. By the way, six Indians relievers were used in Game 3 as the Indians defeated the Jays to move to a 3-0 lead in the series (Kluber will face off with Aaron Sanchez in Game 4). No Bauer, no Carlos Carrasco, no Danny Salazar… and one game from the World Series. Wow.

Kenta Maeda will start Game 5 with Julio Urias starting Game 4 for the Dodgers against the Cubs. Urias will be the youngest player ever to start a post season game at 20 years, 68 days. Jeez is he young. Maeda’s last three starts of the regular season resulted in a mere 11.2 innings in which he allowed 10 runs, five walks and 15 hits. His two postseason starts have gone no better as he’s posted a 9.00 ERA and 2.00 WHIP over two starts which covered just seven innings.

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM EDT PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).