The Cubs have decided to give
Starlin Castro a seven year, $60 million contract. Just 22 years old, this has the look of a contract that is a solid one for the Cubs who also hold a $16 million option on Castro for the 2020 season. Still, there are a few reasons for concern. Chiefly is the lack of focus that Castro continues to display. Will getting a contract for $60 million spur him to focus more intently, or will he relax thinking he's “made it.†It's a situation to at least consider. As for on the field stuff, some concerns there too. His average is .280, down from the .300+ mark the last two years. He's walking even less, and that has led his already poor BB/K ratio to dip even further (0.29 this year). As a result his league average OBP has dipped to a terrible level this season (.311). Sure his power is up, he has 12 homers this season after hitting 13 the previous two years, and he has stolen 20 bases for the second straight year. Still, the guys has 52 steals in his career and has been caught 27 times. That's a stolen base rate of just a shade under 66 percent. That's awful. He's young, talented, and now rich. Let's see how much improvement he can make over the next few years.
Brett Anderson is set to pitch for the Athletics Tuesday, his first outing of the season as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery. In six minor league games he posted a 4.26 ERA with 18 Ks and five walks over 25.1 innings. Anderson, who owns a 3.66 ERA and 1.27 WHIP for his career, also owns a solid K/BB ratio of 3.11. That will be key. Often times the last thing to come back for hurlers after Tommy John surgery is their control. Given that control is such an important part of Anderson's game, it would be wise to take a moderate approach to his return to the hill. In AL-only leagues he's a must add. I could even agree with adding him in a 15 team mixed league. However, in 10-12 team leagues, it would be wise to not expect too much from Anderson. Maybe he comes through right off the hop, but I'd be cautiously optimistic.
Michael Cuddyer's season might be over as he suffered yet another setback with his oblique issue. Cuddyer has been typically solid this season with 16 homers and 58 RBIs in 101 games, but his OPS of .806 is just one point better than his .805 mark last season and just .011 points above his career mark of .795. So much for Coors Field boosting his production. It helped a bit, his OPS at home is .858, but that number has been a mere .744 on the road. He's appeared in 26 games at first, and 74 in the outfield, so he'll still have that dual position eligibility next season.
Brian McCann is hitting only .227 on the season, a disappointing mark to be sure for a guy who owns a .280 career mark. It's not a shock that the average has dipped a bit, McCann has hit .269 and .270 the past two years, but it's still way below expectations right now. McCann has also seen a drastic dip with a .304 OBP, well below his .353 career mark, and substantially below his previous four year low of .349. The power hasn't been quite up to par either as his .419 SLG would be a career worst (his lowest single season mark if .452 – other than his .400 mark in 180 at-bats). That's the bad. The good follows. His 0.67 BB/K mark is one hundredth off his career mark. His 0.99 GB/FB is one tenth off his career mark of 0.89. He has 18 homers, the 7th straight year he has reached that total. After 4-straight years of at least 87 RBIs from 2006-09, McCann has dipped to 77 and 71 the past two years, but with 14 more RBIs he will have 7-straight seasons of 18 homers and 71 RBIs. Only three catchers have ever had longer streaks (Yogi Berra and Mike Piazza each had 10 year runs, while Jorge Posada pulled off the trick eight times in a row). McCann is still an excellent run producer, despite the terrible batting average, an it would be wise not to underestimate that.
Brandon Morrow allowed two runs in 4.2 innings in his last start at Double-A, and the Blue Jays expect him to return from the DL this week. He's a tough case. My breakout star of the year on the hill before the season started, Morrow made me look like a genius with his 3.01 ERA and 1.00 WHIP through 13 starts. Of course, he then pulled an oblique, and we haven't seen him since June 11th. Now, with his return on the horizon, people are viewing him as a savior. Is that fair? That's the question with the power righty. Morrow was great this season, but that success was over only 13 starts. Previously, he had been all about talent and Ks, but little on production (prior to the start of this season Morrow owned a 4.37 ERA an a 1.38 WHIP). Of course, I saw something in his previous work to lead me to think a breakout this season was possible. What was that? Two main factors. First, the guy was as dominating a power arm as any in the game as he posted a 10.06 K/9 mark over his first 187 games. That's HOF level stuff. Also, his walk rate had gone from 5.68 to 4.06 to 3.46 last season. The walks have continued to fall this season, down a an impressive 2.78 per nine for a guy who owns a career 4.30 mark, but the control came at the expense of the strikeouts as his K/9 mark was way down at 7.76. Which pitcher will return? The flame thrower who blows batters away? The more controlled arm that keeps the walks in check? The wild thrower who doesn't pitch? I assume Morrow's performance will more closely resemble his work from this season, but it's a guess based on a very small sample size (13 starts). Given that he has missed two months with the injury, it's also tough to know just where Morrow is right now and how he will produce when he's brought back up to the big leagues.
Funniest news of the day. Roger Clemens is going to sign a contract with the Sugar Land Skeeter of the Atlantic League. Reportedly in great shape, the 50 year old hit 87 mph with his fastball during the 45 minute work out and is scheduled to pitch Saturday. Oh boy.
Ray Flowers can be heard daily on Sirius/XM Radio on The Fantasy Drive on Sirius 210 and XM 87 from 7-10 PM EDT, Monday through Friday. Ray's baseball analysis can be found at
BaseballGuys.com and his minute to minute musings can be located at the
BaseballGuys' Twitter account.
