Charlie’s News At Five: 19th May 2013
Charlie takes a look at five of the hottest stories currently in baseball. This week, a team proving many analysts wrong, a perennial contender is hot early, and three young “phenoms” make the news in very different ways.
1. The Texas Rangers top the AL West
Before this season began, the Rangers had many doubters. The reason primarily was the loss of Josh Hamilton, to the Rangers’ bitter division rivals the Los Angeles Angels. Worse was yet to come. Neftali Feliz was injured before the season even began, then Martin Perez and ace Matt Harrison would follow Feliz to the DL.
None of those issues have slowed down Texas. The Rangers starting rotation led by Yu Darvish has put up a 3.56 ERA, the 6th best in MLB. Justin Grimm and Nick Tepesch have stepped in capably to replace their injured colleagues. The offense has been paced by offseason acquisition Lance Berkmann, who has a .416 obp and .829 OPS. As a group the offense, has not missed Hamilton, lying 2nd in MLB with 56 home runs, and 3rd in the majors with a .775 OPS. The Texas bullpen anchored by the evergreen Joe Nathan has also been lights out posting a tiny 3.12 ERA. As a consequence of all these factors Texas are 27 -15 and already hold a 6.5 game lead in the AL West.
Going into the season I picked the Rangers to win the AL West, as I thought that despite the loss of Hamilton, their pitching would be too good for the Angels to keep up with. I also felt that the A’s offense would not be able to repeat their feats of one year ago.
2. The redbirds are soaring high
Over the past decade no team in the NL has been to the playoffs as much as the St. Louis Cardinals. They are a true model of consistency and 2013 has so far been no different. The Cardinals rotation leads baseball, with a microscopic 2.53 ERA. Jaime Garcia has the highest ERA on the staff of 3.58, the rest of the staff carries ERA’s of 2.88 or lower. Shelby Miller leads the staff in ERA terms with a tiny 1.40.
St. Louis did have a wobble after closer Jason Motte went to the DL before this season began. Despite their 27 – 14 record, the Cardinals are 4th in MLB with 8 blown saves. Near the end of April, the birds found their solution to the closer problem with Edward Mujica. Mujica so far has 12 saves on the year, and is yet to blow a save.
The St. Louis offense has yet to fully hit their stride, as evidenced by their cumulative .719 OPS, although four players boast an OPS above .800.
The Cardinals always seemingly find a way to make the playoffs, but this team has good depth in all areas, and also a deep prospect system. Outfielder Oscar Taveras has the potential to be a difference maker whenever he gets called up, with a low strikeout rate and power to all fields he is favoured by many analysts to be the NL rookie of the year for 2013.
3. Matt Harvey
Last Sunday, Matt Harvey gave up two runs in seven innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This is important because it was the first start of the season, where Harvey did not have good movement on his pitches. Like all aces though, Matt figured out a way to work through the game, and find a way to keep his team in with a chance of winning. In the end he got a no decision.
In general, Harvey has arguably been the best starting pitcher in baseball so far this year.
He’s 5-0 with a 1.55 ERA and an equally sensational 0.72 WHIP. For the more sabermetrically minded amongst my readers, his BABIP is an insane .197 and his FIP is an equally ridiculous 2.21.
We are simply witnessing the arrival of an ace, who will be an ace for a long time to come. Harvey is legitimate, and should be in the Cy Young award conversation, at the end of the season.
4. Alex Cobb breaks makes history
On Friday 11th May, Alex Cobb started one of the stranger games in MLB history for the Tampa Bay Rays at home against the San Diego Padres. Alex amazingly became the first starting pitcher in MLB history to strike out 13 batters, but failed to make it into the fifth inning. He also became only the second Rays pitcher in history to strike out 4 batters in one inning.
In the third inning, Will Venable became Cobb’s first strikeout victim of the inning. Unfortunately, the pitch that Venable struck out on, was also a wild pitch, which allowed Will to reach base. Alex then proceeded to strike out the next three batters in succession. Cobb, however, failed to make it to the fifth inning, being removed in the fourth inning with two outs after walking Yonder Alonso and allowing 3 runs. By that point, Alex had also thrown 117 pitches in total.
5. The Cubs sign up Anthony Rizzo for the long term
Chicago Cubs fans in 2013, don’t really have much to smile about. There are some reasons to be positive though. Those reasons are Jeff Samardzija, Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo. Last Monday, Rizzo signed a seven year contract extension worth $41 million; there are also club options in the deal worth $14.5million each. Including bonuses written into the extension, the total agreement could be worth $73millon.
Anthony’s new contract has a $2 million signing bonus and $750,000 salary for 2013. His new deal will pay him $1.25 million in 2014, $5 million in 2015 and 2016, $7 million in 2017 and 2018, and $11 million in 2019. The two club options are for 2020 and 2021.
In return, the Cubs bought out four years of Rizzo’s arbitration, as well as two free agent years. Along with short stop Starlin Castro, who was signed to a seven-year $60million contract last August, the Cubs are slowly building a core of players who they hope will be able to help them win a world series in the not too distant future. I wouldn’t be surprised if they also extended ace Jeff Samardzija shortly either.
