1. Mets Vie for the Sixth Man Award
The idea, Mets manager Terry Collins estimates, came out of six or more hours of discussion over several days between him and pitching coach Dan Warthen. This was probably three weeks ago, when they saw what Noah Syndergaard was doing, looked at the schedule, noted that Dillon Gee was due back soon and knew they needed a plan to protect youngsters Syndergaard, Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom from too much work.
So a plan was born, a very different plan. When the Mets were in Pittsburgh May 22-24, Collins and Warthen met with those four, Bartolo Colon and Jon Niese, and explained why they would introduce a six-man rotation.
The first turn through it is happening right now, beginning with Harvey's start Friday, and moving on to Niese and Colon, and then to deGrom, Syndergaard and Gee this week in San Diego.
"We were pushed into this situation," Collins tells Bleacher Report. "We've got three young guys and we've got to monitor their workload."
Syndergaard, who has been mostly sensational in his first four starts, is just 22.
Harvey, who was the starting pitcher for the National League in the All-Star Game two summers ago, is 26 and coming off Tommy John surgery.
And deGrom, 26, is in just his second big league summer.
"Obviously, the easiest thing to do would be to shut them down," Collins says. "But we're supposed to win here.
"I'm not shutting Matt Harvey down. And I don't want to shut down deGrom or Syndergaard."
So unlike the Washington Nationals, who shut down Stephen Strasburg when he reached 183 innings pitched in 2013, what the Mets are looking to do is keep their best young arms pitching.
And while they do, they're hoping to slice three or four starts off each man's load. That would, they hope, keep the innings-pitched threshold at just under 200 innings each.
"We were looking at how are we going to work the innings, and keep all of these guys alive for September and, hopefully, October," Warthen says.
You can bet that if it works, the copycats will be out in full force across Major League Baseball in the near future.
For now, the Mets do not plan to make this a permanent thing. They hope to carry a six-man rotation into early August, and then, in the words of Collins, "turn loose" the young guys in meaningful games down the stretch.
To varying degrees, the six starters are on board with this.
"It really doesn't matter what I think," Niese says. "I'd prefer a five-man rotation. This makes sense, but at the same time, we've been trained to go every five days.
"We'll see how everyone responds to it."
The biggest concern, Collins says, is when an off day comes and a Harvey or a Colon starts on six days' rest instead of five. As you would expect, the Mets have crunched the numbers internally, and they show that the starters mostly pitch well on five days' rest—a plus going to a six-man rotation—but some of those numbers don't look so good on six days' rest.
Which is another reason why the Mets are making this move right now: They are in a stretch in which they play 23 games in 24 days. Or, roughly four turns through the rotation.
"I'm all for it," Syndergaard says. "If it adds an extra day of rest, I don't see how that can have any negative connotation. It gives your arm an extra day to recover."
While the Mets are not exactly reinventing the wheel here, they are pretty far outside the box. The Rockies briefly moved to a six-man rotation last September, giving Eddie Butler some experience. In 2012, the Rockies tried a four-man rotation under then-manager Jim Tracy, the idea being to "piggyback" starters—basically use two starters per night—and limit them to 75 pitches.
The White Sox went with a six-man rotation in 2011 under then-manager Ozzie Guillen. The Braves did it a couple of years ago for a brief time, in 2012, while attempting to give a break to Kris Medlen as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. But they rotated through a six-man turn just twice before Ben Sheets was lost to a shoulder injury.
As for these Mets, another intriguing thing is the quick development of top prospect Steven Matz, who currently owns a 1.98 ERA at Triple-A Las Vegas. He will be here sooner rather than later, most likely, and barring a seven-man rotation (or, of course, an injury), the club probably will have to make a trade to make room for him.
It is a fabulous "problem" to have, of course. And credit the Mets for imaginative thinking.
"One option is to take them out after five or six innings," Collins says. "But I don't want them looking over their shoulder [at the dugout]."
There is no guarantee that this keeps everyone healthy. The Mets know this. But look at the lengths the Nationals went to take care of Strasburg, and he still succumbed to Tommy John surgery. And remember the Yankees' Joba Rules for Joba Chamberlain? Yep, Tommy John surgery, too.
However this plays out bears watching. If it doesn't work, Collins says, they'll adjust and pull the plug.
If it does? Then hopefully, Warthen says, those four or five starts each starter loses during the summer "will be made up in October."
As the pitching coach notes, "I think a lot of people will keep their eyes on what we're doing here."
2. Jon Stewart to Matt Harvey: "You've Gotta Protect Your Moneymaker"
One of the most charming aspects of The Daily Show host Jon Stewart is that he is a passionate and knowledgeable Mets fan, so when he introduced Matt Harvey last week as "for my money, the most exciting pitcher in the game today," well, there was a little bit of bias and a whole lot of truth in the statement.
Good stuff all around, from Harvey presenting Stewart with a Mets No. 17 jersey (for 17 years hosting the show) to Stewart's classic placement of a pillow underneath Harvey's elbow for the entire interview.
3. Twins Win, Again…and Again…and Again
Don't put first-year Minnesota manager Paul Molitor in charge of your personal calendar. You'll be out of whack in no time.
You probably thought Monday was June 1.
Molitor had other ideas.
"I think maybe we're going to change [Monday] to May 32," Molitor told reporters in Minnesota, per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
"May 32?" rookie right-hander J.R. Graham asked. "We'll put it up on the board."
The Twins' sudden love for May is understandable: They roared through the month, going 20-7, and now look who has the second-best record in the American League. Only the St. Louis Cardinals (33-18, .647) and Houston Astros (32-20, .615) have a higher winning percentage in the majors.
The Twins are doing it by winning at home (they are 19-7 overall at Target Field), taking early leads and then holding them with a solid bullpen (closer Glen Perkins leads the majors with 19 saves in 19 opportunities). They have won 11 of 16 series this season, including five in a row.
They own a .647 winning percentage in one-run games (11-6) and a .303 batting average with runners in scoring position (second-highest in the majors).
In the meantime, they are doing all of this without their biggest free-agent signing of the winter, right-hander Ervin Santana, who was suspended for 80 games when he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs this spring. Santana currently is working in extended spring training in Florida and should be roughly three-plus weeks away from returning.
No question, things are turning in the right direction in Minnesota. And, pssst, the Twins have a pretty good history when it comes to 20-win months:
4. You Don't Want to Be on the Receiving End of an Andrew McCutchen Lecture
But you may want to be in the first row at the ballpark when Cutch and the Pirates are winning.
It's been quite a couple of weeks for one of the game's most charismatic players, who is rapidly making up lost ground after an uncharacteristically slow start.
The Week in Cutch, working backward, starts with this marvelous moment after Pittsburgh's win in San Diego on May 30, and the reaction of the kids on the receiving end of his present is priceless:
It's no wonder Cutch is in such a good mood, being that the Pirates now have won nine of their past 11 and given the All-Star's hot streak at the plate heading into Sunday night's game:
He heated up just in time, too, because during his epic slow start (.188 batting average on May 6), he fired out this tweet that I covered last week:
So when I saw him a couple of days later, with his bat now alive, I asked him about that talk with his bats.
"Oh yeah," he told me. "We had a good talk. I told them I'm going to take them out to the woods and burn them."
Yikes. No wonder the Pirates' star is on the comeback trail.
5. Philosophy 101 with Juan Uribe
He's 36 now, listed at 245 pounds (yeah, right, maybe add 10-15 to that) and the Dodgers just shipped him to the Atlanta Braves. But there is a reason why clubs continue to want this guy: He's great in the clubhouse, and he helps form winning clubs.
Uribe helped Yasiel Puig mature over the past couple of years in Los Angeles. In Chicago in 2005, he helped the White Sox win their first World Series in 88 years. In San Francisco in 2010, he helped the Giants win their first World Series since moving west in 1957.
He couldn't quite get the Dodgers over the hump, but when they dealt him to Atlanta last week, Uribe left a gem of a quote that helps explain why he's so beloved:
6. Why the Quality Start Is an Overrated Statistic
The Padres lead the majors with 36.
Padres starters also are tied with Milwaukee for the major league lead in most homers allowed (47).
Padres starters have yielded a league-high 547 total bases and rank 20th in opponents' batting average (.266) and 23rd in WHIP at 1.34.
While the Padres have been hurt lately by the absences of Wil Myers (wrist), Yonder Alonso (shoulder) and Brandon Morrow (elbow), Tyson Ross, Ian Kennedy and Andrew Cashner have consistently missed more spots with their fastballs than they did all of last year. And that is the biggest reason why the Padres continue to plod along at a disappointing 25-28, closer to the last-place Rockies in the NL West than the first-place Dodgers.
7. Power Rankings
1. MLB draft: It's coming next Monday, and just think: Someone is in line to get the next Stephen Strasburg (3-5, 6.55 ERA, 1.721 WHIP).
2. Sunblock and rosin: Brewers reliever Will Smith and Orioles reliever Brian Matusz each received eight-game suspensions for going to the homemade concoction on their forearms to achieve better grip on the baseball. In a related story, pine tar is angry for continually being misidentified as the guilty party.
3. Taco Bell and Pizza Hut to eliminate artificial colors and flavors: Hey, look, they're following A-Rod's lead!
4. Josh Hamilton: Slugged two home runs Friday night against Boston. In other news, it took Angels left fielders 47 games combined to hit two home runs.
5. Ruben Amaro Jr.: Foot in mouth disease rarely afflicts so obviously.
8. If Philadelphia Fans Are Stupid…
Then what does that make the Phillies?
Stuck in last place in the NL East and going nowhere fast, you'd think at the very least the Phillies would abide by the oldest business principle in the book: Treat your customers with appreciation and respect.
While clubs like the Braves, Padres and Dodgers dramatically remade their teams over the winter for a variety of reasons, the long, slow fade of the Phillies continues, unabated. Cole Hamels has not yet been traded. Neither has Jonathan Papelbon. Or Ryan Howard or Chase Utley.
And as Phillies fans—and, truthfully, baseball fans across the country—watch mesmerized, like viewing a 10-car pileup on the freeway, Philadelphia general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. lashed out last week.
"They don't understand the game," Amaro, speaking of Philadelphia fans, told Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly. "They don't understand the process. There's a process. And then they bitch and complain because we don't have a plan. There's a plan in place and we're sticking with the plan. We can't do what's best for the fan. We have to do what's best for the organization so the fan can reap the benefits of it later on. That's the truth."
Another truth is, clearly, there is no silver linings playbook for this Philadelphia team.
Amaro apologized a day later, saying he used words "incorrectly or poorly." Whatever the words, and whatever the actions, by any measure, these Phillies currently are a colossal mess.
9. Numbers Game
A few items to chew on:
• Heading into this week, the Mets are 26-0 when leading after eight innings. Right now, closer Jeurys Familia is one of the arms in the game hitters want to see least.
• Not one AL East team had a winning record in May. The ugly month: Yankees 12-16, Rays 13-15, Red Sox 10-18, Orioles 13-15, Blue Jays 12-16.
• The Cubs, who lead the majors with six walk-off wins, went 14-14 in May and 12-8 in April to record back-to-back months of .500 or better to start the season for the first time since 2008, when they were .500 or better for six consecutive months.
• The Dodgers' franchise-record scoreless-innings streak on the road ended at 42 innings Saturday in St. Louis. Their old record of 41 was set in 1908 (per Elias Sports Bureau).
• Part of the reason for the Dodgers' road drought? The Giants shut them out in three consecutive games in San Francisco, part of San Francisco's amazing eight shutouts in the month of May. Jayson Stark of ESPN breaks it down nicely here.
• David Ortiz has been in the twilight for a bit, but it's getting darker. From stats whiz Bill Chuck at Billy-ball.com: Ortiz has averaged one homer every 15.5 at-bats over the past three seasons, but this year it's one every 25.7 at-bats. And, only 7.3 percent of his hits this year are for extra bases, a career low. The shift is getting him, big time.
• Paul Goldschmidt reached base seven times in the Diamondbacks' wild 7-6, 17-inning win in Milwaukee on Sunday, the first time an Arizona player has ever reached base seven times in a game.
9a. Rock 'n' Roll Lyric of the Week
Look, it's the Grateful Dead preparing for shows at Levi Stadium, home of the 49ers, in late June, and in Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, on July 4-5…
"I know the rent is in arrears
"The dog has not been fed in years
"It's even worse than it appears but
"It's all right
"Cow's giving kerosene
"Kid can't read at 17
"The words he knows are all obscene but
"It's all right
"I will get by, I will get by, I will get by, I will survive
"The shoe is on the hand that fits
"There's really nothing much to it
"Whistle through your teeth and spit 'cause
"It's all right
"Oh well, a touch of grey
"Kinda suits you anyway
"That was all I had to say
"It's all right"
—Grateful Dead, "Touch of Grey"
Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
- Login to post comments