Mariano Rivera’s cutter and a break from Manny Ramirez
Welcome to the Happy Hour edition of Rounding the Bases. Each week, Tim Heaney takes you around the majors with his spin on fantasy baseball trends, news highlights and player scouting. He welcomes you to join him as he circles the bags at his admirably slow pace.
We’ve covered it ad nauseum. Let’s move on …
Out of the box
… to more coverage of Brett Favre! And we thought it was over….
Just kidding. I’ll spare you all today.
Here’s some call-up news to start off. The Florida Marlins have summoned second baseman Chris Coghlan, who was hitting .348 with three dingers and 22 RBIs at Triple-A New Orleans this season and drove in six runs Wednesday, May 6. He has proven stolen base potential (34 at Double-A Carolina last season) and is an aggressive hitter who still posts solid batting eye ratios.
He will see some time in the outfield and at second base. He’s a must-grab in NL leagues.
Sliding into second
Last night’s New York Yankees-Tampa Bay Rays game produced some bullpen buzz. First, Joe Nelson picked up the save for the Rays. Don’t overreact here: Manager Joe Maddon planned on giving Troy Percival the night off.
What you should concern yourself with are the back-to-back taters allowed by Yankees stopper Mariano Rivera, who seemed to lack bite on his famous cutter. Could this be the year of the breakdown?
Is it time to worry about Mariano Rivera?
He’s allowing fewer groundballs, and his opponents’ contact rate has climbed. He’s relying on said cut fastball even more often than in the past: 93.6 percent compared to just 6.4 for his four-seam heat. Here’s where him not developing a reliable third pitch is starting to hurt him.
It looks like he’s struggling to come back from October shoulder surgery. Could it just be that he was pitching in his new homer-friendly home? He probably didn’t receive enough work this spring, so that could be hurting him.
Of course, it was a tied game, a situation that was never a strength for Rivera. He had similar early-season gaffes several years ago and worked through it to succeed.
This bullpen is already in shambles. My guess is if anything happened to Rivera, they would go to a committee of closers or move Joba Chamberlain back to the ‘pen. Stay tuned.
Rounding third
The Detroit Tigers will welcome back Rockettes starter Dontrelle Willis to a MLB hill Wednesday, May 13. He tossed eight innings of two-run baseball Wednesday, May 6, and is looking to regain his career after being treatede for social anxiety disorder.
Will we see a Zack Greinke-type transformation? Calm down, folks. He has worked toward regaining his ability to induce groundballs, a key to his success in the early aughts, but his 16-to-9 command ratio isn’t exactly the elite player of old.
AL managers should pounce if they have a spot for an upside player, even just to stash him in case he shows flashes of his old self again. Mixed managers can obviously be more judicious.
Headfirst into home
David Price is 1-4 with a 4.74 ERA at Triple-A Durham. He hasn’t lasted past the fourth frame in four of his six outings this season. He has been on a pitch count of 75 in each appearance.
AL owners: Wade Davis may be looking even more like the replacement should the Rays need another starter.
