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The Week That Was (In GIFs): 7/19/15 – 7/25/15

The Week That Was (In GIFs): 7/19/15 – 7/25/15
Clayton Kershaw (right) and Zack Greinke (left) are easily the league's best one-two punch of pitchers

Clayton Kershaw (right) and Zack Greinke (left) are undoubtedly the league’s best one-two punch of pitchers

Zack Greinke stayed hotter last Sunday than the 92-degree heat Los Angeles denizens experienced that day. A top prospect ascended to the majors to assist the “Gateway to the West.” The Athletics and the Astros took part in the first trade deadline deal, but many others soon followed. Ol’ Cole was more torrid than an Arabian summer on Saturday. Plus, if you weren’t in awe of Kershaw before, then you certainly are now.

This is The Week That Was.

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Dodger Domination

The Mets were spared the unquenchable flames that accompany the heat of Zack Greinke’s pitches on Friday. He went back to L.A. to be with his wife for the birth of their child. Let’s be real, though. How much of a chance did the low-powered Mets’ offense even have at finishing Greinke’s 43 2/3 scoreless innings streak? They last faced him on Independence Day at Dodger Stadium, where they bludgeoned him over the course of seven innings for a whopping four hits (including a double). Mind you, the Metropolitans failed to score against Greinke and those seven innings of offensive ineptitude are now a part of Greinke’s insane scoreless stretch. In fact, Dodgers righty Orel Hershiser owns the longest scoreless innings streak of 59, which he set in 1988. For the math challenged readers out there, that’s only 15 1/3 more innings than Greinke’s streak, which is currently the 11th longest in baseball’s modern era.

Guess who else shut out the Mets recently? Greinke’s freakishly gifted teammate Clayton Kershaw. In case you were wondering, yes…he’s still really good. He spent the first six innings on Thursday just mowing down Mets’ batters as if they were blades of grass.

After striking out eight and allowing no men on base through the first six frames, Curtis Granderson finally lined a misplaced 0-2 slider to right field for the Mets’ first hit in the bottom of the seventh. Overall, Kershaw still managed to produce the complete game shutout against the Mets for the 3-0 win with just 104 pitches. He also fanned 11 men while walking none in what was his best game of the season yet. Everyone is hung up on Greinke, but let’s not forget who baseball’s best pitcher is.

I wouldn’t blame you for forgetting, though. Kershaw held a 3.86 ERA with a 5-5 record up through the end of May over the course of 10 starts and 65 1/3 innings. During his next 10 starts from June 1 to July 23, Kershaw boasted a very low 1.33 ERA and an opponent batting average of .170 to go with a 6-4 record, two complete game shutouts, 102 punchouts and 11 walks in 74 2/3 innings. All Kershaw’s magical left arm does is slay the fools who stand against him armed with nothing more than mere baseball bats.

He is the supreme ruler of the diamond and no one has crossed home plate on his watch in 29 straight innings. Now that Kershaw has narrowed the gap, I wonder how Greinke will respond.

A Promotion, a Position Transition and a Pinched Neck

On Tuesday, the St. Louis Cardinals called up top prospect Stephen Piscotty to give them some juice in their lineup. His first two games with the club gave off a resounding “meh.” He started at left field and went 2-for-8 with a double and a run. Piscotty was supposed to make his league debut at first base on Thursday, but a pinched neck sidelined the ex-minor leaguer from Triple-A Memphis.

Piscotty is naturally an outfielder, but the club desperately wants to convert the Stanford alum into a first baseman since the Cardinals are stacked with quality outfielders, yet lack any viable first basemen. The transition has been less than smooth, to say the least. Click here for an article that expands upon the team’s botched position transition far better than I can.

So what can we expect from Piscotty for the rest of the season? He does offer a little pop (11 HRs in 372 PAs in 2015 at Triple-A Memphis), but his ability to get on base is what catches the eye. With 556 plate appearances in 2014 at Triple-A Memphis, Piscotty compiled a .288 average with an OBP of .355. Those figures are right around what he was registering in all other levels of the minors as well, so his ability to get on base is no joke. In 2015, Piscotty held an average of .272 and an OBP of .366, but he also impressed in a few other stats to boot. A 12.4% walk rate and 16.7% strikeout rate in 2015 with 11 stolen bases last year and five this year, bode well for Piscotty’s chances of developing into a good contact hitter with some decent power and speed. I’d be surprised if he didn’t smash at least five or six homers, swipe five bags and hit around .270 for the rest of the season. Not bad for a rookie who’s still figuring out major league pitching.

Hope and Change

In American sports, the draft is usually the event that garners the most hope trafficking from fans. People monitor their favorite teams’ drafts hoping their squad will select an impact rookie who will take them to new heights in short order. Baseball is different in the sense that a franchise’s highly touted prospects will not see the majors for another two to three years, at least. The MLB Draft fails to deliver that same feeling of hope because the returns will not be immediate. That’s where the league’s trade deadline comes into play. It presents the best opportunity for a team to get better immediately and make a playoff push, more so than any other trade deadline in any other American sport.

For the struggling clubs out there, it’s a chance to sell off some assets and retool for next season. Poor performing teams can acquire young studs who would be ready to make the jump to the majors next season and push the ailing team to relevance. It can create immediate hope, as well as hope for the future. This trade deadline has been no different. Let’s take a look at the deals that went down Thursday through Saturday.

  • The Athletics trade lefty pitcher Scott Kazmir to the Astros for a couple prospects, catcher Jacob Nottingham and RHP Daniel Mengden
  • The Pirates trade minor-league pitching prospect Yhonathan Barrios to the Brewers for 3B Aramis Ramirez and cash
  • The Angels gave cash considerations to the White Sox for INF Conor Gillaspie
  • The Cardinals traded away RHP prospect Kyle Barraclough to the Marlins for RHP reliever Steve Cishek
  • The Mets traded away RHP prospects John Gant and Rob Whalen to the Braves for some cash and couple infielders, Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson

The Kazmir deal was definitely the most significant of the bunch. The Astros could use the Houston-native’s arm to win the pennant, and now the Athletics have a chance to retool and come back stronger next year.

With third baseman Josh Harrison and shortstop Jordy Mercer both missing at least one more month due to injuries, the Pirates needed to acquire a competent infielder with an MLB-caliber bat. Fortunately, that’s exactly what Ramirez brings to the table. The Brewers have a long road ahead in their rebuilding process, but Barrios is a 23-year-old hard thrower who will likely have more of an impact when he reaches the majors than what Ramirez can currently offer a ball club.

Gillaspie is really just a stopgap for the Angels until third baseman David Freese returns from his broken index finger. The White Sox designated him for assignment and no longer had any use for him, so it only made sense to give him away from some extra cash.

The best team in baseball sought some bullpen help and added the 29-year-old sidearm hurler, Steve Cishek, to their roster.  The Cardinals were already tough enough to beat, but this move serves to make them that much harder to overcome. Barraclough is a promising 25-year-old minor-league reliever who has a chance to become the Marlins’ closer in the future. He’s not MLB-ready yet, though.

The Mets acquired some much-needed offense in Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson. Gant and Whalen are not top minor league starting pitchers, but both men have decent arms. Gant projects as the better prospect of the duo, but neither are ready for the majors yet.

No-Hit Hamels

Just three years ago on July 25, Cole Hamels signed a gargantuan six-year, $144 million deal (the second-most lucrative contract for a pitcher at the time) with a 2019 team option. Fast forward exactly three years later to July 25, 2015, which is when Hamels facilitated a 5-0 no-hit shutout against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He almost lost the no-hit bid after 26 outs, however. Kris Bryant slammed a pitch to the back of the field, but Odubel Herrera managed to save the day despite losing his balance.

You know what else is largely astonishing here?

The first solo no-hitter of his 10-year career could not have come at a better time. Hamels is currently the most sought after commodity as baseball’s trade deadline approaches, with the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers looking like the favorites to acquire his services. In what may very well be his last start with Philadelphia, he put his best stuff on display for the Phillies and their fans, but also for potential suitors. His value may now be at an all-time high after his career-best performance. The Rangers even cheered him on like he was their own teammate as they watched the final outs of his no-hitter. 

A common gripe with Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is that he typically asks for too high of an asking price with his trades, which is understandable considering his history. Remember that Amaro traded away Cliff Lee for Seattle prospects RHPs Phillippe Aumont and Juan Ramirez alongside outfielder Tyson Gillies. Then there’s that other time Amaro sent Hunter Pence and cash to the Giants for outfielder Nate Schierholtz, catcher Tommy Joseph and RHP prospect Seth Rosin. Also, do you recall when Amaro jettisoned Shane Victorino to the Dodgers for reliever Josh Lindblom and pitching prospect Ethan Martin? Yikes…no wonder Phillies president Pat Gillick feels compelled to help Amaro with trades this season.

Amaro gave away key players for next to nothing, but this seems to be a common trend in baseball. Zack Greinke was sent away from Brewers to the Angels in 2012 for Jean Segura and Double-A pitchers John Hellweg and Ariel Pena. The Red Sox gave up John Lackey for Cardinals RHP Joe Kelly and OF/1B Allen Craig last year. Detroit landed Anibal Sanchez from Miami in 2012, and who did the Marlins get in return? Catcher Rob Brantley and pitchers Jacob Turner and Brian Flynn. Lopsided deals like these are certainly not a rarity. When you factor in the relative financial steal of Hamels earning just $76.5 million over the next three years with the additional $14 million team option for 2019, it only makes sense that the Phillies at least try to receive something equal to what they’d lose. Considering the one-sided nature of baseball trades, perhaps a fair trade is asking too much. However, one more botched deal will leave Amaro without a job.

Jonathan Ebanks is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Jonathan, check out his archive and follow him @hogz4lyfe.

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