AP Despite their placement atop the NL East standings, the Nationals announced after Sunday’s game that Stephen Strasburg will make two more starts and then get shut down for the rest of the season.
Strasburg, who struck out nine over six scoreless innings against the Cardinals on Sunday, will pitch Friday at home versus the Marlins and then on Sept. 12 on the road against the Mets before calling it a season.
The thinking prior to Opening Day was that Strasburg would be shut down after reaching 160 innings, but the Nationals have decided to let him get closer to 170 in his first year back from Tommy John surgery. He’s at 156 1/3 innings after throwing six innings today.
Strasburg currently leads the National League with 195 strikeouts and is 15-6 with a 2.94 ERA. John Lannan is expected to take his spot in the rotation. If the Nationals advance to the playoffs — they lead the Braves in the East by seven games at the moment — they’ll likely go with a top three of Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann and Edwin Jackson in some order, with either Ross Detwiler or Lannan in the fourth spot.
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Kelvin Herrera was one of the best relievers in baseball last season as a 22-year-old rookie, throwing 84 innings with a 2.35 ERA and 77/21 K/BB ratio while leading MLB with an average fastball velocity of 98.5 miles per hour. He’s struggled this season, mostly due to serving up eight homers in 20 innings, but…
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I said this morning that I’m a bit uncomfortable with the legend-building surrounding Evan Gattis. I think I’m not alone in thinking that it’s starting to get a little ridiculous. From an Atlanta radio stadion: Unless that’s a straight-up homage and I’m just reading in the satire.
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While pitching at LSU and in the Orioles’ farm system 2012 fourth overall pick Kevin Gausman’s game-day routine involved eating one powdered mini donut before taking the mound and four powdered mini donuts between each inning. Apparently he gave that up recently on the advice of nutritionists, but here’s what was waiting in Gausman’s locker…
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Carlos Zambrano pitched an extended spring training game today and wasn’t half bad: Carlos Zambrano’s extended spring training line today vs PIT at Carpenter Complex: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 64 pitches — Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) May 23, 2013 When he was signed and I laughed about…
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Reuters
Here’s a little twist to the news that the Mariners are going to send Jesus Montero back to Triple-A: Michael Pineda, whom the Yankees acquired for Montero only to watch him get hurt, is almost ready to begin a minor-league rehab assignment. General manager Brian Cashman told Andy McCullough of the Newark Star Ledger that…
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Been staring at this story all day. Thinking I wasn’t gonna link to it. Thinking I had higher standards. But then the crowd thinned out, the bartender said it was last call and the only two of us in the place was me and it, so … The Yankee shortstop was spotted yesterday leaving one…
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AP
Remember all those offseason quotes from general manager Terry Ryan about how the Twins were focused on improving last season’s terrible starting rotation? Their actual moves didn’t quite match the talk, as they signed Kevin Corrreia (who’s been decent) and Mike Pelfrey (who’s been awful) and traded for Vance Worley (who went from Opening Day…
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AP
Derek Lowe, who was designated for assignment by the Rangers earlier this week, has been released after passing through waivers unclaimed. This could be the end for Lowe, who hasn’t posted an ERA under 5.00 since 2010 and allowed 13 runs in 13 innings in a low-leverage relief role for the Rangers at age 40.…
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Craig Robinson lives in Mexico. And based on when he tweets, I get the sense that he stays up late nights after going to Mexican baseball games and stuff. And I’m guessing he also has a lot of conversations with friends that start with “so, like, what if — seriously, now, listen — what if…
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Earlier this week Adam Eaton suffered a setback in his recovery from a sprained elbow ligament, but Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that an MRI exam revealed no structural damage. That’s obviously good news for the 24-year-old outfielder, although according to Piecoro he’ll still take 2-3 weeks off before resuming his rehab. Eaton…
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Not a ton going on today, so Kay and I talk about the pitchers in the mix.
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AP
As you might expect considering he hasn’t played well for two years and is an impending free agent the Red Sox won’t try to negotiate a long-term deal with center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury before he hits the open market. General manager Ben Cherington revealed that on WEEI radio in Boston, saying: “We agreed before the…
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Jon Rauch passed through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment last week and the Marlins released the veteran reliever two months into a one-year, $1 million contract. Rauch was terrible for Miami, allowing 14 runs in 16.2 innings, but he had a 3.59 ERA with good secondary numbers for the Mets last season and…
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So, if Michael Pineda makes an appearance in New York in the second half, do all the folks who said the Mariners won that trade have to eat crow? From the Tacoma News-Tribune: On the heels of a six-game losing streak and a 2-7 road trip, the Seattle Mariners will make an expected and needed…
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Despite being less than impressive in four minor-league rehab starts John Danks will come off the disabled list and rejoin the White Sox’s rotation Friday. Danks had a terrible 15/13 K/BB ratio in 22.2 innings while rehabbing from August shoulder surgery and failed to make it out of the fifth inning in his final start…
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Last month Amanda Rykoff noted that the Yankees’ “craft beer” section at Yankee Stadium was anything but. They’re continuing to have problems with basic beer identification, however, as now Patrick Wall of DNAInfoNY spied Goose Island listed as an “import.” Which, no, it’s not. It’s a Chicago beer. Wait, no it’s not. It’s actually brewed in…
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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Angels reliever Ryan Madson was finally making some progress in his rehab from last season’s elbow surgery, but he’s suffered yet another setback. Madson felt soreness in his elbow after a one-inning rehab appearance at Single-A last week and hasn’t pitched since. As you’d expect Madson sounds…
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The Mets first baseman is having a train wreck of a season thus far. He’s hitting .147/.236/.245, which is horrible even on a horrible Mets offense. And his poor hitting seems to be infecting his fielding too. See, yesterday’s non-play on a ball he though was foul but which he turned into a game-killing double.…
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Francisco Liriano was terrible for the Twins and White Sox last season and then lost out on a ton of guaranteed money with the Pirates when he broke his right arm trying to prank his kids on Christmas morning. That all led to a whole lot of jokes at his expense and caused Liriano to…
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AP
Good news, Miami! Pretty soon all of those Marlins shutout losses are going to turn into losses in which the Marlins score one on Giancarlo Stanton home runs: On Wednesday, slugger Giancarlo Stanton took live batting practice at Marlins Park for the first time since straining his right hamstring on April 30. Redmond tossed the BP session…
