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Winter Work Paying Off For Yankee Farmhand Matt Marsh
Sean Morash (BBBA Writer/Owner – offthebenchbaseball.com)
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To say the Tampa Yankees closer, Matt Marsh, is a friend of Off The Bench is a bit of an understatement. I grew up with the kid, know his family, and my mother and uncle met up with him over the offseason to enjoy a college football game.
There’s something about the bond forged in the dugout during all those U-16 tournaments that we played across the Southeast that is indescribable. I mention all this to make clear that I’m biased. I root for Matt. Hard. OTBB even published an extended interview with him this winter.
When I heard that he planned to train hard this offseason at a facility in the DC area where a teammate had trained recently and gained a few miles per hour, I was excited. I knew Matt’s history of arm troubles had robbed him of the potential velocity that was evident from the time we were 12. I knew that he had spent time at 3 different colleges on his way to being an undrafted right handed reliever out of Liberty University.
From my position as a blogger and baseball nerd, I know the success rate of that type of player. I know 24-year old relievers in A-ball are often labelled “non-prospects.” They’re usually organizational filler that take up space on rosters, and help minor league teams compete through their rigorous schedule.
I know that often times these guys are the footnote in scouting notebooks. They’re the guys that the real prospects are supposed to hit home runs off of. Matt’s baseball resume is impressive, but until this year was just impressive enough to be good enough to face the million dollar bonus babies, the Jorge Mateo’s of the world.
But all that just makes me more excited as I regularly check Matt’s baseball-reference page. He started the season as a closer for the high-A Yankees.
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The Tampa Bay Rays Are Just A Few Moves Away From Being Competitive
Sean Morash (BBBA Writer/Owner – offthebenchbaseball.com)
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The Tampa Bay Rays sit at 21 -25, 7 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East. They’re still fighting the uphill battle against organizations with more money to spend to try to compete annually. They’ve got an chance to get after it this year and make some noise, but currently sit in an interesting position where they could become sellers and pack it in in preparation for next season should things continue to go awry in key areas.
The modern Rays don’t really sell; they’re always looking to add value and remain competitive while waiting for a little magic dust to come flying in. I think that’s a good plan again this year as they sit near .500 today, and they’ve got some magic dust on the way.
The pitching staff has reinforcements coming soon: Brad Boxberger will soon return from the DL to fortify the bullpen. Alex Cobb is working his way back from Tommy John surgery and could help in the second half. Blake Snell is among the top 15 prospects in baseball and threw 134 innings last year with a 1.41 ERA.
But the problem with all these guys waiing in reserve is that the pitching staff has already been pretty solid and could be even better if a few contributors return to their expected level. They’re 5th in the AL in xFIP despite Chris Archer sporting a 4.62 ERA and Matt Moore owning an even worse 5.47 figure. Both guys are former All-Stars.
The pitching staff has been pretty decent and should improve even without the additional reinforcements.
The lineup? They’re a well-rounded and athletic group with a number of moving and interchangeable parts. They’re currently 3rd in the AL in WAR, but just 11th in runs.
See how Sean thinks Tampa Bay continue to get better by addressing a possible problem.
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The Oakland A’s Offensive Struggles, And Where They Go From Here
(Featured BBBA Website – offtthebenchbaseball.com)
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Saturday night, I had the pleasure of catching the Oakland A’s take on the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore’s Camden Yards. In addition to being a beautiful night, the first we’ve had on the East Coast in more than a week, and one of baseball’s best ballparks – if you haven’t been, go, its awesome- game 2 of Saturday’s day/night double header was a crisp and enjoyable game to watch.
Ubaldo Jimenez tossed 8 solid innings in his first start in forever and Chris Davis launched a mammoth 2 run shot to help Baltimore notch a 5-2 win and earn a doubleheader split after Oakland took game one. But in watching the A’s, I couldn’t help think there was something missing. Sure, it was game 2 of the day but most of Oakland’s starters were playing and the lineup lacked any sort of fearsomeness or hint that it might be capable of competing in the AL West.
Of course, the A’s aren’t a bad team, but it doesn’t feel like it’s a team capable of being a good team either. Watching them meekly go down against a pitcher with an ERA north of 5 and a fastball topping out at 91 inspired me to go back and look at the numbers.
Right now, Oakland is 14-17, 4.5 games behind Seattle for 1st in the West. They have a -16 run differential, good for 4th worst in the AL and are currently 10th in the AL in runs, 10th in batting average, and dead last in on base percentage.
That last number really jumps out at you.
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What Is Up With Miguel Sano?
(Featured BBBA Website – offtthebenchbaseball.com)
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The Minnesota Twins are 8 -2 3, a 120-loss pace. If it weren’t for the Atlanta Braves, the Twins would be the worst team in Major League Baseball. These are the same Twins who finally came into a season with a reason to smile.
The Twins want to be this year’s 2014 Royals and come from nowhere to win the AL Central. They think they have the offense to do it and with Miguel Sano and others, they might be right. But I’m very suspicious about their pitching staff.
Max went on to discuss Ervin Santana and the huge potential range of possible outcomes for their underwhelming pitching staff. Sure, its was always possible for the Twins pitchers to greatly exceed their admittedly average expectations, but it never seemed all that likely.
Well, to this point, they’ve underperformed. The Twins have the worst collective ERA in the American League. 6 of the 8 pitchers who have made at least 1 start have an ERA of at least 4.70. You don’t get to an 8 – 23 record without “contributions” from the whole roster.
But far more worrisome for the long-term Twins’ plans are their young prospects’ struggles. Jose Berrios, their top pitching prospect, sports a 6.75 ERA after his first two starts. Byron Buxton, once the top prospect in all of baseball, has a .497 OPS. And Miguel Sano, the 23-year old slugger who actually produced in his limited time last year, is 200 points off of his 2015 OPS so far into his sophomore season.
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The Top 8 Draftergies Guaranteed To Win Your Fantasy Baseball League
Blog Off The Bench (Featured BBBA Website – offthebenchbaseball.com) Follow @BlogOffTheBench
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Imagine it’s March 28th, it’s 40 degrees out, it’s 6:31 pm, you’re at a chain restaurant called “Just Salad,” and you just finished your salad so you’re loitering before your next appointment at 7:00 pm. You know what that means: it’s fantasy baseball season!
In this column (column looks like it should be spelled differently), we will be going over a few different Baseball Dratergies (Draft-Strategies, Ihavetosaveonmywordcount) that will make you the Fantasy Baseball All-Star GM/Manager/Shortstop/Clicky Guy you’ve always wanted to be! Unless you wanted to be a doctor or in the Air Force or something. Then go for that.
Draftergy 1: Hoard all the catchers
Hoarding all the catchers is a great strategy! At some point in the season, everyone is going to need a catcher and will be willing to give up an extra player for these notoriously low-offense guys. You could end up trading for a valuable middle infielder or fourth outfielder. Better plan on having a lot of bench spots because if your roster only has one you’ll have two players. Also plan on buying lots of equipment.
Sample Lineup:
Catcher: Yadier Molina
Bench: Yasmani Grandal, Francisco Cervelli, Brian McCann, Salvador Perez, …
Draftergy 2: The “Moneyball” Strategy
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