Yariel Rodriguez will be with the team for tonight’s game. The team had an open spot on the 40-man roster, but there is no word on how they will free up a spot on the active roster. Rodriguez has thrown 13.2 innings, with 9 walks, 25 strikeouts and 7 hits, with a 2.63 ERA.
I’m guessing that Eric Lauer will either go on the IL (he is throwing a couple of miles per hour lower than last year, the excuse might be to find out if there is a physical reason for that) or they DFA him and put him on waivers. If a team picked him up, they would owe him about $3.1 million, which isn’t all that much for a guy who had a 3.18 ERA last year. Or other teams could wait to see if he elects free agency after the waiver period.
Batters are hitting .264/.335/.542 against him. He’s handed out 16 walks in 36.1 innings, when he had just 26 in 104.2 innings last year. And he leads baseball with 11 home runs allowed.
Of course I’m guessing at stuff. Giving up on a guy, who was very good last year, on just 36 innings is not a great way to do business. But Lauer has had an up and down career. The unfortunate thing for Lauer is that last year he was throwing just hard enough to keep batters honest. When you lose a little from ‘just hard enough’, bad things happened. We saw that a few years ago with Marco Estrada. He never threw upper 90s but when he went from lower 90s to upper 80s, he wasn’t quite the same guy.
But without Lauer, they’d need someone in five days.
Spencer Miles could be used in that spot. He three innings yesterday and likely could go a bit more next time out. And Yariel Rodriguez can do more than one inning, he’s done two or more a couple of times in Buffalo.
Of course it is possible it isn’t Lauer who’s coming off the roster.
I totally reject the idea that Lauer’s problems are because of them bouncing him back and forth between bulk man and starter. He’s not throwing softer because he’s changing roles (or if he is, it is a lousy way of showing he should be a full time starter).
And I’m not buying the ‘he’s sulking because of the opener thing’. He was asked if he likes the opener thing, and he answered honestly. I bet if you asked every starting pitcher in the league….well…..most of them wouldn’t actually answer, because if you answer people will twist it. Fans complain about players give stock answers to questions, but when someone gives a real answer they read more into it than just an answer to a question. No starting pitcher wants to go to the bulk man role. But then, if they want out of that role, PITCH BETTER.
I also dislike reading body language. Players can’t win that game. If a player smiles and is happy, while struggling, we complain (Jerry Howarth ran Jose Reyes for being his usual happy self, even though he wasn’t playing well). If they look serious, they are sulking. The players can’t win.
Addison Barger is off to get an MRI on his right elbow. To me, it is very likely a direct line from this (one amazing throw):
There is this:
Now I don’t know if any of that is true. I don’t know how Addison felt right after the throw. I don’t know if there was immediate pain or anything. I do know that someone twittered that Addison grimaced in the dugout when he was high-fiving after the throw. I don’t know that he had another throw in from right that game.
Hopefully it is just soreness. I think we’ve all thrown a ball a little too hard and then had pain after. But Barger likely knows the difference between a little soreness and something that needs an MRI. They say he woke up with ‘limited range of motion’ in the arm. That doesn’t sound good.
I don’t want him to be out another month.
It would be nice if there was something fun to write about.
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