Archive for June 2012

Against the division rival Rays, Ivan Nova spun an excellent game, going eight-plus innings, allowing just four hits (including none from the second batter of the game until the eighth inning) and one run while walking one, hitting one, and striking out five. He also got 12 balls on the ground out of 22 hit […]

During Wednesday’s start against the Rays, Clay Buchholz began toying around with a new pitch in his arsenal: a splitter. Buchholz used it on an 0-2 pitch against the left-handed hitting Elliot Johnson, leading off the fifth inning. Below is the spin chart from Buchholz’s most recent start, with his typical offerings—four-seam fastball: brown, two-seam […]

The recent injuries to Mariano Rivera and David Robertson have caused something of a stir at the back end of the Yankees bullpen. Rafael Soriano, once the nominal “seventh-inning guy,” has taken hold of the closer’s role, meaning that the Yankees have needed to piece together their setup duties. Fortunately for New York, they have […]

The Rays look to build on their impressive 2011 run.

After much anticipation, the trade that sent A.J. Burnett from the Yankees to the Pirates was finally completed on Sunday. Burnett had a tumultuous three seasons in the Bronx, with a 4.79 ERA and 4.5 walks/hit batters per nine over 584 regular-season innings. His signature pitch is an 83 mph spike-curveball with exceptional movement. (Harry […]

David Price’s pitching repertoire has gone through quite a transformation over his big league career, as Mike Fast explained after the 2010 season. In 2011, Price made a further change to his repertoire by adding a cut fastball to the mix. In 2008, when Price first reached the majors, he threw a hard slider. Since […]

For the second time this offseason, Kevin Slowey has been traded. This time, he’s going from the Rockies to the Indians. The return for Colorado is 24-year-old reliever Zach Putnam, who had a cup of coffee with the Indians in September. You know what that means? It means that we have 114 pitches worth of […]

Which starter is the odd man out? Who’s pitching out of the pen? And say hello to Desmond Jennings.

He looks like a pretty interesting free agent target. Should we be worried about his recent lack of ground balls?

Coming off one of the most dramatic rolls in the history of baseball, the Rays are ready to rock.