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GRIZZLY SEZ
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Cishek is a classy guy. “I’m not concerned with that,” Cishek said of his losing his job to Diaz. “This was his first Major League save and I was excited for him. It’s not like I hold a grudge because he’s a better pitcher than I am. He’s got amazing stuff. He deserves the job and I’m happy for him.”
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An amazing quote. How amazing? Reuben Fine once beat a lesser master, the guy resigned, and simply said "You play better than I do." It's like a quote of the century, it's so rare. But that was the rookie saying it to the star, not the other way around.
In the TNT, Servais was also quoted a la "the guys were very quick to accept Diaz as one of the crew. But his stuff had a little something to do with that."
Jerry DiPoto said, earlier, that if you get stars back off the DL (such as Felix) it really is as good as major trade acquisitions. Sounds like a platitude, but ... James Paxton and Edwin Diaz is comparable to a swoop for Chris Sale and Andrew Miller.
But yeah. Always did like Steve Cishek. And Wade LeBlanc seems to have a similar personality. And Zunino. Those are mature, centered guys that we fiftysomethings would enjoy hanging out with.
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ARIEL MIRANDA
Lookout Landing has a post up. Our pre-scan 101 simply had him as in the Roenis Elias template, loosely speaking - but it also questioned whether Miranda had quite that kind of stuff, and also whether Miranda had that kind of flake.
Looking at their scouting report ... there are several things that SSI would "crosscheck" real quick :- ) but it's got info-taining triangulation, and neat .gifs. Wade Miley, um, Nada. A minus fastball at 93 lefty, 2+ walks, rather unlikely. But JeDi agrees that the straight change is the bread-and-butter pitch. Once again we remember the Hamels-Santana principle and Mark Melancon's gushing claim that the straight change is the best pitch in baseball.
Maybe he's a quad-A pitcher, as the general tenor around the blog-o-sphere suggests. Hope that's just a "No Cheering In the Press Box" syndrome. No idea, but after his start the Mainframe will speak Ex Cathedra.
You know DAT... :- )
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GUILLERMO HEREDIA
He's here! He's here! And Dr. D has yet to get a single glimpse. They say the clubhouse scurried over to his corner so fast that the boat listed to the left; no idea why. But you mooks could do me a solid and give me your first impressions?
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Enjoy,
Jeff
First impression on him is that he is miles better getting to the ball in the OF than anyone we've put out there this year. Made a mistake with a throw that cost us, but based on Servais' reaction on the tube, doubt he does that again. Arm looks solid. Good contact, average power at the plate is all I can see so far, but MiLB performance suggests he's more than just a defensive player. Need to see more at the plate to buy into his MLB readiness there though.
. . . in my dreams.
OK...I'm just back and Heredia homered in my absence...but I would have said (really) that he hits the ball hard......but they had been LD's at IF's. Nice to see him get so loft. He'll be fine. Don't turn around Aoki, the guy is gaining on you.
Looks from here like the only remaining factor, holding Heredia out, is the "always compete" culture. From a batting standpoint what does Heredia need, 70 OPS+, to be a more valuable player?
But with Paxton's time in AAA, Taijuan's, Zunino's, the surprising willingness to bench Iannetta, etc., the "always compete" culture is soaking in. Looks from here.