HARVEY – BREAKING THE BANK IS THE GOAL

Matt Harvey says he would sign a long-term deal with the Mets, or at least that he hasn’t ruled out signing with the club. Sure he would. All they need to do is give him $200+ million and he would sign. A free agent after the 2018 season, Harvey is due $4.325 million dollars in 2016. With two more years of arbitration eligibility, it’s possible that he could see a doubling of his salary each of the next two seasons. Will the Mets just ride that out or sign their franchise arm to a long-time deal? If you don’t know his agent is Scott Boras, and there’s no way he’s going to advise Harvey to accept a deal unless it’s massive knowing that if Harvey pitches like he can the next two seasons that he might sign the richest contract for a starting pitcher in league history. This one won’t be settled any time soon. Book it.

YELICH NEXT STEP?

A very interesting article was penned about one of my favorites, Christian Yelich, over at MLB.com. As the article points out, Yelich is a very odd type of hitter. Since 2013 he’s at the top of the leaderboard in ground balls (61.9 percent) and at the bottom of the fly ball chart (16.0 percent). Yelich also owns a .365 BABIP since 2013, the second best mark in baseball since that time (Chris Johnson at .366 is on top). Yelich has also been one of just four players in baseball with a “launch angle” under one percent. In fact, he had the lowest mark in baseball. The odd part about that launch talk is the velocity in which he hits the ball. Amongst league qualifies with a launch angle under five percent, only two men in baseball hit the ball harder. Late in the year he also upped his launch angle to almost four percent, and his exit velocity was up two mph from his first 92 games as well.

You can read more in the link above or just take my advice – draft Yelich this season knowing that he won’t hit homers but that the rest of his game greatly intrigues.

Speaking of the Marlins…

THE MARLINS 9TH INNING

There’s a report from MLB.com which says that the Marlins don’t have a closer right now. A.J. Ramos saved 32 games last season but the Marlins are apparently unsure that he’s the best option to work the 9th inning for them last year. Who is the competition? It’s Carter Capps, he of the phenomenal stuff and funky delivery.

 

Capps throws an illegal pitch every time in my opinion. Regardless, he’s throwing from at least a foot and a half ahead of the mound. I don’t know how that is legal, or how in the hell he can possibly throw strikes doing it, but it does allow his stuff to seem even “bigger” since he’s even closer to home plate than the normal arm. Regardless, he’s up for the role of the 9th inning ace in 2016. Let’s compare the two guys work from last season.

 

ERA

WHIP

K/9

BB/9

GB-rate

GB/FB

xFIP

SIERA

Capps

1.16

0.81

16.84

2.03

40.8

1.05

1.17

0.87

Ramos

2.30

1.01

11.13

3.33

43.4

1.08

3.24

2.73

 

Capps had a  better ERA, WHIP, K/9 and BB/9 rate than Ramos. Also rockstar xFIP and SIERA. He was the better pitcher last season. He’s the more skilled pitcher if you will. But as we see every year that doesn’t always mean that guy will be working the 9th inning. In this case we shall see. We’re still ranking Ramos ahead of Capps in the 2016 MLB Draft Guide, but the gap closed considerably with this news.

ODDS AND ENDS

The Braves apparently plan on a pretty even split behind the dish with A.J. Pierzynski and Tyler Flowers. Kills the value of both and means neither should be drafted as a second catcher in mixed leagues until a point where we get more clarity as to what the Braves are going to do.

Madison Bumgarner is better than Zack Greinke and Max Scherzer. Is he really?

Ike Davis will sign a minor league deal with the Rangers. Two points. (1) Davis is a 28 year old with a 32 homer season on his resume. He’s been a shell of that guy the last three years though socking 23 homers over 320 games. (2) Does the Davis signing mean Joey Gallo has no shot at playing in the bigs in April? That’s jumping the shark, but it is interesting that the Rangers would sign another corner infield / DH type is it not?

Curtis Granderson had surgery on his thumb to repair a torn ligament. He’s been back to hitting since January and should be fine by the time the season starts. He hit 26 homers, stole 11 bases and scored 98 times last season. He’s also a fine player to round out your outfield, if you can put up with the batting average.

I broke down Jonathan Schoop in a Player Profile.

Yadier Molina had the cast removed from his surgically repaired left thumb. The hope is that the Cardinals should know in about three weeks whether or not the Gold Glove receiver will be ready for Opening Day. With each passing week my opinion of the outlook of Molina dims.

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).