
Just 2 months left to go in the season and its finally starting to look like we wont have a chance to play in October. We sit at 52-53. 3rd place in the Central. 17.5 games back of the Tigers for 1st. And 5.5 games back of the Orioles and Rangers for a wild card spot. On June 22nd we were 40-32 and had won 11 of our last 14. 12-21 since then. And because of that we decided to sell a bit. We traded Kelvin Herrera and Brandon Moss for a couple of mid C prospects. Moss went to the Nationals for SS Osvaldo Abreu. And Herrera went to the Diamondbacks for 2B Luis Basabe.
Standings
Offense was playing really well during that 11-3 stretch. Scoring 5.4 runs per game. Gordon, Toups, Moose, Moss, Dozier and Orlando were all hitting between .273 and .292. In the 33 games since we are scoring 2.6 runs per game. And all of those guys are now hitting between .240 and .266. We did call up Jorge Soler. Has been the best hitter since then. Currently slashing .313/.366/.450 with 3 HR and 9 doubles. We called up Ryan O'Hearn to replace Brandon Moss. Went 0-3 in his only game so far. Down in AAA he hit .271/.356/.580 with 32 HR in 95 games.
Pitching has continued to do worse and worse as the season has gone on. Danny Duffy and Mike Minor are the only starters that seem to care at this point. Minor is 7-5 with a 3.33 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 113.2 IP. In the AL Duffy is tied for 2nd with 12 wins, 1st in ERA at 1.97, 2nd in HR allowed with 9, 4th in strikeouts with 137. 3rd in innings pitched with 146.1, 4th in walks allowed with 18, 1st WHIP at 0.9 and has the highest WAR at 4.8. 1.1 more than 2nd place Justin Verlander. So of course he sits in 3rd in the Cy Young race behind Verlander and Sale. Nate Karns and Ian Kennedy both have an ERA at 4.40. Jason Hammel was moved to the pen thanks to his 5.01 ERA. We cut Jason Vargas after he put up a 6.00 ERA in 8 games.
Bullpen isnt all that much better. Herrera was at 3.40 at the time of the trade. Matt Strahm's ERA is up to 3.86. He takes over as closer. Soria is at 3.50. Brian Flynn is at 3.33 since being called up. And Kevin McCarthy is at 5.25 since he was called up. Gonna be sending him down today and calling up Eric Stout. He had a 2.25 ERA in 8 IP at the end of last season.
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