#lucas harrell

[therangerreport]

The Battle for the West

The Battle for the West

The battle for the west will begin this weekend. Texas and Houston have 6.5 games separating them, Texas having the advantage. In 2015, the Rangers came roaring from behind to take the division from Houston. Now the Astros are attempting to do the same thing.

Texas has Martin Perez (7-7, 4.29 ERA), Lucas Harrell (1-0, 4.50 ERA) and Yu Darvish(2-3, 3.29 ERA) going this weekend. Perez is coming off…

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[lastwordonsport]

New Post has been published on http://lastwordonsports.com/2016/07/27/braves-acquire-travis-demeritte/

Atlanta Braves Acquire Travis Demeritte

%EXCERT%

Atlanta Braves, Baseball, Dario Alvarez, Georgia, Lucas Harrell, MLB, Texas Rangers, Travis Demeritte

[missabigailtaylor]

You know I really like Harrell, I believe he could be great for our rotation.......and now he's gone 🙄

[therangerreport]

Lucas Harrell and Dario Alvarez are Rangers

Lucas Harrell and Dario Alvarez are Rangers

In some news this afternoon, the Texas Rangers and Braves have made a trade. The Rangers get RHP Lucas Harrell and LHP Dario Alvarez from the Braves, while they get minor league 2nd base prospect Travis Demeritte.  Harrell is 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA this season in 5 starts (29.1 innings) with the Braves.  Alvarez is 3-1 with a 3.oo ERA with 16 appearences for the Braves. He has 28 strikeouts to 5…

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[motorpsychologist]

Lucas Harrell: Future former-Atlanta Brave

Lucas Harrell: Future former-Atlanta Brave

The Atlanta Braves have been active on the trade market this season, already flipping veterans Kelly Johnson, Jason Grilli, Bud Norris, and Jhoulys Chacin. Within the next two weeks, Lucas Harrell could be next. Like Norris and Chacin, Harrell joined the Braves as a reclamation project. Prior to this season he hadn’t pitched in the Majors since ending his Houston Astros tenure with a horrible…

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[motorpsychologist]

Detroit Tigers sign Lucas Harrell

Detroit Tigers sign Lucas Harrell

The Detroit Tigers signed Lucas Harrell to a minor league deal late last week.

Harrell, who hasn’t played in the majors since 2014, spent last season in Korea.

The signing adds to first-year general manager Al Avila’s mission to add veteran depth to the club. The 30-year-old will likely begin the year at Triple-A Toledo, but provides the Tigers with an experienced option should an injury arise.

H…

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[nosebleedhooligans-blog]

Are you sold? Astros call up OF George Springer, giving us a glimpse of an impending infusion of better, younger talent

The Houston Astros turned roster tricks Tuesday night, designating SP Lucas Harrell from assignment and demoting OF Robbie Grossman. Something was up. 

Before midnight, West Coast time, the Astros promoted slugging 24-year-old prospect George Springer. 

It wasn't long ago, a tad earlier than the 2014 season that's only two weeks old, when Springer and the Astros got into a confrontation. 

As a 23-year-old last season, Springer spent time in Double A and Triple, a combined 135 games, with 589 at bats. Jaws dropped after he slashed .303 BA / .411 OBP / 1.010 OPS, with 37 home runs and 27 doubles. 

Turns out GM Jeff Luhnow struck early. In September, while Springer was crushing the highest levels of minor league ball, they offered him a $23 million extension, guaranteed, even though he's never faced Major League pitching. 

Springer rejected the offer, arrived and impressed during spring training, and failed to break camp with the big league club. 

His agent and the union threatened to file a grievance, accusing the Astros of purposefully demote a deserving player to gain one more year of control. Because of the current CBA, Springer would have qualified for Super 2 Status, reducing the Astros' years of control, and Springer's wait time before he's eligible for arbitration. 

Here's a quick and dirty explanation of the designation -- Prospects who've reached less than three years of service time in the pros, but have more than two years (say two years and 166 days*) can be eligible for arbitration if they're in the top 22 percent of players with two years of service. 

*This the maximum number of service time Springer can amass for 2014 if he doesn't get demoted. The league considers 172 of the 182 days of the season as 

The grievance never got filed because the presence of compelling arguments can't be proven by presenting evidence built on second guessing and not documented malfeasance. You almost have to prove malice or be Marge Schott to attract that kind of backlash.

Yes, it behooves the Astros to keep Springer for one more year. If they wait until before June to call him up, chances are they'll keep him longer. The 'stros aren't relevant now. They could be relevant six years from now. 

It's also true that in terms of performance, no one was blocking Springer's path to the majors. Yeah he plays center field, covered by Dexter Fowler. But we also know he profiles in right. We also know that he would have been better than Grossman. 

Grossman struggled in 13 games, slashing .136 BA / .255 OBP / .341 SLG. A 27 percent strikeout rate is a career* high, and three higher than his 24 percent career rate. At least he's taking more walks, with a career high 13 percent.  

*Including his years in the minors. 

Typically established starters get time to develop. 

A developing team like an Astros could have accommodated Grossman's struggles if he was really part of its long term core. 

In 2013, Grossman hit .268 BA / .333 OBP / .370 SLG in 63 games as a 23-year-old, with four home runs and 14 doubles. There was something in there, just not a fully formed package. 

It could be that Grossman has been unlucky, too. After all he's just as old as Springer, doesn't have that much of an advantage in experience, is less hyped. So far, Insert Placeholder Here is just as good as having him hit and field everyday.

Astros fans aren't excited about much but their farm system's regrowth. The salt that former owner Drayton McLain threw on the turf after burning through the team's cash has been replaced with healthy nutrients. 

Springer signals a prospective high level of influx, all homegrown, in the next two to three years.

SS Carlos Correa's being compared to Alex Rodriguez and Hanley Ramirez in terms of body size, quickness and range, as well as potential to hit for average and power. Baseball Prospectus rates him above Springer. He's only 19.

Mark Appel is close to being ready, and could make 12 to 15 starts this year. It's really too early to gauge righty Mike Foltynewicz's advancement seven innings through his first Triple A stint. In Double A he had a 2.87 ERA / 4.02 FIP, with seven strikeouts but four walks per nine innings. Lance McCullers could fill the void Harrell created and then failed to live up to two seasons ago as a sub 4.00, five-to-six inning starter filling the backend. 

There might be a reason for the Astros giving up its quantity by acquiring Dexter Fowler. He might be in his prime before bigger stars allow him to be an excellent complement to a playoff team. 

Both Springer and Giancarlo Stanton are 24. Springer was also born in September, while Stanton was birthed in November. Stanton's just about the most drooled after slugger, his upper deck shots giving us the eye test champion for who can hit the ball the farthest without striking out like Adam Dunn. 

Stanton is an all star, a television draw, and a relatively experienced veteran. In 12 Triple A games, Springer is crushing at a .319 BA .429 OBP / .574 SLG, with two home runs and a .255 ISO. Giancarlo Stanton has four home runs, slashes of .305 BA / .349 OBP / .549 SLG, with four home runs and .271 ISO in 14 games. In his 15th game, on Jackie Robinson Day, Stanton hit a home run and a double, while driving in five runs. 

The difference is spectacular -- almost the same slashes, one doing it in the minors, the other in the pros. 

As far as we can tell, there's enough reason to believe in Springer's power, but his naysayers say his bat speed and freakishly high BABIP between Double A and Triple A last year. Stanton had a .340 BABIP one season. Like on good hitters, you can estimate that a power hitter would raise his BABIP above league average -- the good ones at least. 

So it's more than luck. 

Springer's critics also question his age. Dude, that's the Cardinal* way. While the league is inundated with superstars barely old enough to drink -- Stanton, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Jose Fernandez, Yasiel Puig, Wil Myers -- there's a certain ageism to a 24-year-old making his first big league start. The guys Luhnow drafted in STL -- Allen Craig and Matt Carpenter for example -- come to prominence at around ages 25 to 26.

*They're not afraid to mix it up. Michael Wacha was a year removed from being drafted out of college, but immediately made the big league roster. Albert Pujols hardly spent time in the minors. I suspect that Oscar Taveras will be younger than Springer once he gets called up.  

The book says get polished hitters with college experience, and spend time giving them tools - including having the right coaches, manager, staff and instruction -- to master the pro's idiosyncracies. 

Eventually Springer was drafted 11th overall in 2011 after a standout stint at UConn. 

On the same year his alma mater won the national title for men's basketball, Springer will have his first major league at bat. 

The power exists. The ability to hit cutting fastballs, higher velocitys, and moving four-seamers is a different thing altogether. He'll draw attention to a team that was watched by exactly zero households according to Nielsen's ratings data collected in the Houston area some. He could sustain it by hitting 25 home runs. Hell, we'll call him a rising star if he hits more than 15 and sticks by the end of the year. 

There's also a chance he gets called back down again, but that's only if he grades out worse than Grossman. At that point consider him an early term bust, one you don't want to see in a major league roster anyway. But hey, that's half the Astros team. 

[outsidepitchmlb]

Top Prospect George Springer to Join Astros

George Springer to Join Astros

The highly touted and prized prospect George Springersays that he is going to be joining the Houston Astros for his first stint in the big leagues on Wednesday. The club has not officially announced his promotion from Triple-A Oklahoma City but according to the 24-year old he’s headed to Houston. Of course that means that someone will have to switch places with him and the Houston Chronicle…

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