is the obvious heir apparent to as staff ace, and he makes a great one.
Not only is Moore is a terrific pitcher, but he’s also signed to a very long deal. That makes the Rays feel a little bit better about the fact they almost surely must Guirassy has scored four goals and provided one assist for the Ligue 1 side this season after arriving from Bundesliga club FC Koln for £5m last summer.But Amis.The People reports Benitez has snubbed a potential return to Spain after Real Betis made an approach.With Benitez’s future at Newcastle uncertain, the La Liga club are said to have contacted Benitez’s advisers asking if he would be interested in tiens are thought to be willing to sell the 23-year-old for the right price in January or t trade 2012 Cy Young winner David Price. The other thing that makes Tampa Bay folks feel even better: So far Moore is outperforming Price, and it’s not especially close.
Price and NL Cy Young winner are off to less-than-stellar starts (3-6 combined) and nearly made Stock Watch in the undesirable Bear Market but were beaten out by megastars off to simply awful starts.
Without further ado, the Bulls and Bears of Stock Watch follow:
Bull Market
Moore is perfect for Tampa Bay, a wonderful young pitcher the Rays can keep at reasonable price until he’s 30 (he’s 23 now) if they pick up three club options at the end of his deal. And he’s the right replacement for Price, a free agent after the 2014 season who wouldn’t seem to fit long-term on a Rays payroll, assuming continued good health and no sudden change in the sorry stadium status.
With less fanfare (no surprise since it’s Tampa), Moore has basically matched the other Matt (the Mets’ Harvey) by going 5-0 with a 1.13 ERA so far. “Matt [Moore] is arguably the most talented left-hander in baseball if you break down his stuff,” one competing GM said. “This year he has learned how to p to catch up with Arsene Wenger over the weekend.The pair are attending a UEFA educational program.Arshavin played for the Gunners between 2009 and 2013.Arsène Wenger has been photographed with Andrey Arshavin at an event in Paris. The Russian joineitch and made the adjustment. He’s no longer lets one bad pitch or inning dictate his outcome.”
The left-handed (like Price) Moore leads the majors with a .121 batting average against (including a crazy .075 batting average by right-handed batters). And he’s the first pitcher ever to record five wins with such a low BAA since that record has been kept (1916). The rival GM added, “He will be Tampa’s No. 1 starter once they trade Price (to the or ).”
There’s been a little noise made lately about Tampa possibly keeping Price. And we can’t blame the Rays for dreaming. But that appears to be something of a pipe dream. “No shot,” of that happening, the rival GM said.
Sure, the lineup is strikeout prone and especially cold right now. But a 17-strikeout performance will never go unnoticed by Stock Watch. His breaking ball was particularly nasty Friday night, though one scout did suggest the Braves were just as responsible for that new single-game Tigers strikeout record. Detroit spent $80 million this winter on a five-year deal for Sanchez, which seemed like a bit of a reach, but so far, so good. He’s 3-1 with a 1.34 ERA and 41 strikeouts.
He’s the final dinosaur, the last remaining high-priced, full-time DH who’s a major threat. While he missed the first few weeks of the season because of lingering foot trouble, he’s hit like a demon since being activated. He was 16 for 31 with a 1.400 OPS through Sunday. Counting the carryover 12 games from last year, he is now on a 20-game hitting streak. Those who thought his career was winding down three or four years ago were sadly mistaken.
Bear Market
The scary part is that nearly nine years remain on his deal. Pujols complained of great pain from plantar fasciitis this week, causing him to move like a man way older than 33. The real issue, though, is his hitting.
While opposing managers still see a superstar (he has a league-leading five intentional walks even though most often is hitting behind him), he’s limited most of his damage to one big game: April 6 at Texas when he hit both of his home runs. In the past eight days, when he’s 3 for 31 with no home runs and no RBI. Look away, Arte: there’s nearly $225 million to go on his contract (not counting the $10 million personal-services side deal that make it $235 million)
Brother Justin was a previous leader of the Bull Market, and now B.J. gets his due (though not exactly as he might wish). While younger bro Justin continues his brilliance, B.J. has been dreadful at bat. Braves people believe B.J. cares very much, which is one of the reasons they signed him. But they also know that can work against him when he struggles and tries to do too much. On opening day, for instance, he seemed to take an oh-fer very hard. And that was only one game!
He’s had quite a few rough ones since, too. B.J. Upton is now 13 for 86 with 30 strikeouts and a .151 batting average. In other words, he has one more hit than Justin has homers.
If fans are wondering whether the trade of Harang left their once-stacked rotation short, well, consider that almost nobody’s pitched worse than Harang since the Mariners gave him the ball. Really, it’s been downhill since he got to Camelback Ranch for spring training. After pitching poorly this spring, the Dodgers had to eat a lot of the money to deal him to the , who then pawned him off on the Mariners, who hoped the spring was a fluke. You be the judge. After going 1-2 with an 8.20 ERA in spring, he is 0-3 with an 11.37 ERA this season.
