Here’s the Jargon’s “Take Five” for Wednesday.
1. GONZO FOR … DAVIS?
Adrian Gonzalez homered Opening Day. Gonzalez homered
Tuesday. So naturally, you’d expect Steroid.ERA to keep him in the lineup for
Wednesday. But, nope. Chris Davis took over at first and he didn’t see the need
to put the hot bat in the UTIL.
And that cost him big as Gonzo went yard three times in his
first three at-bats Wednesday (and added an RBI single later). He’s on pace to
hit 270 homers. Yeah, I know that’s not happening, but I’ll tell you what will
happen for sure: He will not be benched for Davis for a long while.
2. PARKER WAS RIGHT?
Joe Nathan was sent to the DL, promoting Joakim Soria to the
closer role (thank you, very much), and that makes three new closers in just
four days. Jason Grilli is the new guy in Atlanta and he’s got a pair of saves
in the books already and the Mets have, well, who knows? Still need 17 more
closers to be replaced to get to that magical two-thirds stat that Parker threw
out on Facebook, but he has to be happy with the pace at which closers are
being replaced.
3. DICKERSON MUST
READ THE JARGON
Colorado’s Corey Dickerson must hate me. He must have
stumbled upon the Jargon — or the Cheese Steaks Tweeted him a link to my scathing
critique of the offseason trade in the JLB. I bet he even printed it and posted
it in his road locker at Miller Park.
It’s the only explanation I have for his series against the
Brewers in which he batted 5-for-12 with two homers, six RBIs and three runs
scored. My two biggest critiques were home/road splits and strikeouts. Well,
this was on the road and he had one strikeout to one walk. Not bad.
Nevertheless, I will not apologize yet. It would be rash of
me to believe this is what we will see all season.
4. LEE DEAL FINALLY
PAYING OFF
Cliff Lee has been dealt numerous times — in real life and
in the JLB. In real life, the first Lee deal brought Carlos Carrasco and three
others to Cleveland. For the longest time, it was four poor acquisitions, but
late last season, Carrasco emerged, pitching the way the Indians thought he
could when they made that deal back in 2009.
Six years later, Carrasco opens the 2015 season with a
10-strikeout performance, limiting Houston to no runs on three hits and a walk
in 6.1 innings of work. He got the win for the N.J. Bombers and is proving his
worth as a keeper selection.
The big thing now will be to see him do it against a
different team, as the Astros struck out more than any other team in the Majors
last season.
5. DON’T BREAK YOUR
PROMISE
Carlos Rodon and Kris Bryant come with a lot of hope and
promise for fantasy owners. The Outs will patiently wait, as I will for Rodon.
It was a choice I made the morning of the draft. For weeks, I went back and
forth, Rodon or Kemp, Kemp or Rodon. The battle went on and on.
It’s a waiting game for Rodon as he’ll be here very soon,
nevertheless, the wait continues to grow painstakingly worse with every Matt
Kemp hit.
I don’t know if Otto Parts was stunned when Kemp fell to
him, but he’s more than happy to have him, I’m sure — especially because he is
playing me Week 1. Kemp is now 5-for-14 with two runs scored, three RBIs and a
stolen base. Right now, it's the difference between losing 11-9-2 (counting pitching stats that haven't factored in yet) and winning 12-8-2.
It’s not the end of the world for me, but it’s certainly a slap in
the face.
It will become a punch if Rodon is an absolute bust.
It will become a punch if Rodon is an absolute bust.
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