O's acquire Alec Asher - RHP

[Frobby]

Here's a scouting report on Asher from a Phillies fan site.    Apparently, he changed his mix last year to rely very heavily on this two-seamer.   http://crashburnalley.com/2016/12/26/2016-phillies-report-card-alec-asher/

[Ripken]

He's our starting RF.  Dan's gonna reverse-Alvarez him.

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Here's a scouting report on Asher from a Phillies fan site.    Apparently, he changed his mix last year to rely very heavily on this two-seamer.   http://crashburnalley.com/2016/12/26/2016-phillies-report-card-alec-asher/

http://philliesminorthoughts.com/graduating-to-better-things-alec-asher/

Quote

We see that despite his new two seam fastball, Asher’s ground ball rate stayed relatively stable, by slightly dropping to 35.2%. Additionally his line drive rate went up, seemingly on the back of less infield flyballs. The biggest difference we find is that his HR/FB rate dropped from 16.3% to 2.7%.

Quote

In addition to the balls in play, Asher’s strikeout rate is also a cause for concern. His 11.7% would have been below the lowest qualified starter (Martin Perez).

Quote

In terms of raw stuff, Asher actually saw a decrease in average velocity (per Brooksbaseball) in 2016 from 91.65 to 90.49 which matched the reports out of the minors. He did throw his two seam fastball more, while also diversifying his secondary pitch arsenal. As one would expect, most of his pitches showed very little tendency to induce swings and misses, with only his changeup showing promise in that area. His two seam fastball only was missed 5.6% of the time. Moreso his two seam fastball only generated a groundball 32.4% of the time, which was the same rate at which it was hit for a line drive.

That was a pretty decent writeup.

[Frobby]

11 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Seriously?

You want to lawyer me on this?

What part exactly, the part where I replied to what Art said, a post which evidently didn't set off your lawyer senses or the medical part?

 

I was too lazy to go back and quote the other posters who opined on the subject.    My comment applies to all of them, and I agree your comment was about the mildest of them.    Didn't mean to single you out.   

[Can_of_corn]

So we have a guy who had an unsustainable HR/FB rate last year and whose two seamer produced as many line drives as ground balls.

I hope we don't seem him in Baltimore this year.

Oh yea, he also doesn't strike anyone out.  Don't want to leave that part out.

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

So we have a guy who had an unsustainable HR/FB rate last year and whose two seamer produced as many line drives as ground balls.

I hope we don't seem him in Baltimore this year.

The move seems odd to me, but I'll keep an open mind.    There's going to be a lot of competition in the Norfolk and Bowie rotations this year.   

[sportsfan8703]

6 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

So we have a guy who had an unsustainable HR/FB rate last year and whose two seamer produced as many line drives as ground balls.

I hope we don't seem him in Baltimore this year.

Oh yea, he also doesn't strike anyone out.  Don't want to leave that part out.

But what about those 2 options he has though?  

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

The move seems odd to me, but I'll keep an open mind.    There's going to be a lot of competition in the Norfolk and Bowie rotations this year.   

All he cost was some cash and a spot on the 40 man so nothing to get worked up about.

I wonder how much cash is in play for a move like this?  Is it just symbolic sometimes and the O's send them five bucks?

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, sportsfan8703 said:

But what about those 2 options he has though?  

Like I just said, I'm not worked up about it.  Maybe they send him down and he can refine the sinker and turn into a back end guy? 

[sportsfan8703]

Without these types of moves all we'd have in the system would be guys like  Hess, Wright, Wilson, Grimes and Means as our top of the system SP depth.  Instead DD has basically bought us some depth over the years by primarily taking advantage of teams with 40 man roster crunches.  

Chris Lee- Houston- for int'l draft slots

Jayson Aquino- St. Louis- for cash

Ynoa- Mets- for cash

Verret- Mets- for cash

Nuno- Dodgers- for cash

Gunkel- Red Sox- De Aza Trade

Asher- Phillies- for cash

Garcia- Red Sox- Rule 5

That's 8 of our top 10(Wright, Wilson) SP depth that's been acquired for "some" cash, international draft slots and De Aza.  Pretty amazing until you start thinking about the SP's he's dealt away.  

[joeyc]

More Duquette trash pile garbage. I don't get it.

[Rene88]

Who do we grab next and who is most vulnerable on 40-man? Isn't Dariel Alvarez still on 40 man? Isn't it pretty safe to say he wouldn't be claimed?

[webbrick2010]

Maybe someday we will have a competent player development system, so we don't have to buy trash from other organizations just to fill out our AAA roster

or

We could just say screw the draft, screw player development and buy our entire minor league system from the trash of others

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Rene88 said:

Who do we grab next and who is most vulnerable on 40-man? Isn't Dariel Alvarez still on 40 man? Isn't it pretty safe to say he wouldn't be claimed?

Yeah, unless he's throwing 98 MPH and blowing everyone away down in Florida, you have to imagine his 40-man roster spot is very tenuous. 

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, webbrick2010 said:

Maybe someday we will have a competent player development system, so we don't have to buy trash from other organizations just to fill out our AAA roster

or

We could just say screw the draft, screw player development and buy our entire minor league system from the trash of others

Interesting take. It's almost like you always look at the most negative view of the situation. 

I don't see how acquiring low cost, depth players to load up your AAA with is a bad thing. Basically Duquette does a great job of loading up roster spots 26-35 with guys who may be able to help the team. Some of them turn into guys like Brad Brach, Steve Pearce, and Miguel Gonzalez to name a few. 

We all would like to see the farm system develop more sustainable talent streams but drafting and development while under his purview, is not his direct task. Personally, I think he's done pretty well replacing the talent he traded away (minus Davies which was dumb, dumb, dumb) or doesn't have coming up through the system yet with guys who may very well be able to help this team cheaply.