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A month that began with the A’s scuffling and ultimately losing their lead in the American League West ended with a 5-1 flourish that enabled the team to record its ninth straight winning month at 14-13. And don’t be fooled, that record is indicative of how the A’s played in the month of August: up and down and all around. 

Even the nice finish was dulled a bit by the three-run lead lost in Detroit on the 29th as the A’s let a chance at a rare four-game sweep against the Tigers slip away. But as of this writing, the A’s have put themselves in prime position for another fantastic September finish by pulling back to within two games of the front-running Texas Rangers.

So like the month of July, the grades for the club will begin with the pitching staff. 

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On Friday night, highly-touted prospect Taijuan Walker made his much-anticipated MLB debut for the Seattle Mariners against the Houston Astros.

And he was phenomenal.

Ranked as Seattle’s top pitching prospect by both Baseball America and MLB.com in each of the past two seasons, Walker certainly didn’t look out of place on a major league mound, recording eight straight outs to begin the game before Seattle’s defense betrayed him.

Stop me if you’ve heard that one before.

The Mariners beat the Astros 7-1, with Walker picking up his first major league victory, though he was robbed of his first career quality start, as he was pulled after only five innings of work.

Let’s take a closer look at what the 21-year-old right-hander had going for him.

Command: A

Command was one thing that B/R’s Adam Wells pointed to as an area of concern for Walker when he delivered his scouting report for the 21-year-old on Wednesday:

The biggest issue Walker has is fastball command. He has a great, explosive heater, but can have some problems finishing his delivery out front, which causes the fastball to sail on him. He’s walked 57 in 141.1 innings this season, including 27 in 57.1 Triple-A innings. 

Because the velocity is so good and Walker is able to stay around the zone with the heater, he can get away with average command this season, but adjustments will have to be made in camp next season before he’s ready to showcase his true talents. 

Walker had command of all of his pitches in his major league debut, throwing 43 of his 70 pitches on the night for strikes.

The fact that he only walked one batter is a testament to just how locked in the 21-year-old was.

Velocity: A

Walker didn’t have his swing-and-miss stuff working for him in his major league debut, with only six of his 70 pitches on the night eliciting an actual miss.

But he kept his fastball in the low-to-mid 90’s, using a 95 mile-per-hour heater to get Jason Castro to swing—and miss badly—for his first career strikeout.

While Walker wasn’t blowing hitters away with pure, unadulterated heat, his pitches stayed right around where they’ve been all season long with Double-A Jackson and Triple-A Tacoma.

Movement: A

Walker’s fastball has some late movement to it, but it’s his secondary pitches, namely his cutter and curveball, that drive batters, well, batty.

The cutter has big-time glove-side movement and eats up bats, while his curveball, a 12-to-6 pitch that breaks over two planes, was his most impressive secondary offering on the night.

High-Pressure Situations: A+

Most veterans, much less 21-year-old rookies making their major league debuts, would have lost it in the top of the third inning, when Seattle’s defense simply collapsed:

Not Walker, who brushed off the defensive miscues by his teammates and went to work against Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, getting the 2012 All-Star to hit a harmless fly ball to right field for the final out of the inning.

Under pressure, Walker didn’t crack. He rose to the occasion, holding Houston to just one run on the board.

Overall: A+

Taijuan Walker lived up to the hype, and for that, Mariners fans have to be ecstatic.

Realistically, both of the hits that Walker allowed on the night could have been scored as errors, and while he was facing the lowly Astros, Walker’s stat line—five innings, two hits, no earned runs, one walk and two strikeouts—was impressive.

With Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma already established stars at the major league level and the addition of Walker, Seattle could have as good a Top 3 in its rotation as any team in baseball next season.

He’s that good—and he’s only going to get better.

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In a season that has already seen a number of highly touted rookie pitchers make their presence felt, we can now add another name to the list: Taijuan Walker.

Seattle’s top-rated pitching prospect made his major league debut on Friday night against Houston and was phenomenal, allowing two hits (both which could have—and probably should have—been scored as errors) and one unearned run over five innings of work, walking one and striking out two.

Only 21 years old, Walker’s MLB debut is on par with those of the other highly touted rookies that have come before him this season:

*Sonny Gray’s first two appearances came in relief; this was his third big league appearance (first start).

While Walker may not have racked up the gaudy strikeout numbers of Jose Fernandez or Zack Wheeler, he showed phenomenal command of his pitches, keeping the ball around the plate and attacking batters with the confidence of a seasoned veteran.

Clearly, the Mariners are going to bring Walker along slowly, pulling him after he threw only 70 pitches. That will certainly impact the numbers that he puts up in the handful of starts that he has left to make this season.

On pure stuff alone, Walker is right up there with Fernandez and, in my opinion, has a more impressive arsenal than the rest of those on the list.

His fastball sits in the low to mid 90s, with Walker getting it up to 95 to fan All-Star Jason Castro for his first career major league strikeout.

Walker’s cutter isn’t far behind the fastball in terms of quality, sitting in the low 90s, but it’s Walker’s curveball—still a work in progress—that puts him ahead of everyone not named Fernandez on this list.

A legitimate 12-6 curve with incredible break, Walker made Castro look foolish with the pitch, recording his second career strikeout when Castro was clearly looking for the heater.

With Felix Hernandez in Seattle, Walker will never be considered the ace of the Mariners pitching staff, and rightfully so. Players like King Felix are simply on a different level than everyone else.

But Walker has the talent, the arsenal and the makeup to be a major league ace. While the same could be said of the other high-profile rookie starters who made their MLB debuts this year, Walker has that extra something—just like Fernandez—that makes him just a little bit better than everyone else.

On Friday night, Taijuan Walker looked like a young Kevin Brown or Dwight Gooden. If he can go on to have even half of the success that those two had early in their careers, the future for both him and Seattle is going to be very bright. 

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One of the biggest questions surrounding Nelson Cruz‘s 50-game suspension for his involvement with the Biogenesis Anti-Aging Clinic was whether or not the Texas Rangers would welcome their All-Star right fielder back to the team when his suspension was up, just in time for the playoffs.

On Friday, Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News got us an answer to that question:

On one hand, it makes sense for the Rangers to welcome Cruz back into the fold.

The 33-year-old Cruz was having another solid season at the plate before his suspension, hitting .269./330/.511 with 27 home runs and 76 RBI. Players who can produce like that don’t grow on trees, and adding his bat to the mix—in theory, at least—would make Texas a more dangerous team than it is now.

It’s not as if Cruz has been sitting around, watching TV on his couch and eating junk food during his suspension either.

He’s worked out at the Rangers academy in the Dominican Republic and, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, took early batting practice and issued a public apology to the fans and his teammates on Friday.

In addition to that, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan reports that the Rangers plan on sending Cruz to Arizona next week, where he’ll do his best to keep his timing down and swing sharp by facing minor league talent in Instructional League games.

Both Cruz and the Rangers appear to be doing everything possible to keep him in shape and as close to his midseason form as possible without facing major league pitching.

But there’s the other hand to discuss, and on that other hand lies Alex Rios and Lance Berkman.

Texas went out and acquired Rios in a waiver-wire trade with the White Sox to replace Cruz’s bat in the lineup, while the former All-Star Berkman is expected to be activated when major league rosters expand on Sunday, according to Matt Snyder of CBS Sports.

While adding Cruz back into the mix would create a logjam in the outfield and at designated hitter, it would also give manager Ron Washington options with the lineup.

Take a look at three potential playoff lineups with Cruz in the mix: 

While both Cruz and Rios are right-handed batters and both more successful facing left-handed pitching than right-handers, Cruz has better numbers against righties than Rios does. Whether Rios would be amenable to platooning with Cruz is the big question—one that there is no definite answer to.

While Berkman replacing Mitch Moreland at first base would be an upgrade, whether the veteran’s balky knees can handle playing the field at this point is a valid concern to have—it may be that Berkman is strictly a designated hitter at this point.

While getting all three veteran bats into the lineup would be the ideal situation, giving the Rangers a powerful offense, Cruz is a liability in the field.

That said, it also gives Washington the option of using David Murphy as a late-inning defensive replacement, keeping his struggling bat out of the lineup for the bulk of the team’s playoff games.

Heading into the playoffs with too many outfielders and designated hitters is not a terrible problem for a team to have. As long as Cruz returns in shape, which he should be given his time in Arizona, there’s no reason for the Rangers not to play him.

Lest we forget the show that Cruz put on in the 2011 ALCS against Detroit, hitting .364/.440/1.273 with eight extra-base hits (six home runs), seven runs scored and 13 RBI in six games.

Were those numbers artificially inflated because of PEDs that Cruz obtained from Biogenesis? Maybe.

But Cruz makes Texas a better team, and the Rangers owe it to themselves, and their fans, to put the best possible team on the field once the playoffs begin.

Cruz can only help, not hurt, the team’s chances of going on a deep playoff run.

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Blue, Hunter and Fingers. Hudson, Mulder and Zito. Gonzalez, Cahill and Bailey. Parker, Griffin and Straily. Who’s next?

The Oakland Athletics are known for bringing pitchers up through the minor leagues, and they have a group of future stars waiting for the next promotion.

Prospects were analyzed based on their potential and performance, in that order. Pitchers who already have a shot in the bigs, like phenom Sonny Gray or veteran Hideki Okajima, are ineligible for consideration.

All advanced stats from FanGraphs.

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Los Angeles Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson has had to endure a long season as his team entered Tuesday’s contest with the Tampa Bay Rays sporting a 58-71 record.

Wilson will now have to endure a lot more than just a tough season.

On his way back to the mound to start the second inning, Wilson saw the Tropicana Field carpet rise above his feet as he fell flat on his face.

OK, maybe the artificial surface didn’t really move, but Wilson could at least try to use that as an excuse, couldn’t he?

The Angels have stumbled through the 2013 season, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see one of their players take a little header of his own. 

Oddly enough, Wilson is one of the few Angels who haven’t stumbled their way through the season. Entering Tuesday’s start, Wilson is 13-6 with a 3.30 ERA, including a 4-0 record in the second half.

Fans on Twitter certainly got a kick out of Wilson’s misfortune.

Needless to say, many could look at Wilson’s face-plant as a microcosm of the Angels’ season as well. 

The Angels’ season will sadly be coming to an end in late September, but Wilson’s little trip-and-fall will likely play on a bit longer than that. 

Well, Wilson can at least say he has played “Head and Shoulders” above the rest of his team, despite meeting the Tropicana Field turf up close and personal. 

If it served at least one purpose, it gave Angels fans something to laugh about in an otherwise dreary year.

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Chicago White Sox starter Chris Sale technically surrendered four home runs on Friday night, although the one that came off of Ian Kinsler‘s bat only landed about halfway between home plate and the bleachers.

Judge his third-inning, inside-the-park blast for yourself:

Even for a great baserunner like Kinsler, line drives hit down the left-field line don’t typically result in anything more than doubles. Chicago’s Dayan Viciedo had ample time to get in front of the ball.

Unfortunately for the home team, Kinsler’s hit rolled underneath the wall and abruptly stopped. Viciedo dropped to his knees, exchanged a “you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me” glance with the umpires and began searching. The Texas Rangers second baseman continued sprinting, so by the time Viciedo recovered the ball, he had to rush his throw to the plate, and Kinsler scored standing up as it skipped offline.

Tater Trot Tracker shares the unofficial time of his mad dash:

Adam Rosales’ HR over the fence for Texas: 16.13 secs. Ian Kinsler’s inside-the-parker for Texas: 15.66 secs.

— Tater Trot Tracker (@TaterTrotTrkr) August 24, 2013

Good fortune and sheer hustle can be a lethal combination. In this scenario, those factors culminated in Kinsler’s 11th bomb of the season and second since the All-Star break.

However, not everybody was impressed by the feat:

Cheapest HR Kinsler will ever get. Ball never traveled 300 feet.

— Doug Padilla (@ESPNChiSox) August 24, 2013

Congrats Ian Kinsler for hitting a home run that didn’t even leave the field

— President Raegan (@raeganbrooooke) August 24, 2013

Sale had allowed five HR total since June 25. Has allowed four tonight with an asterisk on Kinsler’s

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) August 24, 2013

U.S. Cellular Field has been open for more than two decades, but apparently, nothing like this has ever transpired there. Otherwise, the ballpark’s ground rules would’ve had a passage specifying how the umps should judge the play.

White Sox manager Robin Ventura immediately emerged from the dugout, imploring third base umpire Greg Gibson to use his common sense. The tactic didn’t work, as Gibson eventually ejected him.

It’s been that kind of year for Ventura’s players, who buried themselves deeper in the AL Central cellar with their 75th defeat of the 2013 season.

Texas won comfortably, 11-5, but going forward, expect such plays to be ruled dead once the ball becomes trapped. Nobody wants a close game to be affected by this sort of confusion.

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Record-wise, the 2013 Los Angeles Angels are on pace to be the worst team that Mike Scioscia has ever managed in the majors.

Consequently, Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports tweeted that either Scioscia or general manager Jerry Dipoto will likely be relieved of their duties this offseason. “Philosophical differences” between the two have hindered team success, he added.

Who actually is most to blame for this franchise’s nightmarish erosion? Is it Scioscia, Dipoto or someone else entirely?

The Angels entered this season under championship-or-bust pressure, but enter Friday night at a putrid 55-71 overall. They could be mathematically eliminated from October baseball within the next couple of weeks.

Countless factors contributed to this tragedy but none more so than these five.

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SB Nation’s Bill Parker did us the favor of comparing Felix Hernandez and Randy Johnson based on their performances as members of the Seattle Mariners.

Just a quick glance at his findings leaves you with a burning desire to further analyze their dominance:

Whoa. Felix Hernandez: 264 GS, 1799 IP, 128 ERA+, 39.2 WAR Randy Johnson with Mariners: 266 GS, 1838 IP, 128 ERA+, 39.3 WAR

— Bill Parker (@Bill_TPA) August 23, 2013

To clarify, we’re interested in more than plain effectiveness. Those stats Parker tweeted confirm that King Felix and the Big Unit were equally excellent in near-identical sample sizes.

Dominance is so much more than that. It factors in strikeout rate—taking pressure off of the defense—as well as pitch efficiency and finding the delicate balance between them. Consistency from game to game is also a huge part of the dominance equation. Complete-game efforts are ideal, but a truly dominant individual also minimizes his implosions, the forgettable outings when he puts his team at an insurmountable deficit.

Continue scrolling down as we take all of that into consideration and make the difficult choice between a surefire, first-ballot Hall of Famer, and a superstar on pace to become one.

*Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and accurate as of August 23.

Felix Hernandez in Seattle (2005-Present)

Hernandez debuted for the Mariners as a teenager and immediately excelled. Only 2006, his first full season, could be described as anything less than great.

He’s been a four-time All-Star and barring a brutal, late-season slump, this season will mark the fourth time that he has achieved a top-five finish in American League Cy Young Award voting. The writers thankfully overlooked his modest win total in 2010 to recognize him following what was undoubtedly an award-worthy campaign.

Using the marvelous Baseball-Reference.com Play Index, we can extract all the instances in which he has imploded, defined here by surrendering at least five earned runs in four or fewer innings pitched:

Not so bad, actually. Felix turns in only about one of those per season, and with a strikeout-to-walk ratio better than 1.00, we can infer that the ineffectiveness has more to do with well-placed balls in play, rather than his own awfulness.

That’s not an excuse, however. If Hernandez’s velocity wasn’t quite so ordinary, perhaps he would induce more swings and misses instead of hoping that his fielders bail him out.

The Venezuelan native has never led the AL in strikeouts, although he was runner-up to Jered Weaver in 2010. Also, prior to 2013, he never managed to average more than a strikeout per inning (career 8.3 K/9).

Nonetheless, Hernandez makes a habit out of terrorizing helpless batters.

Bill James’ Game Score helps us visualize this. It’s a metric that grades each start on a 0-100 scale based on the innings a pitcher provides, his strikeout total and the number of runs and baserunners he allows.

Through 264 career outings, the King has recorded a Game Score of at least 80 about 11 percent of the time.

Randy Johnson in Seattle (1989-1998)

The wiry left-hander spent eight full seasons in the Pacific Northwest (1990-1997) and finished top three in AL Cy Young Award voting four times. He won the hardware in 1995 when he lost only two (!) decisions in 30 starts.

Johnson didn’t implode often, but it was hideous when he did:

In nearly all of those 11 examples, his command deserted him. Johnson’s pitch count would climb in a hurry as he struggled to find the strike zone, and notice the four times he departed without even completing three frames (Hernandez had no such performances).

Of course, he was practically untouchable on most occasions.

Johnson limited his opposition to a batting average at or below .216 in every season from 1990-1997. He posted a gaudy 10.6 K/9 during his Mariners career, and his total of 94 double-digit strikeout games is safely out of anybody’s reach.

Remember the Game Score stat that attested to Hernandez’s dominance? Well, Johnson had 43 such efforts for the Mariners, accounting for more than 16 percent of his regular-season starts with the organization.

Unlike Hernandez, he had opportunities to pitch in the postseason. In allowing fewer than one baserunner per inning during the 1995 and 1997 playoffs, and making arguably the most important relief appearance in franchise history, that certainly doesn’t hurt his case.

So Who’s the Most Dominant?

It’s close, but the evidence slightly favors the retired southpaw.

Johnson was not quite as consistent as King Felix has been. Still, we stumble upon far more instances of his near invincibility.

Both of these phenoms pitched no-hitters for Seattle, and they both received their league’s ultimate compliment, a Cy Young Award.

As Hernandez’s seven-year, $175 million contract extension plays out, we’ll have plenty of chances to revisit this career comparison.

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If the owner of your favorite baseball team has a “win at all cost” attitude, that’s usually a good thing, right? Yes! Being aggressive and spending money has paid off for many eventual World Series champions. But it’s also resulted in some very dire situations, notably in the case of Arte Moreno and the Los Angeles Angels. 

Saddled with two of the worst contracts in baseball—Albert Pujols, whose numbers have declined in three consecutive seasons, is still owed $212 million through his age-41 season in 2021; Josh Hamilton, also in the midst of his worst big league season, is due $106 million through his age-36 season—the Angels are headed for an extremely important offseason that is likely to be challenging in terms of a limited payroll and limited trade pieces in the minors. 

General manager Jerry Dipoto, assuming he still has a job after a very disappointing season, will have to be creative if he wants to improve this ballclub.

It’s hard to do any worse than he did last offseason, when he took on the risk of signing Hamilton, signed Joe Blanton to a two-year, $16.5 million deal—Blanton was recently banished to the bullpen after pitching poorly out of the rotation—and acquired Tommy Hanson from the Braves for reliever Jordan Walden—Hanson was recently optioned to the minors while Walden has been a key component on a very good Braves team. 

In addition, Dipoto‘s two big bullpen acquisitions haven’t worked out due to injuries—Ryan Madson never made it back from Tommy John surgery before being released; Sean Burnett has pitched just 9.2 innings and is out for the season with an elbow injury. And to cap it off, Ervin Santana, who was traded to Kansas City for a 27-year-old minor league relief pitcher, has been Cy Young-caliber in 2013. 

Pointing out the few minor roster moves that have worked out won’t make things look much better. In order to make the Angels a playoff contender once again in 2014, they’ll need to utilize the few resources they have and get as much value out of them as possible. 

Despite the overall struggles of the pitching staff, three-fifths of the starting five—Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Garrett Richards—are pretty solid. Fixing the back of the rotation on a limited budget isn’t impossible.  

Making up for Pujols’ decline and the production he’s given them versus what they’re paying him is the bigger challenge. Here’s my suggestion on how they can make up the difference on a shoestring budget and with no farm system talent to deal.

Trade Howie Kendrick to Free Up Salary and Clear Spot For Grant Green

Could it be that Dipoto fleeced the division rival A’s by trading a light-hitting third baseman for a guy with the potential to be a very good one? Grant Green (pictured), who was drafted as a shortstop and has played all over the diamond before settling into second base this season, has been on fire (14-for-51, 2 2B, 5 BB) since being acquired for Alberto Callaspo at the trade deadline. 

Callaspo is doing a fine job in a part-time role with Oakland (.785 OPS in 17 games), but he was miscast as an everyday third baseman in Anaheim, and the Angels needed to shed his $4.875 million salary for 2014.

Not only will they save close to $19 million over the next two seasons by trading away Kendrick, but they could also add a starting pitcher or a couple of prospects in the deal—it’s tough to find a match for a team in need of a second baseman and that is willing to give up a quality third baseman in return. 

Trading Kendrick to the Dodgers, who were reportedly in talks with the Angels last month regarding the second baseman, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, could be revisited. While top pitching prospect Zach Lee was part of the trade package being discussed, there’s a chance that the insistence of his inclusion might be the reason why the deal didn’t happen. 

If the Angels took back Stephen Fife (2.47 ERA in nine MLB starts) instead to fill the fifth spot in their rotation and asked for the team’s top outfield prospect, Joc Pederson, who likely won’t make it to the majors on a Dodgers team deep in outfield talent, we could have a deal.  

Trade Peter Bourjos for Chase Headley

With Pederson on board, the Angels would be free to shop Peter Bourjos with Mike Trout moving over to center field. While he’s been injured for much of the season, the 26-year-old Bourjos has been productive when on the field. 

In 45 games, Bourjos has a .780 OPS with three homers and four stolen bases. If he can stay healthy, a team could get a terrific defensive center fielder with an ability to hit 10-15 homers and steal 25-30 bases. With third base the target, the Angels need to find out if the Padres are interested in three seasons of Bourjos—he won’t be a free agent until after the 2016 season—in exchange for one season of Chase Headley (pictured).

While the Padres already have an injury-prone Cameron Maybin signed long-term to play center field in San Diego, adding another speedy outfielder like Bourjos could still be a possibility.

Here’s why. The Padres have likely figured out that oft-injured Carlos Quentin isn’t capable of holding up for an entire season in the National League. Moving him to an American League team that will be able to place him in the designated hitter role for a majority of the time makes a lot of sense. They’ll need an outfielder to replace him, and that’s where Bourjos fits in. 

With an alignment of Maybin, Bourjos and Will Venable, the Padres’ outfield defense could be one of the best in baseball. Losing Headley and Quentin will leave a huge hole in the offense, but neither player factors into the future plans of the team. How they replace the loss of offense in 2014 is another story. 

As for the Angels, they might have to include a mid-level prospect to get the deal done, but the 29-year-old Headley‘s value has plummeted with his subpar season. It might not take much to get him. His projected $9-10 million salary for 2014 is likely affordable with Kendrick and Callaspo off the books.

Sign Eric Chavez in Case Pujols Misses Time

A native San Diegan, Eric Chavez (pictured) could get closer to home by signing with the Angels this winter after two consecutive productive seasons (.855 OPS, 25 HR in 2012-13) as a part-time player for the Yankees and Diamondbacks.

Because the 35-year-old still can’t shake the injury-prone tag—he’s been on the disabled list multiple times over the past few seasons—coming back to the American League is likely so he can log at-bats from the designated hitter spot. It’s also the reason his salary demands will stay low enough for the Angels to afford him and the reason he won’t be offered a full-time starting gig elsewhere. 

Resulting Lineup Projection

1. Mike Trout, CF
2. Chase Headley, 3B
3. Albert Pujols, DH
4. Josh Hamilton, RF
5. Mark Trumbo, 1B
6. Joc Pederson, LF
7. Grant Green, 2B
8. Erick Aybar, SS
9. Chris Iannetta, C

Bench
Hank Conger, C
Eric Chavez, 3B/1B
Andrew Romine, IF
J.B. Shuck, OF

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