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Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor is halfway through his third major league season and has just three months until his rookie contract is up, per Spotrac. 

With team control and arbitration looming, the Rangers and Odor are in talks for a new deal. But Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported on Thursday that negotiations “broke off, at least for today” after Texas offered the 22-year-old a six-year, $35 million deal, plus two option years.       

Continue for updates.

Odor, Rangers Will Have to Pick Up Talks Later

Thursday, July 14

If a deal is unable to get done, then Odor will have to play under team control in 2017, which was instituted when he made his major league debut back in May 2014. Because he recorded less than 172 service days that year, the Rangers received one more year from him, and if things lead to arbitration, they can limit what he makes, per FanGraphs.

After the team-controlled 2017 season, Odor would hit three straight years of arbitration, which could hurt his wallet, per Spotrac.

Heyman broke down why those contract talks ended Thursday:

Word is, he and his agent didn’t want the two team option years that were part of the offer. Odor had made a counteroffer at one point, so he has a clear interest in signing, but the sides will have to pick up another time. The sides can re-address the situation in the winter, if not sooner, and are likely to do so.

Heyman also noted that Odor “is a feisty type who wants to fight hard for the best deal,” which could make negotiations tricky in the future. 

Baseball fans are already aware of Odor’s feistiness after a May run-in with the Toronto Blue Jays‘ Jose Bautista:

Odor is on pace for a career season with a .275 average along with 16 home runs and 46 RBI. In 334 at-bats this year, he has recorded 92 hits. Last year, he had 111 in 426 at-bats. 

Those 16 home runs are tied for fourth among all second basemen, per Yahoo Sports. 

His efforts have helped the Rangers build a 5.5-game lead in the American League West with a 54-36 record, which is tied for second-best in the major leagues. 

Since he’s a young star on a blossoming team in the American League, expect the Rangers to do everything they can to keep Odor in Texas for as long as possible. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Los Angeles Angels first baseman C.J. Cron has a broken left hand and will undergo surgery on Tuesday to mend it.

Continue for updates.

Cron to Be Out for 6-8 Weeks

Monday, July 11

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported the news on Cron and supplied the timeline for his return. Cron has hit 11 home runs and 50 RBI this season with a slash line of .278/.333/.475 in 77 games.

The 26-year-old suffered the injury during the Angels’ 9-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles this past Friday when Mike Wright hit him with a pitch.

Although he tried to hang tough and remain in the game, Cron ultimately had to leave the field.

L.A. is already having a tough 2016 campaign, sitting at the bottom of the American League West heading into the All-Star break. Cron’s absence exacerbates the Angels’ issues as they try to salvage a respectable season down the stretch.

Cron was a welcome bright spot on a disappointing club before he got hurt. After batting .303 in June, Cron was off to a hot start in July with a .364 average and a 1.284 OPS.

Pitching has been a primary contributing factor to the Angels’ woes. They rank 22nd in team ERA (4.52) and 28th in opponents’ batting average (.278). 

Because of Cron’s lengthy injury-imposed hiatus, L.A.’s offense, headlined by young superstar Mike Trout and legendary hitter Albert Pujols, will have to pick up the slack even more if the Angels’ pitching continues to struggle.

The Angels called up Ji-Man Choi from Triple-A ball when they placed Cron on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday, per MLB.com’s Ben Raby. Choi will likely continue to fill Cron’s position, but if he struggles, the Angels may well turn to their bench for Jefry Marte.

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Huston Street exited Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles with a leg injury. 

According to Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times, “some leg issue” was hobbling Street, who did not want to exit his outing after giving up a home run to J.J. Hardy.

Moura noted the Angels gave him one more batter to face, but Street walked Adam Jones before the team pulled him.    

Continue for updates.

Street Battling Injuries Again in 2016

Sunday, July 10

In 20 appearances this season before Sunday, Street was 3-1 with a 4.67 ERA in just 17.1 innings. He’s never had an ERA lower than 3.73 over his 12-year career.

It’s hardly the follow-up season the Angels expected from him after 40 saves last year. 

But his drop in numbers could have a lot to do with previous injury troubles. On April 28, he went on the disabled list with a left oblique strain. He missed more than a month, returning to the mound for the Angels on May 31. 

Seeing Street play limited innings is nothing new. He hasn’t hit the 70-inning plateau since 2008, when he was with the Oakland Athletics.

Heading into June, though, Street had an ERA under 1.00, and on June 9, it dropped to 0.82 after a clean eighth inning against the New York Yankees. However, a blown save against the Cleveland Indians two days later—he allowed three earned runs in that game—began the ascent of his ERA. 

He blew a 2-1 lead against the Houston Astros on June 21, allowing two earned runs, and he gave up three more to the Astros eight days later:

Street’s season has made fans wonder about his baseball mortality, as the 32-year-old has also seen a dip in his velocity. 

According to FanGraphs, Street’s fastball has dropped to a career-worst average of 87.9 miles per hour. That’s a little more than three miles per hour slower than his velocity during his rookie season. 

If Street misses considerable time, the Angels will have to rely on Joe Smith and Fernando Salas to close out games while he recovers. But the front office might feel his time out even more, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register:

The Angels entered Sunday 16.5 games out of first place in the American League West, and they could have used Street as trade bait to bring in some young, fresh talent to start addressing the roster’s needs.

Now another injury could scare teams away from doing business. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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The Seattle Mariners placed starting pitcher Taijuan Walker on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday with a right foot injury.  

Continue for updates.

Walker’s Foot Problems Persist

Wednesday, July 6

MLB.com’s Greg Johns reported the news on Walker’s status and had the story on the 23-year-old’s exit from Tuesday’s start against the Houston Astros.

The foot was clearly bothering Walker when he left the mound in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s 5-2 loss at Houston. He had yielded five runs and three homers in four-plus innings of work.

The Mariners have to be concerned with Walker at this juncture. He also left a start in June with right foot tendinitis, which seems to be flaring up again.

According to ESPN.com news services, Tuesday marked the third time this season a right foot problem has forced Walker out of a game.

“Taijuan obviously still isn’t quite right,” said Mariners manager Scott Servais on Tuesday, per the ESPN.com report. “He struggled, and he’s trying to pitch through it, but we probably have to re-evaluate where we are at here. We will have it looked at again.”

Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reported on Wednesday that Walker will meet with a foot and ankle specialist to treat his ailment.

With top-10 MLB rankings in runs scored and team ERA, it’s a wonder Seattle isn’t further north of .500, as the club sits at 43-41.

In terms of pitching, Walker’s ongoing injury issues hinder the depth of the team’s starting staff. Longtime Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is already on the DL with a strained calf, and after only one start, Adrian Sampson was declared out for the season in late June with a right elbow injury that required surgery.

The good news is the All-Star break is quickly approaching, providing Servais and Seattle more time to draw up a game plan for a hopeful playoff push.

Hernandez is also due back soon, confirming on Wednesday, per Divish, that he’ll make a rehab start for the Class-A Everett AquaSox on Sunday.

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The Texas Rangers have the best record in the American League, and they’ve mostly done it without Prince Fielder.

Oh, sure, Fielder has been around, appearing in 72 of the Rangers’ 76 games. But for much of that time, he hasn’t resembled the lineup-anchoring power hitter Texas expects him to be.

Lately, however, the six-time All-Star and son of former big league basher Cecil Fielder is showing signs of life.

If he keeps it up, it could be the secret ingredient that pushes the Rangers over the top and cements their Junior Circuit supremacy.

First, the bad news: Fielder is hitting a scant .211 on the season with a .622 OPS. Entering play on Monday, his wins above replacement (WAR) sat at a career-worst minus-1.6.

Those aren’t merely bad numbers; they’re atrocious. And they would have almost assuredly glued a less established—or less well-paid—player to the bench weeks ago.

The Rangers, however, have kept the faith in Fielder. Or maybe they fear, as ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield speculated, that “a sulking and unhappy Fielder—a potential scenario if he’s benched—won’t be a positive for the clubhouse.”

Either way, Fielder has finally begun to reward the team’s patience.

Dating back to June 17, he’s hit safely in eight straight games. On Sunday, he cracked his second home run in three days in a 6-2 win over the Boston Red Sox.

It’s a brief stretch, admittedly, and could easily be an anomalous blip in an otherwise impotent season. Hope is hope, though, and Fielder and the Rangers will take it.

“You see the at-bats are controlled, and I think he’s gained more confidence every game with his swing, with his stroke, with his approach,” Texas manager Jeff Banister said of his veteran slugger, per Ryan Posner and Ian Browne of MLB.com.

After missing most of the 2014 season to neck surgery, Fielder hit .305 with 23 homers and 98 RBI a year ago. So it’s not entirely implausible the 32-year-old could be cooking up a season-resuscitating hot streak. 

Then again, between the 2014 injury and this year’s futility, Fielder’s tenure in Texas has been largely disappointing.

This isn’t the guy the Rangers thought they were getting when they shipped fan-favorite second baseman Ian Kinsler to the Detroit Tigers in November 2013. It’s certainly not the guy they’d choose to pay $18 million annually through 2020, which is what they’ll do regardless of Fielder’s stat line.

Again, we’ll need a lot more than a decent eight-game stretch before we buy this comeback. The Rangers, though, already sit at 49-27 and hold a commanding 10-game lead over the Houston Astros in the AL West.

Plus, they’ve got 22-year-old masher Joey Gallo marinating in Triple-A, where he’s bashed 14 home runs, seven doubles and three triples through 48 games. 

Clearly, they don’t need vintage Fielder to defend their division title. He sure would help, though.

If Fielder keeps raking, he’d boost a lineup that already ranks third in the AL in runs scored thanks to contributions from the likes of outfielder and free-agent bargain Ian Desmond, second baseman and amateur boxer Rougned Odor, veteran Adrian Beltre and rookie standout Nomar Mazara.

The Rangers are also hoping to get right-hander Yu Darvish back after neck and shoulder issues hampered his return from Tommy John surgery. 

If that happens, and if Fielder’s recent uptick is for real, it could be the equivalent of Texas adding a pair of impact players at the trade deadline.

There are other worthy opponents in the AL, including the surging Cleveland Indians in the Central and the powerful Baltimore Orioles in the East. Really, in a league leveled by parity, it’s tough to pick a clear favorite. 

Texas is in the running, though. And each authoritative Fielder swing gets it closer.

“I’m just hitting the ball harder,” Fielder said, per Chris James of NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. “Making more contact, swinging at better pitches. That’s about it.”

Sounds so simple when he puts it like that. Indeed, Fielder’s home run Sunday had an eye-opening exit velocity of 111 mph, as James noted. Add his .228 batting average on balls in play, and it’s possible he’s been the victim of a little bad luck as well.

These are merely signs, but they’re positive ones. Keep stacking them on top of one another, and we might be looking at a trend.

The Rangers have gotten where they are mostly without Prince Fielder. Now, imagine where they could be with him.

All statistics current through June 26 and courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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It’s the decision the Los Angeles Angels don’t want to make. And by golly, it’s the kind of decision no team should ever have to make.

But whether the Angels like it or not, trading Mike Trout continues to look less like the nuclear option and more like the only option.

Trout is still the Angels’ best player. The 24-year-old has a .929 OPS, 14 home runs and 10 stolen bases, and has garnished it with solid defense in center field. Both Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs put him among baseball’s best position players.

By now, noting as much is like noting water is wet or Brad Pitt is handsome. Trout has rarely not been stupendous since emerging as a perennial MVP candidate in 2012. It can’t be said enough that we’re watching possibly the best young player in baseball history.

That’s not the kind of guy whose name should ever come close to the trading block. And for now, the party line is that it won’t.

“We have no intent or desire to consider moving Mike Trout,” Angels general manager Billy Eppler told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports last month. “He’s not moving. He’s an impact player, a huge piece in a championship core.”

Eppler could also have pointed out that nothing is threatening to take Trout away, as his contract runs through 2020. The hole in Eppler‘s logic, however, has to do with the “championship core” thing. 

The Angels have dug themselves a hole with a 31-41 record, and there’s not going to be any climbing out of it. Trout and Kole Calhoun are the only impact hitters in an offense that ranks 11th in the American League in OPS. And with Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, C.J. Wilson and Tyler Skaggs all sidelined with arm and shoulder injuries, it’ll be tough to fix a pitching staff that ranks 12th in the AL in ERA.

This makes 2016 a lost year, but the worry now should be whether it’ll be a one-off or something worse. It’s easy to see how screwed the Angels are now, but it says a lot that it’s just as easy to see how screwed they are later.

A championship core usually consists of young, talented and healthy players who are in their prime and controlled for the long haul. On the Angels, that’s a small club. There’s Trout and the 28-year-old Calhoun, but who else? Albert Pujols, 36, is old and worse than ever. Andrelton Simmons can only field the ball. Matt Shoemaker has been on a nice run, but he’ll be 30 before the year is out.

The only way the Angels will acquire a championship core in the near future is by buying one or making their own. In the remaining years of Trout’s contract, they’ll be in a position to do neither.

The Angels have Wilson and Jered Weaver and their $40 million in salaries coming off the books this winter. But with the free-agent class due to be one of the worst in recent memory, there won’t be any good places to put that money.

The best chance the Angels will get to reload in free agency is after 2018. That’s when Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Jose Fernandez and Matt Harvey are due to headline possibly the best class of free agents in history.

But starting in 2019, the Angels will be on the hook to pay $75.1 million to Trout, Pujols and Simmons alone. Factor in Calhoun’s arbitration payday, and they’ll have close to $100 million invested in only four players. That doesn’t leave much room for big spending.

Meanwhile, the cavalry will not be coming from the farm.

This is the second year out of three that Baseball America rated the Angels’ system as the worst in baseball. Keith Law of ESPN.com concurred and provided the apparent origin of this conversation: “[The Angels] need a big draft this year to start to restock the system or we’re going to start talking about whether it’s time to trade Mike Trout.”

A big draft did not happen. The Angels only had two picks on Day 1, and they reached with the first of those when they chose Virginia catcher Matt Thaiss at No. 16. That landed them on my list of draft losers.

When a team is damaged both up top and underneath as badly as the Angels are, breaking up the whole damn thing and starting from scratch is the only way forward. To this end, trading Trout would be one hell of a first step.

The fact that Trout is owed a little over $120 million over the next four seasons complicates his trade value somewhat, but not too much. That’s going to be a significant underpay if he continues to perform like the best player in baseball, as his talent and youth suggest he should.

In theory, the Angels could look to unload Trout’s remaining contract while also demanding a big haul of young talent. One general manager suggested a likely asking price of “three to five potential impact players” to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. That sounds about right.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that a haul of “potential impact players” will equal one Trout. Shaikin pointed to the infamous Miguel Cabrera trade as an example of what can go wrong. He also noted that, in general, prized prospects don’t always turn out to be prized major leaguers.

However, skepticism like this has become dated.

If it feels like young players rule the modern baseball world, it’s because they do. Rob Arthur noted at FiveThirtyEight last year that the average age of baseball’s biggest stars has been trending downward for years. Trout has done his part, and he’s not alone.

Besides, who says the Angels need to get only prospects in a Trout trade? He’s good enough for L.A. to demand an established young star to take his place. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe floated names like Mookie Betts, Corey Seager, George Springer, Nomar Mazara and Kyle Schwarber as he was pondering potential deals for Trout. None of those are preposterous suggestions.

After landing a player like that, the Angels could still demand a couple of top prospects on the side. Getting them would help put their farm system on the right track.

And though there may be no guarantee of a strong farm system leading to long-term success at the major league level, the Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros and New York Mets can all vouch for the value of a strong system. Before long, the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves should be able to as well. 

If anything, the more pressing question is how many teams can and would pull off such a huge trade. In all likelihood, the list is too short for a deal to happen this summer, when contenders will mostly be looking to fill holes rather than overhaul their depth charts.

The winter could be a different story, though. Contenders and rebuilders alike will be in better positions to focus on their long-term goals, increasing the number of teams that could turn to Trout. And with little impact talent available on the open market, Trout’s sticker price could look more reasonable over time.

Nobody thought we’d be having this discussion as recently as 2014, a year in which the Angels extended Trout in the spring and then rode 98 wins into October. But courtesy of their assorted failures and bad breaks, here we are. And courtesy of those same failures and bad breaks, it’s a discussion that isn’t likely to go away if they ignore it.

The Angels won’t soon forget their time with Trout. But before long, it’ll be time to move on.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The Houston Astros are dead, long live the Houston Astros.

OK, we should amend that: The Astros seemed dead after going 7-17 in April. Since May 1, however, they’ve gone 30-19. And with a sweep-sealing 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday at Minute Maid Park, they poked their heads above .500 at 37-36.

They’re still 10 games behind the Texas Rangers in the American League West and have lost nine of 10 against their Lone Star State rivals.

The ‘Stros, though, are back in the AL wild-card picture and, quite simply, looking like a relevant baseball team again.

That’s where they were at the end of 2015, when they blossomed ahead of schedule, paced the division for most of the season, grabbed a wild-card slot and pushed the eventual champion Kansas City Royals to five games in the division series.

For a while, it looked like vertigo-inducing regression was going to define 2016.

Ace and reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel vacillated between mediocre and terrible, the rest of the pitching staff wobbled and the bats failed to pick up the slack. 

But the Astros have righted the ship, thanks in large part to an exemplary showing by the bullpen, as Sports Illustrated‘s Cliff Corcoran outlined prior to Wednesday’s action:

The Astros allowed 5.1 runs per game in April but have held opponents to 3.8 since. Leading that charge has been the performance of their bullpen. Since May 1, Houston’s relief corps has led the majors with a 2.50 ERA, 5.24 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 0.6 home runs per nine innings. Over that span, only the Yankees‘ relievers have struck out a higher percentage of their batters faced, and no other bullpen has issued walks or allowed base runners at a lower rate.

Flame-throwing reliever Ken Giles has served as a symbol of that turnaround. Acquired over the winter in the trade that sent budding star right-hander Vincent Velasquez to the Philadelphia Phillies, Giles’ ERA ballooned to 9.00 at the end of April.

Since then, he’s fanned 27 in 20 frames and thrown more like the shutdown late-inning arm the Astros thought they were getting. 

“It was mechanical 100 percent,” Giles said of his early woes, per Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle. “Not confidence. I always knew I had the confidence.”

Keuchel, too, has flashed some positive signs, cutting back on his walks and lasting at least six innings in eight of his last nine starts. His ERA, however, still sits at an unsightly 5.32.

Lance McCullers has contributed since returning from a shoulder injury on May 13, winning three of his last four decisions. Sinkerballer Doug Fister has likewise been solid, and Houston has won the last 10 times he’s taken the hill.

Overall, though, Astros starters owned a 4.41 ERA entering play Wednesday. Continued improvement in that area—including a possible trade-deadline addition, a la Scott Kazmir last season—would go a long way.

Back on the good-news front, second baseman Jose Altuve (.343 average, .976 OPS) is putting together a superlative season at the plate. Shortstop Carlos Correa, who had a walk-off knock against Angels closer Huston Street on Tuesday, has raised his OPS nearly 40 points in June. George Springer is flexing his muscles with 15 homers, including 11 since May 1.

And supporting players like center fielder Carlos Gomez and third baseman Luis Valbuena have begun to pick it up.

The Astros are in the middle of the pack, literally, as they rank No. 8 in the AL in runs scored with 310. So shopping for a hitter at the August 1 trade deadline—a right-handed swinger to augment corner outfielder Colby Rasmus, perhaps—would be prudent.

A National League scout recently floated Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun as a possible target, per the Boston Globe‘s Nick Cafardo.

Whether or not they pull the trigger on a deal of that magnitude, at least the Astros are playing well enough to warrant such speculation.

One month into the season, it looked like they might already be buried. Now, they’ve dug their way out. In the parity-leveled, wide-open Junior Circuit, that’s all it takes.

“Early on, I think we were doing just enough to lose by a little—that’s the phrase that I always used,” manager A.J. Hinch said of his club’s out-of-the-gate struggles, per Angel Verdejo Jr. of the Houston Chronicle. These days, they’re doing enough to win.

The Astros were almost dead. Long live the Astros.

All statistics current as of June 22 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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Texas Rangers starting pitcher Colby Lewis will miss up to two months after suffering a strained lat muscle, per T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com.

Continue for updates.

Lewis Won’t Begin Throwing for at Least 4 Weeks

Wednesday, June 22

According to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the 36-year-old will start his throwing program only after undergoing an MRI in roughly a month.

Lewis’ injury came Tuesday night during his start against the Cincinnati Reds. He pitched five innings and allowed six earned runs in an 8-2 defeat for Texas:

Losing the veteran right-hander for an extended period of time is a major blow for the Rangers. According to FanGraphs, Lewis’ 1.3 WAR is highest among Texas’ qualified starting pitchers, and his 4.24 FIP is lowest in the rotation.

The Rangers own the highest playoff chances (90.9 percent) of any team in the American League West, per Baseball Prospectus. That figure is bound to drop in the coming weeks. USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale noted how depleted Texas’ staff is quickly becoming:

A.J. Griffin looks close to stepping back on the mound for the first time since May 7. Wilson reported he’s in line to start Friday against the Boston Red Sox. Having Griffin back will help alleviate Texas’ injury problems, but manager Jeff Banister will still need to find replacements for both Lewis and Derek Holland.

Banister may have little choice but to call up Kyle Lohse. The 37-year-old had a 5.85 ERA in 37 appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2015, and in seven minor league starts, he’s 2-4 with a 5.09 ERA. Relying on Lohse to fill a major league rotation spot is a last resort, but Banister is running out of options.

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One year, one hip surgery, six-and-a-half months on the open market and three minor league starts since the last time he toed a major league mound, Tim Lincecum sent a message Saturday:

The Freak lives.

The Los Angeles Angels signed Lincecum last month hoping the veteran right-hander could be a pick-me-up for their injury-battered starting rotation. He was just that in his debut Saturday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum. The former San Francisco Giants ace spear-headed a 7-1 win over the A’s with six innings of one-run ball, in which he allowed only four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

After so many years of watching Lincecum in orange and black on the other side of the bay, it was a bit weird to see him mowing down hitters while garbed all in red. Unless you ask him, of course.

“I don’t think it looks weird,” said the 32-year-old of his new threads after the game, via Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area. “I think it looks pretty good.”

At any rate, maybe the best thing to be said about Lincecum’s debut is it was often easy to forget he was even pitching. Whereas the A’s cycled through seven pitchers in the process of giving up seven runs—one of which came on a long home run off the bat of Mike Trout—Lincecum put in a quiet, workman-like performance light on drama.

At the least, this is a good first impression for a guy the Angels are hoping can be a $2 million steal. At best, it’s the start of a renaissance in which Lincecum will more closely resemble his 2008-2011 self than his 2012-2015 self.

In case anyone needs a refresher on how the two compare, here are the numbers:

The first four full seasons of Lincecum’s career netted him two National League Cy Youngs and cemented him as one of the best pitchers in baseball. After that, he turned into one of the worst pitchers in baseball.

The primary culprit for Lincecum’s collapse is the velocity he lost. After sitting in the low- to mid-90s with his fastball earlier in his career, he sat around 90 between 2012 and 2014 and then in the high 80s last season. By the time he made his last start for the Giants on June 27 last year, there wasn’t much hope his velocity would bounce back.

Which brings us to the good news.

There were reports of Lincecum showing improved velocity when he held a showcase for prospective buyers in early May. It turns out that wasn’t a one-time thing. According to Brooks Baseball, Lincecum’s release speed with his four-seamer and sinker sat in the 89-90 range Saturday. That’s up from the 88-89 range he occupied last season. He also sprinkled in some 90s and 91s to boot.

That may not be vintage velocity, but at least it’s better velocity. It’s also velocity he’s comfortable with.

“I’m not going to be the guy throwing 93, 94, 95 [mph] anymore,” he said ahead of Saturday’s start, via Mark Chiarelli of MLB.com. “I have to spot my fastball and trust the movement. I think that’s where I’m at, trusting I can get outs with 88-92.”

To the naked eye, Lincecum’s fastball command wasn’t terrible Saturday. He did an especially good job of staying out of the sweet spot against Oakland’s left-handed batters, and his mistakes were mostly good (read: non-hittable) mistakes.

Meanwhile, Lincecum’s money pitch did its job. No pitch has done more damage in his career than his changeup, and ESPN Stats and Information can vouch it was out in force against the A’s:

Lest anyone get too excited, however, Lincecum’s debut offers some nits to pick.

Although his fastball command wasn’t terrible, it’s hard to say it was good. Fastballs that hit their marks and fastballs that missed their marks were probably in equal supply, particularly in a third inning in which he allowed two hits, walked a guy and hit another guy.

In light of this, it’s not surprising only 60.2 percent (59 of 98) of Lincecum’s pitches went for strikes. In relation to his average of 61.8 percent between 2012 and 2015, that’s not a great sign.

It didn’t help that Lincecum got swings and misses on only seven of 98 pitches. That’s 7.1 percent, well below his career rate of 11.0. Between that and his spotty command, he wasn’t harder to hit than his two strikeouts would indicate.

As such, there’s no escaping the notion that Lincecum’s effectiveness Saturday might have had something to do with the opposition. He was facing an A’s team that entered the day ranked 13th in the American League in runs and OPS. Overcoming them isn’t the best litmus test.

Still, the Angels’ 30-38 record puts them in a position to take whatever positive signs they can get. Lincecum’s improved velocity and good-as-ever changeup will do nicely. And even if his fastball command doesn’t get better, he might get by as long as he continues to avoid making bad mistakes.

If Lincecum continues to pitch well, the interesting question is how it will benefit the Angels. If everything comes together just right, he may help them mount a charge up the AL West standings. If that fails, though, he could be a useful piece of trade bait come late July.

This remains to be seen. All we know for now is that we’ve seen Lincecum’s first start in an Angels uniform, and it was good enough to warrant more. Maybe he’s no longer the Freak of old, but he’s not done yet simply being the Freak.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The most productive starting pitcher in the American League‘s best rotation came close to making history Thursday. As a general concept, that sounds like something that would happen.

But, Colby Lewis? Texas Rangers? That’s unexpected and therefore a cool story.

With a 3.00 ERA through 13 starts, Lewis was already having a good season when he took the hill to face the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum. He made it better by taking a perfect game into the eighth inning and a no-hitter into the ninth inning.

Alas, a four-pitch walk to Yonder Alonso snapped Lewis’ perfect-game bid. And leading off the ninth, Max Muncy nixed the no-no with a double that Nomar Mazara missed by thaaaaaaat much:

“I thought he was going to get to it a lot easier,” Lewis said afterward, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). “It is what it is. You can’t throw your arms up in the air and get all mad about it. You have to go back to work.”

He did just that. Lewis also lost his shutout after losing his no-hitter—allowing an RBI double to Coco Crisp that was also nearly caught—but finished things off to seal a 5-1 win.

With his first complete game of 2016, the 36-year-old right-hander lowered his ERA to 2.81. That’s the best in a Rangers rotation that now leads the American League in ERA at 3.52. Coming on the heels of a 2015 season in which the Rangers’ rotation had one of the five worst ERAs in the AL, that’s surprising enough. And indeed, nobody’s ever said it’s easy to pitch at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas.

But more so than what the Rangers rotation as a whole is doing, it’s what Lewis is doing that boggles the mind.

It would be easy to explain it if Cole Hamels (whose 3.14 ERA is none too shabby, granted) was Texas’ best starter. He throws strikes with a low-90s fastball, and he can still make hitters look foolish with a changeup that ranks among the best ever. Like a lot of guys these days, he’s a strikeout pitcher.

It would also be easy to explain it if Yu Darvish were Texas’ best starter. His health has only allowed him to make three starts this season, but he proved in those he still has great velocity and a slider that may be as nasty as Hamels’ changeup. He’s also a strikeout pitcher.

Heck, it would even be easy to explain it if Martin Perez were Texas’ best starter. He can’t contend with Hamels or Darvish in terms of raw stuff, but his sinker gets approximately all of the ground balls.

Lewis, on the other hand, excels at neither missing bats nor at managing contact. As you’d expect from a guy with his age and his injury track record—he’s had shoulder, elbow and hip surgeries—his fastball hovers in the high 80s. Also, it’s doubtful his slider, curveball or changeup will ever be among the GIFs featured at PitcherList.com. 

This makes Lewis a hard guy to sum up on paper. He’s one of those guys you just have to, you know, watch.

That’s the only way to understand it’s not about what Lewis throws but rather how he throws what he throws. He’ll work both sides of the strike zone with a four-seam fastball and a sinker. He’ll also pitch backward, using his secondaries to get ahead before going to the heat. In general, the eye test says he’s good at sequencing his pitches.

This is the long way of saying the obvious: Lewis just plain knows how to pitch. Most days, that makes him a solid innings-eater. On a good day, it apparently make him damn near unhittable.

To echo the thoughts of CBS Sports’ Dayn Perry, however, the sustainability of Lewis’ current performance is a question mark. Maybe even a big question mark.

There are metrics that suggest Lewis is lucky to have his 2.81 ERA. The most basic is fielding independent pitching, which has Lewis rated as one of the luckiest pitchers in the American League.

That Lewis is walking only 1.7 batters per nine innings means he has one valuable skill, to be sure. But he’s only striking out 5.6 batters per nine innings despite all those strikes. Because of that, he needs good fortune on balls in play.

The best way to earn that is to induce soft contact. Lewis isn’t doing that. He entered Thursday with a 37.9 hard-hit rate, way above his career average of 31.7. According to Baseball Savant, his average exit velocity was 89.0 miles per hour. That’s basically the league average.

The number it all points to is .234. That’s Lewis’ batting average on balls in play. That’s far below his career norm of .297 and therefore likely due for a major regression.

That’s one reason nobody should be shocked if Lewis comes back to earth. Besides that, well, this is also the same guy who put up a 4.90 ERA across 2014 and 2015.

But the damage Lewis has already done should still make a difference in the end. He’s played an important role in establishing the Rangers’ six-and-a-half-game lead in the AL West, not to mention their three-game lead over everyone else for the top record in the American League. Even if they never get better, the Rangers should find themselves playing in October.

And even if Lewis is no longer their best pitcher by then, the Rangers will still be glad to have him.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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