Smyly pitching one hell of a game in new york!

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heard them on mlb round table talk how good his stuff was yesterday, took a shot at the first 5 on the tigers, was worth the + number coming off a loss and crappy Garcia pitching for Yanks
 

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http://www.heraldandnews.com/sports...cle_bd5a50ac-c885-519d-a062-1850806931fa.html
[h=1]Seattle sees Smyly as probable starter[/h]
  • <time datetime="2017-02-26T00:00:00-08:00" class="asset-date text-muted" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);">19 hrs ago</time>
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PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — Trades don’t surprise Drew Smyly anymore.

At age 27, the Seattle Mariners left-hander has been dealt twice. The first swap sent him from the team that drafted and developed Smyly, the Detroit Tigers, to the Tampa Bay Rays in midseason 2014. That trade landed star pitcher David Price in Detroit.

“I was surprised by that one,” Smyly said.






The most recent trade involving him came in January, when the Rays shipped Smyly to Seattle for three prospects in one of many moves by Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto.

Smyly immediately joined the Mariners projected starting rotation, and is having fun getting to know his new teammates at spring training by way of manager Scott Servais’ clubhouse icebreakers.

Servais thinks Smyly is a solid fit as a still young yet experienced pitcher.

“One, being where he’s at in his career age-wise and service time, he’s kind of at the point where, put him in the right environment ... very good defensive outfield, he’s a fly ball guy, maybe he does step up and take the next step,” Servais said.

“Getting out of the American League East certainly should help him, but there’s no guarantees. Our division’s pretty tough.”



Servais suggested that another Arkansas native, ex-big leaguer Cliff Lee, might have helped sell Seattle on Smyly. Lee is a former Mariner and the two share an agent.

Smyly went 7-12 in a career-high 30 starts last season in Tampa, but won five games from July 30 to the end of the season after starting out 2-11. From May 21 to July 18, he lost seven straight starts.

“Pitching’s tough, you know,” Smyly said. “To manipulate the ball, to make it do different things, to put it in the strike zone with hitters that know what they’re doing. ... I just had a rough stretch but I show up at the field every day, play catch and work on my craft and you know, that’s going to turn around one day.”

The 32 home runs Smyly surrendered in 2016 figure to be reduced in Seattle’s pitcher-friendly Safeco Field.

“It can only help,” he said, “but it’s still going to be up to me to execute pitches and pitch well.”
 

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good luck in SF

Smyly, 30, missed all of 2017 and 2018 after having Tommy John surgery. He returned last season with Texas, but was 1-5 with an 8.42 ERA in nine starts before the Rangers released him. Milwaukee signed him, but also let him go after he made three starts in the minors.
He landed with the pitching-starved Phillies, and it was there that Smyly began to figure out some things. He was 3-2 with a 4.45 ERA in 12 starts for Philadelphia, cutting his walks per nine innings from six in Texas to three.
Smyly is trying to get back to being the pitcher he was before injuries. In his first four seasons, with the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays, he was 24-15 with a 3.24 ERA. Since 2016, his ERA is 5.41.
Now, he says he’s able to focus on pitching again.
“My body feels way better, my arm feels stronger,” Smyly said. “Last year I was healthy, but I hadn’t pitched in two years, so there were a lot of cobwebs to shake off.
“It took me a long time to get my command back. I feel way stronger, looser, my arm action feels better. So it’s more about getting that consistency with my off-speed pitches versus trying to build my arm strength.”
His manager with the Phillies, Gabe Kapler, is now in that role with the Giants.
“Drew came out of the game with a lot of confidence,” Kapler said. “I was able to see him make a lot of starts. He had some ups and downs but his last start of the season he faced the Nationals. He was able to buzz through that lineup (10 strikeouts and no walks).
 

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