The final season of arguably the best center fielder Arizona has ever had was not the one anyone was hoping for."2018 rating: 6.482017 rating: 7.282018 salary: $7 http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-max-kepler-jersey ,750,0002018 performance: 113 games, 460 PA, .257/.316/.484 = .800 OPS, 106 OPS+, 110 wRC+, 2.5 bWAR, 2.5 fWAR2019 status: Free-agent with qualifying offer attached (offer declined)After the 2017 playoff season came to a close, a number of questions popped up surrounding the future of A.J. Pollock. Would the team keep him for 2019 and risk losing him to free agency? Would they trade him, trying to turn that one year of control and ability to make a qualifying offer into pieces for the future? Would Pollock be healthy enough to play significant time? Eventually, Arizona’s front office decided to try and build on the 2017 success and go for it all in 2018. This meant retaining potentially valuable trade pieces in Pollock and left-handed starter, Patrick Corbin.Over the first six weeks of the season, Pollock established himself as one of the few healthy, productive members of the Arizona offense. Through May 14, Pollock had batted .293/.349/.620 with 11 home runs for an OPS of .969. Simply put Fernando Rodney Jersey , he was getting the job done, regardless of position played. Pollock though, was continuing to play exceptional defense in center field on top of reminding the world just how dynamic a player he could be. During the span, he also swatted 10 doubles, three triples, and stole nine bases. In short, Pollock was performing like the Pollock of old, the 2015 version that put up a 7.2 bWAR season.But then things went south. Playing hard defensively, as he is known to do,Pollock dove for a sinking liner to center and missed. In the process, he managed to roll the thumb on his glove hand. The injury forced him to leave the game and sent Pollock to the DL.Pollock wound up missing the next six weeks of the season. When he came back, his swing was still noticeably off. Gone too was his power stroke. While neither Pollock or the team ever tried to deflect the performance issues to lingering effects from the thumb injury, it is difficult not to draw a straight-line conclusion from his thumb being injured to his swing being off and devoid of power when he returned.Pollock’s struggles at the plate over the last two months of the season coincided with Arizona’s swoon late-season swoon. The result is, Pollock took quite a bit of the blame for the team’s offensive woes. On the other hand, he continued to be strong defensively.While not necessarily the home run-robbing highlights of Jarrod Dyson http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-max-kepler-jersey , these are the sorts of plays that Pollock made on a routine basis. His ability to cover so much ground and his strong center fielder instincts were a big part of why the Diamondbacks were the nest defensive team in baseball in 2018.Despite Pollock’s struggles after returning from injury, he was not entirely absent. Just about the time people started writing him off, he would have a good game. This sort of play just served to irritate fans even more in the long run, as it was clear he still had the talent, but that he just wasn’t performing on the regular.By the time the season came to a close, fan reception of Pollock had soured badly. Despite this, Pollock did salvage some goodwill with his final strong performance of the season, which happened to come at home in the final game against the Dodger. On that night, Zack Greinke pitched six solid innings and Pollock backed him up with a two hit night, one of those hits a three-run homer deep to center field, high enough to make it onto the concourse.That’s not a bad night for his final home game as an Arizona Diamondback.OutlookAfter the season was over, the Arizona Diamondbacks made A.J. Pollock a qualifying offer. Unsurprisingly, Pollock turned the offer down. With the Diamondbacks trading away Paul Goldschmidt and also having a mandate to trim payroll, it seems unlikely that the Diamondbacks are even talking to Pollock’s agent about a potential return. Now, the Diamondbacks await news of how much Pollock signs for elsewhere. In order to maximize their return from making the qualifying offer Joe Mauer Jersey , the Diamondbacks are rooting for Pollock to sign a deal worth more than $50 million. This seems like an almost sure thing to happen as it is rumored that the Mets, Reds, and Phillies are all showing significant interest in Pollock. When he does sign a deal worth more than $50 million, the Diamondbacks will net themselves another draft pick which will be located between the first round the the COmpetitive Balance A round of the draft. ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cincinnati Reds right-hander Luis Castillo made life easy for catcher Tucker Barnhart on Saturday night.Castillo tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings and combined with two relievers on a two-hitter to lead the Reds to a 4-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.Barnhart said working with Castillo was easy.“(He has) video game stuff,” Barnhart said. “Tonight was an example of that. He was able to throw all three pitches for strikes. He was able to keep them off balance all night long.”The Reds snapped a three-game losing streak.St. Louis, which won a major league-best 22 games in August, lost for the second time in six games.The Cardinals are 4 1/2 games behind Chicago in the NL Central after the Cubs beat Philadelphia 7-1.Castillo (8-11) gave up two hits and struck out a career-high 11. He gave up a leadoff single to Matt Carpenter in the first before retiring 15 of the next 16 hitters.Castillo has had an up-and-down season and has struggled with consistency.“We feel like he can do this,” Cincinnati interim manager Jim Riggleman. “He’s not 21, he’s 25. It’s time. We just hope he builds on that, has a good September, and takes us into 2019 as a guy that can anchor our staff.”Castillo had given up five earned runs in two of his last three starts.“A good part was I was on the same page with Tucker,” Castillo said. “He was calling the right pitches. I was throwing the right pitches. That was a big part of my success.Castillo was making his 27th start of the season and said this might have been his best performance to date.“I’ve had a couple good ones, but I felt really, really good in this one,” Castillo said. “I faced a really good team that’s trying to get into the playoffs. To be able to perform and do what I did tonight was really good for me.”David Hernandez and Raisel Iglesias completed the two-hitter Glen Perkins Jersey , which was the Reds fifth shutout of the season.Suarez keyed a three-run outburst against Daniel Poncedeleon (0-1) in the fourth. Joey Votto broke the scoreless tie with a run-scoring double. Scooter Gennett followed with a hit to set the stage for Suarez’s drive off the wall in left. Suarez, who has hit safely in 11 successive games against St. Louis, pushed his RBI total to 98,.Barnhart added a run-scoring single in the seventh.Poncedeleon, in his third major league start, retired the first 10 batters he faced on 43 pitches. But the next six hitters reached safely ending his night after 3 1-3 innings. Poncedeleon gave up three runs on five hits. He struck out four and walked one.“I think I lost the arm slot on my fastball,” Poncedeleon said. “I was searching out there.”St. Louis has won 20 of its last 26 and has a 29-14 record since manager Mike Shildt took over for Mike Matheny on July 15.TRAINER’S ROOMCardinals: OF Marcell Ozuna was activated from the 10-day disabled list prior to the contest. Ozuna has been bothered by right shoulder inflammation. He is expected to start on Sunday.RHP Adam Wainwright tossed five shutout innings in a rehab outing with Triple-A Memphis in Nashville on Saturday. He gave up five hits, struck out seven and walked two in a 90-pitch outing. Wainwright has missed 98 games with elbow inflammation.UP NEXTRHP Anthony DeSclafani (7-4, 4.34) will face Luke Weaver (7-11, 4.59) in the final game of the three-game series on Sunday. DeSclafani has gone at least six innings in each of his last five starts with a 3-1 record and a 2.62 ERA over that span. Weaver is 3-0 lifetime against the Reds.
