Inside the Clubhouse: Ryan Helsley, underrated trade candidates and more

Ryan Helsley, who entered the regular season as a question mark, has not just emerged into the St. Louis Cardinals’ best reliever, but is in the conversation as the best reliever in the National League in 2022.

Among 317 pitchers to throw at least 15 innings, Helsley leads baseball in strikeout percentage (50), strikeout/walk percentage (44.2), opponent batting average (0.41) and WHIP (0.32). He’s tied for the league lead in ERA (0.00) and ranks third in swinging strike percentage (20.6).

Still, Helsley has appeared in only 15.2 innings this season. Why? In the words of one source, the Cardinals are being “careful” with him. They are leery of burning him out by the end of the regular season, something that happened last season after Alex Reyes asserted himself as one of the best relievers in the National League.

“We’re seeing a very good pitcher with electric stuff and who is going to close out games and pitch in high-leverage situations. How do we keep that for the duration of the season? It’s by doing what we’ve done up to this point. Is it ideal night-to-night? No. Is it best for Helsley and our club in the long run? I think so.”

The Cardinals’ insistence on keeping Helsley fresh, combined with the season-ending shoulder injury that Reyes suffered, could once again put them in the market for bullpen help. Entering Wednesday, they rank tied for 16th in baseball in bullpen ERA. But their greatest need may actually be in the rotation, where Steven Matz and Jack Flaherty are on the Injured List while reliever turned starter Jordan Hicks may soon transition back to the bullpen.

Five underrated MLB trade candidates:

• Jose Quintana, Pittsburgh Pirates: So far, Quintana looks like one of the biggest bargains of the offseason. The 33-year-old was signed to a one-year, $2 million contract and has produced a 2.43 ERA in eight starts. He has significantly cut down on home runs allowed — 0.4 per nine innings – and has slashed his walk rate from 5.6 to 3.3 this season.
• Wade Miley, Chicago Cubs: The Cincinnati Reds placed Miley on waivers this past offseason and allowed him to go to a division rival for nothing. In turn, the left-hander has posted a 3.38 ERA in only three starts and could net the Cubs a top-30 prospect before the Aug. 2 deadline.
• Chad Pinder, Oakland A’s: Let me start with this: I don’t expect the A’s to trade Chad Pinder. But if they do, I anticipate many teams being involved, as there are executives who believe he is meaningfully better than the .248/.272/.413 slashline with four home runs that he has produced this season. One team that has liked Pinder is the San Diego Padres, whose manager Bob Melvin was with Pinder in Oakland.
• Chad Kuhl, Colorado Rockies: On May 10, Kuhl had a 1.82 ERA. On May 23, his ERA had soared to 3.67. Still, Kuhl, who is signed to a one-year, $3 million contract, figures to be a desirable option for teams seeking cheap, cost-effective starting pitching.
• Tommy Pham, Cincinnati Reds: Besides Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle, Pham is the Reds’ most attractive trade option. That said, he’s only hitting .218/.331/.359 with a .690 OPS, five home runs and 13 RBI. He’s signed to a one-year, $7.5 million contract that contains a mutual option for 2023 and should garner some interest.

Angels likely to explore starting pitching

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The Los Angeles Angels need starting pitching.

Noah Syndergaard is coming off Tommy John surgery and Michael Lorenzen is a career reliever. Shohei Ohtani is once again pitching and hitting at an MVP level. Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers and Jose Suarez have never thrown over 100 innings in a major-league season. And as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported, none are expected to throw over 165 innings this season.

This means it’s possible that the Angels are once again in the market for another starter, but it’s complicated. The Angels’ six-man rotation is designed to limit innings for starters to keep them fresh throughout the season and into the postseason. But injuries happen, ups and downs in performance happen, and the Angels are 27-17 and a prominent team in the early postseason hunt.

If there was ever a time to go for it, it’s now, and general manager Perry Minasian might be tempted to do it. But with the Angels also needing a shortstop, could the team instead look to add another reliever or two to further stockpile pitching depth while pursuing a high-end shortstop upgrade along the lines of Xander Bogaerts?

Two Giants prospects standing out

I have talked to a half-dozen scouts in the past two weeks who have called San Francisco Giants pitching prospect Kyle Harrison a future star.

The Giants had only seen Harrison once before selecting him in the second round of the 2020 draft, with one source saying that they felt so strongly about the left-hander that they built their entire class around him. The entire scouting process of Harrison, which was chronicled by Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, left some in the organization believing he could be their best pitching prospect since Madison Bumgarner.

One more note on the Giants farm system: I received an unsolicited text from a rival scout who called Vaun Brown the “best prospect that nobody knows about.”

Other notes:

• Despite trade rumors, I fully expect Juan Soto to stay with the Washington Nationals. Said one general manager: “My read is that he’s going nowhere.”
• The Matt Chapman trade doesn’t look very good for the Toronto Blue Jays. In 146 at-bats, he’s hitting .192/.283/.356 with six home runs and 17 RBI.
• Since May 25, 2021, Pete Alonso (42) and Patrick Wisdom (38) lead the National League in home runs.
• The best reliever in baseball: Clay Holmes. The New York Yankees acquired Holmes on July 26, 2021, which was mostly an afterthought. In turn, Holmes has posted a 0.40 ERA, a 28.4 strikeout percentage, 2.5 walk percentage and an 83.8 groundball percentage. There is a very strong argument to be made that he should be the Yankees’ closer even after Aroldis Chapman returns.