May was, uh, better than April. After dropping five more games to open the month, we won 11 of the last 15 games to finish with a 14-13 record in May, leaving us at 18-33 overall. And out of last place! Hurray.
Luis Patino turned things around nicely, with a 1.55 ERA, and Connor Jones provided some excellent relief (0.78). Brandon Marsh (.333/4/16) was briefly back to last year's form. Tatsuma Kudo sustained an oblique injury and missed most of the month, but should be back soon before he's promptly traded away.
Speaking of trades, reliever Frankie Montas (4.44 ERA) complained about his role on the team. Well, we can't have that, so I shipped him to Arizona for pitcher Juan Ramirez, a 21-year-old former first-round pick. Ramirez has great stuff, though his control leaves something to be desired. He has great stamina, and there's still a chance that he develops his change-up, which would make him a dominating starter. As it stands, Ramirez will probably end up as a very good late-inning reliever. The Diamondbacks turned around and signed Montas (who we had for $1.2M) to a two-year extension worth $26M.
With the draft approaching, I checked in on last year's first-round pick, Jerry Barrett. Unfortunately, just a few months after the draft, young Jerry tore his UCL, but not worry, he'll be back soon, and appears to be a hollow shell of what he once was. You may debate my wisdom for drafting a high school pitcher with the #2 overall pick.
Around the league:
-Robinson Cano (SF) got his 3000th career hit. At age 40, Robbie's still a pretty good hitter and can probably play another year or two.
-Andrew McCutchen (HOU) got his 2000th.
-Bryce Harper (WAS) had a 28-game hitting streak.
-The White Sox's rebuild finally seems to be paying off, as they have a league-best 36-15 record.