Transaction Analysis: April 21-26

The only serious problem with this move is that Vaughn is restricted to
DHing, which leaves the Angels stuck with Erstad at first base instead of
center field, and Garret Anderson in center instead of in left. The Big Mo’s
return isn’t going to solve the Angels’ problems. This is beginning to look
like a team the Singing Cowboy would have been proud of: expensive and bad.

In Angelosology, this is another sign that Ray Miller’s influence is on the
wane. Miller has been inflexibly anti-Coppinger since 1996, and if Rocky’s up,
you can take that to mean that Ray’s input is being ignored. As for Rocky,
I’ve been hopeful about his ability to contribute, but coming in to work
for a bad team with a manager who doesn’t want you around is hardly the
best situation in which to try to reclaim a spot in the rotation.

Recalled 1B/OF Brian Daubach from Pawtucket. [4/26]

As is so often the case with the Duke’s moves, this makes perfect sense on
paper. The Sox need a bat more than they need a third-string second
baseman, and Daubach could end up being the best-hitting outfielder the Sox
have (okay, faint praise). But this is essentially the ripple
effect of the unfortunate decision to give a multi-year contract to Jeff
Frye. While Frye who although he has his uses, is hardly the kind of
player you can’t
easily and freely replace with organizational soldiers like Merloni. What’s
the real problem? Sending Merloni down has irked his bestest bud, Nomar
Garciaparra. In the wake of the defections of Mo Vaughn and Roger Clemens
is exactly the sort of thing that isn’t worth the difference between
Merloni and Frye, and may well be worth eating the remainder of Frye’s
contract or peddling him.

Of course, Frye’s value on the trade market is
minimal, since there’s a flood of handy second basemen around, which
reinforces the initial problem: there was no good reason to give Jeff Frye
a long-term contract in the first place. There are dozens of guys who can
play a little second base, will play anywhere else they’re asked to and get
on base at an adequate clip. Paying them more than the minimum is a luxury
few teams should choose to afford, and giving them multi-year deals is even
more unfortunate. When it has the added bonus of alienating your team’s
star, you’ve crossed over from luxury to short-sighted gluttony.

Released RHP Hideo Nomo. [4/23]

The Cubs lose Tapani under mysterious circumstances (did he really hurt the
shoulder in the middle of an at-bat, and if so, why did he finish the
at-bat, let alone stay in the game?), but they expect he’ll be back later
this week. They cut Nomo loose after deciding that they wanted him to
start for Iowa twice more before calling him up, while he was sick of the
cornfields. There’s been a lot of talk that Nomo’s tipping his curveball, and
he’s still trying to regain his velocity. Whichever team takes him on is
going to have to sort those things out, if there’s anything to be
recovered.

I’m thinking Nomo goofed in this situation; as Ed Lynch pointed
out, any team that signs him is going to want him to pitch in their minors
for a start or two, so why not stick with the Cubs? So the team’s pitching
problems take a turn for the worse, which means Terry Mulholland is back in
the rotation. That isn’t the worst thing in the world, because my pet
theory is that the Cubs are better off eventually bumping Scott Sanders
into the pen at some point while leaving Mulholland in the rotation.
Mulholland is a better bet to give them a good number of quality starts,
while Sanders has had consistent problems getting through lineups the
second time around. Sanders has flashed his old fastball, so why not use
him as the team’s primary setup man?

As expected, which means the Reds are almost to their best potential
rotation: Pete Harnisch, Neagle, Brett Tomko, Dennis Reyes and Steve
Avery. They’ve almost given up on Jason Bere, about six months too late.

Purchased the contract of RHP Rich DeLucia from Buffalo; optioned RHP Jason
Rakers to Buffalo. [4/24]

They got tired of Spradlin pretty quickly, which is alright in itself, but
they’re still going to be left with a decision whenever Ricky Rincon
heals up. Paul Assenmacher and Mark Langston are both looking like
broken-down old men, and DeLucia is big boomtastic fun for opposing
hitters. Paul Shuey hurts himself every other week, which means the Tribe
is going to have to continue to lean heavily on Reed and Steve Karsay. With
that list of problems, keeping Rakers around might have been a better idea
than letting DeLucia add some service time. Reed’s new contract is for two
years and $3.6M. Not bad for a guy his parent organization (the Giants)
gave up twice for nothing of value.

As nice as this is for Damion, it also means Frank Catalanotto is screwed,
and his shot at being much more than a pinch-hitter and spot starter at
second and third is basically nil. Since he has the potential to be one of
the best-hitting second basemen in the league, thats especially
unfortunate.

Medina is being sent down to make way for Alex Fernandez’ return from the DL.

Meluskey’s got something similar to a rugby-playing friend of mine: his
right shoulder keeps popping out of place. The Astros are hoping it’ll heal
up with two or three weeks of rest, but they’re basically resigned to the
notion that Meluskey is going to require surgery at some point. If Meluskey
plays through it this year, he’ll continue to have problems swinging the
bat from the right side of the plate, which would restrict him to platoon
duty with Tony Eusebio.

In the meantime, the ‘Stros can congratulate
themselves on the wisdom of snagging Paul Bako in the Ausmus trade, since
Bako still makes a handy enough caddy for Eusebio. Overall, this is bad
news to go with the further bad news that Lance Berkman may not play until
June because of a bum shoulder, keeping him from pushing his way into the
left field situation any time soon.

On the one hand, the Astros are deep
and can live with a few injuries; on the other, they probably didn’t
think they’d have to avail themselves of the several handy replacements
they have at hand. The real shame is that Meluskey could have had a shot at
the Rookie of the Year award. Even if he plays through this injury,
that isn’t going to happen now.

Placed 1B Jeff King on the 15-day DL (sore back); purchased the contract of
LHP Alvin Morman from Omaha. [4/23]

Barber lost his rotation spot quickly enough, handing it over to waiver
refugee Jay Witasick. In the wake of the news that organizational bete noir
Hipolito Pichardo isn’t going to do anything to hurt the team this year
(like pitch), this is improvement. Consider the horrifying alternatives,
but if you get to Don Wengert, you’ve gone too far.

Activated OF Todd Hollandsworth from the DL; optioned RHP Robinson Checo to
Albuquerque. [4/23]

Signed RHP Mike Maddux to a minor-league contract. [4/25]

The Dodgers’ weak bench got reinforced, but not in any way that I’d
interpret as improvement. Hollandsworth’s existence should be devoted to
reminding everyone who voted him the Rookie of the Year that they need to
evaluate their own competence before casting their next ballot. Calling up
Kubenka gives the Dodgers three lefties in the pen, but that isn’t a
handicap. Kubenka has been effective against everyone in his minor league
career, while Onan Masaoka was a starter in the minors, and should be
familiar with pitching to right-handed batters. The real problem is their
right-handed relievers. Robinson Checo flopped in a brief trial, they’re
carrying Jamie Arnold around, and Osuna’s elbow problems don’t look like
they’re going to go away without surgery. Alan Mills isn’t really a
top-notch righty setup man for Jeff Shaw, so you can see why they signed
the elder Maddux.

Eldred’s return and a light schedule have bumped Jim Abbott from the
rotation, but since Abbott is guaranteed money, it’s unlikely that the
Brewers will cut their losses. Abbott’s failure was pretty predictable, so
you won’t find me sharing a bitter mug of small market blues with Sal Bando
for throwing the cash away in the first place. Losing Fox hurts, just
because he can fun to watch, gassing guys at the plate, but the Brewers have
two other solid righty setup men in Al Reyes and Eric Plunk, and this isn’t
the kind of thing that will keep the Brewers from being their mediocre
selves.

There’s some small hope that Carrasco may be back in time for September,
but it’s hardly a consideration that has the Twins deeply
concerned.

Not a bad little situation: the Mets replaced one of the
hottest-hitting catchers in baseball (Todd Pratt) with the best-hitting
catcher in the game.

That resolves the left field situation: Chad Curtis,
Shane Spencer, and Ricky Ledee have the fight to themselves, and may the best
man win. I have plenty of sympathy for Steinbrenner: Strawberry gulled him
as well as the media. I hope he can get his act together for his sake and
for that of his wife, but if I’m running a baseball team, I wouldn’t answer
his agent’s calls. The "administrative leave" action is
disappointing, in that it’s a temporary BS solution that will only
end up offending the union. Strawberry needs help, and the owners and the
union need to be there to give it to him, instead of assuming their
scripted positions of "punish the druggie" vs. "he has a
right to play."

Released OF Marc Newfield from Vancouver. [4/23]

That seems like a pretty lame excuse for an injury for Jarvis, but I’m not
a doctor. I’ll just say I’m glad to have Rigby on the roster instead of
Jarvis and leave it at that.

Drat that Nunez! He had the nerve to embarrass the organization by reminding
people he has a better future than either Mike Benjamin or Pat Meares! We
can’t have that, no sir! Back to Nashville! We’re spending money nowadays,
and we can’t have young players playing well when the paying audience wants
Mike Benjamin.

Silva’s return means Chris Peters will remain in the pen, while Todd
Ritchie will have to earn a spot with the team during the remaining week or
so of Francisco Cordova’s absence.

Lankford’s still hobbling, but he can bat, and when the pinch-hitting
alternatives are guys like Dunston and McGee, the Cards need all the help
they can get.

As much as I think Almanzar has some value as a middle reliever, this is
probably for the best. The Pads have four right-handed starters, and four
useful right-handed setup men in their bullpen. Adding a lefty one-out
specialist like Vosberg should give Bruce Bochy a little more tactical
flexibility.

Sometimes Brian Sabean makes a nifty little move, and sometimes he’s giving
up too much. Spradlin is really just your run-of-the-mill right-handed
reliever, while McKinley is a pretty good-looking outfield prospect. Del
Toro gets a punitive demotion, but the bullet was really meant for Julian
Tavarez.

Maybe this gives Moyer enhanced trade value, but with Woody Woodward having
to make the deal, and Lou Piniella having to use whatever they get, is
there any reason to have faith in that idea?

Activated DH Paul Sorrento off of the 15-day DL; optioned LHP Mike Duvall
to Durham. [4/23]

Placed 2B Miguel Cairo on the 15-day DL; recalled LHP Norm Charlton from
Durham. [4/24]

See Chuck’s team make moves. Move, team, move. See people who were good
five or sometimes six years ago play. Play, team, play. Words cannot convey
how very little faith I have that the Devil Rays are going to add up to
much this year. If they stay lucky, they may even finish ahead of the
Orioles at year’s end. The only thing that should happen as a result of
these moves is that Bobby Smith will get some playing time at second, which
should keep his bat fresh while he waits for Wade Boggs to get his 3,000th
hit, which the way things are going, may have to wait until next year.

Burkett’s absence opened a brief window of opportunity for Esteban Loaiza
in the rotation, but the schedule and Mike Morgan’s success took it away
again. The nice thing about the Rangers’ situation is that with a deep pen
and a strong lineup, they can afford to be patient with Rick Helling and
Mark Clark.