Transaction Analysis, May 28-29, 2002
by Chris Kahrl
Activated INF-R Benji Gil from the DL; optioned SS-B Alfredo
Amezaga to Salt Lake. [5/29]
With David Eckstein's knee still aching and
now that Benji Gil is back in the fold,
who plays short and who gets to be the utility infielder?
Two or three years ago, you would think that it would be Benji Gil being the
utility infielder, and Jose Nieves getting a shot at short. But after not
getting to start ahead of Alfredo Amezaga, Nieves may be stuck with the dreaded
utility label. Its sort of like being a fry cook for life. You may or may not be
good at it, but the level of skill you bring to the job doesn't really matter.
You'll never get to run the register, much less make it to assistant manager,
and it's up to you to decide whether or not to be the best fry cook you can be
before descending into unpoetic madness.
Designated RHP Jose Parra for assignment; recalled RHP Bret Prinz
from Tucson; purchased the contract of LHP Eric Knott to add him to the
40-man roster; [5/29]
Jose Parra hasn't really been as good as you might think given his 3.21 ERA;
he's given up 24 baserunners in his 14 IP, with an ugly 11-8 walk to strikeout
ratio. However, the Snakes are short of worthwhile right handed relievers.
Even though I consider bringing Bret Prinz back a good thing,
why bump Parra
when you're carrying four lefty relievers, including the routinely splattered
Eddie Oropesa? The bullpen has been a problem all season, and pledging
allegiance to Oropesa or Mike Morgan after their struggles isn't going to help
the Snakes put any distance between themselves and the rest of the NL West. Yes,
Matt Mantei's due back any minute now,
but how many minutes will he be around
for? This is a problem, the sort of thing that hurts a team even more in a short
series, should Arizona again get to a point where they're in one that matters.
Placed 2B-R Marcus Giles on the 15-day DL (sprained ankle); purchased the
contract of PH-L Matt Franco; transferred 1B/LF-L B.J. Surhoff
from the 15- to the 60-day DL. [5/29]
Ugh, so now the Braves go from having only five useful hitters in the lineup to
four? Not that they were primed to go on a division-winning run or anything, but
at this rate, every team in the division should still be in the running for the
title at the All-Star Break.
Marcus Giles is out for three weeks, which puts
Keith Lockhart on the spot. It's not a good bet to expect much from him, and it
might even lead to a semi-platoon with Jesse Garcia. Nevertheless, I wouldn't
take John Schuerholz or Bobby Cox to task for keeping Lockhart around in
particular; the Braves were supposed to insured against this particular
circumstance
with the already-injured Mark DeRosa.
The silver lining is that
Matt Franco might get an opportunity to pass Lockhart by as one of the team's
primary lefty pinch-hitters. Franco was off to a decent start for Richmond,
hitting .289/.349/.457, and he can spot at first, second or third base as
needed. In the absence of a hitter at first, Franco might even wind up getting
quite a few starts there, but that should only reinforce the need for a trade.
If there's a bad bit of news, it's that with all of the injuries, the Braves
have three members of Richmond's regular lineup on their big league bench: Matt
Franco, Darren Bragg, and Jesse Garcia. The question I have to ask is if that's
the best they could do. If there's space to place blame, it's probably on
Schuerholz for not being more agressive in signing minor league free agents this
past winter, because position player depth wasn't an organizational strength
before the injuries (these people take George Lombard seriously, remember?), and
it certainly isn't one now, after them.
Released INF-R Alex Arias. [5/28]
Activated C-B Todd Hundley from the DL; placed UT-L Delino
DeShields on the 15-day DL (inflamed hip joint). [5/29]
So now the Cubs are back to three catchers. This makes sense because cutting
Joe Girardi is probably baseball's equivalent to publicly broadcasting baby seal
clubbings, and
Todd Hundley's entitlement program has years to run before all
the money's spent. I guess I'm a sucker, insofar as I'd play Hundley until he
couldn't play, or he retired in disgust, or he got back somewhere in the
vicinity of where he was in 2000 or even 1994. The alternative is an awful lot
of Girardi and Roberto Machado, which makes a nice starter kit for finding
ways to keep the Brewers company in the basement.
More practically, because the Cubs have Roosevelt Brown, Mark Bellhorn, and
Chris Stynes on the bench, they actually have some useful pinch-hitters for
their catchers. Assuming Don Baylor observes the traditional self-imposed rule
of always keeping an extra catcher on the bench, he still gets the opportunity
to pinch-hit for his catching trio at least once per game. That ought to beg the
question about self-imposed "rules" in baseball, but it's Baylor's lot
to adapt timidly if he adapts at all.
Purchased the contract of UT-L Bill Selby from Buffalo; designated OF-R
Bruce Aven for assignment. [5/29]
Now that Brady Anderson has been cut
and Russell Branyan essentially owns the
left field job, the Indians needed somebody to fill the role of being the
alternative to Travis Fryman at third. John McDonald has his virtues as a
sweet-fielding alternative to Omar Vizquel or Ricky Gutierrez, but he's not a
bat you stick in the lineup to get some runs. In contrast, Bill Selby has been a
worthwhile hitter for years, and with Fryman struggling, especially against
right-handed pitching, it's handy to have Selby up after he hit a pretty typical
.295/.359/.473 in Buffalo in the first two months. Of course, this is all
assuming that the Indians aren't wrestling with the idea of running up their own
white flag. Even though I don't care for their chances, I would argue it's far
too soon to give up already.
Placed RHP Rick White on the 15-day DL (shoulder inflammation); recalled
LHP Brian Fuentes from Colorado Springs. [5/29]
Courtesy of Michael Wolverton's
Reliever Evaluation Tools,
we can appreciate that the Rockies have the fourth-best bullpen in baseball.
Even though they've lost a valuable reliever in Rick White (2.9 Adjusted Runs Prevented), he
was fifth in the pen in terms of effectiveness, behind Todd Jones, Jose Jimenez,
Justin Speier, and Chris Nichting. Missing from that list are lefties Kent
Mercker and Dennys Reyes, but both have also pitched well.
Mercker and Reyes also ex-starters, so they can be useful for more than just a
spot-lefty Honeycutt/Orosco Role (HOR? Nah, Sickels' LOOGY, for Lefty One-Out GuY is still a better acronym
in a world already overrun by cryptic acronyms), so Brian Fuentes might get a
look-see in the spot role. He was effective at it in Colorado Springs, holding
lefties to a homerless .161 average while posting overall numbers of a 4.28 ERA,
with 28 hits, 17 walks and 38 strikeouts in 27.1 IP.
Activated OF/1B-R Kevin Millar from the DL; optioned 2B/SS-R Pablo
Ozuna to Calgary. [5/28]
In Kevin Millar's absence,
Eric Owens did the things that he can do well when
things go his way, playing a decent outfield, stealing a few bases, and hitting
for a decent average. Those are exactly the sorts of things that Jeff Torborg
has a tendency to go ga-ga for, so Millar is probably out of a regular job. That
allows him to return to his previous incarnation as dangerous spot starter and
bench menace for high leverage pinch-hitting situations, but it won't help the
Fish score many more runs. However, with the slender margins involved in what it
might take to win or lose the NL East, a key bench hitter and some good outfield
defense might make the difference in the right situation.
Between Millar and
Owens, neither is so good that the answer of which one would do the team the
most good getting 400 plate appearances is that obvious. Keep in mind when I say
that, I don't think that Owens will be as bad as his 2001 was, and I don't
really expect that Millar should be as good as his 2001 was. Millar is clearly
the stronger hitter, but Owens brings enough things to the table to make him a
frighteningly enticing alternative, especially to someone with Torborg's known
prejudices.
I have to go over this again, but can anyone explain what Marty Malloy is here
for? He was a nice human interest story for about thirty seconds or so, but now
that
the Marlins have lost the Lesser Alex Gonzalez,
they really ought to have somebody on the roster who can back up Andy Fox at
short, and Pablo Ozuna more closely resembles that than Malloy.
Activated RHP Wade Miller from the DL; placed RHP Dave Mlicki on
the 15-day DL, retroactive to 5/26, with a (strained intercostal muscle);
optioned 3B-R Morgan Ensberg to New Orleans; recalled 2B/3B-R Keith
Ginter from New Orleans. [5/29]
Some ideas are just bad. The York anti-aircraft tank, or a national park named
after James Watt, or a value system based on the example set by the Abominable
Dr. Phibes all come to mind. But dumping on Morgan Ensberg when he's outhit the
other options on the roster and Keith Ginter is astonishingly bad. Look
at the rate stats, even given Ensberg's disappointing start:
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AVG OBP SLG EQA
Ensberg .236 .336 .386 .255
Blum .243 .333 .338 .239
Vizcaino .321 .329 .395 .241
Ginter (AAA) .254 .350 .368 .230 (major league equivalent)
So even though Ensberg's doing less than you might have expected given his
performance in the minors, he's doing better than the various circus midgets
that the Astros propose to replace him with. But the Astros are lagging further
and further behind the Reds and Cardinals, two teams with problems of their own,
so something has to be done, right? The problems they have in the bullpen won't
be addressed by sending down Ensberg, and replacing Ensberg with Geoff Blum and
Jose Vizcaino isn't going to improve the team offensively. Nothing about sending
Ensberg down is going to fix the Astros' poor performance in one-run games. The
Astros are a bad defensive team, but that also isn't Ensberg's fault; Ensberg
can't make Julio Lugo a better shortstop, he can't give Craig Biggio his knees
and his lateral range back, and he can't make Daryle Ward a good left fielder.
Fortunately, the Astros have the second-best rotation in the National League
behind the Dodgers in the early going, based on Michael Wolverton's
Support-Neutral data.
If anything, now that Wade Miller is back
and Tim Redding is making a strong case for being in the rotation to stay, the Astros may as
well let it ride, only seeking to fix the bullpen if they can get someone of
value cheaply with the labor scare.
Activated C-L Brent Mayne from the DL; placed RHP Blake Stein on
the 15-day DL (strained groin); recalled RHP Brad Voyles from Omaha;
optioned C-R Juan Brito to Wichita (Double-A). [5/28]
The owners of the worst bullpen in baseball won't miss Blake Stein. Indeed,
Stein's departure for the disabled list whittles down the list of the ten least
effective relievers in the game
(using Michael Wolverton's Reliever Evaluation Tools)
by one more Mohican, leaving Jason Boyd and Britt Reames as the last
serious contenders for this particular crown of thorns.
Happily for the Royals,
they're obviously better off with Brad Voyles. In limited work in Omaha, Voyles
had posted a 1.56 ERA, allowing only 9 hits and 9 walks in 17.1 IP, with 17
strikeouts. Yes, he's still wild, but the Royals need the help. Roberto
Hernandez has the nice sinecure of infrequent closerdom, and Cory Bailey and
Brian Shouse have done a nifty job of plating other people's baserunners. At
least until Angel Berroa comes up to stay, Allard Baird could use having
somebody on the roster to demonstrate that he has managed to get something of
value in some deal, any deal.
It's also nice on some level to have Brent Mayne back. A.J. Hinch finally showed
a little bit of promise at the plate, at least in a Tom Prince kind of way,
hitting .218/.299/.423 with a .244
Equivalent Average,
or about as well as you'd
reasonably expect from a backup catcher. Mayne isn't going to be a massive
improvement, but he's the other half of what can be an adequate job-sharing
solution until (and if) Mike Tonis ever turns into something.
Activated LHP Jesse Orosco from the DL; designated RHP Dennis
Springer for assignment. [5/29]
And so, for a brief instant, the Dodgers were leftyless in the pen.
It was for no particular reason beyond
a fit of pique directed at Jeff Williams,
but now that they have Jesse Orosco back, they're not.
Signed INF-R Bobby Smith to a minor league contract. [5/29]
That's right,
the Brewers are picking scraps up from the Devil Rays.
It's not easy being baseball's most lucrative franchise, and yet having a
hard time competing for talent with powerhouses like Tampa Bay.
Optioned OF-L Jason Tyner and C-R Toby Hall to Durham; designated
SS-B Wilmy Caceres for assignment; recalled 1B-L Aubrey Huff and
purchased the contract of C/UT-R Paul Hoover from Durham. [5/28]
Apparently, the Devil Rays' bobblehead giveaways scheduled for this year were
for two of these very gentlemen, Jason Tyner and Toby Hall. Think about that. As
dumb as baseball's dumbest organization is, they did have the smarts to finally
cut bait on Tyner, baseball's worst regular. That's a cause for hope,
right? I suppose that depends; only the Devil Rays would consider making Jason
Tyner a regular in an outfield corner. There is an astounding lack of
self-awareness, not only on the organizational management level, but in the
team's marketing division. A bobblehead doll for Jason Tyner?
BP staffers like
to joke about accumulating Lame Shares, but I think the Devil Rays are the first
team to take that concept to heart and use it as a way to outdo themselves in
finding new and interesting ways to run fans off. There is something ageless
about a Jason Tyner bobblehead doll, of course, in that rather than try to give
fans something that symbolizes hope or optimism or a commitment to improvement,
or even something like a Randy Winn bobblehead doll that wouldn't say much of
anything at all, the Devil Fishies want to give their fans something that
represents how totally hopeless this franchise is, just like Jason Tyner. It's
sort of like a Jose Tartabull doll for the Kansas City A's to tell fans to
abandon hope, or one for Jim Gantner with the Brewers to remind fans that the
hometown nine is well-intentioned and mostly harmless. A Jason Tyner bobblehead
doll might be the game's most compelling anti-marketing tool this side of Bud
Selig.
That riff aside, there is some good news for the D-Rays. Aubrey Huff should step
in and split the first base and DH jobs with Steve Cox, with Greg Vaughn moving
to left. Vaughn might have had an almost historic bad start, but as ugly as
Vaughn's .133/.262/.260 start is, it was still worth more offensively than
Tyner's .214/.249/.238. There are various explanations being trotted out for
Hall's bad start--he showed up to camp overweight, he was pressing, he was doing
badly with pitch identification--but at the end of the day, I can accept sending
him to Durham to get his stroke back.
Neither Carlos Pena
or Hank Blalock
hit as badly (and as I've argued in the past, had given some good reasons to be
retained), but they've already been shipped off.
The baffling element of the
demotion is who should be around to catch in Hall's absence. John Flaherty has
had a nice fifty at-bats or so, but the rest of his career basically says you
can expect that to stop. So why call up Paul Hoover, who was hitting
.211/.270/.400, or about as well as you'd expect from him given his track
record? Why not call up Sal Fasano, who's hitting .257/.385/.495? Fasano won't
hit like that in the majors, of course, but he won't hit less than Hoover, he'll
be a viable alternative to Flaherty in the lineup in a way Hoover will never be,
and he's got an outstanding defensive reputation. If getting him onto the 40-man
roster is an issue, I can offer an easy suggestion: outright Paul Hoover off of
it. Overall, the Devil Rays will get a bit more offense out of their
outfielders, their DH, and their catching situation, but it could have been
better.
Chris Kahrl is an author of Baseball Prospectus. You can contact him by
clicking here.
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