Transaction Analysis: September 8-13, 1999

As is the theme for the Halos, this has been a wasted year for Holtz. He
entered the year with a golden opportunity to clinch a spot as a
situational lefty, and he hasn’t done it. He could still be useful to
somebody.

Enough of Hanley Frias already!

Not a bad little pickup, in that Garcia is very similar to Howard Battle:
some right-handed pop, and he can play third base, first base or left field
if you ask him. The Braves’ bench is weak enough that Garcia is necessary
insurance should anything bad happen to Battle or Randall Simon.

A critical return for the Sox. Just as an aside, one of the silliest
comments I’ve heard this season about Saberhagen came from Ed Farmer, the
White Sox radio color man. Farmer went off on the Sox for "turning
Saberhagen into a five-inning pitcher".

Now maybe Farmer doesn’t think what happens in the National League matters.
When I was 13 years old and lived and died with the standings in the AL
West, maybe I’d have agreed that the NL didn’t matter. But it amazes me
that somebody whose job is to follow baseball every day of his life would
fail to notice how Jimy Williams and Joe Kerrigan made sure Saberhagen
logged his first 30-start season since 1989 by pulling him early and
sparing him from the machismo of an extra inning pitched with a big lead.
If Jim Leyland had crossed Sabes’ path, we probably wouldn’t even be
talking about Saberhagen, except about how really small his shot at the
Hall of Fame might be.

Designated LHP Doug Creek for assignment. [9/10]

Not a bad little move for the Cubs. Free agent defections will clear plenty
of space on the 40-man roster to carry Andrews, and he’s an adequate
fall-back in case Cole Liniak can’t win the job in camp next spring.

Liniak will have to earn the job: while he’s already got two years of
experience at Triple-A at 23, he hasn’t been outstanding at Pawtucket. He’s
not a can’t-miss prospect. Andrews, however, is a flyball hitter coming
into the best home run ballpark on Planet Earth (as opposed to Planet
Coors), he’s willing to take a walk and he’s a good glove man.

Andrews is a prime example of an underrated player: his batting average is
never going to awe people, and the strikeouts will keep the hecklers or
some writers unhappy out of all proportion. It’ll be up to Jeff Pentland to
see if he can help Andrews get back to where he was in 1998.

So is there a downside to picking him up? Well, let’s see, they’ve got
Henry Rodriguez and Andrews, and they covet Chris Widger. Now that Rondell
White’s demanding to be traded, the Cubs could be well on the way to
reassembling the 1997 Expos, who were the best major league baseball team
in Quebec province that year.

Activated RHPs Jaret Wright and David Riske and LHP Mark
Langston from the DL; recalled UT Jolbert Cabrera, SS John
McDonald and LHP Tom Martin from Buffalo. [9/10]

They’ll try them all. Cordero’s "ability" to play third base is
being heralded as a good thing, but coming after a lackadaisical rehab
effort that has him playing heavy, he’s merely keeping company on the bench
with Carlos Baerga.

Wright tired quickly in his first start back, and while everyone’s saying
he threw with good velocity, he got knocked around by a light-hitting Sox
team. He’s not ready to take the fourth starter’s slot on the playoff
roster. If the alternative is Langston, Chris Haney has to like his chances
of making a playoff start.

Outrighted SS Chris Petersen and RHP Jim Stoops to Colorado
Springs. [9/10]

Leyland’s swan song wouldn’t be complete without at least Cangelosi in
attendance. Where’s John Wehner?

Sosa has a shot to unseat Neifi Perez in the near future. He’s a burner (38
steals) with a decent defensive rep, and like Perez he isn’t really a
threat at the plate (.276/.318/.384). That’s still more dangerous than Rey
Ordonez, even without the Coors effect.

Alvarez and Wood are making their return engagements. Fick doesn’t really
have a shot at much more than DH duty, or possibly some time at first base.
After all, team captain/carpetbagger/Randy Smith toy Brad Ausmus is
ensconced behind the plate, and Tony Clark is playing first base for now.

Hiljus is coming off of a decent season in middle relief as a Mud Hen: 65
baserunners in 59 1/3 innings with 73 strikeouts, and this is the team that
gave a chance to Mel Rojas. He’s far from his days of being touted by the
Mets, but he’s still only 26.

Has anyone ever given thought to a different kind of platoon? Luis Castillo
has broken through as an on-base threat, he can run and he’s a good second
baseman. He also has zero power. So would it be worth it to have an
alternative like Garcia, who does have some pop (63 extra-base hits with
Calgary), for those points in the game when you’ve got men aboard? Okay,
it’s a half-baked notion, but Castillo’s problems with getting the ball out
of the infield can present an offensive problem once in a while.

Ramirez is another interesting player: he’s a great center fielder with a
shoulder-mounted cannon, he can run like the wind (64 steals versus 14
times caught) and he has solid power (30 doubles, ten triples, and 13
homeruns). But he can’t get on base to save his life, having hit
.261/.308/.417 as a Sea Dog. It would be interesting to see what he’d turn
into if he was introduced to the A’s minor league instructors and taught to
work the count and take a pitch or two. As things stand now, he’s merely
young (22), extremely talented and a dud on offense.

This doesn’t exactly count as a reinforcement, and it’s unlikely that he’ll
be carried on the postseason roster.

Recalled OF Mark Quinn from Omaha; activated RHP Jose
Santiago from the DL. [9/12]

Recalled INF Jed Hansen from Omaha. [9/13]

Quinn comes up after Omaha gets eliminated. While he missed time with
injuries, he still ended up having an outstanding year: .360/.409/.598,
with 25 home runs. Unfortunately, he had only 28 walks in 107 games. It
will be interesting to see if he gets a shot at the DH job; Muser is down
on Jeremy Giambi, and if Johnny Damon gets dealt in the off-season, then
Dee Brown will get a good chunk of playing time between left field and DH,
which would create an opportunity for Quinn to sneak in, Sweeney-style.

Activated RHP Robinson Checo from the DL. [9/12]

A big mistake by the Dodgers, since a smart team should snag Kubenka while
it has the chance.

Jacobs had another one of his walk-per-inning, strikeout-per-inning seasons
in which he wasn’t all that effective, but he’s big and he throws hard, so
he’ll get a zillion opportunities to grow up to be Dwayne Henry.

I probably would have left him alone and let his broken wrist heal
entirely, but if it’s important to stay ahead of the Cubs, you must be the
Brewers.

Ortiz got to rot in the minors, working on his weight, glove and attitude.
He’s still heavy, and he still can’t field especially well, but you’re looking at
a season in which he hit .315/.412/.590 with 30 home runs and 79 walks.
We’re talking about a team that hasn’t had a 30-homer player since Tom
Brunansky in 1987. If Ortiz isn’t playing regularly (nobody gets to play
every day for TK) in ’99, then the Twins don’t know what they’re doing.

Midre Cummings? Midre Cummings? Talk about humiliating acquisitions of
yesteryear coming back warmed-over. Heads up, Brian Buchanan: this can be
you in a few short years.

Romero and Redman will both get shots to make next year’s staff. Romero has
good heat, but he’s still wild; if he’s ready, it will make Eddie Guardado
that much more available. Redman has a shot at the fifth spot in the
rotation, but much depends on whether Specs Ryan will be better now that he
can see, and whether the team is ever going to get fed up with LaTroy Hawkins.

The answer to the question is no, not even Bobby Valentine thinks a
seven-man rotation is a good idea. Jones’ selling point over the years is
that you could expect 30 starts and 190 IP, but now he doesn’t even have
that to his credit.

Columbus lost, so here they are, several of the prizes of the tremendous
Yankees’ system. Jimenez is one of the top prospects in the game, and
should the Yankees decide they need anything, he might get a major league
job. He’s clearly ready after a season where he hit .327/.392/.492 for the
Clippers.

Soriano struggled in his month with Columbus, and there’s still speculation
that he’s going to move to third base to eventually inherit the job from
Brosius.

Yarnall still looks like one of the best starting pitcher prospects in the
game; that the Marlins traded him for Mike Lowell defies explanation.

Re-upping Francona might generate good vibes in the wake of another
second-half Phillie Phlop, but if he doesn’t learn from his mistakes and do
a better job of pulling his starters earlier, rather than letting them blow
up in the eighth and ninth innings, he’s a liability. Yes, using Wayne
Gomes in the late innings inspires fear, similar to such frightening
lifestyle choices like hammer juggling or listening to Mancow Muller. The
best I can offer is a switch to decaf, and learn to cope. Endangering Randy
Wolf’s future isn’t worth the difference between finishing 20 or 25 games
behind the Mets or Braves, let alone wearing out Curt Schilling.

Scratch one roadblock…no, let’s say speed bump…to Aramis Ramirez’s
progress to what should be an assured future at third base.

Overall, not an inspiring group of callups. Darr (.298/.384/.465), Matthews
(.256/.352/.386) and Newhan (.286/.342/.471) have all had decent but hardly
awe-inspiring years at Vegas. Any of them could end up on next year’s
roster, but Darr isn’t going to move Gwynn, Matthews won’t chase Ruben
Rivera off that quickly, and Newhan can’t really play second. Almanzar
could stick in middle reliever.

I literally have no explanation for why Guzman’s up. He hardly earned it in
Mobile.

"Excuse me, but are you going for any records?"

"Well, the Reds gave up on me, and the Hit King played for them."

"Close enough, welcome aboard! Do you think you can catch Jesse
Orosco? We’ve got nothing better to do, and you seem like a good-natured,
quick-thinking sort. We can use that around here."