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BALTIMORE ORIOLES Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
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Released RHP Ryan Jensen. [3/5]
The man’s already 30, and a couple of years into beginning his flirtation
with the knuckler. Now, sure, 30 is young for a guy who may (or may not)
want to be a knuckleballer. Maybe it’s a matter finding yourself late in
life, and I know I’m more sympathetic than most on that. But until Mr.
Jensen actually relies on the pitch, I don’t think we should ask what he’s
up to, and until he starts getting people out, I don’t think he should tell.
Keep in mind, as much as we like to talk about knuckleballers entering their
“prime” in their thirties, Tom Candiotti was
already set in the majors as a good starting pitcher at 28. Steve
Sparks had done better as a knuckleballer before 30. If Jensen
wants a role model, it’s Dennis Springer, and let me tell
you, if that’s who you want to be when you grow up, I’d suggest you’ve been
living in
some lovely filth for a wee bit too long. We’ll see where Jensen catches
on, but time spent at the
Niekro’s camp probably wouldn’t be the worst choice at this point.
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CHICAGO WHITE SOX Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
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Signed OF-R Ruben Rivera to a minor league contract. [3/2]
This is one of those pickups for which Kenny Williams seems to have a sweet
tooth for, like his past pickup of equally failed former uber-prospect
Alex Escobar back in 2004. Nothing wrong with that, since
it gives the good people of Charlotte the chance to watch a major
league-grade glove in the outfield and the occasional display of
right-handed sock. Keep in mind, Williams then flipped Escobar to the
hapless Jim Bowden for Jerry Owens, a move that, like the
steal where Williams nabbed Juan Uribe from the Rockies for
Aaron Miles, is another case of getting possibly something
for certainly nothing.
In Rivera’s case, some people might still think of him as the Locker Room
Bandit–no, not the guy who went through the ceiling to steal Albert
Belle‘s suspected-but-never-convicted bat after a ChiSox-Tribe game
in 1994, but the creep who tried to make an extra buck by stealing
Derek Jeter‘s glove out of his locker in 2002. But after
doing penance in the Mexican League last season, where he hit .342 for
Campeche while homering once every 14 at-bats, I guess I don’t see his
comeback as less plausible than Felix Jose‘s was in 2004,
when Jose almost stuck with Snakes despite being nearly 40. (For the
curious, Jose bashed 30 for Oaxaca last season.) If Rivera can still run,
still throw, and still put the hurt on lefties, he’s still potentially
useful as a fifth outfielder.
Meanwhile, if you’re a fan of either Owens or former Stanford great
Joe Borchard, you might interpret the addition of a veteran
outfielder to the likely Opening Day roster of the Knights as a positive
sign that your guy could stick. Either of them still have to beat out
Ross Gload, although the complicating factors are that
Borchard’s out of options, Owens isn’t, and who else would want Gload on
their 40-man? After also signing Bucky Jacobsen, and with
the likely promotion of 3B Josh Fields, the Knights should
do some entertaining bopping now and again.
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NEW YORK YANKEES Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
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Assigned RHP Jorge DePaula and RHP Steven
White to their minor league camp. [3/4]
Consider me one of the doofs still thinking DePaula might yet be something.
Considering how quickly that the Yankees shipped him off, keep in mind that
last season was his first year back from his elbow being Tommy John’d, and
that the Yankees aren’t the most broad-minded of teams when it comes to
taking people under 30 seriously. DePaula will be 27 at the end of July,
and if it was any other team, I would think a prescription for a half-season
in the rotation to show something, followed by a conversion to the pen (and
a possible promotion in August) if he didn’t, would make for a fine course
of action. This being the Yankees, he might at best be a throw-in on some
July deal for somebody willing to swap the Pinstriped Menace a Paul
Blair or Bert Campaneris star turn that might at
least make Joe Torre feel comfortable talking to the people sitting with him
on the bench. I suspect that when you get to Torre’s age, your focus is on
fiber and escrow, and not on figuring out who 50 Cent is, or asking whether
or not Farrah’s back in yet.
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TEXAS RANGERS Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
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Assigned RHP Nick Regilio to their minor league camp. [3/6]
Pretty much a non-story, considering that Regilio is damaged goods (elbow),
and the Rangers have several more interesting contenders for back of the
roster slots on the pitching staff. Between Rick Bauer,
Ron Mahay, Jon Leicester, John
Wasdin, or Antonio Alfonseca, it isn’t like there
aren’t prospective claimants for the back end of the staff ready right now,
whether as the fifth starter or at the bottom of the pen. Regilio’s minor
league deal entitles him to free agency come July 1 if he isn’t on the big
league roster, but between Brian Anderson‘s eventual return
to health and Regilio’s somewhat dodgy prospects in the first place, he
shouldn’t be in a hurry to act on that.
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CHICAGO CUBS Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
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Voided the contract of RHP Jason Simontacchi. [3/3]
Italian that I am (on Mom’s side), I can’t help but feel for Simontacchi, as
it looks like his career is winding down. Shoulder surgery after the 2004
season cost him all of last year, and it appears that his shoulder isn’t
doing any better at present. At 32, he’ll still probably turn up with some
club that needs help at their Triple-A affiliate, and still get an
opportunity to show whether or not he might make for an adequate fifth man
or long reliever for somebody. Admittedly, his career prospects aren’t
really very different from other mayflies of the wins column, guys like
Tom Filer in 1985, or Aaron Small going
forward from last year. Nevertheless, that 20-10 run in his two-plus seasons
with the Cardinals is something worth bragging about to the grandkids, at
least insofar as it represented that he was somebody who could pitch in the
majors well enough to keep a good offensive team in ballgames. You might
think that comment overly dismissive, but let’s face it, guys like
Rick Behenna or Pete Smith never really
did that, and they were considered prospects once upon a time. If it’s the
end or not, here’s hoping the paesan’ catches on with somebody somewhere,
and gets a last shot at not having to leave the game from the surgeon’s
table.
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COLORADO ROCKIES Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
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Purchased the contract of 1B/OF-R Eli Marrero from Colorado
Springs; placed RHP Chin-hui Tsao on the 60-day DL. [3/2]
Shoulder surgery was already going to keep Tsao out for much of this season
anyway, so take this as a confirmation that Marrero looks healthy in camp.
If you think Marrero makes a good enough outfielder, he could actually make
for a pretty sweet platoon partner in right with Brad
Hawpe. No, this doesn’t do Ryan Shealy much good,
but that’s where things stand until Shealy proves he can handle the
outfield, and until the Rockies conjure up some more lefty-hitting help in
the lineup. Nevertheless, Hawpe will still have to improve on his hitting
.264/.351/.404 against RHPs last season, and there’s still all of the other
problems in the lineup, like who’s behind the plate, who’s in center, who’s
at second, and how much disappointment they can deal with relative to their
wishcasting greatness for Matt Holliday, Clint
Barmes, and Garrett Atkins. In short, the Rockies,
like their Fishy ’93 expansion brethren, are actually worse off than both of
the ’97 expansion teams, and perhaps not really in better shape than Florida
despite the relative differences in market and ownership.
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FLORIDA MARLINS Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
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Terminated the contract of 2B/SS-R Pokey Reese. [3/5]
To which I say… so what? It’s bad enough that the Reds overrated him on
Jim Bowden’s watch, or that the Red Sox overrated him on Theo Epstein’s, or
that anybody would go out of their way to have him, but let’s face it, if he
wasn’t Pokey Reese, Former Famous Person, would anybody care that he walked
out of camp because of personal issues? Fiddle, nobody but you and me,
gentle reader, the Reese family of course, and whatever fantheads who have
their drafts in February (it’s like living together before marriage, a
source of regret more than a matter of settling in). The Marlins, you ask?
Don’t be silly. What they’ve got on tap at the keystone might define
replacement level, but Pokey wasn’t going to be any better than any of the
people in this particular madding crowd. Between Rule 5 pick Dan
Uggla, minor league free agent Mickey Lopez, and
journeyman infield reserve Alfredo Amezaga, they’ve got
three potato-level replacement spuds already. Consider the Davenport
Translations of their performances last season:
Player Team/Level PA Translated BA/OBP/SLG EQA Uggla Tennessee/AA 538 .246/.311/.415 .250 Amezaga Indianapolis/AAA 209 .288/.342/.380 .257 Lopez Fresno/AAA 443 .230/.275/.339 .218
Now, maybe it’s just me, but Reese was more likely to hit about as well as
Lopez, while offering all of the injury-prone unreliability his employers
have come to expect. So frankly, if the Pokey path is the one the Fish wish
to take, better to pick a Mickey than a Reese. But they have two better
choices still in Uggla and Amezaga, and if Uggla’s going to be a bit ugly on
the defensive side given our fielding translations for him or mainstream
anticipation that anyone who commits 18 errors in 97 games at second might
not be good at it, that’s the nature of fishing out fry from the replacement
talent pool.
Should none of these guys strike manager Joe Girardi’s fancy, no worries,
because second base might well be the easiest position in baseball at which
to find an adequate fill-in. If they get really lucky, they work something
out with a team like the Angels for Adam Kennedy (because
Howie Kendrick proves ready) or something low-key to get a
Willie Harris from Boston or a Bernie
Castro or Brendan Harris from the Nats. Maybe
someone close to the end, for nothing or little in return, like Nick
Punto from the Twins, or Ramon Vazquez from the
Tribe, or Keith Ginter from Oakland. Whoever they shop for,
the Fish aren’t really in a position to negotiate, so a lot depends on how
much good will Larry Beinfest has or wishes to curry with a particular team,
and/or whether that team wants to do a guy a favor once it becomes clear he
isn’t going to make their roster, and might instead be given a shot at
playing every day for the mighty Marlins. I know the Phillies are offering
Tomas Perez, and I suppose that might make sense if Girardi
wants an on-field nursemaid, but he wouldn’t be an asset in the field or at
the plate.
That said, I think that given the team’s young pitching staff and general
hopelessness in the standings, the best service that Beinfest can perform
right now is to give the young hurlers a quality glove man. The Fish will
probably lose 100 games regardless of their second baseman, but why not reap a double
benefit of playing somebody who can field? First, they’d give their pitchers
honest reps, in the sense that they’d learn from the positive results of
what they can throw against major leaguers and get them out with the added
benefit of not having someone like Gregg Jefferies
stumbling around at the keystone. Second, and just as important, as a result
of getting that sort of clean read on what their pitchers can do, the
organization would then get a better sense of who’s worth keeping from among
the kids.
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MILWAUKEE BREWERS Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
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Assigned RHP Jerome Gamble to their minor league camp;
optioned RHP Mike Jones to Brevard County (A-ball). [3/6]
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NEW YORK METS Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
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Sold the contract of LHP Dae-Sung Koo to the Hanwha Eagles
of the Korean Leagues. [3/2]
Some ideas just don’t work out that well, not that attempting to import Koo
was a bad idea, but let’s face it, if you’re going to import a situational
lefty, you’re depending on some scouting reports that probably don’t have a
whole lot of meaningful statistical information to back them up. Points for
trying, and points for giving up. Now, just tell all that to the scorekeeper
in the sky, and see if that helps the Metsies get their second base or right
field jobs into the hands of the right guys.
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SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
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Witnessed the announcement of the retirement of LHP Kirk
Rueter. [3/6]
I thought I’d mention this somewhere, and where better than the gentleman’s
last employer? So no, before anyone wonders, this isn’t some mean-spirited
attempt to talk about somebody whose career crashed and burned in the Giants
section because I’m like our own Gary Huckabay in my contempt for all things
Giant. (Truth be told, I was pretty close to being a closet Giant-symp
during the Roger Craig days, because I liked a lot of the players on that
team, guys like Bob Brenly gamely playing third when not
catching, Kevin Mitchell doing the occasionally incredible,
Mike Krukow‘s curve, Scott Garrelts‘
blazing fastball. Even Atlee Hammaker. But I digress.)
At any rate, Rueter’s done, not that this is a surprise after last season.
However, let’s give the man his due: he was never a scout’s sort of pitcher,
not with his weak velocity, and frankly he wasn’t even much of a performance
analysis fave, not with his spotty walk rates. That’s probably why he never
captured that Bob Tewksbury sort of cachet, despite being
similarly speed-challenged, and similarly unloved by scouts. But as
sympathetic as we can all be towards Rueter, we’re talking about a starter
who had the benefit of pitching for the Bonds Giants, and none too
coincidentally, he got away with posting one good year in the last eight
while still being 19 games over .500 during that stretch (1998-2005). In
comparison, Tewksbury was moderately useful right up through the end,
pitching in for two editions of yet another nowheresville Twins team in ’97
and ’98. I’m sure if Rueter wants to retire to coaching, he’ll have a place
waiting for him, but given that he probably never would have topped 100 wins
if he hadn’t been getting run support from Barry Bonds, I’d
hope he’d be clamoring to be a candidate for giving Bonds a Hall of Fame
speech come that day in the indefinite future. There’s no chance it’ll
happen, of course, given Barry’s pedigree and connections to the game’s
history, but after the money made and the career enjoyed, I’d suggest that
Rueter owes it to the man.
By contrast, I don’t know where I should discuss Bloody Paul
Quantrill‘s decision to retire after he pitches for Canada in World
Baseball c-Lassic (and why weren’t they considered for a primary
sponsorship? The hyped non-event has put the game in a bit of a pickle,
after all.) But now that Quantrill’s done, I guess I have to make all of my
jokes about the Pierce administration and “Bleeding Kansas” in the
Royals section. Rubber-armed until the end, Quantrill wound up demonstrating
the sort of career that a washed-out starter could still end up having. I
don’t know if we should credit pitching coach Mel Queen or manager Cito
Gaston, but Quantrill’s career was finally turned around with the Jays in
1997, and that’s what launched him into a pretty good seven- or eight-year
run, right up until Joe Torre wore him down to the nub in 2004. If he didn’t
get a ring, he had a pretty good run for a guy who didn’t work out with the
Red Sox in the early ’90s, got swapped for the immortal Wes
Chamberlain (the man who some felt needed to wear a chest protector
in the outfield). That turn of events, whether Queen’s idea or Gaston’s,
would earn him almost $11 million as a relief commodity, so if you wonder
why some guys hang around hoping for something to work out, keep Quantrill’s
career in mind as far as the potential rewards for sticking with it.
Thanks to Clay Davenport for his assistance with data for this
article.
Thank you for reading
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