Monthly Archives: December 2011

December 31, 2011

Maybe they Should Play for the Snakes

Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter rescued a man after he was bitten by an Anaconda.

“The snake apparently bit him on the (butt) but he was able to free himself before the snake wrapped him up. Instead the snake wrapped around his motor on the back of his little 14 foot dugout canoe and tore it off the back of his boat. Doc and I helped him gather his gear and flip the boat back over and then towed him home. You could definitely see the bite mark on his (butt), but he was able to fight it off; amazing.”

During the trip, Reese revealed Carpenter also injured his toe while moving from boat to boat.

The dreaded toe injury. Pitching through one ended Dizzy Dean‘s career.

December 31, 2011

A Trade! A Trade!

Carlos Quentin starts 2012 with a new team:

The Padres just announced that they have acquired outfielder Carlos Quentin from the White Sox for prospect right-hander Simon Castro and prospect left-hander Pedro Hernandez.

Quentin will be reunited with Josh Byrnes, who traded him to the White Sox for Chris Carter in December of 2007 when he was general manager of the Diamondbacks.

Quentin posted a breakout season at age 25, but did not follow through during the rest of his peak years as injuries slowed him. Still, he does a good job of getting on base and can hit for power, skills that will help any team.

Castro is an interesting prospect, as he pitched well for the Padres AAA team when it was in Portland, not so well when it played in Tucson. Looking at his career as a whole, he’s worth the risk for the White Sox. Hernandez is a reliever with great minor league K and BB numbers. Since the White Sox seem to be in rebuilding mode, this looks like a good deal for both clubs.

December 30, 2011

Back Loading

Reports are coming in that Albert Pujols’s contract is extremely backloaded. I understand doing this with a young player, as teams pay as if the player were going through arbitration. In other words, as the player is expected to mature and improve, his pay improves as well.

With someone in the decline of his career, however, that makes little sense. Albert is certainly going to be worth more in 2012 than at the end of his contract. Also, if in four years the Angels decide to trade him, it will be impossible, as no one (with the exception of the team that traded for Vernon Wells) would take a contract like that. If the contract were decreasing every year, then there might be takers.

I don’t see how it benefits the player, either. Every dollar I make now and invest compounds much more than the dollars I make ten years from now. Agents and teams really should rethink backloaded contracts for older players.

December 30, 2011

Silent Treatment

Giants Win doesn’t want new San Francisco controlling partner Charles Johnson to give the fans the silent treatment:

I don’t know about you but I’m not very impressed so far. I suppose I should be grateful that the partners don’t seem to be like Frank and Jamie McCourt. But here the Giants win the World Series in 2010; the partners kick Neukom out a season later; the Giants have the second worst offense in the MLB and make two moves in the offseason to improve — getting Angel Pagan and Melky at a cost of Andres Torres, Jonathan Sanchez and Ramon Ramirez. The fans have sold out every game last season and are left with having to hope for Melky Cabrera, Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff and Freddy Sanchez having career years.

Ouch.

December 30, 2011

Mueller Passes

Don Mueller died on Wednesday at 84:

In the 1951 playoff game between the Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, which ended with Bobby Thomson’s famous homer, Mueller played a key role. After Alvin Dark led off the ninth with a single, Mueller singled to right, advancing Dark to third. Whitey Lockman then doubled to score Dark and cut the Dodgers’ lead to 4-2, but Mueller slid badly and injured an ankle. He was taken from the field by stretcher. It was during that delay that the Dodgers called for Ralph Branca to pitch to Thomson, who homered in what became known as the “shot heard ’round the world.”


He was an all-star twice
, leading the National League in hitting in 1954, the year of last New York Giants World Championship, and the penultimate one for the franchise. He was a successful hacker; he seldom struck out or walk, but managed a high batting average, .296 for his career, but a low OBP, .322.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

December 29, 2011 December 29, 2011

Fighting Giants

Former Giants owner Peter Mcgowan notes that the Giants won’t give up San Jose to the Athletics, as loan agreements are tied to that area remaining under San Francisco control.

No other two-team market has territorial rights assigned. The A’s gave the Giants the rights to Santa Clara County in 1993, when the Giants had their own stadium vote on the ballot in San Jose. The Giants insist that when they financed AT&T Park, all agreements with lenders were based on the team’s current territorial rights, including corporate-rich Silicon Valley.

“Those long-term commitments wouldn’t be there without that,” Magowan said. “Investors would not have taken the risk if there was belief that our chief competitor could create a shiny new stadium right in the heart of our fan base.”

MLB or the Athletics could pay off the Giants.  I suspect the Giants will hold out until the compensation is appropriate. Maybe that’s why Oakland is reducing payroll, to have enough to pay off San Francisco.

December 29, 2011 December 28, 2011

Coast to Coast Trade

The Athletics continued to dump players as they send Andrew Bailey and Ryan Sweeney to the Red Sox:

In exchange for Bailey and Sweeney, Oakland have acquired Reddick along with minor league pitcher Raul Alcantara and first baseman Miles Head.

How can a team give up a player named Miles Head? He’ll play 2012 as a 21 year-old, and already showed signs of power and the ability to get on base well. Alcantara is even younger, and showed very good control. Don’t expect the A’s to compete this year, but they are stocking up for two or three years in the future.

The Red Sox end up winning the Jonathan Papelbon deal much like the Cardinals won the Pujols free agency. The Red Sox got his best years cheap, and now get a few years of Andrew Bailey at a reasonable price.

December 28, 2011 December 28, 2011 December 27, 2011 December 27, 2011

Phillies on First

Ian Riccaboni wonders what happens if the Phillies fill-in platoon at first base works. He suggests that the first baseman used against lefties might continue in that role, since Ryan Howard doesn’t do all that well against lefties, and the platoon gives the big slugger time off to recover.

My guess is money trumps all. The Phillies are not paying Ryan the big bucks to sit on the bench. Of course, this would be less of a problem if Philadelphia had waited to extend Howard until he was closer to the end of his contract.

December 26, 2011 December 26, 2011

Baseball’s Worf

The Washington Post profiles Bill Bordley, the new head of security for Major League Baseball. Bill pitched briefly for the San Francisco Giants, then went on to a long and eventful career in the secret service:

So once again, for dramatic purposes, let’s pretend the job was always as intense and full of intrigue as the 51 / 2 years he spent on President Clinton’s protection detail — when, by solemn vow, he would have taken a bullet for the leader of the free world, when, for a time, he headed the team assigned to first daughter Chelsea Clinton during her Stanford years, and when, one day in late 1995 or early 1996, he denied entrance to the Oval Office to a raven-haired young lady who did not have the proper credential.

Yes, the young lady was Monica Lewinsky, and yes, as Bordley himself would be quoted in Sect. IV (A) of the Report of the Independent Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, the president eventually interceded and told Bordley it was okay for her to come in. According to the report, Bordley noted that she exited the Oval Office an hour later.

“When that incident happened, I was relatively new to the detail,” Bordley said one afternoon this month over lunch a couple of blocks from MLB’s Park Avenue headquarters. “They tell you anyone who gets anywhere near the Oval Office obviously has to be credentialed and have a pass. And this person, she did not have it on. I thought someone was playing a joke on me, trying to test me — the new guy. I stopped her.”

And so it was that William C. Bordley became the only ex-big leaguer to be quoted in the Starr Report.

He thought the new job would be easy until spring training, then the Wilson Ramos kidnapping happened. His world wide travel with the secret service came in handy at that point, as he used his embassy contacts to stay close to the situation. The whole article is well worth the read.

December 25, 2011 December 24, 2011 December 24, 2011

Oakland Complaints

People are starting to fret over the constant rebuilding in Oakland:

“I’d rather run a club that has a 3- or 4-year plan and implements it and see it getting better over time, than going on the patchwork basis of year-to-year,” Beane said. “We haven’t been as successful when we go year-to-year.”

Beane understands the frustrations.

“We’ve been through this cycle a number of times,” he said. “And it gets shorter and shorter because the gap between us and everyone else grows.”

Fans, though, are losing patience. “When do you stop rebuilding?” said John Coyle of Los Angeles, 73, a fan since the club was in Philadelphia. “Do Billy and the owners want a major-league team or don’t they? I know it’s not an easy situation without a new stadium, but in the meantime, there’s no one out there to watch.”

As pointed out in the article, the A’s have either rebuilt nor gone all-in for a win in the last four years. Billy Beane seems to think they will get a new stadium soon, so they are starting to rebuild toward being ready to move into that park.

December 23, 2011

Misplaced Interest

The Marlins are interested in pitcher Joe Saunders. I don’t quite understand this. Joe is a hurler who pitches to contract contact, so there will be lots of balls in play against him. As a southpaw, he will see lots of right-handed hitters. That means the fielders behind him need to be strong on the left side of the infield. Defense is not the strong suit of Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes, however. The Marlins should be looking for pitchers with extremely high strikeout rates to counter what is likely to be a poor defensive infield.

December 23, 2011 December 23, 2011 December 23, 2011

Replacing Pujols

The Cardinals land Carlos Beltran:

The team disclosed the agreement Thursday night and said it expects to make a formal announcement shortly after the holidays.

The $26 million deal includes a full no-trade clause, a source told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick.

According to FanGraphs, Pujols posted a 5.1 WAR in 2011, Beltran 4.7. With Berkman moving to first, the Cardinals’ defense improves in the outfield but suffers at first base, a good trade off. So for what it would have cost the Cardinals for one year of Pujols, they make up most of the loss for two years.

That assumes, of course, that Beltran can stay healthy. For two years, however, it’s a great risk. I’m actually surprised, at that price, that some team didn’t outbid the Cardinals. I still think Beltran would be worth the risk at two years, $30 million. Once again, the St. Louis front office shows it can put together a good, cost effective team.

December 23, 2011

The Gio Haul

Marc Hulet is underwhelmed with the players the Athletics received for Gio Gonzalez:

Overall this is not a bad deal for Oakland but I’m surprised that it’s the best that Beane could do and it strikes me as quantity over quality. If I’m a Washington Nationals fan, I’m absolutely thrilled with this deal and the new-look starting rotation that includes Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, and Gonzalez.

Oakland has been making these good player for prospects deals for a few years now, but the team hasn’t really improved due to them. Some of the better players in these deals ended up toiling for others (Carlos Gonzalez, for example). The point of trade is to make both sides better. At some point, the A’s need to show that these trades actually help the team win. At some point, Beane might want to stop and allow his prospects to mature into a winning unit.

December 22, 2011

Lower Taxes

The Yankees luxury tax fell to $13.9 million. The Yankees lack of moves this year may be a further way of lowering that tax level. They are facing a whopping tax rate in a couple of years if they don’t get under the payroll limit, but if they do, the tax resets. I’m guessing their going to be bringing along a number of farm hands until that reset, then go on a giant spending spree.

December 22, 2011

Gio Engineering

The Nationals pulled the trigger on a trade for a new starter:

Today the Nationals traded for A’s lefty Gio Gonzalez. In return, Washington sent a package of four young players to Oakland: Right-handers A.J. Cole and Brad Peacock, left-hander Tom Milone and catcher Derek Norris.

These are major prospects. Cole will play 2012 as a 20 year old and blew away batters in his first year in A Ball. Peakcock looks major league ready as he found his control over the last three seasons. Milone may be one of the stingiest pitchers in the minors in terms of walks, and pitched decently in his 26 big league innings. Norris is actually the kind of player the A’s don’t need more of, low batting average with a high OBP. The A’s are full of players who walk a decent amount, but they never seem to get enough hits to move those batters along.

The deal signals to me that Washington is looking to compete sooner rather than later. Gonzalez gives them a pitcher who covers his walks with a high strikeout, low home run rate. Note, too, that he was helped greatly by the park in Oakland. I see him as a third or fourth starter on the Nationals, behind Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg, and possibly behind Chien-Ming Wang. That’s a lot to give up for a fourth starter.

However, that could be a very good four-man rotation. The NL East looks up for grabs as well. While Philadelphia still owns the best rotation in the division, with Ryan Howard out and their stars aging, runs are going to be tougher to come by this year. The Braves haven’t done much to improve themselves after last season’s collapse. The Mets are in disarray, and the Marlins could just as easily wind up with Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes on the DL as each competing for an MVP. Sometimes, when a team has a shot, they have to go for it.

While this trade looks nice for the A’s, most of their trades look nice at the time. In the last few years, they have not borne that much fruit, however, so I’ll hold off on singing praises on this one for a while.

December 22, 2011 December 22, 2011 December 22, 2011

The Darvish Process

Mike Hindman trusts the Rangers pro-scouting division:

When the Rangers traded John Danks and Nick Masset to the White Sox for Brandon McCarthy, one of the reasons that I panned that deal immediately was that the Rangers had proven to be absolutely horrible at talent evaluation over the preceding four or five years and the pro scouting wing of the department was especially woeful. In that sort of a deal, I could comfortably guess that the White Sox had evaluated the players involved in the deal more accurately than the Rangers had.

How times have changed. Now, when the Rangers make a pro acquisition I immediately assume that they evaluated the players involved better than everyone else did. They have earned that benefit of the doubt at this point.

Even moreso than excellence in the amateur scouting department (the excellence of which sort of remains to be seen, notwithstanding the consistently high rankings of the farm system), the emergence of the Rangers over the past five years has been the direct result of excellence by the pro scouting department which has netted the two-time AL Pennant winners Nelson Cruz, Josh Hamilton, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando, David Murphy, Matt Harrison and — significantly — fished Colby Lewis 2.0 out of Japan.

The Rangers made a huge bid for Yu Darvish because their scouting department judged him to be worth the money.

December 21, 2011

Danks a Lot!

Reports coming out of Chicago indicate the White Sox and John Danks agreed to a $65 million deal for five years:

Danks, who made $6 million last season, was eligible for arbitration in his final season before free agency. White Sox general manager Kenny Williams had shopped Danks to other teams — most notaly to his home state Texas Rangers — fearing he would lose the left-hander for nothing after next season.

The White Sox had no comment, preferring to make the announcement until after Danks passes the routine physical examination. That will not take place until after Christmas.

It’s a nice way to go into the holiday. Danks has been worth at least $13 million in each of the last four seasons. This is essentially a free-agent contract with a bit of a home team discount. He’s only 27, so he would have hit the free agent market still in his prime. A nice move for both the White Sox and Danks.

December 21, 2011

Swapping Pitchers

The Cubs and Reds agreed to a trade:

According to Bruce Levine of ESPN, the Cubs and Reds agree in principle to trade sending Sean Marshall to Cincinnati for lefty Travis Wood and two minor leaguers.

According to Levine, the players involved must pass medicals first.

I must be missing something. The Reds trade a potentially decent starter who they control for a long time and two other minor leaguers for a relief pitcher? Granted, Marshall is a very good relief pitcher, but the Cubs seem to be picking up a lot of potential for a guy who pitches 75 innings a year. We’ll see who the other two prospects are, but you would think the Reds would have someone in their minor league system with the potential to close.