Quantcast
Channel: SB Nation - San Diego Padres
Viewing all 2658 articles
Browse latest View live

Thursday Rockpile: What if the Rockies had traded for Ricky Nolasco?

0
0
20120523_kkt_bm1_237

The Colorado Rockies' front office safely stood pat yesterday at the trade deadline. The team is far enough out against an obviously superior Dodger's team that it didn't make sense to mortgage the farm system on an arm or bat. The team is also good enough for next year that getting rid of Michael Cuddyer or Jorge De La Rosa would have made it that much harder to build for what could be a good 2014. Before letting the front office off the hook though, lets look back to when they could have made a difference.

The date was July 5 of this year, the Rockies were starting a losing road trip to Arizona and would end the day four and half games behind the D-Backs. They still were a game up on Los Angeles, though, and there was talk of interest in Ricky Nolasco. The front office was speaking out of both sides of their mouth when they said they were not afraid to spend money but also reportedly told Miami that they could not take his full salary.

Miami's asking price proved not to be too much for Los Angeles. The Dodgers gave up a young, latin arm in Angel Sanchez and two mid-twenties relievers in Steven Ames and Josh Wall. A comparable haul from the Rockies might be Rob Scahill and Coty Woods along with either Nelson Gonzalez or Chris Jensen. It definitely would have been some arms out of the organization, but none of the top pieces.

Here is what it could have meant for Colorado. Nolasco's ERA has been 3.13 since the trade pending Wednesday night's game, here are his results:

InningsEarned Runs
7.01
5.03
5.12
5.22

These starts would have been valuable to the Rockies as their fifth starter did the following:

InningsEarned Runs
4.05
4.03
4.13
5.06

The two don't quite match up based on the Oswalt injury and the Nicasio call-up, but the first three starts were Drew Pomeranz's last three with the Rockies before being demoted and the last one was Collin McHugh. A Rockies trade for Nolasco could have been a difference of two wins for them and may have cost the Dodgers two losses as Stephen Fife went on the DL and they would have been forced to bring up someone from AAA. Of course the Dodgers could have always gone out and gotten Jake Peavy or another ace, but this only focuses on what losing out on Nolasco meant to the Rockies.

It is probably better that the Rockies did not make the move, as they are clearly outclassed by Atlanta this week. However, it would have been a lot more interesting at the deadline if the Rockies were only 3.5 games back of the Dodgers and Los Angeles was still looking for a fifth starter. As it is, the Rockies will need at least one more starter for next year, a bat at right field/first base, and a couple of good bench players/relievers for 2014.

Here are links to what did happen on trade deadline day and news about the Rockies:

Teams in the hunt make strategic moves, mainly in the AL East with the Red Sox getting Jake Peavy and the Orioles trading for Bud Norris while putting former Rockie Jason Hammel on the DL.

The NL West saw an interesting move as the D-Back picked up a lefty reliever by shipping Ian Kennedy to the Padres.

The standard article on the Rockies standing pat at the trade deadline.

If you had not heard yet, Chad Bettis will be debuting on Thursday as the Rockies look to permanently scare him from wanting to pitch in the major leagues by sending him out to face the Braves.


Past & Present: Rockies at the trade deadline

0
0
20130720_lbm_ah3_484

While the Rockies made only minor moves before this year's non-waiver trade deadline, that has not always been the case. Here's a year-by-year look at how they've done at the deadline from 1993 to the present:

1993:

Record at deadline: 36-66 (33 games back in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: BUY
Most significant trade: Traded Brad Ausmus, Doug Bochtler and a player to be named later (Andy Ashby) to the San Diego Padres for Greg Harris and Bruce Hurst (July 26, 1993)

Desperate to add some veteran presence to the pitching staff of their first-year expansion club, the Rockies gave up promising prospects Ausmus and Ashby to the Padres for two experienced arms in Harris and Hurst, neither of whom lived up to the pitchers they were in San Diego. The Rockies also acquired Kent Bottenfield from the Expos ten days before the Ashby/Ausmus deal.

1994:

Record at deadline: 50-56 (2.5 games back in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: HOLD
Most significant trade: N/A

With a players' strike looming in less than two weeks, the Rockies made no moves in the entire month of July in 1994.

1995:

Record at deadline: 48-39 (3 game lead in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: BUY
Most significant trade: Traded Juan Acevedo and Arnold Gooch to the New York Mets for Bret Saberhagen and a player to be named later (David Swanson) (July 31, 1995)

In the first deadline blockbuster in franchise history, the Rockies acquired two-time Cy Young Award winner Saberhagen from the Mets to help their playoff push. The 31-year-old made nine starts with the Rockies in '95, posting a 6.28 ERA in 43 innings. He gave up six runs, five earned in four innings to the Braves in Game 4 of the 1995 NLDS.

1996:

Record at deadline: 54-52 (3 games back in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: HOLD
Most significant trade: N/A

Sitting third in the NL West at the deadline, the Rockies made no moves leading up to the 1996 trade deadline, though they did sign Jeff Huson as a free agent a couple weeks later.

1997:

Record at deadline: 51-57 (8 games back in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: SELL
Most significant trade: Traded Craig Counsell to the Florida Marlins for Mark Hutton (July 27, 1997)

Out of the race, the most significant move the Rockies made in 1997 was after the non-waiver deadline on August 19, when they traded Eric Young to the Dodgers for Pedro Astacio. After moving from the Rockies to the Marlins, Counsell scored the game-winning run in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.

1998:

Record at deadline: 48-60 (21.5 games back in NL West, 13 games back of NL Wild Card)
Buy/Sell/Hold: SELL
Most significant trade: Traded Ellis Burks to the San Francisco Giants for Darryl Hamilton, Jim Stoops and a player to be named later (Jason Brester) (July 31, 1998)

The second of the Blake Street Bombers to leave the Rockies was Burks, moved to the Giants for a 33-year-old outfielder with a career OPS of .746 and a guy who pitched all of four MLB innings in his career, all with the Rockies in '98. I'm not sure what Bob Gebhard was trying to accomplish with that move.

1999:

Record at deadline: 46-57 (11.5 games back in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: HOLD
Most significant trade: Traded Darryl Hamilton and Chuck McElroy to the New York Mets for Brian McRae, Rigo Beltran and Thomas Johnson (July 31, 1999)

Not sure what Gebhard and the Rockies made the Hamilton trade for, especially considering that McRae was traded away just ten days later. I do know that Gebhard was fired at the end of the season.

2000:

Record at deadline: 50-53 (7 games back in NL West, 6.5 games back of NL Wild Card)
Buy/Sell/Hold: SELL
Most significant trade: Traded Mike Lansing, Rolando Arrojo, Rich Croushere and cash to the Boston Red Sox for John Wasdin, Brian Rose, Jeff Frye and Jeff Taglienti (July 27, 2000)

In his first season as general manager, Dan O'Dowd was out to clean house in 2000. In addition to significant roster turnover in the offseason, he made two significant deadline deals, dealing Lansing and Arrojo to Boston and swapping Tom Goodwin for Todd Hollandsworth.

2001:

Record at deadline: 44-61 (16.5 games back in NL West, 15.5 games back of NL Wild Card)
Buy/Sell/Hold: SELL
Most significant trade: Traded Pedro Astacio to the Houston Astros for Scott Elarton (July 31, 2001)

At 17 games under .500 the Rockies went into full-on fire sale mode in July of 2011. In addition to Astacio, they traded away Neifi Perez, Todd Walker and Ron Gant leading up to the deadline. July 2001 was also month in which the infamous Chone Figgins for Kimera Bartee trade was made.

2002:

Record at deadline: 48-58 (16 games back in NL West, 11 games back of NL Wild Card)
Buy/Sell/Hold: SELL
Most significant trade: Traded Todd Hollandsworth and Dennys Reyes to the Texas Rangers for Gabe Kapler, Jason Romano and cash (July 31, 2002)

Less of a sell mode than in the two previous years, the Rockies still were offloading pieces at the deadline in 2002. In addition to the Hollandsworth deal, they sent John Thomson to the Mets in a deal that returned a package anchored by Jay Payton. They also acquired Sandy Alomar Jr. to be a backup catcher on July 29.

2003:

Record at deadline: 56-54 (13.5 games back in NL West, 4 games back of NL Wild Card)
Buy/Sell/Hold: HOLD
Most significant trade: Traded Mike Watson to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Tony Womack (July 18, 2003)

Above .500 at the deadline for the first time since 1996, the Rockies stuck to making minor moves such as the acquisition of Womack and moving Ben Petrick to the Tigers for Adam Bernero. It didn't work, they went 18-34 in the last two months of the season.

2004:

Record at deadline: 45-58 (15.5 games back in NL West, 12 games back of NL Wild Card)
Buy/Sell/Hold: HOLD
Most significant trade: N/A

The Rockies didn't make a trade before the non-waiver deadline in 2004, but did deal Larry Walker to the Cardinals on August 6, officially ending the Blake Street Bombers era.

2005:

Record at deadline: 36-67 (14.5 games back in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: SELL
Most significant trade: Traded Preston Wilson to the Washington Nationals for Zach Day, J.J. Davis and cash (July 13, 2005)

The Rockies had the worst record in baseball at the 2005 trade deadline, and traded away Wilson as well as Joe Kennedy and Shawn Chacon as the "Gen R" era looked to build for the future.

2006:

Record at deadline: 50-54 (4.5 games back in NL West and NL Wild Card)
Buy/Sell/Hold: HOLD
Most significant trade: Traded Scott Dohmann and Ryan Shealy to the Kansas City Royals for Jeremy Affeldt and Denny Bautista (July 31, 2006)

The biggest trade the Rockies made in 2006 actually happened in early June, hardly a "deadline" move, that saw them send Eli Marrero to the Mets for Kazuo Matsui, who would be a key part of the team the next season.

2007:

Record at deadline: 53-51 (3.5 games back in NL West and NL Wild Card)
Buy/Sell/Hold: HOLD
Most significant trade: N/A

The eventual NL champions didn't make a single trade in July, but did gain 5.5 games in the NL West race over the course of the month. They did acquire Ramon Ortiz, the winning pitcher in the tiebreaker against San Diego, on August 15 in exchange for Matt Macri.

2008:

Record at deadline: 49-60 (7 games back in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: HOLD
Most significant trade: Traded Juan Castro to the the Baltimore Orioles for Mike McCoy (July 19, 2008)

The Rockies did not contend in defending in their NL title in 2008, and really only made the smallest of moves leading up to the trade deadline, though they did acquire Jason Grilli in late April.

2009:

Record at deadline: 55-47 (8 games back in NL West, 1 game back of NL Wild Card)
Buy/Sell/Hold: BUY
Most significant trade: Traded Connor Graham to the the Cleveland Indians for Rafael Betancourt (July 23, 2009)

In a push for the playoffs, the Rockies made moves to bolster their bullpen leading up to the trade deadline, adding Betancourt and Joe Beimel. The pair combined for a 2.84 ERA in 38 innings down the stretch to help the Rockies win the Wild Card for the second time in three seasons.

2010:

Record at deadline: 53-50 (8 games back in NL West, 5.5 games back of NL Wild Card)
Buy/Sell/Hold: HOLD
Most significant trade: N/A

2010 was a year pretty devoid of roster moves at all for the Rockies. They added Manny Delcarmen at the waiver deadline at the end of August, and that was about it.

2011:

Record at deadline: 51-56 (10 games back in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: SELL
Most significant trade: Traded Ubaldo Jimenez to the Cleveland Indians for Alex White, Joe Gardner, Matt McBride and a player to be named later (Drew Pomeranz) (July 30, 2011)

With the team and its ace faltering, the Rockies made perhaps its biggest deadline move since the acquisition of Bret Saberhagen in 1995, sending Jimenez to Cleveland for a package built around Pomeranz. I discussed the trade in detail in this space last week.

2012:

Record at deadline: 37-63 (17.5 games back in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: SELL
Most significant trade: Traded Marco Scutaro to the San Francisco Giants for Charlie Culberson (July 27, 2012)

With the 2012 season already having devolved into a train wreck, the Rockies cut bait with two veterans that were supposed to help the team return to contention, dealing Scutaro to the Giants as well as trading Jeremy Guthrie to the Royals for Jonathan Sanchez a week earlier.

2013:

Record at deadline: 51-57 (7.5 games back in NL West)
Buy/Sell/Hold: HOLD
Most significant trade: Traded cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for Mitchell Boggs (July 9, 2013)

Not quite in contention, but feeling they were set up well for 2014, the Rockies stayed quiet at the 2013 trade deadline, but did shore up their pitching depth with Boggs and Armando Galarraga earlier in July.

As you can see, the Rockies have a history of not doing much at the deadline. Most of their deadline deals have been minor ones, and the two blockbusters they have executed, the Saberhagen and Ubaldo trades, have ended poorly for them.

What remains to be seen is if the decision to neither buy nor sell in 2013 was the correct one, but as much as people want to judge it now either way, only time will tell.

MLB Trade Deadline 2013: Winners and Losers

0
0
174417666

Yes, the "Winners and Losers" article. Where the fan goes to seek solace in the opinion of another, only to have their dreams dashed when the author says that the guy your team acquired is terrible at his chosen profession. Said fan then surmises that the author is biased against their team and sends angry e-mails. But never mind that, let's look at the results!

The Winners Circle:

Houston Astros

When you are a terrible team, the only hope your franchise has is the future, and the trade deadline is the perfect opportunity to get pieces for whatever players you have that are somewhat valuable to contenders. The Astros carried this out admirably, acquiring prospects L.J. Hoes and Josh Hader from the Orioles for Bud Norris, Kyle Smith from the Royals for outfielder Justin Maxwell, and Danry Vasquez from the Tigers for Jose Veras. All four players were consensus top twenty prospects for their respective former teams, so that's a nice haul for a team that was assumed to be nearly devoid of talent.

Boston Red Sox

Jake Peavy is a good pitcher (5.4 fWAR in the last two seasons). Opinions differ on just how good, but I certainly would argue he (and reliever Braylan Villereal) is more than worth than Jose Iglesias and three low-level minor leaguers. Trading Iglesias fits the concept of "selling high" perfectly, as his .377 BABIP is most likely to regress to something more similar to his minor-league levels. Peavy slots perfectly into the third spot in Boston's rotation.

San Diego Padres

I really like the Ian Kennedy deal for the Padres. It's a similar principle to if they had acquired Phil Hughes, but Kennedy is still arbitration-eligible and under team control. They traded for a pitcher who's been successful before, is prone to home runs and was having a down year. The best piece surrendered was merely a relief prospect in Matt Sties. Kennedy is now one of the Padres' best pitchers by default.

The Losers Lounge:

Kansas City Royals

The Royals are a team that found themselves in the middle of nowhere. Their GM thinks they can contend, but they probably can't. In trying to help them towards that goal, all they acquired was a platoon outfielder in Justin Maxwell. As noted by John Sickels, even at the lower end of the opinions on Kyle Smith he's considered a pretty solid prospect. So the beat goes on for General Manager Dayton Moore.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies are 8.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot and desperately need an infusion of young talent, but they balked at moving any of their big-name veterans, even the venerable Michael Young. I would hope for the sake of their fans that this is one of the more active teams during the waiver season. I think GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and Dayton Moore need to go to the same support group.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers netted Matt Garza for what I consider a reasonable share of prospects and he joins what was already an exceptional staff. The problem for them is that it appears a suspension for slugger Nelson Cruz is imminent, and those trade chips would have arguably been better served helping to replace the second best hitter on an average offense. There were reasons why rumors of Garza's availability were being floated around as the deadline approached.

There you have it, a list so definitive that it couldn't possibly be disputed by anyone ever. And in case you were curious, I would err on the loser side of the table for the Yankees, but including them would be far too predictable for your friendly neighborhood PSB writer.

Josh Byrnes asked about Ian Kennedy trade and possible substitutes for Everth Cabrera

0
0
20130503_kkt_ah2_846

  • Josh Byrnes has traded for Ian Kennedy twice. Kennedy has great delivery and arm action. He has 4 pitches he can execute. "He has better 'stuff' than people give him credit for." He's shown he can produce like a middle or front of the rotation pitcher. He has the resume and is capable of big seasons.
  • The Padres will keep looking to build the team during the off-season.
  • "We don't think we're that far away. We've had stretches of winning." The Padres have been over .500 for the last 180 games.
  • Byrnes thinks the trade heightens the rivalry with the Dodgers, since Kennedy and Carlos Quentin have both fought with Dodger players.
  • If Everth Cabrera is suspended than Logan Forsythe and Alexi Amarista will see a lot of playing time at shortstop.

NL West weekly report: Kershaw dominates and the trade deadline passes with one intra-division trade

0
0
20130731_gav_sv5_004

The biggest event to happen this week wasn't big at all... the trade deadline. But on July 31st, the Padres and Diamondbacks completed the only trade between two NL West teams. Arizona traded Ian Kennedy to San Diego for reliever Joe Thatcher, prospect releiver Matt Stites, and a compensatory-round draft pick. Nobody else in the division made any other notable deals on the deadline.

Anyway, let's take a look at what happened on the diamond this week.

TEAM RECAPS:

Diamondbacks: Arizona was 3-3 this week. The Diamondbacks started off the week with back-to-back wins against the Cubs and Padres before losing their next three straight. The Dbacks ended the week on a positive note when they defeated the Rays 7-0 on the road.

Arizona's offense was all over the place this week. The Diamondbacks averaged 4.2 runs per game, but that still doesn't explain how inconsistent they were. Here is the order of runs scored by the Dbacks this week: 3, 10, 3, 0, 2, 7. On the flip side, the pitching staff was hit or miss as well. Here is the order of runs the pitching staff allowed: 1, 0, 12, 1, 5, 0. In short, the pitching was incredible in four of the six games, but because of the inconsistent offense, Arizona was 3-3.

Rockies: Colorado was 2-5 this week. The Rockies started off the week with a 5-3 loss to the Marlins. In its weekend series against Milwaukee, Colorado took two of three. But then the Rockies traveled to Atlanta and were swept by the NL-East leading Braves.

Colorado averaged an impressive 4.7 runs per game this week. But that wasn't enough to finish better than 2-5 this week because the pitching staff surrendered on average 7 runs per game. Opponents scored five runs or more in six of the Rockies' games this past week. When Colorado played Atlanta, the Braves scored nine runs in the first and third games and eleven in the second.

Giants: San Francisco was 1-4 this week. The Giants started off the week with an off day before getting swept by the Cubs at home. San Francisco then traveled to Philadelphia and split two games with the Phillies.

Unlike the Rockies and Diamondbacks, the Giants offense was average while the pitching staff was good this week. San Francisco's offense averaged three runs a game this past week thanks to a 9-2 over Philadelphia. Oddly enough, the pitching staff surrendered the same amount of runs per game. But the series against the Cubs is what stands out. The Giants scored three runs in the entire series while the pitching staff gave up only six runs.

Padres: San Diego was 5-2 this week. The Padres started off with a 10-8 win over the Brewers before losing to the Diamondbacks 10-0. But San Diego bounced back and won four straight before losing its final game of the week to Cincinnati by a score of 4-1.

The Padres offense was extremely inconsistent at the beginning of the week before figuring it out at the end. Here is the order of runs scored by San Diego this week: 10, 0, 12, 1, 2, 4, 1. San Diego's pitching staff was okay, surrendering on average four runs per game. But the Padres hope they fixed that issue by acquiring Ian Kennedy from the Diamondbacks.

Dodgers: Los Angeles was 4-2 this week. The Dodgers started off the week with a loss to the Reds before winning four straight (three against the Reds and one against the Yankees). The Boys in Blue then ended the week with a tough 3-0 loss to the Bronx Bombers.

Los Angeles truly showed its "grit" this week. The Dodgers won three games by one run and its fourth win by three. But that was only because its offense wasn't as hot as it has been. Last week, LA averaged 7.8 runs per game. This week, it averaged just 2.

WHAT'S IN STORE FOR THESE TEAMS NEXT WEEK:

Diamondbacks: One game against the Rangers, three against the Red Sox, two against the Rays

Rockies: One game against the Braves, three against the Pirates, two against the Mets

Giants: One game against the Phillies, three against the Rays, three against the Brewers

Padres: Three games against the Yankees, two against the Orioles

Dodgers: Four games against the Cubs, three games against the Cardinals

OVERALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

Dodgers' pitcher Clayton Kershaw. The lefty was 1-0 this week with a 0.56 ERA in two starts. Kershaw finished the week with 16 total innings in which he allowed just one earned run on 11 hits. The Dodgers' ace also struck out eight and walked none. Kershaw's 2013 season ERA is now at 1.87.

BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE:

Dodgers' outfielder Yasiel Puig. On July 28th, the Dodgers and Reds were tied at 0-0 in the bottom of the eleventh with two outs. Puig stepped up to the plate, and then this happened. Before his walk-off homer, Puig was 0-3 with three strikeouts and a walk. In the end, the homer, bat flip, and slide into home earned him this award.

OVERALL TEAM OF THE WEEK:

The Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite finishing with the second best record over the last seven days, 4-2 compared to the Padres' 5-2, LA deserves to be named the team of the week. San Diego went 5-2 against the Brewers, Diamondbacks, and Braves, whereas Los Angeles went 4-2 against a tougher combination of teams (record wise so far this season) in the Reds and the Yankees. At the same time, LA's wins were much closer and tougher to achieve as they included two walk-offs.

WORST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK:

Rockies' pitcher Tyler Chatwood. The 23-year-old righty lasted just two and a third innings against the Braves on July 31st. Chatwood gave up eight run (seven earned) on 10 hits while striking out just one. The Rockies went on to lose that game by a score of 9-0.

Minor League Ball Gameday, August 1

0
0
175099579

Good afternoon prospect watchers. The trade deadline is passed....and I don't know about you guys, but I thought it was pretty disappointing after all the buildup. I think teams are still getting used to the implications of the new CBA.

***My next major project is to finish up the Top 20 Pre-Season organization reviews. Tentative order will be the Mets, Padres, Blue Jays, Rockies, Royals, White Sox, Marlins, Giants, and Brewers to finish off, though I reserve the right to change that. I also have articles in the work queue for Marcus Semien of the White Sox, Engel Beltre of the Rangers, Victor Black of the Pirates, Michael Choice of the Athletics, Drake Britton of the Red Sox, plus Prospect Retros (all by request) for Marco Scutaro, Jeff Kent, C.J. Wilson, Chris Davis, and LaTroy Hawkins. Off all that stuff, Scutaro and Semien will get done first since I've got the research almost done for those. Stay tuned, in other words, there's a lot coming up here.

***Yesterday's Minor League Ball Gameday discussion.

***San Francisco Giants prospect Roger Kieschnick made his major league debut yesterday, going 2-for-5 with two RBI (and two strikeouts). He was hitting .273/.339/.497 for Triple-A Fresno before his promotion, with 40 walks and 102 strikeouts in 374 at-bats.

Kieschnick was a third round pick out of Texas Tech back in 2008, but his progression through the farm system was slowed by a variety of injuries. A left-handed power hitter, he runs well, has a good arm, and looks like a prototype power-hitting right fielder. Complicating factors: he's already 26, old to just be reaching the majors, he's streaky, and he strikes out a lot. His plate discipline has improved from poor to adequate, but we'll have to see how it holds up against major league pitching. Warnings aside, he's always had power and an age 27 performance surge seems plausible for next year.

***The Rangers promoted infielders Luis Sardinas and Rougned Odor to Double-A yesterday.

***Another outstanding outing for Blue Jays prospect Marcus Stroman: 13 strikeouts in 6.1 innings for Double-A New Hampshire.

***Randy Holt looks at Mets right-hander Matt Harvey and examines how his first year in the major leagues ranks historically.

***Andrew Ball looks at newest Houston Astros outfielder L.J. Hoes.

More from Minor League Ball:

Off Night Open Thread: Biogenesis suspensions, trade deadline reaction, & more

0
0
175107360

The Yankees are off tonight for the second time this week. That makes for a boring Thursday but you can still hang out here and discuss things amongst yourselves. If you happen to be scoreboard watching, the Orioles are taking on the Astros in Bud Norris' Baltimore debut, the Red Sox take on the Mariners, and the Rangers host the Diamondbacks in Arlington.

Some questions for the night:

What is your opinion of the team now that the dust has settled a bit from deadline day?

Do you expect Biogenesis suspensions tomorrow?

Can the Yankees actually sweep the Padres this weekend?

How many homers for Curtis Granderson this year?

Which SB Nation site, other than here of course, do you frequent the most often?

What has been your biggest success of the week?

Jason, Andrew, Greg, and I will also be recording this week's podcast later tonight, so if you have anything you'd like us to cover, let us know.

More from Pinstriped Bible:

Around the Empire: New York Yankees News - 8/2/13

0
0
20130727_kkt_aj6_147

Yesterday on Pinstriped Bible


Around the Internet

Quick Hits


  • A source says that "some" players will appeal their Biogenesis suspension, like Nelson Cruz and Alex Rodriguez.
  • Alex Rodriguez saw 31 pitches in six at-bats, fielded, and ran the bases in a simulated game yesterday.
  • Alex Rodriguez is could return to the team on Monday in Chicago.

Questions of the Day

  • If A-Rod appeals do you want him to play for the Yankees this season?
  • What will be the Yankees' record in August?
  • What is the most exciting thing you have to look forward to this month?
  • What is your favorite charity?

Coming Up Today

  • Baby Bomber Recap 8/1/13 @ 9 am
  • Pinstripe Alley Podcast Episode 17: Trade deadline and A-Rod @ 1 pm
  • Yankees GIFs of the Week: Gatorade baths, #HIROK dominance, and LA's Mets impression @ 2 pm
  • Worst Yankees bobbleheads on MLB.com @ 4 pm
  • New York Yankees @ San Diego Padres at 10:10 pm (Game Thread at 9:30 pm)

New York Mets Top 20 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review

0
0
174103699

Moving forward with our organization reviews, we turn our attention to the New York Mets. Remember, this is the PRE-SEASON list. This is not a new list. These are pre-season grades and rankings.

This list was originally published December 16,2012 and revised January 15, 2013.

1) Travis D'Arnaud, C, Grade A-: Borderline B+. He's been hurt all year, just now getting back into action, playing for Double-A Binghamton. Hitting .253/.378/.418 in those 20 games split between three levels. I don't think his talent level has changed, but he seems more vulnerable to injury than most catchers at this point, and staying healthy is a skill in itself.

2) Zack Wheeler, RHP, Grade A-: Borderline B+. 3.93 ERA in 69 innings for Triple-A Las Vegas with 73/27 K/BB; has held his own despite some command problems in the majors, with a 3.55 ERA and a 36/23 K/BB in 46 innings. If he stays healthy, I think his command will gradually improve. Certainly has plenty of stuff.

3) Noah Syndergaard, RHP, Grade A-: Borderline B+. 2.80 ERA in 19 starts between High-A St. Lucie and Binghamton, 110/24 K/BB in 100 innings, has posted a 46/8 K/BB in 36 Double-A innings. Excellent season in all respects and we are hearing fewer complaints about the breaking ball being substandard.

4) Wilmer Flores, 3B-2B, Grade B+: Borderline B. Hitting .319/.354/.527 with 14 homers for Las Vegas, 24 walks, 60 strikeouts in 408 at-bats. Continues steady improvement, though he's done a lot of damage in friendly home park so I wouldn't be filling out all-star ballots just yet. Still young, turns 22 this coming week.

5) Michael Fulmer, RHP, Grade B: Borderline B-: Limited to 31 innings by a knee injury but he is back on the mound at St. Lucie and holding his own, 3.82 ERA with 27/9 K/BB combined between High-A and rookie ball rehab. Let's see how he handles August now that he's getting his stamina built back up.

6) Jeurys Familia, RHP, Grade B-: Borderline B. Just 10 innings in the majors and seven in the minors due to surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow.Wait and see with him.

7) Luis Mateo, RHP, Grade B-:
Borderline B. Out with Tommy John surgery.

8) Brandon Nimmo, OF, Grade B-:
Hitting .258/.368/.344 for Low-A Savannah, with 44 walks, 101 strikeouts in 291 at-bats.He's still quite young at 20 and I like the fact that he draws walks, but his power development has been disappointing for a guy who strikes out this much, and he's lost speed. Stock down, but too soon to give up.

9) Gavin Cecchini, SS, Grade B-:
Hitting just .215/.250/.253 in 21 games for Brooklyn in the New York-Penn League, very disappointing. Good reports on his defense and the sample is too small to conclude that he won't hit eventually, but he's got a lot of work to do.

10) Rafael Montero, RHP, Grade B-:
3.24 ERA with 113/29 K/BB in 117 innings combined between Double-A and Triple-A. Command still in progress, but holding his own in unforgiving PCL/Vegas environment. Stock up for me.

11) Domingo Tapia, RHP, Grade B-:
4.29 ERA, 71/45 K/BB in 80 innings for St. Lucie. Continues to stand out with arm strength but needs better command.

12) Cory Mazzoni, RHP, Grade C+:
Borderline B-. 4.29 ERA with 71/18 K/BB in 63 innings in Double-A before going down with a hamstring injury in early July.

13) Jake DeGrom, RHP, Grade C+:
Combined 4.44 ERA at three levels, 96/37 K/BB in 116 innings, 132 hits; hittable but has managed to survive in Vegas. Stock flat.

14) Kevin Plawecki, C, Grade C+:
Hitting .314/.400/.467 combined between Low-A and High-A, excellent 36/44 BB/K in 360 at-bats, glove his highly-regarded. I have liked him since his days at Purdue and expect him to continue to play well. Might show more power in time. Others disagree and see him as a fringy/marginal prospect, so take that however you will.

15) Matt Den Dekker, OF, Grade C+:
Playing time limited by injuries, has hit combined .273/.327/.407 in 150 at-bats between 29 games in Vegas and 14 games in St. Lucie.Turns 26 this month, so a lost season is badly-timed for him. Reserve outfield profile at this stage.

16) Cory Vaughn, OF, Grade C+:
Another injury case, hitting combined .259/.361/.408 with 15 steals in 63 games between Double-A and rehab games for elbow injury in GCL and FSL. No change in profile: he's got power and speed and will take a walk, buthe has contact issues and frustrates scouts.

17) Logan Verrett, RHP, Grade C+:
4.15 ERA in Double-A with 104/25 K/BB in 125 innings, 110 hits, 18 homers. Throws strikes and eats innings with average stuff, as he has since college, but gopher rate is high enough to be concerning.

18) Jack Leathersich, LHP, Grade C+:
Continues to strike people out at an obscene pace, 86 in just 48 innings this year between Double-A and Triple-A. He also has walk problems, granting 17 free passes in 19 innings since moving up to Vegas. Even slight improvement with his control will make him a dominant bullpen force.

19) Danny Muno, INF, Grade C+:
Hitting .250/.389/.378 with 72 walks, 75 strikeouts in 344 at-bats in Double-A. Utility profile with some OBP ability.

20) Phillip Evans, SS, Grade C+:
Hitting .211/.277/.276 in 92 games in Low-A. Major disappointment for me; I liked him in high school but he's just not panning out with the bat.


OTHERS GRADE C+: Darrell Ceciliani, OF; Rainy Lara, RHP; Matt Reynolds, 3B; Hansel Robles, RHP; Gabriel Ynoa, RHP.

OTHERS: Wuilmer Becerra, OF; Matt Bowman, RHP; Luis Cessa, RHP; Gonzalez Germen, RHP; Erik Goedell, RHP; Gilbert Gomez, OF; Darin Gorski, LHP; Matt Koch, RHP; Juan Lagares, Of; Vicente Lupo, OF; Steven Matz, LHP; Colin McHugh, RHP; Tyler Pill, RHP; Cesar Puello, OF; Aderlin Rodriguez, 3B; Ahmed Rosario, SS; Logan Taylor, RHP; Wilfredo Tovar, SS.


The gaping hole in the pre-season list is Cesar Puello, of course, who was relegated to the Grade C/others section. I had seen him flail helplessly at too much breaking stuff to rate him more highly, even though I respected his tools. But here he sits at .328/.405/.550 with 24 steals in Double-A. Sometimes the tools guys figure it out. Of course, there's the little problem of Biogenesis. . .I don't know how you account for things like that.

The big league team is 10 games under .500 and in rebuilding mode. They've gotten some use out of Juan Lagares, and Josh Satin has been great thus far. I didn't have him on this list, but in past years I've rated him as a sleeper to watch closely, as laid out in this Prospect of the Day article from last week. I don't think he's the long-term solution at first base but I think he can be a useful complementary player. Zack Wheeler has been pretty good so far and his long-term potential is immense.

Injuries have been a big factor this year, for both hitters and pitchers.

Jace Boyd has had a good year down in A-ball, but the offensive curve for a first baseman isn't an easy one. Right-handers Rainy Lara, Gabriel Ynoa, and Matthew Bowman has also had strong seasons, along with lefty Steven Matz. Akeel Morris, John Gant, Miller Diaz, Chris Flexen, and Robert Whalen are some current short-season arms to watch for 2014.

Overall, I don't see the Mets as having an elite system. They need to add more hitting depth and the current returns from Nimmo and Cecchini are disappointing. God knows what will happen with Puello. However, I love Syndergaard, Dominic Smith from the 2013 draft adds an impact bat, and there are enough live arms that the system doesn't count as empty, either. I had them ranked 12th pre-season and middle-of-the-pack still seems about right.

More from Minor League Ball:

What does Curtis Granderson's return mean for the Yankees outfield?

0
0
168750998

You can say Curtis Granderson's 2013 has been a disappointing one, and it has nothing to do with actual lack of production at the plate. Well, actually it does. Thanks to a broken forearm in Spring Training and a broken left pinky earlier in the year, Granderson has amassed just 31 plate appearances due to those fluky injuries. Thankfully, he'll be making his return tonight against the Padres, but at the same time, it will throw a bit of a monkey wrench into the current outfield picture.

Since the trade of Alfonso Soriano, there have been no troubles getting him, Brett Gardner, Ichiro Suzuki, and Vernon Wells into the lineup. However, with Granderson's return, it will be more of a challenge to give everyone equal playing time. This won't necessarily be a problem for Gardner, Granderson, and Soriano, considering they're the team's three best outfielders, but it'll more of a challenge for Ichiro and Wells to find consistent lineup spots.

With the Yankees playing in San Diego these next three days, they'll presumably be playing with Wells and Ichiro on the bench and have Soriano in left, Gardner in center, and Granderson in right. However, once we get back to regular play, a spot at DH will open. The Yankees could then have an outfield of Granderson in left, Gardner in center, an Ichiro/Wells platoon in right, and Soriano at DH. Sounds simple, right? Not quite.

Normally an Ichiro/Wells platoon, with Ichiro getting PA's against righties and Wells against lefties, would work, but not so much in this case. Wells hasn't been great against lefties (.281/.331/.397, 97 wRC+), but when the pickings are slim, you've got to go with what you have. Ichiro, on the other hand, has been really good against lefties (.347/.355/.475, 126 wRC+), but really bad against righties (.246/.298/.332, 68 wRC+). This has been going on all season and it hasn't corrected itself and here we are in August. At this point, it would be wise of the Yankees to give Ichiro a spot in the lineup against lefties.

The above scenario also includes Soriano at DH. This is fine on some nights, but not necessarily every night. I don't know what Derek Jeter's schedule is like, but he can't play shortstop every night, thus he'll have to get some at-bats at DH every now and then. Also, if Alex Rodriguez can avoid a Biogenesis suspension (and that's a big "if"), he'll surely find some time at DH, too. This is a logjam no matter how you look at it. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out, but if you ask me, I bet we'll see Gardner, Granderson, and Soriano get regular plate attempts while Ichiro and Wells get mushed into a platoon, despite the stats.

With all this said, it'll be very nice to have Curtis Granderson back in the lineup. In fact, the Yankees could do a lot worse than a potential Soriano-Gardner-Granderson outfield if in fact they decide to go that route. That trio provides power from the left and right side, solid defense, some speed, and some patience. A little bit of everything, really. No matter what the outfield looks like, it will play an important role in this team getting back to playing October baseball once again.

More from Pinstriped Bible:

Minor League Ball Gameday, August 2

0
0
174500905

Good morning prospect watchers. Let's get down to business.

***Yesterday's Minor League Ball Gameday thread.

***It is really hard for me to believe that Atlanta Braves third baseman Chris Johnson is hitting .346/.384/.471. More power to him (no pun intended), but when he was a prospect I didn't think he would be anything close to that good. Jeff Sullivan wrote an article about Johnson at Fangraphs yesterday which got me thinking about him.

Digging through some old reports, I found this comment from the 2010 Baseball Prospect Book, which was a good summary of my analysis of Johnson at the time.

Chris Johnson has some pop in his bat, but his unimpressive strike zone judgment holds his offense back. His OPS was just +3 percent in the Pacific Coast League last year, and he looked overmatched in his major league time, granted a 22 at-bat sample is tiny. On the positive side, he's a solid defender at third base, with decent range and a very strong throwing arm. I think Johnson can hit .250 with 15 homers as season in the majors, but his OBP would be below average and his overall production would be substandard for a corner player. Unless his plate discipline takes a huge leap forward, I think he's destined to bounce between Triple-A and the major league bench jobs. Grade C.

Jeff points out Johnson's unsustainable .426 BABIP this year. But he also points out that, with a minimum 1500 plate appearances, Johnson's career .364 BABIP ranks fourth all-time, behind three players you might have heard of named Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and Rogers Hornsby.

Jeff runs through more numbers, but here is his conclusion:

As with all things, the Chris Johnson truth lies in the in-between. He is neither as good as his BABIP, nor is he probably as average as an average BABIP. It's a matter of degree of regression, and that's not something we can easily predict. For Johnson, with his .364 career BABIP, he's been worth 1.0 WAR per 600 plate appearances. The one time his BABIP was normal, he came in below replacement-level. How much he sinks is a matter of some interest to us. It's also a matter of extreme interest to Johnson, since his BABIP looks like it'll determine the course of his career. So far, at least, so good. So astonishingly good.

I don't know what else to say really, other than Johnson has turned out to be much better than I thought he'd be.

***The Colorado Rockieshave promoted 2013 first-round draft pick Jonathan Gray to High-A Modesto.

***Putting the Rockies and Braves themes together, Chad Bettis made his big league debut yesterday, giving up six hits, five walks, and five runs in five innings. I will have a Prospect of the Day piece for him soon.

***Miami Marlins prospect Andrew Heaney made his first start for Double-A Jacksonville yesterday, throwing six shutout innings on three hits,a walk, and three strikeouts. Dakota Smith takes a look at him over at Fish Stripes.
Heaney now has 0.80 ERA (not a typo) in 68 innings this year, with a 69/18 K/BB and 48 hits allowed.

***Yankees prospect Dellin Betances threw 2.1 shutout relief innings yesterday for Triple-A Scranton, giving him 3.09 ERA with an 84/36 K/BB in 70 innings on the season. However, his relief numbers by themselves are even better: 1.57 ERA since moving to the bullpen, with a 59/20 K/BB in 46 innings and just 26 hits allowed. Command is still an issue, but relief work is obviously his future.

***The Yankees made additional news yesterday by signing outfielder Leonardo Molina out of the Dominican Republic for $1,400,000. As was long-rumored, the Chicago Cubspicked up outfielder Eloy Jimenez for double that, $2,800,000. Jimenez was considered the top position player in the international market by most experts this spring, with a complete set of tools. Molina is no slouch, featuring excellent speed and defensive skills. We'll have to see how their bats pan out.

More from Minor League Ball:

The 1998 World Series: A look back

0
0
20130608_mje_ah2_982

The Yankees will take on the San Diego Padres tonight, a rare occurrence indeed. Since I prefer to ignore inter-league play altogether, let's pretend this is the first time the two teams have met since the 1998 World Series.

During all my years living in China, my two favorite purchases had nothing to do with the country itself. Well, that's not entirely true - neither purchase would have been possible without China's rather lax attitude toward intellectual property rights. Favorite Buy #2 - a Criterion Collection edition of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai - pales in comparison to Favorite Buy #1: a box set of every World Series video from 1943 to 2008.

I was especially happy to get my hands on the 1998 World Series video - my VHS copy was cruelly stolen from me years ago when my mom mistakenly returned it to Blockbuster Video. The video - modestly entitled "Team of the Century" - is chock-full of the kind of half-baked inspirational cheese that would make me vomit if they were talking about any team except the Yankees. When it comes to the Bronx Bombers, however, I can't get enough of lines like this:

"If they ask for our star, give them 25 names. And if they forget our names, just tell them 'we were Yankees.'"

OH MY GOD, IT'S SO GOOD! JUST HOOK IT TO MY VEINS!

The late-nineties Yankees dynasty had many good teams (which is why we they really were a dynasty), but the '98 squad was their pièce de résistance. Teams like this practically ruined the Yankee fan experience for an entire generation of kids who now expect every scrub called up from Triple-A to be Shane Spencer and every Cuban pitcher to win their first ten postseason starts, like El Duque (I'm looking at you, Jose Contreras!).

But what about the National League champion from that season, the San Diego Padres? They've gone down in history as mere patsies of the 125-win Yankee juggernaut, which doesn't afford them the respect they deserve. They won 98 games during the regular season - at least four games better than each of the last three World Series champions. They are still the only team in history to face three 100-win teams in the postseason, having defeated the 102-win Astros and the 106-win Braves before taking on the Yankees.

Leading up to the Series, the Padres' plan was to ride starter Kevin Brown for Games One and Four, with hopes of a Game Seven. That was no idle threat - a few weeks earlier, Brown had struck out 16 Astros in Game One of the NLDS and thrown an 11-K, complete game shutout of the Braves in Game Two of the NLCS. Brown's late-nineties dominance often gets overlooked, but he was far better than any Yankees starter in '98. His 164 ERA+ dwarfed the likes of David Wells (127 ERA+) and David Cone (125 ERA+).

Statistically-speaking the '98 Yankees were built on quality rotation depth, as opposed to having a true ace. These are the sorts of teams who are often expected to struggle in a postseason series, particularly against a team with a dominant starter who can go 1-4-7. Fortunately for those Yankee teams, all four of their starters (Wells, Cone, Andy Pettitte, and Orlando Hernandez) would go on to become legendary postseason performers in their own right.

Despite battling the flu, Brown would out-pitch Wells in Game One. Brown left with the lead, but the Padres' bullpen gave up the game-tying home run the Chuck Knoblauch, and then...


Glorious. Brown would throw eight-innings of three-run ball in Game Four, which wasn't nearly enough to overcome Pettitte's seven-inning, no-run masterpiece.

Though they were swept, the Padres didn't go quietly against the Yankees. They held a lead in the seventh inning of Game One and the eighth inning of Game Three. I would argue that this was the year the legend of "Mariano Rivera: Greatest Closer Ever" was born. Going into that Series, many baseball pundits argued that Trevor Hoffman was the superior closer. In fact, he'd had a better regular season than Rivera (265 ERA+ for Hoffman, a measly 233 ERA+ for Mo). When Hoffman came in during the eighth inning of Game Three, with AC/DC's "Hells Bells" blasting from the loudspeakers and Qualcomm Stadium shaking like the massive football field it, in fact, was, I couldn't help but think of Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn's entrance at the end of Major League...if the Wild Thing had come in and immediately given up a back-breaking home run to the villainous Clete Haywood. With one on and nobody out, and the Padres nursing a 3-2 lead, Hoffman gave up a deep fly ball to Bernie Williams, a walk to Tino Martinez, and a three-run home run to Scott Brosius. The best closer in the National League pitched one inning with a lead in that Series, and couldn't hold it. Hoffman and Rivera would go on to be the two greatest closers of their era, but anyone watching that night probably could have guessed that Mo would inevitably come out on top.

If YES should happen to show some highlights of the '98 Series this weekend (and I sure hope they do), please remember that the Yankees didn't simply roll over a bunch of chumps. The '98 Padres were a fitting final challenge for the greatest team I've ever seen, and I'm certainly glad they're not around to play this year's Yankees.

Padres Beat Yankees 7-2; Everybody Does Their Part

0
0
175350560

After a nice little ceremony for Mariano Rivera, the Padres got down to business and commenced to beating New York 7-2 in the Yankees' first game at Petco Park. Andrew Cashner improved to 8-5 and helped his own cause on the offensive side for the second game in a row, singling and scoring a run. He was also backed by three home runs in what was a real team effort; all seven of the Padres' runs were scored by different players.

The Yankees' second and third batters hit back-to-back singles with one out in the top of the first but Andrew Cashner stranded them on the corners. Everth Cabrera and Chris Denorfia hit two singles of their own to kick off the Padres' half. A ground ball fielder's choice moved Evy to third and put Chase Headley on first. Jesus Guzman then walked to fill the bases. Yonder Alonso did the same thing to bring Cabrera home with the lead. After that Jedd Gyorko grounded out to bring in another run, giving the Padres an early 2-0 lead.

Ichiro led off the second inning with a single, stole second, and came in on an Eduardo Nunez double. Nunez moved to third and scored on a pair of ground ball outs before Brett Gardner lined the short for the third out. Everth singled and took second on a throwing error by chosen one Derek Jeter with two outs in the bottom of the inning but got caught trying to steal third, leaving the game tied at twos.

After a 1-2-3 third by Cashner, Chase Headley picked up a double but got cut down trying to score on a single by Yonder. Cashner set 'em down 1-2-3 again in the fourth, and Big Logan Forsythe got the lead back in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot, his fourth homer of the year. Cashner did his part to help his own cause by hitting a single and was immediately rewarded when Everth Cabrera hit his fifth triple of the year to widen the score to 4-2.
[Note by jodes0405, 08/02/13 10:46 PM PDT Forsythe's homer.]
0802_forsythe_hr_medium

[Note by jodes0405, 08/02/13 10:47 PM PDT Everth's triple. Look at Cashner go!]
0802_cabrera_swing_triple_medium
0802_cashner_running_medium
0802_cabrera_running_triple_medium

Cashner allowed a single to begin the top of the fifth but nothing became of it. Jesus Guzman singled with one out in the bottom of the inning but nothing became of that either. Fast Money allowed another single in the sixth but got out unscathed once again. Nick Hundley walked in the bottom of the inning and Evy singled him over with two outs for his fourth hit of the game. Norf was on the scene like a hit machine to drive Hundley home and drive Sabathia out of the game.

[Note by jodes0405, 08/02/13 10:48 PM PDT Deno's RBI double.]
0802_deno_rbi_double_medium
0802_deno_rbi_double_part_2_medium

Young Money went back out to the hill for the seventh with a 5-2 lead and, like he did the previous two innings, allowed one consequence-free single. Jedd Gyorko gave him another run in the bottom of the inning with his ninth homer of the season, his first since June 7. I almost looked that up on BR but I figured Corey Brock was already all over it so I checked Twitter and sure enough, it was the first thing I saw. The man is good at what he does.

[Note by jodes0405, 08/02/13 10:49 PM PDT Gyorkin' it in San Diego!]
0802_gyorko_hr_medium

After Gyorko's homer stretched the lead to four, Forsythe walked and moved to second when Hundley reached on a fielder's (poor) choice. Mark Kotsay came in to end Cashner's night and got on base on another fielder's choice before Everth ended the inning with his first hitless plate appearance of the game. Andy Cash finished with seven hits and no walks in his seven innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out an uncharacteristically low two batters. He was very democratic with his 97 pitches.

Luke Gregerson came in for the eighth inning and retired the side with ten pitches, notching a K in the process. In the bottom of the inning, Will Venable added to the solo homer parade with his thirteenth shot of the year to make it 7-2.

[Note by jodes0405, 08/02/13 10:53 PM PDT Venabomb!]
0802_venable_hr_medium

Tim Stauffer got the call for the ninth and echoed Gregerson's performance to hammer in the final nail.

The Padres have now won eight of their last eleven games. The Padres have a chance to take their fourth series in a row on Saturday, with Tyson Ross going up against Ivan Nova.

Roll Call Info
Total comments278
Total commenters22
Commenter listAxion, B Cres, Conor42, Dubsco, EnglishChris, Friar Fever, Hormel, John Lackey, JollyWaffle, SolanaFan, StrangeBroP25, TheThinGwynn, abara, ariz2cali, chris.callahan.7777, daveysapien, jodes0405, johnlichtenstein, kevintheoman, podpeople, soulSD, strummer
Story URLs

Friar Fever led all commenters with 76. chris.callahan.7777 came in second with 55, and jodes0405 rounded out the Top-3 with a Joey Cora-riffic tally of 28.

Gaslamp Baller ariz2cali had the most-recced comment of the game thread, scoring six for this beauty. FF and jodes each scored a pair of recs, and callahan had one as well.

Around the Empire: New York Yankees News - 8/3/13

0
0
20130802_ajl_ah2_286

Yesterday on Pinstriped Bible


Around the Internet

Quick Hits

  • Brian Cashman confirmed that the plan is for A-Rod to play in Trenton today, workout on Sunday and return to the Yankees on Monday.
  • Joe Girardi said he will evaluateDerek Jeter's health before he plays him today.

Questions of the Day

  • What do the Yankees do with CC Sabathia?
  • What has been the most embarrassing loss of the season?
  • Have you ever taken Martial Arts? If so, what color belt did you make it to?
  • What would you major in at college right now?

Coming Up Today

San Diego Padres Top 20 2013 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review

0
0
20130604_kkt_ah2_014

We continue our pre-season prospect list reviews this morning with the San Diego Padres system. Remember, this is the PRE-SEASON list. This is not a new list. These are pre-season rankings and grades.

This list was originally published January 9, 2013 and revised on January 14, 2013.

1) Austin Hedges, C, Grade B+: Just promoted to Double-A; hit .270/.343/.425 with four homers, 22 walks, 46 whiffs in 234 at-bats for High-A Lake Elsinore, throwing out 37% of runners. Scouting reports are very enthusiastic, particularly about his defense. Hitting numbers are not that good for the California League, but observers believe he's made genuine progress with his offense. Still just 20.

2) Jedd Gyorko, 3B-2B, Grade B+: This is what I wrote pre-season: Ready for the majors now, so a fantasy owner in many cases should rank him ahead of Hedges. His bat is legit, maybe not a 30-homer guy but double-digits certainly with a good batting average and OBP. Blocked at third base. Although scouting reports about his glove at second are unenthusiastic, his defensive statistics at second are actually very strong, albeit in a small sample. Make of that what you will.

He's hitting .252/.304/.397, OPS+ 101. I think he will exceed that in coming seasons. His glove has been just fine at second base; he's made only one error and the advanced metrics rate his glove highly. In this case, the minor league numbers were right about his glove.

3) Rymer Liriano, OF, Grade B+: Borderline B. Out all year with elbow injury, Tommy John surgery.

4) Casey Kelly, RHP, Grade B: Borderline B+. Out all year with elbow injury, Tommy John surgery.

5) Robbie Erlin, LHP, Grade B: Borderline B+. Disappointing; 5.17 ERA with 70/28 K/BB in 78 innings for Triple-A Tucson, 95 hits. 7.15 ERA with 16/8 K/BB in 23 major league innings. Gopher balls the big problem here. Had some dominant Triple-A starts but the bad ones (example: June 16, 11 runs in two innings) have killed his ERA. Stock down, but still just 22, will get more chances.

6) Max Fried, LHP, Grade B: Borderline B+. 3.69 ERA with 85/44 K/BB in 90 innings, 83 hits for Low-A Fort Wayne. Scouting reports from Midwest League are enthusiastic. I'd like a lower walk rate but all the ingredients are here.

7) Matt Wisler, RHP, Grade B: Very good season; 3.03 ERA with 94/28 K/BB in 107 innings combined between High-A and Double-A, 68 hits, pitching very well in the Texas League at age 20. Stock moving steadily upward.

8) Keyvius Sampson, RHP, Grade B-: Got killed in four Triple-A starts to open the year, was sent back to Double-A and has thrived for San Antonio, 2.43 ERA with 104/32 K/BB in 96 innings, 70 hits. Reports indicate progress with his breaking ball and he already had a good fastball and changeup.

9) Donn Roach, RHP, Grade B-: Ground ball artist with up-and-down season in Double-A, 3.76 ERA, 67/38 K/BB in 115 innings, 116 hits, 2.82 GO/AO. Strikeouts down this year against better competition. I still think that if you put this guy in front of a good infield defense that he will be useful.

10) Joe Ross, RHP, Grade B-: 3.54 ERA with 68/29 K/BB in 97 innings, 100 hits for Low-A Fort Wayne. Early-season reports were very positive, but he's sagged since mid-June with deteriorating ratios. Just 20.

11) Cory Spangenberg, 2B, Grade B-: Combined .284/.347/.399 with 30 steals, 36 walks, 87 strikeouts in 398 at-bats between High-A and Double-A. It is pretty clear that he's not going to be a batting champion. Now 22.

12) Walker Weickel, RHP, Grade B-: 5.53 ERA with 60/32 K/BB in 85 innings for Fort Wayne,97 hits. Like Ross, he's young and talented, but hasn't had an easy time of it in the Midwest League and has been beaten up badly in his three of his last four starts.

13) Zach Eflin, RHP, Grade B-:
Has pitched better than Weickel and Ross at Fort Wayne, 3.02 ERA with 73/26 K/BB in 95 innings. I think he's moved ahead of them at this point.

14) Brad Boxberger, RHP, Grade C+:
Solid season for Triple-A Tucson, 3.47 ERA with 72/18 K/BB in 49 innings, 44 hits. Has fanned 11 in nine major league innings. Age 25 now, has nothing left to prove in Triple-A, strikeout rate continues to point to bullpen upside.

15) James Darnell, 3B-OF, Grade C+:
Has missed most of season with a serious shoulder injury, his third. Now 26, will get buried quickly if he doesn't find a way to stay healthy.

16) Jace Peterson, SS, Grade C+: Good year for Lake Elsinore, .295/.362/.437 with 14 doubles, 11 triples, six homers, 42 walks, 34 steals, just 52 whiffs in 380 at-bats. Has also improved defensively. Cal League plays to his strengths and we need to see him in Double-A, but i like him.

17) Burch Smith, RHP, Grade C+:
Excellent in the minors, 2.14 ERA with 68/17 K/BB in 63 innings, 48 hits combined between Double-A and Triple-A. Got clobbered when rushed to majors, 21 hits and 16 runs in 13 innings, but should get more chances.

18) John Barbato, RHP, Grade C+
: 5.19 ERA with 14 saves for Lake Elsinore, 68/24 K/BB in 59 innings, 59 hits. ERA is a little misleading but he needs to sharpen up his command. Has a chance to help in the bullpen eventually.

19) Matt Andriese, RHP, Grade C+:
2.93 ERA with 88/23 K/BB in 117 innings, 115 hits between Double-A and Triple-A. Like Roach, a ground ball guy though not as extreme. Fourth/fifth starter potential.

20) Matt Stites, RHP, Grade C+: Strong season in Double-A, 2.08 ERA with 51/8 K/BB in 52 innings, 14 saves.Traded to Diamondbacks this week in Ian Kennedy deal.Strong arm, throws strikes, should help in pen.

OTHER GRADE C+ GUYS: Yeison Asencio, OF: Jonathan Galvez, 2B; Frank Garces, LHP; Travis Jankowski, OF; Tommy Medica, 1B-C; Kevin Quackenbush, RHP; Adys Portillo, RHP; Edinson Rincon, "3B"; Joe Wieland, RHP. All of these guys have a plausible case to rank in the 15-20 range.

OTHERS: Jeremy Baltz, OF; Wilfredo Boscan, RHP; Jaff Decker, OF; Reymond Fuentes, OF; Cody Hebner, RHP; Roman Madrid, RHP; James Needy, RHP; Dane Phillips, C; Donavan Tate, OF; Jeudy Valdez, SS; Everett Williams, OF.

I loved the depth in this system pre-season and I still think it is impressive. At the big league level, I think WAR undersells Gyorko at just 1.0 and I think he'll just get better with experience. Robbie Erlin and Burch Smith showed the perils of young pitching in brief looks, but both merit additional chances in my view.

As always, some prospects get hurt or otherwise fall by the wayside, but so much depth meant that others could rise to replace them. Reymond Fuentes has revived his status as a prospect by hitting .308 with 28 steals in Double-A. San Antonio teammate Tommy Medica, a first baseman, is old for a prospect at 25 but has hit enough to get noticed (.309/.317/.618). Wisler and Sampson have been excellent, Roach and Andriese did enough to stay in the picture, and reliever Kevin Quackenbush has been stellar (1.71 ERA, 14 saves, 71/23 K/BB in 53 innings).

Austin Hedges has firmly established himself as one of the top catching prospects around. Travis Jankowski has stolen 62 bases in High-A. The all-prospect starting rotation at Fort Wayne is still quite intriguing despite some uneven performances. The 2013 draft brings in power-masher Hunter Renfroe and promising high school bats Dustin Peterson and Jordan Paroubeck.

Overall, I still like the system.

More from Minor League Ball:


Waiver Wire: 10 Under 10%

0
0
120607262

Ryan Raburn - Cleveland Indians (8% Owned) - Raburn opened the season on an unexpected tear, and after cooling off considerably, he's at it again. 3 HR's this past week and a 1.365 OPS should get him more playing time so plug him in and ride the streak.

Matt Dominguez - Houston Astros (9% Owned) - An alumni of previous 10 Under 10 lists, Dominguez is severely undervalued. He can't take a walk, so I'd avoid him in OBP leagues but the power is real and his playing time isn't in jeopardy. He's arguably a Top 15 3B the rest of the year and should be more widely owned.

Stephen Drew - Boston Red Sox (7% Owned) - With Jose Iglesias moving to Detroit, Drew will hold the SS spot for the remainder of the season. Xander Bogaerts has been playing more 3B after the trade, so I'm not concerned that the rookie comes up and bumps Drew out of the starting spot. Drew will provide above average power for the position and his R/RBI totals are aided by being apart of the potent Boston offense.

Chris Denorfia - San Diego Padres (4% Owned) - Another alumni of previous weeks' lists, Denorfia is one of the few players at this level of ownership who can pitch in across-the-board production. He's starting in RF and hitting atop the Padres offense so the opportunities are there.

Eric Sogard - Oakland A's (5% Owned) - Sogard is an average-only guy, but the reason I he makes this list due to his 9-game hitting streak, his multi-position eligibility (2B, 3B, SS), and those glasses. How could you not want to roster those glasses?

Tyson Ross - San Diego Padres (5% Owned) - A personal favorite of mine, Ross has pitched very well over the past two weeks since being placed back in the rotation. Ross has the talent to continue this success as he faces teams for a second and third time, and I recommend snapping this guy up in keeper/dynasty leagues as his value is only going up from here.

Randall Delgado - Arizona Diamondbacks (8% Owned) - The stench of his start against Boston last night will likely make Delgado even more widely available, but don't let a poor start against the best offense shake your confidence. Delgado is more than a solid streaming option and should be rostered in almost all formats.

Henderson Alvarez - Miami Marlins (4% Owned) - The Miami offense isn't THAT bad with the additions of Yelich, Morrison and Marisnick to an extent, and I expect the rotation as a whole to sneak out a few more W's then we have been accustomed to seeing thus far. Alvarez's past 20 innings have resulted in 2 W's, 7 K's (you're not adding him for strikeout potential), 4 BB's, 0.89 ERA and 0.84 WHIP.

Garrett Richards - Los Angeles Angels (2% Owned) - Back-to-back impressive starts since his return to the rotation, Richards is probably still an AL-only guy. He took down two of the best offenses in Oakland and Toronto so he's at least earned my trust against some of the softer AL matchups moving forward. I'd dodge his start against Texas this week.

Danny Farquhar - Seattle Mariners (0% Owned) - Similar to Wilhelmsen last year, Farquhar has come out of nowhere and is showing some nasty stuff out of the pen. He's my odds on favorite to claim the closers job in Seattle once Tom Wilhelmsen runs out of leash. Even if he doesn't earn a save the rest of the year, your ratios will thank you for letting Farquhar eat some innings.

Minor League Ball Gameday, August 3

0
0
161858519

Good morning prospect watchers. Here is an approximate schedule of where things stand around here.

***Remaining Top 20 Pre-Season organization reviews: Toronto Blue Jays, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants, and Milwaukee Brewers. That is the order in which I intend to write them although that isn't set in stone and could be changed by current events or the whims of my emotions. My goal is to have all of them finished by next Friday.

***Prospect Retrospectives in the work queue: Jeff Kent, C.J. Wilson, Chris Davis, LaTroy Hawkins. All of these were by request, but exact order I write them is undetermined. You can request others if you like.

***Upcoming Prospect of the Day pool: Marcus Semien is set for Monday, Chad Bettis for Tuesday, Drake Britton, Engel Beltre, Victor Black, Michael Choice are all line. Order may get moved around depending on current events.

***Yesterday's Minor League Ball Gameday thread.

***There were several key promotions yesterday. The Pittsburgh Pirates promoted right-hander Jameson Taillon.
Now assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis, he had a 3.67 ERA in 110 innings for Double-A Altoona with a 106/36 K/BB with 112 hits allowed. He has pitched very well in eight of his last nine starts. The lone exception was a bad outing on July 13, when he gave up 10 runs in 3.1 innings on 13 hits. Without that one bad game, he would have a 2.94 ERA. The promotion is deserved and I expect he will continue to pitch well in Triple-A.

***The Boston Red Sox
promoted right-handerAnthony Ranaudo to Triple-A Pawtucket. He had a 2.95 ERA with a 106/40 K/BB in 110 innings for Double-A Portland, re-establishing himself as a top prospect after a mediocre 2011 and an injury-plagued 2012.This promotion is also well-deserved, and a good showing in August will put him on course for a major league trial in 2014 or perhaps even this September.

***Ripple effect in the Colorado Rockies system, as Jonathan Gray's promotion to Modesto kicks
Eddie Butler upstairs to the Double-A Texas League and the Tulsa Drillers. The 2012 supplemental first round pick out of Radford has thrived in A-ball, posting a combined 2.07 ERA with a 118/46 K/BB in 122 innings combined between Modesto in the California League and Asheville in the South Atlantic League. He's allowed just 83 hits and a 2.27 GO/AO ratio. Again, the promotion is deserved.

***
Melotticus has a good fanpost up with a list of National League prospect sleepers.

***
According to Prospect Insider, Mariners lefty Danny Hultzen is unlikely to pitch in real games again this year as he deals with shoulder problems. The good news is that the pain has subsided, but the Mariners are being cautious with him as he focuses on building up his arm strength and making some mechanical tweaks.

More from Minor League Ball:

Let's Talk About Pets, Baby

0
0
Zz7

About a week or so ago I got a huge box full of Padres memorabilia in the mail from RJ's Fro. He just sent it out of the goodness of his heart, and when I say it was huge I mean it. He had told me he was going to send some cards and a John Kruk mini-bat but I had no idea what I was in for. There were tons of cards, literally a dozen posters, hats, pins, a clock (!), a beach towel, and even more. You name it and it was probably in that box, but I'll get to that other goodness at a later date; right now I'm going to focus on one of the things he included. Well, ten related things he included:

Snapshot_201303261_1139_medium

That's Blueprint: The Official Playbill of the San Diego Padres, but you already knew that. 'Fro sent ten recent issues and I leafed through one of them until I got to the Petco Pet Profile. I read it and then immediately flipped to the Pet Profile in every other issue. Each one features a Padres player or someone related to the team with their pet and a series of questions about their pet. The thing is, all of their pets are dogs! I mean, I'm all about some pwetty wittle puppies, but come on. Show cats some love.

Snapshot_201303261_1138_medium
Are dogs seriously that much more popular than cats? In the interest of fairness to cats and cat people, I'm going to answer the typical Pet Profile questions about my cat. I might not be as rad as a Chris Denorfia or a Tim Stauffer, but Cora is just as cool as their tongue-wagging ankle-biters.

Zz17_medium
How old is Cora and how did you get her?

She's three and I got her at a bodega. No lie. I went to a convenience store to get some morning beers and there was a cage of free kittens by the door. Of course there was. The place was so gully that they sold loosies and "incense", so it only made sense that they were getting their cat hustle on too. She was the little runt cast off to a corner so I felt bad for her. I didn't even really like cats; it was just pretty much a pity move at the time.

How did you come up with her name?

She is named after Joey, and to a lesser extent, Alex Cora. Oddly, Alex Cora got released by the Rangers about an hour after I got her and named her. I vaguely recall that Dagwood Bumstead's boss's wife's name was Cora, but that didn't really play into it.

Athletes often follow strict diets for performance. Do you do anything special for her diet?

Not really. She's spoiled when it comes to food, though. She always has two kinds of dry foods out along with a can of wet food. Also, she doesn't trifle with tap water.

What is her favorite snack or treat?

Like Huston Street's French Bulldogs Major and Mia, she goes nuts over cheese. It's not the best thing in the world for a cat so I only let her have it very sparingly. She loves yogurt so much that I can't eat it anymore because she won't leave me alone when I do. Last time I ate yogurt, I had to shut myself in the bedroom and it just wasn't worth it.

How would you describe her personality?

The same way anyone would describe their pet's personality, I guess. Loving sometimes, playful others. Incredibly loyal and fairly clingy.

Do you have any hobbies that involve your pet?

We like to play ball. I'll roll it to her and she'll dive for it and roll it back. She's a natural!

What's the funniest thing your pet does?

She stands on two legs to get me to pet her if she hasn't seen me for like ten minutes, but that's more precious than it is funny. It's pretty hilarious when she "swims" on the carpet; she just lays on her side and drags herself with her front paws.

Last but not least, does she have any Padres gear?

Like bullpen catcher Justin Hatcher's boxer Diesel, she has a Padres ball she plays with but nothing she wears.

There. That was fascinating to absolutely nobody other than me. Now here's where you come in: Share a little something about your pet(s)-- cat, dog, iguana, whatever-- in the comments, be it a picture of them in a Padres bandana or something, or answering some or all of the questions above. Or, you know, whatever.

Padres sign Ronny Cedeno to Minor League Deal

0
0
20130714_kdl_sv7_052

When Marty Caswell interviewed Josh Byrnes the other day, she asked him who would fill in at shortstop if Everth Cabrera were indeed suspended for being named in Florida's biogenesis clinic's records. Byrnes said Logan Forsythe and Alexi Amarista would play a lot of shortstop and "maybe we'll look around for another".

Well Byrnes found another and he'll be starting tonight in Lake Elsinore, which makes all the Nancy Drews conclude that this is a sign that Cabrera will be suspended in the very near future.

With The Storm playing only an hour northeast of San Diego the Padres can easily reach him from the prone position on their couch if the sh_t hits the fan.

Cedeno was just released earlier this week by the Houston Astros for sucking at baseball presumably.


GABRH2B3BHRRBIBBKSBCSAVGOBPSLG
2013 - Ronny Cedeno5114112316111264221.220.260.298


Yankees lineup vs. Padres; August waiver trade candidates

0
0
174553529

The Yankees try to even the series against the San Diego Padres after last night's crushing loss. They send out Ivan Nova to hopefully make up for CC Sabathia's disappointing start. Derek Jeter is out of the lineup for the next two games as he deals with a calf injury, so here's the lineup we have to live with:

Tonight's lineup is a little different. Brett Gardner bats first, but then Robinson Cano and Alfonso Soriano bat second and third with Curtis Granderson finally bats cleanup. After Lyle Overbay the lineup drops off, of course, so we're treated to Eduardo Nunez, Brent Lillibridge, Chris Stewart, and Ivan Nova. Out of that lineup only Soriano, Cano, and Overbay have an OPS over .700.

Chris Stewart has played every game since the start of the Rays series on July 26, before that Austin Romine got off to a hot start in the first half, hitting .333/.385/.500 over 10 games. It looked like he was finally breaking out and could be in line to get increased playing time, but now it doesn't look like he'll be playing much at all. The fact that Stewart has only hit .212/.293/.250 during the same time in twice the amount of games makes Girardi's decision inexcusable.

Mike Axisa has identified several players that could be made available as August waiver trade candidates. Michael Young, Carlos Ruiz, and Alex Rios could all be available for the Yankees. The money owed to Rios and Young could allow them to slip through waivers, and Ruiz's sub-par season might not make him someone worth claiming. Brian Cashman had previously tried to acquire Ruiz and Young from the Phillies at the trade deadline, but Ruben Amaro wouldn't budge. Acquiring any of these players for the right price would greatly benefit the offense.

He says that the Yankees could trade Phil Hughes if they can't make up any games in the standings in the next few weeks. He's a mediocre starter, but in the right ballpark, or in the bullpen, he could be a great asset to have for an already deep team. If the price is right, as in anything that is more valuable than organizational filler, the Yankees should make a deal.

More from Pinstriped Bible:

Viewing all 2658 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images