Monthly Archives: March 2010

Jamie Hoffmann Returns From His Semester in NYC

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And by “NYC”, I suppose I really just mean “Tampa”, don’t I? Via the wonderful world of Twitter we find out that OF Jamie Hoffmann, a Rule 5 pick by the Yankees, has cleared waivers and is on his way back to the Dodgers.

Not that this comes as any surprise, of course, since when he was lost in December I did note it in a post titled “Prediction: This is Not the Last We’ll See of Jamie Hoffmann“:

So, good for Hoffmann, I suppose, because he’ll get more of a shot to make the roster in New York than he would with the Dodgers in 2010. Kind of a confounding move from the Yankees, but five will get you ten that he gets offered back to the Dodgers at some point this year.

I’m guessing the .130/.259/.174 he put up in 11 spring games as a Yankee didn’t really help his case of sticking there. He’s got no shot of making the Dodgers, of course, as he’s yet another righty, but he’ll provide good depth as part of a decent AAA outfield with Xavier Paul and Jason Repko.

Eric Gagne Free to Tear Up the Can-Am League…

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…because the Dodgers have released him.

Former Cy Young Award winner Eric Gagne asked for and was given his release by the Dodgers on Sunday night, ending a brief attempt to restart his career with his original team.

“Both sides thought at this juncture it was in Eric’s best interest to see if he can find another opportunity, rather than wait until later in spring or into April if he wants to continue to pitch,” said general manager Ned Colletti. “It’s better that he has a couple weeks to go.”

Gagne, 34, had accepted a Minor League assignment earlier this month, acknowledging that he needed more work to bring his game back to the Major League level after two years of shoulder problems that included spending last year in independent ball.

If there’s a surprise here, its that Gagne had agreed to go to the minors last week, and had pitched in just one (intrasquad!) game since then. Despite Colletti’s comments, I can’t imagine that word got to him that any other team was interested in giving him a shot, so it’s more than likely that Gagne realized his chances of making it back to the bigs were miniscule at best, and decided he had better things to do than ride buses around the southwest all summer.

I didn’t mind giving him a shot in camp, but personally I’m glad this is over before the season starts. We’ll always have 2003*, Eric.

(Hey, hopefully Ramon Troncoso can get #38 back!)

Should the Dodgers Trade For a Lefty Bat?

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Brian Giles is gone. Doug Mientkiewicz may not be able to play the field, and is hardly a power bat anyway. Garret Anderson is nearly 38, on a three-year decline, and hasn’t looked fantastic so far in camp. Xavier Paul has the tools and the defensive chops, but the club doesn’t seem to be seriously considering him. And despite rumors that the club would go without a lefty on the bench, that seems completely improbable.

So who is going to be the left-handed bat off the bench? While I agree that it’s still highly, highly likely that either Anderson or Mientkiewicz ends up with the job, I’d propose that going with subpar options simply because they’re the best you’ve got isn’t a good enough answer. If the team won’t go with Paul for whatever reason, then perhaps the answer is on another team that’s facing a roster crunch of its own.

As Tony Jackson reports, the Dodgers may have put Eric Stults, Jason Repko, and Chin-Lung Hu on the trading block. Each has their own reasons for possibly not making the roster, and none would bring back a huge return – but they may be enough to get an extra bat for the bench.

So what kind of player are we looking for? Lefty, obviously. Cheap, for sure. More likely a veteran who can handle coming off the bench than a young player, since playing time would be limited. Preferably with some power, and who can at least handle a first baseman’s mitt or corner outfielder’s glove without completely embarrassing himself. He’ll need to be in a situation elsewhere where he may be expendable, and while it doesn’t have to be a team that needs Stults, Repko, or Hu, it would certainly be a lot easier if they did.

After a quick look around MLB spring rosters, here’s some options. Be warned: they’re not all good options. They’re listed alphabetically.

Frank Catalanotto. The Cat turns 36 in April, so time isn’t on his side. Still, he’s only once in his career ever had an OPS+ under 95 and he’s had OBP of .342 and .346 in the last two years. Plus, he’s seen time at 1B, 2B, LF & RF in recent years. He’s not really a great option, I’ll grant. Then again, neither are Anderson and Mientkiewicz, and they can’t really play the field.

Willie Harris. Talk about a guy who’s turned his career around. After the 2006 season, Harris was 28 years old and had played parts of six seasons in the bigs, with a putrid line of .238/.306/.294. Yet after a 2007 stop in Atlanta, Harris became one of the only players to go to Washington and love it, since he’s put up a 101 OPS+ in two years as a Nat while seeing time at 2B, 3B, LF, and CF. He may not have the power you’d ideally like, but between the positional flexibility and the decent on-base ability, he’s a player wasted on a loser who could really help a contender. I’d definitely prefer him to Anderson, and you’d think the Nats would love any one of the numerous 5th starter candidates the Dodgers won’t be able to keep.

Eric Hinske. Hinske’s exactly the type of player the Dodgers could use. Not only is he a lefty, but he can play both infield and both outfield corners, which is perfect. Plus, he’s been a solid hitter off the bench for most of his career. Unfortunately, the Braves have two very fragile starters in the infield in Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus, so it’s unlikely they’d want to move Hinske unless they were blown away. Too bad; he’s a perfect fit.

Micah Hoffpauir. Hoffpauir’s an interesting case. Though he’s just turned 30, he has only 337 almost league-average (96 OPS+) MLB at-bats. Yet in the minors, he’s been a monster, putting up OPS of .917 and 1.145 in AAA in 2007 and 2008, including mashing 25 homers and 100 RBI in just 71 AAA games in 2008. He’s never really gotten a chance with the Cubs, partially because he’s a terrible fielder, and partially because he’s been stuck behind Derrek Lee and Alfonso Soriano. He’s not really a serious candidate here, because the team would never give the job to someone so inexperienced at the big league level, but that power sure is tempting, especially from a lefty 1B/OF. Still, if minor league power interested the Dodgers, they could have just kept Mitch Jones.

Mark Kotsay. Like Anderson, Kotsay isn’t, you know, good. That said, over the last two years, Kotsay has a .727 OPS, while Anderson has a .733, so he’s basically the same. While Anderson’s an outfielder in the same way that Manny is an outfielder, Kotsay’s a plus glove at 1B, and though he’s no longer the top center fielder that he once was, he’s playable in the outfield. With the White Sox loading up on every lousy Dodger outfielder of the last few years, Kotsay may be the last man to miss the roster. He’s probably not any better – if even as good as - Anderson (though he is crushing the ball in camp with a .944 OPS), but if you’ve got two evenly mediocre hitters, I’d certainly rather the one who can help you more in the field.

Laynce Nix. Nix is a plus outfielder at all three spots with some nice power – 15 homers in 337 at-bats for the Reds in 2009. Unbelievably, he’s not a creation of Great American Ball Park, since he hit 10 homers (.531 SLG) away from Cincinnati as opposed to just 5 (.428) at home last year. The Reds have a serious outfield jam, since CF and RF are committed to Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce while LF is up for grabs amongst about a dozen contenders, including Nix, Jonny Gomes, Chris Dickerson, Wladimir Balentien, and what the hell, let’s throw Eric Davis in there as well. Unless Aroldis Chapman breaks camp with the team, the Reds could have an all-righty starting rotation, which could make for a nice fit for Eric Stults. A power lefty who’s a plus glove? I’ll take that over Anderson nine days a week. Remember, while Reed Johnson is going to spot for Manny on defense, it’s not like Andre Ethier’s a Gold Glover out there either.

Delwyn Young. Nah, just kidding. Still, would be nice to have a left-handed bat who’s torn up AAA in camp right now…

As I said, not a ton of great options, and perhaps none that really stand out over Xavier Paul (other than Nix, who I was surprised to find that I really liked). Really, the point here is that since neither Anderson or Mientkiewicz are going to help you in the field (either in quality or flexibility) and neither are likely to be huge pluses at the plate, you might as well try to improve where you can.

Update: Figures, I post this and then Anderson gets 3 hits today. Still, that doesn’t change my opinion. There’s better options out there than him.

When Do Spring Training Stats Start to Matter?

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We all know that March stats are the most unreliable figures in baseball. The level of competition is uneven at best, since the rosters are full of minor league guys with no shot of playing in the bigs this season. You’ve got pitchers working up to their full velocity, or trying out that new curveball which they’d never throw in the regular season. Plus, hitters are either trying to get their timing down or just making sure they don’t hurt themselves. All these variables – plus the unbelievably small sample sizes – make spring training stats almost useless. We all love Blake DeWitt, but does anyone really think he’s going to OPS 1.092 this year, as he is in the spring? Do the 18 excellent innings put up by Russ and Ramon Ortiz matter more than the 9 or so horrible seasons they’ve combined for in the last few years? Of course not.

Yet at some point, you have to realize that James McDonald is rocking a 20.25 ERA – having allowed 19 runners in just 5.1 innings - and wonder how much of that stat line can be dismissed. When McDonald was knocked out of the 5th starter competition the other day, it didn’t bother me all that much; with the issues the bullpen is having and the limited number of starts the last rotation member gets, you could make the case he’d be needed more in the bullpen. But too many outings like yesterday’s…

McDonald, having pitched his way out of the competition for the final spot in the rotation, might have pitched himself off the team by allowing six runs on six hits with two walks in 1 1/3 innings. McDonald sat in front of his locker with head in hands after the game.

“James had a tough night,” said manager Joe Torre. “He had good stuff and got ahead 0-2, then it was 3-2, and all of a sudden bad things happened. He’s just got to be more economical.”

…and you wonder whether he’s even going to make the roster at all. Remember, despite his failure as a starter last year, McDonald was excellent out of the bullpen (2.72 ERA, 48/20 K/BB ratio) so his inclusion on this year’s squad should have been a foregone conclusion. But McDonald has been so bad this spring (nothing is more troubling than the 2/5 K/BB ratio) and there’s so many other pitchers impressing that it’s going to be hard to look past his otherwise meaningless spring line.

Remember, McDonald does still have minor-league options left, and the Dodgers have several pitchers in camp who can’t be sent down without being exposed to other teams. If it means holding onto Charlie Haeger, Eric Stults, Carlos Monasterios, or even the odd Ortiz or two, then perhaps Albuquerque is where he’s best served.

Obviously, there’s side-effects to that, both good and bad. Not having an effective McDonald in the bullpen as he was last year is another blow to a squad that’s missing Ronald Belisario (still!), has lingering health questions about Hong-Chih Kuo (though he did pitch an apparently pain-free inning last night), and an achy George Sherrill. That said, the long-term goal should be for McDonald to be an effective starter, and he’d certainly get much more of an opportunity to do that at AAA than in Los Angeles.

My best guess here is that unless he massively turns himself around, and soon, he’s pitched himself off the roster. But that’s hardly the last we’ll see of him, and once the inevitable injuries and poor performances at the big-league level happen he’ll still be a big contributor to the 2010 Dodgers.

James McDonald Heads to the Bullpen

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Via Tony Jackson’s Twitter:

Joe says J-Mac no longer a candidate for fifth spot. Vying for a bullpen slot now

This jives pretty well with what I thought yesterday when discussing the fifth starters:

James McDonald. Just like last year, I think we’d all come into camp hoping that McDonald would come away with the job. Who wouldn’t want to see the two-time team Minor League Pitcher of the Year in the rotation rather than the usual crew of retreads and has-beens? Despite McDonald’s failure in the role last year, he did turn his season around with an impressive run out of the pen, leading many (okay, me) to hope that he’d found his groove. Yet he’s been awful so far this spring (6 runs and 8 hits in 4 innings, with just 1 K and 3 walks), and with the extra room in the bullpen thanks to Belisario’s disappearance, he may be needed there. Odds: 10%

Considering how little the fifth starter gets used early in the season, and the extreme likelihood that the “fifth starter” will likely be four or five guys throughout the year, this isn’t terrible news. McDonald was excellent as a reliever last year, and might be in a better position to help the team that way in the early going.

Still, in the long run, a starter is more valuable than a reliever, and the 2011 rotation right now has only two probable names – Clayton Kershaw & Chad Billingsley. McDonald wants to start, and in the long run it’s better for the team that he does, successfully. Will he still get that opportunity?