The Shockingly Sudden Fall of George Sherrill
July 14, 2010 at 6:38 pm | Posted in George Sherrill | 19 Comments
Slightly less than a year ago, George Sherrill was so highly thought of that the Dodgers surrendered two minor leaguers, including highly regarded Josh Bell, to the Orioles for his services. He came to LA and was excellent, posting a 0.65 ERA to close out the season.
Yet today, he’s not even worthy of a roster spot in a bullpen which already has seen Ronald Belisario and Ramon Troncoso disappear:
The Dodgers put George Sherrill on outright waivers, according to Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (via Twitter). Price suggests Sherrill, who makes $4.5MM this season, will clear waivers. That would enable the Dodgers to option the reliever to the minor leagues. The 33-year-old lefty has a 7.32 ERA and nearly as many walks (16 BB) as innings (19.2 IP) so far in 2010.
Outright waivers are not revocable, so the Dodgers won’t be able to pull Sherrill back if a rival team claims him. A claim seems unlikely, given his salary and performance so far in 2010. If Sherrill clears waivers, the Dodgers will have an open 40-man roster spot.
It’s amazing, really. This is going to lead to a whole new wave of “Ned Colletti stupidly gave up prospects for a failed veteran” remarks, but even the most negative prognosticator couldn’t have foreseen just what would happen to Sherrill. His numbers are almost so bad that you can’t believe them: 2.237 WHIP, 12.8 hits per 9, and free passes to 7.3 per 9.
Yet it was even worse than that. Even the official baseball-reference blog posted a chart which showed his ERA+ to be the second worst in all of baseball among pitchers with at least 30 games, behind only Chad Qualls.When I dissected him a few weeks ago, I noted that he had gone six weeks without a strikeout. Think about that for a second.
A quicker fall from grace I simply cannot remember, and it’s shocking.
So what’s next? It’s unlikely that he’ll be claimed off of waivers with that kind of performance, so assuming he clears the Dodgers will likely try to option him to AAA, since they’re on the hook for his salary anyway. A veteran of his tenure cannot be sent down without his permission, so he’d have the choice of becoming a free agent instead, but he’d have to forfeit his salary to do so. (I think. Double-checking that.)(Yep, Ken Gurnick confirms it.)
As for the Dodgers, they do need a fifth starter on Monday against San Francisco, meaning John Ely is ineligible since it’s inside his ten-day window, unless someone gets hurt. (Speaking of which, we couldn’t have found a way to say Sherrill was hurt?) James McDonald is the likely choice for that role, but there’s also no need to recall him until just before that game. Personally, I’d love to see fireballing ex-catcher Kenley Jansen get a shot; he’s striking out an insane 16.1/9 for AA Chattanooga, while sporting a 1.88 ERA.
******
If you haven’t yet, please be sure to read Molly Knight’s profile of the McCourt divorce mess for ESPN the Magazine. It’s illuminating, but it’s not going to make you feel any better about the situation.
Scouting the Market: Relief Pitching
July 13, 2010 at 12:19 pm | Posted in Brandon League, David Aardsma, Jason Frasor, Kerry Wood, Kevin Gregg, Kyle Farnsworth, Octavio Dotel, Scott Downs | 11 CommentsWe’ve looked at the underwhelming crop of starting pitching available for the stretch drive; now it’s time to turn to what may be an even bigger need, the bullpen. Ronald Belisario‘s return is still unknown, and Joe Torre clearly trusts only Jonathan Broxton and Hong-Chih Kuo (and I suppose Jeff Weaver, but not in the same way.)
There’s actually some decent arms here, but the challenges in finding a reliever are many. Jon Weisman has already explained that trading for relievers isn’t always worth the trouble, and we’ve all seen how that worked out with George Sherrill this year. Besides, only teams who are woefully out of the race will be willing to move bullpen arms, but lack of said arms is in large part how they got to be so far out in the first place. Take a look at Baltimore’s bullpen, for example. Is there really anyone there who interests you? There’s quite the argument to be made that simply adding a James McDonald or Kenley Jansen to the bullpen (assuming that McDonald isn’t the 5th starter first) is the best course of action; there’s a quite larger argument to be made that there’s no way in hell the Dodgers will actually do that.
Either way, the Dodgers aren’t looking for a closer, the way some teams are. So if they are going to get someone, it’ll either need to be a pitcher who isn’t already a closer, or one who would accept the fact that he’s not coming to LA to usurp Broxton.
Scott Downs
Kevin Gregg
Jason Frasor
(all free agents after 2010, though Gregg has team options)
All three have been placed on the trading block by the Jays. I’ll take a break and let MLBTR cover these guys for me:
Gregg’s one-year, $2.75MM deal with the Blue Jays seemed curious in February, but he was installed as the team’s closer in April when Jason Frasor struggled. Gregg has a 3.67 ERA, 9.7 K/9, and 4.7 BB/9 with three home runs allowed in 34.3 innings this year. He’s saved 20 of 23 and bumped his groundball rate from last year.
After the season Gregg’s team can choose to retain him for zero, one, or two years. His club option is for $4.5MM in 2011 or $8.75MM for 2011-12. He currently profiles as a Type B free agent, and an arbitration offer seems possible. Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos figures to aim for more than the value of one supplemental draft pick if he trades Gregg now. Gregg has $913K remaining on his contract, plus a potential $750K buyout on the option.
Frasor’s control has slipped this year, especially against lefties. He’s getting more groundballs than last year, though more hits have dropped in too. Frasor has been better lately and remains a useful arm. He has $1.21MM remaining on his contract. At the moment, he profiles as a Type B free agent after the season. Downs, meanwhile, has trimmed walks and hits compared to ’09. The lefty is owed $1.83MM.
All three can be free agents after the year (Gregg, as noted, has unlikely team options), but if I had to choose, I’m definitely going with Scott Downs. Not only is he the most effective, he’s also a lefty, which is crucial with Kuo’s workload limited and Sherrill’s utility destroyed. He’s also the most expensive, though I’d hate to think that even under current circumstances, $1.8m for the rest of the year is a deal-breaker.
Of course, the Dodgers are hardly the only team in on relief help, since River Ave. Blues has the same idea for the Yankees:
I’m a big Scott Downs fan, so I’d prefer him over either Gregg or Frasor, but I’m not sure if Joe Girardi would be open to using him as a normal reliever instead of just having him face lefties. Gregg is the better of the two righthanders, given his long track record of missing bats. I’m always skeptical of trading for relievers given their penchant for sucking at the drop of a hat and for no apparent reason, but if the Yanks are going to make a move for bullpen help, these three probably represent the best available options.
(picture of Downs from the excellent Drunk Jays Fans.)
David Aardsma
Brandon League
(Each are under team control for ’11 and ’12.)
With the Mariners in full-fledged sell mode, the vultures are already circling around Aardsma and League. Now, since each are under control for two more seasons, the Mariners don’t necessarily have to trade either, which may increase the cost. The well-traveled Aardsma was seen as All-World in 2009 (2.52 ERA) and a massive disappointment in 2010 (5.40 ERA), but his FIP shows that he was neither as good as he was last year nor as bad as he is this year. I wouldn’t want him as my closer, but as the third or fourth arm in the pen you could do worse than his experience, 9.1 K/9 career rate, and 94.3 average fastball heat.
As for League, I mostly just added him here because I’ve been making the “Dee Gordon for Brandon League” joke for a few weeks now. I don’t actually like him all that much; his K rate has tumbled since last year (9.16 to 6.70) while his BB rate has risen (2.53 to 3.25). No thanks.
Added packaging bonus: Russell Branyan‘s a masher who hit 31 homers last year and has had only one season (2007) in the last decade with an OPS below .800, yet he’s also a lefty bat who can (sort of) play first, third, and the outfield corners. He’s got less than $1m coming to him for the rest of the year, and a $5m mutual option for 2011. He’s already been traded once this season and is supposedly back on the market; tell me how replacing Garret Anderson with Branyan wouldn’t be an enormous improvement both in power off the bench and roster flexibility?
Kerry Wood
(2011 team option for $11m)
I look at Wood in much the same way that I do Aardsma, in that I wouldn’t want him anywhere near the 9th inning, but between his heat and his experience he could be a decent arm to add to the mix. He does have about $5m coming to him for the rest of the season, so the Indians would have to kick in some help.
His horrendous 2010 ERA (6.30) is in large part due to one brutal May outing (5 ER in 0.1 inning). Since then, he’s done much better (a .691 OPS allowed in 18 games) and the Indians seem motivated to get what they can for him and install Chris Perez as the closer. He’s nowhere near the pitcher he once was, but he’s still pumping out 95 MPH heat and I’d rather see him come in in the 7th inning than Justin Miller.
Dotel has a little over $1m coming to him for the rest of the season and a $4.5m mutual option for 2011, but he’s been surprisingly effective for someone who’s been kicking around for so long. I know, the 4.89 ERA doesn’t seem like much, but that’s in large part due to a horrendous April (ER allowed in six games in a row). Since May 1, he’s saved 16 of 19 with a 2.81 ERA and a .184 batting average against, while striking out more than 10 per 9.
The perpetually rebuilding Pirates have All-Star Evan Meek and former Dodger Joel Hanrahan ready to take over in their bullpen, so you wouldn’t think they’d be dying to hold on to the 36-year-old Dotel all that badly.
I have to be honest, I don’t really hate the idea of tossing Dotel in for the late innings, assuming the price was reasonable.
The mere thought terrifies me, but there are rumors that he’s available. I can’t think of a concievable scenario in which seeing pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth in Dodger blue is okay. In fact, in lieu of actually analyzing him, I’m just going to present the Wikipedia description of his character from the online series “The Dugout”:
Known for his role in several bench-clearing brawls, Farnsworth’s Dugout character is ignorant, egotistical and vulgar, to the point that other characters have pointed out those traits, including his habit of calling players racial slurs for the wrong race. He types in all lowercase, with frequent misspellings and use of chat speak. Farnsworth has been the subject of a number of side stories, including a journey to fight the character King Triton from Disney’s The Little Mermaid when the Dugout “upgraded” to AIM Triton, and an Animal House-style attempt to watch the United States women’s national softball team sleepover with then-fellow New York Yankees reliever Scott Proctor” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Proctor”>Scott Proctor (DoctorProctor), which got them both hurt, but enabled Farnsworth to start an oft-troubled “relationship” with pitcher Cat Osterman (Gato). Farnsworth is considered to be the most popular Dugout character.
Aaaaaand the “Incidents” section from his own Wikipedia page…
Farnsworth was involved in a brawl that occurred in the 2003 season when his former team, the Chicago Cubs, were playing the Cincinnati Reds. Reds pitcher Paul Wilson stepped out of the batter’s box after an inside pitch, and started to yell at Farnsworth. Farnsworth then met Wilson a short distance from home plate and speared him to the ground. He was suspended three games for his actions, but MLB reduced the suspension to two games.[4]
In the 2004 season, Farnsworth angrily kicked an electric fan in the Cubs’ dugout after an outing in which he gave up six runs in one inning to the Houston Astros. Farnsworth ended up severely bruising and spraining his knee in the process, and was placed on the disabled list as a result.[5]
Farnsworth was involved in a bench-clearing fight in the 2005 season while playing for the Detroit Tigers, against the Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park. After order appeared to have been restored, Farnsworth charged Royals pitcher Jeremy Affeldt and tackled him to the ground in a similar fashion as he did with Paul Wilson. He was ejected from the game.[6]
On April 17, 2008, Farnsworth threw behind Boston Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez. While Farnsworth claimed that the ball slipped out of his hand as a result of trying to throw the ball as hard as possible, Ramirez was skeptical and surmised that the pitch was retaliation for Alex Rodriguez being plunked the prior night after hitting a home run in the game. Following Farnsworth’s pitch, the umpire issued warnings to both dugouts that any ill-intentions from that point forward would result in ejections.[7]
On June 17, 2009, Farnsworth’s left, non pitching hand was bitten while breaking up a fight between two of his American bulldogs — Strike and Rambo. The cuts to his hand from the bites were deep enough to reach, but not cut, a tendon. Farnsworth later taped his finger, tucked it into his glove, and went to practice telling manager Trey Hillman that he could pitch. When asked which of his dogs bit him, Farnsworth replied: “I don’t know,” Farnsworth said. “I reached in there and started grabbing dogs and throwing dogs. And one of them got me. One of those things that happens. It’s never pretty. I’ve had to do it a few times and it’s ugly.”
If you simply must know about his on-field performance this season, Baseball Prospectus notes that “He is having his best season in five years with a 1.98 ERA and 0.714 WXRL in 30 games for the Royals, though his SIERA is 3.77.” So there’s that. But still. No.
Scouting the Market: Starting Pitching
July 12, 2010 at 11:40 am | Posted in Ben Sheets, Brian Bannister, Carlos Zambrano, Jake Westbrook, Jeremy Guthrie, Livan Hernandez, Shaun Marcum, Ted Lilly | 38 CommentsLet’s start with the reality check you’re already no doubt aware of: the Dodgers aren’t going to get an “ace pitcher”. There’s just too many hurdles; between the immense amount of competition for the few decent arms available, the lack of upper-level minor league talent in the Dodger system, and the never-ending impact of McDivorce Court on the payroll, it’s just not going to happen.
They obviously didn’t get Cliff Lee, and they’re also not going to get Roy Oswalt, who’s still got north of $30m (probably, assuming he requires his 2012 option to be picked up upon being traded) coming to him. Even if the Dodgers could afford that kind of outlay – guess what, they can’t – the Astros’ talent demands are apparently, well, astronomical. (Sorry.) The same goes for Dan Haren, who also has upwards of $30m coming his way, without even considering what kind of price the D-Backs would extract for dealing within the division.
Those are the top pitchers on the market, and the Dodgers aren’t going to get any of them. This isn’t a revelation; you knew that already, so no use dreaming on what a Kershaw/Oswalt/Kuroda/Billingsley playoff rotation could be like. But what you can count on is that the Dodgers are going to get someone. Though the rotation has stabilized somewhat, depth is non-existent. All it takes is one absence from older, more injury-prone pitchers like Hiroki Kuroda and Vicente Padilla for the Dodgers to be sent back into the James McDonald/Carlos Monasterios/Charlie Haeger wormhole – and that’s without considering John Ely‘s growing inconsistency and devastating rookieness (I’m channeling Joe Torre here.)
Now you can argue whether or not you think it’s worthwhile to trade prospects for another starter, but you can’t really disagree with the fact that it’s going to happen. So we’re not talking about getting anyone who’s going to be teaming up with Clayton Kershaw to form a killer 1-2 October punch, unfortunately. I’m talking about exactly the kind of deals we saw in 2009, for relatively reliable veterans like Padilla and Jon Garland.
But remember, there’s a bigger need here as well; only Billingsley, Kershaw, and Ely are under contract for next season, and while Ely’s got an inside track to claiming a job, I wouldn’t call it a certainty just yet. The Dodgers are going to need to get at least two - and possibly three - starters before next year, and with Bill Shaikin already forecasting an offseason of “payroll limbo”, cost is going to be a huge issue. So some consideration must be paid to pitchers who under control for 2011 and beyond as well.
So let’s spitball some names, and yes: some of them are kind of depressing. It’s just the situation we find ourselves in. Before I begin, some other names that were suggested to me and why I didn’t include them: Brett Myers (no indication he’s on the market), Ricky Nolasco (talent cost would be too high), Rick Porcello (lousy year or not, the Tigers would be crazy to give up on him at 21), Pedro Martinez (would need several weeks to be ready to help, which the Dodgers probably wouldn’t be willing to wait for) & Fausto Carmona (incredibly team-friendly deal means he wouldn’t come cheap, and as a groundballer he needs a better defense than the Dodgers can provide).
Brian Bannister (7-7, 5.56)
Contract status: ~$1m remaining in 2010. Team control for ’11 and ’12.
Bannister, the hero of stat dorks everywhere and owner of bizarre day/night splits, has hardly been a world-beater in Kansas City. Don’t let the ERA fool you, though, because his xFIP is a more realistic 4.70. He’s been a little unlucky on home run balls, but otherwise his peripherals are more or less the same as they ever were.
Rany Jazayerli imagines the KC pitch:
Let’s face it: with his upper-80s fastball, there’s simply a limit to how good Bannister can be in the superior league. He’s the quintessential National League pitcher; against inferior hitters, without having to face the DH, and in a big ballpark – hello, NL West! – he could be a revelation. Plus, he’s an excellent hitter for a pitcher. At least, this is the pitch the Royals should be making.
Bannister’s reasonable contract is both a blessing and a curse; it would fit into the Dodgers’ payroll, but it also means that KC doesn’t need to dump him for peanuts. From the Royals’ point of view, their stacked farm system is so close that Bannister may be out of a job by this time next year anyway, so it may behoove them to move him now while they can. Additional terrifying bonus: Kyle Farnsworth is rumored to be available too, for possible packaging! I’m not sure how I’d feel about acquiring one of my favorite baseball players alongside one of my least favorite.
Shaun Marcum (7-4, 3.44)
Contract status: ~400k remaining in 2010. Team control for ’11 and ’12.
Marcum’s a pretty interesting case. When he’s healthy, he’s quite good, with a career 113 ERA+ pitching in the brutal AL East. Of course, he’s rarely healthy; he missed 2009 with Tommy John surgery and is currently on the DL with elbow inflammation, though an MRI showed no structural damage and he’s expected back soon. His cost is sort of hard to pin down; talented and affordable pitchers don’t come cheap, but his injury history may hold the cost down, and he is rumored to be popping up in trade discussions. Additional bonus: could be paired with relievers Jason Frasor, Kevin Gregg, or Scott Downs, all of whom are rumored to be on the market.
Ben Sheets (4-8, 4.63)
Contract status: ~$5m remaining in 2010.
I consider Sheets pretty unlikely, since he’s expensive, a free agent at the end of the year, and not really having a fantastic season. That said, he’s certainly going to be a name that pops up a lot, so I’ll briefly mention him. Unlike Bannister, his FIP and xFIP are basically the same as his ERA, so there’s not a whole lot of luck going on here, and his K rate is lower than it’s been since 2003. Now, part of his stat line is fueled by back-t0-back disaster starts (8 and 9 ER) in the early part of the season; in 13 starts since then, he’s been much better, allowing a 3.72 ERA.
The one thing Sheets does have going for him is that he’s seemingly healthy again, as his 112.2 IP would top Clayton Kershaw by one out to lead the Dodger staff. Oakland’s 8.5 games out of first, and Texas only looks to pull further away now that they have Lee, so Sheets is probably available. I still don’t expect to see him in LA, but he’s older and was once an ace, so that’s the kind of thing that would play with the local media.
Ted Lilly (3-8, 4.08)
Contract status: ~$6m remaining in 2010.
Like Sheets, the former Dodger farmhand is on a losing team and in the last year of his contract. Also like Sheets, he isn’t pitching his best and he’s probably going to be too expensive for the Dodgers.
Still, he’s in his mid-30s and he once pitched for Joe Torre, so you’d have to think he’s exactly the type of pitcher the club is looking for. Lilly’s striking out fewer than he ever has, but he’s also displaying his excellent control (2.23 BB/9), though his declining fastball velocity (85.9 MPH, down from his peak of 89 and last year’s mark of 87.1) is worrisome. He’s become somewhat of a hot name on the market as probably the top lefty remaining now that Lee is gone, but his price tag and performance scare me off a bit.
Jake Westbrook (5-5, 4.75)
Contract status: ~$5m remaining in 2010.
Westbrook’s much the same as Sheets and Lilly, as a veteran free agent to be who’s having a mediocre year. He’s actually been an Indian since 2001, though much of that time has been injury-riddled. This might be one of those cases where his value is likely highest to his current team than it would be to anyone else, due to his status as a long-time veteran leader on what is a very young team. For the Dodgers, he’s a 5th starter at best, and that’s not really worth the outlay in money or prospects.
Besides, I’m absolutely terrified of trading with Cleveland.
Jeremy Guthrie (3-10, 4.77)
Contract status: ~$1m remaining in 2010. Team control for ’11 and ’12.
Here’s what scares me about Jeremy Guthrie, and ignore the W/L record, because the Orioles are horrible. This is his fourth full season in the bigs, and his K/9 rate has decreased every year, from 6.3 in 2007 to 4.6 this year. It’s not a good sign. That said, he has excellent control (2.8 career BB/9), and his 4.85 career FIP is more or less in line with what he’s doing this year.
That also doesn’t take into account that he’s been in the AL East, and remember, that means something more for an Oriole. When you say that about a Yankee pitcher, for example, they never have to face the Yankee lineup. Guthrie gets to face them all, and doesn’t even get the luxury of ever facing the impotent Baltimore crew – so you’d expect somewhat of a boost simply by moving to the big parks of the NL West. Plus, he’s under team control for the next two seasons at what would likely be a reasonable cost (he makes $3m this season).
Carlos Zambrano (3-6, 5.66)
Contract status: ~$45m through 2012, plus 2013 option based on contingencies Zambrano will never achieve.
I know. I know. You could come up with a thousand reasons why this would be a terrible idea, and you wouldn’t be wrong about any of them. But you’ve seen the other less-than-appealing names which are available, you know how thin the rotation looks for next year, and sometimes you have to look for different alternatives.
Obviously, this could only work under a very specific set of circumstances, namely that the Cubs pick up an enormous amount of his remaining salary - say, $30m-$35m, meaning he costs the Dodgers under $5m per year. That’s probably not all that likely, but it’s also possible that his relationship with the Cubs has become so irreparably damaged that they’ll do anything to get rid of him – and his reputation is so bad that they couldn’t really expect a ton back.
The funny thing is, for all of the bad publicity around him, Zambrano’s really not having that bad of a year, or at least as bad as everyone thinks. His BB and HR rates are in line with his career numbers, and his K rate is actually the 2nd highest of his career. That ugly 5.66 ERA is largely inflated by a .374 BABIP, so his FIP is a more palatable 4.12 – or just about exactly what it was in 2006, when he went 16-7. This, despite being kicked to the bullpen and back.
I’m not saying it’s the best idea I’ve ever had, and I’m not saying I’m dying for it to happen. But the situation the Dodgers are in, they might need to take a leap of faith or two – if the conditions are right. It’s not like they haven’t found success with another supposed malcontent, Vicente Padilla.
Livan Hernandez (6-5, 3.37)
Contract status: ~400k remaining for 2010
Oh, if you hated Zambrano, you’re going to looooove this. Again, I’m not really advocating for him, but if the idea of acquiring a pitcher is not so much to get an ace, but to get someone more-or-less reliable for the back end to soak up innings without imploding or making you rely on Haeger or Monasterios, hear me out on this.
Hernandez may be kind of a joke, and the FIP doesn’t quite match the ERA. But he’s also put up at least 180 innings in every season since 1997, and his FIP has been below 5 in each of those years except for his 2007 stint in Arizona. People will look at his ugly ERA in 2008 and 2009, but just as he’s not as good as his ERA this year, he wasn’t as bad as that stat implied he was the last two years. (They just so happened to coincide with two unusually high BABIP numbers.)
He makes barely more than the minimum, and the Nationals couldn’t possibly ask for all that much in return. Besides, we’ve seen previous deals with Washington work out pretty well, right?
*******
No, I’m not enthused about all of these names. Do you really think I want to see Jeremy Guthrie, or that I’m happy I even have to consider Livan Hernandez? Of course not. We all just need to remember that the Dodgers are trapped within a lot of limits here. I don’t need to remind you of the payroll issues, but all of their top minor league chips are at least two years away, and there isn’t really anything they can move from the big club without creating a new hole to fill.
The top three starters for the playoffs, should they get there, are almost certainly going to be Kershaw, Kuroda, and Billingsley (unless Padilla continues his recent run, I suppose), and the way Kershaw’s been going, that’s not half bad. What they really need is someone to help them get there; someone who can provide depth in the back end and protection from injury. It’s not sexy, but it’s necessary.
Now tear me apart, you jackals.
Vicente Padilla Ends the First Half With a Bang
July 11, 2010 at 11:09 pm | Posted in John Ely, Vicente Padilla | 16 Comments
Can we just talk about Vicente Padilla for a second? He was absolutely masterful in tonight’s first-half finale against the Cubs, allowing just two hits and a walk in eight outstanding innings. More importantly, it was his fourth excellent start in a row, and first of the season in which he hasn’t allowed a home run.
Padilla’s been on a hell of a roll lately:
7/11 vs CHC: 8 IP, 0 ER, 6 K, 1 BB
7/6 vs FLA: 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 9 K, 1 BB
6/30 @ SFG: 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 K, 1 BB
6/25 vs NYY: 7 IP, 2 ER, 7 K, 1 BB
That’s following up the run he put together at the end of last season, upon joining the Dodgers. Really, other than his rough start to this season – and it’s not too much of a stretch to say that the arm injury that put him out for two months may have contributed heavily to that – Padilla’s been unbelievably reliable since coming to Los Angeles.
Say what you will about the Dodgers needing to acquire another starter (and believe me, I have about 2200 words on that subject coming tomorrow), the top four of Kershaw/Kuroda/Billingsley/Padilla has come together quite nicely.
Enjoy the three days off. I was going to say “I know I will”, but I feel like I have more words planned here than I do for when they’re actually playing. So stick around.
******
You probably heard already that John Ely was sent back to AAA, but I obviously don’t think we’ve seen the last of him. The immediate repercussion is to get an extra reliever up (in this case, Jon Link) instead of a 5th starter who wasn’t going to pitch for over a week anyway. I really don’t think we’ve seen the last of Ely, of course. Yes, the ten-day period you have to wait before recalling a player would mean that he couldn’t make his next start, but how hard would it really be to say that George Sherrill or Justin Miller came down with tetanus or something in order to do so?
******
I didn’t think about this as I was being asked it on Twitter, but for once I understand Joe Torre’s decision to pull Padilla after 8 sparkling innings, rather than letting him go for the complete game. Hong-Chih Kuo hadn’t pitched in a full week, and even if he gets into the All-Star Game, he still has two of the next three days off. Nothing wrong with making sure he gets his work in.
******
I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but Garret Anderson made another out, dropping his line to a putrid .173/.194/.276. He’s now in the bottom ten worst seasons in Dodger history for someone with as many plate appearances as he has. Xavier Paul got on base twice more tonight, and with Manny returning on Thursday after the break, someone’s going to have to go. Could we have possibly seen GA’s last at-bat as a Dodger? A man can dream.
And By “Two All-Stars”, We Meant “Four All-Stars”
July 11, 2010 at 1:29 pm | Posted in Hong-Chih Kuo | 6 Comments
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s announcement that Rafael Furcal would replace Jose Reyes, Dylan Hernandez reports some more good news:
Hong-Chih Kuo replaces Jason Hayward on NL All-Star roster
Sort of. Atlanta closer Billy Wagner was actually named as Heyward’s replacement, but declined in order to rest his ailing left ankle. Still, it’s a stunning turnaround for Kuo, who nearly retired after four arm surgeries and having to deal with his hand turning purple last year, but one that’s well-deserved. The fact that he’ll have to pitch rather than rest doesn’t even bother me, because he hasn’t pitched since last Sunday anyway, and even if he gets into today’s game he’ll still have Monday and Wednesday off regardless.
Congrats, Hong-Chih. It’s about time the rest of baseball recognizes this amazing story.
John Ely’s Streaky Season Continues
July 10, 2010 at 7:33 pm | Posted in John Ely, Rafael Furcal | 2 Comments
How streaky is John Ely? After a mediocre debut in New York (which I’m skipping here because A) his line in that game was inflated by his own lousy defense and B) I was there, and I’ve been at football games in December which were warmer), he ran off the stretch which inspired #ElyMania: six games in which he allowed 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, and 0 earned runs.
Then, he ran into a bit of a wall, allowing 4, 4, and 7 runs over the next three, before getting it right back on track with back-to-back seven-inning, one-earned run outings at Anaheim and San Francisco.
And now… this is his second game in a row in which he couldn’t get out of the third inning. It’s not that he’s lost his trademark control – four walks over those two outings isn’t that bad – but he’s also not making anyone miss. Ely managed just one strikeout today, and even that was against opposing pitcher Tom Gorzelanny.
You’re sure to hear calls for Ely to be replaced, but I think that’s premature. Don’t get me wrong; I think the Dodgers absolutely will acquire a starting pitcher before the month is out, and I don’t disagree with them for doing so. But it’s important to remember that Ely is essentially your 5th starter, yet he entered today’s game with a FIP of 3.53. Despite his two crappy starts in a row, he had those two excellent ones before that – and in the 13 starts he’s made since his debut, he’s allowed more than four earned runs in just three of them. From a rookie 5th starter, that’s performance you can live with.
Again, I’m not saying I’ll shed tears if/when he gets replaced by a trade import. Just that he deserves a crack to turn it around until that happens, rather than being replaced by someone from AAA who hasn’t proven much at the big league level like Charlie Haeger or James McDonald. Besides, with the All-Star Break coming up and then an offday on July 26th, the team could conceivably make it through the rest of the month needing to use the 5th starter’s spot just twice more.
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A few bits of good news from this game: A.J. Ellis and Xavier Paul each got on base twice and hooked up to throw out a runner at the plate, hopefully helping their cases to stick with the club. Even better, we saw some signs of life from the back end of the bullpen. Justin Miller struck out four of the six he saw and Carlos Monasterios struck out the side in the 7th (though allowing an Aramis Ramirez homer). Travis Schlichting‘s line score looks pretty – 2.2 scoreless – though he didn’t help Ely any by allowing singles to the first two men he faced, adding two more runs to Ely’s line. I imagine we’d have looked at Ely’s start a little differently had he allowed four earned runs rather than six.
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Update: Dylan Hernandez reports that Rafael Furcal will be added to the All-Star team to replace Jose Reyes, who will be dropping out due to injury. Obviously, this is what should have happened in the first place, but better too late than not at all.
We Know Where Ronald Belisario Is… Or Do We?
July 10, 2010 at 12:48 pm | Posted in Dee Gordon, Joe Torre, Pedro Baez, Ronald Belisario | 3 Comments
Reports are that we finally know what’s going on with Ronald Belisario, and it’s not good news:
Reliever Ronald Belisario left the team earlier this week to receive treatment in a substance abuse program, according to a source familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The source, who was not authorized to speak on the matter, would not specify if Belisario is receiving residential or outpatient treatment. The source also would not identify the substance abused by the right-hander.
Though this report comes from Dylan Hernandez and Bill Shaikin, who I consider to be two of the top three (along with Tony Jackson) Dodger reporters, I’m not sure I 100% buy this just yet.
Obviously, it makes sense on the surface, since he did pick up a DUI last summer. There’s just a few things that bother me about it – first of all, the fact that it comes from an unnamed source, with no confirmation. As we’ve learned over and over, unless someone’s willing to go on the record – and sometimes even then – it can’t be taken as gospel. Secondly, you’d think that if reporters started making that claim that someone, anyone, connected with the situation would admit to it to try to get out ahead of the story, yet everyone is still silent. Belisario’s agent even went so far as to reply via text message, “Why would you write that?” That doesn’t sound like a response that a man who knew he had been outed would give; it sounds like a man who doesn’t like that misinformation is headed out but can’t do much about it.
The other oddity is that the other day, the agent said Belisario might be headed back to Venezuela. You would think that international travel would not be the first order of business if this were an abuse situation rather than a family issue, no?
Or, I could be just looking for conspiracies where none exist. Wouldn’t be the first time. Either way, I hope he’s back soon.
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Regardless of the reasons for Belisario’s absence, the Dodgers are going to need to make a relief addition, and soon, because they have two reliable relievers right now, and the way Torre’s using them, that could be zero at any time. I had started an article about what reasonable starting pitcher they could acquire, since they obviously didn’t get Cliff Lee and won’t get Roy Oswalt or Dan Haren. But now I think that a relief pitcher article may be more important. Thoughts?
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Speaking of Lee, you’ve certainly heard that he’s headed to Texas for a package led by 1B Justin Smoak. Dodger fans shouldn’t be all that upset, because there’s no one like Smoak in the minor-league system. Reports are that if the Dodgers were going to get in for Lee, it would have cost them James Loney or Chad Billingsley, which makes no sense at all. That would obviously hurt them for the future, since Lee can walk at the end of 2010, and it doesn’t even help them that much for this year since there’s no replacement for Loney at 1B, dealing Billingsley means there’s no improvement in the rotation depth, and the bullpen is a mess anyway.
J, of J’s Dodger Blog, tweets that the LA Times reports that the Dodgers were willing to include any minor league in their system except one. I would have just linked directly to that piece, but I can’t seem to find it on their site. Either way, who do we think that one player is? Gordon? Chris Withrow? Ethan Martin?
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More weirdness from Joe Torre last night. One day after not allowing Clayton Kershaw to start the 9th with 97 pitches under his belt, he lets Chad Billingsley start the 8th with 115. Thanks to the big ball of fail that George Sherrill and Justin Miller followed up with, the seemingly-harmless single Billingsley allowed to the one hitter he faced in the 8th turned into an earned run against him. (Never trust ERA, kids).
I’m not actually going to kill Torre for bringing in Broxton last night, because the Cubs were slowly nipping away at the lead and Miller allowed the first batter to reach in the 9th. I mean, what else was he going to do there, let Miller blow the game? Bring in Carlos Monasterios or Jeff Weaver in that situation? Try to quickly warm up Hong-Chih Kuo? Of course not. The problem is that he’s now pitched in five of the last seven days, and warmed up in at least one of the two days he didn’t. It’s no wonder that he wasn’t in top form last night, though he did get the job done. That, more than anything else, is why I wanted Kershaw to get the opportunity to complete his game on Thursday. Sure, it’d have been nice for Kershaw, but more importantly, you just can’t use Broxton every single night. I pray that today’s game is a blowout, and if it’s not, we might see Kuo in as the closer.
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ESPN’s Keith Law ranks the prospects in the Futures Game. Gordon comes in at 23 in his list, and Pedro Baez is in the “Remaining Prospects” section.
23. Dee Gordon, SS, LA Dodgers: The Dodgers took a big risk promoting Gordon two levels to AA, and as predicted he’s struggled at the plate, with poor pitch recognition leading to all-around trouble on offense. He’s a plus runner and a potential Gold Glover at short, and he has the hands and bat speed to hit for average. His father is Tom “Flash” Gordon.
Pedro Baez, 3b, LA Dodgers: Has bat speed and some pop, with a plus arm at third, but is unrefined across the board, notably in plate discipline and instincts in the field. He’s had knee trouble as well, limiting the reps he needs to improve as a hitter.
Rafael Furcal Is Earning His Money
July 9, 2010 at 2:43 pm | Posted in Rafael Furcal | 6 Comments
Rafael Furcal, as you don’t need me to tell you, has been scary good this year, and especially so over the last six weeks. (And as you especially don’t need me to tell you, he should be an All-Star, no thanks to the ludicrous selections of Omar Infante and Jose Reyes.) You can just see it in the way he moves; he’s finally put the fear of re-injuring his back aside and can concentrate on playing the way he’s capable of. I’m trying to think of Dodger hot streaks like what we’re seeing now, and let me tell you: it’s not easy. Manny in 2008, for sure. Marlon Anderson at the end of 2006, maybe?
Last night, Furcal chipped in three more hits, including the go-ahead home run, saving the Dodgers from blowing yet another outstanding Clayton Kershaw start. I mean, choose whatever metrics you want; they’re all ridiculous. He’s got four homers in the last eight games, a stretch in which his OPS is 1.325. Over his last 31 starts (which span more than a month because of the time missed tending to his father) he’s only hitting an absurd .382/.422/.625. Here’s my favorite stat, though: in those 31 starts, he’s gone hitless just 7 times, but he’s had multiple hit games 17 times. Even his defense, which is hard to quantify but especially so over less than half a season, seems to have new energy; I noted on Twitter recently that I think I’ve seen him make more phenomenal plays this year than I have in the previous four years combined.
So it should come as no surprise that all of the leading stats paint him as the most valuable shortstop in baseball. FanGraphs shows him leading MLB SS in WAR, at 3.2 (and no complaining that Troy Tulowitzki has missed time, because with Furcal’s DL stint he’s actually still seven games behind Tulo), while Baseball Prospectus has him destroying the field in MLVr (Marginal Lineup Value rate, which I used instead of VORP because his missed time hurts him there). His position as top dog at his position this year is nearly indisputable.
But just how good of a season, in terms of Dodger history, are we seeing from our oft-injured shortstop?
Well, according to baseball-reference, there’s been 122 seasons in Dodger history in which a shortstop has accumulated at least 252 plate appearances, which is how many Furcal has after last night’s game.
Furcal sits atop that list, and it’s not even particularly a tight race:
| Rk | Player | OPS+ | PA | Year | Age | Tm | G | R | H | HR | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rafael Furcal | 147 | 252 | 2010 | 32 | LAD | 55 | 47 | 78 | 6 | .339 | .386 | .522 | .908 |
| 2 | Arky Vaughan | 126 | 685 | 1943 | 31 | BRO | 149 | 112 | 186 | 5 | .305 | .370 | .413 | .783 |
| 3 | Pee Wee Reese | 121 | 661 | 1954 | 35 | BRO | 141 | 98 | 171 | 10 | .309 | .404 | .455 | .859 |
| 4 | Pee Wee Reese | 120 | 590 | 1947 | 28 | BRO | 142 | 81 | 135 | 12 | .284 | .414 | .426 | .841 |
| 5 | Alex Cora | 119 | 293 | 2002 | 26 | LAD | 115 | 37 | 75 | 5 | .291 | .371 | .434 | .805 |
| 6 | Pee Wee Reese | 116 | 644 | 1946 | 27 | BRO | 152 | 79 | 154 | 5 | .284 | .384 | .378 | .762 |
| 7 | Glenn Wright | 115 | 581 | 1930 | 29 | BRO | 135 | 83 | 171 | 22 | .321 | .360 | .543 | .903 |
| 8 | Maury Wills | 113 | 479 | 1969 | 36 | LAD | 104 | 57 | 129 | 4 | .297 | .356 | .378 | .734 |
| 9 | Pee Wee Reese | 113 | 743 | 1949 | 30 | BRO | 155 | 132 | 172 | 16 | .279 | .396 | .410 | .806 |
| 10 | Jose Offerman | 112 | 511 | 1995 | 26 | LAD | 119 | 69 | 123 | 4 | .287 | .389 | .375 | .765 |
I look at that list and I get hit with a few immediate thoughts – namely, “damn, Pee Wee Reese was good!” and “I don’t know who Glenn Wright was, but his line came in 1930 so it doesn’t count.” (Dead last? Juan Castro‘s atrociously amazing .199/.245/.255 campaign in 1998. The resulting .499 OPS is still far better than Garret Anderson‘s .477 this year. Ha!) But mostly what I think is, “everyone else on that list is one, maybe two or three points ahead of the next guy. Furcal is crushing Arky Vaughan, and it’s not close.
Change the parameters of the search to focus on career totals rather than individual seasons (we’ll set the minimum at 450 games as a Dodger, or about three full seasons), and you get much the same result:
| Rk | Player | OPS+ | G | From | To | Age | PA | R | H | 2B | HR | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rafael Furcal | 103 | 538 | 2006 | 2010 | 28-32 | 2474 | 373 | 647 | 109 | 41 | .291 | .357 | .418 | .775 |
| 2 | Pee Wee Reese | 99 | 2166 | 1940 | 1958 | 21-39 | 9470 | 1338 | 2170 | 330 | 126 | .269 | .366 | .377 | .743 |
| 3 | Jose Offerman | 87 | 579 | 1990 | 1995 | 21-26 | 2297 | 257 | 503 | 65 | 8 | .256 | .344 | .325 | .669 |
| 4 | Maury Wills | 87 | 1593 | 1959 | 1972 | 26-39 | 6744 | 876 | 1732 | 150 | 17 | .281 | .331 | .332 | .663 |
| 5 | Bill Russell | 82 | 2181 | 1969 | 1986 | 20-37 | 8020 | 796 | 1926 | 293 | 46 | .263 | .310 | .338 | .648 |
| 6 | Phil Lewis | 80 | 508 | 1905 | 1908 | 21-24 | 1940 | 146 | 429 | 33 | 4 | .242 | .281 | .282 | .563 |
| 7 | Dave Anderson | 77 | 713 | 1983 | 1992 | 22-31 | 1943 | 206 | 399 | 63 | 16 | .235 | .312 | .311 | .622 |
| 8 | Ivy Olson | 75 | 1053 | 1915 | 1924 | 29-38 | 4530 | 486 | 1100 | 134 | 11 | .261 | .295 | .325 | .620 |
| 9 | Don Zimmer | 69 | 459 | 1954 | 1963 | 23-32 | 1469 | 145 | 303 | 43 | 43 | .228 | .286 | .366 | .653 |
| 10 | Cesar Izturis | 68 | 590 | 2002 | 2006 | 22-26 | 2396 | 238 | 579 | 103 | 9 | .260 | .296 | .336 | .632 |
It’s not a big stretch to say that you’re looking at the best shortstop in Los Angeles Dodger history, and while it’s hard to compare the sum contribution of his five years here to the totality of Reese’s 19-year-stretch as a Dodger (all but the final one in Brooklyn), Furcal’s 2010 has reached heights that Reese never saw.
So what can we expect the rest of the season? Well, no one could keep up this level of play, so don’t be all that surprised when he regresses a little, but I’m not sure that the regression is going to be all that huge. Much of this is due to a .373 BABIP, high above his normal average, but his other stats are more or less the same. We’ve seen other guys show improvement when they’ve improved their plate discipline or contact skills, but Furcal is swinging at the same amount of pitches and making contact at the same rate he always has. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that improved health (and improved confidence in that health, which is almost as important) has allowed him to get better swings on those balls, leading to more solid hits and better opportunities to use his speed. And with Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and (eventually) Manny Ramirez directly behind him, opposing pitchers won’t have much incentive to work around him.
Enjoy it while it lasts, friends. Because this may be the best shortstop any of us have ever seen wearing the Blue.
Clayton Kershaw Takes That Next Step
July 9, 2010 at 12:46 am | Posted in Clayton Kershaw, Rafael Furcal | 12 Comments
The number most people are going to see next to Clayton Kershaw‘s name tonight is “12″, the number of strikeouts he had. Me? I’m far more interested in seeing that nice round “0″ next to walks, because we’ve always known he was going to strike people out. The only thing that was going to hold him back from becoming a superduperstar was the wildness, because not only would the troublesome walks allow more men to reach base (obviously), they’d inflate his pitch count to the point where he struggled to get out of the 6th inning.
Tonight? No such worries, since we saw one of the best outings of his young career – 8 innings, 12 K, 0 BB, and while he did give up a two-run solo homer to Alfonso Soriano, that ball was hit so hard that it was almost enjoyable to watch.
Going back to his last start, Kershaw has now struck out seventeen batters since last walking anyone, and this makes two of his last three starts where he didn’t allow a single free pass. In fact, only twice in his last thirteen outings has he allowed more than three walks. Pairing that with the strikeouts, this is the 17th time in Dodger history where a starter has had 12 or more whiffs without allowing a walk. Chad Billingsley did it in 2008, and Brad Penny in 2007; before that, it hadn’t happened since Kevin Gross in 1992.
It’s clear here that what we’re seeing here is exactly what we’d all hoped would happen – the maturation of a talented young pitcher into the ace (hate that word, but it fits) that this club needs. The sad part? People are only going to notice because his 9-4 record is starting to look sparkly.
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Rafael Furcal. What can you say? I mean… holy Jebus. That’s three more hits, including the go-ahead homer, for a man who might just be on the hottest hot streak I can ever remember (non-Manny-in-2008 division). I had written part of an appreciation for him earlier this week, then shelved it when Jon at Dodger Thoughts posted basically the same thing. At this point, screw it – the man deserves all the love we can give him, so it’s coming back soon. As you’ll see, I’m not exaggerating when I say we’re witnessing some of the best shortstop play in the entire history of the franchise. ****** Fun fact: neither Kershaw nor Furcal are All-Stars. And you wonder why I consider the entire thing a joke.
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Just a slight quibble with Joe Torre tonight. Kershaw, as I noted, made just 97 pitches and struck out four of the last six men he faced. The bullpen is under even more stress than usual with Ronald Belisario still MIA, and indeed the only two men Torre trusts – Jonathan Broxton and Hong-Chih Kuo – each warmed up. Why not just let Kershaw start the 9th in pursuit of his first complete game? He was obviously not tired or beginning to struggle, and any game in which you don’t need to use Broxton or Kuo is a plus. Kershaw deserved at least the opportunity to get out there for the 9th, even if you pull him as soon as anyone reached base. You’re never going to get him in the mindset that he should try to go nine, if you never even let him try.
The Least Depressing Shutout Loss Ever
July 8, 2010 at 9:59 am | Posted in Brad Ausmus, Garret Anderson, Jay Gibbons, Ronald Belisario, Trent Oeltjen | 12 Comments
Sometimes your team gets completely shut down, and you get frustrated. You wonder why your stars look bad at the plate, you can’t figure out how the opposing pitcher is getting everyone out with his junk, and you wonder why Garret Anderson continues to exist.
Not last night, though. Despite getting about 10% of the press that Ubaldo Jimenez gets, Josh Johnson is just about indisputably the best pitcher in the NL right now, if not all of baseball. And when you run into a train like that, sometimes it’s better to just sit back and appreciate the performance, even if it’s sending your team directly to a loss.
Besides, as Jon noted, the Dodgers tossed out 8 scoreless innings of their own, so aside from a tough 2nd inning, it was hardly a disaster. Definitely one of those games where you say, “yep, that happened” and move on.
Anyway, tons of other minor notes to get to:
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Remember the other day when I mentioned that Brad Ausmus‘ recovery from back surgery was ahead of schedule and that he might be looking to begin a rehab stint after the All-Star break? Apparently, it was even closer than that, since he DH’d for Lake Elsinore last night, going one for two. He’s supposed to catch three innings today, and while 1/3 of a game after DH’ing the night before may not sound like much, not forcing a 41-year-old coming off of back surgery to take a day off after his first game back sounds like he’s in better shape than any of us anticipated.
Barring a setback, that means Ausmus’ 30-day rehab clock is ticking, putting his return in the first week of August at the latest. I already discussed whether that was really a good thing or not, but it’s also worth noting the domino effect that will have throughout the organization. A.J. Ellis would likely get sent back to AAA, where Lucas May has a .902 OPS that’s only partially fueled by the ABQ effect. You’d think the team would want each to play every day, but it’s hard to demote May to AA now.
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Still no news on what sent Ronald Belisario to the restricted list, but the more I hear about it the more it sounds like it’s a family emergency and not a substance abuse problem. Tony Jackson:
Kinzer also said that Belisario was still in Los Angeles, but indicated the pitcher might be heading home to Venezuela at some point.
“It’s just some personal problems, and he’s got some things he’s got to work through,” Kinzer said. “It’s just a lot of anxiety, and that is about all I want to say right now.”
Pressed on what he meant by the word “anxiety,” Kinzer declined to offer details.
“Right now, he is [still in town], but we will have to see how things work out later,” Kinzer said. “Obviously, his family is in Venezuela. But we haven’t set up [any travel].”
If it was some sort of disciplinary action or rehab issue, you’d think that leaving the country wouldn’t be an option. The fact that he’s from Venezuela is doubly concerning, as Yorvit Torrealba, Victor Zambrano, and Ugueth Urbina have all had to deal with kidnapping situations there in recent years.
Again, we have no idea if that is the case, but the pieces all fit. For the sake of everyone involved (and while I include the Dodger bullpen on that list, they’re about 78th on it) let’s hope it’s something else entirely.
******
Garret Anderson put up another 0-4 with 2 K, plummeting his line to .182/.197/.280. For once, I’m actually not trying to single him out here, because it’s no shame to go hitless against Johnson, and Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal suffered the same fate.
However, earlier this week I noted that 1,337 Dodgers in history had as many plate appearances as GA did, and his OPS+ rank was 1,318, putting him in the bottom 1.33% as far as productivity goes. The four chances last night knocked out a few of those players who now have fewer PA’s than his 138, and the four outs pushed GA’s OPS+ from 34 to 29.
That means the updated standings have Anderson at 1,322 of 1,334 seasons, or in the bottom 1%. With one more plate appearance, he’ll be able to remove Moe Berg’s 1921 and Ben Geraghty’s 136 from the cutoff point, and another out or two will probably push his OPS+ below Bill Bergen’s 1904.
And yes, I am going to keep track of this, because the historical significance is stunning. He just needs 14 more plate appearances to qualify for the worst offensive season in Los Angeles Dodger history by someone with that many chances, and that’s something worth tracking. Fortunately for him, the -4 (yes, negative) that Bergen put up in 250 PA in 1904 is probably safely out of reach.
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Albuquerque updates: Claudio Vargas got lit up for 7 earned and 10 hits in just 3.2 innings for the ‘Topes last night against the Iowa Cubs. His ERA is 7.71. It’s ah, not working out. In better news, Jay Gibbons will be taking part in the Home Run Derby, before playing in the game alongside teammates Lucas May and John Lindsey. Gibbons is somewhat a result of the ABQ air, but he’s also a lefty who can play outfield and a bit of 1B, and doesn’t have his OBP about to drop below .200, like Garret Anderson‘s is. Just sayin’.
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For the sake of completeness, let’s note that the Dodgers released Timo Perez from AAA and signed former D-Back Trent Oeltjen, who had opted out of his minor-league deal with the Brewers last week. The Australian native has had minor league OPS’s over .800 in each of the last three years, and had been on a hot streak recently. But it’s not his bat that denied him a call-up:
Oeltjen had been on an offensive tear with the Sounds, raising his batting average to .301 with 24 doubles, two triples, eight homers, 38 RBI and a .851 OPS. But his defense wasn’t considered major-league ready, so the Brewers opted not to call him up and move out one of their players.
“Our reports were that he was coming on dramatically with the bat,” said assistant general manager Gord Ash. “We liked him, obviously. That’s why we signed him. But as a defensive outfielder, he wasn’t what we were looking for.”
So after opting out of his deal, a man who clearly should have signed with an AL team in order to keep the DH option open not only stayed in the NL, but he signed with perhaps the only other team who can top Milwaukee’s level of outfield stackitude. Time for a new agent, maybe?
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