SB Nation - Jeremy Accardo

Raul Chavez Non-Tendered

Tom Dakers — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:01:27 -0000

Everyone else gets a contract.

A personal opinion is that Jose Bautista shows that Cito still holds a lot of power in with the team. My worry now is that we are going to go into the season with a .235 hitting corner outfielder, leading off, made worse because he doesn't hit right handers at all.

Oh well, I guess we weren't planning on winning next year but still.....paying $4 million plus for a guy that doesn't hit most pitchers out there is not exactly good use of resources.

All the others on the bubble were tendered a contract. Jeremy Accardo must be thrilled, though I'm sure his agent told him it was likely to happen. I'm sure the team will try to trade him. He won't get too much in arbitration, so he'll still be an attractive piece in a trade.

I don't think that not offering Raul a contract means much, if they decide they want him they can offer him a free agent contract. But it also might mean they have an idea of who they can get to catch. We have no catchers on the 40-man roster now.

There is at least one other catcher newly on the market today. The Royals let John Buck go. If you are a fan of bad GM's the Royals are the team for you, he's given Jason Kendall a two year contract worth $6 million. That's just nuts.

There are also more outfielders available, Ryan Langerhans, Brian Anderson, Ryan Church and Jack Cust were non-tendered. And if you are thinking about another starting pitchers, Chien-Ming Wang was let go by the Yankees.

For a complete list of players non-tendered, MLB Trade Rumors has it here.

(Non-)Tender is the Night

Jim McLennan — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:00:18 -0000

10pm Arizona time today marks the non-tender deadline: the last chance for teams to offer contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man roster. If they opt not to do so, players become free agents, and can sign with any club. It looks like the Diamondbacks will offer deals to all their players in this category, such as Conor Jackson, but might there be a chance for the team to pick someone up, released by another club? There are usually some useful pieces that get cut loose, and it can be a chance to pick someone up for a relative song.

Tim Dierkes has put up a list of potential non-tenders at MLBTradeRumors.com. Some of these will certainly be given contracts (his list contains Jackson, and you can take it to the bank that the team will not let him walk away from Arizona), and others we might not want to touch with someone else's ten-foot bargepole. However, after the jump, we'll take a look at some interesting names in the positions the D-backs need help, on on whom we may want to kick the tires if they become available.

Jeremy Accardo. Over the past three seasons, Accardo has an ERA+ of 160 for the Blue Jays, though admittedly, he only threw 37 major-league innings in 2008 and 2009 combined, and spent most of last year in Triple-A [posting an ERA of 3.00 in 27 appearances]. A local boy - born in Mesa - he could be a useful arm to add to the Diamondbacks bullpen.
Garrett Atkins. Purple Row says he has been officially non-tendered by the Rockies. Last year was a disaster for him - OPS+ of just 66 - but his career numbers are still solid. He's only 30, is a career .289 hitter, averaging 20 homers per season, and even adjusting for Coors, has a career OPS+ of 102. Of particular interest to Arizona because he murders LHP, so could be a nice platoon-mate for Allen at first-base.
Taylor Buchholz. While we're pillaging Coors Field, maybe they'll let Buchholz slip through. This may seem unlikely, since he was lights-out in the Rockies bullpen last season, posting an ERA of 2.17 over 63 games. Normally, there'd be little chance of that kind of performance being non-tendered, but the Rockies have to find an awful lof of arbitration money for 2010.
Jack Cust. A former Diamondbacks' top-draft pick, I should stress there's absolutely no chance of us taking on Mr. Hands of Stone. But I just think it would be amusing to have the 2008 and 2009 K leaders from both leagues playing on the Diamondbacks next year...
Ryan Garko. While he flopped badly with the Giants down the stretch, he has produced four straight season of 100+ OPS+. He's another who kills southpaws - Garko's career line vs. LHP is .313/.392/.495, though he's never going to win any Gold Gloves at first. Will probably still be in SF: Grant from McCC reckons, "If the Giants start 2010 with Garko as the starting first baseman, that's just fine."
Kelly Johnson. Like Atkins, a poor 2009 derailed what was looking like a decent career - an OPS+ of 108 prior to last season is excellent for a second-baseman, and he has a good defensive reputation as wel;. Ken Rosenthal reports that the Braves are trying to trade Johnson, but will non-tender him if a deal can not be worked out before the deadline.
John Maine. 28-years old, ERA+ of 106 in his four seasons with the Mets. Should be a no-brainer to keep that guy in the Big Apple, right? Apparently not. New York have been dangling him in trade talks, such as with the Brewers for outfielder Corey Hart. Still, even if that falls through, you'd have to be stupid to let him walk away. However, we are talking about the Mets...
Brandon Medders. A tale of two Brandons, both former D-backs who'll be aged 30 next Opening Day. B. Lyon, career ERA+ of 111, gets a three-year, $15m deal from the Astros. B. Medders, career ERA+ 136, is a possible non-tender candidate from the Giants. Seems fairly certain he will be offered a contract though, and the Giants would be mental not to do so.
Chien-Ming Wang. Perhaps the most intriguing name on the list, this would have seemed unthinkable last year, with career numbers of 54-20 and an ERA+ of 117. However, Wang imploded - his first three starts led to 23 earned runs in just six IP, and he had season-ending shoulder surgery on July 30. Some team will offer the sinkerballer an incentive-laden contract: 50/50 whether its a bargain or a bust.

Won't You Please Let Me Go: Arbitration for Eligible Jays?

hugo — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:38:02 -0000

More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP

I'm not ready to let Jeremy Accardo walk away just yet (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)

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Following up on Tom's post, I figured I'd take a break from my too-long hiatus to put up my views on the arbitration-eligible Jays.

I don't see the point in offering Shawn Camp arbitration. He pitched well for the team last year but there are cheaper alternatives that have more upside. And he's not even a FA after 2010, as far as I know, so there's not really a reason to keep him around for the draft pick (assuming you think he could get there) either.

Jeremy Accardo, I would offer a contract. Obviously Cito doesn't like him, but he has talent and would be a mainstay in a number of MLB bullpens. I would try to trade him. If they can't get anything useful back, I'd see if he can make the big-league bullpen out of spring, which I think he can. If he doesn't make the team, I'd release him then out of fairness to Jeremy or trade him for whatever is out there. Cito might be what we call testa dura, but he does change his mind about players sometimes and an improved attitude (and, more importantly, improved control) on Jeremy's part could give him a new lease on his Jays career.

Jose Bautista has to be non-tendered, in my view. Even if the Jays want to keep him, I think they can non-tender him and retain him for less money. $4 million is way too much for a utility player (which is what he better be) on a non-contending team. I don't see a lot of teams knocking down the door to snatch him up and if someone wants to give him a starting job, more power to him.

Raul Chavez, I'm not sure it matters one way or the other but he did a nice job last season. I'm not a fan of what I consider to be over-catching, but the pitchers didn't seem to mind.

Casey Janssen and Dustin McGowan, I think you absolutely have to offer deals. Neither is going to cost much more than the minimum and while there are huge long-term concerns for both (McGowan if he'll ever pitch again, Janssen if he'll ever be as good as he was), they do both have proven major league success and when you have the chance to get that for close to the minimum, you take it.

Shaun Marcum, Jason Frasor, and Brandon League to me are no-brainers, as is Brian Tallet. Tallet is right on the bubble of being a Type B free agent in 2010, is a useful lefty out of the pen, and shouldn't be too expensive.

Today's title from the incredible song "Age of Consent" by New Order, one of my favorite winter bands.
Stay warm.

Breaking Down Arnsberg: What Are the Astros Getting?

davoag — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:00:27 -0000

More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP

Is the criticism of Brad Arnsberg justified?

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In case you missed the FanShot from last Friday, the Astros hired a new pitching coach. Brad Arnsberg comes with a reputation as a young pitcher-killer, but was loved by all his staffs and seemed to be able to work some magic with 'reclamation projects.' The World Wide Web was abuzz with articles about his abundance, or lack thereof, of talent. A fine hat-tip to clack and AstroAndy for linking to them.

What I wanted to do, though, is to see if it was warranted. What we're really worried about here are young pitchers, right? Guys 24 years old and younger are in the prime area for suffering from over-use. There are two different models out there currently used to predict injuries to young pitchers. Both were researched pretty thoroughly, but it's hard to tell if they're good predictors of injury potential or just good at explaining what happened in the past.

When I went back to research Arnsberg, I looked at every staff he had from 2000 in Montreal to 2002 with the Marlins and through his five-year tenure in Toronto. I focused on all the pitchers he had that were 24 or younger. This is a bit of a departure from the model, since they stop at 25, but since two-thirds of his stops were of the one-year variety, I downgraded the age a year. The two methods I mentioned were Tom Verducci's theory on an increase in innings from year to year, most recently laid out here. The other was Pitching Abuse Points (PAP), first published back in 1998 by Rany Jazayerli here. I believe it's been tweaked a bit here and there since then, but it's a good starting place for the discussion. My results after the jump...

Arnsberg oversaw 28 different pitchers in their Age 24 season or younger. His biggest year for this was in 2000 in Montreal, when 10 different young pitchers got into games. The 2000 season also seemed to be a learning year for Arnsberg as to how best to utilize pitchers. Of the 10, only one threw more innings than the previous season (Javier Vasquez, +63 IP) and only one had more than 10 PAP per start (Vasquez, 16 PAP). Carl Pavano pitched seven fewer innings than in 1999, but had a PAP/Start of 4.8 and then suffered an injury the following season. The rest all had significant drops in innings pitched and none had more than 2 PAP/start. None of the relievers in his bullpen threw three straight days and only Pavano suffered an injury the following season. Knowing what we do now about Carl, it's easy to see it probably wasn't Arnsberg's fault.

The next year he surfaced was in 2002 with the Marlins. Five guys played at 24 or younger and two of the five had jumps higher than 30 innings. Both Justin Wayne and Nate Robertson pitched over 40 innings more than the previous season, but each threw the majority of their innings in the minors, not the majors. It's hard for me to pin these jumps on Arnsberg for that reason, since their workload was controlled by the minor league pitching coordinator, not the big league pitching coach. As for the other three, Josh Beckett threw 47 less innings than the previous season and averaged 2.1 PAP per start. Pretty reasonable for a 22-year old. Brad Penny had a 69 inning drop in his workload and had 0.8 PAP/start. The other guy in this group was Blaine Neal, a reliever who saw his workload go up by six innings and was used three straight days twice that season. One of those times, though was on both ends of a double-header, when he faced just one batter in the first game. No real injury trouble here, at least not by Arnsberg's work. Beckett had the blister problems, but that's not related to overuse and Penny did have arm trouble, but much later than this.

On to the Toronto years, where Arnsberg saw an impressive group of young pitchers hit the big leagues. In his first season, he had five pitchers in the age range we are looking at. Two drastically increased their inning total (Dustin McGowan, +70, Chad Gaudin +74) while one starter also saw an uptick into the danger zone (Gustavo Chacin +36). The other two guys, Brandon League and Shaun Marcum had smaller increases or decreases, but only Chacin had any PAP to speak of. Chacin's total of 3.7 PAP/start is high, but not distressingly so and his innings increase was slight in comparison to McGowan's. Still, Chacin did suffer a major drop-off in performance and had an injury or two thrown in for good measure. Of course, his delivery is a bit quirky and he came out of nowhere to begin with, so it's hard to say whether Arnsberg led to this flameout. Certainly, the other guys on this list went on to have solid years after 2005, so we may just be dealing with a small sample size.

In 2006, Arnsberg oversaw seven young pitchers, including newcomers Casey Janssen, Ty Taubenheim, Jeremy Accardo and Davis Romero. Accardo, Romero and Dustin McGowan all had inning increases but the rest saw their totals drop. Janssen was the only pitchers with more than 1 PAP/start and his was exactly one. Marcum saw his total drop by 35 innings and had a PAP of 0.8 while League had a slight drop in innings, but was used twice three games in a row. Taubenheim moved from a starter's role in the minors to the bullpen in the majors, which explains his 60-inning drop. None of the evidence here supports the conclusion that misuse led to any injuries.

In 2007, there were only four pitchers in our age-range, including two holdovers, League and Taubenheim. Newcomers Jesse Litsch and Josh Banks both saw increases, though Litsch saw his total rise by 29 innings, just underneath the magic threshold. Litsch also had just 0.7 PAP/start, meaning he wasn't throwing a ton of pitches. League saw his total drop by 59 innings, in part due to injury (I think, though I can't find it anywhere). Taubenheim had his total rise by 15, but was not used in more than two straight games, so he didn't really get overworked.

Litsch was the only pitcher considered young in 2008 and he saw his total innings drop by 11, but his PAP jumped up to 4.2 per start. More distressingly, though was how he was used down the stretch. From August 21 to September 29, Litsch started nine games and threw 61 innings and 980 pitches. He totaled 88 PAP for an average of 9.7 per start, a huge jump over the beginning of the season. He went 5-4 over this stretch and had an average game score of 62.4. Those were both reasons why he pitched so much, I'm sure. He was doing so well that the Jays wanted to keep him pitching to keep them in the race, as the team got to 12 games over .500 on Sept. 12. However, Litsch was pretty much abused during this stretch. He was used once on two days' rest, throwing 49 pitches over three innings and was used once on three days' rest in the back half of a doubleheader. Litsch threw 110 pitches over 5 1/3 innings.

In 2009, Litsch was shut down in April and finally had Tommy John surgery in June. I think it's safe to say that his usage pattern at the end of 2008 may have led to this, but we can't be certain. Arnsberg's last year with Toronto saw five pitchers in our age-group, including Litsch. Ricky Romero, Brett Cecil, Mark Rzepczynski and Brad Mills made major-league debuts and all but Mills saw increases in their inning totals. None saw jumps of over 30, though they all had more PAP than in Arnsberg's past. Romero tallied 6.3 PAP/start and saw his innings jump 14, while Brett Cecil had a jump of 24 innings and 2.1 PAP/start. Rzepczynski made the jump straight from Double-A and saw an increase in 28 innings while having a PAP of 3.8 per start.

What does this mean? Arnsberg gets blamed for the injuries to Marcum and McGowan, but in their formative years with the club, you can see he really didn't do much to hurt them. Only in 2008 did his usage patterns significantly change, and that also coincided with a new manager, Mr. Old School Cito Gaston. This is a classic example of a guy from a bygone era trying to throw pitchers out there like they did in the '70's and hoping it will work. In 2008, for example, Gaston used pitchers on short rest six times, while the American League average was just 3.7. In 2009, he was right in line with the league average of 3, but it still shows that he used his pitchers differently than most of the league. Arnsberg didn't like it, and clashed with his manager as was chronicled here and here. I'm not sure you can blame Arnsberg for what happened to Litsch but you definitely can't blame him for Marcum and McGowan. B.J. Ryan also can't be blamed on him, nor can A.J. Burnett, as both guys had either a history of injuries or a jump in innings before coming to Toronto.

At least one place is mad Arnsberg left Toronto, while there are a couple other places that still levy criticism. I'm not sure how Arnsberg will do with Houston, but I do know he's got a pretty good track record of keeping the young guys healthy. He'll have a tough time on his hands next season, though, as Bud Norris saw a 95 inning jump in his workload, though his PAP/start was just 0.5. Yorman Bazardo was also in the danger zone with a 34 inning jump, and his performance doesn't need any regression. The only worrying part of the bullpen was Sammy Gervacio being used three straight days three different times and once for four straight games. Of course, the 24-year old only threw more than 20 pitches in a game twice, so it's not as worrisome as it appears.

To review, Arnsberg coached for four different managers and only under Gaston did his track record go astray. Out of all his young pitchers, just three were inordinately abused: Chacin, Litsch and Vasquez. Now, we can see that Vasquez was just built to hold up to a higher workload, similar to Roy Halladay. Still, it doesn't excuse the abuse in the first place. Is Gaston more to blame for the last couple of seasons in Toronto? We can't REALLY tell, but after reviewing all this, I certainly feel better about the Astros' new pitching coach.

Downs Blows Lead in 8th, Jays Lose

jessef — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:32:03 -0000

More photos » by Kathy Willens - AP

I know Hideki Matsui's just doing his job, but why does he have to do it so well against the Jays? This was his sixth homerun and he hit .373 / .439 / .745 against us this season. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Yankees 5 Blue Jays 4

Well, the Yankees took an early lead off Brian Tallet when they scored two runs in the first inning, off an RBI double by Mark Teixeira and an RBI single by Hideki Matsui. Vernon Wells doubled to lead off the second, but the Jays were unable to cash him. In the bottom of the second, Tallet took a grounder off his foot. He stayed with the ball, got the out at first and got a strikeout to end the inning. In the top of the third, the Jays came back to tie it up, thanks to a solo homerun from Jose Bautista and successive singles from Travis Snider and Marco Scutaro (an infield single off Yankees starter Chad Gaudin) and an Adam Lind RBI groundout. Shawn Camp came on to relieve Tallet due to injury concerns related to the grounder he took off the foot in the third and pitched three scoreless (indeed excellent) innings.

The Jays plated a run in the sixth off a Vernon Wells single, Lyle Overbay double and Rod Barajas RBI groundout, but were unable to add to the lead thanks to an intentional walk to Jose Bautista (I'm not making that up), which led to a Moonraker strikeout against Damaso Marte. Casey Janssen pitched an excellent sixth inning and the Jays added another run in the top of the seventh when Scoot doubled and Lind got him in with a sacrifice fly. Tek came back out for the seventh and ran into a bit of trouble when he gave up a single and Edwin Encarnacion made an error (albeit on a pretty tough play). However, Jeremy Accardo came in and got a quick strikeout, walked Derek Jeter and then induced a fly ball to left to escape the inning with the two-run lead still in tact. Tom requested that I do the recap and that's when things -- naturally -- fell apart. Cito went to Scott Downs for the eighth and before being removed with -- I think -- elbow tightness, he yielded a single to Alex Rodriguez and a game-tying dinger to Hideki Matsui. Jason Frasor closed out the eighth, but the Jays were unable to capitalize on a Moonraker bunt single in the top of the ninth and the score was tied at four going into the bottom of the ninth. Leading off the inning, Brett Gardner singled off Frasor on a full count and predictably stole second base. Derek Jeter grounded out to put Gardner on third and he scored when Francisco Cervelli (playing only because of Jorge Posada's suspension) drove him home with the game-winning single.

Jays of the Day: Camp (.185), Accardo (.159) and Overbay (.159). Honorable mentions to Scoot and Vernon, who had a single and double each, as well as Tek, who would have fared better, were it not for E5's error.

Towers goes to Tallet (-.110), though he may have fared better if he'd been able to stay in.

Batistas go to Snakeface (-.380) and Frasor (-.306).

Hinskes go to Lind (-.161, in spite of the two RBI) and E5 (-.138, plus the error) and Rod Barajas comes close (-.095).

Well, at least we don't have to watch anymore Yankees walk-off wins this year.

Nice Start for Brian Tallet, Jays Beat Tigers

Tom Dakers — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:50:38 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

Detroit Tigers left fielder Ryan Raburn missed it, Rod got the homer. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

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Blue Jays 6 Tigers 4

Great to see Brian Tallet have a good start, it has been awhile. But 6.1 innings with only 7 hits, most of the bloop single variety, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts make you feel much better about using him as a starter. He would have been better off if Cito pulled him after the 6th inning. He gave up a couple of hits and Jeremy Accardo came in. Accardo was lucky to get out of the inning. Accardo gave up 3 singles and a deep fly out that we were lucky Jose Bautista caught and then a hard fought strikeout to end the inning. Scott Downs got through a scoreless inning and Jason Frasor pitched a perfect 9th for the save.

We should have scored more off Nate Robertson, who gave up 6 hits and 5 walks before leaving the game with Crappy Pitching Disease. In a heck of a smart move by Tigers manager Jim Leyland, Robertson was getting shelled in the 4th inning. Leyland didn't have time to get someone up throwing in the pen, so he sends the trainer out to tell Robinson he is injured and needs to come out of the game. Then the reliever can warm as long as he needs. It didn't do that much good, we got 3 runs off Armando Galarraga.

We got 12 hits, including 2 homers and 8 walks, so we should have scored more, but then it is hard to score when you have a few automatic outs in the lineup. Bluebird Banter mascot, Kevin Millar, had a terrible 0 for 4, though he did take a walk. I said this during the thread but will say it again. If I could ask Cito one thing, I'd ask "what could Kevin Millar do to get you to keep him out of the lineup?" It is way beyond ridiculous now.

Rod Barajas had a solo homer and Randy Ruiz had a 2 run shot and a infield single. Aaron Hill had the softest 4 hits you will ever see, three bloop singles, falling between the infielder and the outfielder and a ground single that just missed the pitcher's glove. Marco Scutaro took 3 walks. Vernon Wells was 2 for 3, with a walk and 2 RBI. Even Edwin Encarnacion had 2 hits.

Jays of the Day are Tallet (.220 WPA), Vernon Wells (.189), Adam Lind (.136) and Jason Frasor (.097). Honorable mention to Ruiz. Jamie Campbell made a big deal about how all is homers were solo shots. Jamie, when you bat behind guys that can't get on base it is hard to do anything else. Suckage Jay? Oh take a guess. Yep, Millar gets yet another Millar award. I'd like to say 'collect 10 and win your release from the team but he is well over 10.

The bad news tonight was that Adam Lind was hit in the leg by a pitch and left the game after the defensive half of the inning. I hope he is ok. We had fun in the game thread today. Winning is better than losing. And we have won 5 of our last 8 games. Yeah I know it isn't much but we'll take small victories where we can get them.

Tomorrow night Scott Richmond goes against Edwin Jackson.

Oh and congratulations to Derek Jeter for passing Lou Gehrig for most hits by a Yankee. Any time you pass Lou Gehrig in anything, you know you have an accomplishment.

Brett Cecil Wins his Last Start of the Season

Tom Dakers — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:31:16 -0000

by Ben Margot - AP

For some reason we didn't get any pictures of today's game but here is Brett Cecil from earlier in the year. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

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Twins 2 Blue Jays 3

That was a really nice start for Brett Cecil to go out on. 6 innings, 7 hits, just the 1 walk, 2 earned and 3 strikeouts. He finishes the season (presumably) 7-4 with a 5.30 ERA. August was a bad month for him, he was 2-2 but with a 8.25 ERA. I thought perhaps he had a tired arm, as he pitched more this year than ever before and he's not that far removed from being a closer in college. He did have a bit more trouble with LH batters than righties, unusual for LH pitchers for any team other than the Jays. I don't know why we would have so many lefties that have reverse splits but that's the way it is. He gave up a few too many homers and walks this season but I'm sure he'll improve on that in the future. I think we have a keeper.

The bullpen closed out the final 3 innings, holding the 1 run lead Cecil left with, allowing no hits. Scott Downs pitched a perfect 8th inning and Jason Frasor did the same in the 9th to get the save. Jeremy Accardo got his first work since coming back, giving up a walk and getting a force out at 2nd on a bunt, a pretty play by Edwin Encarnacion, he got the ball between the pitchers mound and the plate and threw across his body to get the out at 2nd. I know he's made some errors but I've also seen him make some very nice plays. I think, if he can get his power stroke back, he'd make a good third baseman.

Offensively we did just enough. We only had 6 hits and 4 walks on the day but 4 of the hits were doubles and one was a homer. Adam Lind, Jose Bautista, Travis Snider and John McDonald each had doubles and Bautista had the homer. Adam Lind drove in 2 runs, one on the double and one on a sac fly giving him 96 on the season.

Jays of the Day are Bautista (.181 WPA), Frasor (.168), Downs (.124) and Cecil (.123). Honorable mention to Lind and Snider. Suckage Jay is Lyle Overbay (-.105, 0 for 4).

Tomorrow we start a four game series in Detroit. and we'll get to see David Purcey on Monday. Tomorrow Brian Tallet (6-9, 5.31) goes against Nate Robertson (1-1, 5.40). We've tied two four game series in a row now, let's take 3 of 4 this time.

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:32:43 -0000

by Jeff Roberson - AP

Dave Bush is pulled out of the game by Ken Macha as Jason Kendall stands by during the fourth inning Wednesday.

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Some things to read while overextending yourself.

The Brewers managed to get eleven baserunners in six innings off of Chris Carpenter last night, the second most he's allowed all season, but the pitching staff couldn't keep the Brewers in the game long enough to give the team an opportunity to win. There's no shame in being outpitched by the bionic arm of Chris Carpenter. Jeff Passan of Yahoo has a profile of the Cy Young candidate and his dozens of surgical scars.

Dave Bush couldn't beat Carpenter last night, so he plunked him instead. That HBP was the 50th of Bush's Brewer career, making him the new franchise leader. He also picked up his 51st later in the game. After the game, Bush brushed off the suggestion that he could have used more time in the minors to prepare for his return. With the Brewers now below a 1-in-1000 shot of making the playoffs, they've got plenty of time to give Bush a few more starts and see if he straightens himself out.

Mike Cameron might be back next season after all: He told reporters he would be willing to make a sacrifice to remain in Milwaukee for 2010. FanGraphs has Cameron at 3.9 WAR for the season, the third highest total on the team.

Corey Hart is ready for a rehab assignment, and will spend the weekend with Nashville to see if he's ready for a return to big league action. He won't exactly be bumping aside a whole lot of vaunted prospects in the outfield in AAA: Yesterday's Sounds outfield featured both Corey Patterson and recent independent leaguer Tike Redman, with Jon Knott, another recent indy leaguer, pinch hitting. The Sounds lost to Memphis for the second straight day, dropping a game and a half behind in the division.

The Brevard County Manatees are playoff bound, and after months of living in the dark, we finally have a site covering them. Space Coast Baseball will be doing live audio broadcasts from Manatees games over the weekend and in the playoffs. The site is still pretty new, but it's great to have resources like it out there.

J.J. Hardy has gone 1-for-4 each of the last two nights since returning to the major leagues. What do you expect the Brewers to get for him this offseason? The Blue Jay Hunter would like to see him in Toronto, and is willing to offer relievers Jeremy Accardo and Jason Frasor, who would do a lot to help solidify the Brewer bullpen for next season but would still leave a gap in the rotation.

Meanwhile, Chris Capuano pitched well in his first appearance in Helena, throwing two scoreless innings. His velocity is down a bit, but that's to be expected from someone who's undergone Tommy John surgery twice. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Cappy after the season: He probably owes something to the Brewers, who spent all season rehabbing him despite very faint hops he'd pitch in 2009, but he'll also be a free agent.

The Brewers are commissioning focus groups to discuss what fans liked and didn't like about this season's Brewer team and ballpark experience. I'm guessing "more winning," "lower concession prices" and "cheaper parking" will be the suggestions.

The Brewers are up two spots to #18 in MLB FanHouse's Power Rankings.

Around baseball:

A's: Claimed pitcher John Meloan off waivers from the Pirates.
Giants: Designated pitchers Ryan Sadowski and Jesse English for assignment.
Nationals: Acquired minor league reliever Victor Garate as the PTBNL in the Ronnie Belliard trade.

We've hit September, so it's time to start talking about mathematical eliminations. As Jon Heyman noted, the Nationals were eliminated from contention in the NL East last night. The Orioles have already been eliminated from the division race as well. A Nats loss or a Rockies win today would eliminate them from contention for the Wild Card as well.

As a rule, I typically skim over or skip most things written by athletes on the web: They rarely have anything interesting to say, and would get themselves in trouble if they did say something worth noting, for the most part. With that said, I'm glad I didn't skip over this post at Baseball Analysts by A's prospect and Harvard grad Shawn Haviland, discussing the statistics that minor league pitching coaches do and don't care about, and how fluctuation in BABIP can impact them.

Rob Neyer and Wezen-ball offer their insights on old time pitchers, and how hard they actually threw. Neyer's analysis seems about right to me: they threw hard enough to earn a living today, but wouldn't dominate as they did then.

Getaway days in San Diego are going to suck next season: The Padres are moving the start of weekday day games from 12:35 Pacific Time to 3:35, meaning East Coast and Central Time Zone teams probably won't get out of San Diego until 7 or later local time, then face a cross country flight where they'll lose several hours in the air.

Congratulations are due out to former Brewer farmhand Michael Brantley, who picked up his first major league hit last night.

On this day in 1901, the original Milwaukee Brewers (who would later become the St. Louis Browns and Baltimore Orioles) lost both ends of a doubleheader, 10-0 and 6-1, to the original Baltimore Orioles (who would later become the New York Yankees). Joe McGinnity pitched complete games in both games for the Orioles.

On this day in 1976, Mike Hegan hit for the cycle as the Brewers beat the Tigers, 11-2. On this day in 1991, Jim Gantner homered (ending a 1762 AB homerless streak) and the Brewers scored three runs in the ninth to beat the A's, 5-3.

Happy birthday today to two former Brewer bullpen arms: Chad Fox, who turns 39, and Eric Plunk, who turns 46.

Oh, and yesterday was probably the only time William Ernest Henley will come up in baseball conversation this season.

Drink up.

September Call-Ups: Inglett, Wolfe, Hayhurst -- Or, Are the Jays Even Trying?

hugo — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:50:41 -0000

More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP

Glad to see you back, Dirk, but couldn't you have brought more friends? (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)

Browse more photos »

Well, the Jays have apparently underwhelmed everyone by calling up three players: Joe Inglett, Brian Wolfe, and Dirk Hayhurst.

Now, I bow to no one in my Hayhurst man-crush and I am very happy to see him back on the Jays. But a team completely out of the playoff picture like the Jays should be using September callups as an opportunity to give players who progressed this season a taste of the big leagues, not just recalling AAAA types unlikely to be of more than marginal use to the team going forward.

Brian Dopirak was a perfect example of someone who the Jays should be calling up. Dopriak is 25 already, but his career has been held back by injuries as much as (more than, really) development problems. He torched double A this season to the tune of .308/.374/.576 with 19 home runs in and 29 doubles in 87 games. Then, after the all-star break, he similarly smashed up AAA with 21 extra base hits in 45 games and a .344 batting average. He's right at the age where you want to see your minor-league hitter getting a shot at the bigs, and he has certainly earned a promotion with a fantastic season. Perhaps craziest of all, the Jays have Kevin Millar in the lineup on an all-too-regular basis. And yet Dopirak doesn't get promoted.

How about Angel Sanchez? Yeah, it's the PCL but he's hit .305/.363/.428 and his arm has apparently healed enough from ligament replacement surgery for him to reclaim his place as a plus defender at shortstop. With Edwin Encarnacion still hurt, Marco Scutaro could move over to third base on days when Sanchez plays SS, thereby not hurting his stats for his impending free agency. With Scutaro set to leave unless the Jays pony up, shouldn't the Jays at least take a look at what they may have in Sanchez?

Fabio Castro or David Purcey? Neither has been fantastic, but both have had credible seasons considering how tough the PCL can be on pitchers. Purcey threw a complete game, no walk, 3-hit shutout his last time out on Sunday. I'd say the Jays could take another look at him, with two young pitchers set to sit out the rest of the season, instead of giving starts to Brian Tallet. Castro could get a look as well.

And what to say about Jeremy Accardo, who has 26 Ks and 7 walks in 29 innings for Las Vegas, with a 3.10 ERA and lots of groundouts. If they were going to recall someone, why not Accardo, and not Wolfe, considering Accardo has superior both major- and minor-league numbers this season and a much better chance of being a high-leverage reliever for a major-league team.

That doesn't even get into the marginal cases like J.P. Arencibia and Scott Campbell - neither of which has had a great season - but Arencibia has 19 home runs and 31 doubles and has improved his walk rate a little, and Campbell did post a .371 OBP between AA and AAA.

What do you all think? Who would you have called up?

Question for you all: Who will be coming up to take Jeremy Accardo's roster spot?

Tom Dakers — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:04:09 -0000

So I have a question for you all. Cito has said that Jeremy Accardo was sent down to Triple-A because there is "somebody there we want to get up here and take a look at." I'm taking it for granted that it is a pitcher, because if it was a bat we'd likely have sent down a bat. He didn't say who it was they want to take a look at, we will likely find out Friday, so we have a day to speculate. So my question to you is: Who do you think player we want to take a look at is?

Off topic, but wouldn't you be pissed off if you were Accardo. The poor guy is a yo-yo and he hasn't done anything wrong, he's pitched great for us. The only guy on the team with a lower ERA is Jason Frasor (small sample size for Accardo). Do you get the feeling someone in the Jay's front office has made a bit that they can make Accardo quit baseball?

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I was going to make it a poll but that's too easy, long answer is more fun than multiple choice. Use the comments to make your case No points for the correct answer but points for making the best case. For those too lazy to look it up I'll give you a list of pitchers at Vegas and a couple of guys in Double-A.

Fabio Castro 6-5, 4.10 at Vegas. He's my pick, I'm guessing he will called up to make the start Saturday in place of Brian Tallet who is listed to start in Brett Cecil's place.
David Purcey 6-5, 4.92. Same thing, could start Saturday.
T.J. Beam 6-3, 4.40.
Davis Romero 3-4, 5.93. Long shot.
Sean Stidfole 2-1, 4.06. Being used in relief for the 51's.
Edward Buzachero 3-1, 3.90. Reliever.
Ronnie Lewis. 1-2, 2.51 in 12 relief appearances after moving up from Double-A. Big lefty, 6'5", 230lb.
Marty McLeary 1-1, 5.56 in Vegas after being 3-3, 2.98 at Double-A New Hampshire.
Zachary Stewart. Just 3 appearances in Vegas after being picked up in the Rolen trade. It would be interesting to see him pitch.
Shaun Marcum. Yeah JP said he wouldn't be up with the Jays this yeah but then JP lies on occasion.

There are a couple of interesting pitchers in Double-A and we have called up guys from Double-A before (Jesse Litsch for one).

Luis Perez 7-10, 3.85.
Randy Boone 8-7, 4.07.
Reidier Gonzalez 4-6, 2.90.
Shawn Smith 3-3, 2.77, who we just picked up at the trade deadline.

Anyway take your guess and make your case. Extra points if you pick someone I haven't listed.