SB Nation - Robinson Tejeda

Bad on the Road Again? Royals 5, Tigers 1

Ian Casselberry — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:20:25 -0000

Justin Verlander pitched well enough to get his 17th win, but the Detroit Tigers' lineup didn't show up to help him on Wednesday night.

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Uh-oh. The bad road team is back.

In recent weeks, it was looking like the Detroit Tigers had finally triumphed over whatever demons plagued them on the road. But the bad juju seems to have found them again in Kansas City.

Tuesday night, relief pitching and outfield defense greatly contributed to Detroit's 7-5 loss. Last night, the bats were non-existent against Robinson Tejeda. Tejeda was on quite a roll coming into the game, having thrown 13 scoreless innings (in which he allowed only two hits). And the Tigers weren't the team to knock him off that track.

Tejeda shut Detroit out for six innings, holding them to just three hits with eight strikeouts. The Tigers' best chance to break through against came in the sixth, when Carlos Guillen was on third base with one out. Aubrey Huff hit a ball hard, but right at the second baseman. And Clete Thomas followed up with a strikeout.

Thanks to the missing offense, Justin Verlander couldn't get the win in his third straight pitching duel. Once again, he held the opposition to only one run. In six innings, he struck out eight Royals batters and allowed six hits. But this time, the Tigers' lineup couldn't break through in the later innings. (Tampa Bay's Jeff Niemann may have looked on with envy. Especially after the Rays' bullpen blew yet another game for him.) You hate to see an effort like Verlander's wasted.

Whimper:

It was another rough night for the Tigers' bullpen. This time, the culprit was Fernando Rodney, who was curiously used to pitch the eighth inning, instead of being saved for the ninth. Pitching Rodney in a non-save situation, where his ERA is 5.46, was playing with fire. And this decision burned them. Rodney couldn't even finish the eighth inning, giving up three runs on two hits and a walk. And the Royals gave him an out, with a sacrifice bunt.

Rodney looked like a guy who hadn't worked in four days, and that was the justification Jim Leyland used after the game for pitching him. And if Rodney ends up serving his three-game suspension, it would've been even longer before he pitched.

I understand why the Tigers want to fight this suspension on principle. They feel the penalty is unfair. I also realize that it was a 2-0 game when Rodney came in, and Leyland probably wanted to use his best guys available. But with Rodney not pitching on Tuesday night, would it have been better to just keep him out the next two games and serve his sentence?

Comment of the Night:

Just joined

is Grienke making an unscheduled start?? That could be the only explanation here

by MrPants20

Apologies for the slowed-down GameThread last night. I know it was frustrating. But as Kurt mentioned in the post-game thread, there was a good reason for it. SB Nation has a new home page.

Perkins Is Strong but Cuddyer Is Stronger, and the Twins Win Another Series

Jesse — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:22:30 -0000

More photos » by Ed Zurga - AP

5 months ago: Minnesota Twins catcher Mike Redmond, center, is helped to his feet by manager Ron Gardenhire, left, and a team trainer after he was injured during a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in the fifth inning Wednesday, July 1, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. Redmond left the game. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

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Royals give the Twins a couple runs, but even if they hadn't this one was going to Minnesota.

While the first inning was quiet, the second inning started with a bang. Michael Cuddyer took Gil Meche's first pitch of the inning and launched another line-drive home run into the left field seats of gorgeous Kauffman Stadium to give Minnesota their first run of the afternoon. It was the 12th of the year for Cuddles, and it's safe to say that at this point he's having the season we've wanted him to have since he lit up in 2006.

Meche did everything he could for the Royals. Six hits and five walks don't necessarily look good, but one of the three runs he allowed lays at the feet of Alberto Callaspo, whose Bill Buckner-like five-hole error allowed Joe Crede's routine grounder turn from a third out into a run. But none of Meche's walks scored, although Matt Tolbert's two-out walk in the sixth allowed Joe Mauer to step in and give the Twins their third run.

While Meche wasn't really bad, Glen Perkins was positively solid. He allowed ten hits but didn't walk a single batter, and the ultimate number is one. One, as in the number of runs he allowed. From the start he mixed up all of his pitches, only relying heavily on the fastball once his offense had spotted him a 2-0 lead. Kansas City did start to catch up with him a bit over the sixth and seventh, when they tallied half of their offensive hits on the day, but every time the Royals threatened Perk came back. The defense backed him up with a pair of double plays, and outside of Carlos Gomez over-running a fly-ball that had already bounced off the fence, there weren't any miscues made by the Twins.

The Royals? A different story.

In addtion to Callaspo's error in the third, the Kansas City bullpen ensured that any comeback attempt made by their offense would be as difficult as possible. After Robinson Tejeda struck out Gomez and Brendan Harris to kick off the top of the eighth, Denard Span singled and stole second base. Matt Tolbert followed that up with a single to score Span, advancing to second on the throw. With Justin Morneau having been removed the previous inning due to tightness in his groin, Tejeda did the smart thing and intentionally walked Mauer to set up the force at third. And then John Bale proceeded to walk two more, including Cuddyer with the bases loaded. By the time Roman Colon came on to get the final out, the Twins held a 5-1 lead with just six outs remaining for the Royals.

R.A. Dickey mopped up in the eighth and got two outs in the ninth, before a single and a walk brought up the man who could make it a two-run game with one swing of the bat. Ron Gardnehire did the right thing and brought in Joe Nathan to lock down the win, even if it was for a cheap one-out save, and Nathan did his job. David DeJesus slapped a hard grounder to Brian Buscher at first base, who took it himself to retire the Royals for the final time in the series.

Right now I haven't seen any updates on the guys who had to leave the game, but here's the run-down for how it looks as of right now.

Morneau left due to the sore groin. With an off day tomorrow and on Monday, the Twins have the luxury of keeping him in the designated hitter role over the weekend if they want to take it slow with him, unless it's something worse in which case he'll likely miss this series before Minnesota puts him on the DL retroactive to today. We should find out by tonight whether this is an issue or a non-issue.
Nick Punto left with more soreness in his back, and he was slow getting up after getting taken out while turning a double play at the end of the sixth.
Mike Redmond also was removed, taking a foul ball off his forearm. X-Rays are negative, but he does have a bone bruise. He'll be sore for a few days.

Stars of the Game
#3: Joe Mauer (3-for-3, R, RBI, 2 BB, .160 WPA)
#2: Michael Cuddyer (1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI, R, 2 BB, .155 WPA)
#1: Glen Perkins (7 IP, 10 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 R, .358 WPA)

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:38:36 -0000

More photos » by Jim Mone - AP

Mitch Stetter gave up a grand slam last night. Is that enough for R.J. Swindle to take his spot in the bullpen?

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Some things to read while thawing out your sandals.

The Brewers open a three game series with the Cardinals in a few hours, and they're probably working to forget this weekend's series in Minnesota. Before they left, though, Ken Macha chatted with Anthony Witrado about last night's HBP call reversal, which led to a huge momentum shift late in the game.

In the end, though, the Brewers have no one to blame but themselves for their terrible play over the weekend. Rookie Anthony Swarzak, who held the Brewers scoreless for seven innings on Saturday, was one of nine debuting pitchers profiled at Beyond the Box Score. Swarzak's performance was impressive, but it was even more impressive to discover he did it while throwing 75% fastballs.

Casey McGehee was one of this weekend's lone bright spots. He's made five starts at second base since Rickie Weeks' injury, has reached base in all of them and is hitting .429/.500/.571 in his last 20 plate appearances. Anthony Witrado profiled him over the weekend, and the Brewer coaching staff had positive things to say.

Mike Cameron's home run yesterday was the 250th of his career, making him just the 20th player with 250 home runs and 250 stolen bases. The Brewers celebrated the accomplishment after the game.

Meanwhile, the Brewers continue to be mentioned as a possible destination for Jake Peavy. Both Jon Heyman and MLB Trade Rumors mentioned it again over the weekend. With that said, it still seems like Peavy is owed far too much money to fit into the Brewer budget.

Could Matt Cain be a target instead? As Battlekow noted over the weekend, the Giants are reportedly shopping Cain, but the organization has denied the report.

R.J. Swindle appeared in two games over the weekend. Thor Nystrom of The Official Site says Swindle was excited for the opportunity. After Mitch Stetter hit Joe Mauer and gave up a grand slam to Justin Morneau, one could make a case for Swindle staying with the team and Stetter going back down.

Speaking of bullpen arms, Driveline Mechanics takes a look at the delivery of everyone's favorite anomaly, Mark DiFelice. They see several concerning things in his motion, but wonder if the decreased workload in the bullpen and his lack of velocity might save him from injury.

How much credit for the pitching staff's success should go to new pitching coach Billy Castro? The Wisconsin State Journal profiles Castro, who is spending his eighteenth season as part of the Brewer coaching staff.

Maybe he should play second base in a catcher's mask: Brett Lawrie broke his nose getting hit with a bad hop on a ground ball on Thursday. He was able to pinch hit yesterday, so one would assume he's close to being back in the lineup.

Around the league:

Angels: Placed Shane Loux on the DL with shoulder inflammation.
Cubs: Placed Rich Harden on the DL with a mid-back strain. (h/t FanShot)
Dodgers: Signed Korean pitchers Ji-Mo Lee and Hyang-nam Choi to minor league deals and placed outfielder Xavier Paul on the DL with an infection in his knee.
Indians: Placed Anthony Reyes (elbow inflammation) and Aaron Laffey (oblique strain) on the DL.
Orioles: Released Adam Eaton.
Rays: Placed Scott Kazmir (quad strain) and Troy Percival (shoulder tendinitis) on the DL, and are also expected to place Akinori Iwamura on the DL with a knee injury. Percival may consider retirement.
Reds: Designated OF Darnell McDonald for assignment and placed Edinson Volquez on the DL with a back issue.
Rockies: Placed catcher Chris Iannetta on the DL with a hamstring strain.
Royals: Placed SS Mike Aviles (forearm strain) and pitcher Robinson Tejeda (rotator cuff tendinitis) on the DL.

With Scott Kazmir out, the Rays have called up David Price, who will start tonight. Price has been striking out over nine batters per nine innings in AAA while posting a 3.93 ERA.

Ever wonder what life is like for a career journeyman like Ron Villone? Nats320 sat down with the former Brewer to discuss his first day as a National.

The MLB Draft doesn't get the hype of its NFL and NBA counterparts, but if you need starting pitching it's very important. Minor League Ball crunched the numbers and discovered that 34% of last year's top pitchers were former first round picks.

Oh, and with the proper training and sound effects, you too can make it look like you're beating the crap out of your kids.

Drink up.

If the Royals Were Nations: The Pitchers

royalsreview — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:26:13 -0000

Continuing our geographical examination of the Kansas City roster. (The position players can be found here.) Hopefully, the players themselves can use this analysis, especially if they ever become NFL football players, play in the Super Bowl, and get asked "What country would you be?" by a wisecracking journalist from Italy.

John Bale: He's mostly imaginary at this point (just like Arod's cousin, right...), or at least, a scenario in which he's useful is. Since the Royals acquired him -- a move I liked at the time -- he's been mostly hurt and ineffective/unlucky. He also sent himself to the DL for punching a wall, so he's an effective problem solver. All this makes him the Sealand of the roster: an imaginary "nation" off the coast of England, that's little more than an old military platform and some insane people in weird uniforms. So far Dayton Moore's brought in three guys from East Asia: Bale, Yabuta and manager Trey Hillman. Maybe he should just stick to the US South.

The John Bale of the world.

Brian Bannister: Is there an auto-text generator somewhere on my computer for Bannister? There should be. It's always the same thing: he's smart, he likes stats, he has average stuff, he's a Born Again Christian, his dad was also a ballplayer, JoePo likes him, etc. So what country is he? I've got Finland, which always ranks well on educational charts and has oodles of Scandanavian efficiency, which could be related to handling the numbers well. Finland's also the least blonde, least visited, most vulerable to Russia, and least good at soccer Scandinavian country. They even speak a weird language. So in sum, Bannister/Finland: a mix of good and bad, with a lot going for it, danegrously close to being too expensive at this point, on the precipice of failure, works best as an underdog.

Bruce Chen: Chen's been around forever, lost more battles than he's won, but every so often is sorta ok. He's even been completely off the map for long periods of time. Sounds like Poland.

Juan Cruz: One of the newest Royals, Cruz isn't exactly young or old. He's in the middle of his career, and while everyone seems to have always loved him, he's been on more than a few teams. As a reliever, Cruz's overall impact is going to be somewhat limited, but he's a nice feather in your cap, and a great place to be for a few innings. In all these ways, he's resembles the lovely island of Bermuda. Much like Bermuda, he's also set apart from the other islands of the Carribean (which he truly isn't a part of), much like Cruz isn't really part of Dayton Moore's off-season horribilis.

Kyle Davies: Davies is Georgia. Not Georgia the country, Georgia the state. Davies is just a big ole white boy with a good southern white boy name: Kyle. (There's even the bizarre, Old Testament name of Hiram thrown in for good measure.) If you exclude Florida, which is admittedly kinda a geographic exception, Georgia is the most populous state in the Old South, and Davies is the best former Brave brought in by Moore. Davies may not quite be ready for prime time yet, but you know if something happened, he'd be sure to beat the hell out of Brian Bannister.

Kyle Farnsworth: Yea, there are worse guys out there, just like there are probably a few places worse than the Central African Republic. Like, the Congo (both of them) and... and... well, the Sudan. Probably Chad too. So before we criticize the fact that the Royals are paying a premium for Farnsworth -- he's one of the highest paid non-closers in baseball -- just imagine how expensive it would be to visit the C.A.R. Sometimes, you gotta pay for the privilege. And if it works out? Well, you can strut around your block for years on the story.

It isn't fair if we only talk about the negatives of the Farnsworth signing.

Jimmy Gobble: Somehow lovable, in spite of being nearly entirely pointless at this point, Jimmy Gobble is the Bolivia of the pitching staff. Bolivia is Venezuela without the baseball and oil, Chile without the coastline, Argentina without the cafes, Brazil without Rio or the Amazon and Columbia without the beaches or drug money. Gobble can't start, can't get right-handers out, and wasn't used as a lefty-specialist by his manager last season. Which makes him sorta like the Bolivian Navy... a group of men in out-dated boats in a land-locked country. He's not even cheap anymore, and neither is Bolivia, thanks to their socialist leadership. Still, we love him. I mean, he's Gobble! He's like the last survivor of the 2003 team. In much the same way, Bolivia has an incredibly short guy called "Evo" running the country.

Zack Greinke: Poised to begin a reign of dominance, and in many ways already there, Greinke is like the USA, circa 1945. He's rebounded from some rough patches and a somewhat delayed breakout (hey, joining WWII in late 1941 was no problem at all... England was managing things fine there, it was all good) to world power status. Sure, not everyone quite knows it yet, and some still assign an out-dated dominance to bloated entities like France/CC Sabathia. But Greinke is right there, and still has room to grow. We're hitting the boundless optimism, not too decadent phase now folks, with 2011-12 the Kennedy years.

Luke Hochevar: So imagine you could travel anywhere in the world. You had top choice, and even some price controls in place. The airports won't be crowded, you'll have a nice seat on the plane, and whatever hotel room you want. You survey your options and go with... Argentina. Uh, ok. Sure, Buenas Aires is nice, and the tango is fun, and there's surely a lot of guys walking around with long hair who would probably be considered attractive. Still, that was your top choice? No South Pacific? No real Paris as opposed to "the Paris of South America"? Meh. I can only see it making sense if you wanted to do a hardcore Patagonia/wilderness/edge of the Earth thing, but we all know the Royals aren't into that. So back to Hochevar... Hochevar's rounded into a solid middle of the rotation pitcher, but it looks like that's all he'll ever be. Considering where the Royals selected him, it's hard to complain, yet hard to feel satisfied.

Ron Mahay: Sure, he's a journeyman reliever (seven teams in twelve years) that's currently well-paid and injured (remember when we all thought Moore = mad genius as a bullpen builder). But of that troubled lot, the journeyman middle relievers of the world, he's one of the best. He's even lacking the John Bale self-destruction gene, and has had a modicum of stability, serving all those years in Texas. Add it up, and he's the Montenegro of the staff: the quasi-stable, non-horrible journeyman, just as Montenegro is the rich, peaceful, beautiful jewel of the Balkans. Mahay earning $4 million last season is the equivalent of that hardcore poker tournament in Montenegro that was featured in Casino Royale, his years in Arlington, equalling Monty's time with Yugoslavia.

Gil Meche: He's not the fastest worker and he has a reputation for being inefficient. He's at once a little under-rated, yet also acknowledged, now, to be "solid". Gil Meche is the non-fun parts of Brazil of the Royals. Brazil dominates South America in basically every way, and shows up on a lot of world leaderboards for various things, yet is still kinda that weird country with the funky flag. It's about as powerful as you can be without deserving a spot on the UN Security Council in anyway. Is it even in the G8? All sounds like Meche really, right there as an asset, but not quite a force. Meche has non of Brazil's flair, he's got not an ounce of Rio in his game. Meche might finish his career with the highest ratio in history of money earned or WARP numbers posted in relation to jersey sales. No, he's a modernist office park in Brasilia, staffed with guys who take forever to do anything because they're planning their next weekend trip or watching soccer on TV or because they're surrounded by hot women.

Can you find Gil?

Joel Peralta: Peralta allowed the most homers per nine innings last season of any reliever in baseball, making him the Gaza Strip. As in, he's frequently bombed. zing!

Horacio Ramirez: Hmm... Farnsy is the C.A.R., Bale is a nonexistent micronation, so where does that love lovable old former Brave and pointless Royal retread Horacio Ramirez? Ho-Ram's a proven poor starter, but was actually decent last season, as a Royal at least, out of the 'pen. Of course, doing the same thing with Chicago in the same season, he was then awful again. And he doesn't make the league minimum... You know what? I'm gonna be nice with this one. Ho-Ram is Kyrgyzstan, a nearly entirely unknown nation in Central Asia. Honorable mention for Ho-Ram is Thailand. Can you guess why?

Joakim Soria: Probably the coolest Royals player since Bo Jackson, and easily one of the ten best relievers in baseball, and that's being conservative. Somehow, he's able to look like the guy from Malcolm in the Middle yet legitimately carry the nickname "The Mexicutioner". As a closer, he's not really a heavy lifter, and he isn't placed in a position where he can carry a team. What he can do is, well, finish the job. All in all, this makes him Great Britain in a James Bond Movie. Look, Britain can't win the Cold War for you, and really can't even defend Europe, but if you need to send in one man to execute a bad guy, sleep with three beautiful Romanian women, defuse multiple bombs, survive a poisoning, and climb up the side of a building over one weekend, somehow it just makes sense that a British guy is better suited to pull this off than someone from, oh I dunno, Georgia. Kyle Davies is gonna drink too much beer, punch the wrong person, and screw up the mission, even though you'd think he'd make a better fighter. Corollary: Mike MacDougal is Great Britain during the Spice Girls era.

Robinson Tejeda: I suppose if Ho-Ram is Kyrgyzstan (which actually looks cool as hell, oh well, let's keep it) then that would make Robinson Tejeda... what's left of the Aral Sea. I understand that this is not actually a nation.

Doug Waechter: Really, Waechter has got to be Florida. Have you ever heard of someone pitching for the Devil Rays (as they were at the time) for four straight seasons? He was a longtime Devil Ray! Do you know how many pitchers have passed through the Trop in this decade? And the most amazing part was that he was never even really good. Better still, after washing out in Tampa, he resurfaced with, that's right, the Marlins. So, let's honor this dedicated Florida man. Obviously, he's another great pickup by Moore, as he had an ERA+ in the 70s three out of four seasons (and all of the last three) then one good year in Florida, pitching in a swamp. I think his numbers will translate well to a neutral field in the stronger league!

Yasuhiko Yabuta: Every other team gets to bring in a guy from Japan who, for three months (aka his first time through the league) is completely baffling and unhittable. Not the Royals. Yabuta was, from the start, hittable. But hey, everything else from Japan has worked out: Bale's a team leader and inspirational dynamo and Hillman's the best manager in the game.Yabuta: a concept that has worked out for everyone else, but in this case went disastrously wrong. He's the Clipperton Island of the Royals. Every other tropical island in the world turned out to be a nice place to live, and many even turned into profitable little trade centers or sources of cheap labor making one product. Not Clipperton, which is now uninhabited. In the early twentieth century however, a guano company (make joke here) tried to establish a colony there. Problem was, the relied on ships from Mexico for supplies every few months, only the Mexican ships eventually stopped coming due to, you guessed it, internal strife. The settlement was founded in 1906, and by 1915, nearly everyone was dead. In the end, there was one male left, and fifteen women and children. You can probably figure what happened next: after a reign of terror, the man was finally killed. The last survivors were picked up in 1917. All this is a long way of saying, Yabuta!

The Newest Royal: Juan Cruz

NYRoyal — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:51:12 -0000

About 11 months ago, I happily welcomed Ramon Ramirez to the Kansas City Royals. Now the Royals have acquired another good righty reliever in Juan Cruz. The contract is reportedly for two years and $5.5 million with a club option for a third year at $4 million. While the Royals and Diamondbacks discussed a sign-and-trade deal in which the Royals would give up prospect(s) instead of their second round draft pick (compensation because Cruz is a Type A free agent), in the end the Royals decided to just sign Cruz and give up the draft pick.

Dayton Moore has added one dominant pitcher to his bullpen for each of his seasons with the Royals.

2007 Joakim Soria

2008 Ramon Ramirez

2009 Juan Cruz???

Will Cruz really be the next dominant reliever for the Royals? And who is this mercurial flame thrower?

via nyyinsider.info

The Stuff

Cruz relies heavily on two pitches: a 94-95 mph fastball (topping out in the high 90's) and a much slower 81 mph slider. As you would expect from such a slow slider, it has a good deal of break. He occasionally but rarely mixes in a changeup or a curveball. The Pitch f/x data shows that Cruz's control problems come from his fastball, as he has average control over his slider and change. Cruz usually throws his fastball over-the-top, but his slider and change are usually released from a slightly lower arm slot. He uses his slider more against righties and uses his changeup almost exclusively against lefties. You can find a more detailed breakdown of his Pitch f/x data here.

The Stats

Pitching
Year	Team	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	FIP	tRA
2001	CHC	8	8	3	1	0	0	0	44.2	40	16	16	4	17	39	3.22	3.74
2002	CHC	45	9	3	11	1	0	0	97.1	84	56	43	11	59	81	3.98	4.83
2003	CHC	25	6	2	7	0	0	0	61.0	66	44	41	7	28	65	6.05	4.11	4.85
2004	ATL	50	0	6	2	0	0	0	72.0	59	24	22	7	30	70	2.75	3.70	3.75
2005	OAK	28	0	0	3	0	0	0	32.2	38	33	27	5	22	34	7.44	5.32	5.49
2006	ARI	31	15	5	6	0	0	0	94.2	80	45	44	7	47	88	4.18	4.09	4.33
2007	ARI	53	0	6	1	0	0	0	61.0	45	28	21	7	32	87	3.10	3.70	3.35
2008	ARI	57	0	4	0	0	0	0	51.2	34	17	15	5	31	71	2.61	3.62	3.24
Career		297	38	29	31	1	0	0	515.0	446	263	229	53	266	535	4.00	4.13

What we see here is a struggling starting pitcher who came into his own when he was moved to the bullpen. There have been some ups and downs but there have always been a lot of strikeouts, a significant number of walks and not too many HR's. That's why his defense independent stats metrics (like FIP and tRA) have usually been good.

Some interesting things have changed in the last two years. Before 2007, Cruz's fastball usually sat at 92-93 mph. In the last two years it's usually been in the 94-95 mph range. Part of that has to do with pitching in the bullpen full-time. His approach has changed somewhat as well. In the last two years, he's been throwing his change and curve less and using his slider considerably more. Also, in the last two years his usually very good strikeout rate of about 9 K/9 has shot up to over 12 K/9. And in the last two years his GB% has gone down, while his FB% has increased significantly. It would appear that his increased velocity and new approach gets him more strikeouts but also more flyballs. The strikeouts are great, and while more flyballs are dangerous, that plays better at Kauffman Stadium than at Chase Field.

via baby-bombers.com

The History

Juan Cruz was signed as an undrafted international free agent out of Bonao, Dominican Republic in 1997 by the Chicago Cubs. After struggling in his first two professional seasons, Cruz had a breakthrough minor league season in 2000 at age 21, splitting the year between low-A and high-A. He made his major league debut the next year and pitched well for the Cubs, making eight start (3.22 ERA in 44.2 IP). He spent all of 2002 season in the majors, splitting time between the rotation and bullpen, with largely positive results (3.98 ERA in 97.1 IP). The next two seasons found Cruz in the minors more than in the majors and in 2004 he was traded to the Braves (former Brave!). He stayed with the Braves for one very good major league season (2.75 ERA, 72 IP) before being sent to Oakland as part of the Tim Hudson trade. Cruz split the 2005 season between the majors and minors with poor results and then was traded to the Diamondbacks for Brad Halsey. Since joining the Diamondbacks, Cruz has been a major asset to their bullpen, usually used as a setup man and never as a closer. His professional Saves total is 1.

So, why has such a talented player as Cruz been shipped around so much? First, while he has a live arm, he's always had control problems. Second, he has a reputation of being a million dollar arm with a ten cent head. Third, it's the nature of modern baseball that even good players get traded, and this is doubly true of relief pitchers.

Cruz has had some nagging injury problems over the years, but nothing major. The Injury Tool at fantasypitchfx.com (which is very useful) shows that over the last three years, he has been on the disabled list three times for a total of 74 days for shoulder soreness, a tricep strain and an oblique strain. Thankfully none of these involve significant structural issues (knock wood).

The Bottom Line

So who is this guy? In a lot of ways he's like Robinson Tejeda. More accurately, I'd say that Robinson Tejeda is Juan Cruz-lite. They are both largely failed starters who have succeeded in the bullpen. They both have 2-3 pitches, relying primarily on fastball, slider and changeup. They both have legitimate mid-90's power arms which get them a lot of strikeouts, but they also have control issues and give up a lot of walks. The good news is that Robinson Tejeda is (or at least was) a diamond in the rough and Cruz is a diamond that's already been polished and is sitting in a nice platinum setting. Ok, that might be a little over the top, but if I were 15 years younger, I'd say that Juan Cruz is, quite simply, the balls.

The projection systems, in varying degrees, like or love Juan Cruz.

ZiPS - 67 ip, 3.36 ERA, 11.0 K/9, 4.8 BB/9, 0.8 HR/9

CHONE - 68 ip, 3.31 ERA, 11.5 K/9, 4.5 BB/9, 0.7 HR/9 (3.20 FIP)

PECOTA - 57 ip, 4.33 ERA, 9.4 K/9, 4.5 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9

In short, the Royals now have a dominant righty setup man if they are smart enough to use him that way and not have him pitch the seventh inning and then give the ball up to Farnsworth.