SB Nation - Kason Gabbard

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:36:15 -0000

by Matt Slocum - AP

Today's Frosty Mug is so full, I didn't even have time to caption this picture of Randy Wolf.

Some things to read while evening out the teams.

It turned out to be a pretty active first day of the Winter Meetings. The Brewers were the talk of the late night rumor mill, based on reports that they're close to signing a three year deal with Randy Wolf (also noted in Rumorville). Tom H. says the deal is rumored to be in the $25-27 million range, and is also quantifying the amount of smoke surrounding it.

With that said, the deal mustn't be done yet, because Arn Tellem, who represents Wolf, is meeting with the Mets this morning. Jon Heyman says the Mets aren't willing to offer Wolf a three year deal.

Is this the move you were hoping for from the Brewers? I'd be happy with it at this point, as long as the price isn't much above $27 million. There's always some risk involved, but this is almost certainly a better deal than, for example, the four year deal Joel Pineiro is seeking.

Wolf might not be the only starting pitcher the Brewers acquire this week. They've reportedly discussed a deal with the Mets that would send Corey Hart to New York for John Maine, a former student of Rick Peterson who has missed most of the last year with shoulder issues (FanShot). It's unclear how much fire is behind this smoke, but the Mets are also rumored to be discussing a similar trade with the Angels, with Juan Rivera taking Hart's place.

The Brewers also added a little depth to their middle infield yesterday, claiming shortstop Luis Cruz off waivers from the Pirates (FanShot). Cruz played seven positions (everything but pitcher and catcher) last season in AAA, but has virtually zero ability with the bat (a .274 OBP in AAA last season), and Adam McCalvy confirmed the move was made for minor league, not major league depth. The Brewers don't have a true shortstop prospect in the minors above Brent Brewer and Josh Prince, neither of whom played above A-ball last season.

The Brewer bullpen suffered a blow yesterday, as Mark DiFelice underwent surgery to repair damage to his labrum and rotator cuff, and will miss the entire 2010 season (FanShot). DiFelice is 33 and undergoing his second major shoulder procedure, but intends to try to pitch in the majors again in 2011, telling Adam McCalvy "I don't want it to end like this."

This raises the stakes a little bit in the search for additional bullpen help, but the Crew won't be getting said help from Rafael Betancourt. Late in the day yesterday it was reported that the Brewers were unlikely to lure Betancourt away from a return to the Rockies. I haven't seen it confirmed, but I'm pretty sure he accepted arbitration late last night.

Looking back at a rumor from the weekend, In-Between Hops has come out against a Jeff Suppan-for-Juan Pierre deal, fearing the extra $4 million in salary the Brewers would have to take on would make it difficult for them to sign a pitcher like Randy Wolf.

And, looking back even farther, Dave Allen of FanGraphs has a look at the pitch-blocking ability of Gregg Zaun. Ken Macha is making me crazy: I should see this as a positive, but instead I see it as the excuse that might be used to keep an underperforming/overused Zaun in the lineup and a more deserving catcher on the bench.

In the minors, Brewerfan.net has a new Power 50 up. It's always interesting to see how guys move up and down the charts during the offseason. This edition's big gainers were Kentrail Davis, Jake Odorizzi and John Axford, with Hernan Iribarren, Chris Cody and Max Walla losing significant ground.

And around here, we're looking for your help to select a Brewer All-Decade Team in a series we're calling Making Your '00 Face. That link will take you to the voting for first base, where Prince Fielder has opened up what will likely turn out to be an insurmountable lead. Voting for second base will open at 4 pm today.

Around baseball:

Braves: Reliever Rafael Soriano has accepted the team's offer of arbitration.
Cardinals: Have agreed to a one year, $7.5 million deal for Brad Penny, pending a physical.
Nationals: Signed Ivan Rodriguez to a two year deal worth $6 million, acquired reliever Brian Bruney from the Yankees for a PTBNL, and released reliever Saul Rivera.
Pirates: Signed reliever Vinnie Chulk to a minor league deal.
Rangers: Acquired pitcher Clay Rapada from the Tigers for a PTBNL or cash.
Red Sox: Signed pitcher Fabio Castro and re-signed Kason Gabbard.
Rockies: Released outfielder Matt Murton, who is expected to spend 2010 in Japan.
Tigers: Re-signed Adam Everett to a one year deal, and signed reliever Brad Thomas, who has spent the last two seasons pitching in Korea.
Twins: Carl Pavano has accepted the team's arbitration offer.

The Rule 5 Draft is on Thursday, so I'm almost done burying you in links like these: Harry Pavlidis of The Hardball Times and Lisa Winston of MiLB.com have a look at several players who recently played in the Arizona Fall League and were left unprotected in the draft.

Competition is heating up in the market for Edwin Jackson. One report yesterday had the Tigers receiving 12 offers for his services. I guess that's what you get when you put a pitcher who threw over 200 effective innings last season and is due about $5 million on the market.

Speaking of pitchers the Brewers might be interested in, Justin Duchscherer declined the A's offer of salary arbitration.

I think most of us will be happy to see these former Brewers sign elsewhere, and keeping one of them in the division would be a double bonus: Jason Kendall is reportedly drawing interest from the Royals, and Braden Looper has expressed interest in pitching for the Cubs.

In case you were wondering, Keith Law has an explanation of how the Winter Meetings, usually held in a warm vacation spot, ended up in Indianapolis. The cold temps and snow haven't kept people from exchanging some tidbits of info you probably would never have known without the internet (and might not have missed):

There was apparently a small tiff between Scott Boras and new Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog over comments Herzog made about Matt Holliday, a Boras client.
Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez didn't shoot anything while out deer hunting with Bobby Cox last week.
Former D-Back, Indian, Ray and Ranger Nick Bierbrodt, who hasn't pitched in the majors since 2004, is a ttempting a comeback.
New Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopolous is battling a cold this week, so he's not shaking anyone's hand.
Speaking of the Blue Jays, radio reporter Mike Wilner has an annoying ring tone and left his phone in the media workroom yesterday.
Craig Calcaterra brought an airport card to the meetings, making him one of the few writers not reliant on slow internet service.

And, of course we're all having fun this week, but Paul DePodesta has a reminder for all of us that many of this week's rumors will be just that, and not to get too worked up over them. Of course, no one ever gets too worked up around here, right?

Away from the meetings, here's a strange story. After months of investigation, Major League Baseball has concluded that new Twins prospect Miguel Angel Sano, who claims to be 16, is somewhere between 16 and 18. Sano also recently changed his name to Miguel Jean. If he turns out to be Miguel Tejada in disguise, the Twins will probably be very upset.

On this day in 1991, Brewer reliever Julio Machado was arrested for murder after shooting a passenger in a car that had just been involved in an accident. Machado was later found guilty and served 12 years in prison.

I don't have any Brewer birthdays today, but it is a Woot-off day, so there's that.

Drink up.

Minor League Update -- 12/7/09

Ben Buchanan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:10:14 -0000

Columbian Winter League

Reynaldo Rodriguez: .280/.347/.440

-Numbers improving again.

Dominican Winter League

Jose Capellan: 0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K – 3.86 ERA, 8:21 K:BB, 1.76 WHIP

-Good god, it keeps getting worse!

Mexican Winter League

Robert Coello: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 HR, 3 BB, 6 K – 2.58 ERA, 43:21 K:BB, 1.16 WHIP

Puerto Rican Winter League

Aaron Bates: 6-17, 2 2B, 2 BB, 3 K -- .314/.385/.457

Ken Roque: 1-4, 2 K – .273/.273/.273

Venezuelan Winter League

Yeiper Castillo: .2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K – 3.18 ERA, 6:8 K:BB, 1.50 WHIP

Leandro Marin: .1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K – 10.80 ERA, 4:3 K:BB, 2.40 WHIP

Casey Kelly Chooses Pitching

Jason McLeod Heads to San Diego

Red Sox Resign Kason Gabbard

Kason Gabbard is rejoining the Sox' minor league system per NESN's Neil Keefe. Gabbard suffered through a truly horrendous year where he could not find the strike zone, allowing 54 walks in just over 50 innings in the minors. Gabbard once seemed like a legitimate back-of-the-rotation starter, which is presumably what the Sox will be trying to get him back to.

Hey, if David Murphy doesn't get much better, the Gagne trade doesn't look quite as awful.

Minor League Update -- 11/09/09

Ben Buchanan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:34:06 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Remember Javier Lopez? Turns out he's a free agent.

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The Over The Monster top prospects list should start being compiled fairly soon. We'll be using reader voting again, with a slightly different format which should make it so that "write ins" aren't necessary.

Arizona Fall League

Luis Exposito: 3-8, 2B -- .286/.324/.429

-Expo's numbers just keep on improving since the bad start.

Jose Iglesias: 2-8, HR, K -- .222/.286/.378

-Again some pop out of Iglesias. His bat is clearly a work in progress, and he needs to work on plate patience BIG TIME (4 out of 5 at bats last game were 1-pitch at bats. The other was a strikeout. Though he did record RBIs on 3 of 5, so it's worth considering that it might have been somewhat situational.)

Ryan Kalish: 4-9, 2B, 2 BB, K -- .292/.368/.333

-After putting on a surprising power performance during the regular season, it's all but disappeared for Kalish in the fall. I wouldn't worry too much about it, though. It could be fatigue, it could be what he's working on, but he's shown he can smack 20+ out. His emergence as a patient hitter who's gonna get on base a lot is much more important.

Casey Kelly: 0-4, BB, K

-Whoo!

Randor Bierd: 3 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 4 K – 5.60 ERA, 12:9 K:BB, 1.19 WHIP

-A poor fall can't be a good sign for Bierd's flickering career.

Richie Lentz: 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K – 0.77 ERA, 13:2 K:BB, .77 WHIP

-Lentz is putting on quite the show after getting pounded in Portland this year. A dramatic improvement in control (33 BB in 36 IP to 2 in 12) can't hurt.

Chris Province: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K – 3.12 ERA, 8:4 K:BB, 1.04 WHIP

Dustin Richardson: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K – 5.19 ERA, 13:7 K:BB, 1.85 WHIP

-Includes 1 IP, 2 H, 1 K in the Rising Stars game. That inning will not be included in season numbers.

Columbian Winter League

Reynaldo Rodriguez: .261/.352/.391 in 46 ABs

Dominican Winter League

Mark Wagner: 1-8, K – .296/.390/.500

-Can't dominate every week.

Jose Capellan: 7.1 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 0 K – 3.71 ERA, 4:10 K:BB, 1.53 WHIP

-The ERA isn't horrible. But the peripherals...Oh the peripherals.

Sydney Winter League

The brothers Moanaroa and Mitch Dening have been hanging out in Aussie.

Mitch Dening: .500/.600/1.500 in 4 ABs

Boss Moanaroa: .357/.500/.429 in 14 ABs

-Still want to see the power.

Moko Moanaroa: .250/.357/.250

Venezuelan Winter League

Yeiper Castillo: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K – 1.80 ERA, 4:4 K:BB, 1.40 WHIP

Felix Doubront: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K – 2.84 ERA, 2:0 K:BB, .95 WHIP

Leandro Marin: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K – 3.38 ERA, 4:0 K:BB, 1.13 WHIP

List of Red Sox Minor League Free Agents

Edit: I have been correctly called out by poster Chebornek for not crediting SoxProspects.com for having gotten my information for this list from them. It was an oversight, and certainly in no way malicious. SoxProspects.com is a fantastic site and I encourage any and all of Over the Monster's readers to visit it--they're honestly a better resource than I am.

Technically, some of these names aren't minor leaguers, but it's worth noting them separate from the obvious big name guys.

Zach Borowiak

Robert Coello

Nick Green

Derrick Loop

Dave McKae

Iggy Suarez

Good luck to all the free agents in finding somewhere to play—whether back with Boston or elsewhere.

(Javier Lopez is a pretty surprising name, if you ask me.)

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:48:39 -0000

More photos » by Tom Mihalek - AP

I guess the beard is staying now.

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Some things to read while wearing neckerchiefs and tassels.

As the Phillies series, the first Brewer series win of 2009, drifts away in the rear view mirror, the biggest story of all three games may turn out to be the starting pitchers:

Yesterday, Dave Bush threw a near no-hitter in front of his hometown. FanGraphs has a look at his stuff, which might not have been as good as one would expect, given the results.
Wednesday, Braden Looper continued to be the Brewers' most consistent starting pitcher. Chuckie Hacks compares his early season small sample size performance to CC Sabathia.
Tuesday, Manny Parra painted himself into a corner, but Cute Sports has figured out his problem.

If Dave Bush hadn't thrown a near no-hitter, the story of yesterday's game would have been the line drive off the bat of Prince Fielder that hit Cole Hamels in the shoulder and removed him from the game. Hamels has a contusion and is expected to make his next start.

The Brewers are now 2-0 since changing up their lineup: Mike Cameron hit fifth yesterday, moving J.J. Hardy down to sixth. I don't know if this is a permanent move, but while Cameron is putting up MVP-caliber numbers and Hardy is hitting under .150, it's hard not to make a move at this point.

Speaking of early moves, Carlos Villanueva is not upset about being removed from the interim closer's role, and given his early performance, he has no right to be.

R.J. Swindle continues to amaze stat geeks everywhere: Beyond the Box Score has more Pitch f/x graphs from his debut Tuesday.

Meanwhile, David Riske's DL stay could turn out to be longer than he expected. He's going to begin a rehab program to attempt to fix some "laxity" in the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, but may need Tommy John surgery if rehab doesn't fix it.

Some minor notes:

Cole Gillespie, who had been DH'ing in Brevard County, is finally ready to play everyday and reported to Nashville yesterday.
To make room for him, the Brewers assigned Jason Tyner to the Tigers. It's kind of like a trade, except the Brewers receive nothing in return.
Mat Gamel continues to rake in AAA, and made Prospect Paradise's list of hot starting prospects.

Maybe Mat Gamel's early performance has boosted franchise value: Forbes Magazine has valued the Brewer franchise at $347 million, 24th in all of baseball and up 5% from last season. (Also noted in FanShot)

Taking two of three in Philadelphia has caused some to notice the Brewers again: MLB FanHouse upgraded the Brewers from 25th to 23rd in their power rankings.

Elsewhere around the league:

Angels: Placed Darren Oliver on the DL with back stiffness.
Blue Jays: Placed B.J. Ryan (shoulder) and Ricky Romero (side) on the DL.
Cubs: Designated Luis Vizcaino for assignment and may DL Milton Bradley.
Mets: Nelson Figueroa refused his assignment to AAA and is now a free agent.
~~Orioles~~ Rangers: Placed Kris Benson on the DL with elbow tendinitis.
Also Rangers: Placed reliever Willie Eyre on the DL with a groin strain. They also claimed Darren O'Day off waivers from the Mets.
Red Sox: Acquired Kason Gabbard from the Rangers for cash.

Major League Baseball is a highly successful product in and of itself, and MLBAM also continues to make great strides, so I guess it only makes sense that MLB would decide to hedge its bets by also investing in a failing industry and opening an online newspaper. Best of luck to them.

Meanwhile, they're still not working on resolving blackout issues. In fact, one cable provider is directing customers to call The Biz of Baseball for more information on the policy.

Wes Helms is likely still one of the worst everyday players in Brewer history, and the fact that he enjoys kickboxing does not change that.

Oh, and even if you're a dog, relieving yourself on the field is grounds for ejection.

Drink up.

He's back! Red Sox acquire Kason Gabbard

Randy Booth — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:01:14 -0000

Who knows why the Sox did it, but they traded for former Red Sox Kason Gabbard:

The Rangers have traded left-hander Kason Gabbard to Boston, the team who traded him for Eric Gagne in 2007, for cash considerations. The Red Sox have assigned him to Triple-A Pawtucket and are expected to send him to extending spring training. Gabbard, who was made a reliever this season, had struggled at Triple-A Oklahoma City. In his last appearance Tuesday, the left-hander allowed six runs in one inning.

I'm not sure why we need him, but sure. He's on the team. I wouldn't expect to see him with the big club any time soon...

First round of cuts out

Adam J. Morris — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:45:17 -0000

Evan Grant runs down the first group of cuts, and the three guys who are particularly of note are Guillermo Moscoso, Thomas Diamond, and Kason Gabbard, all of whom came to camp with a chance to make the bullpen.

Moscoso, from the reports this morning, is going to be working out of the bullpen here on out, and I suspect the Rangers want to get him more acclimated to that role. And as I mentioned earlier this spring, if you want to try to i.d. someone who could be this year's version of the 2004 Frankie Francisco, Moscoso is the lead candidate.

Gabbard is having injury issues, again, and Diamond has been (according to Grant) a disappointment this spring, so they are out earlier than would have been guessed a month ago.

Monday a.m. things

Adam J. Morris — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:13:07 -0000

With camp having kicked off, we are suddenly getting bursts of Rangers stuff on the interwebs...

Jeff Wilson writes about the Rangers' need to get off to a better start this year than they have the past couple of years. Nolan Ryan says that he thinks the Rangers should be able to win 87 games this season, which seems a bit...optimistic, to me.

Wilson also has some notes up on Willie Eyre, Derrick Turnbow, Eddie Guardado, and Brendan Donnelly, along with some comments from Travis Metcalf, whose status (and, likely, his 40 man roster spot) is in limbo.

Jim Reeves has some blog notes from Surprise, including, at the end, the hypothesis that maybe the Rangers moved Michael Young to third base because they wanted to improve the infield defense. You think?

T.R. Sullivan has blog notes from Sunday as well, with Donnelly and Vicente Padilla impressing early.

Sullivan says that, despite having a bunch of former closers in camp, Frankie Francisco is expected to be the closer in 2009. Kason Gabbard has been informed that he'll be in the bullpen, rather than the rotation, this season.

Richard Durrett thinks Andruw Jones makes the Opening Day roster, which would likely mean Marlon Byrd getting moved.

Reeves also has some Nolan Ryan anecdotes, including a story from Ryan about hitting Norm Cash after three Angels were hit by Tiger pitchers, and him leaving the game as a result. Checking Retrosheet, the one time Cash was hit by a pitch by Ryan, he was removed from the game, but it was the 2nd inning, and Tiger pitcher Mickey Lolich hadn't hit anyone (and didn't, allowing just 3 baserunners, all on base hits, that whole game). It was also Jeff Torborg behind the plate, rather than Art Kuysner.

Wednesday a.m. stuff

Adam J. Morris — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:38:03 -0000

Nolan Ryan says that the Rangers will listen to offers and are interested in free agents, but that doesn't mean they are going to trade anyone (i.e., Michael Young) or sign anyone (i.e., Ben Sheets).

T.R. Sullivan has an article up about the return of Mark Connor and the Rangers' interest in Eddie Guardado. Connor is going to assist in a developmental role this coming season, it sounds like.

Sullivan also talks to Ron Washington, who offers his thoughts on a variety of topics, including the catching situation (he says he's going to keep an open mind as to all three candidates), the cleanup slot (Nelson Cruz is pencilled in there now), and the rotation (Vicente Padilla and Kevin Millwood are the only locks).

Washington says that Kason Gabbard could end up in the bullpen, but that other pitchers have passed him up. We've talked about the 40 man roster squeeze this offseason...Gabbard is someone I could see getting dropped if the Rangers sign a free agent.

Mike Hindman predicts that a Salty + prospect for Buchholz trade will go down this week, and that the Rangers will sign Ben Sheets and trade Kevin Millwood, among other things.

Jeff Wilson says the Rangers are playing the waiting game. I am reminded of what Homer Simpson said about that in the Mr. Plow episode: "Now, we play the waiting game." Long pause. "The waiting game sucks. Let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos."

Wilson also says that the Rangers think Ben Sheets' interest in the organization is legit, and are looking at how they can afford to add him. Personally, I'm not holding my breath on that...

The BoSox website says a trade with the Rangers still doesn't appear to be a fit because the Rangers want Buchholz. The Boston Herald says that little progress between the Rangers and Red Sox has been made.

Masterson: Sell High?

0157H7 — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:54:49 -0000

Salesman extraordinaire Justin Masterson makes his pitch. via multimedia.heraldinteractive.com

The baseball player market is a tricky economy, but you can still apply some simple financial concepts to it, like the axiom "Buy Low, Sell High." In baseball, this means you trade players at the peak of their perceived value, and acquire them when they are underrated (see Ortiz, David).

When evaluating prospects and young players, you need to look at potential value as well as past performance. For example, Kason Gabbard produced well for the Red Sox in 2007, increasing his perceived value. However, few scouts or other baseball people saw him as anything more than a fringe major league player or a 5th starter. Gabbard was traded as part of the Eric Gagne deal (a strange case in which both teams were selling high on their players). Between injury and regression, Kason didn't impress this year (5.14 FIP, only 56 innings pitched), and the Sox didn't miss him. So let's talk about another player who has raised his value.

Playoff hero, bullpen stalwart - it's tough to imagine Justin Masterson's stock rising any higher. By contrast, it's quite easy to see it fall. As I've previously mentioned, going by FIP and BABIP, Masterson's 2008 debut was rather lucky. There is a fair chance that his performance (runs allowed) will fall into line with his peripherals (balls in play, walks). On the other hand, with improved control, he could become an even better pitcher.

In terms of ceiling, few scouting sources believe he'll be a top of the rotation starter, or a closer. Soxprospects.com writes Masterson could be "a #3 starter or dominant set-up man." John Sickels sees Masterson as a #3 starter if his changeup improves; he also believes Justin has the skills and mentality to close.

Considering his ceiling and his peripherals, I think that Masterson is a good candidate to trade. Among starters, Bowden has about the same ceiling, Buchholz has a higher one, and we still have Beckett, Dice-K, Lester, and Wake. Among relievers, we have Daniel Bard and his overpowering fastball rapidly approaching the majors. More importantly, reliever performance is quite variable from year to year, with dominant set-up men one year being atrocious the next (see Betancourt, Rafael and Balfour, Grant). We already have some good set-up candidates in the pen (Manny Delcarmen, Ramon Ramirez, Wes Littleton) so Masterson isn't desperately needed there.

The danger is that we hold on to Masterson, he regresses, and becomes either a mediocre starter or a poor middle reliever. All the value that he accrued this year is lost. Undoubtedly the Red Sox are a good enough team to survive that possibility. But if Masterson can bring a great return now, like the catcher of the future, then I would definitely go for it.

What do you think? Is it time for the Red Sox to cash in? Should we sell high on Masterson, or should we hold on to him?

Poll

What Masterson move would you make?

Buy. Masterson has explosive stuff and great flexibility. We should keep him long-term.

93 votes

Hold. Keep Masterson for at least another year, though consider trading him if he becomes even better.

51 votes

Sell. Trade him now, but only for good value.

91 votes

Package Justin Masterson with Julio Lugo and Mike Timlin in player-backed securities. Sell securities to unwary and overleveraged banks. Watch as securities lose value and institutions collapse. Demand government bailout. Rinse and repeat.

30 votes

265 votes | Poll has closed