SB Nation - Josh Anderson

Who Was Your Least Favorite Royal of 2009?

royalsreview — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:37:10 -0000

More photos » by Lori Shepler - AP

7 months ago: Kansas City Royals right fielder Jose Guillen can't catch the ball as Los Angeles Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick (47) hits an inside-the-park home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif., Friday, May 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Lori Shepler)

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Despite Zack Greinke's greatness, nobody really liked the 2009 Royals. Dayton made a number of bizarre signings during the off-season, then responded with even stranger ones in-season.

So who was your least favorite Royal of 2009?

The Nominees:

Kyle Farnsworth: A brilliant symbol of both Dayton Moore and Trey Hillman's weaknesses. Signed to a 2 year/$9 million dollar contract in the off-season that everyone hated. Was inexplicably named the setup-man/8th inning guy on Opening Day Eve by Hillman. Everyone thought this was insane. Farnsy gave up game-losing bomb the next day. Hey continued to fail until he was demoted, then he went on a long scoreless innings streak. Farnsworth ended up posting his lowest HR/9 numbers in ages, and still was below average.

Mike Jacobs: Jacobs didn't replicate his career year, another stroke of terrible luck to befall Dayton Moore. Gloriously managed a sub-.300 OBP. Could not handle the easiest position on the field. Frequently swung hard. Chewed gigantic amounts of tobacco while at the plate.

Jose Guillen: Ended the debate about his suckitude by achieving near perfect negative value. Hit .242/.314/.367 with absolutely horrific defense. Showed tremendous ability to turn fly ball outs into home runs for the other team. Has potential to unknowingly play a key role in the next game-fixing scandal. Hated by half the teams in the game. Contract is among worst in professional sports. Bonus status as the captain of Dayton's Awful Ex-Mariners Team.

Josh Anderson: Acquired by Dayton Moore in July for no apparent reason. Anderson had not hit before and he did not hit as a Royal, posting a .237/.268/.288. (Let's be fair, he has the ability to post a .280 OBP in full-time action.) Was a favorite late-game toy of Hillman. Does not appear to have blood.

Yuniesky Betancourt: Mysteriously picked up by Dayton Moore mid-season. Has no apparent strengths as a player. Has bizarre name. Costs much more than the minimum salary. Played key role in letting fans know that team is run by people who are ... ah, what's the point?

Willie Bloomquist: St. Willie turned in the greatest .265/.308/.355 season by a guy without a position in history. This was the Dayton Moore move that "worked" and .308 OBP, in Royalsville, is nothing to sneeze at.

Ryan Freel: Owning a .140/.275/.140 line with the Orioles & Cubs, Freel was acquired by Moore leading up to the trade deadline. Absolutely tore the cover off the ball as a Royal (.244/.306/.289) and told many fantastic stories about how he avoided the Vietnam War.

Jamey Wright: Could not sustain 0.00 ERA through first five minutes as a Royal, in more bad luck. Although quickly earning trusted status in Hillman's bullpen, posted a 4.90 ERA in next 57 games. Appeared in tie games constantly (13). Actually, he just appeared constantly.

Tony Pena Jr: Took epic failure of 2008 to a new level in 2009, posting an incredible .098/.132/.118 line. Played crucial role in delivering the Yuni-Bomb to Kansas City. Amazing shift to a pitching career, a move straight out of a message board if there ever was one, hurts his hate-ability however.

Sidney Ponson: Provided Royals with valuable depth in 2009: you can never have enough bad pitchers. Poison pill contract and fate led to him starting the 2009 Home Opener, the opening of the newly renovated K. Against the Yankees. Surprised fans with better than expected 7.36 ERA.

Horacio Ramirez: Ho-Ram's ex-Brave, ex-Mariner, ex-mildly surprising 2008 move that sorta worked out status, earned him another contract and $1.8 million from Dayton Moore. Sucked from the beginning and was gone by early June. He'll be back.

Why (And How) The Cubs Should Trade For Curtis Granderson

Al — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:39:01 -0000

by Duane Burleson - AP

In addition to a good bat, Curtis Granderson would give the Cubs plus defense in CF.

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I'm not sure I really have to convince anyone here of the premise of the headline of this article; numerous people have already posted here about how useful Curtis Granderson would be in the Cubs' outfield, and several traditional media articles in both Chicago and Detroit have discussed this possibility (and those are just three examples of dozens of such articles). Granderson himself is busy this winter pitching a reality TV series:

The Detroit Tigers player has agreed to host a TV and online series titled "Stadium Secrets" where he takes sports fans on an exploration of stadiums.

The concept is similar to Authentic’s "Cities of the Underworld" on History channel.

"Authentic will be providing an exclusive, VIP experience for fans everywhere – a behind-the-scenes journey that will be exciting for all of us. I am eager to begin working on this project and look forward to a successful partnership," Granderson said.

Sounds interesting. I'm hoping Granderson gets to explore Wrigley Field in detail starting next summer. In the meantime, after the jump I'm going to examine Granderson's numbers in detail, explain why he's a perfect fit for Chicago and the Cubs, and look at who the Cubs might have to give the Tigers in exchange.

We have to first start this discussion with a couple of assumptions. First, we assume that Milton Bradley has been, or will be, traded before any Granderson deal, thus opening up center field for the Cubs (with Kosuke Fukudome moving back to right field, a position he plays better; this would solidify Cubs defense in two positions). It is, of course, possible that Bradley could be part of a deal for Granderson, but I am going to operate here under the assumption that he's not, that Bradley will be dealt to some other team (the Rays?) and that any Granderson trade would be a separate transaction.

Second, I think you have to assume that Granderson has to be, at this stage of his career -- he will be 29 on March 16, not old, but getting toward the end of his "best" year capability -- platooned, at least to some extent. His career splits:

vs. RHP: .292/.367/.528, .894 OPS
vs. LHP: .210/.270/.344, .614 OPS

Last year it was even more extreme:

vs. RHP: .275/.358/.539, .897 OPS
vs. LHP: .183/.245/.239, .484 OPS

Against RHP, Granderson hits almost as well as Aramis Ramirez -- All-Star level. Against LHP... well, he's basically Aaron Miles. So you'd probably want to re-sign Reed Johnson to give Granderson a break against LHP. Johnson doesn't hit righthanders, but against LHP his career line is .313/.378/.463, an OPS of .841, nearly as good as Granderson vs. RHP. These two together would produce outstanding offensive numbers from the CF position and good defense. The Tigers started Granderson in 155 games in 2009 because, well, they really didn't have any other choice. The other eight (remember, the Tigers played 163 games in 2009) games were started by Josh Anderson (1), Clete Thomas (2) and Ryan Raburn (5), and of those guys, only Raburn can hit (he hits LHP pretty well -- the Tigers could have gotten more offense out of CF if they had played Raburn there a bit more often vs. LHP).

So a modified platoon of Granderson and Reed Johnson would be, in my opinion, the ticket to success for the Cubs outfield. I say "modified" because Johnson would also have to spell Fukudome in RF from time to time; on those days, Granderson would have to start in CF vs. LHP. Sam Fuld would stick with the team as the fifth outfielder, someone who could take over in the late innings for Alfonso Soriano. The Cubs' outfield would be very good defensively and close to outstanding offensively.

Granderson's contract, though it has three full years to run (and a 2013 option) is not onerous. Like many Jim Hendry contracts in recent years, it's backloaded. In 2010, Granderson is due to make a somewhat-reasonable $5.5 million; that increases to $8.25 million in 2011 and $10 million in 2012, with a $2 million buyout in 2013 (all figures, as always, from the excellent Cot's Baseball Contracts), that would increase to $13 million (with some escalators to that based on performance) if the option is exercised. That would make the total financial commitment $25.25 million (presuming the buyout is done), spread over four years from 2010-2013. That's not unreasonable for a player of Granderson's ability.

Now -- how do you get him? The Tigers seem to be in partial-sell mode; that is, they'd like to shed some of their big-dollar contracts, but not get into full rebuilding mode. Thus, you'd need to get them at least a couple of players who could step in right now and contribute at the major league level. I can't find the link right now, but in a recent Baseball America online chat, a question was asked to BA's Jim Callis about this type of deal:

Q: Would Josh Vitters, Jake Fox, and Jay Jackson be enough for the Cubs to land Curtis Granderson if he really is available? Would you do that deal if you were the Cubs?

Jim Callis: I would think so. The Tigers have to dump salary, so I might try to hold onto Vitters and see if Detroit would take Ryan Flaherty, or hold onto Jackson and offer a lesser pitcher. But the Cubs are in win-now mode, and I think they'd bite.

I'd do this deal. Starlin Castro may be the flavor-of-the-month after his .376/.396/.491 performance in the Arizona Fall League, but I think he has higher upside than Vitters, who also hit well in the AFL (.353/.380/.455), and I would not trade Castro. It's entirely possible that Vitters will become a good major league player -- but you're getting a good major league player in return. Jake Fox is miscast in the National League; though he worked hard at playing 3B, C, LF and RF, his best position is DH. Throw in the fact that he played college ball at the University of Michigan, and he's a natural for Detroit. Jay Jackson has been up and down in the Cubs organization and while he has talent, I'm not quite sure what role the Cubs have in mind for him. He was exclusively a starter in 2009 after starting and relieving in 2008.

Callis thinks this would get a deal done and I'd do it -- but I suspect the Tigers might ask for Andrew Cashner instead of Jackson. That's a high price to pay -- Cashner has a shot at the major league bullpen for the Cubs in 2010 and he could even be viewed as a closer candidate by the Tigers, who are likely to let Fernando Rodney walk. (Rodney had a decent year in his first full season as closer, but will be 33 in March.)

I'd still do Vitters, Cashner and Fox for Granderson. For those of you who say, "No way! Keep those prospects! We can't give up both Vitters and Cashner!", I say that one of the things you can do with your prospects is turn them into productive major league players. The Cubs did this in acquiring Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez; when D-Lee was acquired he was just about the same age Granderson is now.

I might even do Vitters, Fox, Cashner AND Jackson for Granderson. To illustrate why, let me tell you a little story I just read about from Cubs history. Take it for what it's worth, because it came from the new edition of Leo Durocher's (ghostwritten by Ed Linn) autobiography, "Nice Guys Finish Last" (mini-book-review: recommended, for its interesting take on Durocher's era in baseball history). In it, he describes having discussions along with GM John Holland, with the Baltimore Orioles in the winter of 1971 about trading for Frank Robinson. According to the book, the Orioles asked for five young players -- pitchers Earl Stephenson, Jim Colborn, Bill Bonham, Joe Decker and outfielder Brock Davis. Durocher's book says they hedged, asking to make it four-for-one, not wanting to give up both Decker and Bonham.

You know what? They should have offered Baltimore GM Frank Cashen a handshake and done the deal right then and there. The next day, Robinson was traded to the Dodgers -- for four minor leaguers, only one of whom (Doyle Alexander) had a significant major league career.

The day after that, the Cubs traded Stephenson, Colborn and Davis to the Brewers for Jose Cardenal. Stephenson and Davis never had any significant impact in the major leagues. Colborn did have a few decent major league seasons, winning 20 games for the Brewers in 1973. Bill Bonham never became the big winner the Cubs thought he would; eventually he was traded to the Reds for Woodie Fryman and Bill Caudill. Joe Decker was traded to the Twins (with Bill Hands) a year later for Dave LaRoche.

None of those deals would have had the impact that getting Frank Robinson to play right field for the 1972 Cubs would have had. At 35, Robinson was past his best years, but would have been a far better hitter in Wrigley Field than he was in Dodger Stadium that year. (Robinson also got hurt in 1972 and missed almost 60 games; whether that would have happened to him as a Cub is unknown, obviously.)

The 1972 Cubs finished fourth in the league in runs scored and would have been a better offensive team with Frank Robinson than they were with Jose Cardenal; neither Bonham nor Decker had any significant impact on the '72 team.

The point is, that sometimes you have to take team "prospects" -- who may never pan out to what you hope they will -- to win now. Trading Vitters and Jay Jackson -- or even Vitters, Jackson and Cashner -- may provide dividends to the Detroit Tigers two or three years down the road. But acquiring Curtis Granderson, who, in addition to his talent on the field, is also, from all reports, a good clubhouse guy who spends a lot of time giving back to the community (and is a native Chicagoan), would go a long way to helping the 2010 Cubs return to the playoffs and give them a chance to win it all.

And isn't that what we all want?

As we often say here... GETITDON EJIM.

Braves 2009 Season in Review: Jordan Schafer

gondeee — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:53:13 -0000

More photos » by Paul Abell - AP

Atlanta Braves' Jordan Schafer will use next season to work his way back to the majors.

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One of the most disappointing story lines of the 2009 season for the Atlanta Braves was the failure of center fielder Jordan Schafer. Going into spring training he was competing with two other guys, both with major league experience, Josh Anderson and Gregor Blanco. Schafer had such an impressive spring that he beat out both of them, relegating Blanco to the minors and Anderson to the trading block.

The positive spring training reports and performance turned up big in those first few games of the 2009 season. Schafer hit a homerun on the fifth pitch he saw in the first at-bat of his big league career. Another hit and a walk in that first game had everyone abuzz that this kid was for real. After his first 5 big league games he was hitting .421, he had hit in 4-out-of-5 games and 3 of those games were multi-hit games. Then came a 1-for-21 stretch as the league adjusted to him, then some more good hitting where he adjusted to the league, but it wasn't enough, and the injury he suffered in those first few games caught up with the grind of the big league season. Schafer tried to gut it out, but a wrist injury combined with the inexperience of a rookie caused his numbers to crash.

Schafer eventually had surgery on that left wrist to remove a bone spur and insert a wire linking two other bones. More info on that here.

When looking ahead to a return to the majors next season, or more likely a return to the majors in 2011, how do we quantify Schafer's 2009 performance to get expected results? Do we take the .300-hitting Schafer of the first 8 games, or the sub-.200-hitting Schafer of the next 42 games? Maybe a little bit of both? It's easy to throw a dart right in the middle and say that's what kind of hitter he'll be in the majors. The Bill James 2010 Handbook pegs him as a .239 hitter were he to see big league action in 2009.

What we need to do when analyzing Schafer is to go back to those scouting reports when he was a prospect. Baseball America said last year that Schafer has "good hand-eye coordination with quick wrists and plus bat speed." That combination is still there, and now it's there with a renewed sense of determination to get back to the big leagues and prove to everyone what he can do when he's healthy. Most all of the prospect reports from last year on Schafer also said that he would benefit greatly from at least half a year at triple-A, but he made the jump directly to the majors after just 84 games of double-A.

2010 will be the year that Schafer should have had last year. It will be a year to further his seasoning as a ballplayer at the top rung of the minor leagues, and to regain the confidence and swagger that is so much a part of who he is. He's too much of a tireless working not to come into next season with a mission to prove to everyone that he deserves to be back in the majors. To do so he'll have to work on keeping his strikeouts down, keeping his walks up, and continuing to work at becoming a guy who hits for a high average. Success in triple-A early next season could make him a very valuable backup in case of injury to anyone in the 2010 Braves outfield, and a potential major impact player late in the season for Atlanta.

Curious Phenomena or Big Problem? Royals 9, Tigers 2

Ian Casselberry — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:15:44 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

Now that he's given up 10 runs in his last two starts, are you worried how Edwin Jackson will pitch over the next two weeks?

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It's the most baffling thing. Mind-boggling, really.

And we're not just talking about Josh Anderson hitting a three-run homer. His first home run of the season. For the Royals. Not the Tigers.

What do the Kansas City Royals have over the Detroit Tigers? How is it that they've been able to win five of the last six meetings between the two teams?

The pitching has been terrible. The lineup hasn't scored many runs. The Royals outscored the Tigers 21-7 in winning two of the three games in this series. And because of all this, the AL Central is still a race going into this weekend's series at Minnesota.

Do we need to begin worrying about Edwin Jackson? (That is, if you weren't concerned already.) For the second consecutive start, he gave up five runs. And he was bad pretty much from the beginning today. Two of the first Royals batters reached base. Soon thereafter, Jackson left a fastball out over the plate for Alberto Callaspo, who smacked it into the left-centerfield gap for a two-run double.

(Callaspo can officially be added to the Tigers Killer club this season, after batting 8-for-21 with two homers and nine RBIs in his last six games vs. Detroit.)

After putting two of the first three batters on base in the third, Jackson put some finality on the day, teeing up a fastball right down the middle to Miguel Olivo. Olivo launched it out to the shrubs in dead center for a three-run homer and a 5-0 Royals lead.

It was already likely to be a struggle for the Tigers against Zack Greinke. But down five runs? Greinke allowed no runs in his five innings, giving up just three hits. He may have pitched longer, had Miguel Cabrera not hit a line drive at his throwing arm in the fourth inning. But after the Royals made it 8-0 in the bottom of the fifth (more on that later), there was no sense in pitching Greinke any more.

So what is the deal? Could it really be as simple as the Royals just being a bad match-up for the Tigers? (Robinson Tejeda, Callaspo, Billy Butler, etc.) Probably not. Was Detroit looking ahead to this weekend with the Twins? Perhaps, but that just sounds like an excuse.

Regardless, the mystery isn't going to be solved this season, as the Tigers are (thankfully?) done with playing the Royals. If the Tigers were indeed more preoccupied with the Twins and White Sox, they'll have ample opportunity to address those concerns over the remaining 12 games on the schedule.

Whimper:

As poorly as Jackson pitched today, at least he can say he didn't give up a homer to Josh Anderson. Anderson didn't even display warning track power while he was with the Tigers. (And hadn't with the Royals, either.) No, this singular honor goes to Armando Galarraga, who showed that he's not to be counted on for meaningful contributions down the stretch.

Galarraga faced six batters. Five of them reached base. He hit one with a pitch. Only 11 of his 21 pitches were thrown for strikes. Merriam-Webster might be changing their definition for "disaster" as you read this.

Comment of the Day:

Doomsayers - think on this:

The ’06 Cards finished 5 games over .500 & lost 9 of their last 12 going into the playoffs…

by moonshineboy

F.A.T. Alert Update: How good is Matt Murton, really?

devil_fingers — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:49:36 -0000

In a brief fanshot I posted late last night, I noted that Matt Murton had been DFAed by the Rockies, and that teams should be jumping at a chance to acquire a league-average player for free. It was too late for me to think about busting out Excel then, but I figured it was worth checking out in more details in order to exercise my easily acquired WAR-crunching muscles. Details after the jump.

Matt Murton

#14 / Left Field / Colorado Rockies

Height: 6-1

Weight: 220

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Oct 03, 1981

Before the season, CHONE projected Murton as a .360 wOBA hitter, while ZiPS had him at .347. Based on his brief peformance in 14 gamesin Colorado, ZiPS Rest-of-Season projection has lower that to .330. But that's also based onhim only getting 60 more ABs the rest of the way. And we like to flex out "true talent" evaluatoin muscles a bit more than that here. Let's see where we can get without MLEs or component curves...

Offense: Again regressing each season's wOBA against 220 PAs of league average as directed in The Book, then giving a slight age adjustment (since this is just Murton's age 27 season), then taking a weighted average, Murton's true talent wOBA seems to be about .340. Converting to runs above average over a full season (700 PAs): (.340-.328)/1.2 = 7.2 Runs Above Average.

Defense: Taking his outfield stats as a whole and regressing against 100 games of league average (I regress OF defense more than IF defense) and taking a weighted average, I get him as a +2 defender on the corners. While Murton seems to have a good reputation on defense among some on the internet, the Fans Scouting Reports from 2006 and 2007 wasn't so friendly, and when I regressed to that, he was more of a league-average defender on the corners. I think we should stick with that for now, so +0 (average) of defense.

Adding it up: +7.2 offense + 0 defense - 7.5 positional adjustment + 20 NL replacement level = 19.7 x 85% playing time = ~1.7 Wins Above Replacement. That's not quite mlb average, as I'd guessed, but also keep in mind that we dno't have much information on his defense the last couple of seasons, and that the CHONE and ZiPS preseason projections where higher than mine.

Murton's still pretty close to average (and maybe better) and only 27 years old. Most importantly, he's freely acquirable talent at the league minimum.

So, yeah, there are many teams that should be jumping at this chance. Not my Royals, of course. They're totally set with Josh "Gathwhite" Anderson.

Twins Sweep Royals, Michael Cuddyer Homers Twice In One Inning

Jesse — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:07:43 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Riedel - AP

4 months ago: Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Carl Pavano throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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Good news, everyone! Twins 10, Royals 3

Carl Pavano rolled through most of his afternoon, mowing down Kansas City impressively for five innings, throwing up zeros and his hands in the air like he just didn't care. He allowed a few singles until he crested, retiring ten in a row to take him through the end of the fifth.

Mike Jacobs singled in David DeJesus for a run in the sixth, and after the Twins scored eight in the top of the seventh Pavano came out for the seventh as well. Mark Teahen and Mitch Maier both singled to start the frame before Pavano was able to fight back, and he allowed just one more run before finishing the seventh inning (and his afternoon) with 108 pitches.

Pounding the strike zone with mostly fastballs and changeups his first time through the Royals order, Pavano adjusted the second time through, throwing more sinking fastballs and sliders. He was around the plate all afternoon, and he made the Royals earn every single they picked up. Of the eight hits Pavano surrendered, only DeJesus' double to lead off the top of the sixth was for extra bases. No walks and just two strikeouts, he succeeded by inducing contact and keeping his defense active. Outfielders fought the sun, and Brendan Harris flashed some quick reflexes, but for the most part the defense did it's job without flash or error.

This was also the game that should probably show the Royals fans, players and front office that sending Alex Gordon down to triple-A (for service time I'm sure, regardless of the official why) was the wrong move. Teahen was ~~playing~~ manning the hot corner this afternoon, and proceeded to let a small handfull of hits trickle or fly by him. On the opposite corner of the infield, Billy Butler is much the same--a talented athlete who's even less mobile. Josh Anderson in right field didn't have a good afternoon, either.

Bob Keppel pitched a scoreless inning, his third scoreless appearances in ten over the course of August. Jeff Manship pitched the eighth, allowing one run by tightening up after letting his first two hitters get on base.

Offensively the story of the game would be one Michael Cuddyer. Cuddyer homered twice, dropping bomb numbers 21 and 22 in the eight-run seventh. That feat means Cuddyer is the first Twin to homer twice in the same inning. Congratulations, sir! (Hat tip: fischean)

Denard Span picked up a triple and three RBI, with Brendan Harris and Orlando Cabrera each tallying a double to join the extra-base hit parade. Every Minnesota hitter picked up at least one hit, with Cuddyer, Span, Joe Mauer and Carlos Gomez picking up multiple-hit days.

Most importantly, the number one thing for today: while the Twins won, the White Sox lost. ~~If the~~ ~~Tigers~~ ~~can't overcome a 5-1 deficit in the seventh, the'll lose too. With any luck, Minnesota will be just 4.5 games out when the sun comes up tomorrow morning.~~ Division-leading Detroit lost too, after a late pounding from the A's, leaving the Twinks just 4.5 games out.

Three wins in a row = winning streak. Here's hoping we can ride this crest for a few days.

More Twins/Royals coverage from SB Nation.
The best Royals coverage on the 'net.

Stars of the Game
#3: Denard Span (2-for-5, 3B, 3 RBI, R, .103 WPA)
#2: Carl Pavano (7 IP, 8 H, 2 K, 2 R, 0 BB, .206 WPA)
#1: Michael Cuddyer (3-for-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, .222 WPA)

Quote of the Game Thread, from tobynotjason:

Posted this to SBG too:

After Delmon’s PA last inning I poked around Baseball Reference a little. I know his historically consistent 2nd-half improvement is well-known, but check this split out — it’s one I haven’t seen mentioned (and I apologize if it has been):
CAREER vs. Power pitchers (28%or more K+BB rate): .508 OPS.
Vs. Avg Power/Finesse (24-28% K+BB rate): .720.
Vs. Finesse pitchers (less than 24% K+BB rate): .951 OPS.

No, that is NOT typical. But it IS dramatic. Basically, if a pitcher relies on his stuff to strike guys out, he’s going to to own Delmon. If he relies on suppressing walks and/or inducing groundballs (the usual picture of a guy with less than 24% K+BBs, D. Young’s decent to great. If Prof. Gardenhire took note of this and benched him against power pitchers, his overall numbers would look pretty darn good. The problem, of course, is that means Gomez and his .474 OPS vs. Power pitchers (he splits like Young only worse across the board) plays, so it doesn’t get the team very far, I suppose. Still, though, interesting numbers.

Morning Prowl: Missing Miner, Magglio's Contract, Outfield Defense, and Grandy's Slump

Ian Casselberry — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:30:12 -0000

So as it turns out, the Detroit Tigers weren't one man short in their bullpen on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were down two relievers. The relief corps was already at six, as you know, after Eddie Bonine was sent down to Toledo to make room for Aubrey Huff.

But Jason Beck reported yesterday that Zach Miner also wasn't with the team for the first two games of the Seattle series because his wife was giving birth to their second child. Miner was back yesterday, of course, and pitched two key shutout innings that allowed the Tigers to eventually overtake the Mariners in the ninth.

Over at The Spot Starters, Blake is worried - very worried - about Magglio Ordonez being less than 80 plate appearances away from triggering that $18 million option for next season. And I understand the concern about that contract potentially crippling the Tigers next year and beyond, especially when they have future paydays for Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson to consider.

But amidst all the hand-wringing, it seems to me that Jim Leyland had no choice but to play Ordonez. In mid-July, Ryan Raburn and Marcus Thames were both slumping. Josh Anderson was playing so poorly that he was eventually released. Meanwhile, Maggs has been hitting. In August, his batting line is .396/.420/.646. No, he's still not hitting for power, which is troubling. But can the Tigers afford to sit him down, at this point?

Take 75 North's Matt Wallace is now a featured columnist at Bleacher Report (joining our good friend Kurt Mensching). His latest piece laments the Tigers' bad match of outfield defense with its pitching staff. (Jarrod Washburn could tape this inside his locker.) Unfortunately, Jim Leyland has to make some concessions to offense, with as much trouble as the Tigers have scoring runs.

And if you don't think outfield defense matters, did you see what a difference Franklin Gutierrez and Michael Saunders made for Seattle over the past three games? How many doubles did those two take away?

Matt cited UZR in his column, and if you're not entirely familiar with that defensive metric, Newsday's Ken Davidoff recently spoke with the man who created it, Mitchel Lichtman.

It's Just Sports interviewed Tigers' TV analyst Rod Allen. Has Rod really been doing Tigers games for seven years now? Wow. Topics discussed include Allen's schedule during the season, what he likes to convey during a telecast, and what led him from coaching into broadcasting.

With Curtis Granderson likely to sit out his second straight game tonight (due to Oakland starting the left-handed Gio Gonzalez), Tiger Tracks looks at Grandy's recent slump. He's been terrible against lefties this year, after making some improvements last season. So what are the Tigers' options at this point?

Rob Neyer writes about the Yankees' plan to monitor Joba Chamberlain's innings once again, noting that their big lead in the AL East affords them the luxury to sit him down, if necessary. Neyer compares that to the Tigers, whose close race with the White Sox might force them to use Rick Porcello more than planned.

While explaining the process of putting players on waivers, Danny Knobler shared an interesting Tigers-related nugget. It's ultimately irrelevant, but some of you might be interested in the name he mentions.

Roar of the Tigers complains about FOX Sports Detroit's choice of programming during yesterday's one-hour rain delay. And I have to agree. I'm biased because I don't play golf, but was running "Michigan Golf Live" really the best choice in the second half-hour of that delay?

Sam also has a, shall we say, passionate description of Brandon Inge's stellar play in yesterday's 6-5 victory.

FOXSports.com's Dayn Perry pokes holes in the notion (apparently ignited by the NY Times' Tyler Kepner) that the Yankees' Mark Teixeira is a more worthy MVP candidate than Minnesota's Joe Mauer. How much might Mauer be hurt by the Twins likely not being a playoff team? And how much does Teixeira benefit from playing in Yankee Stadium, while also batting in a lineup that gets plenty of guys on base for him?

The aforementioned Neyer and Posnanski both weighed in on this debate a few days ago. (Neyer, by the way, thinks Miguel Cabrera has to be in the discussion.)

Oh, and Chris Lambert - recently designated for assignment to accommodate Jacob Turner and his new major league contract - was claimed by the Baltimore Orioles.

Did the O's management see Lambert pitch against the Red Sox last Tuesday? They remember that's a division opponent of theirs, right? Maybe they thought they were getting this guy.

One Easy Move for 2010: Make Mitch Maier the Regular Centerfielder

royalsreview — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:30:09 -0000

More photos » by Steve Nesius - AP

The Royals should seriously look at Mitch Maier as a cheap in-house solution in 2010. They won't, but they should. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

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We should appreciate Mitch Maier a little more around here, because it's clear nobody else is going to.

Maier's not totally useless offensively and he's decent with the glove at an important position. He'll be 28 next season and likely near his peak as a player. Assuming the Royals don't pick up Coco Crisp's option ($8 million), Maier's a reasonable option in center, especially for the Major League minimum. Letting Maier and DeJesus roam two thirds of the outfield real estate would help offset the likely presence of Jose Guillen.

Obviously, you would have to say this is unlikely, because Dayton Moore likes to acquire centerfielders. Their actually being good is not a prerequisite either. In my mind, Joey Gathright, Ryan Freel and now Josh Anderson have all rented the same apartment during their time in KC. For years now, we've seen how Dayton places guys afield based on relatively minor elements of how they hit: center fielders should steal bases in Dayton's vision. Period. If David DeJesus was better at stealing bases and worse at everything else, he never would have lost his CF job, which is why the Royals ended up acquiring Coco Crisp after Gathright failed, and why every Royals affiliate below AAA has a guy who does nothing but steal bases playing CF.

Actually, Maier reminds me a little of Gathright's best qualities. Even when he was struggling this season, Maier was doing his damnedest to take pitches. The difference between Maier and Gathright is that Maier didn't cost the Royals J.P. Howell, and he's still got a modest power potential. Maier has slugged .458 in the minors, compared to Gathright's .366 mark. Josh Anderson, on the other hand, shares Gathright's lack of power, as his career slugging percentage in the minors is .366. Hopefully, Maier can drive the ball enough to earn enough respect to still post a decent OBP.

Since returning from Omaha on July 25, Mitch Maier has hit .348/.446/.457 in his last 56 plate appearances. His season line is still pretty pedestrian at .247/.332/.346, but a .332 OBP is nothing to dismiss on this team. Thanks to a good season afield, Maier's posted a 0.4 WAR in 2009, and, not to be redundant, but non-below-replacement-level players aren't something to dismiss on this team either. DeJesus (2.1), Coco (1.3) and Maier (0.4) are the only Royal outfielders to be above replacement level this season. That's right, Maier's been better than St. Willie (-0.4), who is supposedly having a career season.

(Dayton Moore acquired position players having an above replacement level season: Crisp, Olivo (1.2), Callaspo (0.9), Pena (0.7). Baird's guys have kept this from being a 110-loss team. Trust the process.)

This is what your farm system is supposed to do. Sure, everyone also wants stars, but producing guys who can be league average or slightly better, for the league minimum, for a year or two, also provides tremendous value to a team. Yes, Maier was taken 30th overall back in 2003, so he isn't going to go down as a great pick. Nevertheless, he's ready to contribute just in time for his peak years, which also gives the Royals another few years to find someone better before Maier gets too expensive.

The Royals have enough problems on the roster, including one Superfund site in right and another at shortstop that they don't know about, that they should be willing to accept a simple, if unsexy, solution in center. Mitch Maier now!

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:39:34 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

Mike Cameron is safe at home off a Jason Kendall single as Wil Nieves cannot get the tag in the seventh inning Thursday.

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Some things to read while I spend all day playing Bookworm.

Dreams really do come true, at least for The Bucky Channell, as the Brewers will open play today without both Bill Hall and Jeff Suppan on the active roster. Hall was optioned to AAA to get some consistent at bats to work on his swing, and Sheffield's House is reporting he was later traded to the Toppers' Pizza Softball Team. Hernan Iribarren will be called up before tonight's game to take Hall's place on the roster.

Suppan, meanwhile, is on the DL with a strained oblique. The Brewers haven't made a corresponding move to fill his roster spot, but Doug Melvin says he doesn't expect to fill it via trade. Chase Wright, who could have been a candidate to make a spot start on Saturday, started for Nashville last night, so he's likely out of the equation. Unless I'm mistaken, Chris Cody is scheduled to pitch for the Sounds tonight, and could also be a candidate.

The downfall of Jeff Suppan and Bill Hall, combined with the lost season of Chris Capuano and the disappointing year by J.J. Hardy have led View From Bernie's Chalet to wonder if the four Brewers made a mistake by appearing on "The Young and the Restless" in 2007.

Meanwhile, the Brewers are left clinging to a .500 record, heading off on the dreaded west coast road trip. You may want to try to catch an afternoon nap today, if you can: The Brewers play at 9:05 five of the next six days.

Once every few days, especially when Mike Cameron isn't hitting well, someone in the game thread asks how Tony Gwynn Jr. is doing in San Diego. Before you ask, here you go: Gwynn got off to a hot start for the Padres, but Quevedo at the Buffet reports that he's hitting just .240/.291/.312 with 21 strikeouts and one stolen base since June 21.

Around the minors:

The Brewers appear to have reached a deal to lure 2009 draft pick D'Vontrey Richardson away from playing football at Florida State. Richardson was a fifth round pick, believed to be seeking a bonus well above slot money.
The Timber Rattlers are struggling a bit lately, but Brett Christopherson of the Appleton Post-Crescent thinks the Brewers could help the team by promoting two prospects from Helena: BCB #9 prospect Jake Odorizzi and 2009 third round pick Josh Prince.

The Brewers dropped from 18th to 20th in Yahoo's Power Rankings.

Around the league:

Astros: Released Russ Ortiz.
Braves: Released reliever Jeff Bennett.
Cubs: Acquired John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny from the Pirates for pitchers Kevin Hart, Jose Ascanio and a minor leaguer.
Dodgers: Acquired George Sherrill from the Orioles for two prospects.
Mets: Designated Elmer Dessens for assignment.
Rays: Claimed catcher Jose Lobaton off waivers from the Padres.
Royals: Acquired outfielder Josh Anderson from the Tigers for cash.

Russ Ortiz and Kevin Hart were the starting pitchers in yesterday's Cubs-Astros game, and as 6-4-2 notes, neither were on their respective teams' active roster by the end of the day.

It's the busiest day of the year for trade rumor peddlers and the like, and for one man, business is booming: Tyler Maas of Bugs & Cranks profiles Elliott James, the guy who photoshops the caps of their new teams onto traded players.

At Inside the Majors, former Blue Jays assistant GM Bart Given answers more reader questions about life in a front office. Today, we have questions on cash payments made as part of trades, using players on the DL as part of trades, and using text messages and email to negotiate deals.

Remember umpire Bill Hohn (and his mustache), and the issues the Brewers had with him a couple of weeks ago? He's back in the news today for fist-bumping Marlins catcher John Baker following Wednesday's game, where he ejected both Bobby Cox and Brian McCann. Can we just replace these guys with machines and get it over with?

This isn't one of the brightest days for "This Day in Brewer History:" On this day in 1990, the Brewers were the losing team as Nolan Ryan won his 300th game. And on this day in 1996, the Brewers traded Greg Vaughn to the Padres for Bryce Florie, Marc Newfield and Ron Villone. Vaughn went on to hit 50 home runs for the Padres in 1998. Newfield played two below average seasons as a Brewer and was done in the majors at 25. Villone pitched in 50 games for the Brewers in 1997, and Florie appeared in 32.

Oh, and take a moment today to consider the plight of unnamed sources.

Drink up.

Scratch off a couple more names

Ed Valentine — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:18:32 -0000

Well, you can scratch a couple more names off the list of players the New York Yankees were interested in acquiring via trade.

The Detroit Tigers have sent outfielder Josh Anderson to the Kansas City Royals. The Yankees were considering him as a replacement for the injured Brett Gardner.
The Chicago Cubs have acquired left-handed reliever John Grabow from Pittsburgh. Fine with me, I think Grabow is terrible, anyway. I would love to see Scott Downs in pinstripes, though.

-- Check MLB Daily Dish for more on the trade deadline.