SB Nation - Brian Bannister

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:18:55 -0000

by Jim Prisching - AP

Craig Counsell is expected to re-sign today.

Some things to read while John Tesh rocks the NBA on NBC theme (h/t Amy K. Nelson).

Randy Wolf is expected to undergo a physical this morning and once he does, expect his contract to become official sometime later today. That might not be today's only announcement, though: the Brewers are also expected to finalize a deal with Craig Counsell today. With Counsell, Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Alcides Escobar, Mat Gamel and Casey McGehee all on the roster, the Brewers' Opening Day infield is probably set, barring injury or trade.

Meanwhile, Mike Rivera is surprised to be looking for work after being non-tendered over the weekend. He thought the decision not to retain Jason Kendall would give him an edge as the only returning catcher familiar with the Brewer pitching staff.

As of this writing, roughly 4% of voters in the poll on your right listed the decision to offer Dave bush a 2010 contract as the one Brewer move from this weekend they would change. That's not exactly a large chunk of the fanbase, but In-Between Hops is taking on that vocal minority, making the case that the Brewers made the right move by giving Bush another shot.

If you missed Morineko's Weekend Mug, follow the link over to it for full coverage of the Brewers' arbitration decisions, and a link to this list of all the non-tenders leaguewide.

Looking back at last week, Jon Heyman ranked the Brewers among the Winter Meeting winners. Meanwhile, Marc Hulet of The Baseball Analysts listed Rule 5 selection Chuck Lofgren in the "Why Bother?" category.

The more I think about it, the more I think Lofgren will have a tough task ahead of him if he's going to make the team out of spring training. With Trevor Hoffman, LaTroy Hawkins, Todd Coffey, Claudio Vargas and Mitch Stetter back, there's only two bullpen spots left that are potentially available (barring injury), and Chris Smith, John Axford, Chris Narveson, Zach Braddock and now Lofgren fighting for them. I like Lofgren's potential and hope the Brewers will get an opportunity to realize it, but right now he might be the third or fourth best lefty in the bullpen competition.

If you have a vague interest in Brewer baseball, but wish there was less analysis and more profanity on this site, then Miller Park Drunk's RUNNING series might be just the ticket for you. Follow these links for bad Prince Fielder jokes, some fan fiction involving Ryan Braun trying to rap, and a vague musical reference to Rickie Weeks.

In the minors: Baseball Intellect has video footage of some at bats featuring Cameron Garfield, Cutter Dykstra and Josh Prince from a Pioneer League game back in July. They're pay-only, but there are worse ways to spend $2.95.

If you were gone this weekend, you didn't miss the opportunity to help select a center fielder and catcher for the BCB All Decade Team. Voting closes at 4 pm today for center fielders and 4 pm tomorrow for catchers. We'll open the voting for the final starting outfield spot later today.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Signed catcher John Buck to a one-year deal worth $2 million, signed Joey Gathright to a minor league deal,
Braves: Signed Matt Diaz to a one year, $2.55 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
D-Backs: Re-signed infielder Augie Ojeda to a one year deal, and avoided arbitration with Blaine Boyer.
Dodgers: Signed pitcher Josh Towers to a minor league deal.
Giants: Signed shortstop-turned-pitcher Tony Pena Jr. to a minor league deal.
Indians: Re-signed pitchers Adam Miller and Anthony Reyes to minor league deals.
Marlins: Signed catcher Ronny Paulino to a one-year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Nationals: Re-signed Scott Olsen to a one year deal. Also signed pitcher Ryan Speier to a minor league deal.
Padres: Signed pitcher Kevin Correia to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Pirates: Signed Ronny Cedeno to a one year, $1.125 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
Rangers: Signed infielder Esteban German to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Rays: Avoided arbitration with catcher Dioner Navarro and pitchers Grant Balfour, Rafael Soriano, Lance Cormier and Randy Choate.
Royals: Avoided arbitration with pitchers Brian Bannister and Kyle Davies. They also signed pitcher Bruce Chen and catcher Vance Wilson to minor league deals.
White Sox: Signed J.J. Putz to a one year deal.

Meanwhile, the market heated up immediately for Yankees non-tender Chien-Ming Wang, with Ken Rosenthal reporting that six teams have already expressed interest. He doesn't list the teams, but I wouldn't be surprised to discover the Brewers are one of them.

I promise, I'm not going to mention it every time someone says something new about Jason Kendall. In fact, I might try to go the rest of the week without mentioning him at all. With that said, I thought these three links about him were interesting:

Joe Posnanski has a look at the potential Opening Day lineup for the 2010 Royals, now including Kendall.
He also compares Kendall to a superball on the field at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
Reminding us all how far and how fast Kendall has fallen, Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? named Kendall the Pirate Catcher of the Decade.

Weeks ago I linked to a post from minor league veteran Garrett Broshuis, mentioning the challenges in finding quality, healthy food in minor league clubhouses. It looks like that problem may be on its way to being resolved: After discussing it at the Winter Meetings, several teams are making an effort to provide healthier options, and remove the constant flow of junk.

If you're a fan of sabermetrics, or just want to learn more about them, I've got two links for you today:

TangoTiger has a look at OPS+, and some minor adjustments that could be made to it to make it more useful than some other advanced metrics.
That post links to this one, Big League Stew's beginner's guide to wOBA. I learned a fair amount by reading that one.

Gorman Thomas celebrated a birthday over the weekend, and while this probably isn't what he had in mind for a gift, David Chalk of Seventh Inning 'Stache has inducted him into the MLB Mustache Hall of Fame.

On this day in 1998, the Brewers acquired Alex Ochoa from the Twins for a minor leaguer named Darrell Nicholas. Ochoa spent one season as a Brewer, hitting .300/.404/.466 before being traded to the Reds for Mark Sweeney after the season.

Happy birthday today to:

Former Seattle Pilot and 1970 Brewer Greg Goossen, who turns 64.
Dave Nilsson, who appeared in 837 games as a Brewer and turns 40.
Marcus Jensen, who appeared in 18 games over two tours as a Brewer and turns 37.

Sean Forman, founder of Baseball Reference, is also celebrating his birthday today. You can help him celebrate by sponsoring a page. I know someone around here will want this one.

Drink up.

Already Down Meche, Royals Await News on Brian Bannister

royalsreview — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:46:26 -0000

Brian Bannister may be the latest Royal to have his season end prematurely due to injury. Yes, those terribly unlucky Royals just can't catch a break! I'm stunned that one of the most retrograde teams in the game would have a worn down pitching staff by September.

Per the Associated Press:

Royals starter Gil Meche is probably done for the year with a shoulder problem, and fellow right-hander Brian Bannister is flying to New York for a second opinion on his shoulder.

Royals manager Trey Hillman said on Thursday that Meche would most likely be shut down for the final weeks of the season. He declined to speculate on whether Bannister would need surgery.

The Royals did not disclose the exact nature of the problems.

(Mellinger's report in the Star can be read here.)

Frankly, no matter what the second opinion turns out to be, there's little reason to pitch Bannister anymore this season. Given how much the Royals believe (somewhat unjustifiably) that they've been truly bedeviled by injuries this season, you'd think that now that there's little left to play for, they'd be aggressively proactive about shutting people down. It's taken awhile, but that's (sorta apparently) happened with Gil Meche, which is a good thing.

Yes, I said it, the Royals are doing a good and smart thing here. Two weeks too late, but I'll take it.

Bannister's a slightly different case, in that his injury/fatigue/soreness/whatever has come on much more recently. Still, with endless auditions still available from Kyle Davies, as well as reliable appearances from Greinke and Hochevar, the Royals aren't terribly short-handed when it comes to throwing out intriguing yet mostly sub-optimal guys.

I don't think there's a huge difference between Bannister and Bruce Chen or Lenny DiNardo at this point, and certainly not a large difference over the course of two or three starts. We're talking about a pitcher in Bannister who always operates on the fringes of uselessness who also happens to have posted a 9.29 ERA in his last six starts. With Bannister, there's simply always going to be the BABIP issue: does he break the mold or does the mold break him. In his 9.29 ERA stretch, he's allowed an aggregate line of .326/.372/.486, thus answering almost perfectly a hypothetical question about how many runs per game a team of all 2009 Derek Jeters would score.

Hmm... maybe these problems aren't necessarily so new. In any event, we should all feel totally comfortable that the Royals will handle these injuries well.

This is how it goes with these guys, that great chattering mass of bodies named Davies, Hochevar, and Bannister. They'll look good, they'll look bad. They're all around. You can make cases for all of them, or against all of them. Davies was considered the best option heading into 2009, and he fell on his face. Then, we all lustily awaited Hochevar, who struggled, then turned into late 1990s Pedro for three starts, then fell apart. Nobody expected anything of Banny for 2009, and he, ever briefly, emerged as the best of the bunch. All the old Banny-Stats type of articles returned. Then he started sucking again.

In a way, it all makes Sidney Ponson look attractive in an Odalis Perez sort of way. Really and truly, you knew what you were getting with those guys.

A's Collect Series Win Behind Powell's Slam

baseballgirl — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:20:44 -0000

More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

I'd hit more grand slams if I was in more games!

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It's a good day for a rookie pitcher when he can go five innings, give up three runs, and still get the easy win, as his offense exploded for ten runs--something the A's don't do very often. The big blow in this game was the fifth inning, two-out grand slam by Landon Powell to break open the game, and lead the A's to another series win.

The A's made short work of Brian Bannister, who would leave the game with an injury in the second inning, but they hit his replacement harder--Yabuta was the proud owner of five earned runs in two-thirds of an inning.

The A's didn't waste a moment getting on the board. After Cahill made it through the first inning with the help of a caught-stealing, the offense turned it on. Kennedy walked to start the game, then Rajai Davis--in his bid for .300--doubled him to third. Sweeney singled them both in, then stole second. Cust singled him to third, and Ellis knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to bring the score to 3-0.

Cahill shut the Royals down in the second (after another leadoff walk), and the A's put the game out of reach in the bottom of the inning. After Bannister left the game, Patterson doubled, Kennedy singled, Davis knocked in a run with a sac fly, Sweeney singled, Cust walked to load the bases, bringing up Landon Powell. Spoiler: He hit a grand slam.

With the 8-0 lead, there wasn't much left for Cahill to do except get through five. He struggled in the third, allowing a couple of doubles, a single, and a homerun, but the thee runs hardly made a dent in anything but his ERA. The A's would answer back with a couple of walks, a single, and an RBI-HBP (Davis, who would end up 2-3 with 2 RBIs).

Aside from a token run in the ninth by the Royals, the scoring was finished. The 10-3 lead allowed some of the expanded roster callups to be showcased; Kilby for 2 (1 H, 2 K), Blevins for 1, (0 H, 2 K), and Eveland for 1 (2 H, 1 R).

All in all, a solid win for the green and gold, as the Royals leave town, and the Mariners are ushered back in. Tomorrow's game is at 7:05, Snell vs. Tomko. We'll see you right here!

8 Run Applesauce - Mets set hit record, Manuel ticks off Church, Valdez back, Rizzo possibly out

Joe Budd — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:45:55 -0000

Hooray for hits. Since the whole team refuses to take walks and they're paid to score runs, we're kind of left with hits and we got a lot of those, at least in the fourth inning. It's sad that the only player that remotely interests me is pitching tonight.

Meet the Mets

Jerry Manuel called Ryan Church a "different animal" than David Wright. I haven't been able to find the context for the quote, whether he was calling him a wuss or whether or not he was just telling the truth in that Wright was a more valuable player who should be handled differently. Either way, Ryan Church found the quote important. So did the tabloids. It's been a while since we've seen a player-manager relationship this publicly bad.

With Alex Cora gone for the season, Wilson Valdez makes a repeat appearance.

Oliver Perez was better than Derek Lowe, at least for one night. It came at the cost, however, of a re-aggravated knee.

This seems too unbelievable, but I'll pass it along anyway without confirmation. The Mets will be paying Bobby Bonilla $1.2 million next year. And every year until 2035.

Johan Santana got a fine, no suspension, after his retaliation attempt.

Even though the Mets would probably get nothing for him after their waiver moves, Gary Sheffield expects to be moved before the season is through.

Around the NL East

There is a fair amount of buzz around Washington that acting GM Mike Rizzo is on his way out. One rumor has Steve Phillips' name tied to the job. Another has a new manager playing a big role in the front office (Bobby anyone?) On the field, the Nationals fell to the Rockies 4-3.

Don't expect the Nationals to call up Stephen Strasburg this year. BtB explains why Washington got their money's worth. Bob Nightengale pulls out the absurd credibility argument.

Pedro started for the Phillies last night, but was victim of a rain delay and didn't get past 3 innings. Jamie Moyer seems well adjusted to the long man role and got the win for Philadelphia over Arizona.

The Marlins collected 10 hits for the 14th straight game and beat up on the Astros, 6-2. Ricky Nolasco was the beneficiary.

Call them the anti-Mets, the Marlins signed all 12 of their top draft picks.

Around MLB

John Smoltz is expected to sign a deal with the Cardinals and work with Dave Duncan.

Brian Gump talks minor league umpires.

Dayn Perry makes a convincing argument for Joe Mauer as MVP.

The Royals have demoted former top prospect Alex Gordon seemingly to keep him one year further away from free agency.

Ivan Rodriguez is returning to Texas, this time as a backup.

Brian Bannister talks defensive statistics.

The Nippon Ham Fighters have swine flu. If everyone is OK soon, that's kind of funny.

Bloody Sox Laundry - 8/17/09

bs.uf15bosox9bears23 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:00:11 -0000

More photos » by LM Otero - AP

Papi, publicly praising his "performance enhancers".

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The outside of the playoff picture doesn't look so pretty. Maybe it needs a fresh coat of paint? Anyway, whenever the Sox slump, the crazies come out of the woodwork to find scapegoats for the team's issues. This time around, it appears Tek has been the player that the media hit on the dart board. Let's see who can be the most radical with the Tek hate:

Surviving Grady - Things I'd Rather See Tek Doing...

The Red Sox have thrown out eight baserunners trying to steal this season, 103 have made it safely. [Saturday] night the Rangers swiped eight bases on Jason "he calls a good game" Varitek's watch.

And exactly how much of that is Varitek's fault? If you can give me a rational answer, I will personally vouch for you when they are asking for nominations for Nobel Prizes.

NESN - Time for the Red Sox to Say Goodbye to the Captain
Bill Chuck argues that Tek needs to be benched in favor of Victor Martinez for the rest of the season and next. This isn't COMPLETELY crazy, as Tek would still be able to give Vic some days off. The biggest issue I have here is that Vic has been playing less and less catcher for a reason - it's not a very easy on the body.

In fact, this issue's been on my mind a lot recently - with all the young catchers who are being converted to 1B, maybe someone should look into improving the way the position is played. I mean, I can't really think of a big innovation other than equipment upgrades that has made today's catchers any better than previous years' backstops. Anyone got any ideas?

Speaking of innovations - we've got some stories that will surprise you after the jump.

Hadn't thought of that before...

NESN - Buchholz Chimes In on Friday's Base-Running Blunder

"I was just sort of walking around in the dugout, and they were like, 'Hey, go get your jersey and cleats on because...if [Varitek] gets on second, you're going to pinch run for him,'" Buchholz told the Boston Globe on Saturday. "So I ran up in [the clubhouse] all in a frenzy and the first thing that came in my head was, 'Road game, we're away.' So I got down there and [Francona's] like, you got the wrong jersey on. I was like, 'Oh my God,' so I had to run back up here, put the blue one on. Finally I got back down there -- obviously I got back down there an at-bat late -- but I went out there anyway."

So apparently Buch doesn't think outside the box much. Might explain some of his pitching issues. Anyway, there are players who don't think about the game in conventional fashion, and they aren't always given the same treatment as other innovators of the sport. I'm talking about the players who use advanced statistics in attempts to gain an edge into understanding the game and how they can perform better:

THT Live - When players delve into advanced baseball stats

For decades fans have grasped the need for advanced analysis of the numbers behind baseball in hopes of better understanding the game. Now, there are three young pitchers who have come out and said that they use saber-esque stats in analyzing baseball, and sometimes their own game: Brian Bannister, Ross Ohlendorf, and Max Scherzer. Their similar backgrounds are intriguing (all close-aged, right-handed starting pitchers with college educations), as is the way in which they go about their analysis. However, another interesting theme is how the media has gone about reporting and portraying these players.

Even if you think stats are for tinkerbells *cough*Sandy*cough*, you should check that article out. It's also kinda interesting to see which stats each of the pitchers favor - explains a lot about how they pitch.

The Hardball Times had another interesting story, but one that requires MUCH less statistical knowledge to understand: THT Live - Your random fact of the day. Maybe Russell Martin will have some competition from Bryce Harper next season?

MLB Daily Dish - Marlins interested in John Smoltz?

We've mentioned this before in the Laundry, but now there's more talk of Smoltzie becoming a beach bum, sans retirement.

MLB Daily Dish - Padres closer Heath Bell put on waivers

They couldn't move him before the deadline, but Bell could be on the move soon. He'd have to clear the entire NL and most of the AL first, but the Sox could potentially pick up a strong bullpen arm if they would be willing to give up a good chunk of young prospects.

MLB Daily Dish - Lackey a fit in Baltimore in 2010?

Well, that would certainly make the AL East a lot more difficult next season - just what we need, right? At least he would get more chances to hurt the MFY as opposed to signing with and helping them.

Some prospects getting their first games in as Sox; one celebrated prospect finally gets a chance to show off some other tools, while another explains his lack of progression; more vets getting ready by playing with the kids

@SoxProspects

Miles Head, Brandon Jacobs, and Doug Wogee all debuted in the GCL today. #RedSox

@SoxProspects

Ryan Westmoreland finally debuted in the field tonight, starting in LF. #RedSox

Manifest Destiny claims new territory?

Fire Brand of the American League - Lars Anderson: Struggles 'part of development'

"I really dislike all of that [hype]," Anderson said with a face that could have melted ice. "It's made me more of a recluse, which I don't know if that's the right word. I don't think I embrace that kind of stuff as much as other people. I don't really think its accurate stuff."

Don't worry, Lars - just hit a couple 450 foot bombs and we'll be satisfied.

NESN - Baldelli, Byrd to Join PawSox This Week

Not entirely sure how much either will be a factor the rest of the season, but it never hurts to have depth.

I don't like this losing thing. Can we stop soon?

Extra Bases - Road worriers

For the second consecutive season, winning on the road has been a primary issue for the Red Sox. They fell to 28-33 away from home, the 14th best road record in the major leagues, compared to 38-18 at Fenway Park.

NESN - Tazawa's Fastball Couldn't Heat Up in Humid Texas Battle
Heidi interviewed Tito and he had some thoughts about the young Japanese pitcher. Video too, so you guys can get your Heidi fix.

Off day today, so there should be a lot of stories coming out of the crazies, given our current position - post'em in the comments.

Liriano Shows His Teeth, Twins Win

Jesse — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:27:04 -0000

Twins 7, Royals 1

THAT is what I'm talking about! THAT is the game we all needed to see from Francisco Liriano! I'm sorry I'm using exlamation points, but I'm just THAT EXCITED!

But for one moment, one brief moment, when Willie "My Power Attribute Is A 1" Bloomquist hit that streaking liner over Delmon Young's head into the home run porch, admit it...you thought: here we go again. It's what I thought.

Over the next 6.2 innings, Liriano gave up a walk and just a pair of hits. His slider was wicked, and Kansas City hitters fell away on strikes eight times. He threw strikes, inducing swings on those that dipped away and out of the zone, and he was exactly what he and the team needed him to be. Cisco was efficient.

Orlando Cabrera continues to change my mind day after day, making a fantastic play in the hole to lead off the fourth inning. On a sharp grounder by Billy Butler, Cabrera shifted hard to his right and fell on his knees, glove to the ground to make the snag. He got up, turned and fired a rocket across the diamond--a strike to Justin Morneau at first base. Butler isn't exactly fleet of foot, but it was still a stellar play.

After falling behind 1-0 after the top of the first inning, the Twins gave Liriano the support he needed to pitch aggressively. Brian Bannister retired the first two hitters he faced on the night, before Joe Mauer singled to start what would be a five-run inning. Morneau followed that up with one of his own, and Jason Kubel did the same to tie the contest at one. A fourth consecutive single by Michael Cuddyer gave the Twins their second run, which would ultimately be the last run Minnesota would need.

Then Joe Crede stepped into the box.

Joe Crede the lumberjack.

Joe Crede, he of the oft-injured ilk.

Joe Crede smashed a three-run home run to deep left field. It was a dagger, and it was glorious. Crede picked up a trio of hits on the night, including his 15th jack of the year.

To his credit, Bannister settled down and held the Twins to just two more runs over his six innings of work. But this was the night the Twins needed; from Liriano, from Crede, from everybody...including the Mariners and Red Sox, who took out the White Sox and Tigers, respectively. The rubber match is this afternoon, so let's show the boys some support and pick up a much needed series victory.

Stars of the Game
#3: Jason Kubel (1-for-4, RBI, .094 WPA)
#2: Joe Crede (3-for-3, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, BB, .220 WPA)
#1: Francisco Liriano (7 IP, 8 K, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 R, .091 WPA)

Around the Yankee Universe: Mitre madness

Ed Valentine — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:45:14 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

GET USED TO THIS: Sadly, it looks like Yankee fans might have to get used to seeing Sergio Mitre for a while.

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If you have pitching experience -- Little League, American Legion, backyard wiffle ball -- please contact New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman immediately.

After Friday night's putrid start by Sergio Mitre, and considering the 7.90 ERA he has in three starts, I'm sure nobody wants to see him start another game. But, right now the Yankees might be stuck with him

Peter Abraham summarized the situation nicely.

Sergio Mitre to date:

3 starts
13.2 innings
24 hits
13 runs
12 earned runs
3 walks
6 strikeouts

That looks like a one-way ticket back to Scranton. But the Yankees have Kei Igawa, Josh Towers, Jason Hirsh, Romulo Sanchez and young Ivan Nova in Scranton. When the K-Man is your ace, that’s trouble.

"I’m not sure that we have a lot of options at this point," Joe Girardi said, quite correctly. "(Mitre) has got to get it done for us."

Thing is, after three less than inspiring starts, it's pretty obvious Mitre can't get it done. So, if you can pitch -- even a little -- get those resumes to Cashman ASAP.

Here are a few other stories floating Around the Yankee Universe today.

ESPN's Jayson Stark puts the Yankees firmly in the 'loser' category when assessing the trade deadline.

If everything in life comes down to Yankees-Red Sox, then any deadline when the Red Sox pull off a major coups and the Yankees trade for a utility guy (Jerry Hairston Jr.) has to dump the Yankees in the old "losers" column, even though they're obviously not exactly a team in need of a major overhaul.

"The one thing you have to say in their defense," one AL exec said, "is they're rolling. It's hard to find their fault right now." But if this is a team without a hole, how come the Yankees made a run at Jarrod Washburn and Kansas City's Brian Bannister? Because they know themselves that they're one rotation injury from a potentially serious pitching crisis. If they can unearth a little pitching depth in August, we'll call off the Trouble Watch.

But for now, any Deadline Day that passes without a significant Yankees move will be considered by the proper authorities to be an official "loss."

Interestingly, Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports has the Yankees in the 'winners' column. Here is his reasoning.

Why do they get a "W" when all they did was pick up utilityman Jerry Hairston Jr.? Because their big moves in the offseason have left them in a position where they didn’t have to do more than that.

NY Baseball Digest thinks that Friday may turn out to be an important day for the Yankees -- for 2009 and beyond.

The Red Sox closed the gap last night on and off the field. They beat the Orioles and acquired Victor Martinez. Jim Duquette told us Thursday that the Yankees are one of the team’s best positioned to win now and in the future.

We will see, starting August 6th, if "winning now" includes beating the Boston Red Sox. If not, all the Yankees can hope for is that they continue to hit the jackpot with their deep farm system. July 31st might become the day that the 2009 season, and how business is conducted in the future, changed for the New York Yankees.

After Friday's trade deadline passed, Mark Teixeira expressed confidence that the Yankees were fine without a major pitching acquisition.

"I don't think anyone can complain about bringing in CC (Sabathia), A.J. (Burnett) and myself," Teixeira said. "Guys are stepping up for us this year. Joba (Chamberlain) is stepping up, Phil (Hughes) is stepping up. We've got everything we need here."

My take: I had no real issue with Cashman refusing to part with top prospects. Something has to get done, though, because the Yankees can't keep sending Mitre out there.

Royals Stick With Brian Bannister, Begin Drive for 75 Wins

royalsreview — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:22:04 -0000

In the end, as was the case in 2008, the Royals sat on the sidelines at the trade deadline.

The best trade chip the Royals had -- aside from doing a really smart thing and trading Joakim Soria -- was probably Brian Bannister. Bannister has now had two good seasons out of the last three, with a clunker in between, and is now in the arbitration phase of his career.

A deal was never offered that Dayton bit on. Now the Royals continue on with Bannister, Mark Teahen, Willie Bloomquist, Ron Mahay, and all the rest.

Bannister is an interesting case of an established Major League player that, nevertheless, no one quite knows how good he is. For all the talk that Bannister generates about his approach, his use of advanced stats, his roots in the game, his Christianity, and the like, you can see a lot about him at any given moment by looking at his home run rate. In 2007 and 2009, its around 0.8-0.9 per nine innings. In 2008, when he was one of the worst starters in the American League, it was at 1.4 per nine.

Part of that drop in homers allowed has been Bannister's increased ability to get ground balls.

via www.fangraphs.com

Where the Yankees really crazy to offer almost nothing for Bannister? I like Bannister as a long-term piece for the Royals, but he's a small uptick in his flyball rate from being a real problem in the AL East, especially pitching in the new Yankee Stadium.

I've been repeatedly critical of Moore's decision to play for the immediate present and future since 2007, and because of that mentality, he's now more or less committed to it. Dayton's boxed himself in with this roster, and is now stuck with it. It's a mistake built on mistakes, which continues to produce more mistakes, but there's no turning back now.

So let's hope for the best, I guess. Maybe Brian Bannister can be a part of it.

Yankees, Mariners Continue To Talk Jarrod Washburn

Matt Buggenhagen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:53:13 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

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The Mariners and Yankees continued to talk about a deal for M's left-hander Jarrod Washburn late last night, and the latest offer was for Yankee prospect Jesus Montero, which was immediately rejected, this according to John Heyman of SI.com.

The Mariners have made it clear that they think Washburn has tremendous value, and they're not just going to give him away. However, the Yankees are hoping the M's consider a lesser package of prospects. Montero was recently ranked by Baseball America as the third best prospect in baseball.

Some of the names that are thought the Yankees might be willing to deal are pitching prospects Mark Melancon, Mike Dunn, Ivan Nova and Paul Bush, catcher Francisco Cervelli and infielders Eduardo Nunez and Ramiro Pena.

In a related story the Yankees also inquired about Royals starter Brian Bannister, but that deal broke down when the ever money conscious Yankees were asking the Royals to throw in the $650,000 remaining on Bannister's contract.

Marlins Are Busy Talking Deals

Matt Buggenhagen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:35:17 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

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The Marlins have been busy over the last few days, and here's a little update, this from Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The Marlins biggest target right now is Nationals first-baseman Nick Johnson. Don't ask why because this makes no sense to me.
Rodriguez does note that Johnson can only play first base, which would likely mean the Marlins would have to move Jorge Cantu to third base.
The Marlins were in on George Sherrill, but ultimately they lost out to the Dodgers.
The Marlins would love to have Heath Bell, but the Padres are asking for Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller, and unless that price drops, consider the Marlins out.
The Marlins did contact the Blue Jays about Roy Halladay, but talks didn't go far. The Blue Jays were demanding outfield prospect Michael Stanton in any deal, and the Marlins have no intentions of trading him.
The Royals rejected offers from the Marlins for Brian Bannister.
The best possible pitching upgrade for the Marlins might be former Marlin Carl Pavano.