SB Nation - Yasuhiko Yabuta

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:01:31 -0000

by Ann Heisenfelt - AP

Carlos Gomez makes the wrong kind of contact.

Some things to read while realizing you left your credit card in your other armor.

Thanks to Dan, Tyler and Rubie for filling in for me last week while I took a quick break to experience life in New York for a few days. Writing the Mug is no small feat, and all three of them did admirable work in my place, so be sure to stop by their sites today to thank them. It's good to be home. With that said, I'm going in for oral surgery in roughly an hour so I'm off again tomorrow, and I've lined up another of my favorite Brewer bloggers to fill in. I'm hoping to return on Wednesday but that will depend on how I bounce back and how coherent I am on Vicodin.

The Brewers, of course, saw fit to ruin a perfectly good day of my vacation by trading J.J. Hardy for Carlos Gomez. If you weren't around the site this weekend, you missed a lot of great content on the trade: Jordan weighed in with his disappointment, Jeff made the case for keeping Mike Cameron anyway, and Noah, writing his first weekend roundup, had a great collection of thoughts on the deal from around the web. With that said, there's still a bunch more out there:

The Transaction Oracle compared Gomez to Tom Goodwin and said, "Gomez's version of selectivity is staring blankly at a random pitch and then flailing at the next one."
Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press called Gomez "clueless" and said he "has the baseball instincts of an Icelandic grade-schooler." (h/t BBTF)
The Grand National Championships called Gomez "a Juan Pierre without all that incessant singles hitting."
TheJay has a look at the career paths of players who have made as many PAs as Gomez has at such a young age with such a low OBP. Not exceptionally pretty.
Aaron Gleeman says Gomez has gotten a bum rap, but also likes the deal for the Twins.
Miller Park Drunk has a roundup of other things people are saying about Gomez.
Meanwhile, despite Jeff's objections, Doug Melvin confirmed that the Brewers' decision to acquire Gomez means they won't make a push to retain Mike Cameron for 2010.
Nick's Twins Blog has an overview of the deal, including my scouting report for Hardy.
Twinkie Town has some questions about Hardy's defense (based largely on the comments of some frequent BCB'ers), and whether or not it's as good as advertised.
FanGraphs has a look at Hardy's defense, and rated him the third most valuable defensive player in baseball since 2007.
Along with the Red Sox (and presumably some others), the Reds confirmed interest in Hardy. Melvin didn't want to deal Hardy in the division, so he was forced to accept less from someone else.
The Ghost of Moonlight Graham called the deal a steal for the Twins.
Rubie Q called the deal "worst nightmare stuff."
Baseball-Intellect says the Twins got Hardy for "pennies on the dollar."
Sabernomics is having a hard time choosing a winner in the deal.
Jorge Says No! says this deal has the potential to be win-win.

As of this writing, 54% of voters in the poll on your right think the Twins won the trade, with just 13% picking the Brewers. Gomez is walking in the door with a large portion of the fans believing he's not worth much, and it can be tough to overcome that when you're carrying a sub-.300 OBP. This could be the deal that sinks Doug Melvin.

Now, the Brewers have to find a way to wisely spend the financial windfall. MLB Trade Rumors has the likely landing spots for this winter's top 50 free agents, and lists both Doug Davis and Jarrod Washburn as likely Brewers, and also lists the Crew as a potential interested party regarding Jon Garland. Meanwhile, they have Felipe Lopez as a Dodger, Mike Cameron as a Padre and Ben Sheets as a Ranger.

Beyond that, there's not a lot of Brewer news, unless you wanted to talk about the decision to decline David Weathers' option.

Around baseball:

D-Backs: Exercised Brandon Webb's option for 2010.
Dodgers: Declined Jon Garland's option for 2010.
Nationals: Declined Austin Kearns' option for 2010.
Phillies: Exercised Cliff Lee's option for 2010 and declined Pedro Feliz's.
Pirates: Designated pitchers Virgil Vazquez and Eric Hacker and catcher Steve Lerud for assignment.
Red Sox: Declined their option for 2010 on Alex Gonzalez.
Reds: Outrighted outfielder Danny Richar and first baseman Kevin Barker to AAA. Both will be minor league free agents.
Rockies: Declined options on catcher Yorvit Torrealba and Alan Embree.
Royals: Declined 2010 options for Coco Crisp, Miguel Olivo and Yasuhiko Yabuta.
Tigers: Removed outfielder Marcus Thames and catcher Matt Treanor from their 40-man roster.
White Sox: Bought out the final year of Jermaine Dye's contract.

I'm going to wrap this up quickly, because my pre-surgery meds are starting to kick in:

Miguel Olivo has been mentioned as a potential option for the Brewers next season. Beyond the Box Score has a comprehensive list of things he does well.
Phil Birnbaum looks at the possibility that younger umpires have more accurate strike zones.
Baseball Reference wants your thoughts to help improve their site.
Seventeen congressmen voted no on a resolution congratulating the Yankees for winning the World Series. One of them was Wisconsin rep Jim Sensenbrenner. (h/t Baseball Musings)

On this day in 1982, Robin Yount was the unanimous choice to win the AL MVP after leading the AL in hits, doubles, slugging, OPS, OPS+ and total bases, while playing shortstop for the AL Champion Brewers.

It's also a big day for Brewer birthdays:

Dave Bush turns 30.
Angel Miranda, who appeared in 116 games as a Brewer between 1993 and 1997, turns 40.
Dion James, who was the Brewers' first round pick in the 1980 draft, turns 47.
Teddy Higuera, arguably the greatest pitcher in Brewer history, turns 51. You should celebrate his birthday by purchasing the sponsorship on his Bref page, which is available for $10.

Drink up.

Friday Afternoon Quick Hits

Eli Greenspan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:23:49 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

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The regular season is so exciting that I almost forget how exciting the offseason is!

The White Sox declined Jermaine Dye's 12 million dollar club option, as expected, paying him the 950,000 dollar buyout instead. Mark Teahen is expected to fill his spot. The highly respected veteran should not have trouble finding another gig.
Scott Merkin via Twitter is reporting that the White Sox likely won't bring back outfielder Scott Podsednik. He could emerge as an option on the other side of town with the Cubs.
The Royals declined options on reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta, Coco Crisp, and Miguel Olivo.
Cardinals GM Jon Mozeliak expects All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday to reach the open market, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting. Not really a surprise here, being a Boras client.
The Brewers are in the market for a starter, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting. They have varying degrees of interest in Mark Mulder and John Lackey, which is a good sign for Brewers fans.

I've Got A Span-Crush: Twins Win Big As Denard Span Drives In Six

Jesse — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:46:38 -0000

More photos » by ED ZURGA - AP

Minnesota Twins' Denard Span pwnes the Kansas City Royals Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. Delmon Young, Matt Tolbert and Nick Punto scored on the triple. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

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Twins 11, Royals 6: Way to choke, Chicago.

Every time Denard Span comes to bat in the near future, all Kansas City Royals fans should avert their eyes for the greatness that his His Royal Span-ness. Tonight, his Royal Span-ness tripled to give the Twins their first and only lead of the game, scoring three to run the score to 5-2. It was all gravy from there.

Early on, Scott Baker gave up a couple of pop-fly homers to Alberto Callaspo and Brayan Pena; a pair of solo shots that both hitters looked to just get a piece of. Magically, they both left the field in almost exactly the same place in right field. The only conclusion I can draw is that the Royals had their fans blowing out. Fans, as in air circulation fans, because I think a lot of the fans fans at the game were Twins fans. Of which there weren't nearly enough blowing IN.

After that Baker settled in and cruised, hitless, until the seventh. Four-plus innings of hitless ball, but three batters into the seventh Baker had allowed one run, and had a man on third with one out. Ron Mahay came on to stem the....well, I use the term "tide" loosely, as this game wasn't exactly over although that man from third did score to get the Royals within three at 7-4.

Back to everyone's new Span-crush, Denard is showing absolutely no ill signs of being hit in the back of the head. Which is nice. Three singles and a triple on the night have him a 4-for-5 evening, and the six runs batted in have accounted for 9% of his season totals in that category. Other studs in tonight's 11-run explosion include...

Joe Mauer, whose two singles and a walk garnered him his 91st and 92nd RBI of the season and a .371 batting average. Ichiro Suzuki, it should be noted, was 0-for-3 before getting tossed after drawing a line in the dirt (get everything you need to know right here) and is now batting .353.
Nick Punto, who was 0-for-1 on the night but walked not once, not twice but thrice. Three walks tonight for Popeye's second cousin twice removed. He's not a sailor, both eyes are fully functional and he doesn't mumble incoherently, but he does has massive forearms. It's great to see Punto contribute again.
Brendan Harris picked up a pair of hits and an RBI, and Orlando Cabrera's solid single late in the game tacked on a run as well.

Baker's final line wasn't exactly glowing, but he did pitch better than his numbers. Something he's done on more than one occasion this season. On the Royals' side of the rubber, Lenny DiNardo had the exact kind of night he should have had against an offense like the Twins: a bad one. Yasuhiko Yabuta is also welcome to pitch against the Twins anytime he likes, surrendering four runs off four hits and a walk while tallying a single out. Good times.

The only downside to tonight's game is that the White Sox managed to ~~lose~~ ~~choke~~ vomit all over themselves and lose to the Tigers. After leading 5-0 through four, Chicago allowed at least one run per inning the rest of the game en route to a 12-5 ass kicking where they allowed a score of hits. That's right, I said it, a score.

Tonight's game was a grand one, no doubt about it. Sadly we head into the final game in Kauffman Stadium for 2009 tomorrow against one Zack Greinke still trailing the Tigers by two games. If there's ever a time to play your best baseball of the season, it's right now. Good for Detroit for doing the same.

Hopefully it will make next week all the sweeter. We'll find out. But...GREINKE FIRST. I'll see you in the morning.

Stars of the Game
#3: Joe Mauer (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .061 WPA)
#2: Nick Punto (0-for-1, 3 BB, 2 R, .081 WPA)
#1: Denard Span (4-for-5, 3B, 6 RBI, R, .346 WPA)

Misplayed and Dismayed: Royals 7, Tigers 5

Ian Casselberry — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:15:11 -0000

by ED ZURGA - AP

Much like Aubrey Huff's bat, the Detroit Tigers' chances at a seventh straight win snapped Tuesday night in Kansas City.

View full size photo »

Well, the Detroit Tigers weren't going to win every game in September. Though after that weekend sweep in Tampa, it's understandable if you were beginning to feel that way.

Continuing the "all good things must come to an end theme," Rick Porcello hit a bit of a speed bump against the Royals. After allowing just three runs in his past two starts, Kid Rick was knocked around a bit, giving up four runs and seven hits in six innings of work.

The main problem was that Porcello's off-speed stuff wasn't quite as sharp as it's been recently. Leaving pitches up in the strike zone means the ball gets hit in the air, and that's not when Porcello's at his best.

But it's hard to stick this one on Porcello, when the bullpen allowed three runs in the later innings and outfielders missed balls that gave the Royals extra chances to get key hits. Kid Rick left with a one-run lead largely due to Ryan Raburn misjuding Josh Anderson's line drive in the fifth, letting the ball get over his head when he took a step in.

Then in the seventh, with Ryan Perry one strike away from ending the inning, Clete Thomas just missed getting to Billy Butler's foul ball in the right-field corner. Sure, you could say Thomas had a long way to run, and he was worried about the oncoming wall. But that was a catchable ball, and the look on Thomas's face said he knew it.

Butler took advantage of the extra chance, smacking a single to left to tie the game at 5-5. Perry then followed up by leaving a fastball out over the plate (a 99 m.p.h. pitch, mind you), which Mike Jacobs was able to slap to left for a RBI single and the lead.

And after three games in which the Tigers were able to rally against the Tampa Bay Rays bullpen, Kansas City's relief corps kept Detroit off the board for four-plus innings. Somehow, Yasuhiko Yabuta, who came into the game with an 18.00 ERA, pitched 2.1 shutout innings while the Royals staged their comeback. And though the Tigers managed two singles against Joakim Soria in the ninth to mount a threat, Soria got the strikeouts when they counted.

Purr:

Though Raburn's defensive miscue cost the Tigers in the fifth, he also did plenty to try and get his team a win. Raburn went 3-for-4, with a homer and two runs scored. And in that seventh inning, with the Royals threatening to tie the game, he gunned down Yuniesky Betancourt at home plate. (And that was despite not getting the ball out of his glove cleanly.)

Comment of the Night:

Where's Grant Balfour when you need him?

by SabreRoseTiger

Royals Release Ron Mahay

Brendan Scolari — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:53:26 -0000

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

8 months ago: Kansas City Royals' Ron Mahay, left, waits for Cleveland Indians' Grady Sizemore to run the bases after Sizemore hit a three-run home run off Mahay in the eighth inning in a baseball game, Thursday, April 23, 2009, in Cleveland. The Indians won 5-2. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

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The Royals have released left-handed reiiever Ron Mahay according to CBSSports.com. The Royals called up right-hander Yasuhiko Yabuta from the minors to replace Mahay:

The Royals designated Mahay for assignment on Monday. He was 1-1 with a 4.79 ERA in 41 games.

The 36-year-old Yabuta was 2-1 with a 3.55 ERA with Triple-A Omaha. He struck out 53 in 45 2/3 innings.

If the Royals Were Nations: The Pitchers

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

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

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

The John Bale of the world.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can you find Gil?

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

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

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

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

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

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