SB Nation - Les Walrond

Baseball Notes: Opening Day Tuesday, Former Jayhawks in Spring Training

James Quinn — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:01:32 -0000

A quick reminder on a day sure to be dominated by basketball coverage. KU Baseball has its home opener scheduled for Tuesday at 3PM vs. North Dakota. The weather should be nice on gameday (mid-50’s and sunny) but I have no idea what shape the field will be in given Saturday’s freakish snow storm. I’ll post updates and a series preview tomorrow.

There are three former Jayhawks working up a sweat in spring training. Tom Gorzelanny is trying to comeback from a disastrous 2008 performance. Reports are that he looks good so far and is penciled in as the Pirates #4 starting pitcher. Travis Metcalf is fighting for a job in the Rangers camp. Metcalf has appeared in 80 games for Texas over the last two years, playing good defense at third and hitting for power (.249/.300/.475). He looked poised for a breakout year before Michael Young moved from shortstop to third this offseason. Metcalf has a good shot to be on the roster opening day as a backup, plus he seems to have the support of Rangers fans. Mike Zagurski is in the Phillie’s camp in the last stages of recovering from Tommy John surgery. It seems unlikely that Zagurski will break camp with the team but, if he is healthy and effective early in the season, there is every reason to expect he will quickly be back in the show. Les Walrond spent parts of last year with the Cubs and Phillies but will not be back in major league baseball this year. Walrond signed a contract to play for the Yokohama BayStars back in December. Good luck to him.

Bits of News on a Thursday Night

Tom Dakers — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:06:20 -0000

Our Blue Jays have made a handle of minor moves on the 40 man roster. Add to the roster are lefty pitchers Ricky Romero and Robert Ray and right hander Luis Perez. Romero and Ray are on our top prospects list at #9 and #12 respectively. Perez pitched in A ball for us last year, going 5 and 12 with a 3.60 ERA.

To make room recent pick ups lefty pitcher Les Walrond and infielder Angel Sanchez were dropped. Walrond was picked off waivers from the Phillies earlier this month and apparently is headed to Japan to play over there. Sanchez was taken off waivers from the Royals early this month.

In other news Mike Mussina has announced his retirement. Nice for him to be able to retire after his first 20 win season. He finishes with 270 career wins, good for a tie for 33rd spot all time. He isn't a lock for the Hall of Fame but you'd have to think he has a good shot at it. I'll admit I'm not big fan, as a general rule I'm not a big fan of any Yankee, but that deep bend over from his waste at the start of every windup was kind of interesting.

Phillies Chase Utley is to have hip surgery and may miss a large portion of next season. Utley has been hurting since May but still played in 159 games and hit .292 with 33 home runs.

And in the category of stories that I would think should come out of the Bizzaro universe, apparently Manny Ramirez would like to be a Blue Jay but we don't have interest in him. I know, money is the ruling issue, but don't you think signing Manny would be worth his weight in season tickets? And wouldn't it be a good signal to the rest of the team that 'hey we are interested in winning'? As much as we really could use a starting pitcher, a short stop and a catcher......wouldn't you gladly take Manny and live with what we have at the other spots?

Take the money we aren't paying AJ, trade off BJ and add that money in and whatever beyond that amount that Manny would cost you'd have to guess that would be more than made up in ticket sales. If I was JP, I'd have to think I was going into this season with a win or be fired in the back of my mind, so why doesn't he show a bit of urgency?

And in news, that no one but me will be interested in, son of former Jay John Mayberry, John Mayberry, Jr (inventive name) was traded from the Texas Rangers to the Phillies For outfielder Greg Golson. Mayberry, 24, hit .264 with 20 homers between Double A and Triple A. John Sr. is number 41 on our list of top 50 Jays.

News....Well sort of News....

Tom Dakers — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:22:22 -0000

To absolutely not one's surprise, AJ Burnett is opting out of his contract and will be a free agent. We should have a pool on how many years and how much money he gets out of some team. I'm not sure that whoever signs him will get enough innings from him to make the money worthwhile. But that might be sore grapes.

The Jays picked up Les Walrond on waivers from the Phillies. Wes, who will be 32 on Friday, has had three cups of coffee in the majors over the last 5 years and has a 7.07 ERA in 35 total major league innings. But the lefty did well as a starter last year in AAA, striking out 8.8 batters per 9 innings with a 3.61 ERA. Looks like he walks too many, but JP seems to be grabbing up as many left handed pitchers as he can find. He'll fill the hole left by Zaun in the 40 man roster.

Add in shortstop Angel Sanchez and right handed pitcher Kelvin Jimenez who the Jays claimed off waivers yesterday and JP seem to be collecting players that won't be helping the team win. Yeah, I know, not fair, all teams make these little moves this time of year. Hopefully we'll see some big moves this winter as well.

The people at Beyond the Boxscore have been running series of posts ranking players by position. The latest is a ranking of shortstops and, in a total surprise to me, Marco Scutaro rate as the 7th best SS in the Major Leagues. It is mostly due to his defensive rating which is best among all shortstops. Don't believe me. Here, look for yourself.

Oh, and other news, the United States has a new leader. Congratulations. The change over of government without a shot being fired is something that should be celebrated.