SB Nation - Randall Simon

The Great General Manager Debate: NL Central Edition

davoag — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:00:27 -0000

The trade that made me lose faith in the Pirates suckitude...

Part of my reaction to the Aki Iwamura trade was realizing how surprisingly competent the Pirates front office has become. They picked up a cost-controlled player for a replaceable part and improved their infield defense in the process. How is that a bad thing?

The funny thing is, the Pirates have been bad for so long, and it's so easy to dismiss their hires as actually being good baseball people, I had forgotten what Pittsburgh was actually getting in Neil Huntington. Here's another post from FanGraphs about what this trade means for the Pirates executives and here's an interview with Dan Fox, their database guru. Basically, the Pirates have a guy that gets to play with computer simulations all day until he can accurately evaluate and forecast players. I can get that job how?

It also made me start thinking about all the general managers in the National League Central. Which ones was I most afraid of? Which ones were a joke? Were there any teams that were run competently from year to year?

The thing that surprised me when I did my research was not that Ed Wade is probably the weakest GM in the Central, it's that so many of them have changed in the past two seasons. Justice loves to harp on how the organizational chaos Houston has gone through is affecting the club in many ways. Still, to see that so many of Wade's peers have also changed jobs recently is refreshing.

It's also scary, especially when at least four of these guys are competent-to-really good. After the jump is a look at each GM. Feel free to share your thoughts on who worries you the most in the comments...

Chicago Cubs

GM Jim Hendry

Tenure: Since July, 2002 ( 7 1/2 seasons)

Notes: The longest tenured general manager also has the biggest payroll of any team in the division. What does he do with all that money? Waste it. As scary as the Cubs lineup and rotation can be, Hendry alone makes me feel good about the Astros chances against Chicago in the near future.

This was a man who overpaid for guys like LaTroy Hawkins and Ted Lilly (though, to be fair, Lilly was excellent). He also spent a ton of money for Alfonso Soriano to play center field, and then promptly bumped him to left. Then, he spent a ton of money to bring in notorious pot-stirrer Milton Bradley, adding to the dangerous clubhouse dynamic that Lou Piniella always brings.

Funny thing, though, 134 million can buy you a damned good team. Hendry may have made mistakes in the past, but has done a good job of at least correcting them. He admitted failure with Rich Hill, shipping him off to Baltimore. He did turn Ryan Dempster into an effective pitcher in his new role with the Cubs. Hendry also has a productive farm system, with guys like Carlos Marmol and Geovanny Soto picking up the team on the cheap.

Would Hendry be this good without all that money? Probably not. In his market, though, it's tough not to make a big splash each season and have the fans be happy. Of all the GMs, though, I'm least afraid of Hendry.

Cincinnati Reds

GM Walt Jocketty

Tenure: Since 2008 (2 seasons)

Notes: The interesting thing about Jocketty is he went from a winning team to one that is continually frustrated by not being able to get over the hump. He also went to a team that walked away from a more progressive-thinking GM in former Twins assistant Wayne Krivsky for the more traditional Jocketty. Of course, Jocketty also followed Tony LaRussa from Oakland to St. Louis, so it's unclear how much of his philosophy is tied to LaRussa's.

The Reds haven't exactly been dramatic in making over the club, but Jocketty has shown a willingness to be aggressive with the team's prospects and not trade off valuable assets for overhyped players (I'm looking at you, Jim Bowden). Still, Jocketty hasn't shown the same level of success as at his previous two stops. It will take a little more time to see whether his player evaluation method transfers to the Reds scouting department. If Jocketty can hit a few home runs in the draft, the rest of his record in the Queen City will be moot.

Milwaukee Brewers

GM Doug Melvin

Tenure: Since September 2002 (7 seasons)

Notes: One of the two longest tenured GMs in the NL Central, Melvin has had an up-and-down career in Milwaukee. Yes, he did draft Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder. Yes, he did trade for CC Sabathia. But, what have the Brewers actually won? This team seems to consistenly play for second place, which isn't bad, but until they can get over the hump mentally, Melvin may not be viewed more positively.

All indications are that Melvin is a more traditional GM. The Brewers don't leap out at you as a very sabermetric-friendly team, but they do have a little bit of the Oakland A's philosophy for a small market. The Brewers under Melvin consistently make unpopular decisions with players to avoid locking them up to bad contracts that hurt the team. Instead, they'll buy out arbitration years for a player, insuring cost certainty and rewarding young guys before they may be overpaid. Exhibit one is Ryan Braun.

Certainly, the biggest deficiency with the club is starting pitching. Melvin has shown a knack for making big moves (CC), regardless of his position as a small market team. He's also done a good job of drafting by talent and not positional needs (Matt LaPorta, anyone?). The obvious plus side of this is Melvin can then trade for pitching with his talent surplus. It will be interesting to see if Melvin can keep the pipeline going for the Brewers and tinker around the edges enough to get a winner.

Pittsburgh Pirates

GM Neil Huntington

Tenure: Since September 2007 (2 seasons)

Notes: Here is the crux of my argument. The Pirates are without a doubt the worst-run franchise in the National League. For years, they have been incompetent, both in the draft, in trades and in fielding winning ball clubs. Who can forget Randall Simon viciously attacking that poor Bratwurst in Milwaukee? Just horrible. Still, Huntington has done a great job of reversing this trend. He correctly indentified assets that were expendible, seems to have valued his minor leaguers correctly and his only big misstep so far has been the Bay trade. The big deal with the Yankees netted the Buccos a solid starter in Ross Ohlendorff and a young outfielder in Jose Tabata (who hasn't panned out). The Bay deal saw an iffy Andy LaRoche, a reliever (Craig Hanson) and a fourth or fifth outfielder (Brandon Moss) traded for one of the best left fielders in baseball.

Of course, if the Pirates had let Bay walk after the season like the Red Sox have, they'd be roundly criticized. The organization seems to be headed in the right direction. Count me as still skeptical, though, even with present evidence to the contrary.

St. Louis Cardinals

GM John Mozeliak

Tenure: Since 2008 (2 seasons)

Notes: Mozeliak took over a team that didn't have much to work with outside of a couple big money players (Pujols, Rolen, Carpenter) and a ton of farm talent. He's tinkered around the edges well and leaned heavily on his manager and pitching coach's reputations to slot in marginal guys into productive roles. Mozeliak stuck by Colby Rasmus through early slumps and made a big-ticket acquisition of Matt Holliday.

There are conflicting reports about his style, but it seems like he appreciates what the stats can tell him about the game and uses it to some degree. Yet, his philosophy seems to be grating on the older school ideas of Tony LaRussa. Combine that with his cold-blooded trade of Dave Duncan's son, Chris, and he's done quite a bit to alienate two of the most important cogs to the Cardinals machine for the past decade. Not that I'm complaining.

There are both good and bad qualities here, but I don't think we can judge Mozeliak fairly until he's out from under LaRussa's considerable shadow (the man's a genius, after all).

Houston Astros

GM Ed Wade

Tenure: Since September 2007 (2 seasons)

Notes: So, the thing about Ed Wade is he can't trade. I said some nice things in the past about the job he did leading up to this past season, but after reviewing his track record in Philly, I have a suggestion. Ed Wade needs to hire some smart, baseball-savvy mind to be his trade manager. Like a salary-cap manager in football, this person would handle all the ramifications of trades (scouting players, balance, contracts, etc.) and give his best recommendation to Wade. Only then could the big man sign off.

If you think I exaggerate, look at his transactions. Here's a link to Baseball-Reference's transaction page starting in 1998. Wade took over in January of that year. In his entire Philly tenure, he made two good trades: Billy Wagner and Kenny Lofton. Every other trade he made was a bloodbath. Eric Milton? He gave up Nick Punto and Carlos Silva. Scott Rolen? He got Placido Polanco and that's it. He traded Curt Schilling for nothing. He traded away a young Adam Eaton for a declining Andy Ashby. He traded two young pitchers for two relievers and Ron Gant. Who thought this was a good idea? In fact, Wade's history is chock-full of trades for relievers. It's the position he enjoys tinkering with most on the team. Unfortunately, relievers are fungible, and trading for them wastes cheap assets.

Thus, why I had the idea of a trade manager. I'm sure someone like Paul DiPodesta or Kevin Towers wouldn't mind being the Astros full-time trade scout, right? Either one would be imminently more qualified than Wade to make these kinds of decisions. And yes, I realize that Wade has made some decent trades with the Astros. Sticking to the numbers, though? That streak may not last forever.

Giants 4, Pirates 3: Matt Cain Strikes Out Eight

Charlie — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:19:56 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Brandon Moss after homering in the second.

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For the third consecutive day, the Pirates struggled with the Giants' starting pitcher; this time it was Matt Cain, who lowered his season ERA to 2.32 with an eight-strikeout performance, allowing his only run on a solo homer by Brandon Moss in the second. Zach Duke stuck with Cain until he allowed a series of doubles in the sixth. Joel Hanrahan pitched well in the eighth, striking out Pablo Sandoval and getting a couple of flyouts from Nate Schierholtz and Edgar Renteria.

It's been interesting to get a closer look at Sandoval this series--it confirmed my impression that he's basically like a much better Randall Simon. He swings at everything, even pitches in the dirt, and does better than you might expect because he has excellent hand-eye coordination. (His body type also looks like a caricature of Simon.) Unlike Simon, it is possible to strike Sandoval out, so it'll be interesting to see how his career develops. It looked like Hanrahan whiffed him because he had no incentive to throw anything in the strike zone.

Anyway, the Pirates got a couple of runs back on a two-RBI single by Ryan Doumit, but then Adam LaRoche came up with Doumit on first and one out. I bet you can predict what happened next--LaRoche dribbled a ground ball for a double play, and on a 3-0 count, nonetheless. The Bucs couldn't do much with closer Brian Wilson in the ninth, and the Giants avoided the sweep.

Giants vs Pirates boxscore

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:49:18 -0000

More photos » by Bob Levey - AP

Jody Gerut gets congratulations after his teammates learn he's going to be a Brewer.

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Some things to read while making golf more interesting.

The big news of the day today is yesterday's trade sending Tony Gwynn Jr. to San Diego for Jody Gerut. Here's a sampling of response from all over the web:

Doug Melvin said the Brewers were trying to upgrade their left-handed bench options.
Adam McCalvy says Melvin had interest in trading for Gerut for a while, and finally found the opportunity.
The BBTF Transaction Oracle predicts Gerut will hit .278/.335/.472 as a Brewer, which would be pretty good for a fourth outfielder.
Matthew Pouliot of Circling the Bases says Gerut is "a big upgrade in a reserve role for the Brewers," and calls the Brewers a big winner in this trade.
FanGraphs calls the move a salary dump for the Padres. Gerut is still owed about $1.3 million this season.
Meanwhile, Tony Gwynn found out about the trade from his dad, who's pretty excited to have him as a Padre.
Elias says Gwynn will become just the third player ever to play for the same team his father played in over 2000 games for, joining Pete Rose Jr. and Dale Berra. (Thanks to TheJay)
Gwynn made it to San Diego in time to draw a walk in the ninth inning as the Padres scored two in the ninth to beat the Giants last night.
Adam McCalvy has Trevor Hoffman, Mat Gamel and Prince Fielder's reactions to the trade.
At The Old Ball Game has been covering Gwynn in Nashville and called him "the most consistent player on the Sound’s team in 2009."
Brewers Bar compared the trade to Doug Melvin trading candy for water.
MLB Notebook criticized the Brewers for unloading young talent.
Big League Stew says the Padres must have made this move for PR reasons.
Tyler Maas of Bugs and Cranks says Tony Gwynn will get many more opportunities to ruin the Padres' playoff chances.
Quevedo at the Buffet is patting themselves on the back for helping get Gwynn on his way.
Chuckie Hacks says none of us would care if Gwynn's name was Jim Smith.

Gerut is expected to join the Brewers today. While no official announcement has been made, it's expected he'll take the place of Chris Duffy, who will be designated for assignment. He'll join the team along with R.J. Swindle, who was called up yesterday when Hernan Iribarren was sent back down. Having the DH for this weekend's series in Minnesota eliminated some of the need for bench flexibility, but the Twins' lefty-heavy lineup created the need for another situational lefty.

Interleague play will mean an increase in playing time for Mat Gamel, who is expected to DH all three games in Minnesota. Gamel doesn't doesn't seem to know what the team has in store for him once interleague play is over, but is keeping a good attitude about it.

It's possible Gamel will be seeing more time at third base. Bill Hall went 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts and grounded into a double play against Roy Oswalt last night in what might have been his last chance to prove he can hit right-handed pitching.

There appears to be a good sized community (or at least a loud community) of people in baseball who think Ryan Braun should be hit by pitches, but what about Corey Hart? Plunk Everyone lists Hart among the most likely targets with 0 HBP in 2009.

We have good news on the farm today as Taylor Green, ranked #8 in our Community Prospect Rankings, has finished his rehab assignment in Wisconsin and is headed to Huntsville. Green hit .400/.538/.600 in 20 ABs for the Rattlers.

Speaking of rehab assignments, David Riske is expected to head to Arizona to start his, according to Gord Ash's Twitter. Ash also reports Rickie Weeks is returning to Milwaukee to work with Brewer trainers. (Thanks to Aaron for the heads up.)

The Brewers continue to gain ground in power rankings: Yahoo has them at #6, up from 10 last week.

Around the league:

Astros: Designated infielder Jason Smith for assignment.
Rangers: Placed Vicente Padilla on the DL with a strained deltoid muscle. (h/t Baseball Musings)

The Brewers may not be interested in trading MLB ready pitching for Mark DeRosa, but it appears someone will be: MLB Trade rumors suggests both the Mets and A's as potential fits.

Someone could write a book about Brooks Kieschnick entitled "Anatomy of a Fan Favorite." Brooks sat down for an interview with Brewerfan.net, where topics discussed included his love for Milwaukee and dislike of the Cubs.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Randall Simon. If you're passing through Fargo today, you might see Simon playing for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, and you might hear him talk about getting blackballed for clubbing a sausage.

Do baseballs really fly out of Minute Maid Park, or can we blame Jeff Suppan? Balking Traditionalism has the answer.

The blackout issue isn't getting resolved after all. A vote on the matter was tabled at the owners' meetings again this week, meaning the issue likely won't be resolved this season.

Oh, and apparently San Diego is the place to go if you want to get devirginized to fresh squeezed tangerine juice.

Drink up.

News Roundup: Randall Simon Revisits Sausage Incident

Charlie — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:49:45 -0000

-P- The Winnipeg Free Press revisits Randall Simon's sausage-smacking incident. Simon's now playing for the Fargo-Morehead RedHawks (who are, weirdly, the second team named "RedHawks" he's played for). Yurendell DeCaster plays for Fargo too.

Anyway, this is actually a pretty interesting article, if not exactly an accurate one:

"But the thing that hurt me the most was Pittsburgh at the time kind of hung me out. They never said anything on my behalf. And people at the time, I think, must have thought I really was a bad guy because my team didn't stand up for me"...

While he'll forever be best remembered for his one big mistake, what is easy to overlook is that Simon put up very good numbers in the majors: In 537 games, he batted .283, drove in a run in almost every two games on average and struck out less than once in every 10 at-bats.

But when the bigs turn their back on you, they turn their back on you.

Right, the reason Simon isn't in the big leagues anymore is that he smacked a sausage, and not because he was awful at every skill involved in playing baseball except hand-eye coordination. He was actually pretty lucky to have made it back with the Phillies in 2006; I have no idea what the Phils were thinking then.

Lost in all the vilification of Simon was this forgotten fact -- Simon was the man former Atlanta Braves closer John Rocker referred to as a "fat monkey" in that infamous racist and homophobic interview Rocker gave to Sports Illustrated in 1999.

"I could have made a big deal about it," Simon says. "But I said nothing. He apologized to me and I accepted his apology. He made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. But you learn from it."

That's not true. Simon said Rocker was lying about the context of his comment and that "If he said that to my face, I'd tear him up." Personally I think Simon had every right to be furious, but the idea that he said "nothing" just isn't accurate. His comments were quoted at length on SportsCenter, for Pete's sake.

-P- After reporting that there might be some possibility that the Pirates and Mariners would make a deal involving Jack Wilson and Yuniesky Betancourt, Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times continues to discuss Betancourt trade rumors, this time with regard to the Padres. Unfortunately, these particular rumors are so outlandish that it makes you wonder about the Wilson ones:

Well, I'm now told the Mariners have discussed a Betancourt trade with the San Diego Padres as well. The Padres need a shortstop, having just placed Luis Rodriguez on the DL with a sprained ankle and having claimed Josh Wilson off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks...

Two names I've heard mentioned as trade returns for the Mariners would be either a package of, or choice between switch-hitting left fielder Chase Headley and Class AAA second baseman Matt Antonelli. I'm trying to pin down whether it is one or the other, or both, being offered up.

That's absurd. I suppose Antonelli, who was once a highly regarded prospect but hasn't hit at all since 2007, might theoretically be a possibility. But I frankly doubt that the Padres--a rebuilding team smart enough to be aware of Betancourt's wretched defensive numbers--would give up even a prospect of Antonelli's caliber. Headley, forget it. That's ridiculous. He's pretty likely to turn out to be a decent major league starter, and the Padres know that. USS Mariner concurs.

-P- To discuss Padres trades that are actually in the realm of reality, San Diego has shipped Jody Gerut to the Brewers for Tony Gwynn Jr. I'm not a big believer in Gerut and I never have been, but he did post a 130 OPS+ last year. He's struggled this year, but I'm not sure why you ship him off for Tony Gwynn's son unless it's a salary dump or a PR move or both. The younger Gwynn has no power at all and is a fifth outfielder at best.

News Roundup: Steve Pearce at First?

Charlie — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:43:41 -0000

-P- Dejan Kovacevic guesses that Steve Pearce will be the Pirates' first baseman next season. I think pigs will fly before Pearce gets 500 at bats in a season with the Bucs. They've had plenty of opportunities to find a position and some playing time for Pearce, and they've gone out of their way to avoid doing those things. If Adam LaRoche is traded in the next couple months, Pearce will probably be recalled, but even then I'd bet on him splitting time with Eric Hinske. He'll have to hit like crazy to become part of the picture in 2010.

That means the 2010 first baseman will probably be an outside hire. Here's the list of next offseason's free agents. Signing Nick Johnson to a lucrative short-term deal might be an interesting gamble; if he stays healthy, he'll hit, and if he does he could easily be turned into prospects later.

-P- Speaking of first base, Pedro Alvarez has hit .282 with three homers in his past ten games.

-P- With the recent departures of Romulo Sanchez, Dave Davidson and Jimmy Barthmaier from the 40-man roster, it's finally reaching the point where there aren't ten complete wastes of time clogging up the roster anymore. My guess is that the next to go next time the Pirates need a pitcher is Luis Cruz, who's hitting .242/.266/.319 at Indianapolis. I think the Bucs would probably be able to sneak him through waivers, too. If major league teams had 30-man rosters, he'd be a good addition purely as a defensive substitute, but a major league bench player has to be able to hit at least a little.

-P- Jason Kendall grabbed his 2,000th hit last night. It was a single (of course) up the middle.

-P- You think the Pirates' 12-24 Altoona team is bad? Ken Rosenthal quotes a scout saying that the Nationals' Class AA team in Harrisburg is "the worst Class AA team maybe in the history of baseball." Dave Williams is on that team. Rosenthal also quotes another scout describing the Giants' Pablo Sandoval as "Randall Simon with more ability."

Marmol-Aid, And Other Off-Day Musings

Al — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:40:52 -0000

The Cubs have their first of two scheduled off-days during spring training today, so let's first talk about Carlos Marmol's performance during the Netherlands' stunning 2-1 win over the Dominican Republic last night, a game that eliminated the DR from the WBC and will shortly send Marmol back to Cubs camp in Mesa.

It's very easy to overreact to an outing like this because of its importance. Whether or not you are into the WBC, the fact is, that especially for smaller countries like the Dominican, there is a great deal of national pride involved in playing, and winning. I can't imagine there are a lot of happy people there today, or happy players who were on the DR team.

Before yesterday, Marmol's other appearance in the WBC was a scoreless inning. Last night, he gave up a ringing double to the first batter he faced -- a ball that missed being a home run by maybe 10 feet -- then retired the next hitter on a groundout. After a single scored the tying run, Marmol's attempted pickoff got away, allowing the runner, former Baltimore Oriole Eugene Kingsale, to go to third. After a strikeout, ex-Cub Randall Simon was intentionally walked (is he THAT good a hitter? Marmol might have been able to strike him out!), setting up the game-winning play, on the inning's second error, by 1B Willy Aybar.

Marmol failed. He's failed before, but we all know how good he can be when he's on. Sometimes I worry about games like this one against the Giants last July 12, when a Marmol error helped the Giants tie a game that had been well in hand (and that Marmol was only in because, I think, Lou wanted to give him some time in what should have been a no-brainer game after he had been struggling). There's little doubt in my mind that Derrek Lee, an outstanding defensive 1B, would have helped Marmol out in a situation like last night by either: a) catching the missed pickoff, or b) not missing the game-ending grounder, or both.

So let's not overreact. I will, however, stand by my statements I have made several times, that I think a pitcher of Marmol's talent and ability is, many times, better served by being used in tough situations in the 7th or 8th innings (runners on, tie game, for example), than in what might be a lower-leverage closing situation (9th inning, bases empty, 2 or 3 run lead). Marmol will be back in camp soon and I'd expect him to throw again as early as Friday, when the Cubs have a split squad. (Incidentally, can any native Spanish speakers here tell us the correct pronunciation of his name? Last night's announcers said "mar-MOL". But I have also heard "MAR-mol". Which is right?)

A final note, having watched almost all of last night's game: I'm sold on the WBC. Upsets like this, with a team expected to bow out early making the second round, make this a much more interesting tournament. Though there have been some blowouts, there have also been several well-played, tight games, and last night's Netherlands comeback was both impressive and exciting. I, for one, can't wait for round two.

Other Cub notes: Gordon Wittenmyer's notes column has this nugget:

[Lou] Piniella said he plans to skip his fifth starter (probably Sean Marshall) the first time through the rotation because of a day off between the first two series. That means Zambrano and Dempster will pitch in that early Milwaukee series.

There's the first indication that Marshall has probably won the fifth starter derby -- and good for Lou for skipping him. This will mean, possibly, that the Cubs could go with an extra position player for the first week or two. Also from that notes column:

Third baseman Corey Koskie, signed to a minor-league deal last week, could join the Cubs on Thursday, Piniella said. Koskie, who's trying to come back from more than a year out of the game because of concussion symptoms, played in the WBC for Team Canada, which was eliminated Monday. He must pass a physical before the deal is finalized.

Also good... the Cubs could use a backup 3B, and I assume if Koskie was OK to play for Canada, he'll pass that physical.

The Chicago City Council, on the recommendation of Ald. Tom Tunney, will today approve the third concert for Wrigley Field this summer. This was expected, given that tickets for the Rascal Flatts show have already been sold. However:

"It's a Saturday night. That's a problem. They're stretching the envelope. It's gonna be a challenge. But, there's a good chance both of these events will be successful. The city is committed to using its resources to handle multiple events," Tunney said.

"They'll have an extra one this year. We'll go back to the drawing board. And if these concerts are not successful, there'll be no more concerts. They may not have one next year."

Also in news involving the area around the ballpark, the Cubs are once again in a dispute with one of the rooftop owners, who is refusing to pay his contractually obligated 17% to the Cubs because a Jumbotron blocked some of his customers' views during the Winter Classic. Opinion: this guy is in breach of contract and will be forced to pay up.

Finally, although teams like the Brewers and Reds are cutting concession prices in the wake of the economic troubles, don't expect the Cubs to do the same. I'm guessing that with concession prices as high as they have been in recent years, the Cubs will see much lower sales, unless they decide to change their minds once the season begins.

Morning Prowl: Netherlands, Tryouts, Dinners, and Porcello

Ian Casselberry — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:00:10 -0000

Last night's thrilling victory by the Netherlands over the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic had a slight Tigers flavor to it. Not only was Randall Simon the starting first baseman, but the winning run was scored by Gene Kingsale and he was driven in by Yurendell de Caster, who I didn't know was a Tigers prospect until Detroit Tigers Thoughts pointed it out.

Who knew all these guys were Dutch?

What is it like to try out for the Detroit Tigers? For the second year in a row, Kyle (formerly of the Lakeland Flying Tigers blog - which is sorely missed) participated in open tryouts. You can read about his experience at tryoutforacause.com.

Ultimately, Kyle did this to help raise money for the homeless in Lakeland. He's still accepting donations for the next month, so if you have anything to spare, it would help out.

(via Tiger Tales)

The Spot Starters imagines what could've been with the Tigers' lineup had they been smarter with their money and pursued some cheaper alternatives.

Here's our first "Jim Leyland and Tony La Russa are great friends" story of 2009. What makes this one different is that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick joined them for a meal.

I like to imagine that the first question out of Leyland's mouth was "How could you trade Matt Cassel to the Chiefs instead of the Lions?" (Kind of like how Frank Costanza grilled George Steinbrenner about trading Jay Buhner.) But I don't really know where Leyland's football loyalties lie.

Take 75 North chimes in on the growing Spring Training phenomenon known as Rick Porcello.

I'm a week late with this, but Sharapova's Thigh posted a Tigers preview as part of its "Where They Stand" series (complete with Misty May-Treanor photo).

March 4, 2009 - Wednesday Phillies Breakfast Links

WholeCamels — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:08:27 -0000

Will Oh-mero?

Honestly, I was expecting fistfights and perhaps that blood would be spilled this is disappointing (eyeroll).

Cole Hamels gets his first spring start today against Team Canada; Heidi to be disappointed at the dearth of AIDS orphans on the Canadian roster, seeing as they're from Africa and all.

Sam Donnellon asks if you really want to know about the 1993 Phillies (with bonus pic of Lenny Dykstra eating a ferret).

Hide the Snausages.

For the record, Rollins > Jeter. Print it. Done.

The Fightins Number 3 moment of the 2008 regular season.

Phuture Phillies' Top 30 Phillies Prospects. Learn these names. There will be a test.

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:13:16 -0000

Some things to read from inside your Indestruct-O-Bubble.

So, with 24 days until pitchers and catchers report, the Brewers are expected to exchange arbitration figures today with their four remaining eligible players. Brewers Bar has predicted the figures he expects to see.

Another day, another series of updates on Ben Sheets:

As noted in the FanShots, the Mets have interest in Ben Sheets, which creates a scenario where the Brewers could lose two Type-A free agents and receive no first round picks in return.
Jeff Moore of Dugout Central thinks Sheets' best fits are in Texas or back in Milwaukee, but predicts Sheets will be a Met.
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe is reporting the Phillies are also interested in Sheets, but the Cafardo rule applies: until someone else reports it, take it with a grain of salt.

Last week it was noted in the FanShots that Randall Simon was going to try out for the Brewers as part of their annual tryout camp. Buried in Tom H's story is a note mentioning that Mark Bellhorn and Robert Fick also tried out, but none were signed.

Elsewhere in free agency, the Brewers are reportedly considering making an offer to Chad Cordero, who is recovering from a torn labrum. The Grand National Championships has a deeper look at torn labrums and wonders why Cordero appears to be rushing his.

Let's take a look around the world of rankings:

Mike Cameron was the eighth best defensive center fielder in baseball in 2008 according to Tiger Tales, saving four runs above average.
Corey Hart, on the other hand, was only the 13th best defensive right fielder, and cost the Brewers a run.
J.J. Hardy is the seventh best fantasy shortstop in the NL for 2009, according to FakeTeams.

Jonathan Mayo of MiLB.com ranked Jeremy Jeffress as the #44 prospect in all of minor league baseball. Follow the link for a brief profile. (also noted in FanShots)
As of this writing, Brent Brewer leads Cody Scarpetta by seven votes and Alexandre Periard by 15 votes in the balloting for the 17th and final spot in our Community Prospect Rankings. You have until noon today to cast your ballot.

BCB Community Projections

Retail Merchandising Interns

Rich Harden's shoulder

The Baseball Beat

6-4-2