SB Nation - Todd Greene

Worst New York Yankees of the Decade

Ed Valentine — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:00:17 -0000

We had some fun the other day debating the Pinstripe Alley Yankee Team of the Decade. Good points were raised on several controversial choices.

Along the way, some of you asked for the 'Worst Yankees of the Decade' team. I thought that would be fun, so I decided to take a shot at it.

Looking at the rosters over the years, though, I found it almost impossible to narrow it down to a single team. Instead, position-by-position, here are some of the most forgettable -- and regrettable -- Yankees of the past decade.

I am sure there are many other names that could or should be added to this list. But, this should get you started strolling down the wrong side of Yankee Memory Lane.

C -- Alberto Castillo, Chris Turner, Chris Widger, Todd Greene, Joe Oliver, Bobby Estelalla, Wil Nieves, Sal Fasano, Michel Hernandez,

1B -- Travis Lee (.105 in 7 games)

2B -- Tony Womack

SS -- Erick Almonte,

3B -- Wilson Betemit, Drew Henson,

INF -- Alex Arias, Felix Escalona (.000, 5 games in 2004), Mark Bellhorn (.118, 9 games, 2005), Cody Ransom, Angel Berroa, Morgan Ensberg

OF -- Kenny Lofton, Matt Lawton (.125, 21 games, 2005), Mike Vento, Justin Christian,

DH -- Jose Canseco

SP -- Kevin Brown, Tim Redding (54.00 ERA in 1 game, 2005), Carl Pavano, Kei Igawa, Jaret Wright (Carl Pavano BEFORE Pavano), Christian Parker (one 2001 start, got hurt, never pitched again), Jeff Weaver, Darrell May, Sidney Ponson (multiple times),

RP -- Alex Graman (19.80 in 3 games, 2004) & 13.50 in 2 games, 2005), Colter Bean, Bret Prinz, Sean Henn, Gabe White, Billy Traber, Anthony Claggett (33.75 ERA in 2 games).

I am ashamed to admit so many guys like this have worn the pinstripes during the course of the last decade. Yuck!

St. Louis Cardinals Top 20 Prospects for 2010

John Sickels — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:15:49 -0000

More photos » by Tom Gannam - AP

Blake Hawksworth, official winner of the 2009 Coolest Name In Major League Baseball Contest (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

Browse more photos »

St. Louis Cardinals Top 20 Prospects for 2010.

All grades are EXTREMELY PRELIMINARY and subject to change. Don't get too worried about exact rankings at this point, especially once you get beyond the Top 10. Grade C+/C guys are pretty interchangeable depending on what you want to emphasize. Complete reports on these and over 1,000 other players will be in the 2010 Baseball Prospect Book, now available for pre-order, shipping on February 2^nd!

1) Shelby Miller, RHP, Grade B: I love the ceiling, but we need to see how he adapts to pro ball, if he can stay healthy, etc. etc.

2) Jaime Garcia, LHP, Grade B-; I like him and the Tommy John recovery looks like it went well, but I hope they let him build up his stamina rather than pushing him too quickly.

3) Lance Lynn, RHP, Grade B-: Projects as an inning-eater number three starter type. K/BB in the Texas League wasn't great, could use some Triple-A time.

4) Robert Stock, C, Grade B-: I preferred him as a pitcher in college, but letting him hit makes sense: if he makes it, you have a power-hitting catcher with good defense. If he doesn't hit, you just move him back to the mound. Could be one of the best catching prospects in the game by July.

5) Daryl Jones, OF, Grade B-: I keep expecting power to develop but there's no sign of it. Cutting him some slack on '09 numbers due to injuries.

6) Eduardo Sanchez, RHP, Grade B-: Underrated power arm needs more attention, could be a major league closer if command sharpens a bit more.

7) Allen Craig, OF, Grade B-: I really like the bat, just needs to play.

8) David Freese, 3B, Grade C+: Almost a B-, injury was badly timed, turns 27 in April, looks like a .270 hitter with 20 homer power, solid glove.

9) Jon Jay, OF, Grade C+: I just like the guy. Always seems to rip the ball when I see him. I'd love to have him as a fourth outfielder.

10) Joe Kelly, RHP, Grade C+: Nasty power sinking stuff, college results didn't match arm, this could/should change in pro ball but he was erratic in the NY-P, too, so maybe it won't.

11) Dan Descalso, 2B, Grade C+: He was great in the Texas League but went back to being mediocre after promotion.

12) Tyler Henley, OF, Grade C+. Similar to Jay....perhaps a bit more pop but a bit less speed, another guy who could be very good as a fourth outfielder.

13) Blake Hawksworth, RHP, Grade C: Deserves credit fighting back from injury. Can be a nice middle reliever.

14) Tyler Greene, SS, Grade C: Lots of speed, some power, good tools, still held back by spotty plate discipline. Could hit .280 with 20 homers some year, then .180 the next year.

15) Steven Hill, C-1B, Grade C: Remember Todd Greene? The short guy with tons of power who could play outfield, first base, catch a bit, but who couldn't draw walks? This is his clone.

16) Pete Kozma, SS, Grade C: If he'd gone to Wichita State, this would be his junior season. Too young to write off just yet.

17) Francisco Samuel, RHP, Grade C: Blistering stuff, with no idea where it's going.

18) Scott Bittle, RHP, Grade C: He could move through the system very quickly, if his arm doesn't disintegrate like the crew of the USS Exeter after being exposed to the Omega IV biological weapon virus.

19) Mark Hamilton, 1B, Grade C: Remember him? Looked like an injury-plagued bust but rebounded this year, got a place on the 40-man. Don't see how he fits in the lineup other than as trade bait.

20) Tyler Norrick, LHP, Grade C: Another 40-man roster addition, power lefty arm with a high strikeout rate.

OTHERS (All Grade C): Matt Adams, 1B; Nick Additon, LHP; Bryan Anderson, C; Adron Chambers, OF; Kyle Conley, OF; Roberto De La Cruz, 3B; Scott Gorgen, RHP; Trey Hearne, RHP; Virgil Hill, OF; Ben Jukich, LHP; Blake King, RHP; David Kopp, RHP; Casey Mulligan, RHP; Adam Ottavino, RHP; Tommy Pham, OF; Adam Reifer, RHP; Shane Robinson, OF; Fernando Salas, RHP; Scott Schneider, RHP; Niko Vasquez, INF; P.J. Walters, RHP.

Trades and graduations thinned this system out fast compared to last year, however, I actually like it better than these grades imply.

Shelby Miller and Robert Stock could both be B+ or A- prospects a year from now, once we get a full season of data to look at. Garcia and Lynn could both be in the starting rotation in 2011 and both have a reasonable chance to be very good pitchers. Sanchez has closer potential. Jones, Craig, and Freese could all develop into regular players under the right circumstances and at worst could be good role players, while Jay, Descalso, Henley, Greene, and Hill could all be useful if deployed properly. Jon Jay remains a personal favorite for reasons that I find hard to quantify.

There is a large batch of arms who could be very good relievers if they throw strikes (Kelly, Samuel, Norrick, King, Reifer) as well as an assortment of pitchability types.

The system needs more impact talent, but Miller and Stock should help provide that, and there's a huge batch of Grade C depth. There were about 10 other guys I could easily have written up as Grade C prospects with potential.

Rays Retain Jim Hickey; Hitting Coach Steve Henderson Let Loose

Tommy Rancel — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:36:45 -0000

In case you haven't already heard, the Rays have met with all there coaches and there is a few surprises for next year's staff. Most of Joe Maddon's staff will remain intact including Jim Hickey, who will remain as the Rays pitching coach. The Rays hitting coach, Steve Henderson, however, will not be retained. Also the quality of the Rays will not be assured next season as Todd Greene and his quality assurance coach position has been eliminated.

We've had numerous debates about Hickey on this site and each time we've had these arguments we usually end up at the same conclusion; it's hard to quantify a coach's impact on a team with just raw statistics. Nonetheless, here are the numbers during the Hickey Era.

Team Hickey	ERA	FIP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9
2007	5.53	4.7	7.52	3.58	1.25
2008	3.82	4.22	7.06	3.25	1.02
2009	4.36	4.37	7.09	3.25	1.15

Nothing that we don't already know. The staff was awful in 2007. They went out and had a great year in 2008 before falling to average in 2009. The FIP fall wasn't as steep as the ERA fall thanks to near static K and BB/9 averages. Regardless on which side of the Hickey impact fence you fall on, when a pitching regresses as a whole while some of the pieces that were cast aside improved, the blame usually falls on the shoulders of the pitching coach.

While Hickey's retention was a little bit of a surprise, the decision to let Steve Henderson comes as a complete shock to me. Henderson is highly regarded amongst his players and the Rays set several franchise records including runs, home runs, walks and on-base percentage this year. It's kind of hard to put any blame for the subpar season on Henderson when the offense puts up the most runs in the teams history.

There's a theory floating around that Joe Maddon wants the team improve its situational hitting and have more productive outs. So if you are keeping score at home, Henderson's offense scored the most runs in Rays history, but their outs weren't good enough. Color me suspicious if I don't believe that's the real issue. Apparently, Keith Law isn't buying that theory either as he calls the move "Operation Fix B.J. Upton."

Either way, The Rays team wOBA improved each season under Hendu as well as their BB%.

Team Hendu	Runs	K%	BB%	wOBA
2006	689	20.2	7.5	0.317
2007	782	23.7	8.9	0.335
2008	774	22.1	10.2	0.336
2009	803	22.5	10.5	0.343

The Rays don't have any plans to name a successor in the near future, but that doesn't stop of from speculating. The short list of names we've come up with: Rudy Jamarillo, Wade Boggs (again), Fred McGriff, and DRB favorite Cliff Floyd. I know Floyd is an active player, but admit it...you want him back too.

Todd Greene Officially Hired

R.J. Anderson — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:56:52 -0000

"If it wasn't with Joe and coming to a quality organization like Tampa has become, I probably wouldn't have left the Padres," Greene said. "But I thought this was a good opportunity for me to work with Joe, who I have a lot of admiration for from our years at Anaheim. And then to see what they've been able to do on the field and throughout the whole organization is pretty impressive.

raysbaseball.com

Basically, along with his semi-scout-duties, Greene is going to act like a veteran catcher. Think of him as a Mike DiFelice/Joe Maddon hybrid. He's not quite playing and not quite coaching. How exactly does that help the Rays? Well I'm not really sure, but I'd have him caddy with John Jaso all spring until he got the footwork aspects of catching down pat.

Oh, and the real reason for posting this, an obscure statistic:

Greene also holds the distinction as the record holder for the most career home runs by a player with more home runs than walks (71 home runs, 67 walks). Bill Schroeder previously held the record (61 homers, 58 free passes).

See, be glad he's not a player.