SB Nation - Morgan Ensberg

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!

Searching for a Skipper, Part Two

davoag — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:35:07 -0000

More photos » by Luis Alvarez - AP

5 months ago: In this Aug. 12, 2008 file photo, Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta waits as umpires talk with each other during a baseball game with the New York Mets in Washington. Acta is out as manager of the Washington Nationals. Acting general manager Mike Rizzo confirmed the firing Monday morning, June 13, 2009, in an e-mail to The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez, File)

Browse more photos »

When the Astros confirmed that Manny Acta would be the first candidate brought in for an interview, it began what could be a very open managerial search. This is good for us in that we can get an in-depth look at each potential skipper. So, let's continue this with a look at former Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta.

Acta was signed as a 17-year old first baseman out of the Dominican Republic by the Astros in 1986. He advanced as high as Double-A in both 1989 and 1990, playing 77 games there and batting .194/.194/.258. Acta played 370 games in the minors and had a career line of .241/.241/.299, including his final season at Low A Burlington, where Acta was a player-coach at age 22. Two years later, in 1993, Acta got his first managerial job with Houston's short season New York-Penn League team, the Auburn Astros. Over the next eight seasons, Acta put together a record of 419-432 with four winning seasons, including two straight at his highest stop, High A Kissimmee in 1999 and 2000. Acta also won a Florida State League title in 1999, coaching players like Morgan Ensberg, Brad Lidge, Keith Ginter and Wayne Franklin. In 2000, Acta coached Roy Oswalt, Tim Redding and Jeriome Robertson.

Acta started coaching in the winter leagues in 1999 as well, starting out in Caracas in the Venezuela Winter League before moving to Licey of the Dominican Winter League in 2002. Acta spent 2001 as a coach on the New Orleans staff, when it was still the Triple-A affiliate of the Astros. Players on that 200 team? Astros Pacific Rim scouting director Glen Barker and Lance Berkman, along with former Astros Scott Elarton, Roger Cedeno, Julio Lugo and Scott Linebrink.

Acta was just 33 years old when he was hired as the Washington Nationals new third base coach under manager Frank Robinson in 2002. Acta steadily moved up in the eyes of the Nationals until he was given the mangerial job after Robinson was fired following the 2006 season. Acta also managed the 2006 Dominican Republic entry into the World Baseball Classic, coaching Astros free agent Miguel Tejada and Angels free agent-to-be Vladimir Guerrero as well as former Astros farmhand Francisco Liriano.

So, that brings us to his stint as Washington's manager. In 2007, Acta saw the team to a 73-89 record but revived the career of Dmitri Young. Da Meat Hook even was selected for the All-Star game that July. The Nationals were not great that season, but that was partly because the team had a 4.58 ERA and a WHIP of 1.48. Of course, his starters ERA was 5.11, which makes it hard to win any games. Acta used his bullpen for 590 2/3 innings with an ERA of 3.81, which we will revisit later on. The other telling stat about his pitching staff is in the 73 wins, the team's ERA was 2.91 while in the 89 losses, it was 9.02. Big difference, huh?

In 2008, the team's ERA jumped up to 4.66 but the starter's ERA was still too high at 4.97. His bullpen threw less innings at 553 1/3, but had a slightly higher ERA at 4.18. The team itself lost 102 games and had just 28 saves in 34 save situations. Offensively, Acta got surprisingly good seasons out of shortstop Christian Guzman, second basmean Ronnie Belliard and outfielder Elijah Dukes. Young had another good season, with an OPS of .794, but Acta was hurt by the roster machinations of GM Jim Bowden.

All those roster moves came to a head in 2009, when Acta and outfielder Lastings Milledge had a very public feud. Milledge was sent down to the minors after playing just seven games. Reportedly, the reason was Acta didn't like how Milledge behaved in meetings and that he had a generally surly attitude. This did not endear Acta to management, and he was let go halfway through the season.

The Nationals never had much talent, but Acta did show a knack for getting good performances out of other team's castoffs. He also didn't overuse a bullpen, and got similar results to the Astros this season (534 1/3 IP, 4.13 ERA). I'm not sure whether he would affect the staff positively or negatively, but he's definitely familiar with some of the pitchers and knows how to not go all Joe Torre on his relievers.

The Milledge incident is also interesting, because it suggests Acta is willing to call people out and hold his players accountable. Of course, it also reminds me a little of how Cooper acted with this team, and we know how that ended. So, I'm sure this incident will be discussed in more depth during the interview with Wade and Co.

I brought up all the players he's coached or is otherwise familiar with to illustrate how the Astros might accept him or how he might handle the current roster. If Berkman and Oswalt are both considered the 'Faces of the Franchise', and they both turned on Coop, it's important to get them on board with the hire. Will their familiarity with Acta help? If Acta can get those two to support his style or his accountability methods, it would go a long way to setting up a successful culture on the team.

One interesting quote from this 2007 interview with Acta was regarding his influence on the organization as a whole:

I’m kept in the loop on everything that’s going on, and I have a say in how we want things done down there. I take a lot of pride in having continuity throughout the organization, all the way from rookie ball to the big leagues.

This is very interesting, since it's not a job the Astros have asked from their big league skipper in quite a while. Sure, the coaches will make a call on when to bring guys up or who makes the roster in spring training, but setting a tone in the minor leagues? Continuity at all levels? That's something the Astros have lacked since Hunsicker left in 2004. Now it seems like Bobby Heck and Ed Wade both set the tone for player development. Where would Acta fit into this scheme?

Another interesting quote from the same interview about his bunting strategy:

Bunting is pretty outdated. Everybody scores so many runs nowadays, it doesn’t make sense to play for one run unless it’s late in the game and it’s close. I hardly ever bunt early in a game, unless it’s with a pitcher. A big inning can win you a game. One run in the third inning can’t, unless you have Pedro pitching.

And of course, his pick for the best pitcher in baseball:

Roy Oswalt. He’s just tough as nails. He comes at you like nobody else. That’s a tough place to pitch, and he’s been very consistent.

Acta is also very interested in using sabermetrics to make better decisions, which is very interesting to the people around this blog, we heady baseball fans. I'm not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing, but it may help get all those bad OBP players out of the every day roster. Nothing drives me crazier than all the guys with OBP under .340. But that strays from the point. Acta is a young guy, who's failed in his first job and is looking for some redemption. Sounds a lot like Bill Belichick after the Cleveland fiasco but before New England. Does that make him the best candidate? No, because he still has done nothing to be successful at the big league level. He does make for an interesting candidate, though.

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:04:52 -0000

Some things to read while leaving work early.

So, as you've probably noticed, 2009 is scheduled to be Rickie Weeks' third consecutive "breakout year." But would you take that news more seriously if it came from Peter Gammons? (h/t FanPost)

While most of the Brewer team projections this spring haven't been pretty, individual Brewers are getting positive attention all over the place today. On top of Gammons' mention of Rickie Weeks, Ken Rosenthal is picking Yovani Gallardo to win the NL Cy Young and But The Game Is On is listing Ryan Braun as an NL MVP candidate.

Speaking of Braun, it sounds like he's feeling pretty good after a couple of days back in big league camp and should be full speed for Opening Day.

The news is not as good for Craig Counsell, who has a torn meniscus in his right knee and may require surgery. He's considering trying to play through it this season, and the team is leaving it up to him. With that said, recovery from surgery would only take 2-3 weeks, so Counsell would be somewhat foolish to spend all season playing in pain to avoid missing the 6-8 appearances he'd miss recovering from surgery.

Trevor Hoffman's injury isn't very exciting for most people, but his rehab could be a pretty big deal for some, as Hoffman may make one or more rehab appearances for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. That would be one way to get the teams' new partnership started off on the right foot.

Elsewhere in the minors:

Vinny Rottino and Hernan Iribarren will return to Nashville for the 2009 season, but it doesn't sound like there's much room for them to play. (h/t FanShot)
Beyond The Box Score took a look at the TotalZone rankings of several shortstop prospects. Alcides Escobar has a five run lead on second place, and a 71 run lead on Mariner prospect Carlos Triunfel.
The JS Camp Report says Angel Salome should be recovered from his back injury in time to start the season at Nashville, and Jonathan Lucroy is expected to catch nearly every day in Huntsville.
Tom H. says Chase Wright, Nick Green, Sam Narron, Lindsay Gulin and Tim Dillard will start the season in the rotation in Nashville, with Chris Narveson pitching out of the bullpen. It remains to be seen what will happen when Chris Capuano is ready to start making starts.

Remember when the Brewers were an AL team? I'm sure Moose Haas, Chris Bosio, Bill Wegman and Teddy Higuera do, as they're all on Recondite Baseball's list of pitchers who started the most games without an official at bat.

Rankings/Projections/Predictions:

Nick and Nick's Twins Blog predicts the Brewers will finish third in the Central.
The Tenth Inning Stretch has the Brewers winning 75 games and finishing fourth behind, among others, the 86 win Pirates.
Baseball Musings ranks the Brewers fourth in the Central in Wins Above Replacement.
It Is About The Money, Stupid has Bodoglife's 2009 over-unders, which have the Brewers at 80.5 wins. Stop by later today for more over-under fun.
The Mudpuddle has the Brewers picked to finish fourth in the Central and the Cubs winning the World Series.

he will not make the team

unveiled their dollar menu

BoDogLife

Rays Release Morgan Ensberg

Tommy Rancel — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:02:35 -0000

Non-roster Invitee, Morgan Ensberg was released this morning. Ensberg was Durham insurance at best, however, it seems he did not show enough in camp to warrant a roster spot at Durham. When he signed with the Rays there were talks about him playing some second base, but the signing of Adam Kennedy made that unnecessary.

He hit .227/.314/.273 this spring splitting time between first base, third base and DH. According to the heater, Ensberg was expecting a Triple-A assigment, but was not upset with the news.

Willy Aybar To Play For Dominican Republic in 2009 World Baseball Classic

Tommy Rancel — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:36:50 -0000

Just saw that Willy Aybar was selected to the final roster for the Dominican Republic. Aybar was not on the DR's provisional roster, so his addition comes as a surprise. The world's greatest backup should see significant time at first base with the Dominican both missing Albert Pujols and Carlos Pena.

This means Rays fans will get a real good look at Adam Kennedy at second base this spring as well as Morgan Ensberg at first base at least until Carlos Pena is recovered fully from abdominal surgery. On paper, Kennedy and Jason Bartlett give the Rays their best combination of middle infielders.

As expected, Akinori Iwamura and J.P. Howell were on their teams final rosters and Evan Longoria was not on the final roster for Team USA.

B.J. Upton's Shoulder Update, David Price Is Ready To Battle, And Perrotto Chats Rays

Tommy Rancel — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:37:18 -0000

B.J. Upton felt good after taking swings off a tee and will being soft toss drills. This is much better news than Troy Percival feeling good.

"It's feeling better," Upton said. "There's no reason to hold it back."

About 20 or so of Upton's teammates arrived in Port Charlotte today including Matt Garza, Andy Sonnanstine and Jason Bartlett.

David Price arrived to camp ready to battle and win the 5th starters spot

“You don’t want them to come out and say you have a spot,” Price said. “You want to come in and you want to earn it. You want to earn the respect of everybody that’s in here, and that’s what it’s about. It’s a competition, it’s a challenge, and that makes it more fun, in my eyes.

“I’m not coming into camp thinking, ‘OK, I’m going to go Triple-A for a couple months and just work on stuff there.’ Absolutely not. I don’t ever want to play another day in the minor leagues in my life. And I think that’s everybody here. If everybody had the choice of being in the big leagues or in the minor leagues, they’re going with the big leagues.”

Kevin Goldstein on rookies to watch. No surpise with this one

David Price, LHP, Rays
PECOTA Says: 4.20 ERA, 102 1/3 IP, 106 H, 37 BB, 78 K; 13.0 VORP
What PECOTA Doesn't Know: PECOTA doesn't have eyes, so it didn't actually see what everyone saw during October, which was a dominating force coming into his own pitching in the postseason. What it does have is a guy who was very good but not great in the minors. As one scout said, "He basically looked bored in the minors at times, he needed the big-league challenge to really step up and bring it all together." A question remains as to how the Rays will use him in 2009 as he enters the spring as a candidate for both starting and closing roles.
Baseball Official: "I love him and think he'll easily exceed that... He's a candidate for Rookie of the Year... If the changeup comes around he could be special."

John Perrotto is a smart man and apparently likes DRaysBay

Tommy (Draysbay): Does a team need a designated closer? For example a team like the Rays have 3-4 above average RP's but outside of Percival, who is recovering from surgery, they have no closer. Do you see this as a problem?

John Perrotto: No, because Maddon knows how to run a bullpen and they have so many talented arms that a closer will either shake out or they piece it together.

Tommy (Draysbay): With the Rays about to sign Aybar to a 2yr deal(3 w/option), do you think this means he will take over the Rays 2B job in 2010? Iwamura has an option worth between 4-5 million based on incentives

John Perrotto: That would make a lot of sense as would possibly sliding Brignac or Bartlett to the other side of the bag. I'm just not a big Iwamura guy. I think he would better served as a bench guy.

Tommy (Draysbay): I see you mentioned the Ensberg signing above. It's another Andrew Friedman low-risk/high reward potential signing. Did anybody see Carlos Pena coming, Eric Hinske? Ty Wiggington? If it works out great, if not they still need somebody to play 3B in Durham.

John Perrotto: Agreed.

I'm still waiting on the Brian Shouse numbers, but I've been told we will have them today.

Ensberg Deal Official

R.J. Anderson — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:59:40 -0000

Per Jerry Crasnick:

Former All-Star third baseman Morgan Ensberg has reached agreement on a minor league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Ensberg will earn a base salary of $650,000 if he makes the major league club out of spring training.

As Crasnick notes, we actually had the story last week.

Ensberg may or may not be done, but this is a nice low-risk signing.

Ensberg said he’ll have an opportunity to back up Evan Longoria at third base and Carlos Pena at first for the defending AL champion Rays, and that he’s also willing to fill in at second base and left field. If he doesn’t make the major league roster, he will begin the season with Triple-A Durham.

Ensberg has been a slightly below average fielder at the corners the past few years. Here are his +/- and UZR ratings:

3B	PlusMinus	UZR	INN
2006	7.2	5.1	975
2007	-6.4	-6.5	585
2008	-4	-2	133

For whatever reason Ensberg has been poor defensively as of late, part of that is the amount of plays he's made -- or not made rather -- to his left:

Plays	Right	On	Left
2006	-2	3	11
2007	-6	-2	-1
2008	-1	-5	0

Unfortunately we don't have +/- data available pre-2006, so how good he was in 2005 or 2004 or whenever is unknown. Moving forward I would assume he's slightly below average at third and average at first. He'd likely be fine in left unless the problem is purely foot speed, as for second base, well, it depends on his skillset. Tango's Fan Scouting Report painted this picture of Ensberg during his time in Houston:

Year	Instincts	First Step	Speed	Hands	Release	Strength	Accuracy
2006	70	64	51	63	63	66	62
2007	61	63	53	60	66	63	53

What does that mean? Well, Ensberg's arm accuracy was rated lower, but otherwise the fans thought he was still decent defensively. I'm not going to write him off as a potential second baseman -- what does this mean for Ben Zobrist's future with the team anyways? -- but for now I'm going to put him around -5 < x > -10 runs there.

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:24:11 -0000

Some things to read while spending time with your statistically significant other.

Ladies and gentlemen (probably mostly gentlemen), today is the first of about half a dozen days we've been waiting for since October: Good morning and welcome to Truck Day.

The Brewers avoided arbitration with Rickie Weeks yesterday, agreeing to a one year deal worth $2.45 million. The deal includes a $100,000 playing time incentive. With that deal done, the only arbitration eligible Brewer remaining is Corey Hart. In-Between Hopes has a somewhat frightening comparison between Hart and two players generally considered to be more valuable. The arbitration hearing is scheduled for February 18. The Brewers are reportedly also interested in working on a long term deal for Yovani Gallardo.

Earlier this offseason, the Brewers ended their relationship with Midwest Express, but it didn't take them long to fill in that gap: Yesterday the Brewers announced a sponsorship agreement with AirTran. Again, it's the story of two press releases, one touting a new source of revenue and one making sure we know payroll isn't going up.

Around the minors today: MiLB.com's Jonathan Mayo has a scouting report on Mat Gamel, their #23 prospect. Also, The Official Site has a profile of Mark Rogers, full of if's and possibles. Does anyone else feel like these paragraphs have the cart in front of the horse a bit?

Assuming he doesn't have any Spring Training setbacks, Rogers will probably begin the year with advanced Class A Brevard County. The Brewers prefer to send him to a warm climate instead of their new low Class A affiliate in Appleton, Wis.

"Hopefully he'll get feeling good there and then move up to Double-A, and then if he's healthy we'll see if he can pitch in the [Arizona] Fall League and start to make up for lost time," Ash said. "Then, assuming he's healthy and he feels good, he would come into [2010] Spring Training right where he would have been anyway."

Rogers last pitched in 2006 and has never thrown 100 innings or made more than 20 starts in a minor league season. Let's make sure he survives April before we start talking about spring training 2010.

On the hot stove:

A's: Are interested in signing Orlando Cabrera.
Mets: Are reportedly done spending on offense this offseason.
Nationals: Signed Javier Valentin and Alex Cintron to minor league deals. They also reportedly have an offer on the table for Adam Dunn.
Orioles: Signed Ty Wigginton to a two year deal worth $6 million.
Phillies: Are interested in signing Nomar Garciaparra to fill out their bench, but he may retire.
Rays: Will reportedly sign Morgan Ensberg to a minor league deal.
Twins: Have apparently lost interest in acquiring Jarrod Washburn from the Mariners.
White Sox: Made an offer to Bobby Abreu for a one year deal worth $8 million.

Yesterday I mentioned that FanGraphs was working on determining replacement level for 2009 across positions, and linked to catcher and first base. Second base and shortstop are up today.

I'm assuming there's still some form of approval process that will need to happen, but there's a deal in place for Jeff Moorad to buy the Padres from the Moores family. At least they won't have to scrape many letters off the name on the door.

Isn't there, or shouldn't there be, some kind of rule about what players are allowed to put on the back of their jersey? Russell Martin, who doesn't have a J anywhere in his name, will wear "J. Martin" on the back of his jersey in 2009. J is the first initial in his mother's maiden name. Remembering mom is always nice, but that's a weird gesture.

Oh, and odds are you (and the rest of South Florida) weren't planning on attending a Marlins game this season, but they're hoping KC and the Sunshine Band can change that.

Drink up.

Rays to Sign Morgan Ensberg

R.J. Anderson — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:28:26 -0000

He's 33-years old.

At one point Ensberg was one of the finest third basemen in the league, then suddenly fell off in 2007 and has yet to recover. His homerun/flyball rate fell off, walk rate dropped, and his strikeouts began to increase. Those three things combined kill careers.

So what we have is a guy who can hit left-handed pitching, play an average corner infield and perhaps hit at a league average clip.

Best case: he becomes a nice bench piece and the new Ty Wigginton.

Likely case: plays third at Durham

Worst case: he truly is done, and gets released from Durham by June.

via blog.kir.com

Astros aiming for Chris Gomez?

DyingQuail — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:11:54 -0000

Apparently tight economic times are leading to terse negotiating tactics for a third baseman to platoon with Blum:

"There are a couple of guys that are at least worth talking about or talking to," Wade said. "[Assistant general manager] David [Gottfried] had a conversation with one of them today, and the price tag ran away from us. There are three or four guys we could send signals to: 'This is what we have available. Say yes or we're moving on to the next guy.' "

The article, per Astros.com, discusses each of the remaining free agent third base man, but devotes a significant amount of ink for Chris Gomez, and just small snippets for the rest. Gomez apparently can play both 3B and SS and posted this line last year:

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2008 - Chris Gomez	90	183	26	50	8	0	1	20	13	30	0	0	.273	.322	.333

Crede is apparently way out of our price range and we won't contact Morgan Ensberg (which, I don't understand...he's worth a minor league deal just to see). Pablo Ozuna also gets a nod in the article.

This is just depressing.