SB Nation - Stephen Randolph

Recap of Dodgers / Rangers

meercatjohn — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:27:37 -0000

On a day when Jason Schmidt finally made it to a major league mound, it was the offense that was the story of the game as the Dodgers prevailed 13 - 7. Xavier Paul had three hits in his first three at bats to trigger the offense, but it was the light hitting middle infielders for the Dodgers who socked it to the Texas Rangers. DeWitt, Hu, Castro, and Luna combined to go 8 for 13, with two home runs (Castro/Luna), 5 runs batted in, and 6 runs scored.

Three pitchers went today who are in the battle for the 5th spot in the rotation. Jason Schmidt almost finished his two innings unscatched, but big time catching prospect Tyle Teagarden touched him for a three run jack with two out. Claudio Vargas did nothing to augment his cause as he gave up three home runs ( Andruw Jones, Boggs, and Blalock). Eric Milton tried to worm his way back into the hunt with three solid innings of work but Joe Torre told Tony Jackson that it was Schmidt's job to lose. Which may not be that hard to do considering it is Jason Schmidt.

With our left handed relief pitchers getting batted around like a drum (Leach, Garate, Elbert, Randolf) Erick Threets was the only one to go today and he got the only two hitters he faced. Not sure if Beimel is on speed dial but the all time Dodger lefty setup man might be an upgrade.

Victor Garate stayed in camp in an ill fated attempt to win a job on the major league roster instead of pitching for Venezuela. Based on the box score yesterday he would have been welcome on Venezuela pitching staff.

Use this link to keep track of the Dodger spring training stats.

Yawn: Cubs 5, Dodgers 3

Al — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:57:49 -0000

What do the following players have in common?

Val Pascucci, Jamie Hoffmann, Xavier Paul, Darwin Barney, Doug Deeds, Bobby Scales, Jason Dubois, Nick DeBarr, Stephen Randolph, Mitch Jones, David Patton, Esmailin Caridad, Jason Waddell

All of them played in today's Cubs Cactus League 2009 debut, a 5-3 win over the Dodgers.

And all of them have about as much chance of playing in a 2009 regular season baseball game as I do. Even Pat & Ron seemed rather bored and distracted with today's action, which was largely concentrated in Micah Hoffpauir's grand slam in the fifth inning, which turned a 3-1 deficit into the ultimate margin of victory.

(Parenthetical remark: Hey! Look! Here's someone else who won't be playing major league baseball this year!)

Danger! Caution! Warning! This grand slam was hit by a player who turns 29 years old on Sunday (he is a year older than Justin Morneau, to give you a point of reference), and was hit off Ramon Troncoso, who actually does have a chance to make the Dodgers' bullpen this year, considering he threw (and reasonably well) for them in 32 games in 2008.

Hoffpauir was the only player who's likely to make the 25-man roster who had anything resembling a good day, though Alfonso Soriano also singled, walked and scored one of the Cubs' runs (on a Hoffpauir double play ball in the first inning), and Ryan Theriot had -- what else? -- two singles. Even the supposedly die-hard Cubs fans couldn't be bothered; 7,916 showed up on an unusually warm (for late February) 80-degree day, about 5,000 short of capacity at HoHoKam Park.

Jeff Samardzija started, probably to get him into a starting routine as he heads to Iowa to be stretched out for rotation duty. He had one good inning and one bad one. Mitch Atkins, who might also be a recallable starter from Iowa, allowed three hits and a run in a pair of innings.

Oh, we did learn one thing, or more correctly, re-learned it: Stephen Randolph, who was in Cubs camp a couple of years ago, still can't throw strikes. But he's lefthanded, and so teams still think he might be a major league quality pitcher (because he can throw hard). They happen to be wrong.

Meaningless as this game was, both for evaluating what this team might do this year, and for the result itself, baseball is back! Especially with the brutal winter we have had in Chicago, hearing baseball on the radio today was welcome sound in my house. It's 54 degrees in Chicago this afternoon (probably warmer than it'll be on Opening Day). Spring's almost here.

F.A.T.: LOOGYs

R.J. Anderson — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:03:10 -0000

LOOGYs are funny. Teams will overpay for something so easily found throughout the minor leagues and scrap yards. Here's the list of guys worth keeping in mind for your team that won't run you a great ransom.

John Rheinecker via mlb.mlb.com

John Rheinecker is perhaps the most interesting of the list. A former first (actually supplemental) round pick of the Oakland Athletics, Rheinecker was dealt in March of 2006 in a deal that netted the Cubs Freddie Bynum, the Athletics Juan Dominguez, and the Rangers John Koronka as well as Rheinecker. In 2006 Rheinecker was primarily used as a starter (13 of his 21 appearances), his starts would be curbed in 2007 but one thing remained: struggles against right-handed hitting. Rheinecker missed 2008 due to a surgery to remove a rib as well as arthroscopic shoulder surgery that caused him to miss almost the entirety of the season. Astoundingly good against lefties, Rheinecker is only 29 and pitches in the mid-80's, but still finds a way to get more than 9% swinging strikes.

The first of a pair of Twins on this list, Florida Atlantic University alumni Carmen Cali is a 30 year old who sits in the lower-90's. Last seen in the majors with the Twins in 2007, and the Cardinals in 2004/2005 Cali's control has abandoned him in his major league stints. He gets nearly 11% swinging strikes, and nearly 55% groundballs. Cali is at least worth a look as a non-roster invitee. Also has the best name of the list: Carmen Salvatore Cali.

Minnesota's other offering, Mariano Gomez, is 26 years old and finally reached Triple-A in 2008 after spending parts of four seasons in Double-A. The promotion only occurred after Gomez was signed by the Twins as a minor league free agent. At 6'6" Gomez is more intimidating than you'd except from a LOOGY, one not named Billy Traber at least, and got a decent amount of strikes swinging at 9.3%.

Ian Ostlund is 30 years old and a Tommy John Surgery survivor (yes, survivor). Last season he got 11% swinging strikes and had a 2.94 FIP, impressive, add in a 2.18 BB/9 and there is little to question, except his GB%. Ostlund only gets 36.55 grounders, but he didn't give up a ton of homeruns. Odds are that changes a bit in the majors, but there's something decent about him considering the swinging strikes amount.

Then there's Royce Ring, Randy Williams, and Stephen Randolph. All former major leaguers who either got raw deals or deserve another shot.

Ring didn't pitch too much for the Braves, but was decent, not nearly as good as his major league career totals indicate he could be however. The former San Diego State closer throws in the upper 80's and has pitched for three teams since 2005.

Williams made appearances with the Padres and Rockies in 2005 and throws in the low 90's. Now 32, he has bounced around the past few seasons, starting with the Mariners in 2004, then the Padres/Rockies, then the Rangers, and last season the Marlins. He gets a ton of strikes swinging, and doesn't give up many homeruns, is prone to walking a few though.

Finally we reach 34 year old Stephen Randolph, who last spent time in the majors for the Astros in 2007, and in 2003/2004 for the Diamondbacks. He too sits in the low 90's, but got the most strikes swinging of anyone else on this list last season with 15.9%, he walked quite a few (nearly 6 per nine) but gave up only 0.38 homeruns per nine despite a 38 GB%.

Obviously there's no guarantee any or all of these guys are going to have their success carry over, but let's face it, any of them on a minor league deal (MiLD for shorthand) with an invite to spring training is better than spending a few million on Joe McLefty. Why? Because Joe McLefty would've been on this list seasons ago and makes a killing on GMs who aren't willing to take a shot on guys like Carmen Cali.

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References

Minor League Splits

FanGraphs

StatCorner