SB Nation - Jimmy Gobble

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:08:26 -0000

5 months ago: Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun (8), Mike Cameron and Frank Catalanotto (27) celebrate after the Brewers' 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game Wednesday, July 8, 2009, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

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Some things to read while finding a better place to propose.

Today, the Brewers have a different kind of proposal for Manny Parra: something like, "Would you please try not to make us wish we'd left you in AAA?" Parra makes his return in a few hours, and the Brewers are hoping he'll be more like the pitcher they saw in AAA (sub-3 ERA) than the one they sent down (13.50 ERA, allowed opponents to hit .408/.478/.694 in his last five starts). To make room on the roster for him, the team designated Chris Narveson for assignment. Narveson will almost certainly clear waivers and accept an assignment to AAA, but the Brewers wouldn't be much worse off if he didn't. (Also noted in FanShot.)

The Brewers will also have bench coach Willie Randolph back for today's game. Randolph was suspended for a game for coming onto the field to argue his ejection in Tuesday's game. Coaches are not allowed to do that, even if Bill Hohn's mustache is blocking their view. (Also noted in FanShot.)

They're also one day closer to having Dave Bush back. Bush is scheduled to throw 3-4 innings in a rehab start Friday for the Timber Rattlers. If all goes well, he's still scheduled to return to the big leagues on July 20.

Is Prince Fielder MLB's fastest big man? The Brewers would have squandered three bases loaded opportunities last night if Fielder hadn't legged out an infield single in the eighth. For his part, Fielder called the performance "panic speed."

As the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches, we'll stop for a moment each day to take a look at the rumors and notes:

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that, along with Roy Halladay, the Blue Jays are also considering trading outfielder Alex Rios, who has over $60 million remaining on a contract that runs through 2014. Assuming the Brewers can afford him, he'd be a nice long term replacement for Mike Cameron.
Mark Bowman of MLB.com thinks the Braves' demands for Javier Vazquez will be similar to the Indians' asking price for CC Sabathia last season. He argues that Vazquez is pitching better than Sabathia was at the time of the deal, and is under contract for an extra year.
Mark Mulder's agent says he'll be ready to audition for scouts in a week to ten days, and thinks he can quickly return to big league form.

And in the minors:

Over at The Hardball Times, Jeff takes a look at the defensive stats for some college shortstops who were drafted to the big leagues over the last two seasons. 2009 Brewer draftee Josh Prince ranked right around average, but 2008 draftee Michael Marseco, all 130 lbs of him, was 17 runs above average defensively in college.
Minor league attendance is holding steady across the country, but the Midwest League is up 2.5% through June, likely due to a couple of new parks and increased interest in the Timber Rattlers. The Pioneer League was also up 18% in June, but that only covers about a week's worth of games.

Continuing Bullet Pointpalooza with a look at Power Rankings:

Beyond the Box Score dropped the Brewers three spots to 17th, but they're still the highest ranked team in the Central.
MLB FanHouse dropped the Brewers from #7 to #11.

Normally I present the Power Rankings without comment, but the Brewer note in the FanHouse ranking caught my eye:

If the Brewers don't find someone to back Yovani Gallardo soon, they might find themselves behind both the Cardinals and the suddenly surging Cubbies in the standings.

The "suddenly surging" Cubbies, huh? Yes, the Cubs did just take three of four from the Brewers at home. If you remove that series, though, they're 4-9 since June 22 and 10-15 since June 9. That doesn't sound like "surging" to me.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Released B.J. Ryan, but will still have to pay him over $10 million over this season and next.
Mariners: Are expected to sign Alex Cintron to a minor league deal.
Red Sox: Designated injured outfielder Jonathan Van Every for assignment.
White Sox: Designated reliever Jimmy Gobble for assignment.

Ballot box stuffing has been an accepted practice for years, but do the teams themselves cheat to give their players an edge in the Final Vote? Hall of Fame writer Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News seems to have caught the Phillies in the act:

WHAT I WOULD like to do right now is walk into the media dining room and kick out the plugs on three computers. Fans are voting for the final roster spot for the All-Star game and the Phillies are in an all-out campaign to get Shane Victorino on the team.

The Phillies have three young men in the dining room sitting at laptops punching in Victorino’s name every few seconds. And they are doing it non-stop, nearly around the clock. So when Victorino wins you’ll know it wasn’t a fan vote at all.

The Man v. Machine argument continues today as well. Over at Beyond the Box Score, tbsmkdn makes the case for human umpires, arguing that manager arguments with umpires are one of the best parts of the game. I don't think we're watching the same game.

Meanwhile, ESPN's coverage of the Home Run Derby will feature Ball Track, a system designed to tell you immediately if a ball will be a home run, if waiting a few seconds to see where it lands takes up too much of your time.

Oh, and I can't decide on today's bigger anniversary: the non-conclusion of a meaningless exhibition game in 2002 or Tyler Houston's three home run game in 2000. So I'll give you both.

Drink up.

White Sox Acquire RP Tony Pena from Diamondbacks

Jack Moore — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:59:35 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

6 months ago: Arizona Diamondbacks' Tony Pena, of the Dominican Republic, throws against the Atlanta Braves in the 11th inning of a baseball game, Saturday, May 30, 2009, in Phoenix. Pena pitched two scoreless innings and the Diamondbacks defeated the Braves 3-2 in 11 innings. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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On Tuesday night, the White Sox and Diamondbacks agreed to swap Arizona RP Tony Pena for Chicago White Sox 1B prospect Brandon Allen. The Diamondbacks, at 35-49 and a .04% chance to make the playoffs (as of Tuesday), are firmly entrenched as sellers in this year's trade market. This deal seems to show that the Chicago White Sox, on the other hand, are poised to buy, at 42-40 and with roughly 30% playoff odds. Pena has had a slightly rough year by traditional standards for the D-Backs, with a 4.24 ERA in 34 innings as setup man for Chad Qualls. Still, Pena's relatively high ERA did not dissuade White Sox GM Kenny Williams from pulling the trigger on this move. Digging deeper, Pena's 2.36 K/BB and 0.79 HR/9 have resulted in a solid 3.72 FIP, between his career average of 4.01 and last year's 3.42. Pena's good pitching in high leverage innings combined with the ability to shoulder a relatively heavy load (157 IP between 2007-2008) have made Pena worth 2.2 wins since 2007 (including 2009 so far).

Pena will replace Jimmy Gobble in the White Sox bullpen. Gobble's 7.50 ERA was supported by an equally (for all intents and purposes) bad 6.87 FIP. Gobble never was a stud pitcher by any means and has always been susceptible to the home run, with no full season HR/9 below 1.00. Finally, in 2008 and 2009, the other shoe dropped, and Gobble's walk rate rose to a point at which he is no longer a major league pitcher. If Pena either keeps pitching at his current pace or hits his ZiPS projection of a 3.53 FIP, Pena figures to be a .4 to .5 win upgrade this year. Pena has still not yet entered arbitration, and will be a cheap asset for the next 3 years. Although relievers are volatile, Pena seems to be a safe bet for anywhere in the 0.5 to 1.0 WAR range, with the potential for more if he eventually moves to a closer role. As long as his contract is in the 1.5-2.5 million dollar range, Pena is a decent, albeit not great, asset to a major league club.

Brandon Allen was the 4th rated prospect by John Sickels in the White Sox minor league system entering the year, behind Gordon Beckham, Aaron Poreda, and Tyler Flowers. Both Beckham and Poreda have already seen significant time with the Major League club. Allen has struggled in a very short stint at AAA, but not much can be learned from that. In roughly 275 AA PAs this year, Allen showed decent power with a .182 ISO and good on-base ability, with a .369 OBP supported by a .083 IsoD (Isolated Discipline, OBA - BA). Allen's .332 BABIP is supported by a very good 21% LD rate. Allen's defensive value is likely to be slim. Minor League Splits TotalZone has him as a roughly average defender for his career, although his value has been higher in his most recent stints. Still, sample size on these seasons is too small to make too sweeping of a judgment, and as a first baseman, the -12.5 run positional adjustment means that Allen will have to hit and hit well to be a valuable player at the ML level. If his 12.4% AA walk rate translates to the majors, Allen's raw power could make him an everyday player for at least a few years with Arizona.

Personally, I like the trade for Arizona. With the team going nowhere this year, any loss from Pena's production will be minimal. The trade is by no means a total waste for Chicago, as Pena is team controlled and talented. Still, although Pena will certainly help the White Sox bullpen, there were and still are much more glaring areas of concern. Specifically, either a replacement at 3B so Gordon Beckham (0.3 WAR so far) can continue developing at the minor league level, or a CF to replace the black hole that is Dewayne Wise and Brian Anderson (0.2 WAR so far combined) would've been a much more prudent use of Allen's pull than a reliever.

Buehrle Homers, Sox Win See-Saw Affair

The Cheat — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:23:21 -0000

More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

Mark Buehrle will never let anyone forget about this moment.

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Lots of moving parts in this one

Mark Buehrle homers
Jimmy Gobble pitches in a high leverage situation -- which actually isn't as bad as it sounds as long as he only faces lefties.
Jim Thome tries to lay down a bunt multiple times, draws walk which is eventual winning run...
Winning run scored by pinch runner extraordinaire Clayton Richard.

I love baseball.

The White Sox Need a LOOGY

larry — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:01:49 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

Jimmy Gobble

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With Jose Contreras now in Charlotte and lefty Clayton Richard to be inserted into the rotation, Ozzie Guillen will be left with a bullpen that has only a single lefty, Matt Thornton, for him to play match-ups. But with Jose’s demotion and plenty of room on the 40 man roster, it is a near certainty that it will be a lefty who is called up from the farm to give Ozzie the second lefty he pines for. Let’s take a quick look at the candidates:

Jimmy Gobble: White Sox fans are familiar with the long-time Royal, most notably for his ability to get Paul Konerko out of any slump. Of course, using Gobble against any righty is an unforgivable offense by a manager. Gobble is the epitome of a LOOGY. After he dropped his arm slot in 2007, he became more effective against lefties but righties began to tee off of him. The Knights have been using Gobble almost exclusively for at least one inning in each of his appearances so his 2009 numbers are somewhat alarming at first glance; however, he is more than holding his own against lefties. He's held them to 1 hit and 1 walk in 19 plate appearances and has struck out 9 of them. He's also inducing rather weak contact, as well. The leading candidate.

Randy Williams: He’s been significantly more hittable than Gobble down in AAA. He’s faced 26 lefties and given up 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7. While some of this can be attributed to an inflated BABIP, lefties are also making harder contact on his pitches than Gobble's. A distant second.

Wes Whisler: This guy just doesn’t strike enough people out. While his ERA is often very nice – 3.81 last year and 2.12 so far this year – his peripherals scream “not a major leaguer.” He’s averaged about 4.5 K/9 in the upper minors and that simply won’t do. While he does perform better against lefties, he hasn't shut them down like a Gobble can. Also has little experience pitching in relief. No chance.

Aaron Poreda: You can read all about what Poreda has been doing in my weekly minor league updates or in the minor league fanshot that is updated daily. While Poreda is certainly the best pitcher of the bunch - and can be absolutely vicious on lefties - the White Sox are intent on making Poreda a starter and having him work on his secondary offerings. A call-up to the major league bullpen would be diametrically opposed to this goal. No chance.

[edit 1:24 pm: The White Sox make this moot by purchasing Gobble's contract from Charlotte.]

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:16:07 -0000

Some things to read while adjusting your optimism.

You're probably going to hear a fair amount of complaining about scheduling today, as the Brewers and Giants wait around to become the last two teams to open their 2009 schedules. Tom H. certainly wants the Brewers to play today.

The Brewer opener was pushed to tomorrow to give the Giants a day off between their last exhibition contest yesterday and their opener. Most teams schedule a day off for the middle of their opening series in case of weather, but the Giants are flying without that safety net, and it may become important because it's supposed to rain tomorrow. This week's series is the Brewers' only scheduled visit to San Francisco in 2009, meaning the game will either have to be played in poor conditions tomorrow or the Brewers and Giants will face a doubleheader in their first series of the year.

Weather could be an issue in other places as well. Today's White Sox/Royals game in Chicago has already been postponed, and there's talk of weather-related delays in Boston, St. Louis and Cincinnati.

When the Brewers finally do take the field, it will be 20 minutes later than previously expected. The Giants have pushed back the start time to allow for Opening Day festivities. Heaven forbid they'd start those before everyone is in their seats on a rainy day.

So, barring inclement weather, Jason Kendall will start his second season as the Brewers' catcher tomorrow. The second of how many, you ask? Well, Kendall says he'd like to play six seasons in Milwaukee, which would keep him in a Brewer uniform through his fortieth birthday and give him a good shot at being baseball's all time leader in games played at catcher.

When the Brewers finally do take the field, it will be without Trevor Hoffman, who will need more than 15 days to get ready to pitch in regular season games. He'll play catch today and take it from there. Murray Chass featured Hoffman in his look at closers in new places.

David Riske, however, will be there despite a dismal spring. Tom H. reports the Brewers have no plan to try to move Riske or hide him on the DL, but likely will not use him in important situations.

Alcides Escobar is getting a lot of attention as spring training comes to an end. Peter Gammons listed Escobar as one of the most impressive young players this spring and Prospects Paradise lists him as having the second best glove in the minors. A couple of other minor notes:

Beyond the Box Score says Caleb Gindl was 17 runs above average in the outfield last season.
They also rank Taylor Green as exactly average at Mat Gamel at two runs below average at third base.

I'm sure this will sound familiar to anyone who's been following the team for more than a few days, but Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated thinks Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart could have breakout years in 2009.

Are these more relevant than the other projections? It's hard to say.

None of the 20 experts at ESPN picked the Brewers to make the playoffs. They also have the Crew 14th in their power rankings.
Of the eight at The Journal Sentinel, none picked the Brewers to win the Central and only Tom H. picked them to win the Wild Card. The eight predictions average out at 84.6 wins for the Crew.
26 predictors at The Hardball Times were unanimous in picking the Cubs to win the Central. The Brewers finished third.
Ken Rosenthal has the Brewers finishing fourth.

Please hold for the deluge of other predictions, projections and rankings:

Fielder's Choice has the Brewers in fourth.
The Tennessee Journalist has the Brewers in fourth.
Texas Rangers Trades has the Crew in fourth too.
Baseball & The Boogie Down has the Brewers winning 88 games and finishing in second.
We Will...Never Learn has the Brewers, and every other team in the Central, beating the Pirates.
Hear the Hurd has the Brewers in second.
Below the Beltway has the Brewers in third.
The View From The Dugout thinks the Brewers will win 85-90 and make a run at the Wild Card.
Bleed Cubbie Blue is picking the Brewers to finish second.
Happiness for Blessing projects the Brewers for 80 wins and a fourth place finish.
Sheldon Ocker of the Akron Beacon Journal ranked the Brewers 20th in his preseason power rankings.
By My Count has the Brewers fourth in the Central.
Patrick Sullivan of The Baseball Analysts thinks the Brewers will win more than 81.5 games.
One of the eleven contributors at Baseball Digest Daily picked the Brewers to win the division. The consensus pick was third, and no one had them below fourth.
Chicago White Sox Examiner picked the Brewers to finish fourth.
Jordan Bastian has the Brewers finishing fourth.
Talking Chop has the Brewers finishing third.
Viva El Birdos thinks the Brewers will end up in the middle of the division.
Phil Rogers' Power Rankings have the Brewers 16th, 15th among actual baseball teams.
View From The Bleachers has the Brewers third in the Central.
The Diamond Cutter also has the Brewers third.
Bill Chuck has the Brewers winning 90 games and finishing second.
Walk Like A Sabermetrician picked the Brewers to finish third.
Sully Baseball thinks the Brewers will slide back to mediocrity and trade Prince Fielder. He also predicts Ned Yost will take over mid-season as manager of the Blue Jays.
David Brown and Kevin Kaduk of Big League Stew pick the Brewers second and third in the Central, respectively.
Backseat Fan is picking the Cardinals to win the Central and the Brewers to finish third.
Brewed Sports has the Brewers winning the Central.
The Grand National Championships has the Brewers finishing second behind the Cardinals.
The Bucky Channel has the Brewers finishing second.
BC Sports has the Brewers finishing third.

Ok, I'm going to stop there. There were at least a dozen more, probably more, but I think we've seen enough. My apologies if I missed yours. Think you can out-predict these guys? Then you should enter Red Reporter's prediction contest and Beyond The Box Score's 32 predictions. You also have until the end of the day today to get your picks in for The Brew Crew Ball Over/Under contest.

So what happens if the Brewers do underperform in 2009? Between the Green Pillars explores the possibilities of a fire sale, but even if the desire to sell off assets arises, there may not be many buyers out there.

Sounds like Cory Provus is quickly settling into what might be America's greatest job: spending the summer seated next to Bob Uecker. The JS takes a look at their developing partnership.

If given the opportunity to sum up why you're a Brewer fan in one paragraph, could you do it? As part of a project for The National Review, Michael E. Hartmann gave it a shot.

Elsewhere around baseball:

Cubs: Released Chad Gaudin.
Mariners: Placed Ichiro Suzuki on the DL with a bleeding ulcer.
Mets: Signed Gary Sheffield to a one year deal.
Rangers: Released Casey Daigle, perhaps best known for being Jennie Finch's husband. They also released Adam Melhuse.
Reds: Jonny Gomes will not make the Opening Roster and is undecided on reporting to AAA.
Rockies: Acquired Jason Hammel from the Rays for minor league pitcher Aneury Rodriguez.
White Sox: The team has postponed its home opener against the Royals due to snow. They've also become Jimmy Gobble's third team this spring.

I'm not sure how this impacts one's ability to continue to own an MLB franchise, but it can't be good: Rangers owner Tom Hicks has defaulted on over $500 million in debt. If you'd like to own the Rangers, get your checkbook ready.

Even after 100 years, some may never learn: Goat Riders of the Apocalypse has a poll asking Cub fans how many games the team will win in 2009, and not a single voter has gone below 90.

On the other side, someone is finally starting to poke holes in the notion that the Reds are going to make a sudden surge. Surprisingly, that someone is Reds beat writer Hal McCoy.

Maybe they need more sweet potatoes? Jason Giambi swears by them.

Sometimes I wonder if newspaper profiles are sparked by the discovery that someone else in the office doesn't know something: A few weeks after Tom H. followed a mention of Giants prospect Ryan Rohlinger with the phrase "whoever he is," Dave Boehler has a profile of the West Bend native.

I have four links left, and three of them are FanGraphs:

They're trying out Twitter Feeds to keep you updated on your favorite team's Win Expectancy during games.
They're also looking at the merits of the Rays' decision to platoon former Brewers Gabe Gross and Gabe Kapler.
And they're sharing my opinion on the ethics of service time manipulation.

Oh, and you're never too old to play with Micro Machines.

Drink up.

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

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:06:04 -0000

Some things to read while thinking about what could have been.

So, the bullpen situation is increasingly chaotic, with Trevor Hoffman now possibly opening the season on the DL. (Also noted in FanShot) The situation is exacerbated by the fact that David Riske and Carlos Villanueva aren't pitching well and Seth McClung, who isn't pitching exceptionally well either, may be needed to fill a spot in the starting rotation. Riske, for one, is taking his spring results pretty seriously, saying he's in shock after allowing an earned run in five straight outings.

We all respond to stress differently, I suppose: After getting shelled in two innings in his first spring start yesterday, Mark DiFelice was cutting hair in the Brewer clubhouse.

Also in that last link is a note mentioning that Sam Narron was sent down to minor league camp. Elsewhere in roster moves, the Brewers decided to let the Astros keep Rule 5 pick Lou Palmisano. (Also noted in FanShot)

The Brewers also made a minor trade over the weekend, acquiring minor league infielder Sergio Miranda from the White Sox for future considerations. The move was big enough to draw notice from Al and in Rumorville, but it slipped through the cracks over at the JS. There's some speculation that those "future considerations" might end up being Tony Gwynn Jr., but of course that's not confirmed.

Speaking of Gwynn, while he would appear to be behind Chris Duffy, Brad Nelson and Trot Nixon in the race for backup outfield spots, he thinks his history with the organization will get him a spot on the team this spring. Best of luck to him in his future endeavors.

Casey McGehee also continues to make a solid case for making the team. View From Bernie's Chalet is going to be pretty upset if he doesn't make the roster.

Baseball Intellect has posted 6-15 in their rankings of Brewer prospects: Follow the link for scouting reports on Jonathan Lucroy, Lorenzo Cain, Jake Odorizzi, Taylor Green, Cutter Dykstra, Cody Scarpetta, Caleb Gindl, Cole Gillespie and Zach Braddock, and an invitation to follow another link for a scouting report on Efrain Nieves.

Crawfish Boxes finished up their position-by-position look at the NL Central this weekend, ranking Corey Hart fourth among right fielders and Jason Kendall dead last among catchers.

Would their projection have changed if they knew Mike Rivera is going to get more starts in 2009? Ken Macha is planning to pair Rivera with Dave Bush to get Jason Kendall more frequent rest.

Elsewhere among predictions/projections/rankings:

FeinSports.com projects the Brewers for 79 wins and a third place finish.
Baseball Digest Daily doesn't have a prediction in their Brewer 2009 preview, but they do have some cool graphs and charts.
BareKnucks.com thinks the Brewers will win 72 games and finish fourth.
Not Today You Ain't picked the Brewers to finish fourth as well.

Do you like jokes involving Rickie Weeks? If so, you may enjoy his "interview" with Chatterbalks.

In other camps:

Dodgers: Released Shawn Estes.
Giants: Noah Lowry received a cortisone shot and will be unable to throw a baseball until April.
Mets: Released Tom Martin.
Nationals: Signed Josh Bard to a minor league deal.
Padres: Mark Worrell needs Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2009 season. He was acquired from the Cardinals for Khalil Greene.
Rangers: Signed Jimmy Gobble to a minor league deal.
Twins: Joe Mauer still has pain and inflammation in his back and is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day.
White Sox: Signed Gavin Floyd to a four year deal worth $15.5 million.

The Astros spring training has been pretty bad, but for one day the Tigers had it worse: they were no-hit by the Marlins yesterday with Ricky Nolasco and two relievers combining to accomplish the feat.

On Friday I mentioned the new Dodgers policy of putting a contribution to Dodger charities into all contracts. The MLBPA has filed a grievance that will likely end that practice in a hurry.

The Cubs sale is still on hold and will almost certainly not be done by Opening Day. Between the Green Pillars took a look at its implications for the Brewers.

Like one in four Americans, I'm left handed, so as a writer I'm encouraged by the fact that all the Reds beat writers are also lefties.

Think you know your stats? Got seven minutes to prove it? Take this quiz and see how many franchise win leaders you can name. I got 12, which is pretty good in the "taken before 7 am" division.

At the very least, those seven minutes will be a better investment than the $70,000 Torii Hunter invested in furniture rafts.

Baseball Reference is working on a new site design. As someone who uses the site countless times daily, I was concerned, but they've opened up the beta page and it looks pretty good. Here's Jeff Cirillo's page, if you're curious.

Over the weekend, BCB made a roster move of its own. Josh Kalk, aka Dixieflatline, is leaving the site to take a job with an AL team. Josh is a phenomenal talent and will be a tremendous asset to his new employers, but to the internet baseball community he's more than that.

There's a stereotype out there about bloggers and internet-based writers. There are people who label us as glorified loudmouths with too much time on their hands and a "home office" in mom's basement. As a medium, we owe a debt of gratitude to people like Josh, Jeff Sackmann, David Pinto, Tom Tango and a variety of others that have shown that, at times, the best baseball analysis being done today is happening here on the internet, and the work that we're producing here should not be universally ignored by teams and the media.

At any rate, congratulations and thank you to Josh for all he's done and continues to do.

Oh, and Peter Angelos may not be the best savior for horse racing.

Drink up.

Posnanski on Gobble and Hillman

Adam J. Morris — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:57:53 -0000

Joe Posnanski has an article up at SI on Jimmy Gobble, Trey Hillman, and the differences between good and bad managers...

In particular, he talks about how Gobble was successful at the thing he was supposed to do -- get lefties out -- and was terrible at the thing he wasn't supposed to do -- get righties out.

The problem, Posnanski says, is that Hillman didn't utilize him properly, which highlights his bigger point:

In many ways, the Jimmy Gobble story is a perfect little synopsis of good managing and bad. A good manager has an uncanny way of consistently putting his players in positions where they can succeed. There are no perfect players, but more than that, there are very, very few players who do not have serious and easy-to-define weaknesses in their game. Some hit but don't field, some field but don't hit, some cannot catch up to hot fastballs, some cannot lay off the outside slider, some throw too many pitches, some cannot get lefties out, some do not walk, some are not aggressive enough, on and on and on and on forever. Seems to me that the part of managing that matters most -- and maybe this is where Bobby Cox shines -- is setting up game after game after game so that more of your players get to play to their strengths.

Thanks to Dirk Diggler for pointing out this story

Sunday morning things

Adam J. Morris — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:02:49 -0000

The Rangers win, Kevin Millwood goes 6 innings, and the Rangers are on FSSW today at 3:05. Life is good.

However, we have a new twist to what seemed to be a pretty set roster...Evan Grant reports that the Rangers are contemplating keeping Andruw Jones on the roster as the righthanded DH. According to Grant, the Rangers are concerned about the lineup being too left-handed, and that Chris Davis's early struggles will translate into a bad early-season slump. Keeping Jones as the righty DH, then, would let the Rangers have a righty bat in the lineup against lefties, with Jones and Blalock being in a platoon of sort, or Davis sitting against a lot of lefties, with Blalock moving to first base.

That's fine, I guess, if Jones hits...which he hasn't done for the past two years. But I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what the team is doing here. The team has been heavily left-handed since the offseason started, and while there were rumors of some interest in a couple of righty bats, it apparently wasn't deemed enough of a problem to actually get a righty who could hit into the organization.

Jones was brought in, meanwhile, with the idea that he could be a plus defensive centerfielder who would allow Josh Hamilton to move to right field. Instead, his defense in center has been viewed as a problem, he's struggled at the plate, and the perception has been that he's going to be unhappy if he gets limited playing time...and despite that, the team is considering keeping him on as a part-time DH?

If you are really worried about the team being too left-handed, just plug in Marlon Byrd at DH against some lefthanders (since the team seems committed to playing David Murphy everyday, rather than platooning him). Or get someone who can actually hit lefties, rather than Jones, who is coming off a couple of bad offensive seasons and hasn't exactly torn it up this spring.

Last season, a bad start by the team, Ben Broussard's struggles and a fear of being too lefthanded resulted in a bit of a panic move in dropping Jason Botts -- who they were supposedly committed to -- and bringing up Chris Shelton, who did nothing. This season, fear of a bad start and being too lefthanded and worries about Chris Davis's spring struggles suggests they may be going into panic mode again, bringing Jones -- who isn't likely to hit any better than Shelton did last year -- in as an ad hoc solution to try to fix a perceived problem.

What this also suggests, to me, is a lack of faith by at least some folks in the organization in Chris Davis. If you recall, we heard repeatedly after Davis came up last season (and played well) that it was only temporary, that Davis wasn't going to stay up and would get sent back to the minors. And even after Davis stayed up, he was relegated to the bottom third of the lineup -- starting only one game higher in the lineup than 7th -- with the excuse being that Davis hadn't proven himself and earned a spot higher in the lineup, while Joaquin Arias was hitting leadoff.

Maybe I'm reading this wrong...but I get the feeling this may be about making Chris Davis, who someone (Washington, Jaramillo, whomever) isn't quite sold on, a part-time player, at least early in the season. Particularly given that Washington's job is dependent on getting off to a decent start this year...

Moving on...

Richard Durrett offers his thoughts on Jones v. Cat for the last bench spot. T.R. Sullivan weighs in on the end of the bench fight -- saying the "rank and file" in the organization think Jones can turn it around, but that Tom Hicks refuses to release Frank Catalanotto and eat his contract -- along with his thoughts on Joaquin Arias.

Jeff Wilson talks about two new bullpen candidates -- Jason Jennings and Jimmy Gobble. Both seem likely to start the season at AAA, and Jennings seems more likely to end up in the AAA rotation anyway, but they both apparently will be considered for bullpen roles over the next couple of weeks.

Wilson also discusses the importance of starting pitching depth to the Rangers, who have had a hard time keeping the same 5 guys in their rotation the past several years.

Wilson and Sullivan both talk about the possibility of a Josh Hamitlon contract extension, which apparently is moving to the front burner over the next week or two.

Jim Reeves thinks the WBC shouldn't be played in March.

Rangers sign Gobble

Adam J. Morris — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 03:27:52 -0000

The Rangers have signed recently released former Royal lefty reliever Jimmy Gobble to a minor league deal.

Presumably, Gobble will start the season in AAA, and give the Rangers a fallback option, should Eddie Guardado not be able to get the job done in the pen for the Rangers (or should Guardado or C.J. Wilson get hurt).