SB Nation - Chris Britton

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:11:11 -0000

Some things to read while having that dream again.

Coming off an outing yesterday that saw him give up two home runs in an inning and a third, Carlos Villanueva has been called out by management and needs to have a couple of good outings yet this spring to secure his role as Trevor Hoffman's primary set-up man. PocketDoppler thought the timing was a little odd, but isn't reading too much into it.

While the first home run off of Villanueva (hit by Ryan Rohlinger) was inside-the-park, it bounced off a 35 foot high wall 435 feet from home plate, so odds are it would have been a home run in most parks. The second one actually cleared the same fence, which hadn't been done in over a dozen years. Jesus Guzman, who hit the shot, says he'd never hit a ball that far in his life.

Meanwhile, the Brewers made a roster move for the third straight day, claiming reliever Wes Littleton off waivers from the Red Sox and designating Eduardo Morlan for assignment to make room on the roster. (h/t FanShot) The Brewers have until Thursday to work out a deal to keep Morlan or offer him back to Tampa for $25,000, and while the Rays are taking their time to think it over, I can't imagine them deciding to let the Brewers keep a young, talented prospect without getting anything in return.

By the end of spring, the Brewers' trainers will be experts in treating torso injuries: Trevor Hoffman is the latest Brewer to miss time with an oblique strain. (Also noted in FanShot) It's not expected to be serious, and team officials aren't concerned about it affecting Hoffman's preparations for the season. The injury did, however, give Hoffman more time to talk to Scott Miller of CBS Sports about his new home and taking one bite out of entire plates of donuts.

Yes, if you're scoring at home, we've now established that Trevor Hoffman eats two things: donuts and worms.

The outbreak of ribcage injuries in Brewer camp has led Big League Stew to wonder if the McRib should compete in the 2009 Sausage Race.

Finally, Angel Salome is now sidelined indefinitely with back spasms after being removed from Saturday's game. One would have to assume the Brewers will take it slow with his rehab this time, seeing as it's the second occurence.

Visual evidence from yesterday's game:

This photo of Ken Macha must have been taken early in the game, because I doubt he was laughing afterwards.
Another day, another awkward celebration photo: this time it's Alcides Escobar and Trot Nixon.
Nixon was, however, just a few inches away from a great leaping catch in right field.

Trot Nixon has come around a bit in the last week or so of camp, but it might be too little too late to replace Brad Nelson on the roster. Nelson's bat has cooled a bit this week, but he and Chris Duffy are still the most likely candidates to open the season in the two vacant backup outfielder spots.

In the only season preview I have today, Full Count Pitch thinks the Brewers' pitching deficiencies are likely too large to overcome, but projects them to win 80-85 games and finish just out of the playoffs.

Despite that, though, the Brewers are one of the finalists for Sports Business Journal's Professional Sports Team of the Year. The winner will be announced on May 28.

Meanwhile, in other camps:

Astros: Aaron Boone is leaving the team to have heart surgery and may be forced to retire.
A's: Released Rob Bowen.
Padres: Reliever Chris Britton has been informed he won't make the team, and may report to minor league camp or become a free agent.
Phillies: Tests showed no structural damage in Cole Hamels' elbow, but he's still a long shot to be ready for Opening Day.
Rangers: Andruw Jones is unlikely to make the team coming out of spring training and could opt out of his deal as soon as Friday.
Royals: Signed Sidney Ponson to a minor league deal.

Ryan Braun didn't play in the WBC last night, but he will remain with the team following Team USA's walkoff victory, advancing to the semifinals. I'm torn on this: obviously I like seeing Team USA succeed, but I also would have liked to have Braun back in Arizona with the rest of the team.

Corey Koskie made his spring debut for the Cubs yeterday and doubled in his first at bat. It's good to see him complete his recovery.

Teams are always searching far and wide to find the next generation of players, but where will major league baseball find the next generation of umpires? The Padres have an idea, and they're sponsoring a camp for Marines interested in learning the job. I hadn't thought about it before, but the quote in the link is dead-on: Marines are uniquely qualified.

Oh, and former Brewers Rick Helling and Mike Myers are working for the Players Association now.

Drink up.

Merry Christmas the Padres sign three pitchers

jbox — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 03:08:48 -0000

I just wanted to log in real quick and wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope Scanlan's foot gets better, I saw him limping around tonight. The Padres just peeked in their stockings and found a bullpen, which is nice.

The Padres signed three pitchers:

The Padres signed right-handed pitchers Kevin Correia, Chris Britton and Oneli Perez to Minor League deals along with catcher Eliezer Alonzo. San Diego also agreed to a one-year deal with infielder Luis Rodriguez.

Former Giants pitcher Correia signs deal with his hometown team

“Some other clubs offered more money,” said his agent, Barry Axelrod. “For the teams that are more cost conscious, they thought he might be a bargain. He wants to be a starter. It looks like a wide-open competition would be available (with the Padres).”

Tom Krasovic sketches out what he thinks the starting rotation will look like next year. Here are the candidates:

Jake Peavy
Chris Young
Cha Seung Baek
Josh Geer
Wade LeBlanc
Chad Reinike

Remember this is the season where we can hope this sort of thing is true:

Thus the last will be first, and the first, last

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Bullpen Bargains: Chris Britton

Tommy Rancel — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:29:40 -0000

Taking a quick break from LOOGY's, we have Chris Britton. Britton was drafted in 2001 by the Baltimore Orioles and later traded to the Yankees after the 2006 season for Jaret Wright. In his only season in Baltimore, and really his only big league season, Britton showed a lot of promise especially as a ROOGY(seriously, we need better nicknames for specialists). Overall, he appeared in 52 games and had an impressive 3.54 FIP and tRA* of 4.35. His K/BB rate of 2.41 was solid and his HR/9 of 0.67 was pretty good for a middle reliever. However, during his time as a Yankee he was seldom used at the big league level despite his strong minor league numbers. In 2007, he pitched only 12 innings for the Yankees despite posting a tRA* of 3.67 in Triple-A. Also, his FIP of 2.59 was impressive for the 57.1 innings he pitched.

Last season was more of the same for Britton. He pitched well in the minors(3.02 FIP, 4.04 tRA*), but didn't get much of a chance at the Major League level with only 23 innings of below average work. He did miss 28 games during the summer with a rib cage injury.

One thing I've noticed on Britton is a dip in velocity from '06-08. As a member of the Orioles he was on the high side of 90 mph with a fastball that lived closer to 91. But that fast ball dropped to 88 in 2007 and was barely touching 87 last year (87.3). The good news is he does have a full arsenal of pitches that includes a slider, curveball and a changeup, that all sit in the 77-78 mph range

At 26(today is his birthday) he's still young, but he's losing velocity and has weight concerns. Most places list him as 6'3, 275 lbs. Maybe better conditioning could help him regain something on his fastball. Even with that, when he has been given an extended shot he's proven to be valuable, especially in the right situations. Again, I'll use the term ROOGY for Britton. In 75 MLB appearances against right handed batters he has an excellent .628 OPS against. However, when facing lefties that jumps to .856. Another knock on him for me is he is definitely a fly-ball pitcher with a career FB% of just over 50.

Like all the potential bargains, he isn't perfect, but he is inexpensive. The Rays could sign him for probably 1/5 of the cost of Dan Wheeler and get similar if not better production. Marcels projects him as a 4.31 FIP in 09 and Bill James's projection really like Britton with a projected FIP of 3.86. Either one would be a steal for a NRI.

A face only a mother could love:

via mlb.mlb.com