SB Nation - Connor Robertson

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:18:15 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

5 months ago: Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Dave Bush waits for Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera to round the bases after giving up a two-run home run in the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 20, 2009 in Detroit. The Tigers beat the Brewers 9-5. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

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Some things to read while wearing unnecessarily dangerous hats and vests.

Well, I'm married, honeymooned and moved, and I think I'm finally ready to be back. Thanks to Jordan for filling in on the Mug in my absence, and to all the site's contributors and mods who posted in my absence. It doesn't look like the site missed a beat while I was gone, which is great to see.

Unfortunately, the Brewers are 4-9 since I left on my honeymoon, and 0-3 since I've moved into my new house. I've started putting things back in boxes.

As I'm sure you know, the Brewers' starting pitchers haven't been very good lately. FanGraphs notes that Brewer pitchers posted a 6.08 FIP last week, and five different pitchers posted ERAs over 10. Meanwhile, Dave Bush will likely be pushed back a few days, or could skip a start entirely to recover from arm fatigue.

Who will take Dave Bush's spot in the rotation? Tyler Mass handicaps the favorites over at Right Field Bleachers. Seth McClung appears to be the early favorite. I doubt consideration will be given to Manny Parra (who has only made one start in AAA) or Carlos Villanueva (don't mess with a good thing in the bullpen), but Mike Burns is already lined up to start Thursday, so he could also be an option.

At least Yovani Gallardo looked pretty good on Sunday. He also ranks eleventh in Baseball Analysts' list of pitchers ranked by strikeouts per 100 pitches. Jeff Suppan ranks 90th out of 98 pitchers listed.

The Brewers close out interleague play with a three game series against the Twins starting tonight, but don't expect it to be the end of the line for Mat Gamel. Anthony Witrado says Gamel is getting comfortable in the big leagues and the team appears committed to keeping him around.

Prince Fielder, meanwhile, simply continues to produce. Adam McCalvy has a look at Fielder's consistency, and notices that Fielder has not gone more than three games without an RBI this season.

It seems increasingly likely that the Brewers will make a move to strengthen their playoff chances, but how much money can they spend? Jon Heyman lists them among ten teams that could add payroll, but I'm not sure they could add much, as they were already claiming they were out of money before giving $5 million to Braden Looper months ago.

I still think it's too early to start discussing the Wild Card, but MLB FanHouse notices that the Brewers are tied with the Giants for the lead in the race for the final playoff spot, and five teams are within 2.5 games of it.

Meanwhile, in power rankings:

WhatifSports dropped the Brewers six spots to fourteenth.
Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star dropped the Brewers from seventh to twelfth.

Around the league:

Angels: Placed Ervin Santana on the DL with triceps inflammation.
Mets: Placed Carlos Beltran on the DL with a bone bruise on his right knee, designated infielder Wilson Valdez and minor league pitcher Connor Robertson for assignment and released Javier Valentin, Wily Mo Pena and Bobby Kielty from minor league deals.
Phillies: Will place Clay Condrey on the DL with an oblique strain.
Pirates: Designated Craig Monroe for assignment after he showed a lack of hustle.
Rays: Akinori Iwamura's knee injury was not as bad as previously thought, and he could be back in 6-8 weeks following an arthroscopic procedure.
Yankees: CC Sabathia is expected to make his next start after being pulled in the second inning of his last start with arm soreness.

This is how you know your infield situation is pretty bad: Lookout Landing crunched the numbers and discovered that the Mariners may actually be better off starting veteran journeyman Chris Woodward at shortstop. Woodward spent 2008 in Nashville.

Where would the Mariners be without Russell Branyan? The USA Today has a profile of Branyan and his breakout season, and Larry Stone of the Seattle Times notes that Branyan is on past to collect the least RBI ever accumulated by a 40 home run hitter.

On top of making all the roster moves listed above, the Mets had another reason to panic yesterday, as Jose Reyes and a team trainer were rear ended by a fire truck on their way to an appointment with Reyes' doctor. Everyone is ok, thankfully.

Oh, and today is a Woot-off day.

Drink up.

Grading The 2009 Offseason

Sam Page — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:00:11 -0000

If you haven't seen a report card for the Mets' offseason yet, expect a few hundred in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, many writers determine these grades subjectively, much like "power rankings." The number of times the phrase "biggest need" or the number 62 will appear in said pieces figures to be astronomical, so that's the the last time you'll see either in this article. Instead, I've tried to inject some objectivity into the process. Next to each name will be a his projected WAR (what's this?) with the Mets, giving us an idea how many wins were gained or lost. The transactions are grouped for some context.

The Francisco Rodriguez Signing: B+

IN: RHP Francisco Rodriguez (2.7)

Minaya's first move turned out to be a pretty good one. The market for relief pitchers had completely collapsed by the time Rodriguez signed and the Mets got something of a bargain. Although some people would never advocate paying a closer double digits, that 2.7 projected WAR equates to roughly a 13 million dollar market value. Just beware when his 17.5 million dollar option for 2012 vests. Yikes.

The J.J. Putz Trade: B-

IN: RHP J.J. Putz (1.9), OF Jeremy Reed (-0.1), RHP Sean Green (0.5)

OUT: RHP Joe Smith (0.3), RHP Aaron Heilman (0.1), OF Endy Chavez (0.9), Jason Vargas (0.0)*, Mike Carp (0.0)*, Mikael Cleto (0.0)*, Ezequiel Carrera (0.0)*

NET WAR: 1.0

After the last two season, I won't trivialize the importance of one win, but that's a hell of a way to get one. The real kicker in this deal is Endy Chavez who actually did project be one win better as a Met than Jeremy Reed does. If the Mets had held onto Endy, this deal probably would have been the big win many think it is. As it stands, however, it's another great addition to the bullpen and lesson learned about the value of defense.

The Oliver Perez Signing: D

IN: Oliver Perez (1.3)

The money and the context make this one so bad. To be worth his 12MM per, Oliver must be a 2.5 win player each season, which, while possible, is unlikely. This grade also accounts somewhat for the move not made. The Mets signing Derek Lowe (3.6) seemed like a virtual certainty, shortly before he signed with the Braves for 4/60. The Derek Lowe v. Perez debate is tired now, and we've talked ad naseam about why Perez is overrated. Simply put: you don't lose out on 2.3 wins for 3 million dollars. Hopefully, Oliver proves us wrong.

The Schoeneweis Trade: B

IN: Connor Robertson (0.0)

OUT: Scott Schoeneweis (-0.4)

NET WAR: 0.5

That's no math error, that's the beauty of this trade. Since someone who isn't Connor Robertson will likely take Show's spot in the bullpen, the Mets can be assumed to gain at least half a win from this trade. There's no downside to a move like this, but it can only be a "B", because it was so painfully obvious.

The Redding and Garcia Signings: B+

IN: Tim Redding (0.9), Freddy Garcia (0.7)

OUT: Pedro Martinez (0.2)

NET WAR: 1.4

Those WAR projections assume Redding does long-relief and starting work, while Garcia does about 100 innings of starting before his arm falls off. That's the best part of these signings too, the depth. This year the Mets, stacked 3 deep at 5th starter, should be able to avoid the Brian Lawrences of the world. Both Garcia and Redding are signed reasonably and both have some upside.

The Alex Cora Signing: C-

IN: Alex Cora (0.2)

OUT: Damion Easley (0.2)

Swapping Easley for Cora is just swapping two over-the-hill backups with opposite skill sets. The Mets could have just kept Argenis Reyes on the bench for minimum wage and gotten the same results. Not a big deal.

The Rob Mackowiak and Cory Sullivan Signings: F

What a waste of money. These two are a combined -30 UZR in center and neither can hit. I don't even want to calculate their projected WAR, because if either makes the team the grade becomes a double-F-triple-minus.

Overal Grade: B

Total WAR gained: 5.8

This offseason gets the job done. For the third season in a row, the Mets are the best team in the NL East on paper. Depth in Left is always concern, but maybe this year F-Mart finally grows up. Ultimately, it was an offseason of necessary moves and missed opportunities.

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:28:33 -0000

Some things to read while avoiding having "the talk" with your kids.

As noted in the FanShots, the Brewers and Yankees continue negotiations on the Cameron/Cabrera deal, but it now seems relatively certain the deal will include Kei Igawa, with the question being how much of his remaining $12 million contract will be eaten by the Yankees. True Blue LA has an unattributed quote that makes it sound like tensions have run relatively high in the negotiations. A quote from Tom H.'s blog still makes it sound like the Brewers are getting bullied here:

Because the Yankees refused to put one of their top pitching prospects in the deal, the Brewers might settle for disappointing left-hander Kei Igawa, who spent most of the 2008 season at Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

There's likely not any truth to the rumor that Doug Melvin has refused to make the trade until Brian Cashman agrees to send over all of his disappointing players.

Meanwhile, the seeming inevitability that Melky Cabrera will be a Brewer has upset Claire, and that rarely ends well.

Even without mentioning the Cabrera/Cameron deal, Jon Heyman ranked the Brewers among the losers at last week's winter meetings.

Apparently there's also a rumor circling the web that the Brewers have offered a package including Alcides Escobar to the Padres for Jake Peavy. It seems unlikely, but it is interesting.

The Brew Town Beat has a plan for the Brewers offseason that involves signing Bobby Abreu, Brad Penny and Juan Cruz to three year deals and starting Seth McClung's 2009 season in AAA. Speaking of Abreu, FanGraphs has a closer look at what the future may hold for him.

Signing Abreu would likely require the Brewers to either trade Corey Hart or move him to center. The Hardball Times thinks Hart is poised to have a nice rebound season in 2009.

Among the players non-tendered on Friday was former Astros 2B/3B Ty Wigginton. I've seen a few comments suggesting the Brewers should be interested, but it looks like the Twins, Giants, Pirates, Indians and Reds are already involved. Elsewhere on the hot stove:

Angels: Have reportedly offered Mark Teixiera $160 million for seven years. The Nationals previously offered $160 million for eight.
Braves: May be interested in Japanese right-hander Kenshin Kawakami.
Cubs: Re-signed Chad Gaudin and Neal Cotts.
D-Backs: Acquired Scott Schoeneweis from the Mets for P Connor Robertson.
Dodgers: Non-tendered Takashi Saito, Scott Proctor, Yhency Brazoban and Angel Berroa.
Mets: May be looking at Randy Wolf as an option for their rotation.
Nationals: Re-signed Willie Harris for two years, $3 million.
Orioles: Will reportedly bring Chad Moeller into spring training to compete for their Opening Day catcher's job.
Pirates: Are reportedly among half a dozen or more teams interested in Derrick Turnbow, who will throw for teams in January in the hopes of getting a major league deal.
Reds: In addition to Wigginton, they're rumored to be interested in Willy Taveras and Aaron Miles. They also signed Laynce Nix.
White Sox Signed Cuban infielder Dayan Viciedo to a four year, $10 million deal.

Here's a relatively complete list of players non-tendered on Friday. Leave a comment if you have a more complete one and I'll swap the link.

While there's a lot of money being thrown around this offseason, 2009 will be another season of peanut butter and jelly for minor leaguers, as MLB has rejected a proposal that would have raised their daily road meal allowance from $20 to $25 per day. It's estimated the league will save $750,000 by rejecting the measure...which is roughly what A.J. Burnett will make per day on the DL.

As Jack Zduriencik continues to overhaul the Mariners, he's about to get a bunch of help: As things stand right now, the Mariners would have three first round picks along with two more in the top 60. They're also apparently taking their advance scouts off the road and bringing the entire operation in-house, to be done via video.

I've heard a lot of big leaguers like to spend their winter someplace warm and put their feet up for a bit. Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima went someplace warm...and ran the Honolulu Marathon. The Red Sox don't sound too thrilled about it.

Oh, and WeAreFanatics.com wants to see you in your Brewers gear.

Drink up.

Schoeneweis to AZ, and the roster gets trimmed

Jim McLennan — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:04:31 -0000

Schoeneweis, Schoeneweis
Take your water and sun-block.
A Met no more, there's the door;
Welcome to Arizona.

Bullpen arm, may you pitch and throw,
Decently, not like some we know
Schoeneweis, Schoeneweis
You'll only get to face lefties...

The Diamondbacks got the left-handed bullpen arm they wanted, trading from our Con(n)or stockpile. We sent Connor Robertson to the Mets in exchange for Scott Schoeneweis, and also got $1.6 m in cash from the Mets to go towards the reliever's $3.6m salary for the upcoming season. Note the emphasis on the words in the next sentence. If properly used, Schoeneweis should be very effective. To be specific, he should never get to face a right-handed batter unless it's an emergency - and by that, all other relievers must be unavailable, due to a tragic mass accident at a band-saw factory. Here are Schoeneweis's career splits versus left-handed and right-handed batters:

	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
vs. LHB	.224	.299	.295	.594
vs. RHB	.294	.367	.469	.835

I don't think any further explanation is really necessary, but it's clear that his reaction to right-handers is similar to Mrs. SnakePit's response to cats [albeit, presumably without all the puffiness and wheezing]. Somehow, the Mets do not seem to have understood this, and in his time there, he faced more RHB than LHB, which likely helps account for his 2-8 record in the past couple of seasons. In 2008, he faced 130 righties, and they hit .333 off Schoeneweis; the 113 lefties batted only .178. Should we ever see him on the mound with a right-hander at the plate, I expect 'Skins to have an appropriate diagram ready.

Schoeneweis has an interesting background, and it's frankly a miracle he's in the majors at all. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of nineteen, but beat that [he can trade stories with DD!], only to blow out his elbow and need Tommy John surgery while still at college. He was mentioned in the Mitchell Report as receiving steroids, but his excuse was that this was tied to his post-cancer regimen - certainly a more credible explanation that most have managed. He was the losing pitcher in the last ever game at Shea, giving up a home-run in the eighth to Wes Helms [who is right-handed, naturally...]. He's also second on the all-time list for games thrown by a Jewish pitcher. I dunno if it matters to him, but Yom Kippur 2009 is September 28th. It's an off-day. :-)

Robertson came to Arizona along with Dan Haren, and appeared in six games for the Diamondbacks, with an ERA of 5.14. He spent most of the season down in Tucson, where he had a 5.02 ERA in 47 relief appearances. Now aged 27, it doesn't seem like he'll be much of a loss to the Diamondbacks, and the majority of Mets fans don't exactly seem exuberant at their new acquisition. Indeed, it's barely noticed in the man-love (understandably) being shown for F-Rod and JJ Putz; I suspect this move was as much a salary dump for New York as anything.

In other news, the team announced they won't offer contracts to four players who appeared with the team in 2008: Chris Burke, Robby Hammock, Wil Ledezma and Jeff Salazar. The loss of Burke will be mourned by no-one. I still expect to see Hammock on the major-league roster at some point this year, simply because we always do. I think he mugs a journalist, steals his pass to sneak into the locker-room, and everyone is so used to seeing him there, they don't notice when he puts his cleats on. Wil Ledezma likely merits an honorable mention in the Least Significant All-Time Diamondbacks for the four career innings he provided the team. Jeff Salazar's departure signals the team intends to use Conor Jackson as the main left-fielder, with Eric Byrnes getting a roving commission as backup at all three outfield spots.

All these moves are a significant step forward to solidifying the roster. Here's what I have at the time of writing.

Starters	Bench	Rotation	Bullpen
2B. Lopez CF. Young SS. Drew LF. Jackson RF. Upton 1B. Tracy 3B. Reynolds C. Snyder	C. Montero C. Skelton IF. Ojeda OF. Byrnes 1B. Clark	1. Webb 2. Haren 3. Davis 4. Scherzer 5. Petit	CL. Qualls SU. Pena 7th. Rauch LH. Schoeneweis LR. Gutierrez UT. Peguero UT. Rosales

The apparent uncertainties are in italics. It's only the back of the bullpen that really needs to be attended to, and the three names I've penciled in there are just the first ones that come to mind. There are a number of other players which could end up appearing instead: Coutlangus, Buckner, Medders...hey, what's Edgar Gonzalez doing these days? ;-) If you have any thoughts on that topic, feel free to chip in. The Tribune report a deal for Clark, around the $750K mark, appears to be being negotiated. It seems odd to have a left-hander to back up...a left-hander at first-base, but Bob Melvin's love for Tony knows no bounds. Just, please, don't use him as a pinch-runner for Upton again?

Nick Piecoro has extended quotes from Lopez on his blog, adding, "People familiar with Lopez say the key with him is to keep him motivated every day. He apparently had irked teammates in Washington by not always hustling. When he got to St. Louis, he said he just wanted to play for a contending team -- something he didn’t have in Washington -- and it was pretty clear that his motivation level changed pretty drastically, as did his production." Lopez himself added, "It was just not a good fit. They're still trying to figure things out and I was just not the right fit for that time." I think if Arizona stay in contention, he'll be fine; and if we're not, it's only a one-year deal, so it won't matter. Of course, either way, we could still be looking for another second-baseman in December 2009.

Nick is also the source for the potential batting lineup given above, which makes some sense. Lopez is a switch-hitter, while Drew and Tracy are lefties, so it does a nice job of breaking up the order. I'm not sure about Jackson in the clean-up spot. I think I'd perhaps prefer him higher up, with Upton batting at #4, and I don't like Young, with his low OBP, second. My personal choice would be:

Lopez (S)
Jackson
Drew (L)
Upton
Reynolds
Young
Tracy (L)
Snyder
Pitcher

CoJack isn't your typical top of the order guy, but he gets on base very well, and he showed decent wheels last season. The 6-8 spots are certainly open to discussion, but dropping Tracy to seven gives us a left-handed bat to break up the bottom of the order. Young's OBP probably doesn't even merit the six spot, but his power does. Looking at that starting line-up, it's not inconceivable all eight regular starters could reach double-figures in home-runs [Lopez being the least likely]. That's something few teams in National League history have managed: three in 2007 (the Brewers, Braves and Reds), but outside that, barely a handful (the 1952 Giants, 1965 Reds, 1995 Expos, 1999 Reds, 2000 Giants, 2003 Braves).