SB Nation - Jacque Jones

The Sunday Funnies: Merry Solstice, Or The Ghosts Of Cubs Past

Al — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:00:19 -0000

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My Favorite Part Of Any Article

Jeff — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:27:05 -0000

The agent.

On Gary Matthews Jr.:

"They know where we stand," Matthews' agent, Scott Leventhal, told FOXSports.com. "Gary wants to play every day, and he wants to play center field."

"He's still got an amazing amount of talent," Leventhal said.

On Jacque Jones:

"I think any team will be impressed to sit across from Jacque Jones and reach out and shake his hand," Lapa said. "He looks as if he took his uniform off two weeks ago -- probably the best that I've seen him look. He has a lot of baseball left in his body, and he's looking for a team, hoping to make them look like geniuses."

On Rich Harden:

Tellem added that Harden, who has a history of shoulder problems, is healthy. "He’s fine," the agent said. "If the team had been in the race, he would have been pitching (at the end of the season). No health issues at all."

If a sportswriter is going to quote a player's agent in a story, then in the interest of being fair, he should also have to quote a guy whose wife the player hit on.

Morning Prowl: Sizemore's Recovery, Polanco's Departure, Best Play-By-Play Guys, and Jacque Jones Wants Work

Ian Casselberry — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:40:51 -0000

More photos » by Joseph Kaczmarek - AP

Placido Polanco looks like 18 million bucks in his new uniform.

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Second baseman to-be Scott Sizemore appears to be on the good road to recovery, according to the Freep's George Sipple. Doctors examined his broken leg (broken ankle?) yesterday, and project Sizemore to be out of his walking cast in approximately three weeks.

SB Nation's Phillies blog, The Good Phight, wonders if the defending National League champions overpaid for Placido Polanco. Is $18 million too much "for the decline stage of a player with very little power or speed, being asked to shift positions"?

Jason Beck, meanwhile, explains the Tigers' thought process in not offering Polanco arbitration. The feeling was that Polanco would've accepted Detroit's offer, and that likely would've led to the Tigers paying more than the $6 million the Phillies will give hiim next season.

At the press conference to announce his signing with the Phillies yesterday, Polanco said he "always wanted to be" in Philadelphia and "never wanted to leave."

At Tiger Tales, Lee Panas writes about the decision to let Polanco go as a free agent. I love this sentence: "Fans will also miss his grimace, his large head and his cold weather clothing." Indeed.

ESPN's Buster Olney mentioned on his Twitter feed that the Phillies might be after another Detroit Tigers free agent. The Fightins need a late-inning reliever, and Brandon Lyon is apparently on their radar.

Curtis Granderson's 2007 season, which included 23 home runs and 23 triples (as part of something we liked to call the "Quad 20"), is one of ten noteworthy statistics from the 2000s listed by Big League Stew.

At Fanhouse, Matt Snyder ranks his top 10 play-by-play announcers. Check out who made the list at #10. (And I think everyone will agree with Snyder's first two picks for his bottom five broadcasters.)

Cross one potential suitor for Adam Everett off the list, now that Marco Scutaro has officially signed with the Red Sox. (It would've been interesting to see Dustin Pedroia take a crack at shortstop, if that's the way the Sawx were leaning. Not with Polanco as his double-play partner, of course.)

Jacque Jones apparently doesn't want his failed stints with the Tigers (.165 average) and Marlins (.108) in 2008 to be the last note on his career. After playing with the independent Newark Bears this year, Jones will be cruising next week's Winter Meetings looking for work.

Saying Goodbye to the Metrodome: Top 5 Memories

Jesse — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:00:23 -0000

What are yours?

Barring a minor miracle, tomorrow night the Minnesota Twins will open their final series in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. 28 baseball seasons ago, on April 6 1982, the first baseball game was held as the Twins played host to the Seattle Mariners. In just a few hours the Kansas City Royals will be baseball's last visitors under teflon skies.

There are a lot of easy memories when you think back. Of course there's the unbelieveable run by the 1987 Twins, when they returned to Minneapolis down three games to two but still took down the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games; Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky and Frank Viola became household names over night while a 36-year old Bert Blyleven threw a now unthinkable 267 innings. Even more of you might choose the 1991 incarnation of the Twins, starring some of the same characters while also including franchise names like Rick Aguilera, Chili Davis, Brian Harper, Kevin Tapani, Shane Mack, Scott Erickson and Jack Morris; Puckett's homer in game six and ten innings of shutout baseball by Morris in game seven. Or maybe you were there for the alpha, for a 102-loss team with 22-year olds Herbie and Viola? How about the completion of one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the organization, when the team won the AL Central title after the final out of their season was recorded in 2006?

I'm too young for some of these, at least to remember them properly. My top five metrodome memories will all be from games where I was actually there; when I was actually sitting in those horribly placed seats, under a dirty yellow sky. Check out my top five after the jump, and then feel free to share your own.

Five

This one isn't even baseball. In high school I was lucky enough to be part of a team that made the state playoffs for football. Two consecutive seasons I got to play at least one game on the turf of the Dome, the same turf as Puck and Hrbek and Radke, the same turf as Anthony Carter and John Randle and Randall McDaniel, as a member of the Breckenridge Cowboys in November of '95 and '96.

Four

On June 22, 1992, my family made a trip to the Cities for a vacation away from Greater Minnesota, and I saw my first Twins game. The Angels were in town. We arrived early enough to watch the guys warm up in the outfield, and I can still remember how in awe of them I was. They were just a few feet from me, in the flesh--real, live people, not on television. Kent Hrbek wasn't in the lineup that day, but I still got to see Knobby and Kirby. Knoblauch singled in the first, stole second base and eventually would score on a Chili Davis single. In the seventh Brian Harper walked, Pedro Munoz doubled moving him to third, and two batters later Harper scored on a Greg Gagne sac fly to make it 2-0. That was the final score, the Twins winning my first ever game on the back of those two runs and 8.1 innings of scoreless ball thrown by John Smiley. Aggy got the save, of course.

Three

I went to a Twins - Blue Jays tilt with my friend Mike on June 22, 2007. There were four drunk Jays fans in front of us, and honestly I don't even remember what the score was, although I do know the Twins won. Why? Because all I can remember is this:

Why did I take this picture, you ask? Why wouldn't I take this picture. Nasty.

Two

I got goosebumps when I saw Johan Santana pick up his 1000th strikeout on June 13, 2006, as I went to a game to see myself in Dugout Splinters for the very first time and to catch a game with some friends a couple days before my birthday. But while Johan more than did his job, striking out 13 over eight innings while allowing just five hits, he couldn't hold the Boston Red Sox scoreless. Jason Varitek's line drive home run to center field put Boston up 1-0, and the Twins would only manage to tie the game on a Michael Cuddyer homer in the bottom half of the inning. Santana left the game tied, and it wasn't solved until Jason Kubel decided to make Julian Tavarez pay for intentionally walking Torii Hunter to get to him. With the bases loaded and the count full, Kubel took Tavarez deep for a walk-off grand slam home run. It. Was. Amazing.

One

On April 5, 2004, Opening Day, I watched as the Twins slowly sunk to a four-run deficit through six innings at the hands of the Cleveland Indians. Brad Radke struggled early, giving up a second inning homer to Travis Hafner and a third inning homer to Jody Gerut, before settling down for the next couple innings. He gave up another solo shot to Hafner in the top of the sixth, and there wasn't any life in the Twins' offense, which had managed just one hit (a single by Shannon Stewart to lead off the bottom of the first) off CC Sabathia over seven innings. But then came the bottom of the eighth.

Joe Mauer walked to lead things off, and Christian Guzman followed that up with a single before the top of the order cylced around and Stewart moved both runners up on a ground out. Cuddyer followed with a hard liner to center, scoring both runs, and was moved to third base on a Doug Mientkiewicz single. Corey Koskie was sitting dead red on a 2-2 pitch and drove it into the left-center gap for a ground-rule double, scoring Cuddyer to maker it 4-3, before Hunter singled to tie the game and finish the scoring for the inning. Jacque Jones and Matt LeCroy struck out to end the rally.

Then all went silent once more.

via www.minorleagueballparks.com

J.C. Romero, Joe Nathan and Juan Rincon combined for three scoreless innings. Aaron Fultz and Joe Roa had already combined for two of their own, but those three bridge us to the bottom of the 11th. Jones struck out again, for the fourth time in four at-bats. LeCroy managed to squeeze out a walk, and was replaced on the bases by Nick Punto. Mauer pulled a hard shot into right field, allowing Punto to take third on the one out single. Guzman struck out for the second out of the inning. Alertly, Mauer took second base on defensive indifference with Stewart now at the dish, giving the Indians the option of intentionally walking Stewart to face Cuddyer. Chad Durbin and the Indians decided to go after him, and Shannon repaid them by smashing a line drive home run into the left field seats, about four rows in front of where I was sitting. The crowd went absolutely berserk, and I'm pretty sure Mike and I were already nomiating Stewart for MVP on the back of his strong showing with the Twins in 2003.

This, of course, was also Joe Mauer's very first game with the Minnesota Twins. I studied him closely before the game started, warming up with Brad Radke in the bullpen. There appeared nothing unusual, he wasn't wearing bling and he wasn't acting up and he didn't strut. He just squatted down, held out his glove and let Brad warm up. From moment one Joe was all business, even when his name was announced (hitting eighth, by the way) and the crowd rained down applause like they already knew he was Baby Joe Jesus. That in itself almost qualifies as another memory, seperate from the game, that I will always remember.

What about you?

Pirates Sweep Split-Squad Games From Cubs, 4-0 And 8-2

Al — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:00:56 -0000

More photos » by Paul Beaty - AP

When Micah Hoffpauir and Sam Fuld couldn't come up with this fly ball, we should have known Game 2 wasn't going to turn out well.

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The lineup for game one yesterday read like the list of players the Cubs send to Tucson every spring to play the Rockies. You know, because the regulars don't want to ride the bus for two hours.

They played like they had ridden that bus, too, getting shut out 4-0 by the Pirates and Charlie Morton, a guy they had scored ten runs off of on August 14 before he could even register more than three outs. On a sunny but chilly afternoon when the announced attendance was 34,362, no more than about 13,000 entered Wrigley Field. For the first time that any of us could remember, the Cubs actually closed off the center-field bleachers with yellow caution tape, reminiscent of the days in the 1960's and 1970's when the Cubs wouldn't open the upper deck on weekdays when they expected small crowds. This practice ended after 1981 when the Cubs stopped selling general admission tickets in the main part of the ballpark. (See below the fold for a photo.) The announced attendance, based on the number of tickets sold, put Cubs attendance past 3 million (3,056,781 with four dates remaining) for the sixth straight year. The Cubs will need to put together a good offseason to do that again in 2010.

Ted Lilly didn't throw badly in the first game -- that is, after the first inning, when all four Pirates runs crossed the plate. Some questionable defense didn't help -- Bobby Scales, who again I remind Lou is not an outfielder, pulled up short on Lastings Milledge's looping line drive, allowing it to bounce in front of him. Then he nearly got Garrett Jones having taken too long a turn past second base; if this play had worked, Steve Pearce's ground ball on the next at-bat would have ended the inning with only one run scoring. Instead, Jason Jaramillo followed with a double to the LF corner, on which Jake Fox made a Jacque Jones-like throw to the infield, allowing Jaramillo to take third. Didn't really matter, as .225-hitting Brian Bixler drove him in.

And that was it -- the Triple-A lineup the Cubs sent up in game one managed only four singles, three walks and a hit batsman off Morton and got only three runners past first base; the last of those, Scales, took second on defensive indifference with two out in the ninth.

The weather for the night game (announced attendance 33,299; actual count in the park about 17,000) was colder than Tuesday night's and so were the Cubs' bats. The presence of Derrek Lee, who had two hits and a walk, made it a little less split-squaddy, but D-Lee appeared to still be bothered by his left foot, the one he fouled a ball off of on Tuesday night. It appeared that Lee's first-inning single might have gone far enough for him to reach second base, but he pulled up fairly slowly going into first, not wanting to risk any further injury on a chilly evening. We are told that Aramis Ramirez is going to play "sparingly" the rest of the year, which I'd read as "he won't play at all unless the weather warms up", which it probably won't. A-Ram gutted out half a season -- 80 games -- worth of very good performance considering the serious injury he suffered, and now he needs to rest up and be 100% for 2010. It appears he won't need surgery, which is good news.

Carlos Zambrano made it through six innings in his final 2009 start and didn't pitch too badly, but didn't have his best command. He walked four and two of them scored in a third inning where he couldn't manage to get that third out. One run had already scored when Z struck out Milledge, but Brandon Moss followed with a two-run single, and that, as the saying goes, was that. The Cubs managed their second and final run of the night in the bottom of that inning when Z smacked a double to deep center field, advanced on a groundout by Sam Fuld and scored on a nicely executed sacrifice by Ryan Theriot, perhaps the best thing the Cubs did all day. Z also hit another deep fly ball to CF in the fourth that was caught by Andrew McCutchen. No other Cub hit anything as well as Z did in his two at-bats.

Last night I met BCB reader katie casey and her husband and son -- nice to meet you; wish you (and the rest of us) had been able to see even one win yesterday. The Cubs now need to win all four remaining games on this final 2009 homestand to have a winning decade (this particular decade defined as "the ten years comprising 2000-2009"). That's a worthy goal, and also an 86-76 record would be one game better than Lou's first season as manager in 2007.

Weather permitting -- and this forecast doesn't look too encouraging -- the Cubs and Pirates will finish off their season series tonight. The Cubs clinched second place in the NL Central last night when the Brewers lost to the Rockies; that's nice, but not the goal we were all seeking this season.

The CF bleachers were closed for game 1 on Wednesday. BCB photo by David Sameshima (click on photo to open a larger version in a new browser window

Tennessee Smokies Wrap -- Game 1 Sept. 15

Josh77 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:29:49 -0000

It was a topsy-turvey game with a controversial finish, but in the end the Smokies ended up on the wrong end of a 6-5 loss in ten innings to the Jacksonville Suns. The Smokies now trail the best-of-five series one game to none.

Starter Chris Carpenter got off to a terrible start in the bottom of the first inning, giving up a bases-loaded triple that put the Smokies down 3-0. After that he settled down and Carpenter went 4.1 innings, allowing the three runs on four hits. Carpenter walked four and struck out five.

But the Smokies struck back in the top of the second inning, scoring two runs on a double by catcher Welington Castillo. The Smokies would go on to tie the game in the fourth inning when first baseman Blake Lalli and right fielder Tyler Colvin led off the inning with back-to-back doubles.

The score would remain tied at three until the bottom of the eighth, when reliever David Cales allowed a run. A leadoff single ended up on third base with nobody out. after a stolen base and a bad throw by Castillo. A strikeout and a line out made it look like Cales might pitch out of the jam, but a two-out single put the Suns up 4-3.

The Smokies have been fighting back the whole post-season, and tonight was no different. In the top of the ninth, the Smokies tied the score when second baseman Jonathan Mota singled home third baseman Marquez Smith. However, the Smokies failed to take the lead later in the inning when Mota was thrown out trying to score from third on a fly ball to center field. Smokies manager Ryne Sandberg was ejected arguing the call.

Cales pitched 1.2 innings tonight. He gave up one run on two hits. He walked one and struck out two.

The game then went into extra-innings and the Smokies fortunes looked bright when Smith singled home center fielder James Adduci to give the Smokies a 5-4 lead. Unfortunately, left fielder Ty Wright was thrown out at the plate trying to score on the same play.

Looking to get his fourth save in as many games, Smokies closer Brian Schlitter struck out the first two batters he faced. But he then fell behind 3-1 to Suns catcher Brad Davis, who deposited the next pitch over the left-center field fence. Schlitter did not retire another batter, allowing singles to the next three batters and ending the game.

The third, game-winning, single was highly-controversial. The batter was initially called out at first base after hitting a slow-roller to third. But after an argument and the Suns manager asking the first base umpire to ask the home plate umpire for help, the call was overturned and first baseman Lalli was ruled to have been off the bag, allowing the winning run to score.

Marquez Smith was the big hitting star for the Smokies, going 3 for 5 with a double. He scored twice and had one RBI. Right fielder Tyler Colvin was 2 for 5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

The Smokies will try to even the series tomorrow night as Jeremy Papelbon will take the mound against Suns pitcher Graham Taylor, who started at Wrigley against the Chicago Cubs on May 1st and who was almost traded to the Cubs for Jacque Jones two years ago.

Is This the End of Jason Kubel's Power Outage?

Jesse — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:00:30 -0000

More photos » by Jim Mone - AP

6 months ago: Minnesota Twins' Jason Kubel hits the second of two three-run home runs off Cleveland Indians' Fausto Carmona in the second inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 4, 2009 in Minneapolis. Kubel hit the other three-run homer in the first inning. The Twins won 11-3. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

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Or should he just get to his against Fausto Carmona every time he steps into the box?

Even before he jacked a pair of home runs in yesterday's win over the Cleveland Indians, Jason Kubel was having a fine year, hitting a triple slash of .311/.363/.485. That's very good. The only issue was that Jason, who finished second on the team in 2008 with 20 home runs, hadn't hit one in three weeks. And that homer was his only shot in May.

Between April 17 and June 4, Kubel hit just one home run. He still hit well and tallied a few doubles, and he took 11 walks, but was generally powerless. Some of this can be blamed on facing left-handed pitchers, as he continues to struggle against southpaws (.171/.244/.220 in 41 at-bats this year), but a majority of his plate appearances still saw him stepping in against righties. And we all know that Jason absolutely destroys right-handed pitching. So what happened?

The answer is probably simple. Unlike Justin Morneau, who could average 30+ home runs over the next seven years (and could top 40 this year), Kubel is more of a moderate power threat in terms of the home run, if only because he can't see a lot of time versus southpaws. The result is that Jason, like all moderate power threats in baseball, will go through stretches without hitting a home run. Jacque Jones and Torii Hunter went through the same spells; luckily for us and for the Twins, Kubel is simply a better pure hitter than either of those guys. So power numbers may be similar, but I'm willing to bet that Kubel will finish his career with higher average and on-base numbers.

What we've seen over the last year and a half is the blooming of our 27-year old designated hitter-slash-corner outfielder. He's turned into the hitter he was always capable of being. Right now he's having a career year, but the potential of the best Twins hitter to come through the system in the last 10 years not named Joe Mauer or Justin Morneau is being put on display. The isolated power will come around as he starts to knock a couple out of the park once again, but the most impressive part of this homerless stretch was Kubel's ability to remain a productive part of the offense.

Morning Prowl: Porcello's Pitches, That Bullpen, Liking Nate, and String Music

Ian Casselberry — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:00:11 -0000

How about a closer analysis of Rick Porcello's performance yesterday? Doug Gray at Minor League Notebook looked at the Pitch F/X data from the game and broke down what Porcello threw, how often he threw it, and what was really working for him yesterday.

One interesting observation is that Porcello had difficulty locating his off-speed pitches, which may have been one reason the Toronto hitters seemed to catch up with him as the game went on.

Jon Paul Morosi looks at how many runs the Tigers have given up in their first four games and is reminded of 2008. And he's concerned about that Detroit bullpen.

Tom Gage notes that Brandon Lyon threw more pitches in his appearance on Tuesday than in any he'd made since 2003. Did that play a role in the final outcome of the game?

One more Gage item: How could he write this column on Dave Dombrowski's demeanor in the press box at Toronto and not mention the awful sweaters that the Tigers' GM was wearing?

Sorry, Nate. Ken Rosenthal points out that the number of free agents still available will make it more difficult for a player like Nate Robertson to be traded.

And right here is where Mike McClary would like to remind me of a moment of weakness I had during yesterday's game. Unfortunately for my reputation, he saved a screen capture of it.

In my defense, Mike asked me if I thought the Tigers should put Robertson or Juan Rincon in for relief. But I know - it looks bad.

Murray Chass sticks up for Gary Sheffield, saying he should be a good influence in the New York Mets' clubhouse (contrary to his reputation, which didn't really apply in Detroit, either).

You don't care that the Cincinnati Reds released Jacque Jones, do you? Okay, just checking. But if you were wondering, there you go.

And maybe you've seen the mentions in the comments over the past couple of days, but SB Nation now has a Detroit Pistons blog. Brian Packey will be running Motown String Music, and that completes the four corners of the Detroit sports fortress here at SBN. Stop over and say hello.

You can find SBN's Detroit sports blogs (in addition to our Michigan Wolverines blog, Maize n Brew) now listed in our left-hand sidebar (it's there somewhere), under the heading "SBN Detroit."

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

Off Day Topic: Who is gone from the 40-man roster to make room?

Slyde — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:53:02 -0000

It's looking more and more like Jonny Gomes will make the Reds roster on Opening Day, and there is still a very good possibility that one of the Laynce Nix/Darnell McDonald/Jacque Jones will make the team as well. The problem is that none of those players are currently on the 40-man roster, which is filled to the brim at this point.

So, who gets the boot to make room for these guys? For reference, you can see the list of players currently on the 40-man roster on the lower left sidebar.