SB Nation User Blog: Laaaaazzz

Men's Volleyball wins EIVA

Laaaaazzz — Sun, 03 May 2009 04:26:21 -0000

Men's volleyball won the EIVA tonight, defeating Juniata at Rec Hall and earning a berth to the NCAA final four. They'll be joined by Ohio State and either Pepperdine or USC (champions of the MIVA and MPSF respectively) plus a fourth team selected as an at large (certainly a team from the MPSF).

Penn State is looking to repeat as NCAA champions and match the accomplishment of the women's team. They also won the national title in 1994.

Basketball to play Virginia Tech?

Laaaaazzz — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:04:53 -0000

Jones column

David Jones is reporting that PSU and Virginia Tech are negotiating a home/home series in hoops, with PSU hosting the Hokies in 2009-10. He also mentions that the suspected away game at Temple (after PSU hosting them in 2008-9) is happening. So, right now for the 2009-10 schedule we seem to have:

Virginia Tech

at Temple

at Virginia

Charleston Classic (3 games)

We've also apparently been talking to Siena to have them play at the BJC.

Old Spice Classic 2007

Laaaaazzz — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 04:51:55 -0000

Penn State has made a significant upgrade to their basketball non-conference schedule by agreeing to play in the 2007 Old Spice Classic over Thanksgiving. It will provide 3 games against mostly decent competition on a neutral court.

There's been some legitimate griping about the weakness of out non-conference schedule this season. If we manage to win enough games to be a bubble team, the terribleness of our non-conference games might keep us out of the tourney.

Hamels to 15-day DL

Laaaaazzz — Wed, 24 May 2006 05:26:57 -0000

Update [2006-5-24 19:22:43 by dajafi]: Hamels will miss at least two starts, according to the Inquirer. Clay Condrey has been recalled to take his roster spot, and Ryan Madson will return to the rotation.

Apparently, the "savior" Cole Hamels has hurt his left shoulder and is out for his start against NY. Lieber will start instead.

On a bad night, it's just gotten worse.

It'll be interesting to see what becomes of this. Hopefully, he's just got a strain and he'll be back to pitch on, say, Saturday or Sunday. If he's out, I guess it means Madson back to the rotation on the heels of his 7+ inning quality relief outing.

Richard Hidalgo

Laaaaazzz — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 05:31:41 -0000

Richard Hidalgo signed a minor league deal with the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend. I'm pretty disappointed, as I thought he'd be a good fit for the Phillies who could use a right-handed outfielder for the bench and pinch hitting duties, plus I thought he'd be intreesting with us playing the Venezuela team in exhibition and having Abreu and Tomas on the team from his native country. The fact that he signed for only a minor league deal is even more frustrating.

At this point, the Phillies seem likely to break camp with 3 backup infielders, none of whom can hit, and one or two of whom will also be backing up the outfield. It's absolutely idiotic. And it's frustrating that all have been given guaranteed deals.

I'd actually like the see the Phillies sign Sammy Sosa who may be old and declining (for whatever reason) but can still outhit out middle infielder bench.

Phillies re-sign Fultz

Laaaaazzz — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 21:29:54 -0000

The Phillies have re-signed left-handed reliever Aaron Fultz to a one year, $1.2 million contract, avoiding arbitration. For those of you who don't understand the arbitration process, the Phillies already controlled Fultz for 2006 because he's not eligible for free agency yet. In order to keep him on the roster for 2006, they'd have had to offer arbitration by December 19 which would mean he would have had an arbitration hearing to set his contract for 2006. This contract superceeds that process, as Fultz and the Phillies have agreed upon a mutually acceptable number for 2006 before the arbitration process even begins.

This is a good move on many fronts.

First of all, it's a reasonable contract for someone who is coming off a great year. You aren't going to find many relievers with 2.24 ERA signing for only $1.2M. This value is probably comprable to what he was going to get in arbitration anyway, though I suspect he may have been able to get more if he held out for that process. Anyway, signing the contract ahead of time avoids the sometimes contentuous process of arbitration which can create hard feeling for one or both parties involved.

Second of all, it's only one year. That is always good for relievers who are notoriously inconsistent. Fultz may repeat his tremendous success of 2005, but he may just as easily revert to the mediocraty he displayed from 2000 to 2004. A one year deal lessens the risk associated with the behavior since if he's bad in 2006, he is gone after the season.

Third of all, we know have some additional cost certainty with the team, which always helps when knowing how much a GM has to spend on the rest of the team.

Interestingly, this is the last year for Fultz before he becomes a free agent. If he is decent in 2006, he may very well be a Type B or higher free agent after 2006 (rankings are based on the previous two seasons, so his stellar 2005 will count). So, even if he leaves after 2006, the Phillies may get something for him in the form of draft picks.

I continue to be impressed with how Gillick is building a bullpen. He has only handed out one long term deal -- a three year deal to "Flash" Gordon which was necessary to get him on the team. He did have to give up a draft pick for it, but the Phillies had previously picked up a 1st round pick and sandwich pick for losing Wagner, so that lessens the blow. Gordon is paid quite a bit, but he's quite good and sometimes you have to pay some market rates to get quality.

Other than that, Gillick has mostly tinkered with the pen, picking up cheap arms in Booker and Santana. He did express an interest in Brandon Looper, but (from my impression) was not planning on offering a three year deal so Looper signed a big deal with the Cardinals. I'm impressed that Gillick didn't continue in a bidding war and that restraint is good. So, he may resort to filling any other spots with additional cheap, higher upside pickups which is lower risk than 3 year deal. There is always success stories to be heard with this kind of move, not the leave of which is Aaron Fultz himself who was a waiver wire pickup for the Phillies last October and went on to be the second best reliever for the team.

Gillick has talked about moving Ryan Madson back to the rotation (where he successfully was his entire minor league career). I like that move as well, as it shows an understanding that a good starter is more valuable than a good (and even great) reliever. I cannot image Ed Wade ever doing that to his precious bullpen.

Looper signs with the Cards

Laaaaazzz — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 04:52:18 -0000

Branden Looper signed a three year deal with the Cards. It was well-reported that the Phillies were pursuing him strongly.

The deal is 3 year, $13.5M. The breakdown is $3.5 million in 2006, $4.5 million in 2007 and $5.5 million in 2008 with performance incentives. At that price, I don't think I'd have wanted the Phillies to sign him. It's pretty hefty for a reliever coming off a bad year and I don't like more than 2 years for any reliever.

Year after year, I'm shocked at how much money is spent at bullpen pitchers, whose performance is often wildly fluctuating. It's a poor allocation of resources and I hope Gillick continues to get cheap, decent upside guys like Santana and Booker.

Venezuela's Team?

Laaaaazzz — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 22:38:49 -0000

With the recent announcement of some significant details for the World Baseball Classic and the greater international flavor of baseball, I'm often struck by what the Phillies could do to increase their presence in foreign markets. Certain teams have made it a point to "recruit" heavily in other countries - the Mariners and Yankees in Japan, the Dodgers in Mexico and the Far East, the Rangers in Puerto Rico - which makes it easier to sign players from those countries.

The Phillies are potentially poised to use this environment to become a dominant force in Venezuela. This baseball-crazy country is steadily becoming a pipeline of talent. The 2004 Cy Young Award of Johan Santana brought the country some prominence in the international world. But, more importantly, in the first truly international "competition" sponsored by MLB, The Phillies own Bobby Abreu won the 2005 Home Run Derby at the All Star Game. This was notable as it was set up in a "best of each country" format and Abreu's record setting performance brought out an outpouring of support from his countrymen. For years now, Bobby Abreu has been regarded as the most popular and recognized player in Venezuela, taking over that role as Andres Galarraga declined late in his career.

The country of Venezuela has an interesting (and some would say unfortunate) economic situation reminiscent of Mexico - there is a large amount of oil wealth, which is consolidated in the hands of a small portion of the population and widespread poverty. This type of situation makes it a fertile ground for a baseball team to explore - quality athletes often arise from the impoverished, who can use athleticism to overcome their social standing; a large lower class provides a greater pool of potential talent. Conversely, the great wealth and overall population of the country (25 Million people) is a huge potential market for broadcasting rights for a team.

The Phillies have had a pretty strong presence among Venezuelan players. In addition to the Awesome One, the current roster also has Tomas Perez. Recent players also include Omar Daal and Ugueth U. Urbina (who may return to the team in 2006 depending on his legal status and the club's attitude in offering arbitration). The Phillies have been more active in recent years in running an academy in Venezuela and signing players from there, and some former Phillies farm hands include Anderson Machado and Carlos Silva.

My plan for the Phillies would be for them to attack the media markets in Venezuela. They should try to parlay Bobby Abreu's popularity into a TV and/or radio deal for Venezuela, much like the Mariners did for Ichiro!. Offer the package for as cheap as possible - heck, even for free, if needed. You can start by simulcasting the Phillies Spanish radio broadcasts. If they could have regular broadcasts of Phillies games there that would lead to increase in merchandise sold and exposure of the team. The team would probably do well to emphasize their past history with Venezuelan players like Manny Trillo and Bo Diaz from their glory days in the 1980's. Ideally, the Phillies could someday soon play in one of those "international opening day" games, if one is held in Venezuela. This in turn could lead to making it easier to sign players from Venezuela over other clubs in the area as younger players grow up wanted to play on "Bobby Abreu's team". Heck, maybe that would be something to sway the likes of Johan Santana or Miguel Cabrera to join the Phils once they hit free agency.

Of course, all this requires some forethought and creativity from the Phillies, qualities we don't often see. It would also require them not to cave in to the WIP idiots who want to see Abreu traded for the proverbial bucket of balls. Luckily, that doesn't seem likely.

Venezuela's Team?

Laaaaazzz — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 22:37:51 -0000

For their part, the Phillies have seemed to embraced this idea to some extent. The are actually playing hosts to the Venezuelan team in the spring and are playing an exhibition game against them on March 4 in Clearwater. The team would probably do well to emphasize their past history with Venezuelan players like Manny Trillo and Bo Diaz from their glory days in the 1980's.

My plan for the Phillies would be for them to attack the media markets in Venezuela. They should try to parlay Bobby Abreu's popularity into a TV and/or radio deal for Venezuela, much like the Mariners did for Ichiro!. Offer the package for as cheap as possible - heck, even for free, if needed. You can start by simulcasting the Phillies Spanish radio broadcasts. If they could have regular broadcasts of Phillies games there that would lead to increase in merchandise sold and exposure of the team. Ideally, the Phillies could someday soon play in one of those "international opening day" games, if one is held in Venezuela. This in turn could lead to making it easier to sign players from Venezuela over other clubs in the area as younger players grow up wanted to play on "Bobby Abreu's team". Heck, maybe that would be something to sway the likes of Johan Santana or Miguel Cabrera to join the Phils once they hit free agency.

Phillies sign pitcher J. Santana

Laaaaazzz — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 22:15:15 -0000

No, not that J. Santana. They signed Julio Santana to a one-year, $800,000 contract on Wednesday.

The Phillies were already familiar with him as he played in AAA with the Red Barons in 2003. He followed that by going to Japan in 2004. Perhaps he learned something out there as his numbers with the Brewers in 2005 were much improved: increased K/9, better H/IP and K/BB. His ERA wasn't that great but it seems out of proportion to his peripherals. It should be lower this season if he pitches as "well" as 2005. Baseball Prospectus lists his adjusted runs prevented as 7.1, good for 98th among all relievers in 2005.

I really like the signing. It's a cheap, 1 year deal. If Santana prospers, like Aaron Fultz last season, then we have a bargain. If he fails, he's easy to cut. This is the type of player who is excellent for bullpen depth -- some upside, little risk, cheap.

I'm glad to see Gillick have a plan for the bullpen that doesn't consist of "sign any available veteran arm for 3 years". Furthermore, no draft pick was given up. We may still lose one for signing a "proven closer", but at least doing so isn't compounded by giving up a second round pick for bullpen filler as we have done in the past (e.g. Jose Mesa and Rheal Cormier after the 2000 season).