SB Nation User Blog: Mister Naxal

OT: The One True Ho Signs With The Phillies

Mister Naxal — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:31:18 -0000

ESPN.Com, aka TMZ Sports, has taken time out from playing he-said-she-said over the Dallas Cowboys to report that Chan Ho Park has signed a one year $2.5 million dollar deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. From the article:

Park, a native of South Korea, pitched 95 1/3 innings with a 3.40 ERA for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008 -- his 11th full major league season -- making five starts in 54 appearances.

He said the Phillies expected him to start, despite reports that have said the team sought Park to help boost their bullpen.

"I was a little worried about the Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Phillies, which is hitter-friendly, but as they considered me as a starter, I signed with Philadelphia," he said.

Citizens Bank Park is a completely different beast than Chavez Ravine, one that can only be unfavorable to The Ho. I think that someone in the Phillies front office, probably the same person who thought Adam Eaton was a catch, is still hung over from celebrating their World Series win.

OT: Former Ranger Hideki Irabu Arrested

Mister Naxal — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:46:34 -0000

Our bullpen is gassed. We need some disposable arms for the stretch. I've peered into the crystal ball that is the New York Post and found the answer:

Hideki Irabu.

Seems as though he could use the cash to get caught up on his credit card bills:

Ex-Yankee pitcher Hideki Irabu - once ridiculed by George Steinbrenner as a "fat, pus-y toad" - was arrested in Osaka, Japan, today for allegedly assaulting a bartender after drinking 20 mugs of beer, a police official said.

Irabu, 39, became angered after his credit card was rejected. He allegedly pushed the bartender against the wall, pulled his hair and smashed at least nine liquor bottles. The bartender sustained no injuries.

Hair pulling? Smashing liquor bottles? Sounds like this guy still has the fire. 20 mugs of beer? He still has the stamina, too.

Joba & His MRI On Their Way To Birmingham

Mister Naxal — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:13:44 -0000

For those non-medheads out there in the audience, when a pitcher takes his MRI results to Birmingham, Alabama, it's to go see Dr. James Andrews. Per ESPN:

ARLINGTON, Texas -- New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain will be examined by noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews on Wednesday after undergoing an MRI on his ailing right shoulder.

Chamberlain returned to New York for tests on his shoulder Tuesday. The team said before its game against the Texas Rangers that it would not reveal the results of the MRI exam until Chamberlain is seen by Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.

While I hate the Yankees, I hope Joba's shoulder isn't cooked. He's a fun guy to watch pitch...and to watch duck decapitation throws from Pudge.

A Tale Of Three Joshes?

Mister Naxal — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:18:55 -0000

G/F Josh Childress signed a 3 year $20 million dollar deal with Greek team Olympiakos today, bolting the Atlanta Hawks for the Euroleague. Childress' deal sounds sweet...3 years, $20 million after taxes and an opt-out clause at the end of each year.

More to the point, however, I think opens up an interesting opportunity for the Mavs. The Hawks have not resigned restricted free agent Josh Smith. Word on the street is that part of Childress' reason for leaving the Hawks was his opinion of the team's management. I don't think any of us need to look too long nor too hard at the recent history of the Hawks to see that

If Josh Smith (and/or his agent(s)) have these same concerns about team management, would you offer a package headlined by Josh Howard to Atlanta for a sign and trade for Smith? I don't know if the Hawks would even think about trading Smith and I don't know if he's really interested in leaving Atlanta (or if he's waiting for the Hawks to pay him big time...my guess is he probably doesn't want to leave The ATL since he's from the area), but if there's even a slight chance, I'd want the Mavs to be in on it. Josh Smith is a phenomenal talent.

If such a possibility exists, it seems like one of those situations where both teams can get what they want: Josh Smith gets money and a spot on a team with more of an upside than the Hawks (albeit in a much tougher conference). Josh Howard gets a change of scenery. The Hawks get a couple of our bench players to beef up the eight players they currently have under contract.

I wouldn't do a Howard-Bass-Stack deal for Artest. I would do that same deal for Smith. Thoughts?

Neftali Feliz...Andrus and Borbon, Too

Mister Naxal — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:30:24 -0000

Last night my friend Rich and I ventured across to Dr. Pepper Ballpark to see Neftali Feliz pitch against the Arkansas Travelers. Coincidence that the Angels' Texas League affiliate is in town at the same time as the big club? Probably.

We had a great view of Feliz from two rows behind the Travelers' dugout. My Clif's Notes version of his outing: Impressive for most of his 5 IP. The things that immediately jumped out at me about him are that the smooth delivery and seeming effortlessness of his pitching are true. He throws gas the way I throw crumpled up balls of paper in the trashcan. For most of the first three innings he consistently worked his fastball from 96-98 mph according to the stadium gun. He easily dialed it up to 99 on several occasions for out pitches. From our angle I didn't get a good feel for his offspeed stuff...my impression is that he has a pretty good change but that his breaking stuff is there but either needs more development or that he's not used it that much up to this point.

The only possible flaw I saw about Feliz from my vantage point was that I think he tipped a few of his pitches to runners on 1B. 4 of the 5 Travelers' SB were on Feliz. On the last two, I noticed he was bringing the ball down behind his right leg and I could easily see him changing his grip on it from my seat, which means that it must have looked like it was up on the jumbotron for the runner on first. I think the Travelers picked up on that early on and ran on him when he gave them the chance by throwing breaking stuff. I didn't notice any SB on him when he was more circumspect with the ball.

The game beyond Feliz was pretty disappointing. The Travelers had a horrible record coming into this game, but the Riders played like the April edition of the Rangers after Feliz left...Garr and Diaz pitched batting practice and combined with committing 3 errors and giving up a 3 run shot to a guy hitting .107 coming into this game, the Travelers blew a close game wide open.

This was also my first time to see Borbon and Andrus. Borbon's got serious wheels. I didn't get a very good feel for his outfield defense, but he's a demon on the basepaths and looks pretty adept at getting on. Andrus was a little harder to get a read on...he missed several balls at short, but I think that most of those were balls that his athleticism got him close to, not balls that he should have had. I did see one bobble on a routine play, but it was a minor thing that was still an out at first. We were treated to one of the funnier moments of the evening when Andrus was caught in a rundown and the Travelers' 1B dropped the ball when he went to tag Elvis.

And if there were 6,139 people at that game then I'm Governor of Texas. There must have been a whole lot of no shows.

OT - Brett Myers Demoted To AAA

Mister Naxal — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:56:26 -0000

Since the Phightin' Phils were just in town and there was some good vitriol directed at Brett Myers here on LSB, I thought it would be relevant to share this:

If you've had a bad day, then maybe you'll feel better by reading about Brett Myers. According to MLB.com, the Phillies optioned the struggling righthander to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Because he has five-plus years in the majors, Myers had the option to reject the demotion. But he accepted it and hopes to get back on track after starting the season 3-9 with a 5.84 ERA.

I didn't realize that he was leading the majors with 24 HR allowed.

I was at the game on Friday night and I was shocked to see how off he was from the Brett Myers we've seen in the past. I remember he used to have filthy stuff on his fastball, a powerful slider and a nasty little curve to round out the arsenal. During his time pitching last Friday, I don't think he ever broke 92 on the Ballpark's radar gun. He worked most of the time in the 87-90 range.

And he's definitely a disciple of the David Wells school of physical fitness. Dude's getting big.

I'm Convinced Benoit Is Injured

Mister Naxal — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:27:19 -0000

This fanpost started out last night as a "it's all Mark Connor's fault that Joaquin Benoit is on the skids this season" rant. I admit up front I don't like Mark Connor; I think he's a lousy pitching coach for the pitching situation that the Rangers had last year and that they have this year. He needs to be optioned to AAA and left there, metaphorically speaking. But enough about Mark Connor...

After thinking about Benoit's latest outing and his numbers this season versus 2006 and 2007, I think that he is pitching with an injury. The main source of his issues is control; the fastball isn't quite duck-and-cover bad, but it's a crap shoot as to whether the pitch is going to be a strike or ball. His sinker doesn't sink. He missed a chunk of Spring Training with a "dead arm" and just came back from a DL stint for a sore shoulder.

If you look back at Joaquin's numbers since moving into relief, there's nothing that sticks out in terms of an abnormal increase in workload or something that would indicate a possible injury concern with his elbow or shoulder. Yet at the same time, his bad numbers are nearly all up (H/9, HR/9, BB/9, WHIP) while his good numbers (K/9's the only one I can think of at this hour) are nearly all down. If this were some kind of post-contract year slump, I would expect him to give back some of the progress he made from 2006 to 2007, but his decline this year goes way beyond merely giving some gains back; his H/9, HR/9, BB/9 and WHIP are all quite a bit worse than his 2006 numbers and his K/9 is lower.

I think he's pitching injured. His control problems this season would lead me to venture a guess that he's got an elbow problem. The dead arm and shoulder issues would lead me to think he's trying to compensate by throwing harder, causing the kinds of cascading arm and shoulder problems Will Carroll wrote about in his book Saving The Pitcher.

One question I can't answer from looking at his numbers in 2006 through this season that I'm hoping someone here can: Is the velocity on his fastball noticeably off this season from last season (more than 3mph slower, for example?)? It seems like it's similar to me, but since I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday, fastball velocities from a year ago are a bit beyond my recollection.

The Rangers organization has already seen one instance of a Latin American pitcher pitching with an injury in Vicente Padilla. Padilla pitched until he barely could pitch and then finally fessed up to hurting. Here's a thought: Has Mark Connor, Ron Washington or any of the other staff thought about maybe asking Padilla to approach Benoit to suss out if he's throwing hurt or not? If he won't tell Connor, Wash, JD or Nolan if he's hurt, maybe he'll talk honestly with the guy who's been down that road.

I think the bottom line is that Benoit is a detriment to the team when he's brought into the game in the shape he's in right now. I don't think the coaching staff has any confidence in him and he doesn't look like he has any confidence in his stuff. We need the 2007 Joaquin Benoit in our pen; we don't need the 2008 Joaquin Benoit.

Warriors, Davis Far Apart On Contract

Mister Naxal — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:37:18 -0000

Warriors' PG Baron Davis and the Warriors management are apparently pretty far apart on the details of his contract extension. How far? Apparently far enough that Davis is considering opting out of his final year and becoming a free agent this summer.

Get. Him. In. Dallas. Now.

Trade Jason Kidd. Eat most of his salary if you must. If you drop Davis into the Mavs' lineup, you're looking at a beastly team that will be able to run and defend and work the half court game with anyone else in the West.

Tom Hicks: How Not To Win Friends And Influence People

Mister Naxal — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:51:57 -0000

The Liverpool mess just keeps escalating from one level of meltdown to the next. From feuding with the fans to feuding with Liverpool's business manager, Tom is now feuding with fellow owner George Gillett:

George Gillett tonight called on his Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks to stop causing turmoil at the club and insisted he will never sell his shares to his fellow American.

Gillett and Hicks, who each own 50% of Liverpool, have fallen out completely with neither prepared to let the other take over the club.

Hicks has also branded Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry's reign 'disastrous' and in a TV interview today reiterated his demand that he resign.

But Gillett has thrown his weight full square behind Parry. He said in a statement: 'I am saddened at this latest outburst from Tom Hicks. If Tom wanted a serious discussion on the issues to help the club move forward, he should bring his views to the board and not to Sky Sports.

-snip-

If this meltdown continues, it's going to become a factor for both the Rangers organization and the Stars organization.

Scoreboard at The Ballpark after the Rangers got trounced by the Orioles...not the Angels...in...

Mister Naxal — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:05:53 -0000

Scoreboard at The Ballpark after the Rangers got trounced by the Orioles...not the Angels...in their home opener.