SB Nation User Blog: Vlad

Ruben Gotay on Waivers

Vlad — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:48:14 -0000

The last few days before the roster deadline often present a good chance to poach useful players from the waiver wire. According to Newsday, the Mets have placed 2B Ruben Gotay on waivers, and I think he'd be a good fit for the team. Gotay, 25, is an offense-minded 2B who hit .295/.351/.421 last year as a part-timer for the Mets (stats). Before that, he'd shown some promise as a Royals prospect, but struggled after being promoted too aggressively. I see Gotay as ultimately being comparable to a guy like Ronnie Belliard, and I think he'd have value to us. I'm skeptical of Rivas as anything more than an IF of last resort, and as such I think Gotay would be a good fit as insurance at 2B (in case Freddy's shoulder remains an issue) and at 3B (in case Bautista regresses). His defense is still a little rough, but at his age he still has some offensive upside, and having him on hand would help mitigate our lack of middle infield depth in the upper minors.

Bucs Sign T.J. Beam

Vlad — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:53:18 -0000

The contract is a minor-league deal with a NRI. (Link) It seems like he'll have a good chance to make the club in spring training.

Beam is more interesting than the garden-variety minor league free agent. He's a 6'7" righty, which gives him a nice downward trajectory on his pitches, and on top of that (so to speak) he's got pretty good pure stuff. His fastball sits in the low 90s and sometimes goes higher, and his slider is a plus pitch when everything's working right for him. He also brings a tactical advantage to the table, in that he's got enough stamina to go two innings on a fairly regular basis. His biggest problem is with home runs, as he has a tendency to leave pitches up in the zone, especially when he's tired.

Up until this year, Beam had been part of the Yankees organization. He was unsuccessful in a brief trial with the big club in '06, and then didn't get another opportunity. Joe Torre tends to make early judgments on relievers and then stick with those opinions for a long time, which put Beam in a difficult spot. He's spent most of the past two years at AAA Columbus, where he put up a 2.83 ERA in 79 1/3 IP, with an 82/23 K/BB and a 1.13 WHIP. ZiPS projected him as being good for a 4.61 ML ERA next year, and that projection assumed that he'd be pitching in the AL East, so it would likely edge downward if rerun for him at PNC.

In the larger picture, Beam seems to be part of a larger trend on the part of the Huntington front office toward power arms in the bullpen: He cut Rogers and Youman, both of whom have average-to-poor velocity, as well as Sharpless, who wasn't throwing as hard last year as he had been in the past due to control issues. He has, to this point, kept guys like Perez and Bayliss, who were lacking in the performance standpoint last year but can bring the heat when pitching well. He added Astacio and Belisario to the roster; Astacio has good stuff, and Belisario's stuff is better than any other aspect of his relatively pedestrian game. He also appears to have unsuccessfully targeted Vizcaino as a FA acquisition, and Vizcaino's fastball has been his calling card for several years now. The strengths and weaknesses of this particular strategy are open for debate, but given recent history, it's refreshing to see the front office simply focus on a goal and then work together to pursue it (and no, "sign every known ex-Dodger" doesn't count).

For now, I'd just like to extend a warm Bucs Dugout welcome to our newest Bucco, T. J. Beam.

Pirates in the Mitchell Report

Vlad — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:30:08 -0000

I've seen a number of jokes about Pirates and performance-enhancing substances recently ("They should ask for a refund!", etc.), and as such, the number of ex-Pirates named in the document was surprising to me. No current Bucs were implicated, but a large number from the last few years ended up in the spotlight: Kevin Young, Denny Neagle, Jose Guillen, Josias Manzanillo, Jason Christiansen, Ron Villone, Armando Rios, Gary Matthews, Jr., Benito Santiago, and Tim Laker. (Surprisingly, given the amount of space dedicated to the history of steroids in baseball, Matt Lawton isn't mentioned.) Big names like Roger Clemens will draw most of the attention, but there are all kinds of players mentioned, right down to minor bench players like Nook Logan. The fact that so many guys from one of the league's worst teams are there really illustrates the breadth of the problem.

The report is pretty remarkable, and I'd encourage all of you out there on the intertubes to download a copy and read it for yourselves.

Pirates Claim Ty Taubenheim, Josh Wilson on Waivers

Vlad — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:04:02 -0000

Hot off the (virtual) presses, meet your newest Buccos:

-P- Ty Taubenheim, RHSP, born 11/17/82. Taubenheim was originally a 19th-round draft pick by the Brewers, who sent him to Toronto as part of the Lyle Overbay trade. A big right hander, he has a sinking fastball that sits around 90, a pretty good slider, and a curve and changeup that are both works in progress. He should provide an additional rotation option for us, if one becomes necessary, and if he's not needed there, FB/slider guys are often successful in relief. On the whole, I like the pickup. His peripherals in the minors have generally been good, and his big problem last year was a spike in hit rate, which could be a function of sample size or defense.

-P- Josh Wilson, SS, R/R, born 3/26/81. Wilson is a local boy, a Pittsburgher by birth, who played high school ball at Mt. Lebanon. He was a third-round pick of the Marlins (during the Littlefield era there), and he's also spent time with Colorado, Washington, and Tampa Bay. He's a reasonable defender at short, who has plus range but makes a lot of errors. Offensively, he has a career .233/.286/.329 line in the majors. He might have a touch more offensive ability than that; his career line at AAA is .277/.342/.441 (though that came in pretty favorable offensive parks). Right now, Wilson looks like a possible UT IF for next year, to provide competition for Bixler in spring training, with the loser starting at SS for Indy. If nothing else, trying to distinguish between him and Jack Wilson could prove entertaining.

In order to clear space on the 40-man roster, the Pirates designated Brian Rogers and Brad Eldred for assignment. Neither of those guys is likely to be missed too badly next year if they're claimed, although I wish both of them the best.

On the whole, neither of these moves is earth-shaking, but both look like incremental upgrades to the roster, and it's nice to see Huntington staying busy and shaping the roster. He's now claimed five players on waivers since taking over (Thompson, Dumatrait, Barthmaier, Taubenheim, and Wilson); I think there were years where Littlefield didn't match that total.

Ex-Buc in Hot Water

Vlad — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:05:43 -0000

Ex-Pirate OF Jose Guillen has been implicated in the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center drug scandal. Guillen, as I'm sure you recall, was a top Pirate prospect, and then a player with the big club from '97 until mid-'99, when he and Jeff Sparks were traded to Tampa Bay for Joe Oliver and Humberto Cota.

According to business records, Guillen ordered more than $19,000 worth of various drugs from the clinic, including HGH, testosterone, stanozolol, and nandrolone. He placed his first order with the clinic in May of 2002, and enjoyed a breakout season in 2003, where he hit .311/.359/.569 with the Reds and A's.

Also implicated in the scandal were All-Star third baseman Matt Williams, now part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and pitcher Ismael Valdez, who last pitched in the majors in 2005. Full article link.

Taking Runs Off the Board

Vlad — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:53:55 -0000

Stop me if you've heard this one before. Crack of the bat, deep drive to the power alley, outfielder drifting back, one hand outstretched to feel for the wall while he times his leap...

The stolen home run is one of the most exciting plays in baseball, and it provides a huge momentum swing for the team in the field. Defensive stat guru John Dewan (the man behind The Fielding Bible, who also contributes to the various annuals published by Bill James and The Hardball Times) just released a list of the outfielders who have pulled the most home runs back out of the stands over the last four years, and there was a familiar name in the second spot. It wasn't Carlos Beltran or Ichiro! or Andruw Jones.

It was Jason Bay.

Just below Torii Hunter and just above a gaggle of well-regarded center fielders, Bay and ex-Buc Gary Matthews, Jr. checked in with six apiece.

Bay absorbed a lot of criticism for his poor play last year, so it's nice to be able to give him credit for a job well done in this case. Unfortunately, with the state of our pitching staff he's likely to have many more opportunities to pad his total in 2008.

Roster Roulette, Part 1

Vlad — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 02:58:44 -0000

Now that we're into the offseason, the deadline to finalize rosters before the Rule 5 draft is quickly approaching. Huntington and his new management team (whomever that may turn out to be) will have to make a lot of decisions within a fairly narrow time frame. As such, I thought it might be interesting for us to take a look at various players' standing on the 40-man roster. We'll start with the pitchers, who occupy a total of 24 roster spots.

Safe:
Matt Capps
Zach Duke
Tom Gorzelanny
John Grabow
Paul Maholm
Damaso Marte
Ian Snell
Salomon Torres

Barring a trade, none of these guys are going anywhere. They're either young, cheap, and productive, or old, productive, and already under contract for 2008. Duke was bad last year, but the price is still right and he showed too much promise in '05 and '06 to cut loose.

Probably gone:
Tony Armas, Jr.
Sean Burnett
Shawn Chacon

Armas was a failure as the fifth starter, and his option is a lock to be declined. Chacon asked about an extension but the interest was not reciprocal, and he's likely to depart in free agency.

Burnett may be a little more controversial, in that he's a former first-round pick who was once regarded as a big part of our future. I can't see any way he stays on the roster, though. In 2007, his second full year back from shoulder and elbow surgery, he showed absolutely nothing at AAA. He put up a 1.73 WHIP, walked more batters than he struck out, and was shut down twice: once with general arm fatigue, and once with elbow pain. He also complained about not making the big club in spring training, and he significantly wasn't called up after the roster expansion, even to ride the bench.

On the bubble:
Jonah Bayliss
Bryan Bullington
Yoslan Herrera
Matt Morris
Franquelis Osoria
Juan Perez
Brian Rogers
Romulo!
Josh Sharpless
Josh Shortslef
John Van Benschoten
Shane Youman

Bullington, Herrera, and Morris would've been on the "Safe" list if not for the change of management. All three were one variety or another of disappointing last year, but given the significant investments Littlefield made in each, he would've taken a PR hit if he decided to cut the cord. Huntington isn't operating under any such restriction, though, and he could probably discard any of them if he were so inclined.

Bullington started out hot at Indy, but his overall numbers (4.00 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 5.4 K/9) were pedestrian, and he didn't impress in a rotation trial at the end of the year. Starting pitching being worth what it is, they may decide to keep him around for depth, since he still has an option and might show a little more in his second post-surgery season.

Herrera wasn't particularly dominant in his first season in America, but he did show some improvement as the year went on, and his status as a Cuban defector will probably buy him another year with American coaches and training facilities, to see whether he can round into shape.

Morris was supposed to be a veteran anchor for the staff, but like all anchors, he did his level best to pull the team to the bottom, putting up a 6.10 ERA in 11 starts down the stretch. His peripherals indicate that he's clearly in decline, but it would be a bitter pill to cut him and eat the $9M+ he's guaranteed for 2008, almost 20% of the team's likely payroll. They might end up eating part of his contract in order to move the rest in a trade, but the system's lack of SP depth could work to his advantage, in that none of the other internal candidates for the bottom two rotation spots are obviously superior to him. The Bucs may just stick him in the rotation in the spring and hope for a well-timed hot streak before the trade deadline.

The other guys on the list are part of our parade of minor-league relievers, almost all of whom received a few (largely unsuccessful) innings at the bottom end of the bullpen at some point in the year. Taking them one at a time:
*Bayliss - Major league stuff, but struggled mightily from May onward, at both AAA and the majors.
*Osoria - Good but not great at AAA, used regularly down the stretch in the majors, with decent results. Probably back, but you never know.
*Perez - Lack of control probably dooms him as a ML reliever. 4+ BB/9 in his last four minor-league seasons, 8 BB in 12+ ML IP this year.
*Rogers - Fairly productive in the minors, equally so against both LHB and RHB, but got beat up in a brief ML trial. Lacks great pure stuff, has options remaining.
*Romulo! - Still a bit raw for MLB, but showed good progress this year. A favorite of the team's Latin program, which notably wasn't purged with the rest of the front office this week.
*Sharpless - Performance slipped while repeating AAA, with walks increasing and HR spiking. Still misses a lot of bats. Big problems against LHB. Still has an option.
*Shortslef - Lefty starter who projects as reliever, unexceptional at 25 in AA. Probably loses his spot unless he lights it up in AFL/winter ball.
*JVB - Decent stuff, good AAA performance, but beaten like a gong in the majors due to poor command. Organizational Pitcher of the Year. College power star, could move back to OF. Out of options.
*Youman - No-stuff lefty, probably tops out as #5/#6 starter or in middle relief. Lack of system depth might help him, but could probably be replaced by a minor-league FA without really losing anything.

It's also worth remembering that the PTBNL in the Izturis deal is still TBNL, and there were rumors that he'd be a minor-league pitcher.

I'm guessing that we drop at least three of these guys, with Perez and Shortslef looking the shakiest and Osoria and Romulo! being the safest.

Non-roster candidates:
Creech's utter failure makes this a pretty easy call, insofar as we haven't drafted too many guys who are worth protecting in recent years.
*Matt Peterson - Former top starting prospect turned minor league closer, pretty good at Altoona, but struggled after promotion to Indy. Was repeating AA at 25, which counts against him, and peripherals weren't dominant. Good stuff, marginal control of it. Will be a 6-year FA, so he's gone unless we roster him.
*Luis Munoz - Longtime nonentity emerged as fringe prospect, with a 3.63 ERA in Altoona's rotation. Held up well in 3 AAA starts.
*Jesse Chavez - The booty from our Kip Wells trade, held up pretty well at AAA, with 4 HR in 80+ IP and a nearly 4/1 K/BB.

That's about it. Kyle Bloom and Wardell Starling really struggled at AA, and Todd Redmond isn't eligible for the ML Rule 5 due to the new time limits set last year.

Now that you have the facts, what's your call? Who stays and who goes?

Ha-ha!

Vlad — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:27:48 -0000

Remember when Jim Tracy refused to let Salomon Torres and Jack Wilson have the customary three days for paternity leave? How'd that work out for him?

Reliever Salomon Torres, who was to supposed to rejoin the Pirates in San Diego, was not expected in Chicago until after the game yesterday. He went back to Pittsburgh to be with his wife, Belkis, for the birth of their third child. The delay in Torres' return was the result of an agreement between the pitcher, interim general manager Brian Graham and higher management. -Post-Gazette, 9/22

Curious. What about Jack?

Shortstop Jack Wilson, back with the Pirates yesterday after his wife gave birth last Wednesday, made clear his dissatisfaction with manager Jim Tracy's order that he return to the team within two days.

But he also stressed that he did not stay away from the team until yesterday as any form of protest.

"Absolutely not," Wilson said. "I was taking care of my family."

Wilson said there were minor complications just before his wife, Julie, gave birth to the couple's third child, and that resulted in her staying two extra days at a San Diego hospital. She checked out Saturday afternoon, shortly before Wilson's scheduled flight to Chicago, where he was to meet the team in time for the game Sunday.

Wilson phoned Brian Graham, the interim general manager at the time, and sought permission to stay two more days, including the Pirates' scheduled day off Monday. Permission was granted." -Post-Gazette, 9/26

In case you were wondering how much authority Tracy has in our brave new world of Pirate management, or where players' sympathies lie about his possible return next season, those two excerpts might suggest an answer. Kudos to Graham for overruling our beloved clubhouse dictator, who's presumably off sulking deep down in his bunker, from which muffled calls for Jose Hernandez continue to resonate.

Opportunity Knocking

Vlad — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:55:42 -0000

From Bill Plaschke, a fairly well-connected (albeit dumb and unprofessional) LA Times columnist:

"Insiders say that although management was furious with Jeff Kent for publicly ripping the team's young players last week, it agrees with some of the things he said.

There is concern over some of the rookies' attitudes and aptitudes.

There are home runs, but there are baserunning gaffes. There are dramatic catches, but there are forgotten sunglasses that lead to drops. There are some leadership moves, but also some lazy ones.

The Dodgers wouldn't offer specifics, but insiders say they have reached the conclusion that they can be contenders quicker and longer if one or two of these kids are traded for more developed players who could help them avoid a repeat of this September's meltdown.

The kid who would draw the biggest price is, ironically, the kid who was apparently one of Kent's biggest targets.

Matt Kemp's breathtaking ability makes him attractive. But his constant struggles to embrace the little things that turn talent into championships make him expendable."

For the last couple of weeks, the Dodgers have been involved in some clubhouse turmoil, as the team is being carried by youngsters like Russ Martin, James Loney, Chad Billingsley, and Kemp. This hasn't been popular with some of the less-productive veterans like Luis Gonzalez, who are accustomed to deference, and who don't appreciate losing PT to a bunch of snot-nosed prospects. There's more context here and here, but in essence this is a kerfluffle over nothing.

Kemp has hit .331/.364/.509 in half a season with the Dodgers, even though he's only 22 years old and they play in a lousy power park. He's an honest-to-god emerging superstar, and if the Dodgers are determined to trade him just because some of their older players are unhappy about being shown up by a kid, there's no reason that their loss shouldn't be our gain.

Wild Rumors: GM Search Over?

Vlad — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 05:44:57 -0000

The Pittsburgh Pirates have all but settled on their next general manager and it appears their choice is going to be a surprise.

Multiple baseball sources told The Times on Thursday night that the Pirates are leaning heavily toward hiring Neal Huntington, a special assistant to the general manager with the Cleveland Indians. -John Perrotto, The BCT

Wow. I didn't see that one coming.

The background on Huntington in Perrotto's article is basically everything I've ever heard about him. His list of baseball jobs is here; you may be interested to note that he and Littlefield and Creech were on Montreal's staff together in 1997 (along with future Angels GM Bill Stoneman).

At this point, I honestly don't have enough information to perform an informed analysis here. Cleveland is a pretty good organization, he's got a lot of front office experience for a guy who's so young, and his academic background seems solid. Beyond that, we'll have to wait and see.