SB Nation User Blog: jack dein

Early grade on players aquired

jack dein — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:30:05 -0000

Even though we are only 24 games into the season I thought that it would be a good time to take a look at how the players that we aquired this offseason are doing.

The first guy that we brought in was Eric O' Flaherty. He was claimed off waivers from Seattle on November 20. So far this season he has appeared in 10 games throwing 7.2 innings. He has a solid 3.52 ERA and a great 0.913 WHIP. It's a very brief sample but so far he has proved to be a solid pickup.

On December 4 we traded for Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan. So far this season Vazquez has a 2-2 record in 5 starts. He has thrown 32 innings striking out 42 and walking just 8. His ERA stands at 3.38 and his WHIP is at 1.219. Boone Logan is at AAA having not made the team as the lefty in the bullpen out of spring training. Of the players we sent to Chicago only Brent Lillibridge has played in the majors. He has played in 16 games with a .143 avg. They have used him in CF and at 2B mostly.

Our first free agent signing was catcher David Ross. We signed him to a 2 year $3 million on contract on December 5. This season he has been great for us stepping in in place of the injured Brian McCann. He has played in 10 games so far with a .281 avg. 2 home runs and 6 RBI along with a .410 OBP. A great pickup this offseason all in all.

We then starting working on the pitching staff by signing Kenshin Kawakami to a 3 year $23 million contract. So far this season Kawakami has struggled adjusting to the majors. He has started 4 games and has a 1-3 record. He has pitched 21.2 innings striking out 18 and walking 11. He ERA stands at 7.06 and his WHIP at 1.615. I have not yet begun to worry about him yet. Most pitchers who come here from Japan struggle at first. I think that if he can cut down on the walks he should be fine as the season goes along.

A few days after signing Kawakami we signed Derek Lowe to a 4 year $60 million contract. Some people thought that it was high at the time and others questioned giving him 4 years but this deal has been great so far. Lowe has came in and been a legitimate ace for our team. Lowe has made 6 starts and has a 3-1 record. He has thrown 35.2 innings striking out 28 and walking 14. His ERA stands at 3.03 and his WHIP at 1.290. The scary thing is that if the Mets would have went to 4 years he would probably be in New York now. I would hate to think where we would be without him.

So far our one bad free agent signing has been Garrett Anderson who signed a 1 year $2.5 million contract. He was signed to be a veteran who could hold LF and be a solid hitter for a year. In reality he has been terrible this year. He is currently on the DL. So far this season he has played in 10 games managing a .200 avg and a .231 OBP. He has 0 home runs and 0 RBI. The .200 avg. is even a little misleading because its only 5 hits. That .200 avg. is higher then it should be because most of those hits came in one game. It is looking more and more like he won't be here all season. The most disheartening thing is that he doesn't look like he even wants to play anymore.

Our last move was the in-season trade of RP Blaine Boyer to the Cardinals for LF Brain Barton. Boyer was terrible with Atlanta having a 40.50 ERA in 1.1 innings and has been somewhat better in St. Louis. He has pitched in 4 games tossing 3.2 innings with 3 strikeouts and o walks. His ERA stands at 4.91 and his WHIP at 1.091. Brain Barton has played in 9 games at AAA. He has a .256 avg. with 0 home runs and 2 RBI. He has struck out 12 times and walked just 3 times in 39 at-bats.

All in all it was a good offseason for Atlanta. Only Kawakami and Anderson have struggled so far and I think that Kawakami will get it turned around and be fine as the season goes along. Like I said above I don't think that Anderson will finish the season in Atlanta unless he comes back from the DL and turns into a hitting machine which I think is unlikely.

Looking back 10 years

jack dein — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:26:17 -0000

With the draft less than a week away I decided to look back at the Cowboys 1999 draft. With most of these guys either on different teams or out of the NFL it makes it easy to grade.

1st round (20) Ebenezer Ekuban, DE, North Carolina.

He is still in football although not in Dallas. He was a Cowboy from 1999-2003. He played one season in Cleveland before being traded to Denver. He is still with the Broncos signed for this season.

Stats with Dallas: 60 games 34 starts. 12.5 sacks.

Our next pick was at 55 in the 2nd round. Notatable players picked between 20-55. Antoine Winfield pick 23, Patrick Kearney pick 30, Al Wilson pick 31, Mike Rucker pick 38, and Dre Bly pick 41.

2nd round (55) Soloman Page, G, West Virginia.

Page played with us through the 2002 season before being let go and playing one season with San Diego.

Stats with Dallas: 59 games 51 starts.

Our next pick came in the 3rd round at pick 85. Notable players picked in between. Joey Porter pick 73, Gary Stills pick 75, Marty Booker pick 78, and Martin Gramatica pick 80.

3rd round (85) Dat Nguyen, ILB, Texas A&M.

Our first real big hit in the draft. Played with us his entire career from 1999-2005. Was forced to retire in 2006 because a neck injury failed to improve. Was hired in 2007 to be the assistant linebackers and defensive quality control coach.

Stats with Dallas: 90 games, 516 tackles, 6 sacks, 7 INT.

Our next pick came in the 4th round at pick 118. Only one player of note was picked in between and that is Aaron Smith at pick 108.

4th round (118) Wane McGarity, WR, Texas

This was mostly a wasted pick on a 5-8' WR. He played with Dallas through about half the 2001 season before being picked up by New Orleans. Didn't find another team after that.

Stats with Dallas: 39 punt returns for 407 yards and 2 TD, 38 receptions for 365 yards and 1 TD.

4th round (132) Peppi Zellner, DE, Fort Valley St.

Hung around in Dallas through the 2002 season then played 2003 in Washington and 2004 in Arizona, out of football after that.

Stats with Dallas: 57 games 17 starts, 6 sacks and 102 tackles.

6th round (193) MarTay Jenkins, WR, Nebraska-Omaha.

Never played with Dallas but did alright as a returner in Arizona through 2002.

7th round (229) Mike Lucky, TE, Arizona.

Had a unimpressive career. Played with Dallas through the 2002 season. Didn't play after that.

Stats with Dallas: 46 games 9 starts, 19 receptions for 143 yards and 1 TD.

7th round (243) Kelvin Garmon, G, Baylor.

Spent his first 2 seasons on the injured reserve but did start all 16 games in 2001. Had started the first 5 games of 2002 and then was traded to San Diego. Started 21 games in San Diego before signing with Cleveland where he started 8 games before being injured and retiring.

Looking back 10 years that is pretty bad. Really only two players amounted to much. Dat Nguyen was having a good career that got derailed by injuries and Garmon was a good enough guard.

Early Impressions

jack dein — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:16:52 -0000

The season is barely underway and already some problems have come up. The bullpen is a little suspect and left field could be a big problem.

However I have been very impressed with starting rotation I think that we made the right moves and the rotation should be good. I think that the infield is good and the outfield in center and right has been good. I think that Kotchman will be fine this season and while he may not hit 30 homeruns or steal any bases he does play good defense and should hit around .280 with 15 homeruns for the year.

If we need to make changes anywhere I think that our middle relief could be it. Their control has been suspect this year and I think Moylan needs some time at AAA to get things figured out again. Another place that could require a change is left field. Anderson has been very disapointing this year. He has not hit at all so far this season and is terrible on defense. Left field is a big problem because I don't think that we have any internal options to fill the void should we get rid of Anderson. Diaz is a good platoon player and Brandon Jones might be able to come up and be an okay player but in reality he is nothing more than a fourth outfielder on most teams. He doesn't hit for a good average and he doesn't hit for power. Trade options aren't that good either. Holliday is probably going to become available whenever the A's fall out of contention but he is a free agent at the end of the year and would take a lot of good prospects to get and we probably wouldn't be able to sign him at the end of the year. I have heard Aaron Rowands name brought up, and while I like him as a player he is not an option. He is owed $44 million through 2012 and we can't pay him that and we don't need him that long.

None of our minor leaguers are ready to come up yet. Heyward is at least 2 years away from being ready and Johnson might never become anything more than a power hitter who strikes out to much.

Overall though I think that this team should be able to compete all year. If we do make any trades it will involve some of our extra pitching that could net us a good bullpen arm.

Dallas 7 round mock draft

jack dein — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:51:47 -0000

I just finished my 7 for all 32 teams, a total of 256 picks. I did not do trades for any team because they are very hard to predict. I am just going to post the Cowboys draft but can add teams if needed.

2 round (51). Darcel McBath, S. Texas Tech. A ball hawk safety with good upside

3rd round (69). Cody Brown, DE, UConn. Will make the move from DE to OLB. Has good pass rush ability.

4th round (101). Garrett Reynolds, OT, North Carolina. A high upside project at LT

4th round (117). Herman Johnson, G, LSU. A big inside lineman who should provide good depth.

5th round (156). Jasper Brinkley, ILB, South Carolina. A big linebacker who could add depth and work on special teams, limited upside.

5th round (166). Terrance Knighton, DT, Temple. Is a guy could be a flex player, playing inside on passing downs and outside on running downs.

5th round (172). Demetrius Byrd, WR, LSU. A talented WR who looks the part and has solid upside.

6th round (197). Otis Wiley, S, Michigan St. Special teams player and backup at safety.

6th round (208). Spephen McGee, QB, Texas A&M. Has okay upside and doesn't have to be anything more than the 3rd QB this year. Could be a good option if we run the wildcat this year.

7th round (210). Donald Washington, CB, Ohio St. Probably won't be much this year but has good upside and good talent.

7th round (227). Marlon Favorite, DT, LSU. Projects as a big run stuffing nose tackle in a 3-4 defense.

Best draft class

jack dein — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:05:37 -0000

Over at ESPN they have a vote going on to decide what is the best draft class ever. There are 32 classes but I was really disapointed to see that only one Cowboys class made the list. It's set up similar to the NCAA college basketball bracket. The number 1 seed is the 1974 Stealers draft class. I really can't argue with that because four future Hall of Famers came out of that class. The only Cowboys class that made it was the 1975 class.

You all can take a look at the classes that they picked but personnaly there are 2 or 3 Cowboys classes that should be on there over some of the classes they picked.

What could have been

jack dein — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:58:52 -0000

With the talk of us needing offensive line help going on and many people blaming Adams for the problems last year I thought I would take a look back at when he was a free agent last year and take a different route. Before the start of the 2008 season Adams signed a 6 year deal to remain in Dallas for the remainder of his career.

If we wouldn't have resigned him and taken the route of drafting our next LT of the future here's what could have happened. In the 2008 draft there were 8 offensive tackles taken in the first round, but only one was drafted after we picked at 22. The tackles that were taken were Jake Long who went 1st to Miami, Ryan Clady who went 12th to Denver, Chris Williams who went 14th to Chicago, Branden Albert who went 15th to Kansas City, Gosder Cherilus who went 17th to Detroit, Jeff Otah who went 19th to Carolina, Sam Baker who went 21st to Atlanta, and Duane Brown who went 26th to Houston. We took Felix Jones at 22 and then traded back into the first round at 25 to take Mike Jenkins. If we wouldn't have resigned Adams we could have taken Brown at 25, but he gave up 11.5 sacks for Houston last year. Jake Long was not an option. To trade up 10 spots to take Clady would have cost a lot. Trading up for Chris Williams is possible but would have cost a lot also as would trading up for Albert and Cherilus. Even moving up to take Otah would have cost us our pick at 22. To make a trade that wouldn't have cost us our first round pick we could have traded this years first round pick to move to pick 20 and take Baker but Atlanta took him at 21 and they traded for that pick so we might have hoped that he would fall to 22. If we had moved it would have been trading either pick 22 last year and maybe not getting Jones or trading our first round pick this year and not getting Roy Williams. Now I know what some of you might be thinking why not wait until later to take our tackle. Of the tackles taken in rounds 2-7 only 3 played significant time. Anthony Collins went in the 4th round to Cincinnati and started 6 games, Carl Nicks went in the 5th round to the Saints and started 13 games but all of them at guard, and John Greco went in the 3rd round to the Rams and started 1 game. By the way of the 8 tackles taken in the first round only 3 started every game last year (Long, Clady, and Brown).

Suddenly Adams looks like a good player.

My fantasy team

jack dein — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:37:02 -0000

I did my draft a week ago and its a ten team league and i picked 7th in the first. It's a simple league with hitters getting points for hits, runs, walks, home runs, stolen bases, and RBI. While pitchers get points for innings, strikeouts, and lose points for hits, walks, and runs allowed. You have to have 5 starting pitchers and 2 closers.

C. Russell Martin

1B. Mark Teixeira

2B. Ian Kinsler

3B. Ryan Zimmerman

SS. Stephen Drew

OF. Carl Crawford, Alex Rios, and Alfonso Soriano

U. Miguel Cabrera

SP. Matt Cain, Cliff Lee, Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver, and Brandon Webb

RP. Francisco Cordero and Joakim Soria

Bench Mike Aviles, Adrian Beltre, Erik Bedard, Jair Jurrjens, and Brandon Morrow

New Outfield Option

jack dein — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:30:17 -0000

The Orioles finalized the contract with Ty Wiggington today. That leaves them with a crowded outfield and they already have a DH. That brings me to a guy that I think that we could get cheap and he would add a power bat to our lineup.

Luke Scott is going to be a man without a position this season. He is already signed for 2009 at $2.4M. He does have questions about whether he can hit left handed pitching or not but if he struggles we can always let Matt Diaz play against lefties. Last season was the first that he got over 400 at-bats and he performed well. He had a .257 average, a .336 OBP, and .472 SLG. In 475 at-bats he 23 home runs and 65 RBI. He had 54 extra base hits last year. He is also a left fielder having played in 106 games there last year. He's not a great fielder but he is serviceable. He's not terribly old at just 30 years old.

I think that one of Morton, Reyes, or Parr plus a prospect or two would be plenty to get him. The biggest reason I have brought this up is because we seem to have no interest in Dunn, and while we have had interest in Abreu for awhile it seems with his price this low if we really wanted him we would have signed him by now. I don't see the Cardinals as a trade option mostly because I think that they would want to much for Ludwick and they don't seem to want to trade him.

Braves offer contract to Glavine

jack dein — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:32:37 -0000

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090206&content_id=3805792&vkey=hotstove2008&fext=.jsp&partnerId=rss_mlb

The offer is for one year and between $1-2 million. There is also no incentives in this deal.

I have no problem with this as this would make him the 5th starter unless he completely flopped in spring training. I still think that this money could be better spent on finding a left fielder. This makes it a little less likely that we trade for Swisher unless we can get them to eat some of his salary.

2009 NL East offseason grades

jack dein — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:07:58 -0000

Since not much is going on now with player movement around the league I wanted to do my own grading of how I think the offseason has went for the five NL East teams so far this offseason.

We'll start with the Phillies who went 92-70 last season and won the World Series. They didn't have a quiet offseason but didn't add that many players either. They resigned Jamie Moyer for 2 years, signed Raul Ibanez to a 3 year contract, and signed Chan Ho Park for 1 year. They also extended Cole Hamels for 3 years. They also aquired catcher Ronny Paulino from Pittsburgh.

They had only five free agents this season. Pat Burrell, Rudy Seanez, Tom Gordon, So Taguchi, and Tadihito Iguchi.

While they lost one key guy on offense in Burrell he will be replaced with Ibanez. That will be a downgrade. While neither played good defense Burrell's power in the 5th spot will be missed as Ibanez who doesn't have bad power but isn't worth the 3 year $30 MM. contract he received. Gordon was getting old and wasn't that productive last year anyway. Seanez was useful and had a good year but isn't a huge loss. Taguchi was a bad pinch hitter last year and won't be missed, and Iguchi only played in 4 games with them last year.

Overall they only lost one good player in Burrell and replaced him Ibanez. While Ibanez won't put up as good of numbers as Burrell in this lineup behind Howard and Utley it won't be a big problem. Overall I give them a C+

Moving on to the New York Mets who finished at 89-73 last season and out of the playoffs. The Mets had a very busy week in December but have been quiet since. During that week they signed Francisco Rodriguez to a 3 year contract, and aquired J.J. Putz, Sean Green, and Jeremy Reed. They also made another trade that brought in Connor Robertson from the Diamondbacks. They also recently signed Tim Redding to a 1 year contract.

There free agents were Damion Easley, Moises Alou, Endy Chavez, Tony Armas Jr., Orlando Hernandez, Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, and Rincardo Rincon. In the trades they lost Aaron Heilman, Jason Vargas, and Scott Schoeneweis. They also non-tendered Ambiorix Burgos and Argenis Reyes.

They went all out to make their bullpen better in 2009. With Wagner going to miss the season they signed Rodriguez to fill the closer role and added Putz to take the setup role with Green for middle relief. They return pretty much the same offense. They entered the offseason needing starting pitching help and really haven't aquired anyone to help that although Redding could be a sleeper signing as he won 10 games on a bad Washington team last year. They could still resign Perez and that would help. Overall I give them a B+

Moving to the Florida Marlins who finished at 84-77 last season and in third place. The Marlins as usual were not big players on the free agent market. Their only real free agent signing was Scott Proctor. They did make a few trades though aquiring Leo Nunez from the Royals, Emilio Bonifacio, P.J. Dean, and Jake Smolinski from the Nationals, and Jose Ceda from the Cubs.

Their free agents were Dallas McPherson, Paul Lo Duca, Mark Hendrickson, Joe Nelson, and Arther Rhodes. Nelson and Rhodes will hurt the bullpen a lot. They lost through trade Mike Jacobs, Scott Olsen, Josh Willingham, and Kevin Gregg and released Matt Treanor.

This team lost a lot of bullpen depth along with their closer and didn't replace them. Proctor is used up, Nunez is good but probably not closer material, and I'm not sure if Ceda is ready for the majors yet. For me they lost to many players to have a record over .500 in 2009 and made themselves a non-contender. Overall they get a D-

Moving now to the Atlanta Braves who finished 72-90 last year and in forth place. The Braves came into this offseason with a lot of money to spend and a pitching staff to fix. They have made a few free agent signings including David Ross to a 2 year contract, Kenshin Kawakami to a 3 year contract, and Derek Lowe to a 4 year contract. They also made one trade bringing in Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan from the White Sox.

The Braves free agents were Mike Hampton, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Jorge Julio, and Will Ohman. They also lost through trade Tyler Flowers and Brent Lillibridge. It still possible that Glavine and Ohman come back.

Although they failed to aquire Jake Peavy and A.J. Burnett they have still had a good offseason. They still need to add an outfield bat but there is still time. Lowe, Kawakami, and Vazquez will make this an almost completely different rotation than what it was last year and we hope that different is better. Overall they get a B+

Moving on to the last place team from last year the Washington Nationals who finished at 59-102. When you are that bad you need help at many positions and the Nationals tried but failed to land many good players. They offered Mark Teixeira a massive contract but he wanted to win. They failed to sign anyone in free agency and only made one trade which netted them Scott Olson and Josh Willingham.

Their free agents were Aaron Boone, Cristian Guzman, Felipe Lopez, Rob Mackowiak, Odalis Perez, Tim Redding, Luis Ayala, and Ray King. They also lost through trade Emilio Bonifacio, P.J. Dean and Jake Smolinski.

They brought in a guy in Olson that should be a good starter and Willingham will give them a good bat in the outfield. Unlike the Marlins this team tried to make themselves better and although they failed to aquire Teixeira they still went after him. I think this team might actually make a run at fourth place in 2009 but they are still a long way from competing. Overall they get a C

That is my grading of the NL East's 2009 offseason so far. Feel free to agree or disagree.