SB Nation User Blog: playingwithfire

Their Grade Now

playingwithfire — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:03:06 -0000

Let's do some group thinking. Post prospects in the comment section who has seen their stock raise/drop this year and let the rest of the community decide what grade he should be right now. This should be fun.

FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER

really, the content of this post will be in the comment section.

Please no!

playingwithfire — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:06:18 -0000

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/07/yankees-eyein-1.html

Should the Jarrod Washburn deal fall apart, the Yankees are exploring an alternative in Brian Bannister for Melky Cabrera. Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star writes,

"Nothing appears imminent, but the framework for a deal seems to exist because New York has already shown a willingness to part with [Melky] Cabrera. Add this: The Royals nearly obtained Cabrera in a trade-deadline swap two years ago for veteran outfielder Reggie Sanders before Sanders suffered an injury."

In this scenario, David Dejesus moves to left to make room for Cabrera in center. And Mark Teahen would get back to his natural position at first base. Cabrera is making $461,200, only $40,200 more than Bannister, and both are set to reach arbitration after this season.

The Yanks prefer Washburn but are in negotiations after the Mariners rejected an offer of Cabrera and Kei Igawa for the lefty veteran. Seattle might want Brett Gardner as well as for the Yankees to take on all of Washburn's $14MM contract through next year.

Matt Sulentic

playingwithfire — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:54:28 -0000

After a horrible 2007 in the low As. Matt Sulentic got promoted to A+ nonetheless this year. And the hitter friendly Cal league seems to really help as he's hitting a solid .294/.367/.477 line so far this year for Stockton. Strikeout is still a tad high for Matt. But after being downgraded to a C this year, what do you think, assuming he keeps this up, his grade should be by the end of the year?

and other general thoughts.

Petition to (at least try to) Sign Barry Bonds

playingwithfire — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:32:45 -0000

I mean I know all of the steroid/bad teammate/not good for news yada yada. But hey, look at it this way.

Steroid list include guys like Giambi, Paul Byrd, whoever that good RP for the Indians is who keeps trying to kill baby Jesus, Miguel Tejada... they are all still in the league

Bad teammate include guys like Milton Bradley/Gary Sheffield/Jose Guillen, they are all still in the league

Not good for the press crew include any international player that don't speak good English, the rare white guy that's too shy to speak(looking at you Greinke) and the "you know" crew, you know? They all still have a job.

Now, counting out low PA folks like Tupman(2.000 OPS!), Greinke(1.667 OPS), Aviles and Bannister(1.000OPS). Our team leader in OPS is Miguel Olivo(who I'd argue to this point hasn't been a consistent regular) at .299/.326/.555. If you want to set a AB limit to 150 or above, it goes all the way down to Teahen at .258/.339/.409. Which is (cough) below league average for a corner OF.

Now Bonds' LOWEST OPS tracing back all the way to his last year with the Pirates(1992) was .999 in 2006 when he hits 26 HRs in less than 400 ab. And you know even with a little regression, he can still get on base quite a bit. And if he can handle 110 games last year at LF, I'll be darned if he can't handle 120-130 at DH for the Royals when he doesn't have to run on what used to be his legs half the game.

Now I know all the negative press we could be getting. But Bonds will 1. help the team win more games 2. draw more fans. And if he's desperate, he might sign for the rest of the year for about 5-7 millions, and that's tremendous value. And it's not like he's blocking anybody at DH.

Discuss?

Berroa traded

playingwithfire — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:32:12 -0000

"Dodgers acquired infielder Angel Berroa and cash from the Royals for infielder Juan Rivera.

Berroa will head to Triple-A Las Vegas for now. The 30-year-old former Rookie of the Year was hitting .291/.323/.519 with 10 homers for Triple-A Omaha. He'll be an option as a part-timer if the Dodgers' infield doesn't get healthy soon. The cash picked up by the Dodgers in the deal will likely cover the vast majority of the approx. $3.5 million he was still owed under the teams of his four-year deal. In Rivera, the Royals are picking up a non-prospect. The 21-year-old was hitting .241/.267/.345 in 10 games for low Single-A Great Lakes."

I mean I'm all for getting rid of Angel Berroa, but come on, if we are covering a lot of the salary, at least get a prospect for him, it's not like the Dodgers has a bad farm system(cough cough Astros). I can't find anything too positive about this Juan Rivera character besides the fact that he shares a name with a former Expos(BEST baseball organization ever! And yes, I was that Royal Expos fan if you are wondering) OF and he's a SS. His career number certainly don't look good, looks like a minor league fodder to me.

-1 for Dayton for not getting a spec out of Angel.

Kyle Davies up, replacing Tomko in the rotation

playingwithfire — Fri, 30 May 2008 19:30:18 -0000

Tomko to the pen.

Honestly, I don't think Davies with his laser straight fastball and his confidence level at Greinke's level 2 years ago is going to change anything. But then again, it'll be pretty hard to do worse than Tomko/Bale/whoever else we threw out there for our #5 starter. And he's still young and has decent stuff(though I'd argue that both Tomko and Bale has above average stuff). At this point, with our #5 starter a crapshoot all year, why not? Here's hoping I'm wrong and that Davies' mediocre k rate/high walk rate/flyball tendency don't get to him this time around. Seriously, 4.8ish ERA would be awesome from him.

Why doesn't Costa get a chance?

playingwithfire — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:28:09 -0000

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Shane%20Costa&pos=OF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=430573

Shane Costa is hitting .304/.348/.527 with 9 HRs in AAA, our offense

Our offense is: Last in runs, last in HR, 2nd to last in Slg(Nationals slug worse), that's 3 things that Costa could potentially improve over somebody like Gathright or Gload. Now we probably should keep Gathright because of his speed and as a backup OF. Gload on the other hand, isn't that great of a bat for 1B or corner OF at his best and is putrid this year. Butler has yet to make an error at 1B this year, now watching him play, he's not ever going to be an all star defender at first, but as long is he's not absolutely horrible(think Frank Thomas, Dimitri Young or David Ortiz) his bat should(I hope) more than make up for his range at first.

What do you guys think?

Lincecum vs. Cain vs. Gallardo

playingwithfire — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:21:01 -0000

I was talking trade earlier in the day involving those 3. And I thought it was interesting what people would think is the best pitcher of the 3. Cain and Lincecum are somewhat similar pitcher but Gallardo is a different style. Right now I think Cain and Lincecum are slightly a level up from Gallardo(because of their "stuff") but I'm not sure and that's why I want to get a feel from the community here.

Yovani Gallardo
Plus: Good team, good defense behind, good control, good breaking ball
Minus: Not a power pitcher

Tim Lincecum
Plus: Good fastball, good curveball, deceptive delivery, good home park
Minus: Bad defense, bad run support, not very good control, rely on fastball too much

Matt Cain
Plus: Plus fastball and curve, with slider and change showing potential, big solid body with an easy delivery, good home park
Minus: Bad defense, bad run support, not very good control, rely on fastball too much

Poll

Who's going to have the best career?

Matt Harrison

playingwithfire — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:02:25 -0000

So what exactly is up with him? Hasn't pitched since the trade? Is he officially shut down for the year? I searched but can't find anything. I don't even know what level he's assigned to.

Anybody got infos on him? And what injury was it exactly, shoulder problem?

300 character...

Um boom ba bay
Um boom ba bay
Um Um boom ba bay bay

Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure
That burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets

Um ba ba bay
Um ba ba bay
Dee day duh
Ee day duh
thats ok

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out!
Pray tomorrow takes me higher
Pressure on people
People on streets

Day day day
da da dup bup bup
Okay

Chippin' around
kick my brains round the floor
These are the days
It never rains but it pours
Ee do bay bup
Ee do bay ba bup
Ee do bup
Bay bup
People on streets
Dee da dee da day
People on streets
Dee da dee da dee da dee da

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out!
Pray tomorrow takes me high high higher
Pressure on people
People on streets

Turned away from it all
Like a blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with love
But it's so slashed and torn
Why why why?

(Love, love, love, love)

Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can't we give love that one more chance?
Why can't we give love give love give love?
Give love give love give love give love give love give love?
Cause love's such an old fashioned lie
And love dares you to care
For the people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way
Of caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
this is ourselves

Under Pressure
Under Pressure
Pressure

Wily Mo Pena

playingwithfire — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 23:00:26 -0000

Well, to those that actually thought about trading some useful parts of us for Wily Mo, he cleared waiver today. I don't know why, but I thought we should have made a claim. No biggie though, more than likely, Wily Mo isn't going to do a whole lot the rest of the year. And we have a OF overflow problem.

I never liked the idea of getting Wily Mo and paying anything more than "nothing" anyway. He could be a superstar, but he's had so many problems hitting for contact that I don't think he can ever be more than a 4th OF.