SB Nation User Blog: stuart dean

Chisenhall moved out of bullpen

stuart dean — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:07:45 -0000

Role change (again): Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall is returning to Class A Kinston's every day lineup Wednesday. The Indians moved Chisenhall to the bullpen for two appearances because they felt they may need his help in Cleveland. Chisenhall, hitting .326/390/528 as a third baseman, had trouble adjusting to the pen. He still could hit his way to Cleveland this season because outside of Asdrubal Cabrera, nobody seems to be able to catch and hit at the same time.

This is an update from prior story.

Chisenhall moved to bullpen

stuart dean — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:22:28 -0000

Commentary from Ross Atkins:

The thinking [with a move to the bullpen] is he has a very impressive arm and is someone who we feel can get major league outs. He showed that in junior high and he should continue to show this in Single-A; the ability to do that. Travis Fryman told us that his mechanics are perfect and sees him as having the potential to be a high upside bullpen arm now. We do have some needs throughout the system for bullpen depth, so we are taking a look at Lonnie in that role to see if he could potentially help our major league team on the short term. He is not really intimidated by anybody or anything and should attack guys and come right after them with his fastball. However, we clearly view Lonnie as having the ability to one day be a corner bat. This is happening because he is more prepared to potentially help in the bullpen now then our other candidates Abner Abreu and Kelvin Diaz, so we are just taking a look at him in that capacity.

Full story here.

Sheffield released by Tigers

stuart dean — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:19:25 -0000

Sheffield released by Tigers

Another Cleveland.com-wanted move that Shapiro thankfully didn't make...

DETROIT -- The Detroit Tigers have released nine-time All-Star Gary Sheffield, who is one home run away from 500 for his career.

Detroit parted ways with the designated hitter Tuesday after a disappointing stay with the Tigers. The team was hopeful the 40-year-old Sheffield would be a powerful presence at the plate in the final season of the $28 million, two-year contract extension it gave him after acquiring him from the New York Yankees for prospects.

But he failed to deliver in large part because he often was injured.

The move comes a day after the Tigers acquired outfielder Josh Anderson from Atlanta, forcing the team to make some tough decisions about its roster a week ahead of opening the season in Toronto.

Sheffield hit .178 in 18 games this spring.

Imaginary FO Conversation

stuart dean — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:41:22 -0000

Intern answers Colletti’s call

Intern: “Marc, remember when Colletti called the other day asking about Casey Blake?”

Shapiro: “Of course I do, I told you to tell him that we would take either Meloan or Santana”.

Intern: “Well, I have some good news and I have some bad news."

Shapiro: "Whats the bad news?"

Intern: "The bad news is that I mistakenly said Meloan and Santana"

Shapiro: "That is bad, was he angry?"

Intern: "Well, actually no".

Shapiro: "Whats the good news?"

Intern: "He said yes"

Indians game re-runs

stuart dean — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:17:59 -0000

Is there something wrong with me?

Is anybody else out there taking occasional looks at some of STO's game re-runs? I was watching last night and my wife asked me if I thought more than one hundred people might be watching. It was quite clear by her air of resignation that the word "losers" could easily be substituted for "people". I kind of enjoy watching it when I'm freed of the angst-shackles of wondering how the game is going to turn out. Watching Fausto go against Beckett last night was pure theater and I could just enjoy it without wondering where I left the Maalox. Are there any other folks out there who feel the same way or do I need to let my wife affix a big "L" to my forehead?

Three thoughts

stuart dean — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:57:54 -0000

Two things that bode well and Jeter

There were 2 things that occurred last night that didn't necessarily affect the outcome but made me more sanguine about the post season.

Hafner hit a one-iron that had it been any lower would have gone through the wall. I don't think that it is any surprise to readers here that we need at least an 80% version of his Pronkness.

The bullpen, especially Rafael left and JLewis, got their feet wet in non-pressure situations. These guys are huge and I'm happy that they may have gotten some jitters out in this fashion.

Regarding Jeter, I lived in NYC and had endless debates that went like this:

Me: "I love Derek Jeter and would kill to have him be my shortstop but he is not a plus defender because he can't go to his left"

Them: "Yeah but how many rings does he have!"

Last night there were three singles through the middle of which a "gold glover" gets to at least one if not two. Jeter has no first step to his left and his cross-over footwork can be best described as an awkward skipping. Go look at the highlights - this is especially clear on one of Lofton's singles.

On Defense

stuart dean — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:17:04 -0000

Things not in the box score and Kenny

Two things that are astounding to me converged yesterday when I was at the Jake. The first is mainstream media's reliance on errors, or their lack, as a yardstick for measuring defense and that Indians' fans still think that Lofton was and is a good defensive outfielder. After having a friendly discussion with a friend Friday night who couldn't fathom why I would take Gutz, Sizemore or even Grissom's defense over the perpetually wrong-route running Lofton, we lost the game yesterday due to shoddy defense that started with Kenny.

In the second inning with no outs and a man on, the box score tells you that Alex Gordon doubled to left center and came around to score. What actually happened is Gordon hit a very catchable fly ball to left that, had Kenny ran the long leg of a right triangle instead of both of the other two legs, he would have easily had. This baserunner proved to be the difference in the game as Gordon came around to score.

In the third, German was credited with a hit when Laffey was slow to cover and slipped on the way to first. This was a hit but it should have been an out.

In the sixth, the box score tells you that Alex Gordon walked and then Gordon took second and German third on a wild pitch. The wild pitch was ball four allowing German to third but Gordon took second because VMart took a Sunday stroll in retrieving Laffey's errant missile. Not an error...

In the seventh, Pena scored and DeJesus went to third on a single to right. Either Gutz overthrew Garko or Laffey was out of position because Laffey cut the throw too close to home to stop Teahen from taking second. No error but bad "D".

Although only one of these non-error gaffes cost us a run, it is amazing to me that there was absolutely no mention (that I saw) in the PD this morning. If Cabrera's extra range had allowed him to get to a ball that nobody else could've gotten close to but he threw it away, we would have heard plenty.

There! Thank you for letting me get that off my chest...

Atkins Q&A with Stephanie Storm

stuart dean — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 13:44:45 -0000

Free Stephanie Storm!

Stephanie has a nice little interview with Atkins over at the Beacon Journal here. It has an interesting juxtaposition to Ocker's latest blustering "letters" rant that again manages to make dumb questions appear dumber. Now that the ABJ is losing Pluto, isn't it high time they jettisoned Shelly and replaced him with Stephanie?

Akron 07.26.07

stuart dean — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:46:12 -0000

I counted 12 scouts in the stands.

Fairly boring game but here's some observations.

Nottingham did a very good Cliff Lee imitation throwing only high-80's fastballs with predictable results. He seemed to be throwing harder than that but a scout told me he "topped out at 89".

Barton seems like an ungodly athlete. Very lanky with a good arm. He swung at the first pitch twice though and I did not get to see him run.

Goleski just LOOKS like a rf; big guy with a strong arm. With the disappointing years by RG, BB and "Trammel" Crowe, how tenuous is Lee May Jr's position in the organization?

"Trammel" had a few good ab's and made a Grady like catch - diving away from the plate in the RCF gap.

JBrown and Aubrey did not play.

AstroCab has a pretty swing but didn't do too much. It is weird seeing another Tribe ss wearing 13...

The guy who impressed me was Gimenez even though I left before he went yard. He had been described to me by a scout as another Garko: good bat & no position. He seems a lot more athletic than Garko making a few nice plays at 3b and moving pretty well. I think Casey Blake is a better comp.

It is a good squad but seem lethargic especially compared to the 03-04 squads but that could be the result of being down 8-0 after 1 at bat...

When I Knew I Belonged Part II

stuart dean — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:28:34 -0000

Ron Swoboda

"The truth is, I didn't belong, my being there was purely a fluke".

Outfielder Ron Swoboda played 10 years in Major League baseball, six of them for the New York Mets. Over the course of his career he maintained a batting average of .242 and hit 73 home runs. Signed off the University of Maryland campus in the Fall of 1963 by scout Pete Gebrian, he first played professionally in 1965 when he broke camp with the Mets. During that rookie year, he earned a spot in the lineup with a torrid first half "hitting fifteen homers, if I remember correctly" on his way to arguably his best year attaining season totals of 19 HRs and 50 RBI. He was an integral member of the Amazin' Mets of 1969 collecting half of his 52 RBI's in the last five weeks of the season and hitting .400 in the World Series where the Mets went on to be crowned the most unlikely of World Champions over the heavily-favored Baltimore Orioles. He even spoiled Steve Carlton's 19 strikeout performance on September 15 with 2 home runs including the game winner. It was with his glove, however, that he attained permanent deity status among the Met faithful. It was Ron's diving, sliding catch of Brooks Robinson's sinking liner in game 4 that saved the day for the New Yorkers en-route to a 10 inning 2-1 victory. The ever approachable and entertaining Ron is now a broadcaster with the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs and greatly enjoys his spring training stints with the Mets in his dual roles as both celebrity and coach.

Ron did not feel like he should have made the team at the end of Spring Training in 1965 because he shouldn't have been with the team. He made the trip north with the parent club only due to a long-since discarded major league roster rule. "Back then there was in effect a clause that was similar to the Rule #5 of today and was known as the `First Year Rule'." After a certain amount of service time, teams had to keep you with the big league club or risk other teams drafting you off of the roster. The Mets had lost Paul Blair to the Orioles this way the year before and were so upset about it that they kept four of us: myself, Danny Napolean, Jim Bethke and this little lefty name of Tug McGraw. So if it hadn't been for that silly quirk, I wouldn't have been there at all!"

Although Ron may have benefited from the lack of expectations due to his quasi-interloper status on the roster, it took a strong first half for manager Casey Stengel - spending his last year on the dugout step, to decide he belonged in the lineup, it only took Ron a game or two to decide he was in the big leagues to stay. "I really felt like I belonged after my first game against the Dodgers. During my first (pinch-hit) at-bat against Don Drysdale, I stroked a slider of his pretty well." Unfortunately, "I hit it right at second baseman Jim Lefebvre who went on to be that season's Rookie of the Year;", but to Ron it felt good, it felt right. Confirmation of his new status had to wait only to the next at-bat in game two against the late Turk Farrell. "He threw me a fastball and I hit it out for my first hit - a home run. As I rounded the bases, I thought `Yep I can definitely do this'."

During the summer of 1965, Ron Swoboda shouldn't have been in the major leagues and although he proved to the world he belonged with a torrid first half, it was a loud out that he hit off of a Hall of Fame Pitcher right at a Rookie of the Year second baseman that was the moment "When I Knew I Belonged"