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Soup
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881st Post Thu Sep 11th, 2008 10:07 pm | |
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| That game last night might be enough to spring them into a nice win streak going. I don't know who's on their schedule but I would love to see them win it over Boston.
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13 years and counting... Did you like those 3 Super Bowls?! I hope you did... ~ Jerry Jones - GM Dallas Cowboys
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Ric
Bayou Bum
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882nd Post Fri Sep 12th, 2008 02:24 pm | |
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THE NEWBERG REPORT
Dustin Nippert's last two starts: 12 innings, one run, 11 hits, four walks,
11 strikeouts. He should get three more starts.
Like Nelson Cruz (.316/.409/.614), Nippert is out of options and making a strong case to be in the plans for 2009. Neither would clear waivers again, and even if they did, they wouldn't have to accept an outright assignment.
But if Cruz and Nippert keep this up, there's no question that they'll still be on the 40-man roster when the team shows up in Surprise in February, barring a trade.
The bullpen last night: 12 up, 12 down. No hits, no walks, three strikeouts, 33 strikes (72 percent) out of 46 pitches (10.5 per inning) for Jamey Wright, Bill White, and Frankie Francisco (who celebrated his 29th birthday in what probably feels to him like a haunted house). Solid.
With 15 games to go, the Rangers are three games short of a .500 record, and
4.5 games ahead of Oakland in their effort to hang onto second place in the division.
What do Wright, Vicente Padilla, Josh Rupe, Frank Catalanotto, Ramon Vazquez, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, and Milton Bradley have in common?
They're the only eight players out of the Rangers' 29 active big leaguers who didn't play for Oklahoma or Frisco this year. One local journalist points out that the rest could be in line for championship rings in the next few days, as the RedHawks and RoughRiders are each knotted at 1-1 in their best-of-five league title series, each coming home for tonight's Game Three and the balance of their series.
In fact, Davis, Joaquin Benoit, Matt Harrison, Warner Madrigal, Luis Mendoza, Taylor Teagarden, and Hank Blalock suited up for both Oklahoma and Frisco this season.
But Benoit and Blalock and several others may have to campaign hard to land the bling, as director of minor league operations John Lombardo notes that service time with the club and "significant" contributions will be key factors in the determination of who gets rewarded -- though the organization will err on the side of the player.
RedHawks righthander Tommy Hunter will face Sacramento in Oklahoma City tonight, while RoughRiders righthander Michael Schlact is set to face Northwest Arkansas tonight in Frisco.
Should Frisco's series go the distance, lefthander Derek Holland would apparently get the decisive Game Five start on Sunday. However, if Game Four gets washed out on Saturday, as expected, the Riders could theoretically throw Holland in the rescheduled Game Four and come back with righthander Neftali Feliz in a Game Five.
According to at least one local report, it's possible that Hunter, Wes Littleton, Max Ramirez, and Travis Metcalf could join the big league roster once Oklahoma's playoff run ends.
Hunter, in his first full pro season, is already up to 180.2 innings pitched, counting his playoff work. The regular season leader in the minor leagues, Tulsa lefthander Keith Weiser, threw 179.2 innings.
After logging 117.1 innings as a University of Alabama freshman, Hunter threw 124.2 innings last year (107 for the Crimson Tide and 17.2 with Spokane after signing). He's a horse.
This was buried in a blog this morning by a local reporter, but is worth
noting: the Rangers will return bullpen coach Jim Colborn to his Pacific Rim scouting position on a full-time basis after the season. Texas will have a new bullpen coach in 2009.
Teagarden in three weeks with Frisco: .169/.279/.305, four extra-base hits and six RBI in 59 at-bats.
Teagarden in two weeks with Texas: .385/.429/.962, seven extra-base hits and
11 RBI in 26 at-bats.
From Wednesday's report, on the subject of Teagarden's hot streak: "[E]ven when that .350/.350/.850 line comes back to earth, Teagarden will probably start to add some walks to the ledger, as he always does. He's going to reach base."
Last night: two walks and a double in four trips.
This stunned me: When Brandon Boggs logged his seventh assist on Saturday, it was the club's 29th outfield assist of the year -- but Texas had 35 last year. That has to be a function of far fewer baserunners trying to take an extra base off Rangers outfielders this season. Big difference between the strength and accuracy of the arms Texas has in the outfield this year, compared to 2007.
Madrigal is getting the chance this month to audition for the Rangers'
eighth-inning role. In his last five outings, the 24-year-old has thrown
4.1 scoreless innings, scattering two hits and no walks while fanning one.
Ian Kinsler's sports hernia repair procedure was conducted yesterday and went well. Doug Mathis had surgery on Wednesday to remove an inflamed bursa sac from his throwing shoulder. Both are expected to resume baseball activities in six to eight weeks.
Bill James predicted in the winter, while Hamilton was still with Cincinnati, that he would hit .305/.382/.598 with 31 home runs and 71 RBI in 410 at-bats in 2008. (Regarding that RBI projection, remember that Hamilton primarily led off for the Reds last year.) Hamilton is now hitting
.306/.374/.546 with 31 home runs and 124 RBI in 562 at-bats.
Bradley needs 32 plate appearances over the Rangers' final 15 games to qualify for the American League batting title. He's currently hitting .32718, trailing only Dustin Pedroia's .32831. Bradley has played twice in the last six games, but didn't finish either game. His latest maladies have been a lower back strain and a sore left wrist, but he's expected to play tonight.
Only 11 rookies with at least 250 plate appearances have had a higher slugging percentage this decade than Davis's .538. Hard to imagine someone topping the .634 slug that Milwaukee slugger Ryan Braun compiled in 2007.
Eighteen-year-old Korean righthander Tae-Kyung Ahn threw a bullpen session for Colborn and pitching Andy Hawkins in Seattle on Tuesday. Ahn, whom Texas signed for a reported six figures in August, will report to Instructs in Surprise this month. So will I. Can't wait.
Baseball America named outfielder Mike Bianucci the number 19 prospect in this summer's Cape Cod League, where the Auburn product was tied for second in the league with five home runs and 19 RBI at the time that he left the Cotuit Kettleers to sign with the Rangers for $175,000. The eighth-rounder went on to hit .316/.386/.535 for Spokane before breaking his hand shortly before the Northwest League champions got their playoff run underway.
Reuters ran a story on Monday titled "Lehman meeting with buyers for
Neuberger: Report." The phone never rang.
I took 102.1 FM ("The Edge") off of my radio presets in the car Wednesday because the afternoon drive DJ talked over the final 15 or 20 seconds of "Where the Streets Have No Name," one of the great song endings ever recorded. It was a "Heidi" moment, smaller scale. Irredeemable.
Dominican Summer League righthander Cristian Zapata was among 12 minor leaguers suspended 50 games by the league a week ago after testing positive for steroids. The 19-year-old was 0-2, 7.44 in two starts and 18 relief appearances for the DSL squad this season, with 45 walks in 52 innings.
Former Rangers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez hit his 30th and 31st home runs of the year last night. His teammate and brother, former Rangers farmhand Edgar Gonzalez, hit his sixth homer. The last time brothers homered as teammates in the same big league game was September 18, 2000, when Vladimir and Wilton Guerrero did so for Montreal. Bengie and Jose Molina homered in the same game as opponents on July 31, 2005.
It was the first time the Gonzalez brothers had ever homered in the same pro game. Adrian (age 26) and Edgar (age 30), both of whom entered pro ball in 2000, played on different teams in the New York-Penn League in 2000 and in the Pacific Coast League in 2005, but never against each other. They'd never played in the same game until the Padres purchased Edgar's contract in May, and last night was obviously a big one for the brothers.
Milwaukee signed Mike Lamb, though he won't be eligible for the playoffs if he helps the Brewers get there. The club also designated Laynce Nix for assignment -- to clear space for a successful waiver claim of reliever Todd Coffey -- but if Nix clears waivers, he'll have the right to decline an outright assignment since he was outrighted before (by the Brewers in December).
The Grand Prairie AirHogs of the independent American Association traded infielder David Espinosa (who would have been a Ranger if Kenny Rogers hadn't vetoed a trade to the Reds in July 2002) to the Camden Riversharks of the independent Atlantic League for a player to be named.
My final weekly MLB.com Top 20 Rangers Prospects column of the season is up at http://tinyurl.com/6ohssq. I'll update the rankings monthly between now and April.
____________________
All I ask is a chance to prove
that money can't make me happy.
"There are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary. And there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance."
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Mark
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883rd Post Fri Sep 12th, 2008 02:31 pm | |
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I've seen enough of Teagarden to go into '09 with him as my primary catcher. I'd also be satisfied with Ramirez as my backup and a part time DH.
The Rangers should actively shop both Laird and Salty in the offseason to see what they'll bring.
____________________
The Sulphur Springs Wildcats are the 2008 4A Div II Texas State Football Champs!!! Go Cats!
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LEB
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884th Post Fri Sep 12th, 2008 03:41 pm | |
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Mark wrote: I've seen enough of Teagarden to go into '09 with him as my primary catcher. I'd also be satisfied with Ramirez as my backup and a part time DH.
The Rangers should actively shop both Laird and Salty in the offseason to see what they'll bring.
+1
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LEB
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885th Post Fri Sep 12th, 2008 04:14 pm | |
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Ric wrote: THE NEWBERG REPORT
Dustin Nippert's last two starts: 12 innings, one run, 11 hits, four walks,
11 strikeouts. He should get three more starts.
Like Nelson Cruz (.316/.409/.614), Nippert is out of options and making a strong case to be in the plans for 2009. Neither would clear waivers again, and even if they did, they wouldn't have to accept an outright assignment.
But if Cruz and Nippert keep this up, there's no question that they'll still be on the 40-man roster when the team shows up in Surprise in February, barring a trade.
But Benoit and Blalock and several others may have to campaign hard to land the bling, as director of minor league operations John Lombardo notes that service time with the club and "significant" contributions will be key factors in the determination of who gets rewarded -- though the organization will err on the side of the player.
Bradley needs 32 plate appearances over the Rangers' final 15 games to qualify for the American League batting title. He's currently hitting .32718, trailing only Dustin Pedroia's .32831. Bradley has played twice in the last six games, but didn't finish either game. His latest maladies have been a lower back strain and a sore left wrist, but he's expected to play tonight.
1. Keep Nippert and Cruz. Maybe the light bulb came on and they "get it."
2. Benoit had a bad start, but really only one awful outing since March. If the price is right, I think you keep him. RP's ERA are misleading. You can have one game where you give up five runs in an inning. Then pitch eight great games in a row of shutout ball, but your ERA is still 5.00.
3. Bradley has been a great bargain but I don't think you give him the multi year contract that he will be seeking. Give him one year with lots of incentives so he could make 10-million bucks if he reaches certain marks. But remember, he might play 120 games this year, which he has exceeded only once in his career and never played more than 140. This is not Cal Ripkin. He is fragile. And although he has been good in the clubhouse, that potential of his self destruction is always there. Had he not been stopped from going after the KC broadcaster, who knows what would have happened?
4. I don't think you pick up the 6-mil option for Hank. He's not tearing up the league right now and he's had two strait years with a lot of injuries and the chances of him playing third base again are not very good.
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Ric
Bayou Bum
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886th Post Fri Sep 12th, 2008 09:14 pm | |
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It just took me about eight seconds to log my daily vote for Mark Holtz and two others from the group including Eric Nadel, Tom Grieve, Josh Lewin, Norm Hitzges, and Steve Busby (and about 200 others) for the 2009 Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence. You may vote once every day in September at the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s website.
Go to http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/awards/frick_2008/vote.jsp to devote your own eight seconds to the effort.
Jamey
____________________
All I ask is a chance to prove
that money can't make me happy.
"There are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary. And there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance."
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LEB
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887th Post Fri Sep 12th, 2008 11:22 pm | |
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| I voted for Skip Caray, Dizzy Dean & Tim McCarver.
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Ric
Bayou Bum
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888th Post Sat Sep 13th, 2008 07:28 am | |
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I voted Skip, Dizzy and Mark
I can still see Dizzy climbing into the booth with Pee Wee Reese.. The Wabash Cannonball & Falstaff Beer.....
____________________
All I ask is a chance to prove
that money can't make me happy.
"There are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary. And there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance."
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Ric
Bayou Bum
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889th Post Sat Sep 13th, 2008 06:00 pm | |
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If you didn’t watch Friday’s Ranger game, not only did you miss Matt Harrison’s complete-game shutout, you missed Tom Grieve’s withering impersonation of Geraldo Rivera: “I’m gonna be on YouTube!”
Stars of the Day:
Oklahoma: Kea Kometani / Casey Benjamin, Max Ramirez, Ben Harrison
Frisco: Julio Borbon, Chad Tracy
AAA: at Oklahoma 5, Sacramento 8 (Sacto leads best-of-five 2-1)
Loss: Hunter
In five innings, the River Cats pinned six runs on Tommy Hunter, who hadn’t allowed more than four in a start since mid-August (against the Red Sox). Wes Bankston and Brooks Conrad took him deep. Kea Kometani pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th.
Max Ramirez (.241/.371/.621) hit a solo homer in the 7th, doubled, singled, and walked. Ben Harrison (.333/.500/.583) went 2-3 with a walk, and Casey Benjamin (.400/.475/.743) walked and tripled.
Oklahoma must win the next two. Brian Gordon takes the mound at noon Saturday
Finally, I must take issue with Oklahoma manager Bobby Jones, who described the River Cats as having “a lot of scrappy players.” Sacramento is batting .332/.372/.619 and averaging three homers per playoff game. David Eckstein is scrappy. The River Cats are not scrappy.
AA: at Frisco 3, Arkansas 10 (Arkansas leads best-of-five 2-1)
Loss: Schlact
Michael Schlact’s six strong innings against the Missions last week became a distant memory almost from the get-go. Arkansas chased him with two out in the 2nd after scoring five runs on five hits and a couple of walks. Hank Conger’s double off reliever Jared Hyatt added two more runs to Schlact’s ledger. The quintet of Bannister, Hodges, Garr, Diaz, and Hamilton pitched one scoreless inning each.
Julio Borbon (.292/.370/.542) hit a solo homer in the 6th and an RBI single in the 7th. Chad Tracy singled and drove in the other run with a 1st-inning double.
Saturday’s game has been preemptively postponed by rain. Derek Holland will start Game 4 on Sunday.
Scott Lucas
newbergreport.com
____________________
All I ask is a chance to prove
that money can't make me happy.
"There are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary. And there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance."
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Ric
Bayou Bum
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890th Post Sat Sep 13th, 2008 10:24 pm | |
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THE NEWBERG REPORT
I ask this not under the influence of Kool-Aid.
There's no question that priority one (and two and three) is to fix this club's pitching, whether that's done internally or via trade or through free agency.
The defense needs improvement as well, but that's not nearly as imperative.
The main questions as far as the lineup is concerned, really, have more to do with how and where to fit everyone in a limited number of spots than anything else. It's not so much a matter of wondering where we're going to find someone to fill a trouble spot.
Like it is with the pitching staff.
But here's the question.
And again: Not Kool-Aid-induced.
Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla will be back, and both playing for contracts, essentially.
Scott Feldman has made four fewer starts than Millwood or Padilla. Feldman has more quality starts than either of them. He's getting one more chance this afternoon before he's removed from the rotation for the final two weeks, as a concession to his workload.
Matt Harrison has basically been alternating between strong efforts and subpar ones, but when he's been good, he's been really good. Last night's complete-game shutout was the first by a Rangers rookie since R.A. Dickey in 2003, and the stingiest (five hits) since Edwin Correa (three hits) in 22 years. The 22-year-old is 6-1, 3.93 ERA in his last eight starts.
Dustin Nippert, in the last three of his four starts since a mid-August transition to the rotation, has a 2.08 ERA. He's commanding his formidable stuff more often that not. And he's out of options.
Brandon McCarthy, in the first three of his four starts since returning, posted a 2.25 ERA. He's obviously going to get a thousand chances, and his work in the last few weeks has been more encouraging than at any time in 2007.
I'm not saying that we can expect five of those six to make up a contending rotation. Far from it.
My question to you is, if Texas adds a starter to the top of the rotation this winter, which two of those six, at this rate, are you looking to replace?
There are others to consider as well. But Eric Hurley and Luis Mendoza and Kason Gabbard and Doug Mathis and Tommy Hunter and A.J. Murray, all of whom made starts for Texas this year, have options remaining and could use more seasoning. Derek Holland and Neftali Feliz lead a wave of young starters that are going to enter the picture soon, but certainly not in April.
Chances are, as long as they're healthy, Feldman and Nippert and McCarthy will be on the big league staff when the 2009 season begins. And is there any way at this point to imagine Harrison starting the season on the farm?
Since his call to the big leagues on July 8, the only pitchers with more big league wins than Harrison's eight are Cliff Lee (11), A.J. Burnett (nine), and C.C. Sabathia (nine).
Don't misunderstand me. The reason I devoted entire reports to Roy Halladay, Scott Kazmir, Zack Greinke, Matt Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez over the last few weeks is that I'd like to see Texas trade for a starting pitcher that would settle in as this team's number one, if the price is right.
I'm not averse to the philosophy that worked here 10 years ago, when the Rangers relied on a rotation of workhorses without a true number one, and reached October three years out of four. I'd buy into that strategy before throwing something approaching nine figures at a pitcher on the wrong side of 30.
But give me a Matt Cain, let me imagine four behind him a couple years from now that could include the best of Holland and Feliz and Harrison and Hurley and McCarthy and Feldman and Nippert and Mathis and Hunter, with a wave moving into the upper levels of the farm system featuring Michael Main and Blake Beavan and Neil Ramirez and Omar Poveda and Martin Perez and Wilfredo Boscan and Kasey Kiker and Robbie Ross and Thomas Diamond and Fabio Castillo and Tim Murphy and Kyle Ocampo and Wilmer Font and Carlos Pimentel and Kennil Gomez, minus a few who were traded in deals for Cain and whoever else, and then, yeah, you can serve me up a tall, ice-cold pitcher of Kool-Aid.
But as for 2009, I'm not sure who out of Millwood, Padilla, Feldman, Harrison, Nippert, and McCarthy I expect not to have jobs to lose in camp.
Think Atlanta might regret trading Mark Teixeira? Casey Kotchman is hitting
.183/.306/.237 for the Braves. Stephen Marek has been OK, not great, for AA Mississippi (3.21 in 10 relief appearances, 11/6 K/BB in 14 innings), and he's 25 years old. Would the Braves have been better off with the first-round pick (or a second if Baltimore ends up signing him) and supplemental first-rounder that they would have gotten by keeping Teixeira for the balance of the season and then losing him to free agency?
Meanwhile, think about how much more we all think of Harrison, Feliz, Elvis Andrus, and Beau Jones today than we did just six months ago. Even if Jarrod Saltalamacchia hasn't progressed quite as much, he's certainly a much better bet going forward than Kotchman.
If I could add any position player this off-season, and availability weren't an issue, I think my number one priority would be Mark DeRosa. He could play third base for a year and then settle in as a 450-at-bat player all over the field after that, and add another tremendous leader to the clubhouse.
But there's no chance he's available. DeRosa is second on the Cubs with 83 RBI, has an OPS over .850, and has 20 home runs after going deep 10 times for Chicago in 2007. He's under contract for $5.5 million in 2009, the final season of his three-year, $13 million deal with the Cubs.
Nobody in 53 years has had more than the five home runs Taylor Teagarden has hit in his first nine big league games. Others to hit five in nine: Graig Nettles (1967-68), Sam Horn (1987), Carlos Delgado (1993-94), Mark Quinn (1999), and Shelley Duncan (2007).
Michael Young said yesterday he expects to have at least one surgery on his right hand in the off-season. He'll have an MRI next week on his right ring finger (he suffered a broken bone on his knuckle on July 28) and his right wrist (a cyst that surfaced last year is reportedly no longer responding to cortisone injections).
Joaquin Benoit is still experiencing shoulder soreness. It's unclear whether he'll pitch again this season, but the club hasn't shut him down yet. He'll reportedly see a doctor when the club gets back to Texas next week.
Milton Bradley is back in today's lineup, as Texas has just gotten underway, hoping to wins its sixth out of nine. Scott Feldman takes the hill for the final time in 2008, at least as a starter.
Whether his next start will come in the first week of April would seem to be a lock, but the way a few others have stepped up the last few times through the rotation, I'm having a hard time getting a gut feel on what the starting five might look like when the 2009 season begins -- whether Texas adds a premium starter to the mix or not.
____________________
All I ask is a chance to prove
that money can't make me happy.
"There are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary. And there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance."
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stemyn
Waiting for my tickets
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891st Post Sun Sep 14th, 2008 03:39 am | |
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This is going to be an interesting off season. A lot of tough decisions to make.
1. Catcher. I hear a lot of Teagarden talk. Agree. He needs to be on the major league roster. I keep Laird with him. Trade Salty. Ramirez 3rd receiver, backup at 1st plus DH.
2. Bradley. I was on the band wagon for a multi-year for him. Mind changed with his non-availability this last month. Before that it was not that bad.
3. Blalock. I keep him for the $6 mil. Let Davis play 3rd for a year. That allows you to see what he will do in his last year, while really not hurting your team. He has shown some power this last week.
4. Cruz. Think he has to stay. Outfield would be Murphy, Hamilton and Cruz. MAYBE Byrd as your 4th, but I am not sold on him. I see him and Gary Matthews Jr through the same glasses. MAYBE Boggs as your 4th. Open competition actually in spring training.
5. Closer. Francisco goes in with the upper hand. He is more your typical closer than CJ. But spring training has to be a spot to try several of the closer nominees.
6. Starting rotation. This is the toughest job facing JD this winter. Wow. I do not want the responsibility of making the decisions. But, if you keep Millwood and Padilla, they are in your rotation. They make way too much to be in your bullpen. Harrison needs to be in the rotation. After that, I am open for suggestions. McCarthy, Feldman, Nippert.... all have some upside. But, do not keep all of them at the expense of losing a chance at an ace. If you knock Harrison back to the number four, so what.
I am gonna sit back and watch.
____________________
People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby
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Mark
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892nd Post Sun Sep 14th, 2008 03:54 am | |
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George, I agree on all points, except that instead of blowing the 6 mil on Blalock, I'd keep that money and have it available to devote to the pitcher that I might want to pursue. Blalock's history over about the last four seasons is that he is either injured or a second half disaster.
I can go either way on Laird (because he is a talented player that plays the game the right way), but I want to have both Teagarden and Ramirez on my '09 roster. Send Ramirez to winter ball and let him learn first base. Trade away Salty before the rest of the league figures out that he ain't all that great.
Tell every starter that they will have to earn their roster spots in the spring. Performance speaks.
I like the way that Bradley battles at the plate and I like the positive influence that he's had on this '08 team, but there is no way in hell I'd ever give him more than a one year contract. You just can't trust his body.
____________________
The Sulphur Springs Wildcats are the 2008 4A Div II Texas State Football Champs!!! Go Cats!
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gumpbowl
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893rd Post Sun Sep 14th, 2008 04:57 am | |
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| Do they allow contracts to change based on injury. Like the Cowboys were trying to do with Galloway? Maybe incentives for games played for Bradley? I have liked the way he approachs the game when he has been able to be out there.
____________________
May this be the best day of your life until tomorrow!!!!
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Ric
Bayou Bum
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894th Post Sun Sep 14th, 2008 07:39 am | |
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That's true, BUT.. if you decide to give Bradley a contract.. even one loaded with incentives.. games played, etc., and he has an injury plagued year (I was on his bandwagon all year.. but his injuries hurt this team at a time when they still had a chance.. as did Murphy's, but Milton hasn't ever had an injury free campaign) you have then wasted a spot that might have been used on a FA that has a better opportunity to help you. After all.. a lot of people's jobs are on the line in 2009.. and we have endured patiently thru what has been an entertaining, yet still substandard season.
It's time for money to be spent to build a winning club here, before the talent you have already amassed is wasted....
____________________
All I ask is a chance to prove
that money can't make me happy.
"There are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary. And there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance."
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LEB
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895th Post Sun Sep 14th, 2008 02:06 pm | |
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Bradley has a history of:
1. Having marvelous athletic talent.
2. Not being able to stay healthy.
3. Having some problems with blow ups.
He's had a very nice season but he he's had injury problems again and he almost had that meltdown in KC. If he's seeking a multi-year contract, is he worth it?
And Ric, I think you're right on when you question if you waste a roster spot and big money on a guy with these problems when there might be a guy out there you can count on the entire season.
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Ric
Bayou Bum
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896th Post Mon Sep 15th, 2008 12:42 am | |
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THE NEWBERG REPORT
Arkansas righthander Dan Denham, age 25, former first-round pick and now with his third organization -- 9-10, 4.44 in the 2008 regular season, and 1-0, 1.29 in the playoffs.
Frisco lefthander Derek Holland, age 21, former 25th-round pick and now with his third level in 2008 -- 13-1, 2.27 in the 2008 regular season, and 1-1,
0.61 in the playoffs.
Watch Texas hold this 3-2 lead and kick Oakland further back into third place, and then head out to Frisco to see if Holland and his Frisco teammates can beat the Angels' AA squad and force a decisive Game Five on Monday, which would be entrusted to Neftali Feliz.
First pitch tonight is at 6 p.m.
____________________
All I ask is a chance to prove
that money can't make me happy.
"There are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary. And there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance."
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Ric
Bayou Bum
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897th Post Mon Sep 15th, 2008 04:58 am | |
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THE NEWBERG REPORT
It wasn’t until the third inning tonight that, while watching Derek Holland pitch, I thought of C.C. Sabathia, who weighs about two derekhollands and thus hasn’t exactly been evoked for me before while Holland was on the mound.
I thought of Sabathia after Holland had punched out the first two Arkansas batters in the top of the third and then, after walking leadoff hitter Nate Sutton, coaxed an inning ending fielder’s choice, shortstop to second, to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.
I thought of Sabathia because, at that point, Holland had allowed just one hit – a bunt dropped by Sutton down the third base line, leading off the game, that Holland fielded, double-clutched on, and fired to first, only to have the ball deflect off first baseman Emerson Frostad’s glove, allowing Sutton to scamper to second (where he’d be stranded after two flyouts and a strikeout of cleanup hitter Corey Smith, who flailed away at a spectacular 81-mph change). The scorekeeper, much as Bob Webb did when Sabathia mishandled a swinging bunt in the fifth inning of his August 31 start against Pittsburgh, ruled the play a single, charging Holland with an error to account for the extra base Sutton got.
The play was close enough at first – with or without the Holland double-clutch – to have ruled it a two-base error, and no base hit. And when Holland had completed three, having struck out four with a balanced array of nastiness, even if his velocity sat at 91-93 rather than a few ticks higher, I began to think that he might have been on his way to a Sabathia-esque one-hitter that could (should?) have been a no-no.
No exaggeration: More than two or three players in the Travelers dugout were cheering when the second hitter of the game, Wilberto Ortiz, fouled off a couple two-strike pitches in a row. Getting fired up when a teammate fouls off a couple fastballs. In the first inning. It was the kind of reaction you might expect to see from a high school or college team facing an All-American that nobody was supposed to beat. Not from a minor league team who had the other team on the brink of elimination.
They knew they weren’t supposed to beat Holland.
In the fourth, Arkansas managed its second hit off of Holland, a badly mis-hit looper over first base off the bat of the right-handed-hitting Smith that had no more life than a tossed horseshoe, checking up as soon as it landed 20 feet or so over Frostad’s head. A legitimate hit that no scorekeeper could have taken credit for, but a crummy hit nonetheless.
That was it.
Two hits off Holland in six innings of work, one on a bunt that could have been ruled an error and another on a lob over first. One walk. Six strikeouts, two coming on great-looking changes. Only 71 pitches needed to get through six (just under 12 pitches per inning), a cool 70 percent of which went for strikes. While Holland pitched brilliantly as usual, he took a no-decision as Frisco didn’t break the scoreless tie until pushing three unearned runs across in the bottom of the seventh and holding on for a 3-1 win.
So Neftali Feliz takes the ball tomorrow night, as Frisco and Arkansas play Game Five, with the winner piling on the mound.
As for Holland, his season ends with a 13-1, 2.27 regular season record (between Clinton, Bakersfield, and Frisco) and a ridiculous 1-1, 0.44 mark in the Texas League playoffs that featured, over three starts, a line in 20.2 innings of one earned run on 10 hits and four walks, with 18 strikeouts.
Combine the regular season with the post-season and Holland’s numbers look like this: 14-2, 2.05 in 29 starts, with 121 hits (.201 opponents’ average) and 44 walks allowed in 171.1 innings, and 175 strikeouts. Only four home runs allowed, one of which bounced off the outfielder’s glove.
And consider this:
In Low A this season, opponents hit .228 off of Holland.
In High A, opponents hit .185.
In AA, opponents hit .163 in the regular season.
In AA, opponents hit .141 in the playoffs.
Come to think of it, maybe it wasn’t so strange for the Travelers to be cheering foul balls.
Jamey
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All I ask is a chance to prove
that money can't make me happy.
"There are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary. And there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance."
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stemyn
Waiting for my tickets
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898th Post Mon Sep 15th, 2008 05:25 am | |
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| come on 2010!!!!
____________________
People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby
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LEB
Member
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899th Post Mon Sep 15th, 2008 01:33 pm | |
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stemyn wrote: come on 2010!!!!
I'm old.....the years go fast enough as it is. I'll be happy to finish out 08!
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Ric
Bayou Bum
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900th Post Sun Sep 21st, 2008 06:07 pm | |
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THE NEWBERG REPORT
The one non-Rangers player I'm rooting for right now is Kendry Morales, who is hitting .318/.348/.773 over the last week, with an Angels-leading three home runs and six RBI in that span, and just one strikeout in 22 at-bats.
Yes, he's been playing just as much right field as first base since returning to Anaheim five weeks ago, but that's just been to get his bat into the lineup somehow, to figure out whether he belongs on the Angels'
post-season roster. But don't be fooled. Morales was almost exclusively a first baseman in AAA this year (where he hit .341/.376/.543) and has been close to it over his entire career (313 games at first base professionally and 24 in the outfield).
I'm rooting for Morales because I want Angels GM Tony Reagins to decide that, at $600,000 in 2009 (and $700,000 in 2010, unless Morales amasses enough service time next year to void his 2010 deal in favor of arbitration), a commitment to the 25-year-old makes more sense for the franchise than the six or eight years and a number comfortably into nine-figure territory for 28-year-old Mark Teixeira.
Teixeira has played as well in his two months with the Angels
(.351/.446/.613) as he has at any time in his very productive six-year career.
I would very much like for him to suit up next year and for years after that for a team that we don't have to play 19 times a season, for a team that we're not going to have to figure out a way to catch.
Go Kendry Morales.
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