New Articles: Beyond the Diamond: March 18, 2008, by Pete Toms

Keep It Down, by Jonathan Hale
Rocco Never Knew Me, But I Depended On Him, by Eric SanInocencio
Arizona Dreaming, by Geoff Young
Alternate Views On Select Prospects, by Rob McQuown
Roger Clemens and the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: The Final Tally, by Gordon Berger
Indy Baseball Chatter: March 10, 2008, by Bob Wirz
Fantasy Baseball Infielders: the Bargains, by Brandon Heikoop
Getting to Know You: Corey Hart, by Matthew Whipps
The 20 Greatest Fluke Home Run Seasons Since 1920, by Voros McCracken

- Visit the BDD Blog for stats analysis, a Top 100 Prospects list, breaking news, John Brattain, Voros McCracken and many other posts…daily!!

- Subscribe to the free BDD Newsletter (simply enter your email address in the appropriate space on the home page) and enjoy:

*The Rundown – a downloadable and printable box score

*Breaking News before anybody else

*Follow all the action on Baseball Digest Daily

- Be sure not to miss top prospect Matt Laporta's first player journal for our site!

- You can visit the Baseball Digest Daily Channel
on YouTube, where you will find three videos from my visit at the Blue
Jays' Bobby Mattick Training Center and also a growing collection of
baseball videos from around the web.

Join the Baseball Digest Daily Facebook and Ballhype groups

The Boston Red Sox players just settled a dispute with MLB about the trip to Japan. If the coaches didn't receive the $40,000 bonus that players are supposed to be paid, the roster voted to boycott the event and not even board the plane.

I could not support the effort more, given the fact that there is no logical reason for the league to be that cheap.  Why not the coaches?

From the Boston Herald blog:

The $40,000 appearance fee in question was a big deal for most of the coaching staff. For example, bullpen catcher Manny Martinez, who would be considered part of the coaching staff on this Japan trip, earns just $30,000 per year.

“They were told they were going to be (paid). For a coach, in some cases, this is two-fifths of their salary for the year. It's a big deal. I don't agree that coaches are second-class citizens. That has never sat well with me, ever, and continues to boggle my mind.”

Over the Monster (Red Sox blog) comments on the situation:

It really seems like Major League Baseball dropped (pun intended) the ball here. First of all, you can't just screw over teams like this. It's not right. Secondly, MLB meets the demands the Red Sox have and then renegs them before heading off to Japan? That doesn't make sense considering the MLB is who wants the teams to play in Japan, not the teams. The MLB is throwing gasoline on the fire because traveling to Japan is already a pain in the ass for these guys, add to the situation that most of them aren't getting paid and I don't blame the Sox for boycotting.

- The MLBPA will examine possible collusion in the case of Bonds and other players that are still available on the free agent market.

After speaking with the Los Angeles Angels during his annual tour of spring-training camps, union head Donald Fehr said his staff will examine possible collusion against Bonds and others.

“We always look at the free-agent markets every year and make judgments about them, and if we come to the conclusion with respect to any player that there's a matter worth pursuing, we'll pursue it,” he said. “But I'm not going to make any suggestions or accusations unless and until we come to that conclusion.”

Fehr wouldn't say whether he found it troublesome that no team has publicly said it wants Bonds.

“I haven't talked to him about it or his agents and I don't want to comment personally about it since I haven't had the opportunity to do that,” he said.

I wrote a little about this situation in the past and it's good to see the union do its job when it comes to protecting its players.  However, why would it question the teams' right not to sign a guy that's currently before the courts for something illegal?

How could they possibly find any fault in that?  As far as I know, it's not a right to be signed by a team when you are a free agent, especially with the Barry Bond's status with the fans and baseball in general.

Can't wait to see the conclusion of that report.

- OF/DH Milton Bradley is scheduled to appear as a designated hitter Friday with the Texas Rangers.  The 29-year-old will try to repeat what he did last year (.306/.402/.545, 153 OPS+), his best season since 2003.  He tore his anterior cruciate ligament during a September argument with umpire Mike Winters and signed a one-year contract with Texas worth $5 M, plus incentives.

BlogHarbor Admin :: Edit Article

The Milwaukee Brewers will be welcoming back RHP Yovani Gallardo, who will be an important part of their quest to win the NL Central in 2008.  The 22-year-old stud underwent an arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Feb. 19.

Brewers starter Chris Capuano, who left a start after feeling discomfort in his pitching arm, was finally diagnosed with an inflammation in his elbow.  The team will shut him down for a couple of days and see how he feels after the break.  Manager Ned Yost said he would miss his next start.

- Very good article by Charlie Nobles for The New York Times, about Mike Pelfrey and Orlando Hernandez, both competing for the fifth spot of the New York Mets rotation.

Pelfrey's fastball stayed in the 90s as he went six-plus innings and threw 90 pitches. He gave up a run in the second inning and a two-run homer to catcher Brian Schneider in the fifth, but Pelfrey indicated Schneider's hit should have an asterisk next to it.

Hernández lasted four-plus innings and used his 80 pitches to see what movement they would have in game competition if he did not use his signature high leg kick. He focused on his changeup in one inning and on his fastball in another, and Schneider said that was why his results might look deceiving. Hernández allowed two home runs and, in the first inning, walked in a run against minor league hitters.

- George Sherrill was choosen to be the Baltimore Orioles closer in 2008.  The left-hander was part of the deal that sent LHP Erik Bedard to Seattle.

The 6'0'', 210 pounds hurler had his best season of his career in 2007, posting a 2.36 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP.  He was mainly used against left-handed batters last season, but faced his fair share of right-handers and was equally effective.  He uses a fastball-slider combination to dominate lefties and also has a curve ball and change-up (against righties) to keep hitters on their toes.  His fastball tops out in the low-90s.

The Orioles would have liked to present hard-thrower RHP Chris Ray for the role, but he underwent elbow ligament replacement surgery (Tommy John surgery) last season.  The young athlete has saved 49 games in the last two seasons.

- Interesting offering by Sean Deveney, who updates baseball's unwritten rules.

5. Hot dogs. Every fan who enters a baseball stadium is required to consume at least one hot dog. No exceptions. Even if you are a vegan, even if you are allergic to pork products, even if you are descended from pig men and fear you'd be violating cannibalism laws. Further, anyone who puts ketchup on his or her hotdog must be escorted from the stadium. If the game is in Texas, the person will be escorted from the stadium and executed.

8. Stats. It could be that baseball is strictly a game of probability, decipherable through careful and laborious study of statistics. Or, it could be that baseball is a dad-gum, ol'-fashioned game played with heart and dirty uniforms. Who knows? It's probably somewhere in the middle. But know this: There are angry extremists on either side of the stats debate, and they are very boring. So, let's group them by age, just as a general guide. Everyone over 55 hates any statistic, ever. When discussing baseball with someone of this vintage, just say, “Boy, that Stan Musial could hit the ball,” nod and walk away. Anyone 40-54, restrict yourself to stats that appeared on the back of Cesar Tovar's 1962 Topps baseball card. In the 25-39 range, go ahead and get your PECOTA on. If you're talking to someone who is 12-24, run away. These are the guys working on a stat so sophisticated that it not only can tell you what Brad Hawpe will bat in 2011, it can be used to communicate with dolphins, identify alien life forms and launch nuclear weapons.

- MLBtraderumors has a good breakdown of what to expect from the latest Rule 5 picks.

- Excellent report by Jonathan Mayo on High School players expected to be the center of attention next June (with videos).

- MiLB offers another great piece by Kevin T. Czerwinski on Chris Gwynn. who he thinks should really be a scouting director by now.

He's currently performing pro scouting chores for the San Diego Padres, working both the California and Pacific Coast Leagues.

Gwynn has also covered the Arizona Fall League, done advanced scouting at the big-league level and made himself available to do whatever else was asked of him. He's starting his second decade in the scouting business, having spent time scouting the city of Los Angeles, then serving as an area scout before becoming a full-time cross checker.

The former big-league utility man — and brother of Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn — has the smarts and the know-how to take on a bigger and more responsible position. The problem is, he's too humble and too nice a guy to ask for it. So, we'll do it for him. Here's a memo to the 30 owners and general managers: Take advantage of what this guy has to offer.

New Articles: Keep It Down, by Jonathan Hale

Rocco Never Knew Me, But I Depended On Him, by Eric SanInocencio
Arizona Dreaming, by Geoff Young
Alternate Views On Select Prospects, by Rob McQuown
Roger Clemens and the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: The Final Tally, by Gordon Berger
Indy Baseball Chatter: March 10, 2008, by Bob Wirz
Fantasy Baseball Infielders: the Bargains, by Brandon Heikoop
Getting to Know You: Corey Hart, by Matthew Whipps
The 20 Greatest Fluke Home Run Seasons Since 1920, by Voros McCracken

- Visit the BDD Blog for stats analysis, a Top 100 Prospects list, breaking news, John Brattain, Voros McCracken and many other posts…daily!!

- Subscribe to the free BDD Newsletter (simply enter your email address in the appropriate space on the home page) and enjoy:

*The Rundown – a downloadable and printable box score

*Breaking News before anybody else

*Follow all the action on Baseball Digest Daily

- Be sure not to miss top prospect Matt Laporta's first player journal for our site!

- You can visit the Baseball Digest Daily Channel
on YouTube, where you will find three videos from my visit at the Blue
Jays' Bobby Mattick Training Center and also a growing collection of
baseball videos from around the web.

Join the Baseball Digest Daily Facebook and Ballhype groups

Nick Johnson is involved in just one of the many
competition for a spot on the starting lineup
on March 30th (Bill Richardson/BDD)

The Nationals had a very good offseason with the acquisition of high-ceiling players such as Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes, but they failed to significantly upgrade where they needed it the most: the starting rotation.

With LHP Odalis Perez their biggest acquisiton, they put themselves at the mercy of damaged goods in John Patterson and Shawn Hill, expected to be their 1-2 punch at the top of the pitching staff.

Perez is saying all the right things these days, but the end results need to speak for themselves.  With Patterson affected by the flu these days and not having pitched much in the last two years due to pain in his right forearm, he is unlikely to regain his 2005 form when he struck out 185 in 198 innings and established himself as the ace of the Nationals club.  Shawn Hill is also in the same predicament, having pain in his right forearm this Spring.  He threw a side session on Monday, but manager Manny Acta made clear that he would not be with the team for the trip North when they open the season at their brand new ballpark in front of the nation on ESPN (March 30th).

“I don't think Shawn is going to be ready to leave with us (and come) up north,” Nationals manager Manny Acta said. “It's out of the question to me right now.”

But the rest of the lineup is surprisingly strong and the Nationals brass put many players in a situation where their job would be assured….with a good Spring Training.  Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young are battling for the same spot at first base, Ronnie Belliard and Felipe Lopez are competing for the second base opening and the outfield is crowded with Wily Mo Pena (on the shelf for the next month with oblique injury), Elijah Duke, Lastings Milledge, Austin Kearns and Ryan Langerhans all vying for a starting job.

Elijah Dukes has to be the most mysterious man of the group, with a troubled past in Tampa Bay with the Rays, but brought into the fold with the intent to straighten him out with the help of Dmitri Young.  This excellent piece by Barry Svrluga tells the story of this experiment.

If this spring is about Dukes finding comfort — with the Nationals, with his life, with himself — then here was a bit of it, in a deserted batting cage with only those who have proven trustworthy within earshot. No player in the brief history of the Nationals has been monitored as closely as the 23-year-old outfielder who finds himself with a chance to remake his career. The club's hope is that it can help foster relationships in which Dukes feels comfortable, be they with a personal mentor, a teammate, a legendary player or a hitting coach. That, Dukes said, is reviving him even before he revives his career.

“I can communicate now without feeling like I'm afraid to say the wrong thing,” Dukes said. “These guys here, they're willing to listen here. That's it. When you have those ears, you feel much more relaxed. In the past, I don't have people [who wanted] to hear. They hear what they want to hear.”

Since they acquired him in a December trade with his hometown team, Tampa Bay, the Nationals have simultaneously protected and built a support structure for Dukes. Both he and the club are sensitive about a past marked by a litany of transgressions — arrests, drug use, an ugly divorce. All that is cast against a childhood shaped by a father imprisoned for murder when Dukes was 11.

Though they are unwilling to publicly discuss much of how they say they are helping Dukes, it is clear the Nationals began to assemble a team of potential advisers from the day Dukes was acquired. Members of that team hang with Dukes in the clubhouse, help him with his hitting, talk to him about his life. They have met his family and, in some cases, gained his trust.

This team could reap some seriously impressive rewards for the way it has acquired these talented, but unproven players.  The bat speed, power and overall athletic abilities of Milledge and Dukes would impress any scout, but they need to find a way to channel all this energy into a productive career on the field.

All the drama around their storied past needs to be put to rest and the change of scenery could be beneficial for the club and for these two players.

An outfield of Kearns, Milledge and Dukes (all players that could handle the CF duties) would provide offensive and defensive depth to an organization that is counting on a deep farm system and timely acquisitions to compete with the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves in the National League East.

Lastings Milledge is having a great time in Spring Training:
.333/.417/.500, 5 doubles and 1 triple in 42 AB.

- OF Colby Rasmus was sent down to the minor leagues yesterday, opening the way for Rick Ankiel to be the starting center fielder on Opening Day.

Rasmus played in Double-A last season and proved to be everything the Cardinals expected him to be.  His batting line (.274/.380/.550, with 37 doubles, 3 triples and 29 homers) was impressive, but especially his patience at the plate (12.6 BB%.  He has improved that number over his 2006 showing) and his ability to adjust quickly to the way pitchers would attack him.

But the stat that jumps at me is the way he has learned to use his plate discipline to choose his pitch and really lift the ball and profit from his power stroke.  Only 28% of his batted balls were on the ground, another stat that's improved at every level of the minors.

He has power to all fields, but he needs to keep working at using it all during the games.  He has good contact abilities, so the potential is there.

- Yesterday, Bob Costas tried to clarify his comments about bloggers and I cover the 'event' right here.

- Tigers beat writer Jason Beck reported yesterday that manager Jim Leyland has settled on 24 players for 2008.

In other words, he has nailed down one of the open bullpen spots and whittled down to one roster spot to decide. He wouldn't name who it was, but if you look at Saturday's box score for how the relief candidates did, Denny Bautista pitched another 1 1/3 solid innings, and Preston Larrison was roughed up.

With two bullpen spots to fill, you can make an argument it would be hard for Bautista not to make the staff the way he's pitching. You wait for the wild Bautista to show up, the one who can't control the fastball and either gets roughed up for walks a bunch of guys. So far, that Bautista hasn't been seen.

The 28-year-old needs to repeat his performance in the bullpen last season with the AAA club of the Colorado Rockies (Colorado Springs Sky Sox), where he posted a 2.92 ERA in 51 games, fanning 63 batters in 61 innings, but walking 31.  He even was able to keep the ball in the park (only one home run allowed) and induce 52% ground balls.

That's a far cry from the 34% ground balls he produced in the majors with the Rockies, allowing 18 hits in 8 IP.

Bautista should really be a successful pitcher when you consider that he throws as hard as he does (his fastball averages 95 mph), but his control problems always get the best of him.  Hitters site on his fastball (that he throws almost 70% of the time) and you know what they say about fastballs, huh?  They become very hittable when the hitter knows it's coming.  Although the 6'5'', 190 pounds hurler has thrown four seasons in the majors, he is still not a pitcher.  Let's hope he harnesses all this power and becomes one in 2008.

- Blue Jays catcher Brian Jeroloman, who played in High-A Dunedin (Florida State league) last season, is hitting .400 for the club in Spring Training.  I had the chance to interview the on-base king last fall when he played in Hawaii in the offseason and I was impressed with his overall approach at the plate, which essentially consists of hurting the ball, but also of managing the strike zone.  That's something that should be the priority for all young players.  The power will come, but the plate discipline needs to be dealt with first.

He led the FSL last season in walks (85…to go along with only 57 K in 290 AB) and finished second in OBP with .421.  Behind the plate, he is a very good defensive catcher, with a very good arm.

- LHP Francisco Liriano is coming back from Tommy John surgery (15 months ago), but still has work to do.

“I need to locate my fastball and get some people out,” Liriano said. “I need to throw more innings and throw less pitches. I need to throw more strikes.”

The Twins have repeatedly said that they don't expect the pitcher to be completely back to form after such a long layoff from pitching. They've noticed that his stamina isn't quite there yet, and he's working to find that consistency again on the mound.

But with only two weeks remaining until Opening Day, a decision concerning Liriano's ability to pitch in the rotation is quickly approaching.

So what does the team need to see from him to determine whether or not he's ready to head to Minnesota?

“We just want to see him throw the ball and continue working,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “You hope to start seeing more crispness on his breaking balls and a little better command. He spins off a few balls still. But it's just about him pitching.

With the surgery and his delayed arrival to camp due to visa troubles, Liriano is still behind many of the other pitchers in camp. But Gardenhire said on Monday that the decision on whether to break camp with the pitcher will be based solely on if Liriano appears ready and not on how he's done compared with other arms.

“He is different than the rest of the guys,” Gardenhire said. “We have to make a decision on him by what's good for him. We'll see how he does his next couple outings. He looked better today. Hopefully he'll look better the next time.”

- The San Francisco Giants are going to enter the season with a little-known player at shortstop, named Brian Bocock.

“It's a good opportunity for me to see what it's like and play and get a lot of time right now until 'O' gets back,” Bocock said. “I'm going to take the opportunity and try to run with it and see what happens from there. Other than that, I don't really worry about it. I will play hard and do the little things they want me to do as far as hitting, moving runners and bunting.”

He sure is making a good impression with his reliable defence.

Bocock has shown he has soft hands, a quick release and poise beyond his years. Whether he can swing the bat with any kind of consistency is what scouts and others are most wondering about.

“He doesn't play ball, he plays with the ball,” said former San Francisco manager-turned-special assistant Felipe Alou, who meant it as a compliment about Bocock's defensive timing and good hands.

On Sunday, Bocock charged in on a short bouncer over the mound by the Angels' Robb Quinlan. The shortstop hit the ground and released the ball while off balance to just miss making the play at first.

Bochy was impressed by Bocock's ability and athleticism on that tough play. Walker wasn't surprised.

“He's a major league-calibre shortstop right now,” said the reliever, who played with Bocock for a bit last summer for Class-A San Jose while coming back from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery.

His .182/.250/.182 line (with 4 walks and 13 K) in Spring Training could be worrisome for the Giants executives, but then again, they are presenting Bengie Molina as the cleanup hitter in 2008.

- Major League Baseball is carrying a $3.1 B debt into the news season, much less than the National Football League.

The NFL debt figure is far higher than that of other leagues. MLB clubs owe $3.1 billion, according to MLB CFO Jonathan Mariner, though that number does not include the roughly $2 billion in financing for the two pending New York ballparks because that debt, technically, is not carried by the teams. The NBA declined to make public its debt total, but the league's policies limit all team borrowings to $175 million per club. The NHL also declined to discuss any aspect of its debt, but finance sources have previously said that the league allows teams to carry debt up to half of their franchise value.

- Matthew Forney writes about his experience in Beijing during the MLB showcase.

The seventh-inning stretch was also a mystery. Most of the Chinese stayed in their seats and listened to the English-language announcer sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Roy sang along; it's one of the first songs I taught him. The Chinese woman next to us, who paid $100 for two tickets, asked what Cracker Jack was.

“A snack food,” I said. It seemed so inadequate.

“Do they have cheerleaders at games in America?” Roy asked. A squad of bare-bellied cheerleaders, known in Chinese as a La-La Brigade, shook their pompoms at the crowd. No, I told Roy, American baseball games do not have cheerleaders.

No cheerleaders?  I live in Quebec City and we have a franchise of the independent Can-Am League, The Capitales.  Quebec being a hockey town, where cheerleaders serpent the aisles and entertain the crowds, we also have them dancing during innings on the dugouts at the Stade Municipal.  It's always fun to see the difference in the way the product is presented to the fans, even when we are so close to the United States and we pretty much watch, read and listen the same things they do South of the border.

New Articles: Keep It Down, by Jonathan Hale

Rocco Never Knew Me, But I Depended On Him, by Eric SanInocencio
Arizona Dreaming, by Geoff Young
Alternate Views On Select Prospects, by Rob McQuown
Roger Clemens and the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: The Final Tally, by Gordon Berger
Indy Baseball Chatter: March 10, 2008, by Bob Wirz
Fantasy Baseball Infielders: the Bargains, by Brandon Heikoop
Getting to Know You: Corey Hart, by Matthew Whipps
The 20 Greatest Fluke Home Run Seasons Since 1920, by Voros McCracken

- Visit the BDD Blog for stats analysis, a Top 100 Prospects list, breaking news, John Brattain, Voros McCracken and many other posts…daily!!

- Subscribe to the free BDD Newsletter (simply enter your email address in the appropriate space on the home page) and enjoy:

*The Rundown – a downloadable and printable box score

*Breaking News before anybody else

*Follow all the action on Baseball Digest Daily

- Be sure not to miss top prospect Matt Laporta's first player journal for our site!

- You can visit the Baseball Digest Daily Channel
on YouTube, where you will find three videos from my visit at the Blue
Jays' Bobby Mattick Training Center and also a growing collection of
baseball videos from around the web.

Join the Baseball Digest Daily Facebook and Ballhype groups

- I watched the second game that ended the first official presentation of baseball in China and LHP Eric Stults impressed in the first inning, fanning three hitters and showcasing a great change-up that really falls off the table a few feet from the plate.  Scott Hairston looked bad against that pitch.

The San Diego Padres won that game 6-3, after trailing 3-0 at the end of the third frame.

Mark Zeigler was there and he wrote about the experience:

The Swinging Friar mascot got booted from the lobby of the team hotel – something about children being frightened – and the loudest cheers at Wukesong Baseball Field were for broken-bat ground balls, fans squealing as the jagged barrel of the bat bounced across the infield.

Major League Baseball spent an estimated $2 million on the event, and it certainly didn't make that back in ticket sales, especially since Chinese protocol requires 20 percent of its supply be freebies to government agencies.

- As many of you already know, this is the Dodgers' last Spring Training in Vero Beach and it's tough for a lot of people.

“When I walk around Dodgertown, I think about all the guys that played for me and all the guys that were here before me,” said Lasorda, who has been genuinely touched by the opportunity to send off the place back in uniform, while “real” manager Joe Torre toured China with the other half of the squad. “It just goes to show you how people can remember you and remember what you did. They've made an 80-year-old guy feel real good.”

Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully, eyewitness to almost as much of Dodgertown, calls his spring home for 59 years “my memory factory.”

“This,” Scully said before bidding an early farewell to Dodgertown on his way to China, “is where I stood in place and it seems like half the world came by — players, coaches, managers, writers, broadcasters.”

This is where time still stands still. Strolling down the dusty path from a back field, you come to an intersection where a traffic sign directs pedestrians, “Players, Left,” “Public, Right.” They rub elbows with each other, as they have for over a half-century, passing across Duke Snider Street, Don Drysdale Drive, Sandy Koufax Lane and so on.

“There were times you'd be rushing to get to the park,” said Steve Garvey, the former Dodgers first baseman/icon, “and you'd be signing [autographs] and putting your bat between your legs and walking along through the people.”

- 2008 will be Jeff Conine's last season as a major leaguer and he has decided to spend that time with the Florida Marlins.

The 41-year-old will retire with over 2,000 hits with six different teams.  He was a 58th round pick in 1987 and ranked third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1993 (he played all 162 games).  His best season came in 1995, when he hit .302/.379/.520, with 26 doubles, 2 triples, 25 homers and 105 RBI.  His 103 sacrifice flies currently rank him 22nd in the major league history.

From the Fishtripes blog:

I could go into all the memorable moments Mr. Marlin provided during his time with the Fish, but that would take forever.  But I will say this: he was my first introduction to the Marlins.

Naturally, being a baseball fan, I followed the expansion draft but after that was over the Marlins didn't come to mind very often.  I didn't live in Florida and never saw the team on television.

However, when the 1995 NL All-Star selections were presented at the game, one man stood out – Jeff Conine.  There he was among the other players, whose uniforms all looked the same.  Oh sure, some had red caps, some black and others blue but not Conine.  He stood out like a sore thumb in that teal cap and sleeveless jersey.

Then he hit what would prove to be the game winning home run for the NL and earning the title of game MVP in the process.  It was truly a sight to behold.  And from that, another Marlins fan was born, so to speak.

- Mike Sweeney is one of the new faces in Oakland and with the news that he is in good shape and that Daric Barton appears ready for the Big Show, that could mean first baseman Dan Johnson is traded before the regular season begins.

The rumors have been going strong that the San Francisco Giants would be a possible candidate for his services and that's exactly the type of guy this offense needs.

After investing a ridiculous amount of money into a #2 pitcher (Barry Zito) and acquiring one single, meaningful bat for their depleted offense (Aaron Rowand), Joe Crede, Brandon Inge and Dan Johnson are all affordable commodity to build upon.  Just imagine:  Crede manning third base, Brandon Inge could play in LF and substitute for Bengie Molina behind the dish, on top of having Dan Johnson at first base.  While this is by no means a best-case scenario for the Giants, it would at least give them a fighting chance AND satisfy a fan base that's still scratching their heads, wondering why the hell the team would invest $127 M in a pitcher, only to let the offense go to waste completely.

When you look at it, all these players could come fairly cheaply, if only for their situation and recent performance.

If Dan Johnson really had his place in the A's lineup, he would command a better asking price by interested suitors, but Oakland would love to have Daric Barton man the first bag, making Johnson expandable, especially with Sweeney in camp.  Jack Cust is firmly implanted in the DH/OF spot, so that's one less opportunity for the 28-year-old.

Crede is having a very bad spring (0.91/.143/.212) and is a few months removed from a back surgery (underwent a microdiscectomy to remove herniated disc particles that were putting pressure on a sciatic nerve).  I can't see the White Sox holding out much longer with their back against the wall like they are now.

Inge wants a trade and you can bet the calls Dombrowski receives do not offer a lot of potential All-Star players when the GMs at the other end of the line know the situation and how bad the Tigers would like to resolve this situation.

The way I see it, the Giants have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Buy low, sell high.  If they can't contend at the trade deadline, Crede will become very interesting for teams looking for a missing ingredient, IF he is having a good year.  Projection systems are not kind so far, predicting an OPS under .800, the same results that he offered in four out of his five years in the majors.

- Rich Lederer does it again with a piece on strikeout and groundball pitchers.

Among batted ball types, we know that infield flies are the least harmful, followed by groundballs, outfield flies, and line drives. In fact, thanks to researchers like Dave Studeman of The Hardball Times, we can even place a value on the run impact of each event. For example, according to Dave's Batted Balls Redux article in The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2007, strikeouts had a run impact of -0.113, infield flies -0.088, groundballs 0.045, outfield flies 0.192, and line drives 0.391 per incident in 2006.

Although groundballs generate more hits and errors than flyballs, their run impact is lower because the hits are usually limited to singles and an occasional double down the first or third base line, whereas balls in the air that turn into hits more often become doubles, triples, or home runs. Not only is the run impact from a groundball lower than an outfield fly or line drive but groundball pitchers give up fewer line drives and flyballs. Conversely, pitchers who don't induce as many groundballs allow more line drives and flyballs. One of the basic truths of maintaining a low home run rate is to keep batted balls on the ground. It is also important to note that home run rates tend to fluctuate more than groundball rates because park effects and randomness play a huge role when it comes to the outcome of long flyballs, especially among pitchers.

Based on the above information, it follows that just as pitchers with high strikeout rates would generally fare better than those with low rates, pitchers with high groundball rates would normally fare better than those with low rates (all else being equal). Furthermore, it also suggests that pitchers who combine higher strikeout and groundball rates will outperform those with lower rates.

With the foregoing in mind, in January 2007, I introduced the idea of categorizing starters and relievers by strikeout and groundball rates. Due to the popularity of this series, I have decided to categorize pitchers based on the 2007 data.

- It took a couple of days for Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek to talk, but now he can explain why he was upset by the release of teammate Doug Mirabelli.

“I'm not going to say I was boo-hoo crying, but there are some levels of trust in this game that you get to, and I had those with him. I'm not saying I won't have that with Cash. I'll give him the same opportunities and everything. But I just felt that with this team, at the time, that it was a hard one for me to swallow.

“I lose a very valuable teammate to me, and, I think, to this clubhouse. I've been through two world championships with him.”

Varitek reiterated that he holds no grudges against Cash, who spent most of last season at Triple-A Pawtucket but was added to the big league roster on Aug. 17 when Mirabelli was placed on the disabled list with a strained right calf.

“I'm not going to sit here and devalue what the other guy brings,” said Varitek.

He added that he was “surprised” by the move to release Mirabelli.

New Articles: Rocco Never Knew Me, But I Depended On Him, by Eric SanInocencio

Arizona Dreaming, by Geoff Young
Alternate Views On Select Prospects, by Rob McQuown
Roger Clemens and the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: The Final Tally, by Gordon Berger
Indy Baseball Chatter: March 10, 2008, by Bob Wirz
Fantasy Baseball Infielders: the Bargains, by Brandon Heikoop
Getting to Know You: Corey Hart, by Matthew Whipps
Hot Spots and Cool Breezes, by Jonathan Hale
The 20 Greatest Fluke Home Run Seasons Since 1920, by Voros McCracken
The Prince Is An Angry Vegan, by Craig Brown
The 'Dirty Dozen' Relief Pitchers, by Rob McQuown
Beyond the Diamond: March 4, 2008, by Pete Toms

- Subscribe to the free BDD Newsletter (simply enter your email address in the appropriate space on the home page) and enjoy:

*The Rundown – a downloadable and printable box score

*Breaking News before anybody else

*Follow all the action on Baseball Digest Daily

- Be sure not to miss top prospect Matt Laporta's first player journal for our site!

- You can visit the Baseball Digest Daily Channel
on YouTube, where you will find three videos from my visit at the Blue
Jays' Bobby Mattick Training Center and also a growing collection of
baseball videos from around the web.

- John Brattain
and Voros McCracken have done the unthinkable: they have moved their blogs to BDD! 
Come back often to witness their daily struggles with reality.

- BDD is now associated with Heater Magazine and Seamheads.  You can check out their offerings with the link in the menu at the top of this page.

- You can hear the latest edition of the BDD Radio Show with Eric Walker, where he talks about PEDs and the effect they have on stats.

Join the Baseball Digest Daily Facebook and Ballhype groups

- A panel of scouts offered their candidates for best tools in this MLB.com article.
Here's the full list.

OF Ichiro Suzuki is considered the ultimate toolsy guy.

“You could put Ichiro down for almost everything — best arm, best outfielder (when he wants to be), best basestealer, best hitter, and he could hit 50 home runs if he wanted to, but he'd rather get his 220 hits and bat .330,” said one scout.

Said another: “Magician with the bat — hand-eye coordination off the charts.”

Sure, Ichiro might be hitless for the spring heading into Thursday's games, but any scout will tell you that doesn't mean a thing. The tools of this Japanese wonder will prevail, like they have in each of his seven seasons in the Majors — all with at least 200 hits and 100 runs, all with Gold Glove Awards attached.

- Former Dodgers general manager Fred Claire ponders whether the Rule V pick is outdated or still valuable.  The Indians and Padres are featured predominantly in the article:

Cleveland, with a strong farm system, lost two position players in the first 10 selections of the Draft — first baseman Matt Whitney, taken by Washington; and outfielder Brian Barton, selected by St. Louis.

“My predominant feeling regarding the Rule 5 Draft is that the price is far too outdated for the modern-day value of young talent and the development costs associated,” said Indians general manager Mark Shapiro.

“We need to raise the price of the acquisition to be in line with the modern realities of the game and insure that clubs consider the implications of the selection more seriously rather than taking many flyers on guys when they simply have open roster spots.”

Towers points out that if a Rule 5 player makes a team, the player thus receives the Major League minimum of $390,000 and also assures himself of a like salary for the following year.

“You have to consider that you have made an investment of at least $750,000-plus over two years,” said Towers.

The popular angle to these analysis remains about what it means for the team, but the player is clearly the one with the most to gain/lose. 

When an organization has a very deep farm system, some players get lost in the shuffle and we have to remember that we are dealing with human beings who have sacrificed a lot to reach that level of play.  The Rule V draft only gives them another chance with a club that believes in them, but even then, they have to bump someone on the 25-man roster to remain in the Big Show.

Mark Shapiro is right to point out that there are significant costs associated with developing a player, but there are also responsibilities associated with this development and one of them is to promote when they are ready.

It is an important choice to make as an organization, but a player should have this opportunity if a club puts roadblocks ahead of him in his ultimate goal of playing in the major leagues.

- Oh….that's why Duncan slid into Iwamura with his spikes balls-high: he's old-school.

When Art Kusnyer saw the replay of Shelley Duncan's rough slide at second base Wednesday, he did not see a reckless thug trying to hurt an infielder. He saw a grown-up version of a fun-loving boy in an Oakland Athletics uniform, a boy who was raised in baseball and paid attention to how it was played.

“He might have been over the line, but he wanted to send a message,” said Kusnyer, who coached for many years with Duncan's father, Dave.

“That's old-time baseball. That's how he grew up. With most players today, you can't pitch inside, you can't slide hard, all that stuff. He comes from the old school. He was showing that he's a tough kid, and he's going to protect his players.”

Duncan could face a suspension for the slide, but he insisted Thursday it was not malicious, and he did not apologize for his style of play. There is little that matters more to Duncan than the fraternity of baseball, and no greater sin than playing passively.

I love the part when he says “He might have been over the line, but he wanted to send a message”.

That's what some hit men try to sell to the justice systems all over the world, but they just don't understand.  That's ok though, because it's old school.

- Baseball America has a good article on Japanese pitchers coming to the United States.

“They start earlier and work harder,” Valentine said. “They know their bodies and train rigorously. They work on their core and run more. Most of the mechanics you see in Japan are very sound mechanics.

“Most who pitch at the highest level can throw three or four pitches for strikes. Japanese pitchers are used to throwing a lot more than U.S. major leaguers—in games and on consecutive days. Guys get to spring training (in Japan) able to throw bullpens at 60, 70, 80 pitches. Some guys throw 150 pitches right out of the gate.”

“I hate to generalize Japanese pitchers with American pitchers,” adds Hiroshima Carp manager Marty Brown, who spent nine years in the Indians and Pirates systems as a manager and coach before joining the Carp in 2005. “But the best are headed to the States.”

Those who do come already know how to pitch, sources like Brown and Valentine said, because they have touch and feel. They know how to get through innings and how to do damage control when they don't have their best stuff. Most of all, they know how to handle pressure. As evidence, consider that the attendance at most spring training games in Japan numbers in the tens of thousands.

- Catcher Doug Mirabelli has been released by the Boston Red Sox and they are planning to designate Kevin Cash as the backup catcher.

Cash was signed as an amateur free agent in 1999 by the Toronto Blue Jays and showed promess with the bat (around .800 OPS in first three minor league seasons).  His real strength lies in a really powerful arm behind the dish and overall good receiving skills (16 errors in 335 minor league games).

However, as soon as he reaches the majors, his bat goes silent (never hit over the Mendoza line in five seasons), but his defensive prowess remain as good as shown in the lower levels of pro baseball:  he has retired 36% of all would-be stealers in the major leagues.

The projections for next year are what you'd expect, but Marcel actually sees a .246/.321/.403 line in 2008 and that would make for a better showing than any predictions for Mirabelli.

Bloggers reactions:

Over the Monster:

Ok, maybe not big news, but it has thrown a monkey wrench into our roster. I think Kevin Cash will be the backup, even though Nick Cafardo thinks Dusty Brown could take the backup job. I think that's highly unlikely though because his highest level of experience is 8 games at Pawtucket last year. But hey, George Kottaras is hitting .500 right now. Although I'm sure he won't grab the backup job out of spring, he could win a job with a solid year in Pawtucket.

Fire Brand of the American League:

Mirabelli, who hit .202/.278/.360 and had become a liability with the bat in recent years, was in uniform this morning and slated to play in a spring training game before being abruptly scratched and later released by the team.

Makes me wonder if there's something going on that we don't know about that caused Mirabelli's release… (Yesterday was the last day a player could be released with the club only on the hook for one-sixth of his salary, and now Mirabelli should get a quarter of his salary. It's possible the Red Sox released Mirabelli yesterday before the deadline but there was a communications breakdown. If that's not the case, this decision is even more curious because they could have saved some money by releasing him yesterday.)

Or is a trade on the way?

- RHP Kyle Lohse has finally found a new home in St-Louis after thinking the market would offer him a long-term deal comparable to the one Carlos Silva got in Seattle (4 year, $48 M).  Instead, he has to settle for a $4.25 M deal that ends after the 2008 season.

The Cardinals were also desperate for an arm that would give them innings and at least an average performance every five day.  The 29-year-old has thrown an average of 191 innings each year for 7 seasons in the majors, although his 4.82 ERA and 1.43 WHIP are less than stellar. 

The 29th round pick (1996) throws a fastball that tops in the low-90s, a slider, change-up and a rare curve ball.  He quit throwing his cut fastball last season.  His K/9 and BB/9 last season stood at 5.70 and 2.66 respectively.

With Chris Carpenter out until at least June and Mark Mulder possibly coming back in May, the rotations should look like this now at the beginning of April:

Adam Wainwright
Braden Looper
Joel Pineiro
Kyle Lohse
Anthony Reyes

Bloggers Reactions

Cardinals Diaspora

It's not a bad move, especially on a one year deal. At this point, warm bodies capable of pitching for 150+ innings are exactly what the Cardinals need. Win now? Pfft. Compete now? Pish posh. We need pitchers to make it through the season, and that's exactly what this is.

I'd still like to see a return to form from Anthony Reyes and some of the young arms get a shot. Hopefully, Parisi and those guys turn out performances in triple A that are impossible for the folks in STL to ignore…although if anyone can ignore fine rookie performances, it's Tony La Russa.

- Toronto Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum, who was called upon last year to start and really made the most out of his opportunity, is working on a sinker to add to his repertoire (fastball, slider, cutter, curve and change)

“I'm trying to work on it and get it ready for the season,” Marcum explained. “If it's not there, then we'll shut it down and go from there. If it's not working, it's probably not a pitch I'm going to throw Hafner during the season. I might go with what I get people out with, which is probably my changeup in that spot.”

Marcum, who was scheduled to pitch four innings, saw his pitch count rise rapidly as he toyed with that two-seam sinking fastball. The 26-year-old finished with 65 pitches, including 47 strikes, and allowed five runs (three earned) on 10 hits with one strikeout and no walks in 3 2/3 innings.

Throughout his career, Marcum has typically been a fly-ball pitcher, giving him a desire to add a pitch that can induce more ground balls. The sinker that Marcum has been working on since this past offseason begins on a path toward the hips of a left-handed batter before breaking back over the plate.

It's a similar pitch to the sinker used by Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, who is well-known for the high volume of groundouts he induces. Against the Indians, Marcum was more successful with the pitch against right-handers, but he struggled against lefties like Hafner and catcher Victor Martinez, both of whom recorded hits off the sinker.

- Patrick Sullivan examines how teams approach 3-0 counts.

I am not sure that there are conclusions to be drawn from any of this, but it sure looks interesting. What stuck out most for me were the Oakland Athletics, and what seems to be evidence of an organizational approach to hitting. We have long-known that the A's favor a patient style at the plate. A casual search looking at past articles related to Oakland's philosophical beliefs on how to approach an at-bat will yield a lot of words like “patience” and “selectivity” and “taking a walk”.

It may just be semantics and not reflective of meaningful differences between the two clubs but being a Red Sox fan and living in Boston, when Theo Epstein speaks of an organizational approach, he will use a term like “strike zone management” or “pitch recognition”. Oakland seems to believe that taking more pitches is an end to itself, while Boston might think that so long as you can recognize effectively a ball and a strike, aggressiveness is not necessarily a bad thing.

New Articles: Arizona Dreaming, by Geoff Young

Alternate Views On Select Prospects, by Rob McQuown
Roger Clemens and the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: The Final Tally, by Gordon Berger
Indy Baseball Chatter: March 10, 2008, by Bob Wirz
Fantasy Baseball Infielders: the Bargains, by Brandon Heikoop
Getting to Know You: Corey Hart, by Matthew Whipps
Hot Spots and Cool Breezes, by Jonathan Hale
The 20 Greatest Fluke Home Run Seasons Since 1920, by Voros McCracken
The Prince Is An Angry Vegan, by Craig Brown
The 'Dirty Dozen' Relief Pitchers, by Rob McQuown
Beyond the Diamond: March 4, 2008, by Pete Toms

- Subscribe to the free BDD Newsletter (simply enter your email address in the appropriate space on the home page) and enjoy:

*The Rundown – a downloadable and printable box score

*Breaking News before anybody else

*Follow all the action on Baseball Digest Daily

- Be sure not to miss top prospect Matt Laporta's first player journal for our site!

- You can visit the Baseball Digest Daily Channel
on YouTube, where you will find three videos from my visit at the Blue
Jays' Bobby Mattick Training Center and also a growing collection of
baseball videos from around the web.

- John Brattain
and Voros McCracken have done the unthinkable: they have moved their blogs to BDD! 
Come back often to witness their daily struggles with reality.

- BDD is now associated with Heater Magazine and Seamheads.  You can check out their offerings with the link in the menu at the top of this page.

- You can hear the latest edition of the BDD Radio Show with Eric Walker, where he talks about PEDs and the effect they have on stats.

Join the Baseball Digest Daily Facebook and Ballhype groups

- 'Bangqiu' is what baseball's called in China (stick ball) and with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres about to play a couple of games in this country, it will be interesting to see the way this people reacts to our game.

“One day we'll look back on this — maybe a landmark event — and say it was the start of many great years of baseball history in China,” Hoffman said. “You think of all the emperors and dynasties they've had. This had a beginning. I'm sure building the wall felt equally daunting when they started.”

Getting attention on Thursday was easy. Chinese TV stations attended the event, Chinese tourists snapped photos of some of the unknown players, and young girls ran by giggling “hello” and “xie, xie,” — Chinese for “thank you.” Save for their larger stature, players like Hoffman, Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff were largely ignored.

The star was the Padres mascot — “The Swinging Friar.” Hundreds mugged for photos. Some thought it was a promotion for McDonald's restaurants.

“Here they don't know anything about baseball, they don't know who is who,” said Michael Grace, who donned the mascot's garb. “The friar looks friendly, it's an oddity.”

A bit like baseball, which is expected to draw crowds in Beijing on Friday when the Padres and Dodgers practice at the venue for this summer's Olympics. Sellouts over the weekend would help baseball's reputation. The game will not be played in the 2012 Olympics in London but could be reinstated for 2016.

- This is what I wrote in a blog post that looked at some players performances a week into Spring Training:

Detroit – Ivan Rodriguez has two hits this Spring in 16 AB and ont of those went over the fence for a trip around the bases.  He is hitting .125 and that's also his OBP (he has no walk and 4 K)

Well, how things change in seven days!

The Tigers catcher now leads the majors in home runs (6) and also hit two doubles, making all his hits since March 6 for extra bases.

For Seattle, center fielder Ichiro Suzuki is still hitless this Spring and now stands at 0-for-21, with two walks.

- ESPN's Keith Law shot a short video of the White Sox's Alexei Ramirez in the batting cage and wrote an excellent scouting report about him and other players (only Ramirez part is available to non-subscribers).

Ramirez reminds me in a lot of ways of Alfonso Soriano, although he doesn't have Soriano's explosiveness at the plate. Ramirez is slight of build, but wiry strong, and could probably add some muscle in an MLB-caliber conditioning program. He has very quick wrists and gets the bat to the ball quickly, with very good plate coverage as well. His swing has Soriano's exaggerated finish, and when he connects he has plus raw power to his pull side (left field) and can at least put it to the wall to the opposite field.

The Baseball Digest Daily Channel on YouTube brings you three videos from the Blue Jays Spring Training facilities in Dunedin.  Here's one where you can see a batting practice with…

- Jerry Crasnick writes about GM Kenny Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen from the White Sox.  There are some great quotes in there:

• Williams on the pressures of the job: “Boston. New York. Chicago. Philadelphia. These are very demanding sports towns. If you don't recognize that one basic principle, it will swallow you up. So I wake up every day knowing that to a large segment of our fan base, I'm the village idiot.''

• Guillen on the lack of respect accorded Williams: “People forgot how good Kenny was for four years. People forgot he didn't finish worse than second. It's a funny thing about this game. We win the World Series and Kenny makes three key moves to winning, and the guy in Cleveland [Shapiro] wins the Baseball America Executive of the Year. That's a bunch of s—.''

• Williams on the pecking order in Chicago: “Our fans don't care about injuries and other things that happened last season. It's all about what you do on the field. There's only one sports team in Chicago that will get a pass. I won't name them. But it ain't us.''

• Guillen on his “hate-love'' relationship with Williams: “Last year Kenny and me stuck together. We fought together. We sat together. We were upset together. We blamed each other. We found out who was behind us and who wasn't. Ninety-nine percent of the people weren't behind us. Hey man, this game is a bunch of front-runners. If you're good, they kiss your butt. If not, you're horse s—.''

• Williams on the hits he took for signing Linebrink to a four-year, $19 million deal: “I don't know why that's perceived as an out of line deal, when Justin Speier signed for pretty much the same thing with the Angels. The market was already set. We needed bullpen help, so we did what we had to do and make no apologies. If other clubs want to take issue with it, they don't have to face the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers.''

• Guillen on White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf: “The media in Chicago should kiss Jerry Reinsdorf's butt every day, because he put sports back on the map in Chicago. He won six rings with the Bulls and he has one in baseball, and he helped build the new ballpark and a new basketball court. Nobody gives him any credit, and I don't think that's fair.''

• Williams on the mood in Chicago's camp: “I love the camp, the intensity. You can see right off the bat that guys are a little embarrassed by what happened last year. We did some historical things — and not in a good way.''

• Guillen on how he'll react if the Sox win another title: “We made a big mistake when we won in 2005. We never took credit. Me and Kenny, we just did our jobs and never went out of our way to rub it in people's faces that we were the champions. If we win it again, I'll be a cocky, arrogant, SOB. I'll be wearing my World Series rings hitting fungoes in the field.''

While it seems this duo has been together for a short time, the Crasnick mentions that they are the fourth longest-running GM-manager tandem in baseball today, behind only Colorado, Cleveland and Milwaukee.

- Good piece by John Donovan at SI about the Pittsburgh Pirates and Neil Huntington's attempt to restore the franchise credibility in the eyes of baseball fans.  Love the way this general manager goes about his business and pays attention to details.  This is what will make the difference in the long run.

A quick example, seemingly small, of how things have changed in this organization over the past few months: After exhaustive talks with the new group, including president Frank Coonelly, rookie manager John Russell and others, Huntington found that many of the lower levels of the Pirates' minor leagues did not have bilingual instructors.

You would think, given the fact that so many players in the major leagues are from Spanish-speaking countries, that the Pirates would at least have someone who could speak to an 18-year-old prospect from, say, Venezuela.

“Attention to detail,” says Huntington, who has remedied the oversight. “The process of how we're going about it is very different than what has been experienced in the past, and we're hearing that from players, from the staff that's been here.”

- This Chicago retailer could be sorry it even thought of the idea or it could turn out to be a stroke of genius.

SuitePlay!, a Chicagoland retailer of fun home furnishings, announced today that all store purchases made at their four Chicago area locations between March 13th and April 14th, 2008 will be 100 percent reimbursed (excluding tax and delivery fees) if the Chicago Cubs go all the way to win the 2008 World Championship.

“This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Cubs World Championship win against the Detroit Tigers and all of Chicagoland is hoping that the Cubs will repeat history,” said Kelly Claffey, Vice President of Marketing for SuitePlay!. “We are inviting our shoppers to step up to the plate and buy furniture, games and other accessories to make their home more fun for baseball season during the promotional period. To show our team spirit, we'll pay them back for their store purchases should the Cubbies go all the way! It's a win-win for everyone!”

A poster on BBTF mentioned that a Boston retailer had done the same in the past, but I could not find it.  If you have an idea who that might be, post it in the Comments section please.

- This tidbit from Buster Olney's column yesterday, about the new Astros shortstop, Miguel Tejada:

Multiple talent evaluators are saying that Houston shortstop Miguel Tejada looks absolutely terrible this spring, and they can't see him finishing the year at his current position.

- My colleague Geoff Young wrote a post titled “How to Quit Your Job and Write a Book (or Two)“. 

Here's the scouting report from Perfect Game USA, from a 2007 National Showcase:

Edward Salcedo SS  
Height: 6-3 Weight:190

Gun Reading from Position
OF:      IF: 93     1B:      C:    Pop Time:

Fast Ball Velocity:
60 yd: 6.81     40 yd:   Track Conditions: Fast Track

PG Rating: 10


PG Report
Edward
Salcedo is a FA SS with a 6'3'', 190 lb. frame from La Vega, Dominican
Republic. Big League body, strong and athletic. Smooth, easy defensive
actions, easy plus arm, can really play SS. Aggressive swing, power
projection, deep load from wide base, good bat speed, geared to drive
fastballs, timing will be an issue. All the tools to be a top player.
Potential 1st round type if in draft.

The Cleveland Indians have long been rumored to have signed (or verbally agreed to a contract), but John Mirabelli, the club's assistant GM in charge of scouting, told MLB.com that “Edward Salcedo is 100 percent unsigned. We are involved with multiple, high-profile players internationally, and each of those players has numerous teams interested.”

In a chat at the beginning of the year, Jim Callis of Baseball America stated the following:

The latest from our international guru, Chris Kline, is that this guy is more fiction that fact. Overhyped and overpriced, and that's why he hasn't signed yet.

- Scott Thorman is out of option in Atlanta and there is no place to put him.  The Canadian slugger never panned out as expected when he took the starting job at first base last year, replacing the streaky Adam Laroche.

While his power potential was never in question, I wonder why people were so high on him, after posting average numbers in the minors and an inability to handle southpaws consistently.  With Mark Teixeira now solidly anchored at the corner position, that leaves him only a corner spot in the outfield to occupy, but even these positions are already planned for: Jeff Francoeur in right field and Matt Diaz in left.

Diaz has seen his number improved for the last three years, finishing with an OPS+ of 124 in 2007 and ranked sixth in the majors in left field with a +10 rating (according to the Fielding Bible data).

Unless the Braves keep him for a bench job or can somehow get an interesting return for the 26-year-old, Thorman is destined for the waivers where he'll be snatch in a second for his power potential.

- The Yankees-Rays game today featured a bench-clearing incident where Shelly Duncan (first baseman, Yankees) slid into second base with his spikes right at Akinori Iwamura's 'prized possession'. (see picture here)

On Sunday, Duncan had dropped a hint that the Yankees might match the Rays' intensity on the basepaths.

“What it does is it opens another chapter of intensity in the spring training ballgames,” Duncan said, referring to the home-plate collision. “They showed what is acceptable to them and how they're going to play the game, so we're going to go out there to match their intensity — or even exceed it.”

“There's going to be no malicious evil intent in terms of carryover, but it just adds a different type of fire to your gut when you play that team because you understand how they're playing the game and what their mind-set is,” Duncan said Sunday.

But Duncan's slide was the second of two plays suggesting the Yankees were more than a little upset at the Rays.

In the first inning. Yankees pitcher Heath Phillips hit Rays third baseman Longoria on his midsection. Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild ejected Phillips.

- OF Rocco Baldelli suffers from “some type of metabolic and/or mitochondrial abnormalities,'' a condition that leaves him feeling extremely fatigued after just a brief workout.  That makes the rehabilitation after an injury very difficult to deal with by limiting the muscle ability to recover.

While he is not expected to retire, he has the following to say about his future:

“As far as my baseball career I'm not here to stand in front of you telling you I'm retiring,'' Baldelli said. “We're still going pursue any avenue that we can to try to figure out what is going on and have a better understanding of what is going on. But at this time throughout all of the extensive testing that we've  done, we don't have a concrete answer.

The Rays are already rumored to be talking about acquiring Juan Rivera from the Angels, but it seems like he still figures in their plan for 2009-10.

- Found yesterday on MLBtraderumors.com:

The Rangers pushed hard to acquire Andre Ethier from the Dodgers, both in a Mark Teixeira deal and after L.A. signed Andruw Jones.  If I were a Dodger fan, I'd be angry to see the team put its pride ahead of winning by playing Juan Pierre over Ethier.

Could not have said it better.  It's funny to see Torre use the speedster at the top of the lineup this Spring.  If you are gonna use the guy, at least put him in the ninth hole, where he will not hurt the offense with his .330-ish on-base average.

Better still, do as the doctor above prescribed: put Andre Ethier in left!

The 25-year-old has both an ability to make contact and hit for power.  He was put into a platoon following his rookie season (2006) even though his splits were more than favorable to keep him against left-handed pitching. 

New Article: Roger Clemens and the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: The Final Tally, by Gordon Berger

Indy Baseball Chatter: March 10, 2008, by Bob Wirz
Fantasy Baseball Infielders: the Bargains, by Brandon Heikoop
Getting to Know You: Corey Hart, by Matthew Whipps
Hot Spots and Cool Breezes, by Jonathan Hale
The 20 Greatest Fluke Home Run Seasons Since 1920, by Voros McCracken
The Prince Is An Angry Vegan, by Craig Brown
The 'Dirty Dozen' Relief Pitchers, by Rob McQuown
Beyond the Diamond: March 4, 2008, by Pete Toms

- Subscribe to the free BDD Newsletter (simply enter your email address in the appropriate space on the home page) and enjoy:

*The Rundown – a downloadable and printable box score

*Breaking News before anybody else

*Follow all the action on Baseball Digest Daily

- Be sure not to miss top prospect Matt Laporta's first player journal for our site!

- You can visit the Baseball Digest Daily Channel
on YouTube, where you will find three videos from my visit at the Blue
Jays' Bobby Mattick Training Center and also a growing collection of
baseball videos from around the web.

- John Brattain
and Voros McCracken have done the unthinkable: they have moved their blogs to BDD! 
Come back often to witness their daily struggles with reality.

- BDD is now associated with Heater Magazine and Seamheads.  You can check out their offerings with the link in the menu at the top of this page.

- You can hear the latest edition of the BDD Radio Show with Eric Walker, where he talks about PEDs and the effect they have on stats.

Join the Baseball Digest Daily Facebook and Ballhype groups

- The New York Times reveals this morning that a California doctor is under investigation for illegal prescription given to major league baseball players.

The doctor, Ramon Scruggs, was linked last year to prescribing steroids to two major league players, Troy Glaus and Scott Schoeneweis, in 2003 and 2004. The information about Scruggs resulted from an investigation into an Internet ring of pharmacies and antiaging clinics conducted by the Albany County district attorney's office in New York and by the authorities in Florida and Alabama.

The federal prosecutors from California, who have led most of the major steroids investigations in recent years, were not involved in the Internet case, but they are now looking closely at Scruggs, according to the three lawyers. One of the lawyers is a law enforcement official based outside of California. None of them were authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

One of the lawyers said the current investigation had uncovered the names of other major league players who had received prescriptions from Scruggs. Those names are unlikely to be disclosed immediately if legal action is taken, as expected, against Scruggs in the coming months.

- Tommy Lasorda is back as a manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers while half the roster is in China to play the San Diego Padres on March 15-16, but the old man hasn't changed much.

Slowly, the baseball dribbled down the first-base line — same as it always has in Dodgertown. Slowly, Marlins pitcher Andrew Miller saw it, plucked it off the dirt, stood up, and tagged a half-jogging, half-confused James Loney.

Fair ball, ruled home plate umpire Damien Beal. Batter's out. Inning's over.

Then slowly, manager Tommy Lasorda ambled out of the third base dugout — same as he always has in Dodgertown. Slowly, he waddled over to Beal, ranted a bit, raved some more, and finally shuffled back with a hint of a smile and a hint of a scowl.

Then the Dodgertown faithful, standing in unison, hollered and whooped — same as they always have.

“They like that,” Lasorda grinned after the game. “They've always liked that, when I go out and start arguing about it. I put on a little show, you know.”

- Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig took home a $14.5 M salary last year, a 4% increase over the previous year.  That was more than all other sport executives.  Baseball's Chief Financial Officer, Bob Dupuy, earned $4,875,000.

From Cubby-Blue (reproduced with permission)

For those that have no idea what this drawing is referring to, it is in response to the news that CF Feliz Pie underwent a surgical procedure to correct testicular torsion.  From wiki:

In testicular torsion the spermatic cord that provides the blood supply to a testicle is twisted, cutting off the blood supply, often causing orchalgia. Prolonged testicular torsion will result in the death of the testicle and surrounding tissues.

Hey, don't say you don't learn anything on this site!

- RH starter Josh Beckett likely won't be ready for Opening Day, according to ESPN.com.

Manager Terry Francona told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the Red Sox haven't made any decisions yet on Beckett, but he sounded like a man who understands that two weeks until Opening Day don't leave much time for the pitcher's back to heal.

“I don't think we know [for sure] yet,” Francona said. “But we're certainly not going to rush him back to pitch a game March 24 if he's not ready.”

Beckett reported Tuesday that he was “feeling better” than the day before, when his back was bothering him so much that he actually got “worried,” he said. And Francona said late Tuesday afternoon that Beckett had had “a good day” of treatment.

- The Blue Jays added depth to an already deep bullpen by signing Armando Benitez to a minor league deal.

The 35-year-old right-handed pitcher has 289 saves and a 3.11 ERA in 14 major league seasons.  In 2004, with the Florida Marlins, he saved 47 games and allowed only 36 hits in 69.2 IP, while striking out 62 and walking 21 batters.  His career splits are impressive considering he can get both righties and lefties out, but 2007 saw these numbers lie in a big way, putting lefties on base more than 40% of the time.  Righties were easier for him to retire, but really did some damage when they found a way to put the ball into play: 25 hits in 103 AB (13 extra-base hits).

He throws a fastball that can still reach the mid-90s and a slider in the mid-80s.

The signing comes as LH Gustavo Chacin is no longer considered an option for the fifth starter spot and RHP Casey Janssen is out for the season with a torn labrum.

Blue Jays pitcher Casey Janssen is finished for the season. An MRI exam revealed that the discomfort Janssen felt in his right shoulder during a bullpen session on Tuesday morning was caused by a torn labrum.

Janssen is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery to repair his frayed shoulder on either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week in California, and the pitcher said the operation will likely be performed by Los Angeles-based surgeon Dr. Lewis Yocum.

- Gary Thorne has an interesting piece in the USA Today about baseball and its expansion in China.

That leaves baseball to make its mark after Chairman Mao excised the game from China back in the 1960s. Basketball did better under Mao because he liked the game.

Baseball goes back to 1863 in China, according to a history of the game there researched by the Bleacher Report. That was when Shanghai formed a baseball club.

The game was flourishing at the term of the 20th century with China placing second to the Philippines in a Greater Asia tournament in Shanghai.

By 1959 there were teams in 30 regions of the nation competing for a national title. All that ended when Mao said “out.”

- Global warming is also an issue for baseball.  MLB and Natural Ressources Defense Council have joined forces in Team Greening Program.  This first coordinated effort by baseball will help every club achieve environmentally sensitive practices.  Here are the topics the Team will work on with each club:

• Adopting an official environmental policy

• Incorporating environmental language into contracts, purchasing policies and requests for proposals that specify preferences for environmentally sound products and services

• Encouraging the use of renewable energy

• Providing information about how to credibly offset the carbon emissions related to team and fan transportation

• Using post-consumer recycled content paper for all paper products

• Implementing paper reduction strategies in offices

• Offsetting the environmental impact of up to half of team and employee travel

• Establishing club eco-committees

New Article: Getting to Know You: Corey Hart, by Matthew Whipps

Hot Spots and Cool Breezes, by Jonathan Hale
The 20 Greatest Fluke Home Run Seasons Since 1920, by Voros McCracken
Indy Baseball Chatter: March 7, 2008, by Bob Wirz
The Prince Is An Angry Vegan, by Craig Brown
The 'Dirty Dozen' Relief Pitchers, by Rob McQuown
Beyond the Diamond: March 4, 2008, by Pete Toms
Will Dioner Navarro Break Out?, by Brandon Heikoop
The New Pitching Tag Teams, by Matthew Whipps

- Subscribe to the free BDD Newsletter (simply enter your email address in the appropriate space on the home page) and enjoy:

*The Rundown – a downloadable and printable box score

*Breaking News before anybody else

*Follow all the action on Baseball Digest Daily

- Be sure not to miss top prospect Matt Laporta's first player journal for our site!

- You can visit the Baseball Digest Daily Channel
on YouTube, where you will find three videos from my visit at the Blue
Jays' Bobby Mattick Training Center and also a growing collection of
baseball videos from around the web.

- John Brattain
and Voros McCracken have done the unthinkable: they have moved their blogs to BDD! 
Come back often to witness their daily struggles with reality.

- BDD is now associated with Heater Magazine and Seamheads.  You can check out their offerings with the link in the menu at the top of this page.

- You can hear the latest edition of the BDD Radio Show with Eric Walker, where he talks about PEDs and the effect they have on stats.

Join the Baseball Digest Daily Facebook and Ballhype groups

Baseball Digest Daily's photographer strikes again!


Rick Ankiel's slide at the plate was…in vain.  (Bill Richardson/BDD)

All Baseball Transactions Sunday

- The Cape Cod League and MLB Properties are in a bind when it comes to naming rights for the minor league teams.

At Wednesday night's meeting the Cape League people discussed whether or not they would agree to the terms that have been laid out by MLBP in order for them to continue using those names for their franchises. MLBP and the CCBL have had a working relationship for better than two decades, with MLBP providing an annual grant since the mid-1990s. Over the last two years that grant has been $100,000.

Under the terms and conditions laid out by MLBP, the big league organization would agree to continue to provide a $100,000 grant to the Cape League, which the league uses for a variety of operating costs, as long as the six affected teams return signed permission agreements. Under those agreements each team will be granted the right to use a text-only and stylized version of the team's nickname (e.g. the word mark Mariners) and a composite logo consisting of MLB's silhouetted batter logo combined with the text “funded in part by Major League Baseball.”

- The aggressive play at the plate in Saturday's contest between the Rays and Yankees (home-plate collision in which Tampa Bay's Elliot Johnson ran over Francisco Cervelli and fractured the catcher's wrist) was criticized by Yankees manager Joe Girardi and now Don Zimmer, senior advisor for the Rays, has also something to say about the incident.

“I can't believe that he went after it the way he did. That's not Joe Girardi,” said Zimmer, a former Yankees bench coach and currently a senior adviser with the Rays. Twice in the past week Tampa Bay runners barreled into catchers blocking the plate.

“You block the plate. If I slide into him and break a leg, nothing is said. Instead of breaking my leg I bowl him over and it's not the right play?” Zimmer said. “Well, to me it's the right play, spring training or no spring training. Play the game the right way. To me, our kid played it the way he thought it was right, and I think it was right.”

I am thorn on this issue, because in a way, I think both men are right.  Even Girardi said everyone had to play the game hard, but that it wasn't the right time.

Spring Training is a time to evaluate players and also prepare them for the grind of the upcoming season.  Is it too much to ask to not injure players and maybe refrain from plate collisions during the month of March?  I don't think so.  In the grand scheme of things, the game results doesn't matter and such plays are not frequent.

On the other hand, these guys are competitive by nature and don't want to lose a game.  While I'm sure the intent was not to hurt Cervelli, but to score a run, the Rays coaches want them to get traction now and play their heart out to enter the season prepared.  The young studs on that roster have seen their share of immature acts in the last few seasons and some rigid direction can only build up their character and desire to win by doing the little things.

Is there a middle ground here?  The runner can hurt the catcher, but he also runs the risk of hurting himself.  Zimmer is protecting his player and also possesses an old-school mentality that want to see players give their 100% in every game.

But when you look at it through the prism of the almighty dollar, you don't want to see your prized prospects getting hurt in a plate collision during a freakin' ST game, huh?  Let's face it, if Posada had been at the plate, the debate would have been even more passionate.

The game has changed over the years and so have the priorities of the teams.  Protecting the players while also teaching the merits of playing hard should be the new norm.

- J.C Bradbury has been all over the Atlanta Braves relocation of their AAA team to Gwinnett (from Richmond) and he's at it again today.  All his coverage here.

After local officials said no tax increase would be involved with the new stadium for the minor league team, it seems that wasn't entirely true.

- Seamheads, the most recent addition here at Baseball Digest Daily and our History section, is going head first into the new season with a new cast of writers and features.  Please take the time to read what they have to offer:

*The Stickpin, by Gene Carney

*Baseball History — As Seen From the Shadows of Cooperstown, by Gene Carney

*Are 300-Game Winners Becoming Instinct?, by Brian Joseph

I'll be back later today with a few posts on the blog and maybe some good news for the minor league fans out there…

New Article: The 20 Greatest Fluke Home Run Seasons Since 1920, by Voros McCracken

Indy Baseball Chatter: March 7, 2008, by Bob Wirz
The Prince Is An Angry Vegan, by Craig Brown
The 'Dirty Dozen' Relief Pitchers, by Rob McQuown
Beyond the Diamond: March 4, 2008, by Pete Toms
Some Like It Hot, by Jonathan Hale
Will Dioner Navarro Break Out?, by Brandon Heikoop
The New Pitching Tag Teams, by Matthew Whipps

- Subscribe to the free BDD Newsletter (simply enter your email address in the appropriate space on the home page) and enjoy:

*The Rundown – a downloadable and printable box score

*Breaking News before anybody else

*Follow all the action on Baseball Digest Daily

- Be sure not to miss top prospect Matt Laporta's first player journal for our site!

- You can visit the Baseball Digest Daily Channel
on YouTube, where you will find three videos from my visit at the Blue
Jays' Bobby Mattick Training Center and also a growing collection of
baseball videos from around the web.

- John Brattain
and Voros McCracken have done the unthinkable: they have moved their blogs to BDD! 
Come back often to witness their daily struggles with reality.

- BDD is now associated with Heater Magazine and Seamheads.  You can check out their offerings with the link in the menu at the top of this page.

- You can hear the latest edition of the BDD Radio Show with Eric Walker, where he talks about PEDs and the effect they have on stats.

Join the Baseball Digest Daily Facebook and Ballhype groups

The easily recognizable swing from Mr. Jones. (Bill Richardson/BDD)

- He doesn't want to talk about it and for me to even consider the Atlanta Braves without him is weird, but manager Bobby Cox's contract ends at the end of the current season and a decision will have to be taken by then.

It's almost impossible to envision Cox wearing anything over than a cap, a pair of cleats and a jersey with “Braves” written across the chest. This is who he is. This is how he's lived virtually his entire life.

The years are catching up with him. He waddles around slower and slower on those two surgically replaced knees. The dark hair of youth has gone grey. Every year brings a new wrinkle or two to that weathered face.

- Ichiro Suzuki is 0-for-14 so far this Spring, even after he asked manager John McLaren for another at bat in yesterday's game that ended up a sharp liner.

Ichiro's worst career hitless streak was 0 for 24 from July 30 to Aug. 5, 2005, according to reporters from Japan. What, McLaren worried?

Ichiro has won two U.S. major-league batting titles, and seven in Japan.

(reproduced with permission)

Tim Souers from Cubby-blue.com (please, please, put this site in your bookmarks) has a Passion for the Chicago Cubs and everyday I need my fix…and I'm not a Cubs fan!!

- Cincinnati Reds Scouting Director Chris Buckley and Director of Latin American scouting Tony Arias have invested two million dollars in a 16-year-old outfielder from the Dominican Republic, Juan Duran.

Duran, who bats and throws righthanded and checks in at roughly 6-foot-6, 190 pounds, likely will not play a game this year in the PL, however, where at 16 years old he would be by far the youngest player in the league. The Reds cannot assign him to the Gulf Coast League, since the GCL season ends on Aug. 27, so sending him to the GCL would void his contract.

Buckley and Arias were both with the Blue Jays when the team drafted outfielder Alex Rios as an 18-year-old with the 19th overall pick in the 1999 draft.

“He compares favorably, only he's bigger and stronger at this age than Rios was,” Buckley said. “He's more physical, and he has shown some of the same feel for hitting that Alex displayed.

“We don't have a second-round pick this year so we wanted to be creative and get more talent any way we can.”

- GQ's Nate Penn scored the first major interview with Hal Steinbrenner in twenty years and I suggest you take the time to read it.  After, you can listen to Penn in an interview with BP's Will Carroll here (mp3 download).

Not so much. Various sources say you “hate” and “avidly disdain” the media.
No truth to that. That was Bill Madden [of the New York Daily News]. Look, first of all, I don't hate anybody. It's a useless emotion. It accomplishes nothing. He even said I hate the players, which is certainly not true. We've all had issues with the media, okay, but at the same time, I understand, Hank understands, they're in business just like we're in business.

Am I comfortable dealing with the media? Probably not as comfortable as Hank is. Definitely not as comfortable as my dad was. Have I had disagreements with them in the past, disagreed with things they've written and the reasons they wrote them? Yes, of course. But again, I understand what the deal is.

If you really don't feel any enmity toward the media, I would actually be surprised. Your family has been tabloid fodder almost since the day your dad bought the team.
Maybe I'm numb to it. Maybe I'm just used to it. Look, I care very much what my family thinks of me, my close friends, but I try not to pay attention to what strangers think of me. You could drive yourself crazy doing that, particularly if you're reading the New York papers every day, which I tend not to do.

Was it always assumed during your childhood that you or Hank would one day take over the Yankees from your dad?
My dad would say, “Someday this is going to be yours.” “We're counting on you, we're counting on Hank.” “I'm not going to want to do this forever.” I don't know [laughs] if that was true. George was very involved, and he loved it. He wanted us around, he wanted us here, but there was nothing that specific about duties. My background in grad school [Hal earned an MBA in 1994] led me to do certain things, like finance, that weren't his strong points. Hank always loved the baseball operations and knew the statistics for every player. We each had our strengths. I know he saw that.

In the audio interview, Carroll and Penn make an amusing comparison to George, Hank and Hal with the movie Godfather II (which is also the title of the article).  Hal is considered Michael Corleone, Hank is Sonny and of course, George is Vito.

When listening to the interview, I was thinking about this whole change at the top of the Yankees ownership structure and thought that I was pretty lucky to be seeing this all play out in front of me like that.

I am not a Yankees fan, but I am a baseball nut and when Steinbrenner took over the team in 1973, my parents had not even thought about having a baby.  So to see this change of guard and watch the way it affects the team's fans and baseball in general is really interesting and it had not really sunk in until I came across that article and interview last night.

Good stuff…

- The Mets pitching staff are using a pitching training method I always thought should be more widespread throughout the major and minor leagues: a thin rubber band stretched across home plate, representing the bottom of the strike zone.

The Mets cite statistical research that shows big league batters hit .220 against pitches at the bottom of the strike zone, so they want all their hurlers constantly working to keep the ball down.

Fastballs, curves, changeups, doesn't matter. Aim low, win big.

That starts in spring training with the rubber bands, fastened around poles or stakes that are planted in each batter's box in the bullpens at Tradition Field. The rubber bands are set at knee-level for an imaginary hitter and are thin enough that the ball's flight isn't altered before it hits the catcher's mitt.

In this elaborate era of computer scouting and video evaluation, the Mets still use a tried-and-tested teaching tool that you can buy at any corner drug store.

“High-tech — rubber bands,” bullpen coach Guy Conti said with a smile.

- The best way to present this picture gallery, I think, is to simply copy and paste how SI presents it:

“Luminous paintings by Kadir Nelson re-create the power and majesty of the Negro leagues, in a time when some of the game's greats played in undeserved obscurity — but with undiminished passion”

Please take the time to view the gallery