| November 17 2004 |
| Sometimes, doing nothing is better than...
Big news in Blogland: yours truly has accepted a position as the Reds blogger for the Most Valuable Network. The general content of the daily column will be completely unchanged, and I'll bring over my longer pieces and link them as well. I wish I could say I was getting paid a truckload to do this, but my agent settled with the MVN guy for free image hosting, a customized logo, and an e-mail address. (I couldn't afford Scott Boras.) I need a couple of days to get used to the different blogging software and all that, and should start posting at reds.mostvaluablenetwork.com by Monday. This site will remain up for awhile to come (it was pre-paid for a year), and I'll put a link to the new page on it. Anyway... --- The Phillies have re-signed RHP Cory Lidle for two more years and $6.5 million, plus performance bonuses. The deal is apparently $3MM for 2005 and $3.2MM for 2006. Lidle is already 32 and had his second straight below-average season in 2004 (although he did do better in 10 Philadelphia starts after the trade from Cincinnati). Ed Wade… somehow… is still employed. Look, I don't just say this because Lidle had a mediocre-at-best stint in the Reds' rotation. The guy is not worth that kind of money. He took a massive cut to come to the Reds after a brutally awful 2003 (5.75 ERA) to $2.5 million… so when he barely squeezes under 5 (4.90) in '04, a mark that is still 16% worse than *league average*, he gets a raise? Geez, tough business. Most of the rest of us would be flipping burgers if we were 25% and 16% worse than average back-to-back. But because Lidle shows up for work every start, he gets multi-millions. Must be nice. In his rush to Do Something, Anything, Nationals GM has already signed ex-Twins SS Cristian Guzman (four years, $16.8MM) and ex-Rockies 3B Vinny Castilla (two years, $6.2MM) to multi-year free agent deals. (Thank God the ESPN prediction that Castilla would sign with the Reds proved false!) Guzman, 27 for Opening Day, hit .274/.309/.384 for Minnesota in 2004 in his sixth major-league season. Castilla, 38 next July, hit .271/.332/.535 with 35 homers and an NL-leading 131 RBI for Colorado. Guzman has always been a little overrated due to his frequent SportsCenter highlights, above-average glove, and footspeed; he's also got a career line of .266/.302/.383, and despite that speed has never stolen more 28 bases in a season (although he has hit 14 or more triples in a year three times). He's three years removed from his only season over 700 OPS, 2001 (.302/.347/.447). While he's still young, there's been little indication he's earned $4 million-plus per year for the next four years with such poor plate discipline. And the Expos have a very solid prospect in 24-year-old Maicer Izturis (acquired along with fellow prospect OF Ryan Church in the highway-robbery deal with Cleveland last year for pitcher Scott Stewart) who is now blocked. It looks like Washington doesn't plan on keeping one of Izturis or Jose Vidro, then. But if signing Guzman seems a little ill-advised, the Castilla signing is an outright mistake. Yeah, he hit well in Coors Field, and has been okay two of the three years prior to 2004. But the guy's going to be 38, never had good plate discipline, and can't field very well. And he hit .218/.281/.493 on the road in 2004. While he's managed to stick around in the big leagues much longer than anyone guessed after his execrable turn-of-the-decade stint in Tampa Bay. I really think Bowden's going to regret this one, especially with 24-year-old prospect Brendan Harris, acquired from the Cubs in the Orlando Cabrera/Nomar Garciaparra four-team deal on July 31st, major-league ready. On top of this, Bowden forfeits the Nationals' second- and third-round draft picks in compensation. The ex-Expo system was one of the barest in baseball to begin with, and this certainly won't help. And two of the system's few real prospects play the positions of the guys Bowden just signed! But hey, at least JimBo TOOK ACTION! --- And knock another off Scott's List of Twenty-Two minor-league FAs; Los Angeles snapped up 2B Tony Schrager, among others (ex-Ranger OF Tydus Meadows, ex-Tampa righty Ryan Rupe, ex-Reds/Padres/Yankees righty Buddy Carlyle, etc.) --- From John Sickels' Down on the Farm Q&A column on ESPN.com: --- Izzy from McAllen, Texas, asks: Jesse Gutierrez, a first baseman/catcher, is in the Reds system, and played for Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts this past season. He batted .292 with 17 home runs and 82 RBI and was one the top hitters in Double-A. Gutierrez was ranked in the top five in homers, RBI, hits, doubles and extra-base hits in the Southern League. He was also named the Most Valuable Player of the Southern League All-Star Game. Is he for real? Will we see him move up or possibly be traded? The Reds drafted Gutierrez in the 20th round in 2001, out of St. Mary's University in Texas. He has received little attention, but he's hit well throughout his career, and proved himself in Double-A this year as you point out. He is currently playing in the Arizona Fall League, and is doing quite well, hitting .304 with a .371 OBP and .489 SLG through 25 games for the Scottsdale Scorpions. He has nothing to prove in Double-A, and will be playing Triple-A in 2005, looking for a shot in the Show. Gutierrez doesn't have the physical tools that make scouts drool. He's a big, muscular guy at 6-2, 210. He has no speed at all, and his defensive skills are pretty limited. He used to be a catcher, but is primarily a first baseman now, although he can still be a backstop in an emergency. Offensively, he crowds the plate and shows good power to all fields, but isn't likely to hit for a great batting average at higher levels. His walk rate is a notch below average, but he doesn't strike out much for a power guy, which is good. On the other hand, his lack of speed results in a lot of double-play grounders, and he will sometimes aggressively make contact on pitches he should let go by, getting himself out in the process. At age 26, he doesn't have a lot of upside left, and is probably as good now as he will ever be. It is unlikely that Gutierrez will be a regular player in the major leagues. His best bet is to find a slot as a platoon first baseman/pinch-hitter/emergency catcher. He has enough offensive skills to be useful in that role. Unfortunately, there are lots of guys with similar skills hanging around in Triple-A looking for a chance. Figuring out which ones will get the chance, and which ones will take advantage of that chance, is an exercise in psychic prediction, but my feelers in the psychical realm are not working too well today. ---- Says it all. Speaking of: AFL: Scottsdale played a doubleheader to make up the rainout from Saturday, and swept the Grand Canyon Rafters 4-0 and 11-4. Kevin Howard homered in the first game (back-to-back with Arizona's Marland Williams), and Daylan Childress fired three scoreless innings in relief of starter Jeff Housman. Game two saw Brian Peterson smack a two-run double and Howard homer again, this time a two-run blow. Kevin also added two more hits to finish game two 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a pair of stolen bases. Peoria and Scottsdale's game is on MLB.com radio today, so I'll have a recap of whatever I'm able to hear in tomorrow's entry. Posted by doc scott at 8 : 33 am | Leave a note {0} |
| November 16 2004 |
| Q: Valentin? A: No, thank you.
Not much happening today. Actually, the biggest news may be happening with the blog itself. I should be able to let you know what's happening this week, even. Don't worry- Reds and Blues ain't going away any time soon. Free agents are starting to stir a little, and you know that everyone's waiting for everyone else to move so they know how much to ask for. Carlos Beltran wants a ten-year contract. Good luck. Jason Varitek, about to turn 33, wants five years and $55-65 million. Even more luck. There is a new Q&A up at Cincinnatireds.com, and the first question's a good 'un: Will Ken Griffey Jr. be ready for 2005? Todd Lorenz says the Reds aren't certain he'll be 100% by spring training, but that they're "confident" he should be able to play some in the spring and be ready for Opening Day. (Insert joke about Dr. Kremchek here.) Lorenz, like the rest of us, doesn't know whether or not a move to right field will help Griffey avoid injury, but I'd add that it definitely helps mask his drastically reduced range (given the awful range ratings ESPN gave Junior's 2004 in center). My thought is that a move to the corner also reduces the overall amount of running he'd have to do, and possibly the fence-collision chances as well, since it's a smaller overall area he has to cover. Someone also asks about Jeriome Robertson, and Lorenz points out that Dan O'Brien knew the lefty from the pair's time with Houston, and likes his stuff. That's actually something of a relief, because Robertson has done a good job of showing the world, 15 fluke wins in 2003 or no, that his stuff ain't very good. But there wasn't that much to lose by signing Jeriome to begin with (same for Randy Keisler), so who knows when one of the two is going to get a little lucky? Lorenz doesn't think the Reds would non-tender D'Angelo Jimenez (if that happens, I'll pulverize my Young Joe Nuxhall bobblehead with a ballpeen hammer and mail it to John Allen's office), but that they might just ditch John Riedling, given Riedling's subpar 2004. I hope they don't do that, for the record. Riedling just had his first bad year ever, and you don't want all rookies and second-year men in the bullpen. And John can't cost much more than a million, can he? Todd unfortunately ends on his lowest note, as he claims that Javier Valentin has "never gotten a chance to play consistently in the majors". Uh, Todd… no. Besides the fact that Valentin was one of baseball's biggest catching prospects in the mid-nineties (winning the Twins' "minor-leaguer of the year" award in 1995, and making the Spring Training Baseball Yearbook's Top 100 Prospects list in 1996, 1997, and 1998), he spent all of 1998 and 1999 in the big leagues underachieving. By the time he went to Tampa Bay for 2003, he'd lost his chance to be a starter. While Valentin's career numbers don't show him getting a ton of at-bats in any one season, the Twins had the aging Terry Steinbach as their starting catcher from 1997-1999 when Terry was 35, 36, and 37 years old. While Steinbach did okay, don't you think Minnesota would have wanted the 22-23-24-year-old youngster to take the job? He didn't because he couldn't hit. Javier put up 1968-style offensive numbers, and so he didn't get the "chance to play regularly" because he simply wasn't good enough. The Twins seemingly rushed him to the big leagues, anxious for their toolsy youngster to grab the Laudnerian mantle (as he never touched AAA before coming to the Metrodome and didn't hit very well in AA in either of his stints there). It's just that when Javier got to the Show, he was soundly outhit by the veteran incumbent. As Valentin then proceeded to get injured by the next year, Minnesota farmed him out for good and tried several other youngsters in 2000 (Marcus Jensen, Chad Moeller) without success before happening on AJ Pierzynski in 2001. Javier never found a spot after that, despite solid numbers in AAA in 2001 and 2002, and was traded at the end of '02 to Milwaukee along with mopper-upper righty Matt Kinney for two minor-league pitchers who haven't done anything. (He never played for the Brewers, as he was traded again in spring '03 to Tampa for career fifth outfielder Jason Conti.) While I'll grudgingly admit he's a defensively capable and reasonably versatile backup, he hasn't hit for crap in the big leagues five years later, either, even with a couple of solid seasons in AAA in the early aughts under his belt. I don't think anyone really wants Valentin to be the starting catcher in 2005, but I continue to be surprised at those who overrate a guy who simply doesn't have the plate discipline or coverage to be anything more than a backup. For the record, I'd let Valentin go, or sign him to a minor-league+ NRI deal, and let Dane Sardinha have the #2 catcher's role entering spring training. I don't think Sardinha will become a star or anything, but I think he's earned the job. He'll play very solid defense (better than Valentin) and probably won't hit much worse. And taking away the "versatility" is actually a good thing, I think, because then Dave Miley won't go pinch-hitting Sardinha in the late innings against good right-handed pitching or starting him at first base (yech). --- AFL: Scottsdale was again rained out. Their lead is now a half-game in their division, with a handful to play. Tomorrow's game is on MLB.com radio, so I plan to have something of a PBP then. Posted by doc scott at 10 : 01 am | Leave a note {0} |
| November 15 2004 |
| LaRue signs; roto guy fantasizes.
The Reds signed Jason LaRue for 2005 unexpectedly quickly, as Jason decided against attempting arbitration and signed a $3 million deal, a raise of only $400,000. He must really have wanted to stay, because he had to know that an arbitration hearing, even if he lost, would help sign his ticket out of Cincinnati. Anyway, I'm pleased to have him around for another year, as the organization lacks a viable alternative at this point. Cincinnati also inked another minor-league veteran, ex-Yankee lefthander Randy Keisler . A 2nd-round pick in 1998 out of LSU, Keisler made it to the big leagues with New York by 2000. He struggled in big-league stints that year and in 2001 before missing 2002 with an injury (presumably arm surgery). He spent 2003 in AAA with the San Diego, Texas, and Houston organizations, pitching well in Portland (5-1, 2.61, 41.1 IP) and okay in New Orleans (2-3, 4.28, 48.1 IP), but badly in Oklahoma City (0-2, 8.53, 12.2 IP). He again made it to the big leagues that year with San Diego, but was beaten around in both of his starts. 2004 saw him move to the Mets organization, and after starting the season late due to more injuries, he settled in at AAA Norfolk and put up a 3.81 ERA in 22 games (21 starts). He allowed 145 hits in 130 innings, but walked just 45 and struck out 110. Seventeen unearned runs did help his ERA a little bit. Keisler will be 29 by Opening Day, and while he hasn't been successful as a starter in the bigs, no one's ever tried to convert him to the bullpen, either. Perhaps the Reds might give that a shot. One other note: the Giants lose their first-round draft pick to Cleveland to give a 37-year-old Omar Vizquel 12.25 million over three years? Are you kidding? They made similar waves last year when punting the #1 pick to sign Michael F. Tucker, but it's like they have no idea that Barry Bonds isn't going to be playing forever. If I'm Indians GM Mark Shapiro, I'm calling Hickory Farms. Send Giants GM Brian Sabean a gift basket! --- Found a couple of interesting offseason projection articles on Rotoworld.com. I'll focus on the Reds' portion of Matthew Pouliot's piece : --- Cincinnati Reds Projected Lineup 3B Sean Burroughs 2B D’Angelo Jimenez RF Ken Griffey Jr. LF Adam Dunn 1B Sean Casey CF Wily Mo Pena C Jason LaRue SS Pokey Reese Projected Rotation RHP Paul Wilson RHP Esteban Loaiza RHP Luke Hudson RHP Aaron Harang RHP Josh Hancock/LHP Brandon Claussen/RHP Dennis Tankersley Projected Bullpen RHP Danny Graves RHP Billy Koch RHP Ryan Wagner RHP Jose Acevedo Maybe the Reds are building toward something -- maybe -- but all they can hope for next year is that they’ll be a little better than they were in 2004. Things might not get too much better until Ken Griffey Jr., Sean Casey and Danny Graves are off the books, and the team has made it clear it’s in no hurry for that to happen. Letting Barry Larkin go may have been a step forward, but not if the replacement is Pokey Reese. Reds ownership seems to look at PR before everything, never realizing that winning is the best PR. Oh well. The Reds still might make some interesting moves without spending a lot of money. The Padres are a little down on Sean Burroughs and the Reds feel the same way about Austin Kearns, so a trade could be in order. Dennis Tankersley and John Riedling can be included to make it a two-for-two. With third base taken care of, the remaining order of business would be a decision on whether to tender D’Angelo Jimenez a contract. If he insists on going to arbitration, the team could let him go and hand second base to Ryan Freel. Pitching is the bigger priority in Cincinnati. GM Dan O’Brien is trying to re-sign Paul Wilson and will add another starter even if he can lock Wilson up. Esteban Loaiza, Hideo Nomo, Paul Byrd and Ramon Ortiz are some of the starters that may fall into their price range. For the bullpen, Todd Jones could return or the team could sign Billy Koch. Unless Ken Griffey Jr. somehow manages to take Adam Dunn with him next time he suffers a season-ending injury, the Reds should hold off the Brewers and Pirates to finish in fourth place again. The pitching isn’t yet there for them to move up. --- It's always interesting to hear a non-Reds fan's view of what the club should or might do. But I really hope Dan O'Brien isn't listening to Rotoworld.com. The author has followed his news stories, as he sticks Pokey Reese in as the SS starter (irrespective of the existences of Felipe Lopez and Anderson Machado) and plugs in the results of a deal with San Diego that brings Sean Burroughs and Dennis Tankersley in exchange for Austin Kearns and John Riedling. Of course, this deal won't happen as shown with Tankersley just traded to Kansas City, but it's sort of amazing to me why so many pundits seem to think the Reds need to acquire a long-term solution at third base with Edwin Encarnacion in the fold. Encarnacion has been a frequent resident of the various "top prospects" lists all around the Internet, so I don't think too many have an excuse to not know about him. Don't get me wrong- Sean Burroughs is a very interesting player who I'd be happy to have in Cincinnati, but certainly not at the expense of Austin Kearns. Apparently the Kearns-to-3B story isn't one that's appeared widely in national baseball media (beyond a rather negative mention in Peter Gammons' column), and I understand the skepticism of the attempted switch, but I just don't think the Reds will bring anyone in for more than a year, if they bring anyone in at all. (ESPN's Top 50 Free Agents column lists Vinny Castilla as likely to sign with the Reds, and that would be one of the more ridiculously poor decisions the club could make.) If Kearns shows conclusively he can't play third, and Ken Griffey Jr. is actually able to play (still in question), then the club might simply stick Ryan Freel at 3B (or Machado at short and Lopez at third) and go with it while hoping EdE hurries it up. The author picks out starter Esteban Loaiza and reliever Billy Koch as signing with the Reds in addition to Paul Wilson returning. Again, I hope the club is more aggressive than that in the free-agent market (I'd promise DanO partial ownership of my firstborn if he brought in a Clement or O. Perez in addition to Wilson), but I can definitely see Loaiza/Koch or comparables as possibilities (although both are notorious underachievers, Loaiza's 2003 career year notwithstanding). I'd actually sign a veteran reliever only as a safety-valve with so many youngsters (Coffey, Shackleford, Valentine) waiting in the wings to join Wagner, Riedling and Jose Acevedo, and spend that Proven Veteran cash on a starter. Todd Jones worked out pretty well for the Reds last season, and I wouldn't mind to see a comparable brought in under similar auspices. The one statement that Pouliot makes that's way off: "Reds management seems to look at PR before everything, never realizing that winning is the best PR." This is connected to the forecasted return of Pokey Reese. Obviously, Mr. Pouliot isn't aware of the strong enmity Reds fans have for Reese after his whine-athon 2001 season, a season in which he admitted to tanking it by August and September. DanO obviously thinks he's got a couple of keepers in Machado and Lopez, and I just can't see him bringing in Reese for baseball reasons, either, beyond the utility slot that Ray Olmedo seemed to be looking good for before he tore his arm up in winter ball. Anyway, where the statement about PR comes from, I dunno. Winning certainly is the best PR, agreed, but I'd argue the exact opposite- the Reds have consistently for the past few seasons ignored PR as an influence on their decision-making. Maybe if you inserted "finances" for "PR" in the original sentence, we might have something. Anyway, in case the author of the Rotoworld piece reads this: I'm impressed with your dedication, sir. As someone who's written thousands of words about baseball teams I'm not a fan of and then posted them for free on a website, I understand the amount of work this entails to get everything straight and still sound like you know what you're talking about. AFL: For some reason, the Scorpions showed up on MLB.com radio Friday afternoon! So I tune in (unfortunately, it's the day after Dustin Moseley's latest start) for a few innings. They start late for some reason, meaning I get all discombobulated trying to figure out who's playing and who isn't. It turns out to be quite the dud of a game, as Scottsdale loses 6-0. Kevin Howard goes 0-for-4, Brian Peterson 1-for-3, and Jesse Gutierrez 0-for-4. Daylan Childress allowed four hits and three runs in three innings, although only one of the runs was earned (keeping his ERA in the threes). He did strike out four. Saturday's game was rained out, as best I can tell. The Reds' AFL delegation has started to struggle a little bit as a whole, although barring a major meltdown over the last few games, I don't think anyone can be dissatisfied with how the '04 AFL season has gone for Cincinnati. Todd Coffey has shown his banner season wasn't a fluke, Dustin Moseley has shown he's back on track after some AAA struggles, and the other three gentlemen have shown that they might just belong on a couple of prospect lists (not that any of the trio have shown star potential). The Scorpions' lead has shrunk to just one game in their division. They take on Grand Canyon at home this afternoon. Posted by doc scott at 7 : 56 am | Leave a note {0} |
| November 12 2004 |
| More signings.
The Reds signed three more players to minor-league deals- two familiar faces in outfielder Kenny Kelly and right-hander Josh Hall, and one new one in lefty Jeriome Robertson. Robertson had a brutally awful 2004 season after winning 15 games in 2003 (albeit with a 5.10 ERA, a 1.5 WHIP, and averaging five innings per start), but since he was 4-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four starts against Cincinnati that year (26 IP, 21 K, a .194 BAA), the only surprise is why the Reds didn't pick him up earlier. Houston released him in early 2004, and he bounced through the Cleveland and Montreal systems (being traded from the former to the latter for lefty Pierre-Luc Marceau), putting up an ERA over 12 in 14 relief innings for the Indians and 7.27 and 5.73 marks in two separate AAA stops. He has pitched well in the minors in the past, going 12-8 with a 2.55 ERA in 2002 for AAA New Orleans and once winning 15 games in Double-A. At best, though, he's a command guy, a former 24th-round draft pick who needs to not walk people to be effective. In fact, his online scouting report makes him sound like Jimmy Anderson minus the donuts. Kelly, of course, opened some eyes last season with Chattanooga, earning himself a midseason promotion after scorching through a .356/.441/.545 stretch. He reverted to past form in Louisville, though, finishing at .254/.318/.440 in 78 AAA contests. The former Miami Hurricanes quarterback has been increasing his power output over the past few seasons, but still struggles with the classic five-tooler malady, plate discipline. He did manage fifty walks last season (against 117 Ks). Still, he's going to be 26, so if he wants back to the majors for more than his 2000 two-game cup of coffee with Tampa Bay, he needs to tighten up the strike zone a bit more. I do think he's a good sixth outfielder to have stashed away in AAA. Hall, of course, was just released off the 40-man roster a week or so ago. He's trying to come back from his second major arm surgery, having missed all of 1999 and most of 2000 the first time with shoulder issues and all of 2004 with a torn labrum. He is still only 24 for 2005, and pitched well from 2001-2003 in the minors (struggling, but avoiding a beating, in his six-game Reds stint in '03), so maybe he can find a way back. Supposedly doctors have told him that he'll never pitch again, but the Reds seem willing to give him the chance. Rotoworld has Toronto signing three of Scott's Twenty-Two in one day: cross off Mike Nannini (#4), Jesse Carlson (#15), and Spike Lundberg (#W4). Martire Franco (#20) has been re-signed by Philadelphia already. Everyone else is still out there. And Florida, in the middle of a batch of other minor-leaguers, signed Reds farmhand Jason Hill, a catcher, to a minor-league deal. Hill spent most of 2004 with Chattanooga, batting .297/.350/.405 in 78 games. He can also play first and the outfield corners. He'll be 28 in 2005. AFL: Scottsdale whacked Phoenix yesterday, 9-4. Dustin Moseley started and got nailed for four runs in the second inning (including a three-run homer by Phillies catcher , but the Scorpions as a team turned five double plays (Kevin Howard, playing second, doubled two opposing runners off first base in the game.) Jesse Gutierrez hit a sacrifice fly. That's all I know, not seeing a box score out there at the moment. Scorps face Peoria this afternoon. Posted by doc scott at 8 : 16 am | Leave a note {0} |
| November 11 2004 |
| Zapp, baby.
Newest announcement out of Great American Ball Park has most ticket prices increasing for 2005. Realistically, Reds' tickets are still cheaper than most other teams, especially in a new ballpark, but you know how people are in this city. Raise prices after a winning season, the team's a bunch of money-grubbing opportunists. Raise prices after a losing season, and the team's a bunch of money-grubbing losers. Instant replay ? Quite the idea. First thing to do if they're going to try it: limit its use to plays that it can make a difference on. No balls and strikes or anything like that. Copy off the NFL. They do most of these types of things well, even if they are Socialists. The follies of waivers: Just like DanO alertly grabbed left-hander Ben Kozlowski off waivers from Texas a few weeks back, the Red Sox just picked up Indians lefty Billy Traber, who had missed all of 2004 rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Traber's only 25, and had an intermittently solid 2003 rookie season before needing the procedure. Good control and polish (needed only two years in the minors to reach the bigs, former first-round draft choice). I only wish the Reds had gotten there first. -- The Reds signed minor-league first baseman A.J. Zapp off the six-year free-agent list yesterday: While not on Scott's List Of 22, Zapp does have some interesting qualities. 27 next April and 6'3"/190#, he was picked up by the Seattle organization after the 2002 season from Atlanta, the club that drafted him in the 1st round in 1996 out of high school in Indiana. According to Tacoma's website, Zapp still makes his home in Greenville, IN. He's also apparently big into local fitness. The lefty-swinging Zapp hit 26 homers for AA San Antonio in 2003 and 29 homers for AAA Tacoma in 2004, but struck out 178 and 184 times. This second figure was a PCL record, breaking the mark of 175 set by the Trifecta of Doom of Rob Deer (1984), Gorman Thomas (1974), and Rob Stratton (2003). Those two years also saw him draw only 47 and 56 walks, respectively. His .291/.365/.523 line in AAA may also seem tempered by the fact that it's the Pacific Coast League, well-known for being a hitter's circuit, but Baseball Prospectus showed earlier this season that the Tacoma park was actually playing at a Park Factor of 948 (i.e. as a pitcher's park; 1000 is neutral). Tacoma has also been a pitcher's park the previous several seasons as well (source: BP again). So AJ certainly didn't live up to Atlanta's hopes, and he has issues with plate discipline and making contact, but he did just come off what is his best professional season since he was a teenager in rookie ball. Either the Reds have bigger and better plans for Jesse Gutierrez (a trade? having him catch regularly again?), or they're just stockpiling a 1B/DH in Louisville to help the Bats put a few fireworks on the scoreboard. --- Or, as a poster at the Mariner Musings blog put it in haiku: Haiku #29: A.J. Zapp Zap! Pow! Bang! Bam! Whiff! A six-year minor leaguer. Homers and strikeouts. --- AFL: Scottsdale drops another one, 3-2, to Phoenix. Jesse Gutierrez was 0-for-3 with a walk and strikeout; Brian Peterson 1-for-4 with a double. The Scorpions' lead has shrunk to two games (17-13) with a week to go in the season. Dustin Moseley will start today against Phoenix. Posted by doc scott at 7 : 34 am | Leave a note {0} |
