Martha and the Muffins - Echo Beach

Just in case people don't know and are lucky enough to be near a TV, the Jays game is on today at 1:00 pm.

http://economics.about.com
That'd be sweet if they could break 2 million this year.. I'm not as optimistic, even with the efforts of the Cheer Club.

I really hate going to a game at the Dome where the paid attendance is around 16,000, and there's all of about 5,000 people there. It takes a lot of the fun out of it.

Cheers,

Mike

http://bluejayscheerclub.com
Well, if we can get that 5,000 turned into a loud 5,000, I'll be a happy man.

And the collector in me gave up: I am, at this very moment, breaking in that 1985 Blue Jays cap.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=1770287
There is a reference in Gammon's latest piece about a continuing rumour that the Dodgers are interested in Werth. Also, in the same article (COMN) it mentions Ellis is done for the season. Does this open up the possibility of a 3 way trade with JP, Beane and DePodesta?

Ugh. Spring training be gone already.

I don't think Ellis being gone is necessarily a bad thing for the A's given the season he had last year. They can probably get at least as much out of one of Scutaro or German who have both had strong springs. Unless they're trading for Hudson from the Jays then I don't see any upgrades for them at that position right now. And if the Jays are trading Hudson there better be a darn fine pitcher coming back. If Hudson's hitting improves even a little I think it can be argued he's just as valuable as Hinske given his defensive prowess.

I wonder what they could end up getting for Werth. A fourth starter type would be nice as insurance for Hentgen although if Werth turns out that could look like a bad deal.

Will third place — six straight and another on the horizon — become Carlos' Jays legacy?

Is this implying that Carlos hasn't tried hard enough to win (ridiculous) or that the team will always be in third place with him? Sometimes Mr. Griffin doesn't make sense to me.

It doesn't sound to me like he's implying either of those things. I took it as, when we look back at the 'Delgado years', will we see anything other than third-place finishes?

Hey guys,

Off-topic, what does it mean when a post has (COMN) referring to another column/topic? What does COMN stand for?

COMN - Click On My Name

Mike Milner cut up Griffin on the radio Saturday. Did anyone hear it?

As for attendance, less bums in seats = a better seat for me.

Is the Jays game really on TV today?? ESPN?? Tor station??? Thanks

It's on Sportsnet, at least in Ontario. I just happen to be at home this afternoon and will post some highlights for those of you stuck at work.

Norm, the thing about low attendance is that they can't afford to make the team better. You can't have it both ways; if you like "upgrading" from a 500 level seat to field level, please don't complain when they have to let Delgado leave. I'd much rather return to the days of sellouts, scalpers and championships, even if my seats aren't always as good.

Mike Milner cut up Griffin on the radio Saturday. Did anyone hear it?

I did. It was about the part where Griffin wrote that Rios would probably be traded because he was too similar to Wells. Wilner said it was the stupidest thing he'd ever read, but didn't specifically identify Griffin.

Cerutti's in mid-season form; he said Pond gets the start at first base "in place of Carlos Tosca."

It's a clean-shaven Hentgen against the Twins' "B" team. I'm looking forward to seeing Mauer. Leadoff man Nick Punto struck out looking at a low fastball, Oh-for-Threevas popped up on the first pitch, then Doug Mientkiewicz walked, but LeCroy skied one to right to end the inning.

Leadoff double in the gap for Sparky off former Tiger righty Seth Greisinger. Cat hit the first pitch to the track in CF to advance the runner, then Wells grounded to short. It would have scored Reed anyway, but Guzman took his eye off the ball and booted it; V-Dub safe on the E6 and it's 1-0 Jays.

Crash hit a bomb to the wall in straightaway CF; Torii Hunter would have camped under it, but it went off Mike Ryan's glove for an RBI double. Pond hit a shot in the hole that was a cinch single against any other 1B in the business -- Mientkiewicz made the 3-1 look easy. Hinske hit another 400-foot smash to center, but Ryan had just enough room to make the third out.

It's bad enough when Faulds and Cerutti are butchering the play-calling, but I hit the mute anytime they're talking to a guest or a player. I feel sorry for whoever they're 'interviewing', because their questions are so inane; I'm talking Fergie Olver-style. Hey, whatever happened to Fergie anyway? And what was the name of that horrible game show he used to host?

Surely you haven't forgotten Just Like Mom.

Three up, three down for Hentgen, who isn't overpowering but is hitting his spots. Mauer popped out to shallow center.

Good 2-out AB for Cash; he worked the count full, then beat out an infield chopper. Sparky should have drawn a walk, but the low 3-1 was ruled a strike, then he flied to right. 2-0 Jays through two.

One week to Opening Day...

When I was child (10 or 11), I once saw Fergie give Moseby (sp?) what looked like $50 for one of those little in game interviews. Feel the Love.

"It will be different. It's like this year, walking in (the clubhouse) and seeing all these black uniforms. It was shocking, looking in my locker saying, `Where's my blue stuff?' For 15 years, I've been wearing blue."

Even Delgado hates the uniforms.

It's bad enough when Faulds and Cerutti are butchering the play-calling, but I hit the mute anytime they're talking to a guest or a player.

Fully agreed. How can we accept going from the perfection of Dan and Buck to these hacks? How has Faulds kept this job for so long???

Prieto single up the middle, Guzman triple in the gap, Punto drag bunt single and just like that, it's tied 2-2 with nobody out. All of a sudden, Hentgen is all over the place -- he walked Rivas on four pitches then finally got an out on a 3-2 fly ball.

Kevin Cash just missed picking off the runner at first with a snap throw, then threw him out at second on a double steal. Nice gun.

Watching this game I have to believe Cash is going to be a huge asset this year, even if he hits around the Mendoza line (though I expect him to be at least 40 points better than that).

I think the Jays would be well advised to have an insurance starter in mind given Hentgen's command struggles and Lilly's wristitis. I hope Pat comes around because I've always been a fan of his but it hasn't looked too pretty in the early going.

Yeah, it's not looking pretty in the fourth -- they are hitting him hard. Mauer's leadoff double has come around to score; 3-2 Twins.

An infield bouncer by Punto went over Pat's glove and under Hudson's -- now it's 4-2.

Hentgen struggled mightily with his fastball in innings 3 and 4. It was literally all over the place. But he also threw some very nice curveballs - all in or near the strikezone and none of them hard hit. Punto just barely put a curveball in play but it bounded over Hentgen and when Hudson tried to barehand it it went by, allowing the 4th run to score from second.

http://economics.about.com
If the rotation struggles this year and Jason Arnold doesn't develop, do you think JP will develop the reputation of not being able to scout pitching?

I can't say I'm all that optimistic about the rotation this year.

Cheers,

Mike

http://bluejayscheerclub.com
Even Delgado hates the uniforms.

In all fairness, I don't read the quotation that way at all -- he's used to one thing being the same for fifteen years, and suddenly it's different. If he had made the same comment after being traded to another team, would you interpret it as hatred of his new team's uniforms?

Like I keep saying, let's actually SEE the uniforms on a player in a game before we declare hatred for them. I for one like the logo.

I for one like the logo.

I actually really like the logo (it took a while to warm up to it), but the colour scheme still irks me a bit. Swap the black with dark blue and it becomes a sharp uniform IMO.

Cheers

do you think JP will develop the reputation of not being able to scout pitching?

It is hard to know what goes into obtaining players. JP may have had lots of guys who he ranked as better than the three starters we got this year. However, he may not have had the resources or been willing to mortgage the future enought to get them. It is tough to say that he then can't scout pitching.

I think most agree that the bullpen is vastly improved and it was done the cheap. I think Batista will work out fine. Who could we have got to fill out the rotation that is better for the same $$?

Even if Arnold doesn't work out, I don't think it is much of a knock. You have to balance out that with A. Lopez, and Banks, Peterson, Bush etc. who look like they will make it.

I wonder more about the other half of the Arnold trade - JF Griffen. If he can't play defence due to his lack of range and wet noodle for an arm, and doesn't have the bat for first, I can't see him even making it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1771150
ESPN is reporting a report that reported Mark Prior could sit all of April to nurse his Achilles tendon (COMN)...Seems as if the Cubs have gone from one extreme to the other when it comes to protecting their young arms. Concluding he'll be out all April at this point seems like a guilty conscience and overkill to me.

If the rotation struggles this year and Jason Arnold doesn't develop, do you think JP will develop the reputation of not being able to scout pitching?

I think he's already got that reputation, among some. I've seen numerous allusions to it on different boards.

Not that it's deserved, but after Prokopec, Sturtze, Tam, Creek, Politte v.2003, Davis, Wasdin, Cooper, Service, Acevedo, Lidle and Reichert, there are those who are convinced Ricciardi is hopeless when it comes to pitching.

Even if the rotation doesn't struggle this year, and Arnold does develop, I don't see the reputation going away.

Pitchers have always tended to struggle when coming to Toronto. It was true in the Gillick era, too: think of Caudill, Candelaria, Candiotti...

April in the SkyDome is something of a culture shock for even the hardiest of first-time pitchers: the turf is funny, the atmosphere is somewhat sterile, and the balls seem to launch themselves over the outfield fence.

It's hard to judge whether Ricciardi could have done a better job of selecting pitchers because we don't know what his options were. Given his budget (limited) and the options available to quality free agent pitchers (e.g. the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, Yankees, Diamondbacks, Phillies, and Yankees), I suspect that there weren't a lot of really good options available to him. It's like being forced to eat dinner at Grubby Steve's House of Burgers - all the choices are bad.

The mid-section acquisitions were just plain old desperation: I suspect that J.P. wasn't expecting much from Reichert, Service, Acevedo, Wasdin, or Davis, but figured they couldn't be worse than the guys currently stinking up the roster. (Well, Wasdin was worse, but the others weren't.) And, to give J.P. credit, the pitching staff was better at the end of the year than it was at the start.

The moral of the story is an old, old one: you can never predict pitching.

I wouldn't judge JP's scouting of pitchers on the performance of Batista, Lilly, Hentgen, Towers and Arnold this year alone. I'd look at the development of the 2002 and 2003 drafts and relief acquisitions for a more complete picture. Bush, Maureau, Peterson, Banks, Marcum, Isenberg, Mastny, Vermilyea, Justin James, Matt Foster, Aquilino Lopez and Jason Kershner are names I'd look at as well as the others.

I'm quite optimistic that the Jays will have a top-flight starting rotation by 2006, and possibly earlier.

I wonder more about the other half of the Arnold trade - JF Griffen. If he can't play defence due to his lack of range and wet noodle for an arm, and doesn't have the bat for first, I can't see him even making it.


If JFG has a good season this year at AA/AAA and Phelps continues to struggle, he might end up being the starter at 1B when Delgado leaves...

jc

http://premium.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2711
COMN for an amusing Huckabay article. I'd be teaching that newborn to throw a left-handed fastball, rather than donning the tools of ignorance, but that's just me.

A couple of interesting points from JP's time with Rob and John:

1) He considers Kerry Ligtenberg the current front runner for closer position.
2) He believes Orlando Hudson will win a gold glove at second this year.

I'll add Scott Wiggins to Matt's list of lousy Blue Jay pitchers of the Ricciardi regime, and I break them down as follows:

Pulled Up Lame: Prokopec, Creek, Politte. As far as I know, there's no reason to believe that J.P. should have seen the injuries coming.

Low-Risk: Davis, Wasdin, Service, Acevedo, Reichert. Didn't deliver much, didn't cost squat. The same strategy yielded useful parts Kershner, Towers, and Walker.

Proverbial Warm Body In Salary Dump Trade: Cooper, Wiggins. Tell ya what, J.P. doesn't make these trades he doens't sign six major league free agents this past offseason.

Possibly Bad Call: Tam (but he didn't cost much), Lidle (but he blew up worse than could be reasonably expected... the jury, AKA Michael Rouse, is still out on how much he cost)

Bad Call: Sturtze. Guaranteed $1M when he probably wouldn't have gotten a ML contract anywhere else, stuck with him way too long.

As for guys that he didnt' keep, I'll take take Hinske over Koch any day (and personally, I'll punt J.Miller), and nobody else thought Loaiza could pitch either.

That's only one truly bad call, and the cost was minor at that. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ledger you have good use of the Rule 5 in Thurman and Lopez, Politte v.2002, and the early success of Bush, Banks, Vermilyea, et al. I can't see a rep of not knowing pitching adversely affecting Ricciardi's ability to do his job, and I prefer it to him being over-hyped a la Beane and Epstein.

Lots more data points after this year... Besides the seven new pitchers in Toronto, Lidle's got a good chance to be much better than his Toronto performance, Escobar and Politte may be good, Tam and Lurch probably won't be.

Off Topic:

Could someone please post a link to a site that explains how to calculate some of the more interesting stats (ERA+, OPS+, Win Shares, Run Created Above Replacement, etc. I looked briefly at Baseball Primer, but its a very confusing site (at least, to me.)

I know one of you kind bloggers has posted something like this before, but I missed it the first time.

If JFG has a good season this year at AA/AAA and Phelps continues to struggle, he might end up being the starter at 1B when Delgado leaves...

.268 / .358 / .470 is struggling? I for one will call JFG a resounding success if he puts up numbers like those in the Major Leagues.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story.asp?id=78311
File's out for a couple of weeks, which Ricciardi also touched on during his interview. COMN.

Jonny, I agree with every item on your list, but Creek. He was a bad pitcher with Tampa Bay, he was pitching poorly here prior to his injury, he too was overpaid, and all his injury did was open up a spot for Kershner.

I'd have stuck with Politte, and the decision to let him go may come back to bite the Jays. Still, in the accounting, I think you have to give credit for the acquistion if you're going to criticize the departure.

I was over at the Jays online store pricing new hats for opening day, and I noticed that there are two kinds of hats: "Men's hats", and "Kids hats". Come on.

Surely an organisation so often fairly progressive can realize that women might wear hats as well...

Could someone please post a link to a site that explains how to calculate some of the more interesting stats (ERA+, OPS+, Win Shares, Run Created Above Replacement, etc. I looked briefly at Baseball Primer, but its a very confusing site (at least, to me.)

Primer is confusing, Bin.

ERA+ and OPS+ are ERA and OPS adjusted to park and league, and then expressed relative to 100. You need: park factors, league averages and ERA or OPS. If the league average ERA is 4.35, and a pitcher has a 4.35 ERA in a neutral park, his ERA+ would be 100.

A better explanation is given on baseball-reference.com's glossary page. Baseballprospectus.com's glossary page includes some of the stats that they use; same story at espn.com.

My favourite resource in print is the sabermetric glossary in Shandler's Baseball Forecaster. The same this is available at baseballhq.com, but (like the book), you have to pay for it.

I am sure that somebody else here can give you a better answer.

I'll add Scott Wiggins to Matt's list of lousy Blue Jay pitchers of the Ricciardi regime

I thought of Wiggins, but he actually pitched okay during his thirty seconds of major league glory.

In regards to the pitching acquisitions, this off season's pickups were the first that JP was able to go after without severe financial restrictions. He was able to go after more than just other peoples' rejects, sorry I know they are people, and this can be seen in the quality of the bullpen and the #2 starter. It will take a couple more years to see how his drafts work out. Both 2002 & 2003 classes have enjoyed 1st year success but it is too early to pass judgement on them. I think Bush & Petersen will make it from 2002 & that Banks will progress quickly as well, barring injuries of course.

The Jays played a very poor game today and were clobbered by the Twins minor Leaguers.The crowd was very quiet - in fact it sounded as if there were more Twins fans than Jays fans. In fact it sounded like a home game for the Twins. I know - I was there.

The play of Hinske at the plate was frustrating for us fans because if he can't hit, his place in the lineup becomes problematic. He isn't there for his defence. He came to the plate several times with runners in scoring position and failed miserably.

The pitching was also poor with the exception of Kershner. Pat Hengten was throwing a batting practice fastball that topped out at 82 mph - simply not good enough for the major leagues! He may need time on the DL to get his arm in better shape. This was a team made up of a lot of Twins minor leaguers and he didn't miss many bats.In fact he started many hitters 2-0 and then when he had to through a strike they hit it all over the park.

I hope that they don't play as badly tomorrow against the Red Sox. I know its only spring training, but the effort simply wasn't there today.

I would think that JP deserves at least two or three more years before we can judge him on his pitcher selections. Any fantasy baseball devotee knows that young pitchers will break your heart; at the very least they are the most unpredictable group of ballplayers. Many people still don't want to give Billy Beane credit for his Big Three for this very reason, because sometimes you just get lucky. Heck, back in 2000, who would have thought Halladay would become a Cy Young award winner? Even if you look at his 1999 pitching line - 3.92 ERA, but 156 hits allowed in 149 IP, and a SO/BB ratio of 82/79 - not bad for a 22 year old, but not great either.

Still, JP has a strategy, and I'm sure he's just as aware of current sabermetric principles as we are, so I think I'd rather have him running the team than just about anybody.

Well I think the issue people have had is that JP for whatever reason has not usually been able to acquire pitchers with a good sabremetric track record. Usually because of the cost in dollars and/or players. I'm not sure why people insist on listing guys like Acevedo, Service, and Frederick as failures when they cost the organization nothing (except maybe a win here and there) to try out. As someone else said the Jays would not have had Kershner and Walker if they didn't try this route.

The "proven veterans" like Tam and Creek did not have a good recent track record and weren't necessarily great shakes in their peripherals even when they were performing. Even Corey Lidle who should have pitched better than he did wasn't a tremendous performer in terms of K/9, HR/9 and other secondary stats. Miguel Batista and Ted Lilly probably represent the first starting pitchers that JP was able to get that both have a significant major league track record and have good indicators in their stats (performance in a hitter's park for Batista, good K's for Lilly). Both have their warts too of course (mediocore K/BB for Batista, lots of HR for Lilly) but if they were good at everything they wouldn't have been available.

The bottom line is, front line pitching is hard to get on a budget unless you develop it. Average or competent pitching should be easier to get but you still might kiss a few toads along the way. Even the best pitchers are susceptable to large swings in performance from year to year.

Jim has mentioned Hentgen's struggles today and previously. Pat has one spring start left. If he struggles again, we might hear talk of a sore arm/shoulder and Towers might have to take his spot. There appears to be a gap between Hentgen's 2003 second half and his spring performances.

Howie Clark was sent down. With File on IR I think there are only 27 players left.

When does our faithful spring training correspondent, the good Jordan Furlong, file his report?

I'm not sure why people insist on listing guys like Acevedo, Service, and Frederick

Frederick?

Concrning the less than great performances from the starters over the last few days...have I not heard all my life that pitchers go through a bit of a "dead arm" slump over the last 5-10 days of ST in which their performance is generally off? And that this slump is not really indicative of how they will pitch once the season starts...?

Anyway, if this is true, it would follow that Lily - if he has one - will have a bad start or two 2-3 weeks into the season...

If you want to listen to a game this evening, Team990 in Montreal is broadcasting the Expos-Braves game.

Tom Wilson was released from the Pads today as they decide to carry Hernandez and Ojeda. I can't find a link yet but if I do I'll post one.

Kevin Frederick, who JP picked up from the Twins in the spring of '03. Can't remember the cost, but it was extremely minor. I think it was a waiver claim, now that I think about it.

Tom Wilson was released from the Pads today as they decide to carry Hernandez and Ojeda.

That's too bad, I hope he catches on somewhere. Could the Jays use him in the AAA camp as backup? I'd hate to see Quiroz rushed up if Cash or Crash go down for an extended time, and strapping the gear on Werth could turn out to be counter-productive. I know the Jays were disappointed when he didn't make it through waivers, any thoughts?

I dunno if these interest anyone, but nevertheless these are some movie poster parodies I've whipped up over the past few seasons... I am workin' on a few new ones.

Riccardi's Angels

Barry Bonds, Gladiator?

O Dog Was Right.

A Strike Loomed

Lord Of The Diamond

The Boss

That's too bad for Wilson. I think room could definitely be made for Tom at AAA as the 3rd C/1B/DH/OF if he can't find a better gig. Chiaffredo has had a good spring and currently he'd be the guy they go to before rushing Quiroz but he doesn't exactly have any AAA experience either. It would definitely be nice to have Willy back for insurance.

Buck's kid, former Blue Jay farm hand Casey Martinez has been placed on the voluntarily retired list by the Phillies.

BTW, does anyone know anything about LHP Robert Lee? The Jays signed him at the beginning of spring training. He's been mentioned as a possibility for the starting rotation in AAA in one article (I think it may have been a Jeff Blair article) and he's pitched pretty well so far in minor league camp. But I can't find any minor league stats for him at the cube.

I'm not sure if he goes by Derek or Robert, but nevertheless here he is. Along with Lee, Todd Ozias and Mark Lukasiewicz were picked up to strengthen the AA/AAA bullpens, with Luke the only one of possible help at the major league level at some point.

Would anyone be surprised to see a Werth-Duchscherer swap by the end of the week?

Better than nothing, in my mind, but I'm not sold on Duchscherer. His AAA numbers are nice, but so were John Wasdin's and Doug Linton's last year, and the scouts aren't very impressed. Duchscherer threw 16.1 very good innings for the A's last year and 14.2 very bad ones for the Rangers two years before. His K/BB rate will always be good, but I worry about his potential to give up the long ball.

Besides, pitchers traded away by Billy Beane tend not to live up to expectations (see Mario Ramos and Cory Lidle).

If Werth is traded now, what is the backup plan for the 4th outfielder? I sure hope it's not Dave Berg or Simon Pond.

It only makes sense to me if they're intending to call up Gross or Rios, and use Reed Johnson as a 4th OF. I honestly don't see this as too likely.

Would anyone be surprised to see a Werth-Duchscherer swap by the end of the week?


Yes.

It wouldn't help either club's roster problems. There's no obvious candidate for Werth to displace on the A's roster, and the same can be said for Duchscherer.


If Werth is traded now, what is the backup plan for the 4th outfielder? I sure hope it's not Dave Berg or Simon Pond.


It would look that way, wouldn't it? Who else can play OF? Didn't Tom Wilson get some playing time in RF last year?

Nightmares of Pond-Johnson-Cat or Cat-Johnson-Berg dancing in your head? Any time Wells takes a day off the outfield defense goes from above average to brutal.

How about this sports fans:

"According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres will trade for Ryan Freel, perhaps sending Dennis Tankersley to Cincinnati.
The Reds like Freel, but if they can get a pitcher as talented as Tankersley for him, they shouldn't hesitate to make the move. If the Padres make the trade, take it as a sign that they're more worried about Jay Payton than they are letting on. It also seems as though they don't have much faith in Terrence Long."

That's from Rotoworld.
Apparently the word is that the padres are interested in an OF despite the majority of Freel's work coming in the IF.

If this is so, is Werth not an option with more upside if they are going to trade Tank?

I know that Tank is not as highly regarded as he was a year or two ago but his numbers are certainly respectable, especially for the PCL.

I also know that RHSP is not exacly a weak position for us but I'd rather get real value for Werth if we MUST trade him then some fungible stopgap guy.

I'm with Mike Green: Why must we trade Werth? I don't see any prospect of Rios or Gross making the team (for which I am thankful), and the prospect of Pond (who can't field) or Berg (who can't hit, and can't really play outfield either) as the backup outfielder is pretty frightening. And I'd much rather have Werth on my bench than Chad Hermansen or Noah Hall.

(By the way, I have been a Simon Pond fan for a longer time than anyone else I know, so when I say he can't field it's a simple statement of fact. I hope he makes the team.)

There's no reason why Werth can't get 250 AB as an occasional fill-in for Cat, Sparky, Phelps, and even Cash. If he hits .260/.350/.450 in those at-bats, all of a sudden you can trade him (or Johnson) for a better prospect that Duchscherer or Tankersley.

Incidentally, although I like Wells' glove as much as the next guy, I don't think Johnson-Cat-Wells is an above-average defensive outfield. But that's just me.

John

Anybody else going to get up for the Yankees-Rays tomorrow?

Beane and Paul have made their first swap, although its a minor one. Grabowski to the Dodgers for cash.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2004/columns/story?id=1771059
In his latest column, Sean McAdam of ESPN suggests Alexis Rios as a potential outsider for AL Rookie of the Year. Seems a little early for me, but definately not outside the realm of possibilities if he gets a call-up earlier than expected and performs at the level people are expecting of him. COMN for the story.

Anybody else going to get up for the Yankees-Rays tomorrow?

I may, although it comes on at 4 a.m. in Chicago. It will be replayed in the afternoon, though. And I have Mussina in both my roto leagues

I work from home so I will most definately be staying up to watch the game. Look forward to some real baseball (Go Rays!).

Victor Zambrano starts off Derek Jeter with a strike, and the 2004 season is underway.

A Rod is 0-2 with two k's, both looking. Zambrano is his typical self, showing some nasty stuff and some nasty wildness, tossing one ball over the head of Jeter. Giambi looks good and hit a homer the other way. Matsui doubled in his first AB, and Kenny Lofton, perhaps sending a message to Torre, tripled in his first. Sheffield looks lost in the outfield.

In the funniest moment so far this season (sorry, I know that's like saying "I'll see you next year!" to someone a few days before January 1st) is Derek Jeter falling on his ass going back for a pop up. He made the catch.

5-3 Rays( bottom 6th), due to clutch-hitter Toby Hall. Maybe someone else looses against the Rays for a change.

Sounds like Q's hurt already. He collided with A-Rod going for a Baldelli bunt.

I can only get the game through gameday ( no baseball in Germany). I wondrered why Torre took Q out after 4 pitches, which were all strikes. Anyway 8-3 Rays after 7 and a homer from Tino against his old team.

It's over. Bad guys loose 8-3. Jeter went 0-5 (he,he). What did the reporters say about Q's injury? He and Vazquez are the only players on the Yanks roster I had sympaties for before they joined them. The homer in the 7th was Nr 300 for Senior Martinez. Does anyone know how these two games in Japan count in terms of home/away games ( does each team only have 80 homegames or do the Rays have 79 and the Yanks 81)?

Devil Rays in 1st place!

Is that a franchise first?

tmehl, the games are cpounted as home games for the Devil Rays (although the Yankees were wearing the home uniforms). Quantrill did not seem to be badly hurt at all, it was probably just precautionary that he was taken out - that and the fact that there were a few left-handers due up.

Incidentally, although I like Wells' glove as much as the next guy, I don't think Johnson-Cat-Wells is an above-average defensive outfield. But that's just me.


My eyes tell me one thing while stats tell me another.

All three of those guys (including Wells) had below average range factors in 2003. From what I saw with my own eyes, I rate Wells as being only slightly behind the elite guys like Cameron and Torii Hunter. Johnson brings CF range and a strong arm to RF, so I expected him to be above average. Finally, to me, Cat looked superior to Stewart out there in LF after the trade.

Switching to Zone Rating, Wells grades out as #4 in the majors. Johnson still rates below average in RF (but was #1 in LF -- maybe there's a sample size issue here?). Stewart, even with his clumsy looking style, was way more efficient than Cat.

http://bluejayscheerclub.com
Jeter went 0-5

Did Steinbrenner ask for his $150,000 back?

It's over. Bad guys lose 8-3.

More like this!

See, told you the Rays weren't so bad. Haw haw...

John Neary...i think .260 is a lot to hope for from Werth in limited playing time, considering if i remember correctly, his career AAA average is about .235. He's facing tougher pitchers in the bigs and won't be playing every day.

Werth's AAA numbers are .250/.330/.443 in 679 at bats.

2003 AAA .237/.285/.441
2002 AAA .257/.354/.445

Career AA .260/.371/.420 in 785 at bats.

With increased experience being a .260 major league hitter is very much possible for Werth. He looks like he'll be a good defensive outfielder too which is a consideration in Dodger's Stadium but I more suspect they'll use him as a supersub 4th outfielder 3rd catcher type. He's always going to be a big strikeout guy but he probably has the power to hit 25 homers with respectable OBP when all is said and done.

No need to discuss Werth any further, in the context of this season with the Jays anyway...Traded to LA for a *shudder* Relief prospect. Jay Frasor, I believe... nice numbers in AA last year, but as a 25 yr old in relief.

I guess I was a little behind everyone else ;-)