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Here's part two of my June report card. Someday I might even do research before posting one of these things.


Juan Acevedo
I've heard rumours that the Jays are reconstructing his motion: they must be doing something, as he virtually never pitches. His 4 hits allowed in 2 2/3 innings suggest that he won't be of that much help, but that's a ludicrously small sample size. The closer's job is there for him to take.
Grade: Incomplete

Doug Davis
Giving up nearly two baserunners an inning, and doesn't throw hard. As soon as the Jays think Corey Thurman is ready, Davis is gone. But what did you expect - when the Texas Rangers release a pitcher, you can't expect much from him.
Grade: F

Kelvim Escobar
Escobar's life would make a great movie, or possibly even a mini-series. Obviously, his fate is in the hands of the gods; we mere mortals cannot interfere when the gods choose a personal plaything to mess with. How many pitchers can you name who have been a successful starter, an unsuccessful starter, a successful closer, an unsuccessful closer, and a successful startup man? When you combine that with the stress of events in his native Venezuela, you've got a man living in Interesting Times. Pitched well all month, with only hints of classic Escobar meltdowns of old. I'm still not convinced he's for real, but he's certainly earned a good long run in the starting rotation. Note to his agent: please, please, please don't let him sign with the Yankees in the off-season - Escobar clearly lacks confidence, and the Bronx would eat him up.
Grade: A

Roy Halladay
The Doctor is Way In. Occasionally gives up a long ball or two, but apart from that, he's the Halladay of old. Alas, he won't win the Cy unless he wins at least 25 games or the Jays make it to the post-season. Either is, of course, still a possibility. Would it be a good idea to skip his start before the All-Star break, or start him on three days rest and really restrict his pitch count? He'll almost certainly be used in the All-Star game, and I don't want to see his arm put at risk. (At least Mike Scioscia isn't managing a divisional rival.)
Grade: A+

Mark Hendrickson
Basically just doesn't have major-league stuff. If he sets up hitters perfectly, he can get them out. If he doesn't, they bat him around unmercifully. What's saved him so far (besides the lack of alternatives) is his poise and his ability to keep the ball in the park: he only gave up one home run in June. You've got to give him credit for surviving about four "pitch well, or you're gone" starts.
Grade: D-

Jason Kershner
Maybe all the scrubeenies share a condo in Toronto, and take turns occupying it when they have their three weeks in the majors. Corey Thurman, Mike Smith, and Brian Bowles probably have reserved closet space there.
Grade: Yo-Yo

Cory Lidle
I think he's pitching hurt, too: his K/9 was 8.75 in April, 3.79 in May, and 5.09 in June. Led the staff in home runs allowed with 5, and was second in walks with 11. Had an ERA of 7.90. This is not the way to get a lucrative long-term deal on the free-agent market.
Grade: F

Aquilino Lopez
Had a K/9 ratio of 9.56 in May, and was down to 5.40 in June. Red alert! Red alert! I still think he'll be on the DL by August, poor guy. He's still pitching well. Is he having the best season ever for a Rule V draftee (during the year he is Rule V, of course)?
Grade: B+

Trever Miller
Following in the illustrious footsteps of Felix Heredia, Pedro Borbon, and Dave Geisel. If he wasn't throwing lefthanded, he'd be in AAA right now.
Grade: D-

Cliff Politte
In retrospect, we should all have known something was wrong: Politte's K/9 ratio went from 9.49 in April to 6.94 in May to 5.59 in June. I hate to seem pessimistic, but pitchers often don't come back from shoulder problems.
Grade: F

Scott Service
So far, so good: one walk and seven strikeouts in six innings pitched. And it's not as if he'll lack opportunity. Somebody's got to step up and help out Lopez.
Grade: B+

Tanyon Sturtze
Was marginally competent in middle relief. I never would have thought that I would use "competent" in any sentence describing Sturtze, except when preceded by the suffix "in". Is probably about 114th in line for a return to the starting rotation.
Grade: C-

Jeff Tam
16 hits in 9 1/3 innings. Blecch. If we want to see batting practice, we can go to the park early.
Grade: F
June 2003 Report Card: Part II, Pitching | 19 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
_Lurch - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 09:16 AM EDT (#13674) #
Kershner was pretty damn good in AAA this year, I hope he can translate that to the majors.

Wacky Kelvim is a capable starter, which is nice, but focused Kelvim is one of the best pitcher on the staff, which would be nicer. Wouldn't it be nice...
_Jonny German - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 10:10 AM EDT (#13675) #
Very entertaining review as always Dave. I'd almost like to see Halladay go 9 directly before the All Star game such that he's completely unavailable. But then that's just serving my own interests, which do not include the All Star game. The greater good says let him pitch and promote Blue Jay baseball to fans everywhere, and Doc himself would probably enjoy taking on some of the NL's finest. When you say "he's the Halladay of old" I think of the guy who set the wrong single season ERA record... the Halladay of recent past? Nah, that doesn't roll off the tongue at all... the good doctor? Speaking of doctors... Kelvimjekyl and Kelvimhyde? Now I'm thinking formaldehyde... must.. stop... word.. association...

I'm also scared about Aquilino ending up on the DL. Is this a Jays thing, or a baseball in general thing? Get a good rookie reliever, ride him roughshod until he's not good anymore... Mike Timlin... Bob File... Corey Thurman... As for best Rule V season, I have no idea, but I do know a good part of what he's doing is being balanced by Matt Ford of your Milwaukee Brewers:

Aquilino: 42.2 IP, 4.01 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, .204 BAA, 2.15 K/BB, 9.17 K/9
Ford: 32.1 IP, 2.23 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, .217 BAA, 1.36 K/BB, 5.33 K/9

Aq is the guy you'd rather have, but Ford looks like one that got away. Tell me again what DeWayne Wise was doing on the 40-man? And while I'm questioning JP, what about Jayson Werth? BP 2003 thought enough of him to give him "Honorable Mention" in the Top Prospects list, and I'm thinking he should have been a) part of the future in Toronto or b) prime trade material. His bizarre usage this year, combined with the emergence of Reed Johnson and the continued development of Gross and Rios, has made Jayson c) close to worthless.
_Jabonoso - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 12:34 PM EDT (#13676) #
After all El Gordo took two good pitchers for free with him: M Ford and Leo Estrella from our minors. Not that we have Frisco's or Seattle's problems of too many available at the same time. At the time it was widely questioned why Lyon and Ford were let go instead of Cassidy or Coco or the two rule V'ers returned or even Creek.
There should be a good file on File and whoever responsible to account for. Even if such exercise only helps to avoid damage to this year marvel: Aq.
A quick hijack:
Yesterday was interviewed Rodrigo Lopez in a Mexico City radio and was questioned if there was racism or discrimination against foreign players. His answer was that there is no racism to note above the general way things go in USA, but there was a discrimination based in Marketing interests, so mexican players were a minority among minorities, that could explain no gold glove to Vinny Castilla and other situations...
Craig B - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 01:02 PM EDT (#13677) #
Mexican players also suffer in development, because they are property of their Mexican teams who demand transfer fees from MLB teams. As such, comparatively few Mexicans are brought into the MLB umbrella compared with players from other Latin countries.

Mexico has a ton of talent that's locked up in the Mexican league behind a protectionist wall... good league though.
_Jabonoso - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 02:15 PM EDT (#13678) #
Craig B this is by passed by trading commodities, eg if you get a Lopez, etc from any team, they will be happy to receive a AAA-AAAA old buddy that helps them win now, ( Trenidad Hubbard is very popular down here or few years ago R Sierra came down, etc. ) There is a lot of pressure from the youngsters ranks not to be obstructed in their way up. One thing that does cool off the bussiness all togheter is the retiscence to go to low minors, big show or else, they are comfie here.
_Donkit R.K. - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 02:19 PM EDT (#13679) #
Lurch, I prefer Enigmatic Kelvim, and Super Kelvim (a thing of beauty).
Pistol - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 02:38 PM EDT (#13680) #
Not sure where to put this, or if it's even noteworthy, but I found this note in a daily e-mail newsletter:

Blue Jays VP/Baseball TIM WILKEN has resigned to explore other opportunities.
_Lurch - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 04:59 PM EDT (#13681) #
Enigmatic seems long for a nickname. Lets hope we don't have to mention him again anyway.
What are the chances of Super Kelvim not hitting another batter all year?
Craig B - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 05:42 PM EDT (#13682) #
Jabonoso, you're right... AAAA players are often a very good fit for the Mexican League, the problem is that the pay isn't good compared to Japan or even Korea. :)

Actually, a very good Canadian AAAA player, Ryan Radmanovich, was playing in the Mexican League earlier this year for Monterrey, though he's not in the Atlantic League.
_rodent - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 05:44 PM EDT (#13683) #
Jonny:

Why not DL Berg? Be nice to know what's amiss. Bring up Werth then. Bordick's flexible. If you need another spell at 2nd, Cat's got a glove for that.
_rodent - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 05:45 PM EDT (#13684) #
Dave Till:

I started out to say thanks for the entertaining stuff.
_DS - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 05:49 PM EDT (#13685) #
Berg was DL'd. They brought up Clark instead.
_Shane - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 06:28 PM EDT (#13686) #
Scott Cassidy wasn't on the 40man roster when Matt Ford was selected in the rule 5 draft, he was removed when Lyon was. Why Coco was shouldn't be left a mystery, schedule an inquiry and explain yourseleves.
_Dr B - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 07:21 PM EDT (#13687) #
Pasqual Coco would have been taken in the Rule 5 draft for sure. He throws the ball hard and has had some major league experience. Pitchers who throw the ball hard occasionally get it together and potentially have upside. Would you have cared if he'd been taken? Probably not, and maybe Mr Ford is a person you would rather protect. They could have also not signed Creek and saved both a roster spot and money.

The rule fiver that really got away was Jay Gibbons, a mistake made even more egregious by the dearth of hitters in the Jays minors at the time. Always a patient hitter, Jay Gibbons was far more likely to have success than the Matt Ford's or Pasqual Coco's of this world.
_Jabonoso - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 07:48 PM EDT (#13688) #
El Gordo defended Gibbons giveaway because Witt was having a good year and was ahead in the depth chart and according to his scouting did not have enough power for a DH. Curiosly enough he was not considered for an outfielder space.
_Lefty - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 09:19 PM EDT (#13689) #
Well if the performance of Service tonite I reckon he's taken his name right out the closer considerations/auditions.

But thats a good hitting Orioles ballclub.

So now its between, Sturtze, Miller, Lopez and Acevedo.

Hey, don't shoot at me for this one. This is what the manager said. Everybody can just bloody well wait to see where his loyalties lie this time.
_Lefty - Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 09:21 PM EDT (#13690) #
Make that, Well with the ... On my last post
_Jonny German - Friday, July 04 2003 @ 11:51 AM EDT (#13691) #
Rodent, I'm guessing you're thinking of Jayson Werth for a 4th (or 5th) outfielder, and I'm confident that he could do a fine job in that role. But a smart team, and I'd like to think the JP Jays generally fit that description, uses freely available talent for that role... Reed Johnson. Howie Clark.

Before this season Werth did not fit the description "freely available talent", he supposedly was a decent prospect. By shuffling him back and forth, not letting him play much when he's up, and by his own (resultant?) lacklustre play in AAA, much of his value has been lost. It's unlikely that Werth was ever part of the long term Toronto plan, so he should have been playing every day in Syracuse until such time as he could be dealt.
_Chuck Van Den C - Friday, July 04 2003 @ 02:00 PM EDT (#13692) #
It's unlikely that Werth was ever part of the long term Toronto plan, so he should have been playing every day in Syracuse until such time as he could be dealt.

Though he's been treated like a scrub this year, I always thought of Werth as a "plan B" prospect in the organization's mind.

Heading into 2003, there were any number of scenarios which could have resulted in Werth getting siginificant playing time as a corner OF (deserved or not) in either 2003 or 2004.
* Stewart's imminent departure via trade or free agency
* Catalanotto's health history
* Catalanotto's dubious 2004 status (though it appears how he'll be offered arbitration and move to LF)
* Hudson's potential lack of development, perhaps opening up 2B to Catalanotto and thereby opening up RF
* Reed Johnson's non-status

Because of these scenarios, I would have expected the Jays to leave Werth in AAA to maximize his playing time. Even if he wasn't a "plan B", I agree with Jonny that leaving him in Syracuse could have made him more tradable.
June 2003 Report Card: Part II, Pitching | 19 comments | Create New Account
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