Washington Nationals Offseason Opus

Don’t look now but the Washington Nationals are becoming relevant. After almost a full decade as the NL East doormat, the Nats finished just below .500 in 2011. I know they’re just an average team (actually, a little bit below average if you look at Pythagorean W-L) but after years of enduring the likes of Garrett Mock and Jason Bergmann, Nats fans have to be pleased with their team’s ascension from “punchline” to “competitive”. The homegrown arms that will make up a large portion of Washington’s maturing rotation have the ability to do so now that expensive inning-eaters Livan Hernandez and Jason Marquis are leaving via free agency.

John Lannan (LHP)

2011 Salary: $2.75 million

2012 Salary: $4-5 million through arbitration

2011 Stats: 184 innings over 33 starts; 5 strikeouts per 9IP; 3.7 walks per 9 innings with a 3.70 ERA and a 4.28 FIP. In total, worth 1.3 Wins Above Replacement.

Lannan is a typical backend starter with a below average fastball and a slew of average secondary pitches. Entering his second year of arbitration, his salary is creeping ever closer to his marginal revenue product. He’s a candidate to be traded, especially if the organization is confident in the readiness of some f their pitching prospects.

Jordan Zimmerman (RHP)

2011 Salary: $415K

2012 Salary: $1.5-2 million through arbitration

2011 Stats: 161 innings over 26 starts; 7 strikeouts per 9Ip; 1.7 walks per 9IP; 3.18 ERA; 3.16 FIP; 3.4 WAR

Zimmermann qualified for Super Two status, so he gets an arbitration raise a year early. He was capped at 160 innings last year after coming off of Tommy John Surgery. Zimmermann sports comfortably above average fastball in the 92-94 range that flashes plus and a hard, mid-80s slider that is a true swing and miss pitch. Together, those two pitches represent about 85% of the pitches Zimmermann threw in 2011. He’s also got a decent curveball and changeup that’s not very good. Curiously, Zimmermann didn’t have the extreme splits you’d expect from someone with that lousy a changeup.  As he learns how to finagle outs against left-handed hitters (working in backdoor curveballs for strikes early in counts, burying backfoot sliders, stuff like that) he can survive without the change and be a true #2 starter.

Ross Detwiler (LHP)

2011 Salary: $300-400K

2012 Salary: $400K

2011 Stats: Only 66 innings in 10 starts and 5 relief appearances; 5.6 strikeouts per 9IP; 2.73 walks per 9IP; a .272 BA against on balls in play; 3.00 ERA; 4.21 FIP

It’s difficult to make any judgments about Detwiler’s numbers from last year. The sample is frighteningly small and a third of his innings came in September against diluted competition. He’s likely primed for some regression. It’s your standard fastball, changeup, curveball repertoire, with the latter of those being his weakest offering. It lacks depth. He saw an uptick in his velocity last year, even after he moved from the bullpen to the rotation. They should keep him in the rotation for now but if some current farmhands should arise as better options down the road it’d be cool to see if Detwiler could step into the bullpen and squeeze some more velo out of the fastball. A 6’5” lefty with a 95mph fastball and above average changeup coming out of the bullpen?  Sign me up. For now, he’s a back end guy on the cheap.

Chien Ming Wang (RHP)

2011 Salary: $1 million

2012 Salary: $4 million

2011 Stats: 66 innings in 11 starts; a paltry 3.6 strikeouts per 9IP; 2 walks per 9IP; 4.04 ERA; 4.57 FIP

I’m not sure what Wang did last season to deserve a $3 million raise. He’s not going to pitch with above average velocity on the sinker anymore. He was in the mid 80s with it as he was rehabbing in the minors and it climbed to the 88-91mph range once he arrived in D.C. The Nats scrapped Wang’s splitter and have him working with a curveball as well as a change and slider. None of his secondary stuff is noteworthy. Now, a veteran innings eater is a nice thing to have while you wait for some homegrown talent to mature in the minors, but Wang might not even be that. His delivery puts a ton of stress on the shoulder and in my opinion Wang is an injury waiting to happen. The best case scenario for Washington is that Wang puts together a good first month or two, one of their prospects forces his way into the majors and thy trade Wang to a naïve contender.

Stephen Strasburg

2011 Salary: $4,375,000

2012 Salary: $3 million

2011 Stats: 24 innings in 5 starts; 1.50 ERA; 1.28 FIP; 1.1 WAR

You may have heard of this guy. I didn’t list the full gamut of Strasburg’s stat line since it seems frivolous to try to draw conclusions about his first 25 major league innings coming off Tommy John. He sports three plus pitches. The command might take a little while to come back (it usually does post-surgery) so if he starts the year with an abnormally high walk rate, don’t be alarmed. If you extrapolate what he did in just 25 innings out to the 160 inning limit he’ll be on next year, you’ve got a nearly 7 WAR player. That’d be enough for Cy Young consideration. Your mom will know who he is by July.

Other candidates

The Nationals are supposedly kicking the tires on Roy Oswalt. That doesn’t really make a ton of sense to me unless they think Oswalt will still be a viable contributor in 2013 or 2014, which is when I expect the Nationals to really start competing. Oswalt’s stature prevents him from pitching with natural downhill plane, which would be fine if he still had plus velocity to blow past hitters. He doesn’t have that anymore. Look for him near the top of your HRs allowed leaderboard next October if his back doesn’t get to him first.

Internally, the Nats have some other options. I’ll get into most of them in the prospects section later this month. Tom Gorzelanny will either be traded or non-tendered. Yunesky Maya and Tom Milone are up and down guys at best. Brad Peacock tore up the Eastern League in 2011 and has a great arm, but I think he belongs in the bullpen. 

Want to guess how many innings the Nationals bullpen threw in 2011? Five hundred and twenty.  That’s the equivalent of nearly fifty eight total games, about a third of the entire season.  Only three, the Braves, Orioles and Pirates, had their relievers throw more innings than the Nats did this past year.  The unit as a whole was above average, ranking in the top ten in Wins Above Replacement, FIP, and ERA.  It’s a ‘pen that lacks a viable lefty for the time being so look for Mike Rizzo to rectify that over the winter.  Let’s have a look at our cast.

Tyler Clippard (RHP)

2011 Salary- $443K

2012 Salary- $1.5-2 million through Super 2 Arbitration

2011 stats: 88 innings, 10 strikeouts per nine innings, 1.83 ERA, 3.17

Clippard is the closest thing the Nationals have to a good lefty in the bullpen thanks to his plus changeup.  Hi strikeout to walk ratio was almost three times better against lefties than it was against righties in 2011.  His fastball, slider and curveball are all average or below.  He’s one heck of a relief pitcher, one of the few that performs at an elite level without a sexy, upper 90s heater.  He’s set to make around $2 million in arbitration next year, a number that should probably be higher but, unfortunately for Clippard, Saves play a big role in reliever arbitration.  To say Clippard’s workload last season was heavy would be a freakish understatement.  He threw eighty eight innings, third in the league among relievers.  He’ll endure a bit of a regression next year (his .197 BABIP from 2011 is unsustainable) and while most of it will just be regression to the mean, a tired arm will likely contribute a tad.

 

Drew Storen (RHP)

2011 Salary- $418K

2012 Salary- About the same

2011 Stats: 75 innings, 8.8 strikeouts per nine, 2.75 ERA, 3.32 FIP

Storen was about as safe a commodity as you’ll get in the Amateur Draft.  The Stanford alum was always going to be a reliever, was going to move quickly through the minors and was going to make hitters look like morons with that mid-80s slide piece of his.  He’s done all that and the Nats have your classic, power fastball/slider arm at the backend of their bullpen on the cheap for the next five years.  Look for a sub-three ERA next year.

Henry Rodriguez (RHP)

2011 Salary- $415K

2012 Salary- About the same

Stats: 65 innings, 9 strikeouts per nine innings, 6 walks per nine innings, 3.64 ERA, 3.41 FIP

Rodriguez has two pitching plans.  One for righties where he tosses his 97-99mph fastball over the outer half of the plate and then wastes his average slider down and away, and one for lefties where he is exclusively fastball/changeup away.  You’d like to see a guy that throws 100mph challenge hitters inside every now and then.  Rodriguez will be 25 next season and his feel for pitching and control are what will dictate whether he remains a middle reliever or becomes a high-leverage arm.  I’d like to think he figures out one of those two sometime in 2012.

Sean Burnett (LHP)

2011 Salary: $1.75 million

2012 Salary: $2 million

2011 Stats: 56 innings in 69 appearances; 5 strikeouts per nine innings; 3.81 ERA; 4.51 FIP

Burnett really isn’t good enough to be the primary lefty in a bullpen but he’s really all Washington had in 2011.  A lot of his value against lefties comes from his low three-quarters arm angle.  The fastball, slurve, changeup repertoire allow him to pitch to righties when he needs to and not get destroyed.  The Nats could probably squeeze more value out of him as a mop up long man.  He’s got some nice things going for him so he certainly belongs in the majors: three pitch mix, funky arm slot, used to start.  But his stuff isn’t good enough for high leverage situations.  Why not have his primary role be as the guy who pitches multiple innings in blowouts? Makes more sense than having him pitch to Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the 8^th or 9^th inning. 

That leaves us with three spots to fill in the bullpen with guys that will either be added in free agency or come from within the organization.  Yunesky Maya’s contract may earn him a shot.  The 30-year old, junkballing Cuban is owed $4 million through 2013.  It’s hard for a GM to swallow that sort of sunk cost without giving Maya every opportunity to give some kind of return on the investment.  Doug Slaten and Tom Gorzelanny are potential pen arms, but they’re also potential candidates to be non-tendered. Rizzo could always bring back Todd Coffey.  Sure, there are some whippersnappers down on the farm that could grab a spot, but I’ll save my thoughts on them for the team’s prospect post next week.

One interesting guy to keep an eye on is Rick Ankiel.  Yes, he was above replacement as an everyday center fielder last year, mostly thanks to his defense.  But a .296 On Base Percentage and a .363 Slugging Percentage? That’s rough.  Why not stick him back on the mound, pear him down to fastball/slider, have him work from the first base side of the rubber with as low an arm angle as he’s comfortable with and create a lefty specialist?  He still has a grade 70 arm, put it to use.  

As a team, the Nationals offense was deplorable in 2011.  Their team On Base Percentage was the fifth lowest in baseball and their cumulative Weighted On Base Average was ninth worst.  There’s plenty of room to improve on that end.  The good news is that organic improvement is likely coming since more than half of Washington’s projected regulars are under thirty years old. 

Catcher: Wilson Ramos

2011 Salary: $415k

2012 Salary: $418k

2011 Stats .267 Batting Avg; .334 On Base Pct; .445 Slugging Pct; .332 wOBA

Ramos was acquired straight up for Matt Capps a few years ago.  Hats off to Mike Rizzo for that one.   Ramos was the second best offensive player on the team last year and has a chance to make a few All Star squads in the near future.  His defense is good enough to stick behind the plate which makes him much more valuable than he would be if his girth were to force him to first base.  It will be interesting to see how pitchers make adjustments to Ramos since, it looks like he can be beaten by above average velocity.  He’ll almost certainly play more than the 113 games he did in 2011.  I hope he’s having a relaxing, uneventful offseason in his home country.

First Base: Adam LaRoche

2011 Salary: $7 million

2012 Salary: $8 million

2011 Stats: .172 Batting Avg; .288 OBP; .258 SLG

LaRoche only played in 43 games last season thanks to a shoulder injury that required season-ending labrum surgery.  He’s now 31 years old and while he still belongs on a major league roster, it’s not beneficial for the Nats to keep him around much longer.  2012 is the final year of LaRoche’s contract, making him a perfect candidate to be traded by next summer’s deadline.  That would free up an opportunity for Chris Marrero, a middling prospect, to play in the majors so the Nats can see what they have there.  The best case scenario here is LaRoche comes out on fire in April and May, the Nats trade him for a young bullpen arm and reinvest the cash they save on LaRoche’s salary into another part of the club.  

Second Base: Danny Espinosa

2011 Salary: $415K

2012 Salary: $418K

2011 Stats: .236 Batting Avg; .323 OBP; .414 SLG; .325 wOBA

While Espinosa’s on base skills leave plenty to be desired, he’s a fine overall hitter.  Nobody’s going to complain about 21 homers from a good middle infielder.  A switch hitter, Espinosa is better from right side, where he makes much harder contact.  Look for managers to force him to hit left handed late in games next season.  The only marginally controversial thing I have to say about Espinosa is that he belongs at shortstop.  He’s just a better fielder than Ian Desmond is.  Espinosa’s 3.5 Wins Above Replacement in 2011 was tops amongst Nationals regulars.  Whispers about potential trades involving Espinosa have begun, though it’s hard to tell if those rumors have merit. 

Shortstop: Ian Desmond

2011 Salary: $441K

Ian Desmond just isn't good enough to start every day in the majors

2012 Salary: $450K

2011 Stats: .253 BA; .298 OBP; .358 SLG

Desmond belongs on the bench.  His glove is not good enough to make up for the anemic offensive numbers he posted in 2011.  Despite a sub-.300 On Base Percentage and below average defense at shortstop, Desmond was still above replacement level, which is an indictment on the state of shortstop play in baseball right now.  He’s best suited for a utility role.  Hopefully, manager Davey Johnson will recognize this, move Espinosa over to short and give Steve Lombardozzi a shot at second base.  I’m not a huge Lombardozzi fan, but he’s better than Desmond. 

Third Base: Ryan Zimmerman

2011 Salary: $9 million

2012 Salary: $12 million

2011 Stats: .289 AVG; .355 OBP; .443 SLG; .347 wOBA

Zimmerman, just 26 years old, is one of the best players in all of baseball when he’s healthy but he had trouble staying on the field in 2011.  Let’s hope it’s a fluky issue and not a harbinger of things to come for one of the best defensive third basemen I’ve ever seen.  The Nationals will have a tough decision to make with Zimmerman when his contract is up after the 2013 season.  Yes, he’s the face of the franchise, but a combination of continued injuries and the presence of Anthony Rendon could make his departure easier to swallow.  Let’s hope Zim stays healthy and Rendon transitions to second base.  In the meantime, Zimmerman is a sleeper candidate for NL MVP next year.

Left Field: Mike Morse

2011 Salary: $1 million

2012 Salary: $3.5-4 million through arbitration

2011 Stats: .303 BA; .360 OBP; .550 SLG; .387 wOBA

Morse was really good in 2011 and was really good in limited time in 2010.  It’s probably time to start believing in the guy, but I can’t help but have reservations about his ability to sustain his performance.  For now, let’s just assume Morse is what his 2011 campaign says he is; A very good hitter who is terrible defensively.  Someone of his size and agility is usually sequestered to first base, but that’d be a waste of Morse’s above average arm.  He’ll probably play a ton of left field in 2012 with the possibility of him moving to first base if LaRoche is moved and Chris Marrero falters.  Even if Morse’s performance at the dish drops off a tad as opposing pitchers make adjustments, he’s a bargain in his second year of arbitration.  He’ll hit free agency in 2014 when he’ll be 33 years old, and won’t be hard to part with. 

"The Talent and The Power"

  

Center Field: Yeonnis Cespedes

2012 Salary: TBD

The Nats have been shopping for a center fielder since last season when they were kicking the tires on BJ Upton and Denard Span.  Rick Ankiel is a free agent and Bryce Harper is ready to come up just yet, so Washington will almost certainly venture outside of the organization to find someone to run down balls in center field.  I had to stick Cespedes in this spot because he’s just too much fun to discuss.  The 26 year old Cuban defector has spent the past several years ripping through baseball in his own country and is about to be declared a free agent after establishing residency in the Dominican.   He has above average raw power, plus speed, can play a legitimate center field for now and has quite possibly the greatest scouting video in the history of human existence.  If you haven’t seen it or read Baseball Prospectus writer, Kevin Goldstein’s write up on it, you can find it here: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15469

While it is marginally speculative for me to slot “The Talent and The Power” as Washington’s centerfielder for 2012, know that the Nationals have shown explicit interest in him, have a need at the position and have a big chunk of cash burning a hole in their pocket.  His ceiling as a major league player is that of an above average regular. 

Right Field: Jayson Werth

2011 Salary: $10 million

2012 Salary: $13 million

2011 Stats: .232 BA; .330 OBP; .389 SLG; .323 wOBA

The seven year contract Werth signed last offseason was a disaster from the moment the ink on his signature dried, but nobody thought he’d be as bad as he was last year.  He’ll likely bounce back a bit in 2012 but I doubt he approaches the 5 WAR he posted during his three year peak in Philly.  Whether he was playing through injury, is having a more dramatic decline than normal or suffered from some freak mechanical flaw in his swing, Werth needs to fix things or else he’ll become one of the more infamous athletes in the history of Washington D.C.  Only six more years to go, Nats fans! 

Bench Fodder:

Steve Lombardozzi is a nice little utility player who might get a shot to play regularly thanks to Ian Desmond’s ineptitude.  Chris Marrero is an interesting young hitter who has gotten a lot better defensively in the past year.  He’ll be a nice bench bat at the very least, maybe an average regular at first base or in left field one day.  Roger Bernadina is a fifth outfielder who played way too much in 2011.  Look for much of Washington’s bench to be made up of 1-year veteran deals. 

The most sustainable way to win in Major League Baseball is to do so with a steady stream of homegrown players.  Teams draft and sign talented amateur players, develop them until they’re ready to contribute at the major league level and then reap the benefits while those players remain employed for a fraction of what they’re actually worth.  This starts a financial cycle in which the players (mostly by winning) collectively generate revenue that exceeds the payroll.  The team makes a ton of money, ideally reinvests it in the roster and voila, a juggernaut is born.  It’s clear this is where the Nationals are heading.  After an expensive, aggressive 2011 draft, Washington has a farm system filled to the brim with talent.  Below, I do my best to profile the more prominent members of that system -good, bad, overrated, sleepers, everything- in no particular order.

Matt Purke (LHP)- Purke was one of the more talked about amateur prospects early in his career at TCU.  Arm troubles caused a dip in his velocity and a subsequent drop in the 2011 draft.  That Nats took a flier on him and sent him to the Arizona Fall League as he begins to recapture the form from his freshman year as a Horned Frog.  The results have not been encouraging.  When I saw him in Surpise for his first start, Purke was leaving lots of pitches up in the zone (when he could find the zone at all) that were spanked into gaps, his fastball velocity was still in recovery and he had no feel for his secondary pitches.  His release point was the most inconsistent I’ve ever seen.  It doesn’t make any sense to draw finite conclusions about Purke’s long term viability until at least next spring when he’s had a full winter to shake off what is clearly a mountain of rust. After the dumpster fire I saw this fall, I’m not exactly optimistic.

Sammy Solis (LHP) - A second round selection in 2010 out of The University of San Diego, Solis was another AFL prospect I had the pleasure of scouting.  The towering lefty boasts a three pitch mix consisting of a mid-70s knuckle curve which he’s still trying to master, a low 90s fastball that was showing more velo in the AFL than is typical for Solis, and a true plus changeup with great fade and arm side action.  His lower half is stiff and lazy during his delivery but there’s nothing about the arm action that screams, “I’m going to get hurt.”  One cool things about Solis is, despite his size, his pop times from the stretch are above average, so he won’t be abused by the running game like so many guys of similar stature have before him.  The prognosis on Solis is one of a mid-rotation starter, but if the uptick in velocity he showed in the Fall League holds, that ceiling would need to be reconsidered.  Since Fall Leaguers only throw around three innings per start, they can let it rip without having to worry about maintaining their stamina for 6+ innings.  So that might be why his velocity has spiked.

Pat Lehman (RHP) – a 13^th round selection out of George Washington University in the 2009 draft, Lehman has a shot to be a decent bullpen arm.  The 25 year old, fast working righty has some above average secondary stuff that’ll play in the majors.  While Lehman’s fastball is a little fringy, his changeup is above average and his command of a two-plane slider makes up for the fact that it’s a little short.  He reached Double-A Harrisburg in 2011, so he’s a little behind schedule as far development goes. 

Rafael Martin (RHP) – Martin was signed out of Mexico as a 25 year old in 2010.  He’s now 27 and, after a strong performance in Double-A, he needs to be given a shot in the majors at some point this season to exactly what the Nats have here.  Martin works with a sinking fastball that plays above average thanks to its sink, a hard, upper-80s slider and a fringy changeup.  He might be left in Syracuse as Spring Training breaks, but he’ll likely be one of the first arms up should someone get hurt or traded.

Steve Lombardozzi (INF) – Lombardozzi is nearly Major League ready and will have some value simply because he can play shortstop in a pinch.  He’d be a below average starter, even as a second baseman, but is a better hitter than Ian Desmond.  In my opinion it’d be a net positive to move Danny Espinosa to short and start Lombardozzi at second base.

Bryce Harper (OF) – There are only two players in all of baseball that I’m comfortable handing a grade of 80 for raw power.  Harper is one of them.  I can’t decide what I’m most impressed with, Harper’s raw abilities or how advanced he is for a hitter his age.  Having just turned nineteen years old a month or so ago, Harper’s already made it to Double-A, and had two stints in the Arizona Fall League.  The one thing to look for Harper to tinker with is the effort in his swing.  He goes full bore with each hack which may lead to more swing and miss than you’d like.  In a related matter, Harper’s two strike approach is non-existent.  These are things that should come as he continues to mature at the plate.  Defensively, Harper has a plus arm that plays as average due to accuracy issues.  I’ve had times from home to first for him in the 4.2s, which is average for a left-handed hitter and he might, MIGHT, be worth a try in centerfield for the short term.  I don’t think he’d stick there for the long haul but it would do wonders for his value until he filled out, got a bit slower, and forced the Nats to move him to an outfield corner.  He might have more than one MVP award on his mantle by the end of his career.

Derek Norris (C) – Whenever you’re talking about a catching prospect, the first question you need to ask is, “Can he stick behind the plate?”  Thanks to a terrific arm and acceptable receiving skills, Norris likely can.  He still needs work on game calling and blocking balls in the dirt, but the 21 year old still has time to develop the first of those two skills.  His thick, slow frame (that’s putting it nicely) precludes him from vacuuming up pitches in the dirt.  Offensively, Morris is a bit on an enigma.  In 2011 he hit just .210 but had a .367 OBP and slugged .446.  He’s had similar stat lines during much of his career, prompting more than one Mickey Tettleton comparison.  I think Norris will push Wilson Ramos for the starting catcher spot in 2013 and may be a trade piece in the interim.  Be aware that I like Norris more than most, mostly because I’m more confident in his viability as a long term catcher.  But, if Norris gets noticeably bigger and has to move out from behind the plate, then we have a serious problem.

Chris Marrero (1B) – After a trial run in the outfield, the Nationals have moved Marrero back to first base.  He’s improved there and is now above average defensively for a first baseman.  He might hit enough to play every day but I don’t feel good about it.  There’s lots of noise in a swing that is long to begin with and he looks to me like a guy who might strike out in 25% of his plate appearances.  For me, he’s a decent bench bat.

Anthony Rendon

Anthony Rendon (3B/2B) – An advanced approach, terrific bat speed and a great swing path make Rendon a very advanced prospect that is probably going to push his way to the majors by late 2012.  He battled injuries that kept him relegated to DH duties during his 2011 season at Rice, but  when he’s healthy enough to play third base, he’ll be plus there with a well above average arm and quick reactions.  The fact that Rendon’s bat is likely to move him through the minors quickly means he may initially be tried at second base so both he and Ryan Zimmerman can be worked into the same lineup.  We’ll have to see if he has the range to play up the middle and if his small, potentially injury prone frame can withstand the beating middle infielders routinely take. 

Brian Goodwin (OF) – It’s not often potential five-tool players fall toward the sandwich round but Goodwin did in the 2011 draft.  Goodwin can really fly and has the physical ability to play centerfield, though he needs to get better at reading the ball off the bat and he often takes inefficient, circuitous routes.  Offensively, Goodwin has a good eye, fine bat speed and in a perfect world could fill out and hit for above average power.  He gets his weight out on his front foot too often during his swing so look for that mechanical correction this spring.

AJ Cole (RHP) – Cole is a long ways away from Washington but the potential is there for a front line starter.  His 6’5”, 180lb frame gives him plenty of room to fill out, add stamina and maybe velocity.  Adding velocity to a fastball that already regularly touches the mid-90s sounds like fun.  He has a nice feel for a changeup but really needs to find a breaking ball.  He’s a very talented project that could reach Double-A in 2012.

Brad Peacock (RHP) – Peacock opened eyes in 2011 by torching the Eastern League to the tune of a 2.01 ERA and 12 K’s/9 in about 100 innings.  There’s dissenting opinion about whether or not he can stick in a rotation, not because of stuff but because of issues with Peacock’s high effort delivery and smallish frame.  Peacock’s three pitch mix includes an above average fastball, average changeup and curveball.  I’m more comfortable with him pitching in relief but I understand that he’d be three times as valuable as a starter.  He should be given a chance to start and left there until he proves he shouldn’t be.  It’s not like Washington can’t afford to take a chance and make a mistake here, they’re not going to contend in 2012 anyway.  Give Peacock the chance to start, if he’s bad or gets hurt then move him to the bullpen.  He’ll have plenty of time to recover from any setbacks by the time Washington contends. 

Alex Meyer (RHP) – Another guy who may not stick in a rotation, Meyer is so freaking big (6’9”) that he has trouble repeating his arm slot, leading to lapses in control.  He has two plus pitches, a mid-90s running fastball that touches 99mph and a vicious slider in the 82-86mph range.  Despite that stuff, Meyer didn’t perform well in college.  Meyer is the epitome of a boom or bust prospect.  He has two things to work on.  For one, he needs to develop a way to get lefties out.  Whether that’s developing a changeup/splitter or learning to work his slider in the back door and back foot to lefties doesn’t matter, just figure it out.  Second, the control and command need work.  If Meyer does both of those things, he’s a number one starter.  If he does one, he’s a stud reliever.  If he does neither, he’ll be updating his resume by 2015.  

Arizona Fall League Scouting Report: Junior Lake

Junior Lake (Chicago Cubs Shortstop)

Age: 21

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 215lbs

Bats: Right

Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2007

Cubs fans are looking for reasons to be optimistic about the organization’s near future.  While it’s nice to have a competent front office in place, there’s not a lot of talent down on the farm upon which to be stoked.  Don’t get me wrong, the system has a handful of future contributors at the major league level, just no true stars.  This includes Junior Lake, who has an interesting set of tools but has yet to overly impress anyone with his performance.  Even though his value ceiling isn’t notably high, Lake’s development will be one of minor league baseball’s most interesting to keep tabs on simply because he may be subject to three (yes, three) positional changes down the line. 

Body:

Lake is going to grow out of shortstop.  He’s listed in the AFL guide as 6’3”, 215lbs.  That’s an inch taller and fifteen pounds heavier than he was at the beginning of the season.  He’s only 21 and looks like he’s going to get bigger.  Not a good, upper body development, power improving bigger, but a thigh and ass widening bigger.  That kind of bigger usually means slower, and as an already fringe average runner (I had times from home to first in the 4.34 to 4.38 seconds range) that sort of sluggishness doesn’t play at short. 

Offense:

Lake has the physical tools to be an offensive asset.  He has very good eye-hand coordination and fine bat speed.  His swing path has some leverage to generate natural loft.  When he makes contact, it’s usually very hard.  His raw strength and the torque generated by rotation in his hips give him above average raw power.  His plate coverage could use some work. Lake starts out in an open stance and doesn’t come totally closed when he strides, leaving him vulnerable on the outer half.  What really limits his offensive output is his approach which, to put it nicely, is “aggressive”.  It borders on reckless with lots of early count hacks.  He had 19 walks in 478 plate appearances in 2011.  That’s deplorable.  He doesn’t allow himself to get into favorable counts where he can unleash his physical gifts into offensive production.

That recklessness carries over to the bases where Lake tries to swipe bags every chance he gets despite his fringy speed.  He likes to run on first pitches and is unopposed to attempting to steal third base as well.  The weird thing about Lake’s irresponsible and predictable base running is that it worked in 2011.  He stole 38 bases and was only caught six times. 

Defense:

I’ve already discussed the growing issues Lake has with his range which is fast becoming (if it isn’t already) insufficient for shortstop.  He does have good hands and an arm that grades out as at last a 70 on 20-80 scale.  He’ll likely move to third base in the near future, where the lack of range won’t be as big of a deal.  If he outgrows that position, he’ll move to right field where the arm can still be an asset.  He’d probably play a fine right field, but you have to wonder if he’ll hit enough to be a regular in the outfield.  Based on what I saw in Arizona, I doubt it.

Conclusions:

Junior Lake’s career could travel down several avenues.  He could stick at third base where replacement level is so low that a .260/.330/.480 line would stick.  He could outgrow the infield altogether and move to the outfield where he’d just be an extra guy.  Perhaps most intriguingly, the Cubs could move Lake and his howitzer to the mound, teach him to throw a slider and have a power bullpen arm for a few years.  Until Lake’s swing happy approach falls through at the upper levels, the Cubs likely won’t cross that seldom traveled bridge.

Arizona Fall League Scouting Report: Dan Burawa

Dan Burawa (Yankees RHP)

Age: 22 (turns 23 in December)

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 190lbs

12^th round pick in 2010 out of St. John’s University

The kind of velocity Burawa brought to the table as an amateur is that of a player who typically goes much earlier than the twelfth round, but he came from an under-scouted region and fell into the lap of his hometown Yankees later than he probably should have. It’s also possible Burawa fell due to makeup issues. He was suspended early in his final collegiate season for reasons I cannot uncover. We all do stupid things in college (And in adulthood. Right, Catasauqua Police Department?) so I wouldn’t expect that to be an issue moving forward. Burawa signed for earlier round money ($300,000) and the Yankees sent Burawa to the AFL this year in hopes that he can polish up so they can start to get a return on that investment. I had no idea what to expect from Burawa as he trotted out of the Phoenix Muni bullpen last week and came away pleasantly surprised.

Body:

Burawa is becoming a bit of a porker. The weight listed above (which is the weight listed in the official AFL program) is likely a gross underestimate of Burawa’s gustatorial accomplishments. I describe him in my notes as, “Barrel Gutted”. He’s likely to widen as he ages. Does it matter? Not really. Burawa has always profiled as a reliever so it’s not as if he needs to maintain a high level of cardiovascular fitness in order to pitch multiple innings.

Stuff:

The fastball is plus, sitting in the 93-95mph range when I saw him. It lacked horizontal movement but had nice natural sink, a downward action that occurred late in the pitch’s path toward the plate. He coupled that with an average slider that is quite short but comes in hard, 84-87mph. As an amateur, Burawa sported a curve and changeup. It’s likely that at least one of those has been scrapped altogether while the other exits purely as a show-me pitch for lefties. Neither of those pitches was good when he threw them and I saw neither of them last week.

Mechanics:

Burawa’s lower half is stiff and inflexible. He does not use it efficiently. As we move upward, the rotation in his hips generates considerable torque and adds to his velocity. The arm action is long and low, putting abnormal stress on the shoulder but it’s also the cause of the sink on his heater. There’s also noise above the shoulders, which is likely the cause of his poor command. These are sins one can live with since we’re just talking about a reliever here.

Stats:

IP: 84 (not including AFL innings)

Strikeout to Walk Ratio: 2.75:1

Strikeouts per Nine Innings: 7.1

ERA- 3.64

FIP- 2.46

Conclusions:

Dan Burawa is your typical one and a half pitch, nausea-inducing arm action pitcher who will make a nice middle reliever for a few years before either blowing out his shoulder or suffering from the sudden, precipitous decline that befalls so many relievers. 

Arizona Fall League 2011 Trip Primer

I'm back from my trip to the 2011 Arizona Fall League.  It was anything but the restful week I had anticipated it to be.  Of course, I loved it.  I can't say enough about how inherently cool the league is.  Below are the players I took notes on.  Expect scouting reports on these players either here, on Through The Fence Baseball (a website I was just hired by) or both. These are in no particular order.

Nate Baker
Chris Carpenter
Gerrit Cole
Terry Doyle
Marcus Hatley
Nevin Griffith
Brett Jacobson
Steve Johnson
Casey Lambert
Jake Petricka
Bruce Pugh
Dakota Watts
Michael Blanke
Brian Dozier
Junior Lake
DJ LeMahieu
Joe Mahoney
Tyler Saladino
Xavier Avery
Robbie Grossman
Aaron Hicks
Brandon Short
Josh Vitters
Anthony Bass
Robert Carson
Danny Hultzen
David Kopp
Tyler Lyons
Jason Hagerty
Matt Adams
Nick Franklin
Scooter Gennett
Jedd Gyorko
Ryam Jackson
Chih-Hsien Chang
Kentrail Davis
Jaff Decker
Logan Schafer
Oscar Taveras
Brad Boxberger
Dan Burawa
Anthony Capra
Andy Carnigan
Aaron Loup
Evan Crawford
Donnie Joseph
TJ Macfarland
David Phelps
Tyson Ross
Chase Whitley
Yasmani Grandal
Ryan Ortiz
Adeiny Hechevarria
Corban Joseph
Ronnier Mustelier
Michael Choice
Anthony Gose
Grant Green
Steve Ames
Charlie Brewer
Casey Crosby
Andy Oliver
Cole St. Clair
Josh Wall
Jason Castro
Nolan Arenado
Dixon Machado
Ben Paulsen
Ryan Wheeler
Jay Austin
Adam Eaton
Tim Wheeler
Dave Carpenter
Tyler Cloyd
Jacob Diekman
Austin Fleet
Stephen Harrold
Pat Lehman
Daryl Maday
Matt Purke
Sammy Solis
Andrew Taylor
Colby Shreve
Dan Tillman
Hank Conger
Derek Norris
Brandon Crawford
Will Middlebrooks
Cody Overbeck
Joe Panik
Jean Segura
Gary Brown
Tyson Gillies
Bryce Harper
Mike Trout
Alex Hassan
Sean Gilmartin
Adam Libatore
Brendan Lafferty
Ryan Kelly
Yohan Yam
Kevin Mattison
Tim Beckham
Wil Myers
Matt Dominguez
Chistian Bethancourt
Leury Garcia

That's a lot and I probably missed some.  As always my primary goal is to please my readers.  So, if there's an Arizona Fall League prospect whose report you'd like me to prioritize feel free to post in the comment section or email me at elongenhagen@gmail.com.  For now, I'm going to get some much needed rest and will start writing guys up tomorrow.

A Reaction to the Phillies Loss

I, like many Phillies fans, am sad and angry.  I am not, however, sad and angry for the same reasons all of you are, which makes me sadder.

There once was a young boy who loved ice cream.  Of course, lots of people love ice cream.  Everyone who isn’t lactose intolerant loves ice cream, and even those poor bastards would love it if they could.  But this boy loved ice cream so much that he became interested in exactly how the ice cream was made.  Are there weird flavors out there? What ingredients go into it? Does the quality of the cow impact the quality of the ice cream? How can we identify those cows? He started to become so obsessed with ice cream that he no longer enjoyed eating ice cream. Instead he enjoyed the art of ice cream making. 

This is what has happened to me with baseball.  I’ve become so immersed in the art of baseball processes that the results of those processes no longer impact me on an emotional level.  I felt this coming in 2008 when the Phillies won the World Series.  Eric Hinske struck out, I high fived my roommate, and then sat down on the couch with a smile on my face.  That was all.  I did not shotgun a beer with my next door neighbors.  I did not sprint aimlessly about the streets of Philadelphia.  I did not become overly emotional.  I don’t admonish those of you who did celebrate with the sort of epicurean fiesta a fan base deserves to enjoy when their team wins a championship.  Trust me, I really wanted to join all of you, I just couldn’t.  Instead I sat on my couch, not overjoyed, merely content.  I remember being consciously disappointed that I wasn’t enjoying the sports orgasm I thought it would be. It felt good, just not nearly as good as I had hoped.

Fast forward to last night.  The Phillies lose and I felt…tired? Exasperated? You know when it snows and you’re hoping to get off from school and instead you just have a 2-hour delay? It felt like that.  Nothing more.  It devastated me knowing that I wasn’t devastated by their loss. 

I know with each passing season I will grow increasingly numb to the Phillies’ exploits.  I don’t love baseball any less, it’s just a different kind of love.  If you told me, “Eric, you can have a job in a scouting department if you agree not to feel any emotion whatsoever for the Phillies ever again.” I’d make that trade in a heartbeat.  That’s why I’m desperate for them to win as soon as possible while I still feel something.

So forgive me for not being able to console you with my words here, but I don’t feel like you do right now.  I see and hear the output of your emotions and all I can do is work with that.  Forgive me if the following statements are a bit jumbled and random.  They are my responses to the outpouring of anger and sadness the fan base has begun to emit. 

The blame for this year’s loss can be spread across the roster like cream cheese on a bagel of shame.  Chase Utley made base running mistakes.  Ryan Howard and Hunter Pence didn’t get one base. Shane Victorino had defensive miscues. Carlos Ruiz and Placido Polanco were just plain awful.  That’s just the beginning of the list.

Please don’t say things like, “St. Louis just wanted it more.” Or “The Phillies just didn’t play hard enough.” That’s crazy.  Platitudes like that are thrown around by those who don’t know enough to come up with even the simplest analysis.  How about, “Wow, Chris Carpenter was really good.” He was.  Or, “Polanco looks too hurt to be useful.” Totally true.  Don’t think for one minute those guys didn’t want to win because they did.

The future is not bleak for the Phillies but it’s not the brightest, either.  The older players on the team are getting worse, not better.  The payroll is climbing to altitudes the likes of which we’ve never seen.  It’s going to be hard to retain guys like Ryan Madson (I’d let him walk) and Jimmy Rollins (I’d let him walk if he demands 3+ years). Young guys coming up? Sure, I like a bunch of them.  But sometimes we’re wrong about those guys.  If they’re going to win a World Series, the Phillies will need a sound process by which they make their decisions, relatively good health, luck, a few surprise performances from guys you wouldn’t expect it from and at some point will have to overcome some adversity. 

Can they do it? Sure.  Once you get to the playoffs the sample size is so small that anything can happen.  Hell, the Orioles finished 28 games out of first in the AL East.  That means they lost only 1 more game per week than the Yankees. So in a 7 game sample (the length of a series) the Orioles are 1 game worse than the Yankees.  The window is closing slowly for the Phillies.  Maybe by the time it slams shut, I won’t care at all.  Unless I have exchanged my love for the Phillies for a scouting job by then, I sure hope not.  

Pigs to the Bigs: Profiling the Phillies September Call Ups

Immediately after the Lehigh Valley IronPigs were eliminated from the playoffs I received a text message alerting as to me who the Phillies had called up.  I thought I’d let everyone know exactly what the Phillies were getting down the stretch in those guys.

Brandon Moss

Moss was probably the best IronPig player this year.  He has fringe average tools across the board.  Average power, speed, defense, plate discipline, all sorts of stuff that makes you great at AAA.  He’d probably make most 25 man rosters as a bench guy.  He really closes himself off with his stride, leading me to believe he’ll struggle with well placed inside pitches. 

Erik Kratz

Kratz is the right catcher to call up.  Some other employees and I were debating whether Dane Sardinha or Kratz would be called up and why.  It was an interesting conversation to have since Kratz and Sardinha are diametric opposites.  Sardinha is a terrific defender while Kratz is atrocious behind the plate but the better hitter of the two.  Kratz has a long, slow stroke but is bull strong and has above average pull power.  He can be beaten by breaking balls that run away from him.  As I said before, he’s a defensive liability.  I routinely get pop times from Kratz in the 2.2s.  That’s slow.  He’ll pinch hit in certain situations but I’d be surprised if he got even one start down the stretch.  Brian Schneider could use the reps in case he’s pressed into playoff action and it would be foolish for Charlie Manuel to let Kratz take those innings away from Schneider.

Joe Savery

This is very interesting.  Savery was drafted as a pitcher out of Rice University in 2007’s first round.  The Phils were taking a medical risk on Savery who was coming off a surgery (as if drafting a pitcher from Rice wasn’t risky enough…they’re all overworked in college and get hurt).  He didn’t pan out.  His fastball velocity dipped to the mid 80s, he wasn’t accelerating his arm at all, and he was walking lots of hitters.  It was a disaster.  This year the Phillies decided to put a bat in his hands full time (Savery also played 1B at Rice and was a good hitter) and Savery responded by hitting well at High-A before falling off at upper levels.  Roster crunches and injuries pressed Savery back into action as a pitcher at AAA.  Suddenly, his velocity is in the low 90s.  He touched 93mph Friday night.  He hasn’t thrown that hard since his freshman year of college.  He also throws an upper 70s/low 80s breaking ball which needs refining.  He’s no longer the Fastball, Curveball, Changeup guy he was in college.  He’ll be exclusively Fastball/Slider for now if the Phils are smart.  He may carve out a role as a multi-inning lefty in the Phillies bullpen next year.  He gets a short audition now.

Justin De Fratus

Another guy auditioning for a bullpen spot next year.  De Fratus mixes a mid-90s fastball with a low 80s slider.  Both can get swings and misses.  He has an athletic delivery and uses his lower half well.  He’s a future big league reliever and I like the idea of giving him some low-pressure innings in the bigs this year.

Domonic Brown

Brownie’s hand is, to me, clearly not healed.  He’s had trouble squeezing fly balls in his glove, he doesn’t show the kind of batting practice power he’s shown in the past, his bat is slower and I’ve even seen kickback on his bat against plus velocity.  The broken hand won’t be healed until next season and Brown won’t be an asset until then.  He should be left off the playoff roster.  Let’s hope the kid’s confidence has been broken and he comes back to claim the job in LF next season.

MLB Prospect Scouting Report: Freddy Galvis

Freddy Galvis

Age: 21

Bats: Switch

Height- 5’9”

Weight- 170lbs

From: Venezuela

Jimmy Rollins is a free agent at the end of the 2011 season.  While it’s likely he’ll be back in a Phillies uniform for a few more years, the possibility that he’ll move on to another team is non-zero.  The list of potential free agent replacements is not awe inspiring.  It consists of glove-only journeymen (Jack Wilson, Nick Punto, Alex Gonzalez) and washed-up ex-stars (Rafael Furcal, Orlando Cabrera, Edgar Renteria).  Unless the Phillies were to break the bank to sign the injury-riddled Jose Reyes (a precarious investment to say the least) they’d have to look beyond free agency to replace Rollins should he leave.

The solution may already be in the organization.  21 year old Freddy Galvis has improved in areas of previous concern this year and has surpassed even the loftiest expectations.  Signed as a 16 year old for $90,000, the Phillies were already interested in Galvis when h was just 14.  Galvis’ skills are scarce in today's baseball.  It’s hard to find a good shortstop.  Replacement level at shortstop is appallingly low.  Yuniesky Betancourt sports a .270 OBP, is poor defensively and is still hovering at replacement level. 

Offense:

Heading into 2011, Galvis had been offensively atrocious in every season of his professional career.  He never posted an OBP over .300.  He never slugged over .311.  Suddenly, he started hitting.  This year, Galvis’s OBP climbed to .324 at AA Reading (that’s right around Major League Average) and .315 at AAA Lehigh Valley.  He’s slugged .392 across those two levels and hit 8 HRs (he had 10 total HRs over his 4 previous pro seasons) and a career high 28 doubles.  Add 5 triples to that and Galvis has 41 extra base hits between AA and AAA as a 21 year old.

I do not know if/what Glavis has done to alter his swing mechanics since I had not seen his swing enough before this year to compare his current swing to.  What I can comment on is what he’s working with now.  Galvis keeps his feet very simple.  There’s not big stride or kick of any kind, he’s very low maintenance.  I don’t like when hitters take long strides because I think it can lead to problems against breaking balls.  He shows good balance in the swing.  As we move up to the hips we start to see why Galvis only has 18 HRs in 5 seasons.  The hip rotation is slow, he generates no torque with which to produce power.  His hands and arms are weak, so weak that he essentially uses his entire upper body to whip the bat through the zone.  He’s gotten good enough at it that he squares up balls and lines them into either gap, hence all the doubles and triples this season.  The swing path is flat.  He’ll hit a bunch of line drives and ground balls but the swing is entirely loftless.  The bat speed is slightly above average.

Defense:

Galvis is one of the best defensive shortstops in all of minor league baseball.  He has good range to his left, and average range to his right.  A plus arm both on velocity and accuracy.  He is especially good at charging softly hit grounders, reacting so quickly that he gets to balls before they leave the infield grass, then gobbling up the ball on a perfectly timed hop before making a lightning fast transfer to his throwing hand and firing to first on the run.  His glove is where fluky infield hits go to die.  He’s not especially acrobatic.  Humpback line drives will get over his head when you consider that he’s 5’9” without a spectacular vertical leap, but how often do those actually happen?

Running:

I’ve timed Galvis from home to first at 4.15 and 4.09 seconds from the left side and 4.23 from the right side which makes him a 55 runner.  He’ll be an asset on the bases and can probably swipe an inefficient 30 bases a year, though I’d rather have him steal 15 without getting caught.

The year Galvis had at the plate is probably his eventual ceiling in the big leagues.  A .270/.320/.370 line combined with plus-defense at the most premium of positions with some value added on the bases? Sign me up.  That’s a 2.5-4 WAR player.  He could use another year at AAA to further develop the bat.  Galvis could either be the Phillies starting SS next year or be traded if the Phils lock up Rollins for 3 years this winter.  

Jim Thome's 600th HR Causes Ripples of Stupidity

It’s nice when good things happen to good people.  It reinforces our faith in humanity.  As such, I’m not surprised about the outpouring of adulation for Twins Designated Hitter, Jim Thome.  Thome, a former Phillies first baseman, hit his 600^th career home run on Monday.  His career accomplishments will likely land him in the Hall of Fame one day.  After playing 11 seasons in Cleveland for the Indians, Thome signed a monster free agent contract with the Phillies before the 2003 season.  It was a move 1 part baseball, 2 parts public relations and marketing.  Sure, the Phillies were a reasonably competitive team at the time, but Thome’s signing was ownership’s chief “Hey, come to the new stadium we tricked you into paying for!” plea. 

Thome with Chase Utley.

In 2004, when Citizens Bank Park opened, Thome was already the face of an awkward franchise.  A 24 year old Jimmy Rollins and a 26 year old Pat Burrell hadn’t yet grabbed hold of the reigns in the clubhouse from the likes of Bobby Abreu and Mike Lieberthal.  The on field play of Burrell, Rollins, Lieberthal, David Bell and Marlon Byrd was frustratingly erratic and Abreu (one of the greatest Phillies ever) was totally unlikeable despite his excellence.  The pitchers were all awful.  Combining the 2003 and 2004 seasons, only Randy Wolf in 2003 had a sub-4 ERA.  Thome had to step in and immediately be the Phillies bell cow, producing on the field and shining behind the microphones.  He did.  He played two full, terrific seasons for the Phillies before getting hurt in his third year (like 34 year old players often do).  The player who replaced him during his injury? Ryan Howard.  The Phillies realized they had a cheaper, younger alternative to Thome and so he was traded during the following offseason.  In just two and a half years, Thome managed to make a lasting mark upon our fair city.  He gets a standing ovation every time he comes back.  His name graces the short list of ex-Philadelphia athletes that the town still loves.  A number of specific criteria must be met to get on that list and the All Time Ex-Philadelphia Athlete Roster deserves its own column one day, but for now Thome deserves a column all to himself.

He is the 8^th major leaguer to hit 600 home runs.  Eight.  That’s how many people have done what Jim Thome has done.  It’s a remarkable accomplishment that was reported lightly in comparison to Alex Rodriguez’s track toward 600 homers and Derek Jeter’s corpse’s march to 3000 hits.  I’m sure Thome, whose personality is almost universally lauded in the media, wouldn’t have had it any other way.  After Thome homers he circles the bases with swiftness and humility.  It’s as if he wants to get back into the dugout as quickly as possible because it makes him uncomfortable that everyone in the stadium is looking at him.  He is 80^th all time in Career Wins Above Replacement, ranking ahead of Brooks Robinson, Derek Jeter, Tony Gwynn and Barry Larkin.  He’s had an incredible career. 

That was it.  That was supposed to be the extent of this column. “Jim Thome is really good and more people should notice.”  Unfortunately, I ran into something dumb that needs addressing.

“@DailyHombre:   Hate to say it, but just because J. Thome is a nice guy doesn't mean we can accept his 600 HR without question. He's tainted like everyone.”

“Daily Hombre” is the Twitter handle for Philadelphia based sports writer, Michael Bradley.  Bradley’s career has been impressive especially when you consider the journalistic climate he’s had to deal with over the past decade and a half.  He’s broken a number of big stories (Rich Rodriguez’s hiring at Michigan comes to mind), written pieces for Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News and even makes cameos on the radio for 97.5 The Fanatic every now and then.  He’s mostly a college sports guy.  The 140 character comment of his you see above is insipid and irresponsible.  It is totally inappropriate for Bradley to offer up speculation like that.  It was irresponsible when Colin Cowherd made similar comments after Raul Ibanez had a hot month two years ago and again when several mainstream media outlets whispered about Blue Jays slugger, Jose Bautista, after he exploded into an MVP candidate last year.  Some industries never learn.

You might argue that, due to the dark cloud of Performance Enhancing Drugs that hovers over the era in which Thome left his mark, it is okay to question the legitimacy of Thome’s accomplishments.  You’d be wrong.  If you know anything about the science of PEDs, you know there isn’t a lot of science to it.  Studies on the effects of HGH and Steroids on baseball players don’t exist, because you’d have to have Major League players taking steroids to do the tests.  It’s impossible to say what any known steroid user would have done had he not taken the drugs, since we can’t quantify the aid the drugs provided.

Secondly, Thome has never tested positive for anything.  Bradley’s tweet about Thome being tainted is unfounded speculation and nothing more.  Bradley might hide behind the guise of journalism and claim it is okay to ask questions Thome’s HR total, but this claim is entirely semantic.  Which is why I sent Bradley the following tweet immediately after reading his drivel:

“Aren’t you an Anti-Semite?”

Do you see how ridiculous that is? Let me be clear, Michael Bradley is not an anti-Semite.  But for me to say such things and claim I’m just asking questions about him is a dangerous game to play.  I had exactly as much evidence about Bradley’s anti-Semitism as he does for Thome’s steroid use.  The problem is that when public figures like Bradley plant seeds like that in the public consciousness they can be very difficult to uproot. 

Michael Bradley is a great guy who made a mistake. I'm calling him on it

Why have I deviated from what started as a puffy little diddy about Jim Thome? What about Bradley’s comment got to me?  Why do I hold such high journalistic standards? Because Michael Bradley taught them to me.  Bradley was my Sports Journalism professor at Saint Joseph’s University (I took it as an elective, I was a Business Administration Major).  He was a brilliant teacher and even offered to be a reference on my resume or call in a favor should I need it (I have not, as of yet).  He violated the rules he so passionately preached from 6-9pm on Tuesday nights on Hawk Hill.  Old school, hardcore, journalistic standards thrown aside for a split second, but thrown away nonetheless. 

Jim Thome hit 600 home runs.  He can go to Cooperstown to pick up his Hall of Fame plaque.  Where can he go to get his reputation back?

Note: I approached Michael Bradley via email for comment before sending this to editing.  He threatened to sue for libel.  I’m not sure if he was serious or not.  I guess I’ll find out.

Anthony Recker's Call Up

The small town of Catasauqua, PA is back in the major leagues.  Catty High product, Anthony Recker, will be called up by the Oakland Athletics tomorrow as the A’s begin a series against the Yankees in New York.  It’s a fitting place for Recker to begin his major league career since it’s where Pat Kelly, the last Catasauquan to play in the majors, began his.

If you’re from the Lehigh Valley, you probably already know all about Pat Kelly.  The Yankees selected Kelly out of West Chester University in the 9^th round of the ’88 draft.  Kelly made his major league debut 3 years later at the age of 23 and played parts of seven season in the Bronx before signing with the Cardinals in the winter of 1997.  He played one year for the Red Birds then departed for Toronto where he played the start of the 1999 season before injuring his shoulder diving for a popup in foul territory (At least, that’s how I remember it happening.  I was 9 so I’m not totally sure).  The injury effectively ended his career.

Pat Kelly in his Aussie garb.

Was Kelly a great player? No.  Kelly’s best season came in 1993 when he was worth a respectable 2.1 Wins Above Replacement in only 450 plate appearances.  He spent most of his career either platooning or injured, hovering around replacement level with a career OBP below league average.   While by no means was Kelly a great player, he did have, in my opinion, an amazing career.  He got to play with Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, Wade Boggs, Paul O’Neil, Derek Jeter, David Cone, Tim Raines (who needs to be in the HoF, by the way), Joe Girardi, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Shawn Green, JD Drew (Booo!), Carlos Delgado and Dwight Gooden.  He was the first one out of the dugout to greet Mark McGwire when Mac broke the single season home run record in ’98.  He’s currently part of the coaching staff for Australia’s World Baseball Classic team and the Scouting Coordinator for the Seattle Mariners in the Pacific Rim (which, if I were Pat, I would constantly brag about. “I got the Pacific Rim job! I got the Pacific Rim job!” It’s priceless).  His experience in baseball has taken him around the world, is beyond unique and I’m sure he wouldn’t trade the road he’s taken for any number of home runs or awards. Neither would anyone in Catasauqua who still toast to him on a weekly basis in our local bars.  We love Pat Kelly because he made it out of our small town but didn’t forget that he came from it, even now as he and his family dwell peacefully in Australia.  We wouldn’t think any more highly of him if he’d won a handful of MVP awards.  He was only a utility player, but he was our utility player. 

Almost serendipitously, Kelly made his way back to the US this summer to, among other things, play in the Yankees Old Timers Game at Yankee Stadium.  (Long aside…He drifted down to Catasauqua where I saw him at the local playground one evening.  I had a conversation on the phone with him a day or two later, pleading for him to look at my scouting reports in the hopes of landing some sort of job.  He has not, as of yet, called or emailed me.  In fairness, I haven’t written as many as I wish I have.  Pat, if you’re reading this, I’m insanely busy but call me.  I’m better than 90% of the scouts out there.)  A few months later, Recker ascends to the majors and picks up in the same stadium at which Kelly left off.

So what should you expect from Recker?  Well, if his stats at AAA Sacramento are any indication, you’d think he’d be pretty good.  A .388 OBP with a .500 SLG? Sign me up.  Sadly, his stats aren’t a good indicator of what he’s likely to do in the bigs.  The Pacific Coast League is full of comical hitters parks (Cody Ransom had 25 HRs before the All Star break in the PCL) that inflate his numbers and Recker, age 27, is making his third go around in the PCL.  Scouting reports indicate he’s below average defensively as well.  The best part about all that pessimism? I don’t care one bit.  He might be a 27 year old rookie backup, but he is our 27 year old rookie backup.  No matter what Recker does during his Major League career, however brief or tenured, his picture will grace the walls of local taverns from now until eternity because he made it to the big leagues.  Everyone from Catasauqua feels like a piece of us has made it back, too.  

MLB Prospect Scouting Report: Scott Mathieson

Scott Mathieson (Philadelphia Phillies Pitcher)

Age: 27

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 230lbs

From: Vancouver, BC (17^th round of 2002 draft)

I wrote a lengthy human-interest type of column on Scott Mathieson for PhillyBroadcaster.com.  Since that piece was published, Mathieson has bounced around from the Phillies to the IronPigs and been shifted from the bullpen to the rotation.  It’s an interesting move for a pitcher whose secondary stuff has never been very good.  Pitching through the lineup several times with one pitch is not something one can do, even if that pitch deserves an 80 grade.  For the first time since his move back into the rotation I had a chance to sit and watch Mathieson pitch with the scrutiny and level of attention he deserves, and my thoughts are as follows:

First, some general stuff.  It was pretty clear Mathieson was working on things, rather than pitching like he would in an actual game.  He’d have stretches where he’d only throw one type of pitch, even if it was a secondary pitch, and neglect the rest of his repertoire.  He didn’t even start throwing his splitter until his final inning of work.  At 27, Mathieson and the Phillies need a plan to stick to.  He’s a clear bullpen arm for me but with a lack of rotation depth beyond what the Phils have in the major leagues, he might be needed to start should a rash of injuries make its way down Broad Street.  It should be noted that the Phillies began to stretch Mathieson out around the same time they discovered Joe Blanton had nerve damage in his elbow.  Phillies coaches likely have him working on all of his pitches during his starts as a last  ditch effort to develop secondary stuff in case he needs to start in the big leagues. 

Mathieson’s Fastball:

Mathieson’s fastball is his meal ticket.  He touched 98mph a few times in his start against Scranton but sat mostly in the 94-96mph range.  Late in his start Mathieson either tired or was working on something with a little less velocity, either a new sinker or a two-seamer, and his velocity dropped into the 91-93mph range.  He got a second wind later in the start and was back into the mid 90s.  That velocity is great but the fastball is very flat.  It has no sink.  Mathieson’s Groundball:Flyball ratio was a paltry 2:7.  It is a sign his pitches are flat and/or up.  It won’t fly in the majors.  Mathieson’s control of the fastball is about average.  He threw 32 of the 56 fastballs he threw for strikes.  It’s a viable major league pitch, but it’s not the hammer of god like the radar gun would lead you to believe.

Mathieson’s Curveball:

Yikes.  The mid to upper-70s offering is anything but tight.  Mathieson threw a handful of good ones but he doesn’t often know where it’s going and it’s flat.  It won’t miss bats and the lack of control means he can’t throw it for strikes early in counts.  It’s probably too late to scrap it and re-try to emphasize his slider.  It’s a dead-fish offering.

Mathieson’s Splitter:

Here we have something real.  Mathieson’s splitter sat 85-86mph with late sink.  He garnered several swings and misses with it, and showed no variation in release point, arm angle or arm speed.  I have little to compare the splitter to since I don’t see them too often, but it sure looked nasty enough to be an effective major league pitch to me.  He threw nine splitters, eight for strikes, five of those strikes were swings and misses.  Jesus Montero caught one that was about shin high and smacked it for a single, it was otherwise untouched. 

Mathieson’s Other stuff:

He seemed to toy with a slider, a pitch he used to use a lot more.  From my seating angle (Perpendicular to the batter’s stances down the first base line.  I was focusing on the hitters) I could not see the two-plane movement one looks for in a slider, so I won’t comment on it at this time.  Just knw he threw it sparingly. 

Mathieson’s mechanics:

We know Mathieson has had plenty of arm trouble in the past but he’s 27 now and there’s no use in being careful with him anymore.  The delivery undoubtedly puts a lot of stress on the elbow and isn’t the most athletic of offerings, but like I said, there’s no use in trying to change it now.  It isn’t so violent that it’s detrimental to his command.

All in all, Mathieson is an up and down guy at this point and for the foreseeable future.