Korean Baseball Fight(?)
Posted: July 27, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »Witness below a basebrawl in the Korean big leagues. And no, this is not a hoax. Is this a tae-kwon-do fighting stance or are everyone’s shoes on fire? Maybe they’re trying to diffuse the situation with humor.
Reviewing Past Mets Trades
Posted: July 18, 2008 Filed under: MLB | Tags: Mets, Minaya, Past Trades, Trades Leave a comment »As we approach the July 31st trade “deadline”, I feel that it is a good time to review some old Mets trades that may have been forgotten about. Many times during the course of the season, and especially at trade deadlines, teams will add a veteran to the mix and toss away some low level minor leaguer, hoping the player will never pan out. The other team is usually happy someone will take the veteran player and is thrilled to get more than a dozen baseballs and some sunflower seeds. Sometimes these trades end up producing some well known players. It is said that a trade is best judged two or three years later, so let’s look at some Mets trades to keep us up to date.
DAVE WILLIAMS FOR ROBERT MANUEL
On May 25, 2006, the Mets were feeling the pinch for starting pitchers. On this date, the Mets had already used Victor Zambrano, Brian Bannister, Alay Soler, John Maine, Jose Lima and Geremi Gonzalez to fill in the number 4-5 spots in the rotation behind Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine and Steve Trachsel. So, General Manager Omar Minaya made a small trade, acquiring lefthander Dave Williams from the Cincinnati Reds for low A-ball right hand pitcher Robert Manuel.
Dave Williams
The day before May 24, 2006, Orlando Hernandez was acquired for Jorge Julio, and on the same day, Soler made his major league debut. At this time, Minaya was clearly stockpiling starting pitching in hopes that something would click. (It would, John Maine and Orlando Hernandez filled out the rotation nicely as the Mets ran away with the NL East.)
Now, it’s more than two years later. How did the trade work out?
DAVE WILLIAMS
Dave Williams filled in nicely for the Mets in 2006 winning three games, and performing reasonably well, despite his 5.59 ERA with the team. (Explanation: Williams made 5 starts with the Mets, the first four he went 3-0 with a 3.24 ERA, but got bombed for 9 runs in 3 innings pitched in his final start). Williams was left off of the 2006 playoff roster and returned with the Mets in 2007, pitching mostly at New Orleans, the Triple A affiliate. He had one spot start in which he nearly duplicated his last start, lasting only 3 1/3 innings and allowing 8 runs. Williams received a late season call up, but only pitched one bad game in relief. He was let go by the Mets after the season and is not pitching for any organizations in 2008. Overall, he was 3-2 with a 7.83 ERA in 33 1/3 IP for the Mets in two seasons.
ROBERT MANUEL
Manuel was an un-drafted free agent out of Sam Houston State. In his first season with the Mets organization, he pitched at the lowest level rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League for the Gulf Coast Mets. In 61 2/3 Innings Pitched, he performed well above expectations for an un-drafted player going 8-1 with a 2.04 ERA in 2005.
At the time of the trade, Manuel hadn’t begun his minor league season, suggesting he was scheduled to play on one of the short season minor league affiliates (Brooklyn, Kingsport or Gulf Coast). On joining the Reds, he had a mediocre first season with the club, pitching mostly in the Midwest League (low A ball) (with a little time in the Florida State League) posting combined numbers of a 4.34 ERA over 56 innings, while striking out 40.
His first full season with the Reds in 2007, he made 11 starts, and 22 relief appearances in the Florida State league (high Single A). He went 6-5 with a 4.03 with 93 strikeouts in 98 1/3 IP.
At the current time of this post, Robert Manuel is quietly turning into a candidate to realistically make the major leagues. At Double A Chattanooga this season, pitching exclusively out of the bullpen, Manuel is 4-2 with a 1.33 ERA, with an impressive 68 strikeouts in 54 IP. He’s allowed only 35 hits and walked only 12. (WHIP of 0.87!)
SUMMARY
Small trades sometimes yield little results and are generally forgotten about by fans and media. In another year or two, we might see a pitcher named Robert Manuel working middle relief for the Reds and not think much of it. Perhaps Manuel within five years surprises all and becomes a top set up man or a closer. I also cannot criticize the Mets for making this trade, for at the time, they moved an un-drafted free agent, who had only completed low level rookie ball for a veteran left-hander who produced three big league victories for the Mets in a year they needed help. If you are the Reds, you have to feel pretty good about a throw in minor leaguer showing promise. Mostly though, when small trades are made, they are easy to forget. So if you see Robert Manuel pitching for the Reds soon, you can at least say “This guy was a Mets prospect.”
Tony Armas – A Sleeper?
Posted: July 1, 2008 Filed under: MLB | Tags: Mets, Tony Armas Leave a comment »Because pitchers in the 21st Century are treated as if the human body has undergone radical evolutionary transformations that no longer allows them to throw more than 120 pitches every four days like Tom Seaver did way back 30 years ago, the Mets have called up Tony Armas for a spot start tonight. Mike Pelfrey, throwing 98 pitches on Friday afternoon apparently might need Tommy John surgery if he goes on three days rest today.
To make room for Tony Armas, the Mets designated Andy Phillips, which indicates Omar Minaya must have studied his stats AFTER he signed him and then said, “This guys sucks against lefties, who told me to sign him?” (This is because no front office executive would ever take personal responsibility for a bad move, unless they were already fired, and then they would get a job on ESPN and joke about the bad moves, much to the discontent of the fans at home.)
Strange thing is the Mets will carry 13 pitchers and 12 batters for at least a day. I’m guessing they plan to send a pitcher down (Carlos Muniz?) when Moises Alou completes rehab in a day or so, but I’m sure he’ll pull a cramp in the arch of his foot before he re-joins the Mets, putting him out another two weeks.
But enough about Omar, Moises and Andy Phillips and let me move on to Tony Armas. He was a big piece of the Pedro Martinez to the Red Sox from the Expos trade before the 1998 season, but has never been able to pan out. At age 30, a career ERA of 4.62 and a career WHIP of 1.43, he has now found his way back to Omar Minaya (his GM while with the Expos). On the surface, Tony Armas has a history of bad stats, and the Mets recalling him would bring back memories of recycled vets like Jose Lima, Aaron Sele, Brian Lawrence, Dave Williams, James Baldwin, Scott Erickson and whole slew of veteran pitchers with a history of poor pitching, yet, more enticing to Mets GMs than an unknown rookie. But Armas has shown some nice signs of late.
In the second half last season he sported an unspectacular 4.30 ERA, but a very respectable 1.21 WHIP for Pittsburgh. (Johan Santana currently has a 1.22 WHIP). Down in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League, Armas this season over 100 2/3 innings pitched has struck out 88 batters, issued only 20 walks, and has a 2.52 ERA with a 1.02 WHIP. Has Armas figured out how to pitch? Or is he simply too smart for Triple-A batters? This is tough to say, but factoring in his solid WHIP in the second half of 2007, and the solid pitching in AAA this year, maybe the Mets have found a Rick Reed late developer type. Or maybe Tony Armas is this year’s stinky veteran retread.
Andy Phillips: Proof Omar Doesn’t do Research
Posted: June 26, 2008 Filed under: MLB | Tags: Andy Phillips, Mets, Minaya, MLB, Val Pascucci 1 Comment »The Mets claimed 1b Andy Phillips off of waivers from the Reds. Phillips batted 3 for 21 for the Reds this season. On the surface, Phillips, a right hand bat who hit .292 for the Yankees last season would seem to be a nice fit for the Mets, who have Carlos Delgado batting .221 off of lefties with a .264 OBP, and 3 BB to 28 Ks in 86 at bats. I guess this is where Omar Minaya must briefly skim through stats and do the old school baseball thinking of “righties typically hit lefties better”. In this case, WRONG!
Andy Phillips is awful against lefties. For a right hand batter, it is amazing he is this bad against lefties. How bad? Worse than Carlos Delgado! In his career, Andy Phillips is batting .209, with an OBP of .244 and a pitcher like slugging percentage of .282 over 163 at bats. This includes only 8 walks to 40 strikeouts. What was Omar Minaya thinking?
In last season’s .292 year with the Yanks, Phillips batted a respectable .280 against lefties. Problem is, he had zero homers, a .315 OBP, 13 strikeouts and only 3 extra base hits in 50 at bats. Great, so he hits only singles, like a pitcher.
But surely, Phillips can pinch hit, right? Well, not so fast, he is only 4 for 22 in his career pinch hitting. What can he do well? I guess he can hit right hand pitching decently, but only as a starter. Do you want to start Andy Phillips over Carlos Delgado? Okay, maybe this is the wrong season to ask that question, but Delgado’s struggles are another story, to some degree. (He does have 11 homers)
Andy Phillips has hit the ball well in his minor league career, as you can see below. But is he better than Val Pascucci?
Unlike Pascucci’s 62 big league at bats, Phillips, 31 years old, has given us 500 career at bats to sample. It has given us a .248 career average, a .291 career OBP, 30 walks to 100 strikeouts with 11 homers and 64 RBI. On first glance you see .292 last season with the Yanks, but on further research, something a general manager on a professional team (with the second highest payroll!) should do, shows that Phillips isn’t that great. Did I mention that he’s 1 for 11 against lefties this year? Perhaps the Reds and their 36-43 record surely must’ve figured out.
Pascucci, 29 years old, has a .420 OBP for the New Orleans Zephyrs (Mets AAA affiliate). He’s batting .404 versus lefties with a .522 OBP. The only things Phillips has on Pascucci are MLB experience, he strikes out slightly less and he probably plays better defense. But then, why do the Mets keep passing over him? Can someone please inform Omar Minaya of these basic statistics?
Call up Pascucci already!
The Case for Val Pascucci
Posted: June 25, 2008 Filed under: MLB | Tags: Mets, MLB, Val Pascucci 1 Comment »Certain players for whatever reason never get a chance to prove themselves in the big leagues. General Managers have their pre-conceived ideas of what players can bring to the team, with various other factors ranging from position flexibility to clubhouse influence factoring into the decision. Then of course, there are the unexplained reasons. In these cases, you look at the players history and you wonder why this guy hasn’t been given a chance. Val Pascucci needs to get at least 150 big league at bats to prove to me why he can’t be a big leaguer.
Currently, Val Pascucci is a 1b/Of for the New Orleans Zephyrs, a AAA affiliate of the New York Mets. He is 6’6, 260 pounds and from what little is discussed of him, he can’t play defense worth a lick. Now let’s look at the statistics.
Focusing on Double A and higher for Pascucci, we see that he has become a better hitter as he moved to Triple A. Pascucci’s numbers are consistent with high homers, high walks but high Ks. But he has been able to maintain a solid batting average. His on-base percentage is either over .400 or very close. Slugging has been over .500. Why hasn’t this man been in the big leagues since 2004?
HISTORY
Pascucci was released by the Expos after the 2004 season, when they gave him 62 at bats. He did poorly, hitting only .177 with 2 homers and 22 strikeouts. Pascucci then went to Japan for two years and played in the Japanese World Series. Playing part time for two seasons in Japan, he batted only .243 in 305 at bats. He maintained his good walk rate, had an OBP of .352, a slugging PCT of .495 and he did manage 21 homers.
On return to America, he belted 34 homers and batted .284 (.389 OBP) for the Marlins AAA affiliate last season. Not good enough for promotion, even though the Marlins had a so-so performance from first baseman Mike Jacobs (17 homers, .265 BA, .317 OBP).
He then signed with Philly and was cut in late April this season. Signed by the Mets, he has dominated in AAA, with a .420 OBP with 14 homers in 189 at bats.
WHY ISN’T HE WITH THE METS?
Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado, a lefthanded bat is currently batting .230 with a .303 OBP, 11 homers in 278 at bats with 63 strikeouts. More importantly, Delgado in 85 at bats is batting only .224 against lefties, with only 3 walks and 28 strikeouts. With a .267 OBP, there is room for improvement here. Delgado is also a butcher on the field, never one to be confused for a gold glover. The Mets have used only two other first baseman, utility men Damion Easley and Marlon Anderson. Pascucci is currently batting .404 versus lefties with a astounding .522 OBP. The case for a platoon can be made here for Pascucci as his performance couldn’t possibly be worse than Delgado’s, on the field and versus lefties.
In the Mets outfield, currently two starters are on the DL, Moises Alou and Ryan Church. Opening day starter Angel Pagan is also on the DL. The Mets are currently rotating Endy Chavez (.234 BA, .282 OBP), Fernando Tatis (.254 BA, .289 OBP), Trot Nixon (.148 BA, .281 OBP) and Marlon Anderson (.205 BA, .230 OBP) in the outfield slots. While Church may return within a week, Alou might be done for the season and Pagan is still not close to rehab. Left field will be open for a while. The case for left field for Pascucci can be made here, as these numbers by the replacement outfielders are horrendous.
Let’s say that Pascucci is so terrible playing the field, that he can only be a DH or pinch hit. Considering the Mets pinch hitters this season are batting .194 (.265 OBP) with 27 K’s in 103 at bats with only 2 homers, a case can be made for Pascucci here as well. Certainly Pascucci can improve upon these numbers?
Asking the question, “Can I see Endy Chavez/Marlon Anderson/Fernando Tatis/Trot Nixon, etc putting up these numbers in AAA?” The answer is a probable “no”. With the Mets struggling, there should be no harm in finding out what this slugger can do. Why has no team given this guy a chance? All the numbers would suggest that he would at least be able to improve the team in some way.
