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Rookies to Look For: Jake Fox
For those of you who don’t know, Jake Fox is hitting the cover off the ball at Triple-A Iowa for the Chicago Cubs. As of today, Jake Fox is hitting .446 with 12 home runs, 8 doubles, and 31 RBIs in 19 games. He is bashing Pacific Coast League pitching with a 1.579 OPS. According to Baseball America, his 12 home runs is more than all but one Midwest League team has for the season.
The Cubs drafted Fox as a catcher in the third round of the first year player draft back in 2003 out of Michigan University. But his time behind the plate didn’t last long as his defense has been sub-par. In fact it has been sub-par wherever the Cubs have put him around the field. Jake has spent time at first base and in the corner outfield spots during the past three seasons. Baseball America has described Fox’s defense as “a notch above horrific” with substandard grades in speed, range, hands and arm strength. Although he apparently has a great work ethic and attitude, the Cubs just cannot find a place for him to play in the field.
Bleacher Nation has pulled some interesting quotes from the Daily Herald that the Cubs prospect stated. It looks as though he believes he’s ready for the majors and is open to a trade from the Cubs to get that major league level playing time.
“Everybody’s been on me about the defense,” Fox said before getting sent out. “I’ve got time to work on that. Here’s the way I feel about it: I know I can play at this level. I know I’m a big-league baseball player. At this point, it’s about finding a good fit for me – where I can fit in, where I can play.”
“I don’t know what’s going on because I know there are some teams that have been trying to get me at some point,” Fox said. “Maybe they’re not making a good enough offer. I can’t worry about that. If they (the Cubs) don’t feel I can fit for them, hopefully Jim has enough courtesy to move me on to somebody that can use me.”
To me he seems a little bit like the second coming of Julio Zuleta, mostly a Four-A hitter and doesn’t have the defense to be viable off the bench in the majors. Trade-wise he doesn’t seem to fit for any team, even at first base, unless he makes major strides in his defense this season. Also, with many of the AL teams wanting their DH to become an interchangeable part of their everyday lineup, there is little desire for DH-only types around the majors.
But if he keeps hitting like this, someone will take a flyer on the slugger.
Omaha Royals Look at Options for New Ballpark
In a little local interest piece, I recently attended a public meeting regarding the Omaha Royals’ desire to construct a new stadium. For those who do not have knowledge of the background of this project, here is a brief synopsis to start off.
The NCAA and the City of Omaha have worked tirelessly to develop a new stadium to replace the historic, but currently inept Rosenblatt Stadium. The current home of the College World Series has been functionally obsolete for many years and the price tag to just keep it worthy of use has risen over the years and is projected to increase further in the future. The City and NCAA came into agreement on the construction of a new ballpark in downtown Omaha, a location that is much more appropriate for a number of reasons.
However, the size of the ballpark (now under construction) was well beyond the capacity that the Omaha Royals were wanting. A 25,000+ seating capacity ballpark within the Omaha Metro Area market is simple not that feasible. Sarpy County lies immediately south of Douglas County, where the City of Omaha exists in Nebraska. As part of the Omaha Metro Area, Sarpy County is the third largest county in Nebraska and, between its growth rate and socio-economic statistics is an ideal place for new ballpark development in Nebraska.
Currently, the County, the communities involved, the Omaha Royals, and the consultants for the project are holding a series of three public meetings to discuss ballpark location options within Sarpy County. The informational meetings were also poised to provide basic financing information to the general public as well as some of the general design characteristics that they are expecting to include into the stadium design.
Surprisingly, there was little voiced sentiment against the project at the meeting. Typically these meetings have a few comments from outspoken individuals against the proposed developments, even if the developments are already underway.
In an attempt to provide the public with a decent amount of information on the project, Sarpy County has placed a few links on their website about the potential development. The documents are an interesting read in the financing, development, and issues around the development of a new minor league ballpark.
Hanrahan Out as Nationals Closer
The Washington Nationals’ bullpen woes continue. After blowing an 11-7 lead, Manager Manny Acta is fed up once again. Garrett Mock is out as the team’s setup man and Joel Hanrahan is out as the team’s closer. Both were knocked around in last night’s game with the Phillies that saw the reigning World Series champs come back to win the game 11-13.
For Hanrahan, the Grand Slam he gave up in the eighth inning marked the third blown save he’s given up this season already. So far, Joel has a 8.64 ERA with a 1.68 WHIP, not that great of stats for a team’s closer.
Then again we are only just past the first 10% of the season, is it too early to hit the panic button? The team has turned over most of it’s bullpen already and has now undertaken another major change. Yes, there is a point to enforce a winning, non-complacent attitude and, as with the most current move, to protect the psyche of the younger pitchers, but at some point things have to stay the same. At some point the other players around them must start to believe in their pen. At some point your pitchers must worry about the hitter at hand rather than if they will be taking the next flight out of town.
Rookies to Look For: Derek Holland
The Texas Rangers’ stacked minor league system is starting pay dividends. Not only are young hitters like Chris Davis, Jarrod Saltalamchia, and Elvis Andrus starting to flash their stuff in the majors, the Rangers have also called up their second-best pitching prospect, Derek Holland.
Derek Holland was drafted in the 25th round in 2006 as a draft-and-follow pick. The 6′-2″ lefty was originally seen as a mediocre prospect. He had a low-90s fast ball with good late movement and had plenty of work to do on his off-speed stuff. But last season his fastball jumped into the mid-90s and he saw decent improvement in his changeup. The results were impressive. Holland went 13-1 with a 2.27 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 150 2/3 innings between Single-A affiliates Clinton and Bakersfield and at Double-A Frisco.
An MLB.com article on Holland and fellow prospect Neftali Feliz quoted Holland’s Double-A Frisco pitching coach Terry Clark as saying, “His slider’s probably below average right now just because he doesn’t have the feel to throw it as hard as he should throw it,” Clark said. “His changeup is probably a touch below average or right at average. He has a pretty good feel for it, and he’s going to throw it a lot better.”
Holland will aparently work out of the beleaguered Rangers pen early this season as he works with the major league coaches to refine his off-speed stuff further. Eventually he’ll move into the rotation, but for now the pen is the best spot for him to get his feet wet.
Hopefully the hitters’ paradise that is The Ballpark at Arlington won’t chew him up and spit him out like many of the other pitchers that have come through the park.
Nationals In Midst of Roster Re-make
After a horrible start to the season and three straight late blown leads, the Washington Nationals got drastic and turned over 20% of their roster. Gone are RHP Saul Rivera, C Josh Bard, RHP Steven Shell, LHP Wil Ledezma and OF Roger Bernadina (15-day DL). The roster now has OF Justin Maxwell, RHP Jason Bergmann, Garrett Mock, RHP Kip Wells and RHP Jordan Zimmermann.
The two players to watch out of this set of transactions are Maxwell and Zimmermann. Maxwell, a former top prospect, Justin has struggled since hitting 29 home runs between three levels in 2007. If Elijah Dukes continues to disappoint with his lack of hustle, Maxwell may see plenty of time in center this season. Zimmermann is the team’s top prospect and performed pretty well in his debut as he went six innings, giving up six hits and one walk, striking out three en route to a win.
This turnover is just a portion of the complete remake that Manny Acta and Assistant GM Mike Rizzo have been doing since former GM Jim Bowden was let go. Two of the more notable transactions have seen Lastings Milledge sent to the minors and Willy Mo Pena released. Those two were expected to be major parts of the team’s future outfield, but neither seems to be in the future plans for the team now.
As Peter Gammons recently noted on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, they are in the midst of a remake of their roster and trying to improve the clubhouse. To me it seemed as if Bowden would look for talent, no matter the makeup. He would then rely on specific team leaders like Dimitri Young to try to keep the young problematic players in line. It’s a theory that sometimes works in small doses, but the Nationals’ roster had a few of these problematic personalities.
Although their record doesn’t reflect it, the Nationals have been making some good moves over the past month. This team has been in complete shambles the past few seasons, due in part to some of Bowden’s moves. Hopefully Mike Rizzo will finally be appointed the team’s GM and the remake will continue. In a recent poll, Nationals’ fans believe that Mike should be given the post as well.
The Nationals have a LONG way to go to right the ship, but they do seem to be turning it around under Rizzo’s control.
Fish’s New Ballpark and Rock-afire Explosion
Recently, the Miami Herald provided its readers with some renderings of the new ballpark for the Florida Marlins. Marlins blog Fish@Bat has also posted the renderings, adding a little input on the design as well. The overall design of the ballpark is pretty good. It seems very “context sensitive”, blending in with the surrounding environment as well as a massive multi-million dollar stadium can.
One of the main things that piqued my interest though was the feature of an large-scale animatronic Marlin in center-field that will jump out of the water every time a member of the Marlins hits a home run.
For some reason, anytime that I hear the word “animatronic” I think of Showbiz Pizza Place. The now defunct chain of Pizza establishments would have an animatronic robot band in each restaurant called “Rock-afire Explosion“. The robots in the band were human-sized animal characters that would ‘rock out’ to popular songs. Although Showbiz is no more, people have bought the robot bands and some have reprogrammed them for newer songs like Lil Wayne’s Lollipop and Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie. Frankly, I thought these robots were freaky when I was young.
I just hope the Marlin jumping out of the tank won’t start to flop around and sing a song like Billy the Bass. That would be embarrassingly stupid for the Marlins and baseball in general….but a hilariously dumb thing watch. Then again, there’s been worse stunts pulled. Disco Demolition Night anyone?
Rookies to Look For: Emilio Bonifacio
The Florida Marlins are off to a 4-0 start, obviously leading the NL East early in the season. Although many factors have taken their part in the Marlins’ early success, Emilio Bonifacio has been a major one.
In 20 plate appearances Bonifacio has had 11 hits, including a triple and a home run. The speedster also has four stolen bases in those four games. Obviously this kid is off to a tremendous start.
Bonifacio was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. After rising relatively slowly through the D-Backs’ system, he was ranked their 8th best prospect by Baseball America in 2008. Arizona, in need of some relief help down the stretch, then traded him to the Washington Nationals for reliever Jon Rauch.
Emilio was immediately seen as a future mainstay of the Nationals at second base. But Trader Jim Bowden delt him once again, this time to the Florida Marlins, as part of a package for starter Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham. Rumors immediately popped up that the trade signaled that existing second baseman Dan Uggla would be traded. But the Marlins installed him at third base.
Although Emilio doesn’t project to have much power, he has the speed to swipe 40+ bases each season. However, the main knock against him has been his plate dicipline. He carries a career 8.3% BB% and a 24.2% K% in limited major league action over the past three seasons. Although his K-rate in the minors has been a little better, his lack of walks and tendancy to strike out does not bode well for a leadoff hitter type of player. Maybe hitting coach Jim Presley can have a positive impact on his plate dicipline to make him a viable presence at the top of the lineup.
Even though Emilio will come down from this fast start, he’s made enough of a name for himself so far that he’ll likely factor into the Marlins’ long term plans.
Nick Adenhart Killed in Car Accident
Nick Adenhart and two others passed away this morning when the car he was riding in was hit by a driver that ran a red light. The driver then decided to show just how vapid he was by running from the scene. Thankfully he was caught shortly afterwards and arrested. See an L.A. Times article on the story here.
The young right-hander was Baseball America’s selection as the L.A. Angels’ top prospect for 2009. He was also ranked their #2 prospect in 2007 and 2008. Although he had a down year in 2008, many thought that he would return to his previous form this season.
Nick was poised for his first full season in the majors in 2009 before this tragedy struck.
My condolences go out to Nick’s family and friends.
What’s Opening Day Like Without a Remote Control?
Ahhh…opening day of the baseball season! It’s provides a nice euphoric feeling to this writer. To me opening day is like Punxsutawney Phil coming out and automatically seeing his shadow every year. It is an indication that spring is here and warmer temperatures are on the way. No longer do you have to watch fans in Arizona or Florida basking in the sun on some hillside beyond the outfield of some spring training ballpark during a game. You know that those temperatures are on their way.
Opening day is also the day of greatest hope for all fans. You start on an even keel with a win-loss record of 0-0. If you are a fan of a small market team, you are hoping for breakout seasons from certain players that can vault your team into contention like the Rays did in 2008.
Yet Opening Day 2009 was fraught with deadlines during the afternoon and an evening Commission meeting for me. Simply slipping out of the office to take the afternoon off, as my general tradition, wasn’t going to happen. To top it off, when I finally get home the remote control to the main TV has been lost by my adorable, but absent-minded kids. Not only can I not watch any game that has been DVR’d, navigating to watch the remaining games was excruciating. I was however able to see the last of the Oakland A’s v. L.A. Angels game and much of Baseball Tonight on ESPN.
A couple things that I noticed were:
1. Jason Motte blowing the save in the Cardinals game. Was this opening day jitters, or was his spring training dominance a fluke? I think it was more of the former, but he still needs to refine his slider.
2. The Diamondbacks had two hitters smack home runs from both sides of the plate in their game. Felipe Lopez and Tony Clark accomplished the feat in a purely offensive game. (Too bad my fantasy baseball trade for Lopez fell through).
3. Emilio Bonifacio had a tremendous game for the Marlins as he went 4-5 with three stolen bases and an inside-the-park home run. This kid is a burner!
Note to self: Take the entire day off next year and lock the remote away in a safe place the night before.
Over Spilled Milk: J.D. Drew to Atlanta
John Schuerholz was well known for pulling blockbuster deals during the off-season. The winter of 2003-2004 was no different. John was in need of an impact hitter for his lineup to fill the void left by Gary Sheffield leaving for greener pastures in New York. That December he traded for overhyped right-fielder J.D. Drew in a blockbuster move with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Atlanta traded lefty reliever Ray King, starter Jason Marquis, and top pitching prospect Adam Wainwright to get Drew and utility player Eli Marrero.
King was coming off a pretty good year with the Braves where he held lefty hitters to a .200 batting average. He would go on to pitch for the Cardinals for two seasons, holding lefties to a .197 batting average in 2004, before he started to get knocked around in 2005. He would go on to pitch for a few more organizations but is nearing the end as his numbers from his time with the Nationals in 2008 show.
Jason Marquis had gotten on pitching coach Leo Mazzone’s bad side. Not a good side to be on when you’re talking about a legendary pitching coach. He had decent talent, but Jason hadn’t mastered the changeup and nibbled too much at the plate.
Marquis was slapped into the St. Louis rotation and immediately started paying dividends as he posted a 15-7 record in 2004 with a 3.71 ERA. But that success wasn’t maintainable as he got worse over the next couple seasons. After posting a 14-16 record with a 6.02 ERA in 2006, Marquis landed a deal with the Chicago Cubs that would pay him $21 million over three seasons. It was an astonishing deal for a pitcher that had a such a bad season. He’s been mediocre at best with the Cubs and will now suffer in Colorado unless he can get enough sink on the ball to keep it in the ballpark.
Adam Wainwright was the jewel of the trade for the Cardinals. The Braves felt that as Adam continued to grow, he could not keep his mechanics in check and felt he was expendable. He saw decent time out of the pen in 2006 as the Cardinals made an improbable run at the World Series. He even closed out the final game. The following year he moved into the rotation and started to impress immediately. With Carpenter out Adam has had to take over the role of staff ace in 2008. He filled in admirably as he provided a 11-3 record although he had to battle injury for much of the season.
Eli Marrero was a utility player that would go anywhere you would put him. He filled many roles for the Braves in 2004 and the best season of his career as well. Eli hit .320/.374/.520 in 250 at-bats while slugging 10 home runs and 18 doubles that season. But he would not play for the Braves again and would not have a season near what he hit for the team that year.
Then there’s the centerpiece of the deal, the golden boy since he was in college. But he never shined much in the majors, that was until his 2004 season with the Braves that saw him hit .305/31/118. His first (and only season so far) with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. It was a performance that helped the Braves propel into the NL Division series, where they lost to the Houston Astros. Fans of the Braves thought that they could possibly sign the Georgia native to a long-term contract. But Drew, and his agent Scott Boras, went for greener pastures in Los Angeles.
But Drew had such a great year that he hadto have provided the Atlanta Braves with draft pick compensation from the Dodgers their signing….right? Nope. The only compensation that the Braves received was for Jaret Wright that year.
None of the other players in this deal that have reached free agency have drawn draft pick compensation either.
This trade looks like a win for the St. Louis Cardinals and Walt Jocketty. Not only did they get one good season out of a lefty-specialist, they also got many innings ate up by Marquis and have an ace for their staff in Wainwright. It was already a foregone conclusion that Drew was going to leave St. Louis at the end of the 2004 season anyway.
Sure, adding Drew to the Braves helped to keep their unprecedented post-season streak alive another year, but they were kicked out after the first round. Also, what was the long-term price? If you put Adam Wainwright in the Braves’ rotation today, they could have kept from signing Derek Lowe and spent that money to keep John Smoltz around andpick up Bobby Abreu for left field. (Wainwright will make $2.6 million this season)
But that’s just crying Over Spilled Milk.
