Crazy Rangers-A's (-Pirates?) trade

Just Billy Beane doin' work. The Oakland A's have acquired right-handed reliever Guillermo Moscoso from the Texas Rangers in exchange for minor league right-handed reliever Ryan Kelly. Kelly was acquired from Pittsburgh in late December, so he never pitched a single game in the A's system. Kelly was acquired from Pittsburgh in exchange for minor league UTIL Corey Wimberly who was acquired from Colorado in February 2009 for Matt Murton. Murton was acquired from the Cubs in the Rich Harden trade. It's chaos. Rich Harden is well, Rich Harden and Murton just set the record for most hits in a season in Japan, so let's just look at the other players involved in the more recent trades.

Moscoso's big league performance in '10 wasn't anything to write home about. He pitched in 1 game, two thirds of an inning, giving up 2 runs for a 27.00 ERA. Even in the minors he posted a 7-7 record and a 5.18 ERA in 22 starts and a relief appearance at Triple-A Oklahoma City. But, it's not too hard to see what Beane sees in him. Moscoso posted a good 7.8 K/9 in the minors in '10 along with a 3.6 BB/9, 1.2 HR/9, and a terrible 10.4 H/9. For his minor league career, Moscoso has an 8.7 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 0.7 HR/9, and an 8.5 H/9. He just had an off-year. Even if you want to argue that he was overwhelmed by Triple-A, he did post a 2.31 ERA there in 11 starts and a relief apperance in '09. Also, in 10 big league relief appearances in '09, he posted a 3.18 ERA. Beane seemingly thinks that Moscoso will be at least a somewhat effective big league reliever for the A's in '11.

But, why then would Beane acquire him in exchange for Kelly, a minor league reliever? Kelly isn't great, but he did post a 4.20 ERA in '10. He gave up 9 home runs for a 1.1 HR/9 ratio, but he posted a 9.0 K/9 and a 1.7 BB/9 for an outstanding 5.36 strikeout to walk ratio. Oh yeah, one problem: Kelly repeated Low-A in '10 and turned 23 in October. Either Beane is an idiot for trading a player with potential because of his high strikeout and low walk rates, or he's a genius for getting a big league reliever for a pitcher who posted an ERA over 4.00 an Low-A.

Wimberly, who Beane gave up to get Kelly, seems to have more value than either Moscoso or Kelly. He turned 27 in October, but last year at Triple-A Sacramento he hit .284 with 14 doubles, 3 homers, 57 RBI, 7 triples, 97 runs, 56 stolen bases, and a .373 OBP. He even played a decent centerfield and posted fielding percentages at LF, SS, and 2B that a team could live with (while being a complete disaster at third base). Sounds like Jerry Hairston Jr. with speed to me. How could Beane possibly trade him for a relliever who posted a 4.20 ERA at Low-A, especially one that he used to trade for another player? It's not like speedy utility players grow on trees!

I am so confused. The A's, like all teams, do have some utility players (such as Adam Rosales), but why give him away for nothing? If Kelly wasn't nothing, why did he trade him for Moscoso? Conspiracy theory is that this was essentially a three team trade where the Rangers wanted Kelly, the A's wanted Moscoso, and the Pirates wanted Wimberly. But, why then would there be over 2 weeks between the Pirates-A's trade and the A's-Rangers trade? My guess would be that Beane was trying to get more for Kelly, which delayed the trade for a while. A typical two weeks in the life of Billy Beane.

Yankees sign pair of lefties

The Yankees have agreed to deals with left-handed pitchers Neal Cotts and Daniel Martinez. They are very different pitchers: Cotts is a 30 year old lefty reliever while Martinez is a 20 year old pitcher who has both started games and relieved. Cotts has a chance to make an impact as the second lefty in the Yankee bullpen (since Damaso Marte is hurt), while Martinez is a long-term project.

Cotts, who will turn 31 in March, missed all of 2010 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. However, when healthy, he's can be very effective. Cotts was a second round pick by the Athletics in 2001, but was traded to the White Sox in 2003. After a brief cup of coffee in '03 as a starter, Cotts was converted to a reliever. Although he struggled his way a 5.65 ERA in '04, Cotts was incredible in '05, posting a 1.94 ERA and 58 K's in 69 relief appearances, and in typical lefty specialist fashion, just 60 IP. But, he posted just a 5.17 ERA in '06 and was traded to the Cubs. In '07, Cotts spent most of the year in the minors, but posted a 4.86 ERA in the majors in 16 appearances. But, he was back on track in '08, posting a 4.29 ERA and 43 K's in 50 appearances but just 35.2 IP. Cotts posted a 7.36 ERA in '09 in 19 appearances, but that was probably because of his elbow injury that would require surgery. Cotts has struck out a lot of batters throughout his career (8.3 per 9 innings), but he has walked too many guys (4.6 BB/9). For his career, Cotts has just a 1.79 K/BB ratio. But, when Cotts posted a 2.00 K/BB or better, he had his 2 best seasons, '05 and '08. Cotts certainly isn't a great player, but if healthy, he could potentially be a nice complement to Boone Logan in the bullpen.

Martinez has yet to harness his potential. He was signed by the Reds in 2007, but he never left Rookie ball. The reason was his terrible walk rate. Martinez has a 3.89 career ERA in the minors and a 7.7 K/9, but he has posted a 5.7 BB/9. He was so bad in '10, posting a decent 4.32 ERA but walking 18 against 16 K's, that the Reds released him. He's a long shot to reach the majors, but if Nardi Contreras (Yankees minor league pitching coordinator) or somebody can teach him some control, he could be a good pitcher.

The sad one-year career of Ben Conroy

I can assure all of you that this will be the first and last time that you will ever hear of Ben Conroy. Conroy was a 19 year old rookie in 1890 for the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association (which is widely considered a major league). In 1890, his only season, he appeared in 117 games. Clearly, he was not some random minor leaguer who appeared in a couple games. He was the youngest player in the AA to appear in ten or more games. In those 117 games, Conroy played like no player I've ever seen before. He somehow lasted 117 games while hitting .171. Yeah, that's not a typo, .171. Was Conroy really that bad? Well, he did hit 13 doubles and 1 triple while stealing 17 bases. His OBP was .262, nearly .100 better than his BA, so that's pretty good. Defensively, he posted a .893 Fld% in 74 games at SS, which would be terrible today, but which was good for 3rd in the AA, in addition to a .947 Fld% in 42 games at 2B, which also would be bad today, but which was significantly above-average back then. He also posted an 1.000 Fld% in one game in CF. Maybe with a couple more seasons in the majors he would have developed into a decent player. But, right after the year, Conroy was sent back down to the minors and toiled there for 5 seasons, hitting .273, before retiring in 1897 at age 26.

What happened to America being a land of second chances? He was certainly a good enough fielder (compared to his peers) to remain on the team in some capacity. He probably could have been a defensive replacement and pinch-runner for some major league team! Well, 1890 was the last year of that Philadelphia Athletics franchise (there was another franchise called the Philadelphia Athletics that started in 1901 with the founding of the American League, and has become the Oakland A's of today). Conroy had terrible luck. If he had come to the big leagues one year earlier, he probably would have been in the big leagues in 1890 as well, and maybe with 2 years of experience, he would have gotten better in 1890 and been signed by another major league team.

What a sad story. He plays one full season in the majors, plays badly, and never gets another chance. Conroy is just one of many who this happened to in the late 1800's (and to a lesser extent, throughout baseball history). With a second chance, at least a couple of them could have become Hall of Famers.

DeJesus to the A's

The Oakland Athletics have acquired OF David DeJesus from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for RHP Vin Mazzaro and LHP Justin Marks.

DeJesus, who will turn 31 on December 20th, had a nice but injury shortened season for the Royals in 2010, hitting .318 with 23 doubles, 5 homers, 37 RBI, and a .384 OBP in 91 games. He injured his thumb during a 10-4 loss to the Yankees on June 22nd and had to undergo surgery. DeJesus had his best season in '08, when he hit .307 with 25 doubles, 12 homers, 73 RBI, 11 steals, and a .366 OBP in 135 games. He hit .281 with 28 doubles, 13 homers, 71 RBI, 9 triples, and a .347 OBP in 144 games. Defensively, DeJesus has not made an error since '08. His 15.3 Ultimate Zone Rating was second in the majors in '09 to Carl Crawford, but was negative 0.1 in '10. He is not a great player, but he can be a solid contributor on a good team.

Mazzaro has been very inconsistent both at the major league and minor league levels. Mazzaro, a 3rd round pick, went 9-9 at Low-A his first pro season in '06, but posted a 5.05 ERA. He then went 9-12 with a 5.33 ERA at High-A in '07. But then, Mazzaro had an incredible season in '08, 15-6 with a 2.74 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A. 2-2 with a 2.38 ERA in 9 starts and a relief appearance in '09 at Triple-A, Mazzaro was promoted to the majors where he went 4-9 with a 5.32 ERA in 17 starts. In '10, Mazzaro started out at Triple-A again, where he went 3-1 with a 3.13 ERA in 6 starts and a relief appearance, before being recalled to the majors. Mazzaro went 6-8 for the A's in '10, with a 4.27 ERA in 18 starts and 6 relief appearances. He was 6-3 with a 3.45 ERA on June 24th, but went just 0-6 with a 5.37 ERA the rest of the season. Keep in mind that Mazzaro isn't your average 24 year old fireballer. Mazzaro has posted just a 6.8 K/9 in the minors and a 5.8 K/9 in the majors. That wouldn't be that bad, but he doesn't have great control either. He has a 3.7 career BB/9, and his career K/BB ratio is just 1.55. If the Royals can somehow fix Mazzaro's control, he could be a good back of the rotation starter.

Marks is a lefty strikeout machine, but at least to this point in his career, he has not been effective. A 2009 3rd round pick, Marks had the worst pro debut I've ever seen that same season, pitching in 1 game at Rookie ball, a start, and giving up 6 runs in 0.0 IP for an infinity ERA. Yeah, infinity. Well, from there Marks could only be better. Not that he was that good in '10- he went 6-13 with a 4.87 ERA in 24 starts and a relief appearance between Low-A and High-A. The only reasons Marks has any value is because he struck out 136 batters in 129.1 IP in '10, good for a 9.5 K/9, and he posted a 2.78 K/BB ratio. If the Royals can somehow fix him, he could be a great pitcher. How many lefty starters strike out over a batter per inning?

The Royals are in a rebuilding mode, and had no need for DeJesus. They decided to trade him for 2 pitchers that need help, but certainly have potentially. The Royals are taking the gamble that Mazzaro and Marks will pan out. But, they wouldn't have done this trade if they didn't think they could fix them.

Iwakuma to the A's

The Oakland Athletics have won the bidding for Japanese RHP Hisashi Iwakuma. Iwakuma isn't your average Japanese star pitcher coming from Japan. He went 13-6 with a 3.25 ERA, but just 121 K's in 24 starts and 169 IP. He gave up 169 hits, more than a hit per inning, although he did walk just 43. Contrast him to other big name Japanese starters Daisuke Matsuzaka, who struck out 200 in 186.1 IP his last year in Japan, and Hideo Nomo, who struck out 126 in 114 IP his last year in Japan and 276 in 243.1 IP in his last full year in Japan. Iwakuma's strikeout rate in his last year in Japan is not even comparable to Kei Igawa's stats in his last year in Japan. Igawa struck out 194 in 209 IP, an 8.4 K/9, compared to Iwakuma's 6.4 K/9. To go through a few other active Japanese pitchers, Hideki Okajima had a 10.5 K/9, Kenshin Kawakami had an 8.6 K/9, Takashi Saito had a 7.9 K/9, Hisanori Takahashi also had a 7.9 K/9, while Koji Uehara had a 7.3 K/9, and Hiroki Kuroda, 6.2 K/9. Let's look at those last 4 guys. Kawakami has been up and down as a starter in the big leagues, while Saito, Takahashi, and Uehara have enjoyed success in the big leagues as relievers, and Kuroda has been a successful starter. Among that group, the A's obviously hope that Iwakuma will be most like Kuroda.

The comparison between Iwakuma and Kuroda goes further. Iwakuma posted a 2.3 BB/9 in Japan in '10, similar to Hiroki Kuroda's 2.1 BB/9 in his last year in Japan. Kuroda's career BB/9 in the majors is also 2.1. Could Iwakuma also maintain his 2.3 BB/9? Interestingly, Kuroda's strikeout rate has gone up from 6.2 per 9 to 6.6 per 9 in America. Could the same thing also happen to Iwakuma?

In comparing Iwakuma to Kuroda, I'm realizing this: Iwakuma isn't going to be a big league superstar unless he really becomes a much better pitcher against big league hitters. He will be a nice 3rd starter, posting an ERA in the low to mid 3.00's (Kuroda's ERA in the big leagues has ranged from 3.39 to 3.76). He won't blow away hitters, but he'll get outs. Iwakuma's hype isn't anywhere near what Dice-K's hype was when he came to the US. But, considering Matsuzaka's struggles, Iwakuma certainly has as good of a chance as he does to be "the next great Japanese pitcher".

Jon Weber: a story of perseverence that just didn't work out

You might have heard of Jon Weber. He is a player who had an incredible spring training this year for the Yankees, but didn't make the team. That's been the story of his entire career- just missed.

Jon Weber was signed by the Reds in 1999 as an undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech University. He just missed being drafted. He started out in the Reds' Rookie ball team, the Billings Mustangs. He hit .238 with 6 doubles, 5 homers, 17 RBI, 16 runs, and a .365 OBP in 22 games. He showed an ability to be a good run producer, but his .238 average was too low. In 2000, he hit just .221 in 1087 games with the Low-A Clinton Lumber Kings, with 14 doubles, 6 homers, 34 RBI, 8 SB, 60 runs, and a .333 OBP. His run producing ability was his only good sign in '99, but he couldn't even do that in 2000, so the Reds released him. Weber signed with the Canton Crocodiles of the independent Frontier League. He did much better with Canton in '01, hitting .307 with 15 doubles, 18 homers, 69 RBI, 16 SB, 60 runs, and a .382 OBP in 82 games. For some reason, no major league team signed him and instead he signed with the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks of the independent Northern League. In '02 with the Redhawks, Weber hit .296 with 30 doubles, 13 homers, 52 RBI, 11 SB, and a .356 OBP in 90 games. No major league team signed Weber again. I find it really amazing that he didn't give up right at this point and pursue another career, but he kept persevering and kept playing.

In '03, Weber started the year with the Redhawks once again, hitting .309 with 8 doubles, 11 homers, 48 RBI, 14 SB, 46 runs, and a .408 OBP in 52 games. Finally, Weber was signed by a major league team, the Oakland A's, and he was assigned to the High-A Modesto A's. He did very well in 35 games with Modesto, hitting .361 with 10 doubles, 7 homers, 38 RBI, 2 SB (Oakland's philosophy is Moneyball), 28 runs, and a .394 OBP. He averaged over 1 RBI per game with Modesto, which is very good. The next year in '04, Weber was assigned to the Double-A Midland RockHounds to start the year. He hit .280 in 111 games at Midland, with 24 doubles, 15 homers, 68 RBI, 10 SB, 64 runs, and a .356 OBP. He then was promoted to the Triple-A Sacremento River Cats and hit .341 with 4 doubles, 2 homers, 12 RBI, 9 runs, and a .383 OBP in 19 games. Still, the A's got rid of him and he signed with the Dodgers. He was assigned to the Double-A Jacksonville Suns. In '05 with the Suns, he hit .300 with 27 doubles, 11 homers, 68 RBI, 10 SB, 81 runs, and a .369 OBP in 117 games. He also made his first career appearance on the mound, giving up 1 run on no hits and 3 walks in .2 innings for a 13.50 ERA. Weber promoted to the Triple-A Las Vegas 51's in '06, but he hit just .258 with 18 doubles, 2 homers, 31 RBI, 9 SB, 39 runs, and a .333 OBP in 82 games. He was released, and he signed with the Diamondbacks organization. He played much better with the Tuscon Sidewinders, Arizona's Triple-A franchise than he did with the 51's. He hit .321 with 18 doubles, 5 homers, 27 RBI, 26 runs, and a .374 OBP in 46 games. He was not retained by the D-backs, and he returned to the independent Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks for the '07 season. Weber was on the Triple-A teams of 3 different major league franchises in a span of 3 years, but he still wasn't called up to the majors. He just missed again.

In '07 with the Redhawks, Weber hit .283 with 5 doubles, 1 homer, 10 RBI, 2 SB, 10 runs, and a .371 OBP in 16 games before being signed by the Rangers and being assigned to their High-A team, the Bakersfield Blaze. Weber hit .356 with the Blaze with 14 doubles, 5 homers, 25 RBI, 9 SB, 34 runs, and a .416 OBP in 37 games before being traded to the Devil Rays for cash and assigned to their Triple-A franchise, the Durham Bulls. Weber hit .265 as a member of the Bulls, with 5 doubles, 3 homers, 21 RBI, 20 runs, and a .360 OBP in 39 games. Weber, who was 30 years old at that time, was retained by the Rays organization after the year (they had just changed their name). In '08 with Durham, Weber once again hit .265, but this time with 24 doubles, 13 homers, 51 RBI, 11 SB, 58 runs, and a .354 OBP in 108 games. Still, the Rays kept Weber for the '09 season. In '09, Weber had his best year since '04, hitting .302 with 46 doubles, 14 homers, 69 RBI, 63 runs, and a .382 OBP. Despite his great year, he was not called up to the majors. After the year he signed a minor league contract with the Yankees.

Weber had a spring training to remember in '10. He hit .452 with 4 doubles and 6 RBI in 18 games. He even won the James P. Dawson award for the best Yankee rookie (remember, Weber still hasn't made the majors) at spring training. But, being a left handed hitter, he didn't make the team. Just missed.

One day. I hope that day comes for him. He also wasn't called up after Curtis Granderson was injured, giving way to Greg Golson. So far in '10 with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees, Weber has hit .258 with 7 doubles, 0 homers, 11 RBI, 18 runs, and a .333 OBP in 47 games.

"Best time in my life and my career that I've ever had. I made it to the final week with the New York Yankees. I'm not righthanded, I'm lefthanded. I have to stay positive, stay focused and hopefully one day I'll get the call."- Jon Weber on his amazing 2010 spring training

One day. I hope that one day comes for him. It won't be with the Yankees- he was released on June 2nd.

Why was Braden perfect?

How did A's pitcher Dallas Braden throw a perfect game against the Rays yesterday? Well, he gave up no runs, no hits, no walks, no errors, and he didn't hit any batters. But, why did was he perfect? Let's look at the stats.

Besides all those zeroes, Braden had some other key stats. He threw 109 pitches, 77 of them for strikes and 32 of them for balls. If you divide the strikes by the balls, it equals about 2.41. Let's put that into prespective. He had thrown 368 strikes in the starts before the perfect game and 163 balls in those starts. Divide the strikes by the balls in those starts, and it equals 2.26. So, his strikes/balls ratio was .15 better in the perfect game than in his other starts. That's a big difference.

Braden had 6 strikeouts. It doesn't look like anything special until you realize that he only had 6 strikeouts combined his last 3 starts. Braden had 21 strikeouts combined his previous 6 starts before the perfect game in 37 IP. Braden had a 5.1 K/9 going into his perfect game and then posted a 6.0 K/9 in his perfect game. That's a full strikeout more.

Braden gave up 7 ground ball outs and 14 fly ball outs during the perfect game. The 7 ground ball outs are his third-lowest of the year. His lowest were only 6 ground ball outs on April 6th against Seattle and April 22nd against the Yankees. He gave up only 1 run on April 6th and only 2 runs on April 22nd. Add in the perfect game, and Braden has been very successful when he hasn't give up many ground ball outs. In all his starts where he gave up 8 or more ground ball outs, Braden only has 1 start where he gave up 2 or less runs, April 16th against the Orioles. He has posted a 1.23 ERA in the 3 starts during which he got 7 or less groundouts, and a 5.04 ERA when he got 8 or more groundouts. In those 3 starts where Braden had 7 or less ground ball outs, of course he had quite a few flyouts, with 13 flyouts on April 6th, 14 on April 22nd, and 13 during the perfect game. But, he had 15 flyouts on May 3rd and gave up 3 runs, so whenever Braden gets a ton of flyouts, it isn't necessarily that great for him.

Dallas Braden obviously had everything working for him during the perfect game. As a pitcher, you have to be pretty lucky for opposing batters to have a .000 BA on balls in play, even in one game, but Braden was that lucky.

Screw 209, this is how we post in the 201!