Month: March 2009

Sox Waive Bye Bye to Jerry Owens

White Sox Royals Baseball The White Sox put a new spin on Abbott & Costello’s age old bit, by asking the question, “Who’s in Center?” The answer isn’t nearly as funny. Jerry Owens will be placed on waivers, “giving” the starting job to Dewayne Wise & Brian Anderson.

Brian Anderson took over the starting centerfield duties from Aaron Rowand in 2006, after Chicago won it all in 2005. While Anderson’s bat was nothing to write home about, his defense in CF certainly was fantastic. I still say, had Ozzie Guillen not played Rob Mackowik in CF in 2006, we would’ve made the playoffs with BA out there. We just missed the playoffs with a 90-72 mark. Still Brian, a righthanded hitter, batted only .225, with 23 doubles, one triple, & eight home runs in 365 at bats, while striking out 90 times. Last year Anderson showed more pop, with 13 doubles & 8 homers in only 181 at bats. His major league lifetime OBP is an anemic .277. He’s shown a decent bat in the minors, .293, 65 2Bs, 13 3Bs, 38 HRs, in 1,136 ABs, and he batted .366 as a Senior with the University of Arizona, but that was a long time ago.

Jerry Owens got his shot in 2007, which was a miserable year (72-90) on the Southside. Owens is a slap lefthanded hitter, who batted .267 with 32 stolen bases in only 93 big league games, but only nine doubles, two triples, & one homer (I think I was at that game). While his OBP was only .324, he could cover the ground in centerfield, but possessed a very poor throwing arm. For some reason, the Sox never seemed to like him, maybe it was because he returned from winter ball in the middle of a playoff fight, with Joey Cora as his manager. I guess, I was really pulling for Jerry, we really needed his speed in the leadoff slot. Jerry has a .291 minor league batting average, with 162 steals in 500 games, and a .359 OBP.

Then there’s Dewayne Wise. Wise is a 31 year old, lefthanded hitting, journeyman outfielder, that came through a few times last year in the clutch. Still he batted just .248, with six homers in 129 at bats, stealing nine bases, without being caught. Wise has 468 big league at bats spread out over six seasons, 19 2Bs, 8 3Bs, 15 HRs, 21/22 SBs, but only a .214 average, with a horrible OBP of only .254. His minor league OBP of .309 in 3,555 at bats, isn’t much better. And his defense is a step down from either Owens or Anderson. It worries me that he’ll get the lion’s share of playing time in the lefty/righty CF platoon.

Last year Owens was slated for the White Sox centerfield job, before he got injured, moving Nick Swisher from LF to CF, and Carlos Quentin from bench to LF. Yet I’m sure the Pale Hose would’ve realized the gem they had in Quentin, even if Jerry hadn’t gotten hurt. So I have all the confidence in the world this team will figure it out. Still it’s hard to imagine going into the season with Dewayne Wise as our starting centerfielder.

LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

‘Oil Can’ hopes to pitch up north

According to the Ottawa Citizen, former MLB pitcher Dennis ‘Oil Can’ Boyd is planning to pitch for the Ottawa Voyageurs in the Cam-Am Baseball League. 

He hasn’t pitched in the majors since 1991 when split the season between the Expos and the Rangers.  He hasn’t even played pro ball since 2005. 

But the ball feels good in Oil Can’s hands, he says:

"The ball is coming out of my hand free and easy for the first time in years. I just want to prove I can throw 100 pitches for 30 starts and dominate."

Don’t know about you but Boyd is one of those baseball players that our memories supersede his contribution to the game.  That’s not to take anything away from him but he won 78 games in his career a decade ago and I still remember him vividly.  Granted, he was an colorful, outspoken individual. 

No doubt, regardless if he pitches well in Ottawa or not, he’ll be a fun character and a good draw.

2009 Cactus League

camelbackranch08 After a week in the Sunshine State watching the Grapefruit League, a weekend in Chicago to play some APBA, it was time to travel to the desert to enjoy some Cactus League action. Met up with DonS & Tom at the airport and it was off to the ballpark.

First stop was Scottsdale for a game between the Angels & the Giants. Sitting behind us was a tattooed couple & their son Dylan, they live on 100 acres, 2 hours north of SF, what nice people, really enjoyed meeting them. The Angels won the game thanks in part to SF reliever Luis Perdomo, who walked three, gave up one hit, committed two errors, in 1/3 innings of work. Brandon Wood looked overmatched, Macier Izturis had trouble hitting the ball past the pitcher, and Nick Adenhart had trouble pitching out of the stretch for the Halos. For SF, Emmanuel Burriss had to leave the game after getting plunked by a pitch, right after I said, he was injury prone, Justin Miller threw the ball well in his two scoreless innings, and Waldis Joaquin was lights out striking out three in 1 1/3 innings.

St. Patty’s Day it was time to go to Phoenix to see the A’s host the split squad Diamondbacks. Highly touted Max Scherzer barely broke a sweat, as he was pulled after only 2/3 of an inning, three hits, one walk, one error, five runs, only one earned, it’s tough to get by with only a fastball. Sean Gallagher looked sharp for Oakland against minor leaguers. I enjoyed seeing Aaron Cunningham go yard for Oakland, he’s a real hustler, reminds me of Lenny Dykstra. 11-3 A’s. Celebrated St. Patty’s Day at the Library a bar near ASU, lotsa green shots.

Wednesday it was time to check out the Ballpark at Camelback Ranch as the White Sox hosted the Angels. DonS wanted me to bet him a shaved head on the outcome, not much point in that, as his melon was already polished. The Ballpark was unbelievable! Thirteen practice fields for the LA Dodgers & the ChiSox, Connie’s Pizza, place holds 13,000 fans, and they even have a stirfry noodle dish. For LAA Dustin Moseley worked five shutout innings and Chone Figgins & Gary Matthews, Jr. hit homers. Chris Getz hit the ball sharply, Octavio Dotel struckout three in his perfect inning, and Mike MacDougal showed why he’s so overpaid, three hits & one run in his one scary inning. The Halos won this one, 4-1. Went to my favorite pizza place Pizzeria Bianco with Joe after the game, waited three hours, better than I remembered, it’s all good.

The last game of our trip was back where it all started in Scottsdale. DonS’ brother Kevin, his wife Dawn, Rob T, and his wife Vicki joined us for tailgating before the game. John Danks worked five scoreless innings for the Pale Hose, Carlos Quentin & Paul Konerko went deep, and Aaron Poreda punched his minor league ticket, spitting it out, five runs over 1 1/3 innings. Jeremy Affeldt worked out of a self induced bases loaded jam for the save, he started the game on Monday for SF, so it all came around in a great big circle. Sox lost 6-4. After the game we took a trip over to the Salty Senorita for some Mexican food, Mexican food, and some Margaritas. Can’t think of a better way to bid Arizona adios.

Does Little Poison belong in the Hall?

lwaner

Last weekend, I made the mistake of questioning whether Lloyd Waner should be in the Hall of Fame with a die-hard Pirate fan in the room.

THAT was met with silence, I can tell you.

Do a Google search on Hall of Fame and overrated and Lloyd Waner is all over the place. 

So here are a couple links to prove I’m not the only one. 

Baseball Think Factory’s Merit Discussion on Lloyd Waner

A more thoughtful critique on Lloyd Waner by What the Hall

Does Patton have shot in Cubs’ bullpen?

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David Patton, the Cubs’ Rule V pick this year is going to give it his best shot.  And according to Lou Piniella, he’s “in the picture”. 

While the Cubs’ bullpen is crowded, that’s not to say it couldn’t use a little improvement.  But is Mr Patton the answer?  The Bleacher Report seems to think so calling Patton “a gem”. Others may be a little more skeptical. 

Here are his minor league numbers.

The Cubs acquired him from the Reds but he originally hails from the Colorado system.  His farm numbers looks ok.  He has high strikeout rate but his control isn’t anything to write home about.  But hopefully that would come in time.

Much is being made in the media of his spring numbers this year.   One run allowed in 7 2/3 innings with 9 strikeouts.  Impressive but I don’t need to remind any baseball fan of falling for stats within small sample sizes. 

We’ll know in a couple what the future holds for David Patton.  He has a long row to hoe if he has a shot in the Cubs’ bullpen.  But the way he’s pitching now, this is his chance.

Cubs retire #31: Get two for one

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The question is:  Why wasn’t it done before?

The Chicago Cubs will retire the uniform number 31 to honor pitchers  Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux.  It was the fifth number retired by the Cubs.  The other numbers are (chronologically) #14 Ernie Banks, #26 Billy Williams, #10 Ron Santo, and #23 Ryne Sandberg. 

No doubt both pitchers are very worthy of this honor.  Interestingly, both served the Cubs in two separate stints. Jenkins  was 167-132 with a 3.20 ERA in 401 appearances including six 20-win seasons. 

Maddux won 133 games for the Cubs and his first Cy Young came when he was still with the Cubs. 

Both have a great place in Cub history and it’s about time for Jenkins, in my opinion. 

Chipper likes the fast lane

Apparently, Toronto, Canada didn’t suit Atlanta Brave Chipper Jones as he spent a couple days there as part of the World Baseball Classic.  There just wasn’t enough to do. 

“We stayed in Toronto for a week and played three games. I don’t know if you ever stayed in Toronto, but it’s not exactly Las Vegas.  To say that we were plucking our eyebrows out one at a time would be an understatement.”

I have no sympathy for Mr Jones.  He must have no creativity or wherewithal.  He sounds like my nine-year daughter when I turn off the TV.  “I’m bored… I don’t know what to do” 

The only difference is that after a few minutes, my daughter can find something to occupy her time (and she doesn’t embarrass herself by talking to the media about it).

Not only that, I’ve been to Toronto and maybe I’m easy to please but the town seemed to offer a lot. 

Get a life, Jonsie.

SABR giving away Emerald Guide to Baseball 2009

emeraldguide

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is giving away their pdf version of Emerald Guide to Baseball 2009.  Here is the link to SABR’s download page.

From SABR’s website:

Edited by accomplished and acclaimed baseball historians Gary Gillette and Pete Palmer and published by SABR, The Emerald Guide distills the 2008 season down to 586 fact-filled pages that contain the pitching, fielding, and hitting statistics for every player active in the major and minor leagues in 2008.

The print version is also available from Lulu for $23.94  if you absolutely must have a hard copy.

I took a quick gander at the pdf and it pretty much delivers as promises.  If you don’t mind giving SABR your email address, take advantage of this.

 

 

Vermilion Voles announce 2009 schedule

The Vermilion Voles, the local vintage base ball team, have come out with their schedule for this year.  You can find it on the Voles’ web site.

The Voles’ season begins on the road on May 31 playing the Fort Clark Pioneers at Edwards, Illinois.  Their first game at their home park at Kennekuk State Park outside Danville, Illinois, will be June 20 and will be against their friendly rivals the Deep River Grinders.

And mark your calendars for August 22.  That’s the date for the annual Uncle Joe Cannon’s Jamboree at Kennekuk.