Category: Uncategorized

Kenny Lofton

I know the Chicago Cubs have said Alfonso Soriano can play centerfield, but actually seeing that happen might be another painful story. Last season the defensively challenged secondbaseman was switched to leftfield by the Washington Nationals. I guess the theory was to move him as far away from the play as possible, like the bad fielding kid in Little League, where can we hide him? Surprisingly Alfonso was the leader among NL outfielders in assists, not surprisingly NL runners ran on him every chance they got. Memories of Lonnie Smith, Ralph Garr, & El Caballo popped into my mind as I watched him attempt to catch flyballs. But seeing Soriano in CF seems to be coming closer and closer to reality.

Professional centerfielder & leadoff man Kenny Lofton signed with the Texas Rangers to replace Gary Matthews, Jr. and defensive wizard Jay Payton signed on with the O’s to play LF. Either would have been a good fit on the Northside of Chicago, or the Southside for that matter. For those of you who have listened to Baseball Zealot Radio have heard me repeatedly say, “the Cubs should sign Kenny Lofton”.

Darren Oliver

DonS is a HUGE Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim fan! And he is VERY happy the Halos have signed his buddy, Darren Oliver. Darren was a long time member of DonS’ Molly Putts Marauders of the Illowa APBA League, and it nearly broke his heart when he had to let Oliver go a couple of years ago. The Angels really haven’t had a lefthander out of the pen in some time, they tried JC Romero, but the results were not good. Oliver is a consumate professional and looks to be a good fit. Primarily he works out of the pen, but can start in a pinch. Darren is the son of former big leaguer Bob Oliver.

Jason Jennings

Most big league pitchers dread the thought of pitching at Coors Field in Colorado, but just when Jason Jennings seemed to solve pitching in the high elevation, he was traded to the Houston Astros for centerfielder Willy Taveras. Although Jennings is excited about going to his home state (he was born in Dallas), he can’t be too excited about pitching at Minute Maid Park. Jennings hasn’t had much success there. Jennings is 0-3 with a 10.47 ERA in three career starts at the Astros’ home park.

This trade wasn’t just a swap of a pitcher for a centerfielder, far from it! The Astros also parted with PCL Pitcher of the Year Jason Hirsh & righty Taylor Buchholz, while the Rockies tossed back reliever Miguel Asencio. Houston is looking for Jennings to step into the rotation in place of new/old Yankee Andy Pettitte. Asencio will add another hard throwing arm to their bullpen. Colorado didn’t want to lose Jennings for nothing next year, he was looking for a contract extension. The Rockies made a pretty good deal for their veteran righthander picking up a leadoff man centerfielder with great speed in Taveras, a great pitching prospect in Hirsh, and another starter in Buchholz.

This was probably a similar deal to the one White Sox GM Kenny Williams was trying to get for Jon Garland. Too bad we didn’t get it done, as a Sox fan I’d have like to have seen it happen.

Marcus & Brian Giles

Now it’s all starting to make some sense. I was wondering why the San Diego Padres traded promising rookie secondbaseman to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for thirdbaseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. The Atlanta Braves said goodbye to their secondbaseman Marcus Giles. Although it’s not official yet, the Padres will soon ink little brother Marcus to a contract so he can join big brother Brian in San Diego. Both brothers grew up in El Cajon, CA, and are Southern California boys.

Burrito

Sushi

I don’t know if I was hallucinating or what, but I can remember being able to click on a link at either mlb.com or minorleaguebaseball.com or somewhere to find out what’s happening in the Winter Leagues (Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela). I can even remember occasionally finding a game telecast on a local (Chicago) Spanish speaking TV station. But this year, nothing, nada, zilch! It can be argued that Winter Baseball doesn’t translate into what a player is going to do in the big leagues, but still it’s interesting to check it out, none the less. I can remember a number of years ago watching Spanish TV’s coverage of the Winter Leagues and seeing Tom Candiotti & Chris Cordiroli on the mound (before they pitched in the majors). I could make out THEIR names.

Also lacking was coverage of the MLB All Stars visit to Japan. I’ll bet most baseball fans don’t even know about the trip to Japan, let alone the results of the games, or what certain players did. It seems strange to me as a baseball fan that with all the media out there, there was no TV out there covering the games.

I’m just a baseball fan who would like to watch a little baseball. Let me know, am I the only guy out there mumbling, “baseball, baseball, baseball”, under my breath?

Luis Gonzalez

So far the Dodgers have lost Greg Maddux, JD Drew, & Julio Lugo, and have added Jason Schmidt, Luis Gonzalez, & Mike Lieberthal, in addition to re-signing Takashi Saito. So far the Dodgers are WAY ahead!!! The trade off in paying Schmidt rather than Drew the BIG money is HUGE!

Luis Gonzalez has played in 145+ games in eight of the last nine big league seasons, and smart money says the 39 year old lefthanded hitting outfielder will play in more games than Drew in 2007. While Luis isn’t going to steal bases or patrol the outfield as well as JD, he did rip 52 doubles and score 93 times in 2006 for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Gonzo’s best season came in 2001 when he launched 57 long balls, with 142 RBIs, and 128 runs scored. Granted his best days are behind him, but he’ll be out there everyday this upcoming season, leading LA to a 1st place NL West Crown.

Jason Schmidt
LA got a BIG pitcher for BIG money, and he will be well worth it in 2007. Schmidt will be the #1 of a solid rotation, joining Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley, & Randy Wolf. Heck the Dodgers even have Hong-Chih Kuo & Brett Tomko waiting in the wings, should anyone falter. Although Jason’s best year was 2003 when he was 17-5 with a 2.34 ERA, he still has plenty left in the tank.

Mike Lieberthal
The former Phillies catcher has agreed to play a backup role for his hometown LA Dodgers. Glendale’s Lieberthal made his debut at Dodger Stadium June 30, 1994. Mike is a former Gold Glove Award winner and will have alot to offer the young Russell Martin.

There go the Dodgers signing another solid veteran, who still has alot to offer.

Joakim Soria

NickyV & I made our annual baseball trip to KC this past Labor Day and beyond. While Runelvys Hernandez didn’t set the world on fire for the Royals, he did look good. Now it’s reported KC has released Hernandez to make room on its 40 man roster for Joakim Soria. The Royals picked the 6’2″ 22 year old righthander from the San Diego Padres in the Rule Five Draft. While the Rule Five Draft list wasn’t as deep in year’s past, Soria is a gem. So far in the Mexican Winter League Joakim has started 10 games, is 8-0, with 64 strikeouts in 62′ innings, and a sparkling 2.02 ERA.

We also had a close encounter with Runelvys’ wife and newborn in the elevator at Kauffman Stadium. We commented on how well behaved the baby was, Hernandez’ wife said proudly, “Her Daddy was the starting pitcher for the Royals tonite”.

Brian Bannister
In an old fashioned trade, the Royals sent hard throwing, wild, righthanded reliever Ambiorix Burgos to the NY Mets in exchange for righthanded rookie starter Brian Bannister. Bannister had a 4.26 ERA for New York before a hamstring shut him down. Brian is the son of former major league starter Floyd Bannister, and should earn a spot in KC’s rotation in 2007.

Gil Meche
The Royals shelled out BIG money to get a BIG pitcher, but then they just signed Gil Meche to a five year $55 million dollar deal. Like I said, just because you pay BIG money doesn’t make a pitcher BIG. But the only BIG pitcher was Runelvys, who was only BIG because of his girth, and was released. Still it’s sad that Meche will be the #1 starter on anybody’s staff. Glad it ain’t my money.

I know the BIG news surrounding the Cubs is the BIG money they’ve spent on free agents Alfonso Soriano, Mark DeRosa, & Ted Lilly, and the re-signing of Aramis Ramirez. But the really BIG news story might be the one reported here by InsideTheIvy.com. If history is any indication of whether the Cubs know what they’re doing when it comes to evaluating young talent, then they might be in trouble again as they lost five minor leaguers in the Rule Five Draft. It wasn’t that long ago they traded Jon Garland to the White Sox in exchange for Matt Karchner. Then they traded Dontrelle Willis to the Marlins, in what was Florida GM Larry Beinfest’s first trade ever, in the Matt Clement deal. Maybe they shouldn’t trade for guys named Matt. Then one year ago today they traded Ricky Nolasco (a member of the Marlins rotation), Renyel Pinto (a lefty out of the pen), & Sergio Mitre to the Fish in exchange for rent-a-player CF Juan Pierre. I might be having heart problems too if I were Cub GM Jim Hendry, and I needed my job.

Below is a little rundown on each of the latest five guys to be freed from Cubdom (or Cub-dumb, as the case may be).

Ed Campusano
Campusano is a 6’4″ lefthander out of Venezuela who will fit in nicely into the Detroit Tigers bullpen replacing Jamie Walker. Ed had a nifty 1.46 ERA, 25 saves, to go along with 81 K’s in 55′ innings of work in the minors in 2006.

Lincoln Holdzkom
The 6’4″ righthander Holdzkom should find a home in the Houston Astro bullpen after posting a 1.76 ERA, 43 strikeouts in 46 innings, in the minors in 06.

Jason Smith
Smith is a 29 year old lefthanded hitting infielder who hit five homers last season with the Rockies. In 2006 Jason hit .291 in the minors, was selected by the Blue Jays, and really isn’t much of a prospect.

Richard Lewis
Lewis is one of the most intriguing prospect Chicago let get away. Richard won the 2003 AFL Batting Crown with a .404 average, then he followed that up by being named Southern League MVP in 2004, was the 23rd rated prospect in the Fab50 of 2004, but then a late season leg injury saw him post a .217 average in only 87 games in Triple A in 2005. Last year the secondbaseman out of Georgia Tech hit .252 in Double A. He is 6’1″ righthanded hitting 26 years old. In 2003 Lewis was stuck behind Mark Grudzielanek, now Mark G is KC’s keystone man, and Richard’s new team.

Andrew Shipman
The A’s picked up 25 year old 6’3″ righthander out of the University of Missouri. This past season Andrew split his time between Double A & Triple A, where he struckout 56 men in 72 innings, with a 3.38 ERA.

Josh Hamilton

The year was 1999 the Tampa Bay Devil Rays had the first pick in the draft and they used it to draft the raw talented outfielder Josh Hamilton, and game him a $3.96 million signing bonus. They envisioned an outfield of Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, & Josh Hamilton. But as we all know the best laid plans of mice & men, not to mention that it’s never a slam dunk to make it to the majors no matter how much talent you’ve got, then there was the 2001 spring training truck accident and the drugs & alcohol.

Now we fast forward to 2006, the Rule 5 Draft, the Chicago Cubs selected the lefthand hitting Josh Hamilton with the 4th pick from Tampa Bay, and then traded him to the Cincinnati Reds. Hamilton, now 25, appeared in 15 games for Hudson Valley of the Class A Short-Season New York-Penn League. It was the first on field action in four years for the former #1 pick.

He met Reds manager Jerry Narron and played youth ball for Jerry’s brother Johnny. So Cincinnati will give him a fresh start, his last start.

Gio Gonzalez

When I said I’d like to see the White Sox reacquire a guy they traded to Philly in the Aaron Rowand Deal, I was talking about Aaron Rowand, not Giovanny Gonzalez. I have got to be clearer the next time I talk with Kenny Williams. The Sox took their first step to revamp their starting rotation by trading Freddy Garcia for TWO pitchers, Gio Gonzalez AND Gavin Floyd. Both are young, and can only be expected to get older. Both are former first round draft choices, Floyd is a 23 year old righty, and Gonzalez a 21 year old lefty. While Gavin has struggled, Gio had a solid AFL and appears ready. But it is another young talended righthander who will attempt to fill the shoes of Freddy Garcia, and that is Brandon McCarthy. Garcia leaves some awfully big shoes to fill.

We’ll have to see what happens next, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mark Buehrle wasn’t shipped off soon. The guy I’d like to see go is Javier Vazquez. While I did say there were three reasons why the Chisox didn’t repeat in 2006, the rotation, the bullpen, & CF, two years ago the rotation was the strong point of the Champions. That said, it is smart to allocate your funds wisely in today’s game and the Sox didn’t want to find themselves strapped with alot of overpriced, underperforming starting pitchers.

Next up, the Southsiders have to address their bullpen & CF needs.