• Zito Shipped To The Bullpen:

    I don’t see how sending Barry Zito to the bullpen is going to help either Zito or the Giants. He’s not a reliever and this is more embarrassing than it would be to send him back to Arizona for some work with competent pitching coaches in the Giants system. A couple of weeks in extended spring training would be more beneficial for Zito than pitching in relief. He’s getting pounded as a starter, what do they think is going to happen as he comes out of the bullpen? When is he going to be used? Is he going to be a long man who’s only going to come into games if the starter is knocked out early? Are the Giants going to risk using him to protect a lead given how poorly he’s pitched?
    I have no idea what the ins-and-outs are with Zito’s problem, nor do I know how to fix them. One thing I would do is change his windup back to what it was for his whole career with his hands going over his head, back down to his chest and lifting them with his leg kick, cocking and firing. The limited windup hasn’t worked. That probably has little to do with his diminished
velocity, but it certainly hasn’t helped his results and I still believe he might be tipping his pitches. The Giants have such a large amount of money invested in Zito that they should start to explore other avenues to try and straighten him out. They could talk to Tom Seaver or Steve Carlton for example; it doesn’t look like the Giants are taking the necessary steps to correct the problem other than to shove it into the bullpen and hope that the break from starting somehow fixes things. Maybe they’ll get lucky and the bullpen move will work, but it strikes me as ignoring the problem, pushing it off to the side and somehow hoping that it’ll go away.

• The Delgado Curtain Call Controversy:

    Who cares whether or not Carlos Delgado acknowledges the fickleness of the fans with a curtain call after he’s been booed so relentlessly during his struggles? This is a fabricated story akin to the Billy Wagner/Mariano Rivera entrance music controversy that erupted after Wagner joined the Mets and people are taking it seriously. It’s silly and it’s meaningless. The Mets fans have been rough on all their players this year, but I think that’s a byproduct of no one being thrown to the wolves after the dreadful collapse last season. Should Delgado have given a curtain call on Sunday? Let’s see…who cares?!?

• Reds 4-Cardinals 3:
  

    I keep reading that Edwin Encarnacion is a poor fielding third baseman, but most of his errors appear to be either due to scatterarm syndrome or balls that go through his legs. He made two great, diving grabs last night; on one his throw pulled Joey Votto off the base and the other saved the game for the Reds. I think Encarnacion is thisclose to becoming a star player; the Reds just have to live with his physical gaffes and wait for him to mature. It’s also fun to watch Dusty Baker and Tony La Russa manage against each other. This was a well-played, well-managed game.

    Please check out and purchase my book The Prince Of New York’s 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com, BN.com and Buy.com among other internet retailers. 

• Reds 10-Giants 1; Zito Pounded Again:

    Perhaps the Giants should think of their long-term investment and not the feelings it would bruise among their coaching staff and send Barry Zito back to the former big leaguer Randy Jones, who tutored him as a youth. What pitching coach Dave Righetti et al, are doing sure isn’t working. That’s a lot of money tied up in one player and the Giants need to do something—-anything—-to try and get Zito straightened out.

• Pirates cut Matt Morris and pay him over $10 million:

     The final mistake in a long and mostly disastrous reign of terror was admitted as the new front office for the Pirates cut former GM Dave Littlefield’s last egregious example of a lack of baseball judgment in pitcher Matt Morris. Personally, everyone who knows and has dealt with Littlefield (left) has nothing but nice things to say about him, but remember what Leo Durocher was credited with saying about nice guys finishing last—-Littlefield and the Pirates have been case studies of the statement’s accuracy. If it’s any consolation, the player the Pirates traded for Morris, Rajai Davis, was designated for assignment by the Giants and claimed by the Athletics, but that probably won’t soothe the Pirates bottom line or the silliness of the trade to begin with. Getting Morris was a nonsensical maneuver that everyone from every school of thought—-scout driven, stat driven, throwing darts at a dartboard—-panned as ridiculous. What’s done is done and now, apparently, so is Morris.

• Rays 2-Red Sox 0:

    The Rays would probably have been a good landing spot for Frank Thomas; they could have put Eric Hinske in right field and used Thomas as the DH. Instead, they acquired Gabe Gross, who can’t hit. The Rays are getting good pitching top to bottom and playing solid and impressive fundamental baseball.

• Athletics 4-Mariners 2:

    Is Billy Beane regretting not dumping Jack Cust on some unsuspecting GM or owner when the player’s value was highest? Here’s a quote from my book regarding Cust:

    Jack Cust was a first round draft choice of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1997. Cust put up massive power/on base numbers in the minors, but failed in every opportunity he received to play in the big leagues…until he got to Oakland. How much of this sudden success (26 homers, 82 RBI, 105 walks and a .408 OBP) to attribute to Billy Beane’s scouting eye and how much of it to attribute to luck is impossible to quantify. History has proven Beane knows what he’s doing, but Cust is a guy who bounced from the Diamondbacks to the Rockies to the Orioles to the Padres before getting to Oakland at age 28. Is this something that the Athletics can expect Cust to repeat? Or is he going to revert back into what he was with every other organization (a player who could tear up Triple A pitching, but couldn’t hit in the majors)? Cust’s success may have been due to the fact that there are so many Triple A quality pitchers pitching in the big leagues; or it may be that he finally learned how to hit in the majors. With Cust, the A’s might be better off peddling him to someone who believes he’s become a legitimate big league power hitter rather than push their luck only to see him turn into a pumpkin at midnight. I’ll leave this to Beane’s judgment.

    Even Beane makes mistakes sometimes, and it appears expecting Cust to be able to repeat last season’s production was one.

    Please check out and purchase my book The Prince Of New York’s 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com, BN.com, Buy.com and other internet retailers.
  

• Twins 12-Rangers 6:

    If the Texas Rangers are about to fire manager Ron Washington, they shouldn’t stop there; GM Jon Daniels, completely unprepared for the job when he was hired and unable to exert his will on ownership to do things his way—-right or wrong—-should be shown the door as well. (He actually should get the boot first.) Washington was doomed from the start when he proclaimed that he was a “player’s manager”. Right there the players were probably preparing to take every possibly advantage of the new manager’s gentleness and kindness; any player, even the conscientious ones and intentionally or not, are going to find ways to take advantage of Washington’s demeanor for their own purposes.
    Add in that Daniels was said to want to hire coach Don Wakamatsu as manager and was overruled by owner Tom Hicks and Washington had little chance to succeed. That he was held out as the reason for Mark Teixeira’s trade to the Braves—-as the Rangers were frightened of Teixeira’s impending free agency, contractual demands and agent (Scott Boras)—- only made things more difficult for the new manager. Washington was probably the wrong choice, but he is certainly not the culprit in the way the Rangers have struggled.
    If Buster Olney is indeed right and the Rangers intend to let Art Howe manage the team for the rest of the year as team president Nolan Ryan evaluates the organization, it’s a bright spot for those that think Howe was treated shabbily (disregarding the load of money he made) in New York and after he left the Mets. Howe was not the right choice for the New York area proper, but he has a long history of stewarding young players and deserves another chance in a less stressful atmosphere.

• Dodgers 11-Rockies 3:

    Kerwin Danley getting hit in the jaw with that Brad Penny fastball was a scary moment. It was a clean shot as if he was in a batting cage and instead of getting into the batter’s box and trying to hit, simply stood behind the plate and let the ball clobber him in the head. It must have been hard for Penny to concentrate after that, but he managed it. Sometimes these things happen; it can be dangerous back there.
    As for the game, Mark Redman is an example as to why I think the radar guns are not calibrated correctly. It’s hard to believe that Redman is even reaching the 82-84 mph the radar guns say he is. The guy has nothing; literally nothing and I didn’t understand why the Rockies brought him back to begin with. Here’s a quote from my book:

    Mark Redman was signed out of desperation last season and somehow managed to help the Rockies win a couple of games. Redman throws so slowly that it appears as though insects could land on the ball in mid-flight and was awful with the Braves early in the season. The Rockies might have been well-served to simply accept what Redman did for them late last season and let him go because they’re pushing their luck if they think he’s going to be able to provide anything useful over a full season.

• Royals 2-Blue Jays 1:

    Two teams seemingly in opposite directions were on display in this game. The Blue Jays, for all their talent, have a feeling of a group that’s waiting for the next controversy with upper management and a player to come into public view. There’s a major precedent for it given the occurrences of the last six years. I got my first look at top draft choice Luke Hochevar and learned how to pronounce his name correctly. (I thought it was Ho-che-varr; it’s actually Ho-chayver.) He’s big; his control looks pretty good and appears able to keep the ball down in the strike zone.

• Indians 4-Yankees 3:

    How much longer are the Yankees going to be able to function with these organizational handcuffs? “This guy can pitch this day; that guy can’t pitch that day; this one’s limited to 83 pitches; that one can’t go two days in a row.” And I’d say Ian Kennedy gets one more start in the majors and if he’s this bad, he’s got to go back to the minors because he’s not ready. It doesn’t bode well that the next start is likely to be against the Tigers resurgent and patient lineup.

     Please check out my book The Prince Of New York’s 2008
Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com, BN.com and Buy.com.



   

• Braves 6-Mets 3:

    With the Mets looking and playing not just similarly, but exactly the way they played on their way to that monumental collapse last season and the bullpen heading toward being burned out by August due to overuse, how long before CEO Jeff Wilpon and GM Omar Minaya look at each other and say (in reference to manager Willie Randolph) the four simple and poignant decision-making words: “It’s just not working.”
    Buck Showalter is sitting around doing nothing, undoubtedly eager to manage again and willing to take the job and the Mets needing to win this year, what’s the
hesitation? (I would actually
prefer Bobby Valentine, but I don’t think the Mets are going to go down that road again even though Valentine and Minaya are close and Valentine is probably the best field tactician—-along with Billy Martin and Tony La Russa—-I’ve ever seen; plus Valentine is in Japan and has a lot of power and money over there and might not want to come back to New York in mid-season.) It’s nothing personal against Randolph and it’s not a knee-jerk reaction to an 11-11 record after 22 games; it’s those four words again: It’s just not working.

• Royals 8-Blue Jays 4:

    Every year observers (smart and not-so-smart) look at the Toronto Blue Jays talent and expect them to finally become legitimate contenders; and every year they play inconsistently and endure some unnecessary controversy due to the blustery, reptilian, somewhat baseball-competent personality of GM J.P. Ricciardi. This team needed to get off to a good start. Here’s a quote from my book:

    It’s hard to imagine Ricciardi keeping his job if the Blue Jays don’t make a significant and realistic leap into contention. By realistic I mean truly having a shot to make the playoffs late in the season and not having a second-half hot streak to make the team’s record a respectable 83-79; to contend, they’re going to require 90+ wins in a tough American League. If he hadn’t lied and then compounded the mistake by making the outrageous and absurd statements about people in the media being out to get him, his job probably wouldn’t be on the line and hanging on the results of the 2008 season, but he’s brazen and aggressive, so perhaps it’s time for J.P. Ricciardi to face the consequences if his bold statements don’t come to pass with a trip to the playoffs.

    They’re standing at 10-14, look mediocre and have already had a mini player revolt that resulted in the release of DH Frank Thomas. The body of work of Ricciardi—-good and bad—-couldn’t possibly escape the notice of team president Paul Godfrey.

• Astros 3-Cardinals 2:

     My admiration for Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan knows no bounds with their ability to find players and slot them into unusual positions and get them to succeed. Who could possibly have thought that Braden Looper would become such a viable starting pitcher? A guy who gave up the number of homers Looper did as a short reliever reinventing himself as a starter is not unprecedented, but it still says something about La Russa/Duncan ability to change a player’s mindset and physicality by making a veteran reliever into a starter. Maybe the Mets should take heed with Aaron Heilman.


     Please check out my book The Prince Of New York’s 2008 Baseball Guide also
available on Amazon.com, BN.com and Buy.com.

• Nationals 10-Mets 5:

    For all of his talent, Oliver Perez is one of those pitchers who could aggravate Gandhi. He’ll roll along through the first four innings of a game, throwing some pitches that are literally unhittable; then he’ll do something like he did last night and walk the number eight hitter, give up a single to a career .180 hitter and cough up a 3-0 lead. It’s because of this tendency to create trouble that I understand why manager Willie Randolph repeatedly yanks Perez in the sixth innings of games; but eventually, he’s going to have to let the pitcher try and work his way through these messes he creates. This isn’t because Aaron Heilman came in and got shelled, but because they’re going to need Perez to be a major part of their rotation for the duration of the season and if the only way for him to break through this wall he hits in the sixth inning is to let him work his way through it (and possibly blow a game or two), then so be it.
    I don’t even want to hear what the radio hosts and callers are going to be saying about Heilman and Carlos Delgado today, and it won’t matter all that much either. The Mets need both of them and neither are going anywhere, so to even suggest that Heilman be traded or Delgado be benched is not seeing reality. For all of his faults, Heilman is just in a season-opening slump which I would have to believe, given his predominately good work over the past three years, that he’s going to work his way out of; Delgado is what he is and if he’s dropped in the lineup to seventh once Moises Alou returns and ends with 20 homers and 75 RBI, the Mets will just have to be happy that he provided that much. Looking around the majors, there aren’t any alternatives to Heilman because just about every team is experiencing the same bullpen problems; and Delgado’s here, he’s making a lot of money and he’s going to play one way or the other.

• Rays 5-Blue Jays 3:

    Even though he was all over the place last night with seven walks, only went four innings and took the loss; and despite the fact that he looks like a werewolf at the mid-point of a lycanthropic cycle transformation with those ratty-looking, scraggly mutton chops, Dustin McGowan has wicked stuff. If the Blue Jays continue playing like this, whoever is going to be in charge of the operation is going to have a great foundation of young pitching. (I’d keep John Gibbons if a new GM is installed.)

• Giants 1-Padres 0:

     I was about to suggest that the Padres bring up that Chase Headley kid because he can’t be much worse than what they’re trotting out to left field now, but I looked at his minor league numbers and he’s slumping in Triple A. Soon I may have to break out my thesaurus for fresh, new descriptive words for the Padres offensive offense. Adrian Gonzalez is a Gold Glove caliber first baseman, but the Padres have to do something to beef up their offense; perhaps they could try him for a few games in left field and give Tony Clark a chance for some at bats. What they’re doing now is an insult to the hard work of the pitching staff. Paul McAnulty? Justin Huber? It’s like last season when they needed to acquire a bat for the stretch run and got Rob Mackowiak and Morgan Ensberg—-that ain’t gonna cut it.
    When a team is this deficient offensively, they also can’t afford to blow games they should win in the late innings. After this weekend against the Diamondbacks, I would think (unless he turns his fortunes around fast), Trevor Hoffman and Heath Bell will switch roles and they’ll do something about the left field situation. Losing this way can’t be good for morale in the Padres clubhouse. But Sandy Alderson went to Dartmouth; Paul DePodesta went to Harvard; and Kevin Towers is a veteran GM. They’re smart. (Aren’t they?) They have the papers to prove it. (Don’t they?)


    Please check out my book The Prince Of New York’s 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com, BN.com and Buy.com.

• Cubs 7-Rockies 6 (10):

    Before the season the big questions I had for the Cubs revolved around their bullpen and the middle of the diamond (offensively and defensively). If they received adequate performances from their late inning guys, Kerry Wood especially, and their middle of the diamond players, they would be very, very tough to beat. So far they’ve gotten everything they needed from all facets and have received a surprising contribution from converted closer Ryan Dempster; Dempster has made up for Ted Lilly’s slow start and the Cubs pitching depth is showing itself.
    There was no way to know what Geovany Soto, Ryan Theriot or Felix Pie were going to do as full time regular players, but Soto is hitting just as well as he did late last season and is handling the pitching staff (and manager Lou Piniella) as well as a ten year veteran would. Theriot is hitting and playing well defensively; Pie is in the middle of a Piniella swing “readjustment”, but the acquisition of Reed Johnson (for nothing) will lessen the pressure on Pie especially when Alfonso Soriano returns.
     It’s only April, but if Lilly is back to the pitcher he was last season (and he looked good on Monday); if the middle of the field players keep up their good work and Wood handles the demands of closing, the Cubs may just run away from the entire division like some of Piniella’s Mariners and Reds teams did.

• Speculation With Walt Jocketty and Dusty Baker:

    Why is everyone going on and on questioning what Walt Jocketty is going to with Dusty Baker? In his blog on ESPN, Keith Law jumps on the bandwagon with the following paragraph:

   
“And finally, Jocketty has to confront the question of the manager. The Reds chose Dusty Baker,
the wrong man for their personnel, three months before Jocketty joined
the organization, but the new GM inherits a famous manager with a good
reputation in traditional baseball circles who is less than a month
into a three-year contract. Baker has already displayed his inability
to get the most out of his roster, including allowing Corey Patterson
to bat leadoff despite Patterson’s long history of bad on-base
percentages, and the Reds will soon have three promising young arms in
their rotation for Baker to overwork, as he did with all of his young
arms in Chicago. Firing a popular manager with two-plus years left on
his contract is never easy, but it will be the right move for the
franchise, especially with Cueto, Volquez and Bailey all penciled into
the 2009 rotation.”

    Baker receives the blame for the Cubs pitchers getting hurt and I’ve defended him before on this subject, but he was confronted with a choice in 2003—-develop and protect his pitchers or try and win. What would the Cubs fans have said if they had tossed the season into the trash to save a few pitches for Kerry Wood or Mark Prior. They had to put the pedal to the metal to just make the playoffs, which they did by one game; with a little luck, they would have made and possibly won the World Series; what would be the reaction to Baker’s “overwork” of his pitchers after that? It’s easy to dole out blame without looking at the entire context. If they wanted to develop players, they could have done what the Pirates are doing now with a young manager like John Russell, young players and no expectations to win.
    “Good reputation in traditional baseball circles”? What does that mean exactly? The teams with the management that traipses around in “non-traditional” baseball circles (the Padres, the Blue Jays) aren’t exactly lighting the world on fire with their cheapness (Padres) and reptilian manner (J.P. Ricciardi of the Blue Jays).
    As for the “question” of what Jocketty’s going to do with Baker? I’ll answer it: he’s going to let Baker manage the team and together they’re going to try and improve the Reds enough to make them contenders in the next three years. Given their history, they’re going to do it too.

•  Angels 6-Red Sox 4:

    The Angels 13-9 record is a testimony to why they’ve been so consistently good under Mike Scioscia—-they find ways to win no matter what. How many teams would be able to withstand the losses of two starting pitchers who combined for 37 wins the previous season and still stay in first place? They’ve battled their way through the first month of the season and ace John Lackey is returning soon. With the template for the way they run their team, rumors of the Angels demise were premature.

• Tigers 19-Rangers 6:

     Teams that spend the money for offense as the Tigers have must find a placekicker who
isn’t going to miss two extra points.
    I don’t think Nolan Ryan is going to wait much longer if the Rangers continue down the road they’re on; it’s one thing to stick to a program (if there is indeed a program to begin with), but the team is embarrassing right now and if GM Jon Daniels is “accountable for the personnel” as owner Tom Hicks said when Ryan was hired, then he’s the one who’s going to take the fall very, very soon.

• Mets 7-Nationals 2:

     I wouldn’t be getting too excited about beating up on the Nationals if I were the Mets. Johan Santana is proving to be as great as advertised and the most positive thing from last night’s game was Duaner Sanchez’s clean eighth inning and his velocity popping 93 on the radar gun. It puts into perspective what the Mets lost when he had that car accident in 2006.
    Amid all of this chatter that’s going on about Carlos Delgado, the Mets are not going to do anything more than what they’ve already done and that’s drop him a slot in the lineup. He’s not going to sit; they’re not going to play Moises Alou at first base (as our pompous friend Mike Francesa suggests*)…

    *I have to pause a moment in mid-sentence to make a point about Francesa. Once he latches onto something, he doesn’t let it go even if he’s been proven to be wrong time and time again. He insists on suggesting veteran outfielders or catchers as first basemen. First he
went on and one about Mike Piazza moving to first for the Mets and when Piazza was finally moved, he was terrible; he suggested to Joe Torre that Bernie Williams should move to first base and Torre dismissed it out of hand; he suggested that the Giants should move Barry Bonds to first base not taking into account that Bonds would have been doing twice the moving and running at first than he would have done in left field; and now he’s on Alou. Alou is 40-years-old and has never played first base even one game in the majors. Then Francesa says something like the Alou move to first “has been discussed around here for a few days”. Yeah, it’s been discussed…by him. It ain’t gonna happen.

    …so Delgado’s going to play and play every day. He’s not going to be a Met after this year and his numbers will probably be similar to what they were last year, which if Alou comes back and stays relatively healthy and if Ryan Church hits, will be acceptable. One thing I would do if I were the Mets is to prepare for next season’s Alou and/or Delgado replacement now by harassing the Marlins about Josh Willingham. Willingham is going to be eligible for arbitration and the Marlins aren’t going to want to pay him the $7 million-plus he’ll get and that guy can hit. He came up as a catcher and converted to the outfield. He’d adjust to first base.

    Please check out and purchase my book The Prince Of New York’s 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com and BN.com.