A wrap-up of some items on this busy Tuesday evening…
- Larry Stone of the Seattle Times looks at some of the free agents left on the market and wonders if the Mariners will be enticed to make one more move this winter. Neither Stone nor MLB.com's Jim Street think an Erik Bedard return is likely.
- Chris Haft of MLB.com covers a number of Giants-related topics in a mailbag, including how outfielder Fred Lewis "appears to have fallen out of favor with the organization" and "probably needs a change of scenery."
- Tim Wakefield tells CSNNE.com's Art Martone that he intends "on being one of the five starters" in the Boston rotation next season.
- SI.com's Jon Heyman reports that the Chuck Greenberg/Nolan Ryan-led ownership group paid a cool $570MM for the Rangers.
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was told by Brewers GM Doug Melvin that he is "working on one other thing….It would be a minor-league deal." Haudricourt speculates that Milwaukee is looking for a left-handed reserve outfielder and former Brewer Gabe Gross could be an option.
- The Dodgers are another team looking for a lefty backup outfielder, tweets MLB.com's Ken Gurnick.
- MLB.com's Mark Bowman says that a recent Chipper Jones comment about Atlanta possibly bringing back Javier Vazquez after 2010 is "wishful thinking" on the part of the Braves superstar. Bowman discusses a few other topics in the mailbag piece, including the wisdom of the Braves buying out the arbitration years of Jair Jurrjens and/or Tommy Hanson.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter) says that Robb Quinlan was a reserve option for the Twins if they hadn't signed Jim Thome. The right-handed Quinlan might have fit into the Minnesota bench a bit better than Thome, but if you had to pick between the two, I think most people would give Thome the nod.
Freddy Lewis should be released or DFA’d. I’m not sure they can get much in return for him if traded. As for the M’s…Possibly Jarrod Washburn and Joe Beimel would keep them in the budget. I think Jair Jurrjens is better than Tommy Hanson. Erik Bedard to the Mets.
Jurrjens had a very nice season no doubt, but his FIP was nearly a full-run higher than his ERA at 3.68. I’d expect some regression into the 3.25-3.35 range.
Hanson, on the other hand, had a 3.50 FIP (not by a ton, but better) and had a significantly higher K rate and K/BB ratio (2.52 to 2.03). Hanson have been a rookie, but going forward I’d take Hanson.
Agreed, no question. I’ll take Hanson over Jurrjens any day. Better stuff and misses more bats.
I woudn’t say Jurrjens is ‘better’ than Hanson. I would say they are both great but different. He certainly has more experience as he has a bit over two years of experience and Hanson doesn’t have a full season yet. Jurrjens relies on placement and changing speeds on his heavy fastball/changup while Hanson has more ‘pure stuff’ with the prototypical heater, good change, hammer curve, and devastating slider. Jurrjens has success with pitching accumen like Maddux and Hanson has success with overpowering suff like Smoltz.
Accumen? I challenge that word.
With a 3 year wOBA of .284 and average at best Defense, who in their right mind would pick Quinlan over anyone in anything? Well, other then maybe in Scrabble for the Q value that is…The only thing I find more shocking then the Angels carrying this guy the last 7 years is the fact the Twins apparently actually had interest. Okay, I take it back, the Angels carrying him for 7 seasons in which they paid him more than 4 million (combined) is still more shocking.
gabe gross to the brewers as their lefty outfielder? isn’t that what jody gerut provides?
P.S.
– i’ll be the first to say i’ll take fred lewis on the cubs roster. that would round out the cubs bench very nicely…
I think the problem with Lewis is that he is one of those players that needs regular playing time to reach his potential, and since he is not really a power hitter there are usually other options available that limit his playing time. In other words he would be OK as a starter, but horrible as a bench player.
I watched or went to almost every giant game the last 2 seasons and let me tell you, he’s no starter. He’s streaky hitter at best and a liability in the field. He’s got speed, but he’s 29, he got into the game late, and I believe he’s potential has peaked. The only thing he can do is pinch hit/run, as they are the only thing that suits his inconsistency.
What are you talking about? He’s got a tremendous OBP, and he actually has great outfield range. People who think “he’s a liability in the field” are ignoring a lot of data in favor of focusing on a few highly visible gaffes. I would add that while he’s got speed, he’s not really a great baserunner at this point, but he is a better-than-replacement-level outfielder, with a very strong arm, and great patience as a hitter. HE SHOULD BE A GIANTS STARTER, but we know that won’t happen.
What are YOU talking about, I don’t care about his stats or how strong his arm is, if he can’t catch, it doesn’t matter. Tremendous OBP??? .355 is tremendous? This guy is just terrible, great patience my ass. He sucked, flat out. Forgive me for focusing on the one terrible player in our entire outfield from a def stand point… This is just one of many “visible gaffes” I remember, it was when Aaron Rowand reminded us what good fielding is, when he had to dive and catch a ball LEWIS DROPPED. Go ahead, tell me his UZR so I can laugh at you. Good start to the year, but then a steep plummet to the role of “last choice pinch hitter”. And if he cant even running the bases well, what good is he to anyone?
Pros:
Strong arm
Decent contact?
Cons:
Inconsistent
High K’s per AB
Can’t catch
No BR ability
Limited Power
Not a day to day player
You tell me who has room on their starting line up for a 29 year old Ex track and field athlete that can run any more. He’s not of the caliber that people want, about to be a career minor leaguer.
Actually, .355 is quite a good .OBP, especially on an OBP-starved team like the Giants. His career UZR, according to Fangraps, is 11.5, which is quite good. You can double-check that right here:
fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4693&posit…
So, your pros and cons, revised:
Pros:
Strong arm
Good speed
Under-rated defense
Plate patience
Decent contact
Cons:
Strikeouts
Speed doesn’t always translate to steals
Not much power
You add that up, and it’s not someone who “sucked, flat out”.
baseball-reference.com/players/l/lewisfr02-bat.sht…
He sucks, flat out. Particularly in 2009, but his career averages aren’t much o wrie home about either. Ratio Batting is interesting to look at and he’s wildly terrible across the board. Wasn’t the UZR designed for infielders anyhow?
Seriously, what is your definition of “wildly terrible”? His career OPS+ is over 100, meaning he’s above average. His career OPS is over .750, re-affirming that assessment. I know that UZR is the most respected defensive stat at the moment, regardless of infield/outfield.
It’s telling that you said earlier, “I don’t care about his stats”. Nevermind the fact that you erroneously continue to point to his stats as proof that “he sucks, flat out”. Stats are, as pointed at by Missing Barry at McCoveyChronicles, “an actual record of what actually happened in baseball games”, so if you don’t care about them, what exactly are you evaluating?
Good for Wakefield that he’ll be in the starting five. However, I hope that it’s only for the first half…Buchholz deserves to be in the rotation, and Wakefield seems to wear down by the second half anyway. In a perfect world, I’d like to see Wakefield as our #5 up to the All-Star break, then move up Buchholz from the #6 to the starting rotation, and keep Wakefield fresh as our #6. Of course, maybe he feels this confident because he knows something that we don’t about a trade…lol. Well, hey. It’s possible!
I’m not sure if I like Wakefield in the starting rotation if Buchholz is ready. Buchholz isn’t getting younger, and the more time they take to get him into the rotation is less time that they’ll get to have him during his prime.
Since Boston can’t match up to the Yankees lineup they have to be able to out pitch them. Wakefield should be bumped to a long reliever role and spot starter and let Buchholz take the mound this year.
I don’t think that the BoSox will have any trade that would involve Buchholz ready until near the trade deadline considering they wont move him short of anyone less than Adrian Gonzalez
The Braves need to give Jurrjens a Felix Herendez type deal.
Also, Hanson is like under team control for a while, so we don’t need the big contract discussion with him.
I love JJ, but Felix is a pretty bad comparable. They’re completely different types of pitchers.
Yeah no way Jurrjens is worth what Felix got. I want to see if Jurrjens can outpitch his peripherals consistantly like other control FB/CH pitchers can for at least another year before handing out a 4+ year deal.
It’s not like Jurrjens stuff is bad (92 MPH FB, 83 MPH change and a few sliders and cutters thrown in there about 15% of the time to keep the hitter guessing) but it certainly isn’t dominating ace stuff by itself. He still needs to prove that’s it’s more his accumen and control that produced the sub 3.00 ERA and not just luck.
No way FELIX is worth what Felix got; he’s worth much more. Despite everything you’ve written being true, with another strong year, I can see Jurrjens being paid something similar.
A 23 year old ace with 4 full seasons under his belt with marked improvement every season and coming off of a Cy Young worthy season is not worth $15.6M a year for 5 years? Only 8 other pitchers in baseball have gotten a higher annual salary and of those 8 pitchers I’d only take 3 of them over Hernandez. If anything I’d say the Mariners got Hernandez for a reduced price.
Are you sure you understood my comment? Read it again.
Sorry. I haven’t slept in almost 48 hours… I tend to miss words.
erik bedard to the dodgers.
What are the odds Bedard is on the Cubs radar?
If you bothered to watch the kid pitch you would know it’s not just luck. He’s a damn good pitcher. Braves fans always hate on JJ, but I love when he proves you all wrong.