Quick Hits: Gillies, Anderson
Which is the better strategy for building a good team — a “stars and scrubs” approach, or a balanced roster with few stars? Jonah Keri and Neil Paine recently tackled that question for FiveThirtyEight.com, and their answer is a complex one. One can build a good team with either approach, although the “stars and scrubs” strategy might not be financially feasible for many small-market teams. And based on fWAR, the most balanced rosters (such as that of the 1976 Pirates) tend to be much better teams than the most unbalanced rosters (such as that of the 2004 Diamondbacks, which featured Randy Johnson, Brandon Webb and little else). Johnson finished second in Cy Young balloting that year and led the league with 290 strikeouts, and yet the Diamondbacks still finished 51-111, proving pretty clearly that it’s almost impossible for one player to carry an entire 25-man roster. Here are more notes from around baseball.
- The Phillies have suspended outfielder Tyson Gillies for three games for doing damage to a bat rack and wall after striking out four times in a Triple-A game, Matt Gelb of the Inquirer reports. Gillies was one of three players the Phillies acquired when they shipped Cliff Lee to the Mariners in 2009. At 25, he continues to struggle at the Triple-A level and still hasn’t made it to the big leagues.
- The Rockies have placed pitcher Brett Anderson on the 60-day disabled list, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post tweets. Anderson had surgery on a fractured finger. The Rockies acquired Anderson from the Athletics in December for Drew Pomeranz and Chris Jensen, and it looks like they’re going to get very little out of him in the first half of the season.
Chad Tracy Retires
Veteran infielder Chad Tracy is retiring, Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish reports. The Angels had released him this spring.
Tracy played parts of nine seasons in the big leagues, including 2013, when he hit .202/.243/.326 in 136 plate appearances with the Nationals. Tracy finishes his career with a .274/.333/.439 line in 2,988 plate appearances. In addition to the Nats, he also played for the Diamondbacks, Cubs and Marlins. He hit 27 homers with Arizona in 2005, then 20 more the following season.
Rosenthal On White Sox, Johnson, Cruz
Here’s the latest from Ken Rosenthal, via a video at FOX Sports:
- The White Sox might prefer not to trade John Danks, who they have signed to a reasonable contract through 2016. But Adam Dunn is set to become a free agent, and the team has plenty of potential replacements for Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham, so Chicago could deal any of those players at the deadline.
- Since Josh Johnson won’t start more than seven games this season, the Padres have a $4MM option on him for 2015. Given Johnson’s Tommy John surgery, though, it’s unclear whether the Padres will be able to get enough out of Johnson in 2015 to make the option worthwhile.
- Nelson Cruz of the Orioles has done a good job rebuilding his value after taking a one-year offer significantly below the cost of the qualifying offer he rejected last winter, Rosenthal says. Cruz is off to a fast start, hitting .300/.391/.588 in his first 92 plate appearances with Baltimore.
Minor Moves: Freddy Garcia, Nik Turley
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.
- Freddy Garcia has completed his deal with the EDA Rhinos in Taiwan, MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Garcia pitched for the Orioles and Braves in 2013, but the Braves released him from a minor-league deal in late March.
- The Yankees have announced that they’ve released pitcher Nik Turley. Turley, 24, posted a 3.88 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 in 139 innings for Double-A Trenton in 2013. He experienced arm tightness in spring training and has not pitched this season, but if healthy, one would think that a left-hander with his strikeout rate and ability to start could get a look from another organization.
Braves Release Ernesto Mejia
The Braves have announced that they’ve released first baseman Ernesto Mejia after reaching an agreement with the Seibu Lions of the Japanese Pacific League to allow him to play for them. Mejia had been on the Braves’ 40-man roster.
Mejia, 28, had been at Triple-A Gwinnett, where he had a line of .354/.420/.684 in 88 plate appearances. Mejia holds a career .279/.341/.513 line at Triple-A, but he only plays first base and was blocked at the big-league level by Freddie Freeman. He had collected 1,198 plate appearances at the Triple-A level since 2012, never collecting a single at-bat in the Majors.
NL Notes: Johnson, Ishikawa, Garza
Padres pitcher Josh Johnson had Tommy John surgery Thursday, MLB.com’s Corey Brock notes. The surgery marks the end of another lost year for Johnson, who the Padres signed to an $8MM deal over the offseason. Because Johnson will start fewer than seven games this year, the Padres will have a $4MM option on him for 2015. It’s not yet clear whether they’ll exercise it, however. “We still have a lot of hurdles to clear before we make a decision on that,” says assistant GM A.J. Hinch. Here are more notes from the National League.
- After being designated for assignment by the Pirates, Travis Ishikawa became a free agent and signed with the Giants, who sent him to Triple-A Fresno. That’s an assignment with which Ishikawa is familiar, Bryant-Jon Anteola of the Fresno Bee reports. Ishikawa also played for Fresno in the 2008 and 2011 seasons. Ishikawa is, of course, aiming higher than Triple-A, however. “When I was looking around, the Giants made contact, and I noticed there wasn’t a lot of left-handed hitting on the bench up there,” he says. “Figured this was a good chance to get back up there and try to repeat what I was able to do before with the Giants.”
- Matt Garza, now with the Brewers, “[ran] out of hope” when he was with the Cubs, writes Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. “You go through three years of constantly hoping (with the Cubs), you kind of run out of hope,” he says. “You come to a team like this [the Brewers] where every day we’re going to win. We’re not going out to hope to win. We’re going out with the attitude we’re going to win.” Garza, who signed a $50MM contract with Milwaukee in the offseason, defeated his former team on Friday.
AL Notes: Campos, Masterson, Stroman
Yankees minor-league pitcher Jose Campos had Tommy John surgery on Friday, CBS Sports’ Danny Knobler tweets. Campos, of course, arrived from the Mariners prior to the 2012 season with Michael Pineda for Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi, a trade that seems to have been cursed for everyone involved. Pineda was recently suspended ten games for his pine tar incident, Montero is with Triple-A Tacoma after hitting .208/.264/.327 in 110 big-league plate appearances last season, and Noesi has been designated for assignment twice in the past month. Here are more notes from the American League.
- The Indians have been cautious with a new contract for Justin Masterson because his velocity was down in spring training, he can be inconsistent, and has imperfect mechanics, Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer writes. That’s why they balked when he asked for a three-year contract of around $53MM this offseason, preferring a deal of around $45MM instead, Pluto suggests.
- The Blue Jays have scheduled top prospect Marcus Stroman‘s next start for Triple-A Buffalo to coincide with that of big-league fifth starter Dustin McGowan, Shi Davidi of SportsNet.ca reports. That could indicate that the Jays might promote Stroman soon. Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook 2014 names Stroman the Jays’ second-best prospect (behind Aaron Sanchez) and praises the small righty’s fastball, slider and athleticism. BA ranked Stroman the 55th-best prospect in baseball before the season. He currently has a 2.18 ERA with 11.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 20 2/3 innings for Buffalo.
Week In Review: 4/20/14 – 4/26/14
Here’s a look back at this week at MLBTR.
Trades
- Padres — acquired INF Tyler Greene from Braves for a PTBNL
Retired
Claimed
- White Sox — P Hector Noesi (from Rangers — link)
- Twins — OF Kenny Wilson (from Blue Jays — link)
- Blue Jays — OF Darin Mastroianni (from Twins — link)
- Athletics — INF Andy Parrino (from Rangers — link)
- Twins — OF Sam Fuld (from Athletics — Twitter link)
Designated for assignment
- Padres — OF Alex Castellanos (link)
- Orioles — OF Steve Pearce (link)
- Yankees — P Matt Daley (Twitter link)
Outrighted
- Astros — P Lucas Harrell (link)
- Yankees — P Cesar Cabral (link)
- Red Sox — INF Ryan Roberts (link)
Released
- Tigers — SS Alex Gonzalez (Twitter link)
Key Minor-League Signings
- Rockies — RP Rafael Betancourt (link)
- Blue Jays – RP Ryan Rowland-Smith (link)
- Giants — 1B Travis Ishikawa (link)
D-Backs Players Standing Behind Towers, Gibson
The Diamondbacks’ players are rallying behind GM Kevin Towers and manager Kirk Gibson, Jack Magruder of FOX Sports Arizona writes. “The kind of start we got off to, I don’t know if you can explain it other than we have just played horribly,” says third baseman Eric Chavez. “It’s completely on the players. We take full responsibility for our lack of production on the field. We have to get it done in here, in this clubhouse.” Earlier this week, catcher Miguel Montero told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert he would be “disappointed” if Towers or Gibson were to be fired.
The Diamondbacks are off to an 8-18 start (although they’ve won their last three games), which has led to speculation about whether Towers and Gibson might lose their jobs. As FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal recently pointed out, though, there are obstacles to firing them now — there are few internal candidates to replace them, and firing a GM six weeks before the draft can be disruptive.
Hardest-Throwing 2015 Free Agents
“Why do you guys care about velo such much, man?” Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon asked reporters last week. Fastball velocity continues to hold great appeal to fans, reporters, and baseball executives, especially with so much data readily available. Beyond the pure excitement of watching Yordano Ventura or Stephen Strasburg pitch, fastball velocity is often an indicator of success. With that in mind, here’s a look at the currently velocity leaders among those eligible for free agency after this season.
Relievers
- Kyle Farnsworth – 94.2
- Andrew Miller – 94.2
- David Robertson – 94.2
- Chris Perez – 93.8
- Joba Chamberlain – 93.8
- Matt Albers – 93.8 (club option)
- Carlos Marmol – 93.6
- Jim Johnson – 93.4
- Matt Lindstrom – 93.2
- Brian Wilson – 92.6 (player option)
Starters
- Brandon Morrow – 93.5 (club option)
- Felipe Paulino – 93.0 (club option)
- Johnny Cueto – 92.9 (club option)
- Ervin Santana – 92.4
- Dustin McGowan – 92.3 (club option)
- Jason Hammel – 92.1
- Jorge de la Rosa – 92.1
- Josh Beckett – 91.9
- James Shields – 91.8
- Francisco Liriano – 91.8
Note that the game’s hardest throwers are generally not available in free agency, as they’re also among the younger pitchers. Farnsworth, 38, is the hardest-throwing free agent but ranks 43rd overall among all pitchers.