Soto homers twice, Cubs beat Brewers 5-2 (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 19 September 2011 11:02:29 PM. © MLB News Blog

Geovany Soto hit two two-run homers and drove in all the Chicago Cubs’ runs in a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night. The loss and the St. Louis Cardinals’ win over Philadelphia kept the Brewers’ magic number for clinching the NL Central at four. They are looking for their first division title [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/09/20/soto-homers-twice-cubs-beat-brewers-5-2-ap/

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Baseball Prospectus 1996 on the Kansas City
Royals

post from Royals Review on 19 September 2011 11:01:13 PM. © Royals Review

Before the Rays even existed (by any name), Damon was a Royal. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

The folks at Baseball Prospectus put the 1996 Annual online yesterday, which is an absolute trip to read. The snarky comments are there, the confident assertions, the usual mix of hits and misses present in any sports journal of the type. In terms of the sabermetric slant, the 1996 Annual has the emphasis on OBP (though still being occasionally called OBA in those days) for hitters and strikeouts for pitchers that still dominates. Park factors are also discussed, along with aging curves, and the details of roster management. As we still see today, there is a tension between tools and stats guys, and what to do exactly with their minor league resumes.

The mid-1990s were an ugly time for the game, and the 1994 strike lingered. For the better part of the next decade, a number of small-market teams essentially stopped trying, and frustration at this fact, even though the Indians had proven defeatism was unnecessary, permeates. John Hart's now blindingly obvious gambit of signing young players to long-term deals was the hot new idea, though one that many couldn't accept. And of course, these were truly the bad old days in terms of front office composition. There's really no comparison between how teams are run now and what was considered normal in 1996. In a way, this makes things much more boring.

Just because Monday was Mariano Rivera day, here's his player comment, weighted as it is with both doubts and portents of greatness:

Skinny swingman who has good control of the corners of the strike zone. His K rate seemed to jump up a little as of late, and if that's development rather than a fluke, this kid could really be something special. Looks way too skinny to be durable, but you never know.

The Royals chapter (presumably written by a very young Rany) paints the organization as one on the rebound, headed for, well, something better, thanks to a raft of good players.The narrative thrust of the chapter is one that could have been written again in 1999 or 2008. See if this sounds familiar:

But somewhere along the way the Royals came up with the novel idea of building up their farm system, which was ranked last by Baseball America after the 1991 season, and funnelling money and time into scouting, signing, and developing players. It was a plan that required patience, a trait the Royals had shown little of in recent years, but faced with an alternative of continued mediocrity, the Royals embraced it. And in 1992 the Royals accomplished a draft coup, landing Michael Tucker, Jim Pittsley, and Johnny Damon, top prospects all, with their first three picks. The Royals, always good at developing young pitchers, started delivering them by the truckload. And led by a newly aggressive scouting plan in Latin America, the Royals even found themselves a number of good young hitters. The result of all this was apparent last year, when Baseball America named the Royals their Organization of the Year.

The star of the chapter is Johnny Damon, who BP called, "clearly the best hitter the Royals have developed since George Brett" and "another Kenny Lofton, but with a higher upside" (which essentially is what happened). Mike Sweeney is also given his due, and there's also excitement for position players like Joe Randa and Jose Offerman. Bob Boone is lauded as a great manager.

I'm sure at some level I remembered that Michael Tucker was once considered a top prospect, but I had no idea anyone ever had any juice at all for Joe Vitiello. (Here is my "Honoring Joe Vitiello" post from 2007.)

The pitching was less exciting. There was Appier of course, and Gubicza was still around, though not a tremendous asset. The following sentence is patently chilling if you're a prospect hound:

The Royals have a smorgasbord of candidates for the other three spots, but none of them are very appetizing. Chris Haney, Jason Jacome, Dilson Torres, and Mel Bunch are probably the most likely candidates to start, and if phenom Jim Pittsley is fully recovered from elbow surgery, he could have a job by mid-season.

Did they work out?

Haney? No. Jacome? No. Torres? No. Bunch? No. Pittsley? No.

And in the end, that has been the story of the last fifteen years. Although the Royals have developed one Ace starter (Greinke) and a handful of relievers, they have been shockingly horrible at producing even #3, #4 or #5 starters with the farm system. A lack of pitching made an impressive stretch of position player development irrelevant.

Here in 2011, we wake up in the same predicament. Hosmer looks precocious and polished and powerful and everyone loves him. There's also excitement for Moose, as well as lower-tier position players. And again, there's a grab bag of like 15 names of pitchers who could develop. Or not.

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http://www.royalsreview.com/2011/9/19/2436790/mlb-baseball-prospectus-1996-1996-r
oyals

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Braves Rally, But Fall to Fish 6-5

post from Talking Chop on 19 September 2011 11:01:11 PM. © Talking Chop

Stanton and Morrison accounted for all four of the Marlins RBI before Omar Infante deflated his former team in walk off fashion

Devastating. When Omar Infante hit a long two-run walk-off homer tonight, it took the Braves a long, long time to walk off of the field. You could see just how devastated Craig Kimbrel was to have given up his second homer in as many days and you had to feel bad for the guy. After rallying to take the lead, the Braves bullpen blew yet another lead behind some hard luck and now the Braves wild card lead has shrunk to just 2.5 games over the Cardinals.

The young Marlins took care of the scoring early on for the Fish. Mike Stanton hit two homers that likely totaled 1,000 combined feet in the first and third innings to put the Marlins on top 2-0. Heyward came back with a solo shot of his own in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to one run. In the following half inning, Minor wisely pitched around Stanton in his third at-bat, putting him on base on just four pitches but then gave up another long shot to Logan Morrison that extended the Marlin lead to 4-1.

The Braves staged their late rally in the top of the seventh beginning with a solo shot off of the bat of Dan Uggla to right center field. Then, after McCann and Freeman smoked ground balls right at infielders to get a quick two outs, followed by one by Alex Gonzalez that got through the left side hole. The Braves were able to capitalize on back-to-back walks to Jason Heyward and Brooks Conrad. Mike Dunn was able to saw off Michael Bourn's bat, but the ball fell directly in front of second base and all runners advanced, scoring Alex Gonzalez. Ryan Webb came on and walked Martin Prado, to even the score at four runs apiece. When Chipper came to the plate, a routine ground ball to Omar Infante bounced off of his glove and far enough to force a bad throw, scoring pinch runner Antoan Richardson.

Then the Braves were defeated in the ninth after getting the Marlins down to their last strike. Emilio Bonifacio was facing an 0-2 count with two outs and ultimately chopped a ball right to Chipper Jones. Chipper lost the ball in the lights though and Bonifacio reached once the ball skipped past Jones. Omar Infante made up for his fielding blunder in a big way in the next at-bat. After Kimbrel buzzed Infante high and tight, Omar hit a deep fly ball into the left field seats that let the game get away from the Braves for a second straight day.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.talkingchop.com/2011/9/19/2436830/braves-rally-but-fall-to-fish-6-5

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Lohse beats Halladay, Cards gain ground (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 19 September 2011 10:51:37 PM. © MLB News Blog

Kyle Lohse outpitched Roy Halladay, and the St. Louis Cardinals held off the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Monday night to gain ground on Atlanta in the NL wild-card chase. Lance Berkman homered and had an RBI single for the surging Cardinals, who moved within 2 1/2 games of the wild card-leading Braves.

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/09/20/lohse-beats-halladay-cards-gain-ground-ap/

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Agent: Giants in mix to keep Beltran (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 19 September 2011 10:51:31 PM. © MLB News Blog

Agent Scott Boras expects slugger Carlos Beltran to seriously consider returning to the San Francisco Giants beyond this season. Boras is scheduled to have lunch with his client on Tuesday in Los Angeles, where the Giants open a series against the Dodgers. He expects to know more about what Beltran wants after that, perhaps such [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/09/20/agent-giants-in-mix-to-keep-beltran-ap/

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Agent: Beltran happy in San Francisco (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 19 September 2011 10:51:31 PM. © MLB News Blog

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Angels fall to Blue Jays in 10 innings (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 19 September 2011 10:34:24 PM. © MLB News Blog

Adam Lind drove in the winning run with a grounder in the 10th inning and the Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 on Monday night before a tiny crowd in Toronto. Torii Hunter and Mark Trumbo homered for the Angels but Los Angeles lost for the third time in four games, further denting [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/09/20/angels-fall-to-blue-jays-in-10-innings-ap/

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Braves wild-card lead dwindles to 2 1/2 (AP)

The sliding Atlanta Braves stumbled again Monday night, losing 6-5 to the Florida Marlins on Omar Infante’s game-ending two-run homer. Atlanta now has dropped three of four, and its NL wild-card lead is down to 2 1/2 games over surging St. Louis, which beat Roy Halladay and the Phillies 4-3 in Philadelphia.

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/09/20/braves-wild-card-lead-dwindles-to-2-12-ap/

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Grand Slam Breakfast

This is getting ugly. After getting swept by the St. Louis Cardinals and barely getting by the Marlins the Braves just lost two of three games from the New York Mets. The terrible, unmotivated and mostly AAA caliber New York…[...]

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http://www.atlantabaseballtalk.com/grand-slam-breakfast/

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Ms add Joe McIlvaine to front office (AP)

Former major league general manager Joe McIlvaine was hired as a special assistant to Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik on Monday. The Mariners announced the move in Seattle, shortly after beating the Cleveland Indians 12-6 in a game shortened to seven innings by rain. The 64-year-old McIlvaine served as general manager of the San Diego [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/09/20/ms-add-joe-mcilvaine-to-front-office-ap/

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