Marlins make an offer to Ross Gload

The Marlins looked it over and wondered if they could get Ross Gload for Wes Helms money.

 The Marlins have extended an offer to Ross Gload, their top left-handed hitter off the bench last season when he led the majors in pinch hits. The offer is thought to be similar to the one received last year by Wes Helms, who agreed to a two-year deal for $1.9 million.

 Gload said toward he end of the season that he would prefer to remain with the Marlins, especially if he could work out a deal early in the free agency process, thus relieving him of any uncertainty.The Marlins' exclusive negotiating window with Gload closes at midnight Friday, at which point any team can start discussing financial terms with the free agent

I'm kinda pressed for time here, but if the Marlins can signed him, I'm all for it.  Pinch hitting is really tough, and I don't think most understand hard it is.  Gload is good at it, actually, very good.  While past results don't guarantee future performance, I am hard pressed to think of another left-handed bat who can hit coming off the bench and would do better, in our price range.

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Royals sign P Jorge Campillo

The Royals continue to the be the most active bidders on the minor league free agent market. Not content with guys like Wilson Betimet, John Bannister, Edwin Bellorin or Brad Thompson, the Royals today announced the signing of P Jorge Campillo. Campillo, 30, has the benefit of being both an ex-Mariner AND an ex-Brave. He only pitched 4 1/3 innings in the big leagues in 2009 due to shoulder tendinitis, but he posted a 3.91 ERA in 158 2/3 innings in 2008 with Atlanta. He is another soft-tosser, but a strikethrower with a 2.39 BB/9 innings in 180 MLB innings.

Campillo was a teammate of Joakim Soria for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic in 2009.

Fangraphs: Jorge Campillo

Two reasons to like Jorge Campillo

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Assorted Links

Dave Cameron on the value of depth, or how to minimize risk while adding wins. Of course, there is the difficulty of knowing whether a player whose production falls in the right-tail of the distribution is relying on luck versus skill, which makes the[...]

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http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/11/20/1166671/assorted-links

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Extending Gload

Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald says the Marlins have offered Ross Gload a deal.The Marlins have extended an offer to Ross Gload, their top left-handed hitter off the bench last season when he led the majors in pinch hits. The offer is thought to be[...]

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http://marlinmaniac.com/2009/11/20/extending-gload/

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Baseball America ranks the Astros Top 10
Prospects: Progress rather than perfection (and I'm ok with that)

More photos » by Rob Carr - AP

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Honestly, I was excited to read this.  I was excited to see where the experts at Baseball America ranked our fledging group of farmhands that, to us at least, should be propelling the Astros farm system into a respected status.  Instead, I was greeted with another reminder that it's easy to keeping kicking a man when they're down.

I'm not trying to say that I think Ben Balder was excessively harsh (really I don't think he was at all...just off on some of his criticism...but that's later), just that it stings sometimes when you have to view your hometown team the un-rose-tinted lens of an outsider.  As used this experience as all of us are, there were some issues I take with Balder's analysis of the farm system, and the Astros handling of it.

The main issue that Balder seems to take with the Astros is that they haven't accelerated this process enough. Balder points to the Rangers and the Athletics as models of how to revamp a farm system through dealing away talent to bring in prospects, but is achieving a great farm system ranking over night really the goal? Maybe. Since making those farm system altering deals, have the Atheltics and Rangers taken the AL West by storm? No. Not that I mean to imply that they can't soon be fielding excellent teams with the prospects they received, but it'll take them at least two to three years to do this—no?

Looking at the top 10 list of prospects Balder submits, just marvel at how many of those guys have Bobby Heck's finger prints on them:

1.Jason Castro, c2.Jiovanni Mier, ss3.Jordan Lyles, rhp4.Sammy Gervacio, rhp5.Chia-Jen Lo, rhp6.Ross Seaton, rhp7.Tanner Bushue, rhp8.Jay Austin, of9.Jon Gaston, of10.T.J. Steele, of

Will it take another two years for us to see the fruit of Heck's labors, for the most part? Yes.  Will Castro and Lo likely make appearances in 2010? Yes.

I have no beef with the criticisms that Balder makes towards the way the organization has handled the draft over the last five years (seriously, they've screwed the pooch too many times), but I do think he's overly critical in a few areas. First,  while the Astros have lost several draft picks to free agent signings over the years, it's not like all of those signings are indefensible in the face of losing a first round pick.  Was Carlos Lee a good signing? No, but that's just because of the money they spend on him. Woody Williams? Hell no.  Preston Wilson? Also a no. But aside from those two signings, in the last seven years (the period of time Balder is critiquing) it's not like the Astros have just thrown away draft picks for Type A and B free agents.

The place I think Balder misses to critique the Astros organization is that they've lost out on so many opportunities for compensation picks via arbitration.  If we look back at that exact same period of time, we're out equally as many compensation picks, if not more.  That's how they could have hedged the risk they assumed with those signings, but they failed to hedge and are paying the price now.

The second thing that sightly rankles me, is that Balder makes it sound like the Astros had an easy fix this year at the trade deadline.  Assuming the Astros do trade Valverde and Hawkins, do they really just steal away so many prospects that produces a night and day difference for the farm system's ranking? Maybe...but I don't think it's as dramatic as Balder tries to portray it.

The Astros have themselves in a terrible plight as an organization, and it's of their own making.  Too few of their players take up too much payroll and have no trade clauses.  That's what's hamstringing them.  They really can't even pull of the kind of trades that Oakland and Texas did.  But, I also think one has to laud Heck and his department for continuing to deliver and shock the "consensus."  They're taking a methodical and less leveraged approach to rebuilding the organization from the ground up, which seems like the right—and only—way to do it; it's an approach the Balder even praises when referring the Brewers between 2001-2004.  

Could Ed Wade try a fire sale for prospects? Yes.  Is that guaranteed to make things better? Absolutely not.  There's no really proven track record with how to fix a farm system other than draft, sign, and develop quality prospects, which runs contrary to how Balder opens the article—so I guess I do have one beef with him.  Other than that, Bobby Heck still his work cut out for him, but looking at that list and Balder's evaluations of Heck's draftees, I have faith in the man.  Heck knows the game, and it's progress, rather than perfection.

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Florida Winter Baseball League -Dead

Photi was the first to catch this, or maybe he wasn't, but he was the first one I saw and therefore it makes him first around here.  (We don't have really high standards where this is concerned.  Okay, maybe GameFish does, but I don't.)  Back to the message, the Florida Winter Baseball League has closed up shop for now.

Find all the links about it here.

Bye Bye Diamantes?

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The Greatest Reds: #34 - #31

34. Billy Rhines

-9th in career ERA+
-11th in career complete games
-19th in career wins
-34th in career strikeouts
-39th in career walks per inning

Billy Rhines, a household name in all but the most rustic of homes, has the 9th best peak in Reds history, but just the 86th best prime score. How is this possible? In 1890, as a 21 year-old rookie playing in the inaugural NL season in Cincinnati put together a season which has not been topped since: Rhines had a 28-17 record with a 1.95 ERA (leading the league), which was good for a 184 ERA+ (also led the league) over 401.1 innings (6th best in the NL). He started 45 games, and finished them all. As great as that season was, it did not portend a great future: over the remainder of his career, most of which was with the Reds, he was strictly an average pitcher, with a .500 W-L record and a 105 ERA+. He did, however, manage a blast-from-the-past type season in 1896, recording a 2.45 ERA (188 ERA+), albeit in just 143 innings.

33. Jim Maloney

-1st in career strikeouts
-2nd in career hits per inning
-7th in career wins
-9th in career games started
-20th in career ERA+

From 1963 through 1969, Jim Maloney had a 117-60 record, and a stifling 2.90 ERA, which was good for a 125 ERA+. Over that period, he won 20 games twice, and finished in the top 10 in wins five times. His ERA+ ranked in the top 10 four times over that period, and his strikeout totals ranked in the top 10 five times—due in large part to his 99 mph fastball. So why doesn’t Maloney’s name roll off the tongue like the other pitching elites of the era? While he clearly wasn’t as good as a Gibson or a Koufax, Maloney also had a few cards stacked against him: his pitched in a stadium which inflated offense, sometimes as close to 15% higher than Dodger Stadium; he didn’t play for a team playing on the big stage; and he had the incredible misfortune to have the worst season of his career during the Year of the Pitcher, 1968. While some pitchers were decimating the 2.00 ERA threshold, Maloney struggled to a 3.61 ERA (88 ERA+). Nonetheless, in 11 seasons with the Reds, Maloney won 53 more games than he lost, while compiling a 117 ERA+. Maloney’s career ended abruptly, with all but 47 of his 1849 innings coming before his age-30 season.

32. Bob Ewing

-5th in career WHIP
-8th in career innings pitched
-14th in career ERA+
-14th in career strikeouts
-16th in career wins

Long Bob Ewing, standing at 6’6", became a Red after he pitched well against them during an exhibition between the Reds and a local semi-pro team. He made his major league debut the following year at the age of 29, and not once in his eight seasons with the Reds did he post an ERA+ below 100. Ewing had three very good seasons in which he posted top-ten ERA+ seasons, using his spitball to full effect, winning 20 games in 1905, and pitching to a sub-2.00 ERA in 1907. Despite his career ERA+ of 121 with the Reds, Ewing only had five more victories than losses. From 1903 through 1908, Ewing finished in the NL top ten in strikeout/walk ratio.

31. Dan Driessen

-9th in career walks
-13th in career doubles
-15th in career hits
-16th in career HR
-16th in career RBI

I remember as a kid having a baseball card which referenced Driessen as the Reds’ RBI leader from the prior season (1982). So what if he did so with only 57 RBI that year, right? Known as the guy who made Tony Perez expendable, Driessen was steady, but never excellent: every season with the Reds saw Driessen hit to an OPS+ between 102 and 125 en route to a cumulative total of 115. He didn’t hit for a particularly high average (.271 in 12 years as a Red), and was limited, power-wise: he never hit more than 18 dingers. He was good, however, at taking a walk (his on-base percentage with the Reds was 90 points higher than his batting average), and was known as an excellent fielder, leading first basemen in fielding percentage three separate times.

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Friday Links and AFL Report

Today’s post is dedicated to Jack Zduriencik, who just last year pulled perhaps the greatest magic trick a GM has pulled since 1991. Zduriencik took a team that won 61 games the previous year, a team that was 13th in the AL in scoring runs and 11th in the AL in allowing runs, and [...]

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ANGELS' GROUNDSKEEPERS TO HOLD 9th ANNUAL CANNED
FOOD DRIVE

The Angels Groundskeepers will be holding their 9th annual Thanksgiving Holiday Canned Food Drive on Friday, November 20th thru Sunday, November 22nd at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

Hours for the food drive will be 8 AM - 4 PM. Participants can enter Angel Stadium through Gate #1.

Fans will have the opportunity to step up to the plate at Angel Stadium and take a swing for the fences. Donations of two cans of food will be good for one swing against a pitching machine with a maximum of 20 pitches per participant.

Fans may also donate $1 per pitch as well. Speed pitch machines will also be set up in the bullpens giving fans the opportunity to test their pitching skills for a donation of one canned food item or $1 per pitch.

Additionally, fans will have the opportunity to shag fly balls in the outfield for a donation of $25 for 15 minutes. The Angels will provide bats, balls and helmets.

All proceeds will benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County in the fight against hunger during the holiday season. Those who are unable to attend, but would still like to make a monetary donation, may send checks to: Second Harvest Food Bank, 8014 Marine Way, Irvine, CA 92618 or visit their website at www.feedoc.org.

Read The Full Article:
http://ballhawk.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/11/angels_groundskeepers_to_hold.html

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Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez Yankees Rumors

Trade rumors involving the Yankees and free agent relievers Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://bronxbaseballdaily.baby-bombers.com/2009/11/20/3359/

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