Baseball 2012 -- The In-Season Thread

[Jim3k]

The A's have acquired ss Steven Drew from the Diamondbacks. Since the A's have weak bats from third to second, I think Billy Beane believes Drew can help solve the problem. The thing is, though, Cliff Pennington is as slick a shortstop as there is in baseball, even if his bat needs to be better. Will the injured Drew, coming off the DL only a few weeks ago, be a better overall choice than Pennington?

Recently the A's traded Kurt Suzuki to the Nats in favor of a rookie catcher, Derek Norris. Norris is simply not in Suzuki's league as a catcher and his hitting is not much better, if at all. Indeed, he has muffed two pitchouts in the past three games and is often not on the same page with his pitchers. So the question is: Has Beane improved this club or not with these two acquisitions?

Color me unimpressed, but hopeful.

[Blue in the Face]

Melky might do all right for himself

Well, not if Rick Sutcliffe gets his way.

He broke the law. What's he doing still here? I mean, forget the 50-game suspension from baseball and whether he can come back if they make the players [sic] or not. Why's he still here? That visa should be taken away, and he should not be allowed to play over here again, or work over here again, in my opinion.

[JasonEvans]

I think a decent case can be made that the Nats came darn close to wrapping up the division with their win deep into extra-innings last night versus the Braves. The Braves are in a must-win situation tonight against Stras... unless you expect the Nats to tank in September.

As an aside, Dan Uggla made one heck of an ugly play there at the end.

As another aside, why why why why did Frediot not use Kimbrell at all in that game? By saving him for the save, he may have cost us the win.

-Jason "coming back from 4-1 down is good... losing 5-4 in 13 is bad" Evans

[Jim3k]

The A's have acquired ss Steven Drew from the Diamondbacks. Since the A's have weak bats from third to second, I think Billy Beane believes Drew can help solve the problem. The thing is, though, Cliff Pennington is as slick a shortstop as there is in baseball, even if his bat needs to be better. Will the injured Drew, coming off the DL only a few weeks ago, be a better overall choice than Pennington?

Recently the A's traded Kurt Suzuki to the Nats in favor of a rookie catcher, Derek Norris. Norris is simply not in Suzuki's league as a catcher and his hitting is not much better, if at all. Indeed, he has muffed two pitchouts in the past three games and is often not on the same page with his pitchers. So the question is: Has Beane improved this club or not with these two acquisitions?

Color me unimpressed, but hopeful.

And in a move today, the A's tinkered with their roster, adding Brett Anderson to start tonight's game and optioning 2B Jemile Weeks to Sacramento. They also brought Seth Smith off the DL and designated pitcher Graham Godfrey for assignment. This will be Anderson's first start since last year and his Tommy John surgery. Smith's bat will be welcomed back. I assume that Drew will start at shortstop and Adam Rosales will move over to second. Rosales is a good player who was injured last year, spending much of this season in Sacto. He made a great play in last night's loss, relaying Crisp's throw. From shortstop, he'd gone into mid-center to cover Crisp who was making a leaping catch at the wall. He found Rosales and Rosales threw a 150 foot laser to first to double up the runner. He has good range and has been playing both second and short since his return. His hitting is still suspect, but last year, pre-injury, he was beginning to become dangerous.

I'm sorry about Weeks, but maybe hitting some AAA pitching will bring him out of his slump. He's still a fine second baseman.

Most important, I will be at tonight's game. A's v. Twins. Return of Brett Anderson and the debut of Steven Drew.

[Olympic Fan]

I think a decent case can be made that the Nats came darn close to wrapping up the division with their win deep into extra-innings last night versus the Braves. The Braves are in a must-win situation tonight against Stras... unless you expect the Nats to tank in September.

As an aside, Dan Uggla made one heck of an ugly play there at the end.

As another aside, why why why why did Frediot not use Kimbrell at all in that game? By saving him for the save, he may have cost us the win.

-Jason "coming back from 4-1 down is good... losing 5-4 in 13 is bad" Evans

I thought the Braves had to win 2 of 3 in this series to stay in the division racem so while Monday night's 13-inning loss hurt, it was Tuesday night's 4-1 loss to Strasberg and company that I see as a fatal game.

Anything's possible, but it looks like the Braves are playign for the wild card now.

PS Well, I guess the one desperate hope is that the Nats' determination to shut Strasberg down soon might slow their momentum. As a Yankee fan, I can only hope that if we see them in the series, we won't have to worry about their best pitcher, since he'll be well over his innings limit by then.

[Jim3k]

Per my post above, my wife and I saw the A's-Twins game tonight. It was Brett Anderson's 2012 debut after Tommy John surgery in July 2011. Anderson allowed only 1 unearned run in seven innings. That came off a wild pitch which A's catcher Derek Norris should have blocked and Ben Revere scored. Norris also had made a weak throw to second allowing Revere to steal second. He'd gone to third on Mauer's groundout. Revere had singled. After that, Anderson allowed only three more hits, but no more runs.

Two of those its came in the 5th, tied 1-1, when Morneau and Doumit led off with singles. Plouffe then hit a sharp grounder to third. Donaldson was on the bag, stepped on it for the force on Morneau (out #1), snapped a perfect throw to Rosales covering second for the force on Doumit (out #2) who fired an off-balance shot to Carter at first to nip Plouffe (out #3). A perfect 5-4-3 triple play.

Even though they had a fourth hit, remarkably the Twins left no one on base. The other hit had also been in the first, after the run had scored. Willingham singled and with Morneau at the plate, tried to steal on Anderson. Anderson may have been gone for over a year, but his savvy pickoff went to first as Willingham headed for second. Carter's throw to Stephen (with a ph, not a v) Drew easily nailed Willingham.

The rest was a routine A's victory as Anderson pitched like the all-star people expect him to be. The A's finally got to Twins' starter Cole de Vries in the 6th and to their bullpen in the 7th. The 7th ended oddly. With Cespedes on third, Donaldson hit a spinner in front of the plate. Catcher Doumit pounced on it and tagged Cespedes as he tried to score. He then threw to first but hit Donaldson in the back, and the ball squirted up the line. But Donaldson was ruled to have been outside the running lane and was called out--double play.

Final score: A's 4, Twins 1. The A's are again 10 over .500 and a half game from the wild card. Plus, they are now only 5 games behind Texas and have a real possibility of skipping the wild card altogether and taking the division outright. Fun in Oakland.

Oh, and Stephen Drew's Oakland debut was unremarkable. He was hitless and handled three routine groundballs, plus the tag on the steal.

[Dev11]

PS Well, I guess the one desperate hope is that the Nats' determination to shut Strasberg down soon might slow their momentum. As a Yankee fan, I can only hope that if we see them in the series, we won't have to worry about their best pitcher, since he'll be well over his innings limit by then.

Jordan Zimmermann and Gio Gonzalez are not on innings limits.

[kmspeaks]

If the Nats do collapse in September it won't be simply because they shut Strasburg down. The man only pitches once every 5 days. Even if the Nats lost every game his replacement pitches, they probably still win the division. The collapse comes when/if the rest of the team, after hearing all year how shutting Strasburg down could cost the team down the stretch or in the playoffs, starts to press to makes sure that doesn't happen. Pitchers trying to make a perfect pitch instead of a good one walk too many batters. Guys at the plate are so intent on driving in runs, they swing at bad pitches and get themselves out. Davey Johnson's job in September will be to find ways to take pressure off his young guys going through a stretch run that matters for the first time.

As a Braves fan I'm hoping for a collapse but honestly I think the Nationals will be fine in September. However, sitting down a power pitcher who currently leads the league in strikeouts does not sound like a recipe for success in October.

[Blue in the Face]

And in a move today...

Looks like the A's will be making another roster move - Bartolo Colon, who's pitched pretty well for Oakland this year, has been suspended for a failed drug test. Tough couple of days for former yankees in the Bay Area.

[Doug.I.Am]

Bartolo Colon gets a 50 game suspension, just like the Melkman. Wondering if he got it from Melky's website!!?!

[sagegrouse]

Bartolo Colon gets a 50 game suspension, just like the Melkman. Wondering if he got it from Melky's website!!?!

BALCO lives! The Bay Area teams continue the tradition! -- sage

[Jim3k]

Looks like the A's will be making another roster move - Bartolo Colon, who's pitched pretty well for Oakland this year, has been suspended for a failed drug test. Tough couple of days for former yankees in the Bay Area.

I didn't go to the web this morning, so I learned of the suspension from a friend at lunch. Wow. What a piece of bad news. At least they got Anderson back; hopefully he can continue what he started last night.

Colon's misbehavior is enough to get me really down on pro athletes as a whole. Colon's motivation was no doubt the salary money, which in 2012 is $2 mil. If the money starts flying away due to declining skills, that's certainly a motive to cheat.

The A's won again today behind Milone and tomorrow they are in St. Pete having recalled Tyson Ross from Sacramento as the starter. Ross has been inconsistent at best when up with the big team. Even so, I think the rest of the staff remains pretty good. Good enough to help the final run? Dunno. We'll see. Eleven over .500 is good stuff. And the offense seems to be coming alive. Today Crisp went 3 for 3, with a HR and 2 RBIs. Even Pennington, today playing second, got a hit an an RBI.

Fielding was sloppy today; 4 errors, but they somehow didn't hurt. This 3-game series with the Rays could have a major impact on the wildcard situation.

[Blue in the Face]

You're not going to see a trade like this very often after the waiver deadline. Awful lot of payroll heading out to LA.

The Dodgers acquired Gonzalez, pitcher Josh Beckett, injured outfielder Carl Crawford and utilityman Nick Punto in exchange for first baseman James Loney and four prospects.

[Olympic Fan]

Wow ... the Dodgers take on over $250 million in salaries.

Basically, the deal is for Adrian Gonzales, both a great-hitting first baseman and a Mexican-American star who should be hugely popular in Soutern California. I guess Beckett could pay off, but he's been awful this season and appears to be on a downward spiral for his caeer. Crawford is out for the rest of the season ... Punto is a nice utility guy.

The Red Sox get a serviceable (but inferior) first baseman in Loney and a bunch of prospects.

They had a great debate about this trade last night on the MLB Network, about the long-term implications for the Red Sox. Obviously, they're baling on the best of this season, but the panelists clashed on whether the Red Sox would be back in contention next season. Most said no, except Harold Reynolds, who was screaming his opinion that Boston would be in it next season.

I don't know -- they got a lot of flexibility by dumping those salaries, but this is not going to be a big year on the free agent market. Maybe they can work a trade to get a high-salaried player (supposedly they lust after Justin Upton; Cliff Lee ought to be available to anybody willing to take his salary), but it's hard for me to see them keep up with the Yankees, the Rays and the improving Orioles. Until some of those prospects they're picking up blossom, they're going to be struggling in the AL East. I honestly doubt that is in 2013 ... maybe by 2014.

In other news, Clemens returns to the mound tonight. I heard a commentator suggest that his comeback was all about re-setting his HOF clock. As it stands, he'll be eligible for the Hall in the next election, but probably won't get in because of the strong anti-PED bias of the voters. Supposedly, he's betting that that bias will fade in a few years. If he can make even a token appearance with the Astros (who are out of it anyway ... it would guarantee a big crowd), he'd get until 2017 to come up for a vote and attitudes may have changed them.

[Blue in the Face]

I don't know -- they got a lot of flexibility by dumping those salaries, but this is not going to be a big year on the free agent market. Maybe they can work a trade to get a high-salaried player (supposedly they lust after Justin Upton; Cliff Lee ought to be available to anybody willing to take his salary),

Lee certainly seems like a possibility, and Upton's a great player, but with all that money cleared, if I were a Ref Sox fan, I'd be pretty ticked if they don't go hard after Hamilton. Of course that could blow up on them and leave them back where they were with Beckett and Crawford, but he's the biggest stud out there, and if you want to compete in this division, you've got to go big.

[Starter]

I think this was most definitely addition by subtraction. The two years of Beckett remaining would have been interminable, considering how widely disliked he's become, and the fact that he's not the same pitcher as he was even last season. And they had five more years of Crawford after this one. He's a good player who was a terrible fit for Boston, he just had elbow surgery, and there was a decent chance he'd end up being the worst contract in Red Sox history.

They got some good prospects back. I don't think they'll necessarily reinvest that money in massive contracts right away -- it's not like Hamilton or Greinke is a sure bet to succeed in Boston given the baggage each brings -- but they now at least have some financial flexibility. It's tough to lose a player as good as Gonzalez, but the ends justified the means in this case. It was inconceivable they could have dumped Crawford's and Beckett's deals and chip in just $12 million. It's a fantastic trade for them to regain solvency and flexibility, which they wouldn't have otherwise had for about half a decade.

[Olympic Fan]

I think this was most definitely addition by subtraction. The two years of Beckett remaining would have been interminable, considering how widely disliked he's become, and the fact that he's not the same pitcher as he was even last season. And they had five more years of Crawford after this one. He's a good player who was a terrible fit for Boston, he just had elbow surgery, and there was a decent chance he'd end up being the worst contract in Red Sox history.

They got some good prospects back. I don't think they'll necessarily reinvest that money in massive contracts right away -- it's not like Hamilton or Greinke is a sure bet to succeed in Boston given the baggage each brings -- but they now at least have some financial flexibility. It's tough to lose a player as good as Gonzalez, but the ends justified the means in this case. It was inconceivable they could have dumped Crawford's and Beckett's deals and chip in just $12 million. It's a fantastic trade for them to regain solvency and flexibility, which they wouldn't have otherwise had for about half a decade.

I totally agree with your first paragraph and your last sentence. The more I read about this trade, the more it looks like Boston gave up Gonzales -- a superb player with a huge contract -- in order to get LA to accept Beckett and Crawford, two guys the Red Sox wanted to get rid of (for the reasons you explain well).

The one thing I'm not as sure of is the quality of the prospects they got in return. The more I read about them, I don't think there's a lot to get excited about. There aren't any great prospects included -- I think Baseball America had Webster as their No. 62 or 63 guy in the minors. But that's the be expected, one of the story lines about Magic and company buying the Dodgers was how depleted their minor league system was. They just don't have any great prospects. And even Loney is barely servicable. He showed promise in 2007 when he was 23, but he's been below .800 in OPS for the last five years (he's under .700 this year). That's not good for a first baseman -- I know moving from Dodger Stadium to Fenway will help ... but not that much. The good news is that he's arbitration eligible next year, so the Red Sox could dump him.

Boston does have some good prospects in the chute. And, as you say, they have a lot of financial flexibility. We'll see what they do with it.

As for LA, they get a great first baseman who is young enough to make his big contract reasonable. Gonzales could help push them to the pennant this year. Crawford won't help for awhile (he just had Tommy John surgery and his projected return is May next year), but he's a good young outfielder with great legs who should become a fixture in left field in Dodger Stadium,. I think in the long run, they'll get decent value for his big salary. The one I wonder about is Beckett -- he's on the books two more years and it looks like he's almost done. Maybe he'll surprise us -- he could even play a role in this year's pennant chase -- but I think that's the one deal the Dodgers have to swallow to get A-Gone now and Crawford in the future.

I do have one question about the deal. What the heck is Nick Punto doing in it?

[Starter]

I totally agree with your first paragraph and your last sentence. The more I read about this trade, the more it looks like Boston gave up Gonzales -- a superb player with a huge contract -- in order to get LA to accept Beckett and Crawford, two guys the Red Sox wanted to get rid of (for the reasons you explain well).

The one thing I'm not as sure of is the quality of the prospects they got in return. The more I read about them, I don't think there's a lot to get excited about. There aren't any great prospects included -- I think Baseball America had Webster as their No. 62 or 63 guy in the minors. But that's the be expected, one of the story lines about Magic and company buying the Dodgers was how depleted their minor league system was. They just don't have any great prospects. And even Loney is barely servicable. He showed promise in 2007 when he was 23, but he's been below .800 in OPS for the last five years (he's under .700 this year). That's not good for a first baseman -- I know moving from Dodger Stadium to Fenway will help ... but not that much. The good news is that he's arbitration eligible next year, so the Red Sox could dump him.

Boston does have some good prospects in the chute. And, as you say, they have a lot of financial flexibility. We'll see what they do with it.

As for LA, they get a great first baseman who is young enough to make his big contract reasonable. Gonzales could help push them to the pennant this year. Crawford won't help for awhile (he just had Tommy John surgery and his projected return is May next year), but he's a good young outfielder with great legs who should become a fixture in left field in Dodger Stadium,. I think in the long run, they'll get decent value for his big salary. The one I wonder about is Beckett -- he's on the books two more years and it looks like he's almost done. Maybe he'll surprise us -- he could even play a role in this year's pennant chase -- but I think that's the one deal the Dodgers have to swallow to get A-Gone now and Crawford in the future.

I do have one question about the deal. What the heck is Nick Punto doing in it?

In terms of what the Red Sox got back, Webster was I think the Dodgers' second or third best prospect, and De La Rosa had a live arm last year before Tommy John. Loney won't be on Boston next year. You're right that it's not exactly getting Hanley Ramirez for Beckett or anything, but to get Webster alone, I think is a victory -- considering the Red Sox only had to pay like $12 million of the $250 million, the Dodgers had literally no reason to give them any prospects. The value was that they were eating practically the entirety of Crawford and Beckett's deals. I actually like Crawford a whole lot, but there's an inherent risk that he's not the same player after elbow surgery and you're stuck with him for five years. He was pretty lousy with Boston.

But like you're saying, getting Gonzalez has value in the immediate. Their lineup has gotten so much better since like a month ago, when Kemp was injured and they were among the worst offenses in baseball.

[throatybeard]

I do have one question about the deal. What the heck is Nick Punto doing in it?

Having seen Punto over here in 2011, I'm wondering what he's doing in any deal. I assume it has to do with the money math.

[JasonEvans]

Punto is in deal because the Dodgers actually needed a utility guy who can fill in at several positions. Their other utility guy got hurt recently.

I wonder where the Dodgers want their payroll to be. Looking like being close to $200 mil is fine with them.

With the Pirates in a bit of a free fall (5-12 in last few weeks), the Dodgers are looking up at only the Braves and Cards for the Wild Card. Of course, they are probably thinking division, not Wild Card, as the Giants are 2 games up and have essentially the same record as the Cards.

-Jason "the past month or two is a great example of how ownership can totally change the focus and direction of a franchise -- it is more important than coaching, IMO" Evans