6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

Angels Hide Pettitte, Yanks: Angels 12, Yankees 6

Closer than it appears because of a bad outing by Darren O'Day, who loaded the bases late and gave up a run on a bases-loaded walk and was ultimately charged with all three runs that frame. The Angels just moiderized Andy Pettite to the tune of nine runs, all on homers, one each by Torii Hunter, Vlad, and ex-Yankee Juan Rivera, all of them three-run shots, something they haven't done since June 8, 1978 against the A's.

Andy Pettitte never got in a groove:

“Didn’t feel comfortable from the get-go,” Pettitte said. “I didn’t keep anybody off base. Top of their lineup. Bottom of their lineup. Didn’t keep the guys that have a little bit of power in the ballpark. So just didn’t do anything right tonight. I was missing with everything. It was a bad night, that’s for sure.”

Amen.

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Lowe < Webb: Diamondbacks 2, Dodgers 1

Not much to report here; the Snakes just got some good breaks, including a really weak attempt to score on a fairly shallow ball hit by Matt Kemp; Larry Bowa sent Andre Ethier home to his doom, but it was a good bet anyway, since Conor Jackson had to make a perfect throw home to get Ethier, and did.

Brandon Lyon finished the Dodgers off painlessly save for Casey Blake's harmless single. Just one of those games, I guess; bring on Manny.

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Cubs Sweep Brewers With Edmonds' Slam, Take 5-Game NL Central Lead: Cubs 11, Brewers 4

Jim Edmonds homered twice, one of them a grand slam, to drive in five runs as the Cubs swept the Brewers on the road, giving the Northsiders a five-game lead in the NL Central. Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome also homered in the game; newly acquired ace Rich Harden got his first win in a Cubs uniform. Both Prince Fielder and Eric Gagne were ejected from the game, Fielder in the ninth for arguing balls and strikes, and Gagne for throwing at Jim Edmonds in the top of the frame, both times by home plate umpire Doug Eddings.

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Labels: angels, diamondbacks, dodgers, recaps, yankees

If the MLB.com report is true, Manny Ramirez is headed to the Dodgers in a three way deal with the Pirates and Red Sox, with Andy LaRoche headed to the Pirates.

The Red Sox, Dodgers and Pirates have agreed to a deal, according to sources, in which Ramirez will go to Los Angeles, outfielder Jason Bay will go from Pittsburgh to Boston and the Pirates will receive outfielder Brandon Moss and pitcher Craig Hansen from the Red Sox and third baseman Andy LaRoche and pitcher Bryan Morris from the Dodgers.

Also via Ken Rosenthal, who reports that Boston "will pay all of the approximately $7 million remaining on Ramirez's contract."

Update: Per boston.com, Manny has written off his 2009 and 2010 options as part of this deal, so the Dodgers aren't on the hook for this.

Dodger fans getting excited about this deal: here's something you might not have witnessed.

Update 2: Via ESPN:

Even before landing the enigmatic Ramirez, Los Angeles had a crowded outfield. Torre has been juggling Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre.

"You wish you had the DH," Torre said. "We didn't plan in advance how to move things around."

Update 3: The Score Bard is brilliant, as usual.

Labels: dodgers, pirates, red sox, rumors, trades

In today's BPro, Kevin Goldstein looks at contending teams who might have reinforcements available late in the season, and sees the Angels as one such team:

Approximate Post-Season Odds: 29-28
The Big Gun: Brandon Wood has been on fire of late, batting .354/.443/.697 and slugging nine home runs in his last 12 games. He's also walking more, striking out less, and has made just one error in his last 33 games. Everything seems to be coming together for him statistically, and scouts have noticed the changes as well. It's taken a little longer than expected, but he might finally be ready to break through at the big-league level.
Extra Starters: This is one of the few scary aspects of the Angels' stretch run, as their pitching prospects have not performed well at the upper levels. Right-hander Nick Green has pitched better of late at Triple-A Salt Lake, but 30-year-old veteran Giancarlo Alvarado might get the first look if somebody's needed, and while he'll hardly dominate, he's also the least likely to get hammered. The biggest disappointment continues to be Nick Adenhart, who has given up 82 hits and walked 27 over 52 2/3 innings in his last ten starts with a 9.40 ERA.
September Fortifications: Now on the Olympic team, Matt Brown can play first and third and tortures left-handed pitching. Sean Rodriguez has a wide-ranging set of skills and can play multiple positions in the infield and outfield. Kendry Morales has never developed enough power for his position, but he has big-league experience and can hit for average. Bobby Wilson is a solid extra catcher. He might be up earlier, but former Arizona prospect Jason Bulger has been the most dominant reliever in the Pacific Coast League of late, reeling off 21 straight scoreless appearances and striking out 42 over 22 innings in the process.
The Long Shot: Manager Mike Scioscia likes to have a lot of offensive options, and outfielder Peter Bourjos offers plus-plus speed and bunting skills, though it's unlikely that the Angels will want to start his service clock.

About the rest:

• Red Sox: A pretty unimpressive story here, as "[t]heir top upper-level prospects are already helping the big-league club" offensively, though there's some good pitching depth, and "[t]he PawSox are loaded with home run threats".
• White Sox: "[O]ne of baseball's weaker systems" has little to no help for this team.
• Tigers: Detroit "sacrificed much of their system in the off-season", though there are a couple options in the rotation; considering how badly their starters have fared (4.62 ERA, 10th in the AL), you'd think they would have been called up by now.
• Twins: Pitchers Francisco Liriano, and the Kevin Mulvey; not much else otherwise.
• Yankees: Basically Ian Kennedy and a lot of speed guys/AA pitcher Mark Melancon after that.
• Rays: First-rounder David Price, slotted into the rotation or the bullpen; "Most scouts agree that he could easily get big-league hitters out right now." Behind him, Jeff Niemann and Jeff Talbot. Offensively, they have ex-A's starting first baseman Dan Johnson.

Labels: angels, minors, red sox, tigers, twins, white sox, yankees

• Ken Griffey has approved a trade to the White Sox; the Reds will get reliever Nick Masset and minor league 2B Danny Richar in exchange. A nice deal for the Sox, who get the last couple months of a productive DH, who will be a free agent at the end of the season. Also via AP.
• Will Carroll reports of a three-way deal yet unfinished between the Marlins, Red Sox, and Pirates that would put Manny Ramirez in a Florida uniform:

  Marlins get Manny Ramirez, one prospect (Red Sox), and cash (likely covering Ramirez’s remaining salary)

  Pirates get Jeremy Hermida and three prospects (two Marlins, one Red Sox)

  Red Sox get Jason Bay and John Grabow

  The deal isn't done yet because of dickering over the prospect. The situation is "fluid" according to the AP.

  Update: The deal is "tentative" according to the Palm Beach Post.

  Update 2: Deal's off, per MLB.com.

• Update 3: The Mariners sent Arthur Rhodes to the Marlins for RHP Gaby Hernandez. Lookout Landing likes the deal:

  This is the sort of #6-10 organizational prospect I was hoping to get. To summarize, we just turned a spring training NRI retread into one of the better high-level arms in the system. A good way to start the day. Nice job, Lee. This is exactly what a bad team is supposed to do with veteran relievers for which it has minimal use.

As we approach the deadline, this post may grow ... stay tuned ...

Labels: mariners, marlins, pirates, red sox, reds, rumors, trades, white sox

News

• Here's a nice piece in the (Orem) Daily Herald about Tom Kotchman's 1,500th career minor league win. Why hasn't he moved to the majors when many of his friends have taken coaching jobs there, and he's got the bona fides for it?

  "I was in Triple A Edmonton for three years. My last year there, my son was six and my daughter was three and I saw them three weeks in seventh months," Kotchman said. "I'm pretty good in geography and Edmonton is closer to Russia than it is Florida. It just wasn't conducive to raising a family. I've seen a lot of my friends that are big league coaches and are big league managers that I've managed against me in the minor leagues and stuff like that, that's fine, but maybe I've got something they don't have. It all starts with family. I think the emphasis in society is so wrong. Family is first."

• Via the same Stephen Smith piece, Mark Trumbo is paying attention ($) to his name being called out as a potential first baseman of the Angels' future.

  "Obviously, I took notice of it because I play first base," Trumbo said of the trade. "But I can't do anything about that. I'm going to keep playing hard and hopefully put up some good numbers and eventually something good will probably happen. But as far as that goes I've got to play my game. I can't worry about Teixeira or anybody like that."

• Russ Langer, the voice of the Las Vegas 51's and a three-time Nevada Sportscaster of the Year winner, wants back in a major league radio booth:

  After graduating in 1983 from the University of New Mexico -- where he was recently one of two finalists for the Lobos' football and basketball play-by-play job -- Langer was trying to decide how best to package a resume tape of recordings he made sitting by himself at Albuquerque Dukes' Triple-A games.

  After reading about a Caribbean cruise fans could take with some Baltimore Orioles players and staff, including Miller, Langer decided to buy a ticket, go on the cruise and approach Miller for advice.

  "He's on board for a week, so he's a captive audience," Langer said. "What's he going to do, jump overboard?"

  Though Langer says he was "a little too brash," to introduce himself to Miller as the "future voice of the Baltimore Orioles" -- a prediction he realized years later -- he said Miller "couldn't have been nicer" and "gave me some great advice."

  "He told me to remember an average tape gets listened to for 20 seconds and is discarded, so I've got to do something at the beginning to grab their attention," said Langer, who led off his tape with a call of a grand slam, complete with "fans going crazy and lots of crowd noise."

Scores

Labels: minors

Sweep, Caroline: Angels 9, Red Sox 2

Hokie Joe kept the Sawx at bay while I was escorting our relatives to yet another showing of Wicked. The real wickedness was in Joe's pitching, and the Angels' torrid hitting; the Angels pounded Beckett like they've never done before, and especially at Fenway. GA homered, a cheapie down the right field line, but the Angels just pounced on Beckett generally. Justin Speier — Justin Speier! — even managed a pair of scoreless frames against Boston. Unreal.

There's still a big part of me that wants to see them do it in the postseason. I'm crossing my fingers and toes. It might be easier if, as has been rumored, the Sox trade Manny Ramirez before the deadline, now just hours away. It's a lot easier when he says stuff like this:

“The Red Sox don’t deserve a player like me,” he said Wednesday in an interview with ESPNdeportes.com. “During my years here I’ve seen how they have mistreated other great players when they didn’t want them to try to turn the fans against them.”

Mark Teixeira went 0-for-4 in his debut. I doubt anybody really cared.

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Billingsley Does It Again: Dodgers 4, Giants 0

Also missed, but a great, great outing by Billingsley, who five-hit San Francisco in a complete game shutout on 118 pitches. Wow.

And, oh yeah, the Dodgers are now above .500 again for the first time since May 27.

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Labels: angels, dodgers, giants, recaps, red sox

Before I head up to LA for a day of touristy stuff and theatrical entertainment in the evening...

• Pudge Rodriguez will finish the season in Yankee pinstripes, with the Bombers sending RHP Kyle Farnsworth in exchange. That the Yanks would angle for a catcher was a given, especially since the announcement that starter Jorge Posada would undergo arthroscopic shoulder surgery, ending his season. Jose Molina wasn't going to cut it the balance of the way, especially considering he's never been a starter in his life, and he's only hitting .229/.279/.307 with the Yankees; he was only 33 at-bats away from tying his career record of 225. Even at the advanced age of 36 (only three years older than Jose!), Pudge represents a significant offensive upgrade at .295/.338/.417.

  The bad news for the Yanks is that this somewhat reduces their bullpen depth, because the often-flammable Farnsworth is having something of a career season for him, posting a 113 ERA+ for the first time since his career 2005 season. Nevertheless, dealing a reliever is actually something the Yankees can, surprisingly, afford to do this time; looking at their B-Ref team page, they've got some very good guys in the bullpen this year. With only two exceptions, the recently DFA'd LaTroy Hawkins and the no-longer-with-the-team Ross Ohlendorf, every Yankees reliever with 30 or more innings pitched has an ERA+ of over 110, and most are over 130. The Tigers' had a pressing need for bullpen help, so this definitely works for both clubs. You can probably look at this as a white flag for the 2008 Tigers, though.

• Angels minor league pitcher Tommy Mendoza tested positive for amphetamines and was immediately given a 50-game suspension.
• Frank Thomas has been cleared to rejoin the A's as early as Friday. He will not have a rehab assignment.

Labels: angels, athletics, ex-angels, minors, suspensions, tigers, trades, transactions, yankees

• The Rev likes this deal as a "win-win" because of free agency draft picks if he leaves, unblocking Kendry Morales, and an improved offense if he stays.
• Christina Kahrl is pretty enthusiastic about this deal also:

  In practical terms, Tex is the kind of slugger you love to have. Against top fireballers, he'll fight off being overpowered, get in a few rips, and take a base, that last representing something the Angels don't see much of; he simply murders off-speed pitchers. He's a true switch-hitter, in that he's not losing much to opposing pitchers because of their handedness. The Angels make a bit of a fetish of their mastery of situational hitting, and on that score, you would think that Tex should fit in, having already delivered on 16.3 percent of his baserunners; ranking 96th among the 378 hitters with 100 or more PA is more good than bad, and it's definitely not like they brought in someone decisively anathematic, like Jack Cust (298^th).

  ...

  In terms of the expense, giving up a bullpen arm and a still not-yet-something first baseman who's going to be arbitration-eligible and is only under control for three years is definitely a price worth paying, and against that you're getting two months with a premium first baseman in a lineup that needed a difference-making hitter of Teixeira's caliber. Beyond that, the Angels will also then get first shot at re-signing said premium first baseman (perhaps an attractive proposition, since the Angels are regular winners), and a pair of Type A free agent-generated compensatory draft picks if said premium first baseman decides that he doesn't like the color of your money, or that California taxes just aren't what he wants to pay. In the abstract, the picks themselves might have been worth it as a matter of repurposing Kotchman and Marek after both have come up short relative to the hopes invested in them as prospects, so from that point of view adding the two months with Tex at first base to take their best shot at winning the whole shebang just makes this that much tastier.

  ...

  If there's really something to credit Tony Reagins for, it's some combination of the following factors:

  • The recognition that no matter how much Kotchman was an organizational favorite son—literally, since his dad's in his third decade as a scout and manager in the organization—he wasn't blossoming into the kind of premium bat you need at first base;
  • Accepting the math that tells you that three years of an adequate first baseman is something you give up to get two months of one of the best at the position to maximize this team's shot at another World Series win, because an adequate Kotchman is something you can replace without any effort (with Kendry Morales, perhaps);
  • You didn't have to give up a blue-chip prospect to address your lineup's shortcomings. An arm to flavor the deal in an exchange of first basemen can be written off as the cost of doing business.
  • You didn't settle. The Angels are playing to win, not just against their divisional rivals, but with an eye towards playing deep into October. This last might seem obvious, but Terry Ryan never figured it out in Minnesota, and nobody's suggesting that Ryan was a bad GM, just that this is an element of organizational management and opportunity management that not everybody gets.

• Seitz hates it: "[the] Angels have either misplaced faith in their ability to bring Tex back, or they think Morales will be ready. ... [In the] short run, it means they have a better chance to win. It also means they have to win, or the deal blows up in their faces."
• Also hating this deal: Stephen Smith.
• The Chronicler, who barely writes anything about anything anymore, is on the fence, both "sad and hopeful".
• Joe Florkowski sees this as an all-in trade, with substantial lineup implications (namely getting Izturis out of the three hole).
• Update: Count Bill Shaikin of the Times as one reckoning this as a win-it-all-or-bust deal:

  This is not one of those trades where we have to wait two or three years to determine whether the Angels won. We'll know in three months.

  "A World Series, for me, would make this trade successful," Teixeira said.

  For you, for your general manager, for your owner. These were the words of Arte Moreno 10 days ago: "I don't see anyone that can come in here for two months and hand me a World Series trophy."

  We left a message with a team spokesman asking Moreno to explain what changed, what persuaded him to approve the trade despite his aversion to rental players.

  In three months, after all, the Angels could be left with no Teixeira, no Casey Kotchman and no World Series trophy. Kotchman will be good, for a good long time.

  Moreno did not get back to us, but Reagins said it all. The Angels won the World Series in 2002, in the final season before Disney sold the team to Moreno, energizing a fan base that Moreno has dramatically enlarged.

• Update 2: Commenter Gilberto Reyes in today's DT thread (comment 65) makes this useful observation vis-à-vis the Dodgers:

  I am in favor of the Dodgers standing pat at the trade deadline. I think the Angels move to acquire Texeira actually helped the Dodgers save their future. Arizona's offer to Atlanta appeared to be the best for the Braves until the Angels stepped up and offered Kotchman. If the D-Backs would have picked up Tex, I think Colletti would have been pressured to respond. A bad move like Jack Wilson for LaRoche would have been the likely result.

  Given that the Diamondbacks were rumored to be after Teixeira, it's probably best that things ended up this way for them.

Labels: analysis, angels, trades

The Giants have a lot of problems, and they certainly didn't help themselves last night in a crucial game situation. With James Loney at first, Casey Blake hit a smash down the left field line; San Francisco LF Fred Lewis bobbled his pick of the ball, bouncing it up on the top of the low wall, and on, or at least near, the hand of a fan who wasn't paying attention. Lewist noticed Loney attempting to score all the way from first, and threw a bullet back to the infield, where third baseman Rich Aurilia threw a dart back to the plate to end the inning.

Or did he? With the ball on the wall, Lewis had knocked the ball out of play, and after a huddle, the umpires announced that Loney was free to score, akin to a two-base error when the pitcher muffs a pickoff toss and the ball ends in the stands. The appropriate rule is 7.05(f):

Each runner including the batter-runner may, without liability to be put out, advance—

...

Two bases, if a fair ball bounces or is deflected into the stands outside the first or third base foul lines; or if it goes through or under a field fence, or through or under a scoreboard, or through or under shrubbery or vines on the fence; or if it sticks in such fence, scoreboard, shrubbery or vines;

Lewis, who apparently was uneducated to the realities of this rule, wasn't impressed:

“There’s not that much foul ground over there, so it’s one of those plays where you just try to get over there and not let the ball get past you,” he said. “It came up and bounced out of my glove, then went on top of the wall and I picked it up. That’s how far it went, and nobody touched it.

“I mean, the ball’s still in play. We told the umpire that, but it was his discretion. He said it was just on top and that it was out of play. But it’s still in play in my eyes. I didn’t understand the rule. It was very disappointing. It makes you want replay in baseball more and more.”

Vizquel, who has played more big league games at shortstop than anyone in history, said he had never seen a play like that.

“That was weird,” he said. “When the ball jumped into the stands, I thought the ball was going to be dead.”

Thus the Gold Glove shortstop proves his knowledge of baseball's sometimes arcane rules. But all this obscured a fine outing by journeyman Jason Johnson, whose last victory came a couple years ago with the Indians, a 9-0 win for the Tribe over the Tigers on May 28, 2006. Good for him, but you do wonder how well he'll likely stick; Johnson was 3-12 for three different teams that year.

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Labels: dodgers, giants, recaps, weird

Labels: minors

Speaking of improbability fields, how in the Sam Hill did John Lackey suddenly figure out how to bamboozle the Red Sox through eight and a third innings? It's crazy enough he got a complete game win, but to do it against the Sawx in Fenway — that's something special. The only two hits of the game were Dustin Pedroia's single and Kevin Youkilis' ensuing homer; Lackey retired David Ortiz, walked Manny Ramirez, but got Mike Lowell in order to end the frame and the game.

The Angels offense took advantage of a wobbly Clay Buchholz, scratching out a couple runs in the third on Alex Cora's fielding error of Chone Figgins' grounder, and a bases-loaded walk. GA got two more in the fourth, picking up Torii Hunter with a home run to right. Finally, the squad picked up a couple in typical Angel fashion in the seventh, with a Howie Kendrick sac fly and a scoring infield single.

Coming on the heels of a pretty sizeable earthquake, and the Teixeira trade, it was pretty amazing. The Angels finish the day 66-40, the best record in baseball (still) and own a twelve game lead in the division, the largest lead in franchise history. Update: Back to 11.5 games after an 11-10 Texas win over Seattle.

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Labels: angels, recaps, red sox, wow

And I still have AdBlock Plus. Thppt.

Labels: gameday

Looks like I was wrong, maybe: these things have a way of unraveling, but not by the time they hit the Keith Laws and Jason Starks of the world. ESPN is reporting that the Angels have acquired Mark Teixeira, sending Casey Kotchman and Steven Marek. The power hitting outfielder needed to complete the deal, reported earlier in the day in the Times, apparently was just wishcasting by the Braves.

Well: let us see what this is about. Mark Teixeira is a 28-year-old first baseman, who has pretty much come up swinging ever since he hit the majors. He's on the last year of his major league deal (and I believe the final year of arbitration eligibility), so for this trade to work out for the Angels, they'll pretty much have to extend him before the season is over and he hits free agency. It being he is a Scott Boras client, the likelihood of that happening is about zero, as Boras clients inevitably hit the open market. There should be a pretty good market, too, because the Angels would have to bid against the Yankees; recall that Jason Giambi is in the final year of his seven-year deal with the Yanks, and the Mets could use him as well.

Stephen Marek (2008 stats) is having a nice little season with Arkansas this year; he started the season as the Angels' sixth-ranked prospect according to Baseball America. He's posting a career high in K/9 (11.0) with a 57/21 K/BB ratio, and a 1.31 G/F ratio. BA thinks he'd profile as a mid-rotation starter, so he's a fine haul for the Braves.

So this is a very expensive two-month rental, assuming the reporting is correct. Kotchman hasn't posted good power numbers, but prior to this year he's had good on-base percentage and had a reasonable chance of becoming something like Mark Grace, Jr. That's not bad value at all from a first baseman; nevertheless, power is one of this team's big worries moving forward, especially with Vlad apparently in decline. It's not unreasonable to think that Teixeira could command a five year, $100M deal this offseason; whether the Angels will pay that remains to be seen. Also, Teixeira is an east coast boy, and may not want to play for a team on the west coast. We'll see.

Update: Apparently this has been confirmed by the Braves.

Update 2: Perhaps the sudden emergence of Mark Trumbo and the presence of Kendry Morales in AAA made the Angels comfortable enough at the first base position to make them feel they could make this deal. There's some depth at first in the minors.

Update 3: A very ominous note from Jayson Stark:

The Angels didn't ask for a window to negotiate an extension with Teixeira. But it's expected that they'll make a massive effort to sign him to a long-term deal, after trading away their every-day first baseman, and a player they were especially fond of, in Kotchman. Teixeira is a Scott Boras client, however. And early rumblings are that his initial asking price will be in the neighborhood of 10 years, $230 million.

Labels: angels, braves, rumors, trades

Ed Who? Ed Foster, for many years Infoworld's columnist who principally wrote on the topic of the newer, abusive, and more widespread contracts of adhesion, more commonly known as clickwrap and shrinkwrap contracts. Typically you cannot even read these prior to buying a piece of software or logging on to a website, but you agree to their terms before purchase/entry. Ed tirelessly pointed out these abusive one-way "contracts" for many years, dating back a decade or more. His son Jeff recently announced his demise on his father's website, gripe2ed.com. I'd like to think that in part, it's been his efforts to shed light on the proposed Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA to its friends and enemies alike) that have prevented its adoption by most state legislatures. Ed, if you're at the gates of Hell, don't click that button that says, "I Accept."

Labels: obituaries, tech

... is just how unlikely it is in reality. If Atlanta is looking for a first baseman and a starting pitcher and a power-hitting outfielder, well, the Angels have the first, no good ones in the farm at the moment among the second, and an absolute dearth of the third. Nothing to see here, move on ...

Labels: angels, rumors

News

Explanatory note: Yesterday I ran a post entitled "Minor League News" with the understanding that there was something wrong with MILB.com's XML. Not so much; I needed to get some sleep, apparently, but that stuff is all here now.

• Matt Brown and Kevin Jepsen were placed on the Bees' temporary inactive list in preparation for the Olympics. RHP David Austin was recalled from the DL in a corresponding move.
• The Angels have promoted Mark Trumbo to AA Arkansas, and accordingly moved OF Adam Morrissey to AAA Salt Lake. Trumbo went 5-for-5 in his AA debut with Arkansas Monday, two of those for homers with three RBIs.
• The Kernels promoted INF Efren Navarro to Rancho; RHP Francis Cabrera and INF Gabe Jacobo also were promoted from Orem to Cedar Rapids.
• Amalio Diaz and Sean O'Sullivan were named Pitchers of the Week for their efforts at Arkansas and Rancho, respectively.
• No Angel or Dodger prospect was named Offensive Player of the Week.
• Mike Napoli might be ready for a rehab assignment with Rancho starting this weekend.
• John Sickels reviewed his preseason top 20 Angels prospects; Brandon Wood still tops the list, but nobody ranks an A.
• Here's the weekly league notebooks.

Scores

Labels: minors

Given a chance to advance thanks to an unusual six-run outburst from the Padres that ended up with an 8-5 Diamondbacks loss, the Dodgers were unable to capitalize, thanks to a weird fourth inning in this one in which absolutely nothing went right for the Dodgers. Probably the worst of this was Hiroki Kuroda's bizarro throw of Rich Aurilia's one-out tapper to the box — to second, where John Bowker was already standing safely. A bad job of catcher-pitcher communication to be sure, and things spiraled down from there.

The Dodgers rallied for five of their own in the fifth, including Juan Pierre's hilarious RBI infield single to catcher Benjie Molina. An improbable Andruw Jones pinch-hit RBI single in the sixth got the Dodgers one closer, but that was the end of their offense. Really a pretty funny game if you think about it.

Yahoo box • MLB.com recap

Labels: dodgers, giants, recaps

I gave up on this one right after the Angels lost the lead 2-1 on Manny's RBI single, but for all that, Jered Weaver came within one out of a quality start against a lineup that, let's face it, is pretty fierce one through nine. Somehow Kotchman and Hunter blasted a pair of jacks for five runs in the sixth that I still don't quite understand how they did it. As far as I'm concerned, this series is already a success because I expected they'd get swept at Fenway, and that even despite a Manny homer against K-Rod on the very first pitch (a pretty good curveball, too). Dayam.

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Labels: angels, recaps, red sox, wow

Late from Tony Jackson, the Dodgers shipped Andy LaRoche back to Las Vegas to make room for Mark Sweeney.

Labels: dodgers, stupid ideas, transactions

In today's Baseball Prospectus Transaction Analysis:

If the Dodgers really want to be serious about this contention thing, don't they owe it to themselves to field their best team, instead of their most (in)famous one? The tension between the different factions in the front office has been such that they have seldom been able to agree on much. However, there might have been general agreement that they needed to bring in a bat, and agreement that they could afford to bring in a bat, and because of this lineup's odd collection of overlapping problems and disappointments, at third base as well as the outfield, it even seems like a remarkably sensible collective choice that their roving eyes alighted upon Blake. The question of whether or not they really needed to give up two good prospects for two months of Casey Blake isn't quite right; they could. Meloan's a potentially gifted reliever, but the organization has better pitching prospects in the system and already on the team; Santana's a pretty exciting catching prospect, but this is the organization that has Russell Martin, and if Santana really does end up having to move to third, isn't that what LaRoche will be for far into the future? Blake's useful, and this club has needs; getting him makes a goodly amount of sense.

With Blake in hand, what then is the best case for their lineup? That they come to their senses, realize that playing what they've already paid for doesn't help them win, bring back LaRoche and play him at third, and move Blake to an outfield corner? Certainly, that beats putting LaRoche at second, an “inspired” move that was even riskier than putting Nomar Garciaparra back at shortstop. Admittedly, that means reducing Juan Pierre to the world's most expensive rag-armed pinch-runner and defensive replacement, and it also makes Andruw Jones the most unpleasantly ubiquitous oversized formerly famous person this side of Vince Vaughn.

I disagree with her on the concluding sentence of the first graf in that we do not know if Santana will have to move off third. (I have heard elsewhere that supposedly Logan White thinks this may be true, in which case I would like to see a cite.) But moving Blake to left field and LaRoche to third to the exclusion of Pierre makes tremendous sense, which is exactly why the Dodgers won't do it.

Update: In analyzing the trade from the Tribe's side of things, Kahrl also adds this about Santana:

Santana's a pretty nifty catching prospect, so regardless of the organization's long-term intentions as far as Victor Martinez, they've acquired someone who would show up on almost anybody's long-term radar, whoever they had already up in The Show. While it can be foolhardy to get worked up over anyone pasting pitching in the Cal League, Santana's among the best hitters in the circuit, as his production translates to .278/.378/.488 with a .296 EqA, and with a potential peak that tops .300 in EqA. Add in that he's 22, and if less than perfect as a receiver—he's a big kid, and his 23 percent mark is merely adequate for a High-A caught-stealing percentage—he's not about to get moved off of the position, especially in an organization that had the patience to work with Martinez's problems as a receiver. (In the worst-case scenario, he moves to third, not such a terrible outcome if Marte's flopped or moved on by that point in the future.) At the plate, he lacks any platoon issues while switch-hitting. All in all, it's pretty easy to see how he's the deal's real prize, and a prospect whose impact on the organization could dwarf Meloan's—let along Blake's—in five years.

One of the justifications here and there ascribed to this trade is the idea that Santana was iffy to stay behind the plate. Bill Shaikin over the weekend even reported directly that "[Logan] White gave his blessing to trade the prospects", which some have interpreted to mean he may get moved to third or first. But the biggest point is something I overlooked the first time I reviewed this trade, and that is Santana at 22 is fairly old for a catcher in the Cal League. He might have to hurry through AA and AAA, but on the other hand, catchers axiomatically take longer to develop than any other position.

Labels: analysis, dodgers, trades

Labels: minors