Crooked Numbers: Takin... (10/27)
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October 27, 2005 Transaction AnalysisOctober 19-25
Hired Jim Duquette to be Vice President of Baseball Operations. [10/20] Hired Leo Mazzone as pitching coach, signing him to a three-year contract; traded RHP Moises Hernandez to the Braves in exchange for the negotiating rights to Mazzone. [10/21] Hired Scott Proefrock to be Director of Baseball Administration. [10/25] Now that he's the sole surviving twin from the organization's duumvirate-oscopy, Mike Flanagan has been nothing if not busily making the organization his own. There's a very Atlanta sort of cast to things, what with Leo Mazzone and one-time Devil Ray exec but former Braves staffer Proefrock brought in. It might even all make sense, although the note of caution that needs to be struck is that this was also what the Orioles thought they'd achieve when they brought Tony DeMacio in as Director of Scouting a few years back; DeMacio's claim to fame was that he was the scout who had found Tom Glavine. However, I definitely like much of what's happening here. With his past experience in player development and his tenure as semi-interim General Manager of the Mets before they brought in Omar "Andy Jackson's burning a hole in my pocket" Minaya, Duquette makes a nifty top lieutenant to Flanagan. Mazzone's now making twice as much money, which matters when you're in a six-figure tax bracket, and given that he's coming home and working for the man he calls his best friend--manager Sam Perlozzo--it all makes sense in terms of the background info. Certainly, the club's pursuit of Mazzone suddenly makes the decision to retain Perlozzo look that much more defensible in retrospect. However lackluster the Orioles looked under both Lee Mazzilli and Perlozzo, that's pretty small beer relative to landing one of the best pitching coaches in the business. To put it another way, if one of the most significant ways in which a manager can impact his ballclub is through his management of his staff, wouldn't you want a guy whose connection to Leo Mazzone might help you land Mazzone? Wouldn't that address any concerns you might have about what young, talented hurlers like Erik Bedard or Daniel Cabrera are going to do in the future? Add in that Perlozzo did have an extended track record of working as a coach for stathead fanboy icon Davey Johnson, and you don't even have to be an Orioles fan to wishcast this into being the best possible field staff. Of course, there is that little matter of Mazzone's past sparring with former Braves prospect Bruce Chen, but I suspect that Mazzone's arrival in Crabtown will more than balance that out by making Baltimore a promising spot for a free agent hurler to want to come to. When you consider the difficulties the Orioles have had in the past as far as coaxing free agents to sign with them, that's a potentially very happy development, or at least one that won't make the club dependent on another incarnation of Sidney Ponson.
Claimed LHP Bobby Madritsch off of waivers from the Mariners. [10/21] Don't get worked up about how this might mean that the Royals have found... well, by their standards, what's success defined by? How about this: Madritsch will not fulfill their pursuit of the next Darrell May. Not immediately, at any rate. He's only just now getting around to surgery to repair a partially torn labrum, and he won't be back on a mound until mid-summer. On his way off of their roster, the Mariners classily griped that he wasn't taking care of himself, but keep in mind, that's the Mariners, and since when have they managed any of their legion of injured hurlers well? Anyway, snarking aside, it isn't a bad claim by Allard Baird, and should the Royals be able to keep him on the 40-man through the next five months, they'll be able to deposit him onto the 60-day DL before Opening Day. That sort of matters when you're the Royals, because the next non-roster warm body could be the next Emil Brown.
Outrighted 2B/3B-R Keith Ginter to Sacramento. [10/20] I wasn't enthusiastic about the decision to go out and get Ginter in the first place, although in saying that, I certainly had no premonition about Mark Ellis's not having a mere comeback, but suddenly turning into a genuinely very good ballplayer. At any rate, Ginter wants a change of scenery, and the A's are willing to oblige. As a position player, he's that classic problem, a utility infielder who can't play short, so whoever signs him either needs a starter at third or second who could also serve as the backup shortstop, or they're going to have to carry another reserve infielder who can play short. That's not easy, but there are teams who have that particular combination: the Yankees, for instance. However, as much as this was a lost year for Ginter, that's the sort he couldn't afford. He'll be 30 a month into the season, and he isn't the type to age well. If he gets guaranteed money instead of an NRI, tip your cap to his agent.
Acquired RHP Moises Hernandez from the Orioles in exchange for the negotiating rights to pitching coach Leo Mazzone. [10/21] Nothing any good comes for free, but since Mazzone was going to be a free agent in only a few short weeks, this was essentially a tip for the Braves doing the gentlemanly thing, and letting the Orioles and Mazzone get down to business. Hernandez is young, Venezuelan, and has spent the last three years pitching in the complex or short-season leagues. He would have to be added to the 40-man if the Braves want to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, but given that he's not yet even 22, they can probably take the risk and leave him off. He's doing something right so far in what is a very young career, in that he's logged 121 strikeouts in 134.2 stateside professional innings, but beyond that, he's a cipher.
Exercised their $8.5 million option on LF-R Carlos Lee for 2006. [10/20] Superficially, this is a thoroughly unsurprising development, as the Brewers keep their outfield corners set with Lee in left and Geoff Jenkins in right. But in a nutshell, the Brewers' most important decision over the next nine months is going to be what they do as far as choosing between their pretty good veteran core and their more promising almost-ready farmhands. Although they have an option on Jenkins for 2007, Doug Melvin can pick his outcomes: should the Brewers be out of it before the deadline in '06, he can dangle either Jenkins or Lee (or both) for the best available offers. Doing so would make room for Corey Hart (.304/.375/.530 at Triple-A Nashville this year) and/or Nelson Cruz (27 home runs and a .537 SLG between Double-A Huntsville and Nashville). It's not too dissimilar from the situation Melvin has with Lyle Overbay at first with Prince Fielder waiting in the wings, but Fielder seems like the best bet to be ready by Opening Day after hitting .291/.383/.569 at Nashville this season, so Melvin might be best off trying to trade Overbay before the Fish get any more serious about dealing Carlos Delgado.
Announced that MLB has suspended LHP Felix Heredia for 10 days, effective at the start of the 2006 season, for violating the league's drug prevention and treatment program. [10/19] If Heredia's suspension must be served in the major leagues from the point at which he returns to an active roster, this may well be a suspension that effectively ends his professional career in this country. Let's face it, would you want to have Felix Heredia around for ten days in which you couldn't use him, just for the privilege of eventually being able to use him? I seem to remember that something like this happened with a pitcher in the '90s, someone like Rick Huisman, a minor league veteran who drew a big suspension after a brawl, got demoted, and who never did come back up to serve his suspension. If a guy's already borderline and did something wrong, either he needs an angel in some front office somewhere, or he's going to have to get very used to choices that range from the far side of the Pacific to Newark. Don't be surprised if that's Heredia's lot.
Re-signed LHP Dave Williams to a one-year contract. [10/24] Declined their option on RHP Jose Mesa for 2006, making him a free agent. [10/25] Williams chose to avoid arbitration or a winter's worth of wonder. Can you blame him? He did get $1.4 million, and for a guy who lost a good chunk of his career to a torn labrum, a little bit of security goes a long way. For David Littlefield, the real question is whether Williams is one of the guys they keep in what bids to be an overcrowded rotation, or whether they try to peddle him to someone with prospects, who needs pitching, and is as budget-conscious as the Bucs have to be. I think it makes sense for Littlefield to hold onto Williams for a while, perhaps well into the '06 season. First, the club is going to have to sort out what's going to happen with Mark Redman, and then we have to wait until spring training to see how Paul Maholm, Tom Gorzelanny, and Ian Snell look from among the kids, whether or not John Van Benschoten is finally healthy and ready, and whether or not Oliver Perez is going to bounce back. With that much possibility and uncertainty, it makes sense to hold on to a handy mediocrity like Williams. As for the decision to not retain Mesa, having failed to move him for even the smallest scrap last summer, this was a case of belatedly settling for double-nothing: no prospect, however notional, and no great reward on the field for having kept him (Mesa was the worst reliever on the club). There's no satisfaction in acknowledging the obvious, that he's not a reliever you want to rely on in consecutive seasons, but if last summer's rumors that the Mets were interested and dangling Victor Diaz have any validity whatsoever, that's a head-on-a-pointed stick offense if you fail to pull the trigger on something like that. Hopefully, the Bucs won't spend any serious money on a purported spandex-clad superman for save-hogging, but unfortunately, it remains the fashion of the day. Whether or not Littlefield can bring himself to break with convention will be something to watch for this winter.
Christina Kahrl is an author of Baseball Prospectus.
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