Poldberg Back at NWA

Poldberg will be back running the show in NWA. Good for the Naturals. A personable manager that teaches his players and has a good relationship with the fans deserves to be brought back. It must be nice. I'm afraid the fine folks at DSP will likely be treated to a repeat of the last (almost) half decade. This is really a bad situation for the die hard baseball fans in town. We WILL buy season tickets because that's what we do. (I'm not gonna' lie. I don't have anything I'd rather do than watch baseball.) But we are also the people that have to endure the same stuff night after night (now season after season).

Arkansan Named Topps AA All-Star

From MiLB.com, Travis Wood of Alexander, AR was named to the Topps AA All-Star team. Wood spent 2009 playing for the Carolina Mudcats in the Cincinnati Reds organization.
Woods AA numbers: 9-3, 1.21 ERA, 119 IP, 103 K, 37 BB. Not bad for somebody from Alexander. Next thing you know there will be Arkansans pitching in the World Series.

Wood is number 7 on Baseball America's top 10 Reds prospect list for 2010. So, the question is will Wood be at the Miracle League benefit this year?

Strengths: Wood's dramatic turnaround resulted from improved health and his mastery of a cutter. His fastball regained its previous 88-91 mph velocity, making it easier to set up his plus-plus changeup with fade. Righthanders used to crowd the plate and look for pitches on the outer half, but Wood now can bust them inside with his cutter. He also improved his command this season, which is necessary for a pitcher with average stuff.

Former Travs Eyeing Big Paydays--Free Agency Primer

Two former Travs, Chone Figgins and John Lackey, are in line to seek their employment elsewhere. Both played for the Travs in 2001 and have been stalwarts of Angels franchise that has produced playoff teams almost every year since they have been affiliated with the Travs. 2001, '03, and '06 are the only exceptions. Both Lackey and Figgins have been designated by the Elias Sports Bureau as "Type A" free agents. I'm fully expecting both players to be allowed to walk. I expect the Angels to make more of push for Lackey, but perhaps that is just what I want them to do. Vlad falls in the potential "Type B" category.

As the ace of the Angels' staff, Lackey has consistently put up great numbers. Lackey got the call to the big leagues in 2002. In his rookie year all Lackey did was win Game 7 of the World Series. During the regular season he went 9-4 while posting a 3.66 ERA. He also posted he lowest K/9 ratio (5.7) and lowest K/BB (2.09) ratio that season. He struck out only 69 hitters and walked 33 in only 108 IP. Since that season he has consistently held a K/9 rate slightly greater than 7 and has kept his K/BB rate to almost 3. His finest season was 2007. That year he went 19-9 (the closest he's came to hitting the 20 win mark), put up a phenomenal league leading 3.01 ERA. He did all of this in 224 IP. He struck out 179 hitters and walked 52. He made the All-Star team, was 3rd in Cy Young voting and 17th in MVP voting. His last two seasons have basically started with him on the DL, but once healthy he has proven that he's one of the top pitchers in the game. I hope you've enjoyed watching him because I'm guessing that next year he'll be a NY Met, win 20 games and have a sub 3.00 ERA.
Career:
102-71, 3.81 ERA, 14 CG, 8 SHO, 1501 IP, 441 BB, 1201 K, 1.30 WHIP, BB/9 2.6, K/9 7.2

Chone Figgins got his half of a cup of coffee in 2002. It was 2003 before he started to see any significant playing time. Figgins has been the Angels third baseman now for 3 seasons. But in his career he's played all over the diamond. Figgins has logged more than 100 games played at 3 different positions 3rd, CF, and 2B. As near as I can tell the only spots he has never played are 1st base, catcher and pitcher. He's been a phenomenal utility man and has hit at the top of the order for years. He lacks the power of a traditional corner infielder (has never hit double digit dingers) and with Brandon Wood out of options, I suspect the Angels will let the somebody else pay for Figgins' aging set of wheels. Or at least I suspect they SHOULD let somebody else pay for them. Figgins was an All-Star in 2009.
Career:
4075 PA, 3585 AB, 596 R, 1045 H, 148 2B, 53 3B, 31 HR, 341 RBI, 240 SB, .291/.363/.388

What is the non-sense about Type A and Type B free agents and why does it matter? I've pasted a Baseball America explanation below. The designation is important because any team that signs another teams Type A or Type B free agent must surrender a compensatory draft pick to the team losing the player. In the past this hasn't been a huge concern but over the last few years teams are seeing the value of those 1st round or sandwich round picks rise. That is part of the reason many players were left scrambling for employment as the off-season dragged on last year..

Players are sorted into position groups by league: catchers; designated hitters, first basemen and outfielders; second basemen, third basemen and shortstops; starting pitchers; and relief pitchers.

All hitters are graded on plate appearances, batting average, on-base percentage, home runs and RBIs. Fielding percentage and assists also are considered for catchers, and fielding percentage and total chances also matter for second basemen, third basemen and shortstops. The categories for pitchers are starts, innings, wins, winning percentage, ERA and strikeouts for starters; and relief appearances, innings, wins plus saves, ERA, hits per nine innings and strikeout/walk ratio for relievers.

Players who rate in the top 20 percent of their position group are designated as Type A free agents, and those in the 21-40 percent bracket are designated as Type B. To receive compensation for a Type A or B free agent, the player's former club must offer him arbitration.

Type A free agents yield the signing team's first-round choice and a supplemental first-rounder, while Type B free agents produce only the sandwich pick. Clubs that finished in the bottom half of the major league standings have their first-round selections protected from compensation, and consolation picks for failure to sign draftees from the previous year can't change hands either. If a team signs multiple Type A free agents, the club that lost the higher-ranking player gets the better pick.

Pujols Not PURE Evil After All

I don't know how somebody with a deep revulsion to Albert Pujols is supposed to process this. It's like finding out the Son of Sam is also your favorite uncle. It just doesn't make sense. I don't think anybody that was in attendance the night Mike Coolbaugh died will ever look at baseball games or life quite the same. Coolbaugh was struck by a line drive that was screaming toward him and seemed to follow him with every step he took. It was, in every sense, a true tragedy. The result of that tragedy is a single mom, raising three children. I can't imagine the family was basking in money to begin with. My guess is people coach at the AA level for two reasons: a) the love the game b) to work there way to the Bigs as a coach/manager. I am quite sure they don't do it for the pay. Anyway, there was golf tournament held to help raise money for the Coolbaugh family. Pujols, as is all to often the case, delivered in a big way.

At the last minute, a sponsor to pay for the dinner at the event backed out. Enter Pujols to the rescue. When Josh Goldberg, the Director of Public Relations for Pujols' agency, Beverly Hills Sports Council, approached the All-Star first baseman about the issue, he immediately remembered Coolbaugh -- the two played together in St. Louis in 2002 -- and donated well above what was needed to cover the cost of the dinner.

Pujols won the Clemente Award in 2008, honored for the work he's done with his foundation. Pujols puts on over 30 events a year for kids with Down Syndrome, including a golf tournament that raises over $350,000. He also makes annual trips to the Dominican Republic to help impoverished families and orphans with medical care and supplies.

I'll likely only admit this once in my lifetime. I enjoy watching that guy play, in the same way I enjoyed watching Michael Jordan play. I can't stand the player or the team but I feel like if I don't make the effort to watch him play one day I'm gonna wake up and wonder why the heck I didn't try to see his every atbat. They guy is a monster and in my opinion, he's easily the best hitter in the game. If he doesn't win the Triple Crown in his career nobody will ever win it again. Stay free of the juice, Pujols. I'd like my signed bat to retain it's value.

Tommy Mendoza Starts in Tonight's AFL Rising Stars Game

The Arizona Fall League's Rising Stars game is tonight. You can watch on the MLB network at 7:15 Central. Two former Travs are on the roster and Tommy Mendoza is one of the starting pitchers. In my opinion Mendoza was one of the more pleasant surprises of the 2009 season. I didn't know anything about him when he was sent to AA. Steven Strasburg was scheduled to start but will be withheld due to injury. Hank Conger is also playing but will probably be the second catcher in the game. Buster Posey will likely get the start.

Tommy Mendoza 1-1, 5.40 ERA, 15 IP, 10 K, 0 BB
Hank Conger .226/.326/.398, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 7 BB, 10 K
Marco Albano has given up 7 ER in 10 IP.
Tim Kiely 0-0, 2.08 ERA, 8.2 IP, 3 BB, 4 K, 7 H
Ryan Mount .165/.203/.243, 37 AB, 2 BB, 8 K
PJ Phillips (Rancho) .311/.340/.444, 5 SB in 45 AB

New Logo...Yawn

To the right you will see the new Dickey-Stephens Park logo. Underwhelmed yet? Yeah, me too. Isn't the park supposed to be a railroad theme? Is there anything to indicate that DSP is related to baseball? Couldn't they at least put some red baseball threads on that thing and change the background color? I suppose that logo could be like a tag for a steam engine or something. Plain and simple, the old logo is better. What about a logo with a conductors hat and some bats. Or one of those yellow railroad crossing signs with Dickey Stephens written on it? Or something that doesn't look like an add on a race car. Maybe Earnhart Jr, will put the patch on his racing uniform. My apologies to the designer. It's nothing personal. It just doesn't seem to fit a baseball park. But hey, now the gift shop will have all new shirts to sell.

BP Angels Wrap

As part of Baseball Prospectus' "Kiss 'em Goodbye" series. Here's some tidbits from it.
Buster Olney's take:

Biggest puzzler on the drawing board: The Angels have a ton of prospective free
agents, including Vladimir Guerrero, John Lackey, and Chone Figgins. It's evident that the Angels—who have seen John Lackey start each of the last two seasons with forearm trouble—are not comfortable with the notion of giving him a nine-figure deal, so if somebody else is willing to give him an A.J. Burnett-like contract in the range of $82.5 million, well, the Angels will say goodbye. While Jered Weaver
continues to improve and Scott Kazmir had moments of excellence after joining the Angels, they really don't have a lot of number one-type starting pitchers. "They've got a number two and and maybe a couple of number threes," said one rival GM, "but they don't really have that number one guy."

I love Lackey as much as any redblooded Travs fan and I would HATE to seem him go. But I couldn't blame the Angels for hedging their bets and lettinghim collect what is sure to be a huge payday from one of the other big market teams. Lord knows the Mets need a pitcher or four. And all the worry about the Wilpon's losing his money in the Madoff scheme has been put to
rest. Put Lackey in that huge park against the NL, man he'll get a Cy Young out of that. (Assuming anybody ever beats Lincecum).

As for Figgins, all I have to say is "it's been real". He's aging and speed is his game. The Angels have had him at the apex of his value. It's all gonna be downhill from here. Let somebody else pay him based on his last 5 years. He's a great utility guy and will be valuable to a lot of clubs but if it comes down to a choice between Figgins and Lackey, I'll take Lackey. I suspect both are gone, which she be good news for Brandon Wood fans.

Key Stat: .505
While this year's bullpen troubles received (and deserved) plenty of headlines, bullpens can frequently be fixed with less-expensive roster tweaks informed by scouting and performance analysis. Fixing a rotation isn't quite so easy, and that number of .505 is the Support-Neutral Winning Percentage of the Angels' rotation this year. Being just a few ticks above .500 means exactly what it sounds like—and not the sort of thing you can bank on for continued success when the other teams in the division aren't patsies. Add in the impending free agency of John Lackey and the uneven performances of holdovers Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders, and Scott Kazmir, the Angels don't just need Jered Weaver to replicate this year's success, they need unit-wide improvement, especially if the addition of Kazmir prices the Halos out of any big-game hunting of free-agent starting pitching.

It was a crazy year for the Angels pitching staff and I hesitate to make too many decisions based on what happened to the staff this year. I still believe that Ervin "don't call me Johan" Santana can be a top tier pitcher. (Sorry Joe, I don't believe the same for you.) I think a rotation featuring Weaver, Santana, Kazmir, and Saunders, needs another solid pitcher if the team wants to have a shot at the playoffs in 2010.

Who 2 Watch 4: Trevor Reckling, LHP
During Reckling's full-season debut in 2008, Midwest League scouts were baffled as to how Reckling fell as far as the eighth round of the 2007 draft. They saw an ultra-athletic left-hander with average velocity but a pair of truly plus secondary offerings in the form of his slider and changeup. After beginning the 2009 season with three dominant California League starts, the Angels moved Reckling up to the Double-A Texas league a month before his 20th birthday, and he finished fourth in the circuit
with a 2.93 ERA. The bad news is that he also led the league with 75 walks and 14 wild pitches, but with some refinements in his command and control, he could reach the big leagues as early as next September.

Hey, I hope Reckling makes the big leagues next September, but he's gonna' have to cut out those 7 walk games to get there.

Money: If the Angels let Lackey walk, they could invest the perhaps $60 million they might have been willing to hand him and go in another direction—say, South, by way of Miami. That's right, the Angels are now being considered a strong entrant in the Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes. Scouting director Eddie Bane confirmed to the LA Times this week that the team is definitely going to meet with Chapman after they see him pitch. When you combine what the Angels have coming off the books, they might have the most flexibility of any team outside the Bronx. (Isn't that always the case?)

I hope this is true. Aroldis in a Travs uni, coming soon! And the Angels could stand to add some top of the line prospects to their pitching depth. Maybe Walden and O'Sullivan turn out to be solid big leaguers. Maybe Chapman turns out to be a number one.

From Ray Winder to Dickey Stephens

Evidently, there is a documentary, to be shown at the Hot Springs film festival, called From Ray Winder to Dickey Stephens (link takes you to the film's facebook page). Showtime is 10:05 am on Sunday the 18th. I wish I was off. Apparently the movie was made by a student in the Honors College at UCA. Um, can I get copy of this thing?

thanks for the tip, Sidd.