Chatter: Mexicali

I haven't been near Mexicali or Yuma lately, but it is right out my back door, a simple three or four hour drive, and next February the 2009 Caribbean Series, the “Serie del Caribe”, will be held in Mexicali.

Why Mexicali I have no idea. I always remember the area having nothing but a bunch of farm land, lots of factories, being insanely hot, and pretty much a dump. Thankfully this is the winter leagues, eh?

If you ever bought something that said made in Mexico, chances are, it came from Mexicali.

The Serie del Caribe teams are typically from Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and many Major League players are called on to fill the rosters, so the quality of play is high, with national pride often at stake.

Wikipedia - Mexicali Baseball

The Águilas de Mexicali is a Mexican baseball team playing for the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico in Mexicali, Baja California.

The team was founded in October 14, 1976. They have won the championship three times, 1985-1986, 1988-1989, 1998-1999. The team also won the 1986 Caribbean Series, played in Venezuela. Their brightest moment came when they won the 1986 Caribbean Series, only becoming the second Mexican team to take the title

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SDUT - winter-ball

so thats why wr is rambling on about winter ball.

Gonzalez is tied for second in the majors in games played, so one might think he will skip Mexico's winter-ball season. Wrong. “I'm thinking about playing for Mazatlan,” he said. “I'm not 100 percent, but I'm thinking about it.”

SDUT - Kouzmanoff?

Kouzmanoff could see a nice little bump in his fantasy value if he could grab first base eligibility next season. I can't see it happening the rest of this year, but next season it is certainly a possibility. Chase Headley would see the biggest bump though, with outfield and third. Both great sleepers for next season.

Kevin Kouzmanoff has yet to play first base in the majors, but that could change Sunday in Milwaukee, manager Bud Black said. “It gives us a little flexibility,” Black said of developing Kouzmanoff into a spot starter behind All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. With Chase Headley moving from left field to third, Black would “get two right-handed bats in there against a left-handed pitcher.” Lefties tend to be Kouzmanoff's favorite pitchers, and Headley, a switch-hitter, is hitting nearly 100 points better against lefties this season.

SDUT - Antonelli

And somehow Kevin Towers still has a job.

To replace Barfield entering 2007, the Padres enlisted veteran second basemen Marcus Giles and Todd Walker. And partly because of concerns about Walker, they paid $500,000 to a Mexican club strictly for the negotiation rights to utilityman Oscar Robles.

Walker was released in spring training, which resulted in a labor grievance that was resolved this season; in the end, the Padres paid Walker close to $2 million. For nothing.

Giles, meantime, cost the Padres $3.75 million; in return, they got a .229 batting average, four home runs and fairly good defense.

Last offseason, the Padres guaranteed $3.85 million to free-agent second baseman Tadahito Iguchi. In 303 at-bats this season, Iguchi batted .231 with two home runs. In recent days, the Padres tried to get other clubs to take Iguchi but found no takers.

Add it all up, and that's about $10 million for three second basemen who either did more harm than good, or nothing at all.

DePodesta - Antonelli and LeBlanc

DePodesta fires up his alleged propaganda machine, and shares some insight into Matt Antonelli and Wade LeBlanc.

Wade LeBlanc is joining the Major League rotation with his first start coming tomorrow night (Wednesday) against the Dodgers. Like Antonelli, LeBlanc was a 2006 draft by the Padres and has moved rapidly through the system. We knew we were pushing him by putting him in AAA at the beginning of the season, and his performance reflected that: a 9.27 ERA in April and a 6.56 ERA in May. However, Wade surged in June and over the final three months went 93 innings with 80 hits, 20 walks, and 103 strikeouts.

The most significant part of these two callups and what separates them from your typical September callup is the fact that neither player needed to be protected on the 40-man roster this winter. I know it may not seem like it, but that is a big deal. Bringing these two players now is a loud statement for the Padres. I'll expand on that thought in a later post.

Gaslamp Ball - Chris Antonelli

Mom fires up the propaganda machine for Antonelli. How sweet.

"I couldn't be more proud or happy for Matt," Chris Antonelli, Matt's mother, said last night before she and her husband arrived at Dodger Stadium. "It really couldn't happen to a better kid. This has been his dream since he was 8-years-old. Matt has worked so hard to get this far and we're just here to enjoy it with him."

SportingNews - Mather out for the season

And you thought you had a bad day.

Mather will get another shot in the St Louis outfield next season, but he is kind of old for a prospect, no? Mather does have some pop in his bat, but if he ends up winning any part of a 25 man roster spot next season, you can rest assured that Tony LaRussa will have him in a platoon. Plus broken bones in your hand is never good for a hitter. He could be 28 before he finds his groove again do to this injury.

Pass.

St. Louis will be without Joe Mather for the rest of the season because of a broken bone in his left hand.

The 26-year-old outfielder was injured while swinging at a pitch in the Cardinals' 8-6 loss to Arizona on Monday. He will undergo surgery to repair the broken hamate bone, team officials said.

SportingNews - Flores carted off the field

Flores was already going to be a solid sleeper at catcher next season.
This only assures that you will be able to get him in the last rounds
of your draft.

Nationals catcher Jesus Flores was carted off the field with a sprained left ankle Tuesday night after Philadelphia's Chase Utley barreled into him on a play at the plate.

X-rays showed no obvious signs of a fracture and an MRI was pending, the team said.

SportingNews - Saltalamacchia out for season with forearm injury

if you are in a keeper league, buy low

Jarrod Saltalamacchia left the game Monday night in the fifth inning after hurting his arm while trying to throw out Miguel Cairo on an infield single. He threw from an awkward angle, and after firing the ball wide of first base, Saltalamacchia fell to the ground in pain.

Saltalamacchia said the injury wasn't as bad as he initially feared.

"There's no ligament damage," he said. "There's a little pain. In a couple weeks I'll start doing some strengthening exercises and then I'll start throwing. Right now, I just want to get ready for winter ball."

Tim Dierkes - MLBTradeRumors - Free Agent Starters By Strikeout Rate

An early look at this years lotto winners .. I am guessing Oliver Perez, Randy Wolf, and Dempster get the biggest payday.

The free agent market offers fewer than thirty viable starting pitchers.
If you're looking for dominance, here's how they rank by strikeouts per nine innings:

Player	K/9
John Smoltz	11.57
A.J. Burnett	9.31
C.C. Sabathia	8.90
Randy Johnson	8.74
Ryan Dempster	8.15
Oliver Perez	8.14
Randy Wolf	7.90
Ben Sheets	7.45
Bartolo Colon	7.09
Pedro Martinez	6.93
Andy Pettitte	6.80
Derek Lowe	6.38
Mike Mussina	6.22
Odalis Perez	6.01
Tim Wakefield	5.81
Jamie Moyer	5.75
Josh Fogg	5.26
Tom Glavine	5.26
Kyle Lohse	5.06
Brad Penny	4.90
Greg Maddux	4.60
Braden Looper	4.37
Kenny Rogers	4.31
Jon Garland	3.96
Paul Byrd	3.89
Mike Hampton	3.83
Sidney Ponson	3.79
Livan Hernandez	3.47

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Tim Dierkes - MLBTradeRumors - 2009 MLB Free Agents

Great bookmark for you here. Many sights do a free agent list each winter, but I know of none better than MLBTR's

Presenting...your 2009 free agent class. The players below are eligible for free agency after the 2008 season.

I've categorized them by position; the player's 2009 age is in parentheses. If I saw someone as a possibility at more than one position I put them at both.

Eric Seidman - FanGraphs - The Good and Bad - Brian Roberts

Fangraphs is pretty much mandatory daily reading for me anymore. the research these two do everyday is awesome!

There are only two major league hitters right now with a WPA of 2.00 or above that have single-digit home run marks: Joe Mauer (8) and Brian Roberts (9). Mauer gets plenty of pub regardless of his power outages but it seems that Roberts is still considered a “fluke” due to his great 2005 season that is yet to be matched. Following that tremendous campaign he had a disappointing 2006, which saw his OPS drop almost 200 points, and I’m not sure he has regained any of his reputation since that disappointment.

Dave Cameron - FanGraphs - The Inconsistent One

The Dodgers spent a good bit of money on Hiroki Kuroda to bolster their rotation this winter, and overall, he’s pitched pretty well. His 3.64 FIP over 156 innings has resulted in a 1.36 WPA/LI, meaning he’s been nearly a win and a half better than an average pitcher. That’s pretty valuable, and the Dodgers couldn’t have hoped for much more when they signed him.

However, on a day to day basis, it’s been nearly impossible to predict what Kuroda will give you. He’s taken inconsistency to a whole new level. Take a look at this histogram of his starts by game score

Eric Seidman - FanGraphs - Werth the Risk

I got him on the money league roster for the final month, and thats all that really matters right?

the fact remains that Jayson Werth, a low risk acquisition prior to last season, is one of the main reasons the Phillies are still within striking distance of the NL East.

Fantasy Hurler - Season killers

I have been very outspoken in the past about Adam Dunn when it comes to your fantasy roster, even went so far as to call him a 2 tool player. And that was back in the day when he would swipe a base or two. So I always get a smile when i see things like this ...

It's not players you cut and draft who ruin you; it's those you don't. An injury to any player can sometimes be far less cruel than a season of underwhelming performances. You can cut bait on Rafael Furcal and move on, but what are you supposed to do with Robinson Cano? There's always a Carlos Quentin to pick up (if you act quickly), but sometimes Eric Byrnes lingers around just long enough that you're scraping the barrel in May instead of picking ripe fruit in April.

In no particular order, some of the players who have killed me this year.

4.) Adam Dunn: I didn't really need the homers, as it turned out, but, boy, did I definitely not need that batting average. If he had just batted .260, I might have finished in the money in an additional league or two.

umpbump - Man or Machine? Either way, he’s hilarious.

Yeah, this was pretty damn funny! thanks pat

Pat Burrell, who hit just .181 with four homers, 12 RBIs and a .275 on-base percentage in August, did not start yesterday. Burrell did show a good sense of humor before the game. “I’m still available to come in defensively late in the game,” he said.