Continuing their quest for playoff glory, the Madtown Murlocs made a flurry of moves as the league approaches its halfway point: a trade, a cut, a signing. Read on!
THE TRADE: The Murlocs dipped into their minor-league system and dealt prospects Matt Moore and Mike Minor (Mmmmm....) to the Oakland United club. In return, Madtown acquired LHP C.J. Wilson, OF Michael Bourne and RHP Hiroki Kuroda. GM Jeff 'Chops' Braga had this to say about the trade, "Being in the hunt to make the playoffs and win the division, its time to trade some quality prospects for some veterans that can help the team immediately. The outfield can use some quality speed and get steals, which Bourne brings to the table. C.J. Wilson and Kuroda can bolster the rotation which has been hurting this year."
THE CUT: To open up a spot for Bourne, the Murlocs cut disappointing Draft Day signee Nate McLouth, who can now be signed on a first-come, first-serve basis by any FL club able to open up a roster spot by cutting an established player. And, while not being let go by any means, the Murlocs returned last year's frosh sensation (RHP Rick Porcello) to the minors in order to create a roster spot for Kuroda.
THE HIRED GUN: With Zach Duke now but a memory, the Murlocs used their sacrifice of McLouth (and his $2 million salary, buy-bye....) to sign veteran lefty reliever J.C. Romero off the scrap heap, but it was not immediately sure if he would join newly-acquired southpaw Jose Mijares on the parent club, or go to AAA as an insurance policy. GM Braga is expected to shuffle his club a bit more to reflect these changes, which are clearly intended to keep his team in the Western Division playoff hunt.
"What can I say?" said BARB Commissioner Scott Hatfield. "I'm really happy with the league's structure right now. It's hard to make deals, and the environment has led to exactly the tough decisions that major-league clubs in 'reality' must face. Deal a prospect, or sit on him? Give a veteran a chance to put it together, or eat their contract, and use the future savings implied by eating the contract to go after a short-term fix in the open market? The sudden flurry of activity as clubs have realized the possible temporary benefits of the latter is fascinating to watch."
ST. FRANCIS SNATCHES CORDERO
The Friars have confirmed that they have signed former Yuma closer Francisco Cordero to a one-year, $3 million contract and that he will immediately be groomed to assume the role of stopper. To create future room in their cap to handle this big signing, St. Francis has released veteran left-handed reliever George Sherrill.
"This is a tough decision for us," remarked special assistant 'Trader' Jack McKeon. "We like George a lot. He's good in the clubhouse, and he's a pro. We would never leave him hanging, like some people. But the numbers don't lie. George just isn't effective at all against right-handed hitters any more, and while he can still get lefties, it's become a tightrope act, walking as many guys as he fans. He was due to make $4.5 million next year, and it just makes sense to cut our losses now. We think he still has some baseball in him, just not with us."
In another roster move, St. Francis promoted highly-anticipated 3B prospect Pedro Alvarez to their major-league roster. McKeon cautioned not to make too much of this. "This is a kid who was going to college classes just 16 months ago, not Jesus Christ," opined the irreverent baseball lifer. "We see him getting some starts against left-handed pitching, coming off the bench and so forth. For now, (veteran) Casey Blake is playing great, and he's our starting third baseman."
ELIMINATORS TO MOABS: "YOU DON'T SCARE US"
WORCESTER 4, BROOKLYN 2 (1st game of DH)
WP: Adam Wainwright (6-3, 3.73)
LP: Ubaldo Jiminez (9-2, 3.56)
SV: Rivera (16)
WORCESTER 9, BROOKLYN 2 (2nd game of DH)
WP: Joba Chamberlain (1-0, 5.26)
LP: James Shields (4-5, 5.67)
Mark Teixeira hit bombs with men aboard in back-to-back games against Jiminez and Shields, and ultra-hot Robinson Cano collected six hits in the doubleheader as the Eliminators (38-28) won for the seventh time in their last ten games to take over second place . . .and in the process, sent a message to Ubaldo Jiminez: you don’t scare us. Worcester beat Jiminez, who at one point was 8-0 but has gone 1-2 in four starts since with a 9.18 ERA, and both of his losses were to the visiting Elims.
Joba Chamberlain, given another chance, finally got a decision after being in the limbo of swing man the past few weeks, and performed well enough (6 IP, 1 ER, 7 K) that he might be given another shot, but the feeling is that last year’s setup man (Philip Hughes) is deserving of a rotation shot, which could be a major boost in the second half.
For the Eliminators, it all comes down to pitching and staying healthy. Their lineup is thin in depth, but deep in talent. This is how things looked after the double dip for their hitters:
LF Carl Crawford (.335)
3B Derek Jeter (.318)
SS Hanley Ramirez (.302)
C Joe Mauer (.370)
1B Mark Teixiera (.280)
RF Jason Bay (.234...but 20 bombs)
2B Robinson Cano (.335)
CF Lastings Milledge (not hitting his weight)
Other than the clunk of the last hitter (which is due to Grady Sizemore’s season-ending surgery), this is one hell of a lineup. Speed at the top, strike zone judgement throughout, switch-hitters in the middle of the order making it tough on opposing managers trying to gain bullpen matchups.
In other BARB action . . .
DARWIN 3, CASSELTON 2 (10 innings)
WP: Fernando Rodney (1-0, 4.05)
LP: Brad Ziegler (1-2, 5.23)
SV: Gregg (1)
Yadier Molina singled home Miguel Tejada with two down in the top of the tenth, and two forgotten men in Darwin’s bullpen combined to get the last seven outs as the Finches (33-34) pulled within two games of Yuma in the competitive Western Division race. Jose Lopez hit a solo shot for the Horned Toads, and John Danks matched Zack Greinke zero-for-zero to force extra frames.
Kevin Gregg began the 2009 season as Darwin’s closer, and the Finches memorably swapped mega-prospect Steven Strasburg to get both Jose Valverde (who left in this year’s Draft) and Fernando Rodney, who lost the closer’s job in the spring to Draftee Ryan Franklin. Both have been marginal at best through most of the year, with Gregg being especially awful (3 HR, 54.00 ERA in just four appearances), but he earned his first save in nearly a year by striking out Derek Lee and Garret Jones...!
FROSTBITE FALLS 5, OAKLAND 0
WP: Tim Lincecum (8-4, 2.83)
LP: Derek Lowe (4-8, 6.18)
Squirrels ace Tim Lincecum fanned 13 Oakland hitters, allowing no hits after a one-out double in the first by Brandon Philips, and for good measure added a single as part of a three-run fourth, helping Frostbite Falls (34-31) snap a season-high five-game losing streak. The United lineup was missing the recently-traded Michael Bourn in CF, and it will be interesting to see what else will happen in Oakland after their recent moves.
BLACK MESA 2, ST. FRANCIS 0
WP: Wandy Rodriguez (4-5, 4.27)
LP: Gavin Floyd (5-6, 3.49)
SV: Papelbon (4)
Have the Anomalies finally recovered their signature? Between 2008-2009, Black Mesa was a .500 club but absolutely deadly with a lead after seven, due to the work of setup man Takashi Saito and closer Jonathan Papelbon. But an injury to Saito in late 2009 and some personal issues with Papelbon have led to an ineffective pen for a team now best known for stockpiling more bats than they can use. Saito returned last week, however, and with both healthy for the same time it looked like old times for the Anomalies, as the pair combined with starter Wandy Rodriguez on a five-hit shutout.
MADTOWN 3, ARIZONA 2 (10 innings)
WP: Brian Wilson (2-0, 2.22)
LP: Edward Mujica (3-1, 2.85)
SV: Mijares (1)
Brian Wilson gave up a game-tying HR with two out in the bottom of the ninth to Travis Hafner, but was let off the hook when Cecil Fielder hit his 17th of the year leading off the top of the 10th, and recently-acquired lefty specialist Jose Mijares picked up his first-ever BARB save. Mijares induced slugging 1B Adrian Gonzalez to roll into a 6-4-3 DP to end the ball game that saw new Madtown starter Hiroki Kuroda combine with Jon Garland to allow just one run in seven frames, an auspicious beginning with his new club trying to hang with Yuma.
1 comment:
Mr. Hatfield, stop living in the 90s! It's PRINCE Fielder, not Cecil.
Unless, of course, some team decided to sign the tub o' lard. In which case, I'd say that owner is worse than the one who drafted Tim Worrell with the first pick in the 2004 draft.
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