Myworld will be on travel tomorrow, driving from Florida back home to Virginia. We don’t anticipate any posts for Friday. Once home we will finish off the Top 100 prospect list, provide the top ten Dominicans and Venezuelans in the American and Natonal League and the Top ten prospects from the United States in the American and National League. Myworld will also try to ramp up our college coverage.
Happy Easter.
Both Japan and the Netherlands won exhibition games in their tuneup to the World Baseball Classic semifinals in San Francisco. Japan beat the Giants 6-3 and the Netherlands bombed the Padres 9-3.
Japan started Masahiro Tanaka in their game against the Giants. He worked two innings and gave up one run. Takashi Toritani was the big bat from the leadoff spot for Japan, stroking two hits, scoring twice and driving in two runs. The Giants started Yusmeiro Petit, who was banged around for four runs on six hits.
Japan was in control the whole game after their three run outburst in the third. Sho Nagata also scored twice with his three hits for Japan. The Japanese bullpen after Tanaka gave up only two hits against the Giants, including a solo homerun from Gary Brown in the ninth. Kazuhisa Makita gave up the other hit, but also struck out the side. The Samurai gave one run in the sixth courtesy of a couple errors.
The Netherlands got a homerun from Andruw Jones in beating the Padres 9-3.
Anthony Rendon slammed four hits, including a 3-run homer giving the Nationals their first lead of the ball game in their 9-7 win over the Astros. Rendon got hits in his last four at bats, falling a triple shy of the cycle. He also drove in four runs.
The Astros took the lead in the first, strafing Ross Ohlendorf for four runs in the opening frame. Two errors, one on a failed pick off play and the other on a poor relay throw from the shortstop did not have a great impact on the scoring production. A blister on his right hand seemed to have more of an effect on the Astros hitting. The Astros battered Ohlendorf for four hits and a walk, including a triple by Justin Maxwell to race into a 4-0 lead.
The Nationals battled back, getting a run in the second on a double by Carlos Rivero and an RBI single from Matt Skole. Two more runs on four hits off Jordan Lyle in the third pulled the Nationals to within one. Jordan pitched three innings and gave up three runs, lowering his ERA to 19.00. The way he is pitching he is destined for AAA.
Micah Owings tied the game in the fourth with an RBI double, the first of his two doubles in the game. The Astros took the lead again in the fifth when Jose Altuve and Carlos Pena hit back to back doubles. Pena tried to stretch his double to a triple but was gunned down by Corey Brown.
The three run homer by Rendon in the eighth gave the Nationals their first lead. The Astros responded back in the bottom frame on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Barnes. After a walk to load the bases Jason Jaramillo grounded into a first-home-first double play to end the threat, leaving the Astros down by one.
The Nationals again hit back to back doubles, this time from Corey Brown and Estarlin Martinez to score one run. Micah Owings lashed a single to left to score the second run. The Astros got a leadoff homerun from Brandon Laird in the ninth, but lost 9-7.
Game Notes: The Nationals played the Astros earlier in the year at Kissimmee. Their starters for this game were the bench players who came in for the later innings in the first game. That includes the pitcher Ross Ohlendorf…Tony Beasly was the acting manager for the split squad game…After giving up a hit and a walk to the first two hitters hitters he faced, Eric Bedard retired the next three hitters, all three on strikeouts. Two of the three strikeouts were against lefthanded batters…Brandon Barnes broke early from first off Cole Kimbrall. Cole showed good poise by calmly stepping off the rubber and throwing to second to get the runner out.
2532Myworld was in Bradenton for our second visit. It was warmer by about ten degrees than it was yesterday. John Lannan got the start for the Philles. He gave up a 2-out double to Travis Snider in the first. After that the Pirates could not collect another hit in the Phillies 5-0 win.
The Pirates were able to coax four walks after the double in various innings. Three of the walks were erased by double plays and the fourth was erased by a caught stealing. Philly pitchers ended up facing just one batter more than the minimum. The one hit the Pirates got in the first squirted beneath Ryan Howard’s glove. If he could have bent his massive frame a little further down to the ground he could have made the play and perhaps a no hitter would have resulted.
The Phillies took advantage of the wildness of A.J. Burnett. He has been struggling early this spring. He started the second inning hitting Darin Ruf. Dominic Brown and Yunesky Betancourt each hit singles to load the bases with one out. Burnett walked the next two hitters to force in two runs. An RBI single by Michael Young up the middle drove in the third run of the inning and ended the day for Burnett.
Kris Johnson came in and walked his firt hitter he faced to force in another run. The big boppers Ryan Howard (strikeout) and Darwin Ruf (pop to catcher) couldn’t drive in the three runners.
The Phillies were able to score only one more run in the fourth. Ben Revere started the inning with a single. Stole second and advanced to third when the catcher’s throw went out into centerfield. Ben scored when Michael Young bounced to second base.
Game Notes: Adam Morgan pitched three innings of release, walking only two…Ender Inciarte took three called third strikes in his only at bat as a late inning substitution in the eighth…Ivan DeJesus made a pretty double play flip on a ball he fielded up the middle behind second base.
Overall Assessment: Just when the Rockies thought they had it all figured out with their pitching by putting balls in humidifiers to control the increased flight of the ball, their pitching self destructs. They tried a new system, a four man rotation with the starter not going more than four innings. That didn’t improve things. They traded Jason Hammel for Jeremy Guthrie in the hopes of getting a more experienced pitcher to move into the number one spot in the rotation. Guthrie bombed while Hammel did well with Baltimore. They traded Guthrie to the Royals for Jonathan Sanchez. Guthrie shined for the Royals enough they resigned him. Sanchez only got three starts for the Rockies and became a free agent. Jhoulys Chacin had the best ERA among the starters with a 4.43 ERA and he just recently signed a two year contract. The new strategy is not to worry about pitcher ERAs, as long as they can score more runs than the other team on a consistent basis. The problem with that strategy is it doesn’t work well when they go on the road.
Hot Stove Season: Not a lot happening here. They made a trade with the Astros to acquire Wilton Lopez to strenghten their bullpen. He could even take over the closer role if he does well in spring training. They picked up lefty Daniel Rosenbaum in the Rule V draft from the Nationals. Daniel got off to a great start in the minor leagues but then stumbled as the season progressed. The Rockies could hide him in their bullpen. They made a minor move in acquiring Ryan Wheeler from the Diamondbacks for Matt Reynolds. Reynolds ate a lot of innings in the bullpen for the Rockies, but Wheeler shows some bat if Nolan Arenado does not come around. He could also move to the outfield.
Strength: They have a couple All Stars from the offensive side. Troy Tulowitski is one of the best shortstops in baseball. Last year he only played the first half of the season before getting injured. They need him for a full season if they are to do well. It would be difficult to find a player with more tools than Carlos Gonzalez. He has the potential to hit over .300 with 30 plus homeruns. If Tulowitski is up all year that should be good protection for Carlos in the lineup. Dexter Fowler played with more consistency on the offensive side of the equation last year, increasing his OPS by close to 100 points. Wilin Rosario branded himself one of the best offensive catchers last year, hitting 28 homeruns and throwing out 32 percent of those runners who tried to steal against him.
Weakness: Pitching. Pitching. Pitching. They have none and they can’t use the excuse it is the altitude preventing them from finding pitchers. Their one big challenge is attracting free agent pitchers to come to Colorado. No one wants to set himself up to fail. Todd Helton is no longer the stud he was in his earlier years. Michael Cuddyer may find more time at first base, especially if Tyler Colvin continues to hit.
Top Position Prospect: Myworld thinks number one 2012 pick David Dahl has more overall tools than Nolan Arenado. Dahl has the speed to be a good defensive centerfielder and steal bases. Dahl certainly had an impressive debut season last year hitting .379 with a 1.048 OPS.
Top Pitching Prospect: They need to find some. Chad Bettis did not play last year because of injury. They also selected a couple promising pitchers in the draft the last couple years in Eddie Butler and Tyler Henderson. Injuries have stalled former number one Tyler Matzek and number two Chad Bettis. Myworld will go with Edwar Cabrera. He doesn’t throw hard but he throws lefthanded and in 2011 he struck out more than 200 hitters.
Watch out for: Manny Corpas. He was the Rockies closer a couple years ago. Tommy John surgery led to his release. He bounced around a couple other teams but has retured as a non-roster invitee to the Rockies. They don’t really have a proven closer on the team.
Rookie of the Year Prospect: Nothing is preventing Nolan Arenado from taking the third base job. He only has Chris Nelson standing in front of him. Nolan’s slugging percentage decreased 50 points in 2012 compared to 2011. A good spring and Chris Nelson will be back to his utility role.
Projected on Paper Finish: It all depends on how they can solve their pitching, but no higher than third. We expect them to be the basement of the division as they were last year, even with a healhy Tulow.
255fAn 11th inning walkoff homer by Cuban castoff Ronnie Mustelier gave the Culiacan Tomateros an opening 5-4 win over Hermosillo. Hermosillo got three solo homeruns from Japanese castoff LA Garcia, Korean castoff Karim Garcia and Jesse Gutierrez to overcome a 3-0 deficit to take a brief 4-3 lead. Culiacan rallied for a run in the bottom of the seventh to tie it. Marlon Byrd contributed a 2-run homer in the opening frame to give the Tomateros a 2-0 lead.
Edgar Gonzalez struck out 10 hitters in his six plus innings of work, but he gave up three early runs and the fourth run in the seventh before being yanked.
In another tight game the Obregon Yaquis just got past the Guasave Algodoneros 3-2. Doug Clark broke a 2-2 tie with an eighth inning homerun. Albino Contreras launched a 2-run homer in the fifth to score the Yaquis first two runs. Luis Ayala pitched a perfect ninth to pick up the save.
Mexicali got two homeruns and four RBIs from Wes Bankston to down Mazatlan 7-3. Bankston also scored three runs in the one rout of the day. Marco Duarte went five innings to pick up the win despite walking four. Mike Benacka, who had a 0.75 ERA during the regular season, gave up two late inning runs to force Oscar Villarreal to get the last out of the eighth and retire the side in the ninth for the save.
To start off the new year we thought we would link some first pitches from 2012, with possibly a couple earlier years. We’ll start with the beauty and end with the beauty. In between are stars who show why baseball was not a career field for them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9×3GRTozns
And a first pitch to show why the Wizards have so much trouble winning in basketball. This goes to show you that not all athletes can throw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usyNyn9Ang8
Justin Bieber does a better job of throwing a baseball, but it is still a lob throw that does not impress, no matter how cool he tries to look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ToKkQBIyPs&feature=fvwp&NR=1
Jackie Chan does a better job of throwing out a first pitch at Wrigley Field.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LEVyU8b5Co&NR=1&feature=endscreen
Don’t know if this pitch would be considered legal, but at least he got it over the plate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnXI5UQb4uk
And to end it with a beauty.
In a followup to our story here: http://myworldofbaseball.com/wordpress/?cat=61 the President of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa inaugurated the ground that will be used to build the first true baseball facilities in Sri Lanka. The inauguaration will be followed by a baseball game between the Sri Lankan baseball team and the Kanagawa High School Baseball Federation Team from Japan.
You can read the full story here: http://www.baseballjapan.org/system/prog/news_content.php?lang=eng&news_serialno=318
The Cincinnati Reds appear to have found their leadoff hitter and centerfielder, having grown tired of the swing and miss production of Franklin Stubbs. The Reds had to cough up promising shortstop Didi Gregorius to get him. The Reds got Shin-Soo Choo and also got thrown in Jason Donald who will play in a utility role for the Reds.
The Diamondbacks sent promising pitcher Trevor Bauer to the Indians. It seems they may have tired of Bauer’s unique training method since he seemed to be in trade discussions with a number of teams. Those unique training methods are now the problem of the Indians pitching coaches. The Diamondbacks also sent to the Indians major league bullpen fodder in Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw.
For this pitching smorgasbord the Diamondbacks received Didi Gregorius, Tony Sipp and Lars Anderson. They have been in search of a shortstop and that position appeared to be blocked at Cincinnati for Didi with Zack Cosart permanently entrenched there. Didi has Chris Owings to compete with for the shortstop job this year with Didi offering the better defense and Chris providing the more productive offense. Veterans Willie Bloomquiest and John McDonald stand in the background as insurance. Tony Sipp will make up for the loss of some young pitching, providing some bullpen presence from the left side while Lars Anderson has seen his third team this year. The Red Sox recently traded him to the Indians.
So in summary:
Cincinnati gets - outfielder Shin-Soo Choo (for only one year) and utility man Jason Donald who will compete for the third base job that appears to be Todd Frazier’s to lose.
Arizona gets - shortstop Didi Gregorius, lefthanded pitcher Tony Sipp and first baseman journeyman Lars Anderson. Tony will provide some bullpen help.
Cleveland gets - pitcher Trevor Bauer, major league setup/long man Matt Albers and major league setup man Bryan Shaw. It appears they also get the aforementioned Drew Stubbs.
If any of the three teams want to see this trade succeed it relies on Shin-Soo Choo, Didi Gregorius and Trevor Bauer being successful. All the other players are just window dressing, though Cleveland may get some major league relief help from two of their pitchers and the Reds may get some utility time from Jason Donald.
3bdcMyworld will be going on a twenty day sabbatical as we take a cruise to Hawaii, killing two bucket lists with one trip. We’ve never been on a cruise and we’ve never been to Hawaii. Since cruise internet rates are like robbery we will not see much opportunity to log in to blog. The short window we have for internet time will be more dedicated to reading email and cleaning up the comments section. Myworld will return to publishing November 15th.