A colleague brought to work the other day a catalog that’d mysteriously been sent to his house. This catalog was full of ridiculous swords and sundry nerd/skinhead paraphernalia. Included in this collection of stupid crap was this ballcap meant to double as a club, containing a “pocket of a unique impact material that is 110% the density of lead.”
It made me think of Anthony Reyes.
In the show, Lost, who the heck was Kelvin Joe Inman? I’m guessing that character will be brought back to tie up some loose ends, but I can’t guess which group he’d've been affiliated with. I suspect he works for whichever organization Naomi’s with.
Incidentally, the actor also does the voicework for Mr. Krabs on Spongebob.
Derrick Goold reports that Matt Clement won’t be ready for opening day and that he’ll likely go on a rehab assignment to get back into the routine. That means that my most recent roster prognostication is wrong in at least one place: the starting rotation. I’d guessed it’d be [Wainwright, Looper, Clement, Piñiero, Hawksworth], Blake Hawksworth being a long climb out on a thin limb on the reasoning that unless Reyes has an excellent Spring, the team would avoid bouncing him up and down from Memphis and that giving a young pitcher a shot for the month or so that Mulder’s out would be a fine idea.
Clement’s signed to a guaranteed major-league contract, so if he were sent on a rehab assignment to start the season, he’d need to be called up to the big club within 30 days of the assignment. The Memphis and Palm Beach seasons both start on April 3rd—30 days from then is May 3rd. Clement could potentially be out for the first month. There’s no word on when Mulder will be available, but I’m guessing he’ll be sent on a rehab assignment whenever that is. Let’s say he starts his rehab at the end of April and he comes up in mid-May. That’s two starters needed for the first month and another for the first month and a half to two months.
Before, I’d guessed the bullpen as [Izzy, Springer, Franklin, Flores, TJ, Wellemeyer, Castellanos], with Castellanos the inaugural holder of the Token Funky Delivery Guy role after narrowly beating out Worrell. I suppose a more realistic opening day pitching staff would include Brad Thompson in the long-man role with Wellemeyer moving into the rotation. There’s talk of Perez making the team out of Spring Training, which would certainly be exciting, although while spoiling my dreams of a permanent funky delivery guy in the ‘pen. It’s hard to imagine that one of the best five starting candidates out of the group not including Carp, Mulder, and Clement wouldn’t be Anthony Reyes, so I’ll guess this staff:
Rotation: Wainwright, Looper, Piñiero, Reyes, Wellemeyer
Bullpen:Izzy, Springer, Franklin, Flores, Johnson, Thompson, Perez
When Clement joins the team, either Wellemeyer goes to the ‘pen and bumps the least effective reliever or Reyes returns to Memphis.
Later on that evening: Two articles of interest popped up.
This one has Bryan Anderson and Jaime Garcia returning to AA for 2008.
The second says Kyle McClellan and Blake Hawksworth have caught Dave Duncan’s eye. Sounds likely there’s a chance for a solid AAA pitching staff, at least.
It came out a while back that Anthony Reyes has an option year remaining, in spite of the fact that he’d spent time in the minors the last three years while on the 40-man roster. I thought that maybe I’d misremembered that he’d spent fewer than 20 days in the minors last year. He was sent down on May 27th and brought back on June 16th, so that’s 19 days. But he was sent down again from the 2nd to the 28th of July. That’s not the loophole he’s passing through. (Perhaps to his misfortune, some would think.)
Turns out that you need to be in your fifth pro season in order to be out of options. Reyes was brought up in his second professional season for four appearances in 2005. This will be his fifth pro season, so he doesn’t have enough service time to pass through waivers if the Cardinals choose to send him to the minors at any time this season. That’s something to keep in mind if Mortenson makes huge progress and gets called up for a start this year. The Cardinals wouldn’t be risking anything in terms of losing the player to waivers by bringing him up in 2008 versus 2009, although the service time would count towards his arbitration eligibility.
I was ignorant of that fifth-season clause. I’m glad to be slightly less ignorant now.
LHP Jaime Garcia … Is coming off a season cut short by a tender elbow. Did not have surgery as the Cardinals’ doctors prescribed rest. Has no restrictions on him, according to the Cardinals. Threw well Monday, and had noticeable zip on his fastball.
That’s very welcome news. The uncertainty about his elbow caused enough uncertainty that he dropped hard in all the prospect lists. Recall that Adam Wainwright was shut down for most of 2004 to rest—without surgery—what’s been reported as a torn ligament. Garcia’s elbow had only been described as sore, from what I know, so it wouldn’t be unprecedented if he were able to put together a solid, healthy age-21 season on the verge of the major leagues. I hope to see him unleash his curveball while I’m down in Jupiter.
Ryan: Judging by Mr. Strauss’ article on how the Cards roster looks to shape out after the Spring, it seems that either Brian Barton or Skip Schumaker will no longer be with the club. Barton offers a decent bat and speed at the leadoff position, but hasn’t seen an AB past AA. Schumaker has hit fairly well in the bigs, but never seems to warrant steady playing time. Who do you see as having the most potential and the favorite to make the 25-man roster?Jeff Gordon: Barton did get a taste of Class AAA ball last year, hitting .264 in fewer than 100 ABs. But he is an unknown. He is younger than Skip, he bats right handed and he could have more leadoff potential—all of which could help him win the coin flip, if it came to that. On the other hand, Skip hit well enough at all levels to merit a good look.
Could both stay? Perhaps, if somebody else (like Spiezio) fell out of the mix.
Gordo alludes to Spiezio being an outfielder in competition with Barton and Schumaker. He twice mentions Phelps making the team as a RH-pinch hitter—which, for non-baseball fans—is NOT a defensive position.
A well-built NL team needs two backups in the infield and two backups in the outfield, plus a backup catcher. One of those backup infielders needs to be able to play the middle infield positions: in a sane world, that would be Brendan Ryan but will likely end up being Aaron Miles. The other bench infielder needs to be competent at third and first with a solid bat: that’s Scott Spiezio, since Phelps can’t play third. At least one of those backup outfielders has to be solid defensively at all three positions and the other needs to be at least good in left and with a strong bat. I can’t imagine any backup catcher not being able to fill in at first—ideally, you’d have someone who can play another position like we had with Marerro, who could play decently in the outfield corners. You need to have such a roster or else you can’t give players a day off without seriously compromising your ability to win that game by putting bad defenders on the field and bad hitters in the lineup.
If Phelps is on the team and Spiezio isn’t, then Glaus doesn’t have a backup. That’d leave us with no decent backup anywhere on the left-side of the infield, assuming Miles beats out Ryan. Spiezio’s ability to play half-decently in the outfield is gravy, but doesn’t make him an outfielder. He’s a backup third baseman who’s about as good with the glove as our starter next year. Spiezio bats better left-handed than righty, but I’d be stunned if the team broke camp with Phelps over Spiezio. Especially considering that Phelps is on a minor-league contract and Spiezio is signed to a $2.3M major-league contract (with a $100,000 buyout on his ’09 option). That is all I have to say about that.
Colleague: You think I should pack my bags yet?
Colleague’s Wife: Pack your bags for what?
Colleague flexes his biceps and grunts: FOR THE PYTHON CONFERENCE!!!
I’d consider going myself, if only to visit friends in Chicago and to have all those sweet jokes.
It occurred to me that in August, I’ll have lived in Urbana for as long as I’d lived in St. Louis—I’ll have lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere else in my life. That’s a bizarre thought. Fortunately, I’ll be finishing up here soon and getting on with a real life, something that I’m looking forward to, admittedly with some anxiety. Most of that anxiety is relating to getting my work finished up satisfactorily in a tight schedule, but it’ll be strange selling my house and moving away to places unknown.
Got me thinking back a bit. I checked to see if any of my elementary school teachers were still around. Shockingly, my second grade teacher is still in the biz. I was in her classroom when the Challenger exploded during launch. She’s a wonderful woman—amazing to have that much patience to put up with little brats all these years.
Spring training starts soon, players are already starting to arrive. Illini Hockey looks to close out a perfect regular season tonight. Regular posting imminent.
And if you look closely, you can see me. (The lone vote in my precinct for Fred Thompson, long out of the race.)
City-wide, I’m nothing short of astonished that the Urbana Park District tax hike failed by only 49.53 to 50.47.
The video for the Avalanches’ Frontier Psychiatrist from way back in 2000 is super.
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