Fish Bites
By Michael Jong
Quick Bites today, I don’t have a whole lot of time unfortunately. Going to a concert with me-lady, so we’re going to be prepping soon.
– First, tonight’s matchup against the Nationals. I likely won’t be able to watch, but it should be an interesting game. Sean West takes the mound against Craig Stammen, as West looks to improve on a rough outing last time around. The Nationals are as good a target as any, though their hitters have been league average and have some serious pop.
– You might have read my early morning tirade about Bonifacio. Here’s Craig’s tirade on Fish Stripes, citing the same Juan C. Rodriguez blog post. He wasn’t happy either. I think everyone on that page came to the same conclusion I did. In fact, I think they came to that conclusion two months ago.
– Hanley Ramirez was named National League co-Player of the Week with San Diego Padres pitcher Chad Gaudin. Congrats to Hanley, hopefully this propels him to a starting role at the All-Star game.
– Miami-Dade commissioners gave Wachovia the money they wanted, and the stadium inches forward a bit more. The lawsuit has been pushed aside (though it and Norman Braman’s one are still in appeals) and it looks as if everything will begin moving swimmingly. I hope.
– Jon Heyman reports that the Marlins kicked the tires on Heath Bell and Joakim Soria. No go, said the Padres and Royals respectively. I didn’t think so. Still, good to see Beinfest is moving progressively towards getting pen help.
– Harry Pavlidis of Beyond the Box Score with one of our new Arms of the Week, reliever Tim Wood! Here’s the scouting report:
"Pitcherpitch (speed) # vs. lhh/rhhTim Wood* Change-up (86.4) 10/0* Sinker (93.1) 11/6* Fastball (93.6) 3/10* Slider (86.5) 0/4* Sinkers and changes against lefties* Fastballs and sliders against righties* Two speed pitcher* Maxed out at 95.5"
Not all that bad. Hopefully he plays as well for us as he did for the Zephyrs in Triple-A, because the pen needs any live arms right now. As a quick aside, is anyone noticing BtB getting daily-special happy? Their front page is flooded with daily posts, and I can’t easily find the really good stuff. Guess that goes for me too though.
– Found this piece from last month by BtB’s awesome Sky Kalkman about lineup order, again. He uses Tom Tango’s The Book, so you might have heard the arguments before. Still, worth a look over.
– Finally, a lot of wheeling and dealing for the Pirates and Nationals. The Nats dealth sabermetric “Free X” favorite Ryan Langerhans to a giddy Seattle team for scrub Mike Morse in what was described as “a favor” to Langerhans. Seems like it was a favor to both teams. Then, the Pirates dealt Eric Hinske to the Bronx, then trade Nyjer Morgan, UZR’s top defensive player, in a deal to get Lastings Milledge from the Nats, even though Morgan and Langerhans were viewed by many as the same player, and Lastings Milledge is 25 and still could be a decent player. Puzzling, but can’t say the Pirates didn’t come out ahead here. More on that when I ask FanSided’s Pirates blogger Tom Smithis of Rum Bunter. He’s our next guest on Shark in the Tank, coming later this week!