Baseball Digest Daily :: Roundup - Giants Need to Be Aggressive

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All Baseball Transactions This Weekend

- I watched the second game that ended the first official presentation of baseball in China and LHP Eric Stults impressed in the first inning, fanning three hitters and showcasing a great change-up that really falls off the table a few feet from the plate. Scott Hairston looked bad against that pitch.

The San Diego Padres won that game 6-3, after trailing 3-0 at the end of the third frame.

Mark Zeigler was there and he wrote about the experience:

The Swinging Friar mascot got booted from the lobby of the team hotel – something about children being frightened – and the loudest cheers at Wukesong Baseball Field were for broken-bat ground balls, fans squealing as the jagged barrel of the bat bounced across the infield.

But the purpose of MLB's adventure in Beijing was to tear down the great cultural wall, and to that end the two-game series that ended early Sunday morning (San Diego time) with a 6-3 Padres win was an unmitigated success of demolition. Padres reliever Heath Bell admits the sea urchin wasn't all that bad, and Chinese actor Jet Li, after getting a few pointers, threw a perfect strike in the ceremonial first pitch before the second game (which is more than you could say for U.S. Ambassador Clark Randt on Saturday).

"Overall it was an A to an A-plus," said Jim Small, MLB's vice president of Asian operations. "This is the coming-out party. This isn't the end. This is the beginning. This is a platform. It gives us context."

Major League Baseball spent an estimated $2 million on the event, and it certainly didn't make that back in ticket sales, especially since Chinese protocol requires 20 percent of its supply be freebies to government agencies.

- As many of you already know, this is the Dodgers' last Spring Training in Vero Beach and it's tough for a lot of people.

"When I walk around Dodgertown, I think about all the guys that played for me and all the guys that were here before me," said Lasorda, who has been genuinely touched by the opportunity to send off the place back in uniform, while "real" manager Joe Torre toured China with the other half of the squad. "It just goes to show you how people can remember you and remember what you did. They've made an 80-year-old guy feel real good."

Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully, eyewitness to almost as much of Dodgertown, calls his spring home for 59 years "my memory factory."

"This," Scully said before bidding an early farewell to Dodgertown on his way to China, "is where I stood in place and it seems like half the world came by -- players, coaches, managers, writers, broadcasters."

This is where time still stands still. Strolling down the dusty path from a back field, you come to an intersection where a traffic sign directs pedestrians, "Players, Left," "Public, Right." They rub elbows with each other, as they have for over a half-century, passing across Duke Snider Street, Don Drysdale Drive, Sandy Koufax Lane and so on.

"There were times you'd be rushing to get to the park," said Steve Garvey, the former Dodgers first baseman/icon, "and you'd be signing [autographs] and putting your bat between your legs and walking along through the people."

- 2008 will be Jeff Conine's last season as a major leaguer and he has decided to spend that time with the Florida Marlins.

The 41-year-old will retire with over 2,000 hits with six different teams. He was a 58th round pick in 1987 and ranked third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1993 (he played all 162 games). His best season came in 1995, when he hit .302/.379/.520, with 26 doubles, 2 triples, 25 homers and 105 RBI. His 103 sacrifice flies currently rank him 22nd in the major league history.

From the Fishtripes blog:

I could go into all the memorable moments Mr. Marlin provided during his time with the Fish, but that would take forever. But I will say this: he was my first introduction to the Marlins.

Naturally, being a baseball fan, I followed the expansion draft but after that was over the Marlins didn't come to mind very often. I didn't live in Florida and never saw the team on television.

However, when the 1995 NL All-Star selections were presented at the game, one man stood out - Jeff Conine. There he was among the other players, whose uniforms all looked the same. Oh sure, some had red caps, some black and others blue but not Conine. He stood out like a sore thumb in that teal cap and sleeveless jersey.

Then he hit what would prove to be the game winning home run for the NL and earning the title of game MVP in the process. It was truly a sight to behold. And from that, another Marlins fan was born, so to speak.

- Mike Sweeney is one of the new faces in Oakland and with the news that he is in good shape and that Daric Barton appears ready for the Big Show, that could mean first baseman Dan Johnson is traded before the regular season begins.

The rumors have been going strong that the San Francisco Giants would be a possible candidate for his services and that's exactly the type of guy this offense needs.

After investing a ridiculous amount of money into a #2 pitcher (Barry Zito) and acquiring one single, meaningful bat for their depleted offense (Aaron Rowand), Joe Crede, Brandon Inge and Dan Johnson are all affordable commodity to build upon. Just imagine: Crede manning third base, Brandon Inge could play in LF and substitute for Bengie Molina behind the dish, on top of having Dan Johnson at first base. While this is by no means a best-case scenario for the Giants, it would at least give them a fighting chance AND satisfy a fan base that's still scratching their heads, wondering why the hell the team would invest $127 M in a pitcher, only to let the offense go to waste completely.

When you look at it, all these players could come fairly cheaply, if only for their situation and recent performance.

If Dan Johnson really had his place in the A's lineup, he would command a better asking price by interested suitors, but Oakland would love to have Daric Barton man the first bag, making Johnson expandable, especially with Sweeney in camp. Jack Cust is firmly implanted in the DH/OF spot, so that's one less opportunity for the 28-year-old.

Crede is having a very bad spring (0.91/.143/.212) and is a few months removed from a back surgery (underwent a microdiscectomy to remove herniated disc particles that were putting pressure on a sciatic nerve). I can't see the White Sox holding out much longer with their back against the wall like they are now.

Inge wants a trade and you can bet the calls Dombrowski receives do not offer a lot of potential All-Star players when the GMs at the other end of the line know the situation and how bad the Tigers would like to resolve this situation.

The way I see it, the Giants have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Buy low, sell high. If they can't contend at the trade deadline, Crede will become very interesting for teams looking for a missing ingredient, IF he is having a good year. Projection systems are not kind so far, predicting an OPS under .800, the same results that he offered in four out of his five years in the majors.

- Rich Lederer does it again with a piece on strikeout and groundball pitchers.

Among batted ball types, we know that infield flies are the least harmful, followed by groundballs, outfield flies, and line drives. In fact, thanks to researchers like Dave Studeman of The Hardball Times, we can even place a value on the run impact of each event. For example, according to Dave's Batted Balls Redux article in The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2007, strikeouts had a run impact of -0.113, infield flies -0.088, groundballs 0.045, outfield flies 0.192, and line drives 0.391 per incident in 2006.

Although groundballs generate more hits and errors than flyballs, their run impact is lower because the hits are usually limited to singles and an occasional double down the first or third base line, whereas balls in the air that turn into hits more often become doubles, triples, or home runs. Not only is the run impact from a groundball lower than an outfield fly or line drive but groundball pitchers give up fewer line drives and flyballs. Conversely, pitchers who don't induce as many groundballs allow more line drives and flyballs. One of the basic truths of maintaining a low home run rate is to keep batted balls on the ground. It is also important to note that home run rates tend to fluctuate more than groundball rates because park effects and randomness play a huge role when it comes to the outcome of long flyballs, especially among pitchers.

Based on the above information, it follows that just as pitchers with high strikeout rates would generally fare better than those with low rates, pitchers with high groundball rates would normally fare better than those with low rates (all else being equal). Furthermore, it also suggests that pitchers who combine higher strikeout and groundball rates will outperform those with lower rates.

With the foregoing in mind, in January 2007, I introduced the idea of categorizing starters and relievers by strikeout and groundball rates. Due to the popularity of this series, I have decided to categorize pitchers based on the 2007 data.

- It took a couple of days for Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek to talk, but now he can explain why he was upset by the release of teammate Doug Mirabelli.

"I'm not going to say I was boo-hoo crying, but there are some levels of trust in this game that you get to, and I had those with him. I'm not saying I won't have that with Cash. I'll give him the same opportunities and everything. But I just felt that with this team, at the time, that it was a hard one for me to swallow.

"I lose a very valuable teammate to me, and, I think, to this clubhouse. I've been through two world championships with him."

Varitek reiterated that he holds no grudges against Cash, who spent most of last season at Triple-A Pawtucket but was added to the big league roster on Aug. 17 when Mirabelli was placed on the disabled list with a strained right calf.

"I'm not going to sit here and devalue what the other guy brings," said Varitek.

He added that he was "surprised" by the move to release Mirabelli.

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Dave Rouleau

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