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Archive for June, 2010

Tracking the Transactions – June 21

Jun 21

Posted by Jerry Milani in Uncategorized | No Comments

DETROIT TIGERS — Optioned RHP Rick Porcello to Toledo (IL)
TORONTO BLUE JAYS — Optioned 3B Edwin Encarnacion to Las Vegas (PCL)
METS — Sent RHP Jenrry Mejia to Binghamton (EL).

Three demotions of interest here, including two young players who have bright futures and one six-year veteran who may be at the end of the line.

For Porcello, 2010 has been a major disappointment.  After a stellar rookie year, the Morristown, N.J., native has slid down the Tigers rotation and now out to Toledo.  It seems like hitters have adjusted the second and third time around the league and now Porcello needs to regroup and readjust.  His minor league track record suggests that he’ll be able to do it, but the list of second-year MLB flameouts is long.

Mejia didn’t figure into the Mets’ plans until his sizzling spring demanded that he break camp with the big club.  Comparisons to Mariano Rivera may have been premature, however, as he struggled with his command once the regular season bell rang, and this move to AA has him back on the original track, to build up starters’ endurance .

I always thought Encarnacion was a curious choice to replace Scott Rolen at third.  His free-swinging ways and merely adequate defense were bound to be exposed eventually, and this demotion seems to indicate that the Jays have given up on him.

Tracking The Transactions – June 17

Jun 17

Posted by Jerry Milani in New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tracking The Transactions | 4 Comments

PITTSBURGH PIRATES — Recalled 3B Pedro Alvarez from Indianapolis (IL).  Designated INF Aki Iwamura for assignment.

A list of the highest paid players on each team in 2010 would include such luminous names as Alex Rodriguez, Johan Santana and Ryan Howard. Perceived underachievers like Carlos Lee, Alfonso Soriano and Barry Zito are there as well.

But Aki Iwamura?  His $4.85 million salary, which would rate in the bottom half of many teams’ rosters, topped the lowly (and low-paying) Pittsburgh Pirates, and the expectation was that the 31-year-old would recapture some of his 2008 form and anchor the young Bucs’ infield.

A .181/.292/.267 line through the first 54 games doomed that idea, and with Pedro Alvarez on the way up and Andy Laroche moving to a utility role at five years younger and 1/10 the salary, Iwamura’s roster spot became the one tabbed for Alvarez.

The Pirates, like other teams in their payroll range (only San Diego, at $37.8 million, is within $15 million of Pittsburgh’s MLB-low $34.9 opening day mark), can’t afford mistakes like this one.  But rather than compounding the error by keeping Iwamura out there, the Pirates have chosen to move Iwamura, either through a trade, or if no one claims him, back to the minors.  Teams are less willing to keep unproductive, higher-salaried players around, even bottom-10 payroll organizations like the Rays (Pat Burrell) and Nationals (Brian Bruney).

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Tracking The Transactions

Jun 16

Posted by Jerry Milani in News, Seattle Mariners, Tracking The Transactions | No Comments

The transactions listings have always been one of my favorite parts of the Sports section.  They are direct, just-the-facts-ma’am, no one listing more prominent than the other.  But of course there are stories behind every one, some more complex and interesting than others, some involving other moves which may or may not appear there.

I sometimes see the news of a hiring and imagine that there must be much joy in that household.

From today:

UNLV-Promoted Jennifer Klein to women’s soccer coach.

Is this the culmination of a lifelong dream for Ms. Klein?  Is she ready to be the head coach?  Does she have the same doubts that most new coaches have?  Is she getting congratulatory emails and Facebook wall posts and calls?

And when I see that a player has been released or designated, I wonder what is going through his mind.  “Is this the end of the road?”  “What will I do next?”

Since I look through them daily, I’m going to try to pick one or two of the baseball items that initiate a thought or two in what I hope will be a new feature, “Tracking The Transations,” or TTT.

Today’s TTT:

SEATTLE MARINERS–Designated RHP Ian Snell for assignment.

Okay, I could leave this one up to Tom, but I’ll take a crack.  Snell, fans may recall, broke in pretty strongly with the Pirates a couple of years back., winning 14 games in 2006.  But after signing a fairly sizable contract extension, he struggled in ‘08 and ‘09 and famously requested a demotion to AAA, citing “too much negativity” in Pittsburgh.  After pitching extremely well for Indianapolis, he was later included in a deal with Jack Wilson to the Mariners.

That Snell regressed this year may be related to the issues that came to the front in Pittsburgh.  He is in the last year of that contract extension, and he’s just 28, so the going-nowhere M’s must really think he’s done.

My guess is that we haven’t seen the last of Snell.  Some team will try to make a reclamation project out of him and the arm that was firing 95 mph fastballs not too long ago, especially with another team footing the bill.

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Memorial Day Caps An Improvement Over ‘09

Jun 1

Posted by Jerry Milani in History, Logos, New York Yankees, Uniforms | 4 Comments

In recent years, Major League Baseball has ventured further into its “look” in support of marketing and charitable initiatives as well as historic celebrations.  Some, like the pink bats for Mother’s Day and universal wearing of 42 on Jackie Robinson Day, have met with mostly favorable response.  Spiderman on the bases?  Not quite.

Which brings me to the commemorative Memorial Day caps teams sported in yesterday’s games.  Last year, the Yankees were forced to wear hideous red caps which looked terrible against their road grays and home pinstripes.

Yesterday’s white caps fit the uniform quite a bit better (even if Brett Gardner, as noted in today’s Star-Ledger, noted that it was worse than his Little League cap).  I suppose I had put the red cap disaster out of my mind, forgetting about the new Memorial Day “tradition,” but of course immediately noticed the white lids when the team began stretching.  To me, it recalled the look of some of the very early Yankees teams.  To others, it might have recalled the Good Humor man, an apt connection on such a hot day in the Bronx.

I like that the Yankees don’t have alternate jerseys, Sunday jerseys, or other alterations to their uniforms, even though I enjoy seeing teams wearing “throwback” or Negro Leagues jerseys from time to time.  I recall only one game that the Yankees wore Negro League jerseys, I believe it was at Detroit in 1996 when they donned N.Y. Black Yankees uniforms.  I think once a year, maybe Old Timer’s Day or another weekend game, or even a road game against a classic rival, I wouldn’t mind seeing them in a Highlanders jersey (say, 1911 next year) or revive the Black Yankees, since they played at the Stadium on occasion.

My three favorite on-field alterations:
- Jackie Robinson 42’s (but one day only, please)
- pink bats, sweatbands for Memorial Day
- occasional throwback jerseys

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