Writings on baseball by Matt Barnard and Dan Stein.

 
More on Hillenbrand-Kim
Even though Dan's already covered it and shown you all what Lee Sinins thinks about the trade, I'll chime in with my own thoughts on the much-ballyhooed Byung-Hyun Kim for Shea Hillenbrand deal.

Basically, this is a significant win for the Red Sox. I recognize the money discrepancy and the service time difference (the Diamondbacks have Hillenbrand locked up for a year longer than the Sox do Kim), but Boston is a team that can afford to pay for the kind of quality that Kim provides. A lot depends on whether or not he's used out of the bullpen, but either way, they've added a very effective young pitcher to the staff to take the place of some of the dead weight they've been lugging around. The problem in Boston this year has definitely been the pitching and not the offense, and this helps.

I don't really understand the deal from the Diamondbacks' perspective. Hillenbrand is a productive-if-overrated offensive player who can handle third defensively and plays a decent first. And while he's better than an injured Matt Williams at this stage of his career, that's not saying a whole lot. On top of that, the team has a third baseman who's pretty damn close to being ready in Chad Tracy (the linked page has nothing on it now really...but when Tracy's got big league numbers, that's where espn.com will put them!). Through 49 games at AAA this year, Tracy's posted a line of .333/.386/.473. While Hillenbrand is having another acceptable, RBI-rrific season, Tracy's not that far behind and, being a younger and more disciplined hitter (17 walks thus far), he's potentially got a brighter future ahead of him. And to acquire him, you have to give up an often-dominant young pitcher when you've had injury trouble already this season and a staff that relies on ancients. It's not that Hillenbrand's a worthless player...he's not. He can clearly hit major league pitching, but he's a guy who you don't want to pay too much for and you should only keep around until there's a better option available. Arizona's paid too much here, and I'm not sure that there's not already a better (at least in the long term) option available to them.

I think this'll end up being a win for the Red Sox either way, but they can really take advantage by using Kim the proper way. He's been relatively successful as a starter despite his record (1-5) this year, and there's little reason to believe he couldn't continue to succeed and improve (he's only 24) in such a role. I know Pedro's out, but Kim is not Pedro and it's not like the Red Sox don't have other arms a la Robert Person floating around to pick up a few starts. The team is good enough offensively to stay in games with merely adequate pitching, and the Red Sox are awash in that, at least when it comes to the rotation. The most glaring need in Boston is in the bullpen, where Kim has excelled in the past. He is a good enough and versatile enough reliever (he can pitch multiple days on end for multiple innings per outing) to be the centerpiece of the poorly titled "bullpen-by-committee" system. While I loathe the Red Sox and hope it doesn't happen, there's no doubt in my mind that using Kim in the pen, in this type of role, would be the best way to go and really improve the team's chances of winning the AL East.
posted by VZW Watcher at 6:27 PM -

 
Bernie's hurt, Juan Rivera's coming
A sprained left knee and a torn medial meniscus are going to force the Yankees to place centerfielder Bernie Williams on the disabled list. What remains to be determined is whether or not he'll undergo surgery that would require him to be out until around the All-Star break (four to six weeks). I don't know much about these sorts of injuries, but fortunately, there are people writing about it who do. Without giving too much away that I am privy to via my subscription to the fantastic Baseball Prospectus Premium service, their injury expert Will Carroll seems to feel that Bernie's (potential) surgery is a fairly routine procedure and nothing to be terribly concerned about, which of course is good news.

While you never want to lose a player as productive as Bernie, I have little doubt that Hideki Matsui can fill his shoes defensively in center, and the injury will give Juan Rivera an opportunity to prove himself in an extended audition in the Bronx as the starting left fielder. The lineup clearly takes a hit with Bernie out, but maybe we'll see a little creative shuffling now with Jeter moving to the leadoff spot and Soriano dropping in the order to a more typical run-producing slot in the order.
posted by VZW Watcher at 6:05 PM -

 
Back almost certainly tomorrow and not tonight, as I'm exhausted after returning from my grandfather's funeral in London, by way of Boston/Worcester. Irrelevant to you of course, but that's where I've been.
posted by VZW Watcher at 7:45 PM -

 
Jeter returns to the Yankee lineup
Tonight's Yankees-Angels game (Mussina vs. Lackey) is underway, and Derek Jeter is in the lineup hitting second, as usual. He got a very nice ovation in his first action at The Stadium of the season, as one would expect, before fouling out to first baseman Scott Spiezio. As a Yankee fan, I'm thrilled to have him back (say what you will about him being overrated in certain areas, he improves upon an already awesome lineup), but what I'm most interested in is seeing how Nick Johnson adjusts to being moved out of the 2 hole in the lineup that he's enjoyed so much success in during the past month. While Johnson's numbers this year are likely primarily a result of him improving as a hitter and adjusting to playing at the major league level regularly, he's done most of it (.333/.471/.571 in 118 at bats) in the comfort of that two hole, hitting between (most of the time) Alfonso Soriano and Jason Giambi. He's looked fantastic so far this season, it'll be interesting to see if there's any dropoff now that his place in the lineup will be slightly less cushy.
posted by VZW Watcher at 7:56 PM -

 
Raffy's Hall of Fame case
I've been working up a Keltner list for Rafael Palmeiro, as his potential enshrinement in the Hall of Fame has been a hot topic of late. As I've seen less extensive versions posted at baseballprimer.com's Clutch Hits, I'm going to forego posting my version here and instead direct our readership to blogger extraordinaire Aaron Gleeman's piece on the subject (linked at the top of this entry), which is far more extensive and contentful than my standard Keltner rundown was. Because I did want to mention the issue, I'll say that I certainly think of Palmeiro as a Hall of Famer. He's been incredibly consistent and really good over a long period of time, and he's continuing his high level of play now during his age 38 season...there's no reason to think that, if he wants to, he can't continue to play at a reasonably high level for a few more years and add to his already impressive career numbers. I don't subscribe to the idea that you've got to be one of the best players in baseball or even one of the best at your position necessarily (though it doesn't hurt)...performing at the level Palmeiro has over as many years as he has qualifies as greatness in my book. Honestly, I'm pretty stunned I've been seeing people come out against his Hall of Fame case...to me, for whatever it's worth, he's a shoo-in.
posted by VZW Watcher at 4:37 PM -

 
Piazza (finally) on the move, eventually (soon)
Steve Phillips apparently called a press conference this evening announcing that Mike Piazza will be moving to first base, at least some of the time, in the "near future". Of course, there's no set definition of what that means, though Phillips and manager Art Howe (who spoke about the subject as well with MSG Network's Talk of our Town) seemed to indicate that a move would not take place right away...when it would make sense, as first base is currently left relatively vacant with Mo Vaughn sidelined for an undetermined amount of time (Tony Clark is manning the position currently).

Clearly, this move has to happen and is almost certainly overdue. Mike Piazza, while still an excellent offensive player, has devolved into a terrible catcher. While he can still catch the ball with some effectiveness, he has an extremely weak arm which baserunners now take advantage of on a regular basis. Despite his objections, in the interests of the team, he's got to move, particularly with Vaughn hurt and the Mets not tempted to run him out there because of his massive salary. That said, this is not the way to go about it. It appears (based on the quotes in this article) that Piazza is no longer as opposed to a move as he once was...and the correct way to handle it would be to quietly let him take some ground balls and play a few innings, once he's comfortable, at first. Making a statement at a press conference without first consulting Piazza seems pretty stupid.

Excuses, excuses
Part of the reason I've been skipping posting these days is because I'm pretty wrapped up in my playoff-involved teams in other sports, the Devils and the Pistons. It's 10:15 and I'm about to get into baseball for the night (at least while I'm not watching Kings-Mavs and Wild-Canucks), but I'd be remiss not to mention the ridiculous display just put on by Pistons rookie Tayshaun Prince, who hit the game-tying shot to send the game to OT and then scored seven points in the extra session. I feel stupid using that terminology, but I don't like to repeat words if I can avoid it. So Detroit leads that best-of-seven series 2-0. And the Mavs and Kings just combined for 84 points in the first quarter (44-40 Mavs)...I get the feeling it's going to be difficult to tear myself away from that one.
posted by VZW Watcher at 10:25 PM -

 
Chen claimed by Boston
Bruce Chen's Eastern odyssey continues, as he's now been claimed off waivers by the Red Sox. As many of you are no doubt aware, Chen, who is still only 25, has been a member of four of the five organizations in the NL East, starting with Braves and moving on to the Phillies, then the Mets and finally the Expos. While he hasn't made it to Miami just yet, he appeared ready to take on the new challenge of the NL Central after being traded there by Montreal for Jim Brower and then signing with the Astros in the offseason. Instead, he's headed back East to Boston to continue the circuit, now for the first time in the American League.

He's done a little major league pitching already this season, going 12 innings and allowing 8 runs (all earned) on 14 hits while walking and striking out eight and allowing two home runs. While at this point it seems unlikely he'll live up to the promise he showed as a 21-year old making his debut with the Braves in 1998, he's been moved around an awful lot (this is his seventh organization, all since 2000) and could probably use the chance to settle down and try to re-establish himself. I don't know that he'll necessarily get such an opportunity in Boston, on a team that has a place for him to come in and get a shot in a shaky bullpen, but probably won't give him a particularly long leash if he slips up initially. That said, if you can stick him in AAA for a while and see if he can have some success again at that level, perhaps this is a worthwhile, decent-upside pickup. Of course (according to the linked article), he's joining the team right away, so he'll have to prove himself in the major league bullpen immediately.
posted by VZW Watcher at 4:23 PM -

 
Thanks for bearing with us.

There are a ton of things I've missed in the past week that I'd like to get to, but for the purposes of not backtracking too much, I'm going to try to focus on more current stories. Since there's very little rhyme or reason to the contents of this blog (perhaps to our detriment), I guess I can pretty much put up whatever I please, omitting things here and there with any significant break in form from the usual. That said, being back in New York for the summer, I hope to develop a more regular and higher quality update schedule for your benefit. Again, thanks for reading.
posted by VZW Watcher at 12:21 PM -