Triple-A — Omaha 7, Portland 1
Craig Stansberry (SS): 1-for-3, 2B, BB
Jody Gerut (CF): 0-for-4
Chase Headley: 2-for-3, 2B, BB
Brian Myrow: 0-for-4
Chip Ambres (RF): 0-for-3, BB
Will Venable (DH): 0-for-4
Nick Hundley: 0-for-4
Matt Antonelli: 1-for-3
Josh Geer: 6 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 1 HR, 4 BB, 3 SO
Dirk Hayhurst: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 2 SO
Gerut and Ambres have flip-flopped positions. I wonder if the front office is trying to determine whether Gerut can play center field? Antonelli in the #9 hole again.
In other news, Shawn Estes will be summoned from Portland to replace the injured Kevin Cameron (elbow). This is the problem with stashing Estes on the 40-man roster. At some point you need to justify his presence. Unfortunately, Estes hasn’t been good in more than a decade and he’s 35 years old, so we probably shouldn’t expect him to start now.
A total of 125 pitchers have worked 600+ innings for the period 2002-2008. None has a worse ERA+ during that stretch than Estes. Here are the worst of the worst:
- Shawn Estes, 82
- Casey Fossum, 83
- Adam Eaton, 84
- Aaron Sele/Glendon Rusch/Eric Milton, 85
Yep, the Padres now have two of the five worst pitchers in baseball over the past 6+ years on their staff. Sometimes redundancy is a good thing. This isn’t one of those times. Estes adds no value in the short term or the long term. Why is he here?
Double-A — San Antonio 4, Midland 3
Drew Macias: 2-for-5, HBP, SB
Chad Huffman: 1-for-4, 2 BB
Kyle Blanks: 2-for-5, HR, BB
Craig Cooper: 0-for-5
Jose Lobaton: 0-for-5
Matthew Buschmann: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 BB, 8 SO
Jonathan Ellis: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 0 SO
Blanks finally hit his second homer of the season.
High-A — San Jose 6, Lake Elsinore 0
Cedric Hunter: 2-for-3, BB
Rayner Contreras: 1-for-4
Kellen Kulbacki (DH): 0-for-3, BB
Cory Luebke: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 0 HR, 3 BB, 3 SO
The Storm have been blanked at home in back-to-back games.
Low-A — Burlington 7, Fort Wayne 4
Luis Durango (DH): 0-for-1, 2 BB
Justin Baum: 1-for-4, 2B
Shane Buschini: 0-for-4
Felix Carrasco: 2-for-4, 2B, HR
Bradley Chalk: 1-for-3, BB, SB
Yefri Carvajal: 1-for-4
Matt Teague: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 HR, 2 BB, 3 SO
Jeremy McBryde: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 4 SO
Carrasco is becoming a favorite of mine. Not that he’s a great prospect, mind you, especially now that he’s moved across the diamond to first base, but I have a soft spot for TTO guys.
Jim Edmonds looks like he’s about 1 day away from being outta here:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080508/news_1s8sullivan.html
Look, I am by no means an Estes fan … I’ve never liked him … even when “good”.
What I’ve learned from his time at Portland is that he can be effective if used for less than 5 innings. Perhaps that’s anecdotal … perhaps we don’t want to use a guy as a starter who can’t go 6 innings … but if all we’re doing is replacing Kevin Cameron, I think Estes can do that job … perhaps not pitch on back-to-back days … but I don’t know how often we need Kevin Cameron’s role to do that …
#2@LynchMob: With three reliable arms in the bullpen right now, it seems to me the Padres would be better off bringing in someone who can actually help. If they want to use Estes, who hasn’t been any good for a very long time, so be it; at least get rid of Glendon Rusch. Pick one lousy pitcher to soak up innings in hopeless situations and use the other roster spot on someone who can make a positive contribution.
#3@Geoff Young: We’re on the same page … Estes > Rusch.