It’s been a hectic week around here so I haven’t had a chance to update this lately. I’ll fill you in on all the details within the next day or two, including the Ben Howard 16-strikeout game at Lake Elsinore on Sunday, one of the strangest mascots I’ve ever seen, thoughts on Tony Batista, and anything else I can remember.
Meantime, I wanted to pass along my condolences to the family of John LeRoy, who died from complications following surgery. Read more about it at Baseball America.
Jay Witasick for D’Angelo Jimenez? It’s not quite Ed Sprague for Dennis Tankersley and Cesar Saba, but it’s still a heckuva deal. If you’d told me at the beginning of the season the Padres would trade a 28-year-old middle reliever with a career 5.76 ERA for a 23-year-old shortstop with career .274/.353/.407 numbers in the minors, I’d have asked what you were on and could I have some, too. Jimenez is a kid who reached Triple-A at age 20 and put up respectable numbers, then followed it up with a tremendous .327/.392/.492 campaign at age 21. Not that he’s the prospect that Derek Jeter was, but for comparison’s sake, Jeter hit .317/.394/.422 at age 21 in Triple-A. The following season he was AL Rookie of the Year, and you know what he’s been doing ever since.
Some years ago Bill James devised a system for translating minor-league performance into equivalent big-league numbers. It’s not perfect but it gives a pretty good indication of what a player is capable of doing. Here are Jimenez’ Major League Equivalencies (MLEs) for 1998 and 1999 (he missed most of last year due to a broken neck sustained during the off-season):
| Age | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | .234 | .308 | .334 |
| 21 | .291 | .347 | .421 |
Essentially this suggests that, had he played in the majors at age 20, Jimenez would’ve hit roughly like Chris Gomez. That’s not great but it’s also not terrible, and if a kid can even hold his own in the bigs, that’s usually a harbinger of good things to come. At age 21, his translated numbers strongly resemble those of Miguel Tejada at age 23 (.251/.325/.427); better batting average, less power. Of course, the difference is that Tejada actually did this in the American League, whereas MLEs only indicate what Jimenez’ numbers at Triple-A likely would have looked like had he played in the AL.
Jimenez, after missing most of last season due to the neck injury, hasn’t returned to his 1999 levels, but in 56 games at Columbus he hit .262/.333/.393 while splitting time between second base and shortstop. He’ll be in the Padres lineup tomorrow against the Rockies, and while I wouldn’t expect too much offense just yet, I do believe this kid’s got a chance to be one of the more productive shortstops in the National League within a few years. We’ll see…
No real baseball content today. Just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve moved the Ducksnorts mailing list from the soon-to-be-defunct ListBot over to Yahoo! Groups. Sign up at Ducksnorts Home or through Yahoo! at http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/ducksnorts/. Hope to see you all there!
Well, a day after being named First-Team All-American, Padres’ first-round pick Jake Gautreau signed. He’ll start out at Eugene, in the Short-Season Class-A Northwest League, but there’s talk that he could spend some time in Fort Wayne later this season. Of San Diego’s first five picks, only second-rounder Matt Harrington and third-rounder Taggert Bozied remain unsigned. Haven’t heard much on the Harrington front lately. Bozied took batting practice at the Q last week and reportedly impressed those in attendance.
Gee, I hope Junior Herndon enjoyed his first taste of the big leagues. The Padres sent him back to Portland yesterday. Hopefully he at least got a good meal or two out of it…
Just finished watching a wild one between the Padres and the Mariners. The Pads took two out of six from Seattle this year, which is better than most teams are doing against the M’s.
Speaking of the Padres, talk is Damian Jackson will get some time at shortstop when he comes off the DL. They haven’t been real thrilled with the three-headed beast that’s been getting most of the time there, and they’d like to see what Cesar Crespo can do at second base.
And while I’m on the subject of second base, the Union-Tribune this morning reported that Xavier Nady will be playing there in the Arizona Fall League this coming off-season. Here’s hoping he can pull it off. Can you say, Jeff Kent? Heck, even Jay Bell would be okay as far as I’m concerned.
In other news, the Padres today shipped Carlton Loewer back to Triple-A Portland after two miserable starts (both against the aforementioned Mariners, poor guy) and brought up young righthander Junior Herndon. I haven’t seen him pitch but from looking at the numbers and reading the reports, he sounds like another Buddy Carlyle to me. Like Carlyle and Brian Lawrence, he’ll have to impress very quickly or risk being buried by sexier prospects.
Finally, I’d just like to say thanks to Wally Joyner, who retired yesterday on his 39th birthday. He was a classy guy and fun to watch on the diamond. Wally, you’ll be missed.
Still ruminating on the Rangers-Reds trade. Now I’m trying to figure out what Cincy is going to do with Mateo. Their organizational depth in the outfield is unbelievable now, with Dmitri Young, Ken Griffey, Alex Ochoa, Michael Tucker, and Brady Clark in the bigs, and Adam Dunn, Austin Kearns, Jackson Melian, and now Mateo behind them in the minors.
Speaking of Clark, it’s nice to see someone from my alma mater (University of San Diego) make it to the big leagues. It doesn’t happen often, so I have to give a pretty big shout-out when it does. Probably the most famous baseball player out of USD was John Wathan, best known as the catcher who stole the most bases in a season.
While I’m on the subject of players from my alma mater, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Greg Sain, the Padres’ fifth round draft pick this year, on signing his first professional contract. Sain played third base and catcher in college, and he’ll be behind the plate in the Padres organization. He’s very strong and has a nice, quick stroke that translates into all-fields power. Reminds me a little of Phil Nevin in the way he plays. Congratulations, Greg, and good luck. Hope to see you back in San Diego real soon!
Thank goodness for the Rangers and the Reds. I thought I wasn’t going to have anything to talk about today.
In case you missed it, Texas sent outfielder Ruben Mateo and minor-league infielder Edwin Encarnacion to Cincy for right-hander Rob Bell.
Mateo is 23 years old and has career .265/.316/.418 numbers in just under 500 big-league plate appearances. Bell is 24 and has a 5.12 ERA in just under 200 big-league innings. He’s also incredibly prone to the gopher ball, averaging two per nine innings for his brief career.
Encarnacion plays third base and was hitting .306/.355/.453 at Savannah in the SAL. With Hank Blalock, David Lamb, and now Mark Teixeira ahead of him, this is probably a good move for Encarnacion’s career.
I know the Rangers are desperate for pitching but wow. Anyway, the first place I headed was Jamey Newberg’s site, which is the best source for information on the Rangers. He mentions the deal and says there will be more about it in tomorrow’s update. I’m interested to hear his take.
I’ll need to think this over some more but my gut reaction — no offense to Bell, who is a decent young pitcher — is that the Rangers didn’t get enough for Mateo.
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