Archive for the ‘Stephen Randolph’ Category

3/20/08: Wright is Left

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Looks as if Wesley Wright is the 2008 Astros LOOGY (no official announcement, but he’s the only bullpen lefty left) because Mark McLemore (having a TERRIBLE ST – can’t find the strike zone) was removed from the 40 man and sent to AAA and so was Stephen Randolph and his kabillion walks. Thank goodness..

Carlos Hines and his ZERO ERA were sent down so we could keep Proven Veterans like Paronto and Brocail, doing FAR worse, on the ML roster. Makes sense to me.
Mike DeJean, 10.90 ERA/5 IP was sent to AAA. He’s 37 and looks a lot older – think it might could be time to hang it up…
Catchers Alberto Castillo and J.R. House were reassigned to minor league camp – neither was even hitting .200, so no problem there.

but

Nick Gorneault .435/.480/.652/1.132 in 23 AB and Victor Diaz .242/.306/.545/.851 were both sent down; this means that they still have Reggie Abercrombie .222/.317/.278/.595 and freaking Darin Erstad’s Grittiness left. I know that Erstad would make the team even if he went ofer, but unfortunately he is hitting over .300 and slugging over .500 and we ALL know that will last about as long as snow in Houston. This team doesn’t NEED a banjo hitting backup OF/pinch hitter for Veteran Presence – heck, the whole team, except for Bourn, Towles and Pence are ALL veterans.

At least they CAN call up Diaz and Gorneault, but I bet they wouldn’t even if Erstad wasn’t hitting MY weight (I’m half a Mendoza…)

sigh

Felipe Paulino is officially on the DL now, and won’t be allowed to throw for at least one month minimum. IHe’ll have to start back slowly, then work up his strength in AAA, so I would guess that he wouldn’t be available IF he was ready until around the ASB.

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Posted in Astros baseball, Felipe Paulino, McLemore, Pitchers, spring training, Stephen Randolph, Wesley Wright | 8 Comments »

Astros Spring Training 2008 2 Week Review – Pitching

Monday, March 17th, 2008

I’ve kept putting off writing this entry, hoping that maybe if I didn’t look at ALL, let alone closely, I would be able to fool myself into believing that things aren’t as bad as they really are.
Good news: Roy is pitching great and just threw 6 innings, 57 pitches, of no-hit, no walk ball.
Well, I WAS gonna say that Wandy was pitching great, too, but then he pulled a muscle in his side – and I remember how long it took Roy to get back when he did the same thing. They are currently saying that Wandy should be back within a week, but youneverknow…

Things are SOOOO bad that apparently they are considering – and no, I am NOT making this up – Brian Moehler for the rotation. But fortunately, Cooper has realized that Runelvys Hernandez is lousy and is now being considered for the bullpen. Uh-hunh, like they are gonna release Brocail, Geary or Paronto.

Anyway, let’s take a look:
Guaranteed starters:
- Roy Oswalt – 4 starts, 2 good, 1 mediocre, 1 ace: 4 ER/15.1 IP; 1 HR, 1 BB, 13 K: 2.40 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, .207 OBA
- Brandon Backe – 3G/2 GS, 1 good, 2 mediocre: 4 ER/9 IP; 1 HR, 2 BB, 4 K: 4.00 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, .278 OBA
- Wandy Rodriguez – 3 GS, 1 good, 2 mediocre: 5 ER/8.1 IP: no HR, 3 BB, 8 K: 5.40 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, .354 OBA
note: Backe said he did poorly in his last start against a AAA team because the mound was terrible. Well, OK, but he’d better have better showings in his next few starts against ML teams.

Candidates for starter:
- Woody Williams – 4 GS – 18 ER over 11.2 IP – 26 H, 5 HR, 4 BB, 7 K – 13.89 ERA, 2.57 WHIP, .487 OBA
- Shawn Chacon – 3 GS -†9 ER over 8 IP – 11 H, 1 HR, 3 BB, 2 K – 10.31 ERA, 1.75 WHIP, .400 OBA
- Chris Sampson – 3 G, 1 GS – 11 ER/9.1 IP – 16 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 6 K – 10.61 ERA, 1.82 WHIP, .378 OBA
- Jack Cassel – 4 G, 2 GS – 7 ER (10R) over 11 IP – 16 H, 2 HR, 2 BB, 8 K – 5.73 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, .346 OBA

note: For reasons I do NOT understand, the Organization is hoping against hope that Chacon manages to win a spot as a starter, even though he has done MUCH better as a reliever. Chris Sampson, on the other hand, does MUCH better as a starter than reliever. He did well in his last outing in which he started the game, but tired and got the ball up in the 5th – he hadn’t pitched at all in 9 days before starting that game. Woody appears to be, uh, limp – his pitches are lifeless and are getting hit HARD, no matter what excuses he makes. Chacon had one bad luck start in which he had to pitch with a 40 something MPH wind blowing out, but he has had lousy outings in the rest of his starts. Cassel – hard to believe he has better numbers than Sampson – he wouldn’t have if Cooper hadn’t sent Sampson back for a 5 run inning in his last outing after he was cooked.

Candidates for LOOGY:
- Wesley Wright – 6 G: 1 ER/6.2 IP – 3 H, no HR, 6 BB, 3 K: 1.35 ERA,
- Mark McLemore – 5 G: 11 ER/7.2 IP – 14 H, 1 HR, 13 BB, 1 K: 12.91 ERA,
- Stephen Randolph – 6 G – 4 ER(6 R)/5 IP – 5 H, no HR, NINE BB, 3 K
note: McLemore is having an absolutely TERRIBLE spring – he’s walking everyone and having serious trouble finding the plate. He’s out of options, so if they have to send him down, he may get grabbed by some other club. Wesley Wright, the Wandy sized lefty reliever who is our Rule V pick, is sailing along, managing to avoid giving up runs even though he has been giving up walks – but, if he gives up a walk an inning without ALSO giving up hits, he’ll get the job done. Randolph, as usual, is sucking, no surprise there; he walks guys with any sort of plate discipline and gets minor leaguers to chase balls – same ol, same ol.

Bullpen:
- Jose Valverde – 5 G no Sv – 3 ER/5 IP – 4 H, 4 BB, 5 K – 5.40 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, .364 OBA
- Oscar Villareal – 5 G – no ER/6 IP – 7 H, no HR, no BB, 5 K – ZERO ERA, 1.17 WHIP, .304 OBA
- Geoff Geary – 7 G, 2 Sv – 5 ER/10.1 IP – 17 H, 1 HR, 2 BB, 5 K – 4.35 ERA, 1.84 WHIP, .404 OBA
- Chad Paronto – 6 G – 10 ER/6.1 IP – 10 H, 3 HR, 3 BB, 3 K – 13.50 ERA, 1.95 WHIP, .412 OBA
- Doug Brocail – 6 G – 13 ER/6 IP – 20 H, 2 HR, 1 BB, 3 K – 19.5 ERA, 3.50 WHIP, .438 OBA (and so many Astros fans were delirious with joy at this guy replacing Qualls???!!!)
- Dave Borkowski – 5 G – 2 ER/7 IP – 7 H, no HR, 1 BB, 5 K – 2.57 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, .286 OBA
- Ryan Houston – 5 G – 1 ER/4 IP – 9 H, 1 HR, 3 BB, 2 K – 2.25 ERA, 3.0 WHIP, .545 OBA
- Mike DeJean – 6 G – 6 ER/5 IP – 7 H, no HR, 3 BB, 4 K – 10.8 ERA, 2.0 WHIP, .417 OBA
- Runelvys Hernandez – 4 G, 1 GS – 11 ER/10 IP – 16 H, 3 HR, 7 BB, 5 K – 9.58 ERA, 2.23 WHIP, .438 OBA
- Brian Moehler – 6 G, 1 Sv – 5 ER/10.2 IP – 14 H, 1 HR, ZERO BB, 10 K – 4.22 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, .319 OBA
- Aaron Rakers – faced one batter and got him out. Not sure why he’s even being kept around if they aren’t going to ever give him the baseball…
- Carlos Hines – 6 G. 2 Sv – no ER (1R) over 6.1 IP – 4 H, no HR, 3 BB, 2 K – 0.00 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, .308 OBA

note: Villareal looks sharp – I would think he’s managed to win the set-up job over Brocail, but in this business, hey, youneverknow. Brocail looks every one of his 41 years – he says he always does terrible in ST, but the past 3 years, his ST ERA has been around 4.5 NOT 19. Valverde looks more wild than Lidge (yes, I mean that). Geary looks mediocre, Paronto looks worse than the minor league guys, but Borkowski looks better than he did all last year – not that I am expecting miracles, mind. Ryan Houston has a sky high WHIP in spite of that low ERA, so I’m not exactly encouraged – it’s just 4 IP and he might not be so lucky with the next 4 IP with that hit/walk rate. Runelvys Hernandez is just flat out lousy – yes I know he was the Royals Opening Day starter a few years back, but that tells you how lousy the Royals were. Moehler has pitched decently – I sure do remember saying a bunch of times last year that he needed to be released; however, he was REALLY good after the ASB – 7 ER over 27.1 IP and he gave up runs in only 4 of 22 appearances – not bad at ALL. Hinies, the 6 year minor league FA, looks a heck of a lot better than some of those “veteran” guys.

Problem is, of course, were are looking at 5 or 6 appearances, 5 or 6 innings and it is tough to tell from just numbers here as some guys need more than a few appearances to get all their pitches working. But it SURE looks to me as if Woody Williams and Doug Brocail have exactly nothing. I’d rather keep Hines and Moehler than Brocail and Paronto…

DL – Paulino and Nieve, both of whom NEED to start the year in AAA; Nieve because he hasn’t pitched hardly at all since getting TJ surgery and Paulino because he needs to log innings as a starter instead of pitching an inning here and there in relief AND because he hasn’t yet pitched in AAA and he’s no Mark Prior.

Minors: Sammy Gervacio and Brad James both pitched a couple of innings before being sent down. They CERTAINLY aren’t ML ready and they need the year in AAA – unless, of course, they simply blow the competition out of the water. And it IS baseball and youneverknow…

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Posted in Astros baseball, Bandon Backe, Brocail, Chacon, Chris Sampson, Dave Borkowski, Geoff Geary, McLemore, Oscar Villarreal, Roy Oswalt, spring training, Stephen Randolph, Valverde, Wandy Rodriguez, Woody Williams | No Comments »

8/4/07: Randolph Loses The Game On An Intentional Walk And 2 Wild Pitches

Saturday, August 4th, 2007

Could Jennings get through the first inning without another disaster?

Well, let’s say that chance favored it, but I felt  a bit sick when Hanley Ramirez sent a middle of the plate meatball over the LF fence. He managed to finish the inning giving up only one more single, and getting lucky that Willingham juuuust got under another middle of the plate meatball for a flyout.

So I got up for a minute at the beginning of the second inning and heard Husband yell – ohmigawd baby Carlos Lee just hit an inside the parker!!!

Of course, I didn’t believe that for a second – Carlos Lee will get his own self pregnant before he will EVER hit an inside the parker – heck, I’d have trouble believing he’d even hit a triple. And sure enough, it wasn’t. He hit a double off the LF wall, and Willingham, instead of just kind of lobbing it into second, throws a bullet that the first baseman has to cut off – so Lee slides into third. Then for some strange reason, Jacobs, the first baseman decides to throw the ball even though Lee was already at third, but he throws it into the dugout and Lee takes off for home and makes it easily.

And then Jennings came back and was up to no good – meaning meatballs in the middle of the plate. Like John and Paul said, you can’t do thattttttttt. Three singles, 2 runs, and another close escape when Miggy Cabrera juuuust missed the fence on another mid plate ball.

It’s not that you can’t have great success if you don’t consistently have a 90 something FB, but you won’t have success no matter WHAT the speed if your FB is straight and flat and goes down the middle. And after Jason Lane put the Astros ahead with a 3 run homer – got his timing perfect, as he’d hit the ball 410′ his last AB for a long FB out, naturally Jennings throws another ball down the middle and Cabrera, who, like Lane finally got his timing down, ties it up.  So Jennings gives up 3 homers and only 5 runs over 6.1 IP.

In comes Trever Miller to get the next 2 outs. I can hardly believe I keep writing – And Trever Miller Saves The Day.

McLemore comes in and pitches 2 great innings, and for some reason Phil pulls him after the second inning, even though it wasn’t necessary – McLemore is a starter, could have easily gone another inning. He’d only thrown 27 pitches, 3 up 3 down each inning and 2 swinging Ks. WHY pull the guy?

So we waste an inning of Qualls. Randolph sure throws a lot of balls outside the strike zone – he got a lot of swinging strikes on balls and he tends to throw them low. Phil is overly involved in LUUUVVV with the IBB – I mean, I swear he makes the pitchers walk more guys than any other manager. It’s the lefty righty thing, naturally. So, with Miguel Cabrera, who is pretty slow, by the way, on first, Randolph bounces a pitch in the dirt that takes a nasty bounce and it looks like it caught Munson on the chin under his mask. Mike Jacobs fouls off the next pitch, then Randolph throws ANOTHER pitch in the dirt, which completely evades poor Munson and skids off the batting ring on the ground into the Marlins dugout, allowing Cabrera to score the winning run.

And not that the hitters did such a great job – Lance took the collar – left 3 guys on and Lamb was ofer and left 2 guys on.

Well, Lane the Guy Hated By Fans came through and so did Luke, The Guy Hated By The Organization.

And tomorrow, it’s Matt Albers vs Scott Olsen, RHP (AKA a guy who has real anger management problems – yeh, let’s call it that) so I guess Luke and/or Lamb will be in the lineup again.

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Posted in Jason Jennings, Luke Scott, Stephen Randolph | 26 Comments »

6/23/07: Woody Was Bad, Randolph Was Bad And The Hitters Didn’t

Saturday, June 23rd, 2007

It took bout an HOUR to get through just the first 2 innings. At the end, Woody had already thrown 50 pitches and given up 2 ER – and let’s say he was not exactly helped by his defense. And of course, it’s the AL – who CARES about stuff like defense? What matters is interminably long baseball games with high scores because fielders can hit but not catch the *(^*^&$%! baseball.

Anyway, by the end of the third inning, Woody had walked the bases full, then managed to get the last 2 outs without any more runs scoring, but he was already at 84 pitches. And against the freaking Texas Rangers, the second worst team in the AL.

Somehow, he managed to get 3 outs in the 4th on 6 pitches. (And he’s FINALLY leading 3-2 because FINALLY, the guys manage to hit with RISP)

But it was a last gasp because in the 5th, he gave up a single to Young – went up the middle and of course, Loretta didn’t get anywhere near it, then Sosa’s 601st homer – a 335′dink to right, then a massive blast to Marlon Freaking Byrd – I think that ball must have gone over 450′, and there were are, 5 runs in 4 IP.

Seven hits, 4 walks, 5 runs. You know, I wish we had had Woody on the team back when he was good. Now he’s just sad, and switching from Q to Ausmus really hasn’t exactly helped much. I really don’t know what we’re gonna do about him – he signed a 2 year contract, not sure if he would be any good in the bullpen and I can’t see Drayton finding anyone who would trade for him, including the Cards, who are more than desperate.

Sigh

So in comes new reliever Steve Randolph – no one on base, at least. So he walks Frankie Catalanotto, strikes out Gerald Laird, then gives up a GIANT homer to Brad Wilkerson, then gives up a double on the very next pitch that almost goes out, then Kenny Lofton, age 40, beats out a single to short (but fielding doesn’t matter, does it), then he walks Kinsler – bases loaded – then he walks Michael Young, run scores, then Sammy Sosa singles and Lofton and Kinsler score.

We’re now down 10-3. Aat this point, Randolph has thrown 32 pitches, 16 strikes, 16 balls. He’s given up 3 walks, a homer, 2 singles and gotten exactly 1 out. That is 5 runs in 0.1 IP. Mercifully, he gets the next 2 outs without letting any more runs score. Interestingly enough, this was the exact opposite of what he did in AAA – almost no walks, lots of Ks, very few homers – and the homer and double were on FB mid thigh down the middle. ML hitters hit those.

Let’s have some discussion here about Phil and relievers. In the past week, we have watched Phil leave relievers in who clearly have exactly nothing who then lose the game or, like tonight, put it waaaaayyyy out of reach. You HAVE to yank relievers when they are CLEARLY not doing their job. I wouldn’t have objected to Phil letting Randolph get creamed out there if he had come in with the score 10-3 – you’ve already lost, what the heck. But letting Borkowski stay in the other night when he clearly had nothing, and hey, even the greatest pitchers have horrible games and Borkowski is merely an OK reliever, not great – and now doing the same thing with Randolph tonight – NOT good judgement on Phil’s part. (The situation with Qualls was different because he was getting GB – it’s just that we have grossly sub-par fielders that plays weren’t being made)

After Phil let Randolph run up the score to 10-3, the hitters all went 1,2,3 quietly. It didn’t help, of course, that Loretta left 1 on in the first, Chris Burke, Ausmus and Biggio left 2 on in the second, Lamb left men at 1st and 3rd in the third, and Scott left 2 on in the 5th. It WAS Kevin freaking Millwood with his 7 something ERA we are talking about here, not Johan Santana or Francisco Liriano.

And speaking of hitters, I’ve heard that Pence has been hanging with Biggio. And one thing fer SHER he has learned REAL good from the Bidge is how to give a Bull Durham interview, saying exactly nothing – check it out (from MLB.com)

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Posted in Stephen Randolph, Woody Williams | 3 Comments »

6/21/07: Looking At Steve Randolph, Part 2

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

There has been some discussion about Randolph’s work at AAA. Now, I admit that I don’t watch the Express games, and the only info I have to go on is the data from MILB.com and the Express Web site – neither of which has box scores or playbyplay as do sites that report MLB.
From reading the recaps of every game on the Express web site (yeah, I know) it seems to me that Randolph was used as a mopup guy and a long reliever, mostly, and not a LOOGY. Because I don’t have box scores or playbyplay, I can’t tell exactly when he entered games unless the recaps specifically say so.

Because I have noticed that Phil really prefers to use leftys as LOOGYs (as he has done with BOTH Gallo and Miller and – shudder – Franco) I wanted to see how Randolph might do IF he would be used in the role that Phil usually prefers. (Yes, I KNOW Phil said he is going to use Randolph in the same way he uses Borkowski – several innings at a time if need be, but I’ll believe it when I see it. It’s REALLY unusual to see people act in a way that is opposite from their inclinations, and especially if Miller continues to, uh, not get the job done, I would find it REALLY hard to believe that Randolph wouldn’t find himself the new LOOGY)

Therefore, I would worry about how he does against leftys and pitching from the stretch. Based on comments in the previous entry on Randolph as well as emails I have received, opinions of fans who watch the Express and go to games is divided on how Randolph pitches if he is not used to mopup.

So, here are the game recaps of the 6 games Randolph won (from www.roundrockexpress.com)
6/9:
Two innings later, after Oklahoma had regained the lead 5-4, Ransom belted a 0-1 pitch over the left field fence, driving in Jason Lane but more importantly helping his club regain the lead.
Stephen Randolph closed out the ninth while just allowing one hit…
(looks as if he came in when the Express was behind and pitched the inning when his team took the lead)

6/2
With a two-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth, trusty reliever Stephen Randolph was sent on to secure the victory, but Sacramento had other ideas for the packed crowd of 14,197. First baseman Jeremy Brown came up to bat with two out in the inning and a man on first, having just nine extra base hits to his record this season. But with one swing of the bat, Brown had his 13th and 14th RBI and just his second home run, and game that was forced into extra innings.
(Blown Save – a stat not recorded in the minor league stats I can find)

After a scoreless 10th, Cody Ransom knocked a two-out, line drive single to left field that allowed Burke and Eric Bruntlett to score, giving them a two run lead to once again hand over to Randolph.
This time the lefty delivered, striking out the side with a base hit in between, but never a serious threat against the Express’ hard earned lead. Randolph earned his fifth win on the season and it couldnít have come at a better time as the clubís six game losing streak came to a halt and moved to within two games of the division lead.
(so he was pitching when his team came back and took the lead)

5/15
After tossing a scoreless eighth, Stephen Randolph entered the ninth with a 7-3 lead and immediately picked up his second strikeout for the Express. But Paul McAnulty dropped a single into center field and Luis Cruz followed with a single to left.
Vincent Sinisi lined out to shortstop Jesse Garcia, but Craig Stansberry drew a walk and Laforest turned on the second pitch he saw ñ a 92-mph fastball and evened the game at 7-7.
(another Blown Save)
Garcia struck out to open the bottom of the frame before Conrad drew a walk and Munson deposited a 1-2 delivery just over the wall in right field, saving Round Rock from its first extra-innings game of the year.
(but the team came back and won in the inning in which he was pitcher of record)

5/8
Left-hander Mark McLemore allowed just one hit on six strikeouts over four innings in the start and Stephen Randolph picked up win number three, working three hitless innings. Paul Estrada closed out the one-hit victory by fanning two over the final six outs.
(here he wins by pitching the 5th inning when McLemore was pulled after 4 – must have been a pitch count thing, as it sure looks as if he was dominating)

4/9
Left-hander and former Longhorn Stephen Randolph worked three innings of scoreless relief for his second win with the Express, who cranked out a season-high 10 hits.
(there aren’t any details in the game account that gives me any clue about when he came into the game and what the score was)

4/5
Fernando Nieve scattered five hits, three walks and three strikeouts over four innings in the start, allowing one earned run and University of Texas alum Stephen Randolph (1-0), Philip Barzilla and Paul Estrada combined to shut the Cubs out for the final five innings.
(looks as if Randolph pitched that all important 5th inning in a game in which they were ahead)

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Posted in Stephen Randolph | 11 Comments »

6/20/07: Let’s Look At Lefty Steve Randolph

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Steve Randolph was called up for the second time this year when Brad Lidge went on the DL with an oblique muscle strain. By the way, I looked that up – it means you pulled the muscle just below your ribs on your side. It makes it hard to take a deep breath, twist or cough. Uck.

Anyway, as everyone knows, Trever Miller has been lousy. To be nice about it. Phil has used him pretty exclusively as a LOOGY and he, uh, hasn’t done very well. Leftys – 47 AB – are batting .277 with a 1.82 WHIP (2 HR, 4 doubles, 1 triple, 7 BB, 17K, 2 HBP, 13 RBI) and rightys – 27 AB – are batting .370 with a 2.71 WHIP (9 BB, 6 K, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 10 runs scored) and that averages out to a 7.50 ERA, 2.14 WHIP and a .317 BAA.

And by the way, he had a career year last year with a .670 OPS against and a career .787 OPS against. This happened the last time he was with Houston – was excellent in 98, sucked in 99.

Fans have been clamoring for Steve Randolph to be called up, mostly because he has a great K:BB ratio – 57:9 (about 6:1) – and because Phil didn’t want to use McLemore, really during either time he was called up even though he pitched 2 scoreless innings. (Trever Miller is an ex-Tiger, remember, and we ALL know about Phil’s obsession with ex-Tigers, right?)

Some people aren’t so sure Randolph will be any good – and remember that Phil thinks that leftys can’t/shouldn’t get rightys out. So here is what Astros and Express fan Austin (well, it’s where he’s from) has to say about Steve Randolph’s performance in AAA (from his comments yesterday – it bears repeating)

“And don’t be deceived by Randolph’s numbers.”
- here they are : from MILB.com
vs leftys: 3.24 ERA over 14 IP – 2 BB, 25 K, 10 hits, 1 HR, 6 runs, .200 BAA
vs rightys: 1.74 ERA over 20.2 IP – 7 BB, 32 K, 3 HR, 4 R, .104 BAA
bases empty: 0.93 ERA over 19.1 IP – 6 BB, 36 K, 12 H, 2 HR, 2 R, .167 BAA
Runner(s) on: 4.11 ERA over 15 IP – 2 BB, 15 K, 5 H, 3 HR, 8 R, .111 BAA
RISP: 6.75 ERA over 6.2 IP – 2 BB, 9 K, 1 HR, 3 H, 6 R, .165 BAA

“I’ve been watching him, and he’s not as good as the numbers indicate. He’s benefitted a lot from some mop-up duty. For example, he’s pitched three consecutive scoreless innings, but all three of those appearances were in games where the Express were already behind. The last time he allowed a run was June 9, when he came on in the 8th inning and allowed what would have been the game-winning run, except that the Express scored two runs in the top of the ninth. Before that, he pitched one scoreless inning in a game the Express were losing 12-5.

One appearance before that, he came on in the 8th inning of a tied ballgame. He got the one out he was supposed to, and then the Express grabbed him a two-run lead in the 9th. He blew it, sending the game into extra innings, where he eventually won. It didn’t go down as a blown save, because the team had the lead AFTER he came in. But he did blow a chance for them. These are the things you can’t see by looking at his K/9 or his ERA, or his WHIP. He’s CHOKING when the team needs him. That’s all that matters.

One way you CAN look at stats to truly get an idea of how Randolph is to look at appearances versus wins, saves and holds. He has 18 appearances and only 3 saves, which shows you he’s usually coming in either for mop-up or hold duty. BUT, he only has one hold. Despite having just one hold, he has 6 wins. 6 wins is bad news for a reliever, because it tends to mean that he’s blowing save opportunities and then having the team come back to get him the win. That’s exactly what’s happening with Randolph, at TRIPLE-A. Yeah, he doesn’t belong at the major league level. But again, don’t try to make this seem like Garner’s situation is out of his hands. There’s a good reason why the Astros have no leftys to turn to.”

 Well, actually MY worry is that he’ll most likely be called in with runners on – and even though it is a small sample size, you’ll see that he pitches REALLY lousy with RISP or with ANY runners on – clearly a problem pitching from the stretch. Well, he would have to be REALLY bad to be worse than Trever Miller. I just hope Garner will actually USE this guy. He has no options, being a minor league free agent and he would have to clear waivers again to be sent back down. We’ll see…

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Posted in Stephen Randolph, Trever Miller | 12 Comments »

2007 Astros Relief Pitchers Report

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

Let’s start this one off with the guys we KNOW will definitely make it, no question (unless there is a trade.)
Brad Lidge, age 30, RHP, closer. I hope.

Dan Wheeler, age 29, RHP, setup guy.

Chad Qualls, age 28, RHP, 7th inning guy – might could have a sore shoulder, who knows how serious. I don’t trust anyone to be honest about injuries.

Trever Miller, age 33, designated LOOGY
- now, the guys who I don’t think will be relievers if they fail to make the starting rotation

Matt Albers (who I talked about yesterday) – because I think they want him to be a starter, so he’d go back to AAA for more experience. On the other hand, they might could give him some work in the pen, as they did Roy when he started out in the majors.

Wandy Rodriguez (who I talked about yesterday) because he’s just not a reliever – ESPECIALLY if there are MOB.

Zeke Astacio (who I talked about yesterdsay) because he sucks no matter if he starts or relieves

Troy Patton ( who I talked about yesterday) – because they want him to be a lefty starter and he NEEDS some more minor league experience

Now, the minor league guys who know they aren’t gonna make the team, but were invited because of good behaviour:

Jimmy Barthmaier, age 22, RH starter. Just finished A ball – 3.62 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 8.4K/9 IP, 4.22 BB/9 IP, 0.37 HR/ 9 IP. started 27 games, pitched 146.2 innings. beeg deeel… Someone needs to explain to me why he’s at ST and Brooks Conrad, who could be a useful switchhitting utility IF is not.

Paul Estrada, age 24, RH reliever, just finished AA. 3.05 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, pitched in 56 games over 88.2 innings. 13.6K/9 IP, 3.76 BB/9 IP, 1 HR/9 IP. Looks more useful than Barthmaier.

Juan Gutierrez, age 23, RH starter. Just finished AA – 3.04 ERA, 1.23 WHIP in 20 games over 104 IP. 9.2 K/9 IP, 2.95 BB/9 IP, 0.87 HR/9 IP. Not bad.

Felipe Paulino Del Guidice, age 23, RH starter. Just finished A ball. Not impressed – 4.35 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 6.48 K/9, 4.21 BB/9, 0.93 HR/9 in 26 GS over 126.1 IP. I have NO idea why the Organization is impressed with this guy.

Jose Rodriguez, age 25, RH reliever (who has not yet gotten to Florida because of visa problems) He’s a 6 year minor league FA who was on the Tampa Bay AAA roster – 2.43 ERA, 1.30 WHIP – 7.54 K/9, 3.28 BB/9, o.49 HR/9 over 49 games and 74 IP. Has never played a ML game.
- and the contenders?

Miguel Asencio, age 26. The throw in in the Jennings trade (as I wrote earlier this year), signed by the Phillies as a 17 year old in 98 and was picked in the Rule V draft by the Royals in 02 – was mostly a starter – went 4-7 in 21 GS and 10 in relief over 123.1 IP (which comprises most of the ML innings he has pitched) with a 5.11 ERA; 1.62 WHIP; 1.24 HR/9; 4.67 BB/9; 4.23 K/9. Yep. Lousy. And he was just as lousy in the 48 innings he pitched the next year for the Royals. In 05, he pitched 19 innings in the Padres minor league system. He was then signed as a FA by the Rockies last year, and in AAA, he started 16 games, relieved in 22 more and, well, letís say he wasnít any good – 5.03 EA, 1.51 WHIP; 1.05 HR/9; 3.32 BB/9; 5.76 K/9 . He pitched 7.1 innings in Denver and again, he just sucked. I see absolutely ZERO evidence that this guy is any good at ALL – I suppose he is the much vaunted “long reliever” that Purpura, Phil and Drayton thought was gonna be so much better for the team than Russ Springer.
I’ll believe it when I see it.

Dave Borkowski, age 30, RHP – who I talked about yesterday

Lincoln Holzkolm, age 25, RH reliever. He’s a minor leaguer we picked up in the Rule V draft from the Cubs. He was drafted in the 7th round of the 2001 draft by the Marlins, spent a whole lot of time on the DL for the past few years, including Tommy John surgery in 04. Heís never pitched higher than the Southern League AA. Last year, he pitched 32.1 innings with a 1.95 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 2.78 BB/ 9 and 7.52 K/ 9 IP. He hasnít done quite so well this winter in the AFL, 20.1 IP over 13 games, with 3 HR, 13 BB and 21K – he gave up 19 runs, 16 earned, for a shiny 7.08 ERA. Must say that the local media sure do seem to like him – he’s already gotten 2 stories.

Mark McLemore, age 25, LHP (talked about him yesterday too. Interesting that none of the local media have so much as mentioned his name as even being at ST.)

Brian Moehler, age 35, RHP – I had to talk about him yesterday, sorry that I have to do that today again…

Fernando Nieve, age 24, RHP – discussed him yesterday

Stephen Randolph, age 32, LHP – He has pitched 147 ML innings, in 2003 and 2004 – heís been primarily a reliever, but was pressed into service as a starter by the desperately dreadful Dbax in 04. He has started 6 games, relieved in 89 more. He has 7.12 K/9 and a glorious 7.65 BB/9. Of course, Phil is drooling over him because of his low ERA in AAA Charlotte last year – 3.67, but he still gave up 6.65 BB/9 and that is in a hit happy league.
Color me unimpressed. But I guess Phil is seeing a lefty long man and drooling…

Scott Sauerbeck, age 35, LHP – wrote about him already

Kevin Walker, age 30, LHP – let’sd say he’s another AAAA guy – has logged 103 ML innings over 11 years – 4.76 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 8.38K/9, 5.56BB/9 and 0.88 HR/9. Last time he pitched more than a few innings in the ML was 2000, when he threw 66 innings for San Diego. He’s lousy. To be nice about it.

Rick White, age 38, RHP. Wrote him up already (2/5/07)

Ok, let’s figger we’ll have 12 pitchers – 5 starters, 7 relievers

Let’s say Oswalt, Williams, Jennings, Wandy and Sampson (interesting that Richard Justice doesn’t think that either Wandy or Sampson will make the 25 man – he predicts Albers and Nieve as the 4th and 5th man…)

Relievers will be Lidge, Wheeler, Qualls, Miller
and there are 3 more spots. Now you KNOW that Phil wants a long man and another LOOGY.

Long man candidates: Asencio, Borkowski, Nieve, Holzkom (who has to go back to the Cubs if he’s not on the 25 man) Randolph and Moehler.

Loogy candidates: Randolph, McLemore, Sauerbeck and Walker
Last man: White. Maybe Estrada

So who am I guessing will make it onto the 25 man?
Borkowski, Nieve and Sauerbeck. Although I think I’d really prefer Borkowski, Estrada and McLemore – hey, be daring….

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Posted in Astros baseball, Brian Moehler, Dave Borkowski, Ezequiel Astacio, Felipe Paulino, Fernando Nieve, Juan Gutierrez, Matt Albers, McLemore, Pitchers, spring training, Stephen Randolph, Trever Miller, Troy Patton | 1 Comment »

1/19/07: Catching Up On Astros News

Friday, January 19th, 2007

Yes, it HAS been a long three weeks.

First, I decided to take a little vacation. I meant it to be for two weeks, as I had not taken any time off at all since I began blogging three years ago (except when I had a family leave, and that was no vacation, trust me on this.)

However, I was unable to logon for another week because of the changeover of the MVN servers.

This blog had to be renamed (legal reasons) and will now be “The Astros Dugout.” (Yes, this shows GREAT imagination on my part and I must confess that it was Husband’s, uh, great idea. (Baby, if you so unhappy about not calling your blog “The Dugout” any more, then just call it The ASTROS Dugout. Problem solved what’s for dinner?)
You can’t access this site by typing www.astros.mostvaluablenetwork.com . However, www.mostvaluablenetwork.com does work, and you can click on the baseball/Astros link. Soon, we will be completely switching to mvn.com, and I will post whenever that goes into effect.
OK!!!

Catching up on Astros news:
1 – Mark Loretta (yeah, old news now.) The fans are absolutely delirious with joy, believing that we have FINALLY found a great hitter to replace Mo Ensberg at third, or Adam Everett at SS. Oooooh, a guy with career .299 BA who does not strike out much and was an ALL-STAR last year!!!!
hmmmmmmmmm
Let’s take a look at some stats, shall we?
(Lee Sinins’ RCAA from  www.baseball-encyclopedia.com)
YEAR AGE RCAA OBA SLG OPS OWP RC/G AVG HR RBI SB G … TEAM
2004 …32 … 44…. .391 .495. .886 .691 ..  7.52  .335 16 .  76 .  5  154 Padres
2005 .. 33….. -1 ..  .360 .347 .707 .494 ..  4.50  .280 . 3 .  38 . 8  105 Padres
2006 .. 34  . -15 … .345 .361 .706 .420 ..  4.46 .285 .. 5 .. 59.  4  155 Red Sox
CAREER 17yrs …  .363 .402 .765 .508 …  5.24 .299  68  525 45 1385
LG AVG 0 ………… .343 .435 .778 .500 …  5.26 .271 157  651 86
POS AVG -  66 …  .338 .405 .742 .453 …. 4.79 .272 107 552 94

All-Star or not, he sure had down year with the bat last year.
He had a great year two years ago, but he has a career OPS of .765 – not exactly better than Mo Ensberg’s 858 OPS last year. He does have a decent career OBP of .363, which dropped a little last year to .345, and IF he were replacing Franchise Icon Craig Biggio’s bat, that would be one thing; but he’s not, except for away games (that is, I HOPE, after Craig gets his 3000 hits.) He simply is not better than Mo Ensberg, no matter what the fans think about strikeouts.

He is primarily a second baseman, came up as a second baseman and has pretty much played exclusively there most of his career.

Let’s see where he’s played over the past 5 years:
2006 – 138 games at 2B, 11 at 1B
2005 – 105 games at second, 1 inning at 3B
2004 – 154 games at second
2003 – 150 games at second, 6 innings at SS
2002 – he was a real utility guy between Milwaukee and Houston, so I’m going to list by innings
………..2B – 40 innings; SS – 106 innings; 3B – 451 innings

As for his glove, Chris Dial didn’t think too much of Loretta, ranking him 12th of 14 AL second basemen, at -7 runs saved/150 games. David Pinto (www.baseballmusings.com) didn’t rank Loretta very highly on his PMR defense system either, saying he made 14 fewer outs that should have been expected (401 total, expected 415.) In case you are curious, Chris Burke was +2 and Craig Biggio was -9.

So he hasn’t been a utility guy for 5 years, and he’s not even as good as Biggio at second with the glove. I’m certainly not looking forward to seeing him at short. I am actually hoping we can use him as a right hand contact hitter off the bench a good deal of the time. I am not nearly as overjoyed as a whole lot of Astros fans, seeing as how I don’t think that a strikeout is somehow worse than a groundout, but as long as he isn’t used to replace Ensberg, I’m happy to see him on the bench.

2 – We signed lefty Steve Randolph, age 32 – will turn 33 in May. From thebaseballcube.com:
“Selected by New York Yankees in 18th Round of 1995 draft Jun 7,1995 – Selected by Diamondbacks from Yankees in Rule 5 major league draft Oct 15,2001 – Granted Free Agency. Dec 10,2001 – Signed as Free Agent by Diamondbacks. Jan 10,2005 – Traded by Diamondbacks to Cubs for player to be named later. Mar 30,2005 – Released by Cubs Jan 9,2006 – Signed by White Sox”

He has pitched 147 ML innings, in 2003 and 2004 – he’s been primarily a reliever, but was pressed into service as a starter by the desperately dreadful Dbax in 04. He has started 6 games, relieved in 89 more. He has 7.12 K/9 and a glorious 7.65 BB/9. Of course, Phil is drooling over him because of his low ERA in AAA Charlotte last year – 3.67, but he still gave up 6.65 BB/9 and that is in a hit happy league.
Color me unimpressed.

3 – signed Richard Hidalgo to a minor league contract with an invitation to ST.
Doggie is the guy we kept instead of Bobby Abreu, in case anyone forgot.

He is one of those guys who decided to, um, work out (ahem) and put on like 40 pounds of muscle in 4 months after his big year in 2000. Let’s say it turned him from outstanding to el-suck (gaining 40 pounds of muscle does not always make ballplayers better, in spite of what all the self righteous sportswriters think…) He lost some of the weight before the 03 season and had a rebound year after 2 fairly lousy years, then again regressed badly in 04 and was traded to the Mets where he fared no better, then fizzled out with the Rangers in 05. He is supposedly back in shape and doing well in the Venezuelan Winter League and now the Organization wants him to compete with Luke Scott for the RF spot. (WHY??? What on earth is wrong with Luke Scott??? He most certainly looked fabulous in 06 – the 3 months he was in the ML. What more does the Organization want???)

Well, it IS baseball and youneverknow – both Julio Franco and Ruben Sierra came back to decent ML careers after being away for a year or two. He DID have an excellent glove and arm, and we sure could use at least a DR, ESPECIALLY in left. If he really did regain some of his former excellence, he would be another good righty off the bench.

Completely off the subject (well, maybe not completely) I sure would like it if ballplayers who used the juice and got WORSE would come forward and say – I tried the stuff and it made me worse, ruined my entire career (hello Armando Rios, for one) instead of letting everyone (sportswriters) think that steroids always turn you from Mario Mendoza into Mark McGwire. Or even from Ken Caminiti 1995 to Ken Caminiti 1996.
Here are Hidalgo’s career stats (from espn.com)

4 – Arbitration eligible players update:
- signed Brandon Backe to a 1 year 545 K contract. nice. He won’t throw a pitch this entire year and he gets a raise.
- signed Dan Wheeler to a 1 year 2.1 mill + incentives (only 1 year??? He’s gonna be a LOT more expensive next year. Also, I’m not sure what exactly the incentives are, or how much more he might could earn.)
- signed Brad Lidge to a 1 year 5.35 million contract (yes, I know it is more than last year. Yes, I know he had a, um, bad year with 32 saves and 6 BS. However, he’s got the label of “closer” so he’s going to make closer money.)
- signed Mike Lamb to a 1 year 2.7 mill contract. He hit very well, playing mostly at first, with a little third, and coming off the bench. If he hits as well as he did last year, he’ll be worth every penny. Too bad we couldn’t have traded him to the Pirates for one of their lefty starters – he’s better than Adam LaRoche, although not with the glove.
Here are Lamb’s stats with Houston, as well as his career stats. You notice he had a bad year in 05. You also notice that unlike poor Mo Ensberg THIS year, the fans weren’t screaming to got rid of Lamb for having an off year..

You will also notice that when it comes to glovework, comparing Lamb to Ensberg is like comparing Paul Sorrento to Brooks Robinson.

players left are:
Jason Lane – asking 1.37 mill – the club is offering 900 thou (and the club SHOULD win that one)
Mo Ensberg – asking 4.9 mill, offered 4 mill (he made 3.8 mill last year. Backe gets a raise for doing exactly zero, but Mo is offered only 200K more for a .858 OPS season? Like I’ve said for a long time, this Organization does NOT like this guy.)
Adam Everett – made 1.9 mill last year, is asking for 3.4 mill and is being offered 2.5 mill.
Interesting.

I am not understanding why a club has to pay a player more every year if he played lousy, or if he is not going to play at ALL.
Ah well, that’s why I’m a housewife, not a labor lawyer.

5 – The Roger Clemens will he/won’t he saga. Such DRAMA – will he go back to the City Of Boston to be taken back into the hearts of the Town that Cast Him Out??? Will he go back to the City Of Pinstripes to spend his last innings with his Best Friend who explained to the Astros he didn’t know if he really wanted to pitch any more, then signed a contract with the stripes 2 weeks later for 2 more years. Will he stay at Home, where he is worshipped, adored, needed – where he can Be At Home (literally) and has a 10 year personal services contract when he is Finally Retired.

Personally, I am hoping that Best Friend has his butt handed to him on a silver platter by the rest of the AL East – remembering that in 05, he got killed in both his starts against the Blue Jays AND the Orioles. And I am fed up with all the begging and pleading to Roger. He can travel a LOT with Them Up There or he can travel a little here at home.

Whatever, dude. Poopoo or get off the pot.

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Posted in Adam Everett, Astros baseball, Bandon Backe, Mark Loretta, Roger Clemens, Stephen Randolph | 2 Comments »