The Sports Idiot

Here at The Sports Idiot things have been pretty hectic lately, thus the lack of updates.  One of our good buddies and fellow seamheads has decided to lend a hand.  So welcome Brian (aka Butter) to the mix.  His first contribution is the following entry, which I’m a few days late getting up…

A third of the way through the long baseball season and the best coaching job goes to… How about Cito Gaston, who in his second stint with the Blue Jays had his team off to a red hot start and atop the stacked AL East?  What about Joe Torre, who has the LA Dodgers sitting with the best record in the game even without his best player? Even Dusty Baker, who has the Cincinnati Reds four games over .500 and playing good all-around baseball? The person who has done the best coaching job is not even the manager of his own team.  The manager of the Texas Rangers, Ron Washington, has his team off to 26-19 record and sitting atop the AL West.  However, he hasn’t even done the best “coaching” job on his own team.  The pitch is on the way, it’s a curve and a strike! And here is another curve for you, Mike Maddux is the pitching coach of the Rangers and arguably has done the best “coaching” job in the game up to this point of the season.  Maddux is the older brother of the soon to be Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux, and has his pitching staff excelling well beyond expectations.

Maddux’s philosophy to finish what you have started has the Rangers pitching staff near the top of the league in wins and saves and is the leader in complete games. Yes, the Rangers are ninth in the AL in ERA and dead last in baseball in strikeouts, but the job Maddux is doing is remarkable.  The most important stat and one that is consistently overlooked, is the fact that, the Rangers have used their bullpen the least of any club in the Majors this year.  With a rotation of veterans, Vicente Padilla and Kevin Millwood, along with Brandon McCarthy, Scott Feldman and Matt Harrison it is remarkable that Washington hasn’t tapped him arm more often.  The Rangers have a Major League low 111.1 innings from the bullpen, some 55 innings less than the Marlins, who lead the league.  Why is this important?  The correlation in the total number of innings pitched by relievers and wins is always apparent.  Last year in the American League, four of the six teams with the least amount of innings pitched from their bullpen made the playoffs.  Conversely, the teams with the most innings out the pen usually don’t make the playoffs.  The Rangers were dead last in 2007 and 2008 in innings pitched from the relievers, as well as last in the Bigs in 2008 with an ERA of 5.37.  In both of those years they pitched upwards of 600 innings from the bullpen (which equates to about 65 games) and did not perform up to expectations in either year and were under .500 both years.  Saving the bullpen for the dog days of summer can do nothing but help the team, especially in the scorching heat in Texas.

With Maddux’s team taking a page from his brother, (location, location, location) they are overachieving this year.  The Rangers are dead last in the league in strikeouts with 227.  They are third in the Majors in both walks per nine (3.26) and pitches per inning (16.3).  Their closer, Frank Francisco, has pitched 15.2 scoreless innings to start the year.  So will this last all year? Who knows, but with Maddux’s philosophy to have the starters going as deep into games as they can and the fact that the Rangers can simply mash the ball, they look like they will be a contender for the rest of the year.  I know Maddux cannot win coach of the year, but when Ron Washington does at the end of the year, he should thank his pitching coach first.

Our good budies over at 27Pitches.com have landed an exclusive interview with ManRam. Check it out, and be sure to hit the comments and let them know what you think.

Kris Medlen made his Major League debut on Thursday night, and it was not one for the scrapbook. Rather, it was one for the scrapheap, if you will.  Dude’s wheels came off in the fourth inning, as he lost command of his pitches.  Final line was three innings pitched, one loss, five earned runs, five walks handed out, and three strikeouts.

Do not panic, it was Medlen’s debut and he was obviously nervous.  He will get another chance to prove he is ready in five days when the Braves are in San Francisco, and then his third will come at Arizona.  Those should be favorable matchups for Medlen, so it will be interesting to see how he responds.  Of course, the Rockies should have been favorable as well.

If Medlen does not perform well in his next two starts, he will certainly be sent back down to the Minors.  The question will be in who replaces him.  Will it be Tom Glavine, Charlie Morton, or some dude named Tommy Hanson?

Hopefully you did not draft John Smoltz this year in your fantasy league.  You were probably like me, and picked him up to stash in one of your Prior List slots.  So now you are beginning to wonder if you have been wasting that spot for a good reason (okay, it is not really wasting it, especially if you have not needed it yet), and when the Great One will be taking the hill for you.  We will soon begin to get those answers, as Smoltz threw three rehab innings yesterday in Augusta, GA.

In those three innings of work, Smoltz have up one hit while striking out two for A Greenville.  As far as we can tell, he is on track for a June return, it is just unclear how early in June that return will be.  The upside with Smoltz crushes any risk in stashing him for a few months, so continue to be patient.  The good news is now that he is actually on the hill pitching, we should start to get some good, solid information on when to expect him back in the Majors.  With the Braves scheduled to visit Fenway for a three game set beginning on June 19th, you can trust that Smoltz will do all in his power to be ready for that series.

As expected, Jake Peavy squashed the trade that would have sent him to the Chicago White Sox yesterday.  The confusing part here is why the Padres would even attempt to work on a deal with an AL team that is not on Peavy’s short list to begin with.  Note to self, before I try to trade a player with a full no-trade clause it might be a good idea to talk to said player first.  It is not like Peavy does not know that he could be traded, or that the Padres have been trying to move him, so why not talk to Jake before completeing a deal?  Because the Padres and GM Kevin Towers want to try and make Peavy look like an ass for killing the deal.  It is not going to work, Mr. Towers, because we already know who you are.

A deal has been struck that would send super stud Jake Peavy to the Chicago White Sox.  All that they are waiting on is Peavy’s approval, which is not guaranteed to happen.  It is well documented that Peavy wants to stay in the NL, and that he is happy staying in San Diego.  The players in the deal are unclear, so speculate away.

I do not see this deal going down.  Why would Peavy want to go to the White Sox?  They are not going to be in contention this year, are an AL squad, and just do not make a lot of sense for Peavy.  We’ll stay tuned, and try to let you know if something goes down.

Tim Hudson is working his way back from Tommy John surgery.  While he is rehabbing, he is not oblivious to the pitching that the Atlanta Braves have amassed.  Hudson is on track for an August arrival, and adding a number one starter to the mix could give the Braves a huge boon in the pennant  race.  The problem might be finding a spot for Hudson in the rotation.

With Kris Medlen making his MLB debut tonight, and Tommy Hanson waiting in the wings, the Braves have two rookie starters who could make an impact this season.  Throw in Tom Glavine, and you suddenly have a logjam in the rotation, without even considering Charlie Morton.  This is not lost on Hudson, who says that while he wants to start, he wants to help the team however he can.  Even if it means starting out in the bully.  Braves fans can only hope that this “problem” has to be faced in August, and one has to wonder if a move for a bat will come about near the deadline.

Kris Medlen was supposed to make his Major League debut on Tuesday, but a Sunday rainout pushed him all the way back to tonight’s game against the Rockies.  While Medlen is most likely hanging out until Glavine’s status is certain, if you have a roster spot to spare you may want to take a flier on Medlen.  With his stuff, he could be the sleeper pitching prospect of the year.  Or he could be another Kyle Davies.

Tom Glavine is working his way towards rejoining his Atlanta Braves teammates on the field.  His wife, Chris, however, is working on expanding their family.  This is a great read about Glaves’ wife and her chance encounter that led to Tom standing in a delivery room (which I’ll be doing soon myself!).  If you needed another reason to like Glavine, look no farther.

In baseball news, Glavine is still trying to get back to the Majors by the end of May.  I am now pulling even harder for him, and with Kenshin Kawakami pitching like Hideki Irabu instead of Dice-K, the Braves do indeed need him to return.  Glaves pitched a simulated game on Monday, and other than being drilled by a Greg Norton line drive, things went well.  He plans on pitching a few innings for AAA Gwinnett on Saturday, so we should know more by Sunday.  Glavine should be ignored in all fantasy formats either way.

Joakim Soria took his first steps towards returning from the Prior List yesterday.  Dude threw from flat ground, and basically just played catch for a while.  While it went well, with no reported issues yesterday, they want to wait until today to make any decisions on his next step.  He is eligible to come off the Prior List on Saturday, but I would not expect him back until next week sometime at the earliest.  He will need to get his arm ready to close again, and possibly work some rehab games to see how he feels.

Obviously, getting Soria back on your squad would be huge.  Dude is one of the top closers in all of baseball when he is healthy, but be careful with him this season.  His arm troubles worry us here at The Sports Idiot, as we have been high on Soria for a few years now.  Stay tuned.