Wednesday Applesauce

by Eric Simon on Nov 12, 2008 10:36 AM EST in Applesauce

In Arizona:

Josh Thole went 2-for-4 with an RBI (.382/.441/.509).
Eddie Kunz, still ruff, blew a save and picked up a loss, allowing a homerun and two walks in an inning of work.

In Hawaii:

Ruben Tejada went 0-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored.
Jordan Abruzzo went 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
Josh Stinson allowed a run on two hits -- one of them a solo homerun -- in an inning of relief.
Roy Merritt struck out two and walked one in two innings of work.

In the Dominican Republic:

Fernando Martinez went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
Argenis Reyes went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Fernando Tatis went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.

In Puerto Rico:

Nick Evans went 0-for-2 with two walks and a run scored.
Michael Antonini allowed four runs on six hits and two walks in four innings.

In Venezuela:

Michel Abreu went 1-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored.

At MetsGeek, Chris McCown looks at some available options for jettisoning Luis Castillo to parts unknown.

At RotoGraphs, Brian Joura looks at Daniel Murphy's value in upcoming fantasy drafts. Obviously, his value skyrockets if he becomes a starter at second base instead of a platoon partner in left field.

ESPN.com has been posting winter forecasts for each big league team, and Bob Klapisch penned the Mets preview. Nothing terribly new or exciting here. Blah blah closer yada yada big spenders. It'll kill a few minutes of your Wednesday if nothing else.

At The Hardball Times, David Gassko looks into whether experience really does matter in the playoffs. There isn't a ton of data to work with (105 seven-game series since WW2 were considered), but the results might surprise you. And by you I mean me.

The Tao of Stieb, a Blue Jays blog, runs down five reasons not to sign Ryan Dempster.

River Avenue Blues ruminates on Bobby Abreu and whether he makes any sense for the 2009 Yankees and/or beyond.

Wow. Phillies fans. Just, wow.

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Comments

Dempster

Dempster is really a fascinating pitcher. I think a lot of people are just assuming his 2008 was a fluke, but he had a legitimately great season — the strikeout rate is very good, the walks were manageable, and he gets an above average number of groundballs. In other words, he does the things necessary to suggest that 2008 wasn’t purely a fluke.

And Dempster’s always had talent; way back in 2000 I thought he was going to emerge as one of the league’s best pitchers. Instead his command regressed and he got a little unlucky causing his ERA to skyrocket.

Dempster’s not young, but he’s not terribly old yet either.

I really don’t know what to make of him. While 2009 was a strong season, outside of 2005 he hadn’t had a good season since that 2000 campaign. That has to worry you.

And I think there are a bunch of GMs out there thinking the same thing. They just don’t know what he’s going to do. I’ll be very interested to see where he does go and what kind of money he gets.

by Alex Nelson on Nov 12, 2008 11:40 AM EST reply actions

meh

an FIP a full run lower than his career numbers…a lucky BABIP…i’d be wary of signing him with the expectation that he’ll repeat his 2008 performance.

by gogomets on Nov 12, 2008 3:50 PM EST up reply actions

Phillies fans

Savages, all.

We've got ourselves a ball club, the Mets of New York town!

by kingcritical on Nov 12, 2008 11:42 AM EST reply actions

Nothin' but class.

'Catsmeat!' he cried. 'I see it all. It was that chump, Catsmeat.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Nov 12, 2008 11:59 AM EST up reply actions

Philly fans love an excuse

to drink, misbehave, and further their reputation as idiots.

"I just want to thank you for being such a goddam prince, that's all." - Holden Caulfield

by Prince on Nov 12, 2008 2:05 PM EST up reply actions

Ruffness

I understand that the AFL is mainly (as Kunz himself points out) there to work on mechanics and control and technique and all that, but… he’s having a whole lot of ruff outings, isn’t he? Is anyone else starting to worry a little?

By the way, The Tao of Stieb is an excellent name for a Blue Jays blog.

by JoshNY on Nov 12, 2008 12:24 PM EST reply actions

worrisome

21 hits, 9 walks, 15 runs (all earned), and two home runs in 12.1 innings (plus 11 strikeouts).

Definitely ruff.

We've got ourselves a ball club, the Mets of New York town!

by kingcritical on Nov 12, 2008 12:33 PM EST up reply actions

It's easier

to have no expectations. I’m focused on Holt being good.

by Sam Page on Nov 12, 2008 12:39 PM EST up reply actions

That's kind of

how I feel about Kunz. I can’t say I’m really worried because I don’t have very high expectations for Kunz to begin with.

by Gina on Nov 12, 2008 1:14 PM EST up reply actions

Somewhat

I think the AFL stint, while true he may be working on different ways on getting lefties out or whateve, just reaffirms he’s not ready, right now, for the majors. Maybe his arm is tired and he’ll bounce back for next year. Still, I have hopes for Kunz, although maybe I’m alone, looking at his splits Kunz improved as the season went on. For the season, he had a GB 71.2, 7.69 K, .296 BABIP (very impressive,) however, a 4.47W/9 (very shitty.) If he can get that walk rate down, like his latter end to the season, he could be a useful player, perhaps a mid to high 3 ERA which sounds easy to find, but the Mets proved last year can be more daunting than original thought. Still, this is a far cry from what some others thought about him before the season.

by Sokojoe on Nov 12, 2008 1:46 PM EST up reply actions

Some good qoutes from the article linked above in regards to Kunz

“I love going into pressure situations,” he said. "I kind of thrive on that. You can put me in any situation, and I’ll go in there and get three outs, whatever it takes. "

Whatever it takes, even if it takes two walks and a HR.

“Kunz had spotty numbers in Brooklyn last summer and in the Arizona Fall League, but says they were deceiving in that he had a couple of rough outings early but adjusted and pitched well in each case.”

Kunz likes it ruff.

by Sokojoe on Nov 12, 2008 1:52 PM EST up reply actions

"Rough"

Those dudes need a spell-checker.

'Catsmeat!' he cried. 'I see it all. It was that chump, Catsmeat.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Nov 12, 2008 2:18 PM EST up reply actions

"Rough"

I expect that kind of lax journalism from the News. The Post, too.

by BobbyV_Incognito on Nov 12, 2008 11:24 PM EST up reply actions

yo

what are you talking about nothing knew in the klapisch article? I learned that the mets had the third best fielding percentage in the league in ’08 (fascinating stuff) and that brian schneider loves long walks on the beach and candle-light dinners, but hates cigarette smoke and mean people.

by HotChipWillBreakYourLegs on Nov 12, 2008 2:07 PM EST reply actions