Personal Tidbits

Scoring Probables:
MON
CIN @ LAD: Micah Owings against Jason Schmidt (Schmidt should be interesting, 1st start in awhile, means I will see James McDonald as well, personal prediction)

TUE
TB @ CHW: Jeff Niemann against Clayton Richard: Nothing exciting.

WED
SF @ ATL: Tim Lincecum vs. Jair Jurrjens
LAA @ KC: Joe Saunders vs. Brian Bannister

So I finally get a Lincecum score and have an 8 o clock, with the Lincecum score starting at 7. I will be fast forwarding through both of those quite a bit, so don't expect too detailed of scouting reports.

FRI
SD @ WAS (Here's to hoping Latos stays on 4 days rest and the Pads play Monday)
FLA @ LAD: Kershaw vs. Johnson. Unbelievable. That will be a great, phenomenal game to watch.

Here is a link to a story about me and the Northern Yankees that a friend found (we will call him Stalker # 1), so lets give a big shout out to the stalker:

http://www.mcall.com/sports/baseball/all-playofweektext.6963953jul19,0,4063448.story

Brews-D'Backs Make Incomplete Deal

The Brewers traded Cole Gillespie and Roque Mercedes to the D'Backs for Felipe Lopez.

Brewers Side: The Brewers pick up a utility player in Lopez in the midst of a career year (again). Lopez is currently hitting .305-.368-.416 as the D'Backs everyday 2Bmen. Moving to Milwaukee, he likely will take the same role. Is this truly an upgrade? Looking at stats, you would say yes, however lets look deeper. This acquisition either pushes Casey McGehee (continuing his torrid hitting at .310-.341-.452 in July) or Mat Gamel (who needs AB's) to the bench. This also means Counsell will have to break out of his slump (or regression to the mean depending on your view) with sporadic pinch hit AB's. Lopez is also likely going to lead off and with a net OBP of just .63, if he suffers any drop in batting average or luck, his value will be diminished.

D'Backs Side: Gillepsie (24) inexplicably made a jump from High A (.349-.431-.605) to AAA (.242-.332-.424). If I were the Diamondbacks, I send him to AA and let him hit around .260-.270 and get acclimated to the organization as you try to teach this kid some pop so that he can be a corner outfielder. Mercedes (22) is a reliever in High-A and has a 1.08 ERA in 41.2 IP, racking up 45 strikeouts against 15 walks. Both these prospects have some potential, but are likely 2 Grade C prospects.

Analysis: Yes, the Brewers have improved themselves. However, they just dealt 2 assets to the Diamondbacks (that the Diamondbacks obviously liked) and did not fill their biggest need (starting pitching). This means the D'Backs price on Doug Davis (who the Brewers must have inquired about) is either exorbitant or the Brewers have a better option. I am not a big fan of this acquisition for Milwaukee, he has always been a + .60 OBP guy, which is useful, just not as a lead off hitter. They didn't give up much in sure things, but Gillespie has always been able to command the strike zone (though I doubt he shows enough to be an everyday guy) and should be able to fill in as a bench guy down the road. Mercedes, who knows? I will give the win to the Brewers, just because they didn't have to give up a possible everyday player to get one back./

O's - Pads Trade: Huh?

The Orioles traded Oscar Salazar to the Padres for Cla Meredith.

Orioles Side: Baltimore picks up Meredith, a 26 year old Chad Bradford wannabe. Meredith's #'s are not good, a 4.17 ERA, 47 hits, 13 walks and 20 strikeouts in 36 and 2/3 innings. Think about that. You are asking him to now go from the most forgiving ballpark in the league (though he may not have been built for it, being a sinkerballer) to one of the toughest divisions to get out some of the better right handed hitters in a game. Maybe the Orioles see something in him.

Padres Side: San Diego picks up Salazar, a 31 year old Venezuelan. Salazar's bat hasn't been a question (with BAL: .419-.455-.613 in 31 AB's, with AAA: .372-.408-.618 in 199 AB's) but where do you play him? At 6 feet, he isn't an ideal 1B. He didn't get much of a chance at 3B and has played a bunch of positions in his time. However, he now goes from a tougher league to a much tougher home park. They may see him as a bench bat, because he still doesn't have an everyday spot unless they move Adrian Gonzalez (uh huh) or Kevin Kouzmanoff (possible, has been shopped).

Analysis: Huh? The Orioles, who have a plethora of starting pitching prospects that will need to some go into the pen, such as, in my opinion, Brandon Erbe, Jason Berken, Brad Bergesen (who I think IS Cla Meredith stuff and deception wise) and Kam Mickolio. Meredith may be auditioning for a job. Meanwhile, San Diego gets a 31 year old bat who is fairly unproven and the best they can likely hope for is something similar to David Newhan's 2004 season (.311-.361-.453). Some of you read that and are thinking, wait Tim, that is pretty good. Sure, if your a contender, however the Padres are at least 2 years from competing and maybe more depending on the Peavy situation. 2 years later, Newhan hit .252-.298-.374. Sound like a contributing player? Seems like a good idea to trade a 26 year old reliever for a 31 year old utility player. I will give a slight win to the Orioles.

Chart Observations: MIN @ TEX

1) Scott Baker: 114 pitches. 11 strikes swinging. 9 on Fastballs (1st, 2 in 2nd, 5 (5!) in 6th, 8th) and 2 Sliders (1st, 8th)

• Baker is a 6-4, 220 pound righty. The 27 year old has a big frame that can add a little more muscle, probably about 230. He came from a high 3/4 release. His fastball has some run in on righties. His change has some fade from lefties with solid sink and his slider is a 2-7 pitch with slightly above average bite. His curve didn't do anything and just hung and then wasn't thrown again. Baker's stuff plays up due to his above average command. Solid # 4 starter.

1st: FB (88-91), SL (79-81)

2nd: FB (88-90), SL (77-84), CB (75)

3rd: FB (89-90), SL (80), CU (82)

4th: FB (88-92), SL (79-81), CU (82-83)

5th: FB (89-90), SL (77-81), CU (83)

6th: FB (87-90), SL (79), CU (82)

7th: FB (89-91), SL (83)

8th: FB (90-92), SL (78-81)

2) Scott Feldman: 105 pitches. 7 strikes swinging. 4 on Fastballs (3 in 2nd, 4th), 2 on Changeups (2nd, 4th) and a Cutter (3rd)

• Feldman is a 6-5, 210 pound righty. The 26 year old has a big frame that can add a lot more muscle, at least to 225. He came from an over the top release. His fastball has some run in on righties with sink. His cutter has some cut and sink and likes to throw cutters in and sinkers away against lefties. His curve is a 12-6 with average depth. His change has good fade from lefties with good sink. His slider is a 2-7 with good bite. Feldman is Jon Garland. There isn't a better comparison in baseball. And like Garland, he is a back end starter who will tease you with high win totals.

1st: FB (89-92), Cut (90-92), CB (76-78)

2nd: FB (89-93), Cut (88-91), CB (74-77), CU (83), SL (81-82)

3rd: FB (88-91), Cut (88-89)

4th: FB (91-92), Cut (90-91), CB (74), CU (83-85)

5th: FB (89-91), Cut (89-91), CB (74-79)

6th: FB (89-93), Cut (90-92), CB (74), CU (85)

3) Jason Jennings: 43 pitches. 2 strikes swinging. Fastball (7th), Slider (7th)

• Jennings came from an over the top release and showed a 2-7 slider with solid bite, a fastball with some run in on righties and a straight change with some late fade from lefties.

7th: FB (88-90), SL (81-83)

8th: FB (88-90), SL (81-82), CU (84-85)

4) Jason Grilli: 20 pitches. 3 strikes swinging. 2 on Slider (both in 8th), Fastball (9th)

• Grilli came from an over the top release and showed a fastball with some run in on righties and a 2-7 slider with solid bite.

8th: FB (91-92), SL (83-86)

9th: FB (90-92), SL (82-85)

5) Dustin Nippert: 10 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Nippert is a 6-8, 225 pound righty. The 28 year old has a big frame that can add a lot more muscle. He came from an over the top release and is real herky jerky with his limbs and really jumps at the hitters. His fastball has some run in on righties.

9th: FB (88-92)

6) Joe Nathan: 15 pitches. 4 strikes swinging. 3 Fastballs, Slider.

• Nathan came from an over the top release and showed a fastball with some run in on righties and a 2-7 slider with good bite.

9th: FB (90-93), SL (86-88)

Chart Observations: CHC @ WAS

1) Randy Wells: 85 pitches. 2 strikes swinging. Changeup (1st), Fastball (3rd)

• Wells came from an over the top release and showed a fastball with good run in on righties with good sink, a sharp 2-7 slider with above average bite that serves as his out pitch and a change with above average sink with solid fade from lefties that he will throw to righties.

1st: FB (88-91), SL (83), CU (82-84)

2nd: FB (89-91), SL (84-85), CU (83-84)

3rd: FB (88-91), SL (83-84), CU (83)

4th: FB (88-92), SL (83-86), CU (83-86)

5th: FB (89-92), SL (83-84), CU (85)

2) Jordan Zimmermann: 100 pitches. 13 strikes swinging. 9 on Fastballs (2 in 1st, 2 in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 2 in 6th), 3 on Curveballs (3rd, 4th, 5th) and a Changeup (4th)

• Zimmermann is a 6-2, 220 pound righty. The 23 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He comes from an over the top release. His fastball has a little late run in on righties and a little sink. His curve is a power 12-6 with above average depth and is sharp enough to be a strikeout pitch. He will throw the pitch on a 3-2 count. His slider is a sharp 2-7 that can get show above average bite, but it can also flatten out to look like a bad cutter. His change has above average fade from lefties with solid sink. He works extremely fast on the mound and has good tempo.

1st: FB (93-96), CB (80)

2nd: FB (93-94), CB (78-79)

3rd: FB (92-95), CB (76-79), SL (84-86)

4th: FB (93-94), CB (77-80), SL (86-87), CU (84-86)

5th: FB (90-94), CB (76-78)

6th: FB (91-94), CB (78-79), SL (86)

3) Angel Guzman: 22 pitches. 3 strikes swinging. 2 Fastballs, Cutter.

• Guzman is a 6-3, 200 pound righty. The 27 year old has a big frame that can get up to at least 215. He comes from a high 3/4 release. His fastball has good late run in on righties and good sink. His cutter has solid cut and some sink. His curve is a sharp 1-7 with average depth that is sharp enough to be a strikeout pitch. I have always liked him and think he can be a set-up man if he refines his command a little.

6th: FB (94-97), Cut (90-93), CB (80-81)

4) Sean Marshall: 20 pitches. 1 strike swinging. Curveball (7th)

• Marshall came from an over the top release and showed a big breaking 11-5 curve with excellent depth, a fastball with some sink and tailing action, a 11-4 slider with good bite and a cutter with some cut.

6th: FB (91), CB (74-75)

7th: FB (88-90), CB (74-76), Cut (88-90), SL (85-86)

5) Sean Burnett: 8 pitches. 1 strike swinging. Fastball.

• Burnett is a 6-1, 200 pound lefty. The 26 year old has a medium frame that can add a little more muscle, maybe 205. He came from a high 3/4 release and showed a fastball with some late run in on lefties. Middle reliever is his likely ceiling.

6th: FB (90-92)

6) Jason Bergmann: 37 pitches. 6 strikes swinging. 2 on Fastballs (both in 7th), 3 on Cutters (2 in 7th, 8th) and a Curveball (8th)

• Bergmann came from a 3/4 release and showed a fastball with above average run in on righties with solid sink, a 12-6 curve with below average depth, a cutter with some cut, not much that he may call a slider and a change that has early fade and above average sink.

7th: FB (91-94), Cut (86-88), CB (78-81)

8th: FB (90-92), Cut (84), CB (78-81), CU (85)

7) Carlos Marmol: 14 pitches. 1 strike swinging. Fastball.

• Marmol came from a 3/4 release and shwoed a sharp 2-7 slider with above average bite and a fastball with marginal run in on righties.

7th: FB (93-96), SL (81-83)

8) Aaron Heilman: 18 pitches. 1 strike swinging. Changeup.

• Heilman came from a 3/4 release and showed a fastball with some run in on righties, a change with good fade from lefties with good sink that he will throw in a 3-2 count and a 2-7 slider with solid bite.

8th: FB (92-94), CU (85-87), SL (83)

9) Kevin Gregg: 29 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Gregg came from an over the top release and showed a fastball with some run in on righties and a solid 2-7 slider with solid bite.

8th: FB (91-94), SL (83)

9th: FB (92-93), SL (80-82)

10) Joe Beimel: 13 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Beimel came from a high 3/4 release and showed a fastball with some run in on lefties and a little sink, a 11-4 curve with above average depth and a change with some fade and sink.

9th: FB (85-90), CB (74), CU (78)