- Cardinals acquire RHP Jake Westbrook from Indians, Padres acquire OF Ryan Ludwick from the Cardinals, and Indians acquire RHP Corey Kluber and RHP Nick Greenwood from the Padres - Nice to see a three-way deal at the deadline. Westbrook is what he is, a dependable, pitch-to-contact kind of starter. Hardly flashy, but solid. Maybe Dave Duncan sees something in him, but I don't see much that can be tweaked. As for San Diego, Ludwick instantly becomes the second best bat in their lineup behind Adrian Gonzalez. His addition could propel them to a division title, given how low-powered their offense is. However, the Indians are the real winners in this deal. Greenwood doesn't look like much to me, but Kluber knows how to strike out batters at prodigious rates. His numbers suggest a classic power pitcher, both with the Ks, and lots of fly balls. He might give up more than his fair share of home runs as a big-leaguer, but he will replace Westbrook for a fraction of the price when the Indians are relevant again. Good move for Cleveland, solid for San Diego, and disappointing for St. Louis. They have apparently been impressed by rookie Jon Jay, so Ludwick was expendable, but I think they could have got more for Ryan if that was the case.
- Dodgers acquire LHP Ted Lilly and INF Ryan Theriot from Cubs for INF Blake DeWitt, RHP Kyle Smit, and RHP Brett Wallach - The Dodgers needed to make a move to expect to stay in the NL West race, and this is that move. They needed a starting pitcher, and Lilly upgrades their rotation, though he is only solid at best. Presumably Theriot is insurance in case Rafael Furcal gets hurt, or at least that's the only reason I would acquire him in this trade. I like DeWitt more than Theriot, though Theriot can play shortstop and DeWitt can't really. Smit looks like organizational depth out of the bullpen to me, and Wallach is too far away to say how good he might be, but early returns are promising. The deal looks like a push to me.
Showing posts with label Ryan Ludwick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ryan Ludwick. Show all posts
Deadline Deals: 2010 Edition
Not much to add to the title. This is exactly what it says it is. The deals:
NYM 2, STL 1, F/20: A Baffling Game
By the 19th inning, even from the limited information an out-of-town scoreboard can provide, it was obvious the game had entered a surreal state. Joe Mather, primarily an outfielder, had taken the mound for St. Louis. I would later check the box score and find out he replaced middle infielder Felipe Lopez. It was very amusing, but not surprising, given the situation.
Then it became apparent that this game was in an alternate baseball universe. Once the Mets grabbed the lead, Francisco Rodriguez came in the game to close it out.
How in the world did the closer get saved until the 19th inning?
K-Rod faced Ryan Ludwick to start with, who got aboard. Up to the plate stepped Albert Pujols. This was a golden opportunity! Ludwick expunged it himself though, getting caught stealing second. Oh well, I thought to myself, when you go a long time in a baseball game, odd things happen to perpetuate the game. Adding insult to injury, Pujols doubled.
Next, Kyle Lohse stepped to the plate. As in starting pitcher for the Cardinals, Kyle Lohse. I turned to my friend next to me and pointed it out. A position player was pitching, so where was Lohse playing? St. Louis had literally used everyone on their bench, and were playing a pitcher somewhere in the field. Our best guess was left field, and checking the box score afterwards, we were right.
In the end, Joe Mather struggled some, and the Mets prevailed 2-1. Francisco Rodriguez got the least-earned victory in major league history, after blowing the save in the 19th inning. Instead, Mike Pelfrey got that in the 20th, after starting for the Mets the day before.
The game features all sorts of goofy stats. For instance, the Cardinals left 22 men on base in the game, yet only scored 1 run. Lots of guys had odd nights at the plate with their 8-10 at bats. Mather pinch hit in extra innings, got the equivalent of a whole game in, and then came in to pitch.
Some of the numbers were expected. Long extra inning games almost always feature tons of men left on base. It intuitively makes sense. Most often, something has to go wrong to prolong a game so long, and it's much more likely to strand runners than to not get runners at all.
However, I am not sure this game had any business going 20 innings. Either that, or perhaps it should have gone even longer. Both managers made some very curious decisions.
Consider the 18th through 20th innings for the Cardinals. They were all pitched by position players, and to facilitate that, Kyle Lohse, a pitcher, came into the game in left field. You can't make this kind of stuff up. For the 19th and 20th innings, an outfielder was pitching, while a pitcher was in the outfield. I don't care that Lohse is a starting pitcher. The bottom line is that a pitcher was in the outfield while an outfielder was on the mound, and that is supposed to make good baseball sense?
The winning manager, Jerry Manuel, is far from immune either. K-Rod came in for the 19th inning, albeit in the first save situation of the game. However, the cost of saving him for that point was warming him up multiple times, starting in the 8th inning. Rodriguez said after the game he may have thrown as many as 100 warm-up pitches in the bullpen before finally entering the game.
As a brief side note, Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin came in for the 17th inning. I doubt he is in much better shape after warming up numerous times.
The bottom of the 19th as a whole should have played out quite differently. Francisco Rodriguez should have been used well before it. Ryan Ludwick never should have tried to steal second with the best hitter on the planet at the plate. Furthermore, why did the Mets even pitch to Pujols? On deck was Kyle Lohse! He of a career .369 OPS Kyle Lohse! It makes Ludwick's decision to steal even more preposterous, as well as the decision to pitch to Pujols.
Maybe the game was destined to go on forever no matter what. I didn't have the privilege of seeing it, so I don't know the vibe that it had, especially by the 11th or 12th inning. However, after seeing some of these antics from the latest innings, I wonder what got the game to that point in the first place. It is hard to leave 22 men on base, but it's easier to fathom when Ryan Ludwick is running with Albert Pujols at the plate and Kyle Lohse on deck.
I tend to believe that MLB managers have far less impact on games than their counterparts in other sports. It isn't like managers really get a chance to call plays, or decide where the ball is going to go. Their biggest impact on the game most often is made when they fill out the lineup card, before the game even starts.
However, I assumed that managers are smart enough to not put a position player on the mound by placing a pitcher in left field, that they won't get a reliever up seven or eight times before putting them in, and won't pitch to the best hitter in the game with a pitcher on deck and a base open (especially after another dumb decision to run with said hitter in said situation at the plate). Even in the absurd circumstances that a 20th inning presents, some baffling decisions were made last night. At least these two teams have the punishment of facing each other again tonight, after the self-inflicted wounds the managers placed on each of their rosters last night.