Kuzul

Seattle Mariners’ manager Don Wakamatsu made a very odd decision at the end of the Mariners’ game on Sunday against the San Diego Padres. With two outs in the ninth, and with the Mariners leading 4-2, Wakamatsu removed starting pitcher Felix Hernandez to bring in David Aardsma to record a one-out save.

Despite the move working out, I didn’t understand the move then, and I don’t understand it now.

King Felix entered the ninth inning with 109 pitches under his belt. The Padres hadn’t really hit Hernandez all day and he retired six consecutive batters.

I applaud Wakamatsu for leaving Hernandez in the game to start the ninth, but don’t you have to figure that Hernandez is going to throw between 15-20 pitches to complete the game? Why take him out after 128 pitches?

What is the difference between 128 pitches or 132 or 135 pitches? The answer is none.

Chase Headley grounded weakly to first, Adrian Gonzalez blooped a single to center, and Scott Hairston grounded weakly into a fielder’s choice (I thought he was out at first by the way). There was no reason to take Hernandez out of the game with two outs and a runner on first base.

The next batter was Nick Hundley, who had been 0-for-3 with a K against Hernandez on that day. I would trust Hernandez after 128 pitches before I would trust a fresh Aardsma.

The “feel” of the game called for Hernandez to finish it off.

As I mentioned above, the move worked and the Mariners won the game. But I would have left Hernandez in the game to finish what he started.

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Gregerson is having an All World year for the Padres.

I was watching the New York Mets-San Diego Padres series last week, and in two games of that series, Padres’ manager Bud Black summoned Luke Gregerson out of the bullpen. In those two appearances, Gregerson faced six Met batters and struck them all out.

He went through them like a hot knife through butter.

I thought to myself, “Wow, Gregerson is having himself a pretty good year.”

Then I looked at his stats and realized, he is having a GREAT year. Have you seen what Gregerson is doing to batters this year?

In his first 32.1 IP, Gregerson has a 1.39 ERA with 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings and a 0.43 WHIP. That is one incredible start to the season. So it got me thinking once again. How do Gregerson’s stats compare to some of the all time great seasons by some closers?

Here is how Gregerson compares through roughly 32 innings against Eric Gagne’s 2003 season, Mariano Rivera’s 2008 season, Dennis Eckersly’s 1990 season, and John Smoltz’s 2003 season. It’s pretty interesting.

10′ Luke Gregerson – 32.1 IP, 1.39 ERA, 3.3 H/9, 0.6 BB/9, 10.9 K/9, 0.43 WHIP

03′ Eric Gagne – 32 IP, 1.97 ERA, 3.7 H/9, 1.7 BB/9, 16 K/9, 0.59 WHIP

08′ Mariano Rivera – 32 IP, 0.84 ERA, 3.9 H/9, 0.8 BB/9, 9.8 K/9, 0.53 WHIP

90′ Dennis Eckersley – 32.1 IP, 0.56 ERA, 6.2 H/9, 0.6 BB/9, 8.7 K/9, 0.70 WHIP

03′ John Smoltz – 32.1, 0.84 ERA, 6.7 H/9, 1.1 BB/9, 11.8 K/9, 0.87 WHIP

So as you can see, anyway you want to slice it, Gregerson’s 2010 season is comparing favorably to some of the best seasons by some all time great closers. Through 32 innings, Gregerson has given up less hits per nine innings and has a lower WHIP than any of the above mentioned pitchers. That is extremely impressive.

The only thing separating Gregerson from these closers is that he is not a closer. Unfortunately for Gregerson, Heath Bell is closing games in San Diego, so he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.

With the Padres having success as a team in 2010, they should have more than one representative in this year’s All Star Game. After Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell, I think Gregerson should get the recognition he deserves and be the Padres’ third All Star.

Without much fanfare, Gregerson is having an all time great season. It’s time for it to be recognized.

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With the news that the Texas Rangers placed RHP Rich Harden on the 15-day DL with a stained glut, we might have an Oliver Perez Part Deux on our hands.

In case you aren’t following the Oliver Perez reference, I will explain.

The New York Mets were desperate to get Perez off their active roster, so they put him on the 15-day DL with right patella tendinitis. The reality is, they put him on the DL for sucking, which is a no-no by Major League Baseball standards.

Baseball investigated the situation, and everything checked out. Now with Harden curiously going on the DL, baseball might have another investigation on their hands.

I say “curiously” going on the DL, because the reality is Harden has been terrible for the Rangers. Putting Harden on the DL would allow the Rangers to skip his turn in the rotation, along with freeing up a spot on the roster.

Harden really hasn’t been the pitcher the Rangers were hoping for when they signed him this offseason. I think they expected him to be a five- or six-inning pitcher (which he’s been), but I don’t think they expected him to be this bad.

Harden has a 5.68 ERA in 13 starts this year. More alarming, his velocity is down on his fastball by almost two mph from last year (92.1 to 90.8). It might not seem like a lot, but by baseball standards it is.

His K/9 is the lowest of his career (8.17), and his fly-ball rate is the highest of his career (53.8 percent). I am going to go out on a limb and say that can’t be good pitching in the American League in one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in the game.

Look for Matt Harrison to replace Harden in the rotation.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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When the Cleveland Indians traded 3B Casey Blake to the Los Angeles Dodgers back in the summer of 2008 for prospect Carlos Santana, I was really surprised. Santana was a rising prospect in the Dodgers’ organization and was hitting .323 with 14 home runs in High Single A at the time of the trade.

Santana was called up by the Indians today.

The Dodgers also threw in RHP Jonathan Meleon, who was ranked as the eighth best prospect in the Dodgers’ system prior to 2008 by Baseball America . That is a lot to give up for Blake, who was going to be nothing more than a complimentary player on a team trying to win a World Series.

Now almost two years later, Santana has blossomed into one of the best prospects in baseball and Blake is still a complimentary player on a team trying to win the World Series.

The Indians called up Santana today and I have a feeling the Dodgers are going to regret this trade more than they already do. Santana is a switch-hitting catcher who has tremendous power.

Think of Santana as a better hitting version of former Indian and current Boston Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez. Like Martinez, Santana has struggled somewhat with his defense in the minors and will be thought of more as an offensive catcher.

Santana will catch and bat third for the Indians tonight against the Washington Nationals.

Here are some other facts about Carlos Santana:

Age: 24

Bats: Both

Throws: Right

College: None

Drafted: None. He signed as an amateur free agent with the Dodgers in 2005.

Minor League Stats:

2005 Rookie: .295 with one HR, a .412 OBP, and an .823 OPS in 32 games

2006 Rookie & High Single A: .282 with 10 HR’s, a .379 OBP, and an .816 OPS in 91 games

2007 Single A: .223 with seven HR’s, a .318 OBP, and a .688 OPS in 86 games

2008 High Single A & Double A: .326 with 21 HR’s, a .431 OBP, and a .999 OPS in 130 games

2009 Double A: .290 with 23 HR’s, a .413 OBP, and a .943 OPS in 130 games

2010 Triple A: .316 with 13 HR’s, a .447 OBP, and a 1.044 OPS in 57 games

Keith Law Ranking and Analysis

Ranking: No. 3 out of 100 best prospects in baseball in 2010

Analysis: “Santana could be the Victor Martinez who can actually catch — a switch-hitter with legitimate plate discipline and power with good receiving skills and an above-average arm. Cleveland swiped Santana from the Dodgers in the Casey Blake deal because they were willing to send L.A. the $2 million required to pay Blake’s salary the rest of the way; in other words, they paid roughly what the ninth or 10th pick in a typical Rule 4 draft gets and ended up with the third-best prospect in baseball, a return on investment that Indians GM Mark Shapiro probably would take eight days a week.

At the plate, Santana does start his hands a little deep, but he uses that to create great leverage in his swing as he explodes from his loaded position to the ball, with both hard contact and good loft when he squares a pitch up — something he does quite often with an approach one Cleveland executive called “selective-aggressive,” meaning Santana works the count but is more than happy to jump on a pitch he can hit early in an at-bat. He’s a good athlete and runs well for a backstop.

Santana has good hands behind the plate and arm strength, and he has shown progress in the one deficiency in his catching, his ability to handle a staff and work with pitchers. Lou Marson might be the starting catcher this April in Cleveland, but the job should be Santana’s by September.”

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I am not going to even take credit for predicting this earlier in the week because the move was so blatantly obvious.

Jeff Suppan, who was recently released by the Milwaukee Brewers, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday.

With Brad Penny and Kyle Lohse hurting, plus Suppan having his most success in a Cardinals uniform, it’s an obvious move. If pitching coach Dave Duncan can turn Suppan around and make him somewhat of a useful pitcher in 2010, then he should go straight into the Hall of Fame as the greatest pitching coach ever.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Can you believe the Big 12 Conference is going to break up? I never thought I would ever see that. I mean how can Nebraska be in the Big 10 and Oklahoma and Texas be in the Pac 10?

It just doesn’t seem right.

It also doesn’t seem right that Kansas is going to end up in the Mountain West Conference. The reason nobody wants Kansas is because basketball doesn’t count as much as football. Texas is the No. 1 revenue producing college football program with about $70 million in revenues. North Carolina is the No. 1 revenue producing college basketball program with about $16 million.

There is your answer right there. The reason I bring this up is because I love college sports and it is just weird to see all of this happen.

Now back to baseball. And perhaps sticking with the Big 12/Texas theme, has anyone noticed how hot Texas Rangers’ OF Julio Borbon has been lately?

After hitting .312 with 19 SBs in 46 games, Borbon was expected to be a breakout star in 2010. However, Borbon got off to a terrible start this baseball season.

Borbon got off to a .191 start in April and there was a possibility that Borbon would be sent back to the minors. However, Rangers manager Ron Washington moved Borbon down to the ninth spot in the order and since then, Borbon has thrived.

Since being moved into the ninth spot in the order, Borbon has hit .328 to raise his average to .276. In the month of June, Borbon has been especially hot.

This month, Borbon is hitting .467 and is really helping the Rangers stretch out their already potent lineup. I would like to see Borbon walk more, however. He only has three walks the entire season. Even Yuniesky Bentancourt has walked nine times this season.

Borbon has finally found his hitting stroke and has turned things around in 2010. Now if he could only learn how to take some pitches, his turnaround will be complete.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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In his 11 seasons prior to the 2009 season, Chicago Cubs’ 3B Aramis Ramirez made just two trips to the disabled list. Now, over the last two years, Ramirez has made two trips to the DL.

Last year, Ramirez missed 58 games because of separated shoulder and now in 2010, he has landed on the DL again. The Cubs placed Ramirez on the 15-day DL yesterday because of a bruised left thumb.

Ramirez has been battling this injury for quite some time now and it clearly hurt his performance. A guy who usually hits around .300 doesn’t hit .168 for no apparent reason. Through 47 games, Ramirez was hitting just .168 with 5 home runs and a .517 OPS.

In order to have any chance of getting back into the playoff race in 2010, the Cubs need Ramirez to be, well, Ramirez. With Ramirez essentially being an automatic out, the Cubs’ lineup is paper thin.

The Cubs have called up Chad Tracy to take Ramirez’s spot on the roster.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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If you had said before the season started that a New York Yankees pitcher would be having a Cy Young caliber season in June, you would have thought it would be CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, or maybe even Javier Vazquez.

You might have even thought it was Mariano Rivera.

But on June 9, it’s none of those Yankee pitchers. The pitcher that is having a Cy Young caliber season is Phil Hughes.

Hughes won his eighth game last night in a 12-7 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Hughes only gave up three of those runs while walking none and striking out four in six innings of work.

Hughes is now 8-1 on the season and leads the American League in wins. He is also in the top-1o in these categories:

ERA – 2.71 (6th)

WHIP – 1.09 (6th)

H/9 – 7.23 (6th)

K/9 – 8.79 (6th)

David Price, Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, Cliff Lee and Jeff Niemann have emerged as the early favorites for the AL Cy Young award. Outside of Lester and Lee, none of these pitchers have proven they can be successful over a full year.

Hughes has just as good of a chance to win the award as any of them.

So why has Hughes been so successful this year? It’s a real simple answer, first pitch strikes. Hughes is throwing an astounding 66 percent of his first pitches for strikes, which ranks fifth amongst starters in all of baseball.

He’s getting ahead of the batters, and in turn, is getting hitters to swing at his pitches. Hughes is second in baseball in O-Swing Percentage (35.1 percent), which is swings and misses outside the strike zone.

As a pitcher, if you can get hitters to constantly swing at your pitches, pitches that usually aren’t strikes, but since you are ahead in the count, the hitter is in a defensive mode and has to swing, you are going to be successful.

That philosophy was true 100 years ago and it will be true 100 years from now.

Right now Hughes is pitching as well as anyone in the American League. If he keeps this up, he could very well find himself as the Cy Young award winner.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Well, it’s here kids. The most anticipated debut in the last 25 years of baseball is upon us. Washington Nationals’ RHP Stephen Strasburg makes his major league debut tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

This live blog will go as long as Strasburg is on the mound.

Here is the lineup Strasburg will be facing:

1. Andrew McCutchen, CF

2. Neil Walker, 2B

3. Lastings Milledge, LF

4. Garrett Jones, 1B

5. Delwyn Young, RF

6. Andy LaRoche, 3B

7. Ronny Cedeno, SS

8. Jason Jaramillo, C

9. Jeff Karstens, P

Bottom 1st

Well, it’s an absolutely beautiful night in DC, and, as predicted, the Nationals have sold out the building. It’s unbelievable the impact one player can have. If Strasburg wasn’t pitching tonight, there would be 10 people at this game.

It’s 7:05 and we are ready to play ball.

First pitch of the Strasburg era is a ball inside. Second pitch is a 98 mph fastball outside.

On 2-0, McCutchen rips one to short to Ian Desmond for out No. 1. That ball was a pea to short.

First pitch to Walker is a wicked curve right down the middle, but it is called a ball. I hope that home plate umpire Tom Hallion is not trying to squeeze Strasburg in order to “teach him a lesson.” That would suck out loud.

Two batters—two 2-0 counts. He needs to get ahead of the hitters in order to be successful in the majors.

On a 3-1 pitch, Walker grounds to Adam Dunn for the second out. Strasburg’s fastball has been around 94-98 so far.

Strasburg gets ahead of Milledge 0-1 on a tailing 94 mph fastball that gets the inside corner. Second pitch is a knee-bending curve for strike two. That was sweet.

Strasburg whiffs Milledge on a hook down and away for his first major league strikeout.

Strasburg’s curve was off the charts that inning.

After one—zero hits, zero runs, and one K

Top 2nd

Strasburg throws his first change of the game. 84 mph low and in to Jones.

Boy, Tom Hallion is having a rough night behind the plate so far, and it’s only the top of the second. Strasburg throws a 98 mph fastball right down the middle that’s called a ball. That ball call might have been worse than the missed strike call in the first.

It’s pretty clear that the Pirate hitters are having a tough time catching up to Strasburg’s fastball. On a 3-1 count, Jones couldn’t catch up to a 98 mph heater.

Jones down on strikes on a 98 mph on the outside corner. That fastball had good running movement on it.

Next up is Delwyn Young. Young sees two “changeups” that are 88 and 90 mph. That is Nolan Ryan-esque. On a 2-2 count Strasburg throws an unhittable curve that seemingly broke twice on Young. It broke down then in to the lefty. Shades of Bert Blyleven.

You can tell right now Strasburg is starting to get into a groove and feel more comfortable on the mound.

LaRoche is three for his last 23. I don’t like his chances here.

And The Ghost of Moonlight Graham jinx lives on. LaRoche serves a 1-1 fastball to right for the first hit off of Strasburg tonight. I will shut up now.

With Strasburg pitching from the stretch for the first time, Rob Dibble (Nationals’ analyst) points out that Strasburg takes his last warm-up pitch out of the stretch, which Dibble was taught to do in the Cincinnati Reds’ organization. Note to Dibble—every pitching coach teaches that at every level.

Strasburg gets ahead of Cedeno 1-2. Strasburg gets Cedeno swinging on perhaps his best changeup so far. It was 91 with a nice downward action to it.

Through two in DC, one hit, no runs, and four K’s.

Top 3rd

Jason Jaramillo leads things off in the third, and the first pitch he sees is a 100 mph fastball. First time Strasburg has 100 tonight. Jaramillo has no chance up there.

After the count evens at 1-1, Strasburg throws two straight curves to whiff Jaramillo. That’s five straight K’s for Strasburg.

Make that six straight K’s. Karstens’ AB was comical at best. If you asked Karstens what would you rather do right now—get hit over the head with a hot mop or face Strasburg—he would have picked the hot mop in a cocaine addict’s heartbeat.

McCutchen looks to be the only one who has a grip on how to handle Strasburg. McCutchen hits a hard one-hopper to third that Ryan Zimmerman handles. His throw was a little wide to first, but Dunn was able to tag McCutchen.

That is three innings in the books and one hit, no runs and six K’s.

Top 4th

By the way, not to be understated is the fact that Ivan Rodriguez is back behind the plate for the Nationals. I think it is important that Strasburg has a professional and experienced catcher behind the plate.

Strasburg has faced 10 batters and thrown first pitch strikes to six of them. That’s 60 percent—not too bad.

Walker singles to right on what you could perhaps call a hanger by Strasburg. That is just the second hit for the Pirates.

Two batters and two hits for the Pirates. Strasburg fell behind to Milledge 2-1 and Milledge got a fastball he could handle. He rips one to right for a single.

For the first time Strasburg is in a little trouble.

After getting into a groove in the second and third innings, Strasburg is trying to feel his way around in the fourth. He is now 3-2 to Jones. And Strasburg gets every pitcher’s best friend—a 6-4-3 double play.

It was a great pitch by Strasburg to induce the twin killing. It was a 98 mph fastball on the outside corner that broke Jones’ bat.

On the second pitch to Young, Young smacks a two-run HR to right. Why throw Young a changeup there? All you are doing is helping him out.Terrible pitch selection by Pudge and poor execution by Strasburg.

LaRoche pops up to second to end the inning.

Four innings, four hits, two runs, and six K’s for Strasburg.

Top Five

The one thing I will say about Strasburg is the man works quickly out there. He gets the ball and fires.

I think Strasburg is done mixing it up with these hitters. Four pitches to Cedeno and four 95-plus mph fastballs. Strikeout number seven for Strasburg.

I don’t think I have seen a position player look as hopeless against a pitcher as Jaramillo looks against Strasburg. Two pitches, two fastballs, and Jaramillo didn’t have a chance against either. If Pudge calls anything but a fastball, I will lose my mind.

Of course after missing on the outside corner with a fastball, Pudge calls a curveball. Really? Jaramillo did ground out weakly to second, but Pudge did him a favor.

Up comes Karstens and he is calling for the hot mop. Poor guy. Karstens goes down on strikes.

Strasburg as been as good as advertised so far. Five innings, four hits, two runs, and eight K’s.

Top sixth

We head to the sixth, and oh by the way, the Nationals are losing 2-1. Can we get some run support for the kid?

McCutchen to lead off the inning and he is quickly down 0-2. Strasburg’s curve tonight has been very good. Usually around 80 mph with a big break.

Strasburg gets McCutchen on a change for the first out of the inning and his ninth K.

Strasburg and Pudge are really working quickly this inning. I love it.

Three pitches and Walker is gone on strikes. The last pitch was a 101 mph fastball at Walker’s eyes. That is unhittable.

Strasburg is snapping off something fierce to Milledge. Three curves to Milledge and he is sent back to the dugout.

Outside of the fourth inning, Strasburg has been very, very good tonight.

Six innings, four hits, two runs, and 11 K’s. Still no walks. Impressive.

Top Seven

In the bottom of the sixth, the Nationals were able to push three runs across and now lead 4-2. Not only has Strasburg been uber-impressive so far, but he is now in line for a W.

Strasburg just threw a 96 mph heater at Jones’ ribs. I would have crapped my pants. After throwing 96 at his ribs, he throws an 81 mph bender to K Jones. Strikeout No. 12 for Strasburg.

13 K’s for Strasburg. Three 96 mph fastballs to Young. That is what he should have done in the fourth.

Three pitches to LaRochet—two knee-buckling curves and then a 95 letter-high fastball to K him. 14 K’s for Strasburg.

This Nationals crowd is electric. I never thought I would say that. It’s a playoff atmosphere in DC.

Well, with Willie Harris pinch-hitting for Strasburg in the seventh, that ends Strasburg’s night.

Seven innings, four hits, two runs, and 14 K’s.

I think it is safe to say that Strasburg lived up to the hype. 94 pitches, 65 strikes, a fastball that topped out at 103, a curve that was around 80 all night, and a change that was 90-91.

What a great night for Washington.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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I love it when teams in professional sports sign average players to large contracts based on a single game or one seven-game series. Some examples of this include:

Dallas Cowboys signing Larry Brown to a five-year, $12.5 million contract because he picked off two passes in the Super Bowl.

Tampa Bay Lightning sign complimentary player Ryan Malone to a superstar contract worth $31.5 based on his playoff successes with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

New York Yankees sign Damaso Marte to a $12 million deal because he struck out David Ortiz in a big spot in September in 2008.

One more example would be the Milwaukee Brewers signing pitcher Jeff Suppan to a four-year, $42 million contract in the winter of 2006 because he ran through the New York Mets in the 2006 NLCS. Suppan pitched the game of his life in Game 7 of that series (seven innings of two hit baseball) and it earned him that huge contract.

It was a terrible contract signing at the time and it looks even worse now. The Brewers released Suppan on Monday and will absorb the remaining $10 million left on his contract.

Outside of one good year in 2005 (16-10 with a 3.57 ERA) and that one series against the Mets in 2006 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, Suppan has always been a below average major league pitcher. However, Suppan represents how the value of pitchers have changed over the last 25 years.

Teams value quantity over quality when it comes to pitching. If a guy is able to pitch 180–200 innings, then he has tremendous value to a team regardless if those 180–200 innings are of quality.

Suppan has always been able to eat innings, but rarely gives a quality performance. Suppan’s ERA is usually in the high-four’s/low-five’s, gives up about 10 hits/9, and K’s only about four/9.

In 2010, Suppan was especially bad. His ERA was 7.84 and gave up a whopping 50 hits in 31 innings. You know you have to be pretty awful to be released from a team that is struggling to find pitching.

I would be surprised if a team didn’t pick up Suppan. He could be a pitcher who is used in mop up duty in order to save the bullpen. A return to the Cardinals wouldn’t surprise me.

Suppan was 29-36 with a 5.06 ERA in his three plus years as a Brewer.

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