Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Joakim Soria’

Here’s some good articles about former Fort Wayne Wizards:

Kevin Gray’s On Baseball: He still plays like a kid (UnionLeader.com)

A look at Todd Donovan, now a Blue Jays farmhand, and why he has not yet made a big league roster.

“I’ve tried not to talk about it as much as I can, but the conversation always seems to come up,” said Donovan, drafted in the ninth round by the Padres in 1999. “There’s a lot of built-up frustration. I’m not young anymore. I’m not a prospect anymore. I basically have to prove myself every single day.”

 Beckett sparks bench-clearing brawl (ESPN.com)

Angels center fielder Torii Hunter was ejected by West and had to be restrained by teammate Howie Kendrick.

Manuel: Phillies’ Condrey ‘a staff saver’ (SportingNews)

The 33-year-old Philadelphia Phillies pitcher gets the ball after Cole Hamels and before Brad Lidge. He’s a middle reliever that lacks the unhittable pitch or the highlight-reel flash of his more popular starter and closer teammates.

Sox love Pierzynski even if others don’t (MLB.com)

“Certain events that have occurred have led people to believe I’m a certain way, and I can’t control that. What I can control is how I prepare myself to play for this team, and that’s all I worry about.”

Joakim Soria:

Soria now one of Majors’ elite closers (MLB.com)
Hardly anyone in the Major Leagues was better at nailing down games last season than Soria, who converted 42 of 45 save chances, or 93.3 percent. The only closers topping that were the Phillies’ Brad Lidge (41-for-41, 100 percent) and the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera (39-for-40, 97.5 percent).

Soria dispels doubts with save (MLB.com)
“I remember when Trey first got here and saying to me, ‘That’s going to be our closer, huh?’ Just for the fact that he wasn’t sharp yet,” McClure said. “And he goes on to get 42 saves, but we had seen him pitch; I didn’t know he’d get 40, but you knew that he’d save a lot of games. So to me, he looks behind.”

Oliver Perez:

• Mets’ Oliver Perez is wild in appearance against Tigers – 3/25/09 (SportingNews)
• Mets’ Perez believes World Baseball Classic put him behind – 3/26/09 (SI.com)
• Johan talks to Perez after tough outing – 3/26/09 (MLB.com)
• Praise all around for Perez – 3/30/09 (MLB.com)
• Perez sharp in Mets’ 2-1 victory against Orioles – 3/30/09 (SportingNews)
• Perez shows rust in spring finale – 4/3/09 (MLB.com)

• Jack Cassel (Indians) was sent to minor league camp
• Paul McAnulty (Red Sox) still has a shot of making the opening day roster
• The Padres will NEVER get over not protecting Joakim Soria

Oliver Perez on the 2008 Former Indians All-Star Team

Of the 63 former Indianapolis Indians who finished the 2008 season on a Major League 40-man roster, 17 are highlighted on the 2008 Former Indians All-Star team.  Former Wizards Pitcher, Oliver Perez, was among them. Perez played in Fort Wayne in 2001 after signing as an undrafted free agent by the Padres in 1999. He was traded by Padres with Corey Stewart and Jason Bay to the Pirates for Brian Giles in 2003 and then was traded by Pirates with Roberto Hernandez to Mets for Xavier Nady in 2006.

September Call-Ups: Drew Macias and Will Venable 

MadFriars’ John Conniff interviews the former Wizard outfielders, Drew Macias and Will Venable (subscription required). Macias talks about his early season struggles in his third stint at Double-A, a new batting stance, while Venable dishes on his newfound power an patience. I still say you should look for him to be a starter in SD next season. Also look for Denis Savage’s interview with recent Wizard, Angel Mercado, who started with the Wizards this season and was demoted to low-A Eugene.

What Does the Future Have in Store for Peavy?

Well, the New York Yankees may be interested in former Wizards pitcher and NL Cy Young Winner Jake Peavy, but it will take a lot to pry him from San Diego. Although, keep in mind that his salary from this year will more than double by 2010 and continue to rise through 2012.

Soria wins September’s DHL Award

Former Wizards Pitcher, Joakim Soria’s perfect September had a perfect ending. The Royals’ right-handed closer, was named the winner of the DHL Presents the Major League Baseball Delivery Man Award. Soria was 9-for-9 in save opportunities and had a 1-0 record and a 0.00 ERA in 10 appearances. He gave up just three hits in 10 1/3 innings.

“He’s had a tremendous impact,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said. “Just looking at the statistics and the number of saves in comparison to the number of team wins. And there’s just a psychological advantage there for the whole team, just knowing that he’s available and the consistency of the product he brings to the mound.”

Soria had a 1.60 ERA in his 63 games, a 2-3 record and 66 strikeouts in 67 1/3 innings. Opponents batted just .169 against him.

Daryl Jones is 9th Best Indy Leaguer

Former Wizards first baseman and DH, Daryl Jones suffered from the logjam at the lower levels and never really got his career into motion despite an impressive first half MWL All-Star performance during his first year with Wizards that saw him split time with Kyle Blanks. Baseball America recently listed him as the 9th best prospect in Indy ball. Injuries and ineffectiveness led the Pares to release the former fourth round pick following the 2007 season. He caught on with Edinburg where he worked on his swing and showed off some speed.

… now Jones has a flatter swing that gives the ball some backspin that helps it carry further. He showed the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark from foul pole to foul pole.

At 6-foot-4 with some nimbleness around the bag, Jones is very solid defensively and gives infielders a big target to aim for. He also runs well for a big man (4.2 seconds to first base), and he was second in the United League with 32 steals. But as you would expect for a first baseman, it will be his power potential that could get him back to affiliated ball.

With the news that the Padres will release second baseman Tadahito Iguchi and pitcher Brett Tomko to make room for Wade LeBlanc and Matt Antonelli, anyone can see that the Padres are already making plans for next year. This is the latest in a series of moves that have involved bringing minor league talent to the Padres, and many of them have included former Wizards.

I gotta think there will be many more moves in the remaining days of the 2008 season that could spell opportunities for other former Wizards, which should also make for an interesting Spring Training as the prevailing speculation is that the Padres will continue to slash payroll.

As part of a pitch to get Brian Giles to accept a trade to the Red Sox this past week, a Padres executive painted a stark fiscal picture for 2009, saying club owner John Moores might shrink the payroll to $40 million. [SignonSanDiego -August 9, 2008]

GM Kevin Towers denies this claim, but then again, he also hasn’t seen the budget for 2009 yet. Yet, the Padres already field one of the lowest salaried teams in Major League Baseball.

The Padres don’t have any large contracts on the books for ’09; Giles would be their most expensive player at $9MM unless they choose his $3MM buyout.  After that it’s Jake Peavy at $8MM, Khalil Greene at $6.5MM, Chris Young at $4.5MM, and Adrian Gonzalez at $3MM.  By my count they have six arbitration-eligible players, including Josh Bard, Heath Bell, Scott Hairston, and Jody Gerut [MLBTradeRumors.com].

There is also speculation that John Moores’ divorce is a factor that may adversely impact the team.

California is a community property state, which means Becky Moores — the soon-to-be-ex-Mrs.-John — is in play and there already are indications that player payroll will be cut significantly in 2009 (it’s just over $70 million this year). That’s why the Padres already have worked hard to trade Giles and pitcher Greg Maddux this season, positioning themselves for an early start on the payroll-shedding process [CBSSports.com].

So what does this mean for former Wizards who are trying to crack a big league roster? Certainly, the Padres are trying to add by subtracting. There’s the possibility that the Padres may try to move Khalil Greene and his $6.5MM salary, shich might provide a spot for Sean Kazmar, who made his debut just a couple weeks ago. But the rookie is now learning how to play outfield (a la Chase Headley) during this season’s Arizona Fall League. The move could merely be an attempt to get him more at-bats, or it could mean there is nowhere to play Kazmar in the infield.

Kazmar will join the Peoria Saguaros in the AFL with pitchers Greg Burke, Cesar Carillo, Mike Ekstrom, Wilton Lopez, first baseman Kyle Blanks and outfielders Mike Baxter and Chad Huffman. All of them except for Carillo are former Wizards. If Blanks keeps playing the way he has lately, San Diego may have to move him or Adrian Gonzalez or find a place elsewhere on the diamond for one of the two.

Like Kazmar, Brian Joynt, who played third this season with the Wizards before his promotion to Lake Elsinore will see time in the outfield.

Baxter will also get time at an unfamiliar position. The outfielder hit .270 with seven home runs and 47 RBIs at Double-A San Antonio and will get some looks at catcher. This season has seen three different former Wizards serve the backstop role. Luke Carlin and Nick Hundley have seen the most time between the three, which might suggest Colt Morton could be moved to another team during the offseason. the starting catcher, Josh Bard may not be around for 2009 either if the Friars think Carlin and Hundley can do the job.

Longtime closer, Trevor Hoffman has had some troubles while attempting to nail down games this year. There is divided opinion about whether it is time for a change or not. The Portland pitcher who produced the most saves this year, Jared Wells, is now in the Seattle organization (traded earlier this season). That may bring about an opportunity for Greg Burke, who will see action in the AFL and has collected 23 saves at Double-A San Antonio. Lake Elsinore doesn’t have anyone who is ready to fill that void. And while Jackson Quezada collected 27 saves on minimal opportunities in Fort Wayne, that is probably too big of a jump from Low-A to the MLB (but then again, it worked out well for the Royals and Joakim Soria).

All this should make for an interesting winter and 2009 Spring Training. There should be some names that are familiar to Fort Wayne fans on the San Diego Roster come opening day. The best part is that we have the whole month of September to see some of these great former Wizards make the most of their opportunities. Chase Headley, Will Venable, Wade LeBlanc, Sean Kazmar, Josh Geer, Dirk Hayhurst, Matt Antonelli, Nick Hundley have joined Jake Peavy on the parent club roster and maybe some others will soon follow.

When you factor in the former Wizards who are with other organizations, there have been nine former Wizards to debut at the MLB level. This ranks second only to 2002, which saw 11 prospects (including Jake Peavy and Oliver Perez) hit the big leagues. With about a month to go, I am sure we’ll see at least 3-4 more.

I’m predicting we’ll see Dale Thayer (P-Rays), Brett Dowdy (SS-Padres), David Freese (3B-Cardinals) this season.

It wouldn’t be too surprising to also see Jon Link who had 35 saves with the White Sox’s Double-A Birmingham Barons and was named the Southern League’s Top Reliever of 2009. He was one of 15 players, and the only reliever, named to the league’s post-season All-Star team and was the lone Baron selected. He was one save shy of the league saves record. But given the Sox’s playoff race, he’s probably a 2009 debut.

Anyone else have thoughts on the Padres prospective 2009 squad and/or which prospects we’ll see make their MLB debuts this season (whether they are in the Padres’ system any longer or not)?

• Padres Prospect Interview: Drew Cumberland (subscription required) – MadFirar’s Jon Conniff sits down with the Wizards infielder to discuss his DL stint, playing in the Midwest League, playing the game the right way and what it’s like to have a brother (Shaun Cumberland) who also plays professionally (in the Reds’ farm system).
• Baseball proves therapeutic for beleaguered Storm catcher – In a season that has seen the Padres use five different catchers (three of them are former Wizards), the one drawing the most attention is one at Lake Elsinore. Mitch Canham, who i n 75 games for the Storm this season, is hitting .291 with five homers, 52 RBIs, 19 doubles and a .404 on-base percentage. Plus, he’s a perfect 9-for-9 in steal attempts. but success has not been one of luck for the former Wizard who has worked hard to overcome many struggles of various types in recent years.
• Q & A With Nick Hundley – SignOnSanDiego sits down with Nick Hundley, who let’s us know that he is not related to Nick or Todd, how much he loves being a catcher, honing his skills at Portland in the beginning of the season and more.
• Top 5 with Chase Headley – The Padres outfielder/third baseman runs down the top five things he’s learned about living in San Diego.
• Soria fitting right in with All-Star idols – Kansas city Royals closer, Joakim Soria‘s short list of influences as Mariano Rivera, Joe Nathan, Francisco Rodriguez. And now, he shared midseason honors with them at the All-Star Game. Great article that talks about the “business” Soria and the “funny guy” Soria in light of a season that has seen him prove that last season was just the beginning to a great career for the Rule-5 pick.
• Blanks hitting his stride in Double-A (subscription required) – The former Wizards first baseman and DH, Kyle Blanks is enjoying a solid season at Double-A San Antonio (despite rumors that he may be on the trade market). Great plate discipline and the tremendous bat speed has gotten the 21-year-old slugger promoted after every year of professional baseball since being taken in the 42nd-round of the 2005 amateur draft.
• Patient eye paying off for Venable -Will Venable is showing signs of becoming the type of hitter the Padres want him to be: a “patiently aggressive” hitter who gets a good pitch to hit and unloads on it, but also is willing to fall behind in the count rather than chase iffy pitches. The Triple-A center fielder has batted better than .300 in every month this season. Of greater significance to the Padres, he has started hitting home runs and drawing walks since April, when he had one walk and no homers. My money says we see him with the Padres before the end of the season.

• Rosales provides flexibility in ‘pen (MLB.com): With the Brewers leading in a 5-0 game, former Wizard, Leo Rosales was called to work the top of the ninth inning. He held them scoreless and the D-backs scored six runs in the bottom half of the inning to win 6-5. It was Rosales’ first big league win.
• Hundley’s debut comes in right place (MLB.com): More coverage of Nick Hundley’s MLB debut. Having played three seasons in Tucson for the University of Arizona, it was fitting that he made his debut against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Hundley’s parents, his girlfriend and other family members were in attendance, while some friends rented the pool area beyond the fence in right-center field for the game.
• Soria heading to All-Star Game (MLB.com): Former Rule-5 draft pick, Joakim Soria is an All-Star in his second big league season. The closer has been near perfect, with 23 saves in 24 chances and a 1.22 ERA in 35 games. “Ironically, the July 15 Midsummer Classic will be played at Yankee Stadium, where on June 7 Soria suffered his only blown save and loss.”
• Padres touching lives of Little Leaguers (MLB.com): A great article that quotes former Wizard, Paul McAnulty, on his passion for the game and his little league memories to discuss the Padres’ initiative to revive little fields as “Little Padre Parks.”

 ”I can’t even remember when I fell in love with the sport, that’s how far back it was,” McAnulty said. “But ever since I was a little kid, even in Pampers, that’s all I did was play baseball.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland indicates that there’s a 90 percent chance that former Fort Wayne Wizards Pitcher, Eddie Bonine will be Detroit’s starter on Saturday; pitching in place of the recently demoted Dontrelle Willis. Though it isn’t yet final, Leyland will likely choose between Bonine, who is slated to start that day for Triple-A Toldeo, and the just-arrived left-handed Casey Fossum.

If Bonine debuts, he will become the 65th Wizard in the team’s history to make an MLB debut and the third this season (Jared Wells and Luke Carlin are the other two). He’ll be the first former Wizards player to debut with the Detroit Tigers, making them the 13 team that a former Wizards player has debuted with.le with the Wizards in 2004, Bonine went 2-1 with a 1.98 ERA over five games (all of them starts). He struck out 31 and walked three in 27 innings pitched. Bonine was originally drafted by San Diego in 2003 and the Tigers got him as a Rule 5 Draft selection (anyone else thinking Joakim Soria right now?).

I’ve blogged a lot about Joakim Soria on this blog because he may go down to be one of the best Rule-5 pickups in MLB history. Just days after the Royals plucked him from the Padres organization after being left unprotected in the 2006 Rule-5 Draft, Soria pitched a perfect game in the Mexican League. He broke into the majors that very season and had a very impressive year.

This year, he’s been lights out. He has a 1.04 ERA this season with 11 saves in 18 appearances. His 11-for-11 success streak also matches the Royals club record to start a season.

The Kansas City Royals are now building upon some good decisions in turning around what has been one of the most pathetic baseball teams in the last decade or two. Today, they locked up Soria through 2012 (hat tip to MLB Rumors). It was a wonderful birthday present for the former Wizards pitcher.

The deal includes $8.75 million in guaranteed money over the next three seasons with club options for 2012-14 that could boost the total value to $32.75 million . . . Soria is making $426,500 this year in his second big-league season. The new deal boosts his salary to $1 million in 2009, $3 million in 2010 and $4 million in 2011. He gets $750,000 as a buyout if the Royals choose not to exercise a $6 million option for 2012 . . . The fourth year becomes guaranteed if Soria makes 55 appearances in 2011 or 110 in 2010-11. The total value for six years would be about $30 million if he remains a reliever.

To suggest the San Diego Padres are having a bad season is an understatement. They’ve lost their last four games, have gone 2-8 in their last ten and now they find themselves 11 games out of first in their division as they sit alone with the worst record in Major League Baseball. Oh, and to suggest that the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks are playing “pretty good” would be just as equally an understatement.

You might think bright side is that they are only 7.5 games out of the wild card . . . but EVERY NL team is ahead of them. Now, I know the season is young and there’s still a chance they can turn things around; but I’ve also been a Cubs fan long enough to know when a team has lost all hope. And I am sorry San Diego fans, but you’re getting close.

I’m not one to relish miserable seasons for any team except the Yankees. But I do have to wonder if what this season has become could lead to opportunities for players the Fort Wayne faithful have seen in a Wizards’ uniform.

This season, we’ve gotten to see Colt Morton get called up . . . but he’s mostly sat the bench. We’ve also seen Justin Germano lose his spot in the rotation. But even then, Wil Ledezma was inserted instead of Josh Geer, Cesar Ramos, Wade LeBlanc or others.

I guess the fact that the Padres aren’t tapping into their minor leaguers jut yet could lead one to speculate that they are not quite ready to give up on the season, but last night, I started to think that they were taking their first steps. MadFriars reported that catcher Luke Carlin’s contract was being purchased to add him to their 40 man roster. But I am glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed that MF removed the story shortly thereafter (but it’s back so I really don’t know what’s going on with Carlin).

But now there is increased speculation that Jim Edmonds might be on his way out of San Diego. As Tim Sullivan suggests:

Maybe it signals some major moves, and in short order. Maybe it tells you that Padres management has resolved to change the story because it is resigned that it can’t change the standings.

I find it hard to believe that Michael Barrett’s eventual return and Jody Gerut (a bust with three other teams) could be the answer.

So what’s all this mean? What’s my point to this post?

I guess my point is that while Padres fans are probably downright pi$$ed about the season gone awry (and rightfully so), I have a more selfish outlook. When the Padres throw in the towel, they’ll become sellers and they’ll be opening roster spots for minor leaguers. Many of them are former Wizards. It means we might see the MLB debuts of many former Wizards.

At the same time, we might see some fresh faces in Fort Wayne as the result of trades. they’ll likely be PTBNL players, but hey, you never know when a team might give up on a Joakim Soria.

Let’s just hope they use their probable first-round pick a little more wisely than they have in their recent past.

• Former Wizard – the one who got away from the Padres – Joakim Soria finally showed signs of vulnerability. David Eckstein’s one-out single ended Soria’s streak of retiring 24 batters in a row. But he still has no ERA to accompany his six saves and 11 strikeouts.
• Matt Latos made his first start of the season for the Wizards and pitched very well. Some see him moving up to Lake Elsinore before the season is out. While I hope Latos pitches well (and I believe he will), I hope those folks are wrong.
• Wade LeBlanc picked up his first loss this year. He allowed seven earned runs on 10 hits and five walks over 3.1 innings. It was the worst outing of his career. It follows another bad start that saw him giving up six runs on eight hits. (hat tip to Denis Savage at MadFriars) Wonder what’s going on there. Speaking of LeBlanc, it appears that the Cubs had tried to get him in return for Matt Murton. As much as I would love to see Murton get a chance with a team willing to give him one, and as much as I would have loved to see LeBlanc with the Cubs, I don’t blame the Padres for turning that one down.
• Angel Mercado homered in his first game off the disabled list. Mercado had been out the last nine games but the hit extended his on-base streak to eight games. He also homered on Opening Night.
• It appears that Jake Peavy has pitched the idea of brining veteran outfielder, Kenny Loften, in to help shore up the Padres offense. But it seems that Padres’ GM, Kevin Towers would rather give some of the former Wizards now playing in Portland a shot.
  

  . . . some of the players Towers is most eager to promote would warrant demotion if judged solely on their Triple-A statistics. Chase Headley, the left fielder of tomorrow, is hitting a soft .236. Matt Antonelli, the heir to second base, has been hovering near the Mendoza line. Though Antonelli has drawn 12 walks in 16 games, his batting average is .212. Closest to a call-up, Towers said, is probably catcher Nick Hundley, who has hit four home runs in 11 games and whose arm would represent an improvement on Padres’ regular Josh Bard.

  “Hundley’s a guy I think our pitching staff felt fairly comfortable with in spring training,” Towers said. “He’s got a chance to be an offensive catcher and he’s somebody we feel comfortable enough to where we could put him back there (as much as 40 percent of the time) and not kill Bard.”

• Michael Cuddyer has returned to the Twins’ lineup.