Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Leo Rosales’

Unless the Pirates make a waiver claim or something changes between now and opening day, Luis Cruz has a spot on the Pirates opening day roster.

…this will be his first time on an Opening Day roster. He made his Major League debut as a September callup last year and impressed with his defensive abilities and versatility.

Diamondbacks reliever, Leo Rosales, was sent to Triple-A today. He had a 3.86 ERA in and nine strikeouts in 11.2 innings over 10 Cactus League games.

The Matt Bush era in Toronto is over before it begins. Hoep the Padres don’t have to give up much for hte PTBNL or cash for that experiment.

“He did have issues when he was with San Diego,” said one Blue Jays official. The Blue Jays would not specify what Bush did to cause his release except to say he ran afoul of the “zero tolerance” terms of his agreement with the American League team.

Wonder who (if anyone) will take a chance on bush now. Josh Hamilton, please reach out to this kid!

If he plays well, David Freese will get a longer look in St. Louis since Troy Glaus will be out longer than originally anticipated.

Finally, yours truly has been quoted in an MLB article containing comments from many overly optimistic Chicago Cubs fans. Enjoy.

Most Padres fans have accepted the reality that the next phase of the San Diego Padres will not only be a dark one, but it will not include future Hall of Famer, Trevor Hoffman. Padres Ace and former Wizard, Jake Peavy will also likely be gone.

Can we say REBUILDING?

Obviously, the Padres troubled future will provide some opportunities for up-and-coming former Wizards. Look to see several take the MLB field in 2009. And look for it early. There will be many open positions, and I suspect all of them (except maybe first base) are up for grabs in an “open tryout” of sorts.

But the one we can say with about 99% certainty that will be available is the closer’s spot. Let’s look at the in-house auditions:

Padres MLB Roster: Hoffman collected 30 saves. No other pitcher collected even one. Heath Bell and Cla Meredeth had 6 and 7 chances respectively, but failed to convert. Apparently there is not anyone on the current roster is ready to step into the role.

Portland (AAA): The team leader in saves on the Triple-A level was former Wizar, Jared Wells, with 20. But he’s now in the Seattle organization (for the moment anyway). After Wells was traded, Edwin Moreno took over the closer’s spot. He collect 18 to go with the 8 he had in Double-A; making for 26 on the season. John Madden, who led the Wizards with 20 saves in 2006, pitched in releif for Portland in 2008, but had no saves.

San Antonio (AA): On the Double-A level, we find one of the most likely choices for the closer’s gig in former Wizard, Greg Burke. The Duke University grad went undrafted and signed with the Padres following a tryout camp 2006. In jus this third year as a pro in 2008, Burke collected 23 saves and a 2.24 ERA. He struck out 92 hitters and walked just 17 in 84 1/3 innings. The second highest save total on the team was Moreno’s 8 (see above). With the Wizards in 2006, Burke pitched middle relief and had no saves. Double-A to MLB is somewhat of a stretch, but Burke was invited to the Arizona Fall League and is starting to draw attention.

Lake Elsinore (High A) and Fort Wayne (Low-A): At Lake Elsinore, R.J. Rodriguez and Wilton Lopez each had a dozen saves to lead the team. Lopez had the edge in ERA, 2.64 to Rodriguez’s 4.92. And while Rodriquez might appear to have the advantage in strikeouts, with 79 to Lopez’s 26, Lopez pitched in a third of the innings that Rodriguez did (30.2 vs. 99). With the Wizards in 2007, Lopez had no saves, while Rodriguez paced the team with 18.

In Fort Wayne, the closer’s role of 2008  belonged to Jackson Quesada, who collected 27 saves, a 2.12 ERA and 79 strikeouts to 19 walks in 63 innings pitched. While he looks promizing, he is less experienced. I’ve seen more than one exciting closer come through Fort Wayne who didn’t pan out in the Majors. Matt Varner collected 34 saves in 2005. Anthony Kozol had 21 in 2002, Mike Bumstead had 17 in 2001. Perhaps the most promising I ever saw was J.J. Trujillo, who set a then Midwest League record with 42 in 1999.

To my knowledge, none of those pitchers are in any of the MLB farm systems. Leo Rosales and Dale Thayer led the Wizards with 26 in 2004 and 25 in 2003 respectively. Rosales made his MLB debut with Arizon in 2008 and Thayer is on the verge after having been a Triple-A All-Star in the Tampa Bay system in 2008. Hwoever, neither are on a track to be a closer (Thayer is probably the more likely of the two).

All that said, it’s not unheard of for a Single-A pitcher to go to the big leagues the following year. Former Wizard, Joakim Soria did so. But something tells me, the Padres aren’t going to try it. Yet, speaking of Soria, maybe it’s possible for the Padres to make their own Rule-5 Draft steal like the Royals did when they snagged Soria.

Right now, my gut is telling me we’ll see Greg Burke get the first crack at taking hte mound in the ninth inning when the 2009 season kicks off.

Anyone want to agree or tell me why I’m wrong?

• 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.

One day after Eddie Bonine made his Major League Debut with the Detroit Tigers, his 2004 Wizards teammate became the 66th. Leo Rosales was called up by the Arizona Diamondbacks from their Triple-A club, the Tucson Sidewinders, to provide some additional bullpen relief. They wasted little time in getting his feet wet.

In his debut, Rosales faced eleven hitters, but he was roughed up for four hits and an earned run over an inning and two-thirds. He threw 43 pitches, with 27 of them going for strikes.

Rosales appeared in 28 games for the Sidewinders, all of them in relief. He was 2-1 with a 4.08 ERA over 35 1/3 innings and was 9-for-9 in save opportunities. He may be with the club for a while or he could be used simply as an innings-eater for the next few games.

The 27-year-old right-hander came to the Diamondbacks‘ organizations last July in a trade with the Padres that sent Scott Hairston to San Diego. Rosales was described as having the best changeup in the Friar’s farm system at the time, so it’s a bit surprising that they would let him go knowing how valued that pitch is within the organization.

With the Wizards in 2004, Rosales went 6-1 with a 1.40 earned run average. He struck out 66 batters over 57.2 innings in 53 games and walked just 16 while racking up 26 saves.