Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Mike Ekstrom’

There are many Wizards-related headlines that I need to catch up on. I’ve been passively collecting them as the final week of the season took place, so some may seem a bit old to you. Enjoy..

• Michael Cuddyer still hopes to return to the Twins this season. He has had an injry plagued 2008 season.
• Former Wizards Skipper, Randy Ready in enjoying being around familiar company with the Padres after September callups (himself included). Meanwhile, Wade LeBlanc and Matt Antonelli are hoping to make a splash during their opportunities this season.
• Clay Coundrey is happy to be nearing a personal milestone of staying with a Major League squad (the Phillies) for a full season.
• Dirk Hayhurst is hopefull that he’ll write the perfect ending (but not for a while) to the new era of his professional career.
• The Casper Ghosts recently won the Baseball America’s logos contest for “Coolest Redesign” and the Trenton Thunder took “Best Redesign” honrs. Wonder where this set’s the bar for the Fort Wayne team’s chances next year? Do you think they can do it? Let’s put out thinking hats and see what we can come up with!
• MadFriars has posted four segments of a Paul DePodterview. In part 1, he talks about prospects, Dominican players, trades and the draft. In part 2 DePodesta answers whether the Padres think Will Venable can be an everyday centerfielder in the big leagues, Matt Antonelli’s tough and if San Diego will ever move Kyle Blanks to the outfield. In part 3, DePodesta gives his assessment of Cedric Hunter, how Cesar Carrillo is progressing from his Tommy John surgery and sleepers in Fort Wayne. Finally, part 4 offers a posible glimpse into the Fort Wayne future; he let us know who may be the best player to come out of Eugene, the goods on Jeff Decker and breaks down some prospects from the Dominican League.
• Speaking of Paul DePodesta, he blogs about his thoughts on Antonelli and LeBlanc’s callups and chances.
• In what might have been Paul McAnulty’s last month in the Padres’ system, he earn’s one of the player of the month awards from MadFriars. Kyle Blanks, Eric Sogard, and Andy Parrino round out the other levels over Low-A ball. All of them are former Wizards. Methinks we’re going to see Blanks as a big leaguer sooner than later. Wade LeBlanc, Mike Ekstrom, Rolando Valdez and Jeremy McBryde take the pitchers of the month honors. Again, all of them are former Wizards. MadFriar’s also posted an interview with former Wizard, Manny Ayala.
• SignOnSanDiego has two good articles about former Wizards. In the first, they suggest that Matt Antonelli could finally be the answer to “who is going to play second base” – let’s just hope they don’t trade him to Cleveland. In the second, the article discusses how a move to a relief role for starting pitcher Mike Ekstrom may have saved his career.

MadFriars is rerpoting that former Wizards, outfielder Drew Macias and right-hander Mike Ekstrom have had their contracts purchased by the San Diego Padres and will join the team in Milwaukee today.

Macias, who played in Fort Wayne during the 2004 season, made his Major League debut during September callups in the 2007 season. He played in one game with no official at-bat and scored a run. Looks like he is set to get a little more action this time around. He finished the season with a .288 average at Double-A San Antonio with 145 hits, 27 doubles, four triples and 11 home runds. He also tallied 92 runsand 66 RBIs while leading the Padres minor league system with 83 walks.

With the Wizards in 2004, Macias appeared in 129 games. He collected 127 hits, 8 home runs and 55 RBIs while drawing 49 walks on 478 at-bats. His .266 batting average in Fort Wayne was his career high until this season, where he hit .289 with Portland. He was selected in the 35th Round (1045th overall) of the 2004 draft by San Diego (who also drafted him in the 22nd Round (660th overall) of the 2001 draft). 

Ekstrom caught me by surprise. In fact, he wasn’t even on my radar until I saw the headline. On the season, he appeared in 41 games and boasted an 11-8 record with a 4.58 ERA, that included 101 strikeouts and 34 walks over 108 innings pitched. He started in 15 games and also collected one save in relief.

He was selected by the San Diego Padres in the 12th round (342nd overall) of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft. He appeared with the Wizards in 2004 and 2005.

In 2004, he appeared in only two games in Fort Wayne before returning for the 2005 season where he appeared in 28 games (all of them as a starter) and compiled a 13-6 record with a 3.70 ERA, 112 strikeouts and 36 walks over 167 innings pitched. He also had one complete game shutout.

Ekstrom is set to become the 75th former Wizard to debut in Major League Baseball and the thirteenth on the season; which extends the record set when Wade LeBlanc appeared last Wednesday.

Photos by Chad Gramling.

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)?