Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Paul McAnulty’

• 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

The San Diego Padres, like all other MLB teams, are making roster moves in preparations for the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. For those who are unfamiliar with this draft, Paul DePodesta does a good job of explaining it in this post.

He then explains the decision to place up and coming talent onto the 40-man roster for the sake of prehobiting any other team from snagging them, a la the Royals plucking Joakim Soria from the farm a few years back.

As we do every year we held a series of meetings with a large group of our baseball personnel (front office, field staff, and scouts), and ultimately decided on adding the following players: Matt Bush, Cesar Carrillo, Luis Durango, Jose Lobaton, Jackson Quezada, and Cesar Ramos. That brings our roster to 37 players, so we still have a few spots remaining as we approach the beginning of the winter.

Of that list, all but Carrillo are former Wizards.

In other former Wizards news, the Paul McAnulty experiment is relocating to Boston, who took little time in adding a new fourth outfielder after trading Coco Crisp to the Royals.

• Nick Hundley Impresses with Arm: Widely considered the Padres’ top catching prospect, Nick Hundley threw out would-be base stealers (Ivan Ochoa and Fred Lewis) to kill a pair of potential San Francisco rallies on August 1.
• Slugger Kulbacki Still Tearing it Up: Kellen Kulbacki is hitting .347 for the Lake Elsinore Storm. In the 61 games, he has 15 doubles and 51 RBI. Kulbacki batted .329 in June with nine home runs in 82 at-bats. In July, he hit .405 in 116 at-bats with eight home runs and nine doubles. This month, the 22-year-old is 4-for-8 with two home runs.As a result, he has been names the California League player of the week.
• LeBlanc Ties Career High With 11 Ks: 23-year-old Wade LeBlanc tied a career high with 11 strikeouts over eight shutout innings to lead the Portland Beavers to a 9-1 win over the Albuquerque Isotopes. Paul McAnulty hit a grand slam in that one too. LeBlanc (10-7) won his third straight start and it helped him earn Pacific Coast League pitcher of the week.
• Geoff Vandel has not allowed a run over his last 11 innings, giving up five hits. He has allowed one earned run or less in four of his last five outings.  It helped propel him to Northwest League pitcher of the week honors.
• Rivas drives in 3 to help Pirates beat Rockies: Starting in place of injured second baseman Freddy Sanchez, Luis Rivas led the Pirates with an RBI single in the third and two-run triple in the fifth to down the Colorado Rockies on July 28th.

Two former Wizards in the news today, but going in different directions.

McAnulty hit .207 with three home runs and 13 RBIs for the Padres, but it wasn’t enough. They sent him outright to Portland. It was one of several moves the team made in an effort to improve upon a miserable season.

But there is good news for former Wizard Juan Rincon, who had spent his entire career in the Twins’ organization until earlier this season. After being release by Minnesota, Rincon signed a minor league deal with Cleveland in June. The reliever had a 6.75 ERA in four appearances for Buffalo, but got a call-up when a spot opened up as a result of the trade of CC Sabathia. He has a career record of 30-26 with a 3.69 ERA in 386 games.

“Sometimes a change of scenery is good [for a player],” manager Eric Wedge said. “There’s reason to believe he’s going to have the same velocity and life on his pitches as he had before”  [source: MLB.com]

• 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.

If you’re looking to keep up with some of your favorite former Wizards, here’s some links you’ll enjoy, courtesy of SignOnSanDiego.

• Chase Headley: “The jewel of the Padres’ minor-league system, the player that every other major league team mentions first when San Diego’s looking to make a trade, Headley’s a big-time ballplayer in the making and likely not much longer for Triple-A.” [See Also: "Headley's Portland apprenticeship is a matter of dollars and sense" by Tim Sullivan]
• Will Venable: “Desperate for a center fielder who can handle the spaciousness of Petco Park, the Padres think that guy could very well be Venable, whose gait is built more for chasing down fly balls and legging out triples than stealing bases.”
• Matt Antonelli: “Even with his batting average under .200, Antonelli is among the PCL leaders in walks (28). His patience at the plate belies the belief that Antonelli put way too much pressure on himself the first several weeks of the season.”
• Luke Carlin: “I wanted to call my dad (to tell him about the call-up), but he’s a civilian contractor in Iraq. The funny thing was we were in Omaha when I was promoted. We were headed for Iowa and my wife and daughter were coming down from Wisconsin. I called Kim and when I said `There’s a change in plans,’ she was silent for a moment.”
• Paul McAnulty: Fun short Q/A where McAnulty, an American retro car buff, reveals his five favorite machines.

Former Fort Wayne Wizards pitcher, Jared Wells became the 64th player in the history of the team to make his Major League Debut. He entered the game against Cincinnati in the seventh inning in relief of Mike Adams. He coaxed outs from Joey Votto and David Ross before issuing a walk to Bronson Arroyo, followed by a single to Ryan Freel. He then got Paul Lanish to line out to end the inning unscathed.

Wells was a 31st Round (925th overall) pick in the 2002 Major League Draft. He joined the Wizards in 2002. During that season, he started 14 games and compiled a 4.09 ERA with one complete game and 72 strikeouts over 81.1 innings pitched.

The bottom of the seventh saw two former Wizards, Paul McAnulty and Luke Carlin take their at-bats before Wells was lifted for a pinch hitter.

Update (5/25/2008): Sandy Burgin talks with Wells and his teammates regarding the reliever’s Big League Debut:

“Jared’s debut was fine,” said Black. “He looked comfortable and I think he’d like to have that walk back to the starting pitcher [Bronson Arroyo], but overall, his stuff looked good, his delivery looked fine.”