Results tagged ‘ Tigers ’
Brewers Sign Pitcher
The Brewers have signed RHP Alfredo Figaro to a minor-league contract with an invitation to Major League camp.
Figaro, 28, spent the last two seasons in the Japanese Pacific League with the Orix Buffaloes.
He posted a 3.09 ERA in 11 games (all starts) for the Buffaloes in 2012. He struck out only 37 batters (of 268 faced) over 64.0 innings pitched so he doesn’t miss many bats but those bats also don’t hit many home runs off of him. Only being 6’0″ tall, he must have learned to stay on top of the baseball pretty well.
Figaro pitched in the big leagues as well prior to his time in Japan. He was a member of the Detroit Tigers organization for six seasons, culminating in 14 appearances over parts of two seasons with the parent club, including two starts. Figaro joined the Tigers org after a season in the Dodgers minor leagues after originally signing with them as an amateur free agent from the Dominican Republic.
Much more recently, Figaro was pitching in the Dominican Winter League this year where he was 0-1 with a 2.63 ERA in six games, three of which were starts.
Should Figaro make the 25-man roster out of Spring Training, his versatility lends itself well to the swing man role. He could also stay stretched out in Triple-A Nashville to provide more depth behind the starting rotation.
***UPDATE: Figaro’s team in Japan is claiming that they have rights to his services despite lack of an official 2013 contract. Apparently Figaro has a new agent who wasn’t aware.
The Brewers have stated that if Orix presses the issue, they will withdraw their offer to Figaro.***
What The Heck Happened There? (Thoughts on the Hank Aaron Award)
The Hank Aaron Awards were given out recently. One winner from each league is chosen and, prior to Game 3 of the World Series, the respective American and National League winners of the award were honored in an on-field ceremony at Detroit’s Comerica Park.
Fittingly enough, the home team’s third baseman, Miguel Cabrera, was selected as the winner in the American League. He earned the Triple Crown in the AL which no doubt factored in heavily.
The winner in the National League was also present, of course, but because he was set to play in the game that evening as well. Buster Posey of the NL Champion San Francisco Giants was named as the winner for the senior circuit, much to the confusion of yours truly.
Don’t get it twisted, Buster Posey had a fine year. A year which arguably saw him as the most valuable player in his league. But “value”, as it is argued in baseball circles, is not the goal of the Hank Aaron Award. The Hank Aaron Award is described thusly, as lifted from MLB.com:
“This coveted honor is awarded annually to the best overall offensive performer in both the American League and National League. Originally introduced in 1999 to honor the 25th anniversary of Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record, the Hank Aaron Award was the first major award to be introduced in 30 years.”
Did you catch that part about the “best overall offensive performer”? It’s right there in the first sentence. If you missed it, go ahead back and read it again.
Buster Posey, ladies and gentlemen, was not the National League’s best overall offensive performer in the 2012 regular season. He “won” the batting title after his teammate Melky Cabrera asked to be made an exception to the qualifications of the title, this is true, but as we all know from 2011 simply winning the batting title doesn’t garner you the Hank Aaron Award. Otherwise Jose Reyes would have been shaking hands with Hank Aaron instead of Matt Kemp.
So how exactly does one get selected as the “best overall offensive performer” anyway? Well, part of the problem is that there isn’t anything “exact” about it.
As currently constructed, fan voting counts for 50% of the vote while a five-man panel that consisted of Aaron, and fellow Hall of Fame members Tony Gwynn, Paul Molitor, Joe Morgan and Robin Yount make up the other half.
We all know after the debacle that was the All-Star Game voting this year that Giants fans know how to stuff a ballot box, but the fact that the fans can even influence this award at all is ridiculous. Fans are biased.
“But aren’t you just being a biased Brewer fan by writing this in the first place?”
Fair question, but that helps make my point. In it being a necessity to have evidentiary support for my point as to maintain some semblance of neutrality in this matter, the statistics do all the backing up needed.
Here are the full-season stat lines for both Braun and Posey. See if you can guess which line was produced by which player.
Player A: .336/.408/.549, 178 H, 24 HR, 103 RBI, 39 2B, 1 3B, 69 BB, 96 K, 172 OPS+, 1 SB, 78 R
Player B: .319/.391/.595, 191 H, 41 HR, 112 RBI, 36 2B, 3 3B, 63 BB, 128 K, 159 OPS+, 30 SB, 108 R
Again I’ll state that Posey, Player A above, had a terrific offensive season. He really did. However, when comparing Posey’s line to that of Braun’s (yes, Player B), how can you argue superiority for the Giants’ catcher?
The biggest issue is that we’ll never know how close it was nor how the voting played out among the five-man panel, but in the opinion of this avid baseball fan, there are shenanigans afoot.
It seems obvious that the collective consciousness of certain individuals is still flawed as it is at best heavily influenced by a scientifically-invalid urine sample from 12 months ago.
That’s a shame and those men who have allowed it to cloud their judgment, influence their analysis, and apparently ultimately impact their award voting should be so ashamed.
Those last two sentences apply even more so to the BBWAA members charged with honoring a player as most valuable.
We’ll just have to see where the winter takes us and when another year of excellence is produced by a certain Brewers superstar, perhaps the fog of confusion can begin to dissipate.
For now, the results of the 2012 Hank Aaron Award voting has left me under that same fog’s veil.
What the Hamels, Phillies Extension Could Mean for Greinke, Brewers
It was reported on Twitter early, early Wednesday morning by FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal that LHP Cole Hamels is close to completing an agreement on a six-year contract extension with the Philadelphia Phillies worth “more than” $137.5 million.
Why am I posting news about the Phillies? Simple.
Hamels and Brewers RHP Zack Greinke were considered to be the two best pitchers potentially available on this year’s trading block with the lefty generally (and rightfully) garnering higher praise.
If Hamels finalizes an extension to keep him firmly entrenched with Philadelphia then Greinke becomes numero uno on the wish lists of pretty much any team looking for a starting pitcher.
Sure, Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, Josh Johnson, and possibly even Cliff Lee could all be on the move like Wandy Rodriguez was Tuesday evening, but the prize piece would now currently call Milwaukee home.
Teams like the Texas Rangers, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Washington Nationals, whichever team of the Atlanta Braves or Los Angeles Dodgers doesn’t land Dempster, the Chicago White Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Baltimore Orioles…they all want to add starting pitching. Now not all of them match up in projects but enough do that a good ol’ fashioned bidding war could erupt around Greinke giving Brewers general manager Doug Melvin close to what he’s asking for in return for the enigmatic Greinke.
The stars certainly seem to be aligning a bit for a handsome package to be offered to and accepted by Melvin and subsequently presented to Brewer Nation in an attempt to maintain enthusiasm and ticket sales.
Could a Hamels extension force the Rangers to spend more than they want in terms of prospects? Possibly. They certainly have pieces at positions Melvin is said Rio be looking for. But then the Angels can’t possibly stand by while their division rival adds a front line starter, not when they themselves need help in the rotation.
The White Sox don’t have enough in their own farm system to deal directly for Greinke but perhaps their GM Kenny Williams could orchestrate a three-team deal. After all, the Detroit Tigers did just acquire Omar Infante and Anibal Sanchez from the Miami Marlins.
The Nationals, who had a deal worked out with the Kansas City Royals to acquire Greinke back in the winter of 2010, could also use another piece on their quest to win the NL East. We already know they like Greinke.
Could the Dodgers view Greinke as a piece to get them over the hump in the West to beat out the San Francisco Giants?
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. If not, suffice it to say that things could get very interesting at One Brewers Way over the next couple of days.
And for the record, I know several people are demanding or at least suggesting that Greinke be traded before tomorrow’s game, but I think Melvin should slow play the hell out of this. Let the bidding war develop over the next three days and make the suitors sweat and hopefully panic their way into doing something irrational.
Buckle up, Brewer Nation.
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