In the absence of proud new dad Craig B, your humble correspondent is here to provide some news and notes from around the majors.
* Ken Huckaby can breathe a little easier. Derek Jeter is a couple of days away from swinging a bat again, and could be back on the field as early as May 15. That has to be Brian Cashman's best-case scenario, especially since a lengthy Jeter absence could have pushed King George into another mad, Mondesi-like buying spree, and before you know it, Barry Larkin would be in pinstripes. Or on the DL with Jeter.
* Speaking of the disabled list, that's where Jeromy Burnitz finds himself for four to six weeks, after a Billy Wagner fastball broke his hand. For Mets bashers, Burnitz symbolizes all that's wrong with the organization: their first-round draft choice in 1990, Burnitz laboured in their minor-league system for years, finally spending 400 games at AAA Norfolk but assembling only a .252/.325/.430 line there. He went to Cleveland in that well-known Dave Mlicki deal of '94, and as soon as he left the Mets organization, he broke out:
1995, Buffalo: .284/.359/.503
1996, Cleveland/Milwaukee: .265/.377/.470 *
1997, Milwaukee: .281/.382/.553
1998, Milwaukee: .263/.339/.499
1999, Milwaukee: .270/.402/.561
* (dealt for Kevin Seitzer. Another nice job, John Hart)
After his age-30 season, Burnitz started to slide (OPSes of 802 and 851 in '00 and '01), so of course that's when the Mets brought him home again, giving up (among others) useful chits Glendon Rusch and Benny Agbayani in a complicated three-way deal that also involved the Rockies. After a .215/.311/.365 stinkeroo last year, Burnitz was off to a decent start in '03 before this. The Mets should be wondering what the Indians and Brewers can teach hitters that they can't. The last good hitter to emerge from the Mets' system and develop in New York was Edgardo Alfonzo, and now he's out in San Francisco.
* But let's not single out the hapless Mets as a team that failed to develop a player or two of its own. Down in St. Louis, they're very happy with ex-Jay Woody Williams, whose ERA through 19 innings is a nifty 0.00. After several seasons of league-average performance and mid-to-high 4s ERAs, Williams found himself in Cardinal red halfway through 2001. And though he hasn't been healthy very often, here's what he's done when he is:
2001: 7-1, 2.28, 75 IP, 54 H, 19 BB, 52 K
2002: 9-4, 2.53, 103 IP, 84 H, 24 BB, 76 K
2003: 3-0, 0.00, 19 IP, 11 H, 3 BB, 13 K
Could the Jays have seen this coming before dealing Williams for the Big Joey? Here was his Blue Jays line:
166 G, 76 GS, 28-34, 4.29, 613 IP, 589 H, 251 BB, 439 K
The hit and K rates are pretty similar to what he's been doing in St. Louis; it's the walks that invariably did him in in Toronto (0.40 BB/IP vs. 0.23 BB/IP in St. Louis). You've heard the expression, "he's one walk per nine innings away from stardom?" That's Woody Williams.
* Ken Huckaby can breathe a little easier. Derek Jeter is a couple of days away from swinging a bat again, and could be back on the field as early as May 15. That has to be Brian Cashman's best-case scenario, especially since a lengthy Jeter absence could have pushed King George into another mad, Mondesi-like buying spree, and before you know it, Barry Larkin would be in pinstripes. Or on the DL with Jeter.
* Speaking of the disabled list, that's where Jeromy Burnitz finds himself for four to six weeks, after a Billy Wagner fastball broke his hand. For Mets bashers, Burnitz symbolizes all that's wrong with the organization: their first-round draft choice in 1990, Burnitz laboured in their minor-league system for years, finally spending 400 games at AAA Norfolk but assembling only a .252/.325/.430 line there. He went to Cleveland in that well-known Dave Mlicki deal of '94, and as soon as he left the Mets organization, he broke out:
1995, Buffalo: .284/.359/.503
1996, Cleveland/Milwaukee: .265/.377/.470 *
1997, Milwaukee: .281/.382/.553
1998, Milwaukee: .263/.339/.499
1999, Milwaukee: .270/.402/.561
* (dealt for Kevin Seitzer. Another nice job, John Hart)
After his age-30 season, Burnitz started to slide (OPSes of 802 and 851 in '00 and '01), so of course that's when the Mets brought him home again, giving up (among others) useful chits Glendon Rusch and Benny Agbayani in a complicated three-way deal that also involved the Rockies. After a .215/.311/.365 stinkeroo last year, Burnitz was off to a decent start in '03 before this. The Mets should be wondering what the Indians and Brewers can teach hitters that they can't. The last good hitter to emerge from the Mets' system and develop in New York was Edgardo Alfonzo, and now he's out in San Francisco.
* But let's not single out the hapless Mets as a team that failed to develop a player or two of its own. Down in St. Louis, they're very happy with ex-Jay Woody Williams, whose ERA through 19 innings is a nifty 0.00. After several seasons of league-average performance and mid-to-high 4s ERAs, Williams found himself in Cardinal red halfway through 2001. And though he hasn't been healthy very often, here's what he's done when he is:
2001: 7-1, 2.28, 75 IP, 54 H, 19 BB, 52 K
2002: 9-4, 2.53, 103 IP, 84 H, 24 BB, 76 K
2003: 3-0, 0.00, 19 IP, 11 H, 3 BB, 13 K
Could the Jays have seen this coming before dealing Williams for the Big Joey? Here was his Blue Jays line:
166 G, 76 GS, 28-34, 4.29, 613 IP, 589 H, 251 BB, 439 K
The hit and K rates are pretty similar to what he's been doing in St. Louis; it's the walks that invariably did him in in Toronto (0.40 BB/IP vs. 0.23 BB/IP in St. Louis). You've heard the expression, "he's one walk per nine innings away from stardom?" That's Woody Williams.
