Comments by Blaine Boyer post- trade
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reached the new Cardinals reliever following Monday’s trade. The 27-year-old right-hander is expected to be activated on Tuesday.
On a related point, the Post-Dispatch confirms earlier suspicions that David Freese is the odd man out until the Cardinals can sort out the keepers from the eight relievers currently rostered.
Boggs in line to get start
For Game Two of the second consecutive Cubs series on consecutive weekends, the Cardinals apparently plan to start a rookie on the mound. Dave Duncan is hinting strongly that Mitchell Boggs will swap places with P.J. Walters, with the latter moving into long relief and the former getting the Saturday start.
The same article confirms why Adam Wainwright was slipped to Friday, opening the Cubs series at Busch.
Comcast fixes Cardinals problem in Arkansas
The cable provider has announced plans to telecast 120 Cardinals games starting with the Mets series opener Tuesday night. I had earlier written about the dispute at Scout.com that had led to no games being shown to Comcast’s Arkansas customers during the first two weeks of the 2009 season.
Comcast’s change of heart is good news for many, many very good (and formerly frustrated) fans in an important part of Cardinals country. Specifics, including games to be broadcast, are available via the first link above.
New Memphis closer
In case you hadn’t noticed, recently-converted starter-to-reliever Jess Todd has two saves in his last two outings for Triple-A Memphis. The 23-year-old has allowed just two runs over his first five games and eight innings as a reliever. The right-hander has yielded just five hits, walked two and has fanned nine.
Minor change in QC tandems
When the season began, the Quad Cities tandem rotation included these pairings: Scott McGregor/Andres Rosales and Miguel Tapia/Chuckie Fick. Now Rosales and Tapia have changed partners, with McGregor/Tapia scheduled on Thursday and Rosales/Fick on Friday. The other three pairings did not change. As always, details can be found in the Roster Matrix.
Brad Pitt as Billy Beane in “Moneyball: The Movie”
“Show me the money… ball…” Demetri Martin co-stars in the new film by Steven Soderbergh that begins filming in June.
Baseball saved my marriage
According to a University of Denver study publicized by BusinessWeek, couples who live in cities with a Major League Baseball club divorce at a rate 28% lower than ones living in wannabe MLB locations. The report was not broken out by market.
Pedro still wants $5 million
And he apparently thinks he is eventually going to get it. Since he is reportedly disinterested in an incentive-laden deal, the odds that Martinez will become a Cardinal seem low. Then again, let’s see how Boggs pitches this weekend.
Cooper’s bases covered
Astros manager Cecil Cooper, having been swept by the Cardinals in St. Louis and leading his team to a 3-7 record at the time, was granted a contract extension through 2010 by Houston GM Ed Wade and owner Drayton McLane last weekend.
Showing how tricky the prediction business can be, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal not only helped break the news of the extension during Saturday’s regional broadcast but also had said just four days prior that Cooper could be the first manager fired this season.
In all fairness to Rosenthal, the Astros’ move seemed very odd, but they have been doing that a lot of that kind of thing over the recent years. The 4-9 Houston club is currently last in the NL Central.
Cremated Cubs fans have a new home
In the news of the really weird, an area specifically designed for deceased Cubs fans has been opened in a north-side Chicago cemetery. “Beyond the Vines” will be complete with brick, ivy, a stained-glass scoreboard, authentic Cubs seats and even displaced Wrigley turf.
One has to be cremated to take advantage of one of the 288 “eternal skyboxes” for sale. No word on whether discounts are given to those born prior to 1908.
Seriously.
Blaine Boyer was signed by the same scout who signed Adam Wainwright. Boyer and Wainwright were the 3rd and 1st round picks by the Braves in 2000. (The scout, Rob English, moved to the Red Sox.)
The trade for Boyer suggests TLR is looking for a Mike Timlin type, a set up reliever who throws a heavy sinker and is not a rookie. Boyer has had one shoulder op already and got used heavily. Whether a good Boyer can be found inside the recent bad Boyer remains to be seen.
The trade suggests TLR would like to bolster the bullpen sooner than later.
Julian Tavarez was another sinkerballing reliever, like Timlin or Thompson. TLR likes to have at least one around. With Thompson now beavering away in Memphis, enter Boyer.
Boggs got 7 starts last year, stuck his nose inside the tent. The Cards may want to have a competition among Boggs, Walters, and Thompson to see who can emerge as the 5th starter.
Demetri Martin? Moneyball is going to be a comedy?
I feel badly for the Astros fans. I really do.
Interesting how the maligned Pineiro is 3-0, while Ryan Franklin is collecting saves. Hard throwing rookies may be exciting for the fans, but TLR prefers quietly grinding out wins.
Its always nice to beat the Mets. They spent $1.7MM on Fernando Tatis, but picked up Gary Sheffield too. Sheff may not have much left. They play Murphy in left; he had a couple of miscues yesterday that cost them. Oliver Perez is collecting a huge salary, but did not do much yesterday. While the owner of the Marlins, Loria, may be dislikable, I can see the rationale for not ladling out huge salaries for ball players.
Here is a truly minor matter…..the Birdhouse listed catcher Paul Vasquez at Palm Beach as born in Columbus, Georgia. This seems plausible, since he played at an off-shoot campus of Auburn U in Montgomery.
However, the “MiLB” profile for Vasquez lists him as born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I hope this is true. Puerto Rico is good at producing catchers, including Pudge Rodriguez, the three Molina brothers, the switch-hitting vet with the Yankees, and Soto who has upgraded the Cubs at catcher. The Cards are mindful catchers can be found in PR. They drafted catchers out of Puerto Rico in 2005 and 2006, and added Vasquez as an UDFA in 2008.
The BH profile looks to be in error. Columbus, GA is listed as his home in the media guide, but his birthplace is San Juan, PR. I will ensure that is corrected. Thanks for mentioning it.
Benito Santiago, Javy Lopez, and Sandy Alomar Jr. would be three more catchers born in PR. I feel a little more hopeful about Vasquez, now I know he is a catcher who hails from a catching mecca.
I am late to the discussion however, I will keep my comments to the “minors” (if not to the original comments of the article).
Paul Vasquez (Vazquez on MiLB) is worth following closely. If I remember correctly (I do not have my notes with me), Paul lived in Puerto Rico until he was about 11 years old. He has the potential to be better than Yadier Molina and Bryan Anderson offensively and should fit solidly between the two defensively. His hitting was a bit streaky at JC but has been very good against righties and with RISP in the early going at PB.
I remember being impressed with Evan Maclane when he played for the Kingsport Mets in the Appy League in 2003. Former JC Cardinals Jason Motte and Brandon Yarbrough may remember facing him. He had a >9 SO/9 IP rate coupled with a >7:1 K/BB ratio in 2003 hiwever, he has fallen off quite a bit from those numbers as he has progressed to AAA. He has rarely been used as a reliever, so it will be interesting to see if he can do well in that role. I like that he had a winning record for 14 of his 15 teams over his 6-year minor league career.
Did I read that Maclane was acquired via trade? If so, what did the Cardinals trade for him?
Should have said 9 of his 11 teams (not 14 of his 15 teams).
Yes, the Cardinals gave the D-backs “future considerations” for MacLane, I was told. They may try him as a starter in Memphis as that is what Maekawa was doing after Walters and Boggs were called up and only Thompson was returned.