Loose Ends

Here are a few odds and ends that have been piling up around here.

• The Bulls only had one position player on the bench last night, catcher Steven Vogt, who had just driven up from Montgomery the same day. He might be in the lineup tonight. If so, it will be his first AAA start.
• He may be joined by Montgomery Biscuits outfielder John Shelby who is reported to be on his way up as well. If so, it will be Shelby's first AAA start.
• Survivors: Last night's starting lineup had only three players who started for the Bulls back on April 7th, Ray Olmedo, J.J. Furmaniak, and Russ Canzler. You can look it up.
• Old time Bulls fans will be interested to know that former Bull Jim Magrane in back in the states and pitching with broadcaster Neil Solondz's old buddies, the Somerset Patriots |stats| |story|
• One member of the Patriots pitching crew is another former Bull and WDBB favorite Jason Cromer, who is doing OK: 10-8, ERA 3.38.
• And back on July 26 Columbus Clipper pitcher Justin Germano pitched a perfect game! Against the Syracuse Chiefs, in Syracuse. 27 up, 27 down. Box Score, Story play-by-play, Columbus Dispatch, and Columbus Dispatch follow-up. Congrats to Justin Germano!

Preliminary Bulls Roster

Season starts in 9 days (at Gwinnett)

Home opener in 16 days

The Tampa Bay Rays play their first game of the season on April 1, so they have cleaned out their roster with several moves over the last week or so. The seven players sent off the other day were probably just about the end of it. They have appeared to have settled on a 25-man roster of 13 pitchers and 12 position players.

We can’t expect an official Durham Bulls roster, however, until about 7:00 pm on April 7. That is, just prior to the start of the game against Gwinnett that evening.

But why should the simple lack of information stop WDBB from putting up a roster? Why should facts (or the lack of them) get in our way? That's never held up us before. (Note: Players marked with an asterisk are on the Rays 40-man.)

Catchers

• Nevin Ashley*
• Robinson Chirinos*
• Jose Lobaton*

Obviously one more catcher than we need, but the Bulls have carried three catchers in the past. If someone is to go off to Montgomery, my guess it would be Ashley.

Pitchers

Starters

• Richard De Los Santos
• Alexander Torres*
• Brian Baker
• Alex Cobb*
• Edgar Gonzalez

The list is short one pitcher and I don't have a good enough memory to pick a fifth starter from the full minor league roster. Any suggestions?

Relievers

• Mike Ekstrom*
• Rob Delaney*
• Dane De La Rosa*
• Chris Bootcheck
• R.J. Swindle
• Dirk Hayhurst
• Brandon Gomes*
• Cory Wade

I'm pretty sure that a couple of the guys on this list have opt out contracts (e.g., Bootcheck), so could be movement on this list before the start of the season. And this is one more than the Bulls usually carry. But, we'll see.

Infield

• Felipe Lopez
• Ray Olmedo
• J.J. Furmaniak
• Chris Carter (move to outfield list)
• Omar Luna
• Casey Kotchman

I'm not comfortable with this list at all. Yes, we've seen Ray Olmedo and Omar Luna in recent years, but we simply don't have enough information to judge if they are going to end up on the Bulls roster or not. Note that at least three players — Kotchman, Carter, and Anderson (below) — have some first base credentials. 

Outfielders

• Brandon Guyer*
• Desmond Jennings*
• Leslie Anderson
• Justin Ruggiano

Want a real difference for this year? For the first time in my memory, with the exception of Chris Carter, we don't have a reliable home run hitter in the bunch. Carter hit 31 last year for Sacramento in the PCL, but that's it. The rest of the outfield are, at best, doubles hitters. Pretty quick and fleet of foot, I'll grant that, but 15 homers or so is about all that we can expect of any of the outfielders. Last year's Durham Bulls hit 142 home runs. Don't expect anything like that this year.

Not as many new guys as I expected at the end of last season. On this list there are only five position players we haven't seen and we've seen most of the starters.

This list could be off by quite a bit. It's entirely possible that one or two are already working out with the Biscuits and players we haven't heard about are working out with the Bulls. I've made three substantive changes since I started writing this up on March 27. Two possibilities not mentioned so far are Russ Canzler and Daniel Mayora, both new to the Rays system.

For others who may be as obsessed as I am, keep an eye on Stacy Long's blog entries and stories in the Montgomery Advertiser this week.

As a side note, I am pleased to report that Jason Cromer has signed on with the Atlantic League Somerset Patriots. Jason was a key member of the 2009 Bulls, but struggled with some kind of arm problem last year. Here's hoping he's over it and good luck. Thanks to Rays Prospects for chasing that down.

Update: I chased down the wrong Chris Carter. "Our" Chris Carter spent most of last year with the Mets and with Buffalo of the IL. Almost all of his playing time was in the outfield and he only hit 4 home runs in the majors and 6 in AAA. So he's not going to help out with the home run problem. Also, I've added as a starting pitcher signing I missed: Edgar Gonzalez. Solid stats in Triple A and fair stats with Arizona and Oakland.

Looking at 2010 — 5 — Pitchers (cont)

Let's see if we can wrap this up.

Mike Ekstrom (26). RHP. Reliever. 58 Innings (3 2/3 postseason). 39 Games (1 start). 6-1. 6 holds, 1 save. ERA 2.79. On Rays 40-man.

• Ekstrom started the year in Tampa Bay and came to the Bulls in a swap for Joaquin Benoit in late April. He went back up to the Rays for a couple of weeks in early August, again in early September, came back for one round of playoffs, and went back to the Rays. Not quite sure why he was around all year given the somewhat erratic quality of the Rays bullpen, but nice to have him with the Bulls and he did a good job. Seemed to handle the back and forth better than most we’ve seen around here. He’s young. He’s only got two years of AAA under his belt. If he doesn’t stick with the Rays he might be back next year.
  
• Stats.

Winston Abreu (33). RHP. Reliever. 55 1/3 innings (3 1/3 postseason). 40 games. 0-4. 2 holds, 23 saves. ERA 2.28.

• A great deal of the Bulls’ success over the last two years can be attributed to Winston Abreu. If his number of saves seems a bit low (tied for 3rd in the IL), remember that in the early months of the season there were few save opportunities with the Bulls on a record-setting run scoring pace. Very, very important to the Bulls to know that if they had a lead going into the last inning, Abreu was there. At a guess, it’s up to Abreu whether or not he wants to put in another year with the Bulls. Certainly the team (and this fan) would love to have him back.
  
• Stats.

R.J. Swindle (26). LHP. Reliever. 55 innings (5 innings postseason). 40 games. 2-4. 12 holds. 2 saves. ERA 2.79.

• There was not a pitcher on the crew that was more fun to watch this year than R.J. Swindle. He got a late start on the season, not showing up with the Bulls until May 10. Impressive control right out of the gate. He didn’t walk a single batter until his eighth appearance. R.J. is famous for his slow curve that loops across the plate at much less than 60 mph, while his “fastball” barely approaches 80 mph. No pitcher on the Bulls staff could mix it up as well as he could. One or two inning guy, real asset to the team. Still young. He could be a real help to the Bulls in years to come if Rays want to keep him around.
  
• Stats.

Darin Downs (25). LHP. 40 1/3 innings (5 1/3 postseason). 23 games (1 start). 6-2. ERA 4.46.

• Downs joined the Bulls from the Montgomery Biscuits in late June. His numbers with the Bulls were much less impressive than his 1.67 ERA at AA level. On the other hand, this was his first visit to AAA baseball and he seems fully recovered from his injuries. Pretty sure that he’s going to be on the Rays “Let’s wait and see” list. Maybe Biscuits, probably Bulls next year.
  
• Stats.

The next several pitchers were in the 20 inning range, so let’s try to wrap this up with some one-liners.

Bobby Livingston (27). LHP. 27 2/3 innings (5 postseason). 5 games, no decisions. Livingston filled in some gaping holes in the Bulls starting lineup on August, and did a pretty good job for us. He’s been banging around AAA for the last couple of years — Indianapolis, Columbus, Norfolk, Buffalo, and Albuquerque — so have to think there’s a story there we don’t know about. Still, liked what we saw in August and September. Stats.
Heath Rollins (25). RHP. Started the season with the Bulls and appeared in 13 games (23 innings), but did not do well. Was sent down to Montgomery where he also did not do well. Stats.
Jake McGee (23). LHP. Started the season with Montgomery as a starter. Came to the Bulls in August to work as a reliever (17 innings) and did very, very well. Went to Tampa in mid-September. On 40-man. Likely to start 2011 with the Bulls. Stats.
Ramon Ortiz (37). RHP. 17 innings. 4 games. Much like Bobby Livingston, brought in at the end of the season to fill some holes in starting lineup. Less successful than Livingston. First time we’ve ever seen a pitcher tossed from a game for something he apparently said, not something he did (August 30). Did not appear in the postseason. Stats.
Brian Shouse (42). LHP. Reliever. Signed in mid-August to fill some holes and possibly back up the Rays bullpen. 10 games, 12 innings. Was of little help to Bulls. Stats.
Jeff Bennett (30). RHP. Starter. Started the year with Durham. Pitched one game, faced two batters in his second start and went on DL. Had one more start on May 11 and was released. Total of 10 2/3 innings. Stats.
Paul Phillips (26). RHP. Came up from Montgomery and got in 3 appearances (10 2/3 innings) before the end of the season and two in post season (6 1/3 innings). We like Phillips, but he’s running out of time. He could easily come out of spring training on the Bulls roster. Or just as easily disappear. Stats.
Joaquin Benoit (33). RHP. Likely to become a trivia question if he keeps up his terrific performance as a Rays setup man. He did spend a couple of weeks with the Bulls at the beginning of the year, making 8 appearances for 9 2/3 innings, 2 saves and a loss. Swapped out for Mike Ekstrom. Stats.
Jason Cromer (29). LHP. 8 innings. 4 games. A favorite of WDBB, Jason could not get his arm/elbow working right this year. He did show up for four games in late May/early June. He on the books as pitching a couple of games/innings in mid-August down in the Gulf Coast League, so we can hope. But have to say that it doesn’t look well. Jason’s running out of time. Stats.
Justin Garcia (24). RHP. Reliever. 4 2/3 innings. If you been reading this far, this is the punch line. Justin Garcia, as far as we can tell, has never been to Durham, NC. He came up from Montgomery and pitched two games in relief against Indianapolis, then went from there to the Charlotte Stone Crabs. Obvious candidate for the Moonlight Graham Award. Stats.
Alex Cobb (22). RHP. Starter. Alex did not play for the Bulls in the regular season. He did come up for the postseason and took a loss in his first appearance. Nevertheless, he is a very, very promising young pitcher, one of two on this year’s Biscuits squad on the Rays 40-man (Jake McGee being the other one). If we’re lucky, we’ll see a lot of him next year. Stats.

Playoff Pitching — 1

If any reader of this blog ever had any doubt that baseball is a demanding sport, consider this:

Of the five starting pitchers who began the 2010 for the Bulls, four are on the disabled list — Heath Phillips, Virgil Vasquez, Carlos Hernandez, and Jeff Bennett (who ended up in Nashville in the PCL league where he is on the DL). The exception, of course, is Jeremy Hellickson. And we will mention in passing our favorite guy, Jason Cromer, who never really showed up this year.

Meanwhile, according to Adam Sobsey over at Triangle Offense, this is the rotation that Charlie Montoyo is looking at for the playoffs:

Richard De Los Santos, Ramon Ortiz, Brian Baker, Aneury Rodriguez, Bobby Livingston.

We’ve got decent numbers on three of those guys, so here are their charts. Once they get a few more innings in, I’ll put up what we’ve got on Ortiz and Livingston.

A bit of apples and oranges here in terms of how each player got to where he is statistically. De Los Santos has, by far, the most innings and the most starts. But they all have been relievers and starters this year. The curves show what a steady performer De Los Santos has been all year, while Baker has been much more erratic (sometimes in a good way). At the moment, Baker certainly appears to be on a slight improvement trend while Rodriguez is on a very slight downward trend.

# 10

Game 107: Durham Bulls (Rays) 5; Pawtucket Red Sox (Red Sox) 1
Season: 67-40; Trip: 5-0; Streak: 10-0
Wrap, Box, Providence Journal

The story for fans up nawth was a visit to Pawtucket by rehabbing Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. For the Bulls the story was the tenth win in this streak.

Another solid performance by our pitchers, beginning with Virgil Vasquez, visits by Mike Ekstrom and R. J. Swindle, and a close-out by Winston Abreu. Nicely done.

Dan Johnson picked up his 30th home run and 95th RBI. Elliot Johnson, playing right field, added a double and two RBI to his stats. Chris Richard added to his league-leading batch of doubles with his 34th.

Today’s game coverage is supposed to start at 12:50. Maybe we’ll get some background on what’s happening down in St. Petersburg. At best we’ve got to fill a big hole and, unless Carlos Hernandez or Jason Cromer (remember him?) comes off the DL, we just might not have anyone available.

Here’s an update on our hitters, and a new stat, bRAA (wRAA). Without digging into it too much, let’s just say that this number is how many runs a batter contributes to a team, above the league average. The problem, for evaluating Bulls, is that I’m guessing that the site where I get these numbers (www.statcorner.com) is using American League averages, not International League averages. That’s OK with me, because all I really want to show is the relative ranking of our hitters (and, obviously, Rays hitters as well). We would assume that going from the International League to the American League would result in a drop. How much? Hard, possibly impossible, to tell. Nevertheless, this is a number we can assume that Rays’ management is looking at.
What does the table tell us? Dan Johnson is having a terrific year. We knew that. Chris Richard’s year is much better than certainly I thought, as is Elliot Johnson’s. Desmond Jennings and Justin Ruggiano, only so-so. Fernando Perez, awful.

If these were the only numbers, you can see some obvious potential swaps between the teams.

Speaking of swaps and shifts, am I the only one who’s annoyed at Bulls management for lying to us? Here’s GM Mike Birling’s tweet from a couple of days ago when Jeremy Hellickson was pulled after three innings:

#GM A lot of twitter followers are wondering about Helly. He is fine. Just keeping his innings in check

Does anyone believe that now? Should we pay much attention in the future?

In the short run, the Rays acquisition of a reliever, Chad Qualls, doesn’t necessarily affect the Bulls since they put Grant Balfour on the DL after a particularly dumb move on his part, otherwise someone would have to have been pushed overboard.

But then there’s Rays first baseman Carlos Pena being pulled from last night’s game. Is that going to force the Rays to finally take a look at Dan Johnson? Looking at that table above, they could do worse.

Durham Bulls Pitching

We haven’t put up a look at Bulls pitching for quite some time. Since we just went past the midpoint of the season, probably a good time to take a look.

First, this chart that shows the continuing cumulative trends of Fielding Independent Percentage (FIP) and Earned Run Average over the last 20 games. Over this same period the Bulls have won 11 and lost 9. Thus, no real surprise that the trends are pretty flat. At this level of play, that’s mostly a good thing.


Taking a look at the individual pitchers, I’ve rank-ordered them by their FIP numbers. Their ERA numbers are not much different, with the exception of the newcomers.

Darin Downs and Justin Garcia’s numbers are not to be trusted this early in their Triple-A experience. Carlos Hernandez is on the disabled list, but I’m hoping that he will be back soon.

No surprise that Hellickson is up near the top, or Winston Abreu for that matter. Joe Bateman and R. J. Swindle are looking pretty good, too.


The strikeouts/walks chart is mostly to show off the ridiculous performance of R. J. Swindle. His bar represents 3 walks and 24 strikeouts.

Overall, Bulls pitching looks pretty good.

Saw Virgil Vasquez in uniform a day ago. When activated, someone here is going to get pushed out (probably Garcia or Downs). Haven’t heard anything about Jason Cromer (also on the DL). His year is beginning to look like a washout.

Bullpen Lets Six Get Home

Game 65: Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay) 2, Gwinnett Braves (Atlanta) 7
Season: 39-26; Last 10: 7-3
Wrap, Box, Gwinnett Daily Post

Last night’s game can be looked at in a couple of different ways, most of them not good.

We’ll just point out that the game was one of the very rare times this year that the Bulls’ relievers have lost a game. To date they have only been charged with six losses and three of those six were from pitchers no longer with the Bulls. Benoit (1) has gone to the Rays and Rollins (2) has gone to the Biscuits. Winston Abreu, R.J. Swindle and Dale Thayer have the other three. Another indication of the strength of our bullpen is that they have only had two blown saves, Bateman (1) and Ekstrom (1). One of the blown saves was last night (Joe Bateman) as was the loss by Dale Thayer.

Going into the 7th inning, the Bulls were leaving a lot of runners on base, but they still had a 2-1 lead. Then Bateman came on and gave up a tying run. That was followed by what was probably Dale Thayer’s very worst outing as a Durham Bull: Single, hit by pitch, single, double, walk, single, couple of ground outs and another single — five runs. Following as it does a rough outing June 6th, I’m wondering if there’s something wrong with Dale. Or is he simply not getting enough work?

We’ll also point out that the Bulls left 17 men on base and outhit the Braves 13 to 10.

Moving right along …

Desmond Jennings has attracted a flurry of attention by being named IL Player of the Week and in a pretty good article in today's News & Observer.

Elliot Johnson and Jason Cromer were put on the disabled list. Joe Dillon came off (hooray!). Rehabbing Tampa Bay shortstop Jason Bartlett is playing a couple of games with us on his way back to the Rays.

End of the Streak; Navarro?

Game 57: Durham Bulls 2, Syracuse Chiefs 6
Season: 33-24
Wrap, Box

The streak ended last night. Surely I am not the only person to notice that in the last Bulls loss the pitching lineup was Rodriguez, Cromer, and Baker; and last night’s pitching lineup was Rodriguez, Cromer, and Baker. And surely I am not the only one to notice that since Aneury joined the Bulls, and gave us two terrific starts on 20 and 25 April, he has had a tough time. Most troubling is his tendency to give up bases on balls, nearly one per inning the last two games. Unfortunately, Jason Cromer is not yet back in form, so we are going to have to live with this for a while.

Wonder if it is something about the park or the weather, but in the last three games Bulls pitching has given up 20 walks and Syracuse pitching has given up 20 walks.

About to get a new catcher?

Reporters and bloggers paying attention to that team down on the left coast of Florida are very impressed with John Jaso’s performance since his call up. So much so that since Kelley Shoppach got off the disabled list they’ve been speculating about what the Rays might do. One of the possibilities is to send their long time first string catcher, Dioner Navarro, to the Bulls. The last time Navarro saw the minors (not counting rehab) was a few games in 2006 with the Dodgers AAA Pacific Coast League team in Las Vegas. Rays Index’s take is here, and a longer piece is here. Would create problems with our lineup, but might be interesting to see him at work.

The Good, The Bad, The Odd

Game 47: Durham Bulls 3, Rochester Redwings 4
Season: 26-21
Wrap, Box, Indy Week

For a more linear view of the game, see Adam Sobsey in the Indy Week link. For me, I’m still trying to get over my disappointment in Jason Cromer’s first appearance. But, surely no more disappointed that Jason himself.

Good:

• Aneury Rodriguez. Although hitters were giving his pitches a lot of hard rides, they landed in the fielders’ gloves. A solid 5 ⅔ although he left a couple of runners on for Cromer.

• Joe Dillon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player crawl his way to home, but Joe did. After stealing second base in the 6th, Joe was dashing around third on an Angel Chavez single. Something went seriously wrong and he collapsed several feet from the plate. Sobsey reports that it was a hamstring and that Dillon will be out for a while. The only good is that he scored the run. Otherwise, everything else about the incident is not good.

Bad:

• Jason Cromer. Can’t sugar coat it. He came on in the 5th and got his batter out. In the sixth he loaded the bases with walks and left with one out.

• Angel Chavez’ error. Chavez was playing second base after the odd shuffle that resulted from Joe Dillon’s injury. Dan Johnson, who started the game as the designated hitter, move to third base and Chavez moved to take Dillon’s place at second. Although second isn’t his usual spot, he’s been there a couple of times this year. With the bases loaded he let a ball get by that resulted in two runs scoring.

• Joe Dillon’s absence. Joe has made a difference this year, and last. He’s gonna be missed. We have no idea when we will hear what about his injury.
  

• Fifteen strikeouts against the team with the worst ERA in the International League

Odd:

• Because the designated hitter, Dan Johnson, moved to third on Joe Dillon’s injury, the pitcher was eligible to come to bat. I’d like to think that if the game had not been at risk Charlie Montoyo would have allowed it just for the oddity of it all. In practice, Chris Richard came to bat as a pinch hitter in the 8th (he struck out).

• Catcher, baserunner, umpire and several others standing around home plate until Colina apparently hears the folks screaming at him and tags out the Redwing baserunner, who had apparently not touched home plate.

This is likely the last blog entry for a few days. We are off for a visit to one of the country’s most interesting institutions — the John C. Campbell Folk School. We think a lot of the place and have written about it previously. Although I will be able to track the Bulls and could probably make entries from time to time, seems like the whole point of going there is to get away from technology for a while.

Cromer; Rollins

It's official, per an email from Bulls' front office.

Heath Rollins has been assigned to Montgomery.

Jason Cromer is officially off the disabled list.

For those who were not with us for 2009, Jason was one of our stalwarts. A left-handed starting pitcher, Jason had 19 starts and put together a 7-3 record with a 2.25 ERA. He's been knocking around the minors for a good while, stats, but it seemed like he usually came through when needed last year. We here at WDBB were particularly taken with him and have been looking forward to his return. No word on when he will get his first start. My guess, and it is a guess, is in the next day or so.

Bulls Win Series; Cromer Returning?

Game 46: Bulls 8, Red Sox 5
Season: 26-20
Home Stand: 3-1
Streak: W2
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

The links have most of the story, the ‘wrap’ is, I think, particularly good today.

Wasn’t that a nice night at the park? Even though we kept glancing at the horizon expecting black clouds to come boiling up, they didn’t.

Wool E. Bull seems to be back to his old self. Not noticing any limps.

We left at the 7th inning, with the Bulls up 6-2, but were able to keep up on the radio. Scary moments in the 9th.

Heath Phillips had what could have been his best start of the year. Nevertheless, he gave up another homer and a lot of long outs. Worrisome.

We were listening when Thayer had his awful experience. So very uncharacteristic of him, walking four batters. Thanks to Mike Ekstrom for shutting things down as effectively as he did.

So, on to the news. Jim Sumner in the Durham Herald-Sun, in what is the first baseball-related “scoop” for that paper in memory, is reporting that Heath Rollins is being sent to Montgomery to make room for Jason Kromer [sic]. We will assume they mean Jason Cromer. Since Jason is my all-time favorite Bulls pitcher (along with Winston Abreu, of course), sure am happy to hear that he’s coming off the disabled list and I’m full of hope that he has recovered from whatever was wrong. The question will remain, who goes into the pen, Rodriguez or De Los Santos? I’ve got a 50-50 chance of getting that one right so I’ll go with Rodriguez to the pen. Unless, of course, Sumner got it wrong and it’s Heath Phillips who’s going to Montgomery.

Hit Bull, Lose Steak

Game 34: Durham Bulls 5, Toledo Mud Hens 2
Season: 20-14
Home Stand: 3-4
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

Wool E.’s going on the D.L. He’s day-to-day. We’ll see how long it takes him to get back.

— Bulls Manager Charlie Montoyo as reported in Indy Week

During the first game of the series the Mud Hens dissed Wool E. Bull by tossing cups of water at him as he came by their dugout. That continued into the second game. Wool E. escalated at the bottom of the 1st last night by dragging a rubber Mud Hen around on the end of a leash. The Mud Hens retaliated with water balloons as he came by their dugout, but not all of them broke. Wool E. picked a couple up and threw them back into the dugout as Mud Hens cowered in the back. But then Wool E. slipped on the grass and went down and — was actually hurt. It took a while to realize that and he had to be helped off the field. Looked like a twisted knee.

Fortunately, he was back walking and dancing around the stands later in the game. Unfortunately for the Mud Hens, they did not get the steak dinners promised after the bus got them to the DAP late on Monday night. The dinners were sent to the Bulls clubhouse instead. See Herald-Sun and Indy Week stories for more details.

Baseball?

Oh, yeah, the reason we were there at all was to watch a baseball game. In a switch from earlier games we got a very slick pitching performance from a starter. Richard De Los Santos pitched a very credible 5 ⅓ innings. Ekstrom, Bateman, and Abreu kept the door shut.

Angel Chavez bounced one off the top of the centerfield fence for a double in the 4th, then got it over at almost the exact same spot in the 6th. He had his best night in a long while with 2 RBI. Nice balanced attack overall with homers by Chavez and Shealy, doubles by the Johnsons and Chavez, and thirteen hits overall.

No more fresh info on Jeff Bennett’s release or Hank Blalock’s future. Nor have we seen any info regarding the Bulls starting pitching situation. We remain one short and then there’s Heath Phillips. We have not heard a thing about Jason Cromer (on the DL since the beginning of the season). Maybe he’ll show up to fill in one of those slots. Maybe the guys over at RaysProspects would like to speculate on who might get called up or swapped for Heath Phillips. Or maybe the Rays will troll around the Independent Leagues.

A Good Start

Game 1: Durham Bulls 5, Norfolk Tides 3
Season: 1-0
Wrap, Box

Update: I've gotten so used to none of the local media covering a Bulls road game that I didn't even bother to check the Herald-Sun. But here it is, and it's a good story. Lesson: check the Herald-Sun every day.

Take a look at that box score and reflect on that lineup. That’s as good a team as I’ve ever seen the Bulls put on the field. And we’ve got a ton of talent on the disabled list including outfielder Desmond Jennings, infielder J. J. Furmaniak and pitchers Cromer and Swindle. So this could be a really good season and we’re going to see some interesting baseball.

Good game last night and great to start the season with a win. Sounded like Hellickson did a fine job.

Really, really great to see Winston Abreu back on the mound for the Bulls.

I was surprised to see Blalock start at third base until I dug around and realized that he’d been a terrific third baseman for most of his major league career. So made sense.

As for the details of the game, kudos to Joe Dillon, who starts the year as strong as he finished last year.

Dale Thayer got a save the hard way, by loading up the bases, letting a run in, and only then closing it out.

I wasn’t able to listen to entire game and not too happy with 620 reception at my house. Over the internet the audio was OK, but erratic at first. Gameday was hard to find. For those interested, here’s one way:

Go to the International League Scoreboard page, find the Bulls game, click on the little icon that looks like a ball field.

If the Bulls homepage gets a scoreboard up (it didn’t last night), then you can click on gameday right there. Watching gameday and listening to audio feed is a pretty good way to experience a game.

The webcam at the DBAP has gone live and it is pretty cool. You can zoom in on your seat, clip images out, and other stuff. For me the main use will checking out the status of the field tarp on rainy days.

Opening Night & Starting Pitchers

Lots of good links at the Bulls website. Take a look. To my great surprise, an article in the News & Observer. Also, looks like long-time Herald-Sun sports writer Mike Potter will be working over at Indy Week. Suggest all the links be checked out.

In another item, looks like Matt Joyce will be back with the Durham Bulls for a while. No telling what will happen with him once his rehab is done.

So, while we wait for tonight’s game, let’s start going through the roster.

Starting with, what else, the starters. Opinions, additions, comments, etc. most welcome.

Jeremy Hellickson, RHP, 23
Basics, RaysProspects, stats, more stats
Jeremy’s coming off a terrific year. Great things are expected.

Carlos Hernandez, LHP, 30
Basics, stats, more stats
What more can you ask for than 112 innings and a 3.29 ERA from a 29 year old left hander coming off surgeries and injuries? Will this be the year he makes it back to the big time? I hope so, but only after winning a bunch of games for the Bulls.

Brian Baker, RHP, 27
Basics, stats, more stats
Coming to Durham off a decent year with the Biscuits, Baker has been pretty much off the radar. Looks like he was converted from a starter to a reliever while with Montgomery last year. At 27 it’s time for him to make his mark. Have to say that he looked pretty good last Saturday.

Heath Rollins, RHP, 25
Basics, RaysProspects, stats, more stats
Also a decent year with the Biscuits, and he lent a hand in our championship run last year with a relief appearance and two starts, one no-decisions and a win. He had 22 starts with the Biscuits and six relief appearances. So I don’t know which role he’ll be in this year. RaysProspects seems to think he will be a reliever.

Heath Phillips, LHP, 28
Basics, stats, more stats
I gotta be honest and say that I don’t remember much about Heath from his stint with the Bulls in 2008. I’ve got some stats that show that he started a couple of games, but mostly pitched in relief.


Jason Cromer, LHP, 29
Basics, stats, more stats
Since the President of the Jason Cromer Fan Club is a close associate of WDBB, we will be inviting him to make some comments once Jason comes off the DL. For some of his previous comments, do a search on the blog or click on Cromer on the cloud.

Rosters, Or Not

I was going to start this off with my best shot at who’s on the Durham Bulls this year. But then I realized that I could just go out to the DBAP tomorrow night and see. So I’m going to put off my own roster speculations for a while longer. Regardless of how it sorts out eventually, pitchers Jason Cromer and R. J. Swindle along with outfielder Desmond Jennings will likely not be with the team when they go to Norfolk this week. All are expected to join the team any day now.

As far as other takes on rosters go there’s Stacy Long’s here, and then if you drill down in the Rays website you can find this one. The end-of-2009 roster is still up on the Bulls website, so that’s not much help. The Rays 40-man doesn’t have 40 men on it. So that’s a puzzle.

The International League’s website has put up a pretty nifty preview (you’ll have to look for it. It comes as a pdf file). Here’s what they’ve got to say about the Bulls. (Note that Reid Brignac stayed with the Rays.)

Probable Starters: 1B – Chris Richard; 2B – Elliot Johnson; SS – Reid Brignac; 3B – Joe Dillon/Angel Chavez; C – John Jaso; LF – Fernando Perez; CF – Desmond Jennings; RF – Justin Ruggiano; DH – Dan Johnson.

Key Pitchers: Starters – RH Jeremy Hellickson, LH Carlos Hernandez, RH Jeff Bennett, LH Heath Phillips, LH Jason Cromer. Relievers – RH Winston Abreu, RH Joe Bateman, RH Dale Thayer.

Strengths of the Club: The Bulls will have a lot of speed at the top of the lineup, particularly if Fernando Perez, Desmond Jennings, and Justin Ruggiano are on the club together and in the first three spots in the batting order...... There should be positive team chemistry with so many veterans returning along with manager Charlie Montoyo and his coaching staff...... The Bulls will also have a very solid bullpen.
Weaknesses of the Club: There are some question marks with the starting rotation...... There are also health concerns in the Rays organization heading into the season. There have been at least nine key injuries during spring training.
Top Prospects: OF Desmond Jennings was named the Rays Minor League Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player of the Double-A Southern League in 2009. Heading into this season, he was dubbed Tampa Bay’s top prospect and the No. 6 prospect in baseball by Baseball America...... The same publication rates RHP Jeremy Hellickson as the organization’s top pitching prospect and No. 18 prospect overall in the game...... SS Reid Brignac, named the Rays’ No. 5 prospect and best defensive infielder by Baseball America), returns to the International League where he was an All-Star in 2009.

Other Organizational Prospects: Other prospects who could reach Triple-A this year in the Tampa Bay organization include several talented players. LHP Jake McGee (Baseball America’s No. 8 Rays prospect) owns a 3.53 ERA through his first 109 starts in the Minor Leagues...... LHP Alex Torres (No. 9) won 13 games last season combined between Class-A and Double-A...... 1B Matt Sweeney is ranked as the system’s best power hitter by Baseball America. Before suffering an injury in 2008, Sweeney tore up the Class-A Midwest League by hitting 18 homers with 72 RBI in 2007.

Veterans to Watch: It will be interesting to see how OF Fernando Perez responds after an injury-plagued 2009 campaign...... INF Elliot Johnson, likewise, endured an injury-hampered 2009 season. Will he be able to consistently hit for average?
Items of Interest: Durham has been the International League’s winningest team since getting the expansion franchise in 1998...... The Bulls are the defending Triple-A Baseball National Champions, and have played in the Governors’ Cup Finals each of the three years since Charlie Montoyo became manager...... The club is in the first year of a three-year contract sharing the park with Duke University’s improving baseball team, and the park will host a USA vs. Korea collegiate series in July......The Bulls will play their first game at historic Durham Athletic Park on May 10 against the Toledo Mud Hens.

Should have put this link up yesterday. Bunch of photos taken by N&O photographer Robert Willett

How They’re Doing — 5

The Rays and Bulls rosters are going to have to be set in the next couple of days, so this is probably the last of these.

Player / Games / PA / wOBA

Rodriguez, S / 21 / 62 / .555
Joyce, M / 8 / 25 / .450
Ashley, N / 7 / 15 / .573
Brignac, R / 23 / 51 / .344
Johnson, E / 24 / 56 / .274
Dillon, J / 21 / 27 / .199
Colina, A / 14 / 18 / .119

Now, Ashley and Colina are surely still there just to spread out the catching duties until the Rays’ Navarro is up to full speed. But Nevin Ashley’s had a couple of good days recently. Matt Joyce strained an elbow and isn’t quite at full strength. Joe Dillon had an inning or so as catcher on Sunday.

Other interesting stuff:

Elliot Johnson had a nice piece about him in the St. Pete Times last Friday. The Tampa Tribune has a similar article today.

Rays Renegade did a thoughtful item on Justin Ruggiano a few days back.

Jon Weber is having a spectacular spring with the Yankees and getting some blogger and press attention: here, here, here, here, and here. On the other hand, he still isn’t on the Yankees’ 40-man, so looks like we’ll see him here in Durham with him playing outfield for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on May 6th. His numbers are 14/25/.558.

Update: Jon's been sent down to SWB.

Stacy Long, the Montgomery Advertiser’s sports writer and expert on all things Rays Minor League, is down to take a look at Spring Training. His semi-interview with soon-to-be Durham Bull Desmond Jennings is here and a discussion with probably Bulls’ reliever Heath Rollins is here. Noted at the end of the Rollins story is this information on WDBB favorite Jason Cromer:

Left-hander Jason Cromer, expected to go to Durham, will miss a month with a minor elbow injury he suffered this winter while playing in Venezuela.

Here’s hoping it’s less than a month and we see him soon in Durham.

The Best Team in AAA — Your Durham Bulls

Durham Bulls 5, Memphis Redbirds 4

Wrap, Box

I figure that almost anyone who reads this blog watched the game, so don’t expect anything new here. Still, a lot of things happened that deserve more than the cursory comment I was able to provide last night. And there are a few odds and ends certainly worth mentioning.

Jeremy Hellickson pitched a terrific five innings. He left the game with a decent 4-0 lead and I thought he was in line for the win. He was also, in spite of what I said last night, deserving of the MVP award.

Jason Cromer had a bad night. Joe Bateman wasn’t much better in his 1 ⅓ innings. If not for three spectacular catches of pitches behind the batters’ backs, it would have been worse. He left the bases loaded for Calvin Medlock and we were lucky to get away with a tie game. Calvin did fine through the 8th. Julio DePaula struck out the side in the 9th, but the 10th got really scary. Bases were loaded with one out when he got a dribbler right back to the mound that allowed him to start a 1-2-3 double play. Mitch Talbot slammed the door in the 11th, setting up the win.

Here’s a tidbit: Mitch Talbot got the first (April 9th) and last (September 22nd) wins of the season. He and I may have been the only guys who knew that before it went up here.

Offensively, the guy who stands out is the veteran Ray Olmedo. Two doubles his first two times at bat (one for a RBI). Two runs scored, the second being the hallmark of a veteran ballplayer and baserunner. Olmedo had doubled in Elliott Johnson and was on second base. Jennings beat out a bunt that moved Ray to third. The Memphis pitcher, who had made the play at first, had his back to the field and Ray (with Montoyo’s encouragement) took off for home.

In the end, Memphis’ manager allowed chaos to reign (or created it?). Michel Hernandez doubled, was pinch run for by Rashad Eldridge, who was then wild pitched to third. Ray Olmedo was intentionally walked, a new pitcher came in, and an outfielder was brought in to the infield to set up a five-man defense because there were no outs and not even a double play would save the game. But the pitcher hadn’t pitched in something like two weeks. The catcher had just come into the game. A wild pitch brought Eldridge home for the win.

Counting last night, the Bulls won five games in a row in the playoffs (and 7 for 9 overall). That’s pretty spectacular.

Six different pitchers won playoff games. Talbot, Hellickson, Cromer, Phillips, and Medlock each won a game. The winner of two games (are you ready for this?) was Joe Bateman.

Don’t know what you may have thought of it, but I thought the ESPN2 coverage of the game was pretty awful. Camera angles were poor; commentary, with a couple of exceptions, just didn’t say much. And Wool E. Bull got no camera time at all!

On the other hand, Neal Solondz and his counterpart from Memphis were doing the broadcast for 99.9 and that was terrific. Once I discovered them about the 5th inning I turned down the TV volume and had a decent night of it.

Other commentary on the game:

Indy Week was at Tyler’s Taproom. MiLB had this story. Marc Lancaster of The Tampa Tribune had this, with some Joe Maddon comments. And the AP, as reported by WRAL had a good story with some good quotes from Charlie Montoyo.

I’ll try to do a retrospective on the season soon. It was a great one. And it has been an enjoyable experience interacting with all the Bulls fans out there. Thanks for looking in, commenting, and keeping me honest (or at least trying to).

Governors’ Cup Comes To Durham

Durham Bulls 3, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 2

Wrap, Box

What a night! And only fitting that pitchers who began their seasons with Durham should finish them by beginning and ending the last game of the season with the International League's Governors’ Cup in hand. Jason Cromer started the season as the fifth starter, went off to Montgomery for a while and came back. He got 20 starts in the regular season and two in the post-season. Julio DePaula was on the mound in the very first game of the season and had 49 appearances before its end. In the post season he had six (out of eight games) including last night’s save.

It wasn’t easy. In fact, our pitchers struggled all night long. Very few hits by the Yankees, but we sure walked a bunch (11) and hit one. Jason really wasn’t all that sharp. And yet he kept getting out of trouble. In the 2nd, for example, Juan Miranda (called up to the NY Yankees after the game, by the way) got a lead-off triple. A sac fly brought him home. Cromer hit a guy, walked a guy, but got out of the inning with a K. Same thing in the 3rd — two walks, single (run scored), but closed out the inning with two men on base. In total, during Cromer’s innings the Yankees left seven runners on base. In the 7th Joe Nelson walked a guy with two outs, but got out of it. In the 8th inning he had two outs and walked the bases full before getting a fly out to right. In the 9th Rollins let a guy get all the way around to third base before it was closed out. In the 10th Medlock walked one, but a double play ended the inning. In the 11th Medlock gave up a double to open the inning and the runner to third before he got two K’s to end it. And in the 12th Abreu walked his only batter (leaving the game with a burst blister on his hand), DePaula walked another, and men were on second and third, two out, before he got the comebacker that he ran to first for the last out.

So we kept them to two runs. For our own part, things were really, really quiet until the 8th and we got past starter Ivan Nova. Ruggiano drew a walk, Johnson singled him to second, and a double steal put them both in scoring position. It was the first time all night we’d even had runners in scoring position. Desmond Jennings singled both of them home and the game was tied. Sean Rodriguez got tossed in the 7th for aguing about whether a ball was foul or not and Chris Nowak came in for his only appearance of the series. He had a couple of chances to get famous, but didn’t make it, grounding into a double play in the 9th, and a base-loaded ground out in the 11th.

In the 12th, however, Elliott Johnson singled to right and John Jaso doubled him home. That was enough for the Bulls to bring home the trophy.

I’ll do a bit more later, but for now I just want to thank the team and the coaches for a great, great year. Topped off by a terrific post-season.

Great job! Have fun in Oklahoma City!

Update: Sean Rodriguez got tossed in the 7th, not the 9th as I had it in post.

That’s Better

Game 139: Bulls 9, Knights 0
Season: 79-60
Games Left in Season: 5; Home Games: 3
Wrap, Box, Indy Week

For all my complaining about the Rays, it pales in comparison to what the White Sox have done to Charlotte over the last couple of days. I guess we should be thankful (but I won’t be).

Charlie Montoyo had some interesting things to say in his interview with Neal Solondz. He thinks the season should end on September 1.

Nevertheless, I don’t want to take anything away from my favorite left-handed Bulls pitcher (What’s that our only left-handed pitcher? OK, in that case simply my favorite Bulls pitcher), Jason Cromer. Terrific night for Jason. Six innings, 5 hits (all singles), two walks, two strikeouts, no runs. His ERA went down to 2.33. Followed in the 7th and 8th by Julio DePaula, who didn’t let any runs in, and in the 9th by Winston Abreu, who struck out the side.

The new guy, Desmond Jennings, and the veteran, Chris Richard led the offense. Jennings showed why he was named MVP of the Southern League almost a month after he was gone: Two walks, one hit by pitch, a triple, a home run, two stolen bases, three runs scored, and 2 RBIs. Chris Richard went 4-5, with a homer and three singles, and 4 RBIs.

Norfolk did us a favor by beating the Braves 8-1, so we’ve back up into sole possession of first place in the South Division. I’ve also noted DRR’s comments regarding how there’s an advantage to being the wild-card team as opposed to the division champs, and I agree. On the other hand, I’d really like a t-shirt that would tout three years in a row (plus Gov’s cup, of course).

World Cup

Mike Potter covered Team USA’s media day. Thanks, Mike. The best link I’ve found so far regarding the world cup is here. I still haven’t found any sportswriter-type stories on the Cup. If anyone else does, let me know.

Richard Drives Bulls Into Tie For First

Game 133: Bulls 3, Tides 1
Season: 75-58
Games Left in Season: 11; Home Games: 7
Wrap, Box

The game went on and on and on with a thirty-minute rain delay in the middle of it. Could have been worse. If the game had been called when the rains came, and it could have been, we would have lost 0-1.

One way to put it the rest of the game in perspective: They bet Joey Gathright, we saw that bet with Fernando Perez and raised them Justin Ruggiano and Chris Richard.

In the bottom of the 8th, Joe Nelson came on in relief of Jason Cromer. He promptly walked Joey Gathright. Not a good way to start the inning. A sacrifice bunt sent Gathright to second base. Intentional walk to Norfolk’s Jeff Fiorentino. Then a double steal, so men on second and third, one out. But Brandon Snyder hit the ball to Joe Dillon at third, and Dillon threw to Riggans at home who put the tag on Gathright (the second time Gathright had been put out heading for home in the game). The next batter popped out to Chris Richard.

In the ninth, with one out, Fernando Perez pinch ran for Jon Weber. Justin Ruggiano got a hit, but Perez didn’t get past second. With Chris Richard at the plate, Perez and Ruggiano pulled off a double steal. Richard had a masterful at-bat, working his way back from 0-2 to 2-2 fouling off 3 more pitches along the way. Then he cracked one over the right field wall, scoring Perez and Ruggiano. So the double steal didn’t really matter except that it may have rattled Norfolk pitcher Bob McCrory. At least he seemed rattled since he brushed back Shawn Riggans after the Richard homer.

Who you gonna call for the bottom of the 9th? Winston Abreu, of course. He started the 9th with three K’s. Unfortunately, the ball got away from Riggans on the third strike of the third K and the runner made it to first. No matter. The next batter flied out to right.

Four days ago we were 13 games above .500 and Gwinnett was 21 above .500. Since that time Gwinnett has lost 4 games (Thank You Charlotte!) and the Bulls have won 4 games. We’re 17 games above .500 for the first time this year and tied for first.

About Jon Weber and Jason Childers:

They will be with the Bulls until August 31st. That means we’ll get to see them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Team USA trains over in Cary and they start training there the 2nd of September. Not much of a drive from the DBAP. As soon as I’m able to learn more about how that works, I’ll put something up here. Don’t know if practice is open to the public, but I think they've got a tune-up game early on. I’ve never seen the facility, but hope to take a look soon.