Looking at 2010 — 3

This should just about wrap of this year's position players. We'll put off to another post any speculation regarding how many, if any, we think might be coming back.

Alvin Colina (28). 2010 was his fourth year as a AAA catcher. Last year he was with Gwinnett.

• Played in 51 (201 plate appearances) games with the Bulls before blowing out a knee on July 22nd. 7 HR, 28 RBI, .231/.279/.390, wOBA .274, bRAA -7.3. Postions played: C-37, DH-13.
• As with Jose Lobaton, we find it hard to evaluate a catcher from the stands. Nevertheless, we find a lot to like about Mr. Colina. He appears to handle pitchers well and he appears to handle younger catchers well. We haven’t had an update on his condition since July, but we would not mind seeing him back with the Bulls next year.
  
• Stats

Ryan Shealy (30) played 48 games at first base and as a DH for the Bulls before opting out in June. Decent numbers, wOBA .373, bRAA 6.5. He helped the Bulls get off to a good start. He went to the Pawtucket Red Sox, got in a few games with Boston, went back to Pawtucket, and was released in early August. Stats.

Dioner Navarro (26) showed up in Durham in late June and left the beginning of September. Apparently struggling as the Tampa Bay Rays starting catcher, he came to the Bulls for the opportunity to sort things out. And pretty much did.

• Played in 43 games (169 plate appearances) during his stay. 2 HR, 21 RBI, .284/.387/.390, wOBA .369, bRAA 4.6. Positions played: C-35, DH-7. We don’t expect to see Dioner back any time soon. Good catcher. Certainly an asset to the Bulls while he was with us. The best numbers of any of the Bulls’ catchers.
  
• He is likely to be remembered for his first game as a Bull when he took a 102 mph fastball from the then Louisville Bat (now Cincinnati Red) reliever Aroldis Chapman.
  
• Stats

Omar Luna (23) joined the Bulls (from Montgomery) in mid-June and stayed until the end of the year

• 40 games (149 plate appearances). 1 HR, 9 RBI, .291/.306/.369, wOBA .315, bRAA -2.7. Positions played: SS-26, 2B-12, P-1.
• Luna played at three levels this year, the Stone Crabs, Biscuits, and Bulls. As much as he was around this year, he didn’t make much of an impression until the end of the season. Then he was terrific. He’s young and looks pretty good on the field. Not much of a bat, however. Would imagine he’s got a good shot to start either in Montgomery or with the Bulls next year.
  
• Stats

Rashad Eldridge (28). As in 2009, outfielder Rashad Eldridge spent time with the Bulls and Biscuits.

• 34 games (124 plate appearances). 1 HR, 3 RBI, 20 runs scored. .215/.309/.308, wOBA .297, bRAA -4.2. Positions played: RF-17, CF-2, LF-17, DH-1.
• Montgomery’s center fielder has, I think, run out of time. He is a very good outfielder and has decent speed. He seems to be pretty much stuck at the AA level, with an occasional callup.
  
• Stats

Leslie Anderson (28) joined the Bulls in August after stints with the Stone Crabs and the Montgomery Biscuits.

• 30 games (129 plate appearances). 2 HR, 12 RBI, .328/.359/.418, w0BA .338, bRAA 0.2. Positions played: LF-16, 1B-9, RF-1, DH-4.
• Cuban defector Leslie Anderson was being touted as a candidate for the Rays Carlos Pena’s job when he was signed. We don’t think so. He does bat for average, and, so far, doing pretty well. The question would be, at his age, is he on his way up or down?
  
• Stats

Hank Blalock (29) played 26 games, went up to the Rays, and went on his way.

Matt Joyce (25) played 25 games with the Bulls and it now looks like he is finally sticking with the Rays. About time, we’d say.

Rocco Baldelli (28) was in 11 games, Rays catcher Kelly Shoppach (30) visited for 4 games while rehabbing, as did shortstop Jason Bartlett (30) for 1 game. Another outlier was pitcher Bobby Livingston who DH’d twice.

Catcher John Jaso (26) started the year with the Bulls, but went up to the Rays in April and stuck there. Good for him.

That brings us to four interesting guys from whom we are going to have to pick this year’s Moonlight Graham Award.

• Catcher Nevin Ashley (25) came up from Montgomery for 7 games in the regular season and 5 more in the postseason. There is a lot of potential in this guy even if his hitting was not stellar while with the Bulls. Stats.
• Catcher Craig Albernaz (27) only had one regular season game, but 4 in the postseason. We have always like Albernaz. Maybe he’ll spend a year with us next season. Stats.
• Catcher Kyle Holloway (22) in his first professional season had 4 games with the Bulls at the end of the year. Not much of a chance of seeing him again for a year or two. Stats.
• Outfielder Emeel Salem (25) had three games with the Bulls when they were playing Gwinnett. We speculated at the time that his visit might have had as much to do with proximity to Montgomery as the fitness of the Bulls outfield crew. Stats.

Roster Moves: Ekstrom & Holloway & Baker

Mike Ekstrom is off to join the Rays. Guessing he went to join them in Boston.

Kyle Holloway is reported to be going to Princeton. Not sure if it's a paper move or not. In any case, thank you Kyle, you came in and helped the Bulls through a couple of tough moments and played some terrific baseball. Here's hoping you're back someday (and sooner than later).

Brian Baker has been put on the disabled list. I'm guessing that is to open up a roster spot.

Season Ends Well

Game 143: Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays) 6; Norfolk Tides (Baltimore Orioles) 5 (12 Innings)
Season: 88-55
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Triangle Offense

Another great day for baseball at the DBAP and appropriately a nail-biter to end the season. The Bulls attendance pushed over 500,000 on the year which surely makes the front office happy (locally, both teams had good years, and a good Labor Day turnout).

In the stands we were expecting a swift-moving, swing-away sort of game. That’s pretty much what it was — only two walks were awarded on the day. It just went on much longer than we expected.

We were treated to a couple of very nice plays, especially in the rough 4th inning. Bases were loaded on Bulls pitcher Bobby Livingston when he awkwardly flipped a comebacker to catcher Kyle Holloway at home plate. Holloway made the play, saving a run. The bases were still loaded when the next batter singled home a run, but a perfect throw from Leslie Anderson in left to home caught the next runner and ended the inning.

As on the day prior, Omar Luna was a vacuum cleaner, this time at second base. Best of all, Mr. Luna got his first home run of the year (he only has four in his three-year professional career). A fitting exclamation point to a very fine year by this young ball player.

And then there was Paul Phillips. Most of the crowd would not have known that he was just arriving from Jacksonville, Florida where the Biscuits finished their season. And surely Phillips himself would not have expected to go out and spend six innings on the mound. But that’s what happened. His first inning, the 7th, was a bit (well, to be honest, a lot) shaky. And at the top of the 8th Tide (and former Bull) Ryan Hughes tied the game with a home run. After that Phillips did not let another man on base until the top of the 12th, and that guy got stranded. Very impressive performance.

Out in the West Division, Louisville won their last game and Columbus lost theirs, putting the Bats into the championship slot. That means that the Bulls will be playing the Bats in the first round of the playoffs in what has become a routine matchup of the best managers in Triple A baseball.

This should be an interesting series. The Bulls are actually in pretty good shape. We don’t know all that much about the reinforcements from Montgomery, but neither will the Bats. We’ve got some solid veterans — Chris Richard, Elliot Johnson, Justin Ruggiano, Joe Dillon, Angel Chavez, Fernando Perez. Just looking at that list gives me great confidence.

Perfect Night For Baseball; Too Bad We ...

Game 141: Durham Bulls 6; Norfolk Tides 7 (10 innings)
Season: 86-55; Home Games Remaining: 2
Wrap, Box

You know things are going to be a bit odd when you come through the gate, take a look at the lineup cards, and see Bobby Livingston batting DH. Livingston? A pitcher? How come?

Probably a couple of reasons. The Bulls are short of position players (usually have 12, now have 11 on the list). Then Angel Chavez and Justin Ruggiano got banged up on Friday night. That meant the Bulls were down to a choice between catcher Kyle Holloway or a pitcher. Which leaves me with this image in my head (probably not fair, but it’s there) of Bobby Livingston jumping up and down on the bench, waving his hand and saying, “Send me in coach! Send me in!” I’m guessing he likes to hit and he’s spent some time with National League teams so he isn’t a complete stranger to the craft.

But that was before the game started. The oddness continued into the first inning when with just one out the Bulls were down 4-0, Ramon Ortiz had left the game, and Dale Thayer was taking warmup pitches. (Note: no word on Ortiz’ problem/condition).

After that it was a glass half-full/half-empty kind of game. I’ll take a mostly half-full look.

The Bulls went through five relief pitchers and they mostly did just fine. Notable was R. J. Swindle’s two innings. He looked a lot like the guy we were seeing until recently. Here’s hoping he keeps it up. Dale Thayer didn’t look all that good, but not bad either. Winston Abreu can’t go two innings. Charlie knows it. Winston knows it. But what else was he going to do for the 10th, put Angel Chavez in?

Well, that apparently was what he was going to do before the Bulls got within a run in the bottom of the 8th. Chavez was warming up to come in for the 9th, but then sat down and Winston Abreu started warming up.

New guy Kyle Holloway had his moment when he came in for Bobby Livingston (0 for 3, by the way), hit a double, then score the tying run in the 9th.

On the half-empty side of things, Leslie Anderson doesn’t seem comfortable at the plate or in the field. Did he really think he’d be playing for the Rays in September? Is that what’s going on? Hard to tell.

Nevin Ashley gets to be the goat since he was the catcher of record for the wild pitch that allowed the winning run, and got the last out with a runner in scoring position in the 10th.

Nevertheless, the Bulls did well to just get back into the game after that awful first inning.

Now, what are the Rays going to do about our lineup? Even if Ortiz and Shouse are moved off the current roster, there’s still only room for one pitcher, and that will need to be a starter.
The Biscuits’ loss last night put them out of the Southern League playoffs, but not sure who down there will be a help. But if there’s a choice, my vote is for defensive skills (let’s not give away a playoff game) among the position players and craftiness among the pitchers.

If you haven’t noticed, broadcasts of the games seem to have been switched to 99.9 FM for the last couple of days. And today’s game is at 5:00.

A final note about last night’s game:

Wasn’t that a wonderful night for baseball? Great crowd. Perfect weather.

Their New Guy, Our New Guy

Game 139: Durham Bulls 6; Gwinnett Braves 7
Season: 86-53; Home Games Remaining: 4
Wrap, Box, Triangle Offense

I know that the differences between Bulls new guy, catcher Kyle Holloway and Braves new guy, third baseman Dan Nelson are probably greater than their similarities. But otherwise I’d have to spend time on how three members of the Bulls relief corps (R. J. Swindle, Dale Thayer, and Brian Shoushe) have put together six (two each) crummy appearances over the last couple of games. So let’s talk about the new guys.

Kyle Holloway is the ninth (!) catcher to put on the gear for the Durham Bulls this year. Although it is true that several of those put in very brief appearances (Albernaz - 1, Dillon - 1, Jaso - 3, Shoppach -2), the fact is that the Bulls have had problems at the position in 2010. Four or five is the norm. In addition, Mr. Holloway is ridiculously new to the game. His career began on June 20th. He had 73 plate appearances in professional baseball before last night, all in A or Rookie League. He teams up with Nevin Ashley who is the senior member of the Bulls catching corps with three games in AAA baseball.

So, how’d he do? Pretty good. At first it looked as if pitches were being called from the dugout. I’m not sure whether or not that continued since I got caught up in the game, but that makes sense to me. Two bases were stolen, but by the best base stealer in the International League, Gwinnett’s Matt Young. And Holloway threw Young out on his third try. At the plate he got a key double and scored a run in the Bulls four-run 5th inning. He worked five pitchers he’d never seen before, including catching 41 year old Shouse. Holloway is 22. Sort of like playing catch with your dad. Field of Dreams role reversal?

Darn good Triple A debut. More about Mr. Holloway at the Triangle Offense link at top (scroll to the end).

Gwinnett’s third baseman Dan Nelson was also having his Triple A debut, but his path was a bit different. He is 26 years old and has been banging around A ball since 2004, making it to AA just this year. So what did he do last night? In his second AAA at bat he hit a key three-run homer. He also made a couple of critical and very pretty plays at third base. He sort of won the game for the Braves.

As worried as I am about the Bulls catching situation, I looking forward to watching Ashley and Holloway over the next couple of weeks (as if I had a choice) and, as a fan of seeing guys get their chance, here’s hoping that Mr. Nelson keeps it up (just not in such a timely manner if he doesn’t mind).

Webworld

• The issue of who the Bulls will play next Wednesday is not yet settled, but I’m happy to pass on the word that if it’s the Louisville Bats, Aroldis Chapman will probably not be in the bullpen. Bulls fans will remember Mr. Chapman as the guy who plonked Dioner Navarro with a 102 mph fastball and hit Dan Johnson with one that came in at only 99 mph. Chapman is up with Cincinnati and seems to have gotten a little better handle on his pitches — two appearances, two innings, six batters, three K’s, not bad.
• RaysIndex has a link to a Desmond Jennings interview. Happy looking/sounding young man. Brings up the point that, due to the lack of local media coverage, we really don’t get to see the Bulls up close very often.
• When the players move, so do their wives/girlfriends.
• Her Rays visualizes the Rays “new toys”.

Thanks, Joe

Game 138: Durham Bulls 4; Charlotte Knights 3
Season: 86-52; Home Games Remaining: 5
Wrap, Box, Triangle Offense

Here’s the short version of last night’s game:

Bulls starting pitcher new guy Bobby Livingston and Knights starting pitcher Jeff Marquez did fine. Bulls reliever Dale Thayer and Knights reliever Ryan Braun stunk up the yard, but Bulls were ahead by one run when Joe Bateman came on in the 9th.

A slightly longer version:

Livingston left the game in the 8th with the Bulls down 1-0, one out, and a man on third. Thayer came in. Single, single, hit by pitch, single and two runs were in and it would have been worse if not for a clever play by Angel Chavez.

In the bottom of the 8th Elliot Johnson (who else?) doubled with two out, got to third on a wild pitch, and Justin Ruggiano walked. In came Braun for the Knights. Chris Richard singled, Johnson scored, Ruggiano to second base. Joe Dillon singled, Ruggiano scored, Richard to third base. J. J. Furmaniak came in to run for Joe Dillon. He stole second base. Leslie Anderson singled. Richard scored (game tied). Furmaniak to third base. Angel Chavez doubled. Furmaniak scored the go ahead run.

Joe Bateman came in and it was three up-three down for his fourth save.

How cool is that?

I did make it to the game last night — yahoo. But left at the top of the 7th. Nevertheless, listened on the way home and the 7th and 8th innings went on so long I was able to see the end of the 8th on TV. That means I was able to note the key oddity of the game — Angel Chavez playing first base. That means that Chavez has now played every position in the infield except catcher, but including pitcher and designated hitter. Why was he playing first? Well, J. J. Furmaniak had come in to run for Joe Dillon and he stayed in to play third base and Chavez was moved to first. So, maybe if you see Angel putting on catcher’s gear he’s going for his last unplayed position.

Speaking of catchers, you may have seen the name Hollaway on the back of a Bull's jersey last night. He’s a catcher coming up from Single A ball in the Rays system. This appears to be his first year in professional baseball. A bit more info from Adam Sobsey at the Triangle Offense link.

Now, just for a moment, let us explain the headline.

Joe Bateman made his 52nd appearance last night. That means that in more than a third of the Bulls games this year Mr. Bateman has gone to the mound. How has he done? How about an ERA of 1.71? On more innings, 73, than any other Bulls reliever. A FIP of 3.12? Six wins and no losses. Four saves (all in recent weeks when he seems to have gotten more opportunities). The last time he gave up a run was nine appearances ago (August 10th). Plus he’s fun to watch. There’s no doubt that both Joe Bateman and Winston Abreu could help the Rays, but neither has been given a shot this year (so far). Here’s hoping that they do — but wait until after the playoffs, please.

Speaking of the Rays: Desmond Jennings started in right field down in St. Pete last night, batting second in the lineup. He was 0 for 3 and got pulled in the 8th for Zobrist who pinch-hit (drew a walk, scored the winning run, and stayed in the game in right). He was interviewed prior to the game by Bulls broadcaster Neal Solondz, who has been in Tampa doing pre and post game stuff for the Rays. Neal due back tonight — another yahoo!

Picture of the day: Just a look at the extraordinary run production of the Durham Bulls this year — 729 runs in 138 games! That is an average of more than five runs per game. And 70 more runs than the Rays have scored, but who's counting? And the season isn't over yet.