The Durham Bulls in 2011 — The Pitchers: Part II

Matt Moore (22), LHP, 9 games, 9 starts, 52⅔ innings, 4-0, ERA-1.37, 5 pro seasons, 1st season in AAA.

• I was surprised to see how many innings Matt Moore was able to pitch since his first game with the Bulls on July 22nd. Added to his 18 games and 122 innings he had with the Montgomery Biscuits, his year was busy even before going up to finish it out with the Rays. Very, very impressive young pitcher. If we're lucky, we will be watching him a lot as a Bull in 2012.
• Stats

Lance Cormier (31), RHP, 20 games, 4 starts, 47⅓ innings, 4-3, ERA-5.51. 8 pro seasons, 7 in AAA, 1st w/Bulls, most of 2008-2010 in majors (ML stats).

• Released by the LA Dodgers, Cormier was signed by the Rays to a minor league contract in early June and spent the rest of the season with the Bulls. Nothing about his stats as a Bull is particularly impressive although he did take several for the team in spot starts as the season went along. At a guess, the Rays were buying insurance for their relief cadre and stashing him in Durham. Not likely to return next year.
• Stats

Jay Buente (27), RHP, 24 games, 4 starts, 42⅔ innings, 1-3, 1 save, ERA-5.70, 6 pro seasons, 3 in AAA, 1/Bulls.

• The Rays outsmarted themselves when they claimed Mr. Buente off waivers as the Marlins were trying to send him back to their AAA team in New Orleans this May. As a Bull he had a rough beginning losing three out of four starts. In relief from early July to the end of the season he did OK, but not good enough to avoid being released at the end of the season to make room on the 40-man of the Rays.
• Stats

Cory Wade (28), RHP, 22 games, all in relief, 36⅔ innings, 3-1, ERA-1.17, 8 pro seasons, 3 in AAA, 1 w/Bulls.

• Cory Wade did a brilliant job for the Bulls in the first two months of the season. As with others on the Bulls this year, he had an opt-out contract and he pitched his last game in early June. Unfortunately for the Rays, Mr. Wade is now pitching in relief for the New York Yankees where he has an impressive 6-1 record and 1.98 ERA (ML Stats).
• Stats

R.J. Swindle (28), LHP, 39 games, all in relief, 34⅔ innings, 2-0, 1 save, ERA-4.15, 8 pro seasons, 5 in AAA, 2 w/Bulls.

• Yet another Bull with an opt-out contract. In Swindle's case the Rays were obviously taking a look at him as a left-handed relief specialist. Eighteen of his appearances were for less than an inning, often for just one out. R.J. is famous for his unique slow curve and in 2010 he was great fun to watch. But the slow curve wasn't working this year and he really wasn't helping the Bulls. After his opt-out, no report of him catching on with another team.
• Stats

Jake McGee (25), LHP, 24 games, relief, 33⅓ innings, 4-2, 9 saves, ERA-2.70, 8 pro seasons, parts of 2 in AAA, all w/Bulls.

• Jake McGee was with the Bulls at the very end of 2010 and up until essentially the All-Star break in 2011. Then he was off to the Rays where he's doing OK, but not as well as I would have expected (ML Stats). His superb work in the bullpen was very helpful in keeping the Bulls in the South Division race for the first half of the season.
• Stats

Brandon Gomes (27), RHP, 20 games, relief, 25⅓ innings, 0-1, 7 saves, ERA-1.07, 5 pro seasons, 1 AAA w/Bulls.

• Bradon Gomes' Triple-A career was very short. He left the Bulls just before the 4th of July with his stellar 1.07 ERA and 7 saves. He appears to be doing just fine with the Rays (ML stats). We probably won't see him back. With McGee, he kept the Bulls in the race in May and June.
• Stats

Joe Bateman (31), RHP, 15 games, relief, 21 innings, 1-3, ERA-4.71, 9 pro seasons, 3 in AAA, 2 w/Bulls.

• We really like sidewinding Joe Bateman. We liked him in 2009. We liked him in 2010. And we could not have been happier to see the Rays sign him out of the Oakland system in late July. That said, he wasn't quite the same Joe we knew from the last two years. Used mainly in short relief, he wasn't as sharp, especially against righties. Charlie Montoyo apparently likes him. So do we. And he was better than a couple others the Bulls had this year. He may not make it back in 2012.
• Stats

Jeremy Hall (28), RHP, 5 games, 4 starts, 17 innings, 0-2, ERA-8.47, 5 pro seasons, 1 AAA, w/Bulls.

• Jeremy Hall started the year with the Montgomery Biscuits and came up to Durham at the end of April when Dirk Hayhurst went on the disabled list. He wasn't very successful and he decided to retire.
• Stats

Adam Russell (28), RHP, 15 games, relief, 17 innings, 0-1, 1 save, ERA-4.24, 8 seasons, 4 in AAA, 1 w/Bulls.

• Adam Russell started the season with the Rays (36 games) and did not come to the Bulls until the end of July. His numbers with the Bulls are skewed by a truly awful ⅔ of a inning when he let 4 runs score. With this small sample we really don't know much about him as a AAA ballplayer. I don't think I understand enough about his status to speculate on his future with the Bulls. He looks better that a couple of the guys we saw this year, though.
• Stats

Rehabbers

Jeff Neimann and J.P. Howell of the Tampa Bay Rays put in some time with the Bulls on rehab assignments this year. Neimann started 2 games and put in 9⅓ innings, allowed 4 earned runs, and put up a win and a loss. Nice to see Jeff again. J.P. Howell coming off a long layoff appeared in 4 games for 3⅔ innings. He didn't allow any earned runs.

Short Visits

Chris Archer (22), RHP, 2 games, 17 innings, 1-0, ERA-0.69. Chris put in an impressive two game (plus one in playoffs) appearance with the Bulls at the end of the season. We hope for him to be back for 2012. Stats.

Paul Phillips (27), RHP, 6 games, 11⅓ innings, 1-1, ERA-12.71. Paul came up from Montgomery to lend a hand when Richard De Los Santos went on the DL at the very beginning of the season. Spent the rest of the year in Montgomery. Stats.

Jim Paduch (28), RHP, 1 game, 7 innings, 1-0, ERA-3.86. Jim Paduch was signed out of the independent leagues to Montgomery in June, had a one-game call-up to the Bulls when they were on the road, then went back to Montgomery. Part of the July turmoil. Would like to see him pitch some day. Stats.

Richard De Los Santos (27), RHP, 2 games started, 6 innings, 0-1, ERA-6.00. De Los Santos was a stalwart of the 2010 Bulls. But this year he had four not very good innings in his first game, 2 innings in his second start, and was on the disabled list for the rest of the year. We like him, but have no idea when or if he will return. Stats.

Cesar Ramos (28), LHP, 4 games, relief, 4 innings, 2-0, ERA-4.50. Ramos came down from the Rays in late July (with Adam Russell), appeared in 4 games, and went back to St. Petersburg the first week of August. Was nice to have a lefty in the bullpen for a while. A left-handed specialist for the Rays (57 appearances, 41 innings pitched). Stats

Marquis Fleming (24), RHP, 2 games, relief, 2⅓ innings, 0-0, ERA-0.00. Marquis Fleming joined the Bulls from Montgomery for a couple of games while they were on the road in late July. Then he went back to Montgomery where he had a decent year (41 games, 80 innings). Stats.

Clouds & Rain?

NOAA radar, September 5, 2011

Game 140, Saturday, September 3, Harbor Park, Norfolk, VA
Norfolk Tides 7, Durham Bulls 6 (10 innings)
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Game 141, Sunday, September 4
Durham Bulls 3, Norfolk Tides 2
Season: 80-61; Games Remaining: 1
Wrap, Box

We are going to be looking at radar images of Tropical Storm Lee for a couple of days as we worry about Wednesday's game. At first I was thinking that the Bulls and Clippers should just swap locations for the start, but maybe, just maybe, this is going to pass us by and the DBAP will be ready for the start of the playoffs.

In the meantime, the Bulls have been going back and forth with the Tides this weekend and will wrap the season up with a game at noon today.

The first 8½ innings on Saturday were vintage Bulls baseball. Decent start by Alex Torres, then Joe Bateman and Adam Russell taking the game to the 9th. In the meantime, Matt Carson got a three-run homer in the 3rd inning and in the 6th a Dan Johnson home run led a 3 run 6th. The last half of the 9th was all Norfolk as they came back with five runs and then had a walk-off sixth run in the 10th.

Yesterday was better. Matt Torra started it off with a 3-pitch, 3-out first inning and hung in there until leaving a bit of a mess for Dane De La Rosa in the 8th (runners on second and third, no outs, one run in). I'm not a big fan of the "save" statistic, but this was one. De La Rosa let one run in, but two K's and a ground out limited damage. He let two runners on in the 9th, but a double play finished things off.

Russ Canzler and Dan Johnson got the Bulls' RBIs. That augers well for Wednesday.

Up in the North Division the IronPigs were working hard to get the Wild Card berth. Issue is not absolutely resolved in their favor over the Gwinnett Braves. But it does look like they have the edge going into the last games of the season.

While I was looking the other way, Charlie Montoyo and Neil Allen have done some very sneaky/thoughtful juggling of the starting pitching rotation. Brian Baker has today's start. With Tuesday off, and assuming a preference for a 5-day gap, they can now choose between Chris Archer (RHP) or Matt Moore (LHP) to open the playoffs. They have also flipped the Matt Torra (RHP)/Alex Torres (LHP) sequence. That gives them right-handed and left-handed choices for the first four games instead of being stuck with a specific sequence. How carefully will Montoyo and his crew be looking at the Columbus lineup? Can't tell. Charlie famously looks at things from day to day (for the press at least), but no doubt he will be looking at the Columbus crew very carefully now.

Thrills and a Win

Game 136, Tuesday, August 30, DBAP
Durham Bulls 4, Gwinnett Braves 3
Season: 78-58; Home Stand: 4-5; Games Left in Season: 6
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Examiner

Let's jump right to the thrills.

8th inning. Score tied 3-3. Right-hander Anthony Varvaro came in as the third Gwinnett pitcher of the night. Tim Beckham led off with his third hit, a double to right. Brandon Guyer sacrificed Beckham to third base. Justin Ruggiano struck out. Two outs. Gwinnett decided to give an intentional walk to the 2010 International League MVP, lefty Dan Johnson, who had had two singles (one RBI) and a long flyout so far in the evening. That brought up the 2011 International League MVP, righty Russ Canzler who had had a terrible night, three strikeouts. Canzler took a strike, looked at a ball, hit a foul. 1-2, two out. Single to right! Beckham scored. Johnson was thrown out trying to reach third, but the Bulls were ahead 4-3.

Rob Delaney came on for the 9th. The first Brave hit a foul ball deep to the left side of the outfield, but Canzler chased it down for the first out. Wilkin Ramirez singled. After a called strike to catcher J.C. Boscan, Gwinnett called a hit and run. Ramirez took off as Boscan slapped a low line drive to right. Matt Carson made a diving catch with Ramirez almost to third base. He tossed the ball to Dan Johnson at first. Double play. Game over. The Bulls are 3 1/2 games ahead of Gwinnett in the south.

How did the Bulls get to the 8th tied 3-3? To be honest, it was pretty ugly. Reliever Lance Cormier, not my favorite Bulls pitcher in any circumstance, got thrown into the breach when once again the Bulls can't find a fifth starter. Not sure what happened to Brian Baker or Andy Sonnanstine (maybe the double header messed with Sonnanstine's schedule), but we've all read about Dirk Hayhurst's release by now. Cormier started out with a walk and that runner scored soon after. The redeeming feature of the inning was the two K's with bases loaded to end the inning. The leadoff batter in the 2nd inning got a double and scored and that was it for Cormier, the first of five Bulls pitchers.

Jay Buente had three solid innings to get the Bulls to the 6th. In the meantime the Bulls scored in the first, and picked up two more in the 3rd. But Adam Russell had an ugly 6th (that could have been worse) that let another run in. The Bulls, on the other hand, went from the 4th through the 7th with just one hit.

So, a lot of ups and downs until the sustained thrills of the bottom of the 8th and the top of the 9th.

* * * * *

This was the last home game of the regular season. The Bulls are headed for Charlotte for two games, then over to Norfolk for four games. During that time the South Division championship will surely be decided, along with, very likely, a bunch of roster changes.

But let's savor the fireworks and the win. This was a big one.

Nice Home Stand

Game 117, Thursday, August 11, Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Durham Bulls 6, Rochester Red Wings 1
Season: 67-50; Home Games Remaining: 9
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Examiner, Indy Week, Wild Card

The Bulls are off to Buffalo today after a very good 5-3 home stand. They have four games in Buffalo, four games against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, two games against the Norfolk Tides, a day off, and then are back here for their last home stand of 9 games (including a double header on August 27).

Matt Torra, who has been improving steadily since his arrival from Reno, had a very solid seven innings last night. The Red Wings did not get a baserunner until the last of the 3rd inning and didn't get a runner to second base until the 5th. Torra isn't a strikeout kind of guy, but he doesn't walk many either (none last night). He lets the fielders do the work and last night that worked out just fine. Particularly notable was John Matulia's over the shoulder grab of a Justin Marneau shot to deep, deep centerfield in the 6th and J.J. Furmaniak's nifty grab of a foul ball out of the Red Wing's dugout in the 7th. Torra did give up a home run, but that was it.

Adam Russell (let's be very quiet here and not disturb anything) continued his 0.00 ERA performance since his arrival. Rob Delaney closed out the 9th.

Russ Canzler continued his amazing performance — walk, single, triple, 2 runs scored. He leads or is close to the lead in a bunch of International League categories: Doubles (#1), Slugging (#1), Runs Scored (#1), Total Bases (#2), RBI (#3), Hits (#3), OBP (#2), Extra Base Hits (#1), Batting Average (#4), OPS (#1).

Ray Olmedo almost hit his first home run of the year, but the umps got together and decided that the ball hit the top of the fence. But Ray got 2 RBI out of the hit at any rate. His double was part of a four-run 2nd inning that was enough, with Torra's pitching, to win the game going away.

For a game oddity we had the Red Wings third baseman Chase Lambin get thrown out of the game while standing on first base after hitting a single to left. Speculation was that he griped about the ump's call of a close play earlier in the game. Don't think I've seen that happen before

Tim Beckham's first game as a Bull was notable for not being notable. He handled several plays straightforwardly and got an infield hit.

As seem to be the norm this year, we can expect more roster changes as the Bulls hit the road.

• The Herald-Sun and the Indy Week links above report that Justin Ruggiano is coming back to the Bulls as part of a rehab assignment. The Indy Week piece expresses some of the same cynicism that I have about this move. My hope is that Ruggiano doesn't let his maltreatment by the Rays affect his play. He could be a huge asset over the next couple of weeks, and he doesn't count against the Bulls 24 man limit.
• The same links are also reporting that Brandon Guyer and Matt Carson may be about to come off the DL. If so, someone will probably have to leave. My guess would be John Matulia back to Montgomery.
• There are some terrific photos at the Indy Week link.

Double, Double

Game 114, August 8, DBAP
Durham Bulls (Rays) 6, Rochester Red Wings (Twins) 5
Season: 65-49; Streak: 3-0; Home Games Remaining: 12
Wrap, Box, Examiner, Wild Card

I was sitting next to a teacher of Shakespeare last night, so forgive the headline. Nevertheless, it does point out to a key feature of the game: The Red Wings put a lot of runners on base, but the Bulls turned four double plays. Here's the quirk (of course there's a quirk, why else would I mention it?), two of the four were started by the pitcher.

Alex Torres has had better starts. It took him 91 pitches just to get through five innings. On the other hand, in the 5th he had runners on second and third, one out, and got two K's to end the inning.

Russ Canzler continues with a hot bat, single, two doubles, two RBI. Leslie Anderson continues to struggle, 0 for 4. Stephen Vogt's 9-game OPS of 1.111 warms the heart (along with two critical RBI last night).

The highlight play of the evening came in the 9th. Adam Russell came in to close, but the first batter dinked one over third base. The sacrifice bunt was popped up and Russell stretched out all of his 6'8" and flopped to the ground, catching the ball. By that time the runner on first was standing on second. He had no chance of making it back before Russell tossed the ball to first. (Note: play is on the video highlights at Bulls website.) Russell's first save. In four appearances no runs scored.

The big deal was the appearance of famous big leaguer Justin Morneau rehabbing his way back to Minneapolis. I'm guessing that since he's not actually assigned to AAA he doesn't have to follow AAA rules. He was wearing a one-flap major leaguer's batting helmet. Here's a guy who's missed a lot of baseball from a concussion, but still wants to look good, I suppose. I'm reminded of the motorcycle guys protesting helmet laws. Have always thought that as long as they've signed their organ donor cards they should be allowed to go bare-headed. Maybe the same should apply to baseball players.

With this win the Bulls went 16 games over .500, the best they've been all year. Could not have picked a better time in the season.

As careful readers know, the business of baseball is not my forte. So when it's announced that a player has been "exposed to waivers" my reply is usually, "Huh?" Rays Index makes an attempt to explain recent "exposures" by the Rays.

Matt Moore Is the Real Deal

Photo Kailey Farmer, examiner.com

Game 103, July 25, DBAP
Gwinnett Braves (Atlanta) 9, Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay) 3
Wrap, Box, Examiner, Indy Week

Game 104, July 26, DBAP
Durham Bulls 4, Gwinnett Braves 0
Season: 59-45; Home Stand: 4-2
Wrap, Box, Examiner

Tuesday’s game wasn’t very interesting and besides the Bulls lost, so let’s just jump to Wednesday’s game.

Matt Moore is the best young pitcher I’ve seen at the DBAP. I am not famous for the accuracy of my judgements regarding ballplayers; however, I watched every current member of the Rays starting rotation as they came through Durham (Price, Shields, Niemann, Davis, Cobb, and Hellickson) and I think at comparable points in their careers he’s better than any of them. If you live nearby you want to make an effort to see him before he goes on up to the Rays.

Fortunately, the Rays are famously cautious with the development of their starting pitching, so you may have time this season and probably the first half of next season to see him work. I wish I could say the same about how the Rays handle their AAA relief pitching assets, but that’s for later.

The matchup was terrific. Matt Moore against the Braves’ Mike Minor, also a left-hander. Statistically, there really wasn’t that much separating the two pitchers in the game. The obvious difference was the home runs Minor gave up to John Matulia and Leslie Anderson. And the record-tying 13 K's of Moore. But as we watched the batters flail away at Moore’s stuff there wasn’t much doubt as to who was the better pitcher. Most impressive of all was the apparent effortlessness of his delivery. This is a fun guy to watch. Both pitchers worked quickly. Possibly the shortest 9-inning game this year at 1:55.

John Matulia’s home run was a thing of beauty, a line drive that just sailed over the center-right wall into the seats. Two home runs in two days.

Reid Brignac is back and playing just fine. He had three well-struck singles against a sharp left-handed pitcher (how many lefties was he allowed to bat against with the Rays?) and was in the middle of a 4-6-3 double play. Since he’s going to be getting a lot of at-bats with the Bulls, we can hope that he will continue to help the team.

Now, I’ve put it off long enough. Let’s talk about the pathological behavior of the Tampa Bay Rays. Alexander Torres gets called up, pitches one inning on July 18, gets sent back. Dane De La Rosa gets called up, pitches 1 inning on July 20, gets sent back. Jay Buente gets called up, pitches 2 innings on July 26, gets sent back. Rob Delaney gets called up and pitches 3 innings (!) on July 27. Not sent back ... yet ... but the day is young. [See update below]

This is nuts. Not helping the Rays and it has to be hurting the Bulls as a team, not to mention what it’s got to be doing to the pitchers. Take this story about Jay Buente’s day. Of course, Maddon, who hadn't even met Buente until after he'd pitched his first inning, sent him back to Durham after telling reporters he was going to keep him for a while.

By the way, right-handed reliever Adam Russell is reportedly ready to play. No word yet on left-handed reliever Cesar Ramos. Both were recently sent down from the Rays, along with Andy Sonnanstine. The difference, obviously, is that when a player goes from Durham to St. Pete he’s got maybe 30 minutes to get to the plane. When the reverse happens, the player gets 5-7 days to report.

Brandon Guyer has gone on the disabled list. We are going to miss his bat for what will be at least a week, probably more.

Temperature's going up. Let's take it easy out there tonight. Air.

[Update: 
Reports on Moore's game in Indy Week and Herald-Sun. 
Rob Delaney is coming back to the Bulls and how Buente was told he was coming back to Durham in Tampa Tribune and St. Pete Times.
Will Joe Bateman get his chance? Is there anyone left?
Rays Index kvetches about Indy Week kvetching about roster turmoil.]

Misty Loss

Game 102, July 25, DBAP
Toledo Mud Hens 6, Durham Bulls 2
Season: 58-44; Last 10: 8-2; Home Stand: 3-1
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun, Indy Week

Both the Herald-Sun and the Indy Week stories quote Charlie Montoyo commenting on Brian Baker's problems invoking the dread term "dead arm". That's scary, and we heard something like that near the end of the season last year. Certainly Baker did not look good last night. His fastball wasn't very fast. His change up wasn't fooling many batters. In our pursuit of the odd and probably irrelevant we have to point out something else about last night — almost all the damage was done by left-handed batters.

After a one hour rain delay (it stayed misty all night) the game finally got going. Until the 3rd inning Baker may not have looked all that good, but he was getting by. Then left-handed batting Toledo catcher Jeff Kunkel hit a home run. The next three batters, all lefties, got two singles and a double and a total of two runs were scored in the inning. The 5th inning started out with two lefties and they both got singles. They both subsequently scored. Later in the inning a lefty hit a single to score a third run. Of the Mud Hen's 12 hits, 10 were made by players batting left-handed.

Does this little statistical anomaly really matter all that much? Maybe not, but you can bet that the next time Baker's on the mound (possibly Charlotte on Saturday), the opposing team will be loading the lineup with lefties, if they can.

Offensively, the Bulls were pretty quiet. J.J. Furmaniak's homer got them on the board, but mostly quiet after that. Need to note that Ryan Reid really did well. Much better than his earlier efforts as a starter.

What Have You Done For the Bulls Lately?

Here's a look at just the last ten games. I chose OPS for the comparison for a couple of reasons, 1) the numbers were readily available and 2) I was too lazy to compute the wOBA, which may be a better stat. However, I was just looking for something that is a reasonable answer to the question in the headline. What jumps out are the two extremes, Felipe Lopez and Ray Olmedo. I had not noticed that Ray was doing so poorly, or that Felipe so well. We can hope that Dan Johnson's numbers stay up there and the Brandon Guyer gets back on track.

Bulls Hitting — OPS for last 10 Games

Today is very likely to see yet more roster turmoil for the Bulls. Rays relief pitcher Alan Russell has passed through waivers and should be available tonight. Infielder Reid Brignac is also expected to be available tonight. The way I read the roster, neither arrival requires a corresponding roster move by the Bulls, but I've been wrong before. Certainly the locker room chatter being reported in the papers doesn't sound promising as it regards Brian Baker. Still, it looks like the Bulls are currently at 12 pitchers and 12 position players. Much of this year they've been at 13 and 11, but it isn't clear if it has been a preference or a necessity.

Finally, Brandon Guyer came out of the game last night with some sort of muscle pull. That's worrisome.

This four-game series with the Braves is a big deal. We should be seeing some great baseball if the heat doesn't get to us. Air and smoke look OK, and current heat index prediction is only 94 and falling during the game.