Author: AJ

Jeff Clement, We Hardly Knew You

By Blaidd Drwg

With the demotion of Ian Snell last week, it got me thinking about the main piece the Mariners gave up to acquire Snell and Jack Wilson – Jeff Clement. The 2005 MLB draft was one of the best in recent history – 33 out of the 48 players drafted in the first round have seen some major league action and a number of them are going to be superstars for years to come: Tulowitzki, Upton, Zimmerman and Braun. The Mariners had the 3rd pick in the draft in 2005, and with that selection Bill Bavasi took Jeff Clement, a power hitting catcher out of USC who scouting report showed a MLB bat but indictated he would probably not be a catcher at the major league level due to his defense. This was a deep draft – the two players taken ahead of Clement were Justin Upton and Alex Gordon. Zimmerman, Tulo, Braun and a gaggle of other good players were taken after Clement.  So where did the Mariners go wrong in this draft?

This is pure speculation on my part, but I think that Bavasi drafted for need rather than taking the best player available. Here is the rest of the top 10 after Clement:

Player Team Position
Ryan Zimmerman Nationals 3B
Ryan Braun Brewers 3B
Ricky Romero Blue Jays SP
Troy Tulowitzki Rockies SS
Wade Townsend Devil Rays SP
Mike Pelfrey Mets SP
Cameron Maybin Tigers OF

I figure that if the Mariners would not have picked Clement, they would have taken one of the guys on the above list. Zimmerman, Braun and Tulo are all at or just below the superstar level in the majors. Romero and Pelfrey are bordering on being above average starters; Maybin is looking overmatched, but is still young and may turn it around. Townsend blew out his elbow, was terrible in the minors anyway and will probably never pitch in the majors.

Why a catcher? The M’s did not have any real catching prospects in their system in 2005, so it was definitely something they needed. Bavasi was probably thinking that they were set at 3B – they had Adrian Beltre signed to a long term deal. They had their SS of the future in Yuniesky Betancourt. They had Jeremy Reed in the OF, who, at the time, looking like he was going to be an above average player. They didn’t have a 1B prospect, so maybe the thinking was that if Clement flames out as a catcher, they can put him at 1B or DH. I don’t justify it and I think, even without the benefit of hindsight, I would have probably gone with Tulowitzki, just because you can always move a power hitting SS to another position if you need to and you go with the best available player when you have as many holes as the Mariners have.

So, how poorly did this work out for the Mariners? Here is the same list as above with Clement, Upton and Gordon added:

Player Draft Pos WAR Career OPS+/ERA+
Justin Upton 1 6.5 109
Alex Gordon 2 3.8 97
Jeff Clement 3 -1.3 74
Ryan Zimmerman 4 14.2 118
Ryan Braun 5 11.2 142
Ricky Romero 6 5.4 113
Troy Tulowitzki 7 15.5 110
Wade Townsend 8    
Mike Pelfrey 9 4.6 98
Cameron Maybin 10 1.6 80
Andrew McCutchen 11 5.8 127

Townsend is easily the biggest bust of the top 10 – he was drafted in the top 10 in both 2004 (8th by the Orioles) and in 2005 and managed a stellar 5.58 ERA in the minors before blowing out his arm. The irony in this is that the Rays managed to stockpile a stable of young arms in the 2003-2006 drafts, most of which now make up their rotation, so you have to give them a bit of a flyer on this one. Besides Townsend, Clement is clearly the biggest bust of the top 10. He is the only player on the list to be significantly below average from this top 10. I really do think Maybin will eventually turn it around – he was drafted out of HS, he is only 23 and he was really rushed to the majors by the Marlins. Clement is going to be 27 in August and has never shown any ability to hit MLB pitching – heck, he has been so bad that he was demoted to the minors by the PIRATES, one of the worst hitting teams in the majors.

How bad of a pick was Clement overall? Here is the worst of the first round (only guys who have played in the majors):

Player Draft Position Team WAR OPS+/ERA+ Current Team
Jeff Clement 3 Mariners -1.3 74 Indianapolis (AAA)
Trevor Crowe 14 Indians -0.5 75 Indians
Cesar Carrillo 18 Padres -1.1 29 Portland (AAA)
Craig Hansen 26 Red Sox -2.2 73 Out of Baseball
Ryan Tucker 34 Marlins -1.3 53 New Orleans (AAA)
Trevor Bell 37 Angels -1.5 55 Angels
Luke Hochevar 40* Dodgers -0.8 77 Royals
Garrett Olson 48 Orioles -2.4 69 Mariners

Note: Hochevar did not sign with the Dodgers and was the #1 overall pick in 2006 by the Royals

Not the worst WAR of the group, but considering that the top 10 average WAR is somewhere north of 5, and he is the 3rd overall pick, I will say his pick was a disaster. You can make the argument that he at least made the majors, 15 of the first rounders from that draft did not, although about 5 of those 15 were drafted out of high school, are 23 years old and still have a pretty good shot at making the majors in some capacity. Also, all of the players on this list, except for Crowe and Clement, are pitchers.

I do think it is funny that Zduriencik traded Clement, who is probably the biggest bust of the hitters in the 1st round of the 2005 draft and worked to get Garrett Olson who has been one of the worst pitchers to come out of the 2005 first round.

Source: Baseball-Reference.com

When Life Hands You Chicken Breast…

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I promised a recipe for the leftover chicken breast from the Chicken Soup recipe, so here it is – my take on my grandmother’s chicken salad, which, as much as I try, will always be better in my heart. The original recipe involved grating all of the veggies, using the chicken breast from making soup and never included bacon salt (wasn’t invented yet), balsamic vinegar or garlic powder (she used minced garlic, which, is too overpowering for this dish). She would have thought it weird that I would be writing a recipe for this, so I am sorry grandma. When I learned to make this from her, she never measured anything and neither have I until this point. It is all about tasting everything until it tastes right (or good, there is no right or wrong on this meal). Nothing that she made came with a recipe, if you wanted to learn to make something she made, it was by being in the kitchen with her and tasting and feeling as you went. Sadly, she passed a few years ago, but fortunately, just about all of her cooking wisdom was passed down to her children and grandchildren. This is also one of Mrs. Iron Chef’s favorites.

Chicken Salad

The Software
1 chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
1 large carrot finely minced
1 large stalk celery, finely minced
2 tablespoon finely minced yellow onion
1 tablespoon bacon salt
1 tablespoons mustard powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper
3 tablespoons mayo (see note)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (see note)

• Note – when I say tablespoon for the mayo and teaspoon for the mustard, I am not talking about the measurements, I am talking about the spoons you would find in your silverware drawer. I just take 3 big scoops of mayo and 1 big teaspoon of mustard. If I had to guess measurements, 1/2 cup of mayo, 1 1/2 tablespoons (the measurement) of mustard.

The Salad
In a large bowl, combine the chicken, carrot, celery and onion.

The Dressing
This is a salad, so you are making a salad dressing essentially. In a bowl, combine the mayo, mustard, mustard powder, bacon salt, garlic powder and balsamic vinegar. Mix until well incorporated. Taste it. Add any additional seasoning as needed.

The Final Product
Add the dressing and fold using a spatula. Taste it. There should be a subtle hint of heat from the onions and mustard. I usually will add a few grinds of black pepper and, if needed, some salt and fold that in. That is it, you are done. If for some reason you like more dressing, just make some more and add it in. This is pretty potent stuff and you are really looking more to coat everything rather than drown it.

To Serve
Serve it however you want – on a sandwich, salad, or my favorite, just out of the bowl with a spoon.

Final Notes
It took me longer to type this up than it did to make. This dish really shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to put together. You can not add the bacon salt (if you don’t put it in there, you might need to add salt later) if you choose. Of course if you don’t add the bacon salt, you could always add some real crumbled bacon to it, because, frankly, everything is better with bacon. The mustard powder is really essential for the right flavor, but if you don’t have any, and aren’t able to stop what you are doing and run out to get some, double the amount of Dijon. It won’t be the same, but it will still be edible. If you find yellow onions too strong, try substituting sweet or Walla Walla onions or even scallions. At various times, I have added in hot sauce, horse radish, worcestershire sauce, paprika and a bunch of other stuff I am probably forgetting. Feel free to play with your seasonings. Make it taste the way you want – grandma would just be happy that you are eating it.

Squeeeeakk!!

by Coltrane

The U.S. defeated Algeria 1-0 to advance in the World Cup.  Landon Donavon scored the winning goal in stoppage time.

With the U.S. perhaps three minutes from elimination Wednesday, Donovan brought the ball upfield on a counterattack and Jozy Altidore’s shot on the breakaway was tipped by Clint Dempsey into goalkeeper Rais Bolihi. The rebound went to Donovan, who kicked it in from about 8 yards for one of the biggest goals in U.S. soccer history.

Nothing to see here, move along..

Longest Baseball Careers

by Coltrane

Jamie Moyer and the Phillies defeated the Yankees last night by a score of 6-3.  The win makes Moyer the oldest pitcher to beat the Yankees, at 47 years and 112 days.

The day before that, my mom and I were talking about Stephen Strasburg.  She made the statement that “pitchers don’t last as long.”  I disagreed, citing guys like Nolan Ryan (for long careers) and Mark Fidrych (for short).  I said that so long as Strasburg’s arm doesn’t blow up he could expect to have a longer career than most similarly talented hitters.  I thought that it should be easier for an older pitcher to throw the ball than for an older batter to try to hit it.

Here’s the chart, longevity for players with careers starting after 1950:

Seasons Pitchers Hitters Total Players
27 1 0 1
26 1 0 1
25 2 1 3
24 6 3 9
23 3 8 11
22 8 13 21
21 9 12 21
20 4 15 19
Total 34 52 86

For players with 24 to 27 year careers the pitchers do indeed outnumber the hitters, 8 to 4.

For players with 20 to 23 year careers the hitters outnumber the pitchers, 48 to 26.

There have been more hitters than pitchers with 20+ year careers, a result that I hadn’t expected when I looked into this.

Chalk one up for mom.

Source:  Baseball-Reference.com

Good Bye, Ian Snell

By Blaidd Drwg

It appears that Ian Snell‘s up and down career with the Mariners has come to a close as the M’s have DFA’ed him, which means they have 10 days to waive, trade or option him to the minors. If I am not mistaken, he has enough service time to refuse the demotion and become a free agent.

What do you want to bet he ends up with the Royals in the next week and a half? They seem to enjoy picking up the chaff that is cut loose from the M’s (although the Royals currently have a better record than the M’s), and Snell might actually improve their rotation.

Onion-Potato Focaccia

by Coltrane

Or Potato-Onion Focaccia, or Potato Focaccia with Onion.  It’s a focaccia bread with yukon gold potato inside and onions on top.  An oniony olive oil is both inside of and on top of the bread.

The recipe below probably started life in a slightly different form at The Wednesday Chef.  Her recipe features tomatoes.

The Ingredients

1 Medium Yukon Gold Potato

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1 Teaspoon Instant Yeast (or 1.25 tsp “active” yeast)

Pinch of Sugar (or a few drops of honey)

1/2 Tablespoon Kosher Salt

2/3 Cup Warm Water (not “hot”)

1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 Medium Onion (The quantity is very flexible.  Do what you like.  If you cook up more than the focaccia needs there’s always the refrigerator for the extra.)  I usually use a sweet onion, but red onion and spring onions work too.

Directions:

1.  Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Boil the potato until tender, about 20 minutes.  Slightly undercooked is ok.  When the potato is cool enough to handle, peel and break it up into marble-sized pieces.

2.  While the potato is boiling:  Slice the onion into pieces about 1/2″ long.  Heat a pan over medium-low heat, add the olive oil, and saute the onion until it softens.  Remove pan from the heat and let cool.  (More olive oil than necessary is used here.  This step infuses the olive oil with the onion flavor.)

3.  In a mixing bowl combine the yeast, sugar or honey, and water.  Let stand 5 minutes.

4.  Add to the bowl the flour, salt, potato, and about half of the oil from the pan of onions.  Knead until the dough comes together, about 5-7 minutes.  The dough should be tacky but not sticky.  (I knead the dough right in the bowl, it’s one fewer thing to clean.)  Add a light coating of oil to the dough and the bowl.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest one hour.

5.  Line a baking pan with parchment paper (mine’s about 12 x 8 x 2).   Place the dough into the middle of the parchment and pull the dough to fit the pan.  If the dough resists the stretching, wait 5 minutes and stretch again.  It’s not critical that the dough goes all the way to the edges, it will expand during the 2nd rise.   Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest one hour.

6.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Remove the plastic wrap from the focaccia.  Dimple the focaccia with your fingers.  Spread the remaining olive oil over the top of the dough.

7.  Bake for 20 minutes.  At the 20 minute mark add as many onions as you like.  Rotate the pan and bake another 20 minutes.  (This will be 40 minutes of baking total.)

8.  Let cool 20 minutes in the pan.

Enjoy.

Pete Rose and the Chase for Cobb’s Record

By Blaidd Drwg

I remember the pursuit for 4,192 back in 1985 well. I also remember a few years ago that there was speculation that Rose was corking his bat during the run. Well, I guess we now have proof that he actually did.

Good thing the guy is banned from baseball and can’t get into the HOF. He is a cheater and was playing with an unfair advantage. If he ever becomes eligible, he should not be allowed in because of this (I don’t believe corking a bat really does anything anyway). No player who cheats should ever get in the Hall and any that cheated should be taken out. (I am being sarcastic, this is really not anything that I would keep someone out of the Hall for).