MVN - Most Valuable Network

Todd Wellemeyer

Twenty-eight year old Todd Wellemeyer has an interesting statistical past.   The right hander has pitched in 106 minor league games:  96 of them starts.   Todd has also appeared in 103 major league games:  all of them in relief.   This is of interest mainly because there have been occasional rumblings since Wellemeyer was acquired last June that he might be given a shot to start for the Royals.

At this point, it appears Wellemeyer’s role, should he make the club in spring training, would be as the dreaded ‘long-man’ out of the pen (a/k/a garbage guy).  That is a role he served much of last season, when Todd went 3 innings or more nine seperate times for Kansas City.   

In those nine appearances, Wellemeyer struck out 25 and walked 18.  In his other 19 games, he struck out 12 and walked 19.  To further reinforce the point, check out the opponent batting average vs. pitch count for Wellemeyer:

Pitches 1-15: .268, Pitches 16-30: .250, Pitches 31-45: .214, Pitches 46-60: .176, Pitches 61-75: .143.

Sure, by the time you get to pitch 61, Wellemeyer only faced seven batters all year, but still that is an interesting trend.   A good trend for a starter, not a great one for a reliever.   It points out to me that my previous ‘pooh-poohing’ of any ‘Todd Wellemeyer could be a starter’ talk was in error.

Wellemeyer might well get a crack at the end of the rotation in spring training; given the suddenly crowded bullpen situation courtesy of Dayton Moore’s off-season moves.   The Royals, of course, would be better served by having Zack Greinke and Brian Bannister emerge as legitimate majore league starters, but Wellemeyer might well (almost a pun there) serve that role if either, or both, are not quite ready to take the hill every fifth day.

Given his age, and the fact that Todd can toss a ball 94 mph, it is hard to imagine Wellemeyer not finding a role with the Royals.   It is also hard to imagine him sneaking through waivers if Kansas City decided to try to stash Todd in Omaha.

Wellemeyer’s previous two clubs, Florida and the Cubs, never used Todd in a long role (he averaged less than 2 innings per appearance in four partial seasons), so this is a player who at 28 has yet to find what his major league role should be.   The Royals may have struck upon something with Wellemeyer last season and it is probably worth having him on the 25 man roster come April to see what might develop. 

John Bale

The Great Royals Bullpen Makeover made a stop in the Far East this winter, when the Royals signed reliever John Bale to a two-year deal.

Bale has a pretty limited major league track record. Pitching for three teams in parts of four seasons, he’s pitched only 78.2 innings and has a career ERA of 4.69. His strikeout rate of 7.78 batters per 9 innings is decent enough, but he’s had control problems, walking almost 4 batters per 9 innings. But in this case, the numbers really don’t tell a story because the last time he pitched in the big leagues was in 2003.

With his career going nowhere, Bale requested the Cincinnati Reds release him so he could join the Hiroshima Carp of the Japanese Central League. In his first year in Japan, he was a starter winning 11 of 25 starts with an ERA of 4.21. Most impressive was the fact that he totaled 173 strikeouts in 160 innings. I say that’s impressive, but really I have no idea if I’m losing something in the translation. They say batters who have power in the Japanese League suffer a dip when they jump to the majors. Do American pitchers overpower Japanese hitters?

The following year, he became the closer for the Carp and saved 24 games in 51 appearances with an ERA of 3.19. He also struck out 72 batters in just under 54 innings. Look at it this way: 45% of the batters he faced in 2005 didn’t put the ball in play. I don’t care where you pitch, that’s impressive.

Bale moved out of the closer role and posted solid numbers last year. In 43 innings he posted a 2.93 ERA while striking out 46 batters. He was used in a variety of roles, starting five games and finishing 11. He also earned six saves.

He’s signed for the next two seasons for a total of $4 million. With Andy Sisco gone, Bale is now lefty number two in the bullpen, which gives Buddy Bell some flexibility along with Jimmy Gobble. Buddy likes to make sure his bullpen guys are plenty rested, last year he used the same reliever on consecutive days only 86 times. So maybe one night, he brings in Bale to get David Ortiz and then next night it’s Gobble’s turn. Bale has better control than Sisco, so this might be a lefty tandem that can work.

After being away from the major leagues for three years, Bale is one of the mysteries headed into the season. With his contract, we know he’ll get his shot in the bullpen, but can he get the results? That’s the $4 million question.

Carlos Rosa

In the baseball world, you are doing alright if you are on your team’s 40 man roster even though you have never pitched an inning above A-ball.   That is the position 22 year old right hander Carlos Rosa is in.

He earned a spot on the roster and the corresponding ‘prospect’ status that goes with it, via a strong 24 start stint last year in Low-A Burlington.   Given the nuances of playing in High Desert, let’s just ignore the three starts Rosa had there and focus on his year in Burlington.

All Carlos did in 24 starts for the Bees was throw up a 2.53 earned run average and a nifty WHIP of just 1.26.  Over 138.2 innings, Rosa struck out 6.62 batters per nine innings and allowed just six home runs.   Not dazzling strikeout numbers, but acceptable given his ability to keep the ball in the yard.

Baseball America tells us that Rosa has a lively fastball and a FOSH changeup.   They also rate his slider as possibly the best in the system.   A three pitch repotoire and a good year in Burlington are the bright spots.  Now for the bad news.

2006 was the first season in which Rosa allowed less than one hit per inning.  In fact, Carlos had allowed over 10 hits per nine innings in every other season.   This past year was also just one of two times in which he had an acceptable strikeout to walk ratio.

That begs the question, was 2006 a new era for Rosa or just a flash in the pan?   How much did throwing in a hitters park in Burlington augment his numbers?  

Getting a spot on the 40 man roster tells us that Rosa showed enough in Burlington to at least make Dayton Moore and the gang consider him worthy of a longer look.    No doubt, he will start 2007 in High-A Wilmington along with Danny Christensen, Matt Kniginysky and Chris Nicoll.   Whomever among that group breaks out to a solid first half might well earn a mid-season promotion to AA Wichita.  

If the likes of Hochevar, Greinke, Lumsden and Buckner are the next wave of arms, the guys in Wilmington are part of the ‘wave after next’ in the system.   They are not going to be anywhere near the majors before 2009, but they are all worthy of keeping in the back of your mind.

David Riske

When the Royals announced the signing of reliever David Riske, General Manager Dayton Moore called Riske, “One of the most consistent relief pitchers in the game the last four years.”

Hmmmmm.

Look at this chart and tell me if you see consistency.

I just realized who Riske is. He’s the bullpen version of Bret Saberhagen. OK, I’m stretching a bit to make my point, but you see it, don’t you? Great in the odd numbered years and pretty average in the even numbered years.

I don’t know. Maybe Dayton was looking at his innings pitched, where before last season when he missed time due to injury, averaged about 74 innings per season.

Consistent, he is not.

And then, there is his strikeout rate. Since 2002, it hasn’t been dropping. It’s in a free fall.

That is a disgusting trend. Especially for a pitcher that will be 30 this season. Such a large drop-off must have some sort of explanation, but I couldn’t find one. His arm appears to be sound, so maybe he’s made some mechanical adjustments between 2004 and 2005. His velocity seems to be steady, so that’s not the problem. It’s a mystery, and it was obviously a concern.

When he pitched for the Indians, Riske was named closer about every other week. He would promptly get bombed. He’s just one of those guys who is more comfortable in a set up role. And when’s he’s been good (odd years!) he’s been the key eighth inning guy to get the ball to the closer.

He missed some time at the beginning of 2006 with a lower back strain. There didn’t appear to be any lingering effects when he returned to the Red Sox bullpen. Boston dealt him in mid-June to the White Sox where he posted a 3.93 ERA in 33 games.

Riske is strictly a fastball/change-up reliever. Well, not really “strictly.” He will throw a slider every once in a while. But he started 84% of all hitters with fastballs last summer and will go to his change-up (which he will throw at any point in the count) about 15% of the time.

If things go according to plan, Buddy Bell will get to go on automatic pilot when the Royals have the lead late in the game. Riske in the eighth, followed by Octavio Dotel in the ninth. Looks good on paper.

This being an odd year, I’m counting on big things from Riske. This year, at least.

Get Your Links

Before I get to another set of links to keep you busy over the weekend, I need to go into shameless self-promotion mode for a moment…

2006 was a great year, both for this blog and myself. Personally, I’ve been able to pick up a few writing gigs here and there, which have developed into something exciting.

As you probably know, I’ve been a contributor to HEATER Magazine. As I’ve mentioned before, HEATER is published during the season, and is a weekly PDF download that is chock full of stats for fantasy baseball players. We’re getting organized for our second season, but you can head over to the website to download a sample copy to see what the magazine is all about.

In conjunction with HEATER and Baseball HQ, the big project of this winter has finally hit bookstores. Yes, bookstores. The Graphical Player is a look at individual player statistics using charts and graphs to help you recognize trends that you might not otherwise spot. This year, we profiled over 750 players and the graphs are incredibly easy to understand. John Burnson is the big guy in charge, and I’m a contributor to this year’s issue along with Marc Normadin of Baseball Prospectus and Jeff Sackmann of the Hardball Times. The graphs of The Graphical Player make it a wonderful compliment to something like the Bill James Handbook.

The Graphical Player is available direct from Baseball HQ, or from Amazon.

Another side project I’ve been working on is a magazine called The Fantasy Baseball Guide, which is due to hit the rack at the end of the month. It’s published by Peter Kreutzer, otherwise known around the internet as Rotoman. I’ve seen some of the pages and it looks like it’s going to be a tremendous asset as some of you head into your fantasy baseball drafts.

So that’s how I’ve been spending my winter. It’s kind of fun to see your work actually bound and on a shelf somewhere. And as cheesy as it might sound, I owe a big thanks to the readers of The Authority. You guys keep me motivated to crank out what I hope is quality stuff on a regular basis.

OK, enough of that. On with the links…

– This has been online for a couple of weeks, and I’m embarrassed that I haven’t linked to it yet. Max, formerly of Royals Resource, has channeled his talents into Royals Retrospective, where he is going through the pages of Royals history. One of his first entries is a winner – A look back at the team of 1994. The ’94 season was a transitional one and Max does an excellent job breaking it down.

– The Royals Annual Baseball Forecast Luncheon is coming up in a couple of weeks. Friday, January 19th at noon, to be exact. I’ll be in attendance and have been kicking around an idea of getting together a table of people. If you are interested, drop me a line. Hopefully, Reggie Sanders will pass on his gargantuan belt buckle to Luke Hudson.

– Another week, another Top 100 prospect list. This one has Alex Gordon at number two and Billy Butler at number eight. Luke Hochevar checks in at number 29. Arizona and Cincinnati are the only other teams with three players in the top 30, but their guys are all further away from the majors than the Royals Big Three.

– It’s not baseball news, but Kansas City is looking like it has a shot at landing an NHL franchise as former Penguins great, Mario Lemieux, was in town this week checking out the Sprint Center. This has to be absolutely gut-wrenching for Pittsburgh hockey fans. If we’re going to steal another city’s team for our brand new arena, couldn’t we go for one with less of a history and more hometown apathy? The Penguins and their situation, just feels a little too familiar.

– The Hall Of Fame inductees will be announced next Tuesday. Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn are mortal locks, but after that will anyone else get in? Of course, there are some people with websites pushing their guys.

Jim Rice has seen his vote totals increase every year. The Boston Red Sox have done some research where he compares quite favorably to a certain #5.

I’m amazed that someone like Bert Blyleven hasn’t gotten in to the Hall. Are 300 really that important? Rich Lederer of the Baseball Analysts makes a convincing case for Blyleven. It’s a little too late, but maybe we should do something like that for Dan Quisenberry, who has very similar career numbers to someone who was inducted last season.

To make sense of all of this, The Chronic Curmudgeon breaks things down quite nicely.

And I’m not going to go near the whole Mark McGwire fiasco with a ten-foot pole (or 100 tab bottle of Andro, whichever you prefer.)

By the way, if I had a vote, I’d go for Ripken, Gwynn, Rice, Gossage and Blyleven. Who are yours?

Ken Ray

Ken Ray is a 32 year old right handed reliever with 82 career major league appearances under his belt.   As we discussed a couple of days ago in our look at Joel Peralta, that puts Ray in the thick of a fight with Peralta, Joe Nelson and Todd Wellemeyer for what may be the last one or two spots on Kansas City’s 25 man roster.    Given that Royals GM Dayton Moore went out and signed Ken Ray upon his release from Atlanta and placed him on the 40 man roster, I would think Ken probably has an inside track on at least getting first shot at securing a roster spot. 

Way back in 1999, Ray pitched 13 games for the Royals….thirteen non-descript, pretty crappy games.   You may not remember him, as everyone who pitched for the Royals in 1999 was non-descript and crappy.   After kicking around the minors for five years, Ray resurfaced last season in Atlanta.

Ken was outstanding in 26 appearances (26 innings) in April and May:   allowing opponents a .216 batting average in April and just .157 in May.    He struggled with his control in June, allowing 3 home runs in 11.2 innings and walking 9 batters, before rebounding in July with a decent .265 OBA in 12 innings that included 13 strikeouts.  

Come August, however, the wheels fell off.  Ray was tagged for a 7.71 earned run average for the rest of the season, walked 16 and struck out just 11.  Opponents battered him for .362 average in August and .321 in September.   Now you know why the Braves cut him loose.

Overall, Ken faced 150 left handed hitters (.818 OPS) and 143 righties (.699 OPS).   The raw numbers are generally the same versus either side, EXCEPT for walks.   While Ken struck out 25 righties and 25 lefties, he allowed just 12 free passes to righthanded hitters anda whopping 26 to lefties.

Like most pitchers, he is dramatically better ahead in the count than behind (Opp OPS .592 after 0-1, .887 after 1-0).  Unlike some relievers, Ken is much better on short rest.   He appeared in 21 games with no rest and put up a 2.14 ERA and .183 OBA.   With just one day rest, Ray made 17 appearances with an OBA of .241.   The 29 appearances with 2 to 5 days of rest were by and large abysmal.

Ken Ray is not your guy if you are looking for a 2+ inning middle reliever - that may be the reason he does not break camp with the team.   Check out these opponent batting lines verus number of pitches:

Pitches 1-15: .239/.301/.364/.665 - 35K, 18BB

Pitches 16-30: .295/.430/.541/.971 - 13K, 16BB

Despite a background in the minors as a starter, Ken Ray is a short appearance, day after day right handed specialist.   Perhaps you can carry a guy like that in a 7 man bullpen, perhaps not.  

Odalis Perez

The Royal Rotation Makeover can trace it’s roots back to last July when the Royals acquired Odalis Perez from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Perez was miserable in LA, and apparently, he was making those around him miserable as well. Why else would the Dodgers send Perez, plus two minor league arms, plus eight million dollars in exchange for Elmer Dessens? OK, we’ve gone over this deal before, but it’s still something that kind of amazes me.

What exactly does Perez bring to the rotation? His supporters will point to his age 24 year (his first year with the Dodgers) where he posted this lovely stat line:

Sadly, he’s been challenged to even come close to those heights.

Since 2002, he’s been one of those lost souls that inhabit rotations. The guy that is tagged with the label of “potential.”

Here are his averages over the last four seasons:

The difference that stands out to me (apart from the increase in ERA) is the increase in hits per 9 innings. That’s a huge jump while nearly everything else (except for the innings pitched) has remained static. Something has happened – he’s become hittable. Back in 2002 he held batters to a .255 average on batted balls in play. Since then, he’s been living around .290 before he exploded to .352 last year. The rise is too great to attribute to inferior defense or bad luck. Batters have just simply gained the upper hand over the last several years.

He just hasn’t been a very good pitcher since 2002 and it all culminated last summer when the Dodgers demoted him to the bullpen and he declared the team treated him like “trash.” I have a soft spot for players who get all bent out of shape when they fail to deliver. Guys like Perez make me laugh. What the hell were the Dodgers supposed to do? Declare him their 2007 Opening Day starter and bat him cleanup? Jeez.

Perez is a lefty, so there’s some value there. He features a fastball that might tickle 92 mph on the gun, but he’s mostly living in the upper 80’s. His out pitch is probably a change-up which he features to right handed batters. Against leftys, his weapon of choice is a slider, which dives away. He’s learned to keep the ball down in the zone and work away from hitters, so his home run totals have improved. But over the last couple of seasons, he’s been keeping the ball in the sweet spot of the strike zone and hitters have taken advantage.

A positive is his contract and the Dodgers charity. When he was traded to the Royals, he was owed about $16 million in salary and signing bonus. LA sent $8 million to cover some of the salary and agreed to pay his entire bonus. It’s a convoluted deal, with the Royals paying Dessens’ salary for the Dodgers, but I’m figuring the Royals will be on the hook for about $5.45 million for this roster spot. They also hold a club option for $9 million for 2008, and seeing how money was thrown around this winter for mediocrity, could be quite a bargain.

It might seem I’m a bit down on Perez. That’s not really the case. I don’t think he’s as bad as he was last season, but I don’t think he’s going to recapture his 2002 form. I think he can throw about 180 innings with an ERA of around 4.5 and win around 12 games. It doesn’t sound that great, but it’s a helluva lot better than Mark Redman, who won the 2006 Pitcher Of The Year. And it costs almost the same!

But the fact Perez is penciled in at the number two spot in the rotation should temper the optimism about this staff taking a quantum leap forward. Yes, they will be better, but it’s difficult not to improve on the crap they sent to the hill last summer. But they are moving in the right direction, and that is something to get excited about.

Baseball-Reference PI Stat Of The Day:
Did you know that Perez has allowed a home run to leadoff a game only once in 165 career starts?

Joel Peralta

Before all the free agent signings and trades, Joel Peralta was prominently mentioned in any discussion of the Royals’ bullpen.    After all, Peralta was possibly the most consistent performer in relief for the team in 2006.    While he was not great, the 30 year old right hander was certainly solid in 64 appearances covering 73.2 innings.

            Now, however, the acquisitions of Octavio Dotel, David Riske, John Bale, Joakim Soria and Ken Ray have pushed Peralta farther down the pecking order.    
Kansas City is likely to break camp in April with seven relievers and the five mentioned above all likely have a spot to lose.   That leaves Peralta competing with Jimmy Gobble, Joe Nelson and Todd Wellemeyer for the final two bullpen positions.

            Sure, there is talk that Wellemeyer might get a look as the number five starter, but I find that an unlikely move.   Ray cannot afford a bad camp and Bale may not be a lock, but they still will get plenty of opportunities to prove their worth.    Some breathing room might yet be obtained by shipping Gobble back to AAA to once more reinvent himself as a starter, but that’s just speculation at this point.  Once it was almost a certainty that Peralta would be on the 25 man roster.   Now that is, in fact, very uncertain.

            In 2006, Peralta was basically the same pitcher before the All-Star Break (4.50 ERA, .263 OBA) as he was after the break (4.26 ERA , .264 OBA).    He did, however, exhibit much better control after the mid-summer classic: striking out 31 and walking just 5 as opposed to 26 and 12 prior to the break.    

            Joel owned righthanded batters (.234/.268/.403) and struggled against lefties (.338/.400/.613/1.013).     He was excellent when ahead in the count (.627 Opp OPS after 0-1) and not very good when behind (.948 Opp OPS after 1-0).  

            Peralta was especially effective when pitching with some rest, but not too much rest:

0 days rest - 15 games/.300 OBA

1 day rest - 22 games/.261 OBA

2 days rest - 15 games/.212 OBA

3-5 days rest - 10 games/.316 OBA

          Joel Peralta is never going to dominate, but he will give you a solid outing more often than not.   He allowed 19 of 54 inherited runners to score:  not bad, actually.   He is effective for two, sometimes three innings at a stretch.   Peralta is essentially a middle reliever and at age 30 may just be hitting his stride in that role.    Barring additional acquisitions or a horrible spring, my guess is Peralta breaks camp with the team, but that statement is definitely a lot more speculative than it might have been just a few months ago.

Happy New Year

I’m breaking my self-imposed internet silence to bring you a handful of links for your enjoyment.

- Garth, hanging with the primates at Royal Ingenuity, has a very interesting interview posted with the KC Star’s Bob Dutton, beat writer for the Royals. Having spent some time in press boxes and media centers at a variety of sporting events, Dutton’s comments about writers who don’t enjoy their work ring incredibly true. I never understood how some of these guys get paid to watch baseball, yet bitch and moan about how difficult their job is. We’re fortunate to have someone like Dutton covering the game, who really enjoys what he’s doing.

In case you didn’t know, Garth is hustling at BBTF and is raising the bar for all of us who bring you Royals info. Great job.

- Dick Kaegel, from MLB.com, has posted his year in review. It’s kind of a depressing read.

- Joe Hamrahi at Baseball Digest Daily, doing his best Barbara Walters impersonation, has posted his list of Top Personalities of 2006. You have to wait until you get to the bottom for Dayton Moore, but it’s worth it.

- And speaking of Baseball Digest Daily, my latest article is online - A review of the computer simulation game, Out Of The Park Baseball. If you have $35 burning a hole in your pocket and are itching for something challenging to do, buy the game and try to pull a Dayton and rescue the Royals from the abyss.

- Friend of Royals Authority, David Pinto, has updated his Day By Day Database to go back to 1970. Here’s the Major League leaderboard for doubles. Note the presence of AO.

- While Pinto is doing awesome work at Baseball Musings, I can’t forget what’s going on over at Baseball Reference. They’ve recently added splits and game logs to their enormous treasure trove of stats. And then this morning, I check in and find they have, among other things, batter vs. pitcher breakdowns. Speaking of AO, did you know he hit .615 (8-13) for his career against Sam McDowell?

- If you’re into the history of the game, this is a great audio clip. It’s the ninth inning of Sandy Koufax’s first no-hitter, thrown in 1962. Vin Scully, on the call.

- You’ve probably seen this video before and wondered, “What the hell is that kid’s problem?” Well, thanks to the magic of subtitles we learn he’s a Cub fan commenting on an offseason of moves.

- Here’s three contenders for the Brian Anderson “Donkey Punch” award. The award is named for the memorable moment during a RSTN broadcast in 2005 when Bob Davis and Paul Splittorff interviewed the injured pitcher during a game. Anderson deftly worked the term “donkey punch” into the interview and became an instant favorite.

Your contenders:

Rick Sutcliffe, not thinking clearly in the Padres broadcast booth, discussing among other things, George Clooney trying to “go over there and solve that thing.” Breathtaking.

-OR-

Denis Leary’s reaction when he discovers Kevin Youklis, the Greek God Of Walks, isn’t really Greek.

-OR-

John Buck and new Red Sox Runelvys Hernandez discuss the post game spread.

Alright, that should be enough to tide you over for awhile. We’ll resume here at the Authority on Wednesday with our latest player profiles.

Happy New Year!

Joe Nelson

Joe Nelson is not a lot different than any number of relievers in the majors - some of whom made a lot of money this off-season.    Those who were lucky enough to get the big money deals were simply a couple of more major league seasons down the road than Nelson.

Although this is hardly a scientific analysis, there are dozens of capable bullpen arms that learned how to pitch effectively in the majors somewhere in their thirties.   By and large they are failed/converted starters who are either lefthanded, induce groundballs or strike guys out.   Almost to a man, they all throw the ball over the plate.

Well, Joe Nelson is not left handed and occasionally fights he is control.   He is thirty-two and he does strike guys out.  

Since being converted to a reliever way back in 1998, Nelson has averaged at least a strikeout per inning at every level and for every organization.    Last year for the Royals, Joe struck out 44 in 45.2 innings after striking out 39 in 32 innings for AAA Omaha.   You didn’t think ‘Joe Nelson’ when the organization talked about their power bullpen arms, did you?

Opponents managed to hit just .226 against him, with lefties managing a paltry .534 OPS.     To his credit, Nelson converted 9 of 10 save opportunities, although he did allow runs in three of his successful chances.   To his detriment, Joe was considerably more effective early in the year than later: 

• 11 hits in 20 innings through July
• 26 hits in 26.2 innings from August on

Nelson’s overall numbers through 30 pitches are good, indicating he can go more than one inning.   In fact, opponets managed just a .599 OPS when facing Joe from pitch number 15-30, compared to a .746 OPS in the first 15 pitches.   His control fades after the first 15 pitches, however, as his K/BB ratio drops from 2-1 to just above 1-1 for pitches 15-30.   Oh, by the way, after pitch 30 it becomes gas on an open flame time (1.227 opponent OPS!).

Nelson also peforms better when given some rest:

• O days rest: 10 hits in 12.1 innings
• 1 day rest: 18 hits in 15.2 innings
• 2 days or more: 9 hits in 18.2 innings

That gets us back to where we started:  Joe Nelson is not unlike a vast number of relievers in the majors.   That is both good and bad.    He was miscast as a closer, but would appear to be a very capable setup guy (Opp OPS with RISP - .649), especially if used in tandem with another setup pitcher to avoid back to back days of work.

Having made the majors for more than a cup of coffee for the first time at age 31, Nelson is not going to be troublemaker or malcontent (you listening Andrew Sisco?).   He will battle control at time and the home run ball (5 homers in 45 innings), but also will battle…..perhaps too much at times.   Here’s a fun stat: 29 batters got ahead of Nelson 2-0 last season, 16 walked, the others went 0-13.

Despite all the moves made so far by Dayton Moore, and the likelihood of more coming, Joe Nelson most likely will enter spring training with a roster spot to lose.   He fits in somewhere next to John Bale, Jimmy Gobble and the hopefully developing Joakim Soria in front of new closer Octavio Dotel.   

In a market that gets guys like Jamie Walker $12 million over three years (yes, I know he’s a lefty, but still…Jamie Walker!), having Joe Nelson in the middle of your pen at the major league minimum is not a bad thing.