Guys On New Teams That I Didn't Know About

by Freneau on Mar 21, 2011 8:37 PM EDT

Feeling a little baseball fever today, I spent some time looking through random team rosters. My goal was to just rejig my memory and get a lay of the land. As we orbit further away from the Royals, my knowledge, or memory, of other rosters gets weaker and weaker. And that's doubly true given that the National League is just so... National League. Blah teams running in place for the win. Yay random free agent movement!

Here are some fellows that surprised me with their current place of residence:

Bill Hall- Astros: So Bill Hall is an Astro now. Which makes sense. I think. He'll always be a Brewer to me, but he actually is now on his fourth team. Honestly, did you remember he was a Mariner in 2009? He's 31, will be worth 1 WAR if everything goes well, and is now an Astro. Perfect.

Dusty Hughes- Twins: The hated Twins claimed him off of waivers in January. Guess this didn't register with me. Expect him to post a 2.20 ERA in 40 innings with Minnesota this year, leading to a special on-field ceremony at a September KC-MIN tilt at the K in which Ryan Lefebvre dramatically walks across the diamond to join the Minnesota organization as a backup broadcast guy or something. As Bill Simmons would say, "tell me you wouldn't watch this!"

Brad Hawpe- Padres: Huh? This just seems like an odd fit, but perhaps that would be unfair to Bradley Bonte Hawpe. The notoriously poor-gloved Hawpe might do less damage at 1B for the Padres, I suppose. Also amazing, he played 15 games for the Devil Yars (Google it) last year. Why wasn't I told?

Rick/Dick Ankiel- Nationals: I wish I was blessed with Ankiel's tremendously strong and shapely jaws. Sure, we expected Dayton Moore to make a mistake by signing him. And sure, obviously, the precious Braves were next up to prostrate themselves before his tools. Does he ever need to actually play? For an Atlanta team that needed every last win, Ankiel "hit" .210/.324/.328. Do results ever matter? No, Ankiel didn't sign a minor league contract with a NRI this year. He's earning $1.5 million from Washington this year. In any case, his signing didn't set Washington ablaze. I live here and I hate Ankiel (kinda, more just symbolically in that I hate people who everyone loves and gives zillions of chances to) and I missed his arrival.

Lance Berkman - Cardinals: OK, I was perfectly aware this had happened. I still don't get it. Best fans in baseball though.

Tweet Comment 30 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Hughes has a 0.00 ERA in 9 innings this spring.

…at least Chavez and Pucetas were protected, though.

"Today I did my good deed to be 'green'; I gathered up everything in my house that wasn't bio-degradable...and I threw it out." - Todd Jordan, Denver comic

by setupunchtag on Mar 21, 2011 9:31 PM EDT reply actions

I fucking hate Jesse Chavez.

I'm waiting for my wave of talent to arrive.

by mitchfreakingmaier! on Mar 22, 2011 10:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Dusty Hughes really is a poor pitcher

Unworthy of a major league roster spot. The Twins haven’t figure this out yet. They will.

You may know me as NYRoyal.

by Scott McKinney on Mar 22, 2011 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Watching Him Try

To be a MLB pitcher is kind of cute, though.

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Mar 23, 2011 12:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Well, they cut Chavez, so there's one victory.

They also cut Wood, which I think was the right decision. One thing I will say about Ned Yost is that he’s not going to put up w/ BS from his bullpen this year, as if one guy isn’t cutting it, he’ll just go get another one. At the very least, it’s good motivation for the people that are on the club.

Hughes isn’t that good, but Teaford and Duffy flamed out, so now we’re left w/ Fish, who I doubt is much better than old Dusty. At this point, I’d just put Collins on and go w/ one lefty. We could always trade for one w/ our leftovers (Betemit, an outfielder or two, a catcher we don’t want, etc.)

by Cap Midnight on Mar 22, 2011 7:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Did you guys know that the Royals signed Jeff Francouer.

Your 2010 Royals Review Fantasy Football Keeper League Champion
Opening Day is March 31st!!!

by averagegatsby on Mar 21, 2011 9:45 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

I googled

“Devil Yars”. I didn’t find anything that looked likely.

by sfeldkamp on Mar 21, 2011 9:53 PM EDT reply actions

Did you look at the "Did you mean:..."?

I mean you don’t even need to google it, its pretty obvious…

"We don’t have guys with a long history of being effective in the seventh and eighth innings."
~Trey Hillman, master of understatements.

by RoyalPug on Mar 21, 2011 10:16 PM EDT up reply actions

hmm...

I seem to recall that when the Devil Rays were founded, there was a protest against the name because of a) the Devil part and b) because Ray backwards is Yar, which is also a word for the Devil, or somesuch

apparently this may all be in my imaginabtion

by Freneau on Mar 21, 2011 10:27 PM EDT up reply actions

So you are saying they changed thier name to the devils.

It used to be devil devils.

Good change.

Go Royals!

by BabyBlues on Mar 22, 2011 2:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Jack Cust is on the Mariners

Did not know that..

by Royal from Queens on Mar 21, 2011 10:06 PM EDT reply actions

I'd take him over Russell Branyan

though I have no real idea what that means and don’t particularly want to dwell on it. The Mariners will suck…..again. However, I bet they won’t lose 101 this year. This isn’t for any good reason, but probably luck given the division they are in.

by Cap Midnight on Mar 22, 2011 7:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Berkman on the Cardinals doesn't make much sense

he should be DHing in Oakland or Texas — heck, he could be playing first in Texas

Making watching baseball as fun as doing your taxes.
My Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Mar 21, 2011 10:08 PM EDT reply actions

he will be ours next year

"Things could always be worse." - Buddy Bell

by buddyball on Mar 21, 2011 10:25 PM EDT up reply actions

"Run, Colby!!!! Ruuuun!!!!"

"Today I did my good deed to be 'green'; I gathered up everything in my house that wasn't bio-degradable...and I threw it out." - Todd Jordan, Denver comic

by setupunchtag on Mar 22, 2011 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions

The Cards were pretty weak in the OF this year

but yeah, this doesn’t look like a good signing. To boot, I question if Berkman will put up numbers offensively to justify $8 million.

by Cap Midnight on Mar 22, 2011 7:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Others

Jose Lopez, Colorado Rockies
Melvin Mora, Arizona Diamondbacks
Grant Balfour, A’s

Waiting for April.

by DC Royal on Mar 22, 2011 1:32 AM EDT reply actions

The A's will have a good pen

and their starters are good, but they have even less hitting than the Royals, which is sad.

by Cap Midnight on Mar 22, 2011 7:54 PM EDT up reply actions

How do they have less hitting?

Offensively speaking:

Suzuki > any Royals catchers
Pennington > Escobar
Willingham > Gordon
DeJesus >>> Frencyhy
Crisp > any of the Royals’ hitless wonders in CF
Matsui probably > Kila

Not sure Aviles is much better than Kouz. Barton is closer to Butler in offensive value than people think.

Seems like I’m missing a position.

Making watching baseball as fun as doing your taxes.
My Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Mar 22, 2011 8:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Mark Ellis vs. Getzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

by Fernando Vina School of Linguistics on Mar 23, 2011 6:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Thanks... I knew I was missing something

I did have a sentence on the Ellis vs. Getz battle to the Who Cares, but didn’t like it and didn’t replace it.

Making watching baseball as fun as doing your taxes.
My Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Mar 23, 2011 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions

(Ellis is obviously the better fielder when healthy, not sure how his offense is any more… probably a better hitter, Getz’s baserunning might make up a fair bit of the difference)

Making watching baseball as fun as doing your taxes.
My Twitter feed.

by Matt Klaassen on Mar 23, 2011 10:15 AM EDT up reply actions

Phil Humber is going to be the 5th starter for the White Sox with Peavy out

- .-. ..- … – / – …. . / .—. .-. - .. . … …

by Jeff Zimmerman on Mar 22, 2011 12:25 PM EDT reply actions

That's absolutely hilarious

I’m genuinely shocked that the Royals fifth starter this year. will likely be better than the Chisox fifth starter.

You may know me as NYRoyal.

by Scott McKinney on Mar 22, 2011 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Ouch.

Go Royals!

by BabyBlues on Mar 22, 2011 7:30 PM EDT up reply actions

I am not impressed with the White Sox......

3B looks bad (Teahan, ugh), Buehrle did not look good against the Royals and I don’t think that’s a fluke and now Humber is starting. Oh brother……But they have Adam Dunn!! They will score runs, but they’ll need to because their pitching is likely to give up a ton as well.

by Cap Midnight on Mar 22, 2011 7:53 PM EDT up reply actions