The Cardinals Sign Arthur Rhodes

Per Joe Strauss. He'll join the team on Friday.

I wouldn't usually mention something like this in its own post, but this New York Times story from last July gives us every reason as to why we should root for Rhodes to get himself back on track and enjoy some success in St. Louis:

Arthur Rhodes will leave tickets for five people at the All-Star Game on Tuesday in Anaheim. His mother will be there, and two sisters, a niece and his 16-year-old daughter, Jade. Five women supporting a 40-year-old rookie All-Star.

A boy will be there, too. Rhodes, a left-handed reliever for the Cincinnati Reds, is sure of it. Rhodes’s son, Jordan, was 5 when he died in December 2008 of an undisclosed illness. Whenever Rhodes pitches, he scratches the initials “J R” in the dirt of the mound. He will do so again at the All-Star Game.

“I feel like he’s right behind the rubber, watching me pitch,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes spoke softly at his locker Tuesday before a game with the Mets at Citi Field. He rarely says much, anyway. He signed with the Reds the week his son died, but club officials never knew of his pain. On Sunday, when Manager Dusty Baker told Rhodes he had made the All-Star team, he said Rhodes was stoic.

“He wouldn’t be Arthur if he got all emotional,” Baker said. “And he wouldn’t be Arthur if he was talking all about it.”

Rhodes did not speak publicly about his son’s death until last month. After he ended a streak of 33 consecutive appearances without allowing a run, which tied the single-season major league record, a reporter asked what Rhodes wrote in the dirt. Rhodes decided to answer. There was no reason to hide it anymore.

Rhodes could have retired after the 2008 season, but he said he kept playing to honor his son’s memory. The Reds are glad — and awed — that he did.

Much love, Arthur. Much love.

Today's .GIF Of The Day

I'm mesmerized by Ron Washington's necklace/chain.

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"Killing Me Softly With His Cutter"

Yes, Ms. Hill, contrary to popular belief, there is more than one way to kill somebody softly.

[As usual, run away screaming if you're stuck on a low-bandwidth connection. Don't say I didn't warn you.]

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And The Beat Goes On: Aug. 10th

Nothing complicated this morning ... just a classic Pete Rock instrumental:

● Jeff Wilson and Louie Horvath break down last night's dramatic win, and their writeups include some talk about how Alexi Ogando felt okay enough yesterday, but just didn't have any semblance of command. Drew Davison writes about the consistency of the Rangers' rotation, but that's boring. Here are some more interesting things to think about: which Rangers starter would survive the longest in a post-apocalyptic future? Which Rangers starter is the most likely to co-host a radio show with Greggo in 15 years? Which Rangers starter has the best chance of becoming an influential hip-hop producer? Yeah, I like these questions better.

● The Professor drops some knowledge bombs about the Rangers' farm system over at Texas Farm Review:

RHP David Perez: Still one of the best arms in the system, despite some control issues with Spokane. The ability to miss bats shows his stuff, which is a fastball that can work in the plus range with relative ease, and touch much higher when he wants it. The curve is there (meaning he can spin it), but again, it takes time to find secondary command, especially when you are working on so many things all at once. The changeup will flash, but it’s underdeveloped, and as a feel pitch, it takes time to find the armspeed and touch that will allow it to play off the fastball. [...] Give this kid all the time in the world, because the end result might have a higher ceiling than Martin Perez. When David Perez hits his stride, he could become of the best arms in the game.

● Corey Dawkins and Ben Lindbergh talk about Andres Blanco's health situation:

Blanco returned to the disabled list with low back inflammation on Tuesday. He missed over three weeks with a stress fracture in his low back earlier in the season and was able to make only four appearances before succumbing to another back-related ailment. Baseball requires repetitive flexion, extension, and rotation actions that place significant stresses on the low back. Even though these two back injuries are different, that does not necessarily mean they are unrelated.

Between the weaknesses preceding the stress fracture and the strengthening following therapy, forces are redistributed, and the body takes time to get used to the changes. Blanco will have an anti-inflammatory injection in hopes of soothing the symptoms faster than oral medication would. Once the pain subsides, he can resume his physical therapy program as directed.

● Ian Kinsler says that the Rangers' recent success coming from behind is a byproduct of "quiet confidence." Evan Grant writes about Matt Harrison gunning for the single-season record in double plays induced by an American League pitcher ... I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that's been a fairly important part of his above-average left-on-base rate this season. Darren O'Day will be getting sent down today to make room for Craig Gentry on the active roster.

Eric Nadel Calls Last Night's Walkoff

Nothing too fancy, but, hey, well, whatever:

[Direct link available here.]

Andres Blanco Back To The DL

With lower back inflammation, per Anthony Andro. This effectively solves the problem of whether to send down Taylor Teagarden or designate Omar Quantanilla for assignment, but is itself problematic in that Blanco is now racking up significant DL mileage with back injuries.

Quantanilla would have needed to clear waivers and accept an outright assignment back to Round Rock in order to keep him with the organization had he been designated for assignment, and there had been a bit of media speculation out there about him being a candidate to be plucked off waivers by some other ballclub. With this setback, one figures that Quintanilla will be here through at least September 1st, by which point the rosters will expand and his services can be retained on the active roster even after Blanco returns.

Darren O'Day will almost certainly be optioned back to Round Rock tomorrow to make room for Craig Gentry following his return from the seven-day disabled list; optioning Teagarden would leave the Rangers with just three bench players and an eight-man bullpen, which, for the lack of a better description, would make absolutely no sense.

Update: Per Evan Grant, Blanco's injury is "not an aggravation of the previous injury." He'll get a shot of anti-inflammatories today or Wednesday.

And The Beat Goes On: Aug. 9th

One of the advantages of being parked up on Turntable.fm is that you get a chance to sample a lot of new tunes ... like this one off Dela's "Atmosphere Airlines":

● Jeff Wilson talks about Matt Harrison finally reaching 10 wins despite a season-long lack of run support. So does T.R. Sullivan. So does Jeff Caplan. 

● Drew Davison talks about Mike Adams enjoying the setup role, but preferring to get a crack at closing. Evan Grant talks about some of the misconceptions around Neftali Feliz's performance this season, and notes that he has talked to a scout who believes that the reason why Feliz's breaking ball has become less effective and his fastball command has been diminished is because he has dropped down his arm slot slightly. 

● Arthur Rhodes was placed on release waivers yesterday, and will become a free agent on Wednesday. On a tangentially related note, the Rangers are looking at needing to prune two of Omar Quantanilla, Taylor Teagarden, and Darren O'Day from their active roster to create room for Alexi Ogando (paternity leave) and Craig Gentry (concussion) on the active roster. O'Day is an obvious cut, but won't be sent back to Round Rock until Wednesday, as the Rangers want to give Scott Feldman's blistered thumb one more day to heal ... so, either Quantanilla or Teagarden go next, and though Andres Blanco is back from the disabled list, you do have to account for the fact that the Rangers are still missing Adrian Beltre, and thus a bit light on infield depth.

● Jeff Caplan asks whether Michael Young can reach 3,000 hits, and arrives at a rather obvious conclusion. Young has already moved on from 2,000 hits. Since this MLB.com headline says that he's still the same both before and after the milestone, however, I must assume that he has not yet mutated into half-lizard form and grown a tail. Rangers sixth-round pick Derek Fisher will not be signing, and will instead fulfill his commitment to the University of Virginia. First-rounder Kevin Matthews has been promoted from the Arizona Rookie League to short-season Spokane. 

Aaron Gleeman On MY2K

Well, this piece entitled "Don’t tell Michael Young, but 2,000-hit club isn’t very exclusive" is sure something alright:

Michael Young went 2-for-4 last night to reach 2,000 career hits. That they’ve all come for the Rangers is noteworthy and getting there at age 34 means he has a shot at 3,000, but in terms of the attention being given to the actual milestone 2,000 might be just a bit overrated.

Young is the 234th player to reach 2,000 hits, which isn’t exactly exclusive company. By comparison, only 202 hitters have 250 homers and 203 pitchers have 150 wins, and no one really makes a big deal about either of those milestones.

[...]

Even reaching 2,000 hits by age 34 isn’t that rare, as Young became the 106th player to do so and if Beltre gets healthy within a few weeks he’ll probably become the 107th guy by the end of the season. Of that group, 27 have gotten to 3,000.

So, just to be clear about this ... per Baseball Reference's Play Index, there have been 14,063 players who have logged at least one plate appearance in a major league game since 1901. Young's hits total ranks among the top two percent of all players to bat in a major league game in the last 110 years, and, though it's gotten quite a bit of local play (which isn't surprising in the least, given that he is one of the better players in the history of this franchise and has spent the entirety of his career with this organization), hasn't been much more than a footnote on a national level.

And we get a headline/post like this, which seems to miss the entire point, as Young himself isn't making any kind of fuss over reaching that milestone, and the milestone itself represents more of an opportunity to step back and appreciate the player than reason to indulge in an all-out lovefest.

Let me put it this way -- I've been fairly critical of Young at various times over the years, and even I find this somewhat off-putting. Gleeman doesn't go out of his way to criticize Young himself, but his perceived attempt at devaluing Young's accomplishment when he actually is in quite an exclusive club comes off as strange, to say the least. I guess this is mostly a jab at the local press for its coverage of him reaching the milestone, but I haven't found that coverage to be exactly over the top, myself, and I'm pretty sure you'd find an equal or greater amount of coverage of such a 2,000-hit milestone being reached in any other city.

Nick Cafardo On Mike Napoli

From his Sunday morning column (h/t Adam):

Mike Napoli, C/1B, Rangers - Napoli feels far more relaxed being out from under the thumb of Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who is tough on his catchers. Napoli was hitting .296 with 18 homers, 44 RBIs, and a 1.011 OPS entering yesterday. He has the lowest ERA (2.37) among active catchers with at least 250 innings. “I always felt like I was looking over my shoulder to see if I was doing things right,’’ Napoli said of his time with the Angels. “I had ‘bad hands.’ I was so worried about my setup and the mechanics all the time. I learned a lot. I learned a lot of what I do there, but playing there just wasn’t much fun.’’

Now, of course, catcher's ERA isn't a good statistic, so I'm more inclined to disregard that part of the conversation, but it is awesome to finally have some details divulged about why Napoli was regarded as such a defensive disaster in Anaheim (and apparently not liked by the Angels' pitching staff), and why he seems to have improved significantly out in Texas. 

Today's .GIF Of The Day

Koji Uehara, after last night's eighth-inning performance:

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Eric Nadel Calls Tonight's Walkoff

First, Michael Young's game-tying home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning:

And the Josh Hamilton game-winning infield single, on which Elvis Andrus scored from second base:

Today's .GIFs Of The Day

If you're a low-bandwidth connection, run away screaming as fast as you can, please.

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