Umpire Ejects Daytona Cubs Music Man For Playing "Three Blind Mice"

This story seems almost too good to be true, but it actually is true, as the High-A Daytona Cubs' music guy ended up drawing the ire of one fed up FSL umpire last night:

We've just entered the twilight zone at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. Our music man, Derek Dye, has been EJECTED from tonight's game. The umpire, Mario Seneca, was apparently not happy when Derek played "Three Blind Mice" after a questionable call. With no music system, a fan has stepped up to call out player introductions from the stands.

Ben Badler has a few interesting links up on this story over at Baseball America, including a few reader-submitted examples of some precedence as far as minor league umpires throwing music guys out during the middle of the game.

But this story just doesn't carry the same impact without video and OH HOLY CRAP YES THERE IS VIDEO HAHAHAHAHA

MILB.com also has a story up on his ejection and the circumstances leading up to and surrounding it.

So, yeah. You got what you were promised in the title of this post. Can't complain about that.

Rangers Gameday: 8/1 Vs. LAA

Source: FanGraphs

Tonight's .GIF(s) Of The Night

Hopefully the first .gif in this collection -- clipped from last night's game -- doesn't end up being the highlight of this series.

Click to read more ...

So, Uh, This Josh Hamilton Thing Just Keeps Getting Weirder

After his incredibly cryptic and confusing remarks to the press over the weekend, Ron Washington went on Ben & Skin earlier today, and somehow made the whole thing even more cryptic and confusing:

On Wednesday, Washington said he was aware of the problem but that Hamilton is the only person who can address it, since he brought it up: "The issues is something that I think Josh would definitely have to be the one to expose. It's certainly not physical. It has nothing to do with injuries. Josh is the one that made the statement and got all the inquiries going, and I think Josh is the one that has to put a rest to the inquiries, not Ron Washington. I can just tell you one thing: It is not because he's hurt."

Yeah, I hope he gets whatever is going wrong in his life squared away ... but, uhm, this just keeps on getting stranger. What on earth is going on with him?

Ryan Dempster Officially Added To Roster; Perez Optioned

Per T.R. Sullivan:

Martin Perez has been optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to make room for recently acquired Ryan Dempster on the Rangers roster.

He was called up earlier this month when Colby Lewis was lost for the season with a torn tendon in his right elbow. In his second big league stint this season, Perez gave up one run on five hits over six innings, earning a no-decision in a 2-1 loss to the Red Sox July 24 and tossed a scoreless ninth inning in Tuesday’s 6-2 loss to the Angels.

Nothing surprising about this move. Adams, Nathan, Ogando, and Ross aren't going anywhere. Oswalt is your long man. Scheppers is pitching much better of late. It was either Kirkman or Perez who had to go, and by optioning Perez, you can keep him fully stretched out and ready to rejoin the rotation at a moment's notice if that should end up being necessary at some point down the line.

See you again soon, Martin. What up, Ryan.

Ken Rosenthal On How The Ryan Dempster Trade Happened

Great, great piece. I love reading stuff like this that dives deep into the specifics of the sausage-making. 

Of particular note is Rosenthal mentioning that the Rangers coveted Shane Victorino, but couldn't swing a deal with the Phillies, and, of course, the earlier talk about the Rangers working on a blockbuster trade for Josh Beckett, Kelly Shoppach, and Jacoby Ellsbury over the weekend, which may or may not have ever reached an advanced stage. 

Here's part of his big finish:

The Cubs had virtually no choice.

They had to trade Dempster, or ultimately be left with nothing for him.

They had spoken extensively with the Rangers, completing the trade for Soto and discussing another for Garza. The teams actually were talking about Dempster and Garza at the same time as the deadline approached, negotiating on parallel tracks. The Rangers preferred Dempster; Garza has not pitched since July 21 because of a triceps injury and would have come at a higher acquisition cost because he is under club control for one more season.

Dempster, meanwhile, had his own preferences as the possibility of him going to the Dodgers all but disappeared.

He was close with Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild and special assistant Jim Hendry from his days with the Cubs; Hendry, the Cubs’ former GM, had awarded Dempster a four-year, $52 million free-agent contract after the 2008 season.

But Dempster also had a connection with the Rangers; Greg Maddux, his former Cubs teammate, is a special assistant in the team’s front office. What’s more, the Rangers are the two-time defending AL champions and currently own the second-best record in the league. That didn’t hurt.

In the end, the Rangers were more aggressive than the Yankees. They were willing to take on the more than $5 million remaining on Dempster’s contract. They also were willing to include Villanueva, who was their No. 8 prospect entering the season, according to Baseball America, but behind Adrian Beltre and Olt on Texas’ organizational depth chart.

I suppose that in light of everything that was transpiring with the pitching staff during the couple of days leading up to the trade deadline, and in light of the fact that the Cubs/Rangers had already hooked up on the Soto deal and had developed a fairly advanced degree of familarity with each other's systems, that we should have seen a Dempster/Garza deal as a likelier possibility during the final lead-up to the deadline. And once the clock ran down into the final half-hour on Dempster, and once it became clear that the Dodgers weren't going to cave, that familiarity was clearly a tremendous asset in hammering out an agreement with the Rangers as quickly as possible.

Also, this was interesting:

Such a massive deal [for Beckett/Shoppach/Ellsbury] would have been difficult to complete, and the talks never got serious, a source said Wednesday morning. The talks for Beckett alone never got all that serious, either.

Per Jeff Wilson yesterday, the Rangers thought they had actually completed a deal for Beckett over the weekend, but it fell through ... that sounds like a deal that was fumbled at the five-yard line, like a deal that was right on the verge of coming together, and that would seem to run counter to Rosenthal's assertion that the talks were never all that serious.

Keith Law On The Ryan Dempster Trade

The most relevant part of his commentary:

Dempster could easily be worth two wins to Texas through the end of the season over what the Rangers would have gotten from the shattered remains of Roy Oswalt, which are being vacuumed off the Ballpark at Arlington mound as I write. That said, Dempster has been extremely lucky this season in several areas that are not actual skills, from a .245 batting average on balls in play to an extraordinarily high strand rate, and he has the worst ground ball rate of his career.

However, he has two strong offspeed weapons in a mid-80s slider that he throws for strikes (and throws quite often) and a low-80s splitter that functions like a hard changeup with some late tumble to keep hitters from elevating it. He's good enough to start a playoff game for Texas, but I don't think he's the No. 1 starter for which many Rangers fans were clamoring -- even though the team is four games up in the loss column and didn't need to pay that kind of price.

He also talks about Villaneuva and Hendricks, writing that the former boasts "major league potential as a plus defender with doubles power" while also clarifying that he was already blocked by Adrian Beltre and Mike Olt, and calling Hendricks more of an organizatoinal starter who may or may not play as a No. 5 starter at the big league level for the Cubs

I don't know that I'm overly optimistic on Dempster's chances of furnishing a two-win upgrade over Oswalt -- Dempster's at 2.2 fWAR in 104 IP this season, and is moving to a tougher league/ballpark on top of it, and if you assume that he can give the Rangers, say, another 70 innings down the stretch at that same fWAR pace from Chicago, that's about 1.4-1.5 fWAR of value. I realize Oswalt had been a problem for the Rangers, but to get to a two-win upgrade, you'd be talking about Dempster needing to sustain his Cubs pace for the Rangers and Oswalt needing to pitch like a replacement-level arm (or worse) down the stretch. I don't know that I buy that.

I can buy Dempster as at least a one-win upgrade, though, and that helps. 

Jim Bowden Proposes A Cliff Lee Trade!

Listed among his "must-do" trades for the purportedly rebuilding Phillies is, uh, this:

Cliff Lee to the Texas Rangers for RHP Martin Perez, SS Leury Garcia and 3B Mike Olt 

The Rangers need to overpay for a front-line starter to keep up with the Angels’ acquisition of Zack Greinke. Halladay, who is trying to rebound from injury, isn’t tradable, leaving Lee as the logical impact piece to move in order to add three pieces for the future. If they can get Olt to play third base (and he should be expendable with Adrian Beltre signed long-term in Texas), a middle-of-the rotation starter like Perez and a future shortstop like Leury Garcia (who is stuck behind Elvis Andrus and Jurickson Profar), the Phillies would be adding three potential future starters. 

As I tweeted a little bit ago:

Just so we're clear on the Lee contract, he's owed ~$8M for rest of '12, $25M/yr in '13-15, then a $27.5M option in '16 with a $12.5M buyout

— Joey Matches (@BBTiA) July 30, 2012

So, that's a total commitment of ~$110.5M thru '16 if the option vests/is picked up ($25.3M AAV), or ~$95.5M thru '15 if not ($28.3M AAV)

— Joey Matches (@BBTiA) July 30, 2012

Let's say Philly kicks in $40 million. That brings you to a ~$70.5 million obligation through 2016 IF the option vests/is picked up ($16.1M AAV), or a $55.5 million obligation through 2015 if the option doesn't vest and is declined ($16.5M AAV). Per Cot's, the option "becomes guaranteed if Lee 1) is not on the disabled list at end of 2015 season with injury to left elbow or left shoulder, and 2) has 200 IP in 2015 or 400 IP in 2014-15." I think it's likelier than not that the option vests, but that's just me.

So, that's $16-plus million per year for a mid-30s Lee, somebody who is having a very good but not great year peripherally speaking, but who still seems to be considered a front-line arm, and who has a clean bill of health and has held his velocity over the last couple of years. That's still a pretty substantial sum of money; the $40 million subsidy would at least give the Rangers a good chance of extracting some surplus value out of the deal, but, on the other side, you're giving up the second- and third-best prospects in one of baseball's strongest farm systems, so that's a ton of value going back Philly's way (plus Garcia, who has a shot at being a light-hitting but strong defense/speed shortstop in the majors).

For Bowden's proposed deal to have any shot of happening, I feel like Philly needs to kick in AT LEAST $30-40 million, and even then I'm squeamish over the possibility. And I just don't know that either the Rangers or the Phillies are going to be able to find anything resembling a middle ground here, regardless of whether Olt/Perez are involved in the discussion or not.

Josh Hamilton Has Lost Me

So, lest anyone accuse me of being unfair where Josh is concerned, I liked seeing this:

“It’s going to be good folks,” said Hamilton, who gave a ‘thumbs up’ and smiled for the cameras. “Fans out there: It’s going to be good. Just hang in there.” 

"I feel beat up," Hamilton said. "I see it more a physical day off. I'll get some treatment and things." 

Hamilton said he hit in the batting cages for two hours Saturday, working on things. He was upbeat at his locker and said the slump is both mental and physical.

Good. He needs to be much, much better. I'm glad he's putting in the work and getting a breather, seeing as how he's physically out of sorts.

The FWST, however, printed the rest of Josh's quotes, and I can't recall the last time I came away so confused from a simple string of player comments:

Hamilton said that he's in a good mood lately, and that he has come to realize that he has strayed from the priorities that keep his life in order, his faith being No. 1. Usually an open book, Hamilton stopped short of revealing what it is that is bothering him most.

"There's so much more involved. I don't know," he said. "I'm cool, man. I'm really good. The frustrating part is this [dealing with the media] and not being able to share everything with you guys. When the time is right, I'll be honest with you, you'll be right in the loop."

He said everything is good spiritually.

"I've been shown a lot of things over the past week," he said. "There's disobedience and there's obedience to God. I've been being disobedient. It may be a small thing to you, but it's a big thing to him. There's consequences. It's like a father and a kid. There are disciplines. You guys can chew on that and think about it."

I thought about it. I'm still lost. Anyone else got anything?

Josh Hamilton Isn't Playing Tonight

... for unknown reasons, at this point, although we can all wager a pretty good guess. The lineup:

2B Ian Kinsler 
SS Elvis Andrus 
3B Adrian Beltre 
RF Nelson Cruz 
DH David Murphy 
1B Michael Young 
C Mike Napoli 
LF Leonys Martin 
CF Craig Gentry

... and now, we have this:

No physical issues with Hamilton. Rangers just giving him a day.

— Anthony Andro (@aandro) July 28, 2012

Jaffe: Should The Rangers Trade Josh Hamilton?

Part of Jay's argument on why the Rangers should, at the very least, consider trading Josh Hamilton:

While trading a player in the throes of a slump isn’t ideal, Hamilton would instantly become the best bat on the market in terms of his overall 2012 production (.287/.356/.587 for a .315 True Average, 11th in the league), to say nothing of his track record (.306/.365/.548 career) or his upside. Even for a two-month rental, trading him would probably net a couple of top prospects, or a prospect and a usable stopgap outfielder. The Reds, for whom Hamilton played in 2007 (and for whom Hamilton’s “accountability partner,” Johnny Narron, worked), would be a good fit: they need a centerfielder (Drew Stubbs is struggling mightily). That said, their system was hit hard by the Mat Latos deal, and they’re said to desire a right-handed bat given that their righties have hit just .245/.300/.391 this year.

The Rays, who originally drafted Hamilton in 1999, could be another fit. Their offense has wheezed in the absence of Evan Longoria, they certainly have prospects that could be put towards the acquisition of a starting pitcher elsewhere, and could offer their own pending free agent outfielder, B.J. Upton, in return — or they could work out a blockbuster involving James Shields, whom the Rangers are said to be considering as an alternative to Zack Greinke.

This article is notable in part because I believe it's the first piece from a mainstream sports website -- and from a prodigious writer in Jaffe, who, just to be clear, I like a whole lot -- to seriously delve into the subject of trading Hamilton.

Anyway, yeah, sure, they can and should consider it. You can consider trading anyone at any time for the right price. I just can't fathom a contending team being amenable to moving a sufficient combination of present AND future talent to coax Texas into pulling the trigger, though, seeing as how Hamilton is still the most talented offensive player on a team that's fixated on winning a World Series. It seems like an incredibly difficult match to put together, and like the kind of trade that, in the end, both sides would probably end up regretting for different reasons. That's not even getting into the issue of how the players/coaching staff react if the Rangers were to move Hamilton in a deal where the bulk of the returning value was tied up in prospects, thereby diminishing the major league talent pool in yet another year where they're one of the best teams in baseball, and yet again intently focused on winning it all.

I don't know. I've been incredibly dismissive of the notion of the Rangers dealing Hamilton (so much so that I've embarked upon an all-caps rant or two in the chats), but I'm receptive to new ideas and new information, and I read Jay's piece in full to see if I could be persauded otherwise. That didn't really happen. He does note in his big finish that a Hamilton trade is "probably something that has less than a 10 percent chance of happening as things currently stand"; unless there is a serious, trade-necessitating problem brewing in the clubhouse with Hamilton, though, or unless the front office/coaching staff are so completely done with Hamilton that they can justify such an incongruous trade, I don't see the likelihood as being even that high. Put me down for a <2% chance of it happening, and even that is probably too high.

T.R. Sullivan's Latest Inbox

There's stuff on the notion of Felix Hernandez being traded (he suggests it would take something like Holland/Profar/Olt IF the Mariners are even open to dealing Felix), and the obligatory questions about whether the Rangers should trade Josh Hamilton or whether they should fire Scott Coolbaugh ... but there are two responses that are particularly interesting:

I was just wondering of all the candidates for the Rangers to get in a trade, which one would be most beneficial to Texas? Which one would you like seeing the Rangers acquire the most? 
-- Tony A., Austin, Texas

Zack Greinke. He is the one pitcher who could be a "difference maker" in the playoffs. The Brewers are determined to trade him and the Rangers are actively pursuing him. James Shields is a very good pitcher, but I'm not sure he would be a significant upgrade from what they have right now, or could potentially have when Neftali Feliz returns or if Alexi Ogando is moved to the rotation. Josh Johnson? No thank you. His numbers aren't overwhelming and his health is tenuous.

The answer on Johnson is interesting, because, from 2009-11, he was roughly a 5-6 win pitcher when healthy (regardless of whether you look at BR's or FanGraphs' version of the WAR statistic), and even in 2012, he's on track for a 5+ fWAR season. There are only two big knocks against his numbers: (a) his strikeout rate, which has declined from 9.1 K/9 to 8.4 K/9 to 7.9 K/9 over the last three seasons, and (b) his 2012 ERA, which is tricky to work through, because the underlying peripherals suggest that he's pitched quite a bit better this season than what is reflected by his ERA.

Anyway, my point is that, yeah, you CAN at least make the case that his numbers have been pretty overwhelming over the last few years when he's been on the field. No debate on the health point, but, if he's healthy, and if he can stay healthy (big if's, I know), I don't know that there's as much separation between the two as Sullivan suggests that there is. In fact:

Greinke, 2009-12: 744.0 IP, 125 ERA+, 17.0 bWAR, 22.2 fWAR
Johnson, 2009-12: 572.2 IP, 141 ERA+, 17.7 bWAR, 16.8 fWAR

Yeah, I think Greinke's quite a bit more appealing from a health standpoint, and he's having a better year than Johnson ... but I see a potential difference-maker in Johnson.

And the second matter:

While many of the Rangers' everyday players are slumping offensively, Michael Young in particular sticks out; he is clearly struggling and has been for weeks or months. Will the Rangers address this, or will they allow him to languish and jeopardize the team's chances of winning this year? 
-- Andy S., Bryan, Texas

The Rangers' stance on their offense is simple: they are going with the guys they have and they are going to trust their track record, because there is nobody out there available that would be a significant improvement. Not sure why Young sticks out over some of the other hitters in the lineup, but he is certainly one of several that need to get going. It is interesting that he hasn't drawn a walk since the All-Star break.

The Rangers' second-worst full-time offensive regular this season has been Nelson Cruz, at .258/.320/.438 with a 99 wRC+.

The Rangers' worst full-time offensive regular this season has been Michael Young, at .270/.299/.346 with a 67 wRC+.

Not to continue hitting a dead horse with a stick (I've already said all that I intend to say about that for the time being), but I would say that's a pretty good reason why Young sticks out over the other hitters in the lineup, or at least why he's perceived as having less leeway when he continues to struggle as the rest of the lineup hits an offensive skid. It also seems like this is one of those things that intensifies the frustration of the masses, and leads to an even harsher response towards Young in the blogosphere and through Twitter and the like -- that is, the beats and local columnists largely sidestepping and/or downplaying the awfulness of his season.