Split; Bad News, Good News

 Wrap, Box, Virginian-Pilot

Season: 4-7; Trip: 1-1
Wrap, Box, Virginian-Pilot

The Bulls split their series with the Norfolk Tides. The Bulls spoiled the Tides home opener on Saturday, but yesterday’s game was a bit of good news and bad news.

Bad news first: This is a very error-prone team. In fact, the Durham Bulls are the worst in the International League with 19 errors in 11 games. Of the 50 runs scored against the Bulls, 13 have been unearned.

Consider yesterday’s 5th inning. At that point the Bulls were ahead 2-0. However, a walk put a runner on 1B, an error by Taylor Motter (his fourth) put runners on 1st and 2nd. Before the inning was out those two runners scored as did one more. That was enough to win the game for the Tides.

Which leads us to the good news, even if it is a bit odd. Young Dylan Floro pitched a complete game loss. He had a terrific game allowed just four hits and one earned run over 8 innings.

Dylan Floro came to the Bulls with an impressive résumé spending 2012, 2013, and 2014 coming up through the Rays system. His manager at Charlotte was the young Jared Sandberg. Last year he had some very nice numbers in 28 starts (a WHIP of 1.307) and he’s doing even better this year (WHIP 0.895). So keep an eye on the schedule if you want to see some interesting pitching.

Both pitchers were exceptionally efficient. Game time was just 2:11.

Outside the game —

• Kirby Yates is back on the Bulls’ roster and he pitched an inning in Saturday’s win. Mr. Yates was an exceptional reliever for the Bulls last year and we did not expect to see him back ever again. Here’s hoping that his time with the Bulls is both productive and brief. Not clear why he’s here, but the Rays are nothing if not confusing regarding their pitching turmoil this year.
• Brandon Gomes, who was doing OK in four appearances as a Bull, 5⅓ innings, WHIP of 1.312, is back on the Rays 40-man roster and back with the Rays. The Rays Designated for Assignment former Bull (15 games in 2008) Grant Balfour. I can’t imagine a circumstance where he would end up with the Bulls.
• Mayo Acosta returned from Hudson Valley.

Durham Bulls Open With a Win

Season: 1-0; Trip: 1-0
Wrap, Box, Gwinnett Daily Post

Nice start for the Bulls, especially the pitching. Young (24) Dylan Floro threw six innings of 1-hit, shutout ball in his first game in Triple A. Can’t ask for anything better than that. Brandon Gomes followed with two innings (and 3 Ks) and then José Dominguez closed it out. No walks at all. Plus the game wrapped up at 2 hours, 10 minutes. Looks like the speed-up rules might be making a difference.

Meanwhile Joey Butler got the only run of the game with his home run in the 2nd inning. Butler comes to the Bulls after a career mostly in the Texas system. [stats] Look to see him in the outfield and as a DH this year. With a lifetime AAA OPS of .872, he’s got some pop. Could be a fun guy to watch this year.

Catcher Luke Maile, who spent last year in Montgomery, showed off his arm by throwing out Gwinnett’s Eury Perez.

Overall, however, Gwinnett’s pitching kept the Bulls quiet. Only Butler and Vince Belnome had multi-hit games.

Outside the game —

• As mentioned yesterday, Allan Dykstra was called up to the Rays.
• The Rays signed Alexi Casilla and assigned him to the Bulls. The 30-year old Casilla spent most of last year with the Norfolk Tides as a middle infielder. He may join the team today.
• Missing will be outfielder Mikie Mahtook, who, as reported earlier this morning, will be in a Rays uniform tonight.

The Durham Bulls in 2014 — The Pitchers — Part 2

This wraps up our series of four posts digging in to the individual stats of 2014's Durham Bulls. For an overview of team stats see our earlier post here. The posts on the hitters begins here, and Part 1 of this series can be reached by this link.

In addition to the players listed in this post, we will be reproducing the table from Part 1 sorted on different stats. The player discussions have been sorted by innings pitched.

Durham Bulls 2014 Pitchers Sorted by ERA

Name	Age	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	WHIP
Kirby Yates*	27	1	0	0.36	21	0	16	25.0	0.76
C.J. Riefenhauser*	24	3	3	1.40	39	0	1	57.2	1.14
Jeff Beliveau*	27	0	0	1.50	30	0	11	36.0	0.92
Adam Liberatore	27	6	1	1.66	54	0	4	65.0	0.89
Brad Boxberger*	26	1	0	1.93	6	0	2	9.1	0.86
Steve Geltz*	26	3	3	2.38	29	0	1	41.2	1.06
Jimmy Patterson	25	1	1	2.70	5	1	0	10.0	1.30
Merrill Kelly	25	9	4	2.76	28	15	0	114.0	1.26
Cory Burns*	26	2	2	2.77	7	0	1	13.0	1.54
Juan Sandoval	33	0	1	3.12	14	1	1	26.0	1.35
Jake Thompson	24	4	1	3.15	24	1	0	34.1	1.54
Josh Lueke	29	0	1	3.38	32	0	12	37.1	1.10
Brandon Gomes*	29	0	2	3.62	27	0	0	37.1	1.29
Doug Mathis	31	2	3	3.63	26	3	0	67.0	1.64
Matt Andriese	24	11	8	3.77	28	25	0	162.1	1.24
Alex Colome*	25	7	6	3.77	15	15	0	86.0	1.33
Juan Carlos Oviedo*	32	0	0	3.86	7	0	0	7.0	0.86
Mike Montgomery*	24	10	5	4.29	25	25	0	126.0	1.31
Enny Romero*	23	5	11	4.50	25	25	0	126.0	1.43
Nathan Karns*	26	9	9	5.08	27	27	0	145.1	1.40
Jeremy Hellickson*	27	1	4	7.23	5	5	0	18.2	2.30
Braulio Lara	25	0	3	9.00	9	0	0	11.0	1.73

Data sources are BaseballReference.com and Fangraphs. Players marked with an asterisk were on the Tampa Bay Rays 40-man roster. Continuing from Part 1:

C. J. Riefenhauser* (LHRP) (57.2 innings, 39 appearances) typically came in for one or two innings. He put together a solid year with a very nice ERA of 1.40, the second best on the team after Kirby Yates’ amazing 0.36. He was called up for two games in April for his major league debut and for five appearances in September. He also had about two weeks on the DL in May. Seems to have a bright future in the Rays system. Expect him to start with the Bulls next year, unless they saw something they either liked or disliked in September. A left-handed reliever is always welcome. Stats.

Steve Geltz* (RHRP) (41.2 innings, 29 appearances) sat out for a 50-game drug use suspension that began in May. He was a steady presence thereafter with a decent 2.38 ERA and an exceptional WHIP of 1.06. The Rays called him up before the Bulls went into the playoffs and put him to work. He made 13 appearances in September for the Rays. Would love to have him back, but he may stick with the Rays. Stats.

Josh Lueke (RHRP) (37.1 innings, 32 appearances) joined the Bulls from the Rays in mid-June, immediately assuming the closer role he had shared with Kirby Yates in 2013. Solid stats with 12 saves (but 3 blown saves), and a decent WHIP of 1.10. Near the end of the season he pretty much switched to a set-up role as Adam Liberatore got some save opportunities. The Rays seem to have lost confidence in Mr. Lueke, so it is hard to say if he will be back next year. My guess is that he will opt for free agency. Owner of one of the oddest official photos on baseballreference.com. Stats.

Brandon Gomes* (RHRP) (37.1 innings, 27 appearances) also started the season with the Rays.  He was sent down in May and spent the rest of the season with the Bulls. He had one game with the Rays in August and went back up in early September. He had 8 appearances during the September for the Rays. As a Bull his numbers were below average for the bullpen crew. Stats.

Jeff Beliveau* (LHRP) (36 innings, 30 appearances) had a breakout year. Terrific numbers: 1.50 ERA and a superb 0.92 WHIP, not to mention 11 saves. He made a couple of April appearances with the Rays and then went up to stay in late July where he has done just fine in short relief. We don’t expect to see him back with the Bulls and wish him the best. Stats.

Durham Bulls 2014 Pitchers Sorted by Walks/Hits Inning Pitched

Name	Age	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	WHIP
Kirby Yates*	27	1	0	0.36	21	0	16	25.0	0.76
Brad Boxberger*	26	1	0	1.93	6	0	2	9.1	0.86
Juan Carlos Oviedo*	32	0	0	3.86	7	0	0	7.0	0.86
Adam Liberatore	27	6	1	1.66	54	0	4	65.0	0.89
Jeff Beliveau*	27	0	0	1.50	30	0	11	36.0	0.92
Steve Geltz*	26	3	3	2.38	29	0	1	41.2	1.06
Josh Lueke	29	0	1	3.38	32	0	12	37.1	1.10
C.J. Riefenhauser*	24	3	3	1.40	39	0	1	57.2	1.14
Matt Andriese	24	11	8	3.77	28	25	0	162.1	1.24
Merrill Kelly	25	9	4	2.76	28	15	0	114.0	1.26
Brandon Gomes*	29	0	2	3.62	27	0	0	37.1	1.29
Jimmy Patterson	25	1	1	2.70	5	1	0	10.0	1.30
Mike Montgomery*	24	10	5	4.29	25	25	0	126.0	1.31
Alex Colome*	25	7	6	3.77	15	15	0	86.0	1.33
Juan Sandoval	33	0	1	3.12	14	1	1	26.0	1.35
Nathan Karns*	26	9	9	5.08	27	27	0	145.1	1.40
Enny Romero*	23	5	11	4.50	25	25	0	126.0	1.43
Jake Thompson	24	4	1	3.15	24	1	0	34.1	1.54
Cory Burns*	26	2	2	2.77	7	0	1	13.0	1.54
Doug Mathis	31	2	3	3.63	26	3	0	67.0	1.64
Braulio Lara	25	0	3	9.00	9	0	0	11.0	1.73
Jeremy Hellickson*	27	1	4	7.23	5	5	0	18.2	2.30

Jake Thompson (RHRP) (34.1 innings, 24 appearances) came up from the Montgomery Biscuits on 6 April and did a decent job for the Bulls, but he missed a month in the middle of the season and only made 4 appearances in August (although he did pitch in the postseason). Not very good numbers for the 24 year old, 3.15 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. Nevertheless, if healthy, expect him back next year. Stats.

Juan Sandoval (RHRP) (26 innings, 14 appearances) started the season with the Bulls, but the 33 year-old was released in late May. He went on to pitch in the Mexican Triple A league for the rest of the year where he put up some impressive numbers. Stats.

Kirby Yates* (RHRP) (25 innings, 21 appearances) banged the door open to the Rays with his 0.36 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, and 16 saves over the first two months of the season. He did OK with them in 37 appearances, but his ERA as a major leaguer jumped up quite a bit, as did his WHIP. We don’t want to try to predict what the Rays might do. We would be more than happy to see him pitching for the Bulls, but that surely isn’t what Mr. Yates would want. Stats.

Jeremy Hellickson* (RHSP) (18.2 innings, 5 games) came to the Bulls on a rehab assignment as he was working his way back to the Rays starting rotation. He became something of a poster child for the downside of being a minor league fan. The net effect of his time with the Bulls was that he lost four games and thoroughly messed up the Bulls rotation. Looking back at the pitching charts we put up a few days ago, the rise you see in the starting pitching ERA pretty much matches Mr. Hellickson’s arrival with his ERA of 7.23 and WHIP of 2.30. It seemed to take the rest of the year to recover. Back with the Rays they have been better, but not by much. Stats.

Cory Burns* (RHRP) 13 innings, 7 appearances) came to the Bulls from the Montgomery Biscuits in mid-August. Plus he had three post-season appearances. Looked OK to me and I was expecting to see him with the Bulls next year. But apparently not. He was reportedly claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays after the Rays put him on waivers. Stats.

Braulio Lara (LHRP) (11 innings, 9 appearances) came up from Montgomery in early May, stayed about a month, did not do very well, and went back to Montgomery. He did not do all that well there either. We don’t expect him back next year, but lefties get lots of breaks so I could be wrong. Stats.

Jim Patterson (LHRP) (10 innings, 5 appearances) also came up from Montgomery for a couple of weeks in May. Did OK and went back. His year in Montgomery was not all that impressive. Not sure we will see him again. Stats.

Brad Boxberger* (RHRP) (9.1 innings, 6 appearances) started the season with the Bulls, put up some big numbers, went up to the Rays, and didn’t come back. He had a pretty good year with the Rays as well. Stats.

Juan Carlos Oviedo (RHRP) (7 innings, 7 appearances) was technically on a rehab assignment as the year started. He did his thing for one inning at a time in April (and did it very well, I might add) and went on up to the Rays. Fun to watch while he was here. He was released by the Rays in August. If he signed anywhere else I haven't found it yet. Stats.

—————— 

Here endeth the WDBB baseball geek stuff for 2014. Not that we won't be keeping an eye on the Bulls and adding a bit more — notably announcing the winners of the 2014 Moonlight Graham Awards — but as far as number-crunching goes, this is it folks.

Split; Roster Turmoil

Season: 64-61; Trip: 1-3
Wrap, Box 1, Box 2, Democrat & Chronicle

Lots of transactions and player shuffling over the last couple of days. But first these two screwy, and long, games.

The first one was a resumption of Tuesday’s game when the rains came down and the game was stopped after the second inning. That meant the Bulls came into the night to play their fourth double header in a week. That’s a lot of baseball and a lot of turmoil. Then, to top if off, the Bulls blew a 3 run lead and the game dragged on into the 11th inning before Mike Fontenot doubled and Vince Belnome went all the way from first base to home. Vince is not the quickest guy on the Bulls, but by the time he rounded third he had worked up a real head of team. Not real sure Charlie Montoyo could have stopped him. But he didn't try. He was waving his arms like a berserk windmill. Nevertheless, the Bulls had 15 hits over two nights and certainly one of their best hitting games in a long while.

Speaking of Charlie, he got tossed a few minutes later after Justin Christian got hit on the third inside pitch of his at bat. Very ugly words exchanged, most notably between Christian and a Red Wings fan whom the umps didn’t notice that Christian was inviting down into the dugout.

Speaking of fans, I gave up around the 4th inning of the second game, near midnight. I could see at least two, maybe three, fans left in the stadium. Gotta admit that 16 innings of baseball, even if you’re winning the second game, is a bit much.

Is Wil Myers to become a base stealer, or just having fun? He stole two in the first game (didn’t play in the second one). Noticed that in addition to his major league helmet, he’s in the long trousers worn by most, but not all, the Rays.

Players moving around —

• Let’s start with Tim Beckham. He was an important part of last year’s championship team. He started out at 2B, then played most of the rest of the year at shortstop after Hak-Ju Lee’s injury. He was in 122 games last year and had excellent numbers. Plus, he did OK in a September callup. He ripped up his knee in training over the winter and has finally made his way back. His opening night at second base was pretty darn good, 4 for 6 with 3 runs scored, and an RBI. Playing second base.
• Also moving onto the roster was Cory Burns a right-handed reliever, up from the Rays AA team, the Montgomery Biscuits. Burns has a bunch of Triple-A experience. [stats] He’s been doing just fine as a short reliever in Montgomery. The question might be how come he was there in the first place. Burns came on for 2+ innings in the second game, gave of three hits, but no runs and K’d two batters.
• Moving off the roster was Robby Price and Doug Mathis, both to the Hudson Valley roster, meaning that they can’t play in a Bulls uniform, but they are still traveling with the squad.
• Then Brandon Gomes was called to the Rays (and he appeared last night for two scoreless innings to close out the Rays/Rangers game).
• And Cole Figueroa is coming back. Mr. Figueroa is one of my favorite players and as much as I have hoped that he’s enjoyed bringing home the huge major league money (compared to Triple A money), I have worried about his lack of playing time with the Rays. He’s mostly been on the bench since his last callup. He does join the crowd of infielders on the Bulls roster. The Bulls now have six ballplayers who range from pretty good to excellent middle infielders — Figueroa, Fontenot, Franklin, Lee, Olmedo, and Beckham, and that doesn’t count Wilson Betemit who is a decent third baseman, and Robby Price who just went off the roster. What’s happening is that some of them are spending time in the outfield (Ray Olmedo was in left field for the first game last night). 
• At any rate, I’m happy to see Cole Figueroa and Tim Beckham back. I’d guess that Charlie’s going to have a tough time filling out a lineup. The odd man out, from a performance perspective, is young Hak-Ju Lee. He’s having a terrible year. Would it help for him to spend some time in Montgomery? Don’t know. What’s obvious from the stands is that he’s not hitting well at all and that he’s using is arm to compensate for not very good footwork in the field.

A Loss; A Win

Season: 62-55; Home Stand: 1-1; Home Games Remaining: 15
Wrap, Box 1, Box 2, Bisons

We are struggling almost as much as Bulls pitching to find something good to say about the first game last night. How about quirky instead?

In the 2nd inning Ali Solis was up there with one strike on him and the Bisons’ pitcher bounced one in the dirt in front of home plate. The ball hit Solis’ bat, went foul, and Solis had a second strike called on him. He swung at the next pitch, missed, and was out.

Also, good to see Jake Thompson back from the DL. Would have been nice for the Bulls or Rays to let fans know why he was on the DL in the first place, but that’s not what they do. And media apparently never asked either. He pitched just two thirds of an inning and left two runners on base for Doug Mathis, but Mathis kept them from scoring.

But nothing good to say about either Merrill Kelly’s or Brandon Gomes’ evening.

And then it drug on for almost 3 hours. Knowing another game was in the offing, we left and watched the second game on TV.

There we saw a terrific performance by Enny Romero. No secret that Mr. Romero has not been our favorite Bulls pitcher this year, but last night was superb. Six innings of one hit, shutout ball was very impressive.

Also impressive was new guy Nick Franklin. There was his game-winning home run and some very nice play at second base (game 1) and shortstop (game 2). That included his slick beginning of the double play that ended the game. He’s off to a slow start at bat, but the homer helps. And he seems to be a class act. After he was called out for his “star of the game” interview at the end of the game, he went out of his way to acknowledge the fans who had stuck in there (it was about 11:30 by then)

Quirky in Game 2? Well, I don’t recall seeing a pitcher call out an ump as forcefully as Josh Lueke did home ump Seth Buckminster in the last inning. I’d bet he wasn’t ever going to get a called third strike after that, so probably good he got a double play behind him to clear the bases and end the inning and game.

Outside the game —

• Saw Tampa Bay’s Wil Myers in the dugout. The Herald-Sun is reporting that Myers worked out with the team Thursday and will do so again today. Then start playing on a rehab assignment. Possibly for as long as two weeks. 

Karns emerging; Knights Matchup

Season: 58-50; Home Stand: 3-4; Standings
Wrap, Box

The first several starts of Nathan Karns were not very impressive, but July has been terrific, with four wins and a no-decision. Notable last night was the sheer efficiency of his pitching. WDBB’s back-of-the-envelope measure of efficiency, pitches per out, was a spectacular 4.29 last night. Add to that his 7 K’s and it was all good.

As were Brandon Gomes, after he gave up of leadoff triple, and Adam Liberatore. A puzzle to us was why, after striking out the first two batters of the 9th, Liberatore was pulled for Josh Lueke. Lueke did finish out with a K after allowing a Joe Bateman-ish double, but we couldn’t figure out why he was out there at all.

At the plate, a very good night. Notably Justin Christian’s two doubles and single; Ali Solis' (!) and Wilson Betemit's (opposite field) home runs; and Mikie Mahtook’s breaking of mini-slump with a couple of singles.

The Mud Hens seem overstocked with left-handed pitching, with all four starters this series being lefties. Overall, the Bulls have not been doing so well against lefties the year, but the last two games’s 28 hits holds out some hope.

Outside the game —

• Sometimes it takes us a while to notice things, but it finally sunk in that Mikie Mahtook has been playing right field and Justin Christian playing center field the last three games. Right field was Mahtook's spot early in the season when Kevin Kiermaier held center field, and this might be some sort of Montoyo matching up going on. On the other hand, the Rays are more likely to need a corner outfielder before they need a center fielder, so could be they want to keep Mahtook working out there. Of course, the DBAP's left field doesn’t prepare anyone for anywhere, except maybe Fenway.
• The Rays have DFA’d starting pitcher Erik Bedard. That puts two of their players in DFA Limbo, Bedard and Juan Carlos Oviedo. Even though Bedard did pitch a game at the beginning of the season for the Durham Bulls (4 innings, no decision, 7 April), it’s hard to imagine that he would return. As for Oviedo, maybe.
• After a long, long trial, the turf at the DBAP seems to have finally established itself. Beautiful. This has been a tough slog for Scott Strickland and his crew — over six months. But it looks great at last!

Matchup

The Charlotte Knights are poster children for the importance of pitching. They lead the entire International League in OPS (On Base Percentage plus Slugging) and have a pretty good 4th place batting average. On the other hand, their team ERA is the league-worst and their won-lost percentage puts them a decimal point from the bottom in the league. Lately, however, they have been doing quite well.

Charts — Durham Bulls Pitchers

The Bulls have had lot of pitchers so far this year, including a couple who are with Tampa Bay at the moment. The charts include ones with them now, or ones who might be coming back.

• Erik Bedard only pitched one game before being called up.
• Kirby Yates put in 21appearances and I’m leaving him on the charts because he could be back.
• Brad Boxberger is on his third visit to Tampa Bay and looks like he’s going to stick. 
• Juan Carlos Oviedo’s seven 1-inning appearances with the Bulls were officially rehab status.
• Jeff Beliveau has made three trips to join Tampa Bay (he’s pitched 2 innings for them).
• Juan Sandoval was released back near the end of May.
• C.J. Riefenhauser has made one trip to Tampa Bay and was on the disabled list for a couple of weeks in May.
• Jim Patterson came up from Montgomery, made 5 reasonably successful appearances, and went back.
• Braulio Lara came up from Montgomery, made 9 not very successful appearances, and went back.
• Brandon Gomes was optioned down from the Rays near the end of May.
• Josh Lueke came down in mid-June.

Add another rehab and a couple of position players thrown to the wolves and all together, 24 different ball players have been on the mound of the Durham Bulls this year. In 2013, 26 different guys pitched. The Bulls are on their way a new record? By the way, the Rays have had 20 different pitchers this year.

click on chart for larger image

I’m not a big fan of the Fielding Independent Pitching stat for minor leaguers for a couple of reasons, one of them being that I’m not sure I trust the constant value (in this case 3.2). Still, if FIP is an estimate of future performance then Adam Liberatore and Brandon Gomes are looking good. A couple of others, not so much. What jumps out is that two of the starters, Enny Romero and Nate Karns, simply aren’t doing very well no matter how you measure their performance. And the starters as a whole are a full 1.5 runs worse than the relievers as a group.

Walks/Hits per Inning Pitched is an interesting pitching stat and sometimes brings a different perspective. In this case, the bottom three (Mathis, Gomes, and Thompson) seemed to be doing better in terms of overall results. Not surprised to see Romero and Karns near the bottom though.

Lastly, in the just for fun category, is a chart of pitches made per out. Our home-brewed measure of efficiency. Sample size (Gomes and Geltz) may matter quite a bit here, but certainly Romero and Mathis are working awfully hard to get through their innings.

More from Moore

Season: 45-37; Home Stand: 2-5
Wrap, Box

As we mentioned yesterday, the stats on the new Durham Bull Jeremy Moore weren’t all that promising, but it seems that he was injured at the end of spring training. Looking back, some of the bloggers were putting him in contention to stick with the Rays at the end of spring. He’s certainly making his mark. An RBI double in the 2nd inning and a beautiful grand slam in the 5th accounted for five of the Bulls’ runs in the game. So let’s welcome him to the team. And let’s not forget catcher Curt Casali, who had two RBIs, or Ray Olmedo, who had the other one. A good night for Bulls hitters.

As regular readers will know, we like Matt Andriese a lot and we were very pleased to see him come back from his absolutely awful start of a few days ago. Six strong innings, followed by some of Brandon Gomes’ best work since he re-joined the Bulls

And then there was Steve Geltz. We like him. We liked his work as a pitcher last year. After 50 games away from the team on a drug suspension we didn’t expect much, but he simply blew three batters away. His return creates a roster problem once Alex Colome is on his way back from the Rays after tonight’s game in Baltimore. Geltz sure made his statement that he belongs with the Bulls.

Cannot pass up the chance to point out the game's quirk. Bottom of the 7th, two outs, Ali Solis batting as DH. Solis hits a "towering" pop up over shortstop Robert Andino's head. Solis does what he's supposed to do, he runs it out. In fact, he keeps on going until he's halfway to second base. That tells you a bit about how "towering" the pop up was. And, you know where's this is going, Andino dropped the ball, picked it up, and began a run down of Solis, who was eventually tagged out. What coach has ever said, "Run it out, but wait on first base just in case he drops the ball?"

Strike 'Em Out; Throw 'Em Out

Season: 35-23; Home Stand: 3-0
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

The thrill of the game (for me, at least) came on the very last play(s). Jeff Beliveau on the mound in the 9th inning (he of the 0.00 ERA). Runner on 1B by way of a lead-off walk. But Mr. Beliveau gets to two outs an out (fly ball to left field) and up to 3-2 on the batter. Runner goes. Batter strikes out looking. Catcher Curt Casali pegs out the runner. Games ends on a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play that was a kick. Beliveau’s ERA still 0.00 and he now has 6 saves.

Meanwhile, earlier in the game, Enny Romero had his best start is a very long time. Just one earned run over 6⅔ innings. Vast improvement over his last game, actually over his last seven games. And then Brandon Gomes had a nice outing of four K’s after giving up a hit. He’s a real asset to the Bulls, but you have to think he won’t be with the team all that long.

I made a note to myself that the IronPigs can’t seem to sort out their middle infield crew, and yet they also kept the ‘Pigs in the game with two very timely double plays. So could be just a matter of the manager making do with a short roster.

All the Bulls' scoring came in the 2nd, when they put up four runs on a walk, single, and two doubles.

The oddity of the game was seeing infielder Jason Nix at 1B and Wilson Betemit playing 3B. There is no reference to Nix ever playing 1B in his minor or major league career. But he did a decent job. Wonder where he got his glove?

For Betemit, however, he just hasn’t played much 3B for the Bulls. He’s played that position quite a bit over the years and looked just fine at it yesterday.

Outside the game —

• Meanwhile the Gwinnett Braves lost again. The Bulls are now 12 games above .500 (the best so far this year) and 4.5 games ahead of the Braves in the standings.
• The Rays continue their downward slide. Unfortunately the three most recent additions from the Bulls — Sands, Kiermaier, and Solis — have not been able to help very much. Sands and Kiermaier were hitless yesterday and Solis did not play (although he was report to be OK after the boink into his nose on Saturday.
• I think I mentioned that the Rays found a place on their 40-man by putting infielder Tim Beckham on the 60-day Disabled List. At one point we were worried that the middle infield could get a bit crowded with Fontenot, Olmedo, Nix, Lee, and Price leaving little room for Beckham. But that problem has been put off for a while.
• A note yesterday pointed out that the 11 callups so far this year match the total number of callups for all of last year.

Rosterification

I'm sure that all will be made clear, perhaps by Patrick Kinas, but here's a list of the transactions since the Bulls left town a couple of days ago:

• RHP Brandon Gomes: Assigned to Durham Bulls from Tampa Bay
• RHP Jim Patterson: Assigned from Durham Bulls to Montgomery Biscuits
• RHP Doug Mathis: Assigned to extended spring training
• RHP Juan Sandoval: Released (Note: I liked Sandoval. I hope he finds work. From the stands, he looked to be a better pitcher than Mathis and he had slightly better stats.)
• RHP Alex Colome: Finished suspension, assigned to Durham Bulls, scheduled to start 5/26
• RHP Alex Colome: Called up to Tampa Bay (hope he has passport with him, the Rays are in Toronto)
• RHP Doug Mathis: Called back from extended spring training.

What's really, really weird about this is that if you follow the Rays/Bulls closely this sort of makes sense, but only if Colome was showing some impressive stuff while in his "rehab". On the other hand, it's got to work on the heads of these guys, at least a little bit.

Oh, tonight's starting pitcher is now listed as Merrill Kelly. It was his turn in the rotation when Colome was first listed.

Update: Turns out that Rays outfielder Brandon Guyer broke his thumb yesterday and is going on the 15-day DL. That made room for Colome, but have to think that the Rays will eventually reach out for a position player. But Kiermaier is the only outfielder on the Rays 40-man. Gonna be interesting.

Durham Bulls Back in First Place

Wrap, Box, Columbus Dispatch

Season: 28-21; Trip: 2-0

Wrap, Box

Last week, last Saturday to be exact, the Bulls lost to Indianapolis and fell out of first place in the International League South Division. They’re back. With last night’s win (and Gwinnett’s loss) they are ½ game in front. [IL Standings] Good news.

Back at the beginning of the season I had the opportunity for a short chat with a couple of Bulls players. I asked them which pitcher should I watch this year. Who had an “arm”. One of them just shrugged, but the other thought for a moment and then said, “Andriese.” After these last three starts of his, it may be that he was on to something. Last night Matt Andriese went 7 innings (100 pitches) and it sounded like he was in control almost all of the way. That let Adam Liberatore come on in the 8th and strike out the side and Jeff Beliveau, he of the astounding ERA after 14 appearances (0.00) came on and added his 3 Ks to the total.

Nice to see Kevin Kiermaier back in center field (he delivered the winning hit as a pinch hitter the previous night). Vince Belnome continued his return to form with a 1 for 2 and 2BB night. Nice to see everyone on the roster above the Mendoza line (.200). That’s a recent, and very welcome, development.

Outside the game —

• Not sure we’ve mentioned all these roster changes: Pitcher Jim Patterson has been sent back to the Montgomery Biscuits. Pitcher Doug Mathis has been assigned to extended spring training. Brandon Gomes is with the Bulls and pitching in relief. Kevin Kiermaier is back.
• Long time WDBB favorite Elliot Johnson is playing for the Columbus Clippers. He started the season with the Cleveland Indians, was designated for assignment, passed through waivers, and accepted assignment to the Clippers early in the month. Mr. Johnson put in most of three years with the Durham Bulls and stands very high on WDBB’s Greatest Bulls Hitters leaderboard. [WDBB] Since leaving the Bulls he has played in the majors for the Rays, the Royals, Atlanta and Cleveland. [Baseball Ref]
• Speaking of former Bulls, Shelley Duncan, a important part of last year’s championship team [WDBB], is back in the game and playing in the International League. He just signed with the Reds and is now playing for the Louisville Bats, joining with Jason Bourgeois on that team, also of the 2013 Durham Bulls championship team. [MLB Rumors]
• Cole Figueroa had a spectacular moment last night playing for the Rays. Just check out the game video and you’ll see. [MLB.com] He came on in the bottom of the 9th as a pinch-hitter and hit a game-winning RBI double.

Matchup: Durham Bulls vs. Columbus Clippers

The Bulls fly into Columbus, Ohio today for four games against Cleveland’s AAA franchise, the Columbus Clippers. The Clippers are dead even in the won-loss column, but holding on to second place in the IL West Division. The Bulls split a four game series against them at the DBAP just a couple of weeks ago. Since then the Bulls have won just 6 games out of 15, slipping to second place in the IL. During that time the Clippers have won 8 games out of 15.

The Bulls still hold an advantage in most statistical categories. They will be adding Brandon Gomes to relief crew and Kevin Kiermaier is due back soon.

Tough Loss

Season: 26-20; Home Stand: 4-3

Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

Well that was a disappointing loss. The links have most of the info. Note that Merrill Kelly left the game with a cramp in his hand. Hope that is not serious.

Most of the time we don’t second guess Montoyo and Allen. That’s because they are almost always right. But from the stands it sure seems that with 14 pitchers on the roster that it didn’t make sense for Adam Liberatore to go back out in the 10th. Of course, it perhaps didn’t make all that much sense for him to go out at all.

Jim Patterson hasn’t pitched since his committee start back on May 12th in Scranton. Others who might have been available were Lara, Mathis, and Sandoval. But we’ll never know and maybe that’s a good thing.

Overall, lots of ifs in this one, including the four runners left in scoring position and the two caught stealing.

Because of the oversupply of pitchers, the Bulls only had two position players in the dugout near the end of the game.

Outside the game — 

• For reasons known only to the Bulls (and probably the Rays) Doug Mathis is starting today instead of Enny Romero. We’ll probably hear something about that eventually.
• We have read that Rays reliever Brandon Gomes is on his way to Durham. That will mean 15 pitchers in the bullpen (usual number is 13). Gomes spent much of 2011 and 2012 with the Bulls and was back with the team last year for a while. Not entirely clear why he’s back again.
• Robby Price has already been moved to Hudson Valley in a paper transaction.
• Rays catcher Ryan Hanigan still isn’t playing. Rays may go out and buy someone, or Ali Solis may end up packing his gear. Mayo Acosta is, I think, still around the Bulls dugout.
• Kevin Kiermaier is still with the Rays, implying that Desmond Jennings not yet back from his bereavement leave.

Update: The reason Romero isn't pitching is that it's only been three days since his last time out, when he pitched the first game of a double-header. That messed up my spreadsheet. Apologies to anyone who noticed and was wondering.

The Durham Bulls in 2013 — Pitchers — Part 2

This continues our look at the Durham Bulls pitchers for 2013. They are discussed in the innings-pitched sequence shown in the table in Part 1. Charts in this post exclude a couple of pitchers who will be discussed when we get to them: Craig Albernaz, Matt Moore, Austin Hubbard, and Braulio Lara.

Durham Bulls Pitchers, 2013
click for larger image

Steve Geltz (RHRP) came to the Bulls out of the Angels system and made his first appearance with the team on April 6 (and got one of his 5 wins). He had the most innings of any of the relief corps (67) and appeared in 41 games. He was arguably the best of the relievers (not counting the closer crew of Lueke and Yates, but even there Geltz had 3 saves). Middle relievers are notoriously hard to evaluate. But Geltz has two stats that jump out at you. His Walks and Hits Per Inning Pitched (WHIP) was an impressive 0.85, the best on the team among the regular pitchers, and his ERA was 2.82. The majority of games he appeared in the Bulls won (26 out of 41). The mystery will be, of course, if he can get a contract and an invitation to spring training next year. He should. Stats.

Kirby Yates (RHRP) had a great year, as we’ve discussed a few times. If he seemed a bit tired near the end, he did pick up four (!) saves in postseason play. Stunning WHIP, ERA, and FIP numbers over his 61⅔ innings and 51 appearances. Fortunately for the Bulls, if not for him, he was not on the 40-man, so he was with the Bulls all year. Next year? The Bulls can hope. The Rays may be coming up on a decision time for him. Stats.

Adam Liberatore (LHRP) was in a lot of games (43) for quite a few innings (60) mostly in short relief and occasionally in a left-on-left situation. Most years we have not seen the Bulls play matchup very often, but this year when there were sometimes four lefties available (Liberatore, Beliveau, De Los Santos, and Riefenhauser) we saw more matchup appearances. His numbers are sort of middle of the pack for the 2013 Bulls, which means they are pretty good. A particularly low FIP of 2.42 means that the coaches are likely to be talking about what else he’s got. He could make it to the 40-man or be part of a trade package in the off-season. Stats.

Josh Lueke (RHRP) did a terrific job for the Bulls all year, making him and Kirby Yates an almost unbeatable team at the end of a game. His 17 saves matched up with Yates’ 20. Lueke got called up 4 times during the year. He appeared in 19 games for the Rays with an ERA of 5.06 and a WHIP of 1.64, nothing approaching his numbers for the Bulls. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like the Rays were using him in save situations. A very deliberate presence on the mound, he could be irritating if you were ready to go home, but going home with a win was worth it. Not on first round post-season roster for Rays. Stats.

Chris Archer (RHSP) started the season with the Durham Bulls and pitched in 10 games, not particularly successfully. But he was very likely working on specific pitches and waiting for his opportunity with the Rays. When that came in late May, he was off and not looking back. As a Ray he’s accumulated a very respectable (great!) 9-7 record, ERA 3.22 over 23 starts. He is on the Rays’ post-season roster and will be starting one of the early games of the ALDS. We won’t see him back in Durham except as a visitor. Stats.

Cory Wade (RHRP) was a Bull back in 2011 and we were pleased to see the Bulls pick him up during the confusion of mid-May. We also thought he’d be working hard to get back on a major league team. He did just fine, including several crucial spot starts. His ERA of 2.17 over 30 games and 50 innings was superb, the third best among the regulars. When it apparently became clear to him in late August that he was not going to get added to the Rays’ 40-man, he was released. He finishied out the season with the New York Mets Triple-A team, the Las Vegas 51s. Maybe he will make it back as a Met next year. Stats.

Alex Torres (LHSP/RP) has been with the Bulls for parts of three seasons. We have been quite critical of the young man, especially as he struggled through last season with an ERA of 7.30 over 26 games and 69 innings. Rumor at the beginning of 2013 was that he had worked something out over the winter. That was surely the way it looked in his 9 games he started with the Bulls this spring. His ERA wasn’t great, but his WHIP was, for Torres, an exceptional 1.20. Other metrics looked just fine. The Rays, however, had an eye on him as a left-handed reliever. He went up in mid-May, came back for two games, and went back up after a late May game. With the Rays he’s appeared in 39 games, all in relief. He has had an extraordinary WHIP of 0.90 and an equally exceptional ERA of 1.71. He is on the post-season roster and unlikely to be back in a Bulls uniform any time soon. He is a great example of how fans can almost never really get a grip on a ballplayer’s potential. Folks in the Rays system did not give up on Torres and he has paid them back. Stats.

Jeff Beliveau (LHRP) joined the Bulls a couple of weeks into the season. From the stands we always perceived him as a left-handed reliever-in-waiting and he made numerous trips to the Rays during the season. But he did not get into a game until September, after the Bulls season was over. Used almost exclusively in short relief, at the end of the season we realized, much like Steve Geltz, that he was one the the guys who really made a difference this year. Some of his metrics are on the high end, but he was a pretty reliable guy. Unless he gets involved in some trading activity, we’d guess he’ll be back with Durham next year. Fine with us if he is. Stats.

Jim Paduch (RHSP/RP) didn’t have all that good a year with the Bulls in 2012, but who did? So we weren’t too worried about him coming back this year. He won his first game pitching in relief of Mike Montgomery, but things really did not look all that good in his next several games. His best game was at the end of May, but by then it was too late. He was offered at job in Montgomery, but decided to retire instead. Always seemed like a nice guy to me, and he had a terrific backstory of getting up to AAA by way of several seasons in independent ball. But it wasn’t working out. Good luck, Jim. Stats.

Will Inman had a decent enough 2012 with the Pawtucket Red Sox, so he seemed a reasonable choice to help fill out the Bulls bullpen this year. But he wasn’t very impressive from the start and, while he didn’t have any truly disastrous innings, over time the bad news seemed to accumulate. By June his ERA was up to 6.47. He left the game with an injury on June 3, pitched in three more after coming off the DL, and was released in late June. Stats.

Frank De Los Santos (LHRP) is a pitcher who seems to have been around a very long time. But he actually hasn’t. He is only 25 years old. He just can’t seem to stay healthy. This year was no exception. He did appear in 26 games, but for just 32 innings. There were a couple of moments in 2012 where he looked very, very good. But we did not see any of that in this year's games. He appeared in 11 games, went on the DL, came back in early July and appeared in 15 more games. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox at season’s end. If he’d ever been truly healthy my guess is that he could have been something special. Stats.

Juan Sandoval (RHRP) spent most of his year with the Montgomery Biscuits (46 games/58 innings). But he sure was handy when he visited the Bulls. The first time was a stretch from late May to late June (11 games/19 innings) when he posted some good numbers and only got in trouble once. Then he came back at the end of the season for a desperately needed spot start in a end-of-season double header. In the Bulls’ post-season he was perfect over 4⅓ innings. At 32, Sandoval is famously coming back from serious injury and a lot of time in the Mexican League. Can he stick at AAA? Maybe we will find out next year. Stats.

C.J. Riefenhauser (LHRP) came up from Montgomery at the beginning of July and yet only appeared in 17 games and just 21 innings. He did OK, but each year of his professional career he’s been pitching fewer and fewer innings (2011 - 138, 2012 - 114, 2013 - 73). That leads to concerns about his fundamental strength and durability. He had one of the better WHIP (1.06) of the Bulls and if his time in Montgomery is included it was superb (0.83). Maybe it’s just a matter of opportunity. We’ll have to see next year. Stats.

Brandon Gomes (RHRP) spent a couple of weeks with the Bulls in August as he was working his way back to the Rays. Probably more time than he really needed, but the Rays were manipulating their roster at the time and Gomes had options left. He was very helpful as he pitched 10⅓ innings over 9 games with a WHIP of just 0.77. Stats.

Enny Romero (LHSP) was in only one regular season game for the Bulls, but that was a brilliant 8-inning shutout of the Norfolk Tides the last game of the year. He went on to pitch 2 innings in relief in the playoffs and after the AAA season’s end got called up to the Rays for one game start against Baltimore where he got a win. He had an excellent year in Montgomery, so we can expect him to start 2014 as a top Rays prospect, possibly with the Bulls. He is now on the Rays’ 40-man, although he was not at the end of the Bulls’ season. Stats.

click for larger view

Players Not in the Charts

Ramon Ramirez (RHRP) was hired by the Rays in mid-July in what has to be described as a speculative flyer. At the time, however, there were a lot of Rays pitchers with injury problems. Ramirez appeared in just 6 games for the Bulls and pitched only 6 innings before being released at the end of the month. Stats.

Matt Moore (LHSP) had a one-game, 4-inning rehab appearance on August 29. Didn’t do all that great, but the Bulls won the game against the Braves 7-6. Adam Liberatore got the win. Box.

Craig Albernaz is a catcher, not a pitcher, but he did have three appearances on the mound this year and pitched three scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and recording 2 strikeouts. Not one walk. Well done!

Braulio Lara (LHRP) came up from Montgomery at the very end of the season and pitched 3 innings in relief of Juan Sandoval, who had come up to pitch in that same game. He had a busy 45 game, 72 inning year in Montgomery, but did not have all that strong a set of numbers (ERA 4.38, WHIP 1.54). Stats.

Austin Hubbard (RHRP) came up from Single A Charlotte for just one game in mid-May when the Bulls were on the road in Rochester. The Red Wings scored 5 runs off of him in just ⅔ of an inning (they had earlier scored 5 runs in one inning off of Jim Paduch). He then went off to Montgomery where he had 31 more  not particularly good innings on the year. The relentless arithmetic of baseball stats left him with the highest ERA of any Bull this year (67.5) and the lowest number of innings pitched (⅔). No surprise if you think about it. Stats.

Just Three Transactions Today ... So Far

As was written this morning, and in some detail yesterday, lots of movement. Three  more transactions today that directly affect the Bulls, one that’s off on a tangent, and one that’s just interesting.

• Left-Hander Enny Romero is coming up from Montgomery and will start at least one game for the Bulls (Monday). He has done very well this year in Montgomery.
• RHRP Brandon Gomes was called up to the Rays. That had to be expected.
• Catcher Craig Albernaz came off the temporary inactive list.
• RHP Jake Odorizzi was assigned to the Montgomery Biscuits. Long-time Bulls fans will recall all the players who used to go off to "Hudson Valley." This smells like the same thing. Odorizzi joins Jeff Beliveau on the Biscuits’ roster, but surely they both are in Oakland hanging out with the Rays.

The Bulls now have only 11 pitchers, but have 13 position players, plus three on major league rehab (Guyer, Scott, and Moore).

The interesting non-Bulls-related transaction concerns former Bull Dan Johnson. When he became available there was an immediate interest from at least one Rays’ blogger. But Johnson has signed with Baltimore, which means the Bulls could be pitching to him tomorrow. He might be a help to Norfolk in their wild card run. Or a help to Baltimore in their wild card run. Or both.

Last Minute Loss

Season: 82-51
Wrap, Box, Virginian-Pilot

Given Kirby Yates' performance this year, it was entirely understandable that Charlie Montoyo would go to him in the 9th instead of sticking with Brandon Gomes. Unfortunately, the result was a rare blown save and a loss for Yates and the Bulls.

On the other hand, you’ve got to think that Norfolk is going to be much hungrier than the Bulls for these four games (and the three at the end of the season). As we’ve been showing in other posts, the Tides are in the hunt for the wild card. Even though they need for Rochester and Pawtucket to both lose some games, the only way they are going to make it to the playoffs is by beating the Bulls — a lot. They will play Durham six out of their last eleven games. We’ll see.

Outside the game —

• Delmon Young was not exactly a beloved figure back in 2006 when he was in a Bulls uniform (when not throwing bats at umpires). He is back in the Rays system, but currently assigned to the Montgomery Biscuits. Stacy Long has some solid reportage here. We weren’t doing this blog back in 2006, but we recall him as a talented young man as part of a poorly led team. That was the year between the Bill Evers era and the beginning of the Charlie Montoyo era. And it was after Montoyo's arrival that I realized how critically important a good manager is to the development of young ball players and building a good minor league team. Not sure that idea had quite sunk in system-wide with the then Devil Rays.
• Over at Bull City Summer Mike Croley has two very insightful pieces on Shelley Duncan. If you want to get some idea of what goes on in a hitter’s head, really worth reading. One of the articles (this one) has a couple of those spooky photos that Leah Sobsey and Tim Telkamp have been taking/making this year. The other (this one) gets into just what could happen in one at bat.
• Also at Bull City Summer, Adam Sobsey got a terrific quote from Chipper Jones about AAA baseball (Note: Jones is talking about his time in Richmond, then the AAA team of the Braves, not the Durham Bulls). 
• Lastly, here’s the anonymously-written DNA of Sports which had an interesting profile of outfielder Kevin Kiermaier from a few days ago.