tanklin Blog Posts

Nick Adenhart

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:41:10 PDT

I begin with saddening news. Los Angeles Angels have lost one of their best young prospects, Nick Adenhart. Adenhart, who was only 22, had just come off a dominating perforce against the Oakland A’s. He pitched six scoreless innings but received a no decision.

Adenhart was draft out of Maryland High School in the fourteenth round by the Angels. He suffered an injury at the end of his high school career that required Tommy John Surgery, but he impressed everyone with his stuffed and moved though the rankings very fast. He was 37-28 record with a 3.87 ERA in the minors and made in Major League debut on the first of May versus Oakland, where he also receive a no decision.

Reports have said Adenhart and three others were driving around 12:30 a.m. when a minivan ran a red light and struck there Mitsubishi. Adenhart’s car struck a light pole sending all four people inside the sports car to the hospital for surgery, where three including Andenhart died after surgery with one still in intensive care. The driving of the minivan was arrest a short time later and book for a felony hit-and-run.

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2009 Team USA World Baseball Classic

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:50:36 PST

With World Baseball Classic ads starting to be run of ESPN, talk about starts to fire up. You’ll start hear U-S-A, olé olé olé, my country his better than your country, but seeing as how I was born and raise in the good old US of A, that’s is the team that I will be talking about. The 2006 World Baseball Classic team looked like it could prove that baseball was America's past time. You had the king of Swing in Ken Griffey Jr., two captain of their respected team in Derek Jeter and Jason Vartex. You have a batting title winner in Derek Lee, and a soon to be Homerun king in Alex Rodriguez. You had a loaded pitching rotation with Rodger Clemens, Dontrelle Wills and Jake Peavy and a dominating closer in Brad Lidge. USA was going in with a “this is going to be so easy” kind of mentality. But that wasn’t the case. Team Mexico and Team Canada proved that they could play with the big boys, and the USA struggled against Pacific Ocean rivals Team Japan and Team South Korea. But this year is different in different ways. Team USA will bring in a Mark Johnson, who helped lead the USA Olympic baseball team to a Bronze metal. But that’s not going to be the only difference. The king of swing Kin Griffey Jr., who lead the team in batting average and tied for first in homerun, won’t be playing of team USA, as well as the man he tied for Homeruns Derek Lee said that he won’t be playing either sighting that Red Sox’s Kevin Youkilis would be getting most of the action at first. A-Rod, coming o ff steroid problems, as said that he won’t be playing for the USA, but he will play for the Dominican Republic (maybe he’ll get more steroids, ha). Derek Jeter has said the he’s game for the classic and is the captain of team USA. Veritex, who played but did suffer and injury, won’t be playing after struggling to land a job back with the Red Sox’s. Rodger Clemens has retired and face a crap load of legal stuff, so don’t look for him to pull a Brett Favre, and the WBC was the down fall of the D-Train, who after being traded to the Tigers was given a hug contract and then sent to Single-A ball. The 2009 team will have a veteran pitching staff with such aces as Padres Jake Peavy, Astros Roy Oswalt and the Orioles young ace Jeremy Guthrie, as well as Cubs control pitcher Ted Lilly. Added to the Bullpen are lefties John Grabow (Pirates), J.P. Howell (Rays), and Matt Thornton (White Sox) as well as the guys that set the big men up; LaTroy Hawkins (Astros), Scot Shields (Angels), and Brad Ziegler (Athletics). And there is a frenzy of different player that could take the closers role left by the withdraw of Twins pitcher Joe Nathan, Blue Jays B.J. Ryan, and Angels new comer Brian Fuentes, but there are still several pitchers that could get the nod when it comes time. Heath Bell, Matt Lindstrom, and Jonathan Broxton could get start on closing games early as both are being handed the closing job because of the departure of the past closers, Bell for Trevor Hoffman, Lindstrom for Greggs, and Broxton for Takashi Saito. Joel Hanrahan for the Nationals did well the few times that he was called on, but I don’t see him as the guy manager Davey Johnson will turn to. And that leave only the big apple’s J.J. Putz, who before being traded to the Mets was a dominant closer for the Seattle Mariners, and is the person I see getting the nod for the ninth inning. Catching will be an area to watch during this World Baseball Classic because manager Mark Johnson is only bring two young catchers with him, Brain McCann and Chris Iannetta, compared to the team before that brought three. While Brain McCann has been in the league for several years he is mostly know for his bat than his game calling and Chris just finished his first full season duty as a catcher. While both of these catchers are young they aren’t fast and they are inexperienced when it comes to game calling. The Infield has been re-vamped from the 2006 team, which really didn’t have much speed but they hit for a high average. This year there are players with crazy speed, such as Jimmy Rollens, who stole 47 bases for the world champs (Phillies), and AL MVP Dustian Pedroia, who swiped twenty bases (Red Sox’s). But those aren’t the only players that will run, there isn’t a player that is on the infield roster that doesn’t have a stolen base, and we all know that Derek Jeter (Yankees), and David Wright (Mets) can run, but not as fast as Rollins and Perdoia. The corners will be guarded well with David Wright, a two time gold glove, Kevin Youkilis winner of the gold glove in 2007, and finally Chipper Jones, who hasn’t earned a Gold Glove yet, but has never had a fielding percentage below .950 since 2002. If someone were to go down Indians Mark DerRosa has experience at every position on the field (ok, well not pitcher and catcher but I’m sure if they asked he would do it) and can serve as a solid back-up. The Outfielder has changed from what it was in 2006. The 06 team had good players but they never really came out and showed who they were. The team had some speed with Randy Winn and Vernon Wells and there was defense but that in Wells, who’s a three time Gold Glove winner and Francoeur who the pervious season season lead the league in outfield assists. Other than Griffey the outfield really struggled with its hitting. This year you won’t have Vernon Wells returning to hold down the fort but you will have the Tigers’ power hitting, fast running centerfielder in Curtis Granderson, the Brewers young kid Ryan Braun, who didn’t commit a single error in the outfield last year, the Nationals new power house Adam Dunn, as well as the Phillies hard noised flying Hawaiian Shane Victorino . With everything being added up the road to reclaiming baseball as America’s past time won’t be as easy as pie. Team USA has first to go though team Canada, Team Italy, and Team Venezuela, all have several players with major league talent. Team Canada gave team USA fits which lead to the early exit. Team Venezuela won’t be any easier seeing as how they too have many good major leaguers on their roster. Team Italy, while wanting to prove that they have talent, I don’t see them being a hug threat to team USA. Overall, team USA wants to show that they can win, and I will predict an advance to the second round where they will take on the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico. There who know what will happen. It will be a though road from them, but in the end it will depend on how well team USA’s pitching will do against power house countries.

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Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:08:26 PST

With the Brewers 2009 not look so good with the young amount of talent that needs time to grow, the following season does promising to the naked eye. Ryan Braun didn’t look to show any signs of a sophomore slump, batting .285 with a team leading 37 homeruns and 106 runs batted in, and he signed a long term contract during the season, and Prince Fielder is he for at least two more years. Other than those two guys there are a lot of uncertainties. With Jason Kendall 2009 option being picked up for catching a heck load of games, we all know that he’ll see a load of catchers. While manager Ken Macha has said that he would like to see Kendall take a day off at least once a week, which will give Mik

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Brewers 2009 offseason to do list

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:04:21 PDT

With the Milwaukee Brewers 2008 season over with a 3-1 series loss to Philadelphia Phillies, there are many off season questions to answer. What I will focus are Dale Sveum be the manager in 2009, who is going to be the bullpen in 2009, who will fill the two empty place in the rotation, will the ownership go out and get anyone, who will be in centerfield.

Let’s start with will Dale be back as manager in 2009? Well he did get the Brewers to the playoffs, something that ownership didn’t think that Yost could do. He won a game in the playoffs, but another that should be noted that several third base coaches do become managers of major league clubs, Ron Washington (Rangers), Manny Acta (Nationals) just to name a few of the most recent ones. I also think that the Brewers won’t find a big name manager on the Market, but don’t count out the possibility of Robin Yount as a possible manager. Rumor on the street was that a reason Robin left after his one year in Milwaukee is because they wouldn’t offer his a managerial for the Brewers. Overall my final thoughts on this decision is that the Brewers seem to do better when the personal stays the same, and Dale I believed will be a better manager than Yost.

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Vince Youngs emotional rollercoaster

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:46:00 PDT

Titans fans should be a little worried about there young quarterback Vince Young. Monday night, Young left his house at about 7 p.m. without any means of contact with him. When a friend contacted Jeff Fisher, the head coach, about his concern for Young’s emotional well being, Fisher called the Nashville police to help find Young. Fisher wanted to make sure that Young’s well-being and emotional state were in check seeing has how Young seemed down most of the day. Young was found to be at a friend’s house, and he was described as seeming emotionally down. At about 11:30, Young was taken to the Titans practice facility where Jeff Fisher, the police, and Young exchange a few words. Young would later depart roughly 30 minutes later. Don Aaron, a police spokesman, says that once they had a face to face talk with Young, they didn’t find anything to suggest that he was in an emotionally down state. Aaron did say that Young had an unloaded firearm in the glove compartment, but it wasn’t load (this is legal as long as there is no ammo present).

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The New Young Arms for the Brewers

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:26:42 PDT

On September 1st, the thirty-two major league teams called up any players from Double-A and/or Triple-A to fill the expanded 40 man roster. The Milwaukee Brewers add to their roster pitchers Mark DiFelice, Tim Dillard and Mitch Stetter, along with third baseman Mat Gamel, shortstop Alcides Escobar, catcher Angel Salome, infielder Joe Dillon, catcher Vinny Rottino, outfielder Tony Gwynn and first baseman Brad Nelson. So let’s get acquainted with the possible future of the Milwaukee Brewers a little better.

Mark DiFelice. Age 32. Batting/Throwing: R/R

Level(s) played in 2008: Triple-A and MLB

Minor League stats only:

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Jason Kendall is like a rock

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:57:12 PDT

With Jason Kendall’s 110th game behind the plate, the Brewers are now contractually obligated to pick up his $4.25 million option for 2009. While the Brewers signed Kendall for his experience and solid game calling, he also has proven to be unyielding behind the plate. In 2007, when with the Athletics and Cubs, Kendall threw out only 20 or 131 base stealers. This season he has thrown out 30 wimpy base stealers and only allowed 42 stolen bases, throwing out 42 percent of runners attempting to steal. Granted the season isn’t over, but that 42% is a higher percentage than in any of his three All-Star seasons, 1996 – 23%; 1998 – 27%; 2000 – 30%. On top of that, he has only allowed four passed balls this season, tied for second fewest in his 12 year career.

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Brewers Bullpen

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:56:05 PDT

Francisco Cordero converted 44 saves in 51 chances in 2007 and had an ERA below three. Cordero was one of the most touted relief pitchers in the league at the end of the 2007 season and he received offers from several teams. Cordero decided to go for the money, signing a contract with the Cincinnati Reds. The Milwaukee Brewers had offered a four year $42 million contract with an option for a fifth year. Instead, Cordero packed his bags and moved to Cincinnati, taking their four year $46 million offer - also with an option for a fifth year.

So the Brewers, who were already looking for bullpen help, had to find a new closer via free agency or trades. On November 20th, the Brewers traded Johnny Estrada, who had been in a little yelling match with Ned Yost in the dugout during the previous season, to the Mets for Guillermo Mota, who had in 2006 a two year $5 million contract. Then, on December 5th, the Brewers signed former Kansas City Royal David Riske to a three year deal worth $13 million with a year option. Two days later the Brewers traded for Salomon Torres and sent two top pitching prospects to the Pittsburg Pirates. Torres is in the final year of his two year, $6.5 million dollar deal, with an option for a third year. On December 9th, the Brewers signed a one-year $10 million deal with former Dodger closer and Red Sox blunder, Eric Gage. On January 9th the Brewers re-signed lefty specialist Brian Shouse to a one-year $2 million dollar deal. At the time, it seemed that Shouse would most likely be used in a closer by comity role. The Brewers also had Derrick Turnbow on their roster, who in 2006 had signed a three year $6.5 million contract. Let’s not forget that Turnbow holds the record for the most saves by a Brewer in a season, 39, and was an All-Star in 2006.

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