The Colonel

I subscribe to Fantistics during the season. I get a daily email, which usually has most of what I need. It’s readable. I’m not a huge believer in their statistical stuff, which is usually not very readable. Anyway, I saw a couple of interesting points about our guys.

First, Col. Luis Gonzalez:

According to the Denver Post, "An innocent question spawned an interesting answer from manager Clint Hurdle. With Jason Smith in the lineup, Hurdle was asked, "Exactly who is the Rockies' starting second baseman?" "I don't know. I guess the guy who is playing that day," Hurdle said. "I still like to believe Luis (Gonzalez) is going to recapture his stroke. I am still holding on to that." Gonzalez started 20 games but has yet to regain the offensive form that made him a career .292 hitter after his first two seasons. That doesn't mean Gonzalez wasn't able to contribute. With Eli Marrero sick and Danny Ardoin in the bullpen, Gonzalez warmed up closer Brian Fuentes in the ninth inning."

Who knows – he could end up qualifying at catcher soon.

As for Jae Seo:

The Los Angeles Daily News reports that "Little said right-hander Jae Seo will have his next scheduled start pushed back two days to Monday against Colorado because the club is off today. Little wants to keep Brett Tomko and Derek Lowe on their normal routine of pitching every fifth day, so those two will go Saturday and Sunday, respectively, against the Angels."

That’s enough to give you the creeps. I checked. The game will be in Los Angeles.

Juan Cruz earned a Super Bullinger yesterday when he didn’t survive the first inning against the Padres. His numbers: 0.2 Innings, 5 hits, 9 ER, 3 Walks. Whoa. Throw in Bronson Arroyo’s stinker and that might account for the Falkuhns dropping about 4 points yesterday.

We got bailed out on a Bullinger yesterday. We picked up Scott Cassidy as a safe middle reliever and he gave up 5 hits and 6 runs in 2/3 of an inning. Only 1 run was earned despite giving up 2 homers. But he wouldn’t have gotten an award even if they were all earned: he didn’t walk anyone. Nice to see he’s still got his control. I think they call that batting practice.

Reggie Abercrombie threw a guy out at the plate yesterday. But the big news is his 1 for 5 lowered his BA. That wasn’t the case not too long ago.

The Bleacher Bums are up to 55 points and 5th place. We never gave up. Now, however, it’s a long way up to the next team.

The Cartel slid under 70 points for the first time since I lost a bet on them to Kenny 9 about them being in first place after the first week. They missed it by half a point, and I got something like 12-1 odds.

I haven’t commented yet on the trade in April between the Cartel and the Nine. To remind you all it was:

To the Cartel: Dunn, Burrell, Biggio, Damien Jackson and Josh Anderson (F)
To Any 9: Howard, Weeks, an injured Burke, a bum and Stephen Drew (F)

I didn’t like this trade for the Cartel at the time, but I felt he got more than he gave up for this year. But he gave up his best 2 trading pieces in one deal, Ryan Howard who is an absolute monster and Stephen Drew, who could be even better. The Doc and I agreed that he should have shopped these guys longer, and he would have gotten more than this. It was a great dump deal for Any 9.

Unfortunately, so far the trade is an unmitigated disaster. Check out the stats since the trade:

Dunn 1-9-1-.140
Burrell 2-6-0-.225
Biggio 1-3-0-.241
Jackson – waived and reclaimed by Any 9

Howard 7-18-0-.302
Weeks 2-2-5-.327
Burke – starting his rehab
Stephen Drew – scary good

I’m sure it will even out over the long term, but the Cartel gave up on some guys that would really have helped this year and were very, very, very, very tradable. The guys he got? Not tradable unless you’re dumping.