'Doc' Livingston on the Move?
After running his k:bb to 12:2 recently, and after dropping his ERA to 2.12, Bobby Livingston may have forced the M's hand. On a day in which Rich Dorman filled in for Clint Nageotte (who gave up a big 3R HR in today's M's game), rumors are swirling about B-Liv's future with the Rainiers.
Juan Zapata was called up from extended spring training today and pitched a scoreless inning in the Rainiers' 7-2 loss to the Fresno Grizzlies, but watch the wire for more transactions.
At the very least, the M's could conceivably swap Nageotte and Livingston depending on the big club's needs. It seems somewhat unlikely that the team would need yet another lefty in the bullpen, but we'll see.
Joe Borchard was DFA'd to make room for Nageotte (and restore the 12 man staff so beloved of Mike Hargrove) - your guess is as good as mine for what kind of moves they'd make to get Livingston north.
It's been an interesting time for the M's the past 48 hours, with Meche pitching well, Felix pitching pretty well too (9ks, 1BB in 7 IP - 1 ER) and Nageotte getting recalled. We'll see if the M's stand pat for a while or take a chance on the hot hand in Tacoma: Bobby Livingston.
The Rainiers lost thanks to an awful 3 inning stint from Aaron Looper, who gave up 5 ER, 9 hits and 2HRs to the Grizzlies, turning a 2-1 Tacoma lead into a 6-2 deficit. Jeff Harris gave up the 7th run on a solo shot by Fresno SS Tomas De la Rosa. On offense, nothing much of note happened, save Mike Morse donning the Golden Sombrero with his 4ks (2 looking, 2 swinging - he did it all).
So who's this Zapata guy? Well, we should all go ask J or JAC, but here's his baseball cube page. Looks like he's been kicking around for a while (assuming this isn't a misprint, which happens a bit on bbcube). As you can tell, this isn't a guy who misses bats or gets K's, and as a scout told me, the Rainiers just needed an arm. Why they didn't bring up Stephen Kahn is a good question, but it sounds like they want Kahn to work on a few things in the Cal league for a little while longer.
UPDATE - the promotion of Livingston is now official. Sort of. The official team site only has 24 men on the roster, but I trust Churchill on this one. Our first scoop - kinda. Rain Delay reports that the chatter was on sportspot as well. Also, on Zapata's stat page? Ignore everything but that 2005 AZL mariners line - this is another case of baseball cube confusing two guys with the same name. Thanks to J in comments for the help; that makes a *lot* more sense.
UPDATE 2- The move is now officially official.
posted by marc w. @ 4:28 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
This was one of those odd cases of The Baseball Cube recognizing two players with the same name and combining them, much like their problem with Luis Soto, the former M's system 1B, and Luis Soto, the IF/OF in the RedSox system.
Zapata is 21, and has spent all of his career in the M's org after signing in early 2003. Decent performance in the AZL last year, but the ERA is deceptively good. Probably in the Aquasox rotation to start the year, depending on how things shake out (I'd prefer to bump up LHP Eddy Fernandez from the DSL and RHP Alfredo Venegas from the VSL).
God those Looper innings were brutal to watch. At least the weather was good, unlike the frigid wind & temp from last night.
So I show up at the ballpark today, thinking I was coming to see Nageotte. I see Dorman on the lineup and think 'what the hell'. But don't really think any more about it. My friend Ron asks me who I think is the first player the Ms will call up (he thinks it should be Choo or Bohn; I tell him, no, they already HAVE too many outfielders, it'll be a pitcher). He asks which one, and I tell him, if it were me choosing, it'd be Livingston, hands down but that I'm sure the Ms will choose either Nageotte or Harris, in the 'known quantity' sweepstakes.
And then, the radio tells me Nageotte is in for the Ms and I listen to him give up 2 walks and a homerun followed by a single.
Selfishly though, I don't WANT them to call up Livingston, for he's my favorite of the Rainiers pitchers to watch. Of course, I'm a big Moyer fan as well - give me the smart pitcher everytime, for even when his stuff's not working, he can figure out something else. (Unlike poor Aaron Looper, who couldn't seem to figure ANYTHING out today).
Had Joey actually shown some decent behavior today, we, too, would've been at the game. As badly as I wanted to go, though, I just couldn't reward his lack of minding and listening (and his huge fit-throwing) with a trip up to Cheney. Come to find out, too, my next-door neighbor was at the game. Oh well, next week. Besides, I actually got to watch Felix pitch, which was (other than the first two innings) pretty darn sweet.
Man -- just like the last few years chasing another lefty down in Tacoma (GS52), I'm never going to get to see B-Liv pitch in person. If indeed he is coming north, I'm very curious if he'll suffer John Halama syndrome. But if you believe Dr. Detecto, Livingston is moreso Barry Zito than Jamie Moyer. I'd just like to judge for myself for a change.
Marc -- I can't thank you enough for landing your pixels here at The Morsels. I enjoy your coverage of the Rainiers quite thoroughly, and I hope to get up there soon myself. With J, G_Money, yourself, and Churchill, we're getting some good stuff out of Tacoma. And, Oly, I definitely appreciate your chiming in, too!
I'll certainly be keeping my ear to the ground to see if I hear anything y'all don't. But it's really likely any of you will beat me to the punch.
If it's as being speculated, though, I'd much prefer the M's trade Meche than Pineiro. But, of course, Pineiro probably has more value, as he's at least more likely to throw a quality start than Meche is.
Problem is, though, we still really need a fresh starter from outside the system. B-Liv might be the closest to the majors, but I'd still prefer to keep him in T-town until the ASB at the absolute earliest...
Here's a funny line from today's TNT article about the game:
"Brundage was forced to spot-start reliever Rich Dorman – telling him just three hours before the game that he was starting – and he was forced to extend reliever Aaron Looper beyond his range of effectiveness."
Beyond his range of effectiveness? In the first 3 batters he faced, it was HR - 1B - HR. That's a pretty small range (for yesterday's game, which might have been his only bad outing thus far, to be fair).
Yes, and that single had a 50-50 chance of going straight THROUGH the RF wall.
Apologies; I screwed up my scorebook yesterday - that's what I get for actually sitting with friends for a change instead of going solo, I guess. I missed that Looper came in in the 5th, so I guess his range of effectiveness DID last for 4 whole batters... (plus, I think that was right around the time Nageotte was getting shelled on the radio, so my attention was elsewhere).
But yeah, the fence wasn't so crazy high, and we're talking 3 HRs in a row.
So MM gets the rumors of Livingston's possible call up a full hour before the Prospect Insider post and at least a half hour before the SportSpot chatter. Too bad the Livingston rumors were ineptly written and hedged more carefully than Berkshire-Hathaway.
I'm just enjoying this because it will never, ever, ever happen again.
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