The Continuing Careers of Ex-Mets

[Guest Edgy DC]

That 1990 sure was a fun year to draft for the Expos.

#	Player Name	Pos	Drafting Team	Age	Born	Ht	Wt	B	T	High Level	MLB Years	Drafted From	#
1.	Chipper Jones	SS	Atlanta Braves	18	4/24/1972	6-4	210	B	R	MLB	1993-2006	The Bolles School High School (Jacksonville, FL)	1
2.	Tony Clark	OF	Detroit Tigers	18	6/15/1972	6-7	245	B	R	MLB	1995-2006	Christian High School (El Cajon,CA)	2
3.	Mike Lieberthal	C	Philadelphia Phillies	18	1/18/1972	6-0	190	R	R	MLB	1994-2006	Westlake High School (Westlake Village, CA)	5
4.	Alex Fernandez	P	Chicago White Sox	21	8/13/1969	6-1	215	R	R	MLB	1990-2000	Miami Dade South Community College	100
5.	Kurt Miller	P	Pittsburgh Pirates	18	8/24/1972	6-5	225	R	R	MLB	1994-1999	West High School (Bakersfield, CA)	4
6.	Marc Newfield	1B	Seattle Mariners	17	10/19/1972	6-4	224	R	R	MLB	1993-1998	Marina High School (Huntington Beach, CA)	7
7.	Dan Wilson	C	Cincinnati Reds	21	3/25/1969	6-3	202	R	R	MLB	1992-2005	University of Minnesota	66
8.	Tim Costo	SS	Cleveland Indians	21	2/16/1969	6-5	220	R	R	MLB	1992-1993	University of Iowa	45
9.	Ron Walden	P	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Blanchard High School (Blanchard, OK)	2
10.	Carl Everett	OF	New York Yankees	19	6/3/1971	6-0	190	B	R	MLB	1993-2006	Hillsborough High School (Tampa, FL)	21
11.	Shane Andrews	3B	Montreal Expos	19	8/28/1971	6-0	220	R	R	MLB	1995-2002	-	-
12.	Todd Ritchie	P	Minnesota Twins	18	11/7/1971	6-3	222	R	R	MLB	1997-2004	Duncanville High School (Duncanville, TX)	4
13.	Donovan Osborne	P	St. Louis Cardinals	21	6/21/1969	6-2	195	L	L	MLB	1992-2004	UNLV	34
14.	Todd Van Poppel	P	Oakland Athletics	18	12/9/1971	6-5	210	R	R	MLB	1991-2004	Martin High School (Arlington, TX)	3
15.	Adam Hyzdu	OF	San Francisco Giants	18	12/6/1971	6-2	220	R	R	MLB	2000-2006	Moeller High School (Cincinnati,OH)	8
16.	Dan Smith	P	Texas Rangers	21	8/20/1969	6-5	190	L	L	MLB	1992-1994	Creighton University	19
17.	Jeromy Burnitz	OF	New York Mets	21	4/15/1969	6-0	205	L	R	MLB	1993-2006	Oklahoma State University	99
18.	Aaron Holbert	SS	St. Louis Cardinals	17	1/9/1973	6-0	160	R	R	MLB	1996-2005	David Starr Jordan High School (Long Beach, CA)	13
19.	Eric Christopherson	OF	San Francisco Giants	-	-	-	-	-	-	AAA	-	San Diego State University	90
20.	Mike Mussina	P	Baltimore Orioles	21	12/8/1968	6-2	183	B	R	MLB	1991-2006	Stanford University	114
21.	Tom Nevers	SS	Houston Astros	18	9/13/1971	6-1	195	R	R	AAA	-	Edina High School (Edina, MN)	4
22.	Steve Karsay	P	Toronto Blue Jays	18	3/24/1972	6-3	205	R	R	MLB	1993-2006	Christ the King High School (Flushing, NY)	2
23.	Lance Dickson	P	Chicago Cubs	20	10/19/1969	6-0	185	R	L	MLB	1990-1990	University of Arizona	114
24.	Rondell White	OF	Montreal Expos	18	2/23/1972	6-0	210	R	R	MLB	1993-2006	Jones County High School (Gray, GA)	5
25.	Robbie Beckett	P	San Diego Padres	18	7/16/1972	6-5	235	R	L	MLB	1996-1997	McCallum High School (Austin, TX)	4
26.	Don Peters	P	Oakland Athletics	20	10/7/1969	6-0	190	R	R	AAA	-	College of St. Francis	12
27.	Mike Zimmerman	P	Pittsburgh Pirates	-	-	-	-	-	-	AAA	-	University of South Alabama	49
28.	Gabe White	P	Montreal Expos	18	11/20/1971	6-2	200	L	L	MLB	1994-2005	Sebring High School (Sebring, FL)	3
29.	Midre Cummings	OF	Minnesota Twins	18	10/14/1971	6-0	195	L	R	MLB	1993-2005	Miami Edison High School (Miami,FL)	2
30.	Paul Elis	C	St.Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	UCLA	109
31.**	Brian Williams	P	Houston Astros	21	2/15/1969	6-2	195	R	R	MLB	1991-2000	University of South Carolina	54
32.	Scott Sanders	P	San Diego Padres	21	3/25/1969	6-4	220	R	R	MLB	1993-1999	Nicholls State University	19
33.	Marcus Jensen	C-P	San Francisco Giants	17	12/14/1972	6-4	204	B	R	MLB	1996-2002	Skyline High School (Oakland, CA)	7
34.	David Zancanaro	P	Oakland Athletics	21	1/6/1969	-	-	-	-	AAA	-	UCLA	110
35.	Stan Spencer	P	Montreal Expos	21	8/7/1969	6-4	205	R	R	MLB	1998-2000	Stanford University	115
36.	Kirk Dressendorfer	P	Oakland Athletics	21	4/8/1969	5-11	190	R	R	MLB	1991-1991	University of Texas	147
37.	Ben Van Ryn	P	Montreal Expos	19	8/9/1971	6-5	185	L	L	MLB	1996-1998	East Noble High School (Kendallville, IN)	2
38.	Anthony Manahan	SS	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	ArizonaStateUniversity	215
39.	Sam Hence	OF	Cleveland Indians	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Stone County High School (Wiggins,MS)	1
40.	Stan Robertson	OF	Montreal Expos	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Plainview High School (Plainview,TX)	2

[Benjamin Grimm]

What is a "golf clap" anyway?

I don't think I ever heard the term until last week.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

It's the quiet, polite type of applause that golf galleries generally used prior to the arrival of Tiger Woods and his fist pumping. Golf crowds are much more boisterous and loud now than they were before the arrival of Woods.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Thanks, Doc. Now I'm VERY aware of what a golf clap is!

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Damn site was on the fritz when I logged on during my lunch. I kept getting a DEBUG MODE warning. In attempting to post that one simple reply, I kept receiving the error warning. Eventually, I ended up with a quadruple post. Then the site would not let me edit any of the extra posts, so now I will leave them for posterity.

I'm glad that Yancy now knows what a golf clap is.

[Guest Edgy DC]

In addition to the posting problems this afternoon, I lost my administrative capacity to delete posts. It's back and I killed the redundant posts.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Thanks Edgy.

[Theoldmole]

The term is used by Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez in "Garbage Men."

[MFS62]

From yesterday's transaction wire:

Philadelphia Phillies
Reassigned ... OF Lou Collier ...(is he the ex-Met?) to Minor League camp;
Optioned ... RHP Anderson Garcia ... to Minor League camp.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Victor Zambrano threw 2 2/3 scoreless for Toronto today. against Cleveland in a 10-inning 0-0 game.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

What does the number in the last column in the chart above represent?

[Guest Edgy DC]

I don't know. I copied the table from here. I intially tried to edit that column out, but it was a hassle, so I left it in and thought somebody else might figure it out. I initially thought it might be the ranking of the players by their eventual careers, but Mike Mussina is at 114, and he's listed by TheBaseballCube as the best player from that draft. (He wasn't. Jones was, but he may be next.) Other theories is that it's the order in which they signed, or the ranking of the players by the size of their bonus. But I don't think either of those is true either.

They give a crude grade to each team each draft called "Draft Scores," which credits a team with a point for each season a draftee played --- regardless of how much or how little he played or whether he played for the drafting team, as long as they signed him. The Yankees currently have the highest score for this draft (78). The Mets were sixth of 26 teams (58).

[metirish]

Kris Benson to have rotator cuff surgery,likely done for the season.

[seawolf17]

I thought we already knew that; that was why the O's signed Trax, wasn't it?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Give him some slack. The board is slow.

[Frayed Knot]

It was first reported that way a month or so ago -- but then Benson said he wanted to try the rehab route first before committing to surgery.

This latest item sounds like confirmation that the rest & rehab alternative isn't going to cut it.

[metirish]

seawolf17 wrote: I thought we already knew that; that was why the O's signed Trax, wasn't it?

Anna just called me to confirm things....

[DocTee]

So THAT'S why she asked to borrow my phone.

[Guest Edgy DC]

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Rockies had a relatively healthy season in '06, with only a handful of impact players seeing time on the disabled list, but a few scuffs and scrapes in Spring Training have highlighted the quickness with which injury can turn the team's fortunes around.
First baseman Todd Helton and shortstop candidate Troy Tulowitzki have already missed Cactus League time due to an inflamed right knee and right wrist contusion, respectively. On Thursday, projected starting second baseman Kaz Matsui joined the ranks of the wounded with a right forefoot strain.

Matsui sustained the injury by stepping on a baseball. Details of where and when he stepped on the ball were not made available and Matsui was unavailable for comment after the injury was announced Thursday. He has not played since Monday, and is considered day-to-day.

[Guest Edgy DC]

And ReyO is keeping the heat on, at .304 / .360 / .609 // .969.

The two reserve infielders are hitting on that team, and the starters aren't.

Which raises ReyO's chance of making the team up to a snowball's chance in Hell, but good for him for fighting. Someone will likely throw him a life preserver.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Alay Soler signs a minor-league deal with the Buccos

[Guest Edgy DC]

Good for Alay.

[Guest iramets]

Edgy DC wrote: Good for Alay.

Not so good for Buccos.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Cool. O-Cho sighting at SI.

'Laser Beam' puts on show

Journeyman Ochoa displays powerful arm in spring

Posted: Monday March 19, 2007 5:21PM; Updated: Monday March 19, 2007 5:22PM

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- His strong arm captivated fans in Japan. His smile comes naturally and often. He is in his first year with the Boston Red Sox with a nickname that captures perfectly his powerful throws.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, known as Dice-K with the "K" for strikeout? Wrong.

Meet journeyman outfielder Alex Ochoa -- dubbed Laser Beam by followers of the Chunichi Dragons -- a longshot to make Boston's opening day roster that will feature Matsuzaka as its most intriguing player.

In 1998, when Matsuzaka threw a no-hitter in his country's national high school championship game, Ochoa hit .257 with Minnesota, one of his six major-league teams before he played the last four seasons in Japan.

That's where he earned the nickname, Laser Beam, for his powerful throws from center field.

"A lot of people came, especially to our (pregame) practices, to watch me take fielding practice," Ochoa said. "I take a lot of pride in my defense."

With Boston, he entered the team's first exhibition game in the top of the fifth and threw out Minnesota's Torii Hunter trying to stretch a single into a double in that inning. Then he ended the eighth with a double play when he caught a fly ball and threw the runner out at home.

"As soon as it was hit, I said, 'oh, no, he can throw,' " Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Ochoa made two more strong throws two weeks later in a 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh on consecutive plays in the ninth. He fielded a single and Ryan Doumit, rounding third, stopped when Ochoa's throw reached the plate on the fly. Jose Castillo then flied out to Ochoa and this time Doumit ran.

Bad decision. Ochoa uncorked a one-hop throw for the double play.

"It's fun to watch," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "Everybody knows Alex can throw. I don't care if he's in Triple-A, the major leagues or Japan. He's got one of the better arms in baseball and it's accurate."

The Red Sox, who had their only off day of spring training Monday, plan to open the season with starting outfielders Manny Ramirez, Coco Crisp and J.D. Drew and backup Wily Mo Pena. Eric Hinske also can play there, but he and Pena are average fielders.

Ochoa, who turns 35 on March 29, said he could get out of his minor-league contract at the end of the month.

"Obviously, if I have an opportunity to go to the big leagues somewhere else, it just makes sense," he said, "but I like this organization. It's been awesome. Best-case scenario, I'd love to be here."

He went to high school in Miami and returned to the United States this season to be near his family even though he gave up being an everyday player. He signed with Boston after meeting the team's vice president for international scouting, Craig Shipley, while Shipley was watching other players in Japan.

"A lot of people were surprised the way I threw in Japan," Ochoa said. "The fans really got excited when the ball was hit to me."

In high school, Ochoa played catch with a teammate 330 feet away. In the minors, he would throw from near home plate over the outfield scoreboard when egged on by teammates.

"My arm was, believe it or not, a little bit stronger then," he said. "I would surprise myself, like, 'Wow, I didn't know I could do that.' "

Ochoa started in the Baltimore system where Orioles intern Theo Epstein, now Boston's general manager, watched him in Double-A.

"I saw him throw out a guy out from the warning track in right field," Epstein said.

Ochoa reached the majors in 1995 with the New York Mets, then moved on to Minnesota, Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Colorado. He left for Japan after playing for World Series champion Anaheim in 2002.

He has a respectable .279 batting average in 807 major-league games but is just 4-for-23 in spring training. His throwing ability may be his best chance to stick with the Red Sox.

"It's been part of my game all my life," Ochoa said. "I love it."

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[MFS62]

The Washington Nationals released "PH" Jorge Toca.

Later

[nymr83]

Our old friend Paul Wilson was released by the Reds today.

[MFS62]

Yesterday, San Diego optioned Royce Ring, and Washington optioned Billy Traber to their AAA teams.

Later

[Centerfield]

Jorge Julio and Yusmeiro Petit swap addresses.

[MFS62]

The Orioles acquired catcher Alberto Castillo from the Boston Red Sox for minor league outfielder Cory Keylor, the Orioles' minor league player of the year last season after hitting .294 with the Bowie Baysox. Castillo, 37, hit .268 last season for the Class AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, formerly a Washington Nationals affiliate. Perlozzo said Castillo will join the major league camp though he'll likely start the season at Class AAA Norfolk. Castillo is a teammate of Miguel Tejada in the Dominican Winter League.

Later

[seawolf17]

The O's traded their minor league player of the year for a 37-year-old backup catcher who's not even going to make the team!?!?!?! Did they hire Steve Phillips while nobody was looking?