Tag / Diamondbacks

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All Time Playoff Team Records

baseballs3As the Cubs prepare for tonight’s NL wild card game against the Pirates, the first post-season appearance by a Chicago team since the inception of this blog, it’s time to take our first look at the team records for the 17 playoff contests I have attended.  These contests come from the 2000 ALDS, the 2003 NLDS and NLCS, all 3 rounds of the 2005 post-season, the 2007 NLDS, and both the ALDS and NLDS in 2008.

TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
Florida Marlins 3 0 1.000
Seattle Mariners 2 0 1.000
Los Angeles Dodgers 2 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 1 0 1.000
Chicago White Sox 5 4 0.556
Tampa Bay Rays 1 1 0.500
Los Angeles Angels 1 1 0.500
Atlanta Braves 1 1 0.500
Chicago Cubs 1 7 0.125
Houston Astros 0 1 0.000
Boston Red Sox 0 2 0.000
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#144 – Rodney McCray

mccrayName: Rodney McCray

Rank: 144

Position: OF

Years With White Sox: 1990-1991

Rodney McCray was originally drafted by the White Sox in the 1st round of the 1982 draft, but didn’t sign.  In December of 1987, he finally joined the White Sox organization after being selected from the Padres in the minor league draft.  He made his major league debut with the White Sox on April 30, 1990, appearing as a defensive replacement in the team’s 5-4 victory against the Rangers.

McCray was used primarily as a pinch runner and defensive replacement, appearing in 32 games but getting only 6 at bats.  He ended the season with 6 stolen bases but still in search of his first major league hit.

McCray spent most of 1991 in Triple A Vancouver, where he became internationally famous.  On May 27, McCray was playing right field and was tracking down a flyball hit by current Diamnodack manager Chip Hale.  After initially catching the ball, McCray barrelled through the plywood fence.  The video of the play has lived on through the years in sports blooper videos.

McCray later earned a call-up to the White Sox in 1991, but again saw limited playing time and even more limited batting opportunities.  This time he made it in to 17 games, but got only 7 at bats.  He did manage to get 2 hits this time around.  Following the season, McCray became a free agent and his White Sox career came to an end.

McCray’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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Franchise Four – NL West

Major League Baseball is asking its fans to vote for the four most impactful players who best represent the history of each franchise.  The winners will be announced in July at the All Star Game in Cincinnati.  Today, I will give my Franchise Four picks for the National League West.

F4Dbacks

The Diamondbacks have only been around since 1998, so there isn’t a ton of history to choose from.  6 of the 8 nominees played on their 2001 World Championship team.  My selections would be Randy Johnson, Luis Gonzalez, Matt Williams, and Steve Finley.

F4Rockies

The Rockies franchise dates all the way back to 1993, so they are in a similar boat as the Diamondbacks, but without the championship to boost their roster.  Not surprisingly, no pitchers made their list of 8 nominees.  I would go with Todd Helton, Larry Walker, Dante Bichette, and Troy Tulowitzki.

F4Dodgers

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Goodbye To The Q

Former White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin, who finished 5th in MVP voting in 2008 despite missing the final six weeks of the season with a broken wrist, announced his retirement after 9 seasons.  After being released in spring training after being acquired by the Braves in a trade, Quentin had been playing with the Mariners’ Triple A club, but was hitting only .176 in 17 at bats.

After spending parts of the 2006 and 2007 seasons with the Diamondbacks, Quentin was acquired by the White Sox in a December 2007 trade.  He earned the nickname “The Carlos Quentin” after general manager Kenny Williams was quoted saying that the team’s goals for the winter meetings were to “acquire Carlos Quentin, and not a guy like him but actually Carlos Quentin.”

Quentin played immediate dividends, breaking through in a big way for the 2008 White Sox.  He was leading the American League in home runs and was third in slugging percentage, OPS, and RBIs when he broke his wrist following a strikeout against Cliff Lee.  The injury likely cost him the MVP award, and certainly impacted the White Sox as they battled the Twins for the AL Central title before eventually losing to the Rays in the ALDS.

Quentin continued to struggle with injuries for the remainder of his White Sox career, never appearing in more than 131 games.  A shoulder injury ended his 2011 season, and his White Sox career, at the end of August.  That December, just over 4 years since he was acquired, Quentin was shipped to the Padres.

In 3 years with the Padres, injuries continued to plague Quentin, as he failed to appear in 90 games in any season.  His most famous (or infamous) moment with the Padres was the April 11, 2013 brawl against the Dodgers, where he broke Zach Greinke’s collarbone after being hit by a pitch.

This spring, Quentin was traded to the Braves, who promptly released him.  He had signed on with the Mariners in the hopes of working his way back to the major leagues, but his history of injuries had finally caught up to him and caused him to call it a day.

Quentin’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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Vacation Recap – Arizona Part 2

cbrWhen we left of yesterday, the conference had come to an end and we had travelled to the airport to pick up the rental car.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that, from the time we got in line at the rental car facility to the time we drove away, would take an hour and a half.  That left little time for the day’s activity: a trip to Camelback Ranch in Glendale to watch the White Sox take on the visiting A’s.  Sadly, the White Sox would fall once again, and, due to an extreme lack of shade that seems to be due to the stadium’s orientation, we left early despite having wonderful seats just a few rows behind home plate.  After the game, we headed to the new hotel, which was quite a step down from the Phoenician resort, but Allstate was no longer picking up the tab, and enjoyed a nice swim to cool down.

Sunday had nothing really planned, so, after checking out a few fliers in the hotel, we decided to take a lake cruise along Lake Pleasant.  There were a lot of mountainous views and some educational talks about the history of the man-made lake and the Phoenix area in general.  Following the cruise, we returned to the hotel for another swim.

Monday saw the trip winding down and, again, there were no specific plans.  After hearing good things from some fellow travellers, we decided to go to the Heard Museum, which claims to be one of the premier Native American museums in the United States.  If this is true, it does not speak well of our nation’s collection of history regarding it’s native people.  After about a half hour, the decision was made to cut bait.  Next, we returned to a time-tested activity: baseball!  We headed to Chase Field, home of the Diamondbacks, for a tour.

chasefield-poolThe tour took us all around Chase Field, including a look into the famous pool out in left field, and then up to the suite level, and, finally, into the visitor’s clubhouse and then the Diamonback’s dugout.  All in all, a good way to spend an afternoon and I certainly hope to return one day to catch a game.  Hopefully, from the pool.

Following the tour, and a quick lunch at the TGIFridays overlooking the playing field, we returned to the hotel where I met up with a co-worker who recently moved out to Arizona.  This was followed by one last trip to the pool and then, sadly, it was time to return home.

Thankfully, the trip home was uneventful, unlike last year’s disaster.  The weather even cooperated somewhat, with temperatures in the upper 50s, so there wasn’t such a tremendous let down from the 90s we saw for a week.

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All Time Team Records

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles DodgersAnother exciting baseball season is upon us, and it is time once again to look at the all-time team records for games that I have attended.  Another disappointing season dropped the winning percentage for the White Sox 7 points, giving them a 16 point drop over the past 2 years.

All-Time Team Records

TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
California Angels 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 13 2 0.867
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Philadelphia Phillies 10 6 0.625
Toronto Blue Jays 10 7 0.588
New York Yankees 11 8 0.579
Colorado Rockies 7 6 0.538
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 15 13 0.536
Chicago White Sox 234 204 0.534
San Francisco Giants 8 7 0.533
Chicago Cubs 194 172 0.530
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#166 – Addison Reed

areed

Name: Addison Reed

Rank: 166

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2011-2013

Addison Reed was the 3rd round draft pick of the White Sox in 2010.  He made his major league debut the following September, giving up 4 hits and 1 earned run in an inning and two thirds as the White Sox were blown out by the Tigers 18-4.  Reed appeared in 5 other games down the stretch as the White Sox finished up a disappointing season.

Reed made the White Sox bullpen out of spring training in 2012.  He picked up his first career save on May 5 and was officially named the closer by manager Robin Ventura on May 23.  He finished the season with 29 saves, despite an ERA near 5, as the White Sox faded out of contention over the season’s last month.

2013 saw Reed again holding down the closer role for the White Sox.  On August 22, he saved his sixth consecutive game, becoming the first White Sox reliever to accomplish the feat and the first overall since Eric Gagne in 2003.  When the season came to an end, he wound up with 40 saves in 48 opportunities, and he had lowered his ERA by nearly a run from the year before.

That December, Reed was traded to the Diamondbacks for minor league third baseman Matt Davidson, drawing his White Sox career to a close.

Reed’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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#178 – Luis Vizcaino

Name: Luis Vizcaino

Rank: 178

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2005

On December 13, 2004, Luis Vizcaino, along with Scott Podsednik and a player to be named later, was traded to the White Sox from the Brewers in exchange for Carlos Lee.  Vizcaino had a decent year in the bullpen, appearing in 65 games and putting up a 6-5 record with a 3.73 ERA for the AL Central champions.

Vizcaino sat out the ALDS and ALCS, and made one appearance during the World Series.  He pitched 1 inning of scoreless relief during the 14 inning marathon that was Game 3.

Following the season, nearly a year to the day that he was acquired, Vizcaino was packaged along with Orlando Hernandez and Chris Young in a deal with the Diamondbacks for Javier Vazquez.

Vizcaino’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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by jim

Winter Dealings

Samardzija5 months ago, the Cubs shipped pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the A’s.  As of yesterday, both were back in Chicago, as Hammel signed a free agent deal to rejoin the Cubs and Samardzija was traded to the White Sox.  The south siders also bolstered their bullpen, signing free agent closer David Robertson, late of the Yankees, while the Cubs looked to improve behind the plate by acquiring catcher Miguel Montero from the Diamondbacks.

Jeff Samardzija comes to the White Sox, along with minor league pitcher Michael Ynoa, in exchange for Marcus Semien, Chris Bassitt, Josh Phegley and minor league first baseman Rangel Ravelo.  Samardzija will slide in to the White Sox rotation between ace Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, giving the Sox a rotation that should match up with any other in the American League.

At the other end of the game, David Robertson, who has agreed to a 4-year, $46 million deal pending a physical, should bolster a bullpen that was one of the worst in the game this past season.  By having a lock down closer in place, along with the earlier signing of Zach Duke, the returning younger members of the bullpen should find themselves in less stressful and better defined positions, which should enable them to be more successful.

On the north side of town, Continue reading →

by jim

Transaction Tree

WhiteSox-rosterA few weeks back, when Corey Kluber won the Cy Young award, a New York time reporter tweeted how the Indians had, through multiple trades, turned Eddie Taubensee’s 1991 roster spot in to Kluber.  The fine folks at Grantland took it a step farther, and looked at the longest such chain for all 30 teams.

The White Sox fall smack dab in the middle of the league, having the 15th longest chain, dating back to the February 8, 1994 signing of amateur free agent Carlos Lee.  Lee made his major league debut on May 7, 1999, and quickly became a mainstay of the White Sox lineup, holding down left field through the 2004 season.  New manager Ozzie Guillen had tired of the station to station team he inherited, and was looking to implement some small ball, so Lee was shipped to the Brewers for a package that included Scott Podsednik and Luis Vizcaino.

Vizcaino spent just the one season with the White Sox, earning a World Series championship ring for his troubles.  With general manager Kenny Williams looking to repeat, he packaged Vizcaino with Orlando Hernandez and outfielder Chris Young in a trade to the Diamondbacks for starting pitcher Javier Vazquez.

Vazquez lasted 3 seasons with the White Sox, up to and including their 2008 AL Central title-winning year.  As the White Sox battled the Twins for the title, Vazquez turned out to be the one weak link in the rotation.  With the season stretching to a 163rd game, Guillen was forced to turn to Vazquez to start the first game of the division series against the Rays.  Vazquez responded to the challenge by giving up 6 runs in 4 1/3 innings, putting his team in an early hole in the best of 5 series.

Feeling that he couldn’t open the 2009 season with Vazquez still on the roster, Kenny Williams moved him, along with Boone Logan, to the Braves for, among others, Brent Lillibridge and Tyler Flowers.  Flowers made his debut in 2009 and became the full time starting catcher in 2013.  His production has been lacking over the course of his major league career, and, should an opportunity to upgrade arise, this chain may come to an end.