The Daily Prospectus: Around the NL

(Note to anyone trying to send me e-mail: it probably will bounce for the
next 12 to 48 hours. Thanks for your patience. –JSS)

Walking through the parity league…

• Robb Nen has been alternating dominant seasons with so-so ones
  since 1996, but his early results so far indicate that the streak may end.
  Ten baserunners and 23 strikeouts in 14 innings are about as good as it gets
  for a relief pitcher.

  Nen threw fewer innings last year, 66, then he had in his previous
  high-performance seasons. That may be a factor, although we don’t know
  enough about reliever workloads to say for sure.

• Injuries to
  Mark Kotsay,
  Tony Gwynn,
  and Mike Darr
  opened the door, and it now looks like
  Rickey Henderson has no
  intention of walking back through it. The runs record and 3,000 hits, which
  both looked like longshots two weeks ago, now appear to be attainable by
  August, maybe sooner. As a shameless Rickey fan, I hope he gets them while
  leading the Padres deep into the NL West race.

• After I wrote the column
  on guys with low BAs who are having big seasons,
  I received mail in praise of
  J.D. Drew,
  who at the time was
  hitting under .250. Well, Drew has now mixed in some singles and is hitting
  .280/.425/.646. Most impressively, he appears to finally have an everyday
  job and is batting fifth in most of Tony LaRussa’s lineups. Memo to TLR:
  It’s about freaking time.

• I still don’t know how to solve Rick Ankiel‘s problems, but I do
  know it’s not just about the walks anymore. The league is hitting .275 off
  him and he’s giving up a home run every three innings, plus he’s not even
  averaging five innings per start.

• Aramis Ramirez:
  .283/.360/.616. Sometimes, you just have to get
  the hell out of the way and let a guy play.

• The weird thing about the Phillies is that they’re off to a good start
  without getting anything from their best players.
  Scott Rolen,
  Bobby Abreu,
  Pat Burrell,
  and Mike Lieberthal
  are way below their established performance levels, while only
  Travis Lee
  has an OBP above .350.

  If you’re the Braves, that’s a thought that has to keep you awake at night.

• Look past the record: 1-4 Tony Armas Jr. has been one of the
  better pitchers in the NL this season.

• DiSars update:
  Marquis Grissom
  is up to 74 at-bats without a
  walk, and getting more playing time. Never, ever, discount veteran presence.

• I don’t want it to sound like I’m pushing the panic button, because I
  really enjoy watching this guy pitch, but since his 13-strikeout, 127-pitch
  win over the Cardinals, Wade Miller has eight strikeouts (against six
  walks) in 15 innings.

  I’m just sayin’…

• By the way, if
  Brad Ausmus
  got all the credit when Jose
  Lima has his one good start, why doesn’t he at least get some of the
  blame now that Lima has imploded again? Or take heat for the fact that
  Scott Elarton has sucked so far?

  If you wonder why we discount the case for catchers impacting pitcher
  performance, this is a good example of why. It, like "chemistry"
  and "veteran leadership" and all that fun intangible stuff, is
  simply something that gets pointed to when it’s convenient, to make a good
  story.

• The Florida Marlins are a quality right fielder away from winning the NL
  East. If there’s a GM that should be calling the Diamondbacks every single
  day about
  Erubiel Durazo,
  it’s Dave Dombrowski.

• One of the most underrated great trades of the 1990s: then-Rockies’ GM
  Bob Gebhard sending
  Eric Young
  to the Dodgers for Pedro Astacio. Astacio has been one of the most
  reliable starters in the game since the deal, a fact masked by his home park.

• Deion Sanders:
  .235/.278/.412. Yeah, what do the computerees know?

• If Barry Larkin
  doesn’t go into the Hall of Fame right quick, they should just convert the place into a landfill.

Joe Sheehan is an author of Baseball Prospectus.