Players You Should Know: Ross Ohlendorf

Ross Ohlendorf is a right-handed pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has been rumored to be in the Randy Johnson trade that the Yankees are attempting to make. If that happens everyone will know him relatively soon but he won't be in most of the magazines and guides that are coming out at the end of this month. Last year for Double-A Tennessee Ohlendorf pitched 177.2 innings with a 9.12 H9, 0.66 HR9, 1.47 BB9 and 6.33 K9. His best pitch is a hard sinker that resembles that of Yankees' pitcher Chien-Ming Wang. If he remains with the D'backs he has a good chance of making the team out of spring training. With the Yankees he would probably be lucky to compete for a bullpen spot to start the season.

Some reading on Ohlendorf you may enjoy:

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/10/14/sports/11084.shtml

http://thebaseballcube.com/players/O/Ross-Ohlendorf.shtml

http://www.towntopics.com/jul2606/sports1.html

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060912 />

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Pedro Update

MLB.com/AP/Baseball Think Factory:

New York Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez is recovering well from rotator
cuff surgery, but the ace right-hander still doesn’t plan to return to
the mound until July or August.
“The progress has been excellent,” said Martinez, who joined Vlad
Guerrero in a charity softball game. “The problem has to do with the
calcification of the bone that was broken with the tear and that had to
be operated on.
“You have to let it run its course, so we’re aiming for July or August
as the return date.” ...
“I don’t have problems anymore with my reach or flexibility, and so far
everything is going very well,” he said.
As part of his offseason regimen, Martinez said he is bulking up. “I’ve
put on about 10 pounds of muscle, because that’s one of our
strategies,” he said.


Pedro makes a good low dollar buy in keeper leagues this season.

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Ken Griffey Hurt

According to Baseball Digest:

The Reds are reporting that Ken Griffey Jr. has suffered a broken left hand in an accident at home. He will remain in a hard cast until he is re-examined in approximately 3 weeks.

There's no word if this injury is related to Griffey's reaction to the Reds trading for Jeff Conine.

Durazo Signs

Durazo is tearing it up in the Mexican Winter League:

Through Wednesday, Durazo, 31, was batting .345 with 17 homers, 51 RBIs, a .454
on-base percentage and a .641 slugging percentage through 57 games with
Hermasillo.

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061221 />

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Players You Should Know: Brad Salmon

Brad Salmon is too old to make most prospect lists and hasn't had the kind of consistent success that has fantasy geeks and the like keeping an eye on him. This is why if you try (assuming he make the Reds bullpen) you will get Brad Salmon very cheaply. If Salmon can carry what he seems to have learned in the minors last year to the majors he will be the Reds closer before the end of the 2007 season. What are the chances of that? Probably not great but for a buck at the end of my National League Auction I make take the chance.

From RotoWire: Reds manager Jerry Narron and GM Wayne Krivsky both said that right-hander Brad Salmon could be a candidate for the bullpen next season, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. In a 2006 season split between Double- and Triple-A, Salmon was 7-2 with a 2.44 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 81 relief innings. "He's 27, so he won't be intimidated by big-league hitters," Krivsky said. "He throws up 95, 96 (mph)." Salmon had five saves in the minors last year.

Salmon has always had a good strikeout rate. He gets groundballs. He doesn't allow many homeruns. His problem has always been a slight walk-rate problem and bad luck. In 2006 at Triple-A he looked like a stud pitching prospect even if he got a little good luck for a change with a 2.34 earned run average and a 1.09 whip.

2006 AA 23.1 IP/ 6.94 H9/ 0.00 HR9/ 6.17 BB9/ 9.26 K9/ 1.46 Whip
2006 AAA 57.2 IP/ 5.62 H9/ 0.47 HR9/ 4.21 BB9/ 11.24 K9/ 1.09 Whip

Check out the rest of his numbers at thebaseballcube.com.

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Players You Should Know: Kelly Johnson

Kelly Johnson isn't that obscure a player if you follow the minor leagues or at least team's top ten prospects. But Johnson was at one point considered among the Braves best prospects and to this point he has done nothing to be dismissed a good major league possibility. Johnson missed 2006 due to a serious elbow injury but has rehabbed well and is the leading candidate to replace Marcus Giles at second base for the Atlanta Braves. At your draft or auction it is likely he will qualify only in the outfield.

Kelly Johnson is a potential 25 homer/10 stolen base player similar to Chase Utley in a lot of ways. You will get him cheaply this season if you try and I think you will be very happy with the results.

Check out his career stats at the Baseball Cube.

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Players You Should Know: Devern Hansack

This is the first in a series of brief blurbs about players that are likely to have an impact in the 2007 season but are even more unlikely to appear on any favorite sleeper lists. These briefs will appear every so often until I get sick of doing them anyway.

Devern Hansack RHP Boston Red Sox

Devern Hansack was originally signed by the Houston Astros, who do have a reputation of giviong up on good prospects for stupid reasons. The Astros released Hansack in 2004 most likely because of his ambiguous age (see a stupid reason) and not having an agent he ended up pitching in Nicaragua. There he was discovered and signed by the Red Sox. The Red Sox seem to have helped him improve his control and command at least slightly which has resulted in less walks and more strikeouts. The great thing about Hansack is he pitched in the majors for the Red Sox when their fans were turning off their televisions because of the Red Sox frustrating end of the 2006 season. Most probably don't even realize he pitched a five-inning complete game no-hitter in October against the Baltimore Orioles.

He throws a two different fastballs, a four-seamer (that sits around 92 mph) and a two-seamer with nice movement. He compliments those with a very good chnage-up and a tight slider. He has started and relieved in his year in the Red Sox system but is headed to the Red Sox bullpen in 2007. As crazy as it may seem he is as good an option for the Red Sox closer job as anyone on their roster at this point.

AA Portland: 132.1 IP /31 games/18 starts/8.30 H9/0.95 HR9/2.45 BB9/8.43 K9/1.19 whip

MLB Boston Red Sox: 10IP/ 2 Games/ 2 starts/5.40 H9/ 1.80 HR9/0.90 BB9/7.20 K9/0.70 whip