All Things Bubba

Holy heck. Tony Cingrani just keeps getting better and better. He was so good yesterday that Hal McCoy, longtime beat writer for the Dayton Daily News (back when they had a beat writer) thinks Cingrani is Randy Johnson and Sandy Koufax rolled into one.

He's looked so good, Hal thinks that when Johnny Cueto comes back, it will be Mike Leake send down to AAA, not Cingrani.

I don't know what to think of that. From a bean-counting point of view, it would be an advantage to send Leake down. But...I can't help wondering if once the book gets around on Cingrani, he'll be hit hard. We've seen this before, with young pitchers who seem unhittable, then quickly become hittable when they're scouted. I still think he needs more than a fastball for long-term success in the big leagues.

OTOH...he's succeeded at every level so far. The strikeouts are unreal. Just amazing. Velocity, pacing, location - he's looking like a lefty Verlander. Maybe he really can be Randy Koufax.

Labels: Tony Cingrani

Well, CBS had a report on Paul Janish today. It appears to be rather outdated, but I assume it came from the Braves.

April 26, 2013 2:55 pm

Paul Janish working his way back

by Bill Passonno | CBSSports.com

Braves shortstop Paul Janish has now appeared in five games during his rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett as he continues his recovery from shoulder surgery. Janish, who started the season on the disabled list, owns a .200 average and is still looking for his first extra-base hit.

Ummm...what? No mention of the fact that he hasn't played since April 20, no explanation of why he is no longer on the Gwinnett Braves roster. Sheesh.

Labels: Paul Janish

Paul Janish was removed from the Gwinnett Braves roster today. After missing four games due to soreness, this probably isn't a good sign. Looks like he has some kind of setback.

UPDATE: It sounds like he's still with the team. Maybe a paperwork thing, so he doesn't run out his rehab time not playing.

They said he's "still tender on the left side." The surgery was on his left shoulder, so I assume it's related.

Labels: Paul Janish

Tony Cingrani pitched a fine game, but for naught. There was no run support, and the pen faltered. He deserved better.

His line: 7 innings pitched, 5 hits, 2 runs (both earned), 0 walks, 9 Ks, 1 HR.

Grant Brisbee wrote An ode to Tony Cingrani, wherein he talks about Cingrani's history at Rice and praises the deceptiveness of his delivery.

And the Cincinnati Enquirer features a Tony Cingrani quiz. I got 9 out of 10, but I totally guessed on a couple of the questions.

Meanwhile, Paul Janish is still not in the Gwinnett lineup tonight. They said he's "Still not 100%." Which I guess is encouraging. It implies that he's improving, at least. I'm going to be very disappointed if he's not in the lineup when Gwinnett makes their northeast swing next month.

Rehab assignments are limited to 20 days for position players; Janish's began on April 15. However, he's expected to be optioned to Gwinnett when his rehab assignment ends, so the deadline shouldn't matter.

Labels: Paul Janish, Tony Cingrani

Tony Cingrani takes the mound tonight at Great American Ball Park, in his second big league start. He'll be facing the Cubs' Carlos Villanueva.

Corky Miller, recently called up when Ryan Hanigan was put on the DL, will be Cingrani's catcher. Corky's been a fixture in Louisville the past few years, so presumably Cingrani's used to working with him.

Meanwhile, Paul Janish is out of the lineup in tonight's Gwinnett Braves game. It's the third game in a row he's missed. According to the Gwinnett radio announcers, Janish is not feeling too well. He's reportedly too sore to play. They weren't sure if it was related to his shoulder surgery or not.

Bummer. Gwinnett's in Louisville this week. Fans will be disappointed that Janish is not in the lineup.

Labels: Paul Janish, Tony Cingrani

Anthony Rendon got his first big league hit tonight. It was a RBI double.

He was called up yesterday to replace injured Ryan Zimmerman. He went 0 for 4, but got one hit tonight.

According to his manager, it doesn't matter how he hits. He'll be sent back down to AA when Zimmerman comes off the DL. Zimmerman is the starting third baseman, and they want Rendon to play every day, not rust on the bench.

Meanwhile, Paul Janish is MIA. For the second game in a row, he was not in the Gwinnett Braves lineup, and not available off the bench. Not sure what's going on. A minor injury, maybe. Or they're secretly working on a trade.

Gwinnett goes to Louisville tomorrow to play against Janish's former team. Be interesting to see if he's in the lineup.

Labels: Anthony Rendon, Paul Janish

Well, Phil Humber's perfect game seemed very far away tonight. He had a really rough outing. He gave up 8 runs and was pulled after only 1/3 of an inning. His line: 8 hits, 8 earned runs, 1 walk and 1 HR. Struck out none, and threw 30 pitches. Dunno if there was anything wrong, or if it was just one of those days.

Meanwhile, Paul Janish continues his rehab assignment with the Gwinnett Braves. He was 1 for 5 with a 2-RBI single.

He seems to be hitting the ball harder, but it's difficult for me to tell. The G-Braves are in Charlotte right now, and they have the worst MiLB.TV feed in the IL.

MiLB.TV is something of a crapshoot. All IL teams now have video, but the quality varies greatly. The Toledo Mud Hens broadcast is as good as MLB. HD, multiple cameras, replay, just totally professional-looking. The Louisville Bats are not as good. They don't do HD, and while they have more than one camera, they generally don't do replays and things like that.

Then there's Charlotte. All you get at Charlotte games is one camera, apparently way up above the press box. It shows the whole field, but so far away and in such low quality you can't recognize players or tell what's happening. It looks like bad surveillance video, and it's downright pathetic.

So as long as the G-Braves are in Charlotte, I can't tell what Janish's swing is like, let alone what he's swinging at. But it does seem like he's still not quite there yet. He's batting .200, and it's all singles. No extra base hits, and no walks. I know he's not Barry Bonds, but I'd expect a little more power and more walks. Especially in AAA.

Labels: MiLB.TV, Paul Janish, Phil Humber

Boston is still on lockdown. The Red Sox game is cancelled.

My sister used to live in Boston. I visited her often at Harvard, and remember it as a very bustling, crowded city, especially on Friday nights. The photos of the quiet, deserted streets are unreal.

What a crazy week this has been. Normally, I hate the Red Sox, but I can't bring myself to root against them this year.

Young Tony Cingrani got his first big league start and his first win last night. He fell short of his goal of a perfect game, but looked like he could be a legit starter. His line: 5 innings pitched, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks, 8 Ks. He owns a 1.80 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP. The Marlins are bad, but they don't strike out a lot, so 8 Ks in 5 innings is pretty impressive.

That said, I'm not sure how well he'll hold up. He threw almost all fastballs, and I suspect once the book gets around on him, he'll be quite hittable. He did start throwing some breaking stuff later in the game. But I think he is going to have to develop another pitch or two to be really effective on the big league level. I'm confident he can do it.

Labels: Tony Cingrani

As expected, the Reds optioned relief pitcher Justin Freeman to Louisville, and called up Tony Cingrani to take Johnny Cueto's spot in the rotation. Cingrani will start tonight against the Marlins.

Cingrani's goal for the night? Nothing less than a perfect game.

That might be a bit much, even against the lowly Marlins. Be interesting to see how he does, though!

Labels: Tony Cingrani

Paul Janish went 1 for 4 in his first game back from shoulder surgery. He also reached on an error.

Janish's hit was a lead off single in the bottom of the ninth. It was tied 4-4, and he was replaced with a pinch runner. I’m guessing they’re still worried about his shoulder, because Sean Kazmar, they guy they put in for him, did not seem to be particularly speedy, nor that great a base runner.

The pitcher made a terrible throw on a pickoff attempt, and Kazmar went first to third on it. (He was sort of lucky he made it - the throw from right field hit him in the back.) The catcher, Matt Pagnozzi flied out to shallow right, not deep enough to advance the runner. With the runner still on third and one out, pinch-hitter Corey Wimberly hit into what should have been a weak groundout to pitcher. Instead, Kazmar tried to go home and was easily thrown out. Wimberly, instead of being happy with reaching 1B on a fielder’s choice, went too far around. He tried to get back to first, but was out by a mile.

So, yeah, the G-Braves had a runner on third with no outs, and could not score. They did eventually win it in extras, though.

Labels: Paul Janish

Paul Janish begins his rehab assignment with the Gwinnett Braves today. He's playing SS and batting 7th. His jersey number is #14 - #4 is taken (by the guy being benched so Janish can play SS).

He's expected to be optioned to Gwinnett to start the season, so I'm not sure why they even bothered with listing him as on rehab assignment. Maybe it helps him with his pension or something.

Labels: Paul Janish

The Reds have hit a rough patch. They're the owners of a five-game losing streak, including being swept by the lowly Pirates.

Far more worrisome is the injury to their ace, Johnny Cueto. There's been no official announcement, but Ken Rosenthal reported that Cueto will be DL'd with a lat strain.

If that's true, Will Carroll says that's bad news. The average time lost due to a lat strain is 60 days.

Reds beat writer C. Trent Rosecrans reports that Tony Cingrani did pitch today, but was limited to two innings.

“We had our instructions to limit Tony today,” Louisville manager Jim Riggleman told John Wagner of the Toledo Blade after the game. “Tony will stay with us [in Columbus] and we will see what happens with Cueto. If the prognosis on Cueto is not good, then maybe Tony will go. That’s why we have to have [Cingrani] ready to pitch.”

That's kind of odd. Why "maybe"? Are the Reds still hoping Cueto won't have to be DL'd? Are they having second thoughts about using Cingrani, if Cueto will be out two months instead of just two weeks?

I guess we'll find out soon. The Reds are going to have to make a decision, and an announcement, soon.

Labels: Tony Cingrani

Last night, Cincinnati Reds ace Johnny Cueto had to leave the game with a triceps injury. He'll see Dr. Kremchek today.

Today, Tony Cingrani was scheduled to start for the Louisville Bats, but I'm guessing they'll hold him out. If Cueto has to go on the DL, Cingrani will get the call.

Labels: Tony Cingrani

Tony Cingrani continued his winning ways on Tuesday.

He's doing so well that the Reds considered calling him up when setup man Sean Marshall was put in the DL this week. But they decided that would impede his progress as a starter, so they called up Logan Ondrusek instead. Cingrani will be the first guy called up if they need a starting pitcher.

Meanwhile, David Aardsma cleared waivers and has signed a minor league deal with the Marlins. I'm kind of surprised he didn't get a big league deal somewhere, but I guess he still has a lot to prove, despite his good spring.

Labels: David Aardsma, Tony Cingrani

Neat story here, about how baseball has returned to a town devastated by Superstorm Sandy. $15,000 worth of baseball gear floated away in the flood, and with all the other devastation, they knew they could not ask the town for money for baseball.

A charity called Pitch In For Baseball stepped in. They accept donations of used gear and uniforms, and give them to kids who need it.

That seems like a really great idea. The way kids outgrow stuff and find new interests, there must be a lot of baseball equipment gathering dust in people's garages and attics.

And...is this a golden age of baseball? Yes, says Michael Brendan Dougherty. We have just enough parity to give every team hope, while still allowing dynasties. New ballparks make for a much better fan experience, as does new technology like watching online. Stats have opened up a new view into the game (but can be ignored, if you're not into that).

Ross Douthat disagrees. He thinks we've lost the innocence of the true golden age. He's leery of the effects of sabermetrics. ("Do we really want a sport that’s all strikeout pitchers battling walk-takers, with less room for stolen bases and no patience for the inefficiencies of sacrifice bunts?") And he doesn't like the new wildcard format, which makes the postseason even more of a crapshoot.

I can kind of see his point about the wild card. The postseason is such a crapshoot already. Not sure there's anything that can be done about it, but making it even more random is probably not a great idea.

Aside from that, though...I do think it's possible that baseball has never been better.

Tony Cingrani, March 3, 2013

Tony Cingrani looked a bit overmatched in spring training this year. He was assigned to the AAA Louisville Bats, and it wasn't really a surprise.

But he was terrific on the mound for minor league opening day last night. Six innings pitched, no hits, no runs, 1 walk...and 14 (!!!) strikeouts. Holy guacamole.

"DougDirt," who runs a blog devoted to Reds prospects, said Cingrani's breaking stuff was the best he'd ever seen from him. (There's a GIF here.)

There's been a lot of doubt about whether Cingrani can hack it as a starter, because he doesn't have enough pitches, but it looks like the Reds are serious about giving him a chance.

Meanwhile, the Yankees released David Aardsma. He was DFA'd Friday, and unconditionally released yesterday. Girardi explained why they cut him:

"I think the role we're looking for from that guy is probably a little bit more distance," manager Joe Girardi said. "He's been more of a one-inning guy and a save guy, and our seventh, eighth and ninth is pretty locked in. We just felt that he didn't really fit exactly. He's rehabbed, he's worked his butt off to get to this point, and hopefully it works out for him."

Aardsma looked good in spring training, and is likely to find a job somewhere.

Labels: David Aardsma, Tony Cingrani

During the Braves game tonight, the announcers said Paul Janish flew back to Florida today (and boy, are his arms tired!). Beat writer David O'Brien also said something about it.

Catcher Brian McCann and infielder Paul Janish, each recovering from shoulder surgery, will fly back to Florida on Thursday to continue playing in extended spring training games. Both are permitted only to hit for now in games, giving way to pinch-runners each at-bat in order to avoid sliding or potential collisions.

They accompanied the team back to Atlanta after spring training because the training camp in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., shuts down for a few days each year between spring training and extended spring training.

...Janish had his surgery a week before McCann and will be cleared to play sooner. He’s set to play shortstop at Triple-A Gwinnett when he returns from the DL. The Braves signed backup shortstop/utility infielder Ramiro Pena this winter and won’t have room for both on the major league roster at the same time.

April 16 is the date McCann will be cleared for full baseball activity. So I guess Janish will take over at SS for Gwinnett around April 9.

Labels: Paul Janish