Newberg Day Summary and Castro Traded

Yesterday was the Newberg Day at the ballpark. It was a great day. I will describe the day and at the end, I will analyze the Fabio Castro trade.

The day started off with a Will Carroll Q&A session at the Legends Museum. Will is a specialist in injuries and steroids for Baseball Prospectus. He won a Sporting News award and has written 2 books, one on avoiding injuries for young pitchers and one on steroids called The Juice. One thing I thought was interesting was that a minor league system does good to produce 2 major league players a year.

Then they had a prize drawing for people who helped in the toy drive. I won a Dennis Quaid autographed picture and a prop from the movie, The Rookie.

After that was a Jon Daniels Q&A session. As usual, Jon was very friendly and did a great job answering questions. Below are some notes I took on what I thought were interesting topics.

Question: Can you please name one player from each position that would be called up to the Rangers if someone gets injured?

Answer:
C: Jamie Burke, Nick Trzesniak, Tom Gregorio
1B: Move DeRosa to 1st
2B: Drew Meyer
3B: Drew Meyer
SS: Drew Meyer (for a short-term need), Joaquin Arias (for a long-term need)
OF: Drew Meyer, Adam Hyzdu, Laynce Nix

Question: What were your thoughts on the Castro trade?

Answer:
- They weren’t 100% sure about Castro.
- Haigwood is a big prospect.
- It’s touch to carry Rule 5 guys. Only 2 or 3 from the last 10 years made it through the whole season.
- They think that they got a guy in Haigwood who is about the same level of prospect as Castro. The difference is that they don’t have to carry Haigwood on the active roster.
- There were 3 serious offers for Castro.

Question: Do you think Kameron Loe’s performance this season is just a fluke and what do you think his long-term role is?

Answer: Jon hopes it is a fluke. He thinks that Loe’s long-term role is in the bullpen.

Question: Who is the next spot starter?

Answer: Edinson Volquez.

Questions: What do you think Enrique Cruz’s role is?

Answer: Jon thinks that Cruz will be an MLB utility player.

At the end of the session, Jamey told us that I was throwing out the first pitch and that I needed to go to suite 32A immediately. We rushed there and met someone who was waiting for us. She took us into the tunnels below the stadium and then we went through the umpire’s tunnel onto the field. We were standing on the infield warning track through all the pre-game ceremonies. After the national anthem, they announced my name over the speakers and I jogged out to the mound. I threw the pitch from the pitcher’s rubber for a strike. It was really exciting and I was glad I threw a strike.

After that, we went up to the suite to watch the game. We watched the game with Jamey Newberg, Will Carroll and Bob Sturm. The Rangers lost 9-5. Once again, there was a bad umpire call against the Rangers that cost them 7 runs. Craig Biggio had a strikeout because he had gone all the way around with his swing. But the home plate umpire called it a foul ball although he clearly did not hit the ball.

It was a really fun and exciting day and I thank Jamey Newberg and Jon Daniels and Will Carroll and the other Newberg volunteers (like Eleanor and Alan) for making it happen.


Castro/Haigwood Trade Evaluation:

The Rangers traded Fabio Castro to the Phillies for Daniel Haigwood. Castro was with the Rangers’ major league club (taken in the Rule 5 draft) until they designated him for assignment and Haigwood was with the Phillies’ AA club (the Reading Phillies).

Daniel Haigwood LHP:
Daniel’s career numbers are:
32-11 W-L
3.36 ERA
332 IP
333 SO.
Daniel started his pro career in 2002, when he was an all-star for the Arizona League White Sox. Haigwood has spent 3 of his 4 seasons with the White Sox (making it to AA in 2005), becoming teammates with Chris Young and Fabio Castro. This year he has a 2-5 record with a 3.54 ERA and 85 strike-outs in 84 IP.

Fabio’s career numbers are:
16-10 W-L
2.40 ERA
195.2 IP
203 SO.
Fabio started his pro career in 2003 and this was his 1st year to get out of A-ball. So far this year his stats at the major league level are a 3.18 ERA with 7 SO in 11.1 IP.

Trade Evaluation:
I think this trade was very good considering that we don’t need to use a spot on the active roster for Haigwood like we did with Castro. Haigwood has a pretty good ERA and strikes out a lot of batters. It’s disappointing to lose Castro but I understand the Rangers’ reasoning.
Grade: B+

Come back next week for a recap of my trip to St. Louis to see the new Cardinals ballpark, with stops for minor league games in Tulsa and Springfield.