Meet the newest member of the A’s, 26-year-old Tommy Everidge. Physically, Everidge looks like Eric Hinske plus about 50 pounds. As recently as last week Everidge was playing some third base in the minors, but he’s mostly a first baseman/designated hitter. Everidge debuted last night, smacking his first career hit, a double off the Green Monster, versus Jonathan Papelbon. Not a bad way to start your career in the majors.

Everidge isn’t even the most beloved hefty slugger with the addition of Brett Wallace last week, but he’s the one A’s fans get to take joy in watching first. Selected in the 10th round of the 2004 draft by the A’s out of Sonoma State University, it’s safe to call Everidge a bit of a local favorite. Since starting his majors career Everidge has hit well at just about every level, take a look at his numbers at the top two levels:

AAA (192 PA) .382/.432/.636
AA (903) .290/.358/.474

Everidge strikes out a fair amount and walks, although not at the levels you may be assuming, and his ISO is usually in the .180+ range. Truth be told, he lacks prospect status. His age, less than spectacular bat, and lack of a true position leave him in a bit of a limbo in terms of where he fits on a team; especially a team with Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, Jack Cust, and even the disabled Daric Barton floating around. Everidge is a right-handed platoon mate with defensive limitations that leave him stuck between first base and DH. T Or otherwise the player type that is about the easiest to find, right behind left-handed reliever.

Everidge makes for a nice local story and probably nothing else. At least he’ll always be able to tell his kids and grandkids about his double off Papelbon though.

For the second time in a week the Boston Red Sox make a move with a player previously designated for assignment. This time they swap Mark Kotsay (and cash) to their brothers in stockings for Brian Anderson. On the surface, the deal is a bit confusing. The two are essentially equals – although Kotsay has a better bat – but Anderson is nearly seven years younger. Kenny Williams cooperated with Anderson’s request to be traded and really didn’t change his team’s outlook much in the process.

Anderson is a former first round pick from the University of Arizona with the coolest middle name in the majors (Nikola). The potential Anderson flashed in Triple-A as a 23-year-old in 2005 (.295/.360/.469) has never shone through at the major league level. The White Sox tried giving him the center field job back in 2006, but he never hit or fielded well enough to take it. Since his role has shifted from future starter to defensive sub and fourth outfielder. Through nearly 900 career plate appearances Anderson is hitting .225/.288/.364. Only 27, Anderson did flash some signs of power last season while hitting lefties pretty well. Maybe his future lies as a platoon player, though it’s hard to see the Red Sox splitting time with Jacoby Ellsbury or J.D. Drew.

Kotsay is what he is, a left-handed hitter with some defensive flexibility in the outfield and at first. I doubt he sees too much playing time so the fact that his best days are behind him shouldn’t matter too much. Ostensibly a replacement level player, he’ll fill Anderson’s shoes fine. Or, if Williams is feeling generous, he’ll use some of the cash to buy Kotsay his own pair of cleats.

With the deadline only a few days away, GMs will be hard-pressed to find a more generic trade.

2008 looked like the beginning of the end for Derek Jeter. His OPS dipped below .800 for only the second time this decade, his ISO fell off, and his home run rate dropped. Maybe he was simply melancholy about the old Yankee Stadium closing, but Jeter didn’t look like a sure thing to produce like … well Derek Jeter. ZiPS projected a .354 wOBA, CHONE a .349 wOBA, and Marcel a .353 wOBA. As it turns out, that new park may be the best thing to happen to Jeter in a while.

Most players hit better at their home park, and Jeter is doing just that. Everyone has talked about how the new Yankees Stadium is a hitters’ park and the affect applies to Jeter too:

Home: .320/.401/.495 9 HR
Away: .322/.395/.415 2 HR

Jeter actually has a higher BABIP on the road, a higher walk rate, and a lower strikeout rate, yet his power is really shooting up in the new Yankee palace. Oddly, Jeter’s only other full-time right-handed batting teammate, Alex Rodriguez, isn’t seeing similar results, or at least he doesn’t on the surface. His BABIP is only .161, yet his line is .209/.358/.535. Only 6 of 19 home runs have come on the road, despite about split playing time.

As a team the Yankees are batting .273/.360/.487 at home and .278/.357/.452 on the road. So while a lot has been made of the park, the main difference does indeed appear to be home runs hit. 53 in 1,866 plate appearances on the road and 91 in 2,015 plate appearances at home. Or, in percentage form: 2.8% versus 4.5%. So the park seems to be making a difference in home run rates, although I’ll leave the park factors to the people smarter than myself.

Assuming Jeter doesn’t under perform his projections, he has the chance at a five win season. That seemed relatively unlikely entering the year.

Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were the only two breathing players inducted into Cooperstown this weekend. It didn’t have to be this way though, and frankly it shouldn’t have been since Tim Raines belonged right alongside them. Excuse me for drop-kicking a dead horse – smarter, better writers than I have taken it upon themselves to make the case – but, take a look at the graphical argument for.

Let me preface the wOBA comparison by saying that I’m well aware most members of the BBWAA have little idea as to what the metric is, where to find it, or how it relates to on-base average. Notice that Henderson is simply on another planet, but Raines isn’t any further back than Rice at any point and actually has a longer career. Our version of wOBA takes stolen bases into account, so Henderson and Raines, two base stealing juggernauts, are naturally affected for the better.

Moving on to the actual on-base metric, Raines is right there with Henderson, ahead of Rice. You can call it unfair that Rice is being compared to two lead-off hitter types, but it is what it is. We’re not ignoring slugging – in which Rice should have the clear advantage – either, as you can see here:

As expected, Rice dominates. Raines is no Juan Pierre by comparison though, and with the exception of Henderson’s 1990 season in which he went absolutely batty. Finally, some will want batting average taken into consideration. It does nothing but help Raines’ case:

Raines matches or exceeds the new inductees in each ‘slash’ stat, yet he was at home yesterday while the other two were celebrated for their achievements. It’s an injustice, hopefully one corrected next year.

Since we’ve already covered Mark Buehrle’s perfect game, a large comeback with a controversial ending is our game of the week.

Gio Gonzalez pitched horribly from the get go. After forcing two quick outs in the first, he issued walks to Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer before yielding a three-run shot to Jason Kubel. With the bases loaded in the second, Justin Morneau worked a full count before popping ball deep down the right field line that landed in the bleachers. Just like that, the score was 7-2. Three pitches later Cuddyer struck again, connecting with a solo shot. The Twins put runners on the corners before Gonzalez would finally escape the second.

The third would be no different. Already trailing 8-2, Gonzalez would have two runners on as Justin Morneau came up again. On a 2-2 pitch Morneau homered again. With an 11-2 deficit, 1% chance of winning and Cuddyer due up, Santiago Casilla entered the game. He would allow an unearned run, but kept the score intact over the next inning and two-thirds.

In the third Matt Holliday double, Jack Cust would single, and Daric Barton hit a two-run homer, putting the A’s seven back. In the fourth Holliday homered with a runner on, making it a five run ballgame. After a sac fly in the 5th, the A’s trailed 7-13 entering the bottom of the seventh. Brian Duensing would walk Barton and allow two singles before being removed. An Orlando Cabrera double pushed two runs in. Then Scott Hairston walked and Matt Holliday would get a chance to tie the game. Tie it he did. A grand slam from Holliday ended Bobby Keppel’s night after only three batters.

Ron Gardenhire brought Jose Mijares into the game and probably regretted it a pitch later as Cust hit a go-ahead jack. The A’s had not only came back from 10 down, they were now in position to win the game.

Flash forward to the ninth with Michael Wuertz on the mound. Cuddyer would double, putting the tying run in scoring position. An intentional walk later, Wuertz would throw a wild pitch that bounced deep into the cavernous foul territory. Cuddyer would round third and head home, sliding underneath the tag, but still being called out. Game over and without any instant replay, the Twins could do nothing but yell.

The ending is unfortunate because A) the call looked to be incorrect and B) took away the thunder and buzz from the A’s impressive rally. Not every day do you see teams who rank in the bottom half of the league in offense score 10 runs within one game. 14 runs? No way.

I didn’t think I’d be writing this, but here I am. The Houston Astros are in second place in the National League Central. It’s July. It’s the second to last Friday in July, and yet the Astros have a better record than the Cubs, Brewers, and Reds; the Cardinals have a game and a half lead on Houston.

The problem: Lance Berkman just hit the disabled list. It goes without saying that Berkman is a vital clog to the Astros. He leads them in on-base average, slugging percentage, ISO, wOBA, and just about any other offensive stat of consequence. Berkman’s replacements aren’t so good, in fact, Berkman’s infield mates aren’t very good. In his absence, Chris Coste has taken over the first base duties. That leaves Kazuo Matsui, Geoff Blum, Jeff Keppinger, and Miguel Tejada rounding out the infield. Here’s a look at their wOBA to date:

Tejada .356
Coste .298
Keppinger .323
Blum .316
Matsui .289

Throw in Matt Kata and Darin Erstad for good measure and the Astros still only have one better than league average hitter standing on the dirt. None are too stellar with the glove either, which leaves the Astros in a rough predicament. They don’t have the young pieces to acquire a stand-in first baseman, or brand new second baseman. Instead, they’re left to make do with what they have. With so little depth a playoff run seems fairly hard to imagine.

Truth is, I’m not sure how they got to this point. Matthew showed them as the luckiest team in baseball recently and I think the shoe fits. They have top heavy talent. On offense four players are worth 2+ WAR and Carlos Lee/Ivan Rodriguez are worth 1+. After that, only two other batters over a half a win. Same can be said for their pitching staff. Two starters over two wins, one starter with a win, a reliever in Chris Sampson who is quite good, Russ Ortiz doing swingman duties, and that’s it. Those are your players with 0.5+ WAR.

They have a ton of negative valued players though. The pitching staff has Geoff Geary, Doug Brocail, and Brandon Backe (amongst others) to thank for -2 WAR while the batters should send parting gifts to Jason Smith and Jason Michaels; -2.3 WAR without counting the pitcher contributions on offense. That’s -4.3 WAR. If you take Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee off the team to date, they combine for 3.8 WAR. That’s how bad some of the players the Astros are relying on are.

Maybe they can sneak into first place for a few days, just for their fans sake, but it’s not going to last long. Frankly I might be a bit irked as an Astros fan, all this luck is going to cost Houston a nice draft pick for their efforts.

Dave covered Mark Buehrle’s perfect game earlier, but the most impressive aspect of the performance might be the time it took for him to do the feat. The Rays television crew recorded exactly how long Buehrle was on the mound today. The total time of the game is listed at 123 minutes (2:03 in hours). Of those 123 minutes, Buehrle was only pitching during 32 of them.

Easy math: 32/123 = 0.26, times 100…that means that 74% of today’s game involved the Rays on the mound. The other 26% involved the Rays not making a sound. Impressive doesn’t begin to describe that figure and while I don’t have similar measures for any of the other perfect games, we do have the total time of game in each instance. To compare with the past five perfect games:

Randy Johnson 2004 2:13
David Cone 1999 2:16
David Wells 1998 2:40
Kenny Rogers 1994 2:08
Dennis Martinez 1991 2:14

In fact, we haven’t seen such an amazing performance go by this quickly in two decades. Tom Browning’s perfect game in 1988 took just under two hours at 1:51, Mike Witt’s perfect game a few years prior clocked in at 1:49.

On a personal level, this marks the first perfect game I’ve experienced from beginning to end. It was surreal realizing that history was knocking entering, oh, say the fifth or sixth innings. At that point it seemed like destiny.

This one has the most effective change-up amongst all relievers. Two quick facts about the pitch: 1) It averages a velocity in the upper-60s; 2) It’s not a change-up at all. I’m talking about Reds reliever Daniel Herrera, best known as the other other guy in the Josh Hamilton trade. In nearly 40 innings this season Herrera has posted a pretty decent FIP despite a fastball that average less than 84 miles per hour.

Before getting to the graphs, here’s a first person scouting report:

DRH: I throw a 4-seam fastball, cutter, sinker, slurve, change-up, and screwball. I will obviously carry the junk-ball tag because I don’t throw hard and I’m effective with my offspeed pitches, but my approach to hitters is different from your typical pitcher. I find value in movement and deception so I like to incorporate different speeds and arm angles to get outs.

Basically: if a pitch exists, Herrera probably has a grip for it. Coincidentally the screwball is a pitch that isn’t too reliant upon its grip, but rather that arm movement that goes with it. Since Herrera is a lefty, his screwball acts like a reverse slider and breaks away from right-handed batters.

Looking at one of Herrera’s game charts and trying to identify the pitches is a nice challenge. Below you see a ton of random dots, with pitchfx identifying his change-ups and sliders in two different quadrants. That’s never a good thing. So how can you attempt and identify which pitches are which? By using the other game chart graphs.

Here you see the horizontal movement and velocity. Since the two fastball dots are easily the hardest thrown pitches in this game, it’s a safe bet to assume those are correct in their label. The three pitches in the bottom left quadrant appear to be what Herrera would call his slurve, and the five pitches in the bottom right are his screwballs. The one change-up just floating there seems to be his sinker.

I’m not belittling the pitchfx classification system or telling you to not trust our pitch types/values; sometimes players like Herrera simply cause everything to go nutty. As a 5’7” lefty with a screwball, I think he’s used to that reaction.

Numerous sources are reporting that the Cardinals and Red Sox have agreed to swap Chris Duncan and Julio Lugo. The move comes not too long after the Red Sox designated Lugo for assignment, giving the team a small window to trade, release, or place him on waivers. Previous reports suggested Boston was desperate to move Lugo, so much as to placate potential suitors by accepting a fringe prospect and biting most – if not all – of his remaining salary.

The move was predicated on Lugo clearing waivers, which he did this afternoon. I just wrote about Lugo, saying he was essentially a league average bat with some glove issues at shortstop. Boston is paying for the rest of Lugo’s deal, so St. Louis is receiving a virtually free reserve middle infielder and one superior to Tyler Greene at that.

Chris Duncan is the son of Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan. As you can imagine, Pops reportedly wasn’t too thrilled, nor was manager Tony LaRussa. Whether the pair threatened to quit or not is anyone’s guess, but the situation in St. Louis seems rather unpleasant at this point.

In Duncan, the Red Sox get someone to show for the contract they just traded. The story on him is pretty simple. A herniated disk in his neck ended his 2008 and he’s yet to show signs of being the same power hitter as before. With regards to Duncan’s defense, he has none. Guys who flail around in the corner outfield without much success offer little in the way of defensive flexibility.

Duncan is a bit more than I expected Boston to receive for Lugo, but I guess it works out since St. Louis is a team with a hole to fill and without much faith in Duncan’s recovery.

Cliff Lee’s name is going to be printed way too much in trade rumors over the next week-and-a-half. Meanwhile Cleveland’s other worthwhile starting pitcher is barely being talked about. Yes, it’s Carl Pavano. Yes, he has injury concerns. Yes, his ERA is huge. No, teams shouldn’t shy away from acquiring him for the rest of the season.

There are inherent concerns and risks associated with Pavano like with all other pitchers. Obviously prior injuries seem to plant a giant red flag on Pavano’s shoulder, but the reward could be worth the risk. Pavano’s 5.13 ERA is misleading. His FIP is a crisp 3.59; xFIP is 3.92; tRA is 4.33; and tRA* 4.49 (and remember, tRA is based on the RA scale, not ERA, so when you scale it to ERA those numbers are more like ~3.6-4.2). In words: he’s pitching quite well.

A base salary of 1.5 million can see 5.3 million tacked onto it based on starts and innings pitched. To date he’s made 18 starts and pitched 107 innings. Cots outlines his performance bonuses as:

• starts: $0.1M each for 18, 20, 22; $0.2M each for 24, 26, 28; $0.25M for 30; $0.3M for 32; $0.35M each for 33, 34; $0.4M for 35
• innings: $0.1M each for 130, 140, 150; $0.15M each for 160, 170; $0.2M for 180; $0.25M each for 190, 200, 210; $0.3M for 215; $0.4M for 225; $0.5M for 235

Let’s call the 210+ innings clauses unlikely. That takes 1.2 million off the potential books. 35 starts won’t occur, so there’s another 0.4 million. 33-34? Probably not, so goes another 0.8 million. Just like that, 2.4 million rolls off, leaving his new team with – at most – 2.9 million in performance bonuses and whatever is left from his base salary.

The new team wouldn’t have to worry about forking over a ton of cash if Pavano blows his shoulder or elbow in a few starts. Plus, given his 2.5 WAR to date, he’s almost certainly going to be worth more than his second half salary. Mark Shapiro and company really did a knock up job with those incentives. The reasons to deal him are pretty obvious. A free agent as year’s end, Pavano will not bring back a compensation pick and for reasons already discussed, Pavano is not the best bet for a long-term extension.

With their playoff chances nearly flat-lining, the Indians would be wise to take their chances with Pavano on the trade market; just as a NL team without the chips for Roy Halladay or Lee should inquire on Pavano.