suppan hendrickson
6-5, 5.83 4-10, 3.93
word on the post-dispatch boards friday night was that st louis is on the verge of trading for dave dellucci. he'd be a good fit -- high obp makes him an ideal #2 hitter, and good power stroke provides the requisite "danger" TLR is looking for. strictly a platoon player; taguchi, presumably, would play vs left-handers.
would he be an upgrade over j-rod and/or duncan? here's dellucci's career stat line. his aggregate OPS over the last three seasons is .851; this year he's at .946. the cardinals only have one outfielder above .800 (edmonds). . . . . i reckon that's an upgrade. granted, dellucci has played in hitter's parks the last three years, but his home/road splits don't indict him. last year he actually homered more often on the road, slugged 60 points higher there than at home; this year, he's about even home vs road.
and what of duncan and his .890 OPS? well, if you trust -- after 60 big-league at-bats -- that .890 represents the kid's true level of ability, then i guess dellucci would be a waste. . . . .
if they do make a deal -- and it is just chat-board hearsay at this point, so i wouldn't count on anything happening just yet -- that would leave j-rod, duncan, and bigbie battling it out for the 5th-outfielder role; put me down for rodriguez; the brass might like bigbie because he's got the best glove. . . .
first-round draft choice adam ottavino proves mortal after all; he allowed the first earned runs of his pro career last night, absorbed his first loss. you may have read jdubya's scouting report of ottavino, taken during state college's recent visit to brooklyn. jdub also was kind enough to send me some pictures of the kid's pitching motion, which i have spliced together into two sequences (one 3 frames, the other 2). here's the 1st set, from back behind the 1st-base bag:
and here's the other set, from halfway up the 1st-base line:
thanks a bunch to jdubya for sending those along. elsewhere in the minors: colby rasmus hit his 2d homer for palm beach, and cody haerther whacked one for springfield -- his 1st dinger in more than a month.