Earlier today, the Chicago Cubs sent left-handed reliever Scott Eyre to Philadelphia for A-ball pitcher Brian Schlitter. A quick look at Eyre’s 2008 season (7.15 ERA in only 11 and one-third innings) tells you that the Phillies may be handling a live grenade at the cost of a Minor Leaguer with good stats: Schlitter averages over 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings and has a WHIP of just 1.26 along with his 2.31 ERA.

However, a deeper look at Eyre’s statistics will show you that Phillies GM Pat Gillick may not, in fact, be handling a live grenade. Between May 10 and June 13, Eyre appeared in 14 games and did not allow a single run. It was only in four of his last five appearances that he struggled. He allowed a total of nine earned runs in two and one-third innings, then hit the disabled list on June 28 and did not return until July 23.

Eyre’s recent shortcomings may be blamed partially on Cubs manager Lou Piniella for incorrect usage. Right-handed hitters have a 1.059 OPS against Eyre, but left-handers have just an .804 OPS. Between June 15 and July 31, Eyre faced 11 right-handers and got three of them out, but two were sacrifice flies. He also allowed five singles, a triple, a walk, and hit a batter. Furthermore, of the five runs he allowed in his two appearances on June 26 and July 31, four were runners inherited by a reliever after Eyre who allowed them to score.

As mentioned, Eyre came off of the disabled list on July 23, but Piniella only used him once between then and August 5, when the Cubs placed him on waivers. It’s hard to be sharp when you’ve just recovered from an injury and are only used once in almost two weeks.

Before we get into Sabermetrics, note that we are dealing with a very small sample size: Eyre has pitched just 11 and one-third innings this season.

Take a look at Eyre’s BABIP for 2008 and try to keep your eyeballs glued to your face. It’s .438. Point four-three-eight. Small sample size, but it does explain a bit of his woes — after all, he did give up only one extra-base hit to right-handers in his last two months of pitching. With a 26.5 LD%, we would expect a BABIP of about .385, which is still very high but still well below his current BABIP.

His current ERA (7.15) is more than twice his FIP (3.07) as well. Another good sign is that, even including his poor appearances, his strikeout rate is higher and his walk rate is lower than last season when he put up a 4.13 ERA in just over 52 innings for the Cubs.

The Phillies, most likely, will use Eyre strictly as a LOOGY. This is exactly how he should be used and exactly how Lou Piniella did not use him. He’ll pitch regularly to left-handed batters between the 6th and 8th innings and won’t be underused and due to his role of pitching to only one or two left-handers, he won’t be overused either. Considering that he had elbow problems in May and a groin problem in June, it’s works out great for both sides.

It’s a great trade for the Phillies. While Eyre is no Brian Fuentes, they get the left-handed specialist they’ve been after, and for a very cheap price — just a dime-a-dozen Minor League pitcher and just over $1 million left on Eyre’s contract. While you shouldn’t expect Eyre to be flawless the rest of the way, you certainly shouldn’t expect him to be anywhere near as bad as his surface statistics show.

In a deal that really might not even deserve mentioning, the Chicago Cubs today traded left-handed pitcher Scott Eyre to the Philadelphia Phillies for minor league right-handed pitcher Brian Schlitter.

The 22-year-old Schlitter went 4-3 with six saves and a 2.22 ERA (12 ER/48.2 IP) in 34 relief appearances for Single-A Clearwater this season.  The righthander has limited opponents to a .213 batting average, including a .211 mark by right-handed hitters and a .216 mark by lefthanders.  Schlitter has struck out 58 batters in 48.2 innings, an average of 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings, and has allowed just one home run in the 48.2 frames. Schlitter was selected by the Phillies in the 16th round of the 2007 Draft out of the College of Charleston. 

Eyre, 36, went 2-0 with a 7.15 ERA (9 ER/11.1 IP) for the Cubs this season, limited to 19 relief appearances due to a pair of stints on the disabled list.  He set a franchise record with 33 consecutive scoreless appearances from August 16, 2007-June 13, 2008, covering 23.2 innings, a career-best for the southpaw.

On second thought, I kind of like this deal for the Cubs. They get rid of Eyre, his contract, and his 7+ ERA for a prospect who’s shown some upside in the low minors.

The Orioles today announced that right-handed reliever Chad Bradford was assigned to the Tampa Bay Rays via a waiver claim for a player to be named later.  

Bradford, 33, was 3-3 with a 2.45 ERA (40.1IP, 11ER) in 47 relief appearances for the Orioles this season.  He has appeared in 68 or more games in five of the past six seasons and he finished third among American League relievers with 78 appearances for the Orioles in 2007.

Nice little pickup for the Rays who look to solidify their pen.

According to ESPN, it was the Boston Red Sox who placed a waiver claim on San Diego right fielder Brian Giles.  The Red Sox are now negotiating to acquire the 14-year veteran from the Padres.  Giles is hitting .296 with a .391 on-base percentage. He is earning $9 million this year, and his contract with the Padres has a club option for $9 million for 2009 that would climb to $11 million in the event he is traded. Giles has a limited no-trade clause, and Boston is among the teams to which he can be traded without his permission.

…After holding an open audition at the University of Miami in front of 15 different Major League Teams Freddy Garcia hopes to make a decision quickly on which team will get his services for the remainder of the season. Some of the teams that sent scouts include, the Red Sox, Yankee’s, Rays, Tigers, Rangers, Mets, Phillies, Astros, Brewers, Cubs, Rockies and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Freddy is working hard to come back as a starter,” Greenberg said. “That’s his goal — to help a pennant-contending team get to October. There are a lot of factors that he’ll take into consideration. But he’d like it to be with a winning team with a chance to help get another ring.”

…Cleveland Indians Catcher Victor Martinez could start a rehab assignment soon. He’s been sidelined with a elbow injury and hamstring issues. He’s been taking batting practice, throwing to bases and running. He will be catching, playing some first base and DHing once he returns to the Indians lineup.

…Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun is reporting that Free Agent to be Mark Teixeira (a Baltimore native) wont engage in discussions until after the season. Of course he was asked about playing for his hometown Orioles.

“It’s always something that would be very special to me,” Teixeira said today. “But like I said, in a couple months, when the season’s over, I’ll sit down and make those decisions.”

The sticking point though is can the O’s afford Tex? He (and Scott Boras) is looking for a 10 year deal worth $20 Million a Season. Only two players in the Majors have a deal like that - and both of them play for the Yankees (A-Rod and Derek Jeter).

…There’s a new odd couple in Baseball, Manny Ramirez and Andruw Jones. According to Manager Joe Torre they’re stuck together at the hip. Early in a forgettable season for Jones, he said through the press he really didn’t care what the fans through in regards to his horrible hitting. Now he’s apologized and wants to move forward.

“I wish I could start everything over,” Jones says. “I apologize for the things I said about the fans; I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.

“I care about playing well for Dodger fans, but now I have to be strong to overcome everything that has happened.

“It’s tough mentally every time you go out there and they let you know how they feel, and you look at the scoreboard and see your batting average. I’d like to just go away for a few months, work hard and start over, but I can’t do that. I need to do everything I can to still help this team.”

…Speaking of the Dodgers, Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times is reporting that Shortstop Rafael Furcal and his agent are hoping that they can work out a deal with the Dodgers for next year. Furcal is expected to file for free agency at the end of the year, but would like to remain a Dodger. Right now he’s down in Arizona rehabbing a back injury and looking to return to the Dodgers line up in September.

…Ok, I promise this is the last thing on the Dodgers. Dodgers Hitting Coach Don Mattingly was on “The Show” with Rob Dibble and Kevin Kennedy and had this to say about the impact Manny Ramirez is having on the Dodgers.

“It’s been great, its brought an energy to that stadium that is just exciting…to have a guy the caliber of Manny in to our line up, it starts just telling guys we need to get on base, not just for Manny but for each other, just the things he does brings excitement, brings a confidence to our club that we have a chance to score some runs..”

It’s a rhetorical question, but the answer is, “Someone a lot better than we thought he was.” Coming into the 2008 season, Ludwick owned a .251/.319/.446 line with 28 homers in 637 at-bats; this year he’s hitting .307/.384/.623 with 29 homers in 371 at-bats (through August 6). Let’s put this into seasonal notation (i.e., per 162 games) for easier viewing:

As a certain lecherous high school Spanish teacher of mine used to say, “Significant gap.”

Here are Ludwick’s ten most similar players through age 28 (i.e., through 2007 for Ludwick):

1. Jim Lemon
2. Ken Hunt
3. Mike Diaz
4. Carmen Castillo
5. Al Ferrara
6. Brian Buchanan
7. Bruce Aven
8. Jeff Abbott
9. Danny Gardella
10. Darren Jackson

Some of these guys — Ferrara, Gardella, and Lemon — were actually a good deal more productive than Ludwick at this stage, while Abbott was worse. Our best fits are Hunt, Diaz, Castillo, Buchanan, Aven, and Jackson. Here are their age 29 seasons:

• Hunt: .135/.243/.208 (113 PA)
• Diaz: did not play
• Castillo: .250/.296/.477 (241 PA)
• Buchanan: .263/.346/.455 (228 PA)
• Aven: .333/.385/.542 (26 PA)
• Jackson: .249/.283/.392 (628 PA)

So out of those six, we have four scrubs, one guy who played every day but wasn’t very good, and one guy who had seen his final big-league action. That’s not real encouraging.

Did any of these players ever have a big season? Not really. Only two of them ever hit as many as 20 home runs in a season: Hunt knocked 25 in 1961 and Jackson pounded 21 in 1991.

In other words, players who hit like Ludwick through age 28 typically don’t elevate their game to another level without warning. As Ludwick himself is demonstrating, this doesn’t mean it’s impossible — it’s just unlikely.

It’s so unlikely, in fact, that very soon, the folks who make such judgments will have to answer another difficult question: Is it possible to award Comeback Player of the Year to someone who hadn’t really done anything in the past?