Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.In two days, major league teams will begin playing with different rules than they did for the first five months of the season.
Some clubs will have 25-man rosters. Some will have 28-man rosters. Some will have 32-man rosters.
Some will have extra relievers if the game goes to extra innings. Some won't.
Some will have a pinch-running specialist. Some won't.
That's what we get with expanded September rosters.
Limited to 25-man rosters since Opening Day, teams on Sept. 1 can begin calling up anyone on their 40-man roster -- up to 40.
"Now, all of a sudden, a lot of horse[manure] players are getting called up in September," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "They're hitting .220, they're still called up. I remember in my time, you don't perform, you're not coming up.
"Before it was like a prize. 'Wow, I got called up in September.' Now I see a lot of really bad players called up in September, just because."
Texas manager Ron Washington said teams need the extra players.
"Most of the time you bring up pitching," he said. "You need that."
Teams can use a September call-up to reward a minor-leaguer for a good season. Or to give its top prospects a chance to get their feet wet in the majors. And some draft picks have it written into their contract that they get called up that September.
Contenders are more likely to go for needs: a third catcher, so the manager can pinch hit for the starter and still have one in reserve; more arms in the bullpen; another infielder or outfielder for depth.
"You can make a few more moves," Giants manager Bruce Bochy told FanHouse's Jeff Fletcher. "It gives you that flexibility, but at the same time you don't want it too crowded where guys lose their focus or don't get the work they need. But the game is a little different. You can make pitching changes earlier. You have more pinch-hitters, more pinch-runners."
Detroit manager Jim Leyland said "the less the better" in September.
"I don't like a bunch of people hanging around you're not going to use," Leyland said. "I think the best way to handle your September call-ups is if you know that there's a legitimate shot that there's a purpose for them. If you have that, you bring them up. If you don't, you don't.
"I used to think a little bit different. I used to think, well, if a guy went down, busted his [butt], had a good year, you kind of call him back up out of respect for what he's done ... But to bring him up here just to sit doesn't make sense."
Besides Leyland's reasoning (and the cramped visitors' clubhouses at Wrigley Field and Fenway Park that can hardly accommodate 25 players, nevermind 40), there are other reasons to not call up players.
If the Triple-A affiliate is in the playoffs, key members might stay there to help instead of being recalled. If players aren't already on the 40-man roster, teams may not want to make room for them. And once players begin accumulating service time, they have a chance to hit arbitration or free agency even earlier.
"We can't afford rewarding people," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "My philosophy is I'll bring who we believe can help us and we'll bring those who we think will benefit from this experience."
But Rangers GM Jon Daniels said, "We don't spend too much time being worried about 30 days service time. If a player's good enough where you're going to be concerned about those 30 days, he's probably already here."
Players who have been September call-ups said the experience helped them get a jump start on acclimating to the majors.
"I always thought in September the more the merrier," said Rangers third baseman Michael Young, who was called up Sept. 27, 2000, and got in two games, one as a pinch runner. "The more you can get guys acclimated to the big leagues, the better.
"When I got to spring training [the next year], even though I was only with the big-league club for a week, I had already felt like the acclimation process had already started. All the shock was kind of out of my system."
Said White Sox DH Jim Thome (September 1991 Indians): "I cherished every moment. I tried to take all of it in. And I was humbled. To be honest, I was humbled. It helped me realize that there is a difference between the minor leagues and the big leagues -- what you have to work for, what you have to look forward to and what you have to strive to get to."
San Francisco's Rich Aurilia said he "didn't care" that he got in only nine games in September 1995.
"It was, 'Wow, I finally made the big leagues,' " he said. " 'I'll do whatever you guys ask and try to contribute any way I can.' The best part is it was a learning experience for me. I got to learn from the guys. If I wasn't going to play I wanted to learn something and make myself better."
White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko, a September call-up with the 1997 Dodgers, admitted "it's kind of weird when you think about" how roster expansion affects the game.
"I don't think anybody even thinks twice about it," he said. "It's just part of the game."
Brewers general manager Doug Melvin has thought about it. Melvin been the most outspoken voice for changing the rule to address the inequities between teams in September and (as Bochy pointed out) the difference in how a game can be managed over the final month.
Melvin, who did not return messages seeking comment, has proposed allowing call-ups but limiting the players eligible to play in each game, creating a sort of taxi squad. Relievers used the night before or players with bumps and bruises could be left off the active roster submitted with the nightly lineup card and others rotated in.
For now, baseball is the only sport that changes the size of its roster -- or allows competing teams to have different size rosters -- for its most crucial games.
"It's unusual," Daniels said, "but listen, it's kind of one of the nuances that makes baseball what it is."
Overheard and Understood
• Could Phil Hughes be the next Zack Greinke? One scout said the 23-year-old Hughes, who was tentative as a starter (0-4, 6.62 ERA last year) is one of the top two or three setup men in the AL. Another wondered if the time in relief will help Hughes -- still considered a starter in the future by the Yankees -- discover he can have success by being aggressive.
| Chart of the Week | ||
|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee's Ryan Braun has hit 99 homers in his first three big-league seasons, sixth-most all-time: | ||
| Player | Years | HR |
| Albert Pujols |
2001-03 |
114 |
| Ralph Kiner |
1946-48 |
114 |
| Eddie Mathews |
1952-54 |
112 |
| Joe DiMaggio |
1936-38 |
107 |
| Mark Teixeira |
2003-05 |
107 |
| Ryan Braun |
2007-09 |
99 |
| Frank Robinson |
1956-58 |
98 |
| Source: Brewers | ||
• The Cubs' now-slim playoff hopes rest mainly with their schedule. After finishing a series with the Mets Sunday, they play the White Sox once, the Giants four times, the Cardinals three times and have 26 games against the Astros, Mets, Pirates, Reds, Brewers and Diamondbacks.
Milwaukee, meanwhile, has a killer schedule left, with 16 more games against NL playoff contenders San Francisco, St. Louis, Philadelphia and Colorado.
• Guillen on what he expects from Jake Peavy once Peavy comes off the DL for his Chicago debut: "What do I expect? I don't know because I don't know him ... That's a big trade for us. That's a former Cy Young Award winner, making a lot of cake, making a lot of money. You make more than $2 million, you should be out there for nine innings."
• According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Tony La Russa has now managed 10 Cy Young Award winners (either the year they won or after they had won it) -- John Smoltz, Chris Carpenter, Pat Hentgen, Fernando Valenzuela, Dennis Eckersley, Bob Welch, LaMarr Hoyt, Tom Seaver and Sparky Lyle. La Russa had been tied with Joe Torre (Seaver, Randy Jones, Mike Marshall, Rick Sutcliffe, Roger Clemens, David Cone, Dwight Gooden, Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux).
• Washington is 14-13 in August, with a shot at its first winning month since going 15-12 in Sepetmber 2007. Over the last 10 full months, the Nationals averaged a 9-17 record.
On the other coast, Oakland is 13-14 in August and trying to avoid its eighth straight month without a winning record.• A six-inning no-decision Thursday left Houston's Brian Moehler still 5-0 in his career against St. Louis (67 innings pitched). Only two pitchers have thrown more innings against the Cardinals without a loss: Al Downing (7-0 in 88 2/3 innings) and Tom Underwood (5-0 in 71 1/3 innings).
• The Royals had light-hitting, slick-fielding shortstop Tony Pena Jr. (career .548 OPS) convert to pitching, and he has a 4.15 ERA through five appearances in the Single-A Midwest League. But Pena figures to be a minor-league free agent after the season and intends to go back to being a position player.
• If Joe Mauer can get 52 more hits for the Twins in the final 33 games, he would end Minnesota's 12-year run without a 200-hit season. The only teams with longer current such droughts are Milwaukee (1991), Cincinnati (1977) and Tampa Bay (none since coming into existence in 1998). Paul Molitor had the most recent 200-hit season for both the Twins and Brewers.
• Pittsburgh's Garrett Jones reached 15 homers in his 48th game since being called up, making him the fastest rookie to 15 home runs since Russell Branyan for the 2000 Indians.
• Baseball fever in Colorado? Tuesday's Rockies-Dodgers game was the most-watched baseball telecast in the history of FSN Rocky Mountain, with a 9.7 rating.
