When the Rangers signed Sidney Ponson to a minor-league deal in the spring, I thought it was a good fit for the organization and for Ponson. The Rangers are forever in need of pitching, and Ponson fit the mold of mediocre starter that the team seems to covet so much.
While I figured it would only be a matter of time before Ponson was pitching in a Rangers uniform, I sure as hell wasn't expecting him to pitch as well as he has been (though apparently not well enough for Getty to have a picture of him as a Ranger). After holding the Mariners to one run in seven innings on Tuesday, Ponson improved to 2-0 in three starts this season, and has an ERA of 1.33. In fact, he hasn't allowed more than one run in any of this three starts.
So far Sir Sidney is using all his pitches well, and locating them, which is leading to a lot of ground balls and easy outs. He even seems to be having a positive effect on the Rangers pitching staff as a whole, as the team has gone 7-4 in the eleven games since he joined them. Eleven games in which Texas has allowed four or fewer runs seven times, and have two shutouts.
The Rangers have also gotten out of last place in the AL West. Now three starts does not exactly a season make, and Sidney may give up 8 runs in his next start, and the Rangers may lose their next five, but if they are going to turn the corner, they have to start somewhere. Who would have thought it would be Ponson getting them started?
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.
Milwaukee Brewers (15-12) at Chicago Cubs (17-10) - 2:20 PM ET
So I'm flipping around my MLB extra innings package late last night and I see that they're still playing baseball in Chicago ... and I have to squint because the number on the screen can't be right: 19 runs? Really? The Cubs put up 19 against the Brewers? Alas, it was true. It shouldn't be that surprising. The Cubs were 13th in baseball in batting average last season and 18th in runs. This season, thanks in part to the acquisition of Kosuke Fukudome, and in part to the Cubs dedication to taking more pitches, they were second in both categories before last night's 19 run shenanigans.
The Brewers haven't been hitting as well this season, but they did win the first game of this series in Wrigley 10-7. So who better to calm down all this offense than Yovani Gallardo, who was injured to start the season but has a 0.64 ERA in his first two starts this season, and Carlos Zambrano, who's 4-1 so far with a 2.21 ERA? Maybe the wind will blow in too.
It came as somewhat of a surprise when the Washington Nationals released John Patterson last week, but it didn't take Patterson long to find a new home. After being unemployed for three whole days, the oft-injured starter agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers.
The Texas Rangers have agreed on a minor league contract with former first-round pick John Patterson.
"It's a comfortable fit and I'm looking to getting out there and getting going," said Patterson, who was 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in three spring starts for Washington. "I feel good. I've been working real hard, throwing a lot. I haven't had any problems."
The 30-year old former first round pick has missed most of the last two seasons thanks to pinched nerves in his forearms that just never seem to go away. Patterson had surgery in September to hopefully fix the problem, but it's going to take time to recover from it, and he realizes he's not going to be ready for the Majors by opening day so he has no problem accepting the minor league deal.
Which is fine for the Rangers as well, because the Rangers can always use all the pitching they can get. They've already signed Sidney Ponson to a minor league deal this season, and are already dealing with annoying injuries to Brandon McCarthy, Kevin Millwood, and Vicente Padilla. If Patterson can manage to stay healthy, this could turn out to be a very good move for Texas.
It looks like Sidney Ponson knew what he was doing when he chose the Rangers over a number of other teams who were miraculously interested in services. No sooner did Sir Sidney report to Rangers camp on Monday, when the news was announced that Brandon McCarthy is going to be out anywhere from four to six weeks with inflammation in his forearm.
While an initial MRI showed no ligament damage, McCarthy is expected to be sidelined four to six weeks because of a problem that has bothered him throughout spring training and cut short his only appearance. The 6-foot-7 right-hander apparently won't need surgery.
McCarthy had been scratched from two starts this spring because of his forearm, but it was the type of injury the team was sure would go away with some rest. Obviously, they were wrong. This will be the third time McCarthy has had to go on the disabled list since coming to Texas from the White Sox in a trade before last season.
He spent time three weeks on the DL last June thanks to a blister, and then spent more time on it in July thanks to a fracture in his shoulder blade.
As for who is going to take Brandon's place in the rotation, it will probably be either the previously mentioned Ponson, or rookie right hander Luis Mendoza. Considering the Rangers aren't going to win the division this season, I'd go with Mendoza myself.
Wherever Kyle Lohse is right now, I'm willing to bet he just broke something. While Kyle sits at home, alone in the dark, waiting for the phone to ring, Sidney Ponson went and got himself a job. That's right, the same Sidney Ponson who has assaulted an Aruban judge, gotten busted for a DUI, and has been dumped by the Orioles, Cardinals, and Twins the last three seasons has signed a minor league deal with the Rangers.
The Rangers signed Sidney Ponson to a minor league deal. He will be in major league camp on Monday. GM Jon Daniels said Ponson is in good shape and should be ready to pitch in games fairly soon.
This move makes sense for both sides. The Rangers are always in need of more starting pitching, and looking at the pitchers the Rangers have right now, it means Ponson has a legitimate shot of making the roster when they break camp. Even if he doesn't make the roster right away, he'll be a good option for the Rangers should one of their starters go down with an injury, and I have Kevin Millwood on the disabled list by May.
As for Kyle Lohse, there's news that the Orioles are interested, but given my choice of pitching for the Orioles or killing myself, I'm not sure which option I'd choose. I just think that for the safety of all involved, we should keep any sharp objects out of Kyle's reach.
In a surprising turn of events, Sidney Ponson threw for scouts from six teams today in Jupiter, FL and it wasn't an unmitigated disaster for Sir Sidney. In fact, reports out of Jupiter seemed to indicate that he threw quite well in front of scouts for the D'Backs, Astros, Cardinals, Mariners, Rangers, and Royals. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has the story:
"I'm throwing nice and free again. I don't have to force anything," Ponson said.
Weighing about 20 pounds less than when the Cardinals released him 20 months earlier, Ponson exhibited a 93-94 mph fastball, a slider that touched 88 and a changeup that hit 84. An animal with bite replaced the rolling curveball seen two years ago.
"I'm here to rock and roll," Ponson said afterward. "My mind is clear. My arm is good. I'm working hard. I'm in pretty good shape. I'm pretty happy with the way I threw today."
Do you remember when Sidney Ponson was good? Granted, it was way back in 2003, but he did have a couple very good seasons. In fact, I was kind of boggled to find out he's only 31 years old. He seems to be in good spirits (later on in that article he tells of the mistake he made by substituting ice cream for booze in rehab ... I can't make this stuff up) and if he was actually as good as the PD's account makes it seem, he might have a job before Kyle Lohse, though he'll be lucky to get more than a minor league contract this spring.
The Cardinals will lend former pitcher Sidney Ponson a place and a mound to throw for scouts Thursday at lunchtime.
Ponson, who made 13 starts for the Cardinals in 2006, is said to have slimmed down to 245 pounds and cranked up his fastball to 91 mph.
Because he'll be on their spring-training campus, the Cardinals will have scouts in attendance, and they are interested is seeing what he has. "Just keep an open mind," manager Tony La Russa said.
If anybody knows how to keep an open mind, it's Tony LaRussa. I mean, his mind is so open he doesn't think Mark McGwire was on steroids while he played for him.
As for why anybody would want to sign Sir Sidney, even if he does have that fastball "cranked up" (poor choice of words, don't you think?) to 91 MPH, I have no idea. Even when he was "good" he kind of sucked, and now the last few seasons he's really sucked. Since 2005 Ponson has spent time with the Orioles, Yankees, Cardinals, and Twins, racking up 17 wins and 26 losses to go along with an ERA of 6.31.
I can't think of any team whose pitching staff would be better off with Ponson as a part of it. Though I imagine if he were to land anywhere, it would be in St. Louis, because no team appreciates drunk driving like the St. Louis Cardinals.
When the Twins cut themselves loose of Sidney Ponson earlier this season, it showed that they aren't afraid to admit they'd made a mistake, and fix it. At the time, some wondered why it was Ponson being cut when he actually had better numbers than Ramon Ortiz.
The Twins haven't officially announced anything, but all indications are that righthander Ramon Ortiz, who has a 10.97 ERA this month, will be demoted to the bullpen.
Ortiz struggled again on Saturday when he was rocked by the Blue Jays, and it appears it may have been the final straw.
The Twins are expected to bring up right-hander Kevin Slowey from Triple-A Rochester to take Ramon's spot in the rotation.
"We'll decide on where we are going to go with our bullpen and whole package, make adjustments," Gardenhire said. "We have to talk to the player first. We'll let you know where we are at."
I have to tell you, it's always nice when baseball teams listen to intelligent bloggers such as myself. I mean, let's face it, none of this would have ever happened had I not written this post last week.
Makes me feel like I'm really making a difference in this world.
Coming into the season the Minnesota Twins were hoping that Johan Santana and Boof Bonser would be enough to help deal with the fact that the rest of their starting rotation was less than impressive. Carlos Silva, Ramon Ortiz, and Sidney Ponson started out well enough, but May has not been kind to any of them.
Ponson was cut by the Twins earlier this month, and Ortiz and Silva haven't done anything to write home about either.
These three pitchers have been everything we'd feared they would be, and the Twins have gone 1-9 in the 10 games they've started this month. Ponson was released just over a week ago after struggling through seven starts, and now Ortiz looks like he may be next in line after posting an 11.74 ERA and 2.28 WHIP over his past four outings. Silva held out longer than either of the other two, but now it looks like he too may be falling apart.
It is becoming increasingly evident that the Twins cannot be a winning ballclub if they continue to start Ortiz and Silva in 40 percent of their games.
Let me just say that both of the Nicks are 100% correct.
Think about it. What are the Twins known for doing best?
Producing young talent.
Nothing has changed in Minnesota either. They have a host of young arms that they could plant into the starting rotation.
The Minnesota Twins designated Sidney Ponson for assignment on Sunday. All of which means the Twins now have ten days to trade, release, or send him to Rochester.
Ponson is not going to accept going to the minors, and nobody in their right mind is going to trade for him, so that means he's going to be released. Again. Just like in New York and St. Louis last year.
Everything came to a head on Saturday when Ponson gave up six runs in four innings against the Tigers to bring his numbers to 2-5 with a 6.93 ERA in seven starts.
I never expected Ponson to do anything that would help the Twins this season, but really this isn't that big of a blow to the Twins. Since they were able to sign him pretty cheap, it was a risk worth taking. They have a few pitchers in the minors that aren't that far away from being ready for the big leagues, so if they could take a chance on Ponson to kill time until those guys are ready, it was a good move.
"We tried and it didn't end up the way we wanted for either of us," Twins general manager Terry Ryan said of Ponson. "I'm disappointed at that, but we have to get going here and start producing."
As for who will replace Ponson in the Twins rotation, it seems to be a three horse race between Kevin Slowey, Matt Garza and Scott Baker. All three are pitching well in Rochester, but although Slowey has the best numbers of all three, it's likely going to be between Baker and Garza thanks to their Major League experience.
Ponson's immediate plans are to go home to Florida and hope that some other team gives him a call. He wants to pitch again, the only question is does anybody else want him to?
Like Kim and Julio, Ponson has been really bad so far this season. At 2-5, Ponson has posted a 6.93 ERA and -- get this -- a 1.885 WHIP, which is just plain awful. Then again, the Twins probably should have seen this coming, since Ponson posted an even higher rate (2.020) last year. The last straw for the Twins was probably yesterday, when Ponson gave up five runs over four innings in a loss to Detroit.
For what it's worth, Ponson seems relatively level-headed about the whole thing:
"I'm just going to go home and wait," Ponson said. "If nothing happens, nothing happens. No problem. I'll just go sit on the beach. ... If I do have a chance, I'll go full steam again and see what happens."
Everyone who's been between jobs can relate. Good luck to Ponson -- here's hoping he figures out whatever is wrong with his game, and finds meager work somewhere.
I understood why the Minnesota Twins chose to go with Sidney Ponson in their starting rotation over Matt Garza. I get that they want Garza to develop a little more in the minors before feeding him to the lions in the AL Central.
That doesn't necessarily mean I agreed with their decision.
Sure, they can't really be sure what they would get from Garza, but the Twins should know full well what they're going to get from Sidney Ponson. Bad pitching. Garza might be fantastic, Ponson won't.
Let's just look at Sir Sidney's numbers since his 17-win season of 2003. He's 26-37 with a 5.92 ERA. What exactly about those stats fills the Twins with confidence about Sidney?
Monday night was Ponson's debut in Minnesota, and he didn't look any different than when we last saw him as a Yankee, Cardinal, or Oriole. He lasted 5.2 innings and got smacked around for 8 runs on 10 hits, two of which were home runs. The Twins would lose to the Yankees 8-2.
"That's not the way I wanted to start the season with the Twins," Ponson said. "I didn't pitch good. The line will tell you that. I go out there to win ballgames, and I put the guys in a hole to start the game. That's not fun. Hopefully, my next start I won't do that."
To Ponson's credit, after giving up a two-run homer to Bobby Abreu in the second that made the score 5-0 he found a groove. He sat down 14 straight batters before the A-Rod struck a fatal blow in the fifth inning. Rodriguez crushed a three-run homer off to make it 8-1, and Ron Gardenhire blamed himself for it.
"That man will take the ball and pitch forever if he could," Gardenhire said of Ponson. "I knew Matty [Guerrier] didn't have good numbers against A-Rod, but that was stupid, leaving [Ponson] in. Ponson had battled his tail off, and I should have taken him out."
Trust me, this won't be the last time Gardenhire has to make excuses for Ponson if the Twins keep him in their rotation. He can give as many as he wants, it's not going to change the fact that Sidney Ponson just can't get the job done.
The postponement of Friday night's White Sox/Twins game could end up a blessing for the White Sox. It gives the team an extra day to let Mark Buehrle recover from the line drive he took off of his left arm on Thursday afternoon. As of now the team is confident that he'll be able to make his next start on Wednesday in Oakland.
''He felt better today,'' pitching coach Don Cooper said. ''[White Sox trainer Herm Schneider] worked on him Thursday and again [Friday.] We'll see how he is [today], but I think it's 70-30 he'll be OK to pitch [his next start].''
Though honestly, the way White Sox starters have been pitching, this could be bad news. In three games White Sox starters have combined for 7.1 innings of work, and have allowed 13 earned runs for a lovely ERA of 15.95.
The White Sox were also considering shifting their rotation around so that Jose Contreras could go against Johan Santana on Sunday instead of John Danks, but they eventually decided against it.
''Danks was in the bullpen [Thursday] and threw and was ready to come in,'' Cooper said. ''We don't want him to wait too long [to start], so he's lined up for Sunday.''
Sidney Ponson was scheduled to start on Sunday, but with the day off Friday, the Twins decided to move Santana up a day to face a White Sox team he's dominated in his career. Of course, who doesn't Santana dominate?
Today's game is scheduled for 3:35PM Eastern on FOX, but that's only if they decide to play the game. The cold conditions that caused yesterday's game to be called haven't gone away as it's expected to be about 34 degrees at game time, with a wind chill in the mid-20's. Since this game is a national broadcast, it's most likely they'll play the game and avoid having to reschedule yet another game later this season.
Sidney Ponson started for the Twins yesterday in a game against the organization he called home for 12 seasons. He last 4 innings, and gave up only one run en route to a 14-2 Twins victory. He received some boos from Orioles fans in attendance during the game, but Sidney waited until the game was over before he fired back.
"They booed me when I was playing there. It doesn't bother me. Baltimore fans have no clue what baseball is all about," Ponson said. "The old Baltimore fans over on 33rd Street [Memorial Stadium], that's true baseball fans. "[The Camden Yards fans] were booing me the last two years. It doesn't matter. I could be pitching a good game and give up a run in the eighth and they would boo me. It doesn't hurt my feelings."
Of course, it's not just the fans of Baltimore that Ponson thinks are morons. He refused to talk to any reporters from Baltimore after the game, and doesn't plan on talking to them anytime soon.
"I don't want the [Baltimore] media to know nothing about what's going on with me. I don't like them," he said. "I didn't like the last two years over there, so I didn't talk to them the last two years over there."
I think it's safe to say that when the Twins make the trip to Camden Yards on August 23rd, there won't be any "Welcome Home, Sidney" parties going on. Although, that assumes Ponson is still on the Twins roster and not punching a judge somewhere.
Well for starters both are kind of fat, and they've both been bald at some point, but there seems to be something else the two share as far as how they see their problems.
Neither seem to realize how serious their problems with alcohol are.
Ponson checked himself into rehab late in 2005 after being sentenced to five days in a Baltimore jail for driving while impaired. He had been busted for DUI's in December 2004, and in August 2005; two incidents that ultimately led to the Orioles releasing him.
"I have a couple glasses of wine here and there, but I used to go out and drink 20 beers and stay up until 5, 6 o'clock in the morning."
Alcoholism, like any addiction, is a slippery slope. Sure, it may only be a couple glasses of wine, but it seems that Ponson is missing the point. A couple of glasses of wine becomes a few more beers. Which then turns into a lot of beers, followed by a lot of shots, and the next thing you know you're falling asleep out on your front lawn. (Um...not that I would have any personal experience there...no sir.)
You think it would be obvious to Ponson, who's career somehow happened to submarine as soon as his drinking became excessive, would realize that there are some chances he just shouldn't take. If he keeps heading down the road he is, it's only a matter of time until teams like the Twins stop taking a chance on him.
When the Rangers signed Sidney Ponson to a minor-league deal in the spring, I thought it was a good fit for the organization and for Ponson. The Rangers are forever in need of pitching, and Ponson fit the mold of mediocre starter that the team seems to covet so much.
It came as somewhat of a surprise when the Washington Nationals 
It looks like 
In a surprising turn of events, 
Hide the beer and cheeseburgers! 
When the Twins 
Coming into the season the Minnesota Twins were hoping that 
The Minnesota Twins 
It appears to be a day full of teams giving up on struggling pitchers. 
I understood why the Minnesota Twins chose to go with Sidney Ponson in their starting rotation over Matt Garza. I get that they want Garza to develop a little more in the minors before feeding him to the lions in the AL Central.
The postponement of Friday night's White Sox/Twins game could end up a blessing for the White Sox. It gives the team an extra day to let Mark Buehrle recover from 
ADVERTISEMENT
_thumbnail.jpg "NASCAR Cowboy Hats")
