By the time you read this, the 2006 season will be over. As a Bosox fan, I needed no further reminder than when I flipped my wall calendar to reveal October poster boy, Jason Varitek. Of all of the Bosox’ calamities this season, perhaps Varitek going down – in the first game of Boston Massacre v2.0 – symbolized the Red Sox’s lost 2006 more than anything. Let’s just pray that your fantasy seasons went better and hopefully Spikes Up was able to provide some insight with that end in mind.
Pitcher Profile: Dennis Tankersley
Dennis Tankersley is still just 27 years old, but his star sure has fallen since he was considered the best pitching prospect in the San Diego Padres’ system earlier this decade.
The righty, originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 38th round in 1998, is now with his fourth organization, having pitched in the St. Louis system this year. Here’s how his journey transpired.
After a strong debut in the Bosox organization, Tankersley was shipped to San Diego in the Ed Sprague deal in 2000. The Red Sox needed a stick and they parted with a couple of decent prospects for immediate help. It was a deal that did not look good for Boston after Tankersley emerged in 2001 as one of the brightest pitching prospects in the game.
Tankersley went 10-4, 1.98 in 25 games, shooting through three levels to reach Triple-A by the tender age of 22. He was named the Padres’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year for 2001. Unfortunately, that was probably the pinnacle of his career.
He started the 2002 season back at Double-A, and although Tankersley pitched very well (3-3, 3.02), he wasn’t as dominant as he had been the previous season. He was moved up to Triple-A and fared well, although control issues began to arise. Tankersley made his MLB debut later that season, but each time he’s been summoned to the bigs his control has really proved problematic. With the Padres in 2002, he walked 40 in just 51 1/3 innings.
Control continued to be a problem each time he came up to San Diego, seeing action again in 2003 and 2004. In 16 starts and 11 relief appearances in his big-league career, Tankersley has walked 61 batters in 86 1/3 innings. That’s led to a 1-10, 7.61 mark. It’s as if he’s nibbling when he gets a chance and is afraid to trust his stuff in the Show.
He hasn’t returned to the majors since. Despite a great Triple-A season in 2004 (his 3.15 ERA ranked third in the PCL), the Padres shipped him that offseason to the Royals in the Terrence Long deal.
He spent the 2005 season at Triple-A Omaha, going 9-8, 4.24 as a starter/reliever. The control was again an issue (59 walks in 136 innings), but you know there’s a problem when even KC won’t give you a shot in the bigs.
After 2005, Tankersley filed for free agency and the Cardinals signed him to a minor league deal last December. It was a smart move by the Cards, taking a shot at a local product, as Tankersley not only grew up in St. Charles, Mo., but he also went to St. Louis Community College-Meramec.
Unfortunately, Tankersley still wasn’t able to deliver much at Triple-A. He enjoyed a solid first half (4-9, 3.61), but he tanked in the second half (0-6, 5.67) when the Cards would have been more apt to give him a shot considering the pitching woes they were having at the big league level.
Tankersley is still young, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see him emerge somewhere as a decent middle reliever/spot starter type. But he’ll have to learn to pitch his game and cut down the walks if he wants to stick around the next chance he gets in the majors.
Nats Deal Phillies Mortal Blow
The Phillies, as great as they were in the second half to climb right back into the Wild Card race, blew it against the Nationals. Losing two out of three to Washington last week is really what did Philly in. Teams that have playoff aspirations can’t be losing to the likes of the Nats at that stage of the season.
For Washington, the series win helped cap a nice 15-13 final month – small consolation after an ugly 9-18 August removed any Wild Card aspirations the Nats were clinging to.
That relatively strong finish wasn’t enough to save manager Frank Robinson’s job, as the club tied a can to him, ending his five-year reign at the helm of the Expos/Nats. He did guide the team to three winning seasons over that stretch, but the franchise’s post-season drought has now stretched to a quarter century.
Whether Robinson is a good manager or not can be debated ad nauseam, but you can bet the relievers who toiled under him are happy about his departure. Robinson has been known to destroy a few young arms in his time, and after a July trade that sent Bill Bray and Gary Majewski to the Reds stripped the pen of much of its depth, Robinson was forced to work his remaining dependable relievers real hard – especially down the stretch.
Jon Rauch, who turned 28 last week, eclipsed his career highs in games and innings by a wide margin this year, with 84 and 90 1/3 respectively. But in September, he was asked to pitch in 15 of the team’s 28 games. Rookie Saul Rivera, also 28, pitched in 14 games in the final month, as did 24-year-old Ryan Wagner.
I’d be very wary of touching any of those relievers next year. Several informal studies have suggested that relief pitchers that experience a very high workload are more likely to struggle the following season.
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NEXT: Spikes Up is scheduled to return on October 9, assuming I don’t get attacked by beavers (and not in a good way, you understand).
Comments? Questions? Criticisms or witticisms? You can reach me at rob@creativesports.com if you’d like further information or have a question you’d like me to answer in an upcoming column. Have a suggestion for a column or want to hear analysis about a particular player? Feel free to write. I might even answer!
Rob Blackstien is a freelance writer and the principal of Pen-Ultimate (www.pen-ultimate.ca), a Toronto-based writing and editorial services firm. On weekdays, he writes the Daily Dose and posts fantasy baseball news on Rotoworld, and his baseball work has also appeared on BaseballNotebook.com and the Fantasy Baseball Guide magazine. Rob has also written baseball and basketball columns for usatoday.com and foxsports.com.