He’s been known to sign players like Scott Hatteberg and Jeremy Giambi among others for their ability to wear down pitchers and get on-base. For him, the ultimate offensive statistic is the OBP.

The A’s are not getting positive results, and other teams like the Red Sox have adopted a similar approach to building a team, making it harder for the A’s to get cheap, but productive players. So why doesn’t Beane gives Gregor Blanco and Luis Jimenez a shot to make the team?

You might think that I’ve gone crazy, and yes, I have gone crazy, but in situations like this one, you have to think outside the box. Maybe you guys are not familiar with these two young players, but I’m going to tell you why I think they could work up in Oakland. It would be a low risk investment that would cost the team only a Minor League deal.

First there’s Blanco. A 28-year old center fielder with an incredible talent for wearing down pitchers and a keen eye for drawing walks. In three Major League seasons his career OBP is .358, or .100 points above his career batting average. I believe this numbers can still go up. In 2010 he played 36 games with the Braves where he hit .310/.394/.362. He was then traded to the Royals and in 66 games hit .274/.348/.369. In 237 AB’s in 2010 between the two teams he walked 29 times and struck out 50. Nothing impressive, but I’m sure he can improve.

This winter in Venezuela, Blanco hit .337/.478/.520 with 4 HR’s, 14 2B and 5 3B in 196 AB’s. He also walked 47 times and struck out 46. Impressive numbers that earned him the MVP award in the Venezuelan Winter League this year. In the semi-finals, Blanco kept his torrid offensive output up hitting .347/.484/.714 with 5 HR’s, 1 2B and 1 3B in 49 AB’s. He also has walked 13 times and struck out 11. Now tell me why doesn’t Beane gives him a Minor League deal with a ST invitation to see if he can makes the team? After all the kid fits perfectly in the OBP-driven offensive/cheap player category.

Jimenez is another case study. He has incredible power and is a left handed hitter. The other day, he hit two 450+ ft home runs in the same game in Venezuela. And one of them was well beyond the 500 ft mark. The ball left the stadium, and was apparently the longest hit in the “Estadio Universitario” (Caracas, Venezuela) history. In 10 Minor League seasons Jimenez has a hitting line of .284/.367/.468 with 121 HR’s in 2,876 AB’s. This year in Venezuela, Jimenez hit .300/.417/.486 with 10 home runs in 220 AB’s. He also walked 44 times and struck out 47.

For Beane and the A’s, these two players are not going to be pricey. Just a couple of Minor League deals with invitations to Spring Training. I think they will prove their value to a team that is always looking for bargains.

Image by J. Chris Vaughan under the Creative Commons License.

Last season with the Braves, Lugo hit .136 avg in 136 plate appearances.

In 2005, Lugo posted a career year with the Rays where he hit .295 in 616 plate appearances while posting a .362 OBP. That year he made $3.15mm.

Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.

Wilson will be the primary backup middle infielder for the Braves.

In 2011, Wilson hit .243 for while splitting time with the Mariners and Braves.

Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.

We are proud to announce that our PRO Rumors Android app version 1.0 is available on the Android Market.  We spent a lot of time on the app’s design and functionality, and we are sure that you’ll love it.  To download the app for an introductory price of $2.99 you can click here.

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– The Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays and New York Mets are looking at Ryan Theriot. (Twitter)

– The Seattle Mariners have interest in Kevin Millwood. (Twitter)

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The Braves turned down McLouth’s $10.65mm option for 2012 thus opening the door for him to return to the team he spent the previous five seasons with.

In 267 at-bats in 2011, McLouth hit .228 with 61 total hits.

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In the book’s preface, the author quotes work done by a Manhattan lawyer named Doug Pappas. Pappas, says that a team with only minimum wage players, both on the Major League roster and the rest of the 40-man, would still probably win 49 out of the 162 games played.

In 2011, the minimum wage for a player on the 25-man roster was $414,500. The minimum wage for a player on the 40-man roster, with at least one day of MLB service time or had been on the 40-man roster for a year was $67,300.

The minimum that a team could spend on their 40-man roster in 2011 was: $11,397,000. That’s $10,387,500 for their 25-man roster and $1,009,500 for the rest of their 40-man roster. If a team could get approximately 49 wins with a $11,397,000 payroll, that means that if you divide the total wins a team got above their 49th win by the total dollars they paid over the minimum, you get the “price” each team paid for each win they got.

After this brief introduction of the “marginal win” formula, I’m going to say what this report is all about. I’m going to analyze the “price” for each win a team got in 2011 so we can determine which teams were the most cost effective. Besides that, I’m going to list the top 5 paid players on each team and give you their performance line, to see how much they actually contributed to their team.

I’ll also list each team’s OBP, runs and SLG totals so we can see for ourselves how related these stats are at the moment of scoring runs and winning games. So get ready to experience a thoughtful analysis of every 2011 Major league team.

The team’s payroll was taken from USA Today and the individuals salaries from About.com.

Image by dherrera_96 Under the Creative Commons License.

Wilson began the 2011 season with the Seattle Mariners, but was then traded to the Braves on August 31. In 214 AB’s with the Mariners and Braves in 2011 Wilson hit .243/.274/.285 with 11 RBI’s.

The team is in search of a platoon-mate for outfielder Seth Smith and Renck says that the club’s pursuit of Gomes is tied to Smith’s future.  Renck adds, “Colorado has offered Smith to the Braves for [Martin] Prado and will be creative in trying to get a deal done, though it is reluctant to include a center fielder.”

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Image by dherrera_96 Under the Creative Commons License

Detroit may not be the only team interested in Prado, earlier this month, the Rockies were reported to have contacted the Braves about their second baseman.

Prado is arbitration-eligible and is in line to make $4.5 million on a one-year deal.

Image by SD Dirk used under the Creative Commons License.

Earlier today, there were rumors that Carroll was close to signing a multi-year deal with an unknown team. Jon Morosi of FOXSports noted that the Blue Jays were one of the three finalists for Carroll as of yesterday.

Teams such as the Dodgers (Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times), Rockies (Troy Renck of the Denver Post), Tigers (Jon Morosi of FOXSports) who had all expressed interest in Carroll over recent days, were quickly ruled out as the mystery team.

Other teams that had been linked to Carroll prior to his deal with the Twins included the Braves and the Phillies.

Carroll who is finishing up a two-year, $3.85mm deal with the Dodgers, played shortstop and second base in 2011. He posted a .290 avg. in 510 plate appearances.

Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Commons License Agreement.

The sides have not exchanged names yet, but Renck says that the sides are keeping the lines of communication open.

Prado is arbitration-eligible and is in line to make $4.5 million on a one-year deal.

Image by SD Dirk used under the Creative Commons License.

– The Rockies are interested in bringing Jamey Carroll back, but Renck isn’t sure if the Rockies can afford a hitter with no power. He also believes that Carroll’s market value is about $8 million for two years. The same deal that Omar Infante got.

– A return of Mark Ellis hasn’t been ruled out says Renck. Ellis was traded to the Rockies from the A’s back in June.

– Last week, we learned that the Braves were willing to listen to offers for Jair Jurrjens and Martin Prado. Renck believes that Prado is more likely to be moved, and with a rough estimate of $4.5 million for next year, he’s quite affordable for the Rockies. Renck wonders if dangling Seth Smith to the Braves could get the trade talks going, since they need a “corner bat.”

– According to Renck, there’s “mixed opinions on how available” Kevin Youkilis is, but he would be a perfect fit for the Rockies. He can provide some offensive pop and play both first and third base. He will make $12 million in 2012 with a $13 million club option in 2013.

– The Rokcies are exploring the possibility of moving their closer Houston Street, and according to Renck, the Blue Jays and Phillies are possible destinations for the right hander.

Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.

The team recently traded Derek Lowe to the Indians, and by trading either one of Jurrjens or Prado, they would gain more financial flexibility to search for a short stop and to add some power to their outfield adds Bowman.

The Royals have shown interest in Jurrgens, and according to Bowman, the Braves “are interested in a number of Kansas City’s highly-regarded young prospects, including outfielder Wil Myers.” The talented outfielder has been playing great this year in the Arizona Fall League.

Jurrjens was 13-6 with a 2.96 ERA in 152.0 innings and Prado hit .260/.302/.385 with 13 HR’s and 57 RBI’s in 551 AB’s for the Braves in 2011.

Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.

-According to the Associated Press (via Sports Illustrated), the St. Louis Cardinals have decided to decline their options on right handed pitcher Octavio Dotel ($3.5 million), short stop Rafael Furcal ($12 million) and outfielder Corey Patterson ($1.1 million).

-Tha Arizona Diamondbacks exercised their option on Henry Blanco and Willie Bloomquist according to the team official Twitter account. They also announced they have declined their options on Zach Duke and Aaron Hill.

-According to the Tampa Bay Tribune, the Tampa Bay Rays have picked up Kyle Farnsworth’s option for 2012. The team also announced they declined Kelly Shoppach’s option.

-The Texas Rangers exercised their option on right handed pitcher Yoshinori Tateyama according to John Blake, the VP of Communications for the Rangers.

-The San Diego Padres declined their options on right handers Aaron Harang and Chad Qualls and outfielder Brad Hawpe.

-The Toronto Blue Jays exercised Edwin Encarnacion’s option for 2012 while declining Jon Rauch’s option.

-According to his agent, Page Odle, the Tampa Bay Rays have picked up James Shields‘ $7.5 million option for 2012 (via Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times).

-The Kansas City Royals have exercised their option on Joakim Soria according to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.

-The Cincinnati Reds have exercised Brandon Phillips‘ option for 2012 and declined Francisco Cordero’s option according to the team’s official Twitter account.

-Right handed pitcher David Aardsma has elected free agency after clearing waivers according to Buster Olney of ESPN.

-The Texas Rangers have picked up Colby Lewis‘ option for 2012 according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

-According to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago White Sox have picked up Jason Frasor’s option for next season.

-The Boston Red Sox have decided to decline their options on Dan Wheeler ($3 million) and Scott Atchison (Major League minimum plus $200,000) according to Maureen Mullen.

-Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com says that the Atlanta Braves have picked up Eric Hinske’s option for 2012. He adds that the team decided to decline Nate McLouth’s option.

-The Pittsburgh Pirates also declined their options on shortstop Ronny Cedeno and catchers Ryan Doumit and Chris Snyder according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

-The Cleveland Indians are picking up Fausto Carmona’s option according to the team’s official Twitter account. The team also announced they have declined Grady Sizemore’s option for 2012.

-The Pittsburgh Pirates officially announced they’re not picking up Paul Maholm’s option for 2012 according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

-According to Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post, the Colorado Rockies have declined their option on right handed pitcher Aaron Cook.

-Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Aramis Ramirez has exercised a clause in his contract and is voiding the his 2012 option ($16mm club option) as well as the $2mm buyout, thus making him a free agent.

-According to a source close to Dan Hayes of the North County  Times, Aaron Harang declined his side of his $5mm mutual option. Though a return to the Padres has not been ruled out.

-According to Matthew Leach of MLB.com, the World Champion Cardinals have exercised Yadier Molina’s $7 mm club option.

-The Brewers have declined Francisco Rodriguez’s $17.5 mm club option as well as Yuniesky Betancourt’s $6mm option Adam McCalvy of   MLB.com reports.

-The Red Sox who will start their manager search later this week, have picked up the $6mm option on shortstop Marco Scutaro, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reports.

-The Giants fresh off their resigning of Javier Lopez to a two-year deal, have exercised Jeremy Affeldt’s $5mm option, reports Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Commons License Agreements.

One of the new features we are proud to debut is our “Mail Time with PRO Rumors.” Twice a month (or maybe more), we will answer emails from our readers about any baseball related topic. We will also take questions in both English and Spanish. If you have a question about Winter Ball in Venezuela make sure you drop us a line, as PRO Rumors’ writer Juan has been scouting most of the games.

Send us your questions to Mailbag@prorumors.com

Buster Olney of ESPN adds that the Braves will “absorb” all but $5 million of Lowe’s contract. Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated adds that the Braves will also receive Minor League pitcher Chris Jones. Jone posted a 3.36 era in 43 appearances for Class-A. He struck out 66 in 72 1/3 innings.

Back in July, we learned that the Braves had interest in Lowe, although they never engaged in serious talks. In 2011 Lowe was 9-17 with a 5.05 ERA in 187 innings throughout 34 starts.

Image by oneidaprincess under the Creative Commons License.

“I love where we’re at in the development stage of some of these young players,” Johnson said. “The other thing is, my wife seems to enjoy getting back on the road again. She likes to travel, more than I do.”

In 2011, the Nationals went 80-81 and ranked third in the NL East behind the Phillies and Braves.

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– Albert Pujols: A couple of days ago, Pujols showed us why he is considered the best hitter in baseball, but unfortunately for him, there’s no room for a 1st baseman on any team with a high payroll such as the Yankees, Red Sox or Phillies. Shea adds that “it will be tough for him to top $200 million anywhere but St. Louis.” He believes the odds of Pujols returning to the Cards are high, if not he’ll go with the Cubs, and adds that the Giants are a long shot.

– Prince Fielder: He could be considered as a consolation price for those who don’t get Pujols and according to Shea he’s “pursuing top dollar and won’t accept a hometown discount.” The chances of him returning to Milwaukee are low and the Nationals appear to be really interested in acquiring him. A long shot for him would be the Orioles.

– Jose Reyes: After dealing with several injuries the past couple of seasons, Reyes proved to be healthy again and had an outstanding season, although his health problems are still considered a threat. He’s a great lead off hitter and a solid defender at short stop. Shea believes his chances of returning to New York are somewhere around 50/50, and adds that if he doesn’t stay there he could end up in Boston. The Nationals are considered a long shot.

– Jimmy Rollins: He’d be cheaper than Reyes and would definitely deepen the Giants lineup as Shea points out. Shea adds that the Giants could afford to keep Brandon Crawford at short stop, or maybe go with Ehire Adrianza, who is off to a great start in Venezuela with the Tiburones de la Guaira. This would allow the Giants to fill other holes in their lineup. The odds of Rollins returning to Philadelphia are high according to Shea, and he says that if he doesn’t re-sign with them he could end up in San Francisco. The Braves are considered a long shot.

– C.J. Wilson: He’s considered the best free agent starter, unless C.C. Sabathia opts out of his contract with the Yankees. He had a solid season going 16-7 with a 2.94 ERA and 205 SO, but he has struggled during the postseason. Shea says that the odds of returning to Texas are low, and that if he doesn’t go back to Texas he could end up with the Yankees. The Tigers are considered a long shot.

Image by SD Dirk under the Creative Commons License.

I decided to talk about this specific tournament, well because I played in it last year and I’m 22 days away from going to Florida to play in it again.

Now, this specific tournament is played only once a year in Florida. Last year the tournament was held in the Cardinals’ Spring Training Complex, the Mets’ Spring Training Complex, the Marlins’ Spring Training Complex and the old DODGERTOWN.

The tournament is organized in age groups. +18, +25, +35, +45, +52 and some groups have the option to play with wood or aluminum bats. Besides that, the +25 group age has two divisions, one accepts ex-pros and the other one doesn’t.

The fun part of this tournament, besides the obvious part of playing baseball, is the fact that you get to play against teams from different countries. In 2010 we played against our arch-rivals in Venezuela, three teams from the U.S.A and one from the Dominican Republic.

Last year, was not only my first time there, but the first time my team, as a team, played in the tournament. Some of our players played before with other teams. Unfortunately we didn’t do as we expected. We won the first game against our arch-rivals, but the next day we took two huge blows.

First we lost in 12 innings against the Dominican Republic team 3-2, one of the greatest games I’ve had the pleasure of playing in. Then we suffered an 8-5 defeat against a team from Cleveland (I lost that one pitching 5 innings and allowing 4 runs, 3 earned). The next day we had to play against the undefeated team of our group and lost 6-4 eliminating us from contention.

For this edition, we decided to recruit some new weapons to add to our pitching staff. First Victor Prieto, who played with the Marlins and Red Sox from 2002 to 2005 between Rookie and Single-A. His best season was in 2002 when he was 4-2 with a 3.16 ERA in 31.1 innings for the Gulf Coast Marlins.

We also recruited Luis Torres who played with the Nationals from 1999 to 2003 and had a career record of 28-32 with a 4.35 ERA in 457.1 innings throughout 110 games, 68 starts between Rookie, Single-A and Double-A levels. Juan Carlos Ugas who recorded a 5.30 ERA in 100.2 innings for the Dodgers Single-A team between 1999 and 2000.

And last, but not least, Juan Carlos Ovalles who played for the Diamondbacks, Mariners, White Sox and Nationals from 1999 to 2006. He played in an  independent league from 2006 to 2009 there too. His career record, including his years in independent league was 44-44 with a 4.27 ERA in 609.1 innings throughout 340 games, 35 starts between Rookie, Single-A and Double-A levels.

Hopefully these new acquisitions, with the rest of our pitching staff will help us contend in the tournament this year, and hopefully win it all.

Here’s a video of the last out in the 2008 Fall Classic’s Final. The UNDEFEATED champions that year were our Venezuelans arch-rivals “San Luis Venezuela.”

For more information about the tournament go to the MSBL website, and don’t forget to root for my (Juan Dominguez, @JuanchoXIII) team, “Cachicamos de Venezuela.” BTW. “Cachicamos” mean Armadillos.

The picture is our last year’s team. In case you are wondering I’m the fifth from right to left in the standing row.

Yesterday, the Braves were two outs away when Chase Utley hit a sac fly to left field and took the Braves’ agony to a 13-inning game that I’m sure left thousands of broken hearts in Atlanta. The Cardinals, who were tied with them for the NL Wild Card beat the Astros 8-0 and clinched a postseason appearance.

In the AL, things were a little bit more exciting, at least in my opinion. The Red Sox were winning 3-2 in the bottom of the 7th when the rain showed up and stalled the game for like a decade if you ask me. The Rays, who were tied with the Red Sox for the AL Wild Card were losing 7-0 in the bottom of the 8th when they started to show some signs of fight.

After scoring six runs in the 8th, the Rays were down to one strike in the bottom of the ninth when Dan Johnson, who was hitting .108 with 1 HR (April 27) and three RBI’s decided to hit the home run of his life. When the game resumed in Baltimore, the Red Sox took their 3-2 lead to the bottom of the 9th and suddenly Jonathan Papelbon “CHOKED.” And the Orioles, with a single to left field by Robert Andino provided a walk off win and putting the Red Sox on the ropes. They could only hope for the Rays to lose so they could play a one game playoff.

That didn’t happen of course. Rays third baseman Evan Longoria had other plans. In the bottom of the 11th he hit his second homer of the night and punched the Rays ticket to the postseason. By the way, I call dibs on the upcoming Disney motion picture about the 2011 Rays making it to the postseason.

Which leads me to the title of this article. Sorry I wandered for that long, but I’m still amazed about what happened yesterday. Now, I’m going to give you a list of movies that will always remind us about yesterday’s game.

– Major Leagues: Yes, the 1989 motion picture about the Cleveland Indians. It reminds us that an underdog team can clinch the postseason by winning it all in the last second.

– Fever Pitch: Well, actually this time its backwards. This movie is set in the 2004 Boston Red Sox’s season. Yes, the year they beat the Yankees in the ALCS after being down 0-3. It reminds me how the Red Sox always have to suffer to clinch a postseason, or not, and how they make their collapses EPIC.

– Benchwamers: That’s how the Braves and Red Sox played in the month of September, no questions asked.

– The Sandlot: This might sound weird, but as I saw the Rays celebrate yesterday, it took me to my young days when I use to play with my friends. We used to play for fun, and that movie resembles pretty much every single kid’s baseball experience with his friends. The Rays looked like little kids playing for fun yesterday, and the outcome was that. They won the AL Wild Card in an incredible way.

– Bad Luck Bears: I think this tittle speaks for itself.

Apparently, Vene was asked if there was a pitcher in professional baseball history to strike out 27 batters in one game. After doing some research, he found out that in May 13, 1952, a 19-year old pitcher named Ron Necciai struck out 27 batters in one game.

Necciai was playing in the Appalachian League for the Pirates at the time, and is the only professional pitcher ever to achieve such a great feature. The hurler not only won the game 7-0, and struck out 27 batters, he also threw a no hitter.

During the game only four batters reached base. One reached on an error from the short stop, one after from a walk, one by a hit by pitch and another one after a passed ball from the catcher after a third strike. Only two players put the ball in play, one player grounded out to first and the one who reached on an error.

Necciai struck out 24 players more in his next start, but after he was called up by the Pirates in August that same year he went 1-6 with a 7.08 ERA. That was the only time he ever played in the Majors, he played a couple more Minor League seasons, but he couldn’t overcome a series of injuries.

It is hard to imagine that anybody could achieve that feature ever again at a professional level. And even though he couldn’t make it as a Major League pitcher he should always be remembered as the only professional hurler to strike out 27 batters in one game.

Fragments of Juan Vene’s column of today’s Ultimas Noticias’ edition were used in this article.

Image by rightbraining under the Creative Commons License.

Young was hitting .208/.269/.229 with 1 RBI in 48 AB’s for the Braves in 2011.

Image by Geoff Livingston under the Creative Commons License.