Kenny Williams says he believes in Juan Uribe's innocence enough that he's not looking for a new shortstop, but part of the reason why he can afford to wait is the presence of Alex Cintron.
To get Cintron away from the Arizona Diamondbacks, it cost Jeff Bajenaru. Looking at his minor-league stats, Bajenaru was worth nothing. Simple algebra tells us that Williams got Cintron for nothing, and reality backs that up. Lost in the shuffle of the postseason and the Uribe shooting incident is that Bajenaru cleared waivers and
elected to become a free agent last Saturday.
We knew the story on Bajenaru -- great minor-league numbers, terrible major-league numbers, and the kind of often-middling stuff that would make you understand why there was such a gap.
In 2006, Bajenaru
took a big step back at both levels:
Minors
|
G
|
IP
|
H
|
ER
|
BB
|
K
|
W-L
|
SV
|
ERA
|
2005
|
61
|
70.1
|
45
|
11
|
29
|
83
|
4-6
|
19
|
1.41
|
2006
|
52
|
80
|
79
|
40
|
40
|
72
|
4-3
|
7
|
4.50
|
Majors
|
G
|
IP
|
H
|
ER
|
BB
|
K
|
W-L
|
SV
|
ERA
|
2005
|
4
|
4.1
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
0-0
|
0
|
6.23
|
2006
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0-1
|
0
|
36.00
|
Bajenaru did Bajenaru things in
his only big-league appearance in 2006 -- he threw 20 pitches, and 15 were for strikes. That's good. The problem was, he gave up four hits, and three of them left the yard. Two days later, he was optioned to the minors, and now he's floating around the big leagues.
The Sox could have him back if they wanted to now, though seeing him in a White Sox uniform would mean
very bad things. If I were Kenny, I might be tempted to try to stick him back in Charlotte, if only to hammer the point home that I acquired a decent utility infielder for absolutely nothing. Williams is slightly more mature than I am, though.
At any rate, now that he's teamless, Bajenaru should have time to
update his website. Here's a to-do list for him:
- Pick a team. He has Arizona colors and White Sox pictures.
- Update his stats. As you can see above, we can see why he'd be reluctant.
- Get more help from Him. In the "spirituality" section, Bajenaru credits Jesus for helping him heal from arm surgery -- praying in front of everybody at Starbucks did the trick. They say Christ can't hit a curveball, but maybe He knows how to throw one.
Then again, if Christ were a pitcher, I imagine His success would lie in rubbing down the ball. We've heard
what He can do with dirt and spit.