A Day in the Life

Today in my survey o’ the world of baseball, we will spend some time detailing a couple of big bats in Chicago, a speedster in Cincinnati and the plight of a first round fantasy stud whose season is teetering on the brink of irrelevance due to injury.

Let me get this straight. Jake Fox hit a blistering .424 with 17 home runs and 51 RBI in just 41 games at Triple-A this season doing his best Rogers Hornsby imitation. He was then called up to the Cubs where he went 5-for-12 (.417). His reward? He was sent back to Triple-A Iowa. With Derrek Lee finally starting to turn things around at first base – he has hit .345 with a .457 OBP in his last 15 games – the Cubs just weren’t able to find any room on the diamond for Fox since they don’t trust his glove at third base. If you are Fox, how disappointed are you right now? You’ve knocked in a run a game and are hitting better than Ted Williams ever did yet you cannot even find a way to convince your team to find a bench spot for you. Don’t know about you, but if that was me I would be calling my agent telling him I want the hell out of there immediately.

The White Sox made a distressing announcement today, though I cannot say that it wasn’t somewhat expected. Carlos Quentin, on the sidelines with plantar fasciitis in his foot, will likely be out until at least the All-Star game. For his part, Quentin stated that the injury isn’t really PF, it’s actually a torn tendon in his left foot. No matter what the actual injury, the bottom line is that Quentin will remain sidelined for at least another month. What this likely means is that potential free agent Jermaine Dye (there is a mutual option for $12 million for 2010), and his 15 home runs will not be traded, that is if the White Sox think they can still contend despite a 27-32 record. The White Sox simply need a big right-handed bat in the middle of the lineup to remain competitive, and with Quentin out, Dye is their best option though Paul Konerko hasn’t been bad at the dish with a .295-8-39 line this season.

Grady Sizemore, already on the DL due to a strained elbow, will be held out of baseball activity for another five days at which time an MRI will be performed to determine whether or not the joint has healed sufficiently to allow him to return to the diamond. Don’t know about you, but I’m thinking that he will eventually need arthroscopic surgery. What is clear is that with nine home runs and seven steals, Sizemore won’t be going 30/30 this season like he did last year, and in fact he may be hard pressed to go 20/20, a total he has reach in each of the past four seasons. Actually Sizemore has hit at least 22 home runs, with at least 22 steals and at least 100 runs in each of the last four seasons, and that is the third longest such streak in baseball history (tied with Carlos Beltran and Barry Bonds). Willie Mays is the all-time leader with six straight seasons from 1955-60 while the second man on the list is Bobby Bonds with a stretch of five-straight years from 1969-1973. As for Beltran, he has eight home runs, seven steals and 34 runs putting him on pace for about 23 home runs, 20 steals and 98 runs, so he’ll need to kick things up a notch himself is he wants to move into a second place tie on the list.

Willy Taveras is 0-for-16 and as a result his average has dropped to .250 on the season. Even worse for a leadoff hitter, his OBP is just .307 which has caused the Reds to drop him to second in the order. “Willy is my leadoff man,” manager Dusty Baker said. “It’s temporary.” Apparently the fact that Taveras is hitting .250 with a .308 OBP over his last 663 ABs dating back to the start of last season doesn’t matter to Baker and the Reds as they seem stuck on the fact that Willy T. has posted 80 steals since the start of last season. That’s great guys, but do you really need someone to tell you that steals are wonderful, but they don’t matter if you don’t get on base enough to be an effective weapon out of the leadoff spot?

By Ray Flowers

Injuries and Diagnosis

Tuesday has been yet another day of injury reports, sprinkled with a bit of info about player performance. In what follows, my analysis will fall along those lines as well.

Jose Contreras has hurled 15 scoreless innings at Triple-A since he was sent down to work on things. Just goes to show you how large the gap is between the majors and the minors cause I really don’t think he has turned back the clock 10 years in a mere two weeks.

Mike Fontenot is 1-for-29 of late to drop his average down to .204. So much for him building on a 2008 that included a .304 average, nine home runs and 40 RBI in just 243 ABs. In fact, Fontenot has been out-produced by lightweight Ryan Theriot who has gone deep as many times as Fontenot, five, while producing one more RBI (18) while hitting .294. That’s why they play the game folks, and the bottom line is that even when you have all your ducks in a row, it doesn’t always work out like you would expect it to (Theriot entered the year with seven home runs in 1,264 at-bats).

Vladimir Guerrero is hopeful of returning from his injured pectoral muscle soon, perhaps as early as next Monday. When he returns he will likely be limited to the DH spot, that is if his rehab work goes well this weekend. As for the team’s pitching staff who recently got back John Lackey and Ervin Santana, there is potentially more good news on the way as Kelvim Escobar(shoulder) is nearing his first rehab appearance of the year next week. He hopes to be able to throw upwards of 60 pitches in the outing. He is hoping to return as a starter, but even if the club eventually decides to slot him as a reliever, his return would not only provide an emotional lift to the club, his right arm could also present favorable returns if he can return to unleashing the filthy stuff that has been his calling card.

Noah Lowry will have another surgery, this one ending his 2009 season. Apparently he will have a rib removed in the same type of procedure that Jeremy Bonderman underwent last season (thoracic outlet syndrome). According to Lowry’s agent this condition has essentially gone undiagnosed for about two years, and this procedure should finally fix what ails the lefty hurler after years of failed attempts including other medical procedures. I wish him all the luck in the world, but it remains to be seen if we will ever see him on the field in the majors ever again, the same situation that may have befallen A’s third baseman Eric Chavez who might have to end his career because of a herniated disc in his back as there is concern that any further baseball related damage could hinder his quality off life moving forward.

Carlos Quentin missed a third straight game because of his heel injury on Tuesday. With Brian Anderson back off the DL, could Quentin be headed to it soon?

Joakim Soria threw on Tuesday for the first time since hitting the DL on May 7th. Obviously that means he will not be ready to go when eligible on Saturday as he only threw off of flat ground. Reports are positive and this news still means that he will likely be back by next week, but continue to look for Juan Cruz to be the man they turn to in the ninth inning for the rest of the week. Speaking of Cruz, his 13 to 10 K/BB ratio is awful and well below his normal 1.99 K/BB rate. Why? The main reason is that his K-rate has plummeted from over 12 per nine the past two years to 6.27 this season. He is still throwing as hard as ever (94.1 mph is his average fastball speed), so expect his K-rate to rise no matter what role he fills moving forward.

I said it on the podcast his morning, and I’m feeling even more secure in the statement I made. Joey Votto’s dizziness continues on without an explanation, and it’s looking more and more like a DL stint is coming. He might avoid it, he last played on May 16th, but even if he doesn’t end up on the DL it looks like this week is pretty much shot, not to mention it remains to be seen how he will fair once he returns because it’s not like you can hit a baseball when you are even slightly dizzy.

Illness and Stupidity

Today there are a couple of odd stories in the news. A pitcher from Chicago was fined less than an hours worth of work, while another player was sent to the DL with the flu. In between we also have some possibly uncertain times for a slugger for the White Sox, as well as more concern for the health of Red Sox infielder.

Conor Jackson has been placed on the DL with a “flu-like illness.” We are trying to get more info on just what ails him, and we certainly hope its not something overly serious (has anyone ever been placed on the DL with the flu?). Still, something has to be very wrong with Jackson who is hitting just .182 with 16 Ks and just 11 walks early on, completely backwards for a guy who has hit at least .284 each of the past three years and owns a career BB/K mark of 0.90 (vs. his current 0.69 mark). Not to start rumors at all, and I have NO information about his illness, but hopefully it isn’t the swine-flu.

Updating a report from yesterday, Bobby Jenks was indeed penalized by major league baseball for throwing behind Ian Kinsler and then foolishly discussing the notion with reporters. What was the penalty? Try a $750 dollar fine. What is it, 1979? Jenks is making $5.6 million dollars. For some quick math, consider the following point. Jenks makes roughly $15,000 a day over the course of a calendar year. That means that major league baseball fined him the equivalent of roughly 30 minutes of work, or to put that in perspective, how bad would you feel if you were fined by your boss $10 for showing up late to work? Does major leagues baseball, as an entity, ever do anything right? Bud Selig, I’m sorry, but I’m beginning to side with those people who think you are a moron.

Daniel Murphy can hit, dude is batting .286 this season and owns a career batting average of .301 in his 229 at-bat big league career. However, his defense hasn’t exactly brought back memories of Roberto Clemente, so the club is considering a position switch, possibly to first base since Carlos Delgado will be a free agent at the end of the season. If Delgado does indeed end up on the DL due to lingering issues with his hip, it’s quite possible that Murphy will be able to add first base eligibility to his ledger this season.

Hey, things are improving in the world. It took all of 10 minutes for ESPN to mention Brett Favre on Sportscenter.

Carlos Quentin is on the sidelines due to an injured heel. More than that, I’m really worried about this guy, a fact that I have stated all year long, and well before the start of the 2009 baseball season. He blasted seven home runs in his first 12 games this year and everyone seemingly forgot he was coming off of wrist surgery. Alas, Quentin not only has seen his average dip to .237, he has also hit one, yes one, long ball in the last 19 games during which time he has knocked in a mere five runs. That would be poor production for a defensively minded second baseman. Amazingly, every one of his 114 ABs have come out of the third hole this year despite a mere .338 OBP and a .821 OPS. I’m gonna stick by what I said before the year started, and that is Quentin will not better his numbers from last season (.288-36-100) even if he exceeds last years games played total of 130.

Kevin Youkilis missed his seventh straight game on Tuesday do to his back/side issue (that’s an oblique injury for those of you without your medical dictionary handy). The frustrating part is that the team keeps saying it’s nothing major and that he is day-to-day. Well its turns out it has already been a week, and for those of you in weekly transaction leagues you have to be supremely frustrated with lack of anything definitive here. As of this writing Youkilis hasn’t been placed on the DL, but you have to think there is at least a 50-50 chance it will happen at this point since he has already missed a week’s worth of action. Jeff Bailey continues to fill in.

By Ray Flowers