Around the Horn: June 8 , 2010

(1) Stephen Strasburg makes his big league debut on Tuesday. You can read more of my thoughts about that in What can we expect from Stephen Strasburg who makes his debut on Tuesday?

(2) Mike Stanton makes his big league debut on Tuesday.

(3) Orlando Hudson to DL. J.J. Hardy has cortisone shot in wrist.

(4) Jeff Clement like to be sent down next week in favor of Steve Pearce.

(5) Brian Roberts and Mike Gonzalez hit roadblocks.

(6) Jacoby Ellsbury getting a second opinion on broken ribs.

By Ray Flowers

MLB Youngsters Update

It’s Friday and I’m tired. It’s been a long week, I’m not complaining just laying out the facts, and I’m looking forward to what promises to be a nice weekend. My brother’s daughter has her second b-day party on Saturday – we’re getting one of those bouncy castle things to jump in, and don’t think I’m not joining in – followed by a trip down to San Jose as my Dad and I hope to see the San Jose Sharks defeat the Red Wings to move on to the third round of the NHL playoffs. Then on Sunday we have Mother’s Day (you had better run out and get a gift for your mother if you forgot), and I’m getting together with the family to celebrate the best mom in the world which should be great fun.

With my itinerary for the weekend out of the way, here are some thoughts on a handful of younger ballplayers who have been in the news today.

* Jeff Clement is out of the starting lineup again for the Pirates as he continues to work on his stroke on the side. Many thought that they had a steal if they were able to roster Clement as a catcher eligible player, but it just hasn’t happened. You can read more of my thoughts on Clement at Around the Horn.

* Alcides Escobar entered the 2010 season as one of the potential breakout stars at the shortstop position because of his speed on the base or paths. Escobar stole 34 bags in 2008 and last season swiped 46 bags in the minors (42) and with the Brewers (four), and many were looking at him to once again surpass the 30-steal mark in his first full season in Milwaukee. While it could still happen, it would take a rather monumental shift from the way Escobar has performed thus far. To this point, and we’re talking about 25 games and 99 plate appearances, Escobar has attempted just one theft – and he was caught. It certainly doesn’t help that his OBP is awful at .296, but he has never been a big OBP guy (his career minor league mark is just .333). Mike Cameron said that the Brewers limited his attempts on the bases – could the club be doing the same thing with Escobar this season?

* For those that follow me on the Baseball Guy’s Twitter Page this isn’t going to be news, but here is what the Marlins’ owner, Jeffrey Loria, had to say about the phenom that is Mike Stanton. “[Stanton] will probably be (with the Marlins) this summer. The baseball people don’t want him to come and fail… When he’s ready – June, July. I don’t know. Hell probably be here this summer. But he’s got to continue to keep developing. Don’t forget – that’s a lot of pressure to put on a 20-year-old man.” Reading that it’s easy to see that Stanton doesn’t appear headed for Florida until after the All-Star break barring something unforeseen, though if he keeps hitting 500 foot home runs or keeps pounding the ball into the seats with such frequency – 14 homers in 100 ABs – the team could surely amend their current plan.

* Eugenio Velez of the Giants is a talented athlete, but he has had trouble transitioning his physical gifts to the ball field. With his average down to .186 and without a single steal attempt through 17 games, the Giants decided on Friday to send him back to the minors. In 614 career at-bats Velez has hit .259 with a terrible .303 batting average, meaning the only area he has really helped in is with his wheels which have led to 83 runs and 30 steals. Problem is, Velez is frequently picked off when on base, and his instincts often have him taking a first step in the wrong direction. He might need to be moved to another organization because it appears that the Giants have just about given up on him.

And finally, I know he isn’t a “youngster,” but I couldn’t just let go the news out of Atlanta that Brian McCann is once again having trouble with his vision. McCann, who has already undergone two LASIK procedures, will apparently have to wear glasses when he returns to the active lineup on Saturday. Keep a very close eye on this situation – a simply horrible pun as I’m aware – as McCann has hit under .200 over his last 50 at-bats in what has got to be a rather significant concern for the Braves, their medical staff, those who own him in the fantasy game and for McCann himself.

By Ray Flowers

Tuesday’s Travels

There’s no theme to my madness today. I’m just going with a stream of consciousness vibe here as I get ready to run around the block, lift some weights, and watch the Sharks hopefully move to a 3-0 lead over the Red Wings.

* Rick Ankiel was placed on the DL today, retroactive to May 3rd, with a strained right quadriceps muscle. He will be replaced on the active roster by Kila Ka’aihue. Of course, the Royals blew this one by giving Ankiel two pinch hitting at-bats on Saturday and Sunday after holding him out of the starting lineup since April 24th. This is yet another reason why the Royals fail to ever win (poor roster management). If you don’t know who KK is, he is a slugging first basemen who has an OPS over 1.000 this year in Triple-A. What position did the Royals just say they wanted Alex Gordon to learn? They also said they wanted Gordon to pick up an outfielder’s glove, so I won’t lambast them for that decision.

Since I’m on a role I might as well keep going with Royals talk. Mike Aviles has been called up from the minors and will start in place of Yuniesky Betancourt on Tuesday. Aviles hit .284 in some limited work at Triple-A this year, and the dude can flat out hit (he owns a .293 career mark in 540 at-bats with the Royals). Betancourt started out hot but he’s hit only .240 over his last 50 at-bats, and his defense has slipped in recent years as well. Aviles certainly could lock down the starting job at short if he starts out hot, so make sure he isn’t floating on waivers in your AL-only league.

* Kyle Blanks update: he still can’t hit. He has 18 strikeouts in his last 29 at-bats leading to an inconcionable K-rate of 44.4 percent on the year. He is so lost that it’s to the point that the team must send him to Triple-A since he is a walking disaster right now.

* Watching Tim Lincecum vs. the Marlins right now. He just struck out Cameron Maybin on a poor swing before getting Chris Coghlan to swing over a pitch by about 18 inches. He then gave up a hit to Hanley Ramirez before punching out Jorge Cantu for three Ks in the first inning. Dude is just amazing.

* Vin Mazzaro will replace Justin Duchscherer for one start. That is if you believe that Duke’s hip will respond quickly to the cortisone shot he just got. Don’t consider me to be one of those that believes that will happen. That means Mazzaro is a must add in AL-only leagues. He didn’t look great after a hot start last year, but a spot it the rotation is a spot in the rotation.

* Two pitchers going in opposite directions with health. Jair Jurrjens probably won’t make his start on Saturday because of a strained hamstring. He injured the hammy last Thursday and still isn’t ready to thrown in the pen (Kris Medlen could pick up the start). Carlos Silva, dealing with a wrist issue, didn’t need a cortisone shot in his wrist so he will make a start for the Cubs on Friday instead of needing another day of rest. I still want Jurrjens every time over Silva despite these health revelations – and I don’t even love Jurrjens which tells you all you need to know about my thoughts on Silva.

* Lincecum started the second inning punching out Dan Uggla on a 94 mph at the knees. He didn’t even get a swing off. Same thing just happened to John Baker.

For more of my thoughts on some things that shook out on Tuesday give Around the Horn a read where I discuss Jeff Clement, Austin Jackson, Chris Davis, Juan Pierre and the Phillies’ bullpen (Ryan Madson will miss at least eight weeks after having surgery to repair the toe he broke kicking a chair last week).

By Ray Flowers

The Day in Deals

Wednesday was one busy day in baseball as a series of deals took place. Let’s hope that this won’t be the only foray in the trade market by many of the teams involved with the trade deadline looming on Friday. Regardless, for now, we have plenty to talk about.

The big deal of the day saw the Phillies add 2008 AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee to the mix when the Blue Jays continued to ask for too much in the Roy Halladay sweepstakes. This marks the second straight year that the Indians have dealt their ace – they sent CC Sabathia to the Brewers in 2008. This is a great move for the Phils who add a terrific arm to their rotation, and they are the team to beat tin the NL yet again. To read more about this deal, give Ted Carlson’s Brother-Lee Love a read.

The Pirates have traded something like half their club over the past few weeks (not quite), and they continued to move parts around with a deal for the future that saw them send Jack Wilson and Ian Snell for a plethora of young talented, players from the Mariners highlighted by C/1B Jeff Clement. To read my thought on all the players involved, let me direct you to my piece entitled Pirates Continue to Tinker.

The Pirates, continued their day of deals by then pulling off another potentially big deal for the club down the road as they traded second baseman Freddy Sanchez to the Giants in exchange for minor league pitching prospect Tim Alderson. Here are my thoughts on the deal.

1- The Giants have greatly improve their lineup the past couple of days by adding Sanchez and Ryan Garko. Neither of these two batters are going to carry the club, but when the alternatives were Juan Uribe/Eugenio Velez/Matt Downs/Kevin Frandsen and Travis Ishikawa, obviously the club is in a much better spot now they were mere days ago.

2- Sanchez, as long as his back and knee are healthy (the knee held up the deal as doctors were consulted), should continue to be what he has always been, and that is a .300 hitter. Sanchez, who let injury and the pressure of a potential deal weigh him down the past few weeks (he has hit .176 over his last 51 ABs), should be invigorated by the move to a club that actually has a chance to make the playoffs. Another reason to expect his average to rebound somewhat is due to the fact that his line drive rate of 22.6 percent is about two percentage points below his career mark. It wouldn’t hurt if he cut his strikeout rate as well since he is currently operating at a 16.9 percent mark, a full five and a half percentage points worse than his career rate.

3- The Giants sent out their fourth ranked prospect according to Baseball America, Tim Alderson, to the Pirates in the deal (he was the Giants first round selection in 2007). A 6’6″ righty who profiles as a #2 or #3 starter at the big league level, Alderson is an extremely efficient hurler who knows his way around the strike zone. At just 20 years of age, Alderson owns a 20-6 record with a 3.07 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in his 249 professional innings. He has also walked a total of just 51 batters, or less than two per nine innings, a terrific number for a youngster with a K/9 mark of more than seven.

This is a fantastic deal for the Giants in 2009, but when we revisit this deal in 2012, I have the sneaking suspicion that this deal will rank right alongside that other fine move of Brian Sabean in which he traded Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano to the Twins for 131 games of A.J. Pierzynski. Say it ain’t so Brian, say it ain’t so.

By Ray Flowers