What a Great Monday

Normally on Monday I spend most of the day going over what just occurred on the football field on Sunday. I like football, but everyone knows my passion is baseball. To that end this was no mere Monday of twiddling my thumbs as it was the first day of the Winter Meetings, and with it a torrent of rumors were flying about all day about the men on the diamond (for updates on all that is baseball – including potential player movement – check in with the BaseballGuys Twitter Page). Here are some of my thoughts on the highlights of the day.

Either the Mets or Yankees have seemingly been involved in every rumor, though as of this writing the only official move either team has made is the Yankees decision to trade Brian Bruney to the Nationals for a player to be named later (you’ll be able to read my thoughts on the deal at Fanball.com on Tuesday, so look for the piece then)

The Denver Post is reporting that the Rockies have offered a multi-year deal to infielder Clint Barmes (they also offered long-term deals to Chris Iannetta and Huston Street). I guess the Rockies didn’t read my review of Barmes in a recent Five Questions piece.

Ryan Doumit has had his name in the news of late as a handful of teams are interested in trading for the catcher. Given that he is owned about $8.5 million the next two years it’s no surprise that team’s are interested in acquiring his services giving his ability to be a difference maker on offense.

Edwin Jackson continues to have his name bandied about as a potential mover at the meetings. By the time you read this he might already be on the move. The latest rumor has both the D’backs and the Mariners as his most ardent pursuers. You can my thoughts about the hurler in Breaking Down: Edwin Jackson.

This is one rumor that I haven’t seen floated, but it makes total sense to me. The Giants, in desperate need of some pop, could target Adam LaRoche who wasn’t offered arbitration by the Braves making him a free agent. LaRoche would be able to provide his 25-HR pop while playing strong defense at first which would allow Pablo Sandoval to shift back to third base, the clubs desired location for him. LaRoche could likely be had at a reasonable price, and he likely wouldn’t have much problem lofting balls into SF Bay – do you think?

Reports suggest that Rafael Soriano might accept the Braves offer of arbitration. First, I think this is complete malarkey. Why would Soriano want to go to arbitration and sign a one year deal with his history of arm troubles? He’d be wise to sign a multi-year deal. Personally, I think this is just a negotiating ploy to scare teams into offering him more money. Second, the Braves would be extremely unhappy if Soriano accepted arbitration because (1) they wouldn’t receive draft picks to replace those they lost when they signed Billy Wager and (2) they didn’t give Wagner $7 million to split the ninth inning with Soriano. For more on Wagner give Breaking Down: Billy Wagner a read.

In closing, I’d like to invite everyone to join my Twitter following (you can access it above). While I resisted the whole Twitter phenomena for a while, I’m now posting a plenty. However, this immediate gratification cycle we are all living on now has led to some problems in accuracy. As an example, Edwin Jackson was traded to the Mets midday on Monday, that is until the reports came out that the original report had no basis in reality. Technology is fantastic, and who doesn’t want to know about your teams latest move a minute after it’s done, but the environment today is one in which everyone is pushing to break the stories, and as such there are occasions when inaccurate information is promulgated across the web (a shock I know). Don’t believe everything you read the minute you read it, and in fact, you might take up the old adage of needing two sources before blindly accepting any reported deal. Either that or just grab on to a source you trust like BaseballGuys for your baseball information.

By Ray Flowers

Turn Back the Clock: Catchers

To be truthful, and everyone knows I’m nothing if not honest, I went to the bathroom today and grabbed the 2009 Fanball Annual Guide for a quick read. As I perused the magazine I started looking at my top-10 selections at each position and thought – I bet their would be some value to reviewing how accurate my predictions were last season. With that, I thought I would plow through each position on the diamond over the next while doing just that. Today, I’ll start with the catchers, and look for the other reviews soon as I move through each position.

* Note: These projections were rendered in January of 2009, so keep that in mind if some of them seem a bit off in retrospect.

1. Joe Mauer
2. Brian McCann
3. Russell Martin
4. Geovany Soto
5. Victor Martinez
6. Bengie Molina
7. Ryan Doumit
8. Kelly Shoppach
9. Chris Iannetta
10. Mike Napoli

Now you know why I suggest skipping on taking catchers early in a draft.

Of that group, I was dead on with the top-2, of course that wasn’t too hard to predict. After that, it got spotty in a hurry.

Martin really wasn’t as bad as he appeared to be even though he had full season lows in homers (seven), RBI (53), runs (63) and average (.250). Honestly he wasn’t, he was just really unlucky. I’m looking for a nice rebound effort in 2010 – he should come cheaper than he should.

Soto was a total flop, due to injury and the fact that he simply wasn’t as good as he appeared to be in 2008. Simple really.

V-Mart was a remarkable comeback story after an abysmal 2008 effort (.278-2-35 in 266 ABs). All he did was rebound to his established levels hitting .303-23-108, but it was still a wonderful season thanks to full health.

Molina continues to do his thing, and do it well despite being the slowest man on Earth. He was basically the Giants second best hitter behind Pablo Sandoval as he hit a career best 20 homers while knocking in at least 80-runs for the third time in three years in a Giants uniform.

Doumit was injured and never really able to get going last season. He isn’t the .318-15-69 hitter he was in ’08, but he also isn’t the bum that hit only .250-10-38 last year.

Shoppach was supposed to flourish behind the dish when the Tribe eventually traded V-Mart. Well they traded Martinez all right, but Shoppach wasn’t able to take advantage of anything as he fell to 12 homers and 40 RBI a year after hitting 21 long balls with 55 ribbies. He did lose 81 at-bats in 2009, and that certainly didn’t help. Neither did his .214 average.

Iannetta hit only .228, this after hitting .264 in 2008, and he also lost two homers and 13 RBI from his 2008 effort (18 HR, 65 RBI). Chris was given 44 fewer at-bats thanks to a late season surge at the dish by Yorvit Torrealba so the power numbers would have likely been right there if he had been given the same opportunity.

Napoli wasn’t at his best either. First off, Jeff Mathis continued to eat into his playing time. Secondly, was limited a but by injury, though he still was able to post 155 more at-bats than in 2008. As a result there was little difference in his homers (20 and 20) or RBI (49 and 56), but obviously the rate at which he produced them dipped a ton.

So there is my list at the catcher position. I know it doesn’t look great in retrospect, but then again, I always preface my rankings at this position saying that there is no accounting for the injuries and wear and tear on the body for the men who pull on the tools of ignorance.

By Ray Flowers

In the News: Rumors

I finally bit the bullet and entered the Twitter world this week as BaseballGuys is now Twitter friendly. If you go to the page you can read all my brilliant one liners for the day. Here are two of my favorites from day one – one sports related, the other not so much.

“Who thought of calling dentists doctors? I can get my jaw jacked up by hitting on a gal at a bar who is there with her b/f for free.”
– I wrote that after having two fillings in my lower right jaw replaced (the old ones cracked). The good news is that I swapped out the silver for some gold. It’s not a platinum grill or anything, but way in the back there I got me some bling.

“Kung Fu Panda a workout fiend. Love the headband.”
– There is a link on the page so you can read the story about how Pablo Sandoval has dedicated himself to getting into a bit better physical shape. Here is a quote from the Panda. “The fans, I love them and want them to know I’ll always be the guy who’s working hard. I know I have to lose weight so I can play this game for a long time.”. It’s pretty crazy to think how good he could be considering (a) he was grossly out of shape last season, and (b) he really has no clue of what he is doing at the dish. After all, Pablo was second in the NL with a .330 batting average and seventh with his .943 OPS despite the issues.

THE RUMOR MILL

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman reported that the Giants might be in the mix for Johnny Damon since the club doesn’t have enough dough to target high end offensive weapons such as Jason Bay or Matt Holliday. Seems to make sense to me. After all, Damon is 36 years old, just the perfect age for a Giants organization that just can’t seem to figure out how to construct an offense.

The Mariners reportedly have some interest in uber-talented yet continually injured Rich Harden. If healthy he could be a top-10 pitcher, but we all know there is no way that happens right? He sure would form a potentially lethal 1-2 punch with Felix Hernandez though.

The rumors are true with Tim Hudson – he did sign a 3-year deal to remain with the Braves. I broke down the deal and his 2010 outlook in Around the Horn. As an aside, you can read the same piece for my thoughts on what will happen to Milton Bradley.

The Royals are looking to move Mike Jacobs. Apparently, when you hit .228 with a .297 OBP teams sour on you pretty quickly. The Royals may also try and move Alberto Callaspo, potentially to the Dodgers for catcher A.J. Ellis. The Royals really don’t have a catcher with both John Buck and Miguel Olivo near certainties to move on (Olivo already had his option declined). In addition the Royals picked up Chris Getz to play second in the recent mark Teahen deal. All of this seems a bit odd though considering that Callaspo hit .300 with 73 RBI last season while not being eligible for arbitration until after next season.

Jason Schmidt will reportedly call it a career. His shoulder just never rebounded to the point where he was able to do anything on the hill. I’ll never forget his two year run in San Fran in 2003 (17-5, 2.34 ERA, 208 K, 0.95 WHIP) and 2004 (18-7, 3.20 ERA, 251 K, 1.08 WHIP). Until I saw Tim Lincecum pitch, I had never witnessed a Giants’ hurler who was as filthy or as potentially lethal as Schmidt.

By Ray Flowers

Player Movement Thoughts

Finally, we’ve got some baseball news that doesn’t pertain to the World Series. With organizations analyzing where there team stand and what needs to be done to improve their outlook for 2010, here are some of the stories that are currently making the rounds.

The Royals made the odd decision to bring in Josh Fields in a trade with the White Sox despite the fact that they already have a third basemen in Alex Gordon. Does this move signify that the Royals have given up on their former first round draft pick? Apparently not. The team appears set to open the year with Gordon at third base and Fields possibly in the outfield. For more information on the deal that brought Fields to town, given Kyle Elfrink’s blog Royals with Cheese a read.

Curtis Granderson might be available in a trade according to reports. Curtis struggled to his worst performance in the batting average category at .249 in 2009, largely because of an extreme inability to his left-handed pitching (.183 in 180 ABs). Still, the dude has produced an average of 25 homers, 70 RBI, 108 runs and 19 steals the past three years. If you ask me he is totally miscast as a leadoff man but he would profile as a terrific #5 option. Owed “only” $26 million the next three years, one would think he would bring a lot in a deal if the Tigers do indeed decide to move him.

Ken Griffey Jr. will return for one more year with the Mariners after signing an incentive laden one year deal. Griffey, who turns 40 later this month, is coming off an abysmal season of a .214 average, but he did sock 19 homers in 387 ABs. In addition, after striking out 40 times in 230 ABs in the first half he slumped to 40 in 157 ABs after the All-Star break. I hope that the guy has one final season of productivity in that bat of his, but the data seems to suggest otherwise.

Joe Mauer and the Twins have begun the difficult task of working out a contract extension. Mauer has one year left on a deal that will pay him $12.5 million in 2010. The question with Mauer has nothing to do with his skills but whether or not a small market club like the Twins can afford to pay their catcher more than $15 million a year. In fact, it wouldn’t be shocking if Mauer’s representatives started with something like a 5-year, $100 million deal as a jumping off point. Is a catcher worth that amount of loot?

While the Giants would like to bring back Juan Uribe after he hit .289 with 16 homers for the club in under 400-ABs, he could price himself out of the Giants comfort zone with a desire for a big ticket, multi-year deal. As a result, the Giants are in the market for an infielder with some pop. According to Fox Sports they have been in contact with the Marlins about second baseman Dan Uggla who the Marlins appear desperate to move considering that he is on his way to a big pay day in arbitration (possibly upwards of $8-9 million). The Giants already have Freddy Sanchez at second so if they do acquire Uggla it would appear that the team would potentially move Dan to third base resulting in Pablo Sandoval moving across the diamond to first base (the team could also go with Uggla at first and leave Pablo at third). Uggla is a whiff machine, 150 or more the past three years, but he also has gone deep at least 30-times in each of the past three seasons. Do you know how many second baseman in history have hit at least 30-homers 3-straight years? Uggla is the only one. Moreover, Uggla has hit 27 homers with a least 88 RBI and 84 runs in each of his four big league seasons, and no other second baseman in history has accomplished that feat either. In truth, there were only three third basemen in 2009 that went 27-88-84 and they were Evan Longoria, Mark Reynolds and Ryan Zimmerman.

By Ray Flowers

The NL MVP Race

If you say the NL MVP should go to anyone other than Albert Pujols you have taken one too many hits of the hookah pipe. Still, I find it a bit distasteful too only review some of the award races, and since I’ve already gone over the NL Cy Young and the AL Cy Young, I thought it prudent to continue my way around the big time baseball awards for 2009.

With that, here is my top-10 ballot for NL MVP. It’s a tough call choosing just 10 guys, but at least I know the difference between BABIP and batters eye, whereas I would posit the position that well over half the people who vote for the award think those two terms come from the proposed healthcare initiative in Congress.

One final note. I do NOT believe that pitchers should be eligible for the MVP. They have their own award, so leave this one to the hitter’s fellas.

10 – Derrek Lee
Not much went right for the Cubs this season, but after a brutal start (.189 with one homer in April), Lee rebounded to hit .306 with 35 homers, 111 RBI and 91 runs scored.

9 – Mark Reynolds
Yes he set a major league record with 223 strikeouts, an unmitigated disaster, but at the same time he socked 44 long balls, knocked in 102 runs, finished just two runs shy of scoring 100 times and stole 24 bases. That’s a terrific season even if you hit just .260.

8 – Matt Kemp
Though he slumped in the end hitting just .224 over his last 30 games, Kemp was the main man in a lineup that missed Manny Ramirez for 50-games. Kemp hit .297 with 26 homers, 101 RBI, 97 runs and even stole 34 bases. Just imagine how good his numbers might have been if he didn’t have 250 of his at-bats in the seventh and eight holes.

7 – Ryan Howard
For the fourth straight year he had at least 45-homers and 135-RBI (he had 45 and 141). Even though he also posted 180-Ks for the fourth straight year, he managed to tie his career best of 105 runs while posting a .931 OPS for the Fighting Phils.

6 – Pablo Sandoval
Pablo for President. Sandoval finished second in the league with a .330 batting average, hit 25 homers, knocked in 90 runs and had a .943 OPS that was seventh in the Senior Circuit, and he did all this in a lineup of hitters that couldn’t hit .300 in a high school game (OK, maybe college).

5 – Ryan Braun
His numbers (.320-32-114-113-20) are better than the man ahead of him on the list, but Braun is a middling defender who only impacts the game on one side of the field. Still, few do it better with a bat in their hands.

4 – Troy Tulowitzki
Undoubtedly the major reason the Rockies turned their season around, Tulo hit .226 with five home runs the first two months (46 games) before going bonkers at the dish leading to a .297-32-92-101-20 line. Those are tremendous numbers for anyone, let alone when they belong to the man that just might be the best defensive shortstop in the National League.

3 – Prince Fielder
Prince socked 46 long balls, knocked in major league best 141 runs (tied with Howard) and managed to hit .299 with 110 walks leading to a .412 OBP the fifth best mark in the NL. He was also one of two men to top a grand in OPS with his mark of 1.014

2 – Hanley Ramirez
Didn’t match his previous totals in the steal department (27) but he led the NL in average (.342), had a higher OPS (.954) and Ryan Braun (.937), scored 101 times while knocking in 106 and also socked 24 long balls. Another tremendous season it was for the Marlins’ shortstop.

1 – Albert Pujols
Duh.

Pujols led the majors with 47 homers and an OPS of 1.101 OPS, and he also knocked in 135, scored 124 times, stole 16 bases for good measure led the NL in OBP (.443) and the majors in SLG (.658). The man is flat out historic.

By Ray Flowers

Some Regular Season Thoughts

With Game 163 on the docket tonight, playoff fever is in the air. But before we totally succumb to that level of trepidation and elation, I thought I would hit on a few of the storylines from the regular season that popped into my noggin’ today.

Andrew Bailey isn’t getting a lot of pub when it comes to the AL Rookie of the Year award, and you can thank the fact that he played half his games in front of about 11,000 people a night out in Oakland. If he pitched for the Yankees or the Red Sox he would be a household name. Bailey saved 26 games for an A’s team that won only 75 contests, and along the way he posted a 1.84 ERA, a 0.88 WHIP and a strong 9.83 K/9 mark. How many hurlers posted an ERA below 1.90 with a WHIP below 0.90 and racked up at least 25 saves this past season? The answer is one – one. Mariano Rivera had a 0.90 WHIP and Trevor Hoffman had a 0.91 WHIP. They were close, but no cigar.

Homer Bailey may have finally established himself at the major league level. Over his last seven starts he went 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA and 42 Ks over 43.3 innings pitched. He still hasn’t really solved those control issues (3.95 BB/9 in that time), but he may just have picked up enough about the art of pitching to get by with his above average stuff.

Chris Coghlan finished sixth in the NL batting race hitting .321 as a rookie for the Marlins. Not only was he a tremendous option for his overall work – he was actually flat out amazing over the second half of the season as he hit a Joe Mauer-like .372 over his final 72 games covering 304 ABs. Moreover, if we remove May when he was finding his legs in the bigs, Coghlan hit .338 over his 438 ABs. Not a bad rookie season Mr. CC.

Pablo Sandoval has got to be 30 pounds overweight, and I swear to my maker that he is off balance on literally about 50 percent of his swings, not to mention that he obviously went to the Vladimir Guerrero school of ‘if it’s in the air I’m going to swing at it.’ Despite all that, and the fact that he entered 2009 with only 145 big league at-bats, the Kung Fu Panda was second in the NL in the batting race (.330) while socking 25 homers, knocking in 90 runs and finishing seventh with a .943 OPS. I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m telling you this kid has a lot to learn about hitting. I don’t know if that means he will improve upon his current level of production, but he can certainly improve his technique and approach, and that has to be one scary thought for hurlers.

Vincente Padilla came over to the Dodgers after going 8-6 with a 4.92 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP with the Rangers. I, for one, though this was a desperate move. I still think it was, but the fact of the matter is that it has certainly paid dividends for the Dodgers who got some terrific work from the righty in his eight appearances (4-0, 3.20 ERA, 1.22 WHIP). In his last start he lasted seven innings against the Rockies striking out a season best 10 batters, and as a result he will apparently start Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs for the Dodgers. It certainly would help the Dodgers outlook immensely if they were able to get the “real” Chad Billingsley in the playoffs after he struggled pretty heavily down the stretch with a 5.20 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP over his last 14 appearances (he did last 12 innings in his last two starts, but he went 0-1 with a 3.75 while walking nine batters). Don’t know about you, but I simply cannot count the Dodgers as a legitimate World Series contender if they are counting on Padilla to be their third starter in the playoffs.

Lastly, if you want some info about Game 163 pitting the Twins against the Tigers, give Around the Horn a read.

By Ray Flowers

The Last Man

I have nothing to say about the Dodgers or Kim Kardashian, I just like to look at her so I put her picture at the top of this piece.

There is one day left to vote on for the final player to be added to each league’s All-Star team for next week in St. Louis. If you need a little bit of perspective on who are the best choices in each league, here are my thoughts.

Note: I’m purely addressing who is the most qualified option paying no attention to position or what the All-Star squads may or may not need given how the rosters are configured.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Chone Figgins, 3B, LAA: .310-1-27-63-24 in 318 ABs
Figgins has produced the average that he didn’t last season (.276), and he is on pace to return to the 40-steal plateau that he reached in 2005-07. He isn’t hitting well against lefties (.227) but he is smoking righties to the tune of a .342 mark. He ranks 11th in the AL in average, fourth in steals and he leads the junior circuit in runs scored.

Brandon Inge, 3B/C, DET: .267-19-54-48-2 in 285 ABs
Really scuffing of late hitting just .205 with a .655 OPS the past two weeks, Inge has been a life saver for the Tigers, and for those fantasy leaguers who have been running him out there as a catcher eligible player. Though he has played exclusively third this season, if we compare his numbers to the other catchers he leads the way in home runs and is second in RBI to Victor Martinez (57). As is, he leads third sackers in homers and his 54 RBI are second to Evan Longoria (64).

Ian Kinsler, 2B, TEX: .252-20-54-60-17 in 333 ABs
Never has a potential 30/30 season from a second basemen looked so bad. The reason is that .252 average. Kinsler, who hit .322 in April, has hit .226 over his last 60 games. Still, he is tied for the position lead with Aaron Hill in home runs, is second to Hill in RBI (59), is second in runs (Brian Roberts has 62) and he is tied with Roberts for first at the position with 17 steals. That’s a whole lot of top shelf work, minus the batting average.

Adam Lind, OF, TOR: .308-18-57-49-1 in 321 ABs
He has been a breakout star all year, and he just keeps hitting. Still, his numbers don’t really stand out until you compare him to other AL outfielders and realize that he has more homers than Torii Hunter (17) while he has knocked in more runs than all but two others (Jason Bay has 71, Hunter 65).

Carlos Pena, 1B, TB: .228-23-55-59-1 in 294 ABs
Leads the AL in home runs, but other than that, his performance has been awful including being second in the league with 106 Ks, and don’t even get me started about how absurd it is to be considering a man who is hitting .228 for the All-Star team.

5. Pena
4. Lind
3. Inge
2. Figgins
1. Kinsler

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cristian Guzman. SS, WAS: .310-3-21-41-3 in 297 ABs
The opposite of Pena above, this man’s value is totally batting average driven as he has as many home runs this season as Paul Konerko hit on Tuesday night. Guzman also has no speed at all – those three steals are the same as Tyler Greene who has only seen the field enough for 104 at-bats with the Cardinals.

Matt Kemp, OF, LAD: .307-10-45-44-19 in 306 ABs
Kemp still hasn’t developed the power that some believe he one day will, but it’s tough to down a guy who is hitting over .300 with a pace that would result in 85 runs, 85 RBI and 35 steals. Oh, and you want to make sure he is always in the lineup if there is a lefty on the hill as he simply murders them (.384/.483/.630 in 73 ABs).

Mark Reynolds, 3B, ARI: .265-24-62-53-14 in 309 ABs
Yes he strikeouts out at an embarrassing rate (114 Ks or one per 2.71 ABs), but the man still produces as he leads the position in home runs and RBI while he is third in steals behind Wright (20) and Emilio Bonifacio (18). Not many players go 25/25 with 120 RBI (it’s only happened 16 times in big league history).

Pablo Sandoval, 3B, SF: .328-13-48-38-3 in 287 ABs
This is exactly the type of guy the league should be looking to publicize. Portly, a free spirit quick with a smile, and one hell of a young hitter, the Kung Fu Panda has it all. He has a better batting average, more home runs, more RBI and a higher OPS than David Wright (.322-5-42 with a .878 OPS). Nuff said.

Shane Victorino, OF, PHI: .306-6-39-60-13 in 330 ABs
Pains me to list this guy fourth in the NL, but others have been more impressive. Still, he is the only outfielder in the NL who is hitting at least .300 with 60 runs, 10 steals and 100 hits. That should result in some love shouldn’t it?

5. Guzman
4. Victorino
3. Kemp
2. Reynolds
1. Sandoval

By Ray Flowers

Injured Stars Returning?

Kris Benson is scheduled to make an appearance on Sunday at Double-A Frisco after throwing on Thursday without incident. If all goes well, he could return on May 9th to the rotation for the Rangers. Wait a second, wasn’t this article supposed to be about returning “stars?” Oops, my bad. The only star in the Benson family is Anna, the smoking hot significant other of Kris (her picture, and it doesn’t really do her justice, graces this article above).

I certainly don’t want to jinx things, and being just a wee bit superstitious I’ve almost been afraid to comment on the status of Ryan Franklin who has jumped out of the gates like a sprinter in a distance race. While allowing only four hits and issuing just two walks in 10.1 innings leading to a 0.58 WHIP. Franklin hasn’t permitted a single run on the young season and is 7-for-7 in save chances. That’s all I’m going to say other than keep it up an hopefully you have enough of a finishing kick to finish strong Mr. Franklin.

Cole Hamels should return to the mound on Friday for the first time since spraining his ankle in his last start to throw a bullpen session. If things go well he will make his scheduled start on Monday. In his four starts this year he has a 7.27 ERA and a 1.79 WHIP, though his K/9 mark is virtually identical to last season (7.79 to 7.76) as is his BB/9 mark (2.08 to 2.10). What is to blame? Would you believe a rather healthy does of luck? After all, his BABIP mark has ballooned from .288 in his career to .394 in his four appearances this season.

Joe Mauer (back) should be back in the Twins lineup on Saturday night. He went 6-for-15 with four RBI during his rehab assignment. Get ready to plug him right back into your lineup starting next Monday. Let’s just hope that his mysterious injury is behind him and that he can instantly return to his .300+ hitting ways. On a side note, the return of Mauer is coming at a great time for a Twins club that hasn’t gotten much out of Mike Redmond who first dealt with a groin issue and now a bum shoulder. After hitting at least .287 in each of the past four years, Redmond is hitting just .226 on the year – a terribly disappointing effort from a guy who was asked to merely do his normal thing for the month of April. If the club decides to DL Redmond it would appear that Jose Morales would continue to function as the backup to Mauer, and Morales has certainly shown that he is ready to contribute at the dish as he has gone 15-for-43 in the early going (.349).

A-Rod may have used performance enhancing drugs while on the Yankees. I’m shocked.

Pablo Sandoval has been on fire of late with an amazing total of 14 hits in 30 ABs (.467) to raise his overall average up to .307. So let the good time role? Not exactly. Pablo strained his groin on Wednesday night, though the Giants are off Thursday, so perhaps Pablo will be back in the lineup on Friday (fingers crossed). Though he moves pretty well for a big fella, it’s hardly a surprise that the big fella pulled a muscle as he is carrying nearly 250 lbs on his 5’11″ frame. This injury is likely minor, but it wouldn’t hurt at all if the 22 year old learned that his body is his living. So start hitting the Stairmaster Mr. Sandoval, and lay off the third helpings at the open buffet.

Joakim Soria is nearing a return to the hill for the Royals after throwing a bullpen session without incident. As a result, he will likely be back closing by the end of the weekend, thereby sparing us the scene of having to watch Kyle Farnsworth try to close out games.

Wednesday Baseball

Today I’m going to look around the landscape of baseball and point out a few of the more interesting tidbits as the clock winds down on this Wednesday.

Eric Byrnes went 1-for-4 on Wednesday to “raise” his average to .152. He did steal two bags and appears to be running very well after a lost 2008 because of hamstring issues.

D’backs, please start scoring some runs for Dan Haren. In his four starts this year the club has scored a total of three runs. As a result, instead of being the early favorite for the NL Cy Young, Haren is 1-3 despite a 1.38 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP.

Brandon Phillips is hitting .143 on the young season thanks to an 0-for-21 slump. As a result he has been dropped to sixth in the order. Miscast as a cleanup hitter, Phillips would likely be better served hitting second or fifth, but the Reds really don’t have a better option at the moment than Phillips. Dating back to August first last year, Phillips is hitting a miniscule .183 over 191 ABs. That isn’t a slump, it’s a trend. Oddly his struggles this year have come despite the fact that he has more walks (nine) than strikeouts (seven). You can blame his inordinately low BABIP mark of .147. When things normalize, the average should return to at least the .260 level.

CC Sabathia had another rough outing on Wednesday as he allowed six earned runs in 6.2 innings against the Athletics who entered the game hitting an AL worst .237 with the second worst OBP in the league at .309 (only the Mariners were worse at .305). Just like last season when he started slowly, Sabathia has had a very difficult time throwing strikes as he has struck out just 12 batters while walking 14 leading to a K/BB mark of 0.86 through four starts. Considering he owns a career mark of 2.63 and has posted a mark of at least 3.91 in each of the past three seasons, one has to figure things will turn around quickly. Still, his slow start cannot be leading to too many smiles in the Yankees’ front office or with those people who took Sabathia as their fantasy ace in 2009.

Jose Valverde has struggled a bit to start the year, and now he is dealing with a bruised right ankle and a strained calf muscle that he suffered on Tuesday night. At this point there isn’t necessarily a substantial worry that he will end up on the DL, but that is the LaTroy Hawkins train warming up in the station to take over in case Valverde cannot go. Here is my advise – you had better think long and hard about adding Hawkins in anything other than an NL-only league. Sure LaTroy posted solid numbers last year with a 3.92 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP over 62 innings, including some great work with the Astros (0.43 ERA, 0,73 WHIP, 25 K in 21 IP), but come on now we are talking about LaTroy Hawkins here. Dude has 77 saves and 47 blown saves in his career, and he hasn’t been given even 10 saves chances since the 2005 season when we has six saves and nine blown chances. For whatever reason, and it makes no sense, the man simply cannot come through in the ninth inning. It’s as simple as that. Don’t fool yourself into thinking it will be any different, even if Valverde ends up on the disabled list.

Barry Zito was 3-0 with a 3.21 ERA last year when Pablo Sandoval was behind the plate. On Wednesday Sandoval caught his first games of the year, with Zito on the hill, and he went seven shutout innings though it was against the Padres. The Giants aren’t ready to say it, but we might be getting awfully close to Pablo serving as the personal catcher for Zito, and that would be music to Sandoval’s owner’s ears if he doesn’t qualify as a catcher in your league at the moment (this was his first game behind the dish this season).

I Just Don't Understand

I’m in a foul mood today. OK, perhaps surely is a better word, but the bottom line is that I need to vent about some of the injustices that I have been facing the past couple of days (you like how I categorize everything as being an injustice to me?). OK, nothing here rises even close to the level of injustice, though I’m still in a foul mood.

I have a vested interest in Clint Barmes in that I scooped him up late in a couple of leagues. Therefore, I was disheartened to see that he wasn’t in the Rockies starting lineup on opening day (Ian Stewart started). Barmes was back in the lineup for game two. According to the Denver Post, several teammates, ‘off the record,’ expressed extreme displeasure that Barmes wasn’t in the starting lineup. Time will tell how this situation plays out, but I would still think Barmes finds his way to at least 350-AB this season (450+ are possible in my mind), enough to give him value given his qualification as a shortstop and second basemen.

Milton Bradley is already hurt. He was in the lineup on Tuesday night, but he already is dealing with an injured ankle that needed some extra taping. It’s already started Cubs’ fans, get used to it. This could end up going down as one of the worst signings of the off-season. There is just no way that Bradley plays 140+ games in each of the three years of the contract he signed with the Cubs. Explosive when he plays, he just wont be on the field often enough.

The Royals need to have their sanity questioned. Signing Kyle Farnsworth to a 2-year deal for more than $9 million this off-season already looks like a move that could lead to passing out dunce caps to every member of the front office. In his first appearance he allowed a 3-run homer to Jim Thome and picked up a loss and the blown save in the outing ruining a wonderful outing by Gil Meche (seven innings, one run allowed). Coming off a 2008 season of a 4.48 ERA and 1.52 WHIP, it seems like the Royals were seduced by the 61 K in 60.1 innings last year. Why Farnsworth would be given a substantial role is beyond me, and the Royals certainly paid a price for their arrogance on Tuesday.

Why didn’t I take Dexter Fowler instead of Gordon Beckham this season? Honestly, will it matter if the Rockies don’t run Fowler out there on a daily basis? He did homer in his first official AB of the season. Play him Rockies.

Why won’t anyone listen to me about Cliff Lee? Everyone is preaching patience, I would almost always agree with that too, but there has to be something really wrong with this guy. Said if before but here it is again: dating back to the start of spring the dude has allowed 56 hits in 25.1 innings of work. Something is seriously wrong there.

Why doesn’t Gil Meche get any respect, because he pitches for the Royals? Last season he had a better ERA than Josh Beckett (3.98 to 4.03), posted a better WHIP than A.J. Burnett (1.32 to 1.34), and had more strikeouts than Felix Hernandez (183 to 175). Shouldn’t that lead to some higher levels of respect?

Pablo Sandoval figures to hit, the dude just keeps his bat flat so long through the strike zone that it doesn’t seem to matter if the pitch is at his eyes or his shoe tops. However, his defense remains suspect as he continues to have a tough time with the exchange from his glove to his throwing hand on hurried plays. Just don’t know if he can handle the third base role on a full-time basis.

Talk about a guy getting little fantasy love. Jim Thome is old (38 years of age, 39 in August), is coming off his worst full-season batting average of his career (.245), and he only qualifies at the utility position. Still, since 1996, he has hit at least 30 home runs 12 times, and 11 times he has also knocked in 90 or more runs. Since that 1996 season, Thome is second in baseball with 486 HR and fourth in RBI with 1,320. If you need power, there is no reason to think Thome won’t provide it in 2009.

What a shock, DeWayne Wise went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his first game as the White Sox’ leadoff hitter. Hey guys, the man owns a .253 OBP in his major league career while his batting average is .212. Are they really trying to fool us all into thinking that he can seriously hold down a role at the top of their order? Newsflash – he cannot.