Around the Horn: May21, 2010

(1) Roy Oswalt requests trade from Astros.

(2) Coco Crisp and Carlos Gomez return to action from injury. Willy Taveras placed on waivers on waivers.

(3) John Maine placed on DL with shoulder issues.

(4) Curtis Granderson about a week from returning from hammy injury.

(5) Breaking down early season struggles of Aaron Hill and Raul Ibanez.

Impact Report – Aaron Hill.

Impact Report – Raul Ibanez.

(6) Luke Scott to play first during interleague playing sending Garrett Atkins to bench. David Ortiz to play some first as well.

(7) Fanball.com will have a daily, 3-hour fantasy sports show from 5-8 PM EST. Starting on June 21st Fanball’s Fantasy Drive will appear daily on Sirius Channel 125 and XM channel 210. Yours truly will be a co-host.

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: April7, 2010

(1) Jim Edmonds continues to play over Corey Hart. For more take a look at By The Numbers – Hitters.

(2) Rockies outfield situation a fantasy landmine. For more read Around the Horn.

(3) Dallas Braden’s hot start.

(4) Edgar Renteria off to blazing start (8-for-11).

(5) Mike Morse to take over RF in Washington?

(6) Brad Lidge doing better since cortisone shot in elbow.

(7) Lance Berkman doing better since cortisone shot in knee.

(8) Brandon Webb in holding pattern after cortisone shot.

(9) Ian Kinsler likely 7-10 days away.

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: Feb.1, 2010.

(1) Orlando Cabrera signs with Reds.
(2) Willy Taveras to A’s, then designated.
(3) Johnny Damon wants to play for Tigers?
(4) Ryan Garko signs with Mariners.
(5) Jose Reyes running sprints.
(6) Orlando Hudson still undecided – Nationals, Indians, Rockies in the mix.
(7) Joe Mauer deal all rumors at this point.

By Ray Flowers

Unsound Options

After a one day hiatus to discuss that quarterback who I shall never mention again, you know the one who has retired about 13 times over the past two years only to return to action, let’s get back to what I know best, and that is the game that is played on the diamond.

Johnny Cueto will be placed on the DL with shoulder inflammation. I wonder what genius it took to figure out that he wasn’t physically “right” as his ERA has gone from 2.69 on July 1st to 4.61. That’s right, over his last nine appearances he has gone 1-6 with a 9.00 ERA and a 1.97 WHIP. Unless he suddenly morphed into a 66 year old version of Jamie Moyer, it’s pretty flipping clear he just hasn’t been right.

Zack Greinke lost his eighth game of the year on Wednesday after allowing four runs over seven innings. Greinke has been great this season with a 2.44 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP over 25 starts, but the man has only one victory in his last nine times on the hill while he has accrued five loses in that time. If you ask me, his shot at the Cy Young Award is pretty much non-existent at this point as I think he is no better than third on the list behind Roy Halladay (13-5, 2.65 ERA, 1.08 WHIP) and Felix Hernandez (12-4, 2.66 ERA, 167 Ks, 1.18 WHIP). You could also make a valid argument for Justin Verlander (13-6, 3.28 ERA, 194 Ks, 1.16 WHIP) or even C.C. Sabathia (14-7, 3.58 ERA, 1.13 WHIP) could have moved ahead of the Royals’ hurler, so maybe Greinke is on danger of not only falling out of the top-3, but possibly the top-5.

Mets Injury Update
* David Wright (concussion) – Hopes to be cleared for action on Thursday and is eyeing a return near the end of August.

* Carlos Beltran – Running in the outfield and also took batting practice on Wednesday. Hopes to return sometime in September.

* Oliver Perez – May not make his next start as his knee is still bothering him. Maybe his sore knee threw him off balance in his last start leading to just a single walk. Hey, what else explains a measly walk for a guy who has averaged 4.31 walks per start? Maybe he should pitch hurt more often.

* Billy Wagner – Should be activated by the weekend after proving that his elbow is sound. Could be valuable down the stretch in NL-only leagues.

There are of course more Mets options I could discuss here, but I’m falling asleep typing name after name from this club so I’m gonna just leave it where it is and move on.

Jake Peavy likely won’t make that start on August 28th as the White Sox hoped – what a shock. The best case scenario is that he will return on September 2nd, or possibly in the following series against the Red Sox. This guy could turn out to be a difference maker for the Sox, but I gotta tell ya he hasn’t sold me on the idea that he will be able to contribute this season.

Willy Taveras was placed on the DL today with a strained left quadriceps muscle, and while this is bad news personally, and for those of you counting on his speed in NL-only leagues, it is likely great news for the Reds. Why do I say that? Let me count the ways. First, the man is hitting .238 with one home run, and those numbers are only acceptable if you take the hill once every five days. Second, though he has 25 steals and was on pace for a fifth straight season of 33 steals, he has seen his steal total drastically reduced from his career best total of 68 from last season disappointing all involved. Third, the man owns a .273 OBP this season. Since the league average is .334 Taveras can be said to be only 82 percent of “average” in this respect, and that is flat out awful for a man who has spent 390 of his 395 at-bats in the first or second hole in the order. I wouldn’t be worried about how Dusty Baker uses pitchers as much as I would question how the man puts together his batting order. Clearly Taveras has world class speed, but with a complete inability to get on base this season he should have been holding down court in the eighth slot all season.

By Ray Flowers

Is Something in the Water?

I’m feeling like an AL-only report will be a good thing today, so I’ll spend most of my time discussing the Junior Circuit. Don’t worry if you are a fan of the NL, I’ll be sure to toss a couple of little diddy’s in there for you as well – don’t want anyone to call me an “ageist” or anything.

Alex Casilla has been sent back to Triple-A after the Twins activated Nick Punto. Casilla is hitting just .180 this season in 111 at-bats and hit just .222 in his most recent call-up (6-for-27). For a guy who hit .281 last season, the club didn’t show a lot of patience with Casilla this year.

Kelvim Escobar has made yet another recovery from arm issues, and after strong work in the minors he had a decent first start allowing two runs over five innings (he struck out five, though he did walk four). However, the team has reversed course with Escobar and will remove him from the starting rotation and add him to the bullpen because they claim he doesn’t have the stamina needed to be a starting pitcher at this point after he experienced some soreness in his shoulder after that lone start. “I went to see a doctor, and I didn’t have good range of motion, up and back,” Escobar said. “It doesn’t look like I can throw 80, 90 pitches. But I’m confident I can still help the team in the bullpen.” He will be held out of action for about a week at which time he will be worked into the bullpen mix. Escobar can be flat out dominating when he is on, so using him an inning every other day or so will certainly give the Angels a weapon out of the pen, something they can certainly use given that they are still without Scot Shields (knee) and Jose Arredondo who was sent back to the minors to work on his game. For those of you looking for some help in AL-only league, Matt Palmer will return to his role as a starting pitcher, a role that saw him go 5-0 with a 3.95 this season. Don’t go crazy to get Palmer though, he has a poor 1.59 K/BB mark this season, and his K/9 mark is also nothing more than average at 5.48 per nine.

Gavin Floyd has finally returned to being an effective hurler after some awful work to start the season. On Thursday Floyd tossed eight innings and allowed just one run to score. That’s five straight quality starts in a row for those of you keeping track at home.

I picked up Mike MacDougal off waivers this past weekend when it was announced that Joel Hanrahan was once again removed from the closers role. I was therefore very pleased to see Mike work three scoreless innings in back-to-back outings on Tuesday or Wednesday. However, he didn’t pick up a save in either outing because the game situation didn’t warrant it. Alas, the Nationals needed a “closer” on Thursday and they were forced to go with Joe Beimel because they didn’t want to run MacDougal out there yet again. Such is the way the breaks go sometimes.

David Ortiz hit an opposite field home run in his first at-bat on Thursday night off of CC Sabathia. That gives Ortiz three home runs in his last five games. Is he finally awaking from his early season slumber?

I spoke about Willy Taveras and his struggles at the plate yesterday in A Day in the Life. Just to update things, Taveras had another 0-for-outing on Thursday and he has now gone 0-for-20 in the month of June. There is no truth to the rumor that this run of futility will lead Dusty Baker to insert Willy T. into the cleanup role.

Jim Thome is finally hitting. Over the past four games Thome has gone deep three times with seven RBI to boost his numbers to 12 home runs and 39 RBI through 163 at-bats this season. Sure he is hitting only .258, but given that he is on pace to hit roughly 31 home runs while knocking in about 100 runs you cannot be too upset, especially since he hit just .245 last season. Are some of you shocked by his turnaround? If you are, you shouldn’t be. Thome is one of the most consistent home run hitting, RBI producers in big league history. Yes, I just wrote that line, and I can fully support the position with the following data points. (1) Thome has hit at least 30 home runs in the last 12-seasons that he has come to the plate at least 425 times. (2) Thome has knocked in at least 85 runs in each of the last 12-seasons that he has come to the plate at least 425 times. The only time in the past 13 years that Thome didn’t reach those plateaus was 2005 when he was limited to just 193 at-bats due to injury.

By Ray Flowers

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