LAD: Activated Milton Bradly from the DL
Considering how many injuries the Dodgers have had it's amazing that they are only 4 and a half out of first. Getting their best player back will certainly help that.
"Baseball Becomes Dull only to Dull Minds." - Red Smith, New York Times
Considering how many injuries the Dodgers have had it's amazing that they are only 4 and a half out of first. Getting their best player back will certainly help that.
Travis Chick and Jason Germano is a pretty good haul for 2 and a half months of Joe Randa. I think the Padres overpaid, but I don't blame them for getting tired of waiting for Sean Burroughs. Though I don't think Joe Randa is the answer. Color me skeptical of a 36 year old having a career year in one of the better hitters parks in baseball.
Lance "All-Star" Carter hasn't been very good this year in fact he has been poor. No worse than Jesus Colme, Travis Harper, and Seth McClung, in fact better. So they send down Carter, and raise another bru-ha-ha in the Devil Rays. Life in Tampa is never easy.
Looks like the Whitesox historic season, is going to go down without a major contribution from the Big Hurt. Too bad actually, Thomas really could use a World Series title on his resume, and it doesn't mean so much when your a bit player.
This will push Feliz back from 3b back to left, making room for Edgaro.
Rotoword
Gryboski is a solid reliever, who could help a lot of teams. I'm actually a little surprised to see the Braves ship him out so quickly, for a pitcher with as little promise as Lorenzo.
With Ramon Martinez, and Tomas Perez I can see why the Phillies needed a third utility infielder who can't really hit. While this makes some sense fro the D-Backs perspective as they need some bullpen help. The only problem is Worrell is more likely to fan the flames than to put them out. Then again some times you have to take a shot and hope for a turn around. Especially with the Padres struggles.
Brad Eldred is a good power prospect - I'm hopping to see him get some playing time. Even though Daryl Ward has hit well this year, I'm hoping to see Eldred get the bulk of the 1b at bats from here on out.
I wonder how many times in the last 2 years he's been up and down? I really don't know. He's teams are more willing to do that with marginal prospects than with sure things, but I still think Youkilis will have a 10 year career. Nothing wrong with that.
The Yankees continue to search for a reliable left-handed reliever. News Flash - Alex Graman isn't the answer.
What I want to know is how can a team have a .415 winning % and have two guys claimed off waivers on the same day while trying to make room on the roster for a couple of returning players. Generally teams that are of this "quality" don't have any attractive options on the back of there roster. The fact that the Reds had two guys that other teams had interest is, is remarkable.
This is the corrisponding transaction for Jody Gerut being aquired. The Cubs would be better off with one fewer infielders and keeping Grieve around to pinch hit. Having good pinch hitters or a good bench has never been a priority for Dusty Baker.
I thought comming into the 2004 season Embree was done, and would be gone by midseason.
Graff is one of the better 5th infielders in the game. He can hit some, play a plus second base while being servicable everywhere else in the infield, or outfield in a pinch. He'll be useful to the Sox, either as a reserve or a platoon keystoner, depending on how they man the position in the second half.
The Yankee's 6th inning guy is back on Rodriguez. He's certainly better than May, but not many other pitchers in MLB at this point.
Cassidy is organazational fodder, and will for the next few years ride the AAA-MLB express going back and forth as an emergency starter and 12th man on a pitching staff. Hyzdu is year in and year out one of the best hitters in AAA, who has had some success at the MLB level in the past. It looks like the Sox will use him as Nixon's platoon mate for a while.
Sanders has been insane for the Cards posting a 900ish OPS on the year, no matter how stacked the rest of the lineup is you're going to miss a 900 OPS outfielder.
Last night the Yankees took over first place, and the Bravo's moved with in half a game of first place. The Nationals success in close games seems to be disappearing as they lost another close game last night.
You can't keep a good man down in Pawtucket for long. Youkilis has ridden the Route 95 shuttle more than any player I can think of in recent memory. This probably means a healthy dose of Cora at 2b, with some Bill Mueller at 2b and Youkilis at 3b. With the later being one of worst defensive infields in recent memory even Edgars overall solidness can't save the Sox from the black hole that is Youkilis, Mueller, and Millar around the horn.
Mr. Zero has caught a near fatal case of gopheritise (9HR allowed in 28 innings). Like most relievers having a bad year, with a good recent track records I expect Boston to be his home in the near future.
If anyone claims to know who the better player is here they are lying. Gerut probably is a little better all around, and Dubios is a better hitter. A classic "challenge" trade lets see which GM is better at evaluating talent. Dubios wasn't going to get a shot in Chicago, so it will be interesting to see if Gerut will get some playing time in LF or CF.
Brown's tenure in NYY is about to come to an ugly, ugly close. I'll be shocked to see him pitching in August if the Yankees have any other options.
Lots of stuff here. The long and the short of it is the lineup gets a lot better with Loretta forcing Damain Jackson, who has preformed well back to the bench. While Nevin forces Sweeney back into the role as number 1 pinch hitter.
I'm a little surprised that Davies is the one getting the gate here, since he's pitched really well with the exception of 4 straight middling starts. Then again the way Jorge Sosa is pitching it made the decision pretty easy for them. Look out world here comes the Braves... again.
Makes sense, as I said a couple days ago the Braves were likely to get down to 12 pitchers when Chipper came back, and here they are now at 12. Colon makes sense as the one to go unless they were going to cut ties with Kolb - then again they could probably trade him to the Red Sox if they felt the desire to ditch him.
Not for this year but in general. I've watched all 4 of the Brewers/Nats game this weekend and the Brewers are contagious. I can't help but root for them... well that and Doug Melvin is the most underrated GM in the game. Look for an extended article on that topic in the next few weeks. Also look for an extended article on what I call "Turn Around Managers".
Tadano was given a brief audition as the 12th man in the pen and pitched pretty good, getting in 1 game and pitching 4 innings of 1 run ball. So you know this transaction isn't performance induced. The Tribe front office likely thinks more highly of Caroma than they do of Tadano, which I think is a reasonable position to take, though I disagree that he's better right now than Tadano. Tadano throws a league average FB, with a solid split, and slider. While Carmona has a power sinker that doesn't miss many bats but induces grounders by the truck load and a solid average change. He'll need to develop a third show me pitch to make it as a regular starter or a strikeout pitch to make it as a reliever.
Now that Hudson and Hampton are back from the DL, the A's rotation looks to be ready to push for 1st place. The question now is how much longer are they going to stick with 13 pitchers?
Currently their bench is:
McCain - Catcher
Franco/Laroche - 1b
Orr - Infield
Langerhans/Francoeur - OF
I imagine it will be when Chipper comes back, which will force Orr into the 5th outfielder/6th infielder role, which is a more recent innovation to allow for that 12th pitcher. After looking at the Richmond club's roster I have to say a 13th pitcher probably has more value to the Braves than Kerry Robinson. The only player who could contribute is Marte who is position blocked x2 at this point - I wonder how long until he is moved to RF?
I have an irrational man love for Curtis Pride and am disappointed to see him get sent down. He's a little long in the tooth at this point, but he can still handel centerfield and can hit as much as half the players on MLB benches.
Looks like a minor amount of cash changing hands, and Leiter will start today versus the Yankees. I commented on this in Leiter's DFA thread earlier in the weekend. Where I predicted he would be starting for the Yankees before August first.