Last year's NL Cy Young winner, Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks will replace injured Colorado Rockies reliever Brian Fuentes at the All- Star game Tuesday night. HE placed second in the online voting behind Chris Young. For all you Cubs fans who thought Carlos Zambrano had a chance of making the team, I guess now you know better. At best, he was third in the online vote.
Read more...The White Sox lost a double header to the Minnesota Twins yesterday in what can only be called a rout. They were not only outscored by 18 runs, but out-pitched. Usually reliable Jon Garland gave up 12 runs all by himself. The Twins won both games with scores of 20-14 and 12-0. The losses are further symbols of a lost season. How the Mighty have fallen.... in other Sox news, Mark Buerhle is still refusing to sign a 4-yr. $56 million deal without a no-trade clause. His agent says if he is traded, he will play out the season and test the free-agent market.
Read more...Is Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa headed to the White Sox? It doesn't seem too far-fetched to contemplate that as the Cards languish in third place in the weak Central division and Ozzie Guillen is floundering with the White Sox, less than 2 years after winning the World Series. LaRussa is an long-time personal favorite of Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and not feeling particularly tied to the Cards, or so it seems. He turned down an offered contract extension and may be looking beyond the Cardinals era for himself.
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The Phillies have the opportunity to trade for Dontrelle Willis only if they are willing to part with top pitching prospect Carlos Carrasco. If they were to package Carrasco and two low-level prospects they could potentially bring in Willis. The Phillies are currently four games behind the Mets and could use a solid pitcher to bring them back into the race. This season, Willis is 7-7 with a 4.65 ERA and 74 K.
The Red Sox are eyeing struggling Astros closer Brad Lidge, if he becomes available. The Astros continue to fall out of contention now twelve games behind the Brewers. Meanwhile, Astros front office has been pressured to make a change and could receive good compensation in return from the Red Sox. This season, Lidge is 2-1 with a 2.34 ERA and 44 K and has been the subject of many trade rumors when he got off to a slow start this season. The sooner he comes back, the better chances the Astros will have of trading him.
Will A-Rod leave the Yankees after this year by waiving his no trade clause? "It's not even a temptation", was his reply when asked. Rodriguez has told friends he would rather stay in New York and solidify his reputation and legacy as a long-term Yankee than start over somewhere else.
Read more...The New York Yankees seem to have entered a new era of mediocrity with very little fanfare. As they go into the All-Star break 3 games under .500, it is fair to ask where is the loud-mouthed, overbearing, grandstanding Steinbrenner of old? In the last two years, there have been very few sightings and only the occasional remark about his beloved team. It has been neither confirmed nor denied that Steinbrenner, who turns 77 this week, may be suffering from dementia and is being kept out of the public eye by family and his handlers. It is hard to believe that it is merely the mellowing of an old man not to be speaking out on his struggling team. That said, who is running the team??
Read more...A bunch of catchers have been causing problems in their clubhouses and a change of scenery could not only help the player, but the team as well. Look at the Cubs, who recently traded catcher Michael Barrett for Rob Bowen, have won 10 of 13 since June 19th. Barrett, sharing time with Josh Bard, is looking at a fresh start with one of the top pitching staffs in the majors as well as a chance to improve his stock heading into free agency this winter. Other catchers are likely to be available as well. Jorge Posada could be a name that becomes available if the Yankees, like everyone else outside of New York, decide that this season is a lost cause due to their inept pitching staff and the success of the Boston Red Sox. The Braves could also be potential sellers with both Brian McCann and Jarrod Saltalamacchia looking like studs behind the plate. As we are creeping into July, look for it to become apparent who will be buyers and sellers come July 31st.
Read more...While we will see some usual faces lining up for the American League on July 10th, the National League will hope that their young legs and youth can lead them to victory and home-field advantage in the World Series. While the American League may pack more power from their position players and pitchers, the NL possesses many rising stars primed to make a name for themselves in the all-star game. The Brewers are represented by four young studs, starting first basemen Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy, Ben Sheets, and Francisco Cordero. The Brewers and Mets are the only NL squads with more than three representatives and rightfully so, as they have had a fantastic first half of the season. The Mets are being represented by starters Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, and David Wright, as well as closer Billy Wagner. Ken Griffey Jr. led all NL vote getters with 2,986, 818 votes, 200,000 more than second place Prince Fielder. As we mentioned in the previous post, Barry Bonds edged out Alfonso Soriano to earn his 12th start in an all-star game and his 14th game overall. The National League has eight first time players: Orlando Hudson, Jose Valverde, Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy, Russell Martin, Takashi Saito, Aaron Rowand, and Cole Hamels. Here is a look at the entire squad.
Starters:
C: Russell Martin
1b: Prince Fielder
2b: Chase Utley
SS: Jose Reyes
3b: David Wright
Of: Barry Bonds
Of Carlos Beltran
Of: Ken Griffey Jr.
Subs: Pitchers:
Fransisco Cordero
Brian Fuentes
Cole Hamels
Trevor Hoffman
Jake Peavy
Brad Penny
Takashi Saito
Ben Sheets
John Smoltz
Jose Valverde
Billy Wagner
Subs: Position Players:
Brian McCann
Derek Lee
Albert Pujols
Dmitri Young
Orlando Hudson
Freddy Sanchez
JJ Hardy
Miguel Cabrera
Matt Holliday
Carlos Lee
Alfonso Soriano
Aaron Rowand
It should be an exciting game.
Leave comments with your predictions for score and game MVP!
There were few surprises with the announcement of the 2007 All-Star roster. Barry Bonds came on strong in the last week of voting, perhaps helped by monitors set up at A T& T Park, which allowed fans to vote up to 25 times each. That may have been enough for him to edge out Cubs OF Alfonso Soriano, who led by 100,000 votes, as of Thursday. Other than that, most of the voting came out as one might have predicted. In the American League, Justin Morneau and starter Placido Polanco are the only two first-timers among the twenty position players. On the contrary, the pitching staff consists of six new all-stars of the eleven eligible spots. Only three players were above the three million vote mark, Yankees Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Angels' superstar Vladimir Guerrero. Ivan Rodriguez is the old-timer on the squad, making his 14th all-star appearance. The roster for the American League looks as follows:
C: Ivan Rodriguez
1b: David Ortiz
2b: Placido Polanco
SS: Derek Jeter
3b: Alex Rodriguez
Of: Magglio Ordonez
Of: Ichiro Suzuki
Of: Vladimir Guerrero
Subs: Pitchers:
C.C. Sabathia
Josh Beckett
John Lackey
Dan Haren
Jonathon Papelbon
J.J. Putz
Francisco Rodriguez
Bobby Jenks
Gil Meche
Johan Santana
Justin Verlander
Position Players:
Justin Morneau
Michael Young
Carl Crawford
Alex Rios
Victor Martinez
Carlos Guillen
Mike Lowell
Jorge Posada
Brian Roberts
Torii Hunter
Grady Sizemore
Manny Ramirez
As of Thursday when All-Star voting ended, Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano was ahead of Bonds by 100,000 votes. Because the game is being played at Bonds' home field and he is having the best year among his Giants teammates, it would be hard to leave him off. The decision to add him as a backup is up to NL Manager Tony LaRussa, but the Commssioner can make his desires known if he is so inclined. Barry Bonds is a hard guy to root for but there is no doubt that he is a draw and that might outweigh the negative baggage he carries with him.
Read more...Uber-Agent Scott Boras has sent a proposal to Commissioner Bud Selig to lengthen the World Series from 7 games to 9. This has not been done since 1905, with a couple exceptions in the 1920's. His thinking is that it would create a marketing boom for baseball. His ideas include having the two extra games at a neutral ballpark with advance bidding to generate excitement among other ballclubs and making the night before the first game highly ceremonial by announcing and awarding all the big titles, i.e. Hall of Fame voting, MVP, Cy Young, Rookies of the Year and Managers of the Year. I agree with the ceremonial aspects of his suggestions but television ratings have always been dependent on who's playing and it's hard to imagine there are more than a few markets that would support an extra two games.
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