Nick Johnson Injured Yet Again
May 14, 2008
Filed under: Washington, DC, Nationals, NL East, MLB Injuries
It’s nearly cruel to think that a guy can miss a full season due to injury, then have to miss more time the very next season. But that’s just the way Nick Johnson’s career has been. Johnson broke his leg late in the ‘06 season at Shea Stadium, which caused him to miss all of 2007. Now, in Might of 2008, Johnson might miss at least another couple of weeks with an injury he suffered … again at Shea Stadium:
Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson has been sent to Washington for an MRI on his right wrist on Thursday. He’d X-rays taken on Tuesday and the results were negative.
Johnson is listed as day-to-day, but the veteran was seen wearing a soft cast and could be sidelined a lot longer. Johnson strained a tendon in his right wrist during his last at-bat on Tuesday against the Mets.
“I felt a tiny pain after the swing,” Johnson stated. “I ended up walking. I went back on the field and it felt tight. I was trying to loosen it up out there. I wasn’t going to hit if my spot came up again. It was pretty painful after the game.”
As the article notes, it’s the ninth straight season where Johnson has missed time due to injury. So if you want to talk about snakebit: that’s Nick Johnson. You can also describe the Nats as kinda snakebit as well. Not only has Johnson been the driving force in their lineup, they signed Dmitri Young last season to replace Johnson. And now they’re both injured. Aaron Boone will now get the bulk of the time at first base.
Hasta La Vista, Julian Tavarez
May 14, 2008
Filed under: Boston, Red Sox, AL East
The Red Sox haven’t traded him to Milwaukee for a sausage, not yet anyway, but they’ve designated reliever Julian Tavarez for assignment. If he’s looking for someone to blame for his possible unemployment, he might want to talk to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It’s not related to budget shortfalls in California but to a quote that inspired the guy who looks like he’s taken Tavarez’s job in the Red Sox bullpen. Craig Hansen was once a highly regarded first-round pick who flamed out in his first tour of duty with the Sox. I’m not sure if he stated “I’ll be back” when they farmed him out but he did take solace in other words from the Governator.
“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardship and decide not to surrender, that’s strength.”
Hansen was last seen posting a 6.63 ERA with the Sox in 2006 and spent all of last season in AAA. He credits his work with a pitching coach that lives inside the stomach of another pitching coach for turning his career around. While he’s chuffed about his return to the huge leagues, it did cause him to break a promise he made to Tavarez.
“Remember, Julian, when I promised to kill your career last?”
“That’s right, Hansen, you did!”
“I lied.”
The Cubs Are Eyeing Jim Edmonds
May 13, 2008
The Cubs Are Eyeing Jim Edmonds
Filed under: Chicago, Cubs, NL Central, MLB Rumors
The Cubs “need” a left-handed hitter. Jim Edmonds, after hoisting a .178/.265/.233 line in 103 plate appearances for the Padres this year, needs a job. So the Edmonds-to-Cubs rumors are beginning, and Lou Piniella isn’t doing much to squash them:
[…] They are exploring the possibility, according to some in the know. Manager Lou Piniella long has desired another left-handed bat to go with Kosuke Fukudome. Felix Pie has been unreliable. Signing Edmonds could allow the Cubs to send Pie to Triple-A Iowa for steady work. Asked about the possibility of a left-handed bat being added, Piniella said, “We’ll just have to see what happens.”
There are plenty of reasons why this is the worst idea you’ll hear this week. The first is that Edmonds is no longer a good hitter — one look at his Padre production seals that deal. The second reason is that the Cubs already have a left-handed player; his name is Felix Pie, and he’s already a superior hitter — and much faster, more efficient outfielder — than Corpse of Edmonds. Third is Reed Johnson, who, despite not having a left-handed bat, is producing at a out-of-head level that should be earning him more dap than he’s getting.
The problem here are the antiquated notions at work: The idea that a left-handed bat is needed to balance the Cubs’ incredibly potent offensive lineup and the notion that a crappy veteran is superior than a struggling youngster by dint of his experience. The overall old-baseball-manishness of this idea screams Lou Piniella, who, despite being a pretty adaptable guy, is occasionally susceptible to the tenets of yore.
So please, Hendry and Co., spare us Cubs fans. I couldn’t stand Jim Edmonds as a Cub when he was actually good at baseball. In his present say, this idea is just silly.
Ozzie Guillen Is Growing Exhausted
May 12, 2008
Filed under: Chicago, White Sox, AL Central, MLB Gossip
Obviously, the last week or so has been an insane one for Ozzie Guillen. He’d to go from watching his team slumping badly, to dealing with attention about his latest profane tirade, to talking about blow-up dolls in the clubhouse, and completed it all up by saying Lou Piniella if [bleeping] messed up. I think he killed a few people at some point as well.
As they say, that’s just Ozzie being Ozzie. That statement makes no sense to me, because I looked Ozzie up in the dictionary, and it didn’t say it meant “bat[bleep] insane.” Hell, I couldn’t even find Ozzie in the dictionary.
It seems, though, that sometimes Ozzie being Ozzie gets tiring for Ozzie, and he’s even contemplated quitting after this season. He’s not going to, as he made clear later, but he does admit he thinks about it from time to time.
”I had to explain to my wife what was going on,” Guillen said. ”She saw me ‘bleeping’ all over the place, and all of a sudden she wanted to know what was going on. When people in my family have to begin asking me what’s going on, that’s what bothered me the most.
”I want to manage until I’m dead, but in the meanwhile, I get worn down when people keep saying stuff they don’t know,” Guillen confessed. ”When people say stuff and put me and my ballclub in a bad spot that we shouldn’t it is a challenge. But you know what? I like a challenge. When I signed the contract to become a manager in Chicago, I knew what I had to face. I know the people of Chicago. But every day is a different day, but some days are tougher than others.
”What I consider is how much I love the game compared to how much I want to leave, and there are times lately where I say, ‘Wow, why do we’ve to go through this situation?’ I can live without these problems, I can live without the smell of the ballpark, do I want to leave right now? Not right now. Maybe when I have my grandchildren I want to spend time with them, but right now my family is happy. As long as they’re happy and support me, and as long as my players go out there and respect me, play the game the right way … If I lose my players then it’s time for me to leave.”
Can you believe it? Ozzie just stated 262 words and didn’t swear a single time. And they state he has no class…
This isn’t the first time that Ozzie has openly talked about leaving the White Sox, and I doubt it will be the last time he does it either. Still, I don’t expect him to leave on his own anytime soon.
Greg Maddux Finally Reaches Win Number 350
May 11, 2008
Greg Maddux Finally Reaches Win Number 350
Filed under: Padres, NL West, San Diego, MLB Milestones
For a guy who doesn’t have a lot of time left playing this game, having four precious opportunities for win number 350 go down the drain creates a little more urgency … not to mention a little more distraction. But fear not: the urgency, the distraction, and the long national nightmare is over for Greg Maddux, who finally grabbed win number 350 in his illustrious career against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night.
“It was kind of cool,” Maddux said. “I don’t want to make it out to be nothing, but it is May and we haven’t been playing that good, and you just really want to win for the right reason and not necessarily for the wrong reason. We need to start winning as a team and hopefully tonight is the start of things to come.”
Yeah, the Pods have been awful this season so this provided a much needed bright spot not only for Maddux, but for catcher Luke Carlin, who got to catch Maddux’s 350th win in his major league debut!
“He did real good - set up right, gave a very good target and it looked like he had fun,” Maddux said. “It’s kind of hard to tell sometimes because his mask is on all the time, but it looked like he actually enjoyed being back there. That was pretty cool.
The odd part about that was that Maddux had a personal catcher in Atlanta (Eddie Perez). So the fact that a kid can come up from the minors and catch Maddux’s milestone victory … well, that’s gotta make Javy Lopez feel good. But in all seriousness, congratulations to Maddux (and to Carlin).
Joba’s Fist Gets Him in Trouble Again
May 10, 2008
Filed under: Cleveland, New York, Yankees, Indians, MLB Gossip
For a pitcher with 37 innings under his belt, Joba Chamberlain’s generated a lot of controversy. There were the “Joba Rules,” the way he dealt with the bugs in Cleveland and the feud between his team’s owner and general manager. Those all seem temporal, though there’s one speaking point that won’t seem to leave him alone.
Chamberlain struck out David Dellucci to end the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium yesterday and then unlelashed his now-familiar fist pump and yell. That Dellucci beat Chamberlain and the Yankees on Tuesday night with a three-run homer in the same spot couldn’t have been far from his mind, not that he needs much goading. Chamberlain caught flak for doing the same thing against Frank Thomas in April though the Large Hurt wasn’t the one giving it to him. This time around Dellucci wasn’t so kind.
“If he wants to yell and scream after a strikeout and dance around the mound, that’s what gets him going. My home run was in a much larger situation, a much more key part of the game, but I didn’t dance around and scream.”
I’m all for emotion in sports. A pump of the fist, a yell, a tiny excitement about what you’ve done is cool by me. It’s nothing that gets noticed in any sport but baseball, hell even golfers get away with it, and that doesn’t make much sense.
Chamberlain is clearly an emotional sort, maybe even a bit of a drama queen. After giving up the Dellucci home run on Tuesday, he looked like his dog had just run away and sat in the dugout with a towel on his head like Stephon Marbury. He’s far from the only pitcher who reacts like that in either direction and it’s never been something that offended me.
If there’s any reason to get upset about the fist pump, it’s that it was a 6-3 game with no one on and two out. Chamberlain’s party, then, was more about getting Dellucci back than the actual moment in the game. If Dellucci or another hitter hits a home run in a 6-3 game, stands and admires it for an extra beat it would seem like excessive party given the weight of the situation. That goes across the board, though, so Dellucci might want to tell C.C. Sabathia to cool it when he pitches his way out of a fourth inning jam.
The Canadian Olympic Baseball Team Will Have to Do Without Stubby Clapp
May 9, 2008
The Canadian Olympic Baseball Team Will Have to Do Without Stubby Clapp
Filed under: Houston, Astros, Olympics, Americas
Whenever someone makes an all-name list of baseball players, there’s always one name that seems to make the cut. He’s not a great player but Stubby Clapp has one of the more memorable names of anyone who’s ever played the game.
In addition to all-name teams, Clapp’s been a mainstay of the Canadian national team since 1999. At 35, that’s the only baseball he’s still playing, though he’s also the hitting coach for Class A Lexington in the Houston Astro system. Still, it’s a shame the team has refused to give Clapp permission to play in Beijing this summer.
“The Houston Astros have turned down our request for Stubby to play for us,” (Coach Greg) Hamilton told CBCSports.ca. “It’s a blow. Stubby Clapp brings leadership to the team and in many ways is the face of the program.”
The Astros position is understandable. They hired Clapp to coach and don’t want to lose a month of his services while prospects could benefit from his tutelage. But, Clapp hurt his knee in Olympic qualifying and might not even be physically able to play. Why not figure out if it’s even possible for him to play before rejecting it out of hand?
The difficulty getting big-name players is a large reason why baseball won’t be at the 2012 Olympics. It would be nice if players who devoted themselves to the international game got a opportunity to go out in style this summer. Plus it would be nice to hear Stubby’s name a few more times before he gets lost in the minors.
(H/T BBTF)
Phil Dumatrait Gets His First Win
May 8, 2008
Phil Dumatrait Gets His First Win
Filed under: Pirates, NL Central, Pittsburgh
I’m gonna let you in on a secret: despite my rough, cynical, blogger exterior, I occasionally feel happy for baseball players. I particularly have a soft spot for guys that spend lots of years toiling in the minors, only to eventually find some modicum of big league success. I’m not talking back from the dead or anything, just things like Phil Dumatrait picking up his first big league win with the Pirates tonight.
Back in 2000, the Red Sox picked Dumatrait in the first round with the 22nd pick. In 2003 he was traded to the Reds and he promptly blew out his arm, missing all of 2004 and delaying his debut until late last season. He didn’t pitch very well with the Reds and on September 9th, he actually gave up three homers in a row to start a game against the Brewers. After the season was over, he was placed on waivers by the Reds and claimed the Pirates. Ouch.
He managed to make the Pittsburgh squad as a reliever, but he’s recently moved into the rotation with the release of Matt Morris. I’d be lying to you if I said expectations were high, but tonight Dumatrait tossed 5 and 2/3 scoreless innings against the Giants and the Pirates held a slim lead to pick up his first career win. And yeah, it was against the Giants, but it doesn’t count any less. If you look hard enough beyond the steroids and alleged statutory rape and blow-up sex toys, every once in a while there’s a guy worth being happy for.
Is Jorge Posada More Important Than Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees?
May 7, 2008
Filed under: New York, Yankees, AL East, MLB Media Watch
The Yankees are riding out a stretch without two key bats in the middle of the order. Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada are linchpins to the team’s plans and without either one of them a return trip to the playoffs seems unlikely. But if you had to choose one or the other to be in the lineup, it would have to be A-Rod. Whatever his problems in the hospital, he’s a more productive hitter than Posada and more able to make a singular impact on a pennant race.
Since they’re still playing baseball with nine a side, though, they’d be much better off with both of them. Phil Pepe, writing for the YES Network’s web site, disagrees. He’s under the impression that the team misses Posada more than Rodriguez.
With Posada, the Yankees have won five pennants and three World Series.
With A-Rod, they have won no pennants and no World Series.
Note to Pepe: Posada was on every one of those teams with A-Rod. By that reasoning, the guy they really miss is Luis Sojo, with whom the Yankees won four World Series and six pennants. Pepe’s transitive reasoning isn’t his only foray into bold, nonsensical statements.
Simply put, neither of those dogs is gonna hunt.
The Yankees have been blessed with some great catchers. As great as Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey were, they wouldn’t have rings on both hands if not for players like Ruth, Mantle, DiMaggio, Gomez and Ford. None of them wore the tools of ignorance and none were less of a reason for a Yankee title than the men who did.
Pepe’s assertion about superior catchers is probably best appreciated by guys like Pat Borders, Tim Laudner, Damian Miller and the Molina Brothers, all of whom were probably unaware of their own dominance until this very moment. All of them brought something to the team, of course, but none of them fits any standard definition of superior.
It’s a team game, Phil, whether you like it or not.
(H/T BBTF)
The Phillies Love Mother Earth
May 6, 2008
The Phillies Love Mother Earth
Filed under: Philadelphia, Phillies, NL East, MLB Biz
The US is going green, buildings are going green, your mom is going green, baseball is going green: we know this. It’s become cool to start loving and caring for our environment, instead of something your third grade teacher tells you about in social studies. And, it is the Philadelphia Phillies who are leading the charge MLB-wise in this whole Al Gore-minded endeavor. Seriously, they’ve made quite the splash.
To offset the carbon footprint created by the team’s utility power usage at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies have purchased 20 million kilowatt-hours of Green-e Energy Certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). According to the EPA, this is the largest single purchase of 100% renewable energy in professional sports and is equivalent to the planting of 100,000 trees.
Whoa, 100,000 trees? Kudos on the major buy, friends. No word on whether the purchase of this renewable energy is going to speed along Jimmy Rollins‘ recovery time, but, you know, he’ll be back soon enough.
