Around The Majors- Wednesday 3/31
News & Notes
-Boston is closing in on a four year, $70 million extension with Josh Beckett, according to SI.com’s Jon Heyman. Boston is refusing to offer Beckett a 5th year like they offered John Lackey, but will have both under contract at about the same pay through the 2014 season. Will their values last the duration of their deals? I’m going to go with no based on their injury histories, but I’d like to hear what you have to say.
-In an expected move, Mets SS Jose Reyes will start the season on the DL but will likely only miss the first week of the season. The greatest risk Reyes has of missing time is with his hamstring, which he says feels great. It will be interesting how Reyes is used when he returns, since Manager Jerry Manuel wanted to bat him third in the order before Reyes’ thyroid scare. Jon Niese is third in the Mets rotation; Oliver Perez is 5th. Good to see New York finally viewing Perez for what he really is.
-Huston Street experienced a setback with his injured shoulder and has been shut down indefinitely, according to Troy Renck. Franklin Morales is expected to close in his stead with Rafael Betancourt likely the next option. Manny Corpas is on thin ice with the Rockies after an abysmal Spring and barely made the team. In retrospect, Colorado’s November 2008 trade of Matt Holliday to Oakland for Street, starting OF Carlos Gonzalez and back end starter Greg Smith turned out fairly well.
-Seattle was unable to bring Jarrod Washburn aboard as a stopgap starting pitcher as Cliff Lee begins the 2010 campaign on the DL. The Mariners will settle for a combination of Ryan Rowland-Smith, Ian Snell, Doug Fister and Jason Vargas. The money that Washburn wanted during the offseason ultimately went to Erik Bedard, which is one of Jack Zduriencik’s only mistakes of the winter.
-Phil Hughes will make his first start on April 15, and the media will be speculating every day until his first pitch. We’ll see if the Yankees pushed the right buttons when it comes to their young starters.
-1B prospect Kila Ka’aihue is among the final Royals cuts, but I expect him to be up this year mashing in the middle of the Kansas City order.
-Steve Phillips is joining AOL FanHouse as an analyst.
Around The Majors- 3/29
2:45 p.m. Eastern
-After a successful rehab start Monday, Daisuke Matsuzaka is scheduled to return to the Boston rotation on April 23. Boston starter Boff Bonser will likely start the season on the DL with a groin injury.
2:30 p.m. Eastern
-Great news for Astros fans and Roy Oswalt owners. The Houston ace received an injection in his sore back and maintains that he will start Opening Day.
2:15 p.m. Eastern
-Washington claimed C Chris Coste off waivers from the Mets.
1:50 p.m. Eastern
-The official Cubs rotation, according to MLB.com, is Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells, Carlos Silva and Ton Gorzelanny. That’s not really great but remember that Ted Lilly will be back in late April-early May.
1:25 p.m. Eastern
-MLB.com reports that recently acquired IF Andres Blanco will make the Rangers’ Opening Day roster and could open the season starting at 2B if Ian Kinsler isn’t ready.
11:40 a.m. Eastern
-President Obama will throw out the first pitch in Washington for the season opener between the Nationals and Phillies.
11:25 a.m. Eastern
-The New York Daily News reports that the Mets haven’t ruled out SS Jose Reyes for Opening Day but Jon Heyman reported on Sunday that the team realistically expects Reyes to return for the second week of the season.
11:05 a.m. Eastern
-Chris Carpenter will start for the Cardinals on Opening Day and Adam Wainwright will start the team’s home opener. Brad Penny, Kyle Lohse and Jaime Garcia round out the five.
-Among the items from Ken Rosenthal‘s notes page, David Ortiz looks super slim, Mike Lowell still being on the block and Boston having less to offer than other teams now for Adrian Gonzalez. Minnesota will use Matt Guerrier, Jose Mijares, Jesse Crain and Jon Rauch to close out games but not Francisco Liriano, who wanted to remain a starter. People around the league think Jered Weaver is ready to become an ace. Washington is shopping Christian Guzman, and the Rangers tried dealing for him yesterday.
-Great job by the Giants to sign Matt Cain to a three year extension worth just over $27 million. Cain is the most underrated pitcher in baseball in my opinion. He’s fantastic.
-Some interesting information about the Pirates includes the pitcher batting eighth in the order ahead of Ronnie Cedeno, Akinori Iwamura leading off and Andrew McCutchen batting 2nd.
-Florida assigned Logan Morrison and Scott Strickland to minor league camp, which means that Gaby Sanchez will see a lot of 1B time for the Marlins.
-Mike Lowell, Kevin Millar, Wes Helms, Fernando Tatis, Geoff Blum and Willie Bloomquist are among the players on Texas’ wish list for a utility IF.
-The Mets will likely send Bobby Parnell and Sean Green to AAA and will release Chris Coste. It looks like Hisanori Takahashi will make the Opening Day roster and Jennry Mejia or Kiko Calero will claim the 8th inning role.
-Brad Wilkerson was among the 12 Phillies minor leaguers released on Monday morning.
Inside The NBA- Monday 3/29/10
Western Conference Race Gets Even Tighter
-The second through eighth spots in the Western conference are separated by a mere 3.5 games thanks to Sunday’s results, let by San Antonio’s 94-73 bashing of Boston at the TD Garden. The Celtics shot 37 percent for the game and managed just 30 points in the second half. Manu Ginobili led all scorers with 28 points, and the Spurs are now tied for sixth in the conference.
-Portland is tied with San Antonio and Oklahoma City for sixth after the Blazers won their third straight and 8th in 10 games with a 92-87 win against the Thunder. Kevin Durant had 29 and 13 in the losing effort as Andre Miller came through with 26 points for the Blazers.
-Denver fell into third after falling at Orlando 103-97 after JJ Redick had 23 points, seven rebounds and eight assists obviously inspired by his Blue Devils’ Final Four run. They’re now just a half game clear of Phoenix for fifth in the west after the Suns got 30 and 17 from Amar’e Stoudamire in a 111-105 win in Minnesota.
Who Will Be Left Out In East?
-Miami and Chicago were losing like crazy, and now it’s Toronto’s turn to take a nosedive and come close to heading to the lottery. Star free agent signing Hedo Turkoglu was benched by Raptors head coach Jay Triano in a critical 97-94 loss in Miami where Dwayne Wade had 32 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. It was the third straight loss and 7th in 10 games for Toronto, who lead the Bulls by just a half game for the eighth spot in the east. Chicago handed Detroit their eighth straight loss 110-103 in Auburn Hills behind 21 and 9 from Derrick Rose and 23 from Flip Murray. Charlotte is currently in the 7th spot despite a three game winning streak, just 3.5 games clear of Chicago.
Cavaliers To Get Uniform Change For 2010/11
-Everyone knows the Cavs wear more uniforms than anyone else, but now there’s going to be a bigger and more permanent change. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that a brighter yellow and a slightly modified logo will be used in next season’s primary jerseys similar to their old school red alternate uniforms. Now that the fashion situation has been cleared up, all that’s left to decide is that 23/6 guy.
Robert Frost Report
Fire- Phoenix, Miami, Portland, Charlotte, The Final 4, Tea Party Republicans, Southern Tornadoes, Israel, Passover.
Ice- Minnesota, Washington, Detroit, Houston, Sacramento, Toronto, China’s coal mines, Jesse James, drunk possum CPR guy.
NCAA Tournament Elite Eight Analysis
-This just in, teams with one star don’t win in the new age of this great sport. Butler and Duke won with three really good players leading their teams but with no surefire stars while teams featuring John Wall and Evan Turner failed to make it to Indianapolis.
-Another important lesson is that you need more than one primary ballhandler to go deep into the NCAA Tournament. West Virginia proved that with Joe Mazzulla playing the game of his life in Truck Bryant’s stead, and the Mountaineers got into some trouble when Mazzulla fouled out. Michigan State lost Kalin Lucas but had guys like Lucuious and Green there to pick up the slack. Tennessee had such a tremendous season, but their patented press failed them as the game went by and the many ballhandlers the Spartans had knifed through the Vols’ defense.
-Tom Izzo is the greatest coach in college hoops by a fairly wide margin. To take the team he has right now with the Spartans and take them to the Final Four is nothing short of amazing. Bruce Pearl also did a phenomenal job coaching this Tennessee team with all the turmoil they went through this year and lead them to the Elite Eight, just as far as Kentucky, who was viewed as the SEC’s best all season.
-Teams coached as well as Duke is should not be given second opportunities, and it ended up killing a Baylor team that was up to the Blue Devils’ challenge at home in Houston. But the Blue Devils are in the Final Four because of made threes and second chance opportunities off offensive rebounds. Baylor dominated in the blocks department, but Duke worked for their first Final Four since 2004.
-Where have I heard this before? Teams that shoot a great percentage from the free throw line wins in the NCAA Tournament. Michigan State shot 16-21 from the line and Tennessee shot 14-21. The Spartans won by a single point. Duke was 23-29 and Baylor went 12-19, and all those second chances led to the free throw discrepancy. Butler shot 14-20 (70%) while Kansas State shot 7-14 (50%). Kentucky not only shot 4-32 from three point range but also shot an abysmal 16-29 from the line while West Virginia shot 23-34. This is not a coincidence, people.
-As Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente went, so did Kansas State. The backcourt duo shot 11-30 against a stifling Butler defense and the Bulldogs are on their way to the Final Four for the first time in school history.
-West Virginia is in the Final Four for the first time since 1959 when Jerry West ruled the Morgantown campus. Jonnie West, Jerry’s son, played a minute late in the game and WVU made the Final Four. The Wests seem to be the team’s key to success, but also playing a John Calipari team helped. Coach Cal’s teams are always supremely talented but always seem to find a way to choke away an important game. John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins played very good games, but as we saw with Duke and Michigan State, you need more than two people to step up in a big game. The other three starters, Patrick Patterson, Darius Miller and Eric Bledsoe, played a combined 89 minutes but scored just 17 combined points on 6-22 shooting. Another thing that always kills Calipari teams is an inability to shoot free throws, which is a major problem with compiling super teams of talented players. Most of them don’t practice free throw shooting and only pay attention to what’s going to get them to the NBA. Calipari is definitely successful in developing professional players, but is lacking in getting his teams to advance as far as they should go.
Around The Majors- Sunday 3/28
6:30 p.m. Eastern
-Russell Branyan‘s balky back will force him to start the season on the DL.
-Chad Gaudin, released by the Yankees, will head back to where he started, inking a contract with Oakland.
-Baseball America breaks down the Andres Blanco trade to the Rangers.
-Conor Jackson will be back tomorrow after missing a couple of days due to injury.
12:35 p.m. Eastern
-Ken Rosenthal reports that the Twins will use a closer by committee approach to start the season.
11:50 a.m. Eastern
-Aroldis Chapman will pitch in a minor league game today as he recovers from muscle spasms in his back.
-Austin Jackson has won Detroit’s starting CF and leadoff jobs.
-Ian Kennedy has reportedly made the Diamondbacks rotation.
-Padres RP Joe Thatcher could miss Opening Day with a sore shoulder.
-Atlanta sent down Gregor Blanco and Toronto released Joe Gathwright. Justin Maxwell was sent to AAA.
10:20 a.m. Eastern
-Joel Sherman put out his “best of” list and came up with these awards as the season approaches: His top five starters in order are Roy Halladay, Felix Hernandez, Zach Greinke, CC Sabathia and Tim Lincecum. His top overall players are Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer, Alex Rodriguez, Chase Utley and Hanley Ramirez. Best closers have Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Papelbon, Joakim Soria, Jonathan Broxton, and Francisco Rodriguez. His top five breakout players are Rickie Weeks of Milwaukee, Adam Jones of Baltimore, Brett Anderson of Oakland, Andrew McCutcheon of Pittsburgh and Julio Borbon of Texas. Mike Scioscia of the Angels is his top manager followed by Charlie Manuel of the Phillies, Ron Gardenhire of the Twins, Tony La Russa of the Cardinals and Terry Francona of the Red Sox. His five best GM’s are Andrew Friedman of the Rays, Larry Beinfest of the Marlins, Theo Epstein of the Red Sox, Kenny Williams of the White Sox and Dan O’Dowd of the Rockies. His five most underrated players are Wandy Rodriguez, Ubaldo Jimenez, Joey Votto, Miguel Montero and Ryan Zimmerman.
-Baseball Prospectus has its current list of AL starting rosters, lineups and rotations. Here’s the NL list.
-Just mere months after signing John Lackey to a five year contract, ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes reports that the Red Sox would not be willing to sign upcoming free agent starter Josh Beckett for more than four years. Both Lackey and Beckett are elite level pitchers with injury histories, so it will be interesting to see how negotiations between Boston and the player that has been their ace for so many successful seasons.
-Mets notes include Jose Reyes swinging a bat, David Wright using his legs to power the ball and an interview with Jason Bay.
-A highlight from Jeff Fletcher’s article on Matt Wieters: “Our expectations are hopefully he’ll be able to do the lion’s share of the catching and continue to progress as it relates to handling the game behind the plate, and be a contributing offensive player,” general manager Andy MacPhail said. “I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect him to be a middle-of-the-order impact hitter his first full season in the big leagues.”
-Great news for the Dodgers as setup man Ronald Belisario will finally come to the team’s camp after being held up in his native Venezuela on visa issues. Belisario had a 2.04 ERA but will not be on the team’s Opening Day roster as he tries to quickly prepare to join his mates in Chavez Ravine ASAP.
-Check out David Laurilia’s awesome interview with Pirates budding star Garrett Jones.
-There is a market for recently released starter Chad Gaudin including Seattle and Philadelphia, who Ken Rosenthal said did not consider Gaudin enough of an upgrade to bring him aboard.
-Did you know that the highest ERA in a season for a pitcher with at least 50 innings pitched is held by Roy Halladay, who had a 10.64 ERA in 2000?
-John Mayberry Jr. was among the Phillies sent to minor league camp today.
-A profile of Yankees prospect Slade Heathcott.
