MLB Update - 3/31/2009

• What's up with Tigers SP Dontrelle Willis? Earlier this week he said he was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. However, he said that conclusion was reached via a blood test. Doctors are saying that you can't diagnose an anxiety disorder like that. Anxiety could be a symptom, not a diagnosis, if the conclusion was reached via a blood test.
• The Brewers placed closer Trevor Hoffman on the 15-day DL. The move is retroactive to March 27th so he could be available as early as the 11th of April.
• The Rays released 3B Morgan Ensberg.
• There has been a lot of action from Philadelphia management in the last 48 hours. First, the team released utility infielder Marcus Giles. Today, the team released veteran OF Geoff Jenkins, named Chan Ho Park the 5th starter, and are rumored to be interested in Gary Sheffield, who was released by the Tigers today. Sheffield would provide a powerful RH bat off the bench. Cole Hamels was also recently declared out for the opener. He will most likely pitch the Phillies first road game of the season in Colorado.
  
• The Dodgers signed veteran lefty RP Will Ohman to a 1-year deal. Joe Blanton or Brett Myers will get the opening day nod.
  
• The Atlanta Braves have extended the contract of 3B Chipper Jones through the 2012 season.

MLB Update - 3/24/2009

• The Brewers will be without their new closer to start the season. Former Padre Trevor Hoffman will miss the first few days of the season due to a strained right oblique muscle. It is believed that Milwaukee will use a closer-by-committee approach, utilizing Carlos Villanueva and Seth McClung until Hoffman is ready.
• As I just posted, the Marlins have gotten approval - finally - for their own stadium. Marlins Ballpark will sit at the site of the old Orange Bowl and is expected to open in time for the 2012 season. Groundbreaking is expected this July.
• Japan has won their second consecutive World Baseball Classic title, edging Korea 5-3 in 10 innings. I wish Team USA cared about winning this title. I really do.
• Yankees manager Joe Girardi says that 3B Alex Rodriguez is recovering well from March 9th hip surgery. Rodriguez is not expected to appear in a game before May.
• Livan Hernandez is expected to be the Mets 5th starter, at least to start the season. Hernandez was in a competition with a slew of young guns and veterans for the final rotation spot.
• Former pitcher Curt Schilling has officially retired after 23 seasons in the majors. He spent 8.5 years with the Phillies, where he started to gain notoriety. Schilling won a World Series with the Diamondbacks in 2001 and a pair with the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007. Is he Hall of Fame worthy? [Macho Row]
• The Phillies optioned a bunch of players to minor league camps and none were that surprising. Kyle Kendrick - in contention for the 5th starter spot on the Phillies MLB roster - was sent to AAA Lehigh Valley. He has had a disastrous spring. Free agent addition Chan Ho Park and 2008 rookie surprise J.A. Happ are dueling for the final rotation spot.

MLB Update - 3/17/2009

• It was too good to last. The string of good health for Cole Hamels may be coming to an end. The Phillies ace headed back to Philadelphia yesterday and will be examined by the team doctor today. Hamels has been complaining of soreness in his pitching elbow in between innings and during his time off. The elbow is not giving him problems during his pitching routine, possibly a good sign. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro says Hamels could miss his scheduled opening day start but that nothing is certain until after the examination. UPDATE: Todd Zolecki has passed on some news on Hamels' elbow... there is no structural damage and everything looks fine. The team may decide to shut him down for a week or two as a precautionary measure but he does not need any form of surgery at this time. We can all exhale now. The 700 Level & Nittanydelphia]
  
• C Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez is close to a deal with the Houston Astros. Rodriguez has been a strong performer for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and Astros scouts now think he can play at a high level for at least one more year in the majors. He would immediately upgrade the Houston catching contingent which is composed of primarily young and untested players - J.R. Towles, Humberto Quintero - not truly ready for MLB action.
• Braves third baseman Chipper Jones has aggravated his oblique injury and has left the Team USA squad. Not that it matters much for the U.S. Jones was an abysmal 0-10 with 6 Ks. Good riddance; keep that up this season!
• The Yankees received some good injury news when second baseman Robinson Cano and pitcher Damaso Marte were told their shoulder injuries were nothing serious. They'll miss limited time.
• Two former Mets players have been signed to manage minor league clubs for the organization. The ageless Julio Franco (now 50) will manage the Gulf Coast League Mets. Franco played 23 seasons in the majors. Former major league catcher and Philadelphia native Mike DiFelice will manage the Kingsport Mets.
• LF Manny Ramirez will miss a week of spring training with a sore hamstring. Ramirez aggravated the muscle Sunday during his first fielding appearance in a spring game. The Dodgers expect the slugger to be ready opening day.
• The World Baseball Classic concludes on Monday. Tonight there are two elimination games on the schedule. The U.S. "hosts" Puerto Rico at 7 PM, with the loser eliminated and the winner advancing to the Pool 2 Championship Game versus Venezuela. At 11 PM Korea "hosts" Japan, the defending World Baseball Classic champions. The winner automatically qualifies for the semifinals, no matter the outcome of the Pool 1 Championship Game on Thursday night. The loser will play Cuba tomorrow at 11 PM in an elimination game.
  

And I'll leave you with this, from We Should Be GM's...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Brilliant!

MLB Update - 3/10/2009

• Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez had arthroscopic surgery to repair his torn labrum and will be out of action for six to nine weeks. He will require more extensive surgery during the offseason.
• Angels pitcher Ervin Santana felt some pain in his elbow last week and, as a precaution, has been shut down. The pain came from a sprained ligament in his right elbow. He'll miss at least a week and then will go through a regimen in which he may not be ready to pitch the first week of the season. Santana won 16 games last season.
• Atlanta 3B Chipper Jones is already having injury issues. The much maligned lifelong Brave has a mild strain on his right side an will miss the next few days of spring training. It is not believed to be serious and Chipper should be back in action sometime next week.
• Mets pitcher Johan Santana has been feeling much better after a scare with some soreness and pain in his pitching elbow. After tests came back negative, Santana began throwing and has reported no problems. He may pitch in the teams grapefruit league game on Thursday or Saturday. He is expected to make the opening day start too, which had been in question. In other Mets news, RP Duaner Sanchez has been released by the team.
  
• According to a report in the New York Times, former pitcher Roger Clemens has been irrefutably linked to Brian McNamee and steroids. Syringes and gauze pads used to inject Clemens contained performance-enhancing residue.
• The Red Sox and SP Jon Lester have agreed on a 1-year deal while Lester's agent and the club work on a long term agreement.
• In the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Team USA beat Canada on March 7th, 6-5, and destroyed Venezuela, 15-6, the following day. The squad has a rematch versus Venezuela tomorrow to decide the winner of Pool C.
• Kevin McGuire has an update on who will be the Phillies 5th starter, if the spot in the rotation was decided today. It is not who the Phillies coaches all thought it would be. [Nittanydelphia]

Slow times in MLB action for the most part. Things will start to pick up in the next 10 days though.

MLB Update - 3/3/2009

• Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was disappointed that the Phillies did not have a .300 hitter during their World Series season. Manuel is a former hitting coach and seems to take it personally that the team underperformed a bit at the plate in 2008.
• Freddy Garcia has not thrown well in spring training for the Mets and was rocked in his first start. He is competing with Livan Hernandez, Tim Redding and Jonathon Niese for New York's 5th starter spot. Hernandez seems to have the inside track to the job.
  
• The Mets are being cautious with SP Johan Santana. He has felt soreness in his arm and elbow while throwing. He has been scratched from his Grapefruit league start and was to head back to New York for precautionary tests.
  
• Longtime White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko said he'd be open to a trade if Chicago is not in contention come August.
• The Cardinals are a bit beat up. Troy Glaus had shoulder surgery and is expected to miss all of March and April. Utilityman Brendan Ryan, who is battling for the 2B or 3B job, has a sore wrist. Former OFs Joe Mather and Skip Schumaker are getting time at third and second, respectively.
• Fomer closer Joe Borowski has decided to retire.
• Oakland first baseman Daric Barton has missed the first few spring training games as he recovers from offseason hip surgery.
• Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers, his only suitor, are yet to agree on a contract despite Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras, claiming that he'd be in camp before the spring training games began. Ramirez recently declined the Dodgers 2-year, $45 million offer.
• In other Dodgers news, they did sign utilityman Doug Mientkiewicz to a minor league deal.
  
• Cubs OF Alfonso Soriano claims he his healthier than he has been in recent years and plans to run much more this season, hoping for 30 or more steals.
• The Royals opening day starter will come down to Zack Greinke and Gil Meche, who has made the opening day start the past two seasons.
• The Diamondbacks - specifically OF Chris Young and newly signed 2B Felipe Lopez - are expected to run more this season than they did in 2008. Diamondback steals dropped off last year and the team missed the playoffs.
• Twins SP Boof Bonser had exploratory surgery the other day but the results came back worse than expected. Bonser has a torn labrun amd rotator cuff and will miss at least six months and more likely all of the 2009 campaign.
• Veteran SPs Bartolo Colon and Jose Contrearas are expected to round out the White Sox rotation. They have been battling young guns Clayton Richard and Jeff Marquez for the 4th and 5th starter spots.
• Phillies CF Shane Victorino is taking Grady Sizemore's spot on the United States roster for the World Baseball Classic, which kicks off tomorrow morning at 4:30 AM.
• Our friends at Nittanydelphia report that the Phillies will wear gold-trimmed opening day jerseys to commemorate their 2008 World Series Championship.
  

• SS Miguel tejada has been back and forth on his commitment to the Dominican Republic for the WBC, but has now decided he will play for th team.
• The Yankees rotation is coming into focus. Joba Chamberlain will be the 5th but his innings pitched will be monitored. It is believed he will be limited to 130-150 innings this season and could be skipped over during the first week of games.
• Veteran infielder Nomar Garciaparra has decided he will play for the Athletics or retire.
• SP Curt Schilling will decide soon if he will pitch in 2009. He has decided he'd like to pitch for the Rays or Cubs, if he returns.
• Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden has resigned after a scandal involving skimming bonuses given to Latin American prospects.
• SS Orlando Cabrera has signed with the Oakland Athletics.
• And finally, the Phillies have released SP Adam Eaton. Eaton has sinced signed a minor league contract with the Orioles, with a chance to make the rotation (not likely).
  

MLB Update - 2/24/2009

Spring Training is now well underway in Florida and Arizona and another baseball season is just a little over a month away. Today I'll highlight a few baseball tidbits in my weekly MLB Update.

• First of all, the Phillies are the defending World Series Champions. Just wanted to remind everyone.
• 3B Joe Crede has signed with the Minnesota Twins. The former Chicago White Sock(?) has played only 144 games over the last two seasons thanks to back problems.
• Brian Schneider is expected to be the Mets main catcher this season and Daniel Murphy will start in left field, according to Manager Jerry Manuel. Fernando Tatis, the 2008 reclamation project, may platoon with Ryan Church in right field.
  
• The Mariners and Rangers have questions at closer.
• Cardinals SP Chris Carpenter is showing some promise thus far in camp. The 2004 NL Comeback Player of the Year and 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner has pitched in only five games over the last two seasons due to elbow problems.
• The return of former closer Chris Ray to the Orioles bullpen has not cause the demotion of last year's surprise performer George Sherrill. Sherrill will be the teams main closer though Ray, who missed all of 2008 due to elbow surgery, will see a few save chances.
• The Dodgers do not have an agreement with Manny Ramirez. Negotiations continue but nothing is imminent, as had been widely reported by L.A. radio shows.
• Blue Jays SP Roy Halladay may be traded this summer but won't be dealt prior to the All Star break.
• Alex Rodriguez will meet with MLB officials this week about the steroids issue.
  
• The 2nd World Baseball Classic kicks off next week and rosters will be finalized today. The first WBC will be March 5th at 4:30 am EST between China and defending champion Japan. [Nittanydelphia]
• A few players have recently spoke out saying they won't be pitching in the Classic, including Cubs RP Carlos Marmol.

That's all for now.