THT Daily: Boras Strikes Again
by Matthew CarruthAugust 29, 2008
Major League News for August 29
Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Top Minor League Performances
You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldFOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reports that the Phillies have acquired Matt Stairs from the Jays for a prospect.
The Phillies wanted Mark Kotsay, but came up short. They're settling for a more limited player here, but one who could be a nice fit in their ballpark. Stairs will get the occasional start in right field against righties. He'll be used as a pinch-hitter the rest of the time. The Blue Jays will call up Travis Snider to fill the open spot.
Angels placed second baseman Howie Kendrick on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring.
So much for this one not being very serious. Of course, even if it wasn't a two-week injury, the Angels may have had to go this route anyway with Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins also hurting (though Figgins is back tonight). Sean Rodriguez will play second base until Maicer Izturis returns, giving him a little value in AL-only leagues.
The Red Sox are calling the decision to scratch Josh Beckett from his scheduled start Friday a precautionary measure.
"I think the best word I can use is we're just trying to get some closure," manager Terry Francona said. "We never want to send anyone out there that's not 100 percent. We're no more pessimistic about him today than we were, but when he goes out there [again] we want him to be able to pitch with peace of mind." GM Theo Epstein added that it was his understanding that the tingling was not still present in Beckett's pitching hand, but that "the elbow itself doesn't feel 100 percent." The Red Sox plan to move Daisuke Matsuzaka up to Friday and call up David Pauley to start Saturday.
Joba Chamberlain (shoulder) threw a 45-pitch bullpen session Thursday and said afterward that he expects to return as a reliever.
Chamberlain is aiming to come off the disabled list next week, but before that can happen he'll throw a simulated game Saturday. Asked if he expects to resume starting, Chamberlain said: "I wouldn't think so, just the way it has been. But who knows?" General manager Brian Cashman declined to address Chamberlain's role, saying only that he's "getting very close" to returning.
Josh Johnson pitched a four-hitter to win his first major league complete game on Wednesday night.
He allowed just one run, striking out eight and allowing just three walks on the evening. He's 4-0 with a 3.12 ERA in nine starts since returning from Tommy John surgery. He's still available in over half of all fantasy leagues, and he shouldn't be. His next start is also against the Braves.
Josh Hamilton was scratched from Wednesday's game with an abcessed tooth and will likely have a root canal next week.
It's unclear whether he'll play again before the root canal, though we imagine that he will. Brandon Boggs started in his place tonight versus the Royals.
Josh Hamilton was a late scratch on Wednesday for an undisclosed reason.
Hamilton apparently had some dental work done earlier in the day, which might be behind his absence. Brandon Boggs was inserted into his place.
Red Sox acquired outfielder Mark Kotsay from the Braves for outfielder Luis Sumoza.
Kotsay will join Boston on Wednesday, and will provide left-handed outfield depth down the stretch, especially with J.D. Drew dealing with a balky back. He agreed to waive his no-trade clause in exchange for a $325,000 bonus. The Red Sox figure to give him some starts in center field over Coco Crisp against right-handers for now.
Pirates placed first-round selection Pedro Alvarez on the restricted list.
Alvarez refuses to sign his contract at the behest of his agent, the always lovable Scott Boras. Boras is demanding that the Pirates increase Alvarez's $6 million bonus, and says the contract was submitted after the deadline on August 15. MLB has confirmed that the contract was submitted in time, though. "We are not surprised that Mr. Boras would attempt to raise a meritless legal claim in an effort to compel us to renegotiate Pedro's contract to one more to his liking," Pirates president Frank Coonelly said.
Yesterday’s Results
American League NYA 3 BOS 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 3 TOR 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 7 TEX 5 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 3 MIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 4 FLA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 11 LAN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 6 PHI 4 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 3 CIN 2 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Philadelphia Phillies at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (R) Joe Blanton (1-0) vs. (R) Rich Harden (4-1) Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Dave Bush (8-9) vs. (L) Tom Gorzelanny (6-8) San Francisco Giants at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (L) Barry Zito (8-15) vs. (R) Edinson Volquez (15-5) New York Mets at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (L) Oliver Perez (9-7) vs. (R) Chris Volstad (4-3) Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals, 7:35 PM (R) Jorge Campillo (7-6) vs. (L) Odalis Perez (5-10) St. Louis Cardinals at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Kyle Lohse (13-6) vs. (L) Randy Wolf (8-11) Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Hiroki Kuroda (7-9) vs. (L) Doug Davis (5-8) Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Aaron Cook (15-8) vs. (R) Dirk Hayhurst (0-0) American League --------------- Chicago White Sox at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Javier Vazquez (10-11) vs. (R) Daisuke Matsuzaka (15-2) Seattle Mariners at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Felix Hernandez (8-8) vs. (L) Jeremy Sowers (2-6) Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (R) A.J. Burnett (16-9) vs. (R) Carl Pavano (1-0) Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Kyle Davies (5-5) vs. (R) Zach Miner (7-4) Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 PM (R) Jeremy Guthrie (10-10) vs. (L) Scott Kazmir (9-6) Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (R) Kevin Slowey (10-8) vs. (L) Dan Meyer (0-2) Texas Rangers at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Dustin Nippert (1-3) vs. (R) Ervin Santana (13-5)
Standings
The graphics next to each team are called "sparklines.” They depict each team’s performance over the last month. Each "up" bar is a victory and a "down" bar is a loss. There are horizontal lines for home games and red bars represent games decided by two runs or less. "PWins" is short for Projected Wins, based on each team’s Run Differential, and is often a better measure of a team’s true strength. Other team graphs and stats can be found on our Team Page.American League East Pwins Diff TB 81 51 .614 0.0 75 6BOS 77 56 .579 4.5 79 -2
NYA 71 62 .534 10.5 70 1
TOR 68 65 .511 13.5 74 -6
BAL 63 70 .474 18.5 66 -3
American League Central CHA 76 57 .571 0.0 77 -1
MIN 75 59 .560 1.5 73 2
CLE 65 67 .492 10.5 69 -4
DET 64 69 .481 12.0 67 -3
KC 56 77 .421 20.0 53 3
American League West LAA 81 52 .609 0.0 72 9
TEX 66 69 .489 16.0 62 4
OAK 62 72 .463 19.5 65 -3
SEA 50 83 .376 31.0 55 -5
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 74 60 .552 0.0 74 0
PHI 73 61 .545 1.0 76 -3
FLA 68 66 .507 6.0 64 4
ATL 59 75 .440 15.0 65 -6
WAS 49 85 .366 25.0 50 -1
National League Central CHN 84 50 .627 0.0 86 -2
MIL 77 56 .579 6.5 74 3
STL 74 60 .552 10.0 73 1
HOU 68 66 .507 16.0 63 5
CIN 58 76 .433 26.0 56 2
PIT 57 76 .429 26.5 55 2
National League West ARI 68 65 .511 0.0 70 -2
LAN 65 69 .485 3.5 67 -2
COL 63 72 .467 6.0 62 1
SF 59 74 .444 9.0 55 4
SD 51 82 .383 17.0 55 -4
Top Minor League Games
The following list, provided by First Inning, includes the top minor league batting (based on Runs Created) and pitching (based on Game Score) performances from yesterday.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes SF AAA Nate Schierholtz.. 5 4 1 0 2 0 0 PHI A+ Michael Taylor.... 4 3 3 0 0 0 1 LA A Alfredo Silverio.. 5 3 2 0 1 0 0 4 RBI FLA A Matt Dominguez.... 5 3 0 0 2 0 1 4 RBI STL AA Allen Craig....... 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 LAA A+ Peter Bourjos..... 5 3 1 0 1 0 1 3 R COL A Darin Holcomb..... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 6 RBI ! NYY A Bradley Suttle.... 4 2 2 0 0 2 0 CHC A- Ryan Flaherty..... 4 3 1 0 1 0 1 SEA AAA Matt Tuiasosopo... 5 2 1 0 1 0 0 ARI AAA James D'Antona.... 4 3 0 0 1 1 0 PIT AAA Neil Walker....... 5 3 1 1 0 0 2 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes ARI A Jarrod Parker..... 5 1 0 0 7 0 0 CLE A+ Hector Rondon..... 6 3 1 1 8 1 0 PHI A Michael Stutes.... 6 3 0 0 9 2 0 SD AAA Wade Leblanc...... 7 4 1 1 8 0 1 TB A- Nick Barnese...... 6 4 2 2 7 0 0 PHI A+ Drew Naylor....... 7 5 1 1 6 0 0 SD A- Matthew Latos..... 6 6 2 1 8 1 0 MIN AA Jeffrey Manship... 6 3 0 0 7 2 0 OAK AA Brett Anderson.... 6 9 4 4 9 1 0 TEX AA Derek Holland..... 6 4 1 0 7 2 0 OAK AAA Joshua Outman..... 5 4 0 0 7 2 0 WAN AAA Shairon Martis.... 6 4 1 1 6 2 0
Access all of THT’s stats here…
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Matthew Carruth is an editor for The Hardball Times. He welcomes any and all sorts of communication at his email.