THT Daily: Post Signing Day
by Matthew CarruthAugust 16, 2008
Major League News for August 16
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 RotoworldAccording to the Houston Chronicle, Minute Maid Park will be wired for instant replay within the next week.
Astros' owner Drayton McLane expects all of Major League Baseball to begin using replay within the next two weeks. "The commissioner makes the decision," he said. "(The teams) get back to him and tell him when they're ready, and he'll get with the umpire and give them their instructions. It's not far away." Baseball GMs voted in favor of the change last November and it appears to be in full motion at this point. "It won't slow the game down," McLane said. "The umpire will look and make an immediate call. The important part is it's nothing either manager can request."
Matt Garza allowed just two hits in a complete game shutout of the Rangers on Friday night.
Garza had a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings, but Joe Maddon benched B.J. Upton (dramatically) for not hustling, and Justin Ruggiano had a line drive bounce off his glove. It was ruled a hit, and Garza was visibly mad. Josh Hamilton had the other hit in the seventh inning. Still, Garza struck out nine and walked just two in the dominant performance, lowering his ERA to 3.63 on the season.
Barry Bonds' agent Jeff Borris said that "Major League Baseball has been successful in their pursuit in blackballing Barry [Bonds] out of the game."
Borris apparently reached out to the Rays this week, but they didn't respond to his text message. Bonds hasn't found a taker despite an apparent willingness to play for the league minimum, and the players' union is investigating possible collusion. Bonds' criminal attorneys have asked that the investigation be put on hold, though, because they don't want to draw more attention to their client, who is facing 15 felony counts for perjury and obstruction of justice.
Maicer Izturis will miss the rest of the season with a torn ligament in his left thumb.
The thumb has been bothering him all month, most recently aggravated on Wednesday night. Izturis finishes the season with a .269 average, three homers, 27 RBI and 11 stolen bases in 79 games. He'll undergo surgery on his hand next week, but the team expects him to be ready for spring training. Erick Aybar will be the team's primary shortstop for the rest of the year.
Yankees optioned outfielder Melky Cabrera to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The team also released Richie Sexson. Cabrera was hitting just .242/.296/.337 in 117 games for the Yankees, and fans had been calling for the team to ditch him for some time. He's still only 23, but his upside looks like an average major league regular at best.
Josh Hamilton is back the Rangers' lineup after missing Thursday's game for the birth of his child.
Manager Ron Washington didn't expect him back until Saturday, but his wife and child are healthy so Hamilton will play.
The Braves will place Tom Glavine back on the disabled list with a strained left elbow.
That was quick. Glavine allowed seven runs and seven hits in a four-inning outing on Thursday in his first start back from a two-month stint on the DL. He had never been on the disabled list before his three trips this year, and there's a chance this could be the end of both his season and his career.
Cardinals placed RHP Chris Carpenter on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Aug. 11, with a right posterior shoulder strain.
Carpenter returned late last month from Tommy John surgery, but made it just three starts before more arm problems sidelined him. Brad Thompson will take his place in the rotation Friday night against the Reds, but so far at least the Cardinals have indicated that Carpenter's injury may not be major.
Orioles agreed to terms with first-round pick LHP Brian Matusz on a major league contract.
Matusz will reportedly receive $3.2 million and the MLB deal means that he'll immediately be added to the 40-man roster. His minor league options will expire after 2012, but the fourth overall pick figures to be in the majors to stay well before then. He projects as a potential No. 2 starter long term and after starring at the University of San Diego should move quickly.
Yesterday’s Results
American League KC 4 NYA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 3 LAA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) BAL 11 DET 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 9 SEA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 6 CHA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 7 TEX 0 (Recap and Boxscore) National League SF 5 ATL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 6 FLA 5 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 4 WAS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) STL 5 CIN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 12 HOU 2 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 2 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 5 MIL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 1 SD 0 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- New York Mets at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (R) Pedro Martinez (3-3) vs. (L) Zach Duke (4-10) Arizona Diamondbacks at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM (R) Yusmeiro Petit (1-3) vs. (R) Brandon Backe (7-11) St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM (R) Joel Pineiro (5-5) vs. (R) Aaron Harang (3-12) Chicago Cubs at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM (L) Sean Marshall (2-2) vs. (R) Anibal Sanchez (1-2) Colorado Rockies at Washington Nationals, 7:10 PM (R) Livan Hernandez (0-1) vs. (L) John Lannan (6-11) San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 PM (L) Jonathan Sanchez (8-9) vs. (L) Mike Hampton (1-1) Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM (R) Kyle Kendrick (10-6) vs. (R) Chad Reineke (0-0) Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM (R) Dave Bush (7-9) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (9-10) American League --------------- Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees, 1:05 PM (R) Zack Greinke (9-8) vs. (R) Sidney Ponson (7-3) Chicago White Sox at Oakland Athletics, 3:55 PM (L) John Danks (9-5) vs. (L) Greg Smith (5-11) Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins, 3:55 PM (L) Ryan Rowland-Smith (2-1) vs. (R) Scott Baker (7-3) LA Angels of Anaheim at Cleveland Indians, 3:55 PM (R) John Lackey (9-2) vs. (R) Fausto Carmona (5-4) Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Roy Halladay (13-9) vs. (R) Paul Byrd (7-10) Baltimore Orioles at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Dennis Sarfate (4-2) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (8-13) Tampa Bay Rays at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM (R) Edwin Jackson (9-7) vs. (L) Matt Harrison (4-2)
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 74 47 .612 0.0 68 6BOS 71 51 .582 3.5 74 -3
NYA 64 58 .525 10.5 65 -1
TOR 62 60 .508 12.5 65 -3
BAL 59 62 .488 15.0 61 -2
American League Central CHA 68 53 .562 0.0 69 -1
MIN 68 53 .562 0.0 65 3
DET 59 63 .484 9.5 62 -3
CLE 55 66 .455 13.0 61 -6
KC 55 67 .451 13.5 51 4
American League West LAA 75 45 .625 0.0 66 9
TEX 61 62 .496 15.5 56 5
OAK 56 65 .463 19.5 61 -5
SEA 46 75 .380 29.5 51 -5
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 66 56 .541 0.0 67 -1
PHI 65 57 .533 1.0 68 -3
FLA 63 60 .512 3.5 59 4
ATL 55 67 .451 11.0 61 -6
WAS 44 79 .358 22.5 46 -2
National League Central CHN 75 47 .615 0.0 77 -2
MIL 70 53 .569 5.5 66 4
STL 69 56 .552 7.5 67 2
HOU 62 60 .508 13.0 58 4
PIT 55 67 .451 20.0 53 2
CIN 54 69 .439 21.5 52 2
National League West ARI 63 59 .516 0.0 64 -1
LAN 63 59 .516 0.0 65 -2
COL 55 69 .444 9.0 55 0
SF 51 70 .421 11.5 49 2
SD 47 75 .385 16.0 49 -2
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 CLE A+ Carlos Rivero..... 5 3 1 1 1 0 0 4 RBI PIT AA Jamie Romak....... 5 4 0 0 2 0 0 6 RBI ! BOS AA Josh Reddick...... 4 3 1 0 1 1 0 4 RBI CLE A+ Carlos Santana.... 4 2 1 0 1 1 1 3 R TEX A+ Ian Gac........... 4 2 0 0 2 0 1 CLE A- L. Chisenhall..... 6 4 2 0 0 0 0 OAK AA Richie Robnett.... 1 1 1 0 0 3 0 NYM AA Mike Carp......... 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 BOS AA Lars Anderson..... 4 4 1 0 0 1 0 TEX A+ Marcus Lemon...... 3 2 2 0 0 1 0 BOS A+ Ryan Kalish....... 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 4 LD SD A+ Eric Sogard....... 6 2 1 0 1 0 2 ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes SF A M. Bumgarner...... 6 2 0 0 12 2 0 DET A Jonathan Kibler... 8 4 0 0 9 0 0 COL A- C. Friedrich...... 5 4 1 1 8 0 0 NYY A+ Christian Garcia.. 5 2 0 0 7 0 0 DET A+ Jonah Nickerson... 7 4 0 0 6 1 0 TOR A+ Kenny Rodriguez... 6 3 1 1 7 0 1 HOU AA Bud Norris........ 5 5 2 2 9 0 1 CLE A Ryan Morris....... 5 4 1 1 7 1 0 PIT AAA Jimmy Barthmaier.. 6 4 1 1 6 1 0 ATL A+ Scott Diamond..... 6 5 2 1 6 1 0 CHW A+ Anthony Carter.... 7 4 0 0 4 1 0 ARI AA Cesar Valdez...... 6 9 5 5 7 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.