THT Daily: Eastern Wildness
by Matthew CarruthApril 20, 2008
Major League News for April 20
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 RotoworldRoyals designated RHP Hideo Nomo for assignment.
It would have been a nice story if Nomo could have made a successful comeback as a reliever, but the fastball wasn't there and the Royals should have known it after watching him this spring. He had an 18.69 ERA in 4 1/3 innings.
Gary Sheffield has been bothered by his surgically-repaired shoulder and will have team doctors check it out Sunday.
Sheffield is not in the starting lineup for Sunday's game against the Blue Jays. "It doesn't hurt as much as it did, but it still doesn't give me the range of motion that I need," he said. "When I try to swing harder, it slows it down even more. I didn't know it was going to be this tight." Sheffield, who is also wearing a splint on his left ring finger, is hitting .192 with one home run and two RBI.
Blue Jays released designated hitter Frank Thomas.
It's better than keeping him glued to the bench simply so his $10 million option wouldn't vest. Thomas was still the Jays' best option in the DH spot, but the team didn't want to compound the mistake of signing him in the first place by having to pay him $10 million next year when his vesting option kicked in. Even though he was hitting .167 with three home runs and 11 RBI, Thomas, a notorious slow starter, should get plenty of interest from teams looking for more power at DH. The Jays will likely call up outfielder Adam Lind to platoon with Shannon Stewart in left field and make Matt Stairs their primary DH.
Brewers activated RHP Yovani Gallardo from the 15-day disabled list.
The Brewers finally confirmed that he'll start Sunday's game. Gallardo should be able to approach 100 pitches since he went 6 2/3 innings in his last rehab start. He was 9-5 with a 3.67 ERA last season and is a risky, but potentially high reward fantasy play in his first start back.
Matt Belisle will make his first start Monday in place of Josh Fogg.
Belisle went 3-0 with a 1.09 ERA in three rehab starts. He struck out 12. "I've been 100 percent for a little bit," Belisle said. "They just needed some time to make a move. (I) didn't know what was going to happen, but they just told me, keep doing what you're doing and keep pitching." Belisle isn't likely to be any better than he was last year, when he had a 5.32 ERA in 30 starts. However, since he does get the Dodgers and Giants in his first two games back, NL-only leaguers could do worse.
An MRI on David Weathers' elbow was normal.
The Reds are calling him day-to-day. He could avoid the disabled list, but Jared Burton will handle setup duties for now.
Jimmy Rollins will most likely not be in the lineup Sunday.
Rollins took fielding practice Saturday but called his ankle "75 percent" healthy. "Still no time frame. It'll probably be a couple of more days," he said. Phillies trainers said they would rather Rollins not pinch-hit.
John Lackey (triceps) will begin a minor league rehab assignment Thursday.
Lackey threw 40 pitches in a simulated game Saturday. "The way he threw the ball out there in the sim game, he's ready stuff-wise to compete in a game," manager Mike Scioscia said. Lackey will need at least three rehab starts to build his pitch count. He could rejoin the Angels' rotation on May 14.
Doug Davis, just a week removed from thyroid cancer surgery, is hoping to return to the rotation on May 9.
Davis threw off flat ground on Saturday. "I felt real good out there throwing the ball," Davis said. "I don’t feel any different right now than I did before surgery. A little sore in the neck area." Edgar Gonzalez will head to the bullpen when Davis returns.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BAL 6 NYA 0 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 5 TEX 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 5 CHA 0 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 3 DET 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 3 CLE 0 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 4 SEA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 6 KC 5 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 4 LAN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 6 WAS 5 (Recap and Boxscore) NYN 4 PHI 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 13 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 5 CIN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 3 HOU 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 3 STL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 10 SD 3 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
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 BOS 12 7 .632 0.0 10 2BAL 11 7 .611 0.5 10 1
TOR 9 9 .500 2.5 11 -2
NYA 9 10 .474 3.0 8 1
TB 8 10 .444 3.5 10 -2
American League Central CHA 10 7 .588 0.0 11 -1
KC 9 9 .500 1.5 8 1
MIN 8 10 .444 2.5 8 0
CLE 7 11 .389 3.5 8 -1
DET 6 12 .333 4.5 6 0
American League West LAA 12 7 .632 0.0 11 1
OAK 11 8 .579 1.0 11 0
SEA 9 10 .474 3.0 10 -1
TEX 7 11 .389 4.5 7 0
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 10 6 .625 0.0 11 -1
FLA 10 7 .588 0.5 7 3
ATL 8 9 .471 2.5 11 -3
PHI 8 10 .444 3.0 9 -1
WAS 5 13 .278 6.0 6 -1
National League Central STL 12 6 .667 0.0 12 0
CHN 11 6 .647 0.5 10 1
MIL 11 6 .647 0.5 10 1
PIT 7 10 .412 4.5 6 1
CIN 7 11 .389 5.0 8 -1
HOU 6 12 .333 6.0 7 -1
National League West ARI 13 4 .765 0.0 13 0
COL 9 8 .529 4.0 8 1
SD 8 10 .444 5.5 6 2
LAN 7 10 .412 6.0 10 -3
SF 7 11 .389 6.5 5 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 OAK AAA Carlos Gonzalez... 6 4 1 0 0 0 0 NYM AA F. Martinez....... 5 2 1 0 0 0 2 COL AAA Ian Stewart....... 4 1 0 0 1 1 1 OAK A+ Matthew Sulentic.. 4 3 0 1 0 1 1 TEX AA Emerson Frostad... 6 4 3 0 0 0 1 LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 COL AAA Joseph Koshansky.. 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 3 R COL AA Dexter Fowler..... 5 4 0 0 1 0 0 HOU A+ Jordan Parraz..... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 OAK AAA Gregorio Petit.... 6 2 2 0 0 0 1 CLE AAA Brad Snyder....... 3 2 0 0 1 1 0 TB AA John Jaso......... 5 3 0 0 1 0 0 4 RBI ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes CIN AAA Homer Bailey...... 7 5 0 0 3 1 0 FLA AA C. Volstad........ 7 5 4 4 9 3 0 13 GB LAA AA Robert Mosebach... 9 5 1 1 5 0 0 17 GB BOS AA Justin Masterson.. 5 4 0 0 10 2 0 BAL AAA Garrett Olson..... 7 7 2 1 7 0 0 LA AAA Miguel Pinango.... 6 6 2 2 7 1 0 COL A+ Aneury Rodriguez.. 7 2 0 0 7 2 0 ATL A+ Thomas Hanson..... 6 1 0 0 6 2 0 SF AA Adam Cowart....... 6 7 1 1 4 0 0 11 GB STL AAA Mike Parisi....... 6 3 1 1 3 1 0 ARI AA Brooks Brown...... 5 6 3 3 8 4 0 NYY AAA Heath Phillips.... 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 GB
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.
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