THT Daily: 11-1
by Dave StudemanApril 20, 2009
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 RotoworldThe Washington Post reports that the Nationals and Ryan Zimmerman have agreed to a five-year, $45 million contract.
It goes into effect immediately, superseding his one-year, $3.325 million deal. Essentially, the new deal is a four-year, $41.75 million deal covering his final two years of arbitration and his first two of free agency. Assuming that he had good but not great years the next two seasons, he probably would have earned about $15 million in arbitration. That means the Nats are paying more than $13 million per year for his free agency seasons. He'll probably be worth it, but it is a little difficult to justify with the way his numbers have regressed since his rookie season.
Brad Wilkerson told his manager at Triple-A Pawtucket that he's retiring from baseball.
Shoulder problems derailed Wilkerson's career. He posted OPSs of 840, 844 and 872 in his first three full seasons with the Expos before dropping off to 756 in 2005 and being traded to the Rangers in the Alfonso Soriano deal after the season. He never returned to form in Texas, and after bouncing around in 2008, he failed to make the Red Sox out of spring training this year. If he's finished at age 31, he ends his career with a .247/.350/.440 line and 122 homers in 3,753 at-bats. He was second in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 2002, and he had his best season in 2004, when he hit 32 homers, walked 106 times and scored 112 runs.
Rick Porcello limited the Mariners to one run over seven innings Sunday to pick up his first major league victory.
A very efficient Porcello threw just 86 pitches in the seven innings, but the Tigers opted to go to the bullpen after a long top of the eighth that saw the offense tack on three runs. Porcello allowed five hits, walked none and struck out three. Ronny Cedeno homered for the lone run off him.
Randy Johnson combined with Bob Howry and Brian Wilson on a one-hitter versus the Diamondbacks for his 296th career victory on Sunday.
Johnson did give up the one hit, a double to Augie Ojeda in the seventh. He ended up striking out seven and walking two over seven scoreless innings. It turned out to be the third straight 2-0 game played by the Giants and Diamondbacks, with San Francisco winning Friday and today.
Cody Ross finished 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBI Sunday as the Marlins defeated the Nationals 7-4.
The Marlins are off to an unbelievable 11-1 start and have been aided by surprise performances from several unheralded ball players, such as Cody Ross. The homer was his third and he's now batting .256 this season with 11 RBI.
B.J. Upton left Sunday's game in the second inning with right quad tightness.
Gabe Kapler took over in center field. Upton should be considered day-to-day.
Josh Beckett had his suspension reduced from six games to five games, meaning he won't miss a scheduled start.
Beckett wanted to appeal the suspension for throwing at the Angels Bobby Abreu based on principle as he doesn't agree with it, but the Red Sox would rather just get it over with now that it means he won't miss any real time. With the Red Sox having Thursday off, Beckett will make his next start Saturday on six days' rest.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League BOS 2 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 7 CLE 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 12 TB 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 1 OAK 0 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 3 LAA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 8 SEA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 6 KC 5 (Recap and Boxscore) National League MIL 4 NYN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 5 SD 4 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 7 WAS 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 4 HOU 2 (Recap and Boxscore) ATL 11 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 14 COL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 2 ARI 0 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Florida Marlins at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (L) Andrew Miller (0-0) vs. (R) Ross Ohlendorf (0-2) San Diego Padres at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Kevin Correia (0-1) vs. (L) Jamie Moyer (1-1) Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM (R) Derek Lowe (1-0) vs. (R) Jordan Zimmerman (0-0) Cincinnati Reds at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Bronson Arroyo (2-0) vs. (L) Mike Hampton (1-1) Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM (R) Jason Marquis (2-0) vs. (R) Jon Garland (1-1) American League --------------- Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox, 11:05 AM (L) Mark Hendrickson (1-1) vs. (R) Justin Masterson (0-0) Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM (L) Dana Eveland (0-0) vs. (L) Andy Pettitte (1-0)
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 TOR 10 4 .714 0.0 10 0NYA 7 6 .538 2.5 5 2
BAL 6 6 .500 3.0 5 1
BOS 6 6 .500 3.0 6 0
TB 5 8 .385 4.5 6 -1
American League Central CHA 7 5 .583 0.0 8 -1
DET 7 5 .583 0.0 8 -1
KC 7 5 .583 0.0 7 0
MIN 7 7 .500 1.0 5 2
CLE 4 9 .308 3.5 6 -2
American League West SEA 8 5 .615 0.0 8 0
OAK 5 7 .417 2.5 6 -1
TEX 5 7 .417 2.5 6 -1
LAA 4 8 .333 3.5 5 -1
National League East Pwins Diff FLA 11 1 .917 0.0 9 2
ATL 6 6 .500 5.0 6 0
NYN 6 6 .500 5.0 7 -1
PHI 5 6 .455 5.5 4 1
WAS 1 10 .091 9.5 4 -3
National League Central CHN 7 4 .636 0.0 6 1
STL 8 5 .615 0.0 8 0
CIN 6 5 .545 1.0 4 2
PIT 6 6 .500 1.5 7 -1
HOU 4 8 .333 3.5 4 0
MIL 4 8 .333 3.5 5 -1
National League West LAN 10 3 .769 0.0 10 0
SD 9 4 .692 1.0 7 2
COL 4 7 .364 5.0 5 -1
ARI 4 8 .333 5.5 4 0
SF 4 8 .333 5.5 4 0
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 FLA A+ Michael Stanton... 5 5 1 0 1 0 0 4 LD OAK AA Chris Carter...... 5 3 2 0 1 0 0 4 RBI TB AAA Reid Brignac...... 6 3 2 0 1 0 0 NYY A+ Jesus Montero..... 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 CIN A+ Neftali Soto...... 4 4 0 0 1 0 0 ATL A+ Jason Heyward..... 3 2 1 0 1 0 0 WAN A+ Michael Burgess... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 MIN A+ Ben Revere........ 3 2 1 0 0 2 0 SF A+ Nicholas Noonan... 5 3 0 0 1 0 1 OAK AA Adrian Cardenas... 4 3 0 1 0 1 0 PIT A+ Pedro Alvarez..... 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 PHI A Anthony Gose...... 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 SB ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes SEA A+ Michael Pineda.... 7 6 3 3 8 0 1 BAL A+ Brian Matusz...... 6 7 4 1 8 2 0 11 GB ATL AAA Thomas Hanson..... 5 6 4 3 6 1 0 STL AAA C. Mortensen...... 7 6 2 1 5 3 0 STL A+ Lance Lynn........ 3 3 1 1 4 0 0 OAK AAA Vincent Mazzaro... 6 5 1 1 4 1 1 LAA A+ Trevor Reckling... 7 3 1 1 3 2 1 MIN A+ Carlos Gutierrez.. 4 2 0 0 3 2 0 BOS AA Junichi Tazawa.... 5 6 2 2 5 3 0 ATL A+ Craig Kimbrel..... 2 2 3 3 5 2 1 STL A+ Adam Reifer....... 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 GB NYY AAA Mark Melancon..... 2 1 0 0 1 1 0
| First Inning's Major and Minor League Daily Reports: |
Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.
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The Hardball Times
THT Daily: Friday!
by Matthew CarruthMay 18, 2007
Major League News for May 18
Today’s LinksPlayer 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/
THT Links
Genius - To me, Brian Cashman is one of the most interesting characters in baseball. Someone definitely needs to write a Moneyball style expose about him and the Yankees.
For Love of the Game - Free Rickey!
Choking is the new Clutch - The latest from swing guru Jeff Albert. Is David Wright the new A-Rod?
Mickey Mouse Operation - Somehow I missed that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays played a recent series at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex. While this is probably not feasible or even desirable for many teams, I think it's cool that the Rays are innovating to try to get ahead in the cutthroat AL East, both on and off the field.
Minutiae - Everything you ever wanted to know about PTBNLs and the 60-day DL, from an Oakland perspective.
THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at THT Links.
Player News
Player Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldJason Giambi said Thursday that MLB should apologize to fans for its performance-enhancing drug problem, but also said, "That stuff didn't help me hit home runs." "I'm probably tested more than anybody else. I'm not hiding anything," Giambi said. "That stuff didn't help me hit home runs. I don't care what people say, nothing is going to give you that gift of hitting a baseball. I was wrong for doing that stuff. What we should have done a long time ago was stand up players, ownership, everybody and said: 'We made a mistake.'
Ichiro Suzuki had his AL-record consecutive-stolen base streak snapped at 45 when he was thrown out at second by the Angels' Jose Molina in Thursday's loss. It was a horrible play by Ichiro, who was thrown out easily with the Mariners down by three in the seventh inning. Making matters worse was that Jose Vidro drew a walk on the very next pitch. Ichiro finished six steals away from breaking Vince Coleman's major league record.
Delmon Young had a three-run homer in the fourth and a walkoff shot in the bottom of the 10th to give the Rays an 8-6 win over the Rangers on Thursday. With Young leading the wayhe Rays completed a three-game sweep at Disney World. The 21-year-old had three straight two-hit games and finished with three RBI on Wednesday. Going into the series, he was 6-for-51 with one RBI in 14 games.
Red Sox manager Terry Francona said Josh Beckett will be placed on the DL and miss two starts because of the avulsion on his right middle finger. A 9 1/2-game lead does tend to breed caution. Because Beckett is going on the DL, the Red Sox can call up Devern Hansack to start Friday. Kason Gabbard will likely to Sunday. The pitching matchups for the series at Yankee Stadium next week will be: Tim Wakefield vs. Mike Mussina on Monday, Curt Schilling vs. Chien-Ming Wang on Tuesday amd Julian Tavarez vs. Andy Pettitte on Wednesday.
Devil Rays placed outfielder Rocco Baldelli on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. The Rays should regret not dealing Baldelli when he still had a ton of value over the winter. They'll go with Elijah Dukes as their primary center fielder while he's out. B.J. Upton will see some time there and serve as the No. 2 hitter behind Dukes in the leadoff spot. Greg Norton and Jonny Gomes will DH. Don't expect to see Baldelli again for at least a month.
Fausto Carmona threw a four-hit shutout to win a fifth straight start against the Twins on Thursday. There's just no way the Indians are going to be able to pull Carmona from the rotation if he keeps pitching like this. He has a 1.38 ERA during the winning streak, going at least seven innings each time. He got 17 outs on the ground and four via the K while throwing 121 pitches today. The 23-year-old should be owned in shallow mixed leagues right now.
Yesterday’s Results
American League BOS 2 DET 1 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 4 DET 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 8 TEX 6 (Recap and Boxscore) CHA 4 NYA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) CLE 2 MIN 0 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 7 OAK 4 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 7 SEA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League NYN 6 CHN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 3 PHI 2 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 4 ATL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 2 HOU 1 (Recap and Boxscore) PIT 7 FLA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) ARI 3 COL 1 (Recap and Boxscore)
Today’s Games
National League --------------- Arizona Diamondbacks at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM (L) Doug Davis (2-4) vs. (R) Ian Snell (3-2) Inter-League ------------ Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM (L) Mark Buehrle (2-1) vs. (L) Ted Lilly (3-2) Florida Marlins at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 6:40 PM (R) Byung-Hyun Kim (1-2) vs. (R) Edwin Jackson (0-5) Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox, 7:05 PM (R) Anthony Lerew (0-1) vs. (R) Devern Hansack (0-0) Cincinnati Reds at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM (R) Kyle Lohse (1-4) vs. (L) Cliff Lee (1-0) Baltimore Orioles at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM (R) Steve Trachsel (1-3) vs. (R) Jason Simontacchi (1-1) Toronto Blue Jays at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM (R) Dustin McGowan (0-0) vs. (R) Jon Lieber (1-2) St. Louis Cardinals at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM (R) Braden Looper (5-2) vs. (L) Andrew Miller (0-0) New York Yankees at New York Mets, 7:10 PM (L) Andy Pettitte (2-2) vs. (L) Oliver Perez (4-3) Texas Rangers at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM (R) Robinson Tejeda (3-3) vs. (R) Matt Albers (1-2) Minnesota Twins at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM (R) Boof Bonser (1-1) vs. (L) Chris Capuano (5-1) Kansas City Royals at Colorado Rockies, 9:05 PM (L) Jorge De La Rosa (4-3) vs. (L) Jeff Francis (2-4) San Francisco Giants at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 PM (L) Barry Zito (3-4) vs. (R) Chad Gaudin (2-1) San Diego Padres at Seattle Mariners, 10:05 PM (R) Chris Young (4-3) vs. (R) Miguel Batista (3-3) Los Angeles Dodgers at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM (R) Brad Penny (5-0) vs. (R) Ervin Santana (2-5)
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 BOS 28 12 .700 0.0 28 0NYA 18 21 .462 9.5 22 -4
TB 18 22 .450 10.0 15 3
TOR 18 22 .450 10.0 19 -1
BAL 18 23 .439 10.5 19 -1
American League Central CLE 24 14 .632 0.0 22 2
DET 24 16 .600 1.0 22 2
CHA 20 17 .541 3.5 17 3
MIN 18 22 .450 7.0 20 -2
KC 15 27 .357 11.0 16 -1
American League West LAA 24 18 .571 0.0 24 0
OAK 20 20 .500 3.0 23 -3
SEA 18 18 .500 3.0 16 2
TEX 15 26 .366 8.5 17 -2
National League East Pwins Diff NYN 26 14 .650 0.0 26 0
ATL 25 16 .610 1.5 23 2
PHI 20 21 .488 6.5 22 -2
FLA 18 23 .439 8.5 19 -1
WAS 15 26 .366 11.5 14 1
National League Central MIL 26 15 .634 0.0 24 2
HOU 20 20 .500 5.5 21 -1
CHN 18 21 .462 7.0 22 -4
PIT 18 22 .450 7.5 16 2
STL 16 22 .421 8.5 14 2
CIN 16 25 .390 10.0 20 -4
National League West LAN 25 16 .610 0.0 24 1
SD 22 19 .537 3.0 24 -2
ARI 22 20 .524 3.5 20 2
SF 20 20 .500 4.5 22 -2
COL 17 24 .415 8.0 15 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, with a focus on each team’s top prospects.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes CIN A+ Jay Bruce......... 5 3 1 0 1 0 0 KC AAA Billy Butler...... 4 2 0 0 1 2 0 SEA AAA Adam Jones........ 5 1 0 0 1 0 1 4 RBI ARI AA Carlos Gonzalez... 3 2 1 0 0 0 1 ARI AA Justin Upton...... 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 TEX A+ C. Davis.......... 5 3 1 0 2 0 1 3 R CHC AA Jake Fox.......... 4 3 3 0 0 0 0 TB AAA Elliot Johnson.... 3 1 0 0 1 1 2 OAK AAA Kevin Melillo..... 4 2 1 0 1 0 1 HOU A Maxwell Sapp...... 6 4 2 0 0 0 1 3 R BOS AA J. Corsaletti..... 2 2 0 0 1 3 0 3 R LAA A Hank Conger....... 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 SB ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes MIL AAA Yovani Gallardo... 6 1 0 0 11 2 0 BAL AA Radhames Liz...... 7 3 2 1 9 2 0 NYY AA Alan Horne........ 6 6 3 3 9 1 0 BOS AA Clay Buchholz..... 6 3 1 1 7 3 0 WAN AA Collin Balester... 7 5 2 2 5 2 0 KC AAA Tyler Lumsden..... 6 5 4 2 6 1 0 NYY A+ Joba Chamberlain.. 5 5 3 3 5 1 0 9 GB TB A+ M. Wlodarczyk..... 6 8 2 2 6 1 0 FLA A+ Ryan Tucker....... 6 4 3 3 5 2 1 TB AAA J.P. Howell....... 6 2 3 1 10 3 1 COL AAA Ubaldo Jimenez.... 6 5 4 4 7 3 2 MIN AAA Matt Garza........ 6 5 4 4 1 1 0 13 GB
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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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