THT Daily: Edinson Volquez’s Elbow

Major League News for August 4

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 Rotoworld
Jake Peavy tossed a pain-free bullpen session Sunday at Citi Field.
The right-hander has been out since June 9 following ankle surgery. ”The biggest thing was everything was pain-free,” Peavy said. ”The ankle was a non-issue. I threw about 50 pitches and threw all my pitches, trying to get a feel to accelerate this thing as fast as we can to get back out there.” He’s hoping to make his White Sox debut in the next three or four weeks.

Lance Berkman (left calf strain) is hoping to return from the disabled list Friday, the first day he is eligible.
Berkman landed on the 15-day disabled list July 23. “I feel pretty good,” he said Monday. “I definitely still feel the injury, but it’s not as sharp as it was. I think it’s making some progress.” Chris Coste and Geoff Blum have been picking up starts at first base in his absence.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella will consider activating Geovany Soto on Wednesday if he fares well in his next two rehab games.
Soto will play Monday and Tuesday night with Double-A Tennessee. His next stop could be Wrigley. “I would think if he catches well tonight and doesn’t feel any after-effects tomorrow… whether he catches in Tennessee on Wednesday or catches here, I don’t see any difference,” Piniella said. Backup Koyie Hill has played 207 innings since Soto went down — 27 more frames than any other catcher in baseball in that span of time.

According to Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse, Brandon Webb underwent a debridement of his right shoulder on Monday.
“They didn’t have to repair anything,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “It sounds like it was good news for us.” As Price reports, a debridement is “the removal of non-healthy tissues and foreign material from a wound or burn to prevent infection and permit healing.” It is unknown whether the surgery was on his labrum, his rotator cuff, or possibly both. He is slated to begin playing catch in approximately 3-4 months.

Edinson Volquez underwent Tommy John surgery Monday morning, according to Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse.
Volquez is likely to miss most of the 2010 season. There’s a chance he could return by late August or September, if setbacks are avoided. It’s a major hit to the Reds’ immediate future. The 26-year-old right-hander was 4-2 this season with a 4.35 ERA and boasts a 24-19 career record.

Adrian Beltre is expected to return to the Mariners Tuesday.
Beltre has been sidelined since June 28 after undergoing shoulder surgery. “Everything looks good with Adrian, and it will be good to get him back,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. The third baseman should provide a decent offensive boost for the Mariners, who have struggled to score runs lately.

The Astros have scratched Roy Oswalt (back) from his Tuesday start.
Oswalt, who had already been scratched from a start this weekend, is now aiming to start on Saturday against the Brewers. He’ll try a bullpen session Monday, and another in the middle of the week. “Wednesday I’ll throw a pretty good one,” said the Houston ace, “and if I feel great I may try to throw an inning out of the pen and make sure I’m ready for game action on Saturday.”

The Dodgers are calling Chad Billingsley’s injury a right hamstring cramp.
Billingsley came out of Sunday’s game against the Braves after throwing five scoreless innings. He’ll likely be ready to make his next start as scheduled.

Rangers placed second baseman Ian Kinsler on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 29, with a strained left hamstring.
Kinsler’s loss is big, but Rangers fans have to be excited to see Neftali Feliz up with another one of the team’s roster moves today. Omar Vizquel has done a nice job so far, so he’ll keep starting at second base for the next couple of weeks. Joaquin Arias will serve as the backup.

Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday’s games, read “And That Happened” at Shysterball.

American League
TB     10  KC      4    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     6  BAL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     3  TEX     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ARI     6  NYN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHN     4  CIN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     4  SF      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     8  PIT     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     6  LAN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      4  ATL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)

Check out Fangraphs’ scoreboard to see all the games in action.

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
NYA     63  42 .600    0.0   59     4    
BOS     62  42 .596    0.5   61     1    
TB      58  48 .547    5.5   61    -3    
TOR     51  54 .486   12.0   57    -6    
BAL     44  61 .419   19.0   46    -2    
American League Central     
DET     55  49 .529    0.0   54     1    
CHA     54  52 .509    2.0   54     0    
MIN     52  53 .495    3.5   52     0    
CLE     44  61 .419   11.5   50    -6    
KC      41  64 .390   14.5   40     1    
American League West        
LAA     63  40 .612    0.0   59     4    
TEX     59  45 .567    4.5   56     3    
SEA     54  51 .514   10.0   47     7    
OAK     45  60 .429   19.0   48    -3    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     59  44 .573    0.0   58     1    
FLA     55  50 .524    5.0   52     3    
ATL     53  53 .500    7.5   55    -2    
NYN     50  55 .476   10.0   50     0    
WAS     34  72 .321   26.5   43    -9    
National League Central     
CHN     56  48 .538    0.0   56     0    
STL     58  50 .537    0.0   58     0    
HOU     53  53 .500    4.0   48     5    
MIL     53  53 .500    4.0   51     2    
CIN     45  60 .429   11.5   43     2    
PIT     45  60 .429   11.5   50    -5    
National League West        
LAN     65  41 .613    0.0   64     1    
COL     58  47 .552    6.5   58     0    
SF      58  48 .547    7.0   57     1    
ARI     47  59 .443   18.0   50    -3    
SD      44  63 .411   21.5   40     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
WAN AAA Justin Maxwell.... 2  2  1  1  0  3  0  3 R
TOR AAA Travis Snider..... 3  3  1  0  1  0  0  3 R
OAK AA  Chris Carter...... 3  2  1  0  1  1  0  
TOR A   Yohermyn Chavez... 6  3  2  0  0  0  2  
SEA AAA Matt Tuiasosopo... 3  2  0  0  1  1  0  
LAA AAA Brandon Wood...... 4  2  1  1  0  0  0  
TEX AAA Justin Smoak...... 4  2  0  0  1  1  1  
WAN A-  J.P. Ramirez...... 3  2  1  0  0  2  0  
CIN AAA Drew Stubbs....... 4  3  0  0  0  1  0  3 R
DET AAA Wilkin Ramirez.... 3  1  1  0  0  1  1  
COL AA  Michael McKenry... 4  3  1  0  0  0  1  
HOU AA  Jason Castro...... 5  3  1  0  0  0  0  3 LD

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
CHC AA  Andrew Cashner.... 6  2  1  0  8  1  0  
CLE AAA Chuck Lofgren..... 7  4  0  0  5  1  0  
TEX A   Carlos Pimentel... 5  2  0  0  6  1  0  
TEX AA  Michael Kirkman... 6  5  4  1  6  2  0  
HOU A   Ross Seaton....... 6  5  0  0  4  0  0  
LAA AA  Trevor Reckling... 6  7  2  2  6  2  0  
BOS A+  Stephen Fife...... 5  2  1  1  4  2  0  
SD  AA  William Inman..... 6  6  0  0  3  0  0  
FLA AA  Sean West......... 6  8  2  2  4  0  0  
ARI A   Wade Miley........ 5  2  0  0  3  1  0  11 GB
PIT A+  Rudy Owens........ 4  3  0  0  4  1  0  
SEA AAA Brandon Morrow.... 7  7  2  2  5  1  1

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Pick A TeamARIATLBALBOSCHACHNCINCLECOLDETFLAHOUKCLAALANMILMINNYANYNOAKPHIPITSDSEASFSTLTBTEXTORWAS