THT Daily: Holliday On the Move

by
July 24, 2009

Major League News for July 24

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
ESPN.com is reporting that the Cardinals have acquired outfielder Matt Holliday for top prospect Brett Wallace and two other minor leaguers.
24-year-old right-hander Clayton Mortensen and outfielder Shane Peterson, a second-rounder in 2008, are the “other minor leaguers.” The A’s will throw in $1.5 million to help cover the $6 million remaining on Holliday’s current deal, but they’re clearly the big winners in this trade. Protection for Albert Pujols is nice, and is important, but at what cost? Wallace boasts a major-league ready bat and the other two appear destined for nice big league careers.

John Maine (shoulder) will soon visit with Dr. James Andrews and is in danger of missing the rest of this season.
Maine looked fine during a 65-pitch simulated game Tuesday, but had trouble getting through a throwing session Thursday. “[Tuesday] it felt all right,” he said, “but the days in between, it’s hard. It aches a little bit, but what are you going to do?” Dr. Andrews should provide a useful diagnosis.

Royals placed outfielder Jose Guillen on the 15-day disabled list with a Grade 2 tear of the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee.
Guillen suffered the injury while putting on his batting shinguard Wednesday night and had to be taken to the hospital. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out, but Mitch Maier has been recalled in a corresponding move. Guillen will leave behind a .245 batting average, nine homers and 40 RBI.

A follow-up X-ray on Ryan Dempster’s broken right toe Thursday showed “excellent healing,” according to MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat.
Dempster told reporters he is hoping to return this weekend, but the Cubs may play this one safe. “I’m not as optimistic,” manager Lou Piniella said Wednesday. “I think on the next turn in the rotation, we can put him in Wednesday or Thursday [against the Astros].” The right-hander has been out since July 3. He will return to a 5-5 record and a 4.09 ERA.

Chien-Ming Wang is still dealing with discomfort in his right shoulder and may not return this season.
Wang suffered a setback Monday while playing a short game of catch. He was scheduled to throw again Friday, but that won’t happen until team physicians give him clearance. “I don’t know,” the right-hander said Thursday evening. “The shoulder, the day I played catch, it still feels the same.”

According to Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse, the Angels have some level of interest in Tampa Bay left-hander Scott Kazmir.
SI.com’s Jon Heyman has confirmed the rumor, via Twitter, and adds that the Rays are currently scouting the Angels’ farm system. Shipping Kazmir to Los Angeles would help Tampa Bay free up some cash for a bat (like Victor Martinez) or a top starter (Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee). Stay tuned.

According to MLB.com’s Corey Brock, the Padres plan to extend manager Bud Black’s contract through 2010.
Black is just 189-231 with the Padres since 2007, but has really done a decent job considering the talent around him. His current contract was set to expire at the end of 2009. An official announcement should come shortly.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
NYA     6  OAK     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     5  TOR     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA     5  TB      0    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     2  DET     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA     6  MIN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
SF      5  ATL     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     9  SD      4    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL     4  WAS     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI    11  PIT     4    (Recap and Boxscore)

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

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 PM
  (R) Aaron Harang (5-10) vs. (R) Randy Wells (5-4)
 St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 PM
  (R) Joel Pineiro (8-9) vs. (L) J.A. Happ (7-0)
 San Diego Padres at Washington Nationals, 7:05 PM
  (R) Mat Latos (0-1) vs. (R) Garrett Mock (0-3)
 New York Mets at Houston Astros, 8:05 PM
  (L) Johan Santana (11-7) vs. (L) Mike Hampton (5-7)
 Atlanta Braves at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Javier Vazquez (7-7) vs. (L) Manny Parra (4-8)
 San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies, 9:10 PM
  (R) Matt Cain (11-2) vs. (R) Jason Hammel (5-4)
 Pittsburgh Pirates at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM
  (L) Zach Duke (8-9) vs. (R) Yusmeiro Petit (0-4)
 Florida Marlins at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 PM
  (R) Josh Johnson (8-2) vs. (L) Clayton Kershaw (8-5)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers, 1:05 PM
  (R) Jose Contreras (4-8) vs. (R) Justin Verlander (10-5)
 Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 PM
  (R) Bartolo Colon (3-6) vs. (R) Eddie Bonine (0-0)
 Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees, 7:05 PM
  (L) Brett Anderson (5-7) vs. (R) Joba Chamberlain (5-2)
 Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 PM
  (R) Matt Garza (6-7) vs. (R) Roy Halladay (11-3)
 Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 PM
  (R) Brad Bergesen (6-4) vs. (R) Brad Penny (6-4)
 Texas Rangers at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 PM
  (R) Scott Feldman (8-3) vs. (R) Zack Greinke (10-5)
 Minnesota Twins at LA Angels of Anaheim, 10:05 PM
  (L) Francisco Liriano (4-9) vs. (R) John Lackey (5-4)
 Cleveland Indians at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 PM
  (L) Aaron Laffey (3-2) vs. (L) Ryan Rowland-Smith (0-0)

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.

A Hardball Times Update
by RJ McDaniel
Goodbye for now. 

American League East        Pwins  Diff
NYA     58  37 .611    0.0   54     4    sparkline graph
BOS     55  39 .585    2.5   55     0    sparkline graph
TB      52  44 .542    6.5   55    -3    sparkline graph
TOR     47  49 .490   11.5   52    -5    sparkline graph
BAL     41  53 .436   16.5   41     0    sparkline graph
American League Central     
DET     49  44 .527    0.0   49     0    sparkline graph
CHA     50  45 .526    0.0   48     2    sparkline graph
MIN     48  48 .500    2.5   50    -2    sparkline graph
CLE     38  58 .396   12.5   43    -5    sparkline graph
KC      37  57 .394   12.5   37     0    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     56  38 .596    0.0   52     4    sparkline graph
TEX     52  41 .559    3.5   50     2    sparkline graph
SEA     51  44 .537    5.5   46     5    sparkline graph
OAK     40  54 .426   16.0   44    -4    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     54  39 .581    0.0   53     1    sparkline graph
ATL     49  47 .510    6.5   50    -1    sparkline graph
FLA     49  47 .510    6.5   46     3    sparkline graph
NYN     44  50 .468   10.5   42     2    sparkline graph
WAS     28  67 .295   27.0   36    -8    sparkline graph
National League Central     
STL     52  46 .531    0.0   52     0    sparkline graph
CHN     48  45 .516    1.5   48     0    sparkline graph
HOU     49  46 .516    1.5   46     3    sparkline graph
MIL     48  47 .505    2.5   47     1    sparkline graph
CIN     44  50 .468    6.0   40     4    sparkline graph
PIT     42  53 .442    8.5   46    -4    sparkline graph
National League West        
LAN     61  34 .642    0.0   59     2    sparkline graph
COL     52  43 .547    9.0   53    -1    sparkline graph
SF      51  44 .537   10.0   51     0    sparkline graph
ARI     41  55 .427   20.5   44    -3    sparkline graph
SD      37  59 .385   24.5   34     3    sparkline graph

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 AAA Andy Marte........ 4  4  0  0  2  0  0  4 RBI
LAA A   Alexia Amarista... 5  3  2  1  0  0  1  4 LD
SF  A+  Thomas Neal....... 5  4  2  0  0  0  1  
SEA AAA Jeff Clement...... 4  2  1  0  1  1  0  
SEA A+  Joseph Dunigan.... 4  2  1  0  1  0  0  4 RBI
SEA A+  Joseph Dunigan.... 3  3  2  0  0  0  0  
CHW A+  Brent Morel....... 3  2  0  0  1  2  1  
LA  AA  Joshua Bell....... 3  3  0  0  1  1  0  
TEX AA  M. Moreland....... 4  2  1  0  1  0  1  4 RBI
DET AAA Scott Sizemore.... 6  3  2  0  0  0  0  3 LD
PHI AAA Michael Taylor.... 4  3  0  0  1  1  0  
BOS A-  R. Westmoreland... 5  2  0  0  1  0  2  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
MIN AA  Deolis Guerra..... 7  4  0  0 12  1  0  
SD  A   Simon Castro...... 5  1  0  0  8  0  0  
ATL A+  Cole Rohrbough.... 6  4  2  2  7  1  0  
LAA A+  Alexander Torres.. 7  2  0  0  6  2  0  
BOS A+  Stephen Fife...... 6  6  2  1  7  0  0  12 GB
TEX AA  Kasey Kiker....... 5  1  1  1  8  3  0  
KC  A   Timothy Melville.. 5  1  0  0  7  2  0  
LAA AAA Trevor Bell....... 7  5  3  3  6  1  0  
PIT AAA Brad Lincoln...... 6  7  2  2  6  0  0  
BOS AA  Junichi Tazawa.... 6  3  0  0  5  1  0  
CLE AAA Hector Rondon..... 6  9  2  2  7  0  0  
KC  A+  Daniel Duffy...... 7  5  2  1  5  1  0  13 GB
First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:


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