THT Daily: Signing Time?

Major League News for September 17

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
Rich Harden will be skipped on his next turn through the rotation.
Harden stuck around for just three innings Wednesday night against the Brewers and has walked 15 batters in his last four starts (17 innings). Cubs manager Lou Piniella said he’s physically OK, so this is obviously a performance-based decision. Tom Gorzelanny will start in his place.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Carlos Zambrano has a full no-trade clause and has no intention of waiving it this offseason.
Sources informed the Tribune’s Paul Sullivan earlier this week that the Cubs might shop Big Z and the $53 million remaining on his contract this winter. Zambrano, 28, has a 3.94 ERA in 26 starts this season. “I like the young man personally,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Wednesday when asked about the trade rumors. “He’s certainly capable of pitching better than he has this year.”

According to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney, the Royals are nearing a contract agreement with top pick RHP Aaron Crow.
Crow, a right-hander from Mizzou, was selected by the Nationals in the first round last season, but the two sides failed to reach a deal. Thus he was not held to the normal signing deadline this year. Olney’s sources have the contract ranging from $3 million to $4.5 million.

J.A. Happ (oblique) tossed a successful bullpen session Wednesday and declared himself ready to start Friday against the Braves.
Happ threw 20 pitches and reported no pain or discomfort in his right oblique. The sensational rookie has allowed just three runs in 14 2/3 innings against Atlanta this season and boasts a 2.77 ERA overall. But he may carry some rust after missing two consecutive starts.

According to the Miami Herald, the Marlins are likely to trade second baseman Dan Uggla this offseason.
Uggla’s salary, via arbitration, is expected to reach $8 million or more next season. With Emilio Bonifacio and Chris Coghlan waiting in the wings for more playing time, a deal makes sense. Uggla, 29, is aware that he might be on the move this winter. “You get kind of sad because this is the team that gave me my first shot in the big leagues,” he said, “and I made a lot of friends here.”

Jorge De La Rosa silenced the Giants with eight shutout innings in a 4-3 victory on Wednesday night.
De La Rosa played the role of stopper, holding the Giants to just three hits against two walks and nine strikeouts. The 28-year-old southpaw has allowed one run or less in four straight starts, lowering his ERA to 4.17 on the year — it’s lowest point since early May. Now 15-9, De La Rosa has won six out of his last seven decisions. He gets a favorable matchup against the Padres next week. As for the Rockies, they snapped a four-game losing streak and now sit 3 1/2 games in front of the Giants in the Wild Card race.

Gavin Floyd came out of Wednesday’s game after three innings with left hip soreness.
He gave up three runs to the Mariners before departing. He’s probably day-to-day, but if the White Sox decide to shut him down, they could have top prospect Daniel Hudson replace him.

The Brewers are considering shutting down Yovani Gallardo for the rest of the season.
The club wants to limit his workload after he has thrown the fifth-most pitches in the National League this season. “Yes, we are discussing it and working our way through it,” Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash said. “[Pitching coach Chris] Bosio and [manager] Ken [Macha] will get their heads together and see what they want to do.” Gallardo was torched for seven runs over 5 1/3 innings in a loss to the Cubs on Tuesday. He has three more scheduled starts this season and you can be sure that he wants to make them all. “I don’t want to be shut down. I want to finish out the year strong,” Gallardo said. “We’re trying to find ways to make that happen.”

Huston Street (sore right biceps tendon) threw a successful bullpen session on Wednesday and is in line to return to the Rockies’ bullpen Sunday.
Street said he feels healthy. He understands that his first few appearances will come in a setup capacity. “You can’t be selfish. Franklin (Morales) has done a great job,” Street said. “The last thing you want to do is hurt the team. And in that role, there’s no way around it. If you aren’t right, the team can lose. This is the right decision. I can’t wait to get back out there.” The bottom line for fantasy? Morales should be in most lineups next week.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
BAL     4  TB      2    (Recap and Boxscore)
BOS     9  LAA     8    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA     5  TOR     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET     4  KC      3    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     7  CLE     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
SEA     4  CHA     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     4  TEX     0    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
ATL     6  NYN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     6  WAS     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     9  CHN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN     6  HOU     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     5  STL     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAN     3  PIT     1    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      6  ARI     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     4  SF      3    (Recap and Boxscore)

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

Today’s Games

Royals (58-87) @ Tigers (78-67), 1:05pm
    Zack Greinke (25, RHP) vs. Edwin Jackson (25, RHP)
WhiteSox (72-74) @ Mariners (75-71), 6:40pm
    John Danks (24, LHP) vs. Brandon Morrow (24, RHP)
Rays (73-73) @ Orioles (60-85), 7:05pm
    Wade Davis (23, RHP) vs. Mark Hendrickson (35, LHP)
Angels (86-59) @ RedSox (86-58), 7:10pm
    Ervin Santana (26, RHP) vs. Josh Beckett (29, RHP)
Indians (61-84) @ Athletics (67-78), 10:05pm
    Justin Masterson (24, RHP) vs. Clayton Mortensen (24, RHP)
Brewers (70-75) @ Cubs (75-69), 2:20pm
    David Bush (29, RHP) vs. Randy Wells (26, RHP)
Mets (63-83) @ Braves (77-68), 7:00pm
    Nelson Figueroa (35, RHP) vs. Jair Jurrjens (23, RHP)
Nationals (50-95) @ Phillies (84-60), 7:05pm
    Ross Detwiler (23, LHP) vs. Cole Hamels (25, LHP)
Marlins (78-68) @ Reds (67-79), 7:10pm
    Anibal Sanchez (25, RHP) vs. Matt Maloney (25, LHP)

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     94  53 .639    0.0   87     7    
BOS     86  58 .597    6.5   84     2    
TB      73  73 .500   20.5   77    -4    
TOR     66  80 .452   27.5   74    -8    
BAL     60  85 .414   33.0   63    -3    
American League Central     
DET     78  67 .538    0.0   73     5    
MIN     74  72 .507    4.5   75    -1    
CHA     72  74 .493    6.5   72     0    
CLE     61  84 .421   17.0   67    -6    
KC      58  87 .400   20.0   59    -1    
American League West        
LAA     86  59 .593    0.0   82     4    
TEX     80  65 .552    6.0   78     2    
SEA     75  71 .514   11.5   67     8    
OAK     67  78 .462   19.0   71    -4    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     84  60 .583    0.0   83     1    
FLA     78  68 .534    7.0   74     4    
ATL     77  68 .531    7.5   81    -4    
NYN     63  83 .432   22.0   64    -1    
WAS     50  95 .345   34.5   58    -8    
National League Central     
STL     85  62 .578    0.0   83     2    
CHN     75  69 .521    8.5   75     0    
MIL     70  75 .483   14.0   69     1    
HOU     70  76 .479   14.5   65     5    
CIN     67  79 .459   17.5   63     4    
PIT     55  89 .382   28.5   60    -5    
National League West        
LAN     88  59 .599    0.0   90    -2    
COL     83  64 .565    5.0   81     2    
SF      79  67 .541    8.5   78     1    
SD      66  81 .449   22.0   59     7    
ARI     64  83 .435   24.0   68    -4    


Wildcard Standings
American League             
BOS     86  58 .597    0.0
TEX     80  65 .552    6.5
SEA     75  71 .514   12.0
MIN     74  72 .507   13.0
TB      73  73 .500   14.0
National League             
COL     83  64 .565    0.0
SF      79  67 .541    3.5
FLA     78  68 .534    4.5
ATL     77  68 .531    5.0
CHN     75  69 .521    6.5

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

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Pick A TeamARIATLBALBOSCHACHNCINCLECOLDETFLAHOUKCLAALANMILMINNYANYNOAKPHIPITSDSEASFSTLTBTEXTORWAS