THT Daily: Trade Hangover

Major League News for August 1

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
In his Phillies’ debut, Cliff Lee tossed a complete-game four-hitter in a 5-1 win over the Giants on Friday night.
Talk about making a statement. Not only did Lee pitch a great game, holding the Giants without a hit until a Juan Uribe double in the sixth inning, he also went 2-for-3 with a run scored at the dish, almost hitting the ball out of the park on a double in the eighth. Welcome to the National League, Cliff. We think you’ll like it here. Lee struck out six and walked two in his debut. He has a date with the Rockies next.

Marlins activated RHP Matt Lindstrom from the 15-day disabled list.
Lindstrom sat out over a month with an inflamed right elbow. He’s ready to start contributing again, but Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez has said repeatedly that the right-hander will be eased back into the closer’s role. Leo Nunez and Dan Meyer can take their last gasps of glory.

Jason Schmidt tossed six one-hit innings in a 5-0 win over the Braves on Friday night.
You have to feel good for the guy. All he gave up was a single to Chipper Jones in the third inning. He walked five and fanned three, improving to 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA through his first three starts. We’re not sure how he’ll get by with that batting practice fastball, but that can be a conversation for another day.

Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi said Friday that he’ll be open to trade proposals for Roy Halladay in the offseason.
As expected. The Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, Yankees and Rangers showed interest in the Toronto ace this summer and are likely to contend for his services again in November. The asking price will remain astronomical.

Vladimir Guerrero took batting practice and ran the bases Friday as he continues to recover from a strained muscle behind his left knee.
Vlad could be ready to return as a designated hitter by late next week. “Vlad made a lot of progress in the last four or five days,” manager Mike Scioscia said Friday. “He’s getting close. He’s taken a huge step forward today.” He’s been on the sidelines since early July.

J.D. Drew has been diagnosed with a groin strain and is out of Boston’s lineup Friday against the Orioles.
Drew suffered the injury Thursday during an eighth-inning double and is expected to miss two games. “If I get on base tonight and had to go first to third or something, it a very good chance I could mess it up pretty bad,” he said. “I think in a couple days it should respond pretty well.”

Edinson Volquez cut his simulated game short on Friday after feeling pain in his troublesome right elbow.
The right-hander was cruising toward a rehab assignment. “I was fine in all my bullpens,” Volquez said. “But when I threw with more intensity to hitters today, I felt it. It’s crazy. It’s not as bad as it was.” He could be headed for surgery and is obviously doubtful to return this season.

Marlins acquired first baseman Nick Johnson from the Nationals for LHP Aaron Thompson.
A big pickup for Florida. They’ll lose some range defensively by shifting Jorge Cantu back to third base, but Johnson will be an upgrade with the glove at first base and he’ll add a healthy dose of OBP at the top of the order if Fredi Gonzalez is willing to bat him second. Emilio Bonifacio will likely start in left field against left-handers and serve as a defensive replacement at third. The Nats will probably shift Adam Dunn to first base and give Elijah Dukes another opportunity in the outfield. If they want Dukes to stay in Triple-A for a little while longer, then Mike Morse would seem to be in line for a callup.

White Sox acquired RHP Jake Peavy from the Padres for LHP Aaron Poreda, LHP Clayton Richard, RHP Dexter Carter and RHP Adam Russell.
It’s a similar deal to the one the two teams agreed to in May. Peavy blocked that swap with his no-trade clause, but he accepted the deal this time. In a best-case scenario, he’ll be ready to help the White Sox in late August or early September. This is primarily a trade for 2010 and beyond, though. It’s unclear how much of Peavy’s salary the Padres are picking up. He’s owed $48 million for 2010-12, plus $22 million or a $4 million buyout in 2013.

Yesterday’s Results

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

American League
BOS     6  BAL     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
TB      8  KC      2    (Recap and Boxscore)
CHA    10  NYA     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
CLE     6  DET     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
LAA    11  MIN     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
OAK     8  TOR     5    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     5  SEA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
LAN     5  ATL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
FLA     5  CHN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
ARI     3  NYN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
COL     5  CIN     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
PIT     5  WAS     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
STL     4  HOU     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD     11  MIL     7    (Recap and Boxscore)
PHI     5  SF      1    (Recap and Boxscore)

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

Today’s Games

National League
 ---------------
 Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta Braves, 4:10 PM
  (L) Randy Wolf (5-5) vs. (R) Derek Lowe (10-7)
 Washington Nationals at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 PM
  (R) Craig Stammen (3-5) vs. (R) Virgil Vasquez (1-5)
 Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Mets, 7:10 PM
  (R) Max Scherzer (6-6) vs. (L) Oliver Perez (2-3)
 Chicago Cubs at Florida Marlins, 7:10 PM
  (R) Carlos Zambrano (7-4) vs. (R) Burke Badenhop (5-4)
 Colorado Rockies at Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 PM
  (R) Ubaldo Jimenez (7-9) vs. (R) Homer Bailey (2-2)
 Houston Astros at St. Louis Cardinals, 7:15 PM
  (L) Wandy Rodriguez (10-6) vs. (R) Chris Carpenter (9-3)
 Philadelphia Phillies at San Francisco Giants, 9:05 PM
  (R) Joe Blanton (7-4) vs. (R) Tim Lincecum (11-3)
 Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres, 10:05 PM
  (R) Mike Burns (2-3) vs. (L) Clayton Richard (0-0)
 
 American League
 ---------------
 Kansas City Royals at Tampa Bay Rays, 4:10 PM
  (L) Bruce Chen (0-5) vs. (R) Jeff Niemann (9-5)
 New York Yankees at Chicago White Sox, 4:10 PM
  (R) A.J. Burnett (10-4) vs. (L) John Danks (8-7)
 Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 PM
  (R) Rick Porcello (9-7) vs. (L) Jeremy Sowers (3-7)
 Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 PM
  (R) Josh Beckett (12-4) vs. (R) David Hernandez (3-2)
 LA Angels of Anaheim at Minnesota Twins, 7:10 PM
  (L) Joe Saunders (8-6) vs. (R) Anthony Swarzak (3-3)
 Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers, 8:05 PM
  (R) Felix Hernandez (11-4) vs. (R) Tommy Hunter (3-1)
 Toronto Blue Jays at Oakland Athletics, 9:20 PM
  (L) Brett Cecil (4-1) vs. (R) Trevor Cahill (6-9)

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     62  41 .602    0.0   59     3    
BOS     60  42 .588    1.5   59     1    
TB      56  47 .544    6.0   59    -3    
TOR     49  54 .476   13.0   55    -6    
BAL     44  58 .431   17.5   45    -1    
American League Central     
DET     53  48 .525    0.0   54    -1    
CHA     53  51 .510    1.5   53     0    
MIN     52  51 .505    2.0   53    -1    
CLE     43  60 .417   11.0   48    -5    
KC      40  62 .392   13.5   39     1    
American League West        
LAA     61  40 .604    0.0   56     5    
TEX     58  43 .574    3.0   55     3    
SEA     53  50 .515    9.0   46     7    
OAK     44  58 .431   17.5   47    -3    


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     59  42 .584    0.0   58     1    
FLA     54  49 .524    6.0   51     3    
ATL     52  51 .505    8.0   54    -2    
NYN     49  53 .480   10.5   48     1    
WAS     32  71 .311   28.0   41    -9    
National League Central     
STL     57  49 .538    0.0   57     0    
CHN     54  47 .535    0.5   54     0    
HOU     51  52 .495    4.5   46     5    
MIL     51  52 .495    4.5   49     2    
CIN     45  57 .441   10.0   42     3    
PIT     44  58 .431   11.0   48    -4    
National League West        
LAN     64  39 .621    0.0   62     2    
COL     56  47 .544    8.0   57    -1    
SF      56  47 .544    8.0   55     1    
ARI     45  58 .437   19.0   48    -3    
SD      42  62 .404   22.5   38     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
TOR AAA Travis Snider..... 6  4  4  0  0  0  0  5 RBI !
CLE AA  Matthew McBride... 4  3  1  0  2  0  0  8 RBI !
PIT AAA Jeff Clement...... 4  3  0  0  2  1  0  3 R
CLE AA  Carlos Rivero..... 5  3  1  1  1  0  0  
CIN AAA Drew Stubbs....... 4  3  1  0  0  1  1  2 SB
CLE AAA Michael Brantley.. 2  1  0  0  1  3  0  3 R
STL AA  Steve Hill........ 4  2  1  0  1  1  2  
FLA A+  Matt Dominguez.... 2  2  1  0  1  1  0  
CHW AAA Tyler Flowers..... 4  3  2  0  0  0  0  
NYY AA  Jesus Montero..... 5  3  2  0  0  0  1  3 LD
BOS AA  Ryan Kalish....... 5  3  2  0  0  0  0  
DET AAA Wilkin Ramirez.... 5  2  2  0  0  0  1  

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
STL AAA P.J. Walters...... 7  4  2  2 13  2  0  
STL A   Arquimedes Nieto.. 6  4  0  0  8  1  0  
HOU A   Jordan Lyles...... 6  3  0  0  8  2  0  
NYY AA  Jeremy Bleich..... 7  4  0  0  5  0  0  
DET A   Casey Crosby...... 4  4  4  0  6  0  0  9 GB
MIN AAA Kevin Mulvey...... 6  4  2  2  9  4  1  
PHI AA  Yohan Flande...... 7  6  4  3  6  3  0  
TEX A-  Robert Ross....... 6  5  2  2  4  1  0  11 GB
TEX A   Joseph Wieland.... 5  1  0  0  3  1  0  
TB  A   Matthew Moore..... 4  3  1  0  6  3  0  
ATL AA  Scott Diamond..... 6  5  2  2  5  3  0  
CLE AAA Carlos Carrasco... 5  8  4  4  6  1  1

First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:

Pick A TeamARIATLBALBOSCHACHNCINCLECOLDETFLAHOUKCLAALANMILMINNYANYNOAKPHIPITSDSEASFSTLTBTEXTORWAS