David Wright fouled a ball off his left big toe hard enough crack a toenail in last night's 10-6 loss to Venezuela in the WBC. Yesterday's loss of Kevin Youkilis to injury (see below) left the US team without an infield backup so David played the entire game on a sloppy field in Miami. X-rays were negative after the game and Wright declared after the game that it was "100%" that he would play in the semifinals in LA this weekend. This is a nasty and painful injury, but it doesn't appear to threaten Wright's regular season outlook.
Hanley Ramirez was scratched from yesterday's exhibition with what was diagnosed as rotator cuff tendinitis. It's not as bad as it sounds. Baseball Ops for the Marlins says that Hanley mays miss a game or two but this injury should not encroach on the regular season.
Cole Hamels (elbow) said on Wednesday that Phillies fans "have nothing to worry about" . Hamels says that he could pitch now "and it wouldn't kill me" and he hopes to be ready for Opening Day. Hamels was upbeat after his examination showed no structural damage in what has been a troublesome elbow. The worry this time was mainly about bone spurs but his joint appeared to be smooth. The Phillies won't need a 5th starter until April 20th and they could hold Cole out until then, but this morning that doesn't look necessary.
The Dallas Morning News reported yesterday that the Rangers aren't likely to opt to keep Andruw Jones, which means he has the option of opting out of his minor league contract on Friday. The Rangers should decide today, if they haven't already. It's hard to believe this guy hit 51 HRs in 2005 with a 128 RBI and hit 41 HRs the year afterwards. Up until last year Andruw's indicators remain relatively stable but last season his K rate jumped 12.3% to 36.4% in 209 ABs, his OBP dropped to .256, and his BHIP% was down to .231 ... The stats column that most closely mirrors his overall decline is his HR/FB ratio which was 25.2% in 2005, then 22.0%, 13.4%, and a mere 5.8% last season. He's chasing pitches more, starting in 2006 with a chase rate of 21.6% of pitches outside the zone, Andruw has chased 27.3% in 2007 and 28.4% last year ... UGH. You can reasonably suspect steroids here, but that doesn't account for all of it. In any event in Jones we have one of the most stunning performance declines in recent memory and things don't look any brighter ahead.
Expect Derrek Lee to miss a at least another day or two with his quad issues. He's experiencing soreness in his right quad, but no one seems to be overly concerned.
Corey Koskie has caught the Cubs' attention in camp and he's pushing for a roster spot to provide back up in the corner infield positions. Koskie has not played a game in the majors since July of 2006 because of post-concussion syndrome. He says he feels fine. Corey owns a pair of seasons with homer totals in the mid-twenties (the latest being 2004) and likely would have approached those totals in 2005 for the Blue Jays and 2006 for the Brewers had he approached 500 ABs and indeed has 23 HRs in 611 ABs between those two seasons. With Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez in front of him, it seems unlikely he'll see much time and he probably could find a better PT situation somewhere else, but the Cubs are very thin at the positions. Should Corey run into 450 ABs in some scenario he may generate some fantasy value. But with the Cubs he's just a guy to keep an eye on if an injury opens up some ABs.
Dusty Baker is at it again. The Reds manager says he may start Homer Bailey in the Red's bullpen this season. It is true that the starting rotation should be pretty much set with Harang, Volquez, Arroyo, Cuerto and Micah Owens, and Homer is not ready to supplant any of those starters but the fact remains that Bailey has more to accomplish in AAA. Last season he made 19 AAA starts, going 4-7 with a 4.77 ERA on a 1.47 WHIP. Homer fanned 7.7/9 while walking 3.7/9 and opponents hit .273 off of him. And that was his second tour at AAA. The fact of the matter is that Homer is all out of synch mechanically. He's a mess. Reports are that he doesn't possess the greatest work ethic to boot ... Add in a manager who knows very little about developing young players, let alone pitchers, and we are looking at serious problems here. I'll lay odds that Homer will have a major shoulder surgery before he wins 10 games in a major league season. Mechanics can see a "light-switch" fix, so feel free to hang on to Homer if your league has deep reserves, but at this point Bailey will have to re-establish himself as a top prospect.
Red Sox Catching - The Red Sox released Josh Bard on Wednesday leaving the back up role to Jason Varitek to George Kottaras. That role should be at least a bit bigger this year as it has become apparent that The Captain is an offensive liability. The Red Sox need to start planning for the post-Varitek era and having their top prospect apprentice under him at the big league level this year makes a lot of sense, both from the standpoint of Kottaras' development and the team assessing their catching assets as they approach the trade deadline and the 2009 offseason. In his third try at AAA last season Kottaras hit .243 in 395 ABs with a neutral .281 BHIP%. He slugged .456% however with 22 HRs. His K rate was slugger-high at 27.8% but he has kept it near 25% the rest of his AAA career and he walked 13% of the time (probably a show of respect he won't get in the big leagues). Kottaras has the skills to be a viable fantasy property as a #2 with enough PT. Last year Varitek left only 146 ABs for the backups. If Kottaras get 100 more ABs that's still not enough to get you terribly excited. There may be a day when Kottaras is worthy of our attention ... but this years draft day does not look to be that day.
Aaron Boone announced on Wednesday that he will have open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve. The announcement ends his 2009 season and in all likelihood the 26 year old's playing career. But that determination will be made after the procedure and his recovery from it.
Rays' manager Joe Maddon says that Jason Isringhausen will probably see some early-season save opps as Troy Percival's workload is watched closely. Maddon indicated that there are no issues with Percival and the team is happy with his work and stuff this spring, but he recognizes that he is going to have to pace his closer if he wants him to be effective down the stretch.
Damaso Marte threw 30 pitches in the bullpen earlier this week and all went well. He is scheduled for another side session today and if his shoulder responds appropriately, he could see game action this weekend.
Jim Thome saw his first action in 10 days on Wednesday going 2- for -4. Jim has been battling a balky back and you can expect more outages during the season. His absence would have been much shorter during the regular season, but there's no reason to push him here. There's no reason to expect a drop off here this year either. Jim's zone command, fly ball ratio, and HR/FB ratio are all holding steady for the 38-year-old slugger. His rate of chasing pitches out of the zone is in a 3-year decline starting at 14.8% in 06, followed by 16.0% in 07, and 19.2% last year, but so far that hasn't shown up in his K rate or his scoring columns. Expect MOTS ... more of the same ... in 2009.
It looks like Kevin Youkilis' WBC experience is over for 2009. He left the team and returned to Fort Myers to have his ankle examined, USA manager Davey Johnson says Youk said his ankle was sore this weekend, but there's isn't a specific moment that can account for the injury. Right now Kevin is not expected to play in the semis in LA this weekend and the Red Sox would likely squelch any such ideas. Right now the injury is being labeled a mild sprain and there also appears to be some inflammation in his left Achilles. More when we get it.
With his three hits yesterday, Jordan Schafer is batting .500 over 20 ABs since returning from his sprained shoulder. He has also added 3 SBs in that span. Schafer is battling Josh Anderson for the center field and appears to have the inside track.
Nationals Starting Pitching - The Nationals placed Shawn Hill on waivers Wednesday for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release. Shawn has managed just 28 starts and 160.2 IP over the last two seasons and his injury history played a big role in the decision to release him according to GM Mike Rizzo. The roster moves leaves the 4th and 5th slots for the Nationals up for grabs between Colin Balester, Shairon Martis, and Jordan Zimmerman. Zimmerman should have one of those slots nailed down ... Believe it or not season tickets are still available from the Nationals ticket office.
Robinson Cano went 2- for -4 as the Yankees DH on Wednesday. Cano gave the Yankees a scare when he came back from the WBC with a sore shoulder but it's possible that he could end up playing second base on Friday.
The Yankees say that Hideki Matsui (both knees, one surgically repaired) will likely be limited to DH duties until mid-June when interleague play starts. That limits opportunities for rest for Johnny Damon, and it also limits the ability to get Jorge Posada into the lineup should he not be able to catch. Posada is coming off shoulder surgery but still hopes to carry the bulk of the load behind the plate.
Chris Carpenter threw 6 scoreless innings in a split-squad game with the Orioles on Wednesday. He fanned three but more importantly threw 15 ground ball outs in the outing. The New Hampshire native has a 2.32 career GB/FB ratio and his performance yesterday in that column is a very encouraging indicator. Chris has yet to allow a run this spring and his stock continues to rise.
Chris Ray threw a perfect inning at the Cards on Wednesday, striking out 2 and lowering his spring ERA to 1.50 over 6 IP. With George Sherrill struggling, Chris may return to the closers role earlier than we anticipated.
The Twins are expected to announcement an update regarding Joe Mauer's health status today. No major news is expected here. Last week's preliminary diagnosis is standing up. Joe has an inflamed right sacroiliac joint, a condition that is treated without surgery. The Twins will likely use the luxury of the last two weeks of spring training to allow as much treatment and rest as possible in the hopes that they aren't playing catch up with the injury all year long. No word yet on his prospects for Opening Day but that will probably be addressed today.
