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Briefs: Cards to place ace Wainwright on 15-day DL
2008-06-10 04:26:00
Monday's MLB news briefs: Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright will be placed on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday.
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Reds lose another SS -- Hairston fractures thumb
2008-06-10 04:02:00
Cincinnati Reds shortstop Jerry Hairston left the game Monday night against the Florida Marlins after fracturing his left thumb.
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A-Ron's Players of the Week
2008-06-10 03:07:00
BY ADAM RONIS National League Offensive Player of the Week -- Chipper Jones (Braves): Jones went 11-for-19 (.579) with four runs, three homers, six RBIs and two stolen bases. American League Offensive Player of the Week -- Milton Bradley (Rangers): Bradley went 11-for-23 (.478) with 12 runs, five home runs, nine RBIs and four stolen bases. National League Pitcher of the Week -- Jonathan Sanchez (Giants): Sanchez went 2-0. In 14 innings, he struck out 12 and had a 1.29 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. American League Pitcher of the Week -- Francisco Rodriguez (Angels): K-Rod pitched five innings and picked up five saves. He struck out six and had a 1.80 ERA and 0.60 WHIP.
More About: Players

Phil the Pirate
2008-06-10 02:00:00
When the Pirate s cut ties with Matt Morris they needed to replace his spot in the rotation. Opting to fill the role with someone already on the major league club, reliever Phil Dumatrait soon found himself a starter. Since assuming the position he has performed quite well; in fact, he has pitched better ...

Weeks to DL
2008-06-10 01:57:00
BY ADAM RONIS The Brewers have placed second baseman Rickie Weeks on the 15-day DL with a sprained left knee. He is eligible to return on June 22, but he could be out longer. Weeks has been injury prone in his career and never hits for average.

Griffey will be remembered as the slugger who did it right
2008-06-10 01:49:00
The greatest tribute to Ken Griffey Jr. is that when he is compared to somebody, it isn't even to other players of his own era. It is to the man who was the all-time home run king before Barry Bonds came along. "(Griffey will) be seen as a guy who accomplished things honestly," says Kevin Grace, author, teacher and archivist at the University of Cincinnati, "and will probably be compared to (Hank) Aaron."Is there a higher honor? Griffey will be viewed by history as "a decent guy with incredible talent who achieved what he did through hard work — despite crippling injuries," says Grace.Is there a higher distinction?Griffey's contemporary sluggers in the 600 home run club —Bonds and Sammy Sosa — are tainted because of admitted or suspected steroid use. Only Griffey will be viewed as noble. His legacy will not be in his home run total, but in having done it the right way. Is there a higher place in the pantheon?The highest-profile sluggers of Griffey's era — ...

ChiSox sweep Twins, roll off seventh straight win
2008-06-10 01:43:00
Nick Swisher homered from both sides of the plate and the Chicago White Sox completed a dominant four-game sweep, beating the Minnesota Twins 7-5 on Monday for their seventh straight victory.
More About: Roll , Straight , Sweep

Line of the Day: Nick Swisher
2008-06-10 01:21:00
Nick Swisher: 2-for-2, 2 runs, 2 HR, 3 RBIThe first third of the season, you'd be hard pressed to find two bigger busts than supposed AL sluggers Nick Swisher and Ryan Garko. However, both have turned it on something fierce recently, and each added to their burgeoning home-run totals again tonight. Swisher had two dingers though, so he gets LotD honors.
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Live player updates via Rotoworld
2008-06-10 01:10:00
A bit of site news: I added a Rotoworld widget in our right-side column (you need to scroll down just a bit to see it) that updates with live player updates from the popular fantasy site. So now you can get your Rotoworld fix while perusing the Hurler. There are a few other widgets I'm looking at for the site, including a live chat one. (We have enough readers now that we could possibly get some real-time discussion going on occasion.) Look for more new features soon ...
More About: Player , Updates , Live

The Day in Review
2008-06-10 01:09:00
Hate to short you guys, but with another short slate of games comes another short day in review.Injury NewsRickie Weeks hit the DL for Milwaukee. He hasn't been exciting and looks like he'll be out for a while. Seek a trade, maybe for the underperforming Robinson Cano.Ryan Church hit the DL for the Mets, who will probably off-set it with a Moises Alou return. Notable PerformancesDavid Ortiz owners, if you're still looking at a big hole at first, pick up Nick Swisher. He's had a great week, capped off with homers from both sides of the plate today. He had a terrible two months but finally seems to be hitting well.Of the spot starters, Mike Mussina threw eight strong innings with no walks, only to watch Mariano Rivera blow the save. Jesse Litch threw six innings and gave up two runs, but also 10 hits.A-Rod continued his hot streak with another home run. And congratulations to Ken Griffey, Jr., for becoming a member of the 600 club. It's been my pleasure to watch him play basebal...
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Brewers' Weeks listed day-to-day with sprained knee
2008-06-09 23:56:00
Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks was diagnosed with a sprained left knee and is listed as day-to-day going into the team's series at Houston starting Tuesday.
More About: Brewers , Listed

Ivan Rodriguez To Lose Playing Time
2008-06-09 23:45:00
Ivan Rodriguez , the Tigers' $13MM catcher, will now be used in a platoon with Brandon Inge.  They'll alternate starts behind the plate. Rodriguez, 36, is hitting .245 (AVG)/.286 (OBP)/.349 (SLG) in 208 plate appearances.  This didn't come out of nowhere - PECOTA had him at .267/.295/.390.  PECOTA is a projection system developed by Baseball Prospectus.  The PECOTA system uses comparable players to make its estimates. Hot stove implications of Jim Leyland's new plan: the Tigers will learn if Brandon Inge can be their everyday catcher in 2009 (Inge is signed through 2010).  If not, the Tigers seem more likely to explore the free agent market than to re-sign Pudge.  What a difference a few months can make - last offseason the Tigers exercised Rodriguez's $13MM option and tried to trade Inge.
More About: Time , Ivan Rodriguez , Ivan

Guillen's tie-breaking shot off Rivera lifts Royals
2008-06-09 23:13:00
Jose Guillen finished off his big series against the New York Yankees in style, hitting a tiebreaking solo home run off Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning Monday to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 3-2 win.
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Offense Wanted
2008-06-09 22:50:00
Tampa Bay has been one of the fun, feel good stories of 2008. After nothing but failure in their franchises history, Tampa has finally been able to convert some of their talent into wins, and they currently have a comfortable three game lead over the Oakland Athletics in the A.L. Wild Card race. ...
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Crucial call, rattled Big Unit bad combo for D-Backs
2008-06-09 22:43:00
The Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage of a rattled Randy Johnson and a reversed home run call to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 on Monday.
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Who says Mondays suck?
2008-06-09 22:09:00
So far, so good for my weekly-lineup money-league team! Check out these early lines ...
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Red Sox change times to avoid conflict with Celtics
2008-06-09 21:49:00
The Red Sox are moving up the starting times of two games against Baltimore this week so that Boston fans will not have to choose between watching baseball and the Celtics in the NBA Finals.
More About: Change , Conflict , Times , Avoid

Drink Up Travis!
2008-06-09 21:38:00
One thing I complain about in private when it comes to world politics is how little we know about our neighbors to the north. Turns out, I?m just as guilty as everyone else. I know who the Pirme Minister is and I understand how their government works and I?ve even been there on multiple occasions, ...
More About: Drink , Travis , General

Struggling Mariners fire hitting coach, promote Elia
2008-06-09 21:04:00
The slumping Seattle Mariners fired hitting coach Jeff Pentland on Monday and replaced him with special assistant Lee Elia.
More About: Promote , Fire , Coach

Chasing the Treble Week 10 - June Gloom
2008-06-09 20:38:00
If you haven't lived in or visited Southern California, you're probably not all too familiar with the term the natives throw around, called "June Gloom", which is a morning weather pattern we have in these parts, referring to the blanket of clouds and/or fog (called a marine layer) that covers much of Southern California, primarily the beachread more
More About: Week , Treble

Scouting the NL Central
2008-06-09 20:29:00
BY ADAM RONIS CHICAGO CUBS Buy low -- Aramis Ramirez: He has been pretty quiet so far and still has nine homers, 42 RBIs and 40 runs. He was excellent in June and July last season. His power surge should come and he'll drive in a lot of runs. He doesn't strike out a lot and his OBP is over .400. Sell high -- Ryan Dempster: The converted reliever has already surpassed his innings total from the last two years. He has already thrown 80 2/3 innings and he hasn't thrown more than 100 innings since the 115 2/3 he did in 2003. The year before he had 209 innings. That's a long stretch and in his last two starts, he has gone five and 5 1/3 innings with a 8/6 K/BB ratio. Control is still an issue with him. Sell fast. Pickup -- Mark DeRosa: He's still available in some leagues and he has been productive. He's also eligible at several positions. CINCINNATI REDS Buy low -- Aaron Harang: Harang was pitching well and getting no run support. Now, he's been pitching poorly lately. On May 25...
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Trades A Plenty Paying Off for Athletics
2008-06-09 20:00:00
The Oakland Athletics organization has received a lot of ink over its drafting philosophies, but Billy Beane’s trades tend to get overlooked. The general manager brought a number of highly-touted (and not-so-touted) prospects into the struggling minor league system this past off-season. As such, now is the perfect time to spend the week taking a ...
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BABIP, Anyone?
2008-06-09 19:00:00
Time for another installment of everyone's favorite BABIP, Anyone ? series. Here we look at pitchers with abnormal batting averages on balls in play. I've incorporated ISO into the chart as well. ISO, or Isolated Power, is calculated as SLG-BA. It...

Game Report: Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
2008-06-09 18:30:00
In a game that started with some early thunder, the fireworks were put out relatively early. The major league leading Chicago Cubs handled the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1, behind 6 1/3 strong innings from veteran starter Jason Marquis. With the Dodgers already training 1-0 in the bottom of the first, LA lead-off man Juan Pierre singled. ...
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The New ?Big Three?
2008-06-09 18:00:00
Last week I took a look at how the members of Atlanta’s former big three—Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine—are currently performing. It only made sense to now take a look at Atlanta’s newest incarnation of a big three. The quotes in the title do not imply sarcasm but rather denote the ...

Captain's (B)log - H2HWS Week 10
2008-06-09 17:52:00
OK, hands up all those who faced a team with 5-save K-Rod. This is where I put both hands up, since both of my opponents this week had him in their line-up! And to make matters worse, even though my World Series team has Scot Shields, I didn't pick up one hold, since he was injured all week! Frustrated is not the word! read more
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Braves Purchase Brian Lawrence's Contract
2008-06-09 17:47:00
32 year-old righty Brian Lawrence made six starts for the Mets last year and 16 in Triple A.  He'd missed all of '06 due to rotator cuff and labrum surgery.  Before that, he'd been a useful innings eater. This year Lawrence found himself playing independent ball for the Camden Riversharks playing alongside familiar names such as Ryan Drese and Jamal Strong.  He posted a 3.21 ERA in eight starts.  Today, the Braves purchased Lawrence's contract and assigned him to Triple A.
More About: Contract , Purchase

MLB Review
2008-06-09 17:44:00
Now that I'm finally back with a wireless connection, let's review the fantasy landscape. Click here to download the valuation sheet. Overall MVP: Lance Berkman [$49.68] - .374 AVG, 17 HR, 59 R, 48 RBI, 10 SB Average Player With Positive Value: [$12.00] - .283 AVG, 8 HR, 31 R, 30 RBI, 4 SB Best HR Source: Chase Utley [21] Best R Source: Lance Berkman [59] Best RBI Source: Josh Hamilton [69] Best SB Source: Jacoby Ellsbury [28] Best AVG Source: Chipper Jones [.420]   Catchers MVP: Brian McCann [$27.09] - .303 AVG, 12 HR, 30 R, 37 RBI, 0 SB Average Player With Positive Value: [$10.12] - .288 AVG, 5 HR, 19 R, 23 RBI, 1 SB Replacement Level Player: Jorge Posada [$1.00] - .310 AVG, 2 HR, 10 R, 13 RBI, 0 SB Best HR Source: Brian McCann [12] Best R Source: Joe Mauer [37] Best RBI Source: Bengie Molina [40] Best SB Source: Russell Martin [5] Best AVG Source: Joe Mauer [.335] Sell High Candidates: Miguel Olivo [$11.57], Chris Coste [$7.83] Buy Low Candidates: Victor Martinez [$3.12], Jor...
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Danks Brothers Leave Boras
2008-06-09 17:34:00
According to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, John and Jordan Danks have left the Scott Boras Corporation in favor of Jeff Berry.  Gonzales notes that Berry represents Mark Buehrle and Josh Fields as well. This development may make a long-term deal for John Danks more likely.  The 23 year-old southpaw is in the midst of a breakout year with a 3.13 ERA through 74.6 innings.  Historically, the White Sox haven't been huge fans of Boras.  Danks will be eligible for arbitration in 2010.  The going rate for a good young pitcher's three arb years is around $14MM, sometimes with a club option on the third.  Several years ago the Sox signed Buehrle to a three-year deal covering his arb years plus an option on his first of free agency.
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Garza, Navarro scuffle in Tampa dugout
2008-06-09 17:06:00
Now the Tampa Bay Rays are fighting among themselves.Rays starting pitcher Matt Garza and catcher Dioner Navarro had to be separated in the dugout — minutes after an angry confrontation on the mound — in a 6-3 loss at Texas yesterday in which Tampa Bay missed a chance for its first series sweep on the road this season. "This wasn't pretty today. It was a bad day all around," leftfielder Carl Crawford said."It was nothing, in-house kind of stuff, things that happen on occasion and we took care of it," manager Joe Maddon insisted, without being specific. "It was shoving, that was it. It's been taken care of."After Rangers No. 9 hitter German Duran hit a two-run homer for a 3-0 lead in the fourth, Garza and Navarro had a heated exchange on the mound, sticking their gloves into each other's face. Pitching coach Jim Hickey pushed Navarro back toward the plate when he visited the mound. When the inning ended, Garza approached Navarro in the dugout. Television cameras caught...