Archives › 2011 › March › 03

Hey, Randy Keisler is back on the baseball scene. Kind of. According to his representation’s official Twitter feed, the 35-year-old left-hander agreed to a minor league contract Thursday with the Dodgers. Keisler hasn’t pitched in a major league game since back in 2007, when he registered a 5.19 ERA and allowed 21 hits over 17.1…

According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Brewers left-hander Manny Parra was lifted from his Thursday Cactus League appearance against the A’s after just one batter due to tightness in his lower back. Parra revealed after the game that he has been dealing with back issues for much of spring training. The Brewers…

The Rockies got a little scare from shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on Thursday in camp. The 26-year-old was lifted prematurely from the Rockies’ Grapefruit League game against the Giants after nailing his right heel with the tip of his bat on a hard third-strike swing. A trainer met him just outside the batter’s box and he…

The Yankees still aren’t sure how serious Francisco Cervelli‘s left foot injury might be. The 24-year-old catcher exited Wednesday’s Grapefruit League game against the Astros after fouling a ball off his foot. Trainers took him immediately for an MRI and CT scan, but the results on both tests were inconclusive. Now those MRI and CT…

From the Reds’ official Twitter feed, here’s a picture of the Dusty Baker bobblehead doll the team will be giving away for the July 2 game against the Indians, which pretty brilliantly incorporates the manager’s penchant for dugout toothpick usage:

When the Cardinals signed Lance Berkman to an $8 million deal this offseason guys like me wondered about the wisdom of asking a 35-year-old who’s not in particularly outstanding shape and hasn’t played the outfield since 2007 to be an everyday right fielder. Sub par defense is all but assured, as Berkman was hardly a…

Koji Uehara won’t throw for at least a few days after getting a cortisone injection today in his right elbow. Uehara told Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com that the injury “is not even serious” and described it as merely “arm fatigue,” but the closer candidate has had elbow problems in the past and re-signed with the…

And, in addition to the photo, we have an exclusive transcript of Dunn’s inner-monologue!

Carlos Ruiz‘s wife gave birth yesterday and, as Bryan Graham of SI.com amusingly points out, the couple’s second child arrived “nine months to the day of Roy Halladay‘s perfect game.” Even better, the baby boy’s name is Carlos. But not Carlos Jr., because Ruiz’s first son already got that name when he was born eight…

Ronald Belisario thinks he’ll be joining the Dodgers as soon as he finds his passport and his agent thinks he’ll sit out the entire season due to visa issues, but whatever the case he’s a no-show at spring training and has now been placed on the restricted list. That doesn’t necessarily change Belisario’s status with…

Prior to today’s Red Sox-Phillies spring training game Philadelphia general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told reporters that he believes Boston is “the best team in baseball.” He added: “I think, the combo of speed, power, bullpen … they’re a helluva ball club. They don’t have a lot of holes.” Bookmakers disagree, at least right now,…

Michael Cuddyer, who’s expected to miss the next couple weeks, posted the picture on Twitter and … well, you were warned:

Two days after experiencing “mild concussion symptoms” from an errant batting practice ball to the head Josh Beckett has been cleared for a “normal day” of workouts and is scheduled to throw a three-inning simulated game tomorrow. Beckett passed various brain function tests yesterday and barring a setback he’ll be lined up to start Tuesday,…

Astros manager Brad Mills announced today that 24-year-old starting catcher Jason Castro will likely need surgery to repair a torn medial meniscus in his right knee. According to Mills there’s no timetable yet for Castro’s recovery because “they’re going to have to see once they get in there how much damage and what they have…

Earlier this morning we passed along word that Citi Field has the best infield dirt in all of baseball.  I’m no grounds keeping expert, but I can’t help but think that the infield here at Camelback Ranch may not play quite as true: I mean, really, there are gonna be some bad bounces out there!…

General manager Jon Daniels and the Rangers are on the verge of announcing a multi-year contract extension, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Rangers president Nolan Ryan called an extension for Daniels a “priority” earlier in the offseason and Grant reports that the deal could become official as soon as today. Daniels,…

No, really: the actual dirt: About two weeks before the players reported for spring training in February, a firm called Natural Sand Company trucked in two loads of dark, brown clay from its mine in central Pennsylvania and, with the assistance of the grounds crew here, completely renovated the infield skin at the main stadium, creating…

Andy Martino of the Daily News says that two major league sources are telling him that if Oliver Perez doesn’t show “significant improvement” over his last outing when he takes the hill this afternoon that the Mets are going to cut him.  This despite Terry Collins’ statement yesterday that Perez will have additional starts beyond…

The little fracas between Carlos Silva and Aramis Ramirez was just frustration at a bad, error-filled and dinger-filled inning, the Cubs said late yesterday. No biggie and they’re past it now.  Aramis Ramirez: “That was the only thing that happened, so it was obvious he was kind of upset … We talked about it, and…

Coco Crisp tweets a lot. He didn’t tweet after his DUI the other night or most of the day yesterday, but late last night he did, and he tweets his regrets over his DUI: Sorry to everyone! my family, friends, MLB and my fans. I know I let a lot of ppl down and again…