Archives › 2011 › June › 01

Magglio Ordonez has been cleared for game action after taking two weeks off to rest his surgically repaired ankle, so he’ll begin a rehab assignment Friday at Triple-A. According to Jason Beck of MLB.com the Tigers haven’t said how long they expect Ordonez to spend in the minors, so presumably his bat will determine the…

I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other when it comes to either (a) MLB.com’s Royals beat writer Dick Kaegel; or (b) press box etiquette. But I do really like this story for some reason: Moneyball comes out 09/23. When filming in press box at OAK last year one KC reporter refused to move…

There’s still no timetable for Joe Mauer‘s return from the leg problems traced back to offseason knee surgery, but manager Ron Gardenhire reiterated yesterday that whenever Mauer does come off the disabled list it will be as the Twins’ catcher. Ever since Mauer suffered a season-ending knee injury as a rookie in 2004 a certain…

Bob Klapisch writes about Bartolo Colon and the stem cell procedure he received.  He doesn’t go as far as John Harper did with Jose Bautista in terms of veiled accusations of PED use, but if you could find any evidence in his story that he believes Colon and his doctor when they say that Colon…

Matt Garza is eligible to return from the disabled list Friday and the Cubs were initially hoping his elbow injury would be healed enough for him to face the Cardinals this weekend, but Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago says those plans have been scratched. Garza threw from flat ground Monday and said afterward that “everything…

We noted the Dodgers’ attendance problems a little while ago, but let’s not let the Mets off the hook either.  Nate Silver has a story about that in the New York Times with graphs and everything.  The key takeaway: you can’t simply blame the poor performance, because even if you control for that and other…

Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune tweeting about his duties as the Cubs beat writer, which this morning included asking Carlos Zambrano how he felt after breaking a bat over his leg last night: Oh jeez. Big Z just pulled his pants down to show me his legs. No bruises. “I got soccer legs.” Watching…

HBT is not exactly your go-to source for World Baseball Classic information.  I just did a search of the archives, and apart from random mentions of international players who may have once played in the WBC, the last two posts we had about the thing was (a) Joe Torre saying that managing in the WBC…

Cameron Maybin‘s reign as the Padres’ center fielder is on hold after 50 games because of a knee injury that sent him to the disabled list. Corey Brock of MLB.com reports that an MRI exam revealed no structural damage, but Maybin had been playing through the injury for two weeks before sitting out the past…

A pretty stunning stat from Steve Dilbeck at the L.A. Times: Through Monday attendance in Major League Baseball is down 237,983 through the same number of games in 2010.  207,612 of that decline — a whopping 87% — is accounted for by the Los Angeles Dodgers alone. Wow. I said it in the last McCourt…

Matt Holliday sat out for most of six games, getting some pinch-hit duty only, with a bad quad. The Cardinals said he didn’t need a trip to the DL, and they started him on Sunday. Then was scratched again last night. Now he’s heading for an MRI and, probably, a trip to the disabled list,…

Justin Morneau told reporters prior to last night’s game that he’s been playing through a pinched nerve in his neck that required cortisone shots and may lead to offseason surgery. And then he went out and homered twice against the Tigers. Morneau’s season totals are still ugly, but he hit .264 with four homers and…

Buster Olney reports that Oakland Athletics’ GM Billy Beane has told catcher Kurt Suzuki that he should avoid collisions at home plate, telling Suzuki:  ”I don’t subscribe to the theory you should be a crash-test dummy … I don’t want to lose you for six months.” Seems smart, because if you just leave it up…

Frank McCourt’s debt addiction got him and the Dodgers into their current dire straits, so it makes total sense that, as May payroll loomed yesterday, he continued to borrow in order to avoid a takeover by Major League Baseball.  It’s just what he does. That according to ESPN’s Molly Knight, who reports that McCourt met…

I mentioned this in the recaps, but it’s due it’s own post: Cubs’ closer Carlos Marmol was absolutely hammered last night, blowing the game against the Astros in epic-style.  Taking the ball with a 3-1 lead at the beginning of the ninth inning, it went like this: Single Double Double Sacrifice — hey, an out!…

Top prospects for two teams — the Giants’ Brandon Belt and the Blue Jays’ Brett Lawrie — each had scares yesterday as they were each hit by pitches on the left wrist.  Each of them also received good news: in both cases no bones were broken and the diagnosis was a mere bruise. Lawrie’s little…