They haven’t done much in free agency, but the Mariners have spent $140,000 to sign 17-year-old outfielder Luis Liberato out of the Dominican Republic.
Ben Badler of Baseball America describes the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Liberato as having “a mature approach to hitting from the left side with gap power and advanced baseball instincts for his age.” For now he’s a center fielder, but Badler writes that he could wind up in a corner spot eventually.
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Vin Scully will take over the Dodgers Twitter for tonight’s Yankees-Dodgers game
Jun 19, 2013, 9:43 AM EDT
AP
This could either be great fun or a total disaster: #VinScully will take over @Dodgers for the second game of the doubleheader. The twittering and hashtaging begins at 4pm PT. — Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 18, 2013 Since the Dodgers are on the east coast Scully isn’t travelling with the team and will…
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Reuters
Fun story from Jeff Passan at Yahoo!. In the course of his Matt Harvey/Zack Wheeler feature he passes along a tale from last year when Matt Harvey was a rookie and Jon Rauch was a reliever for the Mets. It seems that Harvey was trying to take a nap in the clubhouse and Rauch tried…
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It’s hard to grasp how truly awful Josh Hamilton was on Tuesday night. He came to the plate five times. Here’s what happened: First Inning: No score, Mike Trout on first, nobody out, Hamilton grounds into a double play; Third Inning: Mariners up 2-1, Mike Trout on first, nobody out, Hamilton grounds into a double…
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Brandon DuBreuil of the Manny Does Taiwan blog passes along some Asian news reports which say that Manny Ramirez has been removed from the roster of the Taiwanese team for which he has been playing and will leave the country on June 21. There are mixed reports about why he is leaving, with some saying he…
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Mets 4, Braves 3; Mets 6, Braves 1: New York Mets fans are hoping this is a glimpse of the future. Matt Harvey dominating in one game, Zack Wheeler dominating in the next. And, worth noting, Dillion Gee dominating in the game before those even if they did lose in the end. There’s so much…
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Indians closer Chris Perez is scheduled to be activated from the disabled list this Friday. But there’s reason to wonder whether that will happen. Perez made a rehab appearance — his second — on Tuesday evening with the Double-A Akron Aeros and got absolutely shelled. Facing the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate from Trenton, New Jersey, the…
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The Zack Wheeler era began on a promising note. Making his major league debut on Tuesday evening as part of a doubleheader at Atlanta’s Turner Field, the 23-year-old right-hander tossed six scoreless innings, fanning seven Braves batters and allowing just four hits. Wheeler issued a total of five walks and looked a little bit shaky…
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As first reported by Alex Speier of WEEI.com, the Red Sox have placed starter Clay Buchholz on the 15-day disabled list because of a neck strain. The move was made retroactive to June 9, so the right-hander will be eligible for activation in a week. Buchholz tested his neck with a bullpen session on Tuesday…
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Donovan Tate, a spring training no-show, has finally returned to the Padres organization
Jun 18, 2013, 8:28 PM EDT
Four Seam Images
Donovan Tate, the third overall pick in the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft, was a no-show this spring at Padres camp due to what was described by club officials as a personal matter. Now more than four months later, that personal matter has apparently been resolved. Corey Brock of MLB.com reports that Tate finally arrived at…
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More injury issues here for the Toronto Blue Jays. According to MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm, right-hander Brandon Morrow suffered a minor setback Monday during his rehab debut with High-A Dunedin and has been sent back to Toronto to have his ailing forearm examined by the Blue Jays’ team doctors. Morrow was placed on the 15-day disabled…
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Amanda Comak of the Washington Times reports that Denard Span is back in the Nationals’ starting lineup on Tuesday night against the Phillies after sitting out Monday due to a bruised right foot. Span has fouled two different balls off his foot this month but has managed to avoid a major injury. He is starting…
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As expected the Rockies announced that Roy Oswalt will be called up from the minors to start Thursday against the Nationals. Oswalt, who signed a minor-league deal with Colorado last month, posted a 2.16 ERA and 25/7 K/BB ratio in 33 innings spread over five starts at Double-A to convince the Rockies he was ready…
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The San Jose lawsuit against Major League Baseball should be thrown out of court
Jun 18, 2013, 4:32 PM EDT
So I’ve read over the lawsuit filed by San Jose against Major League Baseball. Initial reaction: it’s more full of crap than Bob Melvin’s office was on Sunday afternoon. The essence of the suit: Major League Baseball is a monopoly. It should be an unlawful monopoly. This would-be unlawful monopoly is preventing the Athletics from…
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Reuters
The injury hits just keep on coming for the Yankees, who announced that Kevin Youkilis needs surgery to repair a herniated disc and will be out for 10-12 weeks. That puts Youkilis’ season in jeopardy, because 10 weeks would get him into September and any setbacks would leave him running out of time. Youkilis hit…
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AP
Lonnie Chisenhall began the season as the Indians’ starting third baseman, got demoted to the minors after hitting just .213 with a .604 OPS in 26 games, and is now back in the majors after crushing Triple-A pitching for a month. Chisenhall hit .390 with six homers and a 1.132 OPS in 27 games at…
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Cancel the no-hitter alert: Matt Harvey gives up an infield single to Jason Heyward
Jun 18, 2013, 3:10 PM EDT
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UPDATE: Forget it. Jason Heyward just reached on an infield single. A weird looking one as Harvey fielded the ball between the mound and first and then flipped it to … no one. Scored an infield hit, which makes sense considering that errors are rarely called on bad decisions by fielders — in this case…
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Reuters
General manager Brian Cashman hinted pretty strongly yesterday that Mark Teixeira was headed back to the disabled list and sure enough the Yankees are making the move, shutting down the first baseman again with more wrist problems. Teixeira managed to play just 15 games between DL stints, hitting .151 with a .609 OPS after missing…
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San Jose sues Major League Baseball, challenging its monopoly power
Jun 18, 2013, 2:27 PM EDT
The City of San Jose has sued Major League Baseball in an effort to get the Oakland A’s to relocate to San Jose, to challenge the Giants claim to rights over the territory and to challenge Major League Baseball’s long-standing monopoly power. The lawsuit, a copy of which can be seen here, and which is analyzed…
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Jon Hamm is a big St. Louis Cardinals fan and Ryan Fagan of The Sporting News talked to the “Mad Men” star about a bunch of baseball topics, including: SN: Are you friends with any of the current Cardinals? HAMM: I know a couple of them. I wouldn’t say “friends” but I’m text pals with…
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Original Biogenesis source: “the people running Major League Baseball are the biggest scumbags on Earth”
Jun 18, 2013, 2:00 PM EDT
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This reads like a crime thriller. It’s the story of Porter Fischer, the Biogenesis employee who took Tony Bosch’s notes and records, turned them over to the Miami New Times and unleashed the biggest PEDs scandal since BALCO. He has allowed the Miami Times to tell his story. All kinds of unseemliness here. A large…