Archives › Aaron Gleeman

Chris Iannetta has been linked to the Red Sox for a while now, in part because they need catching help both short and long term and in part because the Rockies don’t seem to appreciate what they have in a 27-year-old backstop with an .808 career OPS. However, according to Peter Gammons the Rockies aren’t…

Joe Nathan played catch yesterday for the first time since undergoing Tommy John elbow surgery in March, making 20 throws from flat ground at a distance of 45 feet. Starting to throw again from flat ground is merely the first big step on the long road back from Tommy John surgery and Nathan is still…

Already on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle, Cardinals rookie third baseman David Freese broke his left big toe while working out yesterday. According to manager Tony La Russa he was lifting weights and dropped a plate on his foot, but the good news is that Matthew Leach of MLB.com reports “the toe…

Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports reported yesterday that the Dodgers “have been very aggressive in their pursuit of pitching” and today Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette quotes “an industry source” who says they’re interested in Pirates left-hander Paul Maholm. General manager Neal Huntington indicated previously that the Pirates don’t plan to be very…

Ryan Sweeney tried to play through a knee injury, receiving a cortisone shot and platelet-rich injections within the past two weeks, but ultimately decided to undergo season-ending surgery. A couple different doctors looked at the knee and it wasn’t a matter of if I needed the surgery. It was a matter of when I was…

Demoted to Triple-A earlier this month just six starts after his imperfect game, Armando Galarraga is scheduled to rejoin the Tigers’ rotation tonight against the Rangers in Detroit. At the time of the demotion Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said the move was made primarily to get Galarraga some work during the All-Star break and…

As expected, George Sherrill has cleared waivers after the Dodgers made him available to any team willing to absorb the rest of his $4.5 million salary. For now he remains in the Dodgers’ bullpen, allowing one run in two-thirds of an inning yesterday, but they’re free to remove him from the 40-man roster and demote…

Last night the Twins finally called up right-hander Anthony Slama, who has been so dominant in the minors and deserving of a chance for so long now that various Twins blogs have been running “Free Anthony Slama” campaigns. Clearly the front office doesn’t believe in the former 39th-round pick, keeping Slama in the minors until…

Chicago Sun-Times beat writer Joe Cowley’s artist rendition of Jake Peavy’s season-ending arm injury was a big hit earlier this month, so now the White Sox reporter sketched the hand injury that has Carlos Quentin day-to-day. Between the Nike swoosh and detailed hair, he really captures of the essence of Quentin.

Yesterday afternoon Edwin Jackson turned in his third straight clunker of a start since no-hitting the Rays on June 25, taking a loss against the Padres by allowing four runs on nine hits and four walks in 6.1 innings. Jackson has allowed 13 runs in 16.1 innings since the no-hitter, walking 11 batters while opponents…

I’m not sure if Ken Macha’s various complaints had anything do with it, but MLB has suspended Braves rookie reliever Jonny Venters four games for plunking Prince Fielder in the back Saturday. Venters also threw a pitch over Fielder’s head on the previous offering after the Brewers first baseman tied the game with a homer…

Jerry Manuel said yesterday that when Oliver Perez returns from the disabled list–possibly as soon as this week–the Mets plan to use him as a situation left-handed reliever. Or as Manuel phrased it, a “lefty-on-lefty specialist.” Setting aside the unpleasant thought of paying someone $12 million per season to fill such a limited role, I…

Rocco Baldelli played reasonably well as a backup outfielder for the Red Sox last season, but after struggling with a shoulder injury in the second half he decided to spend the first half of this season as a “special assistant” for the Rays. That role involved mostly coaching minor leaguers, but now Baldelli is ready…

Jason Isringhausen hasn’t thrown a pitch since last June, hasn’t been healthy and effective since 2007, will be 38 years old in a couple months, and is just 12 months removed from Tommy John elbow surgery, but the former Cardinals and A’s closer said during a radio interview today that he’s been invited to throw…

Ben Sheets is signed to a one-year, $10 million contract and won’t bring back compensatory draft picks as a free agent because he missed all of last season, so with Oakland barely clinging to contention at 45-46 it would seemingly be a no-brainer for the A’s to trade him. Despite that Susan Slusser of the…

Trevor Hoffman allowed three runs on May 18, blowing his fifth save in 10 chances as his ERA rose to 13.15. He was stripped of ninth-inning duties and given four days off, with 27-year-old rookie John Axford grabbing hold of the Brewers’ closer job. Axford has converted 11-of-11 save chances with a 2.96 ERA in…

Brad Penny was shut down last week after suffering a setback in his return from a shoulder injury and general manager John Mozeliak said yesterday that there’s no longer a timetable for the right-hander coming off the disabled list: I would say that he will pitch again this season, but eight weeks wrong today, it…

Just when it looked like Erik Bedard was ready to rejoin the Mariners’ rotation the oft-injured left-hander has suffered yet another setback. Initially expected to come off the disabled list last week, those plans were canceled and Bedard was then scheduled for a bullpen session over the weekend. Once those were ruled out too he…

Last night Tim Lincecum shut out the Carlos Beltran-led Mets for his 50th career victory, which certainly seems like an impressive total for a fourth-year pitcher with 109 career games. But exactly how impressive? According to Baseball-Reference.com Lincecum is the 51st pitcher in baseball history with at least 50 wins in his first 109 games…

Yesterday the Mets cleared room for Carlos Beltran on the 40-man roster by transferring Fernando Tatis to the 60-day disabled list after the 35-year-old bench player underwent shoulder surgery earlier this week. Tatis will miss the remainder of the season and Anthony DiComo of MLB.com speculates that his career may be over. He originally injured…

Carlos Lee spent the All-Star break back home in Panama and missed yesterday’s team workout because of “an issue” with his return flight. Technically it was a “voluntary” workout, but Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle notes that “the Astros were counting on everybody who had not played at the All-Star Game to be there”…

For the past month or so the Pirates have used a quasi-platoon in right field with Ryan Church starting against righties and Lastings Milledge playing versus lefties, but manager John Russell said yesterday that’s going to change in the second half. Milledge will now be more or less an everyday player, in part because he’s…