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Over the weekend Mike Scioscia told the slumping Brandon Wood to avoid even picking up a bat during his time off, and in what seems like an awfully big coincidence Maicer Izturis is now ready to come off the disabled list and Wood has developed a hip injury that figures to put him on the…

Later today Alfredo Simon will likely become the third Orioles closer to land on the disabled list, joining Mike Gonzalez and Jim Johnson on the shelf after injuring his hamstring covering first base Sunday. Koji Uehara would have gotten the nod to fill in, except he’s also headed to the DL with a strained forearm.…

Roy Oswalt requested a trade from the Astros late last week and rumors are starting to swirl around the potential interested teams, but exactly how good is the 32-year-old right-hander? Oswalt has been one of baseball’s elite pitchers for a decade, yet generally seems underrated for someone who ranks fourth among all active pitchers in…

Aramis Ramirez’s walk-off homer last Monday provided some reason for optimism in the midst of a season-long slump, but he’s 0-for-13 with seven strikeouts since then and is now dealing with a thumb injury. X-rays and an MRI exam both came back negative, but Ramirez was out of the lineup yesterday and is expected to…

Roy Halladay had a rough afternoon against the Red Sox yesterday, giving up a season-high seven runs in a season-low 5.2 innings. It was just the second time in the past 96 starts that he’s allowed seven or more runs, so naturally Todd Zolecki of MLB.com wondered if Halladay’s high workloads had anything to do…

Ivan Rodriguez’s resurgence in Washington has been put on hold because of a back injury, with the Nationals placing the 39-year-old catcher on the disabled list today. Signed to a two-year, $6 million contract that I criticized this offseason, Rodriguez hit .325 with a .351 on-base percentage and .439 slugging percentage in 132 plate appearances…

Alex Rodriguez running across Dallas Braden’s mound in Oakland got people talking about baseball’s so-called unwritten rules and they were on display again yesterday when the White Sox freaked out after the Marlins twice stole a base up 7-0 in the fourth inning. White Sox starter Freddy Garcia was responsible for allowing the seven runs…

After missing all of last season following elbow surgery Ben Sheets looked awful in his first six starts for the A’s, going 1-3 with a 7.12 ERA and 16/16 K/BB ratio in 30.1 innings. He’s quietly gotten back on track since then and shut out the Giants for six innings in a no-decision yesterday afternoon…

Initially when the Twins placed J.J. Hardy on the disabled list they thought he’d return after the minimum 15 days and called up 28-year-old, light-hitting utility man Matt Tolbert rather than a legitimate prospect to replace him on the roster. However, now Hardy’s wrist injury is proving more serious than originally thought and he’s not…

Ubaldo Jimenez left last night’s start after a season-low 92 pitches because of hamstring cramping, but not before holding the Astros’ lowly lineup to one hit over seven shutout innings. Jimenez is now 8-1 with a 0.99 ERA through nine starts, with his only loss coming on May 9 when he allowed just two hits…

One of the downsides to the first four hitters in the Twins’ batting order having on-base percentages of .365, .358, .410, and .477 is that their already double play-prone No. 5 hitter Michael Cuddyer has an incredible number of chances to make two outs at a time. Cuddyer has grounded into an MLB-high 12 double…

Gregg Zaun left yesterday’s game with a strained shoulder and Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports that the 39-year-old catcher will be put on the disabled list today. To replace Zaun on the roster the Brewers are expected to call up 24-year-old prospect Jonathan Lucroy from Triple-A. Angel Salome was once considered the Brewers’ top catching…

Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports that “the Red Sox are tracking the progress of catcher Chris Iannetta in Triple-A Colorado Springs in case the Rockies make him available.” Despite being 27 years old and a three-time Opening Day starter with over 1,100 career plate appearances Iannetta was demoted to Triple-A last month when…

Trevor Hoffman hasn’t officially been stripped of closer duties yet, but is expected to be unavailable for several days while working on his mechanics. Carlos Villanueva got the nod as the fill-in closer yesterday and protected a 4-3 lead with a perfect ninth inning for his first save of the season. Villanueva’s overall career numbers…

John Maine lasted all of five pitches versus the Nationals last night, as the Mets yanked him for “precautionary reasons” one batter into his start because of decreased velocity that began during his pregame bullpen session. Maine walked the leadoff man while failing to top 85 miles per hour, but afterward he said he wasn’t…

Drew Storen beat fellow 2009 first-round pick Stephen Strasburg to Washington by a few weeks and picked up his first big-league victory last night, for which he got not one but two shaving cream pies to the face from teammates. Plus, as is customary for the guy Nationals center fielder Nyjer Morgan selects as the…

Stephen Strasburg made his latest and perhaps second-to-last Triple-A start last night, tossing 6.1 shutout innings against the Twins’ affiliate in Rochester, New York. My friend and former SABR convention roommate Ben Jacobs was in attendance and offered up this scouting report: Strasburg touched 99 mph on the park gun a handful of times and…

Out since last Opening Day with a shoulder injury that eventually required surgery in August, Brandon Webb said yesterday that the past five months of rehab have “been almost wasting my time” because he was “throwing bad.” Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that Webb met recently with a specialist at the rehab facility…

According to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune “indications are that Bob Howry will be in a Cubs uniform very soon” after being released earlier this week by the Diamondbacks. Howry pitched for Lou Piniella and the Cubs from 2006-2008, going 17-17 with 14 saves and a 3.90 ERA in 228.2 innings before signing with…

Boston’s offseason moves to build the team more around “run prevention” are being mocked because the Red Sox have allowed the most runs in the league, but injuries to Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury certainly have helped and now Marco Scutaro is sidelined with a sore elbow. Scutaro sat out last night’s game with “tennis…

Yesterday couldn’t have gone much worse for the Indians, who announced Asdrubal Cabrera will miss 8-10 weeks following surgery to repair a broken forearm, placed Grady Sizemore on the disabled list with a bone bruise in his left knee, and then watched Kerry Wood turn a 4-3 lead into an 8-4 loss to the equally…

After alternating Kaz Matsui and Jeff Keppinger at second base all season the Astros finally released Matsui and his .141 batting average last night. Signed to a three-year, $16.5 million contract in December of 2007, he ended up hitting just .259/.315/.370 while missing 108 of a possible 363 games with various injuries. Keppinger celebrated the…

After all the hubbub (and protest) surrounding his leaving last night’s game with a back injury, Josh Beckett was placed on the disabled list this afternoon. Joe Nelson was called up from Triple-A to take his spot on the roster, but he’ll work out of the bullpen while Tim Wakefield slides back into the Red…

Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s problems throwing the ball back to the pitcher at Triple-A have continued, so the 25-year-old catcher is now seeing a sports psychologist and Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com describes the various things he’s trying to get over the “yips”: He uses a timing mechanism–tapping the ball in his glove twice before throwing–to help him.…

Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez indicated this morning that he was confident about Hanley Ramirez making the apology to the team necessary to be back in the lineup for tonight’s game. And sure enough, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com he plans to do just that. Here’s what Ramirez told Rojas this afternoon (the actual quotes…