Archives › Bill Baer
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With Franklin Gutierrez working his way back into playing shape after landing on the DL with a strained right hamstring, Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times suggests Endy Chavez could be the odd man out to create room on the roster. Chavez has a .288 on-base percentage and .310 slugging percentage. Meanwhile, Jason Bay and…
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Padres lefty Cory Luebke has suffered a setback in his quest to return from Tommy John surgery, stopping his throwing program for the second time in 2013 according to MLB.com’s Corey Brock. Luebke posted a 2.61 ERA in five starts last year before landing on the DL in late April and undergoing TJ surgery in…
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The Braves just received some bad news on reliever Eric O’Flaherty, as the lefty was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. Losing O’Flaherty means the Braves have just one left-hander in the bullpen in Luis Avilan. As a result, the Braves signed Joe Beimel to a minor league contract per Tim…
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If you needed a reminder that Joey Votto is the best pure hitter in baseball, you got one this evening as the Reds defeated the Phillies 10-0. Joey Votto came to the plate six times and reached base all six times, including a two-run home run in the top of the ninth that served as…
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Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia had two uncharacteristically bad starts against the Rockies and Brewers recently, surrendering five and six runs, respectively. Garcia dealt with shoulder issues last year and they may be to blame for his recent adversity as well. The Cardinals have placed him on the 15-day disabled list with a left shoulder strain,…
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Troy Tulowitzki says he wasn’t accusing Madison Bumgarner of cheating
May 18, 2013, 6:05 PM EDT
In a season that has already endured the drama of one cheating allegation, another was set to boil last night when Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki asked umpire Tim McClelland to inspect the baseball Giants starter Madison Bumgarner was gripping. McClelland gave it a once-over, then tossed the ball out of play. Bumgarner said something to…
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MLB.com Twins beat writer Rhett Bollinger spoke to Twins assistant GM Rob Antony, asking how Rich Harden’s rehab was going. Antony replied, ”Slow. Not very well to be honest with you.” The Twins signed Harden to a one-year Minor League contract in December, agreeing to pay him $1 million if he made it to the Majors.…
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Jose Reyes is making progress on an ankle injury suffered on April 12 against the Royals. MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm reports the shortstop had a walking boot removed and talk part in stretching prior to tonight’s game against the Yankees. Another surprising piece of news: Reyes was expected to be out until the All-Star break, but…
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You’re probably not going to see a prettier grand slam this season, folks. With his team down 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning against Dodgers reliever Paco Rodriguez, Braves left fielder Justin Upton crushed a 1-1 fastball deep to left field to give the Braves a 6-4 lead. ESPN Stats & Info reported…
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Phillies third base coach Ryne Sandberg is expected to be the next Phillies manager if and when the Charlie Manuel era ends. Sandberg started his playing career with the Phillies but went to the Cubs in the infamous Ivan de Jesus trade in 1982, arguably one of the worst trades in baseball history. With the…
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Recently, Padres third baseman Chase Headley said he won’t negotiate a contract extension with the team during the season. Headley is eligible for his fourth year of arbitration going into 2014, after which he would become eligible for free agency. Headley has, for a while, been one of the most bandied-about names in trade rumors,…
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At the end of March, the Diamondbacks unceremoniously signed first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to a five-year, $32 million contract extension. Just seven weeks later, that contract is looking like a steal. The 25-year-old entered tonight’s game with ten home runs and a 1.013 OPS, marks that not only put him near the top among first…
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Derek Albin at Pinstriped Bible looked at the numbers and concluded that Yankees right fielder Ichiro Suzuki isn’t likely to be much more productive than he has been thus far in 2013. The 39-year-old has a .239/.280/.328 line in 145 trips to the plate, putting him on pace for the worst season of his career…
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The Pirates aren’t known as one of the more Sabermetrically-savvy teams like the Rays and Athletics, but they do have Dan Fox (formerly of Baseball Prospectus) as the director of baseball systems development. Thanks to Fox and others, the Pirates are able to use stat reports to prepare lineups and pitching match-ups with greater specificity. SB…
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Mark Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times says that although the Rays haven’t announced anything officially, prospect Jake Odorizzi is likely to replace the injured David Price in the starting rotation. The Rays placed their defending AL Cy Young award winner on the disabled list yesterday with a strained left triceps muscle, an injury they…
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Athletics starter Brett Anderson has not pitched in a game since his April 29 start against the Angels due to ongoing problems with his right foot. In the time since, the A’s have had the lefty run and throw side sessions, and they even had him make a rehab start, but the injury never seemed…
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Drew Davison of the Star-Telegram has an interesting article up in which Derek Lowe expounds on the increasing prevalence of statistical analysis in baseball. The Rangers signed Lowe to a Minor League contract in March and was eventually added to the bullpen. Lowe, who turns 40 years old on June 1, posted a 5.52 ERA…
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Mike Adams allowed a run in his most recent appearance on May 10 against the Diamondbacks. He had the day off on Saturday, but was unavailable today in the series finale in Arizona due to back spasms. The 34-year-old’s absence forced Jonathan Papelbon to be used a day after converting a five-out save, a fact…
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The Cubs have agreed to a seven-year, $41 million contract extension with first baseman Anthony Rizzo. The deal runs from 2013-19, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Rizzo, 23 years old, has been his club’s most reliable hitter, entering this afternoon’s game against the Nationals with a .288/.361/.554 line, including nine home runs. Rizzo was…
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The Brewers signed veteran reliever Francisco Rodriguez as a free agent on April 17. In the time since, “K-Rod” has been working his way back with Single-A Brevard County, with whom he made two appearances, striking out four and walking one in two innings. The right-hander was just promoted to Triple-A Nashville, per Adam McCalvy.…
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Martin Prado went into today’s series finale against the Phillies hitting .230 with a .639 OPS, which is about 33 percent below the league average according to Baseball Reference. The Diamondbacks acquired Prado in January in the trade that sent Justin Upton to Atlanta. The D-Backs’ return on the trade hasn’t been so good at…
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Mets outfielder Juan Lagares hasn’t hit much in his limited playing time — he has a .419 OPS in 33 trips to the plate — but opened some eyes and dropped some balls with a catch in the third inning of this afternoon’s game against the Pirates. Opposing pitcher Jeanmar Gomez led off the inning…
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On the heels of a historically-great 2012 season in which he finished as a runner-up to Miguel Cabrera in the AL MVP race, Angels outfielder Mike Trout started off 2013 very slowly. Through the first ten games, he was hitting .227 with 12 strikeouts in 47 plate appearances. He would proceed to have multi-hit games…
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Cardinals outfield prospect Oscar Taveras left today’s game against the Fresno Grizzlies with an ankle injury, tweets Joe Strauss. He suffered the injury attempting to steal a base in the ninth inning. As of yet, there are no details on the severity of the injury. Taveras was rated the #3 overall prospect by both Baseball…
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Angels reliever Ryan Madson may join the team soon as he gets ready to make a rehab start with Single-A Inland Empire tomorrow. Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times reports Madson hit 94 MPH with his fastball during an extended spring training game yesterday and may only need to make one rehab start before rejoining…
