What's the Buzz? 8/31/06
A little waiver trading going on today as yesterday's rumors about David Wells heading to San Diego became reality as the teams pulled the trigger. Wells goes from the Red Sox to the Padres for a player to be named later. A little odd if you ask me. San Diego's still in it...they're making a play for the division....and they get Wells? His health is suspect at best and who can forget that time in the World Series against the Marlins where he left in the first with a bad back? Maybe the Padres see something I don't. We'll see come the end of September.
Also on the trade front, the Nationals got involved with a pair of deals as they sent IF/OF Marlon Anderson to the Dodgers for minor league pitcher Jhonny Nunez and they sent OF Daryle Ward to the Braves in exchange for minor league righty Luis Atilano. The Dodgers get a little bench help, although I see Anderson getting very little playing time and the Braves get a power bat for their bench as Ward will find a home as a pinch hitter. The Nationals get a couple of guys who may or may not ever see time in the bigs. Nunez has looked pretty good in short season Single-A ball, but you can't really tell until he goes full season against better players. Atilano is just coming off of Tommy John surgery, so who know's with that one. I cannot recommend picking any of these guys up at any point in time.
In another deal, Phil Nevin moves to his third team of the season as the Twins picked him up from the Cubs for a player to be named later. A much better situation for Nevin here as he has the chance to be the primary DH for a team that is pushing for the playoffs. Really...who is he competing with for the job? Rondell White? Jason Kubel? I like Nevin for the month of September if they leave him in the lineup.
Had enough? Well how about the Red Sox acquiring pitcher Kevin Jarvis from the Diamondbacks for a player to be named. O.K., you can stop laughing now. Who knows if this is for Boston or for Pawtucket, but if it is for the big club, stay away.
In other news...
Besides dealing for Boomer, the Padres did a little bench tweaking as they sent down righty Mike Thompson and brought back OF Termell Sledge to give themselves an additional hitter over the extra reliever for the time being. Sledge should sit on the bench most of the time and give us maybe a bi-weekly plate appearance.
Giants 2B Ray Durham is day to day with a strained lower back. He'll probably miss Friday's game, and we'll see how he's feeling after that. He's having a great year hitting .295 with 20 HR and 80 RBI.
Congratulations to Astros closer Brad Lidge for recording his 100th career save tonight. Hell, congratulations for still getting the opportunity to close out games there Brad.
Hey, remember when I told you two days ago that Ryan Howard tied Mike Schmidt's HR record for the Phillies with his 48th HR? Um..yeah he broke it today. 49 for the season so far. Big surprise, I'm sure. The league leader in home runs and RBI is now in the middle of a 9 game hitting streak which has pushed his average back up to .299. I wish I owned him in a keeper league.
And that's all she wrote for Mark Mulder folks. The Cardinals put him on the DL today with a left shoulder injury and should bring back Anthony Reyes to take his rotation spot. I don't know about you, but for the Cards sake, let's hope this is a permanent move.
A little good news as David Ortiz was released from the hospital today. There's no word on if/when he will return this year, but atleast he's well enough to be out of Massachusetts General.
Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera underwent a precautionary MRI today on his elbow which revealed a minor muscle strain but no structural damage. He'll pitch through it, so don't worry about him missing any time. Maybe he doesn't pitch on back to back days at the worst, until he feels better. Oh...and he picked up his 33rd save today.
Ladies and gentlemen...The Delmon Young Experience!!! 4 for 5 today? Oh baby!!!
And finally, the Twins are bringing back Scott Baker to join their ailing rotation this weekend. Perfect timing as he'll get the Yankees for his first time back. With the possibility of Brad Radke being done for the season, Baker could be a candidate to stay in the rotation until the end of the season. He's had a rough year thsi year in the majors, but you should remember that he did make the rotation out of spring training and he does have great strikeout potential. I'm going to call him my September Sleeper. We'll see where he ends up...
Catch you next time...
Also on the trade front, the Nationals got involved with a pair of deals as they sent IF/OF Marlon Anderson to the Dodgers for minor league pitcher Jhonny Nunez and they sent OF Daryle Ward to the Braves in exchange for minor league righty Luis Atilano. The Dodgers get a little bench help, although I see Anderson getting very little playing time and the Braves get a power bat for their bench as Ward will find a home as a pinch hitter. The Nationals get a couple of guys who may or may not ever see time in the bigs. Nunez has looked pretty good in short season Single-A ball, but you can't really tell until he goes full season against better players. Atilano is just coming off of Tommy John surgery, so who know's with that one. I cannot recommend picking any of these guys up at any point in time.
In another deal, Phil Nevin moves to his third team of the season as the Twins picked him up from the Cubs for a player to be named later. A much better situation for Nevin here as he has the chance to be the primary DH for a team that is pushing for the playoffs. Really...who is he competing with for the job? Rondell White? Jason Kubel? I like Nevin for the month of September if they leave him in the lineup.
Had enough? Well how about the Red Sox acquiring pitcher Kevin Jarvis from the Diamondbacks for a player to be named. O.K., you can stop laughing now. Who knows if this is for Boston or for Pawtucket, but if it is for the big club, stay away.
In other news...
Besides dealing for Boomer, the Padres did a little bench tweaking as they sent down righty Mike Thompson and brought back OF Termell Sledge to give themselves an additional hitter over the extra reliever for the time being. Sledge should sit on the bench most of the time and give us maybe a bi-weekly plate appearance.
Giants 2B Ray Durham is day to day with a strained lower back. He'll probably miss Friday's game, and we'll see how he's feeling after that. He's having a great year hitting .295 with 20 HR and 80 RBI.
Congratulations to Astros closer Brad Lidge for recording his 100th career save tonight. Hell, congratulations for still getting the opportunity to close out games there Brad.
Hey, remember when I told you two days ago that Ryan Howard tied Mike Schmidt's HR record for the Phillies with his 48th HR? Um..yeah he broke it today. 49 for the season so far. Big surprise, I'm sure. The league leader in home runs and RBI is now in the middle of a 9 game hitting streak which has pushed his average back up to .299. I wish I owned him in a keeper league.
And that's all she wrote for Mark Mulder folks. The Cardinals put him on the DL today with a left shoulder injury and should bring back Anthony Reyes to take his rotation spot. I don't know about you, but for the Cards sake, let's hope this is a permanent move.
A little good news as David Ortiz was released from the hospital today. There's no word on if/when he will return this year, but atleast he's well enough to be out of Massachusetts General.
Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera underwent a precautionary MRI today on his elbow which revealed a minor muscle strain but no structural damage. He'll pitch through it, so don't worry about him missing any time. Maybe he doesn't pitch on back to back days at the worst, until he feels better. Oh...and he picked up his 33rd save today.
Ladies and gentlemen...The Delmon Young Experience!!! 4 for 5 today? Oh baby!!!
And finally, the Twins are bringing back Scott Baker to join their ailing rotation this weekend. Perfect timing as he'll get the Yankees for his first time back. With the possibility of Brad Radke being done for the season, Baker could be a candidate to stay in the rotation until the end of the season. He's had a rough year thsi year in the majors, but you should remember that he did make the rotation out of spring training and he does have great strikeout potential. I'm going to call him my September Sleeper. We'll see where he ends up...
Catch you next time...
posted by Howard Bender at
10:51 PM
