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Jones wants to be a Marlin?

Yea, I know who wants to play for them? Well, apparently Jacque Jones REALLY wants to play for the Florida Marlins. The Detroit Tigers designated the outfielder for assignment last week, and have till this Friday to make a decision on whether or not to trade or outright release him. The Tigers will obviously hold out until Friday to see if they can squeeze ANYTHING out of an interested team. Because of this the Marlins could consider a trade. Read more

Destinations for Wes Helms

It’s looking more and more likely that Wes Helms days in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform are numbered. Helms has been on the trading block for a while now, even before the team signed Pedro Feliz to play third base for them. A trade is still possible but looking more like a long shot. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports says Helms is expected to be released on Wednesday if no deal is made. Here is a look at what teams could use Helms the most.

Atlanta Braves. The Braves have a glaring need for bench players. Their current crop is a very weak hitting group and we all know in the National League you do need at least one solid power bat off the bench. Unfortunately, Helms is not that. Even more unfortunate for the Braves he’s more of a threat then any bat they do have in reserve. How little of a home run threat is Helms? Last year 5 bombs in 280 at bats, so obviously not much of one. But when you compare him to the likes of Ruben Gotay, Gregor Blanco, Brayan Pena and Martin Prado, he looks like a big time hitter.

Florida Marlins. The Marlins never wanted to lose the guy, that much is known. Only reason he became a Phillie is cause the Phils outbid them and signed Helms for a 2-year $5.45 million deal. For them his power numbers were a bit different in 2006, he had 240 at bats with 10 homers. Pretty big difference there, ironic thing about it, Citizens Bank Park, nowadays is the easiest place in baseball to hit a homerun.

Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers are playing Blake DeWitt at third, thats all you need to say. The reasons why he probably won’t wind up a Dodger are Nomar Garciaparra, Tony Abreu and Andy LaRoche. Once those 3 are healthy and available Helms wouldn’t even have a place on their bench.

Helms would benefit the Marlins and Braves the best out of the options. The reason why a trade won’t happen is his contract no one wants to pay him $2.9 million after a deal is made. With Helms on waivers those teams will just wait till Wednesday and then make their free agent pitch to him. Good job by the Phillies throwing some money away the last 2 years on the guy. Can’t help but to think what the Phillies could of done for their pitching if combined that money and the money offered to someone like Adam Eaton or Freddy Garcia and went after a solid pitcher.

MLB Injury Update, 3/27

Alright boys and girls, here is today’s MLB Injury Update report. There’s 15 players with updates from the Brewers, Rangers, Padres, Mariners, Blue Jays, Twins, Cubs, Yankees, Braves, Rays, Phillies and Marlins. Its a doozy, enjoy.

• San Diego Padres - Mark Prior - shoulder. Prior finally faced live hitters for the first time today. He threw around 25 pitches in batting practice, while throwing about 35 pitches in a bullpen session before that. His fastball was only in the low-80s. Yea I know low 80s, what the hell! But remember the Padres aren’t even considering putting him in game action before June, so he has at least 2 months to build up strength.
• Texas Rangers - Milton Bradley - knee surgery. Bradley is progressing just fine from off-season knee surgery and should open the season with the big leaguers. Bradley played in his second appearance in right but sixth game overall, going 2 for 3 with a homer. He’ll be with the team but don’t expect to see him in the outfield, he’ll most likely need to DH for a while first.
• Mariners - Brandon Morrow - sore shoulder. Morrow has been experiencing a sore shoulder for most of the spring and has struggled mightily in minor league games since returning. The Mariners are considering one of two options. A) starts the season on the DL B) starts the year in the minor leagues. Morrow will be the 8th inning guy thou once his healthy and accuracy has fully returned.
• Toronto Blue Jays - Matt Stairs - sore hip. Stairs has been struggling with soreness in his hip this spring and because of that has only played in minor league games. The good news he’s getting in his work and his swings, downside the pain might still be to much to handle. The only reason he’s been playing in the minors is in case the Jays decide to give him some more healing time and place him on the disabled list. If he goes on the DL it would be backdated quite a bit since he’s been playing with the farm boys.
• Toronto Blue Jays - BJ Ryan - Tommy John surgery. General manager J.P. Ricciardi says BJ Ryan will get to start throwing off a mound sometime next week. He’ll undoubtedly be starting the season on the disabled list but the team somehow expects him to join the club in mid-April. “I think we’ll get Ryan back sooner rather than later,” Ricciardi surmised yesterday. I wouldn’t be surprised if its more of late-April, early-May but we’ll see. In the meantime, Jeremy Accardo will occupy the closing duties till he’s back.
• New York Yankees - Andy Pettitte - back spasms. Daily update number 15,583 for Andy Pettitte. This will be the last time I update on him unless there is a setback. Pettitte is now officially scheduled to start Sunday in a minor league game. That puts him in position to start the fourth game of the season. That would also mean Philip Hughes would likely take his start against the Blue Jays in the #2 spot.
• Milwaukee Brewers - J.J. Hardy - bacterial infection. Hardy missed the last 10 days of action due to a bacterial infection. He rejoined the lineup today and went 2 for 2 with 2 rbis. Not a bad return. Expect him to be in the lineup, Opening Day.
• Milwaukee Brewers - Chris Capuano - damaged ligament in left elbow. Capuano underwent a second opinion on his injured elbow from Dr. James Andrews. After the consultation, Capuano decided NOT to undergo Tommy John surgery. He’ll rest for about a month or so, then work on making a comeback. If there is any pain once he starts working out again then surgery is definitely on the table.
• Chicago Cubs - Scott Eyre - sore left elbow. Eyre was officially placed on the 15-day DL today because of his sore elbow. The move is retroactive to March 22nd. He’ll take time to rest and should miss the first week or so of the season. In the meantime, Sean Marshall will probably take his bullpen spot.
• Atlanta Braves - John Smoltz - sore shoulder. Same deal as Pettitte, barring any setbacks this is the last update about his current problems. Smoltz threw for 20 minutes in the bullpen today and felt great afterwards. “I got everything accomplished that I wanted to,” Smoltz said of today’s session. “It went really well. It was great. It was the best day I’ve had down here.” Smoltz is still starting on the DL but will make his first start on April 6th against Johan Santana and the New York Mets.
• Philadelphia Phillies - Mike Zagurski - Tommy John surgery. Zagurski also went for a second opinion on his elbow but has decided to go for the surgery. He’ll be visiting Dr Andrews down in Birmingham, AL to undergo the surgery at some point within the next 10 days. His goal is to be back for the start of spring training in 2009.
• Minnesota Twins - Carlos Gomez - left leg cramps. Gomez was scratched from today’s lineup due to continued soreness in his left leg. The injury is still considered very minor and the Twins just wanted to give him some extra rest. He should be able to go Friday.
• Minnesota Twins - Jesse Crain - shoulder surgery. Crain will be starting the regular season with the Twins. He’s pitched 5 innings this season with a 1.80 era. He’ll be held back this April, pitching coach Rick Anderson said he will not be used in back to back games for at least one month.
• Tampa Bay Rays - Willy Aybar - hamstring. Aybar is still experiencing problems with his injured hamstring and still not playing in games. He’s only got 28 at bats this season, and to get him some more the team is going to have to use him in minor league games this weekend. He should still be ready for Opening Day thou. “I still believe he’s going to be fine to play in that game,” Rays coach Maddon said. “I’m not hearing anything that leads me to believe that he won’t be.” Hows that for irony, star prospect Evan Longoria, who had a very good spring was sent down to the minors and now his replacement hasn’t even been able to play. Great move by the Rays demote the hot hitting prospect for a guy who’s going to start off pretty cold all to save a dollar.
• Florida Marlins - Jeremy Hermida - tight left hamstring. Hermida played DH today in a minor league game. He hasn’t played in a MLB game since March 15th due to the hamstring injury. The Marlins will place him on the DL retroactive to that date so in all he’ll only miss 4 games, 5 tops. “Worst-case scenario (Hermida could miss) the first four games of the season,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

It will be a late night at work tonight, so if there are any injury updates in the night games, I’ll post them. Look out for tomorrow’s MLB Predictions. I’ll give my predicted records, LCS and World Series winners, as well as MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager Awards then.

Hanley given red light?

Is Florida Marlins SS Hanley Ramirez being given a red light on the base paths? That’s not something fantasy owners of Hanley or Marlins’ fans want to hear. Well, if its up to manager Fredi Gonzalez he won’t be stealing as much as he used to. Gonzalez wants to concentrate on keeping Ramirez healthy and therefore enabling the team to win more games. So will Ramirez get to steal 50 plus bases again? Gonzalez said, “I hope not. The reason being, the more your body gets banged up — the wear and tear. He’s a guy who hits .300, he hits you 30 [home runs], and has a chance to drive in a lot of runs. I’m scared, because the more you attempt to steal, even if you don’t steal, you’re diving back to first base. You’re getting beaten up pretty good.”

My thinking, Ramirez is going to still get the green light most of the time. This team actually has its best chance of winning games with him being a terror on the bases as well as at the plate. Ramirez is still only 24, and his body should hold up to more of a beating then a 30-year old player. There may be points during the season, when he has nagging injury he’ll given an all out red light. The team quietly did that last year against team with top catchers who can neutralize the running game. “We’ll see,” Gonzalez said. “If he has a chance to steal 50, as long as he’s not beaten up, we’ll see.”

This guy is an amazing young talent who has the chance to be one of the greats in our era. As Hanley ages, I’m sure his steals will go down and homers up, I just don’t think that time is now. But for all you fantasy owners, he’s still a top 3 pick in any draft so don’t go jumping off a bridge just yet.

MLB Injury Update, Part 2

Here’s Part 2 of today’s Major League Baseball update. It includes updates on the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, and New York Yankees.

• Baltimore Orioles - Brian Roberts. Roberts missed today’s game due to a sore back. This may lead some to believe that a trade may have been completed or on the verge but that’s not the case. He’s expected to miss the next two games after receiving an injection to ease the pain.
• Atlanta Braves - John Smoltz. Smoltz experienced no pain today while throwing but the team is still planning on placing him on the DL to start the season. The new plan is for him to make his season debut April 6th against the New York Mets and Johan Santana. Should be a good one.
• Chicago Cubs - Scott Eyre. Eyre is likely to start the season on the DL after receiving a cortisone injection in his left elbow. “I’ve had a bone spur in there for a couple of years,” Eyre said Tuesday morning. “Now it’s just getting worse. They put some cortisone in there to calm the inflammation down and see if I could pitch without some pain for a while. It’d be nice.” Sounds like he might need surgery at some point to remove that bone spur if that’s truly the injury.
• Chicago White Sox - Jerry Owens. Owens will be starting on the DL as well after an MRI showed a slight tear in his right adductor muscle. He originally hurt the groin muscle in a game on Feb 25th and then aggravated it during Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Royals. Brian Anderson should now make the team and split time in center till Owens is able to return.
• Florida Marlins - Scott Olsen. Olsen is on track to start the team’s fourth game of the season after making his second appearance of the spring today. Olsen has experienced a sore shoulder this spring, as long as everything is OK tomorrow he should be on pace for that start.
• New York Yankees - Andy Pettitte. Pettitte is in the same boat as Olsen. His start has been pushed back from April 2nd to the 4th or 5th now. He’s still experiencing lower back pain, so today’s word about his start being pushed back came from manager Joe Girardi.

Ok, thats all I’ve seen across the wires and news outlets so far today.

Giants claim Castillo off waivers

According to the Sun-Sentinel, the San Francisco Giants have claimed Jose Castillo off waivers and that the Florida Marlins have decided not to pull him back. The non-move of pulling Castillo back, to me is not to much of a surprise. Castillo has never been the greatest with his bat .256 career average with 33 homers and 181 homers over 4 seasons. His strength has always been his defense at the hot corner, which is something the Giants are looking for.

This move means Jorge Cantu will be the starting third baseman for the Marlins this season. Cantu is slightly better offensively with a .273 career avg, with 45 homers and 209 rbis over 4 seasons. But he did have one breakout year in 2005 with a .286 avg 28 homers and 117 rbis. Last season he only appeared in 52 games for a variety of reasons. The knock on Cantu has always been his defense, but the Marlins must feel he won’t be as much of a liability as they originally thought. Look for Jason Wood to take over the backup role at third base with Castillo gone.

Here’s a link to the Sun-Sentinel article.

Marlins’ Sanchez out indefinitely

Florida Marlins pitcher Anibal Sanchez has been put back on the shelf after experiencing some discomfort in his surgically repaired right shoulder. For those who don’t remember Sanchez underwent labrum surgery this past June. The downside to his rehab is that his return keeps getting pushed back as he keeps experiencing setbacks in his recovery. After the latest discomfort, any return date has been put off indefinitely. The team was hoping to get him back right before the All-Star Break.

Sanchez’s complaints came after throwing long catch every other day. He visited Dr. James Andrews, who performed his surgery and no new damage was found. That’s a good thing, BUT Andrews told him to take 10 days off as a precaution and take a step back in his training. So starting later this week, Sanchez will go back to soft toss at a short distance. ”It’s really difficult to say anything about that,” Sanchez said Sunday as he and fellow Marlins pitchers took their physicals. “I’m supposed to be ready right now. Now, I don’t really know.”

Sanchez is a young guy only 23, and has all the talent in the world and should still become a very successful big league pitcher. With his age and talent, he should just accept the delays in his rehab, no matter how hard it may be to deal with. Remember this is a guy who had 10 wins and a no-hitter during his rookie campaign in 2006. And could easily become that pitcher again if healthy. It’s not something you Marlins fans want to hear but if they have to put him on the shelf for a while to guarantee that success then they should.

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