Clearing The Bases

This week we’re going to take a look at some news and notes or rumors that involve each team.

Atlanta Braves:  Jason Heyward may end up being a great player in time, but it would be nice if he could stay healthy for more than a month at a time……..Johnny Venters may just be the best left-handed reliever in the game, but he’s still not going to close over Craig Kimbrel.

Arizona Diamondbacks:  Raise your hand please if you thought that Arizona would be five games over .500 at this point in the season.  Now lower your hand if you’re not a DBack fan, yeah,  I thought so.  The DBacks may have been criticized for trading away Max Scherzer and Edwin Jackson, but Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson are making fans and critics alike forget those deals.

Baltimore Orioles:  Os could be big time sellers at the trade deadline if they wish.  Derrek Lee, Brian Roberts, JJ Hardy, Luke Scott, and Vladimir Guererro could be very enticing to teams in the pennant race, but of course the Os could decide that trying to finish over .500 is more important than dealing for prospects.

Boston Red Sox:  Will the loss of Daisuke Matsuzaka for the season force the Sox to look for pitching at the deadline?  Possibly, but as the Yankees have found out all season, there just isn’t much out there…..Kevin Millwood isn’t doing any better with the Sox than he was with the Yankees…..Marco Scutaro should be activated off the DL within the next week, John Lackey could be back this weekend.

Chicago Cubs:  This won’t be the season that the Cubs break that 100 year  plus World Series slump, yeah, not exactly breaking news……Aramis Ramirez is still day to day after taking a ground ball to the mouth Wednesday……Alfonso Soriano probably didn’t need 15 days to heal, but the Cubs needed the roster spot, perhaps Tyler Colvin can finally take advantage of this opportunity although he was far from lighting it up in AAA.

Chicago White Sox:  I understand that switching leagues is rough, but who would’ve thought that Adam Dunn would have this much trouble adjusting.  In that lineup and in the ballpark it should have been a shoe in that he would hit 40+ HRs…….Looks like Phil Humber will indeed be the odd man out when Ozzie Guillen decides to go back to a five man rotation.

Cincinnati Reds:  Brandon Phillips was out of the lineup Friday, but the Reds state there isn’t any injury concerns, don’t worry, it doesn’t seem like anything that should keep him out long term……There is still no timetable for a return to the majors for Aroldis Chapman as he hasn’t pitched since Sunday…..Dusty Baker is unhappy with the production he is getting out of shortstop and left field.

Cleveland Indians:  Could Asdrubal Cabrera win the MVP this season?…..Could Sin-Soo Choo win LVP?   Choo was a popular pre-season pick to have a big season especially after having his military commitment to South Korea eliminated by winning the Asian Games, but it just hasn’t happened yet this season……Anyone want to place a wager on when the next time Grady Sizemore gets injured?

Colorado Rockies:  Could Ublado Jimenez’s shutout of the Dodgers on Wednesday be a prelude of what’s to come?  He finally looked like his old self although he is still missing a couple of MPH off of his fastball…..Rockies came out of the chute like gangbusters in April, but have played pretty poorly since, they are lucky that no one in the division is playing much better.

Detroit Tigers:  Did that trade of Scott Sizemore to Oakland surprise anyone else?  Makes you wonder if there was more going on behind the scenes there than we know about……Brandon Inge is out two week with Mono…..Magglio Ordonez could be back early next week if all goes well with his rehab at AAA this weekend…….Alex Avila may be the  best catcher that no one really knows.

Florida Marlins:  The Marlins were originally supposed to decide by today whether or not to place HRam on the DL with a back injury, but they have now backed that up until Sunday or Monday……Mike Stanton is a beast who should only get better with experience……Josh Johnson could return to the rotation next week, but that’s a huge if, and remember there were many rumors floating around all off-season that Johnson was a major arm injury waiting to happen this season.

Houston Astros:  Brandon Lyon is at least a week away from returning to the Astros bullpen……This was always going to be a rough season for the Astros but the debut of Jordan Lyles this week certainly shows some reason for optimism…….Best case scenario for the return of Wandy Rodriguez is 10 days, but that seems unlikely.

Kansas  City Royals:  Have to believe Joakim Soria will get his closer role back.  Aaron Crow hasn’t done well in that position in the minors, and the Royals might want to put Soria back in that role to build up his trade value at the very least…….Eric Hosmer has been everything that was expected since his call up, and has fans awaiting the promotion of Mike Moustakas.

Los Angeles Angels:  Howie Kendrick is slated to return this weekend…..Dan Haren will have his next start pushed back to Tuesday after suffering back spasms during his bullpen session earlier this week…..Vernon Wells should be back with the team middle to late next week…..Jordan Walden has once again solidified his hold on the closer’s role with five straight saves.

Los Angeles Dodgers:  Rafael Furcal is expected to once again be placed on the DL…..Jon Garland may also be headed to the DL which would give Rubby de la Rosa a couple of starts…..Vincente Padilla should regain his closer role when he is activated off the DL…..Juan Uribe should be back off the DL by the end of the weekend.

Milwaukee Brewers:  Ryan Braun didn’t start Friday to give his shoulder a rest, but came off the bench to hit a two-run game winning HR, safe to say the shoulder feels good……If Braun doesn’t win MVP, I think Prince Fielder will…..Since we’re talking predictions, still think Milwaukee wins the NL Central also…..

Minnesota Twins:   With Jason Kubel and Jim Thome going on the DL, might be time for the Twins to come to the realization that the season is over and start making phone calls to deal some players…..Joe Mauer could be back in a week to 10 days…..Could Francisco Liriano be one of those players dealt, the Yankees were interested over the winter, he would certainly fetch more than Kevin Slowey.

New York Mets:  If the Mets really have no intention of signing Jose Reyes to an extension, shouldn’t they be trying to trade him as soon as possible to get maximum value…..Same could be said of Carlos Beltran who has no chance of returning back to Queens…..Should it frighten Mets fans that David Einhorn (the guy who put up a couple of hundred million to purchase part of the team) has made his fortune by betting on companies to fall apart?

New York Yankees:  Memo to the Yankees brass, it’s ok to replace Jorge Posada , the season is a 1/3 over, it’s not a slump anymore…..Since pitching is going to be hard to acquire at the deadline, don’t be surprised if the Yankees look for an outfielder and place Brett Gardner on the bench where he could serve the team best, as a fourth outifielder, pinch runner, and late inning defensive replacement…..Phil Hughes could return to the rotation in late June or early July.

Oakland Athletics:  Andrew Bailey is back and will take over the closer’s role…..Bob Geren’s days as manager may be nearing an end as players are complaining about him…..Brandon McCarthy is still weeks away from returning to the team…..That vaunted A’s staff was beat up pretty good this week by the Yanks and Red Sox, have to learn how to beat the big boys.

Philadelphia Phillies:  Scouts believe that Chase Utley is still not using his lower half while hitting, leading to a lack of power so far…..Brad Lidge experienced soreness after pitching in extended spring training, it’s not expected to be a major setback, but certainly not a good thing either…..Shane Victorino was activated off the DL.

Pittsburgh Pirates:  The Pirates could be in the same situation as the Orioles in a few weeks, do we keep our players and try to finish .500 or above for the first time in what seems like forever, or trade spare parts to teams and get prospects…..Garrett Jones could be in danger of losing his starting job if he doesn’t start to hit.

San Diego Padres:  Brad Hawpe has been taking fly ball in the outfield, a sure sign that Anthony Rizzo could be on his way to the big club any day now…..Nick Hundley should be activated off the DL by the middle of next week…..Cameron Maybin has no structural damage in his knee and should be back sooner rather than later.

San Francisco Giants:  General Manager Brian Sabean seems awfully two-faced when he criticized the Marlins Scott Cousins for colliding with Buster Posey last week.  Would Sabean or anyone else for that matter have made such an uproar if Posey didn’t get hurt, or if this happened to some no name catcher, I think not…..Brandon Belt was placed on the DL with a hairline fracture of his wrist, this is shaping up to be a lost season for the overhyped rookie.

Seattle Mariners:  The Mariners quietly have one of the best starting staffs in the majors.  Felix Hernandez, Michael Pineda, and Erik Bedard can certainly make an argument for the top three starters…..Justin Smoak is starting to make the Seattle front office feel good about turning down the Yankees offer of Jesus Montero for Cliff Lee last season…..Pablo Sandoval should be activated off the DL early next week.

St. Louis Cardinals:  Uh oh here comes Albert Pujols…..Good timing also as Lance Berkman has been coming back down to Earth…..David Freese has been taking ground balls and could be ready to return before the end of the month…..Those  who were worried about Jaime Garcia’s last outing needn’t be after his gem on Friday…..Can anyone explain to me how the Cardinals are in first place with just one win from Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.

Tampa Bay Rays:  Anyone notice that Jeremy Hellickson looks outstanding…..Evan Longoria missed left Saturday’s  game with a pain in his side, not good news seeing as though he just returned from an oblique injury…..Jeff Niemann should be back in the rotation within two weeks…..The Desmond Jennings watch is officially on.

Texas Rangers:  The Rangers may be the best team in the American League, their only real weakness is in the bullpen and they should be able to solve that by the trade deadline…..Neftali Feliz seems to have cured his closing problems but the Rangers did check in with the Padres on the availability of Heath Bell…..Anyone else get the feeling that Brandon Webb isn’t going to pitch this season.

Toronto Blue Jays:  Those who thought Jose Bautista wasn’t the real thing, think again…..Adam Lind returned from the DL on Friday…..The Jays were all set to promote Brett Lawrie, but then he was hit by a pitch and those plans have been delayed….. Brett Cecil hit the mid 90s in a recent outing at AAA, if he keeps that up, he could find himself back in the Jays rotation…..Let’s hear  it for Jo-Jo Reyes, who finally won a game after 28 straight defeats.

Washington Nationals:  Rick Ankiel has looked terribe since coming off the DL and Roger Berandina doesn’t impress the Nats either as they are rumored to be after a centerfielder in any trade…..Ryan Zimmerman could be activated off the DL late next week…..Bryce Harper hit his first professional walk off HR the other day, still, he won’t see the majors until next year at the earliest.