July 31 is rapidly approaching. Buy or Sell lets each team know where they stand on the trade market with the deadline right around the corner.
This is the year that the Jays really thought they were going to take that step into the stratosphere of the Yankees and the Red Sox. Of course, you could probably say that about the Blue Jays every year for the last ten. But with the acquisitions of the likes of Scott Rolen and David Eckstein, this was really going to be the year.
Instead, not only were they passed by the Rays, but they've been passed by the Baltimore Orioles. And these are two franchises that haven't been known for great baseball decisions over the past ten years.
The Jays will attempt to fill Wells' spot in the lineup by sliding Alex Rios to center and using Wilkerson in right field. Jeremy Accardo also went on the DL, and the Jays filled his spot in the bullpen with a familiar name, purchasing the contract of Armando Benitez from Triple-A Syracuse.
Yes, in case you lost track, Benitez signed a minor league deal with the Jays back in March and has down on the farm ever since. He only pitched a total of one inning for Syracuse after straining a hamstring and spending most of his time (seven whole innings) with Single-A Dunedin, but he's back in the big show, where he hopes to avoid picking up where he left off last year, which was pitching horribly for the Marlins down the stretch.
Can Benitez provide the Jays another weapon in their bullpen? My first reaction was that the guy was toast, but upon further reflection, he did strike out better than a batter per inning last year, even while getting shelled with the Marlins. So long as he's not put into a high pressure situation, there's no real reason to think he can't stick around a while with the Jays, perhaps providing inspiration for another failed closer trying to work his way back to the majors.
The All-Star break is over and there are about two weeks left until the trading deadline. You know what that means; it's time for some wild and unsubstantiated rumors about everything. Apparently, Brewers GM Ned Yost Doug Melvin has already heard some rumors and is denying them.
"I was talking to (Reds general manager) Wayne Krivsky today and then this afternoon I came to the office and went on the Internet and there was something about us getting Ken Griffey," Melvin said. "I just got off the phone a half-hour ago with the Reds' GM and (Griffey's) name was never even mentioned."
You know what the rule is in these situations; where there's smoke, there's usually fire, especially when a GM goes out of his way to deny a rumor that hasn't even hit the mainstream yet. Unless it's just some crazy rumor started up by one of those evil bloggers. Not that the Brewers really need Ken GriffeyJr., assuming Bill Hall comes back quickly (and it seems like he's going to). Geoff Jenkins and Kevin Mench have been a good platoon in left and Corey Hart is breaking through in right. The Brewers definitely don't need to sell the farm to get Griffey into an already solid outfield, it's kind of the antithesis of their plan so far.
The offense started running plays and I had my first chance to see Kevin Kolb in action. Going through the drills he seemed to show that even though he has only been out there a few days that he had poise and understanding of the offense. He had some zip on the ball, hitting Avant and Baskett in stride, and even having a little touch on the screen passes.
I was asked the question about who I would most like to see. I don't think Tom finished the question when I said, "Gocong." With everything I had read about him, I wanted to see him first hand. He is an imposing guy -- 6-2 250. Going through their drills with offense he was covering the tight ends and was in stride with them on the short field. I have a feeling that with him healthy, the addition of Takeo, another year for Gaither and Trotter that we may have the best group of linebackers in the league.
Best in the league? I like your enthusiasm, but I can't say I'd go that far.
If the Phillies knew a thing or two about marketing they'd bring in Mench to replace the lackadaisical left fielder we have out there now. Mench has the workman like attitude that Philly fans embrace like no other city. Heck, he's hitting over .280.
I've enjoyed the blog section of the Eagles official site. Most of the bloggers tend to fade away without much action. RB Ryan Moats hasn't updated since January and the Playboy blogger, Kendra Wilkinson, has been removed. My guess is, she got bored of being harassed in the comments section. Hopefully Mench will make his thoughts available on a semi regular basis.
You've heard plenty of "Hey, the Brewers have the best record in baseball" by now. You've heard it because it's true, they're 21-10 after yesterday's 6-4 win over the Pirates. But how good are they? Are they this year's Tigers? Or are they going to fall off the face of the planet by the All-Star break? Somewhere in between? Let's look at some early season performances and decide.
JJ Hardy- Hardy was previously known as an all-field, no-hit guy in the mold of Adam Everett and Jack Wilson. All of a sudden, he's hitting .339/.396/.606 with eight homers (one shy of his career high) on May 7th. Hardy's highest full-season OPS in the minors was only .796. It seems realistic that he can put up something like an .800 or maybe even .850 OPS this year, but I don't see any way he can tear it up like he is now and practically match Prince Fielder homer for homer.
Prince Fielder- Prince is on pace for something like 47 homers. That seems a bit unlikely, but not quite impossible. Remember that Ryan Howard hit 58 in his second full year in the bigs last year. Howard's minor league record was a bit better than Fielder's, but not THAT much better. It doesn't seem impossible for Prince to have a huge year this year, though he'll probably end up closer to 35 homers than 45
Ben Sheets- In his past three major league seasons (counting partial and full seasons) his WHIPs have been 0.98, 1.07, and 1.09. This year it's 1.21. That's not awful, but for a guy like Sheets it's not great. He's also got an un-Sheets like 21 strikeouts in 42 and 1/3 innings (last year he K'd 116 in 106). Sheets can do better than he has early this season and I think he will.
It's hard to pass judgment on the St. Louis Cardinals for their 7-1 loss to the Brewers tonight. Still, even through the worst events time and baseball march onwards. The Cardinals know that as well as anyone, and they took the field tonight wearing patches to honor Josh Hancock and playing with heavy hearts. They were pretty obviously distracted in this one and who could blame them? Kip Wells balked and made a throwing error in the first four innings in which the Brewers took a 4-1 lead.
For the Brewers part, the star of the night had to be ex-Cardinal Jeff Suppan, who threw a complete game to pick up his second win against his former teammates of 2007. I'm sure the angle of him being a former teammate of Hancock will be beaten into the ground because I hear him on Baseball Tonight as I type this, but it really was a great effort on what had to be an incredibly tough day for Suppan.
While Soup scattered 8 hits and only allowed one run over the game, the Brewers had a bit of offense to go with it. Prince Fielder hit a solo homer and ended the night with two runs scored and two RBIs, while Kevin Mench did the same. Johnny Estrada doubled two runs home in the first to give the Brewers a 2-0 they wouldn't relinquish. I'm sure the Brewers didn't feel great beating the Cardinals on this night, but they end April at 16-9 with a three game lead on the Pirates in the NL Central.
The Milwaukee Brewers are on fire. They've won four in a row and have the biggest lead on any division in baseball with their three game lead on the Reds in the NL Central. Last night they managed to do something that no one had done to this point in the season; score runs on Rich Hill.
Hill entered last night's game as the biggest surprise of the year for the Cubs, having allowed only one run in 21 innings in his first three starts. He started last night off with three more scoreless innings, but that was before Prince Fielder ripped his third homer in the past two games against the Cubbies. The Brewers then touched Hill up for two more on their way to the 4-1 win, including a solo homer by Kevin Mench, before Hill was removed with two outs in the seventh.
Milwaukee Brewers pitching coach Mike Maddux, who has been known to fracture a word or two of the English language, came up with a new way Tuesday night to describe Jeff Suppan.
Normally when I write up a recap of a game, I like to talk more about the team that won the game. For example, in the Brewers 7-3 win over the Pirates last night, I would talk about Claudio Vargas and his impressive 11 strikeouts over only six innings of work. Then I would go on to talk about Bill Hall and his continued hot streak, banging out three hits (including his third homer of the year), three RBIs, and scoring two runs. I would probably mention Corey Hart and Kevin Mench as well, as they each added three hits to the Brewer attack.
Instead, the most interesting aspect of this game is the Pirate offense. I mean, who lets Claudio Vargas strike them out 11 times? Three of the strikeouts came in the worst manner possible. In the fourth inning, down 3-1, the Pirates loaded the bases up with no outs for Xavier Nady, Ronny Paulino, and Jose Bautista. And the boxscore after that reads K, K, K. Three swinging strikeouts. Jason Bay homered, tripled, doubled, and walked last night and only managed to score one run. Besides Bay and center fielder Chris Duffy, the Pirates only managed two hits. That is some impressive ineptitude. Well, that or Claudio Vargas is Roy Hallady or something.
Anyways, not to diminish the Brewers win from last night because they used to to reclaim the top spot in the clustered NL Central (not that first place on April 19th is huge or anything, but it is a nice thing to have) and will try and complete the two game sweep of the Pirates this afternoon at Miller Park.
When something in a game goes wrong, members of the media generally take it upon themselves to ask and speculate why it happened. Such was the mindset of one Steve Henson who questioned Grady Little's decision not to pinch hit for Randy Wolf in the 6th inning of the Dodgers loss to the Brewers on Tuesday. Of course the reason Henson questioned Little's non-move is because Kevin Mench wound up hitting the go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning. While I side with Little in the case because I would have wanted Wolf to go more than five innings as well, suffice it to say Grady wasn't happy about having his decisions questioned. From Tony Jackson's Inside the Dodgers blog:
Grady Little didn't take kindly to being question in print this morning about his decision to let Randy Wolf hit for himself in the sixth inning last night, when the Dodgers had a chance to break open a game they led by one run and eventually lost by one run. He cut his pregame media session after providing curt answers to three questions, one of which was about whether he planned to try to get Saito into a game soon. "Whenever there is a decision to be made on a pitcher, I'll call upstairs and see what you guys think I should do first."
"It is not that big a deal," Yost said. "I don't know why everybody wants to make it a big deal but it seems to be a big deal. But it's not a big deal.
"Our guys understand it. They know what's going on."
Yost hinted that he was more concerned about spreading out the playing time in all three outfield positions mostly between his top four players, not just a two-man situation in left field.
"I'm talking about, in my mind, Mench, Jenkins, Billy Hall and Corey Hart," Yost said. "And then (Gabe) Gross and Tony Gwynn will get their at-bats when they can and get their playing time. But the majority of the time is going to revolve around those four guys."
What I don't know is why managers are so averse to using the word "platoon." Mench hits lefties. Jenkins hits righties. Between them, they're actually a very good right fielder. It's Yost's job to win games. If the players don't like it, it's their problem.
The Blue Jays 
The All-Star break is over and there are about two weeks left until the trading deadline. You know what that means; it's time for some wild and unsubstantiated rumors about everything. Apparently, Brewers GM 
There are plenty of athletes who have blogs. 
It's hard to pass judgment on the St. Louis Cardinals for 
The Milwaukee Brewers are on fire. They've won four in a row and have the biggest lead on any division in baseball with their three game lead on the Reds in the NL Central. Last night they managed to do something that no one had done to this point in the season; score runs on Rich Hill.
Normally when I write up a recap of a game, I like to talk more about the team that won the game. For example, in 
When something in a game goes wrong, members of the media generally take it upon themselves to ask and speculate why it happened. Such was the mindset of one Steve Henson who 
Earlier in the week, 
