After five-plus innings and 89 pitches, rookie phenom Rick Porcello was removed from his major league debut Thursday in Toronto. The 20-year-old had what I would call a good rookie outing, and you can see why the Tigers were so quick to promote him to their big-league rotation.
Porcello had solid stuff and good location for the majority of his first five innings. He's got good sinking action, in addition to running the two-seam fastball in on right-handed hitters. His fastball lived in the low-to-mid-90s (mostly between 91-94), and he showed some confidence in his curveball.
After five-plus innings and 89 pitches, rookie phenom Rick Porcello was removed from his major league debut Thursday in Toronto. The 20 year-old had what I would call a good rookie outing, and you can see why the Tigers were so quick to promote him to their big league rotation.
Porcello had solid stuff and good location for the majority of his first five innings. He's got good sinking action, in addition to running the two-seam fastball in on right-handed hitters. His fastball lived in the low-to-mid-90s (mostly between 91-94), and he showed some confidence in his curveball.
FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Toronto Blue Jays.
There's no team in baseball in a worse spot than the Blue Jays. They've had to contend with the megapowers in New York and Boston for years, watching their competitive payroll and over-.500 seasons amount to nothing more than third-place finish after-third place finish. No matter how much they have spent and how much they have won, it has never been enough to catch the Red Sox or the Yankees.
FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the San Diego Padres.
You know that scene in Caddyshack where Chevy Chase turns to Rodney Dangerfield and says, "You're not ... you're not good, Al. You stink" If Kevin Towers was sitting near me right now, that's what I would say. And one would imagine if there wasn't so much ownership turmoil around the Padres right now, someone else might have noticed as well.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.
After clinging to contender-ship for the past few years, it seems as though last season was a wake-up call to San Diego Padres GM Kevin Towers. Trevor Hoffman will not be the closer this year, Khalil Greene is likely to be traded, and Jake Peavy is definitely going to be traded. Let's examine what triggered this.
The Padres can't hit, and they are not in position to develop an offense any time soon. They had been able to survive with little offense the previous three seasons because their pitching and defense -- teamed with their home-field advantage in spacious Petco Park -- was able to churn out those 3-2 and 2-1 victories enough times to stay competitive. That all went by the wayside in 2008, as significant time was missed by Peavy and Chris Young atop the rotation (they made only 45 combined starts after making 64 in 2007) and the rest of the starters were shaky all season. In turn, the team ERA ballooned from 3.70 to 4.41.
And this is not your ordinary catcher "foul-to-face" either, kids. Michael Barrett is the one batting when he clocks a ball off his bat and into his grill. If you're adverse to seeing humans take painful shots to the dome, I suggest you not watch this.
Damage Control is a list of injuries that you need to be thinking about as you're sitting at work, trying to set your fantasy lineup for week two. I'm categorizing the injuries in three pretty obvious slots below (good, worth the risk, don't bother) for your perusal the rest of the afternoon prior to submitting your lineups.
If there is anyone you have a question about, drop a note in the comments or send the Fantasy FanHouse crew an email. Please note that as injury news regarding the upcoming week is released, this list will be updated.
Safe to Roll Francisco Rodriguez, CL, LAA -- He pitched Sunday, so you kind of have to start him if you own him. Carlos Guillen, SS, DET -- Supposedly he's questionable, but I see no reason to bench him. He hits too well and is too valuable in terms of positional eligibility to keep on the bench. Elijah Dukes, OF, WAS -- How you gonna bench me, dawg? (Seriously, if you are so inclined to own/use him, he should be back, dawg.)
Earlier this week I reminded the San Diego Padres that it takes three outfielders to fill your customary major league lineup. I don't know if they read my warning or if losing Kosuke Fukudome to the Cubs spurred them on but according to Buster Olney of ESPN, they are feverishly working to make a deal that brings Jason Bay back into the Padre fold. He was a member of the organization for only a year before the Friars sent him to Pittsburgh in a deal for Brian Giles.
Olney reports the two teams are deep in discussion of a multiplayer swap with names like Xavier Nady, Matt Morris, Nate McLouth and Michael Barrett attached as ballast. The Padres would also have to dip into their prospect well to get a deal done for Bay, which leads us to Chase Headley. The top prospect in the organization, Headley's a third baseman who demolished the Texas League and didn't embarrass himself during a cup of coffee in place of Kevin Kouzmanoff.
But, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, there's no chance of the Padres including Headley in the deal. They plan to move him to left so they can have him and Kouzmanoff in the lineup at the same time down the road.
Ivan Rodriguez is as responsible as anyone for reversing Detroit's fortunes the past few years. He was the first real superstar to sign with the team, convincing other free agents that, "hey, maybe playing for the Tigers really isn't so bad after all." But sadly, it seems his time with the team has come to an end. From Booth Newspaper's Danny Knobler:
[It] appears that the Tigers are prepared to decline their $13 million 2008 option on Ivan Rodriguez's contract. While there were also hints that the Tigers would try to work out a deal to bring Rodriguez back for less than $13 million, it's unlikely he would agree to do that.
This is hardly the first time Pudge's contract has come up, but now that the season is over a decision will have to be made soon. It's obvious the guy can still hit -- he posted a .281 average with 45 extra-base hits -- but he somehow managed to play 129 games while drawing just nine walks all season long. The resulting .294 OBP is flat-out ridiculous for an everyday player, especially since he hit his fewest home runs (11) since 1993.
If the Tigers don't pick up his option, they'll still owe him a $3 million buyout, which means the decision really comes down to whether he's worth $10 million next year, or if the team would better suited pursuing a free agent (Michael Barrett? Jason Kendall? Paul Lo Duca?) who might provide roughly the same production for less money.
Lou Piniella is a lot of fun. Sometimes I don't think he can even remotely think about the words that come out of his mouth before he says them. Today, in the Chicago Sun-Times, he's asked about his catchers. He gives this response:
Holy cow. Barrett punched their ace in the face and was so irritable that he was traded for Bowen, who was so terrible that he was traded for Kendall, who's caught in a whole three games for the Cubs (and gone 0-for-8). Of course, all of this juggling of starting catchers has been necessary because the backups are Hill (OPS is under .600), Blanco (under .500 before his injury), and Soto (who they've only trusted enough to start in two games this year).
Nice. That's definitely the first word that comes to mind when I think of how the Cubs' catchers have performed this year.
After five-plus innings and 89 pitches, rookie phenom Rick Porcello was removed from his major league debut Thursday in Toronto. The 20-year-old had what I would call a good rookie outing, and you can see why the Tigers were so quick to promote him to their big-league rotation. 
Damage Control is a list of injuries that you need to be thinking about as you're sitting at work, trying to set your fantasy lineup for week two. I'm categorizing the injuries in three pretty obvious slots below (good, worth the risk, don't bother) for your perusal the rest of the afternoon prior to submitting your lineups.
Earlier this week I reminded the San Diego Padres that 
