FanHouse Adam Eaton

There are a plethora of two-start pitchers hurling in week five (Monday, May 4th - Sunday May 10th) of the fantasy baseball season. There are 58 total this week and you late sleepers are luck that all of the Monday games are night games. You won't need to set you lineups until 7:05 PM ET.

[Update: 7:48 AM ET] : Two games were rained out yesterday. The Mets and Phillies did not play and the Angels and Yankees were rained out as well. Here is the fallout from those two postponed games as it relates to two-start pitchers.

Adam Eaton, he of the three year $24.5 million contract, was recently made a September callup after being sent to the minor leagues in late July. If that didn't make it painfully obvious that maybe that Eaton contract was a mistake, then I don't know what will.

Oh, maybe this will:

"You go back and you look at it, and you kind of evaluate how you may have screwed up," Gillick said of signing Eaton to a three-year, $24.5 million free-agent contract before the 2007 season. "I don't think Adam is happy with what has gone on. Certainly, we thought he'd pitch better. But you kind of have to forget about it and move on."

I'm sure a lot of Phillie fans have already gone back and evaluated how Pat Gillick may have screwed up, and would have gladly helped him come to this realization much earlier.

Moving on while Eaton has another year to go on that contract might be tough, but at least I give Gillick credit for not waiting until Eaton was out the door to admit it might have been a mistake. Besides, signing him hasn't really hurt on the field, as the Phillies were the division champs last season ... and you can't blame Eaton for the playoffs, he didn't even pitch.

Arm bash: Phillies Nation

With both the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs adding top of the rotation pitchers this week, it made you wonder what, if any, response the St. Louis Cardinals would have. After all, they're sandwiched between both teams right now in the NL Central and are currently atop the Wild Card standings. Well, even so, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak has come out and said he doesn't think the Redbirds need to make any additions to their current roster.

Mozeliak is of the opinion that when Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright both return in August, it will have the same effect as adding a pitcher through a trade would on the team. It's too bad that his manager Tony LaRussa is of a completely different opinion.

"The difference is this is July 9 and those guys (Sabathia, Harden and Gaudin) are here now. You're looking at health (for Carpenter and Wainwright) in August," La Russa said. "That's a big edge to have the help now. I don't get comforted by the fact we may have guys coming back later.

"In my mind, if you didn't have expectations and you were (lousy) July 1, it's a wash. But whether you had expectations or you didn't, when you get to July 1 like we have, then I believe since you play the year you're playing and don't take anything for granted, your goal should be to improve your chance to win right now."

I can understand Tony's urgency as he's never been the type of manager who'd be content just playing for third place in his division, but at the same time, I'm not exactly sure what the Cardinals can do. While it would be nice to add another starter to their rotation, the team does have other more pressing needs, like a lefty out of the bullpen.

Instead of making a big splash move, the Cardinals would probably be better off adding a smaller name pitcher to the rotation before the deadline (like an Adam Eaton) and let Dave Duncan work the magic he's used on a bunch of other pitchers to get him straightened out.

All of the turmoil surrounding the Mets in June cost Willie Randolph his job but it didn't cost them a chance at winning the NL East. After beating the Phillies 10-9 yesterday, they are just two and a half games out of first. The Marlins, no one's idea of a contender at the season's start, are a game closer to the Phillies. All that means there's a lot of pressure on Pat Gillick to make a move to shore up the questionable rotation.

He's trying. The Phillies were in the CC Sabathia bidding until the very end but didn't have a hitting prospect to equal Matt LaPorta. There probably won't be another pitcher of that ilk on the market, but that's okay. The Phillies don't need Sabathia, they just need someone better than Adam Eaton. Eaton, via this clip from the 700 Level, says all that needs to be said about yesterday's miserable shelling.


Hindsight is 20/20 but the Phillies look pretty silly for not making more of an effort at signing Kyle Lohse during the offseason. No one may have predicted how well he'd pitch for St. Louis but it didn't take a crystal ball to see him outperform Eaton.

On Deck is Fanhouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

I understand why Mets fans are upset with their team, after all, the sting of last season's collapse in the final weeks is still pretty fresh in their memories. Then there's the fact they have a $138 million payroll, and the team has been hovering around .500 during 2008. What I don't get is that when you talk to a Mets fan about the team, they talk about the team as if they're dead and buried.

You guys do realize you're only 3.5 games out of first place, don't you? There are still 74 games left in your season, which is plenty of time to make up such a small deficit. This is something you should be well aware of after watching the Phillies overcome a larger gap in an even shorter amount of time.

I know you're in third place at the moment, but I wouldn't expect the Marlins to stay where they are during the second half of the season with that bullpen and the inconsistency of their starting pitching. Trust me, if the Phillies are worrying about holding their lead over anybody, it's you guys. Not the Marlins.

With a win today, the Mets will have taken three of four from the division leaders this weekend, and be right back in the race. So cheer up, Mets fans, you kids are still in this thing!

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Chicago Cubs (45-28) vs. Chicago White Sox (41-31) - 2:20PM Est.

You know how when you're watching a game on television, whether it's football, baseball, or anything, and the game is being played by two rival teams that the announcer tells you to "throw their records out the window!" You know what I'm talking about? I hate that. That's one of the stupidest things that announcers can say.

Why should we throw the records out the window? I mean, if one of the teams is 12-1 and the other is 2-10 I don't care how long they've been rivals, I'm pretty sure that 12-1 team is going to steamroll the other one. So no, I will not throw that record out the window.

Now this afternoon, for the first time ever, the White Sox and Cubs will be meeting head-to-head in the regular season while both are currently holding down first place in their division. Still, the two teams are moving in opposite directions right now. The White Sox just scored 37 runs in a three-game sweep of the Pirates, and the Cubs are limping home after losing three in a row for the first time this season down in Tampa.

Of course, when these two teams meet, it doesn't matter who is playing well and who isn't. In fact, you can throw their records right out the window (son of a...)!

You'd think this year's spate of ballpark fatalities would have fans playing it a bit safer while enjoying a few hours at the yard. Alas, when it comes to a chance to put their mitts on a genuine big league baseball, all thoughts of self-preservation go out the window.

We've all seen scrums for home runs and foul balls but the scariest thing about this story is that there's no judgment made about the ball's provenance.

Adam Eaton shagged fly balls in the outfield and tossed one to a fan near the railing in left field. Another fan stepped in front, but leaned over too far. His weight propelled him over the railing.

Luckily, he grabbed the railing with one arm as he fell to the warning track, allowing him to land on his feet, rather than his head.

"It was one of the scariest things I've seen," Eaton said.

The MLB.com sub-headline for this story, "Ambitious onlooker tumbles from stands," creates a definition for ambitious that I was unfamiliar with.

Someone should really write up a big book of guidelines for people attending games and right up front should be "Thou shalt not risk life and limb to steal a ball from another fan when it's thrown over the fence by a mediocre starter." You want to take a chance at a broken neck for a Brandon Webb collectible, I won't judge, but let's have some standards.

(H/T The 700 Level)

It seems like the FanHouse has become the one place where Kyle Lohse can find some support. We've chronicled his search for gainful employment in painstaking detail over the last month. There were some hopeful signs for Lohse at Phillie camp this weekend.

Kyle Kendrick got lit up by the Blue Jays yesterday. His line of two innings, seven hits, six runs and two walks leaves him with an ERA of 16.43 thus far. While there's no reason to panic just yet, plenty of pitchers have struggled in March and sparkled later on, the Phillies can't be too complacent. They already have deep problems at the fifth spot in the rotation and can't afford similar trouble in Kendrick's four-hole.

The nominal fifth starter, Adam Eaton, had a MRI yesterday which revealed a herniated disk in his back. The good news is that he should still be able to pitch, the bad news is the same. If his back gets worse, the Phillies will be banking on Chad Durbin or J.D. Durbin or a return to health from Kris Benson. That should work out well.

All of these issues have done nothing to change the team's mind about Lohse, however. Assistant GM Ruben Amaro threw more water in his direction.

"We don't have any interest in him. The fact of the matter is we may not have the dollars and cents to do something like that at this time."

We're still pulling for you, big guy. If Sidney Ponson can find work, so can you.

Late last month, (Fake) Kyle Lohse took to these pages to plead for a little affection from the 30 teams that make up Major League Baseball. Sure, his initial request for five years at $10 million per were delusional, but he seems like a nice enough guy and, let's face it, league average pitchers don't exactly grow on trees.

Surely, as teams saw what they had in Spring Training there would be a club that decided a better fifth starter wouldn't kill them. Someone like the Phillies, perhaps. After all, they're paying Adam Eaton $8 million to be worse than Lohse. He helped them to the playoffs last season and has dropped his asking price to a level much more representative of his abilities. But they aren't biting.

"I will say at those numbers we're probably not interested," assistant GM Mike Arbuckle said, referring to the one-year, $4 million possibility. "Let me change that. At those numbers, I know we're not interested."

Eaton and Chad Durbin fill you with so much confidence that you just reject Lohse out of hand? It doesn't make much sense. It's not just the Phillies, either. A slew of teams could use a pitcher like Lohse, either to help on the back end of the rotation or eat innings while youngsters mature. Is it because he's a Scott Boras guy? Is there a deep, dark secret in his past that he didn't share in his heartfelt missive? The world's smallest violin plays on for you, Kyle.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Boston Red Sox (55-35) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (44-46)-2:05PM Est.

C.C. Sabathia had the first shot at it yesterday, but he couldn't overcome the Royals. This afternoon it's Josh Beckett's turn to try and become the first pitcher in baseball to reach 13 wins. Things are still going well for the Red Sox, and now that Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp have decided to contribute, it shouldn't be much longer until the AL East is officially decided. Beckett hasn't had the greatest time against Toronto in his career. He's 2-2 with a 5.25 ERA. He'll be facing off against Jesse Litsch-who?-who didn't give up an earned run in his last start but still took a loss.