FanHouse Al East

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

This coming weekend, Major League Baseball will reveal its 2009 All-Star teams. So what better opportunity than this to run through a list of this season's "Anti-All-Stars." Anti-All-Stars is far too bland a name, though, so we decided to name the team in honor of Andruw Jones. After all, he was the poster child for guys not earning the lucrative contracts bestowed on them last season. We'll sort through each position and find the player who is least helping his team in comparison to expectations -- whether monetary or from management.

Less than a week from now, Jason Bay will officially become a U.S. Citizen. He won't be abandoning his Canadian roots, though, as the Red Sox left fielder plans on maintaining citizenship to both countries (a.k.a. dual citizenship). July 2 is the exact date when Bay will become a member of the American family. The 30-year-old Bay was born and raised in Canada, but has been in the United States since heading off to college in 1997.

But that stuff is all boring. Let's get down the nitty gritty. The entrance exam. Bay was given 100 questions to study, a list from which he'd be given 10. He only needed to get six correct to qualify for citizenship. Here's a sample of four questions (thanks, WEEI Sports):

Yankees outfielder Xavier Nady has been on the shelf since April 14. He was recently playing in Triple-A on a minor league rehab assignment when he suffered a huge setback and had to pull himself from the game. It appears the injury was devastating. He'll be forced to undergo Tommy John surgery, which normally takes at least one calendar year to heal; sometimes more. This means Nady likely won't be ready until about July of 2010.

The Yankees have been using Nick Swisher in right field most of the time with Nady out, so they'll likely continue to do so. They haven't exactly struggled offensively without him, as evidenced by the comments made by manager Joe Girardi.

WASHINGTON – In his first full season as Atlanta's closer, 2002, John Smoltz was rocked before he ever recorded a save, surrendering eight runs in 2/3 of an inning against the Mets in his second appearance of the year. It took him two more games to record a save, but he ended up with 55 that year.

When Smoltz returned to starting three years later, he was knocked around again, surrendering seven runs in 1 2/3 innings in his 2005 debut. He finished the season 14-7 with a 3.06 ERA.

Sensing a theme?

The 42-year-old right-hander wasn't horrendous in his 2009 debut against the Nationals Thursday, his first outing for the Red Sox or any other major league team than the Braves for that matter. But he wasn't very good either, allowing five runs and seven hits over five innings in a 9-3 loss to lowly Washington.

WASHINGTON -- No matter, how you slice it or where you put the starting and ending points, it's been a long road back for David Ortiz. He's overcome knee and wrist injuries, a mystifying slump last April and an even deeper and more bewildering two-month slump this year.

Heck, who's to even say he is all the way back?

Big Papi has had a good couple of weeks this June, but we've got a much larger sample of at-bats that say he's a significantly diminished hitter. (Of course, there's an even larger sample that makes what seemed like a sudden and sharp decline so difficult to comprehend.)

Terry Francona has slid him back up the order in interleague play, hitting him fifth in all but one of the games he has started since June 12, but he's not back in the three-hole yet, the customary spot from which he has terrorized American League pitchers since 2005.

After scaring the bejeebers out of the Yankees and all of their fans by leaving his start Sunday in the second inning with left-biceps tightness, CC Sabathia seems to be suffering from no ill effects Monday, telling the New York Daily News that his arm "feels good" and that he expects to make his next start on Friday.

In fact, the Yankees aren't even sending him out for an MRI and if all goes well during a bullpen session later this week, their front office seem to think that his prediction of a Friday start isn't out of the question. As it stands now, he's being treated at the park, but that's just about the only thing they're doing differently.

When Akinori Iwamura was carried off the field after Florida's Chris Coghlan slid into him hard at second base in late May, it was feared the Rays would be without their second baseman for the remainder of the season. During Iwamura's surgery on Monday, however, doctors found only a partial tear of his left ACL.

That mean arthroscopic, rather than reconstructive, surgery, and the Rays are reporting that Iwamura could rejoin the team in six-to-eight weeks. That lines up nicely with a potential push for a return trip to the playoffs, although one wonders how much Iwamura would actually get into the lineup when and if he will get a clean bill of health then.

After furiously fighting his way back onto the field May 8 -- from a hip injury some thought would keep him out until June -- Alex Rodriguez recently appeared to be tiring. At least, that's what some of his New York Yankees bosses thought. In his last 10 games, the polarizing slugger we call A-Rod was just 3-for-34. We learned Friday that he'd get the next two days off before re-entering the lineup Sunday.

Saturday, Jon Heyman of SI.com reported that sitting Rodriguez down was not only requested by the front office, but ordered. Apparently there was a conference call where Brian Cashman -- accompanied by Hal Steinbrenner -- informed his star third baseman that he would be on the bench for Friday and Saturday's games in Florida
(Update: A-Rod did wind up playing in Saturday's game as a pinch-hitter.)

When a player with a long injury history like Jason Isringhausen leaves a game with elbow pain, it's easy to immediately assume the worst. That's where I assume most Rays fans placed themselves after Izzy pulled himself out of Saturday's game against the Nationals and Monday, the worst-case scenario was confirmed; Isringhausen has a torn ulnar collateral ligament and will require Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career.

Most people expected this announcement to come coupled with Izzy's retirement, but he's not going softly into the night. His agent indicated Monday that Isringhausen will have the surgery, rehab, and try to be in pitching shape again by the middle of next season.

Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays ace and one of the biggest horses in baseball, has left his start tonight against Florida with an apparently groin injury. Halladay, the major league leader in victories and innings pitched, was 10-1 with a 2.52 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 100 innings pitched heading into Friday night's start. If he's out for any extended amount of time, it would seriously hamper any chance the Jays have to keep pace with the Red Sox and Yankees in the AL East.

UPDATE: According to the Canadian Press, Halladay has been diagnosed with a mild groin strain and the team listed him as day-to-day. He's tentatively scheduled to start again next Saturday.