MLB Daily Balk Morning Rundown 4/21

It's not quite as cheery now in LA

Best of Yesterday April 20

It was a great day of baseball for our favorite umpire call, the BALK. Check at the bottom for Wednesday’s impressive total.

Placido Polanco drilled a 3-run homer in the 6th inning and Shane Victorino hit a solo shot in the 8th to keep the Phillies from being swept at home by the Brewers on Wednesday afternoon. The Phillies had to overcome Ryan Howard‘s cold streak since his great start. Howard is hitting .171 in the past 10 games.

Reed Johnson hit a walk off homer in the 11th inning for the Cubs to win the first game of their doubleheader with the Padres on Wednesday. Cubs pitcher Matt Garza finally showed why they traded a boatload of talent to get him. Garza threw 6 shutout innings and had 9 K’s.

Padres offseason acquisitions Aaron Harang and Cameron Maybin both paid dividends in the Pads nightcap winner against the Cubs. Harang gave up 2 in 6 innings to win his 4th game and Maybin hit his 3rd homer. Maybin’s development could become a huge coup for the Padres this season.

Jorge De La Rosa got the Rockies off the hook with 7 solid innings and only 2 runs allowed to avoid the three-game sweep against the Giants. De La Rosa is now 3-0 on the season.

Wade Davis of the Rays pitched 7 innings and gave up only one run to get his record even at 2-2 by beating the White Sox 4-1 on Wednesday night. The Rays have gone from 0-6 to 9-9 and are looking like they are going to be contenders again in the AL East.

Rookie Zach Britton reportedly pitched through sickness  and won his third game of the season for the Orioles against the Twins on Wednesday night.

Bartolo Colon‘s MLB revival continued as he won his first game since 2009 with the White Sox. The Yankees are crossing their fingers that Colon can keep this going for the next 6 months. Don’t discount his value to this team as the Yankees try to work through their rotation problems.

Ricky Nolasco of the Marlins is trying to prove that they have more than Josh Johnson leading their rotation. Nolasco struck out 8 and walked 1 while giving up no runs over 7 innings. Nolasco is now 2-0 on the season after taking out the Pirates 6-0.

Jared Weaver of the Angels has been the best pitcher in baseball so far this season. He’s now 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA after shutting down the Rangers 4-1 on Wednesday night. The AL Pitcher of the Month award for April is in the safe hands of Weaver now.

Justin Masterson went to 4-0 for the Indians as the Tribe moved to a 2 game lead after beating the Royals on Wednesday night. Masterson’s ERA is now at 1.71 on the season.

In their loss, the Royals Luke Hochevar‘s streak of retiring 31 in a row over two games was two short of Steve Busby‘s club record. Unfortunately, Hochevar ended up giving up 6 runs in the 6th and 7th, but that’s the kind of overall progress that has the Royals four games over .500 on the season. With the Twins struggling all around, the White Sox bullpen a mess, and the Tigers inability to put it all together, the Royals and Indians should be in play in the AL Central all season.

Jon Garland went the distance against the Braves to give the Dodgers a 6-1 win on Wednesday night. Garland won his first game in his return to the Dodgers and provided a nice diversion to the madness going around the organization.

 

What Happened (!!)Yesterday?

Commissioner Bud Selig pulled the plug on Dodgers owner Frank McCourt‘s control of the club. Last year’s MLB controlled club, the Texas Rangers, lost in the World Series. The Rangers were even allowed to add payroll while under MLB control. It should be interesting to see if the Dodgers are handled likewise and can achieve similar success. One rumor has former owner Peter O’Malley taking over in the interim.

 

The Daily Balk’s Take

Joel Sherman writes about the Mets miserable early season start, the plausibility of cleaning house and embarking on making moves for the future.

• The Mets are in a troublesome spot with their underwhelming early season performance. Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes are both free agents following the season and Francisco Rodriguez becomes one if he doesn’t finish 55 or more games this season. Those players make about $23M this season and the Mets already have around $20M in dead money committed to castoffs like Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez. The question that arises is whether a 20 game or so snapshot of the season is enough to pull the plug? Only Reyes, making $11M, could be traded without the Mets eating more money. Nobody is going to pickup Beltran’s prorated $20.7M or the potential of K-Rod’s 2012 option. Also, unless they receive MLB-ready prospects in return, the quality of play on the field would suffer more and the mediocre attendance would be guaranteed to not improve. A complete overhaul might become necessary later in the season, but the Mets need to play this out to at least Memorial Day if not the end of June before eating more money

Sherman expands on his thoughts in this piece.

• Those are some very good points that Sherman makes and the Mets definitely have some important decisions to make. The one point that I would disagree with is that trading Beltran would be most valuable to the Mets if they were able to unload his salary without picking up any of the tab. That might require the Mets to almost give him away, but considering the ownership’s financial problems, that would be the fiscally responsible thing to do even though the team wouldn’t benefit from the acquisition of talent in return. As for Wright, during the season isn’t wise if they want anybody to come out to the park. Revisiting Wright’s status in the offseason makes more sense.

 

AL News/Notes

Injured Athletics closer Andrew Bailey is getting closer to going on a rehab assignment. It looks like he could be able to return to the A’s in the first weeks of May.

The Orioles are still unsure about the return dates of pitcher Brian Matusz and shortstop JJ Hardy. Robert Andino has been solid in limited playing time replacing Hardy. Matusz is probably needed back sooner because of his projected impact on their starting rotation.

Indians manager Manny Acta isn’t stressing the early season troubles of Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana. Of course, there’s no reason to overreact when you’re in first place by two games.

The Angels give up on former first round pick Brandon Wood and designated him for assignment on Wednesday. If the rumors are correct, then the Pirates could be claiming Wood off of waivers.

 

NL News/Notes

Zach Greinke‘s first rehab outing in A ball on Tuesday night met the Brewers expectations. Also, LaTroy Hawkins will be activated before the Brewers game on Friday night.

Rick Ankiel of the Nationals took out an ad in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to thank the Cardinals fans. Ankiel’s still appreciative of the support that he received from the fans during his wild ride from phenom pitcher to outfielder.

The Nationals Ian Desmond will be taking paternity leave when his wife gives birth any day now.

Nationals starting pitcher John Lannan is preparing to start on short rest on Sunday against the Pirates after Wednesday’s win in the first game of the doubleheader in St. Louis.

The Rockies are sending 3B Ian Stewart to AAA to get his game up to speed. Stewart battled injuries during spring training and hasn’t really gotten into the flow of the season. He should be recalled when he proves that his timing has returned.

The Giants make it official and send Brandon Belt down to AAA Fresno. Manager Bruce Bochy wants Belt to play every day and work on a few things before coming back to the majors.

Andrew McCutchen has received permission to leave the Pirates to attend to a personal matter.

The Reds injured starter Homer Bailey has experienced some soreness and fatigue in his shoulder and will have his next start pushed back a few days. With the Reds starting pitching depth, there’s no reason for them to rush Bailey back and could even leave him in the minors for another month or so.

The Diamondbacks first baseman of the future, Paul Goldschmidt, is hammering the ball at AA and has to be on the D’backs radar for a possible summer call up if he continues to dominate in the minors.

Bobby Parnell has struggled in his 8th inning role so far this season for the Mets and now could have some blood clotting problems. This is going to move Jason Isringhausen into Parnell’s setup role.

 

Streak of the Day

The Royals Alex Gordon extended his career long hitting streaks to 14 games and the Dodgers Andre Ethier dominated last night by coming a triple away from the cycle and extending his hitting streak to 17 games.

 

Top Thursday Matchups

3:10 EDT Braves (Jurrjens 1-0, 1.00) at Dodgers (Kershaw 2-2, 2.96)

10:05 EDT Red Sox (Beckett 2-1, 1.80) at Angels (Chatwood 1-1, 3.75)

10:05 EDT Phillies (Oswalt 2-0, 2.50) at Padres (Latos 0-2, 5.84)

10:10 EDT Athletics (McCarthy 1-0, 2.45) at Mariners (Hernandez 1-2, 4.33)

 

Last night’s balks: 5

• Collin Balester of the Nationals against the Cardinals
• Jorge De La Rosa of the Rockies against the Giants
• Rafael Betancourt of the Rockies against the Giants
• Luke Hochevar of the Royals committed 2 against the Indians

MLB Daily Balk Morning Rundown 4/19

"The Freak" matched the great Christy Mathewson last night for the Giants

Best of Yesterday April 18

Dice-K shuts out the Blue Jays for 7 innings (1H, 1 BB, 3 K) and Jed Lowrie goes off again (4 for 5, HR, 4 RBI) for the Red Sox on Patriot’s Day at Fenway. Lowrie is now hitting .516 on the season.

David Price and the Rays shut out the White Sox. Price went 8 innings with 9 Ks and 2 BBs. Cult hero Sam Fuld went 4 for 4 to raise his average to .396.

Tim Lincecum was filthy on the mound for the Giants as he didn’t give up a hit through 6 1/3 until Carlos Gonzalez singled in the seventh. The Freak had 10+ strikeouts for the 29th time in his career. That ties Christy Mathewson for the most in Giants history.

The Giants Nate Schierholtz blasted a homer into the 3rd deck at Coors Field on Monday night. His brother, who is a cadet at the Air Force Academy, was at the game and tracked down the 467 foot blast.

Brewers rookie Brandon Kintzler got his first career win by pitching two scoreless innings as the Brewers win 6-3 in 12 innings. John Axford blew the save in the 9th for the Brewers, but manager Ron Roenicke feels that Axford’s control problems are fixable.

Joe Blanton finally pitched well for the Phillies as he went 7 innings and gave up 2 earned runs. His success will make it easier for the Phillies to trade him later in the season to free up money.

Kevin Correia of the Pirates pitched a complete game (3R, 2ER) to claim his third win of the season as the Pirates beat the Reds in 3 of 4 to win their weekend series.

The Reds Aroldis Chapman hit 106 MPH on the GABP radar gun. But that has been adjusted by more “accurate” readings down to 103 MPH. That’s still better than the mid 90s he was throwing last week.

CJ Wilson gave up 1 run over 7 innings as the Rangers beat the Angels 7-1. Wilson overpowered the Angels with 9 Ks and only walked one to go to 2-0. Adrian Beltre hit his 5th HR for the Rangers and is now tied for the AL lead in RBI with 16.

More inches of snow in Chicago on Monday, 1.2 inches, than runs scored at Wrigley during the Cubs 1-0 win over the Padres.

Carlos Zambrano has 10 Ks and only 1 walk in 8 inning of shutout ball for the Cubs. Tim Stauffer went 7 innings for the Padres. Tyler Colvin provided the walk off double for the Cubs.

Tigers Ryan Raburn alledgedly became the first player to hit the roof at Safeco Field in Seattle. He did it on a foul ball.

Ted Lilly threw 7 scoreless innings for the Dodgers in their win over the Braves 4-2. Lilly got his first win of the season.

AL News/Notes

The A’s reacquired pitcher David Purcey from the Blue Jays. Purcey had been traded from the A’s to Jays in the offseason and was designated for assignment last week.

The Yankees are going to be cautious regarding Alex Rodriguez’ injuries. That’s easier with Eric Chavez filling in the way he has so far this season (.467 AVG, 2 2Bs).

The Mariners OF Franklin Gutierrez is heading to the Mayo Clinic for tests to help figure out why his stomach is continuing to be an issue.

The Angels are trying to do everything to get lefty starter Scott Kazmir back on track. Now he’s off to Arizona for extended spring training.

NL News/Notes

Jason Bay could return to the Mets on Thursday. Bay is scheduled to play in minor league rehab games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

After his leadoff homer on Sunday, the Pirates Andrew McCutchen now has seven leadoff homers in his career.

The Brewers aren’t ready to activate setup reliever LaTroy Hawkins yet despite rejoining the team in Philly. He might be activated on Wednesday or Friday. Also, RF Corey Hart is beginning an AAA rehab assignment on Tuesday and could be back in a week or so.

The Giants could activate OF Cody Ross on Tuesday if everything went well during his rehab start at AAA Fresno on Monday night. Rookie 1B Brandon Belt could be sent down when Ross returns according to manager Bruce Bochy.

The Braves reliever Peter Moylan has a bulging disc in his back and is looking to avoid surgery. The Braves finally moved Jason Heyward to the 2 hole in the lineup and dropped Nate McLouth to 8th in the order.

The Phillies lefty reliever JC Romero strained his right calf and could be heading to the DL. That will make fellow lefty Antonio Bastardo even more important in the Phillies bullpen going forward.

Dodgers rookie OF/1B Jerry Sands debuted with a double against Tim Hudson and the Braves. Manager Don Mattingly said that Sands, who started in LF, could see time at first base if James Loney struggles.

Streak of the Day

The Baltimore Orioles have now lost 8 straight games after starting the season 6-1.

Top Tuesday Matchups

6:40 EDT White Sox (Danks 0-1, 3.15) at Rays (Shields 0-1, 3.98)

7:05 EDT Brewers (Wolf 1-2, 4.32) at Phillies (Halladay 2-0, 1.23)

7:07 EDT Yankees (Burnett 3-0, 4.67) at Blue Jays (Drabek 1-0, 1.93)

8:40 EDT Giants (Sanchez 1-1, 3.24) at Rockies (Jimenez 0-0, 7.50)

Last night’s balks: 0

Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day Overview

Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day Overview

Manager: Ron Roenicke    GM: Doug Melvin

	Lineup:
1	2B Rickie Weeks
2	CF Carlos Gomez
3	LF Ryan Braun
4	1B Prince Fielder
5	3B Casey McGehee
6	RF Mark Kotsay/Corey Hart(DL)
7	SS Yuniesky Betancourt
8	C Wil Nieves/Jonathan Lucroy
9	Pitcher

 

Weeks had a very good comeback season from his wrist injury in 2009 and the Brewers rewarded him with a long term contract in spring training. All the Brewers ask for in return is that Weeks either match or exceed what he did last season. If he does, the Brewers have one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball.  

Gomez is hitting in the #2 spot to begin the season as Corey Hart is on the DL. He’s most likely destined for much lower in the order when Hart returns. Gomez is a good fielder and has great speed that leads to steals when he reaches base. The problem is that Gomez rarely gets on. He set a career high with a .298 OBP last season. Good hitting pitchers do better than that. If he’s going to be any kind of factor in the #2 spot, he has to improve his OBP by at least .050. He might have to do that to justify remaining in the lineup over Nyjer Morgan, who was acquired a week before opening day.  

Braun is one of the best players in the NL. There haven’t been many players better than him since his 2007 ROY season. His production did drop off a little bit last season but he should be primed for a huge season at 27 years old. Expect him to return to 30+ HRs and get his customary 100 RBIs while hitting .300.

It’s the money year for Fielder as he heads into free agency after this season. He’s in the best shape of his career, of course, and is looking to bounce back from a down year. His numbers last year were good for a normal player but Fielder is used to huge numbers and his OPS last season was .048 below his career average. Assuming that he stays healthy and doesn’t press, a return to 40+ HRs, well over 100 RBIs and a .280 or better average should be in store.

McGehee proved that his 2009 2/3 of a season wasn’t a fluke. As long as he can continue to produce similar numbers, then the Brewers have one of the better hitting third basemen in the NL. McGehee could also be a candidate to replace Fielder at first after the season as his lack of athleticism would play better in the field at first.

Kotsay starts the season in right field but he’ll end up as a fourth outfielder and pinch hitter. Hart is the regular and is out with a strained oblique and will miss the first few weeks. When he returns, he’ll probably hit second. The Brewers rewarded Hart with a new contract and should be happy as long as he continues to hit at his career averages (.275 AVG, .329 OBP, .483 SLG).

Betancourt comes over from KC in the Greinke deal and could be a solid addition. He hit a career high 16 HRs last season and after playing in pitcher’s parks all of his career, should improve more offensively in Miller Park. If the Brewers can work with him to be more patient and draw walks, then he could become a plus hitting shortstop for the Brewers.

Nieves is the starter with Lucroy on the DL to start the season with a broken pinkie. Lucroy struggled a little bit seeing his first big league action last year after spending less than a month in AAA. The Brewers might send him to AAA for further development if Nieves and the Brewers other catcher, George Kottaras play well.

	Starting Pitching
1	RHP Zach Greinke
2	RHP Yovani Gallardo
3	RHP Shawn Marcum
4	LHP Randy Wolf
5	LHP Chris Narveson

 

Greinke is most likely out until early May due to his rib injury playing basketball. As long as he’s fully recovered and his arm is ready for big league work, Greinke should be one of the best pitchers in the NL. As long as there a no lingering effects, this injury could actually help the Brewers if they make the playoffs because Greinke wouldn’t have as much wear on his arm going into the postseason. But he’s going to have to pitch well for that to happen and the Brewers have to expect an ERA around 3.00 and 14-16 wins to be in postseason contention.

Gallardo is one of the better #2 starters in baseball. He’s got #1 talent, strikes out more than a batter per inning and if he can cut down on his walks and increase his innings, Gallardo could drop his ERA to the low 3’s and make a run at 20 wins.

Marcum comes over from Toronto where he started over 30 games for the first time last year after returning from Tommy John surgery. The good news for the Brewers is that pitchers that have TJ surgery usually improve after the first season back. Assuming that’s the case here, Marcum could be a possible sub 3.00 ERA guy, go over 200 IP, and win 16-18 games. Not bad for a #3 pitcher not in Philly.

Wolf’s numbers deteriorated from his solid 2009 numbers with the Dodgers. The biggest concern for the Brewers has to be his strikeout rate that has dropped to less than 2 K’s every 3 IP. In addition, his walks went up and as a result, the ERA was a mediocre 4.17. The Brewers need him to improve his K-BB numbers and lower his ERA by half a point. If he does that, Wolf could win 13-15 games and the Brewers would most likely be in the playoffs.

Narveson had a strange season last year as he gave up almost 5 runs per game but finished at 12-9 due to some good run support. The Brewers are going to need him to drop that ERA by around a run per game if he’s going to be of any value. If he pitches at around a 5.00 ERA this season, expect the Brewers to call up top prospect Mark Rogers and give him a chance.

	Bullpen
CL	RHP John Axford
SET	RHP Takashi Saito/RHP LaTroy Hawkins(DL)
	LHP Zach Braddock
	RHP Kameron Loe
	RHP Sean Green
	RHP Brandon Kintzler
	LHP Mitch Stetter/RHP Sergio Mitre

 

Axford took over for Trevor Hoffman last season and pitched great. He was overpowering all season and will be relied upon to repeat his work over a full season. He gave up a walk off homer in the opener and it will be interesting to see how he recovers from that shock. He’s had control problems in the past that led to his late arrival in the majors, but if he can continue to blow hitters away while improving his control, he could develop into one of the best closers in the NL.

Saito comes over from the Braves where he was good as usual. At 41, nobody wants to give him more than a one year deal but his 2.19 career ERA and overwhelming K-BB ratio has proven valuable everywhere he’s been. As long as he can stay healthy, he missed last September; Saito should prove to be a tough 8th inning guy for the Brewers opponents to face.

Hawkins had a poor season last year and could be done.

Braddock is mostly a lefty specialist right now who doesn’t fare that well against righties. Loe was very good last season after a year in Japan. If he can continue his good work, the Brewers bullpen will be pretty solid and deep. Green is over from the Mets and will be early middle relief. Kintzler was signed out of the Independent league in 2009 and had a brief appearance last year. He could be a sleeper in the bullpen. Stetter is another lefty specialist.

Mitre came over from the Yankees in spring training and could step into the rotation if needed. Mitre will probably fill Greinke’s spot in April.

	Farm Prospects who could help in 2011
1	RHP Mark Rogers
2	RHP Amaury Rivas
3	2B Eric Farris

 

Rogers is the top pitching prospect and should be called up if anybody goes down or is ineffective in the rotation. Rivas is right behind Rogers when it comes to potentially being ready to help this season as a starter. Farris is the most advanced every day prospect and could be a chip used in a trade as it’s unlikely that he’ll ever unseat Weeks at second.

Three Questions:

1. Can the “Big Three” pitch the Brewers to the playoffs?

• Greinke and Marcum join Gallardo at the top of the Brewers rotation and these three might be the best threesome in the NL outside of Philly. With a loaded lineup that should score a lot of runs, the Brewers failed to pitch well last year and were out of the playoff race early. These three pitchers could potentially win 50 games between them. Would that be enough for the Brewers to return to the postseason?

2. How will Prince Fielder’s final year with the Brewers affect him?

• Fielder has said that he wants to “test” free agency and it’s almost a given that he’ll be gone when the season ends. Some players don’t perform well in contract year situations and we won’t know how Fielder fares for at least a few months. Also, there will be rumors of potential trades if one of the big market teams has an injury or an AL team has a DH spot that he could fill. The fan bases in the northeast always like to speculate on trades and Fielder’s name will come up often.

3. Could the Brewers trade Fielder during the season and still contend?

• This has been dismissed already but nothing is ever set in stone. If Fielder were to struggle through Memorial Day and the Brewers have an opportunity to move him for a good package, could they pull the trigger and change on the fly? If they are able to get a first or third baseman in the deal who could put up decent numbers, it might be possible.

 

Projection

The Brewers are primed for one of their best seasons in franchise history. The lineup is loaded and their front of the rotation starters are very good. In addition, they still have prospects in their system that could conceivably be moved to add an impact closer or a center fielder if needed. Unless there’s a rash of injuries in addition to what they already have, it would be very surprising if the Brewers didn’t approach 90 wins and earn a playoff spot.