Season starts tonight; Diamondbacks alter their rotation

[nyy26wc]

1) TODAY IS OPENING DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's game--

Rangers (Ismael Valdes) at Angels (John Lackey), 8:00

2) Shane Reynolds says there's a good chance he's going to sign with the Mets after he clears waivers tomorrow.

3) The Astros released P Jesus Sanchez. He requested the move after he was sent to the minors last week.

4) The Angels sent INFs Alfredo Amezaga and Chone Figgins, OF Jeff DaVanon, C Wil Nieves and Ps Mark Lukasiewicz, Rich Rodriguez and Doug Nickle to the minors, moved P Matt Wise from the 15 to the 60 day DL and added OF Julio Ramirez to the 40 man roster.

Rodriguez has a 3.82 ERA/16 RSAA in 606 games, including a 5.40 ERA/-1 RSAA in 36 games with the 2002 Rangers.

5) The Giants sent INF Cody Ransom, OFs Tony Torcato and Jason Ellison, C Trey Lunsford and Ps Jim Brower and Jeff Urban to the minors and added 1B Andres Galarraga and OF Ruben Rivera to the 40 man roster.

Galarraga has a .846 career OPS, compared to his league average of .745, and 182 RCAA in 2140 games, including a .738 OPS/-4 RCAA in 104 games with the 2002 Expos. If he gets enough playing time, he can make a run at Willie Stargell's NL record for career SO--

STRIKEOUTS
1    Willie Stargell            1936   
2    Mike Schmidt               1883   
3    Andres Galarraga           1871   
4    Dale Murphy                1748   
5    Lou Brock                  1730   
6    Tony Perez                 1660   
7    Willie McCovey             1546   
8    Sammy Sosa                 1539   
9    Willie Mays                1526   
10   Ray Lankford               1495   

Rivera's .310 SLG, .302 OBA, .612 OPS, -12 RCAA in 69 games with the 2002 Rangers was his 3rd double digit negative RCAA in the past 4 years. He has a .704 OPS, compared to his league average of .785, and -53 RCAA in 631 games.

Brower, who was acquired in the Livan Hernandez trade, has a 4.60 ERA/-4 RSAA in 124 games, including a 4.37 ERA/-1 RSAA in a career high 52 games with the Reds and Expos in 2002.

6) The A's sent 1B David McCarty, INF Jason Grabowski, OF Billy McMillon and C Adam Melhuse to the minors, placed P Jim Mecir on the 15 day DL and added OF Ron Gant to the 40 man roster.

McCarty has a .660 OPS/-69 RCAA in 504 games. McMillon has a .712 OPS/-4 RCAA in 151 games.

the minors, placed P Jim Mecir on the 15 day DL and added OF Ron Gant to the 40 man roster.

Mecir's recovering from offseason knee surgery and is expected to miss the first 4-6 weeks of the season.

Gant's .489 SLG, .338 OBA, .827 OPS, 7 RCAA in 102 games with the 2002 Padres was his highest RCAA since 1996 (he also had 7 in 1998). He has a .806 career OPS, compared to his league average of .746, and 108 RCAA in 1815 games.

7) The Twins sent 1B Todd Sears to the minors and added P Mike Fetters to the 40 man roster.

Fetters has a 3.76 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.43, and 48 RSAA in 592 games, including a 4.09 ERA/2 RSAA in 65 games with the Pirates and Diamondbacks in 2002.

8) The Devil Rays added OF Rocco Baldelli and Ps Jim Parque and Steve Parris to the 40 man roster, sent C Hector Ortiz to the minors, designated INF Hector Luna, OF George Lombard and P Hans Smith for assignment and signed INF Terry Shumpert to a 1 year contract.

Baldelli, 21, was ranked as the Devil Rays #1 prospect by Baseball America. In 2002, in 77 games in A ball, he had a .917 OPS (.535 SLG, .382 OBA), a .942 OPS (.529 SLG, .413 OBA) in 17 games in AA and a .761 OPS (.469 SLG, .292 OBA) in AAA. He has awful plate discipline and successfully went 96 for 96 in AB without a walk in AAA.

Despite only pitching a total of 13 games in the past 2 years, Parque achieved the very difficult, and unenviable, task of posting double digit negative RSAA's in both of them.

Parris's 5.97 ERA/-13 RSAA in 14 starts with the 2002 BlueJays ended a streak of 4 consecutive years with a positive RSAA.

Shumpert had just been released by the Dodgers.

9) The BlueJays sent INF Mike Moriarty to the minors and added Ps Trever Miller and Doug Linton to the 40 man roster.

Miller, who hasn't pitched in the majors since 2000, has a 5.44 ERA/-16 RSAA in 105 games. Linton, who hasn't pitched in the majors since 1999, has a 5.86 ERA/-39 RSAA in 105 games.

10) The Braves sent INFs Jesse Garcia and Mike Hessman, OFs Donzell McDonald and Bo Porter and C Johnny Estrada to the minors.

In addition to having a poor minor league track record, Estrada has a .619 OPS/-25 RCAA in 99 games in the majors over the past 2 years.

11) The Rangers sent INF Donnie Sadler, OFs Lance Nix and Ryan Christenson and P Ryan Drese to the minors and placed OF Rusty Greer and P Jeff Zimmerman on the 15 day DL.

Drese is expected to be recalled when the Rangers need a 5th starter.

Sadler has a .548 OPS/-57 RCAA in 322 games and a 3 year streak of double digit negative RCAA's. Christenson has a .656 OPS/-34 RCAA in 392 games.

Nix, 22, was ranked as the Rangers #4 prospect by Baseball America. While he impressed the team in spring training, he hasn't reached AA yet in his 3 years in the minors.

Greer was placed on the DL retroactive to March 21, but who knows why they did that. Name a part of the body and odds are Greer's got an injury there. He's out of the season and there's a good chance his career is over.

Zimmerman missed the entire 2002 season and probably won't be back until at least after the midseason break.

12) The Yankees designated C Chris Widger for assignment and added C John Flaherty to the 40 man roster.

Widger has a .709 OPS/-46 RCAA in 488 games.

Flaherty has a .669 career OPS, compared to his league average of .773, and -144 RCAA in 913, along with a streak of 5 consecutive years with a double digit negative RCAA.

13) The Indians traded minor league C A.J. Hinch to the Tigers for a player to be named later.

Hinch has a .638 OPS/-52 RCAA in 319 games, including career highs in both OPS (.722) and RCAA (-8, excluding a 9 PA small sample size in 2000) with the 2002 Royals.

14) The Marlins placed OF Abraham Nunez and P Justin Wayne on the 15 day DL and added OF Gerald Williams to the 40 man roster.

Wayne has a right lower leg contusion. Nunez has a strained left hamstring.

Williams has a .716 career OPS, compared to his league average of .780, and -92 RCAA in 1045 games.

15) The Dodgers sent 2B Joe Thurston, INF Ron Coomer and C David Ross to the minors, placed P Derek Thompson on the 15 day DL and will place OF Chad Hermansen on the DL today.

When Guillermo Mota's suspension ends, Coomer is expected to be recalled and a pitcher will be dropped.

Thurston was the projected 2B coming into spring training.

16) The Expos released INF-OF Trace Coquillette.

17) The Twins released Ps Ben Ford and John Sneed.

18) The Tigers released C Robinson Cancel and P Brian Edmondson.

19) The Brewers added OF John Vander Wal and Cs Eddie Perez and Keith Osik to the 40 man roster.

Vander Wal has a .796 career OPS, compared to his league average of .767, and 18 RCAA in 1213 games, including a .756 OPS/-2 RCAA in 84 games with the 2002 Yankees. Perez has a .683 OPS/-40 RCAA in 367 games, including a .543 OPS/-11 RCAA in 42 games with the 2002 Indians. Osik has a .635 OPS/-48 RCAA in 359 games, including a .461 OPS/-13 RCAA in 55 games with the 2002 Pirates.

20) The Cardinals released OF Bill Ortega.