Around the majors reports--Aug 1

[nyy26wc]

1) Yesterday's results--

AL NL
Rangers 6, Yankees 2 Marlins 5, Brewers 1
Devil Rays 5, Orioles 4 Cardinals 6, Braves 2
Angels 4, Redsox 3 Astros 3, Mets 2 (10)
A's 11, Indians 2 Rockies 7, Phillies 6
Tigers 4, Mariners 2 Diamondbacks 3, Expos 1
BlueJays 3, Twins 1 Cubs 7, Padres 3
Royals 2, Whitesox 1 (11) Reds 3, Dodgers 1
Giants 8, Pirates 7 (11)

2) Standings--

AL EAST W L Pct GB L10 Str Home Away
Yankees 64 42 .604 - 8-2 L-1 34-20 30-22
Redsox 60 45 .571 3 1/2 5-5 L-1 30-23 30-22
BlueJays 49 58 .458 15 1/2 3-7 W-1 24-31 25-27
Orioles 44 63 .411 20 1/2 2-8 L-2 22-32 22-31
Devil Rays 35 71 .330 29 5-5 W-1 19-32 16-39

AL CENTRAL W L Pct GB L10 Str Home Away
Indians 60 45 .571 - 5-5 L-3 28-25 32-20
Twins 60 46 .566 1/2 2-8 L-4 34-19 26-27
Whitesox 51 53 .490 8 1/2 5-5 L-2 28-24 23-29
Tigers 46 58 .442 13 1/2 3-7 W-3 28-25 18-33
Royals 42 64 .396 18 1/2 5-5 W-1 21-30 21-34

AL WEST W L Pct GB L10 Str Home Away
Mariners 76 30 .717 - 7-3 L-1 36-16 40-14
A's 57 49 .538 19 6-4 W-2 29-24 28-25
Angels 54 52 .509 22 6-4 W-1 28-24 26-28
Rangers 48 58 .453 28 8-2 W-3 26-28 22-30

NL EAST W L Pct GB L10 Str Home Away
Braves 60 46 .566 - 6-4 L-1 28-25 32-21
Phillies 57 49 .538 3 4-6 L-4 32-20 25-29
Marlins 53 52 .505 6 1/2 5-5 W-1 32-18 21-34
Mets 49 58 .458 11 1/2 5-5 L-1 28-25 21-33
Expos 45 62 .421 15 1/2 2-8 L-4 25-27 20-35

NL CENTRAL W L Pct GB L10 Str Home Away
Cubs 62 43 .590 - 7-3 W-2 32-18 30-25
Astros 58 48 .547 4 1/2 5-5 W-1 27-26 31-22
Cardinals 53 51 .510 8 1/2 5-5 W-1 33-21 20-30
Brewers 45 59 .433 16 1/2 2-8 L-3 25-29 20-30
Reds 42 63 .400 20 7-3 W-4 16-37 26-26
Pirates 41 64 .390 21 4-6 L-1 25-26 16-38

NL WEST W L Pct GB L10 Str Home Away
Dodgers 61 46 .570 - 7-3 L-2 34-20 27-26
Diamondbacks 60 46 .566 1/2 5-5 W-1 29-26 31-20
Giants 58 49 .542 3 6-4 W-6 34-20 24-29
Padres 51 55 .481 9 1/2 6-4 L-1 22-32 29-23
Rockies 45 61 .424 15 1/2 4-6 W-2 27-27 18-34

3) Today's schedule--

AL
Rangers (Rob Bell 4-0) at Yankees (Sterling Hitchcock 0-0), 7:05 PM
Mariners (Paul Abbott 10-2) at Tigers (Chris Holt 7-8), 7:05 PM
A's (Erik Hiljus 1-0) at Indians (Charles Nagy 4-4), 7:05 PM
Twins (Kyle Lohse 3-3) at BlueJays (Roy Halladay 0-1), 7:05 PM
Devil Rays (Ryan Rupe 4-9) at Orioles (Jason Johnson 9-6), 7:05 PM
Angels (Scott Schoeneweis 7-8) at Redsox (Hideo Nomo 11-4), 7:05 PM
Royals (Chris George 0-1) at Whitesox (Danny Wright 0-0), 8:05 PM

NL
Mets (Bruce Chen 4-5) at Astros (Tim Redding 3-1), 8:05 PM
Braves (Greg Maddux 14-5) at Cardinals (Bud Smith 3-0), 7:05 PM
Marlins (Matt Clement 6-7) at Brewers (Jimmy Haynes 7-13), 8:05 PM
Phillies (Randy Wolf 5-10) at Rockies (Denny Neagle 6-5), 9:05 PM
Expos (Mike Thurman 5-7) at Diamondbacks (Brian Anderson 3-7), 10:05 PM
Cubs (Kevin Tapani 8-8) at Padres (Bobby Jones 6-13), 10:05 PM
Reds (Lance Davis 4-1) at Dodgers (Terry Adams 7-3), 10:10 PM
Pirates (Joe Beimel 5-6) at Giants (Jason Schmidt 6-6), 10:15 PM

4) Yesterday's HRs--

Todd Helton--#32 & #33
Alex Rodriguez--#29
Rafael Palmeiro--#28
Troy Glaus--#27
Mike Sweeney--#23
Ivan Rodriguez--#21
Aramis Ramirez--#21
Mark McGwire--#18
Brian Daubach--#17
Craig Biggio--#16
Eric Chavez--#16
Richard Hidalgo--#14
Doug Mientkiewicz--#13
Chris Richard--#12
Pat Burrell--#12
Sean Casey--#11
Michael Tucker--#9
Steve Finley--#8
Pedro Feliz--#6
Jerry Hairston Jr.--#5
Doug Mirabelli--#3
Joe Girardi--#2
Jose Ortiz--#1

5) HR leaders--

AL
1) Jim Thome--33
2) Manny Ramirez--32
3) Alex Rodriguez--29*
T4) Carlos Delgado--28
T4) Rafael Palmeiro--28*
T6) Juan Gonzalez--27
T6) Troy Glaus--27*
T8) Jason Giambi--24
T8) Bret Boone--24
T10) Greg Vaughn--23
T10) Tino Martinez--23
T10) Mike Sweeney--23*

NL
1) Barry Bonds--45
2) Luis Gonzalez--41
3) Sammy Sosa--35
4) Todd Helton--33**
T5) Chipper Jones--30
T5) Shawn Green--30
7) Phil Nevin--29
T8) Jeff Bagwell--28
T8) Larry Walker--28
T8) Cliff Floyd--28
T8) Vladimir Guerrero--28

**--hit 2 yesterday
*--hit 1 yesterday

6) Mark McGwire watch--hit #572, is 1 behind Harmon Killebrew for 5th place

7) The Pirates moved into last place in the NL Central, behind the Reds

8) Brewers MGR Davey Lopes was suspended for 2 games for his comments threatening Rickey Henderson.

9) Pirates C Jason Kendall was suspended for 2 games, for bumping umpire Jim Wolf during an argument on July 24. He's appealing.

After averaging 32 RCAA a year from 1998-2000, Kendall's having a terrible year in 2001, hitting just .337 SLG, .318 OBA, .654 OPS, -25 RCAA, .308 OWP, .251 AVG, 5 HR, 38 RBI in 103 games.

10) Mariners DH Edgar Martinez was eligible to be activated from the DL yesterday, but wasn't. According to MGR Lou Piniella, "We're going to keep him on for a few more days. He's at about 75 or 80 percent and when you're in the position we're in, I think being cautious is the right approach. We want to get him as healthy as possible before we get him out there."

[nyy26wc]

1) The Braves activated 2B Quilvio Veras from the DL and designated him for assignment.

Veras is having a bad year, hitting just .357 SLG, .330 OBA, .686 OPS, -11 RCAA, .369 OWP, .252 AVG, 3 HR, 25 RBI in 71 games. Throughout his career, he's shown a better player than that, with a .738 career OPS and 16 RCAA coming into the year.

2) The Rockies plan on calling up P John Thomson, to take Pedro Astacio's spot in the rotation.

3) Giants 2B Jeff Kent missed yesterday's game, due to soreness in his left groin.

4) The BlueJays released P John Frascatore, who was in AAA.

5) The Giants sent P Chad Zerbe to the minors.

6) The A's sent INF Mark Bellhorn to the minors and called up utilityman F.P. Santangelo.

Santangelo had a .720 career OPS and -5 RCAA in 633 career games.

7) The Brewers activated OF Alex Sanchez from the DL before yesterday's game, sent him down to the minors afterwards, called up OF Mark Sweeney and SS Lou Collier and placed LF Geoff Jenkins on the 15 day DL.

Jenkins has a partially torn muscle in his left thumb.

Sweeney has a .725 career OPS and -5 RCAA in 831 career PA. But, as I learned last year, if you ever say anything about him that contradicts his family's belief that he's a superstar, you will get an angry email from them. But, I'm pretty sure the person in question has subsequently unsubscribed.

Collier has a .642 career OPS and -29 RCAA in 608 career PA.

8) Expos 2B Jose Vidro returned to the lineup for the first time in a week, after being sidelined with a sore right hamstring.

9) The Mets recalled P Donne Wall and sent C Gary Bennett to the minors.

10) The Rockies called up C Sal Fasano and designated P Craig Dingman for assignment.

[nyy26wc]

1) Net alerted me to new Mets RF Matt Lawton's home road breakdowns over the past 3 years.

From 1998-2000, Lawton's had an OPS almost 100 points higher in the Metrodome than on the road. In Minnesota, he had a .405 OBA, .470 SLG, .875 OPS, while on the road, his figures were .364 OBA, .406 SLG, .780 OPS.

2) Meanwhile, Rob Neyer notes that new Yankee Sterling Hitchcock's ERA, from 1997-2001, has been 3.84 in San Diego and 5.44 on the road, while new Twin Rick Reed's had a 3.13-4.75 home-road split, since 1998.2001.

3) Cardinals LF Ray Lankford has been given a leave of absence. He is rumored to be headed to the Padres, in a deal for Woody Williams, after the players clear waivers.

4) The Brewers moved OF Jeffrey Hammonds from the 15 to the 60 day DL.

5) The Cardinals activated RF J.D. Drew from the DL.

Drew's having an outstanding season, hitting .694 SLG, .427 OBA, 1.121 OPS, 36 RCAA, .791 OWP, .333 AVG, 21 HR, 51 RBI in 65 games.

6) The Yankees sent P Randy Keisler to the minors, to make room for Sterling Hitchcock.

7) The Twins sent P Adam Johnson to the minors and called up OF Bobby Kielty.

Kielty, who turns 25 on Sunday, was ranked as the Twins's #5 prospect by Baseball America and was given a B grade by the Minor League Scouting Notebook. He came into the season with a .855 career OPS (.397 OBA, .458 SLG) in 2 minor league seasons. In 2001, in the PCL, in AAA, he had a .785 OPS (.363 OBA, .422 SLG).

8) The Padres placed P David Lee on the 15 day DL.

Lee has a strained right triceps.

9) Yankees C Jorge Posada missed yesterday's game, due to a stomach illness. Meanwhile, 1B Tino Martinez missed the game, after being hit in the face by a ball in batting practice.

10) Indians P Chuck Finley was supposed to make a minor league rehab start yesterday, but was scratched was his back bothered him. The Indians hoped to have him back later in the week, but that's now unlikely.

[nyy26wc]

1) Braves OF Bernard Gilkey faces a possible 5 year prison sentence, for his latest DWI arrest. Gilkey had convictions for misdemeanor DWI charges, for incidents from last October 10 and November 8. He was arrested again on DWI charges in April and since it his 3rd arrest in 7 months, felony charges were filed.

2) The Yankees decided to push Roger Clemens's next start back, from Friday to Saturday, due to his right groin something or another. WFAN Yankees beat reporter says the Yankees are emphasizing that Clemens's situation is not an "injury."

3) Rockies RF Larry Walker had a MRI on Monday, which showed inflammation where his left hamstring is attached to his bone. He is day to day and hasn't started a game since last Wednesday.

[nyy26wc]

1) The Rockies traded P Pedro Astacio to the Astros for P Scott Elarton, a player to be named later and cash.

Astacio's not an ace, but when considering the park, he did a good job over the past few years. He had 25 and 20 RSAA in 1999-2000 and has been having an 11 RSAA season in 2001.

Despite the hype generated by all of the trade talk, he's not an ace. His road ERA of 4.26, while respectable, isn't ace material.

Elarton's having a terrible season. He has a 7.14 ERA and -24 RSAA in 20 starts. And don't attribute this just to Enron Field. Elarton's had a 6.67 ERA on the road. He did come into the season with a career total of 23 RSAA in his first 3 years, so there is still hope he can be an effective major league pitcher.

Meanwhile, no matter how many times people say Enron is another Coors Field, it's not true.

This season, there's been 14.07 runs/game scored in Coors. There's been 8.94 scored in Rockies road games. So, Coors is inflating runs by 57%.

There's been 11.22 runs/game scored in Enron Field. There's been 10.02 scored in Astros road games. That's just a 12% increase.

The 57% increase makes Coors on pace to rank 6th on the all time list. What are the parks that rank 1-5: Coors, Coors, Coors, Coors, Coors.

Enron is on pace to rank in a tie for 295th place.

Meanwhile, even with all of the hype Enron got last year, it only ranked in a tie for 212th place, with a 15% increase in scoring.

2) The Pirates traded P Mike Williams to the Astros for P Tony McKnight.

Williams has a 3.67 ERA and 5 RSAA in 40 games this season. He came into the season with a 4.50 career ERA and -14 RSAA, but did have 19 RSAA over the previous 3 years.

McKnight, 24, was ranked as the Astros's #4 prospect by Baseball America and was given a C+ grade by the Minor League Scouting Notebook. He came into the season with a 4.22 career ERA in 6 minor league seasons. He's had 3 starts this season in the majors, with a 4.00 ERA and 2 RSAA, along with 4.76 ERA in AAA,and will move into the Pirates's rotation, starting tomorrow.

3) The Expos traded P Ugueth Urbina to the Redsox for P Tomo Ohka and minor league P Rich Rundles.

The Redsox rank 6th in the AL with a 3.70 ERA. But, don't be so sure that Urbina's going to help bring that figure down.

Urbina had a 4.24 ERA and 3 RSAA in 45 games this season. Meanwhile, in his career, while he's only had an ERA under 3.70 once in his 6 previous years, he did a couple of other years in which he was within .10 of that.

Ohka's going to move into the Expos's rotation, starting on Saturday. He's had a 6.19 ERA and -7 RSAA in 11 starts this season, while he came into the year with a 3.61 ERA and 12 RSAA in 21 major league games.

Rundles, 20, came into the year with a 2.38 ERA in 14 career games, in Rookie ball in 1999-2000. This season, he has a 2.43 ERA in A ball.

4) The Royals traded SS Rey Sanchez to the Braves for minor league 2B Alejandro Machado and P Brad Voyles.

When people see someone else loading up on something, it's human nature to want some of it for themselves. When the Royals added Neifi Perez, the Braves saw that KC had 1 awful hitting SS too many, so John Schuerholz decided the Braves needed to help the Royals solve that logjam.

Rey Sanchez is hitting .303 this season and came into the year with a .273 lifetime average.

But, let me emphasize something--REY SANCHEZ STINKS AS HITTING!!!!!!

Repeat the following, at the top of your lungs until it sinks in--SANCHEZ CAN'T HIT!!!!

Despite that batting average, Sanchez only has a .322 OBA. His SLG is .364, giving him a .686 OPS. RCAA tells us that Sanchez has cost the Royals 12 runs from what an average player would have produced, while his .398 OWP tells us that if cloned a whole lineup to him, and gave them an average pitching staff, they'd lose 98 games.

Sanchez came into the season with a .650 career OPS, a pathetic 116 points under his league average of .766. Meanwhile, his league average SS had a .715 OPS.

Think about that fact for a moment. Even when the comparison group is gerrymandered to be a group significantly below the league average, Sanchez is significantly below average for them.

The only times in the past 9 seasons in which Sanchez failed to cost his team at least 10 runs from what an average player would have given them was 1994 and 1998. How did he do it? It was having his playing time limited to 323 and 339 PAs, which resulted in a mere cost of 8 and 9 runs, respectively.

Congratulations, Phillies. I don't think you'll pass the Braves. But, your chances just got better.

Machado, 19, was ranked as the Braves's #26 prospect by Baseball America and was given a C grade by the Minor League Scouting Notebook. In his first time above Rookie ball, Machado had a .272 AVG, 1 HR, 23 RBI in A ball this season.

Voyles, 24, was ranked as the Braves's #27 prospect by Baseball America and was given a B- grade by the Minor League Scouting Notebook. He had a 1.08 ERA in relief in AA this year, his first time over Hi-A ball.

6) The Orioles traded P Mike Trombley to the Dodgers for minor leaguers P Kris Foster and C Geronimo Gil.

Foster, 26, was ranked as the Dodgers's #16 prospect by Baseball America and was given a C grade by the Minor League Scouting Notebook. He came into the season with a 3.88 career ERA in 8 seasons, 7 of them below AA. In 2001, split between AA and his first time in AAA, he had a 2.54 ERA and was called up to the Orioles.
The Orioles called up Foster.

Gil, 25, wasn't ranked among the Dodgers's top 30 prospects by Baseball America, not did he get a full write up by the Scouting Notebook. He had a .295 AVG, 9 HR, 40 RBI in AAA.

7) The Pirates traded P Terry Mulholland to the Dodgers for P Mike Fetters and minor league P Adrian Burnside.

Mulholland has a 3.72 ERA and 4 RSAA in 22 games this year. He came into the season with a 4.29 career ERA and -60 RSAA in 469 career games.

Fetters is having a terrible year, with a 6.07 ERA and -5 RSAA in 34 games. He came into the season with a 3.59 career ERA and 53 RSAA in 473 career games.

Burnside, 24, was ranked as the Dodgers's #15 prospect by Baseball America and was given a C+ grade by the Minor League Scouting Notebook. He came into the year with a 4.90 career ERA in 5 minor league seasons and has had a 2.66 ERA in AA in 2001.

8) The Cardinals traded P Jason Christiansen to the Giants for minor league P Kevin Joseph and a player to be named later.

Christiansen, who will be a free agent after the season, had a 4.66 ERA and 0 RSAA in 30 games this season. Pitching right around the league average has been the norm for him, as he came into the year with a 4.18 career ERA vs. a 4.33 league average, while in the past 4 years, his RSAA have all been in the -3 to 2 range.

Joseph, who turns 25 today, was ranked as the Giants's #18 prospect by Baseball America. He came into the season with a 4.79 career ERA in 4 seasons, while he's had a 3.44 ERA in 38 relief appearances this season, spread out in A, AA and AAA.

9) The Expos traded minor league OF Milton Bradley to the Indians for minor league P Zach Day.

Bradley's a highly regarded prospect, but has a reputation as a troublemaker that could be serious enough to hold him back. He struggled in the majors this season, hitting just .336 SLG, .288 OBA, .624 OPS, -17 RCAA, .260 OWP, .223 AVG, 1 HR, 19 RBI in 67 games, which resulted in him being sent to the minors.

If the Indians let Kenny Lofton go as a free agent after the season, Bradley is likely to get a shot at the CF job.

Day, 23, was ranked as the Indians's #6 prospect by Baseball America and was given a B- grade by the Minor League Scouting Notebook. He came into the year with a 3.50 career ERA in 5 minor league seasons, with all but 8 games coming below AA. He had a 3.10 ERA in AA this season and has made a single start in AAA.

Day was also one of the players the Yankees traded to the Indians in the David Justice trade.

[NetShrine]

Originally posted by nyy26wc
Rey Sanchez is hitting .303 this season and came into the year with a .273 lifetime average.

But, let me emphasize something--REY SANCHEZ STINKS AS HITTING!!!!!!

Repeat the following, at the top of your lungs until it sinks in--SANCHEZ CAN'T HIT!!!!

Despite that batting average, Sanchez only has a .322 OBA. His SLG is .364, giving him a .686 OPS. RCAA tells us that Sanchez has cost the Royals 12 runs from what an average player would have produced, while his .398 OWP tells us that if cloned a whole lineup to him, and gave them an average pitching staff, they'd lose 98 games.

Sanchez came into the season with a .650 career OPS, a pathetic 116 points under his league average of .766. Meanwhile, his league average SS had a .715 OPS.

Think about that fact for a moment. Even when the comparison group is gerrymandered to be a group significantly below the league average, Sanchez is significantly below average for them.

Must be something about the name "Rey" - - who was the best hitter with that first name? Betcha he was still weak.

[BuzzBuzzard]

If Lee was trying to making a point about Sanchez, I didn't get it. Can someone clarify?

[NetShrine]

Originally posted by BuzzBuzzard
If Lee was trying to making a point about Sanchez, I didn't get it. Can someone clarify?

Hey, batter-batter-batter-batter-batter.
He cannot hit, cannot hit, batter.

[BuzzBuzzard]

Originally posted by NetShrine
Must be something about the name "Rey" - - who was the best hitter with that first name? Betcha he was still weak.

Sadly, I am about to give up the fight and stop defending Ordonez. If the Mets can move him in the off-season, I endorse it. If only he appeared to attempt to change his approach at the plate, I would stick behind him, but alas, after 6 seasons I am at the brink.

[NetShrine]

Originally posted by BuzzBuzzard
Sadly, I am about to give up the fight and stop defending Ordonez. If the Mets can move him in the off-season, I endorse it. If only he appeared to attempt to change his approach at the plate, I would stick behind him, but alas, after 6 seasons I am at the brink.

Five years late is better than never! Attaboy Buzz.

[Duque]

Originally posted by NetShrine


Must be something about the name "Rey" - - who was the best hitter with that first name? Betcha he was still weak.

Not just the first name - it applies even to the non-Hispanic versions, such as Harold Rey-nolds.

[NetShrine]

Appears there have only been 4 first name "Rey"s in MLB:

Quinones, Palacios, Sanchez and Ordonez.

They all at the plate.

Maybe instead of the Mendoza Line, they should call it "The Way Of The Rey"?