Champs on the brink of elimination; Rolen hurt

[nyy26wc]

Version 3.0 of the sabermetric baseball encyclopedia, with the 2002 stats added, plus enhanced sorting features, has started the shipping process.

According to Peter Gammons, "There is no greater baseball tool than Lee Sinins' Baseball Sabermetric Encyclopedia. Get thee to Baseball Immortals and order the disc, haste post haste." The product Jayson Stark called "the best invention since the toaster oven!" has gotten even more powerful.

If you enjoy the ATM reports, check out my other creation--the sabermetric baseball encyclopedia. It's powerful, yet extremely easy to use. Features extensive sorting, stat display options and features that are not available in online and printed sources. For more information, see
http://www.baseball-encyclopedia.com



1) Yesterday's scores--

Cardinals 2, Diamondbacks 1 (Cardinals lead series, 2-0)
Braves 7, Giants 3 (series tied, 1-1)

2) Today's games--

A's (Barry Zito) at Twins (Rick Reed), 4:00 (series tied, 1-1)
Yankees (Mike Mussina) at Angels (Ramon Ortiz), 8:00 (series tied, 1-1)

3) Yesterday's HRs--

J.D. Drew
Javier Lopez
Vinny Castilla
J.T. Snow
Rich Aurilia
Barry Bonds

4) Cardinals 3B Scott Rolen could be out for the rest of the postseason, due to his injured left shoulder. Rolen suffered the injury when Diamondbacks pinch runner Alex Cintron collided with him in yesterday's game. Rolen will have tests today.

According to UnderTheKnife, "If the injury is in fact a seperated shoulder - and note that early reports from the clubhouse had Rolen talking about two joints (The AC and CC joints of the shoulder) - then we can expect Rolen to be out anywhere from the rest of this series to the entire post-season. Based on early reports, it doesn't look good for Rolen."

With Rolen out, the Cardinals have a couple of options. They could move Albert Pujols to 3B and put Eli Marrero in LF. Or, they could keep Pujols in LF and put Miguel Cairo at 3B.

After -3 RCAA/.723 OPS and -4 RCAA/.751 OPS seasons, Marrero had the first positive RCAA of his career, hitting .451 SLG, .327 OBA, .777 OPS, 7 RCAA in 131 games. He has a .691 career OPS, compared to his league average of .777, and -49 RCAA in 484 games.

After 3 consecutive double digit negative RCAAs, from 1998-2000, with 2 of them <= -20, Cairo improved to .782 OPS/1 RCAA in 2001, before dropping down to a .353 SLG, .307 OBA, .660 OPS, -8 RCAA mark in 108 games. Only keeping Cairo down to 208 PA prevented this from being another double digit negative RCAA season.

5) According to UnderTheKnife, "The Braves deny the rumor, but I've heard from three seperate sources that the blister isn't the reason Greg Maddux was pushed back a couple days to Game 3. Instead, these sources indicate that Maddux may be having a recurrence of the back problems that plagued him most of the season. 'Plagued' perhaps isn't the best word for someone who won fifteen games and was anywhere from effective to dominant in most of his starts, so let's call it 'annoyed.'"

For excellent baseball injury and other news, sign up for UTK at http://www.willcarroll.com

6) According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Giants plan on offering Dusty Baker a new contract, even if they lose to the Braves. According to the article, there was speculation that a Division Series loss would have meant the end of his time with the team.

Baker is denying an ESPN rumor that he'll be offered a 2 year contract at $5 million a year and says he hasn't even made up his mind whether he wants to return or test the open market. According to Baker, "I don't know what I'm going to do, and right now it's not the most important thing on my mind."

Meanwhile, GM Brian Sabean, who is also in the last year of his contract, says he expects to be back.

7) The Rangers released P John Rocker and declined the 2003 option on C Bill Haselman.

After 2.89 ERA/10 RSAA and 4.32 ERA/1 RSAA seasons, Rocker fell to 6.66 ERA/-4 RSAA in 30 games. He has a 3.40 career ERA, compared to his league average of 4.49, and 30 RSAA in 278 games.

After -1 RCAA/.790 OPS and -4 RCAA/.731 OPS seasons, Haselman dropped to .335 SLG, .297 OBA, .632 OPS, -12 RCAA in 69 games. It was his first double digit negative RCAA season since 1997 and the 3rd of his career. Haselman has a .721 career OPS, compared to his league average of .773, and -61 RCAA in 585 games.

8) The Mets sent OF Tony Tarasco and P Adam Walker outright to the minors and activated P Kane Davis from the 60 day DL.

After being out of the majors in 2000-01, Tarasco hit .490 SLG, .305 OBA, .794 OPS, 1 RCAA in 60 games (105 PA). He has a .709 career OPS, compared to his league average of .768, and -16 RCAA in 457 games.

Walker will miss the entire 2003 season, after having Tommy John surgery.

9) Padres 3B Sean Burroughs had shoulder surgery. According to the trainer, there was less than a 5% tear in his rotator cuff and "the prognosis is excellent." Burroughs is expected to ready for the start of spring training.

Burroughs hit .323 SLG, .317 OBA, .640 OPS, -6 RCAA in his first 63 games, as a 21 year old rookie. It is way too early to give up on this promising youngster.

10) The Marlins released Ps Hansel Izquierdo and Benito Baez.

They plan on offering both of them minor league contracts.

Izquierdo had a 4.55 ERA/-2 RSAA in 20 games as a 25 year old rookie. He had arthscopic surgery in September to remove bone chips from his elbow and is expected to ready for spring training.

Baez missed the whole season, had reconstrucitve elbow surgery in September and is expected to also be out for most, if not all, of the 2003 season.

11) The Indians activated P Heath Murray from the 60 day DL and released him and outrighted P David Maurer to the minors.

Outrighting Maurer to the minors opens a spot on the 40 man roster for Jeremy Guthrie, their first round pick in this year's draft. The Indians just signed him to a contract that guarantees him a spot on the 40 man roster.

12) The Royals fired hitting coach Lamar Johnson and replaced him with Jeff Pentland, who was the Cubs hitting coach for the last 5 1/2 years.

Meanwhile, Luis Silverio, who has 28 years of service in the organization, will take Rich Dauer's spot on the coaching staff. Dauer had been the 3B coach until he stepped down after the season ended. 1B coach Tom Bamboa is going to the bullpen, bullpen coach John Mizerock goes to 3B and Silverio takes over at 1B. Pitching coach John Cumberland and becn coach Bob Schaefer will be back in those spots.

13) According to the Newark Star Ledger, Lou Piniella is among the Mets top choices for their managerial vacanies and sources close to Piniella say'd "definitely be interested" in getting out of his contract with the Mariners to take the Mets job.

According to Mariners GM Pat Gillick, Piniella has "absolutely not" asked to be let out of his contract and "He's under contract through 2003, and he will be our manager. He hasn't asked for permission to talk to anyone, and we haven't been contacted."

14) A's DH-OF David Justice is now saying he might not retire at the end of the season, unless the A's win the World Series.

15) Cardinals P Chuck Finley had to leave yesterday's game, due to a muscle cramp in his hand.

16) Baseball Prospectus has an excellent article, entitled "The Shea Hillenbrand Quandary" at http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ne...003daily.shtml

For non Redsox and non Shea Hillenbrand fans, don't let the title of the article let you lose interest in it. The article is actually about GM decision making, with Hillenbrand merely used as the illustrative player.