Traded from Cleveland to Detroit last month, Jhonny Peralta said yesterday that he’d like to remain with the Tigers next season: That comes as no surprise, because “the option” is for $7 million and that’s likely significantly more than Peralta would fetch for next season on the open market.
When the Tigers demoted Max Scherzer to Triple-A in mid-May he was 1-4 with an ugly 7.29 ERA, but since returning following a two-week stint in Toledo he’s been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball.
While in Washington to play the Nationals this weekend Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa will be guests at the “Restoring Honor” rally organized by FOX News host Glenn Beck and featuring former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Reds general manager Walt Jocketty apparently wasn’t kidding when he said there was “not a lot of interest” in Micah Owings from other teams after the right-hander was designated for assignment last week.
I hate to spread more icing on the Nationals’ bad news cake, but a side effect of Stephen Strasburg likely needing Tommy John elbow surgery is that he would burn through service time while on the disabled list.
Francisco Liriano held up his end of the bargain in last night’s marquee pitching matchup, taking a shutout into the seventh inning in Texas, but Cliff Lee turned in his third straight ugly start and dropped to 2-5 with a 4.50 ERA in 10 total outings since being traded to the Rangers.
In talking to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News yesterday Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he wants to see both Pablo Sandoval and Tim Lincecum get into better physical condition this offseason.
Earlier this week Dustin Pedroia sought a second opinion on his injured foot and now Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports that a “major league source” has told him the second baseman is “probably done for the year.”
Bryce Harper is holding his first press conference for the Washington media today, but first he took batting practice before the Nationals-Cardinals game and ... well, he hit a whole bunch of homers.
Last season Hector Rondon emerged as one of Cleveland’s best pitching prospects by posting a 3.38 ERA and 137/29 K/BB ratio in 146 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, but he followed that up with an 8.53 ERA in 32 innings at Triple-A before being shut down in mid-May and yesterday he underwent Tommy John elbow surgery.
Chad Jennings of the New York Journal News reports that Lance Berkman will definitely be ready to come off the disabled list when eligible next week and in fact writes that “Berkman has been healthy for a while.”
Manny Ramirez is not in the Dodgers’ lineup this afternoon, but it likely has more to do with manager Joe Torre resting him for a day game following a night game than it does his waiver wire status.
Last night Albert Pujols went 0-for-4 in a loss to the Pirates while Joey Votto went 4-for-7 with two homers and four RBIs in a wild extra-inning win over the Giants, so here’s how the Triple Crown picture looks right now: BATTING AVERAGE JOEY VOTTO .326 Carlos Gonzalez .320 ALBERT PUJOLS .319 HOME RUNS ALBERT PUJOLS 33 JOEY VOTTO 31 Adam Dunn 31 RUNS BATTED IN ALBERT PUJOLS 92 JOEY VOTTO 90 Carlos Gonzalez 84 As noted earlier this week, Omar Infante still lurks as a possible roadblock to the batting title for Pujols or Votto.
Last night Felix Hernandez beat the Red Sox while racking up seven strikeouts in 7.2 innings of two-run ball and in doing so became the fourth-youngest pitcher in baseball history to reach 1,000 career strikeouts.
According to James Mirtle of the Toronto Globe and Mail longtime MLB players’ association executive director Donald Fehr “is on the verge of taking over the troubled NHL players’ association.”
Lost in Roy Oswalt playing left field in a 16-inning game after Ryan Howard was ejected by an out of line umpire Tuesday night is that Howard went 0-for-7 with five strikeouts before getting tossed in the 14th frame.
Luis Castillo has started just four of the last 17 games and said yesterday that he’s unhappy losing playing time to 20-year-old rookie Ruben Tejada, who’s hitting just .167 in 48 games overall this season.
On the disabled list for the past few weeks with a sprained big toe, Aaron Cook could rejoin the Rockies’ rotation as soon as September 2 against the Phillies.
Earlier this afternoon I mocked the Royals for putting out a terrible lineup against Armando Galarraga and the Tigers, giving them a particularly tough time for using Willie Bloomquist as their No. 3 hitter.
Ryan Howard went 0-for-7 with five strikeouts last night before being ejected by third base umpire and instigator Scott Barry, and manager Charlie Manuel has benched him for tonight’s game.
