- Fernando Martinez was sent back down to Triple-A by the Mets after hitting .194/.286/.274 in 62 at-bats over 18 games.
Once it was determined that Gary Sheffield’s knees were good enough to allow him to return to left field, it was expected that Martinez would be sent down, though the thinking was that the Mets would wait until Angel Pagan was ready to come off the DL. Instead, they’ve called up Nick Evans to serve as a bench player for now. Martinez didn’t have any notable hustling issues after getting himself into trouble initially, and while he never homered in his 62 at-bats, he also didn’t seem overmatched while striking out just 10 times. In all, his debut went about as should have been expected.
- The Yankees have chosen to rest Alex Rodriguez for two games following an 0-for-15 slump.
Not sure I agree with this. The Yankees just ended another homestand, and getting A-Rod out of new Yankee Stadium should help his hitting woes. It seemed like he was trying to hit one over the extremely inviting walls with every swing lately, and he was just 6-for- 51 in the Bronx this month. While eight of his nine homers have come at Yankee Stadium, he’s had a better approach on the road, hitting .254/.389/.373 in 59 at-bats to date. At home, he’s hit .178/.355/.534.
- Reds prospect Yonder Alonso, the seventh overall pick in the 2008 draft, was placed on the minor league DL with a broken hamate bone.
Alonso was hitting .246/.309/.377 in 16 games since moving up to Double-A Carolina. Before that, he was hitting .302/.378/.503 in 169 at-bats for Single-A Sarasota. Alonso should be ready to play again in 4-6 weeks, but players who suffer broken hamate bones tend to suffer from power outages for months after returning. There wasn’t much chance that we’d see him in September anyway.