THT Daily: Cubs Sale Final

by
September 24, 2009

Major League News for September 24

Player News
Yesterday’s Results
Today’s Games
Standings
Top Minor League Performances

You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/

Player News

Player Headlines are courtesy of Rotoworld
A federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware has approved the Tribune Co.’s sale of the Cubs to the Ricketts family.
There was a hold up in the finalization of the sale because the Tribune Co. is currently trying to climb out of bankruptcy, yet still wants to maintain a 5 percent stake in the Cubs franchise. The deal now only needs the approval of Major League Baseball, which should come shortly. It appears the Northsiders will have a new ownership group in place by the time baseball’s free agency period rolls around. That’s a good thing.

Chad Billingsley allowed three runs over six innings in his return to the rotation against the Nationals on Wednesday night, but took a no-decision in an eventual 5-4 loss.
He didn’t give up a hit until a game-tying three-run home run by Ryan Zimmerman in the sixth. However, it shouldn’t distract from an otherwise positive outing. Billingsley struck out nine and walked four, throwing 52 of 87 pitches for strikes. Even with the no-decision, it was a positive step forward. He likely lines up for a start against the Padres next week.

Freddy Sanchez’s left knee will require surgery to repair a meniscus tear.
The Giants are hopeful that the procedure can be put off until the offseason. “We’ll wait and see what happens in these next two games,” manager Bruce Bochy said. Sanchez aggravated the injury on Monday. There is some healthy buyer’s remorse going on in San Francisco right now.

Rich Harden may be shut down for the remainder of the season, according to Cubs manager Lou Piniella.
Harden was skipped in the starting rotation last week due to mechanical issues. He has not started since September 16 and has been limited to throwing off flat ground since then. If this is it, Harden finishes the season 9-9 with a 4.09 ERA.

Francisco Liriano will likely start against the Royals on Sunday, according to manager Ron Gardenhire.
“Frankie is probably the most likely choice,” Gardenhire said. Liriano will replace struggling rookie Jeff Manship in the rotation. Liriano has allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings over three relief appearances since getting yanked from the rotation in mid-August. With a 5.75 ERA and 1.53 WHIP on the season, the lefty remains too inconsistent to trust in mixed leagues. AL-only players in daily lineup leagues could roll the dice, however.

Milton Bradley will not appeal his suspension, reports ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark.
Apparently the Cubs came to a resolution with Bradley and his agents Seth and Sam Levinson. Bradley apologized to the team and will not appeal the suspension, while the Cubs have yet to file the suspension’s paperwork. It appears that the Cubs are just going to pay Bradley to not be part of the team for the rest of the season, which means that the Players Union can’t file a grievance because it won’t be an official suspension. Bradley’s time with the team is likely over, despite the resolution.

The Braves have announced that Bobby Cox will return to manage the team for one last season in 2010.
There has been much speculation of late regarding Cox’s plans, including reports that suggested he might retire at the end of this season. After closing out his final managerial campaign in 2010, the Atlanta skipper will move into an advisory/consulting role for the Braves’ major league and minor league baseball operations.

X-rays on Jorge Posada’s injured foot Wednesday came back negative.
Posada fouled a ball off his foot in the fifth inning on Tuesday, but remained in the game afterward. It remains to be seen if he’ll miss time, with manager Joe Girardi acknowledging that Posada may have been able to stay in on Tuesday because “Sometimes, adrenaline keeps you in the game.” The good news is that Posada doesn’t appear to have any broken bones, but Jose Molina got the start behind the plate Wednesday afternoon.

An MRI on Freddy Sanchez’s left knee Tuesday revealed a meniscus tear.
Sanchez will probably need to undergo some sort of procedure in the offseason. But for now, he’ll try to play through. “We’ll rehab him,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “It’s probably a few days if not more.” The Giants may have just developed serious reservations about picking up the second baseman’s $8.1 million option for 2010.

Yesterday’s Results

For the full scoop regarding yesterday’s games, read “And That Happened” at Shysterball.

American League
TB      5  SEA     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
TOR     7  BAL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIN     8  CHA     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
DET    11  CLE     3    (Recap and Boxscore)
BOS     9  KC      2    (Recap and Boxscore)
NYA     3  LAA     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
TEX     9  OAK     8    (Recap and Boxscore)

National League
FLA     7  PHI     6    (Recap and Boxscore)
ATL     5  NYN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
WAS     5  LAN     4    (Recap and Boxscore)
HOU     3  STL     0    (Recap and Boxscore)
MIL     3  CHN     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
CIN    12  PIT     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
SF      5  ARI     2    (Recap and Boxscore)
SD      6  COL     3    (Recap and Boxscore)

Check out Fangraphs’ scoreboard to see all the games in action.

A Hardball Times Update
by RJ McDaniel
Goodbye for now.

Today’s Games

Rangers (83-68) @ Athletics (72-80), 3:35pm
    Scott Feldman (26, RHP) vs. Brett Anderson (21, LHP)
Tigers (81-70) @ Indians (61-90), 7:05pm
    Justin Verlander (26, RHP) vs. Carlos Carrasco (22, RHP)
Mariners (79-73) @ Blue Jays (69-83), 7:07pm
    Felix Hernandez (23, RHP) vs. Ricky Romero (24, LHP)
RedSox (90-61) @ Royals (63-89), 8:10pm
    Clay Buchholz (24, RHP) vs. Anthony Lerew (26, RHP, 0-0, undef)
Reds (71-81) @ Pirates (56-94), 12:35pm
    Bronson Arroyo (32, RHP) vs. Charlie Morton (25, RHP)
Dodgers (91-61) @ Nationals (52-99), 7:05pm
    Vicente Padilla (31, RHP) vs. J.D. Martin (26, RHP)
Phillies (88-63) @ Brewers (75-77), 8:05pm
    J.A. Happ (26, LHP) vs. Jeff Suppan (34, RHP)
Padres (70-83) @ Rockies (86-66), 8:40pm
    Clayton Richard (25, LHP) vs. Jason Hammel (26, RHP)
Cubs (78-73) @ Giants (82-70), 10:15pm
    Ryan Dempster (32, RHP) vs. Brad Penny (31, RHP)

Standings

The graphics next to each team are called “sparklines.” They depict each team’s performance over the last month. Each “up” bar is a victory and a “down” bar is a loss. There are horizontal lines for home games and red bars represent games decided by two runs or less. “PWins” is short for Projected Wins, based on each team’s Run Differential, and is often a better measure of a team’s true strength. Other team graphs and stats can be found on our Team Page.


American League East        Pwins  Diff
NYA     97  56 .634    0.0   90     7    sparkline graph
BOS     90  61 .596    6.0   89     1    sparkline graph
TB      78  74 .513   18.5   82    -4    sparkline graph
TOR     69  83 .454   27.5   77    -8    sparkline graph
BAL     60  92 .395   36.5   64    -4    sparkline graph
American League Central     
DET     81  70 .536    0.0   76     5    sparkline graph
MIN     79  73 .520    2.5   79     0    sparkline graph
CHA     73  80 .477    9.0   75    -2    sparkline graph
KC      63  89 .414   18.5   64    -1    sparkline graph
CLE     61  90 .404   20.0   68    -7    sparkline graph
American League West        
LAA     90  62 .592    0.0   86     4    sparkline graph
TEX     83  68 .550    6.5   80     3    sparkline graph
SEA     79  73 .520   11.0   70     9    sparkline graph
OAK     72  80 .474   18.0   76    -4    sparkline graph


National League East        Pwins  Diff
PHI     88  63 .583    0.0   87     1    sparkline graph
ATL     82  70 .539    6.5   85    -3    sparkline graph
FLA     82  71 .536    7.0   77     5    sparkline graph
NYN     65  88 .425   24.0   66    -1    sparkline graph
WAS     52  99 .344   36.0   60    -8    sparkline graph
National League Central     
STL     89  64 .582    0.0   87     2    sparkline graph
CHN     78  73 .517   10.0   80    -2    sparkline graph
MIL     75  77 .493   13.5   73     2    sparkline graph
CIN     71  81 .467   17.5   69     2    sparkline graph
HOU     71  81 .467   17.5   65     6    sparkline graph
PIT     56  94 .373   31.5   61    -5    sparkline graph
National League West        
LAN     91  61 .599    0.0   95    -4    sparkline graph
COL     86  66 .566    5.0   84     2    sparkline graph
SF      82  70 .539    9.0   80     2    sparkline graph
SD      70  83 .458   21.5   63     7    sparkline graph
ARI     66  87 .431   25.5   70    -4    sparkline graph


Wildcard Standings
American League             
BOS     90  61 .596    0.0
TEX     83  68 .550    7.0
MIN     79  73 .520   11.5
SEA     79  73 .520   11.5
TB      78  74 .513   12.5
National League             
COL     86  66 .566    0.0
ATL     82  70 .539    4.0
SF      82  70 .539    4.0
FLA     82  71 .536    4.5
CHN     78  73 .517    7.5

Top Minor League Games

The following list, provided by First Inning, includes the top minor league batting (based on Runs Created) and pitching (based on Game Score) performances from yesterday.

ORG LVL PLAYER            AB  H 2B 3B HR BB SO  Notes

ORG LVL PLAYER            IP  H  R ER SO BB HR  Notes
First Inning’s Major and Minor League Daily Reports:


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