THT Daily: Pen Woes in Philly
Major League News for September 18
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
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has expressed a lack of confidence in Brett Myers’ ability to close games.
“Watching him the three or four times we’ve run him out there, he’s not quite ready” to be a closer, Manuel said. It’s more of a physical issue than anything. Myers had hip surgery only a few months ago and still feels routine soreness. The job currently belongs to Ryan Madson and is likely to fall back to Brad Lidge once the playoffs roll around.
Rich Harden has denied a Thursday Chicago Tribune report that he is being shut down for the rest of the season.
“No, I guess that was just one person who decided to run with that,” Harden said. “They’re not shutting me down and I am still feeling good and looking forward to getting back out there.” The 27-year-old will miss Monday’s start against the Brewers, but could see two more outings before the year is up.
Royals signed RHP Aaron Crow to a three-year, $4.5 million deal.
Crow, the 12th overall pick in the 2009 draft, was given a $1.5 million signing bonus and will earn $3 million over the next three seasons (2010-2012) as long as he stays in the major leagues. The 22-year-old has a nice fastball-slider combination, but will need to have a great spring to crack the Royals’ starting rotation in 2010. Some scouts believe he’s better suited for a bullpen role.
Brett Tomko (arm) has been shut down for the rest of the season.
Tomko was diagnosed with nerve damage in his throwing arm earlier this week. He’ll finish the year 5-3 with a 3.77 ERA and 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA over his last six starts. The impending free agent has said he’d like to re-sign with Oakland, but other teams might desire his services after such a fine finish. A bidding war for Brett Tomko? Should be a fun offseason.
Chan Ho Park has been diagnosed with a strained right hamstring and won’t be available to pitch for another two or three weeks.
Park will head to the Phillies’ spring training complex in Clearwater, Florida this weekend to begin treatment and rehab. He had a 1.93 ERA and 23/7 K/BB ratio since the All-Star break, and will be sorely missed in the middle of the Philadelphia ‘pen.
According to the Tacoma News Tribune, the Mariners have hired Jeff Kingston as their new assistant general manager.
Kingston was given the title of Padres Director of Baseball Operations in November 2002 and is now moving on to bigger and better things. “I am excited to add Jeff to our front office staff,” Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik said Thursday evening. “He assisted in several capacities with San Diego and his skill set and diversity will aid this organization as we move forward.”
Gavin Floyd (hip) has been scratched from his scheduled Monday start.
Floyd left his last outing after three innings with left hip soreness and, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, could soon be shut down for the entire season. “The main thing for us is to make sure we keep this guy healthy for the future,” manager Ozzie Guillen said Thursday. “The way this guy has pitched for us the last two years, he deserved and earned our consideration.” It’s not yet clear who will replace him.
Edwin Jackson allowed five earned runs over five innings Thursday afternoon as the Tigers fell to the Royals.
Jackson surrendered six hits, including a Miguel Olivo three-run jack. He’s looked very hittable in his last two starts and isn’t a great fantasy bet next week, even against the bottom-dwelling Indians. The Tigers’ AL Central lead over the Twins has now fallen to 4 games, and the two clubs will face each other in a crucial three-game set this weekend.
According to ESPN Chicago’s Bruce Levine, the Cubs are not shutting Rich Harden down for the rest of the season.
The Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan heard from sources Thursday afternoon that the Cubs are calling it quits on the ’09 season for Harden, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Or at least the Cubs aren’t ready to make that announcement just yet. We do know that he’ll be skipped on his next turn through the starting rotation and that Tom Gorzelanny has been pegged to fill in.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday’s games, read “And That Happened” at Shysterball.
American League TB 3 BAL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 4 BOS 3 (Recap and Boxscore) KC 9 DET 2 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 5 CLE 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 4 CHA 3 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 7 NYN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 4 WAS 2 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 7 CHN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 3 FLA 2 (Recap and Boxscore)
Check out Fangraphs’ scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
RedSox (86-59) @ Orioles (60-86), 7:05pm
Clay Buchholz (24, RHP) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (30, RHP)
Blue Jays (66-80) @ Rays (74-73), 7:38pm
Scott Richmond (29, RHP) vs. James Shields (27, RHP)
Angels (87-59) @ Rangers (80-65), 8:05pm
Scott Kazmir (25, LHP) vs. Tommy Hunter (22, RHP)
Tigers (78-68) @ Twins (74-72), 8:10pm
Rick Porcello (20, RHP) vs. Brian Duensing (26, LHP)
Royals (59-87) @ WhiteSox (72-75), 8:11pm
Luke Hochevar (25, RHP) vs. Mark Buehrle (30, LHP)
Indians (61-85) @ Athletics (68-78), 10:05pm
David Huff (24, LHP) vs. Brett Anderson (21, LHP)
Yankees (94-53) @ Mariners (76-71), 10:10pm
A.J. Burnett (32, RHP) vs. Felix Hernandez (23, RHP)
Padres (66-81) @ Pirates (55-89), 7:05pm
Tim Stauffer (27, RHP) vs. Charlie Morton (25, RHP)
Marlins (78-69) @ Reds (68-79), 7:10pm
Rick VandenHurk (24, RHP) vs. Homer Bailey (23, RHP)
Nationals (50-96) @ Mets (63-84), 7:10pm
J.D. Martin (26, RHP) vs. Mike Pelfrey (25, RHP)
Phillies (85-60) @ Braves (78-68), 7:30pm
J.A. Happ (26, LHP) vs. Tim Hudson (33, RHP)
Astros (70-76) @ Brewers (71-75), 8:05pm
Bud Norris (24, RHP) vs. Chris Narveson (27, LHP)
Cubs (75-70) @ Cardinals (85-62), 8:15pm
Ted Lilly (33, LHP) vs. John Smoltz (42, RHP)
Rockies (83-64) @ D'backs (64-83), 9:40pm
Jason Marquis (30, RHP) vs. Kevin Mulvey (24, RHP)
Giants (79-67) @ Dodgers (88-59), 10:10pm
Jonathan Sanchez (26, LHP) vs. Vicente Padilla (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 94 53 .639 0.0 87 7BOS 86 59 .593 7.0 85 1
TB 74 73 .503 20.0 78 -4
TOR 66 80 .452 27.5 74 -8
BAL 60 86 .411 33.5 63 -3
American League Central DET 78 68 .534 0.0 73 5
MIN 74 72 .507 4.0 75 -1
CHA 72 75 .490 6.5 73 -1
CLE 61 85 .418 17.0 67 -6
KC 59 87 .404 19.0 60 -1
American League West LAA 87 59 .596 0.0 83 4
TEX 80 65 .552 6.5 78 2
SEA 76 71 .517 11.5 68 8
OAK 68 78 .466 19.0 72 -4
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 85 60 .586 0.0 83 2
ATL 78 68 .534 7.5 82 -4
FLA 78 69 .531 8.0 75 3
NYN 63 84 .429 23.0 64 -1
WAS 50 96 .342 35.5 59 -9
National League Central STL 85 62 .578 0.0 83 2
CHN 75 70 .517 9.0 76 -1
MIL 71 75 .486 13.5 70 1
HOU 70 76 .479 14.5 65 5
CIN 68 79 .463 17.0 64 4
PIT 55 89 .382 28.5 60 -5
National League West LAN 88 59 .599 0.0 90 -2
COL 83 64 .565 5.0 81 2
SF 79 67 .541 8.5 78 1
SD 66 81 .449 22.0 59 7
ARI 64 83 .435 24.0 68 -4
Wildcard Standings American League BOS 86 59 .593 0.0 TEX 80 65 .552 6.0 SEA 76 71 .517 11.0 MIN 74 72 .507 12.5 TB 74 73 .503 13.0 National League COL 83 64 .565 0.0 SF 79 67 .541 3.5 ATL 78 68 .534 4.5 FLA 78 69 .531 5.0 CHN 75 70 .517 7.0
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: |