THT Daily: Signing Time?
Major League News for September 17
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
Rich Harden will be skipped on his next turn through the rotation.
Harden stuck around for just three innings Wednesday night against the Brewers and has walked 15 batters in his last four starts (17 innings). Cubs manager Lou Piniella said he’s physically OK, so this is obviously a performance-based decision. Tom Gorzelanny will start in his place.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Carlos Zambrano has a full no-trade clause and has no intention of waiving it this offseason.
Sources informed the Tribune’s Paul Sullivan earlier this week that the Cubs might shop Big Z and the $53 million remaining on his contract this winter. Zambrano, 28, has a 3.94 ERA in 26 starts this season. “I like the young man personally,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Wednesday when asked about the trade rumors. “He’s certainly capable of pitching better than he has this year.”
According to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney, the Royals are nearing a contract agreement with top pick RHP Aaron Crow.
Crow, a right-hander from Mizzou, was selected by the Nationals in the first round last season, but the two sides failed to reach a deal. Thus he was not held to the normal signing deadline this year. Olney’s sources have the contract ranging from $3 million to $4.5 million.
J.A. Happ (oblique) tossed a successful bullpen session Wednesday and declared himself ready to start Friday against the Braves.
Happ threw 20 pitches and reported no pain or discomfort in his right oblique. The sensational rookie has allowed just three runs in 14 2/3 innings against Atlanta this season and boasts a 2.77 ERA overall. But he may carry some rust after missing two consecutive starts.
According to the Miami Herald, the Marlins are likely to trade second baseman Dan Uggla this offseason.
Uggla’s salary, via arbitration, is expected to reach $8 million or more next season. With Emilio Bonifacio and Chris Coghlan waiting in the wings for more playing time, a deal makes sense. Uggla, 29, is aware that he might be on the move this winter. “You get kind of sad because this is the team that gave me my first shot in the big leagues,” he said, “and I made a lot of friends here.”
Jorge De La Rosa silenced the Giants with eight shutout innings in a 4-3 victory on Wednesday night.
De La Rosa played the role of stopper, holding the Giants to just three hits against two walks and nine strikeouts. The 28-year-old southpaw has allowed one run or less in four straight starts, lowering his ERA to 4.17 on the year — it’s lowest point since early May. Now 15-9, De La Rosa has won six out of his last seven decisions. He gets a favorable matchup against the Padres next week. As for the Rockies, they snapped a four-game losing streak and now sit 3 1/2 games in front of the Giants in the Wild Card race.
Gavin Floyd came out of Wednesday’s game after three innings with left hip soreness.
He gave up three runs to the Mariners before departing. He’s probably day-to-day, but if the White Sox decide to shut him down, they could have top prospect Daniel Hudson replace him.
The Brewers are considering shutting down Yovani Gallardo for the rest of the season.
The club wants to limit his workload after he has thrown the fifth-most pitches in the National League this season. “Yes, we are discussing it and working our way through it,” Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash said. “[Pitching coach Chris] Bosio and [manager] Ken [Macha] will get their heads together and see what they want to do.” Gallardo was torched for seven runs over 5 1/3 innings in a loss to the Cubs on Tuesday. He has three more scheduled starts this season and you can be sure that he wants to make them all. “I don’t want to be shut down. I want to finish out the year strong,” Gallardo said. “We’re trying to find ways to make that happen.”
Huston Street (sore right biceps tendon) threw a successful bullpen session on Wednesday and is in line to return to the Rockies’ bullpen Sunday.
Street said he feels healthy. He understands that his first few appearances will come in a setup capacity. “You can’t be selfish. Franklin (Morales) has done a great job,” Street said. “The last thing you want to do is hurt the team. And in that role, there’s no way around it. If you aren’t right, the team can lose. This is the right decision. I can’t wait to get back out there.” The bottom line for fantasy? Morales should be in most lineups next week.
Yesterday’s Results
For the full scoop regarding yesterday’s games, read “And That Happened” at Shysterball.
American League BAL 4 TB 2 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 9 LAA 8 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 5 TOR 4 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 4 KC 3 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 7 CLE 3 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 4 CHA 1 (Recap and Boxscore) OAK 4 TEX 0 (Recap and Boxscore) National League ATL 6 NYN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 6 WAS 1 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 9 CHN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 6 HOU 5 (Recap and Boxscore) FLA 5 STL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAN 3 PIT 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 6 ARI 5 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 4 SF 3 (Recap and Boxscore)
Check out Fangraphs’ scoreboard to see all the games in action.
Today’s Games
Royals (58-87) @ Tigers (78-67), 1:05pm
Zack Greinke (25, RHP) vs. Edwin Jackson (25, RHP)
WhiteSox (72-74) @ Mariners (75-71), 6:40pm
John Danks (24, LHP) vs. Brandon Morrow (24, RHP)
Rays (73-73) @ Orioles (60-85), 7:05pm
Wade Davis (23, RHP) vs. Mark Hendrickson (35, LHP)
Angels (86-59) @ RedSox (86-58), 7:10pm
Ervin Santana (26, RHP) vs. Josh Beckett (29, RHP)
Indians (61-84) @ Athletics (67-78), 10:05pm
Justin Masterson (24, RHP) vs. Clayton Mortensen (24, RHP)
Brewers (70-75) @ Cubs (75-69), 2:20pm
David Bush (29, RHP) vs. Randy Wells (26, RHP)
Mets (63-83) @ Braves (77-68), 7:00pm
Nelson Figueroa (35, RHP) vs. Jair Jurrjens (23, RHP)
Nationals (50-95) @ Phillies (84-60), 7:05pm
Ross Detwiler (23, LHP) vs. Cole Hamels (25, LHP)
Marlins (78-68) @ Reds (67-79), 7:10pm
Anibal Sanchez (25, RHP) vs. Matt Maloney (25, LHP)
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 58 .597 6.5 84 2
TB 73 73 .500 20.5 77 -4
TOR 66 80 .452 27.5 74 -8
BAL 60 85 .414 33.0 63 -3
American League Central DET 78 67 .538 0.0 73 5
MIN 74 72 .507 4.5 75 -1
CHA 72 74 .493 6.5 72 0
CLE 61 84 .421 17.0 67 -6
KC 58 87 .400 20.0 59 -1
American League West LAA 86 59 .593 0.0 82 4
TEX 80 65 .552 6.0 78 2
SEA 75 71 .514 11.5 67 8
OAK 67 78 .462 19.0 71 -4
National League East Pwins Diff PHI 84 60 .583 0.0 83 1
FLA 78 68 .534 7.0 74 4
ATL 77 68 .531 7.5 81 -4
NYN 63 83 .432 22.0 64 -1
WAS 50 95 .345 34.5 58 -8
National League Central STL 85 62 .578 0.0 83 2
CHN 75 69 .521 8.5 75 0
MIL 70 75 .483 14.0 69 1
HOU 70 76 .479 14.5 65 5
CIN 67 79 .459 17.5 63 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 58 .597 0.0 TEX 80 65 .552 6.5 SEA 75 71 .514 12.0 MIN 74 72 .507 13.0 TB 73 73 .500 14.0 National League COL 83 64 .565 0.0 SF 79 67 .541 3.5 FLA 78 68 .534 4.5 ATL 77 68 .531 5.0 CHN 75 69 .521 6.5
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: |