Meloan was acquired by the Indians on July 26, 2008 from the Dodgers along with catcher Carlos Santana in exchange for infielder Casey Blake. In 2007 he was named a Southern League All-Star and Double-A Reliever of the Year by MinorLeagueBaseball.com. He was selected by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the 2005 June Draft out of the University of Arizona.  

I'll defer to Will Carroll or a doctor or something on this, but it strikes me that it's best to avoid using inflamed body parts in most situations. In light of this, why not just perform the surgery now and (a) avoid any risk of aggravating the condition; and (b) ensure maximum effectiveness for games that actually matter?*

*This advice makes the safe assumption that nothing else that happens with the 2009 Indians matters.

Sports Illustrated correspondents in every city interviewed 380 players in May for the poll, though many players declined to answer that particular question, even while knowing they would remain anonymous. SI did not break down the exact vote totals, but listed Piniella first with 26 percent of the vote, followed by Guillen at 21 percent. St. Louis' La Russa (10 percent), the Dodgers' Joe Torre (4 percent), and Cleveland's Eric Wedge (4 percent) rounded out the top five. Players could not vote for managers from their own team.

Lou Piniella, .521, one World Series titles and six division titles
Ozzie Guillen, .531, one World Series titles and two division titles
Tony La Russa, .536, two World Series titles, five pennants and 11 division titles
Joe Torre, .540, four World Series titles, six pennants and 12 division titles
Eric Wedge, 502, one division title

First on the list, Carl Pavano. Pavano is 1-2 in 4 June starts with a robust 7.25 ERA. He also sports a .351 batting average against. After going 5-1 in May, Pavano is quickly returning back to Earth and reminding us of the Carl Pavano Yankees fans love to hate. Pavano went 0-3 in April, giving himself a 1-5 record outside of his May brilliance. Yes, I just used Carl Pavano and the word "brilliance" in the same sentence.

In his last three starts, Pavano hasn't made it past the fifth inning. He's also surrendered 23 runs while striking out only 6. Adding to his enigmatic nature this season, Pavano is 2-0 against the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland's Monday opponent. He pitched his only complete game (shutout) of the year against them as well. He's given up only 4 runs to them and has a 2.35 ERA. It's tough to say which Carl Pavano will appear Monday. Ok, not really. Pavano is back to his old self after channeling Walter Johnson or Christy Mathewson for a month. If a pitcher surrounds two good months with a bad one, then he can still be considered a good pitcher. If a pitcher does what Pavano is doing and sandwiches a good month between two bad ones after a few injury-riddled seasons, then he's not a good pitcher.

DeRosa made his Cardinal debut on Sunday, and he went 0-for-3 with a walk as he batted cleanup behind 1B Albert Pujols and played left field.  For the season through Sunday, DeRosa is hitting .267 with 13 home runs and 50 RBI in 281 at-bats.

DeRosa has played all over the diamond this season, playing games at 3B and 1B as well as in the outfield.  Cardinals' manager Tony LaRussa will certainly put that versatility to use, as he also played 2B and SS during his big league career.

DeRosa could certainly benefit if he continues to hit behind Pujols. St. Louis has not gotten much production out of the #4 spot in the batting order this season, so he should get ample opportunity to occupy that spot and reap the potential rewards.  If you're in an NL-only league, grab DeRosa right now if no one else has.

If DeRosa continues to see time in LF, that would likely reduce OF Chris Duncan's playing time, since Duncan has played 58 games there so far this season.  Duncan is hitting .253 with five home runs and 31 RBI in 229 at-bats this season but he has also proven to be somewhat of a defensive liability, which could effect his playing time.  Ryan Ludwick, Rick Ankiel and Colby Rasmus could also see their playing time effected if DeRosa is a big part of the outfield mix.

DeRosa seems likely to see a lot of action at 3B, which would then effect the playing time of IF Joe Thurston, who has played 47 games there this season.  SS Khalil Greene has also played eight games at 3B recently, but reports suggest that he could be headed back to the DL with the same anxiety disorder that plagued him earlier in the season.  IF Tyler Greene has also seen action at 3B this season, playing nine games there.  One thing does seem certain: DeRosa is a better offensive player than anyone the Cardinals have used at the hot corner so far this season.

If you own DeRosa in a mixed league, you can probably continue to start him if you have been doing so even though the Cardinals' lineup seems to be less potent overall than the Indians' lineup he left.  Playing time is not likely to be an issue for DeRosa, since he can play so many different positions.

...the medical staff believes that they're beyond the recurrence stage. Bursitis is a painful condition, but once corrected it tends not to recur. It's just the "getting ahead of it" that often takes something like a DL stint or even minor surgery to help.

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9075

Aaron Hill keeps on mashing.  19 homeruns now on the year. 

Brad Lidge allowed 1 hit (bunt single) and one walk, but did not allow a run to score in his action since landing on the DL.  He got the save, but his stuff and control, slider in particular, did not look so sharp. 

Tommy Hanson ran the NL East two headed monster this week and came out 2-0.  The strikeouts are not there yet, but his stuff looks very good.  I don't think he's going to make quite the impact the pre-season hype built up, but he should be a solid option the rest of the way.

Brad Penny matched up fairly well against Hanson, but was struck by the long ball twice (Chipper Jones and Garret Anderson).  I'm not a believer in Penny, but maybe Mark from Fantasy Baseball Hot Stove can convince me otherwise. 

Zack Greinke gets it done again, though he is clearly not as dominant as when the season started.  I would actually be fine with selling high on Greinke for a top-notch hitter right now.  After all Greinke did rank number 11 on Razzball's 20 Risky Pitchers for 2009.  Also, strikeouts trending down.

Since I said buy low on Wieters he has gone just about o'fer everything.  Killing me Matt, killing me. 

B.J. Upton had a 5 star day.  A homer, stolen base, 2 runs and an RBI.  Can you say HUGE second half?

Alexei Ramirez added his 10th homerun of the season yesterday.  He now has 10 homeruns and 11 steals.  More importantly "The Cuban Missle" has raised his AVG to .267.  Ramirez started out very slow last season as well.  Does his game rise with the summer heat?  I'd buy low to find out.

Brandon Inge hit a game winning homerun off of Jose Valverde.  It was Inge's 18th of the season.  I have to admit, I sort of liked the guy after his hot start to the season, but I never would have thought he'd be approaching the all-star break with close to 20 bombs.  His K/BB rate is pretty much the same as it was last season, but his HR/FB rate is through the roof. 

Matt Gamel batted leadoff yesterday.  That's interesting if it sticks.

Was this the turning point for Francisco Liriano?  Throwing 92-95 with a slider in the high 80's yesterday.  I'm still not convinced, though he kept the ball down nicely yesterday.  His last two starts have come against National League foes.  His next start against the Tigers will be a big one.

Aaron Cook continues to pull a 2008 on us.  Despite allowing 9.1 hits per 9 IP and a 1.61 K/BB rate, Cook continues to put the ball on the ground and get outs.  Look, at this point you ride em till he bucks ya. 

Jaun Rivera: 44.7% owned in ESPN leagues and 43% owned in Yahoo! Leagues.  That's up from 5.3% in ESPN and 4% in Yahoo! On June 9th, but still,  .305, 12 HR, 41 RBI...Those numbers are scary close to Carlos Lee right now. 

I am going to mention Clay Zavada for 2 reasons.  1) He's awesome. 2) Shout out to Dave from Goose Joak for this sweet 1971 Topps retro card upon request. 

Jose Lopez is now 8 for 12 in his last 3 games.  He should be in for a nice second half.

As I passed along the other day, it looks more and more like Adrian Beltre will not play through the pain much longer. 

Matt Kemp was actually able to fight off Juan Castro for the 7th spot in the Dodgers lineup yesterday.  He hit his 10th homer of the year.  I bet Mitch Kemp would bat higher than Matt Kemp if it were up to Joe Torre. 

Francisco Rodriguez had an embarrassing outing last night.  He walked three and allowed one hit, but the bases loaded walk to Mariano Rivera was the kicker.  Come on Mets fans!  I've watched Frankie pull this kind of stuff for years in Anaheim!  Consider yourself lucky he hasn't done it more often in 2009. 

Luis Castillo has reached base in all but one game since June 22nd.  So why not move him (.279 AVG, .375 OBP) to the 8th spot and hand leadoff duties to Daniel Murphy (.248 AVG, .316 OBP)?  Can a Mets fan please help me understand the wacky mind of Jerry Manuel?  

How about that Chad Gaudin fella?  One hit, 9 K in 8 1/3 innings against the slugging, albeit slumping, Rangers offense.  His strikeout numbers are huge over his last 3 starts.  His next few starts come against NL West foes.  Go ahead and ride him out.