Seattle Mariners

7/3: Wake's All-Star Statement Game

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:55:13 -0500

Tim Wakefield has never been to an All-Game and this year may be his best and last chance. With a 10-3 record, the few blips that bounced his ERA above 4.00 can be ignored along the way, especially with a win in a head to head duel with 8-3 Felix Hernandez (2.54 ERA) tonight.

Branyan And Gutierrez Continue To Produce

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:10:22 -0500

Russell Branyan and Franklin Gutierrez each played a key part in the Seattle Mariners' 8-4 win over the New York Yankees on Thursday night.

Branyan continued his impressive breakout, going 2-for-4 with his 20th home run (a moon shot that hit the restaurant in center field at Yankee Stadium). Gutierrez also went deep to cap off a three-hit performance as the Mariners roughed up Yankees starter CC Sabathia for six earned runs. Ichiro Suzuki, as usual, also got in on the action, but it was fitting that Branyan and Gutierrez each played such an instrumental role in the high-profile win, which ended Seattle's 10-game losing streak against New York.

Each offseason acquisition has been tremendously valuable to the Mariners, 40-38 and a realistic contender in the weak American League West, in their own way. Jack Zduriencik made several shrew roster moves in his first offseason as general manager, attempting to upgrade his defense and spend money efficiently on the open market. In most instances, Zduriencik has succeeded on both counts and appears to have struck gold in some of those moves, none more notable than the additions of the aforementioned duo.

Rather than splurge on any high-profile free-agent bat, with a surplus of them available, Zduriencik took a flier on Branyan, who was offered (and agreed to) a one-year, $1.4-M contract. The former Milwaukee Brewers scouting director and one-time Baseball America executive of the Year then made it clear from the get-go that the 33-year-old slugger would get every opportunity to hold down first base. It was his job to lose, the rookie GM said.

Zduriencik, after seeing what Branyan could do first hand during his final season with the Brewers, was confident in the decision. The first baseman made a good impression by hitting .250/.342/.583 with 12 homers in 152 plate appearances in Milwaukee in 2008, producing a .383 Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA). Although he struck out in 31.8 percent of his plate appearances, the Three True Outcome hitter did what he does best, going on a home run barrage while walking in 12.8 percent of his plate trips upon a mid-summer promotion from Triple-A Nashville. When accounting for batting, fielding, positional and replacement factors, he was worth 1.2 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in only 50 games; that production translates to $5.2-M. After getting a front row seat and witnessing the benefits of that cheap production in a limited sample, Zduriencik acted quickly to get the veteran into a Seattle uniform, anxious to see what he could do in a full-time role.

So far, the decision appears to be one of the wisest investments in baseball. Once a top prospect, his prodigious power has garnered a lot of attention throughout his professional tenure; not too many journeyman boast a .259 career Isolated Power (IsoP) and can put on a batting practice display like he can. High strikeout totals (39% career K rate), a lack of opportunities and plethora of injuries, though, have held him back from becoming the performer that scouts originally envisioned.

Finally healthy and given the opportunity to play every night, Branyan is flourishing in his new surroundings. Despite having to play his home games in pitcher-friendly Safeco Field, he has been on fire for the first three months. He has raked to the tune of a .298/.394/.596 line with a .417 wOBA, hitting some absolute bomb home runs. According to HitTrackerOnline.com, in fact, he ranks fifth in the league with five "No Doubt" home runs. While much of the Mariners' success is a result of the improvements made at preventing runs, he obviously gets put in the lineup for his bat, not his glove; after the Richie Sexson nightmare, though, first base is a position that the club needed pop from. Although he has, as expected, graded out below average with the glove--he has registered a -0.2 UZR and -0.8 UZR/150 in 604.0 innings at first base--it's a trade-off the M's are happy to make. Overall, when accounting for the factors mentioned earlier, he has already produced 2.7 WAR.

Branyan, whose .367 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is 54 points higher than his career clip, will regress some. He certainly won't be this good all year, but ziPS still forecasts a .376 wOBA the rest of the way; that kind of offensive output is quite valuable, of course, especially considering his price tag.

On FanGraphs' Dollars scale, Branyan's production, even with the poor defense and positional hit, is already valued at $12.1-M. For those scoring at home, that total is nearly nine times greater than his guaranteed contract. Clearly, he has been one of the biggest free-agent bargains around, and, even with a BABIP-related drop off, he'll remain near the top of the list throughout the summer.

Gutierrez, on the other hand, wasn't brought in for his bat but rather his excellent defensive ability in the outfield. Acquired from the Cleveland Indians in the three-team deal that sent J.J Putz to the New York Mets, he was the most noteworthy pick-up acquired mainly for his stellar defense. Having inherited a fly ball pitching staff and spacious home environment, Zduriencik made it a priority to upgrade his outfield defense, grabbing the Fielding Bible Award winner in right field as the key return; defensive whiz Endy Chavez was also included in the deal, coming over from New York. Like Coco Crisp before him, Gutierrez was blocked by Grady Sizemore in center while with the Indians. The Mariners were confident that his defense (20.9 UZR, 26.9 UZR/150) would translate in center field, though, as it has with Crisp during his time with the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals.

While the sample size is still small, the early returns have been excellent in this regard. Gutierrez has been a fine anchor in the Seattle outfield, ranking third in the majors with an 11.1 UZR (second, behind only Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp, at his position) and fourth with a 20.7 UZR/150. With the fine play of Chavez before he went down with a season-ending injury last week and Suzuki, Seattle has given the Tampa Bay Rays (with Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and the all-Gabe platoon) a run for their money in the competition for best outfield defense in baseball. Not coincidentally, the M's have converted 70.3 percent of batted balls hit into play into outs, a stark improvement from '08. As a result, the team pitching staff has appeared to be much better--Carlos Silva looks respectable and Jarrod Washburn, whose also pitching as well as at point during his career, has been surprisingly effective. The defensive transformation, though, starts in center.

Gutierrez certainly isn't an elite performer with a bat in his hands, having produced a career major league line of .262/.317/.409 and 89 OPS+ to along with middling rates of 6.8 BB%, 23.4 K% and a .149 IsoP. Seattle understood the importance of the whole package, though, and was intrigued by his offensive upside. He hasn't set the world on fire (.278/.346/.409), by any stretch, but his better-than-league-average 102 OPS+ and .339 wOBA have exceeded expectations. The 26-year-old has hit eight home runs and is drawing walks at the best rate of his career (9.0%). He capped off a productive June with one of his finest weeks, finishing the month batting .304/.360/.519 with an .879 OPS. His .337 BABIP will regress a bit, but ziPS sees him producing at a rate of .266/.331/.411 going forward; with his defense at a premium position, that production makes him a tremendous asset.

Indeed, according to FanGraphs, Gutierrez has already produced 2.5 WAR (valued at $11.3-M) while making the near minimum. He'll become eligible for free agency for the first time in 2010, so expect him to get a healthy raise. If he continues to improve his skills as a hitter and strike zone awareness, though, he'll easily outearn his salary even as he gets expensive throughout the arbitration process before becoming a free agent in 2013.

The Branyan and Gutierrez transactions didn't grab headlines on a national level. Not too many offseason acquisition duos have been more valuable to their respective teams, though, as they have combined for 5.2 WAR.

It was a treat to see them get their due on the YES! Network last night.

To reach Tyler Hissey, send an email to TylerHissey@gmail.com.

FB365's Morning Drive 7/3/09

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:40:00 +0000

In Cincinnati, Chris Dickerson is making a case for the full time centerfield job. As Willy Taveras continues not to get on base (NOT A SINGLE WALK IN THE MONTH OF JUNE!!) Dickerson finds himself with a respectable .288 AVG and .389 OBP. He's not doing much with regards to power or stolen bases, but if by chance Dusty Baker decides to bat him leadoff because, deep breath, HE ACTUALLY GETS ON BASE, then he could see a slight rise in value for NL-only and deep mixed leagues.

Francisco Rodriguez blew the save, his third in 10 days. Nothing new here. Frankie has averaged 5.5 blown saves per season since becoming a full time closer, which is about the norm.

This is what I worried about with Kevin Correia. His fastball velocity was back a little yesterday, but not where it was during is hot streak. You can see from the chart below (via fangraphs.com) the upward trend in Correia's average velocity and how it dropped significantly his last outing. Yesterday's outing is represented with the red dot, which indicates an average fastball velocity of just over 91 mph.

A.J. Happ is becoming an interesting starter to watch. Since converting to a full time starter he has shown a nice progression in K/BB rate. Also, Happ's velocity is showing signs of progression as well. He's currently owned in only 37% of Yahoo! Leagues.

Franklin Gutierrez stays hot. He hit .304 with 4 homers and 3 stolen bases in June.

Pitchers are not giving anything to Albert Pujols and he'll take his walks all day long. The beneficiary? Ryan Ludwick. It's been a struggle this season with healthy and a prolonged slump, but he has 7 hits in his last 5 games and 3 RBI in his last 2 games with Pujols getting on in front of him.

Derrek Lee didn't just hit 2 homeruns last night. He hit 2 pure bombs last night. One was a grand slam and Lee collected 7 RBI on the night. Lee hit .333 and slugged .973 in June.

Will there be a place for Jake Fox to play once A-Ram returns from the DL?

I think I'm done betting against Mark Buehrle.

Friday's Games of the Day

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:40:00 -0800

The Fourth of July Weekend kicks off with a full schedule of games. The Yankees look to start a new winning streak against the Blue Jays. The Brewers and Cubs continue their seesaw NL Central battle. The Brewers need wins to stay ahead in the division because the Cardinals and Reds are battling for positioning in the division. The Mets and Phillies begin a series that will determine which team is in first in the NL East on Monday. These games, and many more, can be found in Friday's Games of the Day.

Toronto at New York Yankees: The Mariners broke the Yankees seven-game winning streak but are 7-3 in their last 10 games. They look to have A.J. Burnett and company start a new win streak against the Jays and Brian Tallet. Four of Hideki Matsui's 6 hits off Tallet have gone for extra bases, with one being a long ball.

Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs: The Cubs took the first game of this series on Thursday. The Brewers and Jeff Suppan look to even the season series back up at 4-4 against Carlos Zambrano. Derek Lee has 21 hits off Suppan with 11 extra base hits (4 home runs). J.J. Hardy is only 2-for-19 against Zambrano. Mike Cameron is worse, 1-for-13 against Zambrano.

New York Mets at Philadelphia: The Phillies have lost 3 straight and are 3-7 in their last 10 games. They're now tied with the Marlins for first place in the NL East. The Mets find themselves only 1 game behind. This series will determine who's in first place in the division come Monday. The Phillies are relying on Rodrigo Lopez to get the win. Wonderful.

Bedard close to return

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:50:37 -0800

According to manager Don Wakamatsu, Erik Bedard could return to the Mariners rotation as early as Tuesday against his former team the Baltimore Orioles. He's been out for nearly a month with discomfort in his pitching shoulder. He threw a bullpen session on Tuesday and from all reports things went fine, though he only threw about 40 pitches.

He'll throw a simulated game at Fenway tomorrow before the Mariners take on the Sox. And if all goes well, could start on Tuesday.

"He will get a couple of starts before the All-Star break and then have a couple of days off," Wakamatsu said. "Hopefully, he will come back pitching well in the second half."

This means that if Bedard does in fact return Tuesday, that either Garett Olson or Brandon Morrow will be the odd man out. Though the former is more likely than the latter. It would help the Mariners a lot if Bedard can return and pitch strong before and after the break. He's a free agent at the end of the year - and if he puts on a good showing the M's could make a run at another bat for the line-up with Adrian Beltre gone 6-8 weeks.

Thursday's Games of the Day

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0800

Thursday brings us another short schedule with only nine games scheduled. Thursday is still filled with good games. The Mets and Pirates finish a series that began in June. Houston and San Diego face off in a matchup of teams just out of last place in their divisions. The Phillies look to beat the Braves and stay in first in the NL East. And the Brewers and Cubs renew their rivalry. Those games and more can be found below.

New York Mets at Pittsburgh: This game is a makeup of the June 3 game that was postponed. If Paul Maholm and the Pirates beat the Mets again, will Carlos Beltran comment again about how the Mets shouldn't lose to the Pirates? The Mets are depleted and throw Tim Redding out there. Adam LaRoche has four homers against the Mets since 2006, including one off Redding.

Houston at San Diego: Because a series between two teams in next to last place is better than a series between two teams in last place. The surprising Wandy Rodriguez takes the mound for Houston. Adrian Gonzalez's status for the game is in doubt, which obviously doesn't help the Padres.

Philadelphia at Atlanta: The Phillies need a win here to keep from falling behind the Marlins in the NL East. The Braves would extend their winning streak to four games if they win. Both JA Happ and Javier Vazquez go for their 6th win. Happ has a 9.00 ERA against the Braves. Chase Utley has a .333 average and 5 RBI against Vazquez.

Hot Prospect Corner: Alex Liddi

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:03:16 +0000

There were a few players that I took notice of at the California League/Carolina League all-star game. One of those players was Mariners farmhand Alex Liddi.

Background: A player for team Italy in the WBC, who was actually born in Italy, Liddi was signed as a free agent by the Seattle Mariners in 2005. He was 3 for 8 in this year's WBC with 4 strikeouts, which is his biggest issue needing development. Currently Liddi is in the midst of a breakout year offensively hitting .347 with 19 HR.

What I saw in person: He impressed with his line drive homerun power during the homerun derby. At 6'4" 176 he's a tall lanky kid that reminds me a lot of a young Troy Glaus.

The lowdown: Coming into this season Liddi was not among the top Mariners prospects, or even in the top 20 for that matter and rightfully so. He hit .240/.308/.385 at mid-A in 2007 in 400 AB's and .244/.313/.360 in 2008 over 447 AB's. He also combined for only 14 homeruns in those two seasons. Starting this season at high-A High Desert has made a world of difference. 5 of Liddi's 19 homeruns have come at home, which very much distorts his overall numbers. The Cal League in general is considered a very hitter friendly league, but high desert is the pre-humidor Coors Field of the league. The combination of its elevation, dry air and high winds make for box scores like this one.

There is no doubt that Liddi's performance so far this season warrants attention, but the real test would come from a move to AA West Tennessee.

A note from the expert: As much as I love to follow minor league baseball and track prospects, there is only so much time to follow/attend games or read reports etc...That's why it is important to rely on credible sources for information. One of my favorite minor league sources is Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. I recently sent him an email asking about Liddi. This is what he had to say...

I will tell you that the Mariners are very excited about Liddi - I talked to someone there about him for Futures Game stuff. He's legit, with power and the skills to stay at third.

The future: Again, his next step, which is likely AA West Tennessee, will be huge in figuring just how much of his high-A performance is real and how much is a product of his environment. At least the Mariners believe in him and see his skills defensively as a third baseman. That would help any sort of fantasy value he might have down the road. Dynasty leagues should take note of Liddi and monitor his rise over the next year or two.

Morning Notes: Meche, Bob Melvin, Minor Perfection

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:10:00 -0800

Gil Meche will fight through injury issues and pitch in the Royals series finale with the Twins tonight.
Former Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners manager Bob Melvin is accepting a job with the San Diego Padres. There is no word on what that job may be.
Rockies minor leaguer Brandon Hynick threw a perfect game yesterday. Good for him.

Wednesday's Games of the Day

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:35:00 -0800

July begins with several teams either looking to extend winning streaks or stop losing streaks. San Francisco and St. Louis continue a series that impacts the early Wild Card race. Colorado looks to turn their luck around against the Dodgers. Plenty of pitchers are looking for win number eight, nine, or ten on July 1. Nyjer Morgan joins the Nationals. Adam Jones and Marco Scutaro begin July looking to end recent slumps. Those, and plenty of other good storylines, can be found in Wednesday's Games of the Day.

Washington at Florida: The Nyjer Morgan era begins in Washington. He and his new teammates will face the 7-1 Josh Johnson. Johnson is 4-0 agains the Nats in his career. Nick Johnson has a .556 batting average against Josh Johnson.

Tampa Bay at Toronto: The Rays keep rolling. They defeated Toronto 4-1 on Tuesday running their win streak to 8 games and handing Toronto their fourth straight loss. The series finale features James Shields and Ricky Romero, two very exciting pitchers. Shields is 0-2 with a 4.09 ERA in his last three starts against the Jays. Look for him to turn it around thanks to his team being hot right now. He'll get help from Marco Scutaro who is in the midst of a 1-for-16 slump with his last hit coming on June 26.

Boston at Baltimore: Josh Beckett goes for win number 10 against Brad Bergesen. Bergesen was 3-0 in June. Beckett is 4-1 lifetime at Camden Yards. I'm looking for Adam Jones to rebound from a poor June. Doing it against Josh Beckett might not happen. Teammate Luke Scott has a .545 batting average with 1 homer and 3 RBI against Beckett.

Inside the Mariners: Langerhans and Beltre

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:20:00 -0800

It had been over a week since I last stopped by Inside the Majors, but the Mariners trading for Ryan Langerhans gave me the perfect opportunity to do some analysis.

Check it out.

MLB Top 10: Halos Grab AL West Lead

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:06:55 -0500

Sometimes when I think about this list during the weekend before Mondays roll around, things end up looking a bit differently than I pictured. This was one of those weeks. Over the weekend, multiple winning streaks were snapped, teams unexpectedly played poorly, and my top ten list underwent some major reconstruction. The result? A drastically different list compared to what we would've seen on Friday.

1. Los Angeles Angels (41-32)
The Halos have won five straight, including a series win over the red-hot Rockies last week. They followed up the impressive series win by sweeping the woeful Diamondbacks over the weekend, and they now hold a 1.5 game lead in the AL West over Texas. They get the chance to widen the gap this week when they continue their road trip in Texas, in what some are calling the biggest series for the Angels this year.

2. Tampa Bay Rays (42-35)
Don't look now, but the Rays are only two games back in the AL wildcard race after a successful homestand that saw them take two of three from the Phillies and sweep the Marlins. While they're in third place in the AL East, the Rays would be leading nearly every other division in baseball with their record -- only Detroit and the Dodgers lead their divisions with better win percentages.

3. New York Yankees (43-32)
The third of three teams in the Majors that are on five-game win streaks, the Yankees continued their dominance over the Mets over the weekend, capping off a strong week in which they also took two of three from Atlanta. Thankfully CC Sabathia is fine after an injury scare in Florida, and if Sunday night was any indication, Chien-Ming Wang may have everything figured out. Still, considering that they're only three games behind the Red Sox, you have to wonder if they'd be leading the division if they could figure out a way to beat Boston head-to-head.

4. Colorado Rockies (40-35)
Someone finally slowed them down last week, when the Angels managed to take a series at Angel Stadium. The Rockies don't appear to be rattled, though, considering their weekend sweep over the Oakland A's. With the Giants losing their weekend series in Milwaukee, the Rockies are now only a half game behind San Francisco for both second place in the NL West and the wildcard lead.

5. Detroit Tigers (42-33)
To be honest, I was planning on putting the Tigers at the top of the the list before their weekend series against Houston rolled around. They entered the series winners of seven straight, and were facing off against a pretty mediocre Houston club. What happened? The Tigers lost two of three, and nearly got swept before stealing a win in the 9th inning on Sunday. Still, the Tigers have won 8 of their past 10 games, and deserve a spot in the top half of this list.

6. Seattle Mariners (39-36)
No team continues to irritate teams needing a trade than the Mariners. Not only do they seem to refuse to fall back to Earth, but they're still threatening in the AL West -- not only won't they be selling anytime soon, but they may in fact be buying. This past week, the M's followed up a predictable series win over the Padres with an unpredictable series win over the Dodgers, holders of the best record in baseball. They're now three games over .500, but they'll face a real test this week with an East Coast road trip to New York and Boston. If they can survive that trip, perhaps Texas and Los Angeles have something to be afraid of.

7. Boston Red Sox (46-29)
There haven't been any crazy win streaks lately, but all it really takes to guarantee yourself a playoff spot is to win 2 out of 3 in every series. The Red Sox have lost two straight games exactly once this month, and have only seven losses in total. Considering the slump they finished May with, I'd say that's pretty good, wouldn't you? With David Ortiz hitting again, the Red Sox lineup has started to look more intimidating than it's been all year. With teams like the Orioles, A's, and Royals filling their remaining schedule before the All-Star break, there's no reason to believe that they won't continue to win 2 of 3.

8. Chicago White Sox (37-38)
They're still under .500 and their offense is still very unreliable, but they continue to get good pitching, and are capable of going on a pretty good run if the ball is bouncing their way. The ball definitely bounced their way in the past week, as the White Sox stunned the Dodgers and Cubs for series wins in a six-game homestand. They're still not much of an intimidating club -- you're not going to worry when you see them come up on the schedule -- but they're still only 5 games out of first in the AL Central.

9. Minnesota Twins (39-38)
They finally dropped a game to interleague rival Milwaukee last week, but that didn't stop them from taking another series from the Brewers. The Twins followed that series by going into St. Louis and effectively shutting down every Cardinal bat that didn't belong to Albert Pujols. The Twins, as usual, don't do anything great but do a lot of the little things very well -- even when Joe Mauer appears to suffer the effects of the Sports Illustrated cover curse.

10. San Francisco Giants (40-34)
They did lose a weekend series in Milwaukee, but they were one crazy bottom-of-the-ninth rally by the Brewers away from actually taking that series. Pablo Sandoval continues to carry the San Francisco offense (he's hitting .340 with 11 HR and a .965 OPS), while the pitching does the rest. Following what should have been an encouraging win on Sunday, the Giants now head to St. Louis for a huge four-game series that could have some pretty drastic short-term effects on the NL Wildcard picture. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep this up, or if the lack of offense will come back to bite them before they can trade for a big bat.

Is Aardsma The New Balfour?

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:35:00 -0800

I just ran over the box scores yesterday and was surprised to see that David Aardsma had 16 saves this season. That is only five behind the leaders of the Majors. That was not as surprisingly as just figuring that David Aardsma was the closer for the Seattle Mariners! Apparently took over the role full time last month and has now gotten 10 saves in his last 11 appearances. I remember making the comment that Aardsma could be a 2008 Balfour with that mid-90s fastball thrown over 80% of the time getting good K rates. Hard to get a real comparison with Aardsma in a more defined closer role in 2009 than the setup role Balfour had in 2008 where he was used in multiple situations from early inning to closing a few games.

So naturally, I wanted to see if they matched up statistically over there careers.

FB365's Morning Drive 6/29/09

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:19:25 +0000

Grady Sizemore is 6 for 20 since returning from the DL. There may still be time to buy low with owners still worried about a recurrence of his elbow inflammation. I am not incredibly worried about his previous injury. Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus put it this way:

...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.

Scott Hairston hit his 9th homer of the season. The bottom line with Hairston is that he has the power for sure and his contact rate and plate discipline have shown improvements over last season. His AVG has been helped by a .347 BABIP and should end up closer to .270. The Padres have a bit of a situation on their hands trying to get playing time between Hairston, Gwynn Jr., Headley and Blanks in the outfield. Deeper leagues will find value in Hairston's power, but he may not get enough regular at bats for standard leagues.

MLB Notebook Looking for Part Time Writers

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:40:00 -0800

This is an official announcement for MLB Notebook:

MLB Notebook is looking for Part Time writers. I can't put a number on how many we are hoping to add, because if we get 10 really great writers that apply, I will be tempted to add them all. Here are some details on what being a Part Time writer is all about:

2-3 Posts a week - Could be more if you have the drive to do it, but we only expect 2 each week.
Love of baseball - If you don't love the game, we don't love you.
Writing Experience - We would prefer to add writers who have a proven body of work.
Volunteer - Technically this is a volunteer gig, because we have no real money to pay anyone. However, this could change depending on site revenue. But, even though you aren't being paid, the exposure you get here is beneficial.

This gig is great for someone who writes about a single team for another site (like Ricky does), and wants a place to write about other teams and baseball in general.

If you are interested please contact Zach via email: sportsnotebook@gmail.com