Category: MLB (Page 254 of 448)

      Hamels’ elbow injury not serious

      March 17, 2009 /

      Cole HamelsAccording to MLBlogs.com, doctors found no structural damage in Cole Hamels’ elbow after examining it on Tuesday. Hamels had left Phillies’ spring training on Monday after reporting elbow problems in his pitching arm.

      The Phillies just announced that they have received good news from Cole Hamels’ doctor’s visit today in Philadelphia: there is no structural damage to his left elbow. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is in a meeting, but we are told he will provide more information later.

      That sounds like good news. Of course, we don’t know what the plan is for Hamels. Give him a shot? Shut him down for a week or two?

      That’s not only good news for Philly fans, but also for fantasy baseball owners who draft in the next week or two (or who have already drafted). Hamels still might miss a start in the beginning of the season, but after this news, he still seems like a safe pick. (Although keep an eye on any updating reports.)

      MLB

      Chipper Jones: ‘WBC format needs to change’

      March 17, 2009 /

      After aggravating his strained oblique muscle during batting practice for Team USA in preparation for a game against the Netherlands, Chipper Jones says that the format for the World Baseball Classic needs to change.

      “There’s some serious problems with the WBC setup,” said Jones, who will skip the rest of the tournament. “I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. But I wouldn’t do it again under the current format. There’s way too many days off. This tournament could be over by now.”

      Jones, who also played in the inaugural WBC in 2006, said he won’t play again if the format isn’t changed.

      “Just way too many days off,” he said. “We stayed in Toronto for a week and played three games. I don’t know if you ever stayed in Toronto, but it’s not exactly Las Vegas. To say that we were plucking our eyebrows out one at a time would be an understatement.

      “You’re not getting the work in that you should. You’re getting reps, but you’re not getting the at-bats that you need.

      “Getting to share a clubhouse with the guys and getting to know people on a different level is the cool part about it. But when you’re talking about a three-week tournament, and you could literally play eight games in three weeks, it’s just too much down time for spring training.”

      I’m sure Chipper speaks for a lot of players regarding the WBC. The timing of it is strange and it has to be a small mental and physical grind for the major league players involved. It’s nice that some of these players want to represent America, but having the tournament butt right up against the regular season makes no sense.

      If they’re going to have the games be played in doors, why not have the tournament run right after the regular season? They would still have players bow out because of injuries and other concerns, but at least the athletes who do participate would have an entire offseason to rest up before spring training starts again.

      MLB

      Manny Ramirez suffers leg injury

      March 16, 2009 /

      In his first game playing the outfield since re-signing with the Dodgers last week, Manny Ramirez suffered a leg injury while playing a game against the Rockies on Sunday and had to be taken out of the game.

      Manny RamirezRamirez, playing his first game of the spring in the outfield, said he felt tightness while running into the left-field corner trying to cut off a double by Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki in the top of the fourth inning. Ramirez was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the inning.

      On Thursday, Ramirez was scratched from the starting lineup when he felt his hamstring tighten during baserunning drills. Ramirez played in his first game Friday as designated hitter, walking twice with a single and a run scored.

      He reported to training camp 2 1/2 weeks after the rest of the club, agreeing to a new $45 million, two-year contract 10 days ago.

      And Scott Boras wonders why he couldn’t get Manny a four or five-year deal. Dude can hit, but dude can’t play the field without hurting himself or having to take a leak in the middle of an inning.

      MLB

      Cole Hamels to have elbow examined

      March 16, 2009 /

      Phillies’ starter Cole Hamels has left spring training to fly to Philadelphia to have his sore elbow examined by team doctors.

      Cole Hamels“We do not think it is serious, at least at this time” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “We thought it was important for Dr. Ciccotti to check him out and see if there is anything more serious than what we think it is. He’ll decide once he sees him tomorrow morning if he needs to do any testing or any further testing. We did do a physical on him before we ended up finalizing the multiyear deal with him and felt comfortable with the diagnostics and such. But he’s had a little persistent soreness and we want to be cautious about it and have him checked out.”

      Hamels pitched in a minor-league spring training game yesterday at the Carpenter Complex. The Phillies said afterward that it went well and that he remained on schedule to start Opening Day on April 5.

      “And he was,” Amaro said. “But he’s still got a little bit of soreness in there. We don’t feel that it’s serious, but again, I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t look inside his elbow. We just want to be cautious, and we thought it was important that he sees our doctor in Philly.”

      I don’t think teams can ever be too cautious when it comes to starting pitchers and their arms, but it’s way too early for Hamels to be having any kind of issues. Hopefully for Phillie fans, it’s nothing serious and he doesn’t miss any time. But it’s a long season and if Hamels needs to miss a few weeks in April, that’s better than losing him during a key stretch run late in the year.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Top 10 active WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched)

      March 14, 2009 /

      Since we focused on the offensive side last week when listing the Top 10 in active OPS in Major League Baseball, this week we’ll take a look at the active WHIP leaders for pitchers. That stands for Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched, and is an extremely important statistic when you’re considering pitchers to draft for your fantasy team. Not only do most fantasy leagues count points for WHIP, but it’s a great indicator of overall pitching prowess. Here is that Top 10 in WHIP, and it includes only pitchers who are active going into the 2009 season:

      1. Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees (1.0199)—Rivera has been the hammer in the Yankees’ bullpen for over a decade and still shows no signs of slowing down. At the age of 38 in 2008, Mo struck out 77 in 70 innings, and racked up 39 saves.

      2. Pedro Martinez, free agent (1.0512)—True, Pedro is about a lifetime removed from his dominating days with the Red Sox, but dude can still pitch effectively and has no MLB team at the moment.

      3. Johan Santana, New York Mets (1.1024)—Will Johan be the guy to lead the Mets to their first title in almost 25 years? He had a brilliant first season in New York but was hurt by lousy run support and an even lousier bullpen.

      4. Curt Schilling, Boston Red Sox (1.1374)—It’s hard to believe Schilling is not done yet, because he hasn’t pitched in a real game in almost two years. But if and when he goes back out there, I’m still picking him for my fantasy team.

      5. Randy Johnson, San Francisco Giants (1.1673)—The Big Unit is five wins shy of 300 for his career, and reaching 300 is something that seemed impossible when he had back surgery before last season. But dude is still a beast and still blowing the ball past hitters, and he’s in his mid-40’s.

      6. John Smoltz, Boston Red Sox (1.1697)—It’s going to be strange seeing Smoltz in a Red Sox uniform, but as a diehard Mets’ fan, I couldn’t be happier about that.

      7. Jake Peavy, San Diego Padres (1.1864)—When you think of the game’s top pitchers, do you think of this dude? Well, you should. Peavy has already racked up 1256 strikeouts and he’s only 27.

      8. Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros (1.1979)—Another amazing young pitcher, Oswalt is 31 years old and has a lifetime record of 129-64 for a usually-less-than-awesome Astros’ team. That’s just sick.

      9. Ben Sheets, free agent (1.2010)—If he ever pitched a full season, Sheets would be a lock for the Hall of Fame by now. But you just never see an injury report without his name on it.

      10. Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays (1.2076)—Playing north of the border, Halladay has won the AL Cy Young Award once and finished in the top 5 in voting three other times. How have the Yankees kept their paws off of this guy?

      Source: Baseball Reference

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Baseball, MLB

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