MLB Report: Granderson lifts Yanks, Jones & Wells off to great starts
Posted by Anthony Stalter (04/08/2010 @ 9:05 am)
Yankees 3, Red Sox 1
It’s only been three games, but new addition Curtis Granderson is already making a huge impact for the Yankees. After homering in his first at bat of the season on Sunday night, Granderson delivered the go-ahead solo home run in the top of the 10th inning Wednesday as the Bombers beat the Red Sox 3-1. With Granderson’s help, New York was able to take two of three games in Boston. (I wonder what people are going to complain about seeing as how the Yankees didn’t “buy” Granderson – they traded for him.)
Pirates 4, Dodgers 3
Do the Bucs have a star in the making in Garrett Jones or what? The 28-year-old hit his third homer in two games with a three-run shot off of Clayton Kershaw to help the Pirates down the Dodgers 4-3 on Wednesday. Roger Cedeno played the hero in the 10th inning when he singled home Lastings Milledge for the winning run, as Pittsburgh is surprisingly in position to sweep L.A. to start the season.
Giants 10, Astros 4
The Giants might as well petition the league to play the Astros every night, because they own Houston. The G-Men completed a three-game sweep of the Stros on Wednesday night, as Edgar Renteria went 5-for-5 in a 10-4 San Francisco victory. (Stop laughing – I’m seriously…yes…it really was that Edgar Renteria.) With their pitching, if the Giants can continue to swing the bats as well as they have, they’re going to be serious contenders in the NL West.
Blue Jays 7, Rangers 4
Is that Vernon Wells up in Toronto or did the Blue Jays make a move for Albert Pujols and didn’t tell anybody? Wells went 2-for-3 with two dingers and three RBI on Wednesday night as the Jays beat the Rangers 7-4. Wells now has three homers in two games and while it’s a little early for Toronto fans to be doing back flips about his production, he’s certainly off to a great start.
Phillies 8, Nationals 4
Plenty of Philadelphia fans were on board Wednesday in Washington, D.C. to see Ryan Howard go 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI in the Phillies’ 8-4 win over the Nationals. Apparently the Nationals’ front office didn’t restrict the number of tickets that the well-organized Philadelphia faithful could buy and Phillie fans traveled down to D.C. in buses in order to invade Washington. It was essentially a home series for the Phillies, so nice work, Washington front office.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Posted in: MLB
Tags: Boston Red Sox, Clayton Kershaw, Curtis Granderson, Edgar Renteria, Garrett Jones, Houston Astros, Lastings Milledge, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Roger Cedeno, Ryan Howard, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Vernon Wells, Washington Nationals
Pirates send Morgan to Nats in four-player trade
Posted by Anthony Stalter (06/30/2009 @ 2:41 pm)
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates have agreed to trade speedy outfielder Nyjer Morgan and pitcher Sean Burnett to the Nationals for outfielder Lastings Milledge and right-hander Joel Hanrahan.
While Burnett and Hanrahan are decent relievers, the two outfielders will determine which club gets the better of this deal in the end. Morgan has been a pleasant surprise this year for Pittsburgh (he’s batting .277 with 39 runs scored and 18 stolen bases), but he turns 30 in a couple of days and doesn’t have a ton of upside.
At just 24-years old, Milledge does have long-term upside, but he’s yet to fully cash in on his raw talent. He’s a better all-around athlete than Morgan is, but he underwent surgery to repair a broken finger in mid-May and continues to be sidelined because of it. He has top-of-the-order potential, but he’s been slowed by injuries and when given the opportunity to be the Nats’ leadoff hitter at the start of the season, he stumbled to a .167 average and had no extra base hits in 24 at bats. He was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on April 15 and hasn’t seen major league action since.
What’s interesting is that even though they’re currently 17.5 games back in the NL East and have zero hope of competing this season, Washington still decided to trade for a player in Morgan who doesn’t have as much long-term upside as Milledge. That should tell you that the club didn’t think too highly of Milledge’s potential and decided to get a productive player for him while they still could. Milledge is worth taking a flier on if you’re the Pirates, however, because he could still wind up developing in the future.
2009 MLB Preview: #29 Washington Nationals
Posted by Anthony Stalter (03/17/2009 @ 2:30 pm)
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Offseason Movement: Perhaps the Nats’ biggest addition was 1B/OF Adam Dunn, who will add some pop to the lineup, as well as a fair amount of strikeouts. Washington also acquired OF Josh Willingham and LHP Scott Olsen in a trade with the Marlins and signed free agents Daniel Cabrera, Alex Cintron and Javier Valentin. In the deal to land Willingham and Olsen, the Nationals agreed to send 2B Emilio Bonifaci, INF Jake Smolinski and RHP P.J. Dean to Florida.
Top Prospect: Jordan Zimmerman, RHP
Zimmermann is a serious Rookie of the Year candidate and is turning in a fantastic spring. As of this writing, he has allowed only six hits, two walks and has struck out 16 batters over 12 1/3 scoreless innings. He seems to be over shadowed on a national level, but that’s mostly because the Nationals have yet to officially hand him a spot in the starting rotation. But that should change soon and as long as he doesn’t let the bright lights of the Big Leagues eat him alive, the 22-year old could be a future star.
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Posted in: MLB
Tags: 2009 MLB Preview, 2009 MLB Team Previews, Adam Dunn, Alex Cintron, Cristian Guzman, Daniel Cabrera, Elijah Dukes, Javier Valetin, John Lannan, Jordan Zimmerman, Lastings Milledge, MLB Preview 2009, Nick Johnson, Ryan Zimmerman, Scott Olson, Washington Nationals
