Arizona Republic/Bob Young: Which D-Backs stay; which will go?

• Eric Byrnes - There is no trade market for him, and he’s back on the disabled list. It might be time to consider just eating what’s left on his deal so everybody can move on.

...

• Felipe Lopez - Has been everything the Diamondbacks expected when they signed him to a one-year deal to replace Orlando Hudson. Has some value despite his mental lapses. Atlanta needs help at second base.

...

• Brandon Webb - The ace of the staff hasn’t played since Opening Day. Team has a difficult decision to make about whether to pick up his contract option next season.

...

• Doug Davis - Just the kind of player the buyers will want. Milwaukee and Philadelphia might be interested.

MLB: Melvin slated to accept job with Padres

Over from Under the Excrement! Melvin’s back!

Bob Melvin, let go last month as the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, will accept an unspecified position with the Padres, possibly as soon as Wednesday.

Melvin was in San Diego on Monday and Tuesday meeting with Padres team officials, including general manager Kevin Towers.

It’s not known if Melvin—relieved of his duties May 8 after spending the past four-plus seasons in Arizona—will be an advisor to Towers or a consultant.

...In San Diego, Melvin will be reunited with Padres CEO Jeff Moorad and team president Tom Garfinkel, both of whom were in Arizona as recently as last season.

Rosenthal: Source: D-backs ‘can’t conceive’ of Haren trade

Not even an immaculate conception?

As the Angels recently discovered, the D-backs do not intend to trade Haren, who leads the National League in ERA.

“I almost can’t conceive of a package that would motivate us to move him,” one Diamondbacks official said.

The D-backs, viewing Haren as a critical part of their future, declined to engage in serious discussions with the Angels, who could have used their surplus of catchers and middle infielders to put together a blockbuster offer.

The talks could accelerate if the Angels overwhelmed the Diamondbacks with the right combination of players, one source said. But such a deal, for now, appears to be a longshot.

“Surplus of catchers and middle infielders?” Ken, put down the pipe! I’m sure the Dbacks can’t wait to jump on an offer of, say, Jeff Mathis, Sean Rodriguez and Howie Kendrick. Their combined OPS+ doesn’t even add up to Haren’s ERA+ this year…

Diamondbacks’ Byrnes out 4-8 weeks with broken hand

When Captain America throws his mighty shield...it freakin’ hurts!

Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes is expected to miss four to eight weeks after breaking the fifth metacarpal in his left hand when he was hit by a pitch in the second inning on Thursday night.

The Diamondbacks said Byrnes will require surgery after he was drilled with a 90 mph fastball by Texas right-hander Scott Feldman on a 1-2 pitch.

Byrnes, who was replaced in left field by Ryan Roberts, was hitting .216 with five home runs in 194 at-bats.

Webb may need season-ending surgery

Brandon Webb has a big decision to make.

Webb had an MRI exam on his right shoulder Tuesday and was evaluated by team doctor Michael Lee to determine the next course of action and treatment. Webb previously treated the ailing shoulder with rest and strengthening exercises.

Season-ending surgery is an option this time around. ...

The 2006 National League Cy Young Award winner has been on the disabled list since April 13, retroactive to April 7, because of the shoulder. He began to experience discomfort during Spring Training and made one start before going on the DL. He was scheduled to make a bullpen session on Friday but felt discomfort and returned to Phoenix for an evaluation.

Piecoro: Webb could require surgery on shoulder

Brandon Webb’s troublesome shoulder will require more tests and maybe even surgery, and the possibility exists that the organization’s most accomplished homegrown player has thrown his last pitch for the Diamondbacks.

General Manager Josh Byrnes said Webb was sent back to Phoenix and was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam on Friday to determine whether there is more structurally wrong with his shoulder than Webb and the club initially believed.

The original diagnosis was a strained teres major, a muscle outside the shoulder joint, but with Webb continuing to experience stiffness and soreness, more tests are being done to determine whether there are problems with his rotator cuff or labrum.

“It’s a little bit of a puzzler,” Byrnes said.

Puzzlement: Chapter 4 of AZ’s “Organizational Advocacy Guide”

S.I. : Marchman: A tale of two brothers: What’s the difference between the Uptons?

I see Hal Trosky mentioned, which reminds of the two ML broadcasters (don’t ask me who they were as I was repairing my legless Billholden end table) that came across his name yesterday...and didn’t know who he was.

The varying approaches that Tampa Bay and Arizona took with their wildly talented players show in some wildly varying results. More than his inconsistent hitting lines, B.J.’s struggles are reflected in an inconsistent approach. In 2006, for instance, he swung at 14 percent of pitches outside the strike zone; the next year, it was 19 percent, an increase of more than 35 percent. In his three seasons Justin has ranged from 24 percent to 26 percent. B.J.’s isolated power—slugging average minus batting average, a measure of pure extra-base hitting—dropped more than 100 points from his first to his second year, increased 150 points in his third year, and has dropped steadily since; Justin’s has increased each year.

Again, this is surely partly a reflection of talent, that slight and indiscernible difference in genetics that some genius some day may be able to isolate under an electron microscope. Blind as we may be to the specific mechanics, there is no mystery here. But if, injuries and early promotion aside, B.J.’s fundamental problem has been an inability to fix on one aspect of his game and master it, it’s hard not to tie that to the inconsistent way in which he was treated in his formative days as a major leaguer, when no one even seemed quite able to decide what position he should play, let alone what style he should adopt at the plate.

Houston Chronicle: Berkman,Tejada put milestones to good use

Not long after Miguel Tejada and Lance Berkman collected milestones to help reward Roy Oswalt’s perseverance, the Arizona Diamondbacks threatened to tarnish the Astros’ special performances Saturday night.

Arizona jumped on reliever Chris Sampson for three runs in the eighth inning at Chase Field, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the pair of three-run rallies the Astros had on a night Berkman collected his 300th home run and Tejada got his 2,000th career hit.

Although Oswalt pitched seven strong innings of one-run ball, the Astros needed five relievers over the final two innings to win 6-4 before a crowd of 29,206.

“It’s obviously a milestone homer, and I take pride in it for sure because there’s not a whole lot of switch-hitters that have gotten to that level,” Berkman said after becoming just the seventh switch-hitter in history to collect 300 home runs. “It’s not like 500 homers, but I’ll certainly take it.”

Haller: Bullpen phone rattles relievers

Through nine innings, the bullpen phone is the link to quick relief, baseball’s call to arms. But it’s also a source of frustration and shenanigans.

The Diamondbacks bullpen once had its own distinct number. But this caused problems, especially 10 or 11 years ago when the digits escaped baseball hands.

“Somehow, someone in the (stadium) suites got a hold of it,” Sherlock said.

So imagine his surprise back then, picking up the phone only to hear an unfamiliar voice crack along the lines of: “Hey, whatever you do down there, don’t get up Olson.”

The Diamondbacks long have been fan friendly - but not quite that friendly.

The path between the bullpen and the hill at Chase has officially been renamed “The Trail of Tears"…

Qualls expects forearm issues to linger

In some circles...Qualls should expect firearm issues to linger.

Diamondbacks closer Chad Qualls pitched Sunday - he blew the save, giving up the tying home run to David Eckstein in the ninth inning - but said he expects his forearm issues to linger.

“I don’t think it’s going to be something that’s going to just heal overnight,” he said. “It’s going to be a grind to get it back to feeling good and comfortable.”

The forearm stiffness already has bothered him for two weeks.

Spector: Arizona bullpen spins extra-inning no-no

They win the damn thing! (oof, no longer the Murph)

A no-hitter? Not quite, but this is one of the oddest achievements in baseball history, to be sure…

Diamondbacks relievers Jon Rauch (1 IP), Esmerling Vasquez (2), Clay Zavada (2.2, with the best mustache in the majors so long as Sal Fasano isn’t around) and Leo Rosales (3.1) combined to throw nine consecutive innings of no-hit ball in San Diego tonight. The innings? The 10th through 18th, as Arizona got a 9-6 win.

And how did Arizona get that win? On a three-run homer by Mark Reynolds (previously 0-for-6 with four strikeouts and two walks… a Three True Outcomes king) in the top of the 18th off Josh Wilson. That would be Padres shortstop Josh Wilson, who came in after San Diego ran out of pitchers. Wilson does have some pitching experience—he worked an inning for Arizona earlier this season!

SF Gate: Bruce Jenkins’ 3-Dot Lounge

190+ pitch outings by Mike Krukoww-oww!

Mike Krukow had some scathing, spot-on comments about pitch counts yesterday on the Gary Radnich show. Krukow plays it close to the vest during telecasts, honoring the game’s trend toward caution and protecting young arms, but he revealed his true feelings with Radnich, ridiculing the notion of effective pitchers being replaced after 100-odd pitches and calling it “the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”

...As Krukow told Radnich, the way you become a winning pitcher is by finishing a game, working your way through a batting order three or four times. Anyone can win the first couple of matchups, but once you’ve figured out how to out-perform that guy every time, especially when it counts, you’re a better pitcher and a better man. Krukow said he routinely had 150-pitch games during his career, clearing 190 a couple of times in college, and that if you decide to stick with a pitcher who has it all going, after 110-120 pitches, “It’s not going to hurt him, OK?” said Krukow. “It’s just not.”

The worst of it is, Hinch probably won’t even think twice about his decision. He and a thousand other managers will take the paranoia route every time. That’s how you lose games, respect and any chance of making an impression in this division.

Fangraphs/Anderson: Welcome to the Majors, Daniel Schlereth

Nice bit of analysis here. The umpire is one of my old favorites (not!), CB Bucknor:

The top and bottom of strikezones change with different hitters. Blake’s top is at the 3.58 mark and extends to 1.7. The constant is the width of the zone – or at least should be. It’s hard to argue that pitches three and four aren’t strikes, yet that’s how the umpire called it.

Gordon Edes: Fortunes tied to disabled list

CHICAGO – So, what to make of the impact injuries and attrition have had on the season’s first two months?

Fans in Arizona and Cleveland would tell you that injuries have quashed hope, with their counterparts in Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Anaheim fretful of the ultimate consequences of their team’s missing key parts.

Meanwhile, fans in Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis and even Toronto are apt to argue that any absence can be overcome.

Both sides, on June 1 at least, would be right.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have the best record in baseball, even though right-hander Hiroki Kuroda(notes) hasn’t pitched since opening day because of a strained oblique muscle and Manny Ramirez(notes) is serving a 50-game suspension related to steroids.

“I think a big part of it is mindset,” said Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who will have Kuroda starting Monday night in Dodger Stadium against Arizona.

“I learned a long time ago, when you lose somebody, you’re wishing you didn’t lose him, but if the manager is worried about it, then everybody else is going to worry about it, too. Things you can’t control, you just have to let go, and find a way to make other things work.”

The Chicago Cubs, winners of 97 games in 2008, are barely above .500 without third baseman Aramis Ramirez(notes), who is expected to miss another six to eight weeks with a dislocated left shoulder. The three players who have tried to spell Ramirez at third are batting about .170 with no home runs.

“It’s probably a combination of a lot of things,” said Cubs GM Jim Hendry, when asked why some teams weather injuries better than others.

“Depends on who the guy is and what spot. Like if we’d had [left fielder Alfonso] Soriano go down for six weeks, or Derrek [Lee, the first baseman], we’re covered better with Mitch Hoffpauir and Reed Johnson(notes). Third base was a tough spot for us.

Upton explains bat-flip that irked catcher

Suck on this, Sport!

Justin Upton, however, doesn’t always hold back. It’s not uncommon for the Diamondbacks outfielder to unleash his frustration in the dugout after failing to produce or to display it in other ways, such as flipping his bat after drawing an important walk Saturday against the Braves.

“A lot of times I don’t really get emotional, but when I do something where I feel like I had an opportunity to help the team it does make me a little upset, but that’s just being competitive,” Upton said. “That’s just playing with an edge and wanting to get the job done.”

Upton admitted before Sunday’s game that flipping his bat after walking in Saturday’s sixth inning “did look kind of bad.”

Braves catcher David Ross thought Upton was trying to showboat and, according to Upton, told him not to “pimp a walk.”

Nick Piecoro: D-Backs GM willing to wait

So with their best pitcher and best hitter from last season on the shelf, a bullpen that has the league’s third-worst ERA, and a slew of underperforming players (Chris Young, Chad Tracy, Eric Byrnes, Stephen Drew), a recovery in the standings seems plenty daunting.

Josh Byrnes isn’t turning a blind eye to that scenario.

“Are we prepared for that possibility? Yeah,” he said. “But it’s not one we’re seeking out. We’re not going to try to do it before we need to. Any trading strategy, the first point you look at is your competitive state. If we’re in July and we don’t feel like we’re within striking distance of the playoffs, we’ll probably respond accordingly. But in late May, it’s really not our mind-set.”

If the club reaches that point, the players most likely to be made available figure to be those who could elect free agency, namely, pitchers Doug Davis and Jon Garland and second baseman Felipe Lopez.

You wouldn’t like it, baby
You wouldn’t like it here
There’s not much entertainment
And the critics are severe
The maestro says it’s Mozart
But it sounds like bubble gum
When you’re waiting
For the miracle to come

From The Negro Leagues To The Majors

Today, we spotlight a family whose Negro League and Major League roots are still shining on the today’s baseball diamond. It started with grandfather Sam Hairston, who began his career as a catcher for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1944.

After winning the Negro League American League’s Triple Crown in 1950, Hairston would be come the first African-American player signed by the Chicago White Sox.

His two sons, Johnny and Jerry, would go on to become Major Leaguers. Both would also put time in the Windy City; Johnny briefly with the Cubbies and Jerry with the White Sox.

And now the third generation of Hairstons, both second baseman, continue one of the longest traditions of African American ballplayers. Jerry Jr., began his career with the Baltimore Orioles in 1998.

MLB.com: Padres win 10th straight with big rally

The Padres’ road woes finally ended on Monday in a rousing Memorial Day tilt against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field that was won in the 10th inning with a two-run homer by left fielder Chase Headley.

The 9-7 victory broke an 11-game road losing streak dating back to a 4-3 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field on April 28. It also extended their current overall winning streak to 10 games, coming on the tail of a club-record 9-0 homestand at PETCO Park.

Catcher Henry Blanco opened the 10th against reliever Tony Pena with a bouncing single to center. Headley then hit a soaring shot to right-center for the victory. It was his fourth of the season.

The Padres made this all possible by coming back from a 7-1 deficit with five runs in the eighth and one run in the ninth.

azcentral.com: D-Backs’ draft strategy remains clouded

This year’s draft is of particular importance for the Diamondbacks, who with seven picks in the top 64 have an opportunity to replenish a lagging farm system. Their first two picks are Nos. 16 and 17 in the first round, the second of which comes as compensation from the Dodgers for the loss of second baseman Orlando Hudson.

Byrnes says the muddled picture will make draft strategy even more difficult as the club will try to figure out whether a player it likes at No. 17 might still be around when it picks next at No. 35.

As such, the club has been connected in mock drafts to a variety of players, including high school talent such as Florida slugger Bobby Borchering and Texas lefty Matt Purke. Georgia first baseman Rick Poythress and Arizona State right-hander Mike Leake also would make sense for the Diamondbacks, although there is some question of whether Leake will last until No. 16.

¡Viva Zavada! D-backs rookie breaks into bigs riding handlebars

Not just a man with a ‘stache.  David Brown tells of the unconventional road to the majors for Diamondbacks farmhand Clay Zavada.

• He grew up in a burned-out small town in central Illinois with his top college option being a Div. II program — Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

• A 30th-round pick of the D-backs in ‘06, Zavada played a season in rookie ball before his father died of a heart attack later that year. Responsible for maintaining his family’s property, which includes farmland, Zavada stayed home and failed to report for spring training in ‘07. The D-backs terminated his contract after losing contact with him.

“I was just sitting around, trying to figure things out,” Zavada said.

• Adhering to his father’s wish, Zavada re-enrolled in college and completed his bachelor’s degree, delivering furniture along the way in what became a seemingly endless string of part-time jobs.

“I was pretty much done with baseball,” Zavada said.

• Even though he hadn’t picked up a ball in over a year, a friend persuaded Zavada to try out for the local independent team, the Southern Illinois Miners, in ‘08. Zavada excelled, the D-backs noticed and they signed him again in June. Between the two clubs, Zavada went 5-2 with an 0.88 ERA and 76 strikeouts and nine walks in 51 innings.

Conor Jackson getting over Valley fever, pneumonia

Valley Fever! Close all the schools! Double order designer Swine Flu masks! Have Mayor Bloomberg boringly break into Guiding Light’s time slot and squash the cliffhangers!

After seeing three doctors, Diamondbacks outfielder Conor Jackson finally has found some answers to the “general illness” that landed him on the disabled list last week.

Jackson said he was told after seeing an infectious-disease doctor this week that he had valley fever that led to pneumonia. He still isn’t sure when he might be able to get back on the field.

...He still doesn’t have all his energy back, but he is on medication and was told he should gradually feel better in the next few days.

But he has no idea how soon he could play again, noting that he would probably need time in the minor leagues first.

“I haven’t lifted a weight, I haven’t run, in three weeks pretty much,” he said. “We haven’t even talked about timetable. One doctor told me, ‘You’re going to be fatigued for the rest of the year.’ The infectious-disease guy said everybody reacts differently, so I don’t know what to expect.”

AZ Central: [Conor] Jackson getting over Valley fever, pneumonia

After seeing three doctors, Diamondbacks outfielder Conor Jackson finally has found some answers to the “general illness” that landed him on the disabled list last week.

Jackson said he was told after seeing an infectious-disease doctor this week that he had valley fever that led to pneumonia. He still isn’t sure when he might be able to get back on the field.

He still doesn’t have all his energy back, but he is on medication and was told he should gradually feel better in the next few days.

But he has no idea how soon he could play again, noting that he would probably need time in the minor leagues first.

I wonder what Robert S, M.D. Ph.D., has to say about this.

Arizona Republic: Wife of D-Backs’ Schoeneweis found dead at Fountain Hills home

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office reported that the wife of Diamondbacks reliever Scott Schoeneweis was found dead today at their Fountain Hills home. Gabrielle Dawn Schoeneweis, 39, was unresponsive when deputies arrived at the home a little after noon.

All the team is saying in Miami is that Schoeneweis has left the team for a family emergency.

A call to the Sheriff’s Office was made by one of the couple’s children. The 14-year-old told deputies she found the mother of four on the floor of the master bedroom. Schoeneweis was pronounced dead at the scene.

Wife of D-Backs Pitcher Found Dead in Phoenix Area

Yet another MLB-related tragedy this spring:

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office says deputies found the body of 39-year-old Gabrielle Dawn Schoeneweis on the floor of the master bedroom in the family’s suburban home shortly after noon Wednesday.

Authorities say her 14-year-old daughter called the sheriff’s office to report that she had found her mother lying there and unresponsive.

Bruce Jenkins: Giants are NL West’s best hope

(05-19) 20:12 PDT —It’s up to San Francisco to save the National League West from the Dodgers, the Manny Ramirez scandal and the depressing notion of a division won much too easily. Not that it seems very likely, but the Giants are the only team even remotely equipped for the task.

Next to all this, the Giants seem positively golden with the likes of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval. Can they win this division? Total longshot. But they’re the only threat to Mannywood.

NY Times: Schwarz - A Crash Course in Managing for Arizona’s Surprise Hire

Outfielder Eric Byrnes, a friend since Hinch hosted him on his Stanford University recruiting trip, acknowledged the clubhouse’s unease at playing for a manager who had never run a team or even coached. “I can’t convince them,” Byrnes said. “That’s something that A. J.’s going to have to do. It’ll be awhile before he sheds that.”

Literally overnight, Hinch went from a top general manager prospect to a managerial punching bag.
...
General Manager Josh Byrnes explained Hinch’s arrival by repeatedly citing his “organizational advocacy,” a euphemism for which the team was roundly mocked; Hinch’s page on the Web site Baseball-Reference.com was quickly sponsored by a Diamondbacks fan who cackled, “A J Hinch ... brimming with organizational advocacy.”
...
“It does seem surreal that he’s their manager,” said Minnesota Twins pitcher R. A. Dickey, Hinch’s roommate during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. “I always thought of him as a G.M. or assistant G.M. But being a leader? That part makes perfect sense to me. I don’t consider it a freakish experiment because he’s smart, has the qualities to get the best out of his guys and builds great relationships. He’ll just have to learn the X’s and O’s on the fly.”

Although much of a modern big-league manager’s job involves more tact than tactics, skippers almost always come from two pools: minor league managers or major league coaches. Cincinnati Reds Manager Dusty Baker said: “You get instant credibility in that you might know what you’re talking about. It’s that much harder without that.”

Of the other 29 managers in the majors, only one took a different path: Joe Torre, who became a player-manager for the 1977 Mets but had spent two-plus years as the team’s paternal veteran.

ESPN: ‘Poor decision’ to hire D-backs’ Hinch?

The Arizona Diamondbacks struggled to begin the season before firing manager Bob Melvin.

In the week since his replacement, A.J. Hinch, took over, they’ve continued their slide, losing six of eight games.

Former Diamondbacks pitching coach Bryan Price, who resigned upon Melvin’s firing, thinks he knows why.

“The hiring of A.J., I thought, was a poor decision,” Price told the Marin Independent Journal, a Bay Area, Calif., newspaper.

A former MLB catcher with no previous managerial experience, Hinch, who has a degree in psychology from Stanford, was in his fourth season as the Diamondbacks’ director of player development before his hire on May 8.

“A.J. has worked hard to get his credibility in the business in that [player-development] side of the game, but he doesn’t have any credibility between the lines as a manager,” Price said of Hinch, who became the youngest manager in the majors since Eric Wedge was hired by the Cleveland Indians in October 2002. “That, for me, just wasn’t going to work.”

Holy Taco: 8 Most Hypocritical Christian Athletes

Baseballers taking 4 of the 8 spots, with one each from basketball, boxing, NASCAR, and football.

6. Carl Everett

HOW MUCH HE LOVES HIS JESUS: So much so that he says that dinosaur bones are man made fakes and dinosaurs never existed because they’re not in the bible. “God created the sun, the stars, the heavens and the earth, and then made Adam and Eve. The Bible never says anything about dinosaurs.” But, the bible apparently says plenty about being gay because Carl gave us this profound thought on homosexuality “Gays being gay is wrong.” Aside from that sentence being some kind of retarded logic puzzle, it leads me to believe that if someone could prove there were gay dinosaurs, Carl’s head might explode.

WHY JESUS HATES HIM: I can¹t say for certain but I¹m pretty sure Jesus frowns upon beating your child. In 1997, Everett and his wife Linda were charged with abusing their two children, Shawna and Carl IV. The chargers were later dropped, but the Judge ordered the kids to live with their grandmother for fear of their safety.

Carl Everett, Andy Pettitte, Curt Schilling, female reporters in locker rooms, adultery, child support, and misguided evangelical opinions about Judaism all in an on-topic thread?  That’ll be check and mate, Mr. Repoz.

Nick Piecoro: Trip may lessen scrutiny on Hinch

Then there were those such as Oakland General Manager Billy Beane, who this week not only defended Hinch’s resume but also praised Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes, whom he called “one of the brightest, if not the brightest, young mind in the game.”

Byrnes and Hinch bristled at the suggestion that Byrnes installed a front-office executive as manager to exert more influence from the GM’s box. Beane called that kind of thinking “ignorant.”

“I find it humorous, because with my own manager in Bob (Geren), he came up through the system, and understands how the organization works,” Beane said. “Having someone who you’re familiar with and who understands the organization, the less involved you have to be.

“The idea that you would have 100 employees who are teaching one thing - and I’m not saying this was the case with Bob (Melvin), this is more of a macro statement - the idea that you wouldn’t have someone at the most-important level teaching the same things, it doesn’t make any sense.”

As for Hinch’s experience, Beane cited Bobby Cox’s previous experience as a general manager before becoming the Braves manager.

“Just one man’s opinion, but if arguably the best guy in the game came from the front office, then it’s not really that unprecedented,” Beane said.

But where do you expect us to go when the team falls?

AZ Republic blog: Busy day in roster-move world

OF Conor Jackson placed on the disabled list with “general illness,” manager A.J. Hinch said.
...
Not sure what’s going on with Jackson. When I got to the ballpark on Saturday, one of his teammates said he looked deathly ill, but I haven’t been around the past couple of days. Apparently he’s been OK enough to pinch hit a couple of times in the past few games.

A thought that crossed my mind was that by DLing him, they would get a chance to run him out on a rehab assignment to get him straightened out offensively, but I’m told that he is “very sick,” and Hinch said that the club is going to run a “battery of tests, make sure that he’s fine.”

“Our medical team, we’re baffled a little bit by this,” Hinch said. “It’s been a long time and he’s never really gotten better. He’s shown signs of coming out of it and then it kind of relapses.”