Heyman: Braves’ Tommy Hanson is just one prospect creating a buzz this spring

Here’s a list of 33 more young ones who might be good ones. There’s a buzz about every one of these guys in spring ...

3. Gordon Beckham, White Sox shortstop. “Every time he comes up, he seems to hit a bomb,’’ says one scout. Last year’s No. 1 draft choice has played so well (seven extra-base hits, .625 slugging) that he moved himself into conversations about second base, even with the favorite for that position, Chris Getz (.364), playing very well there, as well. Looks like a gem.

4. Daniel Bard, Red Sox reliever. “The best fastball I’ve ever seen,’’ according to one scout. The pitch is 100 and “really takes off,’’ the scout said. “He’s also able to produce that velocity without much apparent effort,’’ another scout said. Likely to begin at Triple-A Pawtucket, even after a 0.00 ERA this spring with 10 strikeouts in seven innings, but he could be a weapon by midseason.

11. Trevor Cahill, A’s pitcher. “He’s got real good sink on the ball. He’s going to be a good ground ball guy,’’ one scout said. Makes for a tremendous one-two combo of young pitchers with a 2-0 record and 4.91 ERA this spring. “In a perfect world,’’ A’s GM Billy Beane says they’d send down Cahill and Anderson. But of course this isn’t a perfect world. The guess here is one or both make the team.

Thanks to Bay Jiass

MLB: D.A. suggests probation for Tejada

Citing law 1-15-3 already on the books...he feels it’s punishment enough.

A federal prosecutor recommended on Thursday that Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada, who is to be sentenced March 26 for misleading Congressional investigators about the use of performance-enhancing drugs, should get probation and no prison time for his actions.

U.S. attorney Jeffrey Taylor wrote in a memo to Federal Magistrate Judge Alan Kay that Tejada should get a reduced sentence because he has publicly apologized for his actions and has no criminal history.

“Mr. Tejada poses a minimal risk of recidivism and, based on his public statements, appears to have learned a difficult and important life lesson from his experience in this case. He is entitled to an appropriate amount of credit for this,” Taylor said in his sentencing memo, obtained by The Associated Press.

The Baseball Analysts: Young: Unicycles and Delusion

From Trevor Hoffman to Trevor Blackwell...a new cycle indeed.

Payroll isn’t expected to change. Neither is fan cynicism or disinterest. Weather will continue to be numbingly benign, and most of us will have our health. One hundred losses is a possibility, as is a World Championship. Other possibilities include, but are not limited to:

* Completing a triathlon
* Winning the lottery
* Flying to the moon
* Getting trapped in an oil painting

Be ready. Lack of preparation is not an excuse.

Still, I find the irresistible/immovable nature of this year’s pitching staff at Petco Park… irresistible. Hey, we all have our perversions—some are more interesting than others.

I want to see how far a Geer fastball will travel in that ballpark. I want to watch Headley ride around on his unicycle in left field. I want to bask in the glow of my own delusion.

I want to hang out and enjoy the games, no matter how hard anyone tries to kill my buzz with their so-called “reality.” Is that so much to ask? Well, is it?

NYT: Schwarz: Whispering Goodbye to Cuba’s Dominant Past (RR)

I stopped in Flaco’s Cubano Bookie Bodega today. Not a pretty sight.

“Omar Ajete, he was one of the most dominant left-handers you’ll ever see,” Mike Brito, a longtime scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, said of the Cuban closer from one decade ago. “Germán Mesa, he was so close to Ozzie Smith at shortstop. He could do everything just like Smith.”

Orrin Freeman, a Florida Marlins scout, still wonders what the cannon-armed Lázaro Valle would have become had a blood clot not intervened. (“He was about the same age as Roger Clemens, 94 to 98 fastball, an overmatching slider and an intimidator,” Freeman said.) Orestes Kindelan was all but Harmon Killebrew, Antonio Muñoz another Willie McCovey.

The most revered of all is always Omar Linares, a third baseman who stood out even among his countrymen throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Freeman called Linares a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Mets General Manager Omar Minaya compared him to Alex Rodriguez, adding that Linares could easily have played shortstop if Cuba’s Mesa was not already one of the best on the planet.

Scouts all over the world drooled over Linares. The Dodgers’ Brito said a Japanese team offered Cuba the equivalent of $10 million to sign him. The United States trade embargo left him off-limits to major league scouts, but one of the juiciest rumors of the late 1980s was that the Toronto Blue Jays and their ingenious general manager, Pat Gillick, were plotting to sign Linares and have him play only home games in Canada.

MASN: Kubatko: Guthrie headed back here?

You Fascists Are Bound to Lose!

Pitching coach Rick Kranitz has Jeremy Guthrie scheduled to pitch on Sunday, which might be a neat trick, considering that the staff ace has accompanied Team USA to Los Angeles.

The Orioles would like to get Guthrie back in a routine here and make sure he’s built up enough innings for his Opening Day start. Guthrie had another rough outing last night in the World Baseball Classic and might not be used again in the tournament.

Guthrie allowed six runs (two earned) and seven hits in 1 2/3 innings against Venezuela. He kept the ball down, but gave up some loud doubles.

“I texted him last night,” said Kranitz, who attended the game in Miami. “I just let him know that I thought it was time for him to come back and get in a regular turn here. I know he went to L.A. I’ll call him on my way back from Viera, but I have tentatively penciled him in to pitch on the 22nd. I don’t think they really need any more starters, so in my mind, there’s no need for him to be there. He needs to be here and he needs to pitch, and that would work out perfectly for scheduling purposes and for him, too.”

Toronto Blue Jays sign Leon Boyd to Minor League Contract

Yesterday the right-handed pitcher of the Dutch National Team and the Hoofdklasse club DOOR NEPTUNUS reported to Dunedin, Florida for a tryout. Today Leon Boyd has a minor league contract in his pocket. The 25-year-old signed with the lone Canadian Major League organization and hopes to make it to the big leagues.

Boyd pitched in Europe for the past three years, beginning with the Belgian HOBOKEN PIONEERS in 2006, before moving over the border to NEPTUNUS ROTTERDAM in the Netherlands. The son of a Canadian ice hockey player and his Dutch wife had a 10-2 record and an ERA of 1.64 with 86 strikeouts (23 walks) in 93 1/3 innings last season. He also pitched for the Dutch team in the Beijing Olympics, going 1-0 with an ERA of 2.70.

In the 2009 World Baseball Classic he was the closer for the surprising Netherlands team, picking up a win and a save in the two upsets over the Dominican Republic. He allowed two runs on four hits and three walks in four innings. Boyd was clocked with a 92 MPH fastball during the WBC and was mainly used as a starting pitcher in the Hoofdklasse.

Good for him.

Steinbrenner Is Forever Young in a New Children’s Book

The illustrated George Steinbrenner is smiling and robust on the cover of “One Last Time: Goodbye to Yankee Stadium,” the latest Yankees-themed children’s book by Ray Negron, an adviser for the club. Steinbrenner is wearing his familiar white turtleneck and navy sports coat, giving a thumbs-up with his right hand and patting a young boy on the shoulder with his left.

....

A bat boy named Ray is the central figure in all three of Negron’s books, the latest of which was released on Tuesday. The co-stars of the others were children stricken with illness, but Steinbrenner shares the lead role this time.

Steinbrenner comforts Ray the bat boy, who cries upon learning that the old ballpark is closing and stages a final game for the Stadium’s ghosts. The emotions were similar for the character’s inspiration.

“It’s okay son, I’ll make sure that you can get a upper-deck seat in the new place for a year’s worth of allowance.”

Frank Francisco has proved to Texas Rangers he’s ready

Frank Francisco has started each of the past three years for the Texas Rangers in the minor leagues.

This year Francisco will start the season as the man in the bullpen, entering the season entrenched as the team’s closer.

It’s a task Francisco isn’t taking lightly.

“I don’t want to be comfortable like I’ve got my job,” said Francisco, who has five career saves. “I’m going to go out there and do what I can and give whatever I can every day. I want to earn this job.”

Not many chances so far for Young at third

The Rangers were without Hank Blalock again Wednesday as he continues to rest his sore left quadriceps.

“He decided he wanted to take another day,” Ron Washington said.

Assistant general manager Thad Levine said the Rangers are monitoring Blalock’s progress and think he’s a day away from returning to the team.

Despite the setback, Blalock has been taking grounders at third base and the plan is for him to still get playing time at third this spring.

MLB: Giants need offense to take advantage of promising staff

Giants right fielder Randy Winn compared this year’s Giants to the 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks, who allowed 20 more runs than they scored yet won the West with a 90-72 record.

“What they did was get a lot of clutch hits,” Winn said. “I think that’s what we’re going to have to do.”

• The Giants need a resurgence from Aaron Rowand, whose average dropped 38 points to .271 while his home run total fell from 27 to 13 and his RBIs dwindled from 89 to 70. Much of this can be attributed to the hitters surrounding Rowand, who often struggled themselves, and the adjustment to playing in pitcher-friendly AT&T Park. Nevertheless, the Giants need more robust production from the career .283 hitter who signed a five-year, $60 million contract before last season.

The Giants can be relatively certain of the output they’ll receive from catcher Bengie Molina and Winn. For the second year in a row, Molina will bat cleanup, a spot he probably wouldn’t inhabit with any other team. The Giants are a little sensitive about this.

“Bengie drove in 90-plus runs for a team that didn’t score a lot of runs,” Winn said. “He was our best clutch hitter, so why wouldn’t you put him in that position?”

Uhh...because the viennese oyster can be uncomfortable?

SNY: Salfino: Crystal ball: Mets pitching staff edition

Salfino with a look at the Mets palantíer of pitchers…

Thanks first to the fine work referenced below in Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster, The Bill James Handbook and Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projections courtesy of BaseballThinkFactory.com.

We’ll first work our way down the projected Mets rotation before looking at key relievers. For fun, we’ll address the starters in the order of innings pitched projected by Szymborski. (Warning: Keep the air-sickness bags handy.)

Johan Santana: Shandler: 218 innings, 202 strikeouts, 3.19 ERA; James: 230/234/3.01 ERA; ZiPS: 220/232/3.23.

This is why Santana gets the big bucks: his ceiling is high and not much higher than his floor. Of course, there is the ever-present injury risk. Perhaps the Pitching Mechanic (Chris O’Leary) is right and it’s elevated in Santana’s case. But note that Stanford researchers say the idea that pitchers (or any athletes) can repeat motion to the degree suggested in this analysis defies evolution and runs contrary to very persuasive movement studies of other primates.

Jonathan Niese: Shandler: No projection; James: No projection; ZiPS: 165/101/4.85.

Did Pedro Martinez help with these ZiPS projections? No way can all these non-Santana guys get 165 innings unless the forecast is for the Mets to win 70 games. I like Niese. A National League scout I trust says he’s worth developing. The Mets schedule doesn’t feature many early days off. Let’s see what Niese can do with a quick hook at the ready every fifth or sixth day.

Globe: Red Sox place catcher Bard on waivers

Instead that job will be assigned to George Kottaras, as general manager Theo Epstein said yesterday, “It’s his job to lose right now,” after Bard was placed on unconditional release waivers.

“Our young catchers are doing a really good job in camp,” Epstein said of Kottaras, 25, and Dusty Brown, 26. “George in particular did a nice job with Wakefield the other night. Once he showed he could handle Wake, we decided that was the direction we’re probably going to go in.”

Not only will Kottaras be Wakefield’s personal catcher, he will also spell Jason Varitek. With Varitek turning 37 in less than a month, the Sox plan to get him more rest than he has gotten in the past.

Cleveland Indians’ Adam Miller facing career-threatening surgery on right middle finger

GOODYEAR, Ariz.—Unless he can reinvent himself, right-hander Adam Miller is facing career threatening reconstructive surgery on his right middle finger by the end of March.

Lonnie Soloff, Indians head athletic trainer, said Miller will spend the next seven to 10 days playing catch and throwing off the mound to see if he can find a new way to control and command the baseball. If not, he will undergo surgery on the finger that will cost him this season and, perhaps, his career.

Supposedly he injured the finger when cut off by an old pickup truck while driving in Austin, TX

Steve Rogers: Steroid issues in past

You know...they always, always blame the media, the Bossa Nova or Leszek Pękalski.

The issue of steroids in baseball receives too much media exposure, according to one of the Montreal Expos’ all-time greats.

“I just think that the industry has done great things (to address the situation),’’ says Steve Rogers, who is now the special assistant to Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Donald Fehr.

“The ballplayers play baseball. They don’t write articles and they’re not talking heads. All they can do is play baseball under the system there is, and that system is as clean as it could possibly be right now.’’

...However, Rogers does not feel that angle is adequately reported by the media, given the amount of ink and air time the steroids story continues to receive.

“You absolutely hit it on the head when you said ‘ink and air time,’ ‘’ he said. “That’s all it’s about. It’s gone, except for the fact that people have to fill pages with ink and air time with words.

“I understand you have to ask the question, but you’re part of it. If you don’t ask the question, you’ll be one of only two (reporters) in the North American continent that didn’t ask the question, and you can’t afford to do that from a personal standpoint. The fact is, that’s the driving force.’’

Seamheads: Lynch: Book Review: “The Baseball Talmud”

Sweet! An early saberlook inside Howard Megdal’s The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive Position-by-Position Ranking of Baseball’s Chosen Players.

What I appreciate most about Megdal’s approach is that he not only uses “the wealth of modern sabermetrics,” like VOPR, WARP3, OPS+, ERA+, and EQA, but he relies on traditional statistics as well, like batting average, on-base and slugging percentage, ERA, innings pitched, etc.  More importantly he doesn’t lean too heavily on one set of measurements at the expense of the other, and he never takes himself too seriously.  In fact, the book is peppered with humor throughout, and rankings are often determined in ways that will make you chuckle.

For instance, Steve Yeager has a higher EQA than Brad Ausmus, but Ausmus is ranked slightly ahead of Yeager mostly because he was more durable, but partly because Ausmus’ maternal grandfather was a rabbi.  Megdal is quick to point out, however, that Yeager holds two records: “most career home runs by any Jewish catcher or player who posed for Playgirl (102) and most consecutive Major League films acted in by a former World Series MVP (3, if Major League III: Back to the Minors starring Scott Bakula can be considered a film…)”

...But the book is more than a series of lists and rankings and as I got deeper into its pages, I found myself caring less about how the players were ranked and more about the players themselves.  Megdal does a very good job writing about superstars like Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax, but I found myself more enthralled with lesser-known players like Harry Danning, Phil Weintraub, and Mose Solomon, and players I had never heard of like Jake Pitler, Morrie Arnovich, and Fred Sington.

Hulkower: What the Dodgers batting order SHOULD look like

1. Russell Martin
2. Manny Ramirez
3. Orlando Hudson
4. Matt Kemp
5. Andre Ethier
6. Casey Blake
7. James Loney
8. Pitcher’s spot
9. Rafael Furcal

2nd spot: Manny Ramirez. Ramirez is projected to have the highest OBP and SLG on the team. He is not the leadoff hitter (despite the .031 OBP advantage over Martin) because of his .527 slugging percentage. While batting Ramirez first would provide close to an additional 1 1/2 wins, it would also reduce the value of his excellent SLG. Batting Ramirez second will not only increase his plate appearances (the 2 spot had 17 extra plate appearances last season than the 3 spot for the Dodgers and 32 more than the 4 spot) but it will not be all that different than batting him 3rd as Furcal (if I had my way) will be in the 9 spot acting as a back of the line-up lead-off hitter.

3 spot: Orlando Hudson. With Martin and Ramirez batting 1 and 2, the 3 spot doesn’t need to be a power hitter. If both men are on, all that is needed is a single to drive in Martin. A successful at-bat for Hudson can even be to simply move the runners along so that the batters behind him can drive them in. If neither is on, Hudson’s job is to get on base so that Kemp and Ethier can move him around.

And Joe Torre can move around the dunny as he does a doubleshit take.

Primer Dugout 3-19-09

Happy Birthday to Richie Ashburn and Jose Mendez.

Griffin: LARRY JONES - THE UGLY AMERICAN TOURIST

Lethal Intent: The Shocking True Story of One of America’s Most Notorious Tourists!

Why is it that when Chipper Jones rips his experience of seven days in Toronto for Round 1 of the World Baseball Classic, we fall all over ourselves looking to refute?

Okay so Larry didn’t have a good time, so what? He was hitless and pulled an oblique muscle in his side—as opposed to the obtuse muscle in his head. It was the middle of March, not the best month to go wander the streets of T-O looking for a warm breeze, an outdoor patio and northern exposure.

First of all, Chipper is in the NL, so not used to the neighbourhoods of the city. Second of all, he is on a team with unfamiliar teammates that don’t really want to go out with a hitless wonder from a city with clearly the worst night-time downtown core in the league.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever stayed in Toronto, but it’s not Las Vegas.” Those are the words that annoy us. Why do people overreact? It’s like someone telling you “your wife is no Charlize Theron.” Yeah!

3-19 WBC Game Chatter: Japan/Korea IV: This Time, It’s Personal

Fidel is not pleased. Not pleased at ####### all.

It was nice knowing you Hignio Velez.

9:00 PM- Japan vs. Korea (seeding game), 9:00 PM EST on ESPN and ESPN Deportes

The loser of that game will face Venezuela and the winner will face America. Pick your potential poison.

Feel free to talk about March Madness, what Fidel is doing at this time, how Derek Jeter stinks on Defense and who would win in a fight: Billy Martin or Secretariet?

Reflections by Fidel Castro: The Moral Importance Of The Baseball Classics

As a bat boy/go-fer for the Cuban All-Stars back in the 60’s...I never once heard sangfroid or vicissitudes used.

Now we have to stick to facts.

The Baseball Classics have been sponsored by the ones who manage the exploitation of sports in the United States. Those are shrewd, intelligent people, who can even be as diplomatic as might be necessary. However, they cannot dispense with our country in those Classics.

The three best teams in the Classics and the Olympics, namely Japan, Korea and Cuba, were included in the same group so that they had to eliminate each other. Last time we were included in the Latin American group; this time we were included in the Asian group.

That is why in between today and tomorrow in San Diego one of the three teams will be irremissibly eliminated without having to compete first with the team of the United States, the country of the “Big Leagues”. That means that, next, two of those three will be left out. We are forced to wage our battle and design a strategy in the face of those vicissitudes.

...Unfortunately, in our country the bad habit was entrenched to wait for the first strike, and old habit that was instilled in all Cuban baseball players, a habit known by the rival teams pitchers; that is why they easily pitch the first strike right through the center of the home plate. They must be forced to engage in hard work from the very start.

Edes: Whitey Lockman passes away at 82

Don’t go back to Starkville…

Whitey Lockman RIP.

Lockman was fine at dinner, Gary Hughes said, calling twice afterward to thank him for the reunion. But on Tuesday, Hughes was at Scottsdale Stadium before a game when he got a call from Lockman’s wife, who was weeping. Whitey isn’t going to make it, she said.

Hughes left the ballpark and drove to the hospital. That night, Lockman died of pulmonary complications. He was 82.

Before Wednesday’s exhibition here between the Cubs and Giants, the two teams that had played such a big role in Lockman’s life, a moment of silence was observed in his memory.

“What a gentleman,” Hughes said. “He was just such an example of how you should live your life.

“I’ve had a lot of big, tough men crying on the phone today.”

mlb.com: Wright OK after fouling pitch off left foot

MIAMI—A cracked big toe didn’t wipe the smile off David Wright’s face or diminish his enthusiasm for the World Baseball Classic.

The Mets All-Star third baseman fouled a ball off his left foot in Team USA’s 10-6 loss to Venezuela on Wednesday night at Dolphin Stadium.

The ball plunked Wright’s big toe, cracking the nail and causing a great deal of discomfort and concern for a team riddled with ailments.

“A little sore. I’ll be all right,” said Wright, maintaining a smile and sense of humor for reporters afterward. “No problems. Fouled a ball off. Cracked a toenail. Other than that, things are good.”

Wright maintained a positive outlook and gutted it out, playing nine innings on a sloppy, wet field on a night Team USA didn’t have any reserves to replace him. Earlier in the day, the squad lost the services of first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who is done for the tournament because of a left ankle injury.

Wright wrapped the toe in between innings, and afterward, he was examined by Marlins physician Dan Kanell. An X-ray was taken and it came back negative, which was the best news he heard all night.

“It’s tough to put weight on it,” Wright said. “It hurt. But it was more nagging. You’ve got to put all the weight on your feet. You have to move side-to-side. I probably would have played through it in the season.”

The cracked nail, Wright insists, will not prevent him from playing in the semifinals this weekend at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Fergie Jenkins, Greg Maddux to have No. 31 retired by Chicago Cubs

In between Jenkins and Maddux wearing No. 31...the number took a very unfortunate Dettore.

The Cubs plan to retire the No. 31 he and future Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux wore during a special ceremony May 3 before the Cubs host the Florida Marlins at Wrigley Field.

“I knew eventually it would happen,” Jenkins said Wednesday from Arizona. “It is good for the fans. It’s important fans recognize it, as well as the organization. I am having family members come down and friends I made over a couple of decades playing for the organization.”

Jenkins insists he does not know why the Cubs delayed his honor. “No, not really,” he said. “When they had a day for me the year I went into the Hall, I thought it would have happened then. But nobody ever brought it up.

“You know, there’s a time to do things, and unfortunately it just wasn’t that time.”

...Maddux said he soon learned Jenkins had been the previous Cubs player to wear No. 31.

“I thought that was pretty cool that they gave me Fergie’s number,” Maddux said.

Tim Brown: Korea wins this date with destiny

SAN DIEGO – They played to be next into the WBC semis (Korea’s got a place on that northbound bus).

They played to duck a dangerous elimination game against the Cubans (not so fast, Japan).

They played because the schedule said so, again.

But more – much more – has come of it. Japan and Korea find each other – and are perhaps drawn to each other, however reluctantly. Over two classics spread across three years, they have played six times, and they might not be done yet.

Japanese icon Ichiro Suzuki said this week he believed the meetings had become fatefully unavoidable.

“There is a destiny,” he said. “It’s like a girl you said goodbye to and then you bump into the same girl again on the street so many times, because there is a destiny to meet again. Maybe better, might as well get married if we are going to meet this frequently.”

The Biz of Baseball: Manny Ramirez Tries Cricket as Part of DirecTV Promo

Maury points out the..."Jerry Seinfeld circa Amex commercial - “That was a wicked googlie!”

Manny Ramirez has faced some tough pitchers in MLB, but today he encountered a challenge of a different kind at Nichols Park in Gilbert, Ariz., home to the Arizona Cricket Club. Ramirez was swinging at googlies and grubbers instead of split-finger fast balls in his debut as a cricket batsman to promote DIRECTV’s exclusive CricketTicket Service. Ramirez hit five of eight pitches from the bowler, including a rocket shot that dispersed a crowd standing behind the bowler.

“I have faced some tough pitchers before, but we don’t have to ever swing at a bouncing ball that is rising as it passes us,” said Ramirez, who was coached at the event by Australian cricketer Shaun Marsh. “Shaun is a great hitter and he gave me some great pointers. I hadn’t watched much cricket in the past, but the game is a lot like baseball. Shaun said I definitely have a future in the game.”

Chicago Cubs threaten to leave Mesa

The Chicago Cubs, a Mesa institution for decades, want improvements to their spring training facilities. And if the city balks, the team says it will walk.
Cubs chairman Crane Kenney said the team may leave following the 2012 Cactus League season, according to reports published in Chicago newspapers. If the team decides to go, Mesa must be informed by February 2010

ESPN: Youkilis returns to Fort Myers for MRI

MIAMI—When it seemed as though the injury news could not get any worse for Team USA, manager Davey Johnson announced that Kevin Youkilis has left the team because of a sore left ankle on Wednesday.

Youkilis has returned to Fort Myers, where he is being examined by the Boston Red Sox medical staff and will undergo an MRI.

Dodgers bullpen coach Ken Howell has toe amputated

Dodgers bullpen coach Ken Howell is back home in Michigan after having a toe on his right foot amputated due to complications from diabetes.

MLB: Royals release southpaw Gobble

Jimmy Gobble won’t be the Royals’ left-handed specialist out of the bullpen this year after all.

The Royals requested unconditional release waivers on Gobble on Wednesday morning.

...Gobble, 27, had spent his entire career in the Royals organization since he was a supplemental first-round selection (43rd overall) in the 1999 draft.

After having his best season in 2007, when he pitched in 74 games and had a 3.02 ERA and 4-1 record, Gobble slipped badly last year.

His ERA soared to 8.81, he appeared in just 39 games and lost both of his decisions. He also was bothered by lower back tightness which put him on the disabled list from July 22 to Sept. 2.

..."It wasn’t necessarily a matter of him not having it,” manager Trey Hillman said. “We just didn’t see that he was going to be a definite fit for us. He hadn’t pitched that bad and we know what he does against left-handed hitters. In a couple outings, he also had success against right-handed hitters.”

Thanks to Val.

Hideki Matsui to DH, pinch-hit until June

Or as that dweeb on the Long John Silver commercial almost says..."RBI Guy here!”

Hideki Matsui won’t play in the outfield for the New York Yankees until at least interleague road games in June and will be restricted to designated hitter and pinch-hitting appearances until then.
Matsui

Matsui is recovering from left knee surgery last Sept. 22. Yankees manager Joe Girardi doesn’t want to take the chance of a setback.

“The earliest we would need him in the outfield would be interleague, and that’s a ways off,” Girardi said Wednesday. “That’s why we envision him as our everyday DH. We need him. He’s a great RBI guy. He’s very important to our lineup.”