Rumors for May, 2010
Milwaukee Brewers recall LHP Chris Capuano
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Brewers have purchased the contract of Triple-A left-handed pitcher Chris Capuano. Capuano suffered an elbow injury in Spring Training in 2008 and had to undergo his second “Tommy John” surgery of his career.
Capuano, 31, will join the Brewers today. No corresponding roster move was made at the time, but you can expect one when he is activated in a day or two.
During his stint in the Minor Leagues, he was 3-1 with a 1.59 ERA in seven starts. Opponents batted just .209 against him (32-for-153) and he issued only four walks, with 33 strikeouts.
Buster Posey recalled by San Francisco Giants – will start at first base tonight
Posted by: | Comments
5/29: 09:13: According to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News, Buster Posey has been recalled by the San Francisco Giants. He will start at first base tonight.
Baggarly adds, “Don’t assume he’ll be a super-two arbitration guy. No guarantee he stays up and accrues service days thru end of year.”
5/28 23:58: According to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News, a good source of his has said that San Francisco Giant’s Buster Posey will be called up before Saturday’s game. Baggarly says that he cannot confirm it at this late hour.
Posey has started at first base for the second consecuritve night for Triple-A Fresno. He is currently batting .349 in the Pacific Coast League.
Brian Sabean told radio station KNBR last week that “the kid’s really improving.” Sabean added, “But when we bring him here, we want to make sure he’s on the field at least five days a week.”
I always enjoyed seeing the quirky sides of baseball including position players out of their element and protests for ridiculous things. In Friday night’s MLB madness, a backup catcher and utility fielder pitched and a game was put into protest because of an incorrect lineup card.
Astros backup catcher Kevin Cash pitches
Cash pitched one inning against the Reds, allowing three hits and one run on 10 pitches.
Red Sox utility man Bill Hall pitches
Hall went 1-2-3 in the ninth inning of a 12 run loss to the Royals. Of his 11 pitches, he topped out at 89 mph.
“I felt good,” said Hall. “I hadn’t pitched since high school. It was just something if I ever got the chance, I always wanted to just to see if I still had it. I almost got drafted as a pitcher in high school. I threw pretty hard, so it was fun to get back out there.”
“They told me not to turn it loose,” Hall said. “I threw hard, around 95, in high school. They wouldn’t let me turn it loose or throw a curveball. I’ve got a pretty good curveball, too, but obviously you don’t want to get hurt in one of those situations. Something happens tomorrow and I have to play shortstop … if I’m hurt, obviously that couldn’t happen.”
Nationals issued protest against Padres
The Padres listed reliever Adam Russell on the lineup card submitted to the umpires in their game versus the Nationals. The Nationals issued a protest, but the point was moot since the Nats won the game.
Information from John Schlegel of MLB.com was used in this article.
New York Yankees Nick Swisher engaged to TV actress Joanna Garcia
Posted by: | Comments
According to Lia Eustachewich of the New York Daily News, New York Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher is engaged to “Privileged” actress Joanna Garcia since May 19. Swisher confirmed to Sports Illustrated that he was dating Garcia since September.
“Joanna is my lady,” Swisher said.
Pat Burrell Rumors: In negotiations with San Francisco Giants for Triple-A contract
Posted by: | Comments5/28 23:31: According to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News, Burrell could sign a Minor League deal today.
Baggarly says Burrell’s contract will have an out clause if the Giants fail to promote him by a certain date, likely within a month.
5/28 17:57: According to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, free agent Pat Burrell is leaning toward accepting the Giants’ Triple-A offer. An announcement is not likely before tomorrow.
5/28 16:55: Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News says that Giants manager Bruce Bochy has confirmed the Giants are talking to Burrell, but nothing has been done yet to his knowledge.
5/28 13:33: According to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Giants are negotiating with Burrell on a Triple-A contract. Schulman adds that it’s “a no-risk deal that could bring the Bay Area product home.” The contract is in the “talking stages” and Burrell does have other options that he is mulling.
The Giants could take a look at him at Triple-A and then bring him to the Bigs if they choose to pay him the prorated portion of the Major League minimum with the Tampa Bay Rays picking up what’s left of the $10 million salary.
Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports adds, “Burrell minor-lg deal with #Giants would have quick out date – maybe 2 wks after signing. Bench role if promoted, no promise of ABs.”
5/27 22:59: According to Buster Olney of ESPN, he tweets, “Confirmed: The Giants are in talks about a minor league deal with Pat Burrell. Makes sense, given the opportunity in SF.”
5/27 18:30: According to Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Giants and free agent Pat Burrell are discussing a minor-league contract. Schulman Emphasizes that it is NOT a done deal because Burrell has other options.
Last week, San Jose Mercury’s Andrew Baggarly discussed the possibility of Burrell going to the Giants or the Padres.
Burrell is originally from the San Francisco Bay area, so that could play into his decision.
Burrell was designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays in mid-May and cleared waivers last week. Any team interested in Burrell would have to pay the pro-rated portion of the league’s minimum $400,000 salary (about $300,000). The Rays will pay the remaining $6.5 million on his $9 million contract.
Burrell, 33, was hitting .202/.292/.333 in 24 games with the Tampa Bay Rays
New York Yankees Minor Leaguer Amauri Sanit suspended 50 games for PEDs
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball (via Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball), New York Yankees Minor League pitcher Amauri Sanit has been suspended for 50 games for testing positive for Mepentermine.
Sanit, a Cuban defector, has gone 1-2 with a 8.69 ERA over 12 games this year for Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes-Barre of the International League.
Umpire Joe West, Ozzie Guille and Mark Buehrle fined for balk antics
Posted by: | Comments
5/28 18:18: According to the Associate Press, umpire Joe West, manager Ozzie Guillen and pitcher Mark Buehrle were fined by Major League Baseball on Friday for their balk antics on Wednesday. You can see the video of their problems here.
5/27 15:01: According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, umpire Joe West will face discipline from Major League Baseball. His punishment is expected to be a suspension or fine. The MLB officials and the umpire’s union are discussing the severity.
The punishment is likely coming from his proactive approach of ejecting Chicago White Sox starter Mark Buehrle and manager Ozzie Guillen from the game yesterday. You can see the video here.
Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated said that “MLB not happy joe west is publicizing himself and his CD, and still talking too much.”
A music CD?
Chuck Yarborough of The Plain Dealer did a review of Joe West’s new album, Blue Cowboy. He said listening to the title track “Blue Cowboy” made him “balk”. Yarborough had the same reaction to the second and third track of the album. You can see the rest of Yarborough’s review here.
You can listen to potions of his music and buy the CD here from West’s website.
Los Angeles Dodgers designate Nick Green for assignment
Posted by: | Comments
According to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers have designated utility infielder Nick Green for assignment.
In early April, there were rumors that Green would return to the Boston Red Sox, a team he played for in 2009. He had an opt-out date in his contract, but the Dodgers called him up before he could exercise the opt-out.
Green, 31, was hitting .125 (1-for-8) in five games for the Dodgers this season.
Update: Orioles Adam Jones Tweets about being detained at Canadian border
Posted by: | Comments5/28 16:57: According to The Baltimore Sun, this is what Jones had to say about his detention in Canada:
Here is what he said:
“Basically, what happened was they had the wrong person. They thought I was somebody else. It all got situated, but it took its time to get situated.”
Jones originally expressed his frustration on his Twitter account. One of the tweets was later removed.
“It’s frustrating for me, I shouldn’t have put it out how I put it out. It’s just frustrating. Now we can all just get on with it. There’s more stories, I guess, people want to stay something, but everything’s taken care of on my end.”
Were you detained or just subjected to further screening?
“We went to immigration so I would consider that detained. Everything is cool. They said I had a criminal record. My mom raised me better than that. I have never been involved with anything criminal in my entire life. It was a long, pointless situation to me because of the circumstances. But I’m glad that got cleared and that won’t be a problem anymore coming into this country.”
Did they think you were NFL player Adam “Pacman” Jones?
“I don’t know if it’s him. We got the same name obviously, but I’m not going to say I was mistaken for him when I don’t know.”
More about his original “tweet,” in which he sarcastically said he appreciated “someone from the team making sure we’re OK, NOOOOTTTT.”
“It doesn’t matter what I put on my Twitter page. It’s just something that never should have happened. Obviously, putting it on my Twitter page, it’s gaining pointless exposure. I’ve learned my lesson.”
He said that smiling.
He also added: “I’m not going to say who was there with me. I wasn’t the only person there.”
5/28 10:31: Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles was detained at the Canadian immigration officials last night and while being held, he had time to tweet about his adventures:
“detained by immigration in canada for no false accusations till 5am and appreciate someone from the team making sure were ok NOOOOOOTTTTT”
“I wish I could say what I want on here. That would be BRACKIN”
“last 10 hours have been a blast…yaaaaay. time to sleep off the bull”
His Twitter account has since been protected. I’m wondering if it has something to do with MLB’s crackdown on Tweeting.
The tweets are a little inconclusive, so I agree with David Brown of Yahoo Sports that we won’t know what exactly went on until an Orioles beat reporter gets the skinny for us.
Brown adds that Jones did not fly with the team to Canada, so I’m wondering if Jones did this because he had a prior conviction. Recently, MLB players have been warned that they could be detained at the Canadian border if they have prior criminal records.
Derek Jeter asks others not to spoil American Idol finale until he can watch it at home
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com
, New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter asked everybody within earshot (reporters, teammates, the manager and support staff) to not reveal this season’s American Idol winner until he got back home to watch it.
Jeter said, “Don’t say anything about American Idol. Nothing about American Idol. Nobody talks about American Idol.”
He repeated that to everybody that walked into the door.
When Hoch asked Jeter for a few minutes of his time, Jeter’s first words were, “Nothing about American Idol.” Hoch complied.
It’s not known if Jeter managed to escape Minnesota without finding out the winner.
