Rumors for April, 2011
Toronto Blue Jays designate David Purcey for assignment
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The Toronto Blue Jays have designated free agent David Purcey for assignment, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca.
The team also placed Rajai Davis on the disabled list for a sprained right ankle that occurred over the weekend in Los Anglees. He had been hitting .156 with two RBIs in seven games.
The 28-year-old Purcey, was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA in four appearances this season over two innings pitched.
To take their spots on the roster, the team called up pitchers Casey Jannsen and Brad Mills from Triple-A Las Vegas.
White Sox designate Lastings Milledge for assignment – clears waivers
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The Chicago White Sox have designated Lastings Milledge for assignment on Thursday, April 7, according to Mark Gonzalez of the Chicago Tribune. The team has also called up right handed reliever Jeff Gray adds Gonzalez.
Gonzalez reports on April 12 that Milledge has cleared waivers and has been reassigned to Triple-A Charlotte.
Milledge played only two games this season with the White Sox and hit .250 with 4 AB’s. Gray pitched 26.1 inning last season with the Cubs and posted a 3.76 ERA with 19 SO.
Rafael Furcal NOT pondering retirement after breaking thumb
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The Los Angeles Dodgers may be without shortstop Rafael Furcal for at least six weeks as he recovers from a broken thumb. According to Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times, Furcal broke his thumb while sliding into third base in the fifth inning against the San Francisco Giants, and after the game he was pondering retirement.
Furcal’s agent, Paul Kinzer, later told Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports, “He’ll be back. He’s just frustrated.”
The 33-year-old has experienced several injuries the past few years including back surgery, hamstring issues and an ankle sprain. He has a $12 million club option that would vest in 2012 if he reaches 600 at-bats, but that will unlikely happen given the latest injury.
Jamey Carroll will likely take over for Furcal at shortstop. To take Furcal’s spot on the active roster, the team may call up Juan Castro, Ivan De Jesus Jr. or Dee Gordon.
Carlos Delgado to announce retirement
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According to Noel Pineiro of El Nuevo Dia, first baseman Carlos Delgado will announce his retirement tomorrow.
In early February Delgado said that he wants to play in 2011 and was rehabbing from hip surgery.
“If I am healthy, I will find a way,” Delgado said two months ago. “I know how to play. I don’t want to retire. The reason why I put myself through three surgeries in 18 months is because I want to play. Otherwise, I would have just hung it up.”
“My plan is to try and get in the best shape that I can, because that way I’m not closing any doors,” Delgado said, as reported by Richard Griffin of The Star. “If right off the bat I say I’m going to be a DH, I’m closing 16 doors (in the NL). My plan is I’m going to be ready to play as much as I can both on the field and at the plate.”
Delgado hasn’t played in a Major League game since May 10, 2009. Last August, he signed a Minor League deal with the Red Sox, but after feeling discomfort in his left hip, he decided to undergo surgery in September.
Delgado is a lifetime .280/.383/.546 with 473 HR’s and 1,512 RBI’s, throughout 17 seasons with the Blue Jays, Marlins and Mets.
Cubs sign Doug Davis to a Minor League deal
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According to Chris De Luca and Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times, the Chicago Cubs have signed left pitcher Doug Davis to a Minor League deal.
Ken Roenthal of FOXSports adds that the deal is for $900,000 if he makes the ML roster and he will have the chance to earn close to $2 million with incentives.
The veteran hurler will go to extended Spring Training to stretch out his pitch total adds De Luca and Wittenmyer.
Late in March, Davis held an audition for eight teams. His agent, Steve Canter, said at the moment that Davis would need a few starts in Triple-A to get “built up”, but that he’d be ready to help a Major League team rotation within a few weeks.
Davis was 1-4 with a 7.51 ERA in 38.1 innings throughout just eight starts last season with the Brewers. The left hander battled a heart condition and an elbow injury that required surgery in 2010.
Should the Red Sox trade Daisuke Matsuzaka?
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Right handed pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who is owed just under $20 million through next season and has continued to struggle as of late. In his last seven starts he is 0-4 with a 7.54 ERA and according to Peter Abrahams of the Boston Globe the time has come where the Red Sox should trade the right hander.
Abrahams says that it wont be easy though, Matsuzaka has a full no-trade clause and a “bunch of other perks”, the team would also have to eat a significant part of his contract and they probably won’t receive much in return.
Teams that could be interested in Matsuzaka include the Dodgers, Mariners, Padres, Athletics, Mets or maybe the Diamondbacks adds Abrahams. He believes the Red Sox would be a better team with somebody else in the rotation. The inside options include Alfredo Aceves, Felix Doubront, Andrew Miller and Tim Wakefield.
In four Major League seasons, the Japan native has a 46-28 with a 4.19 ERA and 544 SO in 590.1 innings throughout 99 games.
Are baseball players today more prone to oblique injuries?
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According to a study done by Dodgers’ head trainer, Stan Conte (via Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times), the number of players with oblique injuries has risen consideribly this year compared to last year. He found out that last year at this point only four players had hit the Disabled List with oblique injuries, but this year the number is at 14 (12 players at the start of the season and two more since then).
Conte has been going line by line through a list he has assembled of the roughly 7,000 players who have gone on the disabled list since 1991.
“I had to do that because those injuries weren’t always called obliques,” said Conte. “Until the late 1990s, they were called rib cage injuries or abdominal injuries or lower chest injuries. As MRI technology got better, the diagnosis became more particular and we began to see them called oblique injuries.”
Conte then grouped everything that used to be called rib cage or abdominal injuries two decades ago but are now called an oblique under the term “core injuries.”
The pattern showed that the number of oblique injuries had risen slightly in the last two decades. But over the last eight years, Conte said, the number had actually remained flat until this year’s rise.
“One theory I have is that players are transferring more quickly from the off-season to spring training games and to more competitive regular-season games, and the muscles aren’t holding up to the increased strain and force the players are putting on them in competition,” said Conte.
The fact that players have a shorter period of time between reporting to Spring Training and playing exhibition games could be affecting the number of oblique injuries. Since 1991 a third of all oblique injuries have occurred during Spring Training. The number decreases throughout the season, with just 1 percent of oblique injuries occurring in September.
For those of you that don’t know, the oblique muscles are four broad flat muscles that attach the rib cage and the pelvis on both sides of the body. These muscles are particularly important to baseball players, who use them to rotate their bodies as hard as possible to throw a ball and to swing a bat.
Giants dedicate game to fan that was brutally injured
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The San Francisco Giants dedicated their game versus the Los Angeles Dodgers to Bryan Stow, a 42-year fan that was brutally attacked at Dodger Stadium on March 31.
San Francisco played host to Stow’s family, and more than 80 members of the paramedics company AMR (Stow’s employer). More than $58,000 was collected during Monday’s game at AT&T Park to help with Stow’s medical expenses.
Before the game began, players from both sides gathered on the pitcher’s mound. Giant’s pitcher Jeremy Affeldt and Dodgers second baseman Jamey Carroll to share a join message: This rivalry must stay on the field, without violence and hatred, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
“There’s no room in this game for hatred and violence. It is about respect,” Carroll told the crowd. “This is America’s national pastime and let’s keep it that way.”
“I don’t have to tell you about the Dodgers-Giants, it’s one of the most storied rivalries in the history of the game but in honoring that rivalry and honoring the Stow family, you have to remember when these two teams get on the field and play, we’re competitive,” Affeldt said. “But when the last out is made, that rivalry ends on the field, so please respect that.”
Blue Jays sign Dewayne Wise to a Minor League deal
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According to Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star, the Toronto Blue Jays signed outfielder Dewayne Wise to a Minor League deal.
Wise was released by the Marlins on March, 30 after he exercised his out clause. The 32-year old was originally signed by the Marlins to a Minor League deal in mid-January.
The outfielder may be best remembered for his perfect game saving catch for Mark Buehrle in 2009 while with the Chicago White Sox. In eight Major League seasons, he has hit .222/.260/.382.
Injury updates: Davis, Bailey and Zimmerman
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Here’s a running list of injury updates for several Major league players:
– The Toronto Blue Jays have placed outfielder Rajai Davis on the 15-day Disabled List according to the team’s official Twitter account.
– According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle right handed pitcher Andrew Bailey threw 20 pitches off the mound today and said it went very well, though he only threw fastballs.
– Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman will be placed on the 15-day Disabled List according to William Ladson of MLB.com. An official announcement is scheduled for tomorrow.
– Brewers’ catcher Jonathan Lucroy was reinstated from the Disabled List on Monday reports Matthew Poulliot of NBCSports.
– Magglio Ordonez will be out of the Tigers lineup with an Achilles tendon injury according to Jason Beck of MLB.com. “I’m going to wait until everything is right,” said Jim Leyland.
– According to Greg Johns of MLB.com, outfielder Franklin Gutierrez is back with the Mariners and plans to work out the next few days. He will then likely head to Tacoma where he will play in some minor league games before he makes his season debut.
