Monday, April 13, 2009

Cubs' Bradley strains groin

Milton Bradley is expected to miss Monday's Cubs home opener after straining his groin Sunday in Milwaukee.

Fantasy Impact: If Bradley misses time, Kosuke Fukudome moves to right field while Reed Johnson and Joey Gathright patrol center. Johnson makes more of a fantasy impact than Gathright except for the steals category.

Diamondbacks bullpen roles change

Juan Gutierrez moves ahead of Jon Rauch as the Arizona Diamondbacks seventh inning setup man.

"Like we've done in the past, if someone is struggling a little bit we'll try to back them off and get them in some less prominent outings," Melvin said.

Gutierrez had looked sharp in his first appearance, retiring all four batters he faced on Tuesday, but he allowed three runs in an inning on Saturday.
Fantasy Impact: Gutierrez will be third in line for saves behid Chad Qualls and Tony Pena. That's not a big deal, although it confirms that Rauch is no longer in competition with Qualls or even Pena. He does not factor in as a saves candidate at this point.

Ellbury flawless again in center

Jacoby Ellsbury set the Boston Red Sox record for consecutive games without and error on Sunday with his 179th error-less game. Now, if the leadoff man could only get on base...

Gordon sidelined again Sunday

Royals third baseman Alex Gordon, substituted Saturday due to a sore hip, sat out Sunday for Mark Teahen. The Royals are calling the injury "day to day."

Come on, Lincecum

Tim Lincecum's struggles continued for a second start. The 2008 National League Cy Young winner struggled with three walks and ten hits allowed in a 6-1 drubbing by San Diego.
“Right now there’s a little more negatives on my side than usual,” Lincecum said. “I’ve just got to go down and take a look at what’s going on and figure something out.”

Chase Headley homered for the second straight day and Luis Rodriguez had two sacrifice flies for San Diego, which finished with 13 hits.

Lincecum had been dominant in his previous eight starts against the Padres, going 3-1 with a microscopic 0.95 ERA.

“He hasn’t gotten into his good groove yet,” San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. “His fastball command is not sharp and that’s what is hurting him. As good as he is, he really needs to do that.”
You have to wonder if Lincecum's illness this spring, coupled with mediocre spring stuff, is contributing to his slow start. The Giants' ace saw Padres right hander Chris Young work seven strong innings with seven strikeouts for his second win.

Slugging Soriano

Alfonso Soriano bashed his National-League-leading fourth home run into the night to leadoff the Cubs 8-5 win over Milwaukee at Miller Park. It's Soriano's second leadoff home run this season. He has just seven RBI, thanks to batting leadoff. MLB home run leader Evan Longoria (5 HR) owns 10 RBI.

Fantasy Impact: Soriano might be an ideal No. 5 hitter. He's got pop, and while his on base percentage lacks, he can steal a base once he gets on. That's an ideal type of player for the role in the National League, where a power guy can knock himself in or get himself from first to second in time for the lower order to bring him home before the pitcher's turn. Soriano desires to bat first, though, so his RBI numbers will continue to take a hit.

Glavine's shoulder situation

Braves fifth starter Tom Glavine experienced some shoulder issues in his final minor league tuneup. Could this open the door for phenom Tommy Hanson to make the Braves rotation?

Hanson struck out ten in 4 1/3 innings
in his first Minor League outing.

Pitching late early

So much for early-season pitch counts. Cincinnati's Aaron Harang (108 pitches), Florida's Josh Johnson (113 pitches) and St. Louis' Kyle Lohse (112 pitches) all threw complete games on the season's first Sunday.

The Mariners' Erik Bedard (102 pitches) worked into the ninth before giving way to his bullpen in a 1-0 shutout of Oakland.

Angels they are not

The Red Sox and Angels saw three members of the Angels ejected during two bench-clearing incidents in Sunday's game. Torii Hunter is the only player ejected with fantasy value. Owners will need to compensate for a possible suspension. Angels reliever Just Speier, the other ejected player, has little fantasy value and should not be owned in most pleagues.

Webb disabled

Brandon Webb might have no structural damage in his right shoulder, but he's on the disabled list, anyway. The Diamondbacks' stopper will be out at least another ten days.

Steve Phillips on the Cubs

ESPN's Steve Phillips believes the Cubs closer situation is a battle that will eventually be won by Carlos Marmol. According to Philips, Marmol has the better stuff and is the better pitcher when compared with current Cubs closer Kevin Gregg. Phillips voiced his opinion numerous times on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball as Marmol pitched a perfect eighth and Gregg struggled through the ninth.

Phillips also had a bit of a run-in with Lou Piniella
this week and apologized to the Cubs manager for his criticism of Piniella's perceived handling of Kosuke Fukudome.