The Sunday Return: Wood Out, Talbot Ahead, Hafner
Strong, and Trimming Down

I would say that if I had my laptop this past week, I might have found time to post, but I don't know that for sure.

Because I didn't have my laptop, it was impossible to sit and watch TV and do what I had to do, so sometimes when 8:00 rolled around, or the two times the Indians played this week on STO (not that I saw most of the games due to work anyway), I was sort of stranded in my room.

The time I did use on the computer was to handle other business, so obviously I couldn't sit through, pile through all the news and do what I normally do.

But never the less, I have my laptop back and work is done until May, which in a way is sad because the reality is now setting in that I have a month plus of classes left to get through. The good news is that we are just two weeks away from baseball.

And in other news, my cursor keeps going haywire, what's going on man, stop it!

Anyway, two weeks away and...damnit...

Kerry Wood will miss at least the first month of the season with a strain in his back. Officially it's something called a "latissimus" muscle. Sounds tasty.

I don't know what this is or where it is or why it's his back impacting his shoulder, or whatever. What I do know is that this sucks all around.

Kerry didn't really have any issues last year and there is reason to believe that the struggles he endured was due to the lack of consistency in terms of save opportunities.

And now us knowing is in serious jeopardy. And now Mark Shapiro looks even worse for giving Wood the two year deal.

The only good news is that there is now slim to none chance that Wood's vesting option actually has the chance to vest, not that the chances of that happening where very high to begin with. Prior to this, the question was: Would the vesting option hurt the trade value of Wood? Well, certainly the option not being a worry increases his value, but that automatically goes away with the doubt of injury now around. Sure, the possibility was always there with Wood, but things would look better if the last injury he suffered was back in Chicago. Bit of a Catch 22, isn't it?

The time table for Wood throwing again will be two weeks from now, which is around the beginning of the season. The injury started a few weeks ago when Wood reported soreness and I'll let Lonnie Soloff take it from there.

It's an area in which he usually experiences soreness during Spring Training," said Soloff, pointing to the rear of his right armpit. "After four, five days the symptoms did not recede, so we did the tests. 
"The good news is, it's nothing structural. That's the positive -- it's not the elbow or the shoulder, which have been surgical issues in the past. If you were to ask Kerry, he'd tell you he's had something like this the last four, five Spring Trainings."

Yep, if you remember from last year, Wood did say this last year. Yet he turned out fine. Earlier when Wood reported the issue it was more of the same, it didn't seem minor. He was scheduled to throw just a few days later.

Yet that never happened and now we are here. Chris Perez must take over the role as closer and there is another spot up for grabs in the Indians bullpen. Wood is now damaged trade bait at a later point of the season if that, and any chance of a reliable bullpen rests on Benz being able to close, and Rafael Perez being able to re-assume primary setup duties.

The bright news in those two departments, Chris Perez totally has the attitude to do it and the numbers this spring to suggest he's sharp (5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 4 K) and Rafael Perez has been much of the same (6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K). More importantly for Rafael, the slider has been reportedly effective. Chris Perez on the other hand was the first to say that this loss is a huge one and that he wants Wood back soon so he can get back to the 8th inning, but he won't exactly shy away from the challenge.

"I'm excited, but at the same time it stinks that it had to come with Kerry getting hurt," said Perez. "I think, hopefully, they're being cautious right now and that he comes back a lot quicker than the doctors said."


"It's a good audition," said Perez, acquired from the Cardinals last year along with Jess Todd for Mark DeRosa. "It's a good way for the new coaching staff to get a look at me. I hope I take the ball and run with it and get off to a good start and help this team get off to a good start. I think that's one of the easiest ways to ruin a season right off the bat is to have the bullpen blow games."

Yes it is a big blow because the depth will be tested. There was two spots open in the bullpen with Joe Smith and Tony Sipp assumed to have positions in the pen. Now with Wood beginning the season on the DL, everyone slides up and another spot is open.

Hector Ambriz, Jensen Lewis, Saul Rivera, and Jamey Wright are pretty much the final guys in the race. This is where the Jason Grilli injury sort of hurts, as he probably would have been in line for a spot.

I think despite his struggles, Jensen Lewis is going to get one of those spots, just because of the work the Indians have given him and I think Acta and staff love him because he throws strikes (one walk this spring). Still, he's only given up two runs in a few innings, so it's a small sample size. It isn't Mike Gosling, 10.13 ERA.

The other spots I believe comes down to the two veterans, Saul Rivera and Jamey Wright. Both have been excellent this spring, but take this in mind. A majority of their time has been near the end of the game, against the team's lower minor leaguers. So they better have a combined 12.2 IP with just one ER and 9 K.

River has the edge of familiarity with Manny Acta, while Wright has the edge of familiarity with the AL Central. I would expect both to get some meaningful innings soon against players who will actually be in the major leagues this season to better prepare them. That leaves the others: Jess Todd, Ambriz, Mike Gosling and the rest of the young guns. I don't see Todd getting it as they probably want to start him at Triple-A, ditto for guys like Josh Judy, and Gosling has been bad.

Hector Ambriz has been used just twice, and while he hasn't given up a run, he hasn't looked as good as you would want. I think we'll see something soon with Ambriz, where he'll be put on waivers (will likely clear) and at that point, the Indians will either offer him back to Arizona or attempt to work out a deal to keep him. There is something there, and there could be something there with him as a reliever, but it will take longer than four-five weeks in spring training to find out.

We found out that Milwaukee was making a move with Chuck Lofgren, meaning that they were about to do what the Indians may eventually do with Ambriz. Turns out the Indians were quite willing to part ways with Lofgren as the Brewers wanted to keep him for rotation depth. The teams completed a deal on Tuesday that would keep Lofgren with Milwaukee where he will start the year in the Triple-A rotation and the Indians would receive minor league reliever Omar Aguilar.

I tried doing this comparison on twitter following the revelation of the deal, but it was kind of hard, so let me do it again.

Omar Aguilar, 25 Years Old (on the 31st of March)
Highest Level: Double A (25 IP in 2009)

Chuck Lofgren, 24 Years Old
Highest Level: Triple A (98.1 IP in 2009)

There are reasons for both sides here why this makes sense and why it doesn't.

The one above is a reason it doesn't. Lofgren is a year younger and has advanced further (as a starter to boot) in the system. On top of that, Lofgren pretty much lost a year due to the distraction of his mother. Before that, he was a top pitching prospect in the Indians system. You can't tell me that the same stuff isn't in there just because he was sidetracked by his life for a bit.

Now flip-side... Omar Aguilar was actually once a top prospect himself in the Brewers system. In fact, he was actually viewed as back of the bullpen arm at the major league level at one point. For whatever reason though, he's split the past two seasons at Single-A and Double-A and no longer on that list. His numbers just haven't been there.

Maybe the Indians think they can find the old Aguilar in there and get themselves a nice bullpen arm.

I don't know, but here is the Indians justification on the deal and I can see why they decided to let Lofgren go. It doesn't matter who they got in return when you get down to it, as long as they got someone who they think could maybe pan out.

Lofgren is a starting pitcher. Milwaukee tried him as a left-handed relief pitcher to make the club, but they mainly got him before they added to their rotation. So he essentially was rotation depth. I think the Indians view him as a starter as well. If that's the case, he's behind Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, Justin Masterson, Jeremy Sowers, Mitch Talbot, David Huff, Aaron Laffey, Hector Rondon, Jeanmar Gomez, and Carlos Carrasco. He's essentially number 11 on the list. How often does number 11 get a shot in the major league rotation? With the Indians, especially if you were around last year, very possible, but why would the Indians think like that?

Especially when they've got a few other guys that could be options at some point down the road: Eric Berger, Zach Putnam, Yohan Pino, late season Anthony Reyes, and maybe injured Scott Lewis.

Basically, the Indians feel good about their depth and the options they have immediately and in the future (Knapp, Hagadone, House, etc.) for the rotation, so Lofgren is someone they probably felt wouldn't get the opportunity here. So they were perfectly willing to let Lofgren go, keep the cash and also get a potential project in return that would slide into the bullpen.

The rationale is understandable. I don't like it, because I love Chuck Lofgren and the type of person he is, but I understand it. So we move on. Best of luck to him in Milwaukee. I wouldn't be shocked in the least bit to see him in that rotation by next season.

How about the guy they got though, Omar Aguilar?

He's a power arm, point blank. He throws the stuffing out of the thing, but his control looks to be a huge issue. The word is mid-90's fastball. I just envision Joel Zumaya and we know how well that guy has worked out for Detroit. So it's nothing to get overly excited about as pitchers like that always present problems, but if your going to take a chance on a guy, at least take a chance on someone who can throw gas.

Aguilar was once on the Brewers 40-man roster. So he was on the fast-track, yet he's had quite the remarkable fall from grace. We'll see where it goes.

Alright so I've already gone over the race for the bullpen spots, I might as well get to the race for the other positions, as they've been drastically impacted over this past week.

Let's start with the utility positions, which is making me incredibly angry.

I cheered with the outrighting of Brian Bixler to Triple-A. Bixler cleared waivers as he was removed off the 40-man and sent to Columbus where he'll start the season, probably as their backup infielder at worst (I'm going to assume Jason Donald starts at second or short).

Yet the move was to accommodate the claim the Indians made on former Mets and Nationals infielder, Anderson Hernandez.

Gag me with a spoon. This guy is a career .245 hitter and if you believe the comment Tony Lastoria made in his post about the move, Hernandez has a utility spot on this team.

I repeat, GAG ME WITH A SPOON BILL WALTON!

I repeat again.. CAREER .245 HITTER!

I'm sorry but with a young team, this isn't the guy I want on the bench. Give me Mark Grudzielanek or give me death. This is insanity! He's mainly a middle infielder, so I can't see them carrying bout Grudz and Hernandez and not having someone like Marte who can play third and first. So the assumption is this CLOWN takes a spot away from a real major league baseball player.

Now this is what I feel would happen if Tony is right and Hernandez is a "lock" for the utility spot. However as Tony noted in one of his latest notebooks, Grudzielanek may not be out, but rather it would be Luis Valbuena, who has struggled at the plate this spring a little bit (Acta says he hasn't hurt himself though). The Indians may not even view Grudzielanek as a utility player. If Grudz turns it up and Louie goes downward even more, Louie could be in Triple-A.

But let's just assume that Louie being the odd man out is not the case. And let me just say if Baby Val is the odd man out, I will riot. WE NEED TO FIND OUT ABOUT HIM! There is nothing left for him to do at Triple-A if you ask me. He did some stuff at the major leagues. Time to sink or swim buster. Anyway, let's just assume Louie gets the second base job and the utility spot is between Grudz and Hernandez.

Is Anderson Hernandez really the guy you want tutoring Luis Valbuena about second base? Is Anderson Hernandez the guy you want Shin-Soo Choo taking lessons from about hitting for average? Is Anderson Hernandez the guy you want sharing his experiences about the major leagues with a young club?

Him and his 186 major league games?

One more time.... Gag...Me...With...A....Spoooooon!

Now you are probably wondering why I'm carrying on about the utility spot and acting like the time my dad told me he had given the dog away because I was too abusive to it (putting it down the slide didn't seem cruel to me at the time, plus there was someone at the bottom to catch him, what?). But it's the principle of the thing. Mark Grudzielanek makes too much sense for this team. Why are we bringing in another Washington scrub?

Austin Kearns is already going to lose the fourth outfield job to Trevor Crowe (or at least he should) if Crowe continues to hit and Kearns continues not to.


Player: AVG / OBP / AB
Crowe: .348 / .423 / 23
Kearns: .200 / .310 / 25

Crowe has knocked in five runs and has scored four. Kearns has scored just six and struck out nine times. Kearns could probably play all three outfield positions effectively, but Crowe can play all three positions effectively better. Crowe has the element of late inning speed and while Kearns is no slouch, I'm pretty sure Crowe is way better in that department.

So hotter stick, better speed, defense equal, if not better all in favor of Crowe.

Before I give you what I think the 25-man roster should look like with two weeks left, we've got one more question to answer.

Who's going to be in the starting rotation?

According to Manny Acta, they're all still tied.

"Everyone's tied for first," the manager said. "We'll make the decision at the end of Spring Training." 

I understand that the decision will come at the end, but I don't buy that comment for one second. Bologna! Mitch Talbot has to be ahead of both Laffey and Huff at this point. While the spot isn't officially his, he'd have to really bomb to lose it at this point.

That means there is now one rotation spot for David Huff and Aaron Laffey. Oh but look, remember there is that other bullpen spot.

If it is going to be filled by one, it would be Laffey, as according to Anthony Castrovince, Huff has not been even considered for that type of a role. I wouldn't count on Laffey getting the shot either as he makes much more sense in the rotation as depth.

Talbot could be the one guy who goes into the bullpen, but the way he's pitched in multiple innings, I can't see why you would do that.

So the way I see it, Huff or Laffey wins the final spot and the other goes to Columbus. Which would make the opening day roster look as such. The battle between those two is too close to call at this point. Huff's last few outings have been rough and he's given up double the runs Laffey has (10-to-5), but Acta is a fan of the way Huff has thrown strikes and isn't necessarily looking just at numbers.

Rotation: Westbrook, Carmona, Masterson, Huff/Laffey, Talbot
Bullpen: Perez, Perez, Sipp, Smith, Lewis, Rivera, Wright

Catchers: Marson, Redmond
Infielders: Branyan, Hafner, Valbuena, Cabrera, Peralta, Marte, Grudzielanek
Outfielders: LaPorta, Sizemore, Choo, Crowe

DL: Wood, Reyes, Sowers

Even though Jeremy Sowers pitched two innings the other day, it's going to take awhile to build his arm strength and conditioning up. I can't see them putting him in the bullpen and he's already been eliminated from rotation contention. He'll probably begin the year on the DL and go on a rehab stint in an effort to get up to speed.

Over the week, the Indians made several "cuts" as they send minor leaguers to minor league camp, all of them bigger names in the system. Obviously none of them were going to make the roster and the reason for their re-assignment to minor league camp is to get them regular at-bats in minor league games as the major league starters get more reps and roster deadlines approach. The Indians sent the following down this past week.

Carlos Santana, Jeanmar Gomez, Hector Rondon, Jordan Brown, Wes Hodges, Jason Donald - Columbus
Calros Rivero, Nick Weglarz, Kelvin De La Cruz - Akron
Beau Mills, Lonnie Chisenhall, Jason Grilli, Zach Putnam, Alex White - Minor League Camp (Not on 40-Man)

With Brian Bixler also being sent to Columbus after being outrighted off the 40-Man Roster, that leaves the Indians with 46 players in big league camp.

So how did some of those names do? Some did very well, Wes Hodges in particular, with the bat at least.

Wes Hodges: .417 AVG, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 4 2B, 2 R, 0/1 BB/K
Jason Donald: .200 AVG, 4 RBI, 3B, 5 R, 3/4 BB/K
Carlos Santana: .250 AVG, RBI, 2 2B, 2 R, 3/3 BB/K
Nick Weglarz: .333 AVG, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 3 R, 9/3 BB/K
Lonnie Chisenhall: .231 AVG, RBI, 3 XBH, 2 R, 4/5 BB/K
Beau Mills: .167 AVG, HR, 3 R, 1/2 BB/K
Hector Rondon: 3 G, 5.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Jeanmar Gomez: 3 G, 5.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K

Hodges and Weglarz did very well with the stick and Donald really flashed the leather every time I saw him in a game. Pitching wise, Hector Rondon and Jeanmar Gomez did well in their few games pitched. I wouldn't be shocked to see all the people that were optioned (minus DLC) this week in Columbus at some point. the two that went to Akron (Rivero and Weglarz) could be there sooner rather than later and Chisenhall and Mills could be there by the end of the year depending on performances/injuries and all that other stuff.

Speaking of prospects... Carlos Santana, unsurprisingly, topped Tony's list at Indians Prospect Insider for Top 100 Indians Prospects. If you bought the book like I did though, you would have already known that a few weeks ago.

Make sure you are keeping up to date on Tony's Goodyear Notebook. The last few editions can be seen here: 3/17, 3/18, 3/19. Tony's notebook is the equivalent to AC's blog in terms of little bits of information with the minor league players. If you don't read it, you'll miss out on little tidbits like the movement of pitcher Carlos Moncrief to the outfield.

Also Check out the picture of Akron's championship ring in the 3/17 edition. Pretty nice for a minor league championship ring.

Carlos Carrasco will probably one of the next to go in terms of cuts, but he finally put forth a good performance this spring with four shutout innings against the Rockies. He struck out three and walked just one with no hits.

With that, there are a few performances I want to highlight from the past week. I won't go over every single game specifically, but three guys did well last week.

Travis Hafner had a good week, hitting a home run against the Reds and then beating up on the Athletics yesterday. Hafner was 1-2 with three runs scored, a three-run home run and two walks. Here are the striking numbers on Pronk this spring.

Hafner: 22 AB, .273 AVG, .467 OBP, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 8 BB, 2 K

Eight walks, TWO strikeouts? That OBP is Pronk-like. It's outrageously high, but that's because his PA number is low. So far, So Pronk-like. He also had a bases clearing double against San Francisco on Tuesday. Acta talked about Hafner's spring.

"When you're not healthy, you probably don't trust your hands as much as when you're 100 percent," said Acta. "It takes away your ability to take pitches that are close to the zone. 
"I think he started [taking pitches] early in camp. He just didn't show the power. But he was taking pitches close to the strike zone. 
"Now the power has showed up. One thing leads to the other."

Friday, Andy Marte flexed his muscles and I can now finally sing, Heyyyyy Heyyyy It's a Party With Mar-te!

Marte hit a grand-slam home run against Texas and went 2-4 with two runs scored. Marty has played in the most games this spring and has had plenty of opportunities to prove his worth and he's done just thate.

MARTY: 29 AB, .276 AVG, .371 OBP, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 3 2B, 5/9 BB/K

He's getting on base at a good rate, he's hitting the extra base hits and we know what he brings defensively. Marte is doing well so far.

In the clubhouse right now, if Marte makes the team, I can honestly say this year's countdown/count-up feature will definitely have to do with Andy Marte. Bank it!

On Tuesday, Shin-Soo Choo hit is first spring bomb off Tim Lincecum as the Indians battered the Giants around. Jake Westbrook turned in a performance that finally will settle the nerves. He's starting to put it all together.

Jake was sharp, in four inning he gave up just two hits and no walks. He did give up a run in the fourth, but no walks and just the two hits? I'll say it again, he's starting to put it all together.

Speaking of, Jakey will be back at it again today as the Indians and the Dodgers square off in in Glendale. The stretching continues as he'll probably go deeper into the game if his pitch count stays right.

I continue my embargo on Russell Branyan discussion. But that shouldn't stop you from reading what Terry Pluto has to say about it.

Finally, the Indians had another minor league suspended for banned substances. And once again, I say, who?

Jeffry Cleto joins Steven Lebron in the unemployment line after not only signing on with the Indians over the winter, but also testing positive for a banned substance. The Indians essentially don't waste a dime as they released them. It's these players own faults for taking banned substances.

Peace bros and peace to everyone else until tomorrow. I've been waking up super early because I'm still on work sleep-schedule, and I think I'll try and keep that up. I'm an early person anyway. Back to regular postings for the next few weeks.



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t-talbot-ahead.html

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The Headlines

• David Robertson may be the 8th inning SU man.
• Aceves' First Bump In the Road Could Be Costly
• In its first season, the New Yankee Stadium got a reputation for being a very homer friendly park. Some highly respected baseball writers didn't even take it seriously. The new stadium was actually ranked 20th in ESPN's Park Factor system for runs. Check out the pic between the old and new here.

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Jenks expects to be ready for opener (AP)

White Sox closer Bobby Jenks expects to be ready for the season opener after an MRI on his right calf revealed no structural damage. Jenks missed his turn to pitch on Saturday because of irritation. He expects to throw a bullpen session on Monday and figures “a few days rest should knock it out.” He [...]

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Dream Yankees bedroom

You?re jealous. No that?s not my bedroom (I wish it was). It?s Craig?s, a River Ave Blues reader. Definitely head over to this post to see several other awesome pictures of this dream room of Yankees paraphernalia. [...]

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Indians Wood confident of quick return (AP)

Injured closer Kerry Wood believes he’ll be back pitching for the Cleveland Indians sooner than expected. On Saturday, the Indians forecast Wood to be sidelined for 6 to 8 weeks with a strained muscle below his right shoulder. However, Wood said Sunday that he’s confident his timetable to return will be shorter.

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Orioles host Pirates

Yesterday was some very uninspiring baseball. It wasn’t that anyone was bad- it was more[...]

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Joba's Destiny

The serene Spring for the New York Yankees meanders through March. Controversy isn't in the mix.[...]

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Johnny, Grandy go head to head today

Johnny Damon and Curtis Granderson swapped teams this offseason, and there?s some heavy debate between who will have the better year. Today marks the first time these two All-Star outfielders will play against each other directly with their new[...]

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Koby Clemens shifts to 1B, Japanese Word of the
Day, MLB SLAM! AL Team Rosters

Al Behrman - AP

Konichiwa, Phillips-san.

View full size photo »

Has the nomad finally found his positional home? Koby Clemens has played a little bit of third, a little outfield and caught some too. Now it appears that the Astros' organization has settled on first base as Clemens' semi-permanent home. Author of the Chronicle article Zach Levine breaks down the Astros' top 30 prospects by position and no first basemen make the list. I guess Mark Saccomanno is chopped liver! (Ed. note: Saccomanno signed with Florida this winter. But, Jimmy Van Ostrand could also be chopped liver.)

I seem to remember at least one minor league report on Houston commenting that too many of our hitting prospects are "corner outfield/1B types". This is true if you assume that every positional player can eventually play first base, as the Astros obviously do with Koby Clemens.

It's tough to speculate at this point as to whether Koby will be a successful defensive first baseman, but hitting-wise he is coming off a tremendous season in A+ ball. His BB rates so far in the minors are nice to see and if he can cut down on the K's, he could prove to be a major league quality reserve player at the least. Of course, any first baseman is expected to produce offensively moreso than anything else.

Clemens' SLG% has increased steadily throughout his seasons as a minor leaguer, however:

Koby Clemens' Minor League SLG% by season SeasonLevelSLG%2006A.3462007A.4122008A+.4232009A+.636

 

Now obviously there are caveats to point out here: 1) Clemens has repeated levels 2) That .636 is a major outlier and 3) His short stint in AA from last season is left out. Still, his progress is fairly obvious as well, and he is still just 23. Starting off in AA, Clemens will face his biggest test yet as a professional. If he can hit in Corpus, he should have a future hitting in Houston at some point.

I saw this article earlier in the week which discusses how Tommy Manzella is trying to learn a little Japanese here and there to better communicate with his new double play partner, Kaz Matsui. While it's unlikely Manzella can make all that much progress learning the language in a matter of weeks I give him credit for at least making the effort.

In that spirit, every article I write from now until Opening Day, a new Japanese word of the day will be featured. To start us off, a word that Astros fans have unfortunately become familiar with when it comes to Matsui:

English wordJapanese translationInjuryShoui, Sonshou

 

Impress friends and family with your new found knowledge!

Last, here's the AL teams that I think should be featured our fictitious video game, MLB SLAM!:

Baltimore Orioles: C: Matt Wieters, P: Brian Matusz, OF: Nick Markakis, 2B: Brian Roberts, 3B: Miggy

Boston Red Sox: UTL: Matt Damon, UTL: Bill Simmons, UTL: Ben Affleck, IF: The Youkah!, DH: Big Papi

Chicago White Sox: IF: Tim Beckham, OF: Carlos Quentin, SS: Alexei Ramirez (I miss Aroldis Chapman yesterday, so I have to tap into the Cuban market somehow. Do Cubans play video games? I bet they're just now discovering "Pong".), P: Mark Buehrle, Player/Manager: Ozzie Guillen

Cleveland Indians: OF: Grady Sizemore, OF: Shin-Soo Choo, OF: Matt LaPorta, UTL: Travis Hafner, P: Fausto Carmona (This team has a tremendous farm system, but their current 40 man roster has so very few recognizable names.)

Detroit Tigers: 1B: Miguel Cabrera, P: Justin Verlander, P: Dontrelle Willis (for the high leg kick alone), OF: Austin Jackson, P: Matt Scherzer

Kansas City Royals: P: Zach Greinke, 1B: Billy Butler, 3B: Alex Gordon, P: Joakim Soria, UTL: KC style ribs

Los Angeles Angels: P: Jered Weaver, C: Matt Napoli, 1B: Kendry Morales, OF: Torii Hunter, UTL: Hideki Matsui

Minnesota Twins: C: Joe Mauer, 1B: Justin Morneau, 2B: Orlando Hudson, OF: Denard Span, P: Francisco Liriano

New York Yankees: C: Jesus Montero, P: Joba Chamberlain, P: CC Sabathia, 3B: A-Rod, OF: Curtis Granderson

Note: Derek Jeter, like Michael Jordan in the original NBA JAM!, didn't grant MLB SLAM! the licensing rights to use his likeness in the game. His loss.

Oakland Athletics: P: Brett Anderson, P: Andrew Bailey, UTL: Billy Beane said in Moneyball that he was the best athlete on team, so he earns a spot, UTL: The Bash Brothers

Seattle Mariners: P: King Felix, P: Cliff Lee, OF: Milton Bradley, OF: Ichiro, 3B: Chone Figgins

Tampa Bay Rays: 3B: Evan Longoria, OF: Carl Crawford, OF: BJ Upton, OF: Desmond Jennings, P: James Shields

Texas Rangers: OF: Hambone Hamilton, P: Neftali Feliz, P: Derek Holland, 2B: Ian Kinsler, UTL: Justin Smoak

Toronto Blue Jays: Four mounties and OF Adam Lind

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Happy Birthday Shawon Dunston!!!

Shawon Dunston turns 47 years old.One of the most likeable and recognizable faces in the Cubs’ dugout during the mid-to-late 1980’s. Shawon Dunston was a fan favorite in Chicago.A highly skilled baseball player, Shawon Dunston enjoyed playing the game each and every day.  With a huge smile as proof, it was very hard to find [...]

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