Looking At Fantasy Third Basemen In 2010

post from The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on 22 March 2010 09:42:39 AM. © The Ghost of Moonlight Graham

In honor of the late, great Corey Haim, here are my fantasy third basemen rankings for 2010.The Lost Boys DivisionTough call on which Haim movie was his best — Lost Boys or Lucas. I went with Lost Boys as his best movie just because I thought it was an overall better movie. Lucas might of [...]

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3 Reasons Yankees Would Call-Up Jesus Montero
Early

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 22 March 2010 09:31:35 AM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

[...]

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IVIE 2010: Hitters

post from Ducksnorts on 22 March 2010 09:20:34 AM. © Ducksnorts

The people have spoken. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the 2010 IVIE projections for hitters:Catchers and Infielders N PA BA OBP SLGAdrian Gonzalez 25 614 .289 .401 .545Chase Headley [...][...]

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Minnesota Twins Lose Joe Nathan For The Year

post from The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on 22 March 2010 09:16:07 AM. © The Ghost of Moonlight Graham

The Minnesota Twins got the news yesterday that they probably knew was coming, but didn’t want to believe. It’s kind of like when you took a test in school. You knew you failed it miserably, but you were somehow hoping for a miracle.Yesterday, the Twins didn’t get their miracle. Yesterday, it was announced that All [...]

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or-the-year/

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Yankees Cut Jason Hirsh and Dustin Moseley Too

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 22 March 2010 09:00:47 AM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

I must have missed this yesterday, but along with the cuts the Yankees made yesterday they also cut[...]

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Baseball Card Show Purchase #4 Frank Robinson
Goodies

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 22 March 2010 09:00:22 AM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

Baseball Card Show Purchase #4 – Frank Robinson GoodiesWhen asked to pick the best 10 offensive players to ever play major league baseball, most of the people who I come into contact with are shocked to hear me mention the name Frank Robinson. And to be honest, I just don’t understand why…Frank Robinson’s career stats [...]

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Marcum to start opener for Blue Jays (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 22 March 2010 08:55:18 AM. © MLB News Blog

Right-hander Shaun Marcum will be Toronto’s opening-day starter. It will be the first time in eight years that Roy Halladay won’t take the mound to open the Blue Jays’ season. Now that Halladay has been traded to Philadelphia, manager Cito Gaston said Monday it was an easy decision because of the way Marcum has pitched [...]

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I Got My Pronk Back; Kearns Makes 4th OF Spot a
Race

post from The Tribe Daily on 22 March 2010 08:43:00 AM. © The Tribe Daily

He must have heard me call him a "Washington Scrub" yesterday, because he went out and was un-scrub like.

Austin Kearns homered twice, totaled five RBI in yesterday's game against the Dodgers.

Kearns had a pair of two-run shots, as well as another RBI and run scored in his big game. Not only was it his first visit to Souvenir City (Curse you Eric Young) it was the first RBI of the spring for Kearns. He's now hitting .250 and giving Trevor Crowe a run for his money for the fourth outfield job.

You know we got Kearns, Anderson Hernandez, Saul Rivera. Guys Manny Acta knows from Washington. Washington Scrubs seems to fit for their name as a group.

And now, according to Acta, just like the pitchers, he is tied for first with Crowe and everyone else for the roster spots.

"He's just like everybody else, he's tied for first place right now," said Acta. "He's a right-handed bat with a track record and some power. He can play all three outfield positions and he's been taking ground balls at first base

Sorry Manny, but not everyone is tied. So don't give us that impression.

I understand what he's saying, but Shelley Duncan is not tied with Crowe and Kearns for a bench spot right now.

Same for the bullpen, and I may have legit left out someone from it yesterday when I went over the remaining candidates.

Seriously throw Josh Judy into the mix. Judy pitched 1.1 innings yesterday, not giving up a single thing and his spring ERA remains 0.00. He hasn't pitched above Akron, but I wouldn't exactly count him out completely just yet. It will be unlikely, but I wouldn't eliminate the youngster quite yet.

Also on the mound yesterday was our new closer, Chris Pererz. Bulldog CFP disposed of three minor leaguers in quick fashion, striking two of them out to keep his perfect ERA in tact.

The real story was Jake Westbrook though, who went 4.2 innings of work, giving up a run off six hits with three strikeouts and more importantly, no walks. The run came off a long ball shot from Blake DeWitt. Jake is steadily gaining control though. The mechanics are starting to get back to him and I'll say it one more time, things are getting coming back.

The offensive output all came in the 4th and 6th innings and while Austin Kearns powered a lot of it with his homers, that man was back.

Travis Hafner topped off his INSANE week at the plate, with three more RBI. I believe all 10 of his runs batted in came in this past week of action. Hafner had two hits, including a double he ripped down the line, and he scored on both Kearns jacks. He's now hitting .308 in the spring with a .471 OBP.

Do we have our Pronky back?

Grady Sizemore and Shelley Duncan both had two hits and a RBI. Sizemore scored twice and was on-base four times with two extra walks. Sizemore also stole his first base of the spring. Speaking of speed, Jose Constanza had the highlight of the game when he scored on an inside the park home run, but it was ruled a triple and an error because Xavier Paul "bobbled" the ball. I wouldn't know if it was legit or not because I only had the radio, but it's spring training, give the kid his inside the parker!

And one more note on speedy guys... Michael Brantley left yesterday's game due to a tweaked ankle. Manny Acta says we'll know more today, but he isn't expecting anything serious as Brantley was walking after the game.

Brantley rolled his ankle and has had ankle issues in the past, but again, this shouldn't be anything serious as he is believed to have just rolled it. A little rest will cure that.

Speaking of Brantley, Tony Lastoria was probably the first to bring up Brantley's service time as a reason for the Branyan signing. Now he's revealed that Brantley didn't stand a chance at winning the left field job from the get-go.

In his latest and final Goodyear Notebook, Tony mentions that Mike was told he had no chance of making the roster and that he was ticketed for Triple-A Columbus to finish off his development.

So despite the hitting, if Russell Branyan isn't ready to go, you could very well see Austin Kearns starting in Left Field to begin the season.

Other pieces to take stock of in the notebook from Tony... Another suspension and release. Manuel Boscan received a 50-gamer for testing positive to Stanozolol, an anabolic steroid that Rafael Palmerio tested positive for and the same drug that Barry Bonds was accused of using.

What is it with all these minor league suspensions of players we've never heard about? This didn't happen last year, did it? And if it did, why didn't we hear about it like we are this year? Ahhh anyway, Boscan was released, just as the previous two no-names were.

Finally, cuts are coming from the minor league portion. That means players are going to get out-right released and according to Tony, there could be players that had some good years involved. I would expect some starting pitchers to be on that list with all the added depth from last year. The Indians could be in a crunch for rotation spots, so some players may get the boot, especially with just about everyone starting the year healthy (minus Jason Knapp).

With that, you may have noticed my attempt to re-update the Depth Chart as the season draws closer. It's still a work in progress, but as players are getting sent down from major league camp to their respective teams, I'm putting them on the roster. Right now it's all guess work and going off of reports from people like Tony.

I should also have the expanded salary chart up soon. It's going to track service time in-season and I'll try and do that to the best of my abilities. I will also have bonus information so that can be tracked and added to get an even more precise number on the current payroll.

I'm still looking for salary numbers of all the people that signed their one year tenders (pre-arbitration players). Obviously if they are in the minor leagues they will make the minimum (around 65K) and they could have a split contract if called (Around 400K), but the major leaguers all make slightly different salaries (like Choo). If you run across them, please let me know so I can update the chart.

What's on tap for today... The Indians travel to face the Chicago Cubs in Mesa.

Fausto Carmona will get the start against former Notre Dame Wide Receiver Jeff Samardzija.

Carmona looks to follow that formula for success that Acta, Tim Belcher, and Scott Radinsky have been preaching to the pitching staff.

"We showed them how important it was to stop walking people and pitch ahead," said Acta. "And how dangerous it is to get behind in the count. We gave them every type of example possible. So far it's paid off."

You have to admire the low walk rate so far. And you can't argue with the strategy because it has been successful so far. That's always the key to pitching though. It's common sense. If you don't walk people, you are forcing them to hit your pitch and 7 out of 10 times, even the good hitters won't hit it.

I didn't steal that quote from Acta, but rather remember him talking about something similar... Then I read this part.

"The best hitters make outs seven out of 10 times. You can't be too fine up here. The numbers we showed to them show how big a difference it makes to be 1-0, 2-0, 3-1 compared to 0-1 and 0-2 on a hitter."

Too early to relay pitchers following Carmona or the lineup, so be on the lookout for that on Twitter. Which gives me a good excuse to share the Paul Hoynes quote of the day via Twitter.

Ducks in the Desert, Who Knew?!

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Spring Training Game #19: Yankees at Phillies

Yankees (8-10) vs. Phillies (9-7-1)Pitching Matchup:RHP A.J. Burnett (0-1, 6.75) vs LHP Cole Hamels (1-0, 1.69)LineupGardner LFGranderson CFTeixeira 1BSwisher RFCervelli CPena SSRusso 3BNunez 2BBurnett PGame News & Notes (Courtesy of the LoHud Blog, Bombers Beat, & Yankees.com):A.J. Burnett will start against the Phillies, with Phil Hughes serving in reliefIntrasquad game at George M. Steinbrenner Field — Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and [...]

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Mariners Lee to be re-evaluated Tuesday (AP)

Seattle Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee will play catch Tuesday then be re-evaluated as he recovers from a lower right abdominal strain. Mariners head trainer Rick Griffin says Lee was scheduled to do rehabilitation in a swimming pool Monday. Lee is expected to miss the start of the regular season. Another Mariners lefty, Erik Bedard, is [...]

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