Your Chicago Trade Primer....May Edition

Alright Chicago baseball fans, it's mid May and both of your teams are struggling.  White Sox fans, I know you're probably saying, well we were 17-21 last year, we were 17-21 this year, we'll be just fine.  I don't respect your opinion and I sure don't agree with you.  So let's play a fun game.  I'm going to dive into the trade candidates for both the Cubs and White Sox, assuming that both fall out of it and both go into sellers mode (the Sox don't ever do this so it's a big if).  So let's look at what Chicago players could be moved:

Matt Garza

The Cubs best trade piece came back today, and threw 5 shutout innings in his debut against the Pirates.  Garza is a solid number 2 starter and is probably the best starter available when healthy.  If he can prove he is healthy, he could get the Cubs a very good return.  The Cubs can also very likely wait it out and offer him arbitration, either getting him back for one more year, or receive a draft pick if he signs elsewhere.  

Chance traded: 75%

Scott Feldman

Feldman has been lights out lately, with an ERA just over 1 in his last 5 starts.  Buster Olney in a recent article called Scott Feldman the best starter available at the deadline.  Feldman is on a 1 year deal, so he is a rental, but he has great stuff, even if he doesn't have the greatest track record of success as a starter.  Feldman should be able to fetch the Cubs a package similar to what they got for Ryan Dempster last year.

Chance traded: 60%

Alfonso Soriano

Soriano is once again at the center of trade talk.  His production isn't quite there this year, but the Cubs are willing to eat a large chunk of the money he is owed.  With how much it would cost the Cubs money wise, I just don't feel that the return will be worth moving Soriano.  Like him or not, he does have a ton of value to the Cubs as a guy who can get hot and a great mentor to the younger players.

Chance traded: 20%

Carlos Marmol

Marmol has been the epitome of awful this season.  He is still owed quite a bit of money this year, in the last year of his 3 year, 20 million dollar contract.  Marmol has little to no value, especially given his price tag.  I would be happy if the Cubs could get a bag of baseballs and free pop (seriously, Billy Beane got this in a trade once) in return for Marmol.

Chance traded: 50%

David DeJesus

Never fuck with DeJesus!! David DeJesus just continues to be a prototypical lead-off guy for the Cubs, with an average in the high .200s and an on-base in the mid to high .300s.  DeJesus also plays above average defense in center field and the Kansas City Royals seem to be a perfect fit.  DeJesus, to me, is the guy with the highest chance of being traded, mostly because he carries a lot of value.

Chance traded: 90%

James Russell

Russell is a quality left handed reliever, one of the best in the league, and as the Cubs showed with Sean Marshall a couple years back, you can get a quality return.  Bullpen arms are a dime a dozen, and if you can get a quality return for one, you absolutely move him.  Even though he is one of two good arms in the pen, you move him if the return is right

Chance traded: 15%

Kevin Gregg

Gregg has been remarkable for the Cubs, as he is perfect in save situations and has yet to give up an earned run in his time with the Cubs.  Sell high, right?  Absolutely!! While Gregg has the track record of being an average reliever, if he keeps this up, you move him instantly to a team that needs a closer.  The return should be solid if a team is desperate enough.

Chance traded:30%

Alex Rios

Rios has been great the last two seasons.  He hits for power, average, can steal a base, and plays average defense in right field.  Rios will most likely be the top bat available if the Sox decide to move him, meaning that teams who need a quality hitter will be chomping at the bit to get him.  Rios should easily be able to fetch a top 100 prospect plus a couple other solid prospects so if the Sox fall out of it by July, they should explore moving him.

Chance traded: 10%

Jake Peavy

Trade Jake Peavy?? Outside Chris Sale, he's our only good starter!!  Well Sox fans, he also is the starter with the most value on your team.  He's on a relatively cheap deal, with another year of control after this one.  He has proven he can pitch in the AL and NL and seems to have the injuries behind him.  If he is made available, he probably jumps into the top spot among starters available.  For the Sox sake, if they're anywhere near out of it, they need to restock their farm system, which is among the worst in baseball.

Chance traded: 5%

Paul Konerko

Konerko has no trade rights, so they would need his permission to trade him, which I just don't see happening.  While Paulie can still hit, he has regressed a bit, which might limit the return the Sox could get.  I just don't see the return being worth it for trading your most beloved and longest tenured player.  

Chance traded: 1%

Matt Thornton

Thornton has regressed, but he is still a quality left-handed reliever who can get both lefties and righties out.  He is a good middle reliever, and while he might not bring a great return, sometimes you just have to change things up in the pen.

Chance traded: 20%

Jesse Crain

Crain has been very effective of late, and while he has more value than Matt Thornton, he still doesn't carry a ton of value as a middle reliever.

Chance traded: 25%

It will be an interesting summer in Chicago.  The truth is, I see the Cubs trading between 4 and 6 players by July 31st because that is the plan.  True to their past, I also don't see the White Sox trading anyone of value.  They always seem to stand pat and have always avoided the sell off, mostly because they would not draw as well as the Cubs do when they're bad.  Look for the Cubs to sell and be out of it, while the Sox will hover just below .500, ultimately not losing enough games to trade their players, but not winning enough to make the playoffs.

Thursday Wrap: Phil Hughes hates me, Cardinals can't lose, Astros have a new prez and reasons to hate umpires

Quote of the Day:“A lot of balls in the middle of the plate early,  After the first few guys, I kind of noticed that was an issue, and when I tried to go to my changeup, slider, curveball, it seemed like nothing was there."

-- Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes, after giving up seven earned runs in 2/3 of an inning (YA THINK PHIL!?) 

Welcome back baseball fans to today's Thursday wrap and a little over a week after I so nicely commended Phil Hughes on not sucking for a few starts (even going so far to pick him up on my fantasy team, he promptly goes out and takes a dump on my face.  Thanks Phil Hughes.  Now I have a small feeling on what life is like watching you as a Yankees fan.  Except, without the beer-guts and Italian accents. 

Today we've got a super-hot Cardinals team in St. Louis (though they're losing right now. Do I jinx everything?), the winner of Houston's "World's Worst Job" application has a famous dad, and why I hate all the umpires.  

We've also got more hurt players in todays Links Wrap Up for Lazy People and much more.  Enjoy your weekend baseball freaks, but first let's get this started.  

  Cardinals Are Hot, Mets Are Not 

What happens when you combine some of the best starting pitching right now and face them off against a struggling offense that had to sign Rick-freaking-Ankiel to pick up their bats?  You get the Cardinals taking three of four from the struggling Mets and the Redbirds are now winners of 12 of their last 15.  Not bad.  

Shelby Miller wasn't quite as perfect yesterday as he'd been the previous start where he gave up a leadoff single and then retired 27 straight batters in a row against the Rockies, but he didn't need to be.  Rick Ankiel, who couldn't find a way to stay on the Houston Astros, launched a 420 foot bomb for the Mets.  Maybe they're on to something.  I'll call Mike Hampton and Carlos Zambrano.  The other evil New York team has now lost six of seven.

 Zack Greinke back and it's like he was never gone  

The headline pretty much sums it up, but Zack Greinke was terrific in his return to the Dodgers last night.  The prize righty free agent gem of this summer went over five innings and gave up a run on five hits in his third start in Dodger Blue.  Greinke missed almost a month with a broken collarbone after a brawl with San Diego's Carlos Quentin so it's good to see him take the mound again.

The Dodgers went 10-19 when Greinke was gone so you can bet Mattingly and Co are happy to see him back.  ESPN goes as far to say that his surgeon may have saved their season...I don't know about that but it's still worth a read.  Moving on...


Stephen Strasburg wasn't always like this...

  
What we mean by that is that Strasburg, the Nationals ace, is different than he was growing up in San Diego.  In addition to being about thirty pounds heavier than his current, lean 225 frame, Strasburg didn't really like to, you know, work out.  Now that he's slimmed down and slinging fastballs, Strasburg has shaken off a couple rough starts to again become one of the most feared pitchers in the NL East.  The linked article talks about Strasburg's new found work ethic and a bit on his journey.  He'll return to his hometown this weekend as the Nationals prepare to face the Padres.  Hard work really does pay off.  Maybe that will motivate me to go to the gym tonight....but probably not.  

Reid Ryan, Nolan's son, will take over title of "World's Worst Job"

It's official.  The lowly Houston Astros have named Reid Ryan their new President/CEO a few days after former CEO George Postolos resigned/was fired/quit depending on which rumors you want to believe.  While Ryan has got his work cut out for him, he's got a good resume.  

Ryan was currently running minor league clubs for the Astros in Corpus Christi and for the Rangers in Round Rock so he knows a bit about the farm team.  It's a big hire for the Astros, who need all the help they can get after a series of public relations' disasters not a season into owner Jim Crane's tenure.  Ryan is energetic, young and media friendly and look for plenty of future rivalries between his club in Houston and his dad's team up 45-North in Dallas.  

 Arte Moreno: $148 Million doesn't buy what it used to 

After watching the high-priced Angels tumble to the third worst record in baseball, Angel's owner Arte Moreno has placed the blame on himself, which honestly, he should.  While teams like the Rangers and Cardinals look smarter and smarter watching guys like Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton struggle, the Angels look...well, like they suck.  

While Mike Trout is still amazing and really hot (wait, I mean, um, well...is a hot hitter? Whew), guys like Torii Hunter is batting above .300 with Detroit while the handsomely paid Hamilton is struggling to stay above the Mendoza line and striking out at an alarming rate.  Just wait until Pujols is 38 and Hamilton is 34 and still getting paid that sum.  Yikes.  

David Price hits the DL, all thirteen Rays fans panic

It's only the 15-day DL, but still worth mentioning.  The reigning Cy Young winner experienced triceps discomfort that the Rays deemed serious enough to make a DL move. There's certainly enough young pitching on the Rays staff to pick up the slack and perhaps this explains Price's slow start (1-4, 5+ ERA).

Still, Price remains one of the most feared leftys in baseball, so let's wish him well and hope this doesn't hurt his trade value for Theo Epstein and the Cubs.  Jake Odorizzi, part of the James Shields package this winter, will be called up to take Price's spot.  This is what you get for stealing Verlander's Cy Young, David.  The baseball gods are vengeful.  

Umpires never have seen "iRobot"  

We ragged on them earlier this week for sucking, but apparently MLB umpires have no sense of urgency to not be replaced by robots and lasers, thus bringing us one step closer to the Matrix actually becoming real.  Other signs of the apocalypse: Kim Kardashian and Pinterest.  But let's start with the umpires in the Twins-White Sox matchup at Target Field on Tuesday night.  It was pretty obvious something wasn't correct here.  Take a look for yourself:

It's pretty bad...

So like, what do you have to see?  Another one here in the same game...



That one is a little bit more forgiving, given that Dunn was being Dunn and lolly-gagging it a bit down the line.  If he had leaned in or made any attempt to look faster than Don Zimmer he might have got the call.  Still a bad call.  Umpires, you disappoint me.  Look out for the robots.  They're coming soon.  

Game of the Night: Tigers vs Rangers
8:05 ET (so like, NOW!)
The Ballpark at Arlington

It's a pitchers duel as Justin Verlander takes on Yu Darvish in Texas.  Darvish has been good, Verlander has been good so expect a low score.  But also when pitcher duels are hyped up like this, one team usually scores like five runs in an early inning and I fall asleep/break my television depend on which side it is.  Catch it tonight, it will be a good one.  And if you haven't got MLB TV, do it too.  



And here it is.  Our traditional....


LINKS-WRAP-UP-FOR-LAZY-PEOPLE

Today's theme ...INJURY WRAP UP FOR LAZY PEOPLE

Jonny Venters hurt ●  King Felix Hurt  ●    Bryce Harper hurt  ●  Josh Beckett hurt  ●  David Ortiz hurt  ●  Brandon Morrow hurt   ●  Andrew Bailey still hurt  ●  Johnny Cueto still hurt   ●  Jered Weaver still hurt  ●  Mark Texiera still hurt  ●  Zach Wheeler almost hurt  ●  Curtis Granderson not hurt  ●  Carlos Zambrano not hurt but I hate him, I also hate the Phillies so match made in heaven, right.  Philly hate meter: STRONG


See you soon baseball fans.  I'm out like Justin Morneau at the plate...or am I?  

Tuesday Recap: Almost perfect, Matt Kemp is awesome, and LA sucks (literally)

Quote of the Day:

"I say it time and time again, what Yadi calls...I throw."

-- Cardinals rookie, Shelby Miller.

Miller gave up a leadoff single to Eric Young Jr. and then retired 27 straight Rockies last Friday night in a perfect, non-perfect game.  A day later, Adam Wainwright threw a two hit shutout.  I want Yadier Molina...

Welcome back to The Full Count, baseball fans.  First of all, we gush over the Mets' pitching phenom, Matt Harvey who was definitely our April man-crush.  Our May man-crush probably will end up going to Cardinals rookie Shelby Miller, who basically threw the equivalent of a perfect game on Friday night.  

The young pitcher is only eight starts into his fledgling career, yet he has already provided St. Louis a glimpse of a bright future.  He has already pitched three starts where he has only allowed one hit.  Last Friday was the first (of what will be many) career shutout.  In April, Miller retired the last 17 Brewers that he faced against Milwaukee and he topped that with his last start against the Rockies.   He looks every bit like the kid the Cardinals took in the first round of the 2009 draft.  Watch out N.L. Central for the next, like decade or so.  

In other baseball news to cover, we've got the nicest act on a baseball field since...ever?  Also, the Cubs rebuilding project, those damn Yankees, video replay doesn't help and almost perfect games.  When will the first one be thrown in 2013?  This and more in today's MLB Wrap Up (a day late). 

Cardinals pitching staff is like, really good

I promise you we have more content than just St. Louis pitching, but the aforementioned Shelby Miller and Adam Wainwright combined in back to back starts to retire 40 straight Colorado Rockies.  I guess things aren't as good away from Coors Field.  I have a theory that the Cardinals starter that has the worst start of the week gets gang-tickled by Matt Carpenter, Daniel Descalso and Allen Craig.  Carlos Beltran watches from the side with an evil smile.  

Matt Kemp is super nice to mortal people...

Sometimes we forget that baseball players are just people.  But sometimes baseball players forget that they are just people too.  Matt Kemp doesn't have that problem with one of the nicest gestures caught on video to make the day of a gravely sick kid.  If you haven't watched, you should...

And the world has hope again.  Right after a tough loss in a hostile crowd at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Matt Kemp still has the decency to go out of his millionaire way to make a kid's day and give him a little bit of encouragement.  Sometimes small acts go a long way.  Way to go Matt.  I wish so much sometimes that you didn't play on the Dodgers.  

Lester almost perfect too

Jon Lester is really good right now and the Blue Jays are really sucky.  Not a good combination as Lester only needed 58 pitches to retire the first 15 Jays in order.  It was only a low change-up over the middle of the plate that kept him from a perfect game as Maicer Izturis laced for a double as Lester ended up striking out five on 118 pitches without a walk.  It was his third career shutout and the Red Sox snapped out of a mini-skid.  It will be a competitive A.L. East, that's for sure.  

Do MLB umpires really suck this bad?  

We touched on David Price's incident with home plate umpire Tom Hallion, during a previous recap, but there was still more umpire controversy with not one but two missed calls during last weeks play.  The first one comes courtesy of the A's-Indians game last Wednesday, when Adam Rosales' potential game-tying home run was not overturned despite video-replay showing it to clearly be a home run.  

The A's would lose the game, 4-3.  So that sucks.  Here's the quick replay...

Just a night later when the Astros faced off against the Angels, Houston manager Bo Porter signaled for reliever Wesley Wright to come into the game out of the bullpen.  It made sense considering that the lefty Wright was going to face lefty J.B Shuck.  But when Porter saw the right-handed Luis Jimenez on deck to pinch hit, he immediately summoned a righty out of the bullpen, violating Rule 3.05(b), stating that a pitcher must face at least one batter before coming out of the game.  

Mike Scioscia immediately argued to no avail and then played the game under protest.  He was saved when the Angels rallied and won the game, but like, still.  How does a Major League manager and an entire officiating crew not know the rule?  Not a good week (or month) for umps.  Robots are coming.  And we take one more step to baseball Matrix.  Message to umpires: get better before lasers take your jobs.  Here's this one too...

   
Let's hope they get better.  The crew chief umpire in the Astros-Angels game was suspended, which I think is totally fair.  Hopefully he uses those days off to go over the rules again.  

Chris Sale almost perfect too...

In front of a national audience on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, White Sox southpaw Chris Sale showed everyone why he's one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dismal season so far for the Second City's second team.  Sale started 6 1/3 perfect until who else but Mike Trout broke up the bid with a single.  It must be those classic uniforms.  Three pitchers flirting with perfection in a week?  It's gonna happen and it will happen soon.  

Anthony Rizzo can now get that dream car

Just a few stops up the Red Line in Chicago, Anthony Rizzo became a wealthy Cub by signing a seven year, $41 million extension.  With options and something called "escalators", the contract could be worth up to $73 million.  So if Rizzo wants 35 cars instead of the 21 he's going to instantly buy, he should strive to hit those.  

GM Theo Epstein has literally taken Rizzo everywhere he has been and probably has a semi man-crush on the young first baseman.  Like every Cubs fan should.  In today's day of huge contracts, the Cubs now have Starlin Castro and Rizzo locked up long term, through their prime years.  Good move by the Cubbies.


Theo's rebuilding project close to complete

The Cubs are doing exactly what they need to be doing to compete.  It's now year two of the Jedstein rebuilding project and expect the Cubs to be major spenders when a ton of bad contracts are off the books.  If you were ever going to follow a bad team, the 2013 Cubs would be a good team to start following as you can really see what's going on in the farm system and the draft.  The article linked above that no one probably every clicks is a Grantland article and if you scroll all the way down, you'll see that the Cubs know what they're doing.  Read it.  It's worth it.  

Joba and Mo Rivera aren't the best of pals

Don't ever tell a Yankee legend to "shush."  At least that's what Joba Chamberlain learned the hard way.  After a spat during a Yankee press conference where the two got into it, Joba is probably going to come out looking like a bad guy.  Joba didn't really apologize either and now faces the wrath of the New York media who love Mo like they love high gas prices and not drinking super-sized sodas.  Hopefully the two make up soon.  Click on the link above to get all the juicy, Yankee gossip, but I know you won't.  Prove me wrong.  

Astros now hiring for the "World's Worst Job"

Astros CEO/President, George Postolos resigned.  Probably a good career move as title of "CEO of the Worst Team in Baseball" probably doesn't look good on a resume.  But in all seriousness, Postolos was responsible for helping drive a complete team makeover after the disastrous reign of former owner Drayton McLane.  Why he choose to quit now will probably be revealed in the next couple of days, but it says something when Craig Biggio refused to comment on the situation.  The Astros are the worst team in the AL and attendance is down almost 3,000 from this point at last season.  Even I can't make it to all the games down here.  Also a lot of Houston fans are pissed due to a botched Comcast deal that prevents Houstonians from watching their hometown team unless they have Comcast as a cable provider.  Expect the Nolan Ryan rumors to begin heating up.  



But enough about baseball's worst team.  Let's wrap it up with our traditional...


LINKS-WRAP-UP-FOR-LAZY-PEOPLE

Today's theme is that there is no theme.  It's the first rule of LWUFLP.


●  Austin Jackson hurt, so Tigers won't score obviously   ●   Met's improve offense by signing...Rick Ankiel? Yeah that will totally work   ●   Wei-Yi Chen on the DL for the Orioles, fantasy owners take note   ●    The "Flyin' Hawaiian" can now play   ●   Curtis Granderson should be able play to soon too   ●   Pink bats are cool as hell. Love you Mom!   ●   David Ortiz to Boston media: suck it!   ●   Roy Halladay apologizes to Phillies nation   ●   Girardi has 500 wins -- all bought and paid for of course     ● Speaking of Yankees, be careful Mo   ●   Mattingly on the hot seat...because LA is terrible and all   ●   Josh Johnson out until June so yeah

J.A. Happ...doing okay. So what next?

Quote of the Day:

"The whole baseball community has been unbelievable with the messages I'm receiving and things people are saying and all the prayers. I really think that helps."

-- J.A. Happ 

It's never good to see your starting pitcher go down after getting nailed by a line drive.  On Tuesday night, Blue Jays fans got to experience that gut-wrenching feeling when starter J.A. Happ was struck by a line drive off the bat of Rays' Desmond Jennings in the second inning.  

Happ was apparently conscious and coherent the entire ordeal, yet still needed a few stitches for a laceration behind his left ear and had a minor skull fracture.  The CT scans on his brain, neck and spine were negative, yet it's same to say that Happ was very lucky.  

With major league hitters getting stronger and hitting the ball harder today than ever before, Major League Baseball should address this issue before someone doesn't get lucky.  It is only 60 feet and 6 inches separating the human head from a projectile missile.  It's obvious that something needs to be done, but the answer may not be so simple.  

Brandon McCarthy, who last season needed emergency brain surgery after suffering a fractured skull off a line drive eerily similar to Happ, offered his thoughts via Twitter: 

@BMcCarthy32: Anybody taking the hard line stance today that pitchers should be wearing helmets, need to get out their tool kits and make a good one.

@BMcCarthy32: Otherwise, you're accomplishing less than nothing. This goes for news organizations especially.

@BMcCarthy32: There is nothing acceptable out there so the discussion at this point is worthless.

@BMcCarthy32: There is no discussion to be had. It's simple. Want money? Invent something that protects pitchers heads at all levels, make a ton of it.

In a statement that was longer than Twitter's 140 character count, McCarthy made some other points about safety for pitchers:

"Most everything that's come out, it wouldn't have protected me, wouldn't have protected (Happ) if he got hit directly on the ear ... You'd have to have something that protected the ear. At that point, how vulnerable is the face and beyond. It's kind of a slippery slope where somebody will have to come up with something really good or really sound. Otherwise, I don't know how to answer the question.

"We've put things on the moon before, so I feel like we could create some sort of a device that sits on your head and protects you. … It's going to be a money-maker whatever it is. You can sell it to youth leagues and people will wear it all the way through. Usually good ideas go where the money is, so I think if enough companies get into that or people in their basement who are good at creating, someone will do it. It's just a matter of when not if."

It wasn't long ago when many pundits believed that McCarthy's injury would be the one that lead to more of an urgency on the part of pitchers protective head gear (the outspoken pitcher is both popular and media-friendly).  After all, it was only a season later after Mike McCoolbaugh was killed by a line drive in a minor league game, that baseball made helmets for coaches mandatory in 2007.  

Yet here we are with yet another pitcher suffering from a scary line drive and seemingly no more progress.  McCarthy makes valid points: there are simply no cap liners that would adequately protect the human skull from a 100-mph line drive.  Having said that, what frustrates McCarthy is not that there isn't something available -- only that there has been little to no urgency to develop one.  

While baseball looked into protective gear for pitchers, sadly none were approved.  Perhaps McCarthy speaks the truth when he implies that money, not player's safety is going to lead to developing a truly safe head gear for pitchers.  

And even though a recent statistic cited by MLB Medical Doctor, Gary Green notes that a pitcher is struck by a liner in the head happens roughly once every 250,000 pitches, after watching Happ being carried off in a stretcher on Tuesday, I can only hope that baseball has a greater sense of urgency to resolve the questions about pitcher safety before the day comes when a pitcher doesn't get as lucky.  

AJ Pierzynski...The Most Hated Man in Baseball?? Plus we go Around the League

Happy Thursday baseball fans!! As we get into a bit of a routine here, Chris seems to be handling the Monday recap and I do a later week recap.  It seems to be a good way to keep you guys informed of what is going on.  If you guys have any suggestions as to what you'd like to see, as always we'd like to hear them.

Today we discuss AJ Pierzynski's first game against his former team, Chase Headley and the massive contract that could be in his future, struggles in the Arizona bullpen, the Red Sox, the best April Major Leaguers, the Brewers against the Pirates, and as always, a bit on the Cubs.  For those of you looking for a post about the Wrigley renovations, it will be coming in the near future, but that whole situation just pisses me off, so feel free to get in touch with me if you'd like to hear my opinion on the newest chapter of this soap opera.

AJ Pierzynski vs. the White Sox

This might be biased because I hate AJ with a burning passion, but the classless catcher was at it again last night.  After getting hit in the elbow in the 9th inning by closer Addison Reed, Pierzynski jawed at Reed on the entire jog to first base.  I understand he's upset about getting hit, but the White Sox were up 4 in the bottom of the 9th, and the way to get AJ out is up and in.  Not to mention that AJ obviously stuck his elbow right in the way of the pitch.  See for yourself in the video HERE.  Here's to hoping the AJ catches one in the ribcage tonight when Peavy takes the hill for the Sox

Chase Headley

Rumor on the street is that the Padres are looking to lock up Chase Headley to a long term deal.  To me, Headley is the most underrated player in all of baseball.  The guy can flat out hit, for average and for power, and he is a gold glove caliber third baseman.  It will definitely be the largest deal in Padres history and look for Headley to get somewhere between 17 and 20 million dollars a year for 5 to 7 years.  It's a damn shame too because I was hoping the Cubs could get a crack at Headley, hopefully in free agency, because well, Luis Valbuena isn't very good.

Arizona Pen

The Diamondbacks bullpen has absolutely self-destructed of late.  Primary closer JJ Putz has been flat out bad recently, converting just 5 of his 9 save opportunities this year, with an ERA of 4.26.  Setup man David Hernandez isn't helping either, as he is 0 for 3 in save opportunities with a 4.61 ERA.  With Heath Bell also struggling, look for lefty Matt Reynolds to get an opportunity to close, as he is 2 for 2 in saves and has yet to give up a run in 14 innings of work.  

Boston Red Sox

Look at these Red Sox!! Apparently John Farrell is that much better of a manger than Bobby Valentine.  With a fairly similar team to last year, the Red Sox appear to have put that disaster in the rear view mirror.  Since returning from injury, David Ortiz is hitting nearly 500 in almost 40 at bats.  Guys like Mike Carp and Daniel Nava are tearing the cover off the ball.  Mike Napoli has a league leading 31 RBIs!!!  Perhaps the best performances have come from Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester.  The two have a combined record of 10-0, with Lester having an ERA of 3.11 while Buchholz has a sparkling ERA of just 1.01.  As the summer heats up, so should the tough AL East race.  Ortiz doesn't let fans forget, "This is our f*cking city."

Brewers and the Pirates

I won't go into too much detail here, but how bad are the Pirates at Miller Park.  Well, after their win yesterday, the Pirates hold a record of 8-46 at Miller Park since 2007.  That's just insane.  The Brew Crew is also happy to see the Buccos make the trip to Milwaukee.

The Cubs

As this blogger has predicted, the Cubs have played much better of late, and have improved to 11-16, winning 5 of their last 7.  The bullpen has been fantastic, as has the starting pitching.  Kevin Gregg appears to have taken over the closer role (Is it 2009???).  The most interesting thing to me is how the return of Darwin Barney has really solidified the defense.  What sticks out to me is how much better Starlin Castro has been since Barney's return.  He seems to be more focused with Barney in the lineup, as his footwork and timing have been much improved as of late.  Shout out to Scott Feldman for his first career complete game last night.  I was in attendance on a perfect Chicago night, and Feldman flat out dominated, striking out 12 and even smacked an RBI double.  Feldman also had a hit taken away by a diving Everth Cabrera and took a ball to the track in his third at bat.  Also, Matt Garza made his first rehab start yesterday, and if he stays on track, should need 2 or 3 more rehab starts until he's ready to join the big league club.

My April MVP and Cy Young Winners

While a lot of players have been fantastic in April, here are my picks for MVP and Cy Young in April:

AL MVP

While some might expect Chris Davis, I'm gonna go with Miguel Cabrera.  Miggy only has 4 home runs, but is 2nd in the AL with 29 RBIs and 2nd in batting average at .371.  He also sports a .446 OBP.

NL MVP

This is a tough pick, as Bryce Harper has been outstanding, but I have to go with Major League home run leader Justin Upton.  Upton is enjoying playing with his brother, as he has 12 home runs while sporting a 299 batting average.  Upton also has a .400 on base and has really solidified the powerful Braves lineup.

AL Cy Young

A lot of guys have been very good, including Tigers Anibal Sanchez and Justin Verlander, as well as Rays lefty Matt Moore, but the guy here is Buchholz.  6-0 with a 1.01 ERA on the best team in the American League gets him the nod here.

NL Cy Young

While youngsters like Madison Bumgarner, Matt Harvey, and Patrick Corbin have been excellent, my pick here is Jordan Zimmermann.  Not only is Zim a division 3 alum (Wisconsin-Stevens Point), but he is 5-1 with a 1.64 ERA.  Zimmermann doesn't have the strikeout numbers of some of the other guys, but opponents are hitting just 168 against him and he has a .75 WHIP, lowest in the NL.

Have a great weekend Full Count readers!! And enjoy this conceptual drawing of the hotel, office building, and plaza at the corner of Clark and Addison

Tuesday Recap: Anibal is an animal, Braves cool off, everybody's hurt and the journey of Casper Wells.

Quote of the Day: 

"Anibal is number one, I'm number two and [Justin Verlander] is just average."  

-- Max Scherzer, joking after Anibal Sanchez's 17 strikeout performance against the Braves. Scherzer's career high in strikeouts is 15, while Verlander's is 14.  

So I guess he's maybe got a point?  The Tiger's rotation is striking out everybody right now.  

Happy Monday Tuesday baseball fans.  If you checked in yesterday, hoping for the Monday recap that we promised you on a more consistent basis, I'm sorry.  First of all, I'm lazy.  Second of all, it was a busy start to the week.  Thirdly, I was spending the time I hoped to do for the recap with my own recap for a fantasy baseball league I'm in.  So yeah, my entire life revolves around baseball.  

Hopefully you checked back in today.  Today's recap we've got Anibal the Cannibal Sanchez throwing the year's best pitching performance to date, the Braves are suddenly cold due to playing in cold weather (at least J-Upton's still hot), Phil Hughes[?] makes it happen, ditto for Russell Martin and Josh Donaldson, and Casper Wells has a boat-ton of frequent flier miles.  All this and more in today's recap.  Let's lead off!  

Anibal is an Animal

Anibal takes the ball against the best team in the National League on Thursday and promptly sat down 17 Braves batters on strikes.  After striking out the side in the 8th inning, Sanchez tipped his cap to the crowd, providing a standing ovation at Comerica Park.  At 121 pitches he wasn't going back out for a shot at the MLB record of 20.

Perhaps the most impressive about Sanchez's feat is that he only issued one free pass in eight innings.  Most of the time, when you're breaking balls working and biting, a pitcher will let a few batters get away from him but not that night.  Perhaps he was helped out a little bit by the free-swinging Braves but regardless, it was an  absolutely dominating performance.  The Tigers have now won five of their last six and sit at the top of the AL Central.  

Oh and to commemorate his 17 K night, here's an "Animal" song for Anibal... 

I'm sort of a hipster.  Sorry.



Braves Cool Off (Literally)

After a 13-2 start to the season, the Braves then promptly went out and got swept by the Pirates and Tigers with a 2-1 series with the Rockies sandwiched in between.  It was the Colorado series that got the most attention though.  With two of baseball's hottest teams and 13-5 each, the temperature at Coors Field for the start of the series opener was 23 degrees, the coldest ever at Colorado.  It didn't cool off Justin Upton who jacked his 10th home run and leads the majors with 12 as of today.  

Braves look to get out of their funk with a home stand against the Nationals.  They started well last night against Strasburg, winning 3-2 in the opener.  The Braves are 4-0 on the year against their new NL East rivals.  

Phil Hughes Shows He Still Has Potential

The Yankees proved Sunday that Toronto still has a long way to go if the Blue Birds plan on competing in the AL East.  Phil Hughes whiffed 11 batters and the reeling Jays dropped to 9-17 on the season.  Not exactly the type of start they were hoping for after basically giving up a top five farm system in the offseason only to see Jose Reyes go to the DL, Josh Johnson struggle and R.A. Dickey still transitioning to the AL.  

Hopefully they will bounce back (or a lot of our preseason predictions will look really bad).  Meanwhile, Hughes provided his third straight quality start after a shaky start to the season.  If he can anchor the backend of the Yankeees staff, look out Boston.  Or Baltimore.  Or Tampa.  Really anyone can win that Division.  Buckle up East Coast baseball.  



It Only Took David Price ____ Starts to Get a Win

The exact number is six.  Six starts for the Ray's ace to pickup his first win of the season in an 8-3 win over the White Sox on Sunday.  That's what you get for stealing Justin Verlander's Cy Young last year.  Okay, I'm over it.  But a good cure for a struggling ace is to face a team that basically has been told not to draw walks.  Wade went over a bit of that here.  

Price struck out nine in seven innings of work after laboring for the first couple of innings.  The Rays split their four game series with the South Siders and sit a game below .500 on the season.  The Sox are worse and are last in the AL Central.  Time for both to get things figured out.  

Price no likey bad words from angry man

The bigger news developing is Price's claim that home plate umpire Tom Hallion used an expletive towards him after Price disputed a pitch in the 7th inning to Dewayne Wise on Sunday.  Of course, Hallion then called Price a liar which prompted the social media savvy Price to head to Twitter to complain, possibly violating MLB's social media policy.

So what exactly did Tom Hallion say that prompted Price to erupt like that?  I've got a few guesses:

"It's about time you get a f******* win."

"Hey, you'll still never catch the f****** Red Sox."

"F*** you David, I'm a boss and I MAKE the f****** rules."

"How does it feel to have a hundred f******* fans watching you every game?"

"Your Twitter is b*******.  You're not as f******* funny as you think you are."

"B******* Cy Young last year!"  

"Someone with a 5.21 ERA shouldn't be f******* complaining about balls/strikes."

"The f******* Yankees won't want you after this year if you keep pitching like this."

"Justin f****** Verlander is better."
"F*** you Price and your ******, ****ing, and your ******* weird coach, ***** *** stadium and your ***, ***** because if you *****, I'll *** your **** or ****** you up because you're a ****** and *** the ****.  The Ray suck and  ******* always will!"  

I can see that last one being a problem.  Hopefully this gets resolved peacefully.  If Hallion did swear at him, it would puzzling because on replay, it clearly shows he missed the call.....

 I don't know enough about Hallion to say that he's a bad umpire but to call Price a liar?  Umpires should try to remain in the background and generally keep their mouths shut.  Ultimately the call didn't matter and we shouldn't judge umpires based on a few missed ball/strike calls but we also shouldn't have to deal with them publicly attack the pitchers they call games for.  Someone's going to get disciplined.  Stay tuned for more.  

Reds Can't Buy a Hit off Zimmermann 

The Reds got one-hit for the second night in a row on Friday and this time it was Jordan Zimmermann that followed Gio Gonzalez the previous night with a shutout of his own, needing only 91 pitches in a 1-0 victory.  It was the first time the Reds had been one-hit in back-to-back games since....1900.  No, that's not a typo. 

Like Sanchez, Zimmermann impressively issued only one free pass and struck out four, allowing only three base runners.  If he can stay healthy, he has the talent to help anchor this Nationals rotation with Strasburg and Gonzalez.  And if the Nats pitching can keep it rolling, watch out.  


Your Players of the Week: Russell Martin and Josh Donaldson

Thanks to a .375 batting average with four homers and a .958 slugging percentage, catcher Russell Martin captured the NL Player of the Week award after overcoming a slow start to the season.  He can now send a fruit basket to the Cardinal's pitching.  Here at the Full Count, we thought that the Yankees made a big mistake letting Martin walk and hopefully Martin can keep up the production and make us look even smarter.  

A pretty nice guy for a Canadian.  Now that Francisco Cervelli is out with a broken hand, I hope the Yankees have fun with Chris Stewart catching. 

 Keep killing the ball Russell.  Every time you do well, the Yankees look dumb.  I like that.  Oh, and don't look now but the Pirates are in first place.  Their best player is at a .216 average.  Their staff ace is being paid CEO money not to pitch for the Yankees.  Baseball continues to be a weird sport.  I love it.  Keep making me look smart, Pirates.  

On the AL side, it was Josh Donaldson who capture the Player of the Week award, with a .545 batting average, seven walks and ten RBI.  It was the journeyman third basemans' first time being named player of the week, bumping his batting average almost 75 points to above .300 and making a lot of desperate fantasy owners very happy people.   Billy Beane continues to find diamonds in the rough for the surprising A's.  Look for Justin Timberlake to play him in Moneyball 2, coming out in the summer of 2015.  



Phillies Sweep the Reeling Mets in Matchup of Two of my Least Favorite Teams

Ryan Howard came off the bench to hit a pinch-hit double to break a 1-1 tie against the Mets to back Cole Hamels and complete a sweep of the Mets.  The Mets have lost five in a row and seven of the last ten.  Well, at least they have Matt Harvey.  Oh, and they lost to the Marlins in 15 innings last night...yes, the Marlins.  Queens baseball is going to need some help soon.  Meanwhile  Howard is starting to find his bat and the Phillies may work their way back into the NL East conversation with sitting a game back of the second place Nationals.  

They've got the pitching experience to do it and the season is still young even though Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay are not.   



Casper Wells has gotten pretty good at packing this year

The White Sox have acquired the outfielder from the A's this week.  This will be Wells' fourth team in the month of April (!?!?!).  The journeyman outfielder started the season on the Mariners before being claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays.  Since then, he was given the dreaded DFA (designated for assignment) by the Jays on April 15 and traded to the A's for cash on the 22nd.  He went 0-5 in three appearances with the Athletics before being being DFA'ed again and picked up by the White Sox.  

Oh and if you don't read the links in the title posts, you should at least read this one as the White Sox blog "South Side Sox" gives a hilarious take on Wells journeys this season.  It also makes fun of Raul Ibanez's defense which is always cool.  I've linked it again here. Read it.  Seriously.  Still no?  Okay fine.  Godspeed Casper Wells.  May your quest to break Reggie Sander's record for most teams played on go smooth and not be broken at least for a few months.  


That's about enough for today, but a wrap up wouldn't be complete without a [drumroll..........]



LINKS-WRAP-UP-FOR-LAZY-PEOPLE

Today's theme is "Everybody's Hurt."  Let's roll...

●   Giancarlo Stanton hits homers, gets DL'ed   ●    Kung Fu Panda has kung fu sore elbow   ●   A bad back is no excuse for getting rocked   ●   Foul balls off ankles apparently hurt   ●   Flyin' Hawaiian still grounded    ●   Just when you thought things couldn't get worse for Angels   ●   This would be, like, really bad for Rockies   ●   Youkilis still sore, MRI will show more   ●   Reyes cast off, I hope Casper Wells still got to sign it   ●   McCann close to being back   ●   Greinke throwing, hopefully practicing punching too    ●   Get hurt, lose your closer job   ●   Lackey back and beats Astros, so yeah, that doesn't say much    ●   Scheduled Doubleheaders? I like it!   ●  Noooooooooo Strasburg.  Oh wait, good  

That's it for today, we've got baseball all week.  Until next time baseball freaks.  I'm out.  Oh and just because we love our readers....here's Kate again.  She helps our site traffic too.  

Yes.