SB Nation - Dustin Moseley

Who Replaces John Lackey: Halolinks

WiHaloFan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:08:47 -0000

More photos » by M. Spencer Green - AP

"Curtis Granderson is available?" asks Los Angeles Angels general manager Tony Reagins.

Halos have options if Lackey leaves - angelsbaseball.com
They'll no doubt explore various options, in free agency and the trade market, but they're not exactly desperate with candidates such as Matt Palmer, Dustin Moseley, Sean O'Sullivan and Trevor Bell in house to fill the need.

Palmer, Moseley, SOS, and Bell? Not too excited about those replacement names.

Angels' owner not quite ready to see Lackey go - FOX Sports on MSN
Club officials had all but decided to part with Lackey during the team's organizational meetings at the end of the regular season, according to multiple major-league sources. But Moreno, after watching Lackey pitch well in his three postseason starts against the Red Sox and Yankees, decided that the Angels should renew their efforts to sign him, the sources said.

Hey! Who's running this team? Oh yeah, nevermind.

Winter meetings: AL West primer - Yahoo! Sports
Despite their desire to keep payroll at about $113 million, the Angels likely will acquire one marquee player because they know standing pat would result only in another playoff loss to the Red Sox or Yankees.

One marquee player? But who? Jamie Carroll?

A's acquire Fox, Miles from Cubs for three players - CBSSports.com Baseball
The Oakland Athletics took a big step toward boosting their lackluster offense. The A's acquired third baseman Jake Fox, second baseman Aaron Miles and cash considerations from the Chicago Cubs on Thursday for three players. The Cubs got right-handed pitcher Jeff Gray, minor league outfielder Matt Spencer and minor league righty Ronny Morla.

Well, I guess that marquee player's not going to be Jake Fox.

Source: Red Sox agree to deal with INF Scutaro - FOX Sports on MSN
The Boston Red Sox have reached a deal with infielder Marco Scutaro, pending a physical, according to a major-league source. Scutaro, 34, spent the past two seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. He hit .282 with 12 home runs and 14 stolen bases last season.

Or Marco Scutaro.

Braves make another pitching move, add ex-All-Star reliever Saito - CBSSports.com Baseball
Saito, who turns 40 in February, has 83 saves in four major league seasons after a long career in Japan. He made the National League All-Star team in 2007, when he had 39 saves for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Last season, the right-hander went 3-3 with two saves and a 2.43 ERA in a setup role for the Boston Red Sox. Saito is expected to remain in that spot with the Braves, who signed closer Billy Wagner to a $7 million, one-year deal on Wednesday, though there might be an occasional chance to save games.

Or Takashi Saito.

Dick Enberg hopes to show he's still got his fastball - SI.com
Enberg began his full-time broadcasting career in 1965 in Los Angeles as the radio and television voice of the California Angels, UCLA basketball and the Los Angeles Rams.

Or Dick Enberg! Dammit, somebody call and wake up the Angels front office!

Texas Rangers ownership race takes bizarre twist, keeping Ryan in mix - Star-Telegram
But based on confirmation from those close to the situation, Nolan would have resigned his position if Hicks’ new ownership partnership with Dennis Gilbert, a Californian, eventually had been approved by Major League Baseball.

Those damn Californians screwing things up in Texas again!

Poll

If the Angels stay within the organization to replace John Lackey (if he is not re-signed), who should it be?

Matt Palmer

247 votes

Dustin Moseley

109 votes

Sean O'Sullivan

188 votes

Trevor Bell

69 votes

613 votes | Poll has closed

The Streaking Diamondbacks - both good and bad

Jim McLennan — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:37:15 -0000

Two impressive streaks were kept alive this afternoon. One positive, in the shape of Justin Upton's ongoing 17-game hitting streak; the other, not so appreciated, as Max Scherzer extended his streak of career-opening starts without a win to thirteen. Let's take a look at both of those, and see how they stack up. [Note: it may be hard to believe now, but play-by-play data for games was not always kept for games, with consistent records dating back only to 1954. Before that, the records are spotty, and so we can't say anything conclusively with regard to streaks. Unless stated otherwise, all numbers in the rest of the piece refer to the time since the start of 1954.]

Upton's hitting

Justin Upton's 17-game hitting streak is particularly impressive, given he is only aged 21. Here are the players that age or younger, who have had streaks of seventeen games or more:

Player name	Games	Dates
Kent Hrbek	23	April 17-May 13, 1982
Willie McCovey	22	August 17- September 10, 1959
Edgar Renteria		July 25-August 16, 1996
Tommy Davis	20	July 30-August 20, 1960
Alex Rodriguez		August 16-September 4, 1996
Tony Kubek	18	June 30-July 21, 1957
Rennie Stennett		August 22-September 10, 1971
Terry Puhl		August 11-September 2, 1978
Bob Horner		July 22-August 5, 1979
Orlando Cepeda	17	July 15-August 1, 1958
Terry Puhl		August 11-September 2, 1977
Roberto Alomar		August 23-September 12, 1989
Albert Pujols		July 31-August 16, 2001
Jose Reyes		July 30-August 18, 2003
Ryan Zimmerman		June 28-July 18, 2006
Justin Upton		April 24-May 10, 2009

A couple of things to note - the last player to put together such a streak was Ryan Zimmerman, who we faced this weekend, and is putting together another very nice run at the time of writing [28 games at the time of writing, the best by a third-baseman since Wade Boggs had the same in 1985]. I also note how most of these runs happen later in the season - Hrbek's the only other one of the sixteen to be entirely before the All-Star break. Part of me wonders, if this is what Upton's like in the early season, what can we look forward to when he 'warms up'? But wait a moment: where does his streak sit on the all-time list of hitting streaks by Diamondbacks' players? Here is the top ten for Arizona:

Player name	Games	Dates
Luis Gonzalez	30	April 11-May 18, 1999
Tony Womack	22	May 2-May 29, 2000
Danny Bautista	21	April 7-April 30, 2004
Matt Williams	19	May 26-June 18, 1999
Junior Spivey	18	May 31-July 4, 2002
Mark Grace		May 18-June 10, 2001
Luis Gonzalez	17	Sept 18, 1999-April 8, 2000
Stephen Drew		July 29-August 15, 2008
Justin Upton		April 24-May 10, 2009
Two tied	16

Seems like the opposite pattern there to the first list above, with only Drew's run from last year entirely after the All-Star break. Maybe it's the desert warmth, but Arizona hitters seem to peak earlier in the season than the league in general. In terms of offensive production, the best OPS was - perhaps surprisingly - Grace's streak, as he posted a line of .422/.519/.719, for an OPS of 1.238. However, Upton is very, very close: after today's performance, three hits including a double, plus a walk, his line over the past seventeen games is .393/.479/.754, giving him an almost-identical OPS of 1.233. That said, Gonzo's line of .400/.466/.696 (1.162 OPS), over a period of more than five weeks, is equally impressive.

Scherzer's unwinning-ness

As Snakecharmer already documented in tonight's recap, Max Scherzer has gone thirteen starts without tasting victory to open his career, something only a dozen or so pitchers have done since 1961. However, perhaps the most startling thing about it has been the quality of the outings. Today was not one of Max's best appearances, but he still allowed only four runs. After giving up five runs in his first ever start, that's something Max has done consistently. This afternoon was his 12th straight start with four runs or less, and his ERA over that time of just 3.20.

To do so without tasting victory for so long is equally remarkable, among pitchers at any stage of their career. Today's game ties Max Scherzer for tenth on the list - and only two men have endured without a W longer, since Max was born in July 1984. Craig McMurtry started a run of fifteen starts for Atlanta later that season, which ran all the way until July 2006, posting an ERA of 3.99. And Darrell May of the Royals, had a 16-game span, running from September 2002 through late June 2003, where he allowed four or less runs every game, and never tasted victory.

May suffered about as much bad luck as Scherzer during the streak, given that in six of the games he left with the score tied, and on three occasions, he had the lead. However, the offense couldn't push another run across for him and/or the bullpen coughed things up. He must surely have thought the streak had stopped on June 16, 2003, when he pitched six shutout innings and entered the seventh with an 8-0 lead. Even though the shutout ended, and he was subsequently lifted, the seventh finished with the score still 8-2 in his favor and a 99% Win Probability - only for the bullpen to allow three in the eighth and three more in the ninth, blowing the lead. While nothing so disastrous has happened to Scherzer (yet!), today was the fourth time he has had a lead on departure, which was subsequently not held.

This is probably partly because of the shortness of his starts - he has yet to throw more than six innings, in 13 attempts, interestingly, matching the streak at the start of Johan Santana's career. Scherzer has a long way to go to match the current record of Jason Hammel, who took 25 attempts to go past six, while Dustin Moseley of the Angels is sitting on the DL, but has an active run of 23 to open his career. The contest for all-time 'bullpen enemy' isn't even close: Wilfredo Ledezma - designated for assignment by the Nationals on April 21 - has retired a batter in the seventh inning just once during his career, in his second-ever start, on July 13, 2003. Since then, he has made 38 starts in almost six years and never gone past six. Let's hope Max never comes anywhere close to that!

April was Cruelest Month for Angels

Rev Halofan — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:23:52 -0000

More photos » by Gail Burton - AP

Browse more photos »

APRIL IS THE CRUELEST MONTH
--T.S. Eliot

With the departure of Joe Maddon as an Angels coach, it is doubtful that anyone in the organization would be able to recite the poetry of Thomas Stearns Eliot, but point out that opening line comes from a poem called The Wasteland and no Angel in Los Angeles, Anaheim or parts in between would disagree that it describes the club’s first month of the 2009 season.

While one can dig in the stat files and find worse 1-month records than 9-12, that record was only a small part of the most tragic month in Angels franchise history. The book was closed on this awful April of 2009 Thursday night in New York with the 7th loss incurred by an Angels reliever this season. 7 Losses in 21 games by the bullpen.

Of course anything on the field was overshadowed by the April 9th death of pitcher Nick Adenhart and two of his companions. But even before that tragedy, the team saw the death of a fan, Brian Powers, in an apparent scuffle moments after the first game of the season had finished. The gloom of these losses easily obscures the on-field performances and health issues that plagued the club in April.

But as incomparable as the loss of human life is to team performance and health, the sum total of what happened to the team even in spite of such terrible losses off the field is staggering on an almost historical level.

Last season, Angel relievers were responsible for 22 losses. So in one month, the club is 1/3 of the way to their old mark.
The Angels used 8 starters in April. They used 7 all of last season. This is while waiting for John Lackey and Ervin Santana to return. 2 pitchers who started games in April end the month on the disabled list (Moseley and Oliver).
Kelvim Escobar, who started one of the final Spring games in San Diego and dominated had setbacks in his return from a major shoulder injury and was eventually sent to the 60 Day disabled list – unable to play until at least June 4 and that would be optimistic.
A bench-clearing brawl on the first Sunday game of the season turned into a national scandal when the league overruled on-field umpiring decisions and suspended Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett. Do you feel confident about the next time Joe West umpires an Angels game?
In that same series, bad umpiring (and not the bullpen for once) cost the Angels a game when all replays on earth showed a difference-making Torii Hunter out to Left Field was actually a double off the wall. But crew chief Joe West was not overruled on that call.
Amidst all of the pitching woes, the Angels lost superstar slugger Vladimir Guerrero with a torn pectoral muscle. The Angels have a name for a team without Vlad, Lackey and Santana: The Salt Lake Bees.
In all, five members of the opening day 25-Man roster are not on it after 21 games and three (Escobar, Lackey and Santana) who were anticipated to at least have a slim chance of returning in April ... didn't.
Manager Mike Scioscia has inscrutably chosen to ignore the obvious potency of Brandon Wood’s bat in favor of lean singles-hitting scrappy infielder Erick Ayabr, Maicer Izturis and Chone Figgins.
Against cakewalk division opponents Seattle and Oakland, the Angels went 3-6.

Yet despite all of the grief, the injuries, the bullpen implosion and the deference to undeserving veterans, the Angels begin May a mere 3.5 games behind the Mariners. With Lackey and Santana up to 45-pitches each in recovery, there is a light at the end of the pitching staff tunnel. The offense is actually hitting better than the past few season's Angel lineups were ever able to muster. While the bullpen is the most glaring area in need of a fix, recent seasons have shown that Mike Scioscia gives his players enough rope early in the season to either hang themselves or swing like Tarzan through the American League jungle in order to land on the back of a panther toward the promised land.

How May, June and the rest of the season bode for the Angels remains to be seen, but to a man, were they to be reminded Friday morning that a new month has begun, each would appreciate a line much later in Eliot’s Wasteland:

Well now that's done: and I'm glad it's over.

At the Depths of Angels' Depth

Rev Halofan — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:05:26 -0000

More photos » by Jim Mone - AP

Browse more photos »

Let's look at the Angels Projected Rotations in the past 60 days...

On February 21: John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Jered Weaver, Joe Saunders and Dustin Moseley until Kelvim Escobar is ready.

On March 21: Weaver, Saunders, Moseley, Shane Loux, Nick Adenhart until any one of Lackey, Santana or Escobar are ready.

On April 21: Weaver, Saunders, Darren Oliver, Loux and TBA until any one of Lackey, Santana, Escobar or Moseley are ready.

Unless Weaver pitches on three days rest, we will know who TBA is on Saturday. If it is a 25-Man roster candidate it will have to be Daniel Davidson. Barring a 40-Man roster switch, it will have to be Davidson or current Salt Lake Bee Anthony Ortega as it is unimaginable that the team will try stretching a relief arm besides Darren Oliver into a starter.

Meanwhile, Kevin Jepsen has complained about a balky back and the team has a chance to retrieve Darren O'Day from the Mets. They would have to clear a space for O'Day on the 40-Man roster. Are the Angels ready to throw Jason Bulger to the waiver wire? Do they still feel attached from trading infielder Alberto Callaspo for him?

With Jepsen tanking in such a terrible manner, a trip to the 60-Day DL could solve the problem, as a spot on the 40-Man roster would then be available for O'Day.

WAIT A MINUTE HERE... Darren O'Day and Jason Bulger are the solutions to the Angels terrible 4-8 start? I think not. The Angels can flip a coin at this point on any of these possible pitching solutions.

With all the chaos surrounding the rotation, the Angels have 6 infielders, 2 catchers and 4 outfielders on their active roster. Reggie Willits and Brandon Wood are the only real major-league ready players that could conceivably contribute full time at a league average (or hopefully better) level of production.

The depth has been plumbed, planted and is seeding toward fruition. This is it, Angels fans, the worst case scenario is this depth on parade. League average, yes, but nowhere else to go but up toward the summer sun.

Vlad Guerrero Injury Deepens Angel Woes

Rev Halofan — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:21:20 -0000

More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP

Not much is looking up for the Angels Ten games into the 2009 season.

Browse more photos »

If it wasn’t for bad luck, the 2009 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim wouldn’t have any luck at all. The bad news just kept coming on Friday to a team that has seen the tragic death of a pitching prospect gloomily obscure some deep problems on the field.

All Star slugger Vladimir Guerrero was placed on the 15 Day Disabled List on Friday with a torn pectoral muscle. While Vlad can hit just fine, he still fancies himself a Right Fielder and cannot throw without pain. The Angels seem to be humoring him here, as a retiring to Designated Hitter might be in order anyway given Guerrero’s 35 years. For the time being the Angels will rotate a combination of Maicer Izturis and Gary Matthews. Light-Hitting Izturis started at Designated Hitter on Friday, going 0 for 5, but reached base on a dropped strikeout and scored a run, as well as contributing a groundout RBI.

But neither Matthews nor Izturis nor any Angel replaces Vlad when it comes to batting. Catcher Mike Napoli would make a good candidate to try at Designated hitter, with a 3rd catcher replacing Guerrero on the roster. All of this discussion would be moot if the Angels had already brought in Brandon Wood at the beginning of the seaosn, but Wood was sent down to the minors to slug it out while Izturis and Erick Aybar slapped little singles around the infield.

Meanwhile, Dustin Moseley, who has graduated from 6th man to 3rd man in the Angels rotation, left Friday night’s game with obvious pain in his elbow. Moseley had offseason surgery to repair the ulnar nerve in his pitching arm and appeared to be unable to move his elbow while leaving the dugout after the 3rd inning.

With pitchers John Lackey and Ervin Santana a month away and Kelvim Escobar dealt a shoulder-tightening setback in his return and now penciled for no earlier than June, the Angels can ill afford to lose Moseley for an extended period of time. Without Him, their rotation is Joe Saunders, Jered Weaver, journeyman Shane Loux, 38-year old reliever Darren Oliver on a 40-pitch limit and an open slot.

Open for who? Down at AAA Salt Lake City:

Starter Anthony Ortega has given up 7 Runs in 9.2 IP
Starter Matt Palmer has given up 10 runs in 7.2 IP

The AA Arkansas Travellers have seen:

Starting Pitcher Sean O’Sullivan surrendered 6 ER in 11.2 IP
SPJordan Walden give up 6 ER in 6.2 IP

AAA Reliever Rafael Rodriguez made his major league debut on April 15, but if he is the best the Angels minor leagues have to offer, a trade or free agent signing is in order here.

And all the while, Brandon Wood languishes in AAA with a 1.065 slugging and nowhere to fit in the crowded Angels lineup. Of course, if the first ten games of this Angels season are any indication, Wood may be First on the infield depth chart before June.

L.A. of Brooklyn Beats L.A. of Anaheim

Rev Halofan — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:11:48 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Dustin Moseley throws to first during the second inning of an exhibition baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, April 2, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Browse more photos »

Final Score from Chavez Ravine: Angels 2, Dodgers 6

Preseason work at night:

Dustin Moseley threw 80 pitches, 50 for strikes, giving up 3 ER in a pitchers park. The lack of outfield range in the Angels' defense is going to make Andre Ethier's Triple a common thing this season.

Vladimir Guerrero had a 2-Out RBI, so that is worth something.

Brian Fuentes looked awesome in his 1-2-3 7th inning. Some of those swooping curves (maybe you call them sliders) to righthanders were beautiful twists of batter-caught-looking-teases.

But that was about it for the good news, where the Halos couldn't buy a hit besides 8 lousy singles, ironically the one hit in the 8th inning by AAA casualty Brandon Wood being the hardest-hit of the night. The Angels are demoting the guy who squared up the ball the best tonight.

Jose Arredondo had a bit of batting practice fever, surrendering a run on some hard hit balls. But it doesn't count and maybe he working on stuff. Maybe.

Poll

BLAME OF THE GAME

Bobby Abreu 0-4, 1 GIDP

53 votes

Torii Hunter 0-3, 1 GIDP

12 votes

Howie Kendrick 0-3, 3 LOB

74 votes

Dustin Moseley 4 IP, 3 ER

53 votes

192 votes | Poll has closed

Angels Look to Reds for Gary Matthews Trade

Rev Halofan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:00:14 -0000

The national media is buzzing about the possible trade of Gary Matthews, Jr. after his Sunday sojourn when informed of the near certainty that he will be riding the Los Angeles of Anaheim bench for most of the upcoming season.

General Manager Tony Reagins already announced that Matthews has not waived his No-Trade clause, but the Angels' $33 Million 5th outfielder is probably not long for the team. He left a meeting Sunday in a bad mood after having his upcoming pine-role clearly explained to him by Reagins and manager Mike Scioscia.

While the Cincinnati Reds lack the pitching depth to trade Aaron Harang or Bronson Arroyo to the Angels straight up for Matthews, the near-match in salary between either one of those pitchers and the Angels' outfielder creates its own logic.

The Angels, though, will have to sweeten the pot. Even with matching dollar signs, an arm is more valuable than a league average bat/above average glove and speed. The ante could be upped by adding Dustin Moseley to the deal. Moseley is a dead ringer for an American League fifth starter which would make him a National League #4 man by default. He still has a smidgen of developmental upside and will just be hitting arbitration year #1 after 2010.

The Reds could hold out for minor leaguer Sean O'Sullivan (ranked the Angels' #10 prospect by Halos Heaven minor league analyst Ryan Gahan) and if they do, the Angels should move on this deal. Either Harang or Arroyo as a fifth starter would be ten times better for the Angels than Matthews collecting a paycheck for doing little more than neatly stacking the Gatorade towels in the dugout between innings. Arroyo has had a flare up of carpal tunnel syndrome this past week and the site of Harang facing Oakland - who traded him to Cincinnatti for Jose Guillen at the 2003 trde deadline - would be sweet.

There is not a perfect solution to the Matthews situation, but once the season begins to play out, it will only take a few weeks of him sitting and another team sweating to cause the Angel to revisit the chance to sweeten up what KEN ROSENTHAL reveals was their opening offer.

Angels Pitching Injuries Causing Headaches

Rev Halofan — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:09:49 -0000

First the bad news: The news about the Angels’ pitching staff was lousy this week. John Lackey has been shut down with inflammation near his elbow. Ervin Santana has a small tear in an elbow ligament. Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders are suddenly the pitching staff and each of them got off to a late start in spring with their own offseason soreness.

Okay, now some good news: Veteran Kelvim Escobar heard words like "career-threatening" last summer, so the fact that he is throwing in the mid-90s and slated for a late-April return to the rotation after shoulder surgery is nothing short of miraculous.

And in Filler news: Righty Dustin Moseley has had a good Spring and Nick Adenhart is looking far superior in Arizona than he did in a short turn in the spotlight early last season in L.A. of Anaheim. Journeyman Shane Loux is on the bubble and easily the rotation arm most likely to head to Triple A should another arm join the staff in April.

The season will open with a less than fearsome front five:
Saunders, Weaver, Moseley, Adenhart and Loux.

Yeah, that is just not a good rotation. You have a contact pitcher likely to regress, a fastballer who has had flyball funks pop up amidst otherwise great seasons, a 6th starter who hangs curveballs suddenly the 3rd man, a 4th starter who melted in the big league spotlight last season and a 5th starter who might not make some Triple-A team rotations.

Basically, the opening day staff is the Worse Case Scenario.

Worse Case Scenario:
The opening day staff is the rotation for the majority of the season. Even at their best, healthy and producing, we have a league average staff.

So the Angels start 2009 with the Worse Case Scenario.

Not as Bad, but Still Bad Scenario:
Escobar returns in late April and to his former glory as Loux returns to the minors. The staff of S-W-E-M-A has some good games but generally pitches league average.

Okay Enough Scenario:
The S-W-E-M-A staff puts together a good season, one of them makes the all-star team and performing above expectations they have an ERA around 4.60

Kind of Good Scenario:
Either Santana or Lackey are lost for 2009 but the other rebounds, joining Saunders, Weaver, Escobar and Moseley, who all come close to repeating their best seasons in a winnable division.

Much Better Scenario:
One of Santana or Lackey is back by May 15 and the other returns after the All Star break, both operating on their 2008 superiority.

Best Case Scenario:
Escobar is Escobar and joins the rotation in late April, Lackey’s inflammation is soothed and he returns the 2nd week of May and is followed by a rehabbed and sharpened Santana before the season hits the 1/3 mark.

So the best-case scenario sees the Angels opening the season with the worst rotation in the division for 1/6 the season and a middle of the pack Top Five until at least1/3 of the season has passed.

Please welcome your 2009 Los Angeles Angels of Aspirinaheim, a Southern California baseball fan’s biggest headache.

10-4, Good Buddy: Angels Defeat Dodgers

Rev Halofan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:13:20 -0000

Final Cactus League Score in Tempe: Angels 10, Dodgers 4...

Pitcher Dustin Moseley looked excellent as a Fifth Starter candidate as he went six strong innings for the Angels against their cross-basin rival Dodgers in Tempe Arizona Spring Training action.

Light-hitting Erick Aybar hit a homerun off Dodger savior Chad Billingsley. This is a sign that something is looking more uphill for the arm-poor men in blue. Two other Angel HRs came from borderline/scrub major leaguers Jeff Mathis and Robb Quinlan. This is not good news for the McCourt Franks of North Echo Park. The Dodgers scored all of their runs off of Moseley, 3 earned, on singles by Matt Kemp and Russel Martin.

In the superstar race, Manny Ramirez was 0 for 3 including 2 strikeouts to Moseley, while the Angels' Vlad Guerrero had his first hits of the Spring, 2 singles in 3 AB playing in RF. Bobby Abreu, in his first game back from playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, struck out twice and walked once in 4 Plate Appearances.

THE GOOD: Vlad's first hits in Spring.

THE BAD: Errors by Brandon Wood, Aybar and Torii Hunter

AND THE PANTHER: Gotta be Ayabr's 2 for 2, 2 run homer and a double in the 1st that he scored on.

Doubleheader Day: Cubs vs. Mariners at Mesa and Cubs vs. Angels at Tempe, Friday 3/13, 3:05 CT

Al — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:00:25 -0000

There are two games today, both available via the MLB.com Mediacenter, both via the radio flagship of the Cubs' opponents. So which one will you choose to listen to, and which one will you follow on Gameday?

Decisions, decisions.

Lou had a long talk with Kosuke Fukudome about last year and this year, and about being benched at the end of last year, Dome said:

"It didn't feel good at all," he said. "But I understand what my condition was at the end of the season, so it was [justified]. I would like to start speaking up a little bit more to make sure my thoughts are being translated."

This goes back to some earlier stories and comments that have been made that seemed to indicate that either Dome was shy to speak up because of the cultural differences, or that what he was saying wasn't being translated properly, or both. We do know that there's a new translator this year, so maybe that will help in terms of communication.

Other news of note: Sam Zell was apparently being shaken down for money by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich only two weeks before Rod was arrested. I mention this because it was apparently in connection with the proposed deal to sell Wrigley Field to the state (a deal which, I presume, is now dead):

In another campaign document dated Dec. 3, 2008, Tribune Co. sports consultant Mark Ganis is listed among 143 names of potential donors for tentative or scheduled fund-raising events. Next to Ganis' name are the notations "New York Event" and "Rod went to dinner on 9/19. Rob needs to follow up."

The Tribune Co., parent of the Chicago Tribune, hired Ganis to help structure a sale of Wrigley. His name also appeared on the September call list next to a notation that read: "Patti and Rod dinner."

Non-Cub news: Jonathan Papelbon speaks out on Manny Ramirez:

"He was on a different train! And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we moved on without him," Papelbon was quoted in the April issue of Esquire. The story was posted on the magazine's Web site Thursday.

"So Manny was tough for us," Papelbon added. "You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ballgame, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man! It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that's exactly what was happening."

"Once we saw that, we weren't afraid to get rid of him. It's like cancer. That's what he was. Cancer. He had to go. It sucked, but that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us. And after, you could feel it in the air in the clubhouse. We got Jason Bay - Johnny Ballgame, plays the game right, plays through broken knees, runs out every ground ball - and it was like a breath of fresh air, man! Awesome! No question."

I assume that some or all of this is exactly the way the Red Sox felt. But the other side of this story is that Manny helped his new team make the playoffs. "Cancer" or no, there's no question that when Manny Ramirez puts his head the right way, he's a major force in helping his teams win.

This afternoon, Sean Marshall will face Seattle's Gaby Hernandez. Other relievers who will throw at Mesa include Jose Ascanio, Kevin Hart, Mike Stanton, Luis Vizcaino and Jason Waddell (who Lou seems to like quite a bit).

At Tempe, Chad Gaudin will pitch against LA's Dustin Moseley. Cub relievers in the road game will be Mitch Atkins, Justin Berg, Esmailin Caridad, Chad Fox, Ken Kadokura and Jeff Stevens.

I imagine we'll see Carlos Marmol throw tomorrow in the home game against the Angels.

MLB.com Gameday for the Cubs/Mariners game

MLB.com Gameday for the Cubs/Angels game

Discuss amongst yourselves.