Nats GM Mike Rizzo is on a conference call right now discussing the results of Stephen Strasburg's MRI, and he stated that Strasburg will need to have the Tommy John procedure.  Big bummer all around. He has a tear in his UCL, and the procedure will be done by the same surgeon that did Jordan Zimmermann's TJS last year.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5502866

I wonder how Nats' broadcaster Rob Dibble feels about his statements that Strasburg should just "suck it up" and get out there and throw through the pain?

Dom Brown was promoted to AAA today.  Andrew Brackman allegedly will start for AA Trenton tonight according to the local sports writers, but he's not on the probables yet. Starters on the schedule for today:

Daniel Hudson

Jeremy Hellickson

Carlos Carrasco

Travis Wood

Felix Doubront

Esmil Rogers

Madison Bumgarner

Michael Kirkman

Zach Stewart

Deolis Guerra

JC Ramirez

Chris Carpenter

Mike Minor

Jordan Lyles

Ethan Martin

Wilmer Font

Henderson Alvarez

Alexander Colome

Giovany Soto

Kyle Heckathorn

Manuel Rivera

Joe Weiland

Brooks Pounders

Adys Portillo

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100127&content_id=7983130&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

The Montero ranking will get a lot of attention.

Westmoreland broke his collarbone by crashing into the OF wall in last night's game, and will miss the rest of the season.

link here

It was only the 8th game that he had appeared in the outfield this season.  Hopefully it's not too serious and he'll be fully ready for action by next spring training, but we can also pretty much guarantee that the "injury prone" label will be firmly attached to him now, accurate or not.

EDIT again: Deal is apparently back on, Kazmir for Torres, Sweeney, and a PTBNL

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-angels-fyi29-2009aug29,0,3289400.story

The Angels apparently plan to put Scott Kazmir in the bullpen.   It will also be interesting to see who the Rays decide to put into the rotation spot that Kazmir had.  I expect that people will think that the Angels won this deal since neither Alexander Torres or Matt Sweeney are big-name prospects, but it is a nice way for TB to cut salary for an injury prone guy.  Plus the Rays do have some good in house options coming along in Davis and Hellickson.

I noticed a few interesting lines in the box scores tonight, and figured I'd kick this off.

Pedro Alvarez: 3-6, 2 2B, HR, 2 K

Anthony Hewitt: 3-5, 3B, HR, 2 K

Andrew Brackman: 2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K

Dexter Carter: 3.1 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 3 BB, 5 K in debut with Fort Wayne

Wilkin De La Rosa: 7 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 7 K

Jeremy Hellickson: 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 7 K

Chris Withrow: 3.1 IP, 6 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 K in rough AA debut

Have at it.

The Seattle Times columnist Jerry Brewer has reported that Michael Saunders is being promoted to the Mariners today.  Surprisingly, Wladimir Balentin has been designated for assignment as the corresponding roster move, especially considering some of the older veterans they're carrying (like Chris Shelton for example).

I'd guess they are intending to give him some serious playing time by adding him to the major league roster now, rather than waiting until September. Saunders was the #25 prospect on BA's recent midseason list.

"The Travs also lost starting pitcher Jordan Walden to a strained right forearm after facing two batters in the first inning."

"Walden allowed a leadoff single by Craig Gentry then threw wildly on a pickoff moving him to second base. Walden's last pitch of the night was a wild pitch fired over the head of Dustin Majewski for a walk."

link

The Dallas Morning News also reported that his fastball was at 88 MPH, much slower than his standard velocity.

Paging Dr. Andrews, I presume...

Article is here.

"Baseball's LeBron"

He's now on the radar of the entire baseball universe, not just prospect hounds.  The article has quotes from his mother that indicates they are serious about having him get his GED this summer and enrolling him in a juco in the fall so that he would be eligible for the 2010 draft.  It's also interesting that when he was 12 years old, he was flying around the country without his parents as a "gun for hire" for junior tourney teams.