Short Hops: Diamondbacks look to save by unloading Green
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Maybe Shawn Green ends up in New York with the Mets this month, maybe not, but one thing is certain: Arizona is walking a fine line between the future and the present while battling for a playoff slot this season ... and Green isn't much a part of either anymore.
Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin benched the one-time slugger on both Monday and Tuesday this week, the first back-to-back benchings of Green's season. Meanwhile, there's persistent talk and indications that as the Mets re-assess in the aftermath of trading right fielder Xavier Nady last month, they view him as a potential short-term fix.
Though nobody is ready to give up on hot prospect Lastings Milledge, the Mets' dilemma is this: Since they dealt Nady and opened more playing time for Milledge, the rookie was hitting .206 through midweek. Maybe he picks it up from here but, then again, maybe he doesn't.
And a team with designs on winning the World Series can't be caught short.
In Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, Cliff Floyd (he's expected to return from an Achilles injury later this month) and backup outfielder Ricky Ledee, the Mets are lefty heavy at the plate, and manager Willie Randolph likes the balance the right-handed Milledge brings -- at least, Randolph likes the potential Milledge brings, if he pulls himself out of his current drought.
Meanwhile, Green -- who also swings left-handed -- had made just one start in right field during the Diamondbacks' past eight games. Rookie Carlos Quentin is the man now in right field, and even Green says the direction the club is heading is clear.
Aside from having to clear waivers before any possible deal, Green also has to waive his no-trade clause. His relationship with Delgado -- the two are best buds from their Toronto days, and Delgado was in Green's wedding -- and the chance to play in October toward the end of his career leads the Diamondbacks to believe that Green will accept a deal if one is presented to him.
Then there's the money -- Green is owed $9.5 million in 2008 and $10 million next year, of a $2 million buyout.
- The Red Sox added a lefty hitter they badly needed in Eric Hinske, who will join the team in time for this weekend's mammoth five-game series against the Yankees at Fenway Park, and one-time Next Big Thing Carlos Pena is on deck at Triple-A Pawtucket. Still, the best news for Terry Francona's club is that David Wells is looking like maybe he can contribute down the stretch. The Red Sox, significantly short on starting pitching, have fallen two games behind the Yankees (and three games back in the loss column). They will not catch New York if they don't pitch, and Wells turning in 6 23 innings against Detroit on Wednesday after working seven innings last Friday in Baltimore is not to be underestimated.
- They continue pondering the prospect of filing a grievance in Cincinnati against the Washington Nationals over injured reliever Gary Majewski. The Reds do not think the Nationals were honest with them regarding Majewski receiving a cortisone shot shortly before the July 13 trade that sent him to the Reds.
- They're coming, they're going, they're both: Since he took the Cincinnati job on Feb. 8, Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky has acquired 33 players, 20 of whom have played in at least one game for the big league club. The fact that the Reds continue their surprising playoff push is even more impressive given the fact that only 13 players remain from the opening day roster.
- Pool party, it's not: Still no indication whether Yankees slugger Gary Sheffield (wrist surgery) will return this year, but he is swinging a bat -- underwater. Doctors don't want him going full speed on the left wrist -- thus the water workouts, which slow down his swing and protect his wrist from violent torque -- which tells you he isn't coming back anytime soon.
- Forget Bat Day, how about Blindfold Day: When Kansas City right-hander Luke Hudson allowed 11 runs -- 10 earned -- in just one-third of an inning against Cleveland on Sunday, it was the worst pitching performance in modern major league history. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the most runs surrendered by a major league pitcher since Boston's Kid Nichols allowed 12 in the first inning of a game against Brooklyn on Sept. 27, 1897. The Indians batted .800 (8-for-10) against Hudson before skipper Buddy Bell mercifully removed him.
- Another One for the Books: When the Reds used nine pitchers in Friday's 14-inning game against Philadelphia, it was the first time since July 8, 1962, that they used that many pitchers in one game, Elias tells us. That was against Houston at old Crosley Field.
- Hot August Nights, indeed. The Twins' Johan Santana, since Aug. 22, 2002, is 18-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 21 August starts. Over 164 2/3 innings during that span, Santana has fanned 174 hitters.
- The Twins through midweek were 45-15 over their past 60 games, the best 60-game run in club history. And they're still second in the wild-card race.
- What we're learning is that maybe Houston should have forgotten about Roger Clemens and spent more time looking for offense (as if GM Tim Purpura didn't spend enough time doing that over the July trade deadline). The Astros not only hadn't scored in 21 consecutive innings through midweek, they failed to score in 34 of 36 innings this week against the Chicago Cubs. They stranded 36 runners. "I just gotta believe that we're going to break loose out of this," Houston manager Phil Garner says. Question is, will they be out of playoff contention if he's right when they do? The Astros are tied for sixth in the NL wild-card standings. That's a whole lot of rallies away from October.
- Oh, and Garner told Brad Lidge this week that he's officially out as closer. Garner and pitching coach Jim Hickey intend to go forward with a bullpen by committee that will include Dan Wheeler, Trever Miller and Chad Qualls after Lidge blew the ninth-inning save -- Matt Murton homer -- that led to Tuesday's 18-inning loss to the Cubs.
- Vlad speaks: Not that the Angels are authorities on an abundant offense -- they, too, spent July looking for a bat -- but Vladimir Guerrero says that Juan Rivera's career-year is helping. "Not to take away from anybody, but I don't think I've ever been unprotected here," Guerrero said through an interpreter, Angels Spanish language broadcaster Jose Mota. "Garret Anderson is a very good hitter, and the fact that sometimes I don't get something to hit, or I'm slumping, we have all the confidence in the world in Garret Anderson. The fact that Juan's hitting better just makes it we're complimenting each other a little bit better. But you look at Garret, how well he's doing, with Juan doing well, too ... I have never felt unprotected in the lineup."
- Un-St. Louis-like: In another sign of how badly Cardinals pitchers have struggled, St. Louis had allowed 145 homers through mid-week -- after surrendering only 149 all of last year. And the problem is, especially with Jim Edmonds not right, they don't have the personnel to keep playing from behind: They've won only 19 games this season when their opponent scores first. And they've won only two games in which they trailed by more than three runs. In steamrolling to the NL Central title last summer, the Cards went 51-29 within their division. Now? They're 26-31 against NL Central clubs in 2006.
- It's not all meal money and fancy hotels in the majors. Latest phenom to learn: Cleveland third baseman Andy Marte. The man for whom the Indians traded Coco Crisp (which, some still argue, sabotaged its their season) is hitting .105 (4-for-38) with just one extra base hit and two RBI since he was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo and joined the Indians lineup on July 28. Badly overmatched at times, Marte has fanned 11 times in 39 at-bats, and manager Eric Wedge has taken to pinch hitting for him in late innings with the game on the line.
- Last week we told you that baseball is in its most extended period between no-hitters since World War II -- 216 days and counting through midweek since Randy Johnson was perfect for Arizona against Atlanta. Angels GM Bill Stoneman, who threw two no-hitters when he pitched for Montreal, says that the trend isn't surprising: "Pitchers generally don't complete games. You've got to do that before you throw a no-hitter."
- That time of year: Badly fading Seattle, the Oakland Athletics' personal Washington Generals, has lost patience with Joel Pineiro. Mariners manager Mike Hargrove informed Pineiro this week that he is out of the rotation and will be working from the bullpen. Pineiro is a convenience-store-like 7-11 this season, but without the Slurpees and cold drinks that make a convenience store stop so enticing.
- So when Oakland beat Seattle 4-0 on Wednesday, it was the A's 15th consecutive win this season over the Mariners, and it pushed the Mariners to 12 games behind the first-place A's. It equals San Diego's 15-game losing streak to Atlanta in 1974 as the longest since divisional play started in 1969. At least then the Padres had an excuse -- forced to wear ugly mustard-and-brown unis, how were the Padres supposed to beat anybody?
- Silent night: Wednesday's 4-0 loss was the 13th time Seattle was shut out this season, a big league high and two short of the all-time Seattle record set in 1978 and equaled in 1983 and 1990.
- While Seattle works on delivering the AL West title to Oakland, the Los Angeles Angels will battle the most difficult schedule down the stretch of anybody in the division. Mike Scioscia's club still must do battle with Boston, the Yankees, Detroit and the White Sox. The Angels' remaining opponents had a cumulative .530 winning percentage as of midweek. The combined winning percentages the other three West clubs must face: Oakland, .492; Texas, .507; and Seattle, .525.
- Hey, didn't you used to be ... at Double-A Wichita? Zack Greinke is 7-2 with a 4.36 ERA in 15 starts, including a fourth consecutive dominating start on Monday in holding San Antonio to one run and five hits in seven innings. Still, Kansas City isn't expected to bring him back before Sept. 1 as the Royals carefully work with him in his comeback from depression.
- Certainly, Kansas City has a looooong way to go, but the Royals can do a heck of a lot worse than keeping second baseman Mark Grudzielanek as a building block. They signed him to a one-year, $4 million extension for 2007, and it's a nice fit for both sides.
- Say what you will about Arizona pitcher Miguel Batista, but don't accuse him of not having endurance: The man has proven over the years that he has endurance. In starting Arizona's 2-1, 18-inning win over Colorado on Tuesday, Batista now has started and finished the two longest games in club history. On May 29, 2001, he worked four innings of scoreless relief to close out Arizona's 1-0, 18-inning win over San Francisco.
- Nice form by Texas third baseman Mark DeRosa in the are-you-ready-for-some-football moment of the week. DeRosa tackled the Angels' Adam Kennedy during the Rangers-Angels brawl Wednesday, attempting to hold Kennedy back, and if the form looked pretty good, well, it should have. DeRosa played football at Penn.
- Tough times for the classy Ken Griffey Jr., who recently learned that his father, Ken Sr., has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and his mother, Birdie, has been diagnosed with colon cancer. Though they are divorced, Griffey is close to each of his parents. Think good thoughts for Junior, he needs them right now.
