Here's the latest news and headlines from around the league on the day Chase Utley told the world he was back with a home run in his first at-bat since the end of the 2011 season…
- There are very few viable options for the Dodgers as they look to add a middle-of-the-order bat, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com. Many of the players currently available are either fringe types or vastly overpaid for their services (like this one).
- Olney tweets that Cubs first baseman/outfielder Bryan LaHair has been scouted by the Dodgers, among other teams, but Los Angeles has reservations about his defense. Nonetheless, the Dodgers' need for a quality bat could lead to them overlooking LaHair's shortcomings and acquiring the power hitter before the trade deadline.
- Mariners manager Eric Wedge doesn't like the progress his young team has made this season, but he's not ready to start sending players to Triple-A, writes Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times. "It's frustrating because I know these guys are a much better offensive club than what we're seeing them do here at home,'' Wedge said. "I don't want to hear anything about the fences, or this, that and the other. It's about what they're doing at home plate and putting up good at-bats and hitting the ball hard."
- The Angels have a special assignment scout watching the Reds–Brewers series to check up on a few players including Francisco Rodriguez, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com. The Angels entered Wednesday night's action four and a half games behind the Rangers for first place in the American League West.
As a Cubs fan, I haven’t seen anything wrong with LaHair’s defense. I think he’s a fine defensive 1B. His fielding percentage is .993.
1B Fielding percentage is about as irrelevant as it gets.
What about a player’s batting average during home games where there’s a full moon in the month of April?
You mean his FMADHGBA? its league average at .288
But what’s his batting average against pitchers with 8 or more letters in there last name on Thursdays south of the Mason-Dixon line?
A buck three eighty.
I think it’s relevant to First Basemen. I mean, it is a position and all.
Are you kidding me? The Angels are scouting F-Rod? Please God, tell me it’s just a really bad dream. Again.
I hope it’s true, i’d be so excited to see F-Rod get with the Angels. It would be a spectacular move. Just an astonishing development worthy of great cheer.
honestly…as a long time fan (and im sure we all would say that) i for one would hate seeing that guy back….i dont care if he had a .001 era….that guy had the kind of attitude you just dont want to be associated with. Hes not even pitching that great this year. Im all for my boys winning it all this year…but not with that jerk.
I’m all for anything that will put stress or limit the angels in anyway. So i’m open for it. I want that attitude in the clubhouse.
get someone…i dont care..lahair, morneau, headley, lee, carlos, get somebody… maybe lahair and dempster from the cubs???
For?
LaHair and Dempster for Sands, Lindblom, Ely and Guerra????
sounds good to me…
Trade Harang to get a decent prospect or two, and combine them with a top 10 dodger prospect to get Chase Headley, possibly taking a contract off the Padres to improve the deal.
Take most of the salary Morneau makes and platoon him with Rivera at first to use his extreme platoon statistics and ability to hit away from the Minnesota stadium, or possibly talk to Seattle about Smoak who is bad and cheap but arguably can help.
Do not try to get either Lee or LaHair. Lee only hits at his stadium and LaHair only hits when he has a BABIP of .600 too.
dodgers don’t have good enough prospects to get headley, sorry.
Jack Z. needs to fire Chris Chambliss. I’m not blaming it all on him for the Mariners offensive woes, but in the hierarchy of it all, he’s the one who is in charge of it. Then maybe these old and young guys in the organization who can’t seem to hit anything at home will get a good reminder that nobody is safe and their jobs are at stake.
This home and away BA difference is nothing less than odd. Hire these kids a good sports psychiatrist(s). Something is terribly wrong at Safeco and it needs to get fixed quick before it’s too late (and it very well could be already). Move the fences in – or anything for that matter. Do whatever it takes to get their heads straight again and like Geoff Baker basically said and something Wedge doesn’t seem to want to do – Down to AAA boys…
I’m really surprised that Ackley is still in the majors with the way he’s hitting. I imagine he’s one of the guys that Wedgie is talking about. Yea, the offense is terrible, but our pitching is horrible. Even King Felix is struggling. It’s a club-wide struggle. And while I don’t think you need to fire Chambliss, something seriously needs to be done.
The club is actually performing worse than this time last year, so go figure.
I actually do think that the Cubs and Dodgers make perfect trading partners. Obviously the Dodgers will want to make sure Dempster comes off the DL healthy, but he makes a lot of sense there with his old buddy Lilly. LaHair is an upgrade at 1B and if the Dodgers kept Sands it could be a nice L/R platoon situation at 1B for years to come, and both can also play in the outfield. Zach Lee or Chris Reed could make interesting cornerstones of the deal from the Dodger side.
We’ll take anything for Jeff Francouer –Royals fans
Over my dead body!
— Dayton Moore
PS: Hey…wh-what are you guys doing with th-that gun?
Haren continues to struggle for the Angels and has lost a lot off his fastball. Santana is erratic. Richards is a rookie. So thinking ahead to the playoffs, the Angels have two studs in Wilson and Weaver… they need a third and that could be Greinke. The Angels could offer Santana, who is under a reasonable contract, along with minor leaguers. Anaheim is a good spot for Greinke, a big market team without the NY or Boston pressure he doesn’t enjoy.