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Odds and Ends: Big Papi, Ray, Murphy

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The night in baseball so far…

  • David Ortiz finally homered after 149 regular-season at-bats without a home run dating back to September 22, 2008. Home runs tend to come in bunches, so if Ortiz quickly follows with a few more, consider the Red Sox less interested in hitters like Aubrey Huff or Nick Johnson.
  • Chris Ray is throwing with desired velocity, but still doesn't have his location, according to Spencer Fordin or MLB.com. Watch Ray's walk rate. He's walked nine in 12 2/3 innings. But with 15 strikeouts in that time, he's a bit of control away from helping the Orioles-or perhaps a contending team, come the trade deadline.
  • All those thinking the Mets will trade for a first baseman, watch the next four games carefully. The Mets are giving Daniel Murphy a chance to grab the position, and Murphy, a natural third baseman, should have an easier adjustment there than in left field.

Padres Promote Pitching Prospects: Plausible Peavys?

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Mat Latos and Will Inman, two of the best pitching prospects in the San Diego organization, each moved up a level, according to Corey Brock of MLB.com.

Latos jumped from Low-A Fort Wayne directly to Double-A San Antonio, skipping High-A entirely. That's what a 3-0 record, 0.36 ERA will do for you.

Inman moved to Triple-A Portland after posting a 4-1 record and 3.05 ERA in San Antonio.

Why does this matter? Because both pitchers are candidates to replace Jake Peavy in the rotation should the Padres decide to move him. San Diego doesn't look like it needs to aggressively promote in order to help with the 2009 pennant chase, after all.

Return of Tim Hudson Scheduled for August

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Tim Hudson, recovering from Tommy John surgery, believe he can rejoin the Atlanta Braves sometime in August, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com.

"I feel really good about where I'm at right now," Hudson said. "I haven't thrown breaking balls, splits or changeups or anything like that. But how I feel right now, it's hard to think that it's going to take me three months to get ready to pitch in a game."

Hudson could encounter a logjam when he returns, between starters Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez and Jair Jurrjens, not to mention prospects Tommy Hanson, Kris Medlen and the old standby Tom Glavine.

But the real question is this: just how well would Hudson have to pitch in the season's final month for the Braves to pick up his $12MM option? Hard to imagine anything short of a Greinke would lead the Braves to do so. They have, as an alternative, a $1MM buyout.

Is Cleveland Losing Patience with Fausto Carmona?

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Sources within the Cleveland organization were disappointed by Fausto Carmona's last start, as well as, presumably, everything he's done since winning 19 games with a 3.07 ERA in 2007, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

"There was a feeling that Carmona should have been able to get through the seventh or eighth inning," Hoynes wrote. "The fact that he didn't shows he is a long way from being a legitimate No.2 starter. And he's even farther from being a potential replacement for No. 1 starter Cliff Lee if he should be traded sometime during or after this season."

Boy, is that ever true. Since the start of the 2008 season, Carmona has a 5.52 ERA, with 168 innings pitched, 96 walks and 85 strikeouts. That's not number two starter material. That's not even number five starter material.

Carmona is only 25, but something is seriously wrong there.

Why Are So Many Pitchers Still Unsigned?

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We are nearing Memorial Day, and many pitchers whose resumes would normally have landed them at least a minor-league deal by now remain unsigned.

  • Pedro Martinez is still homeless. While the complication may be in part due to Pedro's salary demands, it is surprising that nobody has signed him. Yes, his ERA was an unsightly 5.61 in 2008, but his 2007 stint was far better-2.57 ERA in 28 innings. His 87 strikeouts against 44 walks in 109 innings also suggests a pitcher who can help a team on the back end of a rotation. Given that it is Pedro Martinez, there is upside well beyond that, of course.
  • Odalis Perez remains strangely unsigned after his even stranger signing that wasn't with Washington this spring. Perez turns 32 on June 7, and had a perfectly average 2008, with a 4.34 ERA in 159 2/3 innings. Obviously, those numbers could help any number of teams.
  • Paul Byrd did what he always does in 2008-posted an ERA in the mid 4s (4.60 to be exact), struck out around four per nine innings, and kept his team in the game. Yet Byrd has yet to sign with anyone, either.

The lack of movement on these pitchers can't be due to overwhelming performances by all the starters currently employed. After all, there's Jamie Moyer and his 8.15 ERA, Carlos Silva and his 8.48 ERA, Oliver Perez and his 9.97 ERA… plenty of others at sixes and sevens, from Scott Olsen to Scott Kazmir. (Even as I type this, Moyer is giving up another home run. No, really.)

My suspicion is that teams view Martinez, Perez or Byrd as band-aid solutions. And that would be fine, normally. After all, band-aids have a rich tradition of stopping people from bleeding.

But the trade market for pitchers has the most top targets it's had in years. The Padres are already 10 games out, and Jake Peavy will likely hit the market. If Cincinnati fades, Aaron Harang could be available. If Toronto falls back to earth- and the smart money still has them finishing fourth- Roy Halladay could be someone else's ace by August. And Cleveland's Cliff Lee will be a prominent target as well.

There are even second-tier options that can help teams now and in the future, from Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie to Seattle's Erik Bedard.  And in the current economic climate, teams that fall out of the race may have even greater incentive to shed salary as soon as possible.

So it may well be that for veteran free agents, the market will only pick up once the trade deadline has come and gone. And with so many targets out there, once the deadline deals are made July 31, there may not be any place for Martinez, Perez or Byrd to land.

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