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Quick Hits: Anthopoulos, Lee, Sabathia

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On the one-year anniversary of Stephen Strasburg's Tommy John surgery, let's look at some links from around the league. Strasburg, by the way, will be making his first start back from the injury this coming Tuesday.

  • Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos spoke to MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm about his recent trip to Japan. Anthopoulos acknowledged that he went to see Yu Darvish, but he called it "due diligence" and noted that there are also free agents (like Hisashi Iwakuma) worth looking at. The link offers plenty of quotes, so make sure you click through.
  • Pirates manager Clint Hurdle told Rob Biertempfel of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he's lobbying for the team to re-sign Derrek Lee after the season, but neither Lee nor GM Neal Huntington would indicate that it's a possibility. "I'm not going to close any doors," said the first baseman, "but it's something I haven't even thought about."
  • In a piece for ESPN Insider, Dan Szymborski looked at what the next few years could have in store for Yankees ace CC Sabathia, and also explained how pitchers of similar size performed into their 30s. Sabathia can opt out of his contract after the season, and Szymborski concludes that "losing him is more expensive than keeping him, and there is little evidence that his size will be a problem going forward."

Braves Notes: Carroll, Wilson, Diaz

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Congratulations to Chipper Jones, who hit his 450th career home run tonight. Here’s the latest on the franchise that selected the switch-hitter first overall 21 years ago… 

  • The Braves, who had interest in Jamey Carroll before acquiring Jack Wilson, could likely have acquired Carroll for a low-level prospect, according to Steve Dilbeck of the LA Times. It’s believed that the Dodgers would have covered the remainder of Carroll’s $2.3MM salary, Dilbeck writes.
  • The player to be named in the Matt Diaz trade will be a low-level prospect from an agreed-upon pool of players, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (on Twitter).
  • The Braves added Diaz because they’re looking ahead to a possible playoff matchup against the Phillies, ESPN.com's Buster Olney writes (on Twitter).

Braves Acquire Matt Diaz

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Diaz

Matt Diaz is returning to the Braves, as the Pirates announced they've traded him to Atlanta for a player to be named later or cash considerations.  Diaz fits the Braves' desire to add a right-handed hitting bench bat, and of course they had him in the organization from 2006-10 before non-tendering him last winter. 

Diaz, 33, is hitting .259/.303/.324 in 231 plate appearances for the Pirates this year while playing mostly right field.  He was signed to a two-year, $4.25MM deal in December, but hasn't shown the expected power production against left-handed pitchers.  David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes on Twitter that the Pirates are sending some cash to the Braves to offset Diaz's $2MM salary for 2012.  The Braves might not be done dealing, hears ESPN's Buster Olney (Twitter link).  

GMs Neal Huntington and Frank Wren have matched up on three prior trades according to our Transaction Tracker, most notably the June '09 deal that sent Nate McLouth to Atlanta.

ESPN's Buster Olney first reported the trade.  Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Phillies Acquire John Bowker

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WEDNESDAY: The Phillies announced the trade.  They are sending a player to be named later or cash considerations to the Pirates for Bowker, and Jose Contreras goes to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster.

TUESDAY: The Phillies acquired outfielder John Bowker from the Pirates, reports Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly.  Bowker is expected to join the Phillies for Wednesday's game in Cincinnati.  Salisbury says reliever Michael Schwimer was sent to Triple-A to create a spot on the active roster, though the Phillies will still need to open a 40-man spot.

Bowker, a 28-year-old left-handed hitter, has spent most of the year at Triple-A, where he's hit .308/.351/.487 in 445 plate appearances while playing the outfield corners and first base.  The Pirates acquired Bowker from the Giants at last year's trade deadline in the Javier Lopez deal, designated him for assignment in April of this year, and outrighted him to Triple-A a few days later.

Bowker, a third-round pick in 2004, is one of eight players in Giants history to homer in his big league debut.  He played college ball at Long Beach State, where he was a teammate of Troy Tulowitzki and Jason Vargas.

Pirates Release Joe Beimel

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TODAY: The Pirates have released Beimel, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.

AUGUST 23rd: The Pirates announced they've designated lefty reliever Joe Beimel for assignment to open a spot on the active roster for Ross Ohlendorf.

Beimel, 34, has a 5.33 ERA, 6.0 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 2.1 HR/9, and 41.2% groundball rate with 34 hits allowed in 25 1/3 innings this year after surrendering a longball to Ryan Braun last night.  Several contenders, including the Yankees and Phillies, are known to be seeking a veteran lefty.  Beimel has been decent against left-handed hitters this year, but he's only faced 46 of them.

The Pirates signed Beimel to a minor league deal in January; the southpaw has ties to Pittsburgh.  His yearly salary while in the Majors is $1.75MM.

Pirates Notes: Maholm, Lee, Ludwick, Jones

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Despite the Pirates' midseason flirtation with the pennant race, they're going to finish below .500 again, barring a late-season surge. Here's the latest on the 62-71 Pirates from Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review…

  • The Pirates still haven’t approached Paul Maholm about a possible extension, according to Biertempfel. The club has a $9.75MM option for Maholm in 2012 and they expect to keep him around, despite the shoulder strain that currently has him on the disabled list. "It's a no-brainer to want to try to keep him here," GM Neal Huntington told Biertempfel.
  • Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick will get lots of playing time when they return from the disabled list, since it could affect the Pirates' ability to attract players to Pittsburgh. "How you treat players is a recruiting piece," Huntington said.
  • The Pirates haven’t given up on Garrett Jones, who is hitting well in August and now has a .249/.331/.452 season line with 15 homers.
  • Right-hander Chris Leroux would like to move from the bullpen to the rotation, but that seems unlikely, according to Biertempfel. Leroux, who has been excellent in 13 innings out of the ‘pen this year, is out of options.

NL Central Links: McCutchen, Cubs, Ramirez, Crane

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After Yovani Gallardo struck out ten Cubs en route to another Milwaukee victory, the club's division lead reached double digits for the first time this season, with the Cardinals now 10.5 games back. The Brewers will send Zack Greinke to the hill today as they look to sweep the Cubs and continue chipping away at their magic number (19). Let's check out the rest of the morning's updates from the NL Central….

NL Central Notes: Lopez, Brewers, Snyder

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A few items of note out of the NL Central, where the first-place Brewers owned a 9.5-game lead entering Saturday's action:

  • Brewers GM Doug Melvin said he's giving infielder Felipe Lopez time to look for a job with another team before he must accept an assignment to Triple-A, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Lopez was recently designated for assignment, cleared waivers, and outrighted to Nashville.
  • Melvin also mentioned that the Brewers were awarded two waivers claims but were unable to reach agreement on trades to acquire the claimed players, Haudricourt reports (Twitter link). It sounds like the claimed players were lefty relievers, according to Haudricourt.
  • Pirates catcher Chris Snyder, on the DL since June, is hoping to return to action before the season's out, writes Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. The Bucs hold a $6.75MM option ($750K buyout) on Snyder for 2012, and Langosch speculates that while the Pirates may not find the option attractive, they might be interested in buying it out and re-signing Snyder at a lower cost.

Pirates Sign Nelson Figueroa

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The Pirates signed right-hander Nelson Figueroa and assigned him to Triple-A, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (on Twitter). The Astros had released Figueroa Friday, soon after he returned from the disabled list.

Figueroa started the season in Houston's rotation, but the Astros designated him for assignment in May after he posted an 8.69 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9 in 29 innings. The 37-year-old spent most of the season at Triple-A, where he posted a 6.50 ERA with 5.7 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 81 2/3 innings.

Quick Hits: Davis, Marlins, Draft

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The Rangers beat the Orioles 30-3 on this date four years ago. In one of the most bizarre statistical quirks in recent memory, Rangers reliever Wes Littleton actually picked up a save in the game. Here are today's links, starting with an update on Texas and Baltimore… 

  • Rangers GM Jon Daniels reached out to Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail when he heard about Chris Davis' strained shoulder, according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. The Orioles, who obtained Davis from Texas in a trade late last month, haven't had serious talks about reworking the deal, according to Sullivan. Daniels says the sides could revisit the trade at some point, though.
  • Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun Sentinel says it's doubtful that the Marlins would allow president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest to interview for the Cubs' GM opening (Twitter link). 
  • The Nationals, D'Backs, Red Sox, Pirates and Rays had the best drafts this year, Jim Callis writes at Baseball America.
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