Kuzul

The Florida Marlins started the season with two potential aces on their pitching staff—Ricky Nolasco and Josh Johnson.

Unfortunately, they will end the season with no aces on their roster.

The Marlins shut down Nolasco in August with a knee injury, and now they have shut down their No. 1 starter in Johnson with a back injury.

According to Joe Capozzi of The Palm Beach Post, via Twitter, the Marlins have ended Johnson’s season prematurely because of a lingering back injury.

Johnson was scratched from his start last Friday, and his goal was to pitch on Wednesday, but he couldn’t throw a bullpen session over the weekend, and any hopes of him returning this season went down the tubes.

Johnson finishes the season with an 11-6 record, a 2.30 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP, and 9.1 K’s/9 in 183.1 IP. His 2.30 ERA currently leads the National League.

This is really disappointing for Johnson, as I think this injury puts him out of the Cy Young Award race. I thought he would finish second in the voting at the beginning of the season to Roy Halladay, and Johnson certainly lived up to expectations.

From his May 2nd start to his July 27th start, Johnson was the best pitcher in baseball in my opinion. He was 8-2 over those 16 starts and had a ridiculous 1.31 ERA. If the Marlins offense gave him any support during those starts, he could have been 16-0 during that stretch.

Johnson should make a full recovery by the start of next season and should once again be a Cy Young favorite.

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For the third year in a row, New York Mets’ pitcher Johan Santana will go under the knife, and for the second year in a row, he will have his season end prematurely.

In 2008, Santana pitched through September with a torn meniscus in his left knee and underwent surgery after the season ended. In 2009, Santana saw his season end in August after it was determined that he needed surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow. And in 2010, Santana’s season will end in surgery again.

The New York Mets announced on Friday that Santana would miss the remainder of the season due to suffering a tear of the anterior capsule of the left shoulder. The injury is located on the front and bottom part of the shoulder close to the pectoral muscle, the team said, resulting in discomfort radiating through both the pectoral muscle and shoulder.

That is a lot of medical jargon for me. The bottom line is that Santana will have shoulder surgery, and it’s quite possible that he could miss the start of the 2011 season. For me, this represents the beginning of the end for Santana.

Santana’s season will end with the fact that for the fourth season in a row, his K/9 has declined, his BB/9 has increased, the average velocity has decreased on his fastball, and for the third season in a row, his groundball percentage has increased. Those numbers combined with the fact that he has had surgery on various body parts three years in a row, means that Santana can no longer be counted on as a legitimate ace.

Santana will be 32 years old when the season starts next year, and all of these surgeries have to be taking a tole on him. These surgeries would take a toll on a 21-year-old, let alone a 32-year-old. The transformation from strike-out pitcher to pitch to contact pitcher will be complete after this surgery.

That doesn’t mean Santana can’t be an effective pitcher moving forward. Santana is one of those pitchers that can get away with mediocre stuff and still produce a solid outing. Pitching in the National League will certainly help him.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s quite possible Santana won’t be ready for the start of the 2011 season, which already puts a negative tone in the mouth of Mets fans to start the season; Something the Mets’ organization desperately needed to avoid.

No timetable as been set yet as to when Santana will undergo the surgery.

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You know that phrase, “It was over before it started?”

Well, that is how I felt when the San Francisco Giants faced off against the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of their crucial four-game series last night in San Diego.

The Giants ripped the Padres 7-3 last night to come within one game of the NL West lead. They took the field as if they owned Petco Park and were the 1927 New York Yankees. They had confidence. They had an extra bounce in their step. They acted as if they were a playoff team.

The Padres looked as if well, they were there 2008 version of the Padres. They looked tentative. They looked as if they weren’t ready for prime time. They had zero energy.

I thought the two pitchers reflected the mindset of both teams. Matt Cain was aggressive and was pounding the strike zone all night with quality fastballs. Jon Garland was tentative and couldn’t put anyone away to save his life.

Garland served up a triple to Andres Torres on the second pitch of the game and the Padres never seemed to recover. That was a body blow and Aubrey Huff‘s two-run moonshot into the sandbox at Petco was the knockout blow.

The Giants ended up hitting three more home runs on the night, but it was Huff’s shot that really put this game away. I also thought the best player on the field last night was Freddy Sanchez.

Sanchez was 3-for-5 with a very well-timed SB, and made a great defensive play on Adrian Gonzalez to rob him of a hit in the fourth. Last night’s game was a microcosm of what Sanchez has been doing for the Giants lately.

Over his last 14 games, Sanchez has a hitting line of .418/.439/.673 with three HR’s and five doubles. He really has turned it on recently.

I am very interested to see how the next three games between these teams plays out. How will the Padres react to losing Game 1 of this series in convincing fashion? Will they be able to recover is the big question I have for the Friars.

Game 2 of this series will feature a pair of lefties going at it as Jonathan Sanchez faces off against Clayton Richard.

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When the Arizona Diamondbacks traded Edwin Jackson for Daniel Hudson back in July, I thought the Diamondbacks got a steal. Even though he projected to be a No. 3 starter, I thought he could blossom into in a No. 2 starter pitching in the NL West.

What I didn’t think would happen was Hudson pitching like a No. 1 starter. Since coming over to the Diamondbacks, Hudson has been flat-out awesome!

After pitching seven innings of one-run ball on Wednesday night against the San Francisco Giants, Hudson moved to 5-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.91 in a Diamondbacks uniform. He also has a Greg Maddux-like 0.91 WHIP and is averaging 8.1 K/9.

Hudson is 6’4″ and features a fastball in the low-90s, a slider, and a change-up. His best pitch is by far his change-up. His change-up is thrown around 83 mph and has tremendous downward movement in the strike zone. He used his change-up to perfection on Wednesday night, especially to Cody Ross.

In the top of the second, Hudson threw two deadly change-ups down and away and then busted Ross in on the hands with a 92 mph fastball. All Ross was able to do was break his bat and hit a weak grounder to short.

The at-bat featured a pitch sequence that has been time tested to get batters out for the last 100 years. Soft down and away and hard up and in. While Hudson’s velocity isn’t the best, he can get away with a 92 mph because of his outstanding control.

With Hudson, Ian Kennedy, Joe Saunders, and Barry Enright the Diamondbacks have the makings of a solid starting rotation in 2011. Hudson might be the best of them all.

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I am a great admirer of Boston Red Sox 3B Adrian Beltre. It’s not because I think he is such a great guy or that he is such a fantastic fielder. I admire Beltre because of his uncanny ability to have career years in his free agent year.

Before he became a free agent in 2005, his 2004 season was off the charts. His season was so good, I gave the term “Adrian Beltre Year” to anyone who had a monster year entering free agency.

Pena is having a down year in 2010

In 2010, Beltre is at it again. He was hitting .322 with 26 HR’s going into last night’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays. He is the only person I can think of to have two “Adrian Beltre Years.” His awesome year this year will most likely earn him a solid contract in the winter.

The opposite of Beltre has been Rays’ 1B Carlos Pena.

Like Beltre, Pena is entering his free agent year, but unlike Beltre, Pena is not having his best season. As a matter of fact, Pena has continued his steady decline ever since having his breakout year with the then Devil Rays in 2007.

Going into last night’s game, Pena was in an 0-for-21 slump, which has dropped his average to .203 on the season. It’s the fourth year in a row that his average has dipped. His OBP has dipped to .331 this year, which again represents a four year decline.

Now of course one might say that since his average is declining, it’s only natural for his OBP to decline as well. While that does make some sense, it’s not necessarily true. Pena isn’t walking as much as he used to. His 14.9 BB percentage is down from last year and his 3.97 pitches per plate appearance is the lowest since 2006 when he was a ham n’ egger with the Red Sox.

When the season starts next year, Pena will be 33-years-old and he really needed to have a monster 2010 to earn a nice payday in 2011 and beyond. Instead, his 1.2 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) puts at a reserve level player.

With a number of free agent to be first basemen having significantly better seasons than Pena — Paul Konerko, Aubrey Huff, and Adam Dunn to name a few — his options might be limited on the free agent market. I will venture to say Pena will return to the Rays on a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2012.

Look for the contract to be in the $6 to $8 million range. I can’t see the Rays giving him the $10 million he made this year.

If Pena was having a great year, he would have earned himself a multi-year deal this winter. Instead, he is having a down year, which makes him the anti-Adrian Beltre.

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Cuban defector Yunesky Maya made his debut last night for the Washington Nationals against the New York Mets, and let’s just say he got off to a rough start.

The 29-year-old (so they say) gave up five runs, five hits, and two walks in five innings of work. One of those hits was an absolute bomb by Mets’ rookie first baseman Ike Davis.

After watching Maya pitch last night, I would say the Nationals have Daisuke Matsuzaka 2.0 on their hands.

Maya featured a fastball that averaged around 90 mph, a change that was in the low-80s and two types of curveballs. Like fellow Cuban defector Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, Maya has a lollipop curve that goes from 12-to-6 in seemingly slow motion, and a nice, sweeping curve.

Also like Hernandez, he has a little deception in his motion where he tucks his glove behind his front leg when delivering the ball.

I think that’s where the comparisons to El Duque end where the comparisons to Dice-K begin.

Like Dice-K so often does, Maya kept nibbling and nibbling and nibbling last night. He refused to challenge hitters with his fastball. Out of the 87 pitches Maya threw last night, only 38 percent were fastballs. That can’t happen at the major-league level. It’s okay to nibble if a pitcher gets ahead of the batters, but Maya only threw first-pitch strikes to 12 out of the 21 batters be faced.

If Maya wants to be successful at the major-league level, he is going to have to be more aggressive in the strike zone and go after hitters more. If not, his pitch count will rise and he will just be one of those bend-but-don’t-break, five-inning pitchers.

Like Dice-K.

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Going into tonight’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox find themselves seven and a half games behind Tampa for the wild card spot in the American League. Barring an unforeseeable collapse by the Rays, the Red Sox season is essentially over.

When September comes, teams out of the playoff race call up prospects for a taste of Major League action. I don’t think the Red Sox thought they would be one of those teams at the beginning of the season, but the reality of the situation is, they are.

One of the players the Red Sox will take a look at down the stretch is Lars Anderson. Anderson was once considered the crown jewel of the Red Sox organization, but his luster has worn off over the last two seasons.

In his first two minor league seasons, Anderson put up a .305/.405/.482 hitting line and looked like he was the next coming of Justin Morneau.

However, a wrist injury really derailed his season last year and since being promoted to Triple-A this season, he has been nothing but average at best.

I have to believe that the original long-term plan for Anderson was to have him either be the starting first baseman or DH as early as next year.

I don’t see that being the plan at all for 2011. In order for Anderson to make a case for himself to be on the Red Sox roster, he is going to have to kill it in Triple-A next year.

Anderson will make his debut tonight and bat eighth for the Red Sox.

Here are some more facts about Lars Anderson:

Age: 22

Bats: Left

Throws: Left

College: None. Went to Jesuit High School in Carmichael, CA.

Drafted: 18th round of the 2006 June Draft

Minor League Stats:

2007 Single A, High Single A: .292/.393/.446, 6 HR, 37 doubles, 134 games

2008 High Single A, Double A: .317/.417/.517, 18 HR, 32 doubles, 118 games

2009 Double A: .233/.328/.345, 9 HR, 23 doubles, 119 games

2010 Double A, Triple A: .262/.340/.428, 10 HR, 37 doubles, 113 games

Keith Law Ranking and Analysis:

Ranking: No. 57 out of 100 best prospects in baseball for 2010.

Analysis: “The universal answer to the question of ‘What happened to Lars Anderson in 2009?’ seems to be ‘You tell me.’ Anderson came into the season as a polished hitter with patience, plate coverage and power, started slowly and finished horribly, with just one home run after June and a .201/.298/.265 line during that span.

Nothing changed about his mechanics—he starts with a big move down into the hitting position, after which he takes a short path to the ball and…well, he used to drive it to all fields and show big pull power, at least in BP, but everything went awry for him in 2009, and the cause appears to be more mental than physical or mechanical.

Anderson is an unusually intelligent player—he was spotted at spring training one year on a back field, by himself, reading “Lonesome Dove”—and should be able to find his way out of the morass, but sometimes the game’s challenges get too deep into a player’s head, and some players never recover.”

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What on earth is going on with the San Diego Padres? On my birthday (August 25th), the Padres ripped the Arizona Diamondbacks a new one, beating them 9-3 at home. That win moved the Padres to 76-49 on the season and moved them 6.5 games up on the second place San Francisco Giants.

Unfortunately for the Padres and their fans, it’s September 6 and they still have 76 wins.

The Padres lost again to the Colorado Rockies yesterday, 4-2, and now have lost 10 straight games. It’s the first losing streak of 10 or more games by a first place team since the Pittsburgh Pirates accomplished the feat in 1932. The Padres now have a mere one game lead over the Giants in the NL West.

So back to my question earlier—what on earth is going on with the Padres?

It seems like a perfect storm of both poor offense and pitching.

During this 10 game losing streak, the Padres’ offense has put up a .216/.267/.312 hitting line with just six HRs. Ryan Ludwick, who was brought over from the St. Louis Cardinals to add offense, has hit just .194 with zero HR’s and a .222 slugging percentage during the last 10 games.

Chase Headley, who was having a very solid season through Aug. 25th, is hitting only .189 with one extra-base hit during this stretch. It seems that only Adrian Gonzalez is doing his part during this losing streak. He is hitting .361 with a .967 OPS in the last 10 games.

While the offense has struggled, the pitching staff has been no better. The Padres’ pitching staff has an ERA of 5.00 during this stretch and is allowing 1.2 HR’s/game. When your offense is averaging 2.3 runs/game and the pitching staff is giving up five runs/game, it’s usually not a good combination.

It’s pretty clear that the Padres have hit a wall in the season. And this is what happens to teams who are forced to grind it out over the course of a long season. I will compare what the Padres are going through to what the New Jersey Devils used to go through in the mid-90′s and early-2000′s.

During that time, the Devils used to play a ton of 1-0, 2-1 games. Those type of games put a lot of pressure on teams day in and day out. By the time the playoffs started, the Devils would be worn out from playing so many tight games. Every now and then a team needs a laugher—either way.

The Devils would start off slow, run through the league during the middle of the season, and then struggle down the stretch. Sound familiar, Padre fans?

This is what I think the Padres are going through right now. They need to figure out a way to catch their second wind. I guess the biggest difference between the Padres and the Devils is that GM Lou Lamariello used to fire the coach to give the team a spark, and that clearly is not going to happen with the Padres.

If the Padres are going to turn things around, they are going to need to do it in the face of a brutal schedule down the stretch. The Padres play the Giants seven times, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cardinals for four games, at Colorado, and the Los Angeles Dodgers for six games. The Padres also play the Chicago Cubs for three games, but other than that, they have a brutal, brutal schedule.

If you are going to ask me to make a prediction, I am going to say the Padres don’t recover. Once the air comes out of the balloon, it’s hard to blow it back up again. I say it will all come to down to the final three games of the season, when the Padres play at the Giants.

The Giants will win two-out-of-three and win the division.

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Over the course of his five seasons in the major leagues, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Jered Weaver has established himself as one of the better pitchers, not only in the American League, but in all of baseball. 2010 might be Weaver’s best season yet in the major leagues.

Through 29 starts, Weaver has a 3.14 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP, and leads the AL in K’s with 205. He is a three pitch pitcher, whose fastball-changeup-curveball combination is one of the best in baseball. Despite his solid season, Weaver is only a .500 pitcher.

Weaver’s record after 29 starts is a pedestrian 11-11. While Weaver has had his share of clunkers throughout the season, like his May 18th performance at the Texas Rangers (seven runs and nine hits in 4.2 IP), lately the Angels’ offense hasn’t helped Weaver out at all.

Over Weaver’s last 13 starts, the Angels have scored a grand total of 23 runs. That’s less than two runs a game for those of you scoring at home. Weaver is 4-8 in those starts despite only giving up a little over three runs a game during that span.

The lack of run support has to be taxing not only on Weaver, but on any pitcher. To go out to the mound knowing that giving up just one run could be the difference in the game puts a tremendous amount of strain on the arm. Many point to the lack of run support that Sandy Koufax received with the Brooklyn Dodgers that helped shorten his career.

Weaver has pitched much better than his record indicates. Perhaps one of these starts the Angels’ offense will help Weaver out.

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The last time Mark Prior took the mound in a major league game, it was August 10th, 2006 against the Milwaukee Brewers. He lasted just three innings that day as he gave up four hits, five walks, and four earned runs.

Since that day and a lot of shoulder issues later, Prior has done everything he could to possibly pitch on a major league again. He even pitched in the independent Golden Baseball League to prove he could still pitch in the majors.

Prior hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2006

Now after Friday, Prior is one step closer to pitching on a major league mound again.

The Texas Rangers signed the 29-year-old Prior to a minor league contract yesterday. He will report to Triple-A today.

While Prior was a starter many moons ago, he is now trying to make it as a reliever. While playing for the Orange County Flyers of the before mentioned Golden Baseball League, Prior had a 0.00 ERA with 22 K’s, five hits, and five walks in 11 IP—all in relief.

It will be very interesting to see if Prior has anything left. It’s hard to judge his accomplishments for the Flyers because the independent leagues are nothing to write home about. As someone who has sat through a Long Island Ducks and Newark Bears game, the talent level at that level is a cross between Double-A and Triple-A.

Regardless of whether or not Prior succeeds, I think his comeback is a testament to his love of the game. To go through the amount of injuries he has and still want to pitch is pretty amazing.

By the way, did you know that Prior’s teammate in Orange County was Byung-Hyun Kim? The last time we saw Kim was in 2007 with the Florida Marlins. Of course Kim’s career officially ended in 2001 when the New York Yankees ripped his heart out twice in the World Series.

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