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Ryan Flaherty entered the Baltimore’s camp in a three-way battle with Matt Antonelli and Steve Tolleson for the utility infield spot on the Oriole roster.

With Antonelli and Tolleson both being sent to Minor League camp on Monday, it appears that Manager Buck Showalter and GM Dan Duquette are set on Flaherty making the squad as the utility infielder.

Flaherty is a Rule 5 pick that the Orioles picked up from the Cubs over the off-season, and if he doesn’t break camp with the team he will be offered back to the Chicago.

The Orioles have stressed that his status as a Rule 5 pick would not effect whether or not he makes the team, but rather his performance would be the key to him making the team.

Flaherty has made the decision easy for the O’s—he has simply out-performed Antonelli and Tolleson.

On offense, Flaherty has posted an OPS of .777 this spring, compared to .676 for Tolleson and .527 for Antonelli.

Versatility also plays a key role in why the O’s appear to be leaning towards Flaherty, as he has played every position besides catcher and center field this Spring.

With the moves made earlier in the week it appears Flaherty will be given a chance to be a Major League ball player.

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When you look around Citizens Bank Park, or, since it’s still Spring Training, Brighthouse Networks Field, you don’t see the once potent offense the Phillies had in 2008 when they beat the Tampa Bay Rays to capture the World Series title. You just don’t.

Chase Utley has chronic knee injuries which limit him severely, Jimmy Rollins has lost a step in the hole and on the base paths, Ryan Howard’s power seems to be diminishing with age—an Achilles injury doesn’t help—and the once-powerful bat of Pat Burrell is no longer here. Even Placido Polanco is looking as old as ever, and Tigers fans said that happened in 2006.

Everyone always says, “Pitching wins championships.” And, for the last two years, the Phillies have had the pitching. I mean, what’s better than three dominant aces and a blossoming young righty?

However, the 2008 Phillies were nearly the opposite of the team GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has amassed today. In 2008, Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, and Joe Blanton all made names for themselves by getting hot in the World Series, but the team was really carried by a top-notch offense comprised of Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, and Chase Utley.

Today, however, that “top-notch” offense is nearly gone. It’s been replaced by the best on paper rotation ever assembled.

Key word? On paper. 

Even though Halladay, Lee, and Hamels have been stellar in the regular season, hiccups like Game 1 of the 2010 NLCS and Game 2 of the 2011 NLDS by Halladay and Lee respectively have shown chinks in the armor. But these are minor setbacks.

The more important thing is, unlike common misconception, a loaded lineup wins championships. The Phillies did in 2008, the Yankees did it 2009, and last year’s champion Cardinals had Lance Berkman, Matt Holliday, and Albert Pujols in the lineup.

If you aren’t able to outscore your opponent, you won’t be able to win any big games. And now to get to the point: if Philadelphia needs anyone to step it up, it isn’t Hamels, Halladay, Lee, or even new closer Jonathan Papelbon. It’s their two best hitters, Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino.

These two fellows were fantastic in Phillies uniforms last season, outplaying former MVPs Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.

In fact, by saber-metric parameters, Victorino and Pence easily outplayed those two. Pence posted a 5.3 WAR, while Victorino had 5.1. Howard only had 2.7, with Rollins coming in at 3.7.

And it was obvious in their statistics as well: Pence and Victorino are now the engines of a completely different Phillies lineup. In only 54 games as a Phillie, Pence hit an unbelievable .324 with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs. Victorino had 17 home runs, 16 triples, and 27 doubles while posting an impressive .491 slugging percentage.

Due to their production, Pence and Victorino will most likely be in the heart of the lineup, hitting fourth and second respectively. This means that they will need to drive in runners as well as get on base themselves, but until Ryan Howard returns in mid-summer, most of the power in the Phillies lineup will come from them. That’s what I call an X-Factor.

Thankfully, both of them are among only a handful of key Phillies who have been injury-free this offseason.

That’s a good thing considering their offensive production could certainly determine how efficient the offense is, and more important, how far the Phillies go in this year’s postseason.

Read more of my work here. 

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Atlanta Braves fans just got some news that is not all that pleasing–Chipper Jones will have arthroscopic surgery on Monday and miss the start of the regular season.

While the fact that Jones is injured is not that surprising to fans, as we’ve seen that happen many times over the last few years, it’s the fact that he’ll start out the season on the disabled list in what is his final season as a pro ballplayer.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution David O’Brien, the injury happened about an hour before Jones’ Thursday news conference in which he announced he would retire at the end of this season.

In this, his 19th season with the Braves, Jones hopes to return for the Braves home opener against the Brewers on April 13.

The injury is to the meniscus in his left knee and will force him to miss the Braves first two road series against the Mets and the Astros.

So, what does this mean for the Braves as they open the season?

For starters, Martin Prado will begin the season as the starting third baseman with Eric Hinske or Matt Diaz starting in left field, although don’t be surprised if Jose Constanza or Jordan Parraz get to start the year in Atlanta and earn some starts.

This could also open the opportunity for both Tyler Pastornicky and Andrelton Simmons to start the year in Atlanta, regardless of who wins the starting job at shortstop out of spring training.

While most think the injury does hurt the Braves, it’s better his time on the DL happens at the beginning of the year against the Mets and Astros, rather than later in the year.

Even if he’s not ready by the home opener, there’s not too much to be concerned about with the Brewers and Mets opening the Braves home slate in the next two series.

Without Jones, the Braves will still have a good opportunity to start the season off with a good record. It will be their two road series next against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers where it will be important for Jones to be back in the lineup.

All-in-all, I don’t believe Jones starting the year on the disabled list is going to be that big of a deal.

The team has gotten used to that happening over the last few years and has made due with replacements while he was out with injury.

If anything, this give manager Fredi Gonzalez an opportunity to see what having Prado start at third base does for a period of time, while having another player in the outfield.

Depending on the outcome, it could go a long way in determining if the Braves go after any big name free agents after this season.

Should these players do well, maybe the Braves won’t make as big of a splash in the free-agent market as we believe they’ll make.

Regardless, this isn’t what Braves fans wanted to see happening to Jones at the start of his final season.

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According to CSNBayArea.com, San Francisco Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez is almost certain to start the 2012 season on the disabled list. Not surprising, given his slow progress in regaining full health following surgery for his season-ending shoulder injury last year.

The crux of the issue in Sanchez’s road to recovery is indeed his arm strength. Having sustained a ruptured labrum in his right shoulder, the rehabilitation to recapturing his throwing velocity is indeed taking longer than anticipated. But it’s not entirely unexpected, considering the severity of the injury.

As a result, the Giants have found themselves at a minor fork in the road, and will likely take the route of placing Sanchez on the DL to start the season, according to MercuryNews.com.

This is debilitating news for San Francisco, who had hoped that Sanchez would be able to take the field at second base sometime sooner rather than later. Alas, Sanchez has yet to find the confidence in his right shoulder to play second base in a spring game, and he’s been fairly limited when it comes to taking infield practice.

As such, there remains no timetable to get him some action at second. Says manager Bruce Bochy, “…if he can’t go out there and play defense, the best thing to do is start him on the DL.”

Nothing is set in stone, and it’s possible that through some magic healing powers he could be ready by Opening Day. Realistically, the Giants are anticipating being without their starting second baseman for a decent amount of time.

In the event that Sanchez does not make the Opening Day roster, Bochy has clouded vision for which player could be his Sanchez’ replacement. Who would start in Sanchez’s stead?

According to Owen Perkins of MLB.com, San Francisco has fielded six different second basemen this spring, with Emmanuel Burris, Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot leading the way in appearances and innings played. Theriot and Fontenot have the upper hand in big league exposure—Theriot is in his eighth season in the majors, and Fontenot is in his seventh.  

Burriss, is the younger pup, with only 222 games under his belt, only 56 at second base. But he has been raking the ball this spring, sporting a robust .464 batting average in 13 games.

With such a scoring showing in training camp, Burriss definitely secures a roster spot—either as a backup middle infielder or as the starting second baseman pro tempore. Burriss’ speed would be a significant infusion in the lineup that is somewhat slow.

Placing Burriss towards the top of the order behind Angel Pagan could provide a dynamic 1-2 punch. Plus, his versatility as a switch-hitter is an added bonus.

However, based on past experience, it would appear that Theriot or Fontenot would get the nod over Burriss. The Giants are keen on keeping one of them as a backup middle infielder—at least one of them. Now, with Sanchez destined for the DL, the likelihood that both are on the Opening Day roster increases.

It’s hard to pick which of the two would be a better candidate to start at second base. Theriot has a career .987 fielding percentage at second base. Meanwhile, Fontenot owns a .981 career fielding percentage at the position. Both are fundamentally more sound on defense than Burriss, who produced a .972 overall fielding percentage last season.

Yet it is Theriot whose job security is undetermined. The 32-year-old is in a precarious situation. If he remains on the roster on March 29th, San Francisco will owe him his full $1.25 million contract that he signed as a free agent this past winter. However, if the Giants release him prior, they only have to pay him one fourth of that amount.

Still, with Sanchez’s indefinite recovery, it’s almost necessary that the Giants keep all three infielders—Burriss, Fontenot and Theriot. Especially when considering that penciled-in starting shortstop Brandon Crawford is only in his second big-league season, and, as a left-handed hitter, will likely sit out against left-handed pitching.

Which bodes well for the right-handed hitting Theriot.

With all of the uncertainty surrounding Sanchez, the race for backup middle infielders becomes more clouded. It’s undecided as to who will start in Sanchez’ place if he were to land on the disabled list.

But it’s becoming more evident that San Francisco will have to have that many able-bodied infielders to man the middle for the time being—or at least until Sanchez is ready to resume the full-time role.

Which could be a while.

With all that said, the Giants should insert Burriss, who’s wielding a sizzling bat this spring, into the Opening Day lineup as the starting second baseman. Should he falter in any way, Fontenot and Theriot are formidable options to platoon.

Follow me on Twitter: @nathanieljue

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When the Detroit Tigers wisely decided not to bring back Brad Penny following an offense-aided 10-10 record in 2012, the competition for the fifth starter in their rotation was underway.

Justin Verlander, Doug Fister, Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello represent a strong—but incomplete—rotation. Not only are they a man short, but they’re all right-handed pitchers and lack the the lefty to complement them and keep opposing teams off-balance.

The lack of a left-hander could come back to haunt the Tigers as the team presumed to be their biggest competition for the AL Central crown, the Cleveland Indians, feature a predominately left handed lineup.

The Tigers are less than two weeks away from their first game, and there is no clear-cut candidate for that final rotation spot. Because of off-days in their early schedule they technically don’t need a fifth starter until April 15 at the earliest, so Jim Leyland and Dave Dombrowski have a little, but not much, time to make a decision.

Here’s how the top contenders shake out right now.

Begin Slideshow

Opening Day is near and the Pittsburgh Pirates are finally making some moves to put a winning team on the field.

I was born in Pittsburgh in November of 1991. I was technically alive (though probably not conscious) when the Pirates finished the 1992 season with 96 wins and 66 losses and lost to the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series.

Since then, the Pirates have failed to win more games than they lost every season. My 17-year-old sister has never been alive for a winning season for the Pirates.

With one of the nicest ballparks in MLB, the Pirates still attract thousands of fans to home games despite poor performance on the field. Poor ownership, management and team chemistry have led to the longest winning season drought in ANY major professional league.

However, this year, the Pirates might finally hit the .500 mark. It is 2012 after all. 

Maybe this was part of the Mayans prediction.

The pitching is…not terrible. Kevin Correia was selected as an All-Star last year along with closer Joel Hanrahan.  The Pirates actually made a big splash in the offseason for the first time in a long time by acquiring A.J. Burnett, a starting pitcher in the 2009 World Series Champion New York Yankees‘ starting rotation. He is expected to be the team’s ace once he returns from an injury to his eye.

The Buccos showed a lot of potential last year. 

At the end of July, they were in first place in the NL Central and showing they could win. The season started to fall apart (as usual) after a blown call led to a Pirates’ loss to the Braves in a 19-inning game.

The Pirates are fairly young and still developing. 

Outfielders Andrew McCutchen (25), Jose Tabata (23), and Alex Presley (26), third basemen Pedro Alvarez (25), second baseman Neil Walker (26) are emerging as leaders for the Pirates and have a drive to win.

Lastly, the NL Central is a weak division. 

Albert Puljos no longer powers the Cardinals and Prince Fielder left Milwaukee—both of the NL Central’s playoff representatives in last year’s postseason. Both St. Louis and Milwaukee are still great teams, but maybe not quite as good as last season. 

A few wins here and there against the division leaders, and the Pirates might be able to pull off a winning record.

Picking the Pirates as a playoff contender is a stretch, but an above .500 season is not. 

There are 162 games in an MLB season, and for the first time in almost 20 years, the Pirates have a chance to contend (contend being the key word) for a playoff slot and finally end the depressing days for Pirates’ fans.

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Dontrelle Willis has signed a minor-league contract with the Baltimore Orioles, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN. According to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun, it is a “split contract that’s worth $700k for bigs.”

How did this happen?

After an explosive start to his career, which was highlighted by 22-10 campaign in 2005, the 30-year-old left-hander hit a wall and struggled to find his way back to the major leagues on a permanent basis.

Although last season was definitely not incredibly successful for Willis, as he posted a 1-6 record and a 5.00 ERA, one interesting statistic emerged. Right-handed hitters were having a field day against Willis, but left-handed batters only managed to hit .127 against him. In the 55 times Willis faced a left-handed bat last season, 20 of them were sent back to the dugout on strikes. Getting outs is a step in the right direction.

This type of effectiveness against left-handers convinced the Philadelphia Phillies to give him a spot as a bullpen specialist. However, that didn’t work out as planned. Willis surrendered five earned runs in 2.2 innings this spring, leading to his release from the Phillies.

That brings us to the Baltimore Orioles. A few days ago, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted that the Baltimore Orioles are looking for starting pitching. Willis might be an interesting option; $700,000 is not very much to pay for someone who was, at one point, near the top of baseball. What if he is able to recapture some of his old magic?

I’m not saying that this is a likely situation, but Willis proved last season that he can get people out (though, granted, mainly just left-handed batters). However, what if he really is on an uphill track? He probably won’t be able to win 22 games again, but I will admit that it would be nice to see Dontrelle Willis make a return as a serviceable starting pitcher.

Whether you think I know everything or nothing about Major League Baseball, you should follow me on Twitter and keep in touch. I love hearing what you all have to say!

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Houston Astros outfielder J.D. Martinez had a decent rookie season, compiling a .274/.319/.423 slash average with six home runs and 35 RBI in 226 plate appearances after joining the team in late July. 

Though he’s slated to be the Astros starting left fielder this season, Martinez wanted to be in great shape when he got to spring training. To achieve that, he wanted to be pushed hard. So hard that he’d leave his effort all over the training room. Literally. 

According to Steve Campbell of the Houston Chronicle, Martinez was looking for something particular in a personal trainer. He made that requirement clear to the person recommended to him for the job.

“I told him, ‘If you don’t make me puke in the first week, I’m not going to come back,’” Martinez said.

One of Martinez’s friends and former teammates referred him to trainer Nick Casazza, who was all too willing to fulfill Martinez’s wishes. Within 10 minutes of their first workout, Martinez was vomiting.

“When he went outside and threw up, he was looking at me like I was the craziest person he ever met in his life,” Casazza said. “But you know what? The kid showed up the next day. He kept coming back. I said, ‘This guy is the real deal.’”

Martinez and Casazza have actually been working together since after the 2010 season. Their primary objective was for Martinez to add muscle and keep on weight through the long grind of a baseball season. Last year, he began the season at 225 pounds, but was down to 205 by the end of the year.

One would think Martinez would have an easier time keeping weight on if he wasn’t puking it out all the time. However, he managed to pack on a good amount of muscle by the time he reported to spring training this year, weighing in at a lean, mean 235 pounds.

Someone get this guy on the cover of Men’s Health magazine. 

(via ESPN’s Buster Olney)

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Earlier today, Buster Olney reported that Miguel Cabrera has a small fracture under his right eye and might be out a week or two.

It almost goes without saying that Cabrera is a very lucky man. As a Cyclops who has undergone numerous vision-altering (and destroying) eye surgeries, you just don’t want to get in a position when the doctors have to start poking at your peepers with a shrimp fork. I don’t mean to denigrate the wonderful professionals who saved my life, but once you go down that road, there really aren’t a lot of good outcomes. For me, a writer, it means small but significant limitations on my activities. For a ballplayer, it can be the end. If Kirby Puckett was still alive, you could ask him about it.

I alluded to the Tigers’ short-term alternatives to Cabrera in yesterday’s post on the mishap. Assuming the diagnosis and timeframe for recovery are accurate, these are less important than whether the injury calls into question the entire Cabrera-at-Third experiment. The answer, in three one-syllable words: Of course not.

The Tigers will derive great benefits from playing Cabrera at third, or at least they could if they are smart about how they use the designated hitter spot. Instead of alternating Prince Fielder and Cabrera at designated hitter and playing a non-hitter at third base (or spending organizational resources to upgrade there), they get to place bats at both corners and move Delmon Young’s astoundingly poor glove out of left field. This presents only two problems:

1.  Delmon Young isn’t a good hitter for a designated hitter or left field. Young is only 26, but despite his solid hitting in 2006, he must be rated one of the game’s great prospect busts.

2. The Tigers aren’t exactly going to exploit their left field opening. Neither Andy Dirks nor Clete Thomas is an impact hitter; the Tigers might be better to try to pry Kirk Gibson away from the Diamondbacks and see what he has left at 54.

Any third baseman can be undressed, Charlie Brown style, by a hard-hit ball; yesterday’s play was not the inevitable result of Cabrera’s lack of ability at the position, and there is no reason to think that he will be in mortal danger each time a ball is hit his way. The remaining question is,
will Cabrera’s defensive shortcomings be so severe that they will negate whatever offensive advantage the Tigers derive from this alignment?

The answer is probably not, but that may also have more to do with how the left fielders and designated hitters perform. If his defense somehow is that bad, nothing says that the Tigers can’t make another change, whether by moving Cabrera back to first base/DH or trading for another third baseman. It’s a common mistake, but everyone makes it: just because a team is playing a certain roster or lineup on Opening Day doesn’t mean that they’re locked into that alignment.

Given that, it seems particularly unlikely that this is the Tigers lineup we will see in October. They are almost certainly going to win the AL Central, and with the World Series scent in their nose, they’re almost certainly going to upgrade somewhere, be it in left field, at DH, or even second base, where Ryan Raburn may be challenged to last a full season. The good news, in a glass-half-full sense, is that they have the flexibility to make a move, flexibility that Cabrera at third base allows them to have.

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Norichika Aoki may have been feeling some pressure. At the very least, the Japanese rookie was surely pressing after compiling a .194 batting average going into the Milwaukee Brewers‘ Cactus League game against the Texas Rangers on Monday.

Acclimating himself to a new country and playing baseball against a level of pitching he’s never seen before likely wasn’t helping matters. Perhaps Aoki was also feeling underprepared, with the intensity of spring workouts more than a notch below the workouts Japanese players typically go through. 

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke had no answers, but thought Aoki might benefit by trying to relax and not try too hard to impress his new coaches and teammates.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but after having that conversation with his skipper, Aoki had the breakout performance of his spring (he says the chat helped him). 

His bat came to life on Monday with three hits in three at-bats, including a triple, to go with three RBI and a stolen base. Aoki was the only hitter in the Brewers lineup to get a hit off Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish, knocking a RBI single up the middle in the second inning. 

Perhaps facing a fellow countryman helped, as well. Aoki certainly seemed familiar with Darvish’s pitching repertoire, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt. “He throws a lot of breaking balls,” Aoki told him Sunday. “He throws fastball, too, but has a lot of breaking balls.”

Familiarity didn’t work out so well for Darvish, who apparently had some tough battles with Aoki in Japan.

From MLB.com‘s Adam McCalvy:

“I’ve always hated facing him,” Darvish said. “The Brewers have a lot of good hitters in their lineup, and he seems just like one of them. He’s a very tough hitter to face.”

Aoki’s struggles haven’t necessarily affected his status on the team. He was slated to be the Brewers’ fourth or fifth outfielder once the regular season began. But with Corey Hart recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee earlier this month, Aoki is likely to be Milwaukee’s Opening Day right fielder. That means he should get plenty of opportunities through the rest of spring training to work on a swing two years removed from a 200-hit season.

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