Kuzul

The San Diego Padres are four games up on the San Francisco Giants in the National League’s Western Division and they’re doing it all without second baseman David Eckstein and right-hander Chris Young.

So far, the Padres have been able to stem the tide without Eckstein and have pitched better than most thought without their ace. Just when it looked like they might be without both players until deep into September, they might get both back sooner than anyone thought.

Eckstein is headed to Fort Wayne, IN to play a few rehab games with the Padres’ Single-A affiliate. He told Corey Brock of MLB.com that he’s not so much worried about how he swings the bat but how his calf holds up going full speed. If he feels good, the Padres should have him back sometime next week.

As for Chris Young, he has started to work his way back and threw his fifth bullpen session on Monday while the team is in Chicago to face the Cubs. He is scheduled to throw a simulated game on Thursday and could be back with the Padres by early September.

The big 6’10” right-hander hasn’t pitched since he went on the disabled list after his first start of the year back in April. The team has done just fine without him, having young pitchers like Mat Latos, Clayton Richard, and Wade LeBlanc along with veterans Jon Garland and Kevin Correia. However, getting Chris Young back would be a definite boost for this team especially in the final month of the regular season and the NL West division on the line.

The biggest question is, if Young is able to return, where do you put him?

You can’t shut down Mat Latos for the year because the Padres will need him, especially if the division lead is within two or three games. if Kevin Correia is struggling in the rotation, you could move him to the bullpen, but he’s been a workhorse for the Padres for the last two seasons with Young spending most of that time on the disabled list.

That leads me to this conclusion. Put Young in the bullpen. Not only do you put less stress on his arm but it strengthens an already outstanding bullpen.

You have guy like Latos starting who’s able to go at least six to seven innings, then having to face Young out of the bullpen followed by Mike Adams and Heath Bell would be as automatic as they come.

Not only that, but you can use him in long relief as well.

If Young proves that he’s ready to go, you can’t tell him no, especially if team doctor’s clear him. The Padres hold a $6.5 million option on him for next season which is unlikely to be picked up after spending most of the last two seasons on the bench with injuries.

There’s no question that this will be a difficult decision for the Padres when he’s ready to return. However, bringing him back when the rosters expand on September 1st gives the team an opportunity to do so without having to demote or release anyone.

The Padres, without Chris Young, have done just fine to this point. Getting him back into the fold makes this team that much stronger and even they can’t deny that.

Young’s simulated game this coming Thursday should be even more telling than his bullpen sessions on just how healthy he is. If he shows no signs of the injury or any weakness at all, then they have yet another dominate pitcher they can bring into the fold. It would be just like getting a starter off waivers except they wouldn’t have to give anything up to get him.

They need to be a solid challenger in the National League and they need to be able to hold the current lead in the division. To do both, they need a guy like this to be able to solidify themselves as NLCS contenders.

To see Young’s true potential and what he’s already brought to the Padres, take a look at his numbers from the 2006 to the 2008 season.

Through those three seasons, Young started 79 games for the Padres, with a combined record of 27-19 and finished with an ERA of below 4.00 in all three seasons. His best finish was in 2007 when he finished with a 3.12 ERA and was a Cy Young candidate for the majority of that season, though he never would have won it with a 9-8 record and pitching for a mediocre Padre team.

Over the last two seasons, he’s made just 15 starts with 14 of those coming in 2009. It’s not how Young saw things going and it’s not the way he would want to end his time in San Diego having not helped the team on the field.

But, that’s the life of a pitcher. They go through every start wanting to give their best effort, even if they’re not feeling 100 percent.

Watching from the dugout each and every day, wanting to be up on the mound helping his team win and being unable to has to be the worst feeling. Seeing his team in first place, fighting for every win and getting victories they weren’t getting last year has made the guy from Princeton fight that much harder to get back and do everything he can to help this team get to their ultimate goal. The World Series.

The San Diego Padres are as good, if not better, than the team that made it to the series in 1998. They’re winning games they should win, they’re getting good pitching, and timely hitting. It’s all adding up to one of the more probable runs they’ve had in 12 years.

The season doesn’t hang on the return of Chris Young, but having him at full strength and able to be a sixth starter gives Bud Black yet another weapon in his already deep arsenal.

He wants to start, he wants the ball just like the other starters in the rotation. But the Padres need him in the bullpen. They need another shutdown arm. Another guy that can stop another team’s rally in its tracks.

They may only get one shot at the World Series and this may be their best opportunity. Putting the right pieces in the right place is absolutely key. If Young is the team player I believe he is, he’ll go where the team needs him and he’ll do anything it takes to help the team win.

So, he’ll take a seat right next to Heath Bell and he’ll wait for the bullpen phone to ring. He’ll get up, start to warm up. His number will be called and he’ll enter Petco Park to the biggest roar since Trevor Hoffman’s theme song “Hells Bells” echoed through downtown San Diego.

His time is coming. There’s no need to rush it but when he’s ready and 100 percent, the Padres will welcome him back. They need him as much as he needs them.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The 2010 Philadelphia Phillies wake up Tuesday morning 2.5 games back in the NL East division and on the cusp of getting two of baseball’s best players, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, back from injuries.

The Phillies, of course, are in the middle of a mini-dynasty, having been to the World Series for two straight years, and they hope to break into full-grown dynasty mode with a trip back to the Fall Classic this year.

Once the team gets its core of Utley-Howard-Jimmy Rollins back together, plus component parts Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, and Shane Victorino and the deadly pitching trio of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels, the Phillies have to be the odds on favorite to make it out of the National League.

Nevertheless, as great as the 2010 Phillies roster is, one cannot help but to look around the league and be enamored with the list of former Phillies currently starring around the league.  Would the 2010 Philadelphia Phillies be able to handle the 2010 Former Philadelphia Phillies All Stars?

Lets have a look.

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Monday at midnight is Major League Baseball’s deadline to sign draft picks selected in June’s amateur draft. While nearly all highly drafted players have signed their deals, one very notable player remains unsigned—Nationals pick Bryce Harper.

Harper, considered one of the best prospects in the history of the draft, heads to the deadline with little news coming out of his camp. His agent, Scott Boras, leads the negotiations with the Nationals, who are trying to sign an extremely touted prospect for the second year in a row.

However, it is that other top prospect-Stephen Strasburg-who has come out with some sharp words for Harper.

“If [Harper] wants to play here, he’s going to play here,” Strasburg said Sunday, after pitching five innings in the Nationals’ win over Arizona. “He doesn’t need advice from anybody to convince him otherwise. If he doesn’t want to play here, then we don’t want him here.” (from ESPN.com)

Will Strasburg’s interjection help or hurt the team’s chances at signing Harper, or will his words push Harper away from the table, sending him back to the draft pool for the 2011 draft? Here is a look five reasons going either direction.

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In the pre-season it was Roy Halladay.  For the first three months of the year it was Ubaldo Jimenez.  Josh Johnson took over for a little while, but as of now there can be no doubt.

The St. Louis Cardinals‘ Adam Wainwright is now your front-runner for the National League Cy Young Award.

Remember just under two months ago, when Jimenez won his 14th start of the season to run his record to 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA?

We were talking about Bob Gibson’s 1.12 ERA and Denny McLain’s 31 wins and it looked like Ubaldo might be able to match both of those marks.

Nine starts later, Ubaldo has gone 4-2 with a 5.17 ERA in 54.0 innings pitched and his Cy Young hopes are all but over.

Johnson got off to a rough start to the season and had a 4.09 ERA after four starts, but he threw it into cruise control in May and his ERA has been under 2.00 since June 10th.

Johnson went a spectacular 13 starts without allowing more than two earned runs and allowing two runs only once. 

On July 17th he was 10-3 with a 1.62 ERA and looked to be in the driver’s seat for the Cy Young.

Unfortunately for Johnson, he hasn’t won a game in four starts, and wins still count in the Cy Young race, as much as they probably shouldn’t.  Not to mention the fact that his ERA has “ballooned” (I use the word loosely) to 1.97.  

Get this: he has allowed more earned runs in his last three starts (10) than he had in his previous 13 starts combined.  

Halladay got off to a great start to the season, and is still having a great season. Despite a hard-luck season which has been devoid of run-support, Halladay has a respectable 14-8 record and a league-leading 168 strikeouts.

He also leads the league with eight complete games, three shutouts, 185 innings pitched and 735 batters faced.

More importantly, Halladay has given up only 22 walks this season and leads the NL in both walks allowed per nine innings (1.1) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (an astonishing 7.64).

Nevertheless, Halladay’s 2.34 ERA, while great, isn’t elite by “Year of the Pitcher” standards, and his 8.2 hits allowed per nine innings and 14 home runs allowed overall are both kind of mundane.

At this point, neither Ubaldo, Johnson, nor Halladay is putting it all together the way Wainwright is:

 – On June 17th Ubaldo was 13-1 while Wainwright was 9-4; both pitchers now have 17 wins;

 – On June 24th, Johnson had a 1.80 ERA and Wainwright had a 2.47 ERA; Johnson now leads 1.97 to 1.99;

 – While Halladay leads the NL in strikeouts, Wainwright is neck-and-neck with Halladay in K/9IP (8.2 vs. 8.1) and despite Halladay’s paucity of bases on balls Wainwright actually has a far better WHIP (1.032 vs. 0.970) which leads the league.

And finally, in a “What have you done for me lately?” league, Wainwright is the hottest pitcher in the NL right now, having gone 7-1 with a 1.14 ERA in his last nine starts.

Compare that to Jimenez (above), Johnson (3-2, 2.14) and Halladay (6-2, 2.19), and a picture of a pitcher pitching above an incredible class emerges.

Now, Wainwright is not without marks against him.  

Chiefly, the complaint against Wainwright is that he is a hometown hero.  

This is true: he has gone a remarkable 11-0 with a 1.22 ERA in St. Louis this season, while only going 6-6 with a 2.76 ERA away from home.

There are two responses to this, however.  

First, take the numbers as they are: those home numbers are not just “better at home”; they are unbelievable.  Plus, it isn’t as though a 2.76 ERA on the road is bad.

And second, Wainwright isn’t the only hometown hero in this group. Compare:

Wainwright: home (11-0, 1.22) road (6-6, 2.76)

Johnson: home (7-2, 1.48) road (3-2, 2.81)

Halladay: home (9-4, 1.95) road (5-4, 2.91)

Ubaldo: home (8-0, 3.06) road (9-3, 2.16)

Frankly, Wainwright is better on the road than both Halladay and Johnson, so the fact that he is great at home doesn’t exactly hold water.

As between Wainwright and Ubaldo, well, obviously there is no comparison between pitching home games at Coors Field and pitching anywhere else in the National League.

Nevertheless, as Ubaldo returned to earth in July and August, he has done so both at home and on the road.  

Ubaldo’s bad starts have included allowed six runs in Colorado, four runs in San Diego, seven runs in Colorado, six runs in Florida, and six runs in Philadelphia.

It would be disingenuous to assume that Ubaldo is only pitching poorly at home in 2010, just as it would be disingenuous to assume that Wainwright’s 2010 season has been purely a product of his home field.

So there you have it: on Friday, August 13, 2010, the National League officially has its fourth Cy Young Award front-runner of the season.

Will the lead change hands one more time before the season ends?  

Will Ubaldo, Josh Johnson, or Roy Halladay be able to wrestle the lead back from Wainwright?  

Will a new front-runner emerge from the pack?

Stay tuned.

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Seattle Mariners are owners of the third worst record in baseball this season, and typically when a team performs as badly as the Mariners have this season, someone has to pay for it.

In the case of the Mariners, the wrong people have paid for it. After turning the Mariners around from a 101 loss team in 2008 to an 85 win team in 2009, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu and his coaching staff were fired Monday.

Wakamatsu went from Coach of the Year candidate to unemployed all in the span of less than a year, while his bunch of under-performing players continue to keep their jobs and pick up their paychecks.

The Mariners have been by far the worst hitting team in baseball this season. They have scored 390 runs this season, worst in the league and 26 less than the Pirates. The Mariners are hitting .235 as a team, also the worst in the league and seven points worse than, you guessed it the Pirates.

To call the Mariners offense pathetic this season would be an understatement. Ichiro is the only Mariner that is hitting above .255 this season, while Chone Figgins, who has been far below his career average this year, has climbed all the way into second with a whopping average of .253.

It’s okay though because the Mariners hitters swing for power and not average right?  

Nope.

The Mariners have the fewest home runs in baseball this season with only 67 all year. The Major League leader in home runs this season is Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista who has 36 home runs, more than half of the Mariners total as a team.

The Mariners are 12th in baseball in pitching this season, yet pitching coach Rick Adair was fired along with Wakamatsu. Pitching has not been the Mariners problem this season, and if the Mariners had even a decent offense this season they would have been in playoff contention right now.

Mariners fans had hopes for the postseason this year after the team acquired pitching ace Cliff Lee during the offseason, but those hopes quickly faded once Mariners fans saw the team step in the batters box this season.

The Mariners brought in players such as Casey Kotchman and Milton Bradley, who the Seattle front office hoped would add more depth and production to the offense. Both players have struggled this season and Bradley was even placed on the restricted list for 13 days in May so he could seek help for his emotional outbursts.

Jack Wilson has always been one of the best defensive shortstops in the league, but he has also been one of the worst hitting shortstops in the league. The Mariners have focused so much on becoming the strongest defensive team in baseball the past few seasons that they forgot they still have to score runs to win.

It is a wonder that Jose Lopez is still on the team after the season he has had. Lopez hit .272 with 25 home runs last season for the Mariners, and because of that he started out this season as the Mariners cleanup hitter. Lopez is currently hitting .240 with six home runs, not exactly the stats of your typical four hitter.

Lopez has also made numerous mistakes in the field and on the bases, perhaps none bigger than in a game a few weeks ago where he was on first base in the ninth inning of a tied game. Lopez’ run did not matter, as the winning run was on second, yet Lopez decided to take off on a line drive to right field and ended up getting doubled off at first to end the inning. The Mariners went on to lose the game in typical Mariners fashion this season.

Lopez is just one cog of the disaster that is the Mariners this season, he needs to go and so do many other players from this team.

Wakamatsu has the perception of a very laid back manager, which was good last season for a team that was trying to come together in the clubhouse, but was bad this season for a team that has not been winning.

Wakamatsu never had a chance this season once the Mariners stopped hitting and started losing, it’s a shame that he had to go, especially when others deserved to go more.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants play the first game of a three-game set that is sure to be an epic battle between two NL West teams.

Both are locked in a battle for the top spot in the division, there’s already trash talk going on, and both want a series win in a big way. The winner of this series will definitely be in the driver’s seat.

There will be several things to watch for during this series and several keys for each team to come out on top, but here are 10 things to watch for over the next three days.

Some may even surprise you. Are you ready?

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As a friend of mine said to me a couple of weeks ago, if there is anything the 2010 Philadelphia Phillies baseball season has taught us, it is that 162 games can make for a very long season.

In just the last six weeks alone, the Phillies have been without Chase Utley, have spent three weeks without Jamie Moyer or Shane Victorino, and have lost Ryan Howard.

And yet, however improbably, the Phillies have simply prospered during the absence of three of their biggest stars and one of their most consistent starters.

On June 28th, the day Utley went down, the Phils were 40-34 and in third place in the NL East division.  After Thursday night’s riveting come-from-behind victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Phillies are 64-50 and are playing .600 ball without their All-Star second baseman.

So what in the world is going on?

What’s going on is the Phillies have been getting some rather heroic performances from some rather unsung heroes.

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It is not a show on Broadway, although it entertains you like one. Nor is it a Shakespearean tragedy, yet it is rich in suspense and drama. It is the second half of the 2010 season in San Francisco.

This weekend, the biggest series of the Giants regular season is set to take place.

Taking the hill tonight for San Francisco is none other than Mr. Guarantee himself, Jonathan Sanchez. The same pitcher who earlier in the week called a three-game sweep of the first place San Diego Padres.

Tonight, he will have to walk the walk—trying to avoid walking too many Padres in the process. Sanchez’s bold statement drew the ire of the Padres and his fellow teammates.

Baseball is a game of ethics and sportsmanship.

In the eyes of many baseball purists, such a guarantee just will not inherit. While Sanchez can be dominating at times, he has not been the kind of awesome force that you would expect or respect bold predictions from.

With an 8-7 record, Sanchez will have to get it done between the lines. He already has a reputation for unraveling mentally once things start to go awry for him. You have to wonder, is this mere enthusiasm? False bravado?

Or has Jonathan Sanchez finally acquired the mind-set that will finally elevate him into the next tier of talented starting pitching?

Time will tell. A very short time—tonight will either solidify and validate his resolve, or shatter an already shaky ego and ensure another downward spiral for the young lefty.

By Sunday, we will know if the Giants are indeed the real deal in the NL West, or a spunky group of fierce water treaders.

The Chicago Cubs gave the Giants a scare in every game of the four-game series that concluded with a Giants win Thursday.

The Cubs, who have nothing left to play for did not lay down. Their manager is away from the team, they are shedding players right and left, and yet they fought like real contenders in this series.

The Giants needed exactly what the Cubs gave. They needed to know they could pitch when it mattered and drive in key runs.

Some will say the Giants underachieved and barely got by a mediocre team at best. I believe the Giants got a real opportunity to answer some tough questions about themselves.

While it was not a four-game sweep, or landslide victory in any of the four games, it was a chance for the Giants to build on themselves.

Imagine losing three of four to Cubs heading into this weekend’s series. Lose three out of four to Chicago and limp in to the clash with the Padres and you might as well kiss the playoffs goodbye.

Pat Burrell, Pat Burrell, and more Pat Burrell.

Although the Giants did not break camp with Burrell in the spring, they are sure glad they kicked the tires on the veteran slugger. I was at the park yesterday, yards away from the foul pole that Burrell clanged his fifth inning grand slam—it was magic.

It has been years since a guy not wearing No. 25 captivated an audience with his swing. If Burrell can keep this clutch play going, he will endear himself to fans in San Francisco for years to come.

The Giants have other new arrivals waiting to earn the same love.

Relievers like Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez will definitely be called on before its all said and done. How they answer that call will determine if the 2010 season will be long remembered or not.

Javier Lopez is the only healthy left-handed reliever in San Francisco’s maligned bullpen. Will his value continue to rise? Or will he and Ramirez join the list of disappointments late in games?

The Giants also bolstered their infield after Renteria went back on the disabled list with a strained bicep. They called up minor leaguer Emmanuel Burriss for another stint in the big leagues to back up Uribe at shortstop.

Giving Manager Bruce Bochy a little more wiggle room, the Giants also acquired Mike Fontenot from the Cubs during the series.

If second basemen Freddie Sanchez cannot pull himself out of his offensive slump, we may see Fontenot infused at second before long.

Brian Sabean wasn’t done there either, making an early deal this morning for Jose Guillen of the Kansas City Royals.

Guillen is regarded as the second worst player in a clubhouse second only to Milton Bradley. His nine-team career speaks volumes about his chemistry.

On the other hand, Guillen has plenty of pop in his bat and has already driven in 62 RBI. Where does Bochy play him? If he gets left/right field, that will likely force Huff to first, and Ishikawa to the bench.

Despite the juggling act for Bruce Bochy, Jose Guillen’s character is a huge turn off. Let’s hope he doesn’t have a negative effect on the good chemistry the club is enjoying now.

If Guillen is to be viewed as a rental player for the remainder of the season, then the move makes perfect sense. How much can a bad attitude affect a club in 40 games? Let’s hope I’m not seriously wrong with that viewpoint!

The San Francisco Giants are in the mix for the division crown. They are playing good ball. The front office is making moves.

Pitchers are laying down guarantees. For the first time in a long time, it looks like this whole organization wants it. And they want it bad.

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The NL West hasn’t gone the way most of the “experts” thought it would. The team leading the division, the San Diego Padres, was expected to be the bottom feeder, while the predicted leader, the Los Angeles Dodgers, sits in third place seven games back.

That sets up for a showdown in the bay area this coming weekend between the first place San Diego Padres and the second place San Francisco Giants who are just two and a half games back. The two teams have met eight times this season with the Padres coming out victorious in seven of those games.

Giants’ right-hander Jonathan Sanchez has already thrown down the gauntlet in a recent comment to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle saying, “We’re going to play San Diego, and we’re going to beat them three times. If we get to first place, we’re not going to look back.”

The only problem with the comment from Sanchez was the fact that he was confident in the first part then questionable in the second part. First, it was “we’re going to beat San Diego,” but then said “if we get to first place.” Why not go all the way and say “when we get to first place?”

When Shea asked Sanchez about the Giants losing seven of eight to the Padres so far this year Sanchez responded, “That was a long time ago. Doesn’t matter. We’ve got a better team now.” While he wasn’t quite as colorful as Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips calling the St. Louis Cardinals “little b******,” it still gives the weekend series a different feel than early on in the year.

Tale of the tape:

Pitching:

San Diego Padres – 3.26 ERA

San Francisco Giants – 3.44 ERA

Analysis: The San Diego Padres have been towards the top of the NL West all season long. Much to the chagrin of a lot of “experts” who picked them to finish last. The biggest reason for their success is their pitching staff. Not only their starters but also the guys out of the bullpen.

Adding Jon Garland, a veteran that knows what it takes to get to the World Series, was a good off season acquisition, but adding a young and talented right-hander in Mat Latos behind him makes for a solid one-two punch in the rotation. Not only have those two guys been getting it done but guys like left-hander Clayton Richard, right-hander Kevin Correia, and young left-hander Wade LeBlanc have stepped up at the right time to provide solid outings.

As for the Giants, they also boast one of the best rotations in baseball with guys like Tim Linecum, Matt Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez, not to mention Barry Zito, all of which have ERA’s below 3.60 with Matt Cain leading the way at 3.06.

The problem this team has had in years passed was the failure of their bullpen to hold a late inning lead. They seemed to have fixed that with guys like Brian Wilson (2.19), Sergio Romo (2.18), Javier Lopez (2.51), and Santiago Casilla (2.32). It give the starters confidence to turn the ball over to them when the game is on the line instead of worrying whether or not the lead would hold. 

Offense:

San Francisco Giants – .261 average

San Diego Padres – .250 average

Analysis: There’s no secret when it comes to the struggles of the San Diego Padres as far as scoring runs. Sometimes, pitchers can hold an opposing team to a single run and end up losing the game 1-0. General manager Jed Hoyer is hoping that the addition of both Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick will help some of those issues and give their pitchers more runs to work with.

Outside of those two, the Padres have been getting better than expected production from Jerry Hairston Jr. and as expected production from Adrian Gonzalez. However, having David Eckstein out of the lineup for an extended period has definitely hurt the team. They are hoping to have him back by this weekend.

As for the Giants, they have become a better offensive team but still lack that one big bat that general manager Brian Sabean really wanted. They attempted to acquire Adam Dunn from Washington as well as Corey Hart from Milwaukee but were unable to get a deal done for either player.

What they did get came from inside their own system. After trading away catcher Benji Molina, it gave them the opportunity to call up Buster Posey who has since surprised even the Giants with his performance. Posey played in just seven games for San Francisco in 2009, hitting .118 and striking out four times in 17 at bats. This season however, something must have clicked because the young catcher is hitting .345 with eight home runs and 42 runs batted in.

Padres will take the series if…

They can score early on the Giants’ starters. The longer they go, the stronger they seem to get. Get to their pitchers early and get into their bullpen.

They can go into the late innings with the lead and hand it to their bullpen.

Giants will take the series if…

They are patient and take pitches. The Padre pitchers will attempt to get ahead and early but wait them out and they will make a mistake.

Their pitchers can keep Ryan Ludwick from becoming a factor. His bat has started to heat up and that’s the last thing they want to see.

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ESPN and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are reporting that Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones has torn the ACL in his left knee and that it is a potentially season-ending injury.

Being that the Philadelphia Phillies are only 2.5 games back, this injury could affect the division race as well as the Wild Card.

If the Phillies were to catch Atlanta, then the Braves would have to try and hold off the San Francisco Giants to even make the postseason.

Here are some of the potential ways this major injury to the future Hall-of-Famer might affect things the rest of the way.

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