Kuzul

Really? Kelly Johnson hit 26 home runs?

By now you can probably tell I don’t quite buy into Johnson as a new-found power source. If you saw this coming last March while we were all tabbing Ian Stewart as the breakout home run threat of 2010, then I guess you probably expected that Jonathan Broxton would lose his job in LA, that Jose Bautista would make 54 easy trots around the diamond and that even Derek Jeter has a little Roger Clemens’ “It’s all about the Benjamins” in him.

But even if you pegged Johnson as a viable source of power, here’s something you probably didn’t expect; Johnson’s jump in homers was almost solely the result of an incredible increase in power versus left-handed pitchers.

Johnson, a lefty himself, had hit nine homers in 462 career at-bats versus LHP (every 51.3 AB). In 2010 he hit 12 homers in 184 at-bats versus southpaws (every 15.3 AB). Despite this astounding jump, his home run rate versus RHP remained almost the same: one every 33.3 at-bats entering 2010 and one every 28.6 at-bats in 2010.

This odd trend will likely correct itself, and once it does we can expect Johnson to return to his normal mid-teens home run output, which will kill most of the fantasy value he had anyway. His 71 RBI and .284 average were rather pedestrian despite the power spike, and those numbers will probably drop accordingly anyway once Johnson starts hitting like, well, himself.

For more 2011 player profiles and fantasy advice, check out Baseball Professor.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Yankees had a busy day Friday, acquiring Lance Berkman from the Astros and Austin Kearns from the Indians, and it looks like they could make some more moves today as the 4:00 PM Trade Deadline approaches.

The big splash for the Yankees so far has been the trade for Lance Berkman . The details and trade won’t be official until this afternoon, due to Berkman spending his entire career in Houston, making him a 10-5 player (10-5 means that the player been in the league at least 10 years and has spent at least five of those years with one team), which gives him a 24 hour waiting period to change his mind if he so chooses.

It appears that the Yankees will send RP Mark Melancon and IF Jimmy Paredes to Houston in turn for Berkman and cash to pay part of his remaining salary this year.

Berkman , commonly referred to as the Big Puma, will primarily serve as the DH for the Yanks, while occasionally filling in at first base and the corner outfield spots.

He is hitting .245 with 13 home runs and 49 RBI in 85 games this season, and while those numbers might not sound great, they are better than nothing, which is exactly what former everyday DH Nick Johnson has given the Yanks since his wrist injury in May.

The Big Puma is also a switch hitter, joining Mark Teixeira , Jorge Posada , and Nick Swisher in the regular lineup, which makes it even harder for other teams to align their pitchers according to who is batting for the Yanks.

He has struggled against left handed pitching this year, but when he bats left handed against righties , he has an OPS of .874 with 12 home runs and 45 RBI, clearly a man who can take advantage of the short porch at Yankee Stadium.

I feel that this was a good trade, especially for how cheaply the Yanks got Berkman for in terms of prospects, and it should bring consistency to the DH spot, which has been a revolving door since May.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman wasn’t done after getting Berkman . He went out and improved the bench and outfield depth by trading for veteran outfielder Austin Kearns from the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later, or cash.

Kearns is having a solid season, hitting .268 with eight home runs and 42 RBI in 83 games for the Indians this year.

I think Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman wanted a player who knows how to man the outfield and can still provide production off the bench, which is exactly what they got in Kearns .

His arrival could spell the end to Colin Curtis’ or Marcus Thames’ times as New York Yankees this year. Preferably, I would want to keep Curtis, but Thames is the veteran and would cost the Yankees money if he was the one to go.

Even after these two trades, it appears that the Yankees are not finished dealing yet.

Many consider them in on Chad Qualls , a trade that I strongly disagree with, considering his horrific numbers in Arizona this year.

But as Buster Olney of ESPN, points out in his tweet, the Yankees are probably looking to add a player who can man the hot corner or a middle infielder.

Two players that I like and fit that description are Kelly Johnson of Arizona and Kevin Kouzmanoff of Oakland.

Kelly Johnson, who is the starting second baseman for the D-Backs, would look pretty nice on the Yankees bench, hitting .279 with 16 home runs and 49 RBI.

And Kevin Kouzmanoff has hit .272 with nine home runs and 50 RBI out in Oakland would serve as an excellent back up to A-Rod at third base.

Both of these players are under 30 years old and would be salary dumps for both teams, with Kouzmanoff making $3.1 million and Johnson making $2.3 million.

However, both are signed through next year and Oakland and Arizona might not want to part ways with them quite yet, so it could take a couple prospects to pry them away.

I’m sure that there are lots of moves yet to be made, and we will all know who is where by this afternoon.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Silver linings are hard to find in the Arizona desert this summer.

First-year Diamondback Kelly Johnson provided an obvious one Friday night, when he hit for the fourth cycle in Arizona history.

Unfortunately, like most nights at Chase Field this season, his headlining efforts weren’t enough for a Diamondbacks win.

So, in an attempt to help alleviate the pain this team has caused in 2010, why not relive the other three Snakes’ cycles?

Begin Slideshow

Welcome to the Arizona Diamondbacks garage sale.

Everything must go.

Seriously, everything.

Currently last place in the National League West and over twenty games under .500, the Diamondbacks need to start rebuilding.

This team just isn’t going to win. Ever.

With the July 31 trade deadline looming, these five players are the most likely to be sent off.

Begin Slideshow

With the Arizona Diamondbacks sitting at 26-41 and 12.5 games out of 1st place in the NL West, it is obvious that they will be sellers when the trade deadline arrives. The Diamondbacks have already started trading players. They swapped Connor Jackson for minor league reliever Sam Demel on July 15th.

Another player that the Diamondbacks are rumored to be looking to move is Kelly Johnson. Johnson started off the year with a bang. He hit .313 with 9 home runs and 18 RBIs in the month of March. Over the past two months, he has come back down to earth hitting .250 with 4 home runs and 16 RBIs over that span.

Johnson is probably due for a bit more a regression throughout the course of the season. His ISO (slg %- avg) is .250 this year. Kelly has never posted an ISO greater than .180 in his career. Then again, at age 28, there is the chance that Johnson is having a breakout season. Either way, Johnson will provide above average offense from 2nd base.

It is well known the New York Mets have had issues at second base all season. With Luis Castillo on the disabled list, the Mets have turned to Ruben Tejada. While Tejada is solid defensively, he leaves something to be desired on offense. He is the third youngest player in the majors at 20 years old and still needs time to develop.

With the Mets looking more and more like a playoff team,… (to read the rest and find out who the Mets may trade click on the link below)

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The past two games for the Arizona bullpen? 6 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Yes, I know. It is an amazing feat. One might actually think that a corner has been turned, that things will improve.

This is, indeed, possible, but before there are parties and wagers about how the season is turning around (I doubt people are doing that yet, but still relax), take a deep breath and look at the reality. The bullpen just did that against the Astros, a pathetic excuse for a major league team at the moment.

How bad are the ‘Stros? Offensively, they are terrible. In 26 games, the team has scored a total of only 73 runs, an average of less than three per game. They have hit only nine home runs as a team (remember that BOTH Mark Reynolds and Kelly Johnson have hit as many individually).

They only mustered one run against D’backs’ starter Cesar Valdez in five innings, a pitcher that, previous to Saturday when it was announced that he would start, I had never even heard of.

I was encouraged by the quality of pitches that I saw both Chad Qualls and Juan Gutierrez throw, but Gutierrez was also aided by a generous strike zone that caused both Hunter Pence and Lance Berkman to argue with the umpire after being punched out by Gutierrez.

Basically, I am happy that the bullpen had success, but I am also a long way from declaring that the problems are over. As fans, we should expect the bullpen to do its job (regardless of how bad things are, that is still the expectation we have), but based on what we have seen so far this season we shouldn’t expect to actually see it.

I hope I am wrong, but I just can’t see it happening. What do you think? Were you encouraged? Do you think it is the start of a new trend? Leave your comments.

You can follow me, the (Happily) Trapped Fan , for my posts and other random thoughts that come up in my trapped life on Twitter.

Be a fan of The (Happily) Trapped Fan  on Facebook! I love the interaction.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com