Posts filed under 'Players'
Takashi Saito, the Dodgers closer, complained of tightness in his right elbow during the game on Saturday against the Marlins in the 9th. After an MRI on Monday, it has been revealed that he is suffering from a sprained elbow ligament, and will need to spend six weeks in rehab to avoid surgery. The good news is that Saito will not need a surgery unless something goes wrong in rehab. Fans with tickets for the Dodgers games do not need to be worried however as Jonathan Broxton is slated to replace Saito.
July 17th, 2008
There is a lot of mental strength and passion for the game of baseball in D-Backs’ lefty pitcher Doug Davis. He has insisted that he wanted to start the games against the Reds on April 3 and also against the Dodgers on April 8 before heading to the operation theater on April 10 to remove the mass, as he has been diagnosed to be suffering from thyroid cancer. Dr. Bob Evani who will be performing the medical procedure on Davis said that it will take about four to six weeks for Doug Davis to start pitching again after the surgery.
Davis said that he was worried when he received a call from his team’s physician Roger McCoy informing him about the symptoms of thyroid cancer in him. He said that it did not come as a big surprise to him and was determined to fight it away. David is pretty optimistic about the whole thing and feels that he will be up and ready soon for the season ahead.
March 31st, 2008
The New York Mets famed pitcher, Pedro Martinez, is keener on an extended period with the Mets if his throwing or pitching arm supports him. The return of the second edition of the World Baseball Classic is also lingering strongly in his minds and Pedro is very much interested in exhibiting his pitching skills in the Classic as he did not get a chance to showcase his throwing talent in the first edition due to an injury. He revealed that he would love to take part in the Classic if his body holds well by then.
Martinez is pretty upset over the fact that he could not participate in the Classic in 2006 as he was suffering from a large toe in his right foot and had to witness most of his mates in the Mets team playing from the sideline. The event was a good outing for the Met players and Martinez wishes that he would be around when the Classic kicks off next year.
March 28th, 2008
Andy Gonzalez who played as a rookie in seven positions for the White Sox last year had already been used in as many positions as possible in the spring training by the Cleveland Indians. Eric wedge, the team manager of Cleveland said that Gonzalez is made to play in all positions by the team except for centerfielder and pitcher or catcher position.
Andy is sharing second place in the number of homers with Andy Marte in the team and first place taken by Grady Sizemore with five homers. Gonzalez was able to make only two homers last year so, he made some changes in his stance to get more this year. Gonzalez, who is 26 always keeps four gloves in his travelling bag and says that he uses the same for the third and short positions and uses different ones at first, second and for the out field positions.
March 24th, 2008
The Detroit Tiger’s reliever Fernando Rodney will not be playing the opening game of the new season for his side as he is suffering from tendinitis. The Tigers have announced that Rodney will be in the disabled list for another week or so. Fernando Rodney is physically very active and the MRI scan that he underwent two weeks ago did not show any serious damage in the structure of his right shoulder. The pitching coach after seeing him at the bullpen session throwing fastballs on Tuesday said that he is no where near his best and it seems that Rodney will not be able to make it to the season opener on March 31st.
The Tigers have deiced to give a rest to the reliever and will take action on him on the due course of time after re-evaluating Fernando Rodney’s throwing program. The Detroit Tigers have started picking out a bullpen without Rodney, as the pitching coach have revealed to the Tigers that Rodney will not be able to make it to the Opening Day. Rodney’s absence have hurt the Tigers and they now need to find a replacement to fill the 8th inning set up role that Rodney has been holding so far.
March 21st, 2008
The Veteran Player of Houston Astros, McLemore is not included in the starting mix of players for rotation. He was replaced with another candidate, Moehler. McLemore will be now in the bullpen competing with Stephen Randolph and Wesley Wright, a pick from rule 5 draft. McLemore was sent to the pen because he was having problems in control during this spring and other rotation players were giving better performance than him. In this spring season, he allowed 11 walks, which is a team high and issued seven runs in seven innings. Cecil Cooper, the manger of Houston Astros said that other players were more useful in the role of rotators and hence were selected instead of McLemore.
McLemore has been practicing meticulously with Dewey Robinson, the pitching coach and he has advised the lefty to play without thinking about the perfectness too much. It will be difficult for McLemore if he doesn’t make it to the 25 member roster before the end of this spring training. He will be left without any options and will be sent to the Minor Leagues. He is the third player to be removed from the running this year by Astros, the other two being Fernando Nieve and Felipe Paulino.
March 17th, 2008
D-backs are yet to finalize their roster as some of their players are victims of injury. The infielder Chad Tracy is suffering from knee injury and Miguel Montero the catcher is having a broken index finger on his right hand. These two players are yet to play in the spring training. Tracy was on blood thinning medication till today and is expected to be back in the game on March 18th as a pinch–hit or in DH role. Montero was away from baseball for a short period and his position in the team can be decided after the report of his CT scan comes out.
The team will have to look for other players if any one of them or both are not in a position to play the first game of the season at Cincinnati on March 31st. The absence of these players may open the entry for Trot Nixon, Robby Hammock, Alex Romero and Emilio Bonifacio. Hammock will be preferred by the Manager Melvin as he is a flexible player and can be used as corner in infield as well as outfield or as a catcher. Nixon is another favorite with Melvin and the manager has added Bonifacio and Romero to the chart as he doesn’t want to take chances.
March 14th, 2008
Mike Stodolka, who was a first–round pitcher in the year 2000, has been molded into the first baseman of the Kansas City Royals in 2008. He was selected as the best defensive opening baseman in the Texas League in 2007. He has evolved exceptionally well through these years and is in love with the game. At present, Mike Stodolka is in the Major League camp of Royals in Arizona. He is enjoying the position in Royals, as he is accorded with the privileges the seasoned stars in the team are receiving. He has been taken as a substitute in four matches and was able to make two hits, with a double.
He has been selected as the first baseman only three years ago. This left handed player had a good play for six seasons but was later faced with shoulder injury. In 2003, he underwent Tommy John surgery on his elbow. But things didn’t improve for him and he was in severe pain. The Royals signed him for a sum of $2.5 million based on his pitching record of 10-0 and 111 strikeouts in 52 innings. The director of player development, J.J Picollo of Royals is pleased with the good swing Mike is able to produce while hitting and that is the reason he is in the camp now.
March 7th, 2008
Jake Peavy, the San Diego Padres player who is the reigning CY young award winner of National League, is happy about his performance in the spring debut even though, his team lost 6-2 to the Mariners. Peavy was really fortunate on that day to emerge without injury as he was hit by a ball in his groin area. The ball was hit hard by Mike Morse and it deflected from Peavey’s gloves and smacked on his body. He was not wearing any protection as he felt that the cups are very uncomfortable.
Peavy was fine enough after the incident and said that he was able to do some best pitches of the game just after he was hit by the ball. Peavey allowed two runs of the four hits in a two-inning spell and he is very satisfied with this performance. He said he was unable to control some fastballs and failed to throw it in the position he wanted. Peavey said he will try and improve on his fastball command. Peavy didn’t go for any sliders, but made Raul Ibanez out by a fast back –door cut. He said he is going to use mix-ups in throw all through his spring session.
March 5th, 2008
Masahide Kobayashi debuted for the Cleveland Indians in a spring training match on Friday and did impress his fans as well as the people responsible for bringing him into the side with his throwing skills. Many feel that he will be a big asset to the Indians this season and his throws which are a bit harder will surely give some goose bumps to the hitting rivals. The Japanese pitcher who has a history of making more than 200 saves got into the Indian team by signing a free agent contract after serving for nine long years for the Japanese Pacific League side, Chiba Lotte Marines. Kobayashi was a member of the Japanese team for the 2004 Olympic Games and led the Japanese League with 34 saves in the 2005 season.
The Indian manager, Eric Wedge, feels that the Japanese pitcher is very much a focused player and knows what his task is. He made an impression in the mind of the manger when he pitched out of a jam against the Astros in the Friday’s match. Kobayashi said that he needed to be nervous to stay focused throughout the game and said that his main aim was to get outs one by one. After his amazing display, the think tank of the Cleveland Indians must feel proud for signing Kobayashi.
March 3rd, 2008
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