Sunday, April 4, 2010

Sunday Night Links

Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson says of the comparison to Curtis Granderson, "I get that all the time. I've been compared to him, and that is a real compliment."

Granderson homered in his first at bat as a Yankee.

With Cody Ross and Dan Uggla, the Marlins had two (of the seven) players under 6'0" to hit 20+ home runs.

Orioles president Andy MacPhail said to "not read too much into" Nolan Reimold fielding ground balls at first base.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of Gordon Beckham's move to second base: 'He's got a great chance to be a good one. I think the move to second will make it easier for him. He's more comfortable. He can just worry about his hitting.''

The four-year extension for Toronto's Adam Lind could be worth as much as $38.5 million, per Morgan Campbell of The Toronto Star.

Jason LaRue will be the Cardinals' Opening Day catcher.

Roger Mooney of The Tampa Tribune names B.J. Upton, David Price, Sean Rodriguez and Rafael Soriano as his players to watch in 2010 in addition to prospects Desmond Jennings and Jeremy Hellickson.

Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez has returned to the Mets after his brothers' automobile accident in Venezuela.

Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal says the Dodgers are capable of reaching the World Series.

Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez focused on slowing down his delivery.

Padres second baseman David Eckstein said, “This team is definitely headed in the right direction with a lot of good, young talent. I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people, maybe ourselves.”

The Red Sox added Scott Schoenweis to their Opening Day roster after placing Daisuke Matsusaka and Junichi Tazawa on the disabled list.

Giants outfielder John Bowker, who led the team this spring with 23 RBIs, won the starting right field job.

Orioles outfielder Adam Jones is tired of losing.

Braves phenom Jason Heyward wears number 22 in honor of Andrew Wilmont, his former high-school teammate and the son of his favorite high-school teacher. Wilmont passed away after a car accident.

Marlins closer Leo Nunez said, "Finding a song [for a closer] isn't easy. You are supposed to have something intimidating.''

Eric Chavez is now the Athletics designated hitter.

Shameless plug: Get our Twitter updates @EDSBaseball.

Giants catcher Bengie Molina said of ace Tim Lincecum, "... some of the starts he won, he won because of his name. He wasn't always feeling the best. He wasn't throwing as hard, and his breaking ball wasn't as good. He was beating them because the hitters knew who they were facing. Obviously, I'm not trying to put Timmy down. Everybody knows how nasty he is. Even if he doesn't have his good stuff, he knows how to pitch a good game."

The Rockies left fielder on Opening Day will Seth Smith, per Troy Renck of the Denver Post.

Some (more) shameless plugs for our latest posts at our other blogs: NCAA Championship prediction, Ravens' consensus draft pick and Donovan McNabb dealt to Redskins.

Cliff Lee to start season on the DL

The Seattle Mariners have placed pitcher Cliff Lee on the 15-day disabled list (DL), per Jim Street of MLB.com.

The move is retroactive to March 26th.

Lee said today of throwing on flat ground, "I feel good. I virtually threw as hard today as I can throw and didn't feel anything. It's good."

In addition to Lee, the Mariners begin the season with three players on the DL: Lee, pitcher Erik Bedard and third baseman Jack Hannahan.

Facing a five-game suspension, which he is appealing, Lee could miss almost all of April.

Can the Mets stay healthier in 2010?

That's the stated goal.

According to Baseball Prospectus, as pointed out by Brian Costa of the Newark Star-Ledger, Mets' players spent a combined 1,451 days on the disabled list (DL) in 2009.

And heading into Opening Day tomorrow, the Mets have already placed four of their players on the DL this season.

Hence, the team's 2010 slogan: “Prevention and Recovery.”

“Every time they see the sign, it’s a reminder to everybody, whatever they’re doing, to keep an eye on, ‘Are we at risk here?’ ” Mets assistant general manager John Ricco said. “Not to say we’re not going to prepare, but it just keeps it in your consciousness. The more people are talking about it and thinking about it, the less chance we’ll have of doing something that puts us at risk.”

That said, Mets' players aren't exactly sure what it means.

Mets third baseman David Wright said “... I’m not exactly sure what’s going on differently than in years past” while teammate Jeff Franceour said, “I have no clue what it means.”

Hmmm.

I think what it means is that it could be déjà vu all over again for the Mets.

Matthews Jr. named Mets' Opening Day centerfielder

Earlier in the spring, opinions seemed to differ between Mets manager Jerry Manuel and GM Omar Minaya as to whether prospect Fernando Martinez could become the Mets' Opening Day centerfielder.

In either case, F-Mart was sent down to Buffalo last week despite his .383 batting average this spring.

Therefore, in the battle to be Carlos Beltran's injury replacement to start the season, Gary Matthews Jr. beat out Angel Pagan, per Andy McCullough of the Newark Star-Ledger.

Matthews, who hit .250 with four home runs in 350 at bats for the Angels last season, will bat seventh in the order when the Mets face the Marlins tomorrow.