Late Innings

Now that the Opening Series is on the way in Japan as we speak (the games are finished by lunch in the states, series being tied 1-1), I wanted to surmise on some very interesting stories that occurred during this very strange Spring Training. Think of it as an interesting way to prepare for the true start of the season.

More Injuries Than Pre-Season Football

Usually whenever the pre-season games occur in the middle of summer in the NFL, one or two key players seems to go down with a serious injury for the season. I’m not necessarily comparing the two sports, and whether Spring Training baseball games carry as much meaning as NFL pre-season games, but there have been more injuries this year than I can recall in recent Springs.

The major news of the day was with the Angels and them losing Kelvim Escobar for the whole season. Originally he was only expected to be out until May (the same time as his fellow injured colleague John Lackey was), however a revealing of a tear in the shoulder for the most part signaled that his season was going to be over, leaving his career in jeopardy. This story came a day later after we found out that Brewers starter Chris Capuano’s injury was much worse than originally expected. Like Escobar, he will also miss the 2008 season as well.

While those were the major injuries, the rest of the injuries were minor, however still plenty some. Out of the notables, seeing time on the 15 day DL will include Phillies’ closer Brad Lidge, White Sox outfielder Jerry Owens, Astros second base free agent signing Kaz Matsui, and the major’s lone 20 game winner from last season Josh Beckett. Numerous players currently have the flu as well, and could also spend some time on the disabled list (the Twins’ Scott Baker is one such possibility.) Toronto’s ace reliever Casey Janssen is lost for the season as well.

Catch and Release

Out of some players that were signed over the offseason, there were a few of them that were released just recently. Many of them shouldn’t have even been tendered a contract, others shouldn’t have been signed period. The main one that we saw go today was with the Pirates releasing Byung-Hyun Him. Granted they just acquired Tyler Yates from the Braves earlier in the day, but they are essentially paying him a 300K buyout (he would have got 1MM had he made the team.) The other release I didn’t quite get was with the Brewers releasing Claudio Vargas yesterday. The Brewers gave him a 3MM contract over the off-season, and he was pitching very well in the Spring (a 3.60 ERA.) Apparently they thought he could have been traded instead. There are quite a few teams currently interested in Vargas.

Two other players who also had quick releases were the Nationals’ John Patterson and the Blue Jays’ outfielder Reed Johnson. The Jays tendered Johnson a 3.3MM contract surprisingly last Winter, and they now decided to let him go. The Cubs jumped on him immediately, within twenty minutes of him clearing waivers in fact. The same thing goes with the Rangers and Patterson, who was acquired almost instantaneously. These releases have left many scratching their heads.

Some other releases that were minor yet noteworthy include the Dodgers dumping Rudy Seanez, the Mariners dropping Chris Reitsma, the Indians releasing Aaron Fultz, and the Rockies, who just released Marcus Giles earlier this evening.

Deals Galore

While the Brian Roberts trade is essentially dead in the water, and Coco Crisp and Jason Marquis failed to move to other teams, the trades that occurred during the Spring this season were few and sparse. Thankfully we had a few interesting extensions to talk about during this past month. The Pirates inked their young ace Ian Snell to a very modest 3 year deal for about 8MM, and the Cardinals did the same with their ace in Adam Wainwright for a four year deal for 15MM. Of course we also saw big deals being sent out to Miguel Cabrera (7yr/140MM) and Joe Nathan (4yr/47MM.) ESPN is currently reporting that a big deal is also close with the Blue Jays and Alex Rios. This one will be for 65MM over six years once finalized.

Introducing Alexi Ramirez

There have been a few hitting surprises this Spring. Ivan Rodriguez is leading everyone with nine homers, while the Diamondbacks’ catcher Chris Snyder is on a tear. The same thing goes with Josh Hamilton and Jared Weaver. One hitter who’s been surprising this Spring is the White Sox’s Alexi Ramirez.

Ramirez will mostly carry his surge through to the regular season (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu).

Originally brought in as a Cuban second base prospect, the White Sox agreed to terms with him back in December for a very modest four year deal with around 4.75MM. He had the power in Cuba (clubbing 28 homers the year before), and he was originally expected to open in the low minors. A strong spring however (a .355 clip with 17 RBIs in particular) and an injury to Owens has the team ready to have him opening up the season in the outfield. When Owens returns, they’ll most likely need to continue finding playing time for Ramirez, and Juan Uribe might be the likely victim here. Many scouts are comparing Ramirez to Alfonso Soriano. Ramirez definitely has Soriano’s talent, and comes along at a fraction of his salary.