Some things to read while turning sports into a nature documentary.
If you couldn't already tell, the bossman is still on the run in Arizona and apparently meeting the local celebrities. So, you get me for an extra day this weekend--enthralling!
After falling behind 7-0 early, the Brewers won yesterday on an unlikely walk off homerun from Anderson De La Rosa. The bigger news is Manny Parra, after striking out the first batter he faced, had to leave the game with back tightness. He will be checked out today, but he should only miss a few days.
Casey McGehee also hit another homerun yesterday, his third in the last two games. Brewers Locker takes a look at him and potential backups at third base and gives a projected grade of a B to the Brewers for that position.
Outside of Parra, there is plenty of other injury news for the Brewers
- Jonathan Lucroy has been cleared to start catching again and can also resume light throwing. His pinky is healing as expected, and he will still likely be out for around a month.
- John Axford, who has yet to get in a game after a bout of food poisoning at the beginning of camp, will throw an inning today.
- Takashi Saito, who hasn't played due to a hurt hamstring, is scheduled to get in a game tomorrow.
- Mat Gamel is making no progress with his strained oblique.
- Brewers rule 5 pick, Pat Egan, still hasn't been able to pitch thanks to hip and groin tightness.
- Tom H goes into more depth on both Gamel and Egan
It's not because of an injury, but Brewers minor league third basemen Wayne Dendrick will miss 50 games afrer being suspended due to a second positive test for a "drug of abuse". He hit .227/.298/.324 in rookie league ball in 2009 and didn't play last year because of a torn meniscus.
After giving up five earned runs yesterday, Randy Wolf is the subject of a classic spring training article wherein he talks about how awesome the Brewers rotation is going to be.
Adam McCalvy emptied out his mailbag, answering questions about potentially resigning Prince Fielder, Michael Young, and which Brewers pitcher he thinks will see the most success in 2011. The most interesting thing about this article, to me, is that Lucroy still has a chance (and indeed has "vowed") to be on the roster opening day. I ha been thinking it was all but assured he would start on the DL.
Around the Majors:
Astros: Jason Castro is probably out for the season after tearing his ACL
Dodgers: Signed Randy Keisler to a minor league contract
Former Brewers news: ESPN's The Sweet Spot makes the case that the recently departed Duke Snider serves as the perfect precedence for Jim Edmonds to make the Hall of Fame and The Biz of Baseball has a great profile of Matt Stairs. If Stair's makes the Nationals roster this year, he will have played on 13 different teams--more than any player in baseball history.
In visa news, Mets catcher Ronny Paulino hopes to get his next week and Edinson Volquez had his work visa approved yesterday.
Here's a fun little note: The wife of Carlos Ruiz, Phillies starting catcher, gave birth two days ago--exactly nine months after Roy Halladay threw a perfect game. Another note on that: The couple named the baby Carlos, but he doesn't get the title of "jr." because their first baby was also named Carlos.
With the NFL potentially losing their next season due to disputes between the players and owners over collective bargaining, the MLB's players and owners met for the first time to discuss their collective bargaining agreement, which is set to expire after the upcoming season.
ESPN has hired Dean Oliver as "Director of Production Analytics" with the goal of infusing more advanced statistical analysis in their programming. That could potentially be nice.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you want to replace Where's Waldo? OH YEAH! (h/t Aaron Gleeman