Fantasy

The Baltimore Orioles are very close to re-emerging as a force in the American League East. They have the core of a solid lineup in place. The offense is led my right fielder Nick Markakis (.293/.347/.453) and features several emerging young hitters.

Johan Santana had long been considered the best pitcher in baseball.  From 2004-2008, there wasn’t a pitcher who could touch him, posting some remarkable numbers, especially when you consider that he called the AL home up until 2008:

Note: This post will be updated tomorrow when I’m back at a keyboard.

I’ve been in California this week at a conference. I don’t know how these people handle football starting at 10 a.m. on Sundays. It’s just plain weird.

But the important thing here is that I haven’t had Internet all week. Sorry, hotel, but I am not going to pay a limb per day to get on the Interwebs. I’m actually writing this right now from my G1 phone.

Last week the Brewers did the inevitable, trading J.J.

The Braves always appear to be a team that is looking for a player to close out tight games. This season they used both Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez, unable to settle on which would be the best solution to their problems.

Donald Veal, acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2008 Rule V draft, may finally be displaying the talent that many have believed he possessed. 

He has struggled since being promoted to Double-A in 2007 (with the Cubs) to the point that the Pirates tried him out of the bullpen last season (with awful results).

In the Arizona Fall League, he appears to have rediscovered himself:

3 Wins
16.2 Innings
0.54 ERA
0.74 WHIP
17 Strikeouts (9.44 K/9)
2 Walks (1.11 BB/9)
.259 BABIP

The Twins cleared up a logjam in the Outfield by moving Carlos “Go Go” Gomez to Milwaukee for Shortstop J.J. Hardy.

I think it’s a great deal for the Twins. They have too many Outfielders with Denard Span, Delmon Young, Michael Cuddyer, and DH Jason Kubel. As for the Twins they got some pop at Shortstop, which they haven’t had in years.

According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (click here to view the post), the Milwaukee Brewers have traded J.J. Hardy to the Minnesota Twins for Carlos Gomez.

The move is surprising, in the sense that it was heavily thought that the Brewers would move Hardy in exchange for pitching, which they desperately need. Center field, however, was another void considering Mike Cameron is a free agent.

Matt Wieters was one of the most anticipated players heading into 2009, with fantasy owners waiting with bated breath for him to make his presence felt. Of course, the results fell short of the lofty expectations, as Wieters was kept in the minors until May 29 before being recalled and posting the following line:

Sometimes it is tough to be a Mets fan, isn’t it?  You sit and you watch other teams, both big market and small, call up player after player from their minor league system who step foot on a major league diamond and instantly make an impact.