ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals put struggling closer Jason Isringhausen, who has an 8.00 ERA and six blown saves, on the 15-day disabled list on Friday because of a cut on his pitching hand.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported last weekend that Isringhausen hurt his right hand striking a television set in frustration in manager Tony La Russa's office.

That means that Chris Perez , who I just talked about last weekend, has been called-up. He won't close (yet) but his 2008 numbers include 11.2 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, and a .194 BAA, the lower batting average is due to Perez featuring a filthy slider and a plus fastball. If he can just harness his control a little more, watch out, the Cardinals are going to have quite the future relief ace.

Please, for the love of all that is Felix Hernandez, do not trade for Ken Griffey Jr. Look, I know you have memories of Griffey destructing on your Angels, but this isn't the same Griffey. This version of Griffey is quite possibly the worst full time player in baseball , and to deal young talent for him largely on nostalgic memories, like this:

via seattletimes.nwsource.com

Yes, he was a great player, but no, your team is not in the position to be dealing for 38 year olds who are clearly going downhill. But if you absolutely must acquire an older left-handed bat who will likely end up as the team's designated hitter, then I have a solution. Remember this guy?

He's looking for work, and he could outhit Jose Vidro's 51 OPS+ on one leg, and you wouldn't have to give up young talent, which is becoming as rare to get as black oil, but that's even if you still consider the Mariners a contender. What you should try and do is actually move your veterans for youngsters, kinda like what Bill Stoneman did in Anaheim after taking over for you with Jim Edmonds.

I found a first ten draft picks prediction on mlb trade rumors today . I figured I'd post this and see what you guys think. 

1. Rays - Buster Posey, C. 
2. Pirates - Pedro Alvarez, 3B.
3. Royals - Eric Hosmer, 1B.  
4. Orioles - Brian Matusz, LHP.
5. Giants - Tim Beckham, SS.
6. Marlins - Kyle Skipworth, C.
7. Reds - Aaron Crow, RHP.
8. White Sox - Gordon Beckham, SS.
9. Nationals - Justin Smoak, 1B.
10. Astros - Tanner Scheppers, RHP.

I'm just about over my illness so this should be the last day you guys go without any legit posts from me. To open some discussion up though I'd like to pose the question; is any record unbreakable? Alex Rodriguez will probably break Barry Bonds, one day someone will hit .400 and in 57 straight, and maybe someone will win nearly 600 -- however unlikely that seems. It seems improbable that a record can truly stand
the test of decades or centuries, so again I ask: is any record really unbreakable?

Sorry for the lack of posts the past two days, I've been trying to get over the flu, here's a video to hold you over.

I took part in a round table with three people far more qualified to do so than myself: Eric Seidman (who made an appearance on BP today), Pizza Cutter, and USS Mariner's Dave Cameron. Amongst the topics: the baseball media.

Link.

We've already looked at the impact different factors have on whether a ball is called a strike or not. MGL suggested that I try and control for the fact that certain pitchers are much more likely to hover around the edge of the plate rather than down the middle or "just a bit outside"</Bob Uecker>.

Generally, any time MGL makes a suggestion, it's a good idea to at least consider it. So I went ahead and re-ran all the same splits except the one based on how a pitcher started a game, using the same approach as in my previous articles. The change is that I only looked at pitches within two ball widths (just under 6 inches) of the edge of the strike zone (either inside or outside the zone).

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Travis Hafner will probably never again be the incredible hitter he was from 2004-2006. However, he is still far better than his current numbers would indicate. Hafner is hitting .215/.312/.347 so far this year. But when we adjust for the bad luck he has endured, his line should look more like .281/.369/.413 – at worst.

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Thus is the battle evidently raging on the Tampa Bay draft board. Should the Rays go with a bigger need position or with the sexier pick with higher upside? Today we'll begin our draft coverage (including attempting to uncover some draft sleepers rather than spending too much time on the same old names) by attempting to answer the question: who's number one?

via www.sptimes.com

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