ANAHEIM ANGELS Re-signed manager Terry Collins to a contract extension; activated SS Gary Disarcina from the DL; designated UT Tim Unroe for assignment. [6/22] Disney rallies around its man, but it isn’t like they can’t afford to eat the contract should they finally realize that Collins is part of the problem. It’s been interesting to…
TRADE Dear Rotoman: I have been offered Albert Belle for Mike Mussina. I am lacking in the power categories and my staff is one of the best in my deep AL-only league. In addition to Mussina, I have David Cone, Charles Nagy, Scott Erickson, Wilson Alvarez, Tim Hudson, Omar Olivares and, sorry to say, Steve…
BALTIMORE ORIOLES Placed 2B Delino DeShields on the 15-day DL, retroactive to 6/20 (strained hamstring). [6/21] DeShields is well on the way to earning a "fragile" label. Between injuries he hasn’t exactly busted out to the kind of offensive season (.274/.355/.374) people might have expected from a guy coming into Camden Yards in what’s turning…
LARRY DIERKER “It was scary to hear that he might have a tumor. You couldn’t eat or sleep last night. It was great to see that he is OK. Now we can go out and do what he trained us to do the last three years, have fun and play hard.” — Derek Bell, Astros…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Placed CF Mike Colangelo on the 15-day DL, retroactive to 6/14 (torn thumb ligament); announced that INF Tim Unroe cleared waivers, and selected his contract back from Edmonton; transferred CF Jim Edmonds from the 15- to the 60-day DL. [6/16] The only surprise is that Colangelo was hurt worse than expected in his…
(Ed. Note: Peter Kreutzer joins Baseball Prospectus Online this week with his fantasy baseball column “Ask Rotoman”. Kreutzer, formerly of ESPN.com, will be taking reader questions and dispensing his unique brand of fantasy baseball insight throughout the summer.) It’s good to be back. After an off-season that saw Rotoman welcome Rotobaby to the family, and…
Are the Phillies for Real? For the second straight June, the Philadelphia Phillies find themselves on the brink of wild-card contention, just a game and a half behind the Cubs and Giants. As has been the case in most NL seasons since the wild card’s debut, this "race" pits a handful of .530 teams battling…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Purchased the contracts of OFs Mike Colangelo and Matt Luke from Edmonton; optioned 1B Chris Pritchett to Edmonton; designated UT Tim Unroe for assignment; transferred RHP Pep Harris from the 15- to the 60-day DL. [6/12] To add to this mess, as you should already know, Colangelo promptly got injured in his first…
EXPOS BEAT MARTINEZ “What an unbelievable game. Obviously the fans here love Pedro and they’re pulling for him but I think when it came down to it, they really wanted us to win.” — Mike Thurman, Expos pitcher “I just wanted to come back here and keep on rolling but they beat me. If I’m…
"Baseball is 75% pitching." "Pitching and defense are what win baseball games. " We’ve heard these cliches spouted countless times, but thanks to the work of analysts like Bill James, among many others, we know they don’t stand up to scrutiny. Scoring runs plays just as important a role in winning as preventing runs. However,…
Unexpected Results in Oakland The Athletics are in a virtual tie for second place in the AL West with a 30-29 record, while being outscored 296 to 275 (a Pythagorean record of 27-32). What’s strange about this is not that the A’s are outperforming their projection, but just what part of the team is responsible…
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Recalled INF Hanley Frias from Tucson; designated RHP Amaury Telemaco for assignment. [6/8] So Telemaco is lost on waivers twice in thirteen months; he didn’t help himself during his brief duty with the D’backs this year, but more importantly, he didn’t cost enough to draw attention to himself in a Colangelo operation. It…