The news that Randy Johnson had a setback during his rehab is a bit overblown. Jim Duquette seemed surprised by the reports that Mike Piazza was throwing from a crouch. Eric Chavez had X-rays on his foot Wednesday that came back negative. Trevor Hoffman is playing catch. The Pirates are using Brian Giles in CF. Craig Counsell is close to a return after missing much of the season with a thumb injury. Bad news for Luke Prokopec and his comeback. Will Carroll has all the injury news in today’s Under The Knife.
Kenny Williams’ trades for Roberto Alomar and Carl Everett enhance an improving resume, while D’Angelo Jimenez is becoming the new Bruce Chen. Joe Sheehan takes a look at the White Sox moves in Prospectus Today.
Despite a nearly universal bias against them, short pitchers have found a willing taker in Houston. David Cameron reports on the Astros’ stable of diminutive pitchers and the success teams can have by ignoring an old truism, in this edition of Prospecting.
The Rainiers announced on June 27th that “Fun Entertainment LLC” (formerly Unsmiling Consolidated Industries AG, incorporated in Dusseldorf, Germany) signed a letter of intent to buy the team from owner George Foster, who’s been trying to get rid of them for years. While the team is tied to a lease through 2005, Cheney stadium is pretty run-down and the owner has been fighting for years for wide-ranging improvements. If the new ownership doesn’t get a sweet deal, they’ll start looking for places to move. Tacoma’s a beautiful industrial town, as much as any city has personality in modern times, where strip malls with the same stores and the vast parking lots of Wal Mart determine as much local geography as the character of the region a hundred years ago. Tacoma’s also poorer than Seattle, and with the whole northwest economy in shambles and Boeing self-destructing, it’s going to be hard for the city to come up with a couple million dollars to support minor-league baseball, and it’s even more unlikely the state would help.
Jeff DaVanon is having the 150 at-bats of his life for the Halos; Cubs pitchers are taking their share of abuse (to the surprise of no one); and Eric Munson looks like a legitimate option behind the plate for the Tigers. All this and much more news from Anaheim, Chicago, and Detroit in your Thursday edition of Prospectus Triple Play.