The New York Mets have traded outfielder Lastings Milledge to the Washington Nationals for outfielder Ryan Church and catcher Brian Schneider. Bizarre to see Milledge dealt just days after Delmon Young was traded, but rumors had been swirling for a long time.
Milledge has batted .257/.326/.414 in a shade under 400 plate appearances spread across two seasons. That’s not great for a guy who slots more as a corner outfielder, but when you consider that he turns 23 in April, it’s just fine.
There have been questions about Milledge’s character ever since he was drafted, but there’s no denying his talent. I …read more

ESPN reports that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have traded outfielder Delmon Young, infielder Brendan Harris, and minor-league reliever Eduardo Morlan to the Minnesota Twins for right-hander Matt Garza, shortstop Jason Bartlett, and minor-league outfielder Jason Pridie.
Headed to Minnesota

This is a tough time of the year to write about baseball, so I love when people say things that don’t make a lot of sense. The great thing is, you can almost always count on someone to come through in the clutch.
Enter Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon, talking about the fact that his outfielder, Delmon Young, didn’t win the AL Rookie of the Year:
It’s really disturbing. I can see him not winning the award, but leaving him off eight ballots is just a sign of personal prejudice.
In this case, “personal prejudice” is code for “understanding the criteria …read more

{democracy:23}

Another day, another poll. Today we’re looking at the American League Rookie of the Year, an award I haven’t talked too much about in this space. My preseason pick was Royals third baseman Alex Gordon, and although he finished with respectable numbers, he’s not my choice.
Neither is Tampa Bay’s Delmon Young. I expect him to win the award because of his big RBI numbers, but I’d go with Boston’s Dustin Pedroia. In addition to outhitting Young this year, Pedroia also plays second base.
Beyond Pedroia, you could make a decent case for Baltimore right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, although the fact that he …read more

With the season winding down, I got to wondering who’s stinking up the joint? Here are the players with the lowest OPS+ by position (minimum 430 PA, roughly what it would take to qualify for the batting title if the season ended now) and the pitchers with the highest ERA+ (minimum 140 IP for starters, 40 G for relievers):

Worst Position Players of 2007

Pos
Name
Team(s)
BA
OBP
SLG
OPS+

Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference and are through games of September 9, 2007.

C
Jason Kendall
Oak/ChN
.245
.300
.313
63

1B
Lyle Overbay
Tor
.239
.317
.397
85

2B
Josh Barfield
Cle
.245
.273
.326
59

3B
Nick Punto
Min
.199
.286
.255
46

SS
Tony Pena
KC
.256
.276
.334
56

Omar Vizquel
SF
.239
.299
.295
56

LF
Jason Bay
Pit
.253
.331
.424
95

CF
Juan Pierre
LA
.290
.323
.347
73

RF
Delmon Young
TB
.293
.322
.416
92

Quick comments:

Kendall and Pierre have humongous contracts. Kendall’s is up at the end of the ‘07 season, …read more