• What happens to Juan Pierre? If he slides over to left, as some have speculated, he becomes even more worthless than he already is. Don’t get me wrong, as a Padres fan, I’d love nothing more than to see the Dodgers run Pierre out to a corner spot every day, but I can’t bring myself to believe that anyone would really do that. Then again, someone signed him to a 5-year deal in the first place, so what do I know.
• What happens to Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp? If Pierre stays, then one of these guys has to go — or so it would seem. What will either of them fetch in trade? I’ve heard rumblings about an Erik Bedard deal, but right now the signal-to-noise ratio is very low in terms of rumors vs facts.

Jones certainly represents an upgrade over Pierre in center, but the Dodgers still have to deal with the latter’s contract in some way. Even still, assuming Jones rebounds from a poor ‘06 season, he’s a .260/.340/.500 hitter or so. That’s solid, but is it enough to “put them over the top”?

From a value standpoint, I can live with this contract. From a “what are the Dodgers trying to accomplish” standpoint, I’m left scratching my head.

Other Voices

• Dodger Thoughts
• 6-4-2
• Sabernomics

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Read the full article for all the details, but here are Silver’s projected top pitchers for 2008-2013. See if you can figure out which one doesn’t belong:

1. Johan Santana, Min
2. Jake Peavy, SD
3. C.C. Sabathia, Cle
4. Erik Bedard, Bal
5. Joba Chamberlain, NYA

Hint: His last last name is the same as that of a former British prime minister.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Orioles at Yankees, 10:05 a.m. PT — Intriguing pitching matchup here between Erik Bedard and Philip Hughes. Over at Mr. Irrelevant, Jamie Mottram ponders Bedard’s chances of reaching 300 strikeouts this season. Meanwhile, Carlos Gomez at Hardball Times (full disclosure: I am a contributor to THT) analyzes Hughes’ delivery and compares it to that of fellow pinstripe prospect Joba Chamberlain.
• Tigers at Indians, 4:05 p.m. PT — The Tigers prevailed in round one of the AL Central showdown. Wednesday sees Fausto Carmona and his improving strikeout trends (tip o’ the Knuckle Curve cap to Vegas Watch’s Jacob for that nugget). On the other side, 21-year-old Jair Jurrjens makes his big-league debut. Baseball America identified Jurrjens as Detroit’s #4 prospect coming into the season. Jeremy Bonderman. Justin Verlander. Andrew Miller. The recently signed Rick Porcello. Jurrjens. That is an alarming amount of young pitching talent. Where does it end for the Tigers?
• Royals at Rangers, 5:35 p.m. PT — And in the cautionary tale department, we have Gil Meche and Vicente Padilla pitching for teams headed nowhere. Meche started the season strong and appeared to be justifying the crazy money Kansas City threw at him this past winter. Since the middle of May, though, he’s gone back to his old tricks (4-9, 5.25 ERA in 16 starts). Padilla, meanwhile, is solidifying his status as Nicaragua’s answer to Chan Ho Park.

National League

• Rockies at Padres, 7:05 p.m. PT — This is the only game in the NL on Wednesday that features two teams with winning records. Young flamethrowing right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (Rockies #6 prospect entering the season according to BA) hooks up against Chris Young, who despite getting touched up a bit his last time out continues to lead the world in ERA.

Need to choose just one? Tough call. Orioles and Yankees probably features the best pitching matchup, but I’m going to go with the Tigers and Indians due to the playoff implications. Happy watching…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Red Sox at Orioles, 4:05 p.m. PT — Not that the Red Sox need my help in the hype department, but a battle between Daisuke Matsuzaka and Erik Bedard could be a lot of fun to watch. Bedard has emerged in a big way this season. He’s fourth in the American League in ERA, first in H/9, first in K/9 (11.20!), and first in strikeouts. With all due respect to perennial favorite Johan Santana, Bedard and Oakland’s Dan Haren have to be the front-runners for this year’s Cy Young Award. Of course, we’ve still got plenty of baseball yet to play…
• Yankees at Indians, 4:05 p.m. PT — Two playoff contenders, two up-and-coming young pitchers; what’s not to like? Philip Hughes got knocked around by the Royals last week in his return from an extended stint on the DL. Fausto Carmona, meanwhile, has been one of the bigger surprises in the AL. His low strikeout rate suggests perhaps another Jake Westbrook, so who knows how long this level of success will last. Still, might as well enjoy it. Cleveland has some terrific hitters; the Indians are getting nothing out of second base or right field, but guys like Victor Martinez, Ryan Garko, Grady Sizemore, and Travis Hafner create serious problems for the opposition.
• Twins at Angels, 7:05 pm. PT — I forgot Kelvim Escobar. He could make a run for the Cy Young Award, too. There are a lot of worthy candidates this year. The Twins need to move over to the NL Central. What are they going to do without Torii Hunter next season?

National League

• Braves at Phillies, 4:35 p.m. PT — Speaking of Cy Young, he’s not there yet, but Cole Hamels will be a serious candidate possibly as early as next year. Chuck James is no slouch himself, although he’s up against a ridiculously deep lineup. Do folks in Philadelphia really think Pat Burrell stinks?
• Cubs at Rockies, 6:05 p.m. PT — Meaningful games at Coors Field in August — what’s up with that? The Cubs and Rockies have identical records (59-55) headed into this one, although the Rox play in a much tougher division. According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Cubs had an Opening Day payroll of just under $100 million, while the Rockies check in at about $54 million. Brad Hawpe and Matt Holliday are young studs, and Todd Helton has done a nice job reinventing himself as a productive hitter despite the power outage; the pitching staff, meanwhile, owns a 4.46 ERA (including 4.58 at home) as of this writing. Someone deserves a medal for that.

Got time for just one? Toss-up between Orioles/Red Sox and Braves/Phillies. The former offers a slightly better pitching matchup, while the latter has more far-reaching playoff implications.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

The Orioles, meanwhile, are talking to former Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi about the vacant position. Girardi, you may recall, led a team with a $15 million payroll to 78 wins last season. That’s a little less than Baltimore is paying Danys Baez, Kris Benson, Chad Bradford, and Jamie Walker this year.

Girardi gets a lot of credit for the Marlins ‘06 season, as well he should. But let’s not forget that the team had a tremendous amount of young talent thanks to GM Larry Beinfest and the entire front office. Girardi wouldn’t have that working for him in Baltimore. He would have Nick Markakis, Erik Bedard, Adam Loewen, and a boatload of albatrosses.

What is the best this team can hope for in ‘07 — that they finish ahead of Tampa Bay and Toronto? Is the situation likely to improve in the near future? For the sake of Orioles fans everywhere, I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see a lot of cause for optimism here.

Girardi caught in the big leagues for 15 years. In 1996, with the Yankees, he stole 13 bases. If Girardi has anything left in those legs, now would be a good time to start running.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Some impressive homers on Opening Day. Adam Dunn knocked a couple of serious bombs for Cincy, as did Edgar Renteria for the Braves.

Ah, baseball…

[Update: The Orioles have knocked three doubles in the fourth off Santana to take a 3-2 lead. The home crowd got real quiet.]

Post from: Knuckle Curve