• I’m a big Swisher fan. I love his skill set and the way he plays the game. The White Sox have been searching for a center fielder; is Swisher the answer? I know he played there quite a bit in ‘07, but can he legitimately spend an entire season in center?
• What’s up with Gonzalez? He’s got the killer minor-league strikeout numbers, but this guy has now been traded for Jim Thome, Freddy Garcia, and Swisher in separate deals. Gonzalez may well be worth the fuss, I don’t know; but that’s a lot of moving around for a kid who hasn’t advanced beyond Double-A.

Meanwhile, the A’s are going through one of their periodic “Who Am I?” phases. They’re pretty good at this sort of thing, so I expect they’ll come out of it okay, but it’s got to be tough to watch (or be part of) in real time.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• Freddy Garcia
  Pros: Workhorse when healthy, pitched 200+ innings every year 2001-2006.
  Cons: Injuries limited him to 58 innings in ‘07, had shoulder surgery in August, turns 33 in June.
• Jason Jennings
  Pros: Another workhorse who pitched well for Colorado in ‘06, only 29, has experience pitching in offensive ballpark.
  Cons: Coming back from September elbow surgery, may not be ready by Opening Day.
• Jon Lieber
  Pros: Throws strikes, capable of going deep into games.
  Cons: More surgery — this one on his left foot in July, turns 38 in April.
• Livan Hernandez
  Pros: Throws a ton of innings and a ton of pitches, not exciting but keeps teams in game.
  Cons: Ugly strikeout rates, keep waiting for his arm to fall off but at this point it probably never will.
• Josh Fogg
  Pros: Accustomed to high-offense environments, has a cool nickname.
  Cons: Not a very good pitcher.

I imagine that Garcia, Jennings, and Lieber all could be had for very little. Then again, they might be worth very little. Fogg doesn’t do much for me, but he soaks up innings and he isn’t easily intimidated. If I were the Reds, though, I think I’d make a play for Hernandez — the guy can take all kinds of abuse, which could come in handy when pitching at Great American.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Royals at Tigers, 4:05 p.m. PT – Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander do battle in Detroit. Two starts does not a season make, but it’s nice to see Greinke off to a strong start in 2007.

National League

• Mets at Phillies, 4:05 p.m. PT – Shortstop Jimmy Rollins thinks the Phillies are the team to beat in the NL East, but their 3-8 start isn’t helping his case. Don’t blame Rollins, though. He’s hitting .298/.411/.766 in the early going, with a league-leading six homers. The problem has been that Philadelphia’s team ERA of 5.14 is worst in the NL — yep, behind even the Washington Nationals. John Maine starts for the Mets in this one, against Freddy Garcia, who makes his Phillies debut after opening the season on the disabled list.
• Pirates at Cardinals, 5:10 p.m. PT – Ian Snell and Anthony Reyes hook up in St. Louis. The 25-year-old Snell fanned 11 in his ‘07 debut against the Astros and followed with seven strong innings against the Cardinals. Reyes, born exactly two weeks before Snell, is a little behind his counterpart in the development department but has been a highly touted prospect in the past. This could be a fun matchup.
• Giants at Rockies, 5:35 p.m. PT – Barry Zito and Jeff Francis square off at Coors Field. Francis owns a career 4.41 ERA pitching in the Mile High City. Here’s a weird split that might speak a little to the differences between playing at Coors and “real baseball”: Francis has issued 21 intentional walks in his brief career; 19 of those have come on the road. I wonder if other Rockies pitchers have similar splits.

Happy Monday, folks. Baseball. It’s not just for breakfast anymore…

Post from: Knuckle Curve