Posts Tagged ‘neil walker’


Red Sox acquire Bedard

Sunday, July 31st, 2011

Erik Bedard (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)

Canadian left-hander Erik Bedard of Navan, Ontario, has been traded to the Boston Red Sox.

Just a day after the Red Sox acquired fellow Canadian Rich Harden of Victoria, British Columbia from the Oakland Athletics but changed their mind because they didn’t like Harden’s medical report, they acquired Bedard from the Seattle Mariners for outfield prospects Trayvon Robinson and Chih-Hsein Chiang.

Bedard, who has had a history of shoulder trouble, was 4-7 with 87 strikeouts and a 3.45 earned run average for the Mariners in 2011.  His best years in the Majors came with Baltimore in 2006 and 2007, where he had a combined total of 28 wins over those two years. The 4-7 record this season is deceiving because the Mariners provide so little offense each time they take to the field.

In Boston, Bedard will replace the injured Clay Buchholz in the starting rotation for the time being, but don’t be surprised if there is room for him in the rotation when Buchholz gets back, because when healthy, Bedard has been better than Tim Wakefield and John Lackey this season.

In other significant moves over the last two days, the Seattle Mariners also traded starting pitcher Doug Fister and setup man David Pauley to the Detroit Tigers for outfielder Casper Wells, pitcher Charlie Furbush, prospect Francisco Martinez and a player to be named later.

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Hurdle continues managing excellence

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Clint Hurdle (Jared Wickerham, Getty Images)

The surprise team in the Major Leagues at the present time are the Pittsburgh Pirates with the Cleveland Indians getting honourable mention.

But literally, who would of thought we would be talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates, at 49-44 and only a half game back of the National League Central Division leading Milwaukee Brewers?

Clint Hurdle accomplished magic with the Colorado Rockies in 2007. The Rockies won 14 of their last 15 games to force a tie-breaker against the San Diego Padres– a game the Rockies won. Colorado then beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Divisional Series and the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Championship Series, before losing to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

This year, Hurdle’s performance in managing the Pirates is equally as impressive. Hurdle is managing literally a bunch of no names. Offensively they’re led by outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who is batting .282 with 14 home runs and 56 runs batted in. Second baseman Neil Walker also deserves high praise for his 62 runs batted in.

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Major League Baseball Preview–National League Central

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Ryan Braun (Wikimedia Commons)

In one of the most intriguing divisions in baseball, you have four teams that have a legitimate chance of winning the division, and two teams that don’t.

The Milwaukee Brewers haven’t won a division title since winning the American League East in 1982. Under the direction of General Manager Doug Melvin of Chatham, Ontario, this year is as good as any for the Brewers to win the division crown.

Milwaukee enters the year with an outstanding nucleus of strong pitching and hitting. Prince Fielder, son of former Blue Jay Cecil Fielder, had 30+ home runs for the fourth straight year (32). I would like to see Fielder’s batting average rise a little, as it was at .261 a year ago. Ryan Braun is showing baseball fans he is an elite outfielder. Last year he had a .304 batting average with 25 home runs and 103 runs batted in. The Brewers are also anxious to get right fielder Corey Hart back in the lineup (.283, 31 HR, 102 RBIs). He may not start the season because of a strained oblique muscle.

The Brewers also made a blockbuster deal with the Blue Jays in the offseason. They acquired starting pitcher Shawn Marcum from Toronto for second base prospect Brett Lawrie of Burnaby, British Columbia. They also made another huge deal with the Kansas City Royals, acquiring Zack Greinke, the 2009 American League Cy Young Winner. The question marks for Marcum and Greinke are their health. Greinke is starting the year on the disabled list with a broken rib while playing basketball in February, while Marcum missed the 2009 season with Tommy John Surgery. If they are healthy for the majority of the year, Milwaukee will have an outstanding 1-2-3 punch that will include last year’s ace Yovani Gallardo (14-7, 200 K, 3.84 ERA).

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