The Sports Idiot

The Phillies did exactly what I said they would earlier today, and have officially named Chan Ho Park as their fifth starter.  No word on Happ, but Amaro did say that he is battling with Gary Majewski, Taschner and Bobby Mosebach for the two remaining spots in the bully.

In other Phils news, they released Geoff Jenkins today.  This is no surprise either, as anyone who is named Jeff, but spells it like they are a giraffe is milk.  The surprise here is that they have contacted Gary Sheffield’s agent.  Shef was released by the Tigers today, one homer shy of 500 for his career.  He is due $14mil for this season, and the Tigers are on the hook for it.  Any team that signs Shef will only have to pony up $400K for this year.

I would wait on grabbing Park, but he could have a lot of value as a sleeper this year.  He is sitting batters down at a high rate in Spring Training, but we do not know how that will equate once the regular season begins.  Proceed with caution, but knowing that you could have a great sleeper.  I just threw up a little in my mouth.

Will Ohman finally has a team.  On Monday, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed the lefty reliever to a one year deal.  Here is the kicker, it’s a minor league deal with an April 14th deadline for Ohman to be in the Majors or he can opt out and sign with another club.   There really are no fantasy implications here as Ohman is not going to close games for the Dodgers.

John Smoltz’ Boston Red Sox squared off against the Braves yesterday.  Smoltz, who spent the afternoon golfing with Tiger, stopped by the Braves’ clubhouse to visit.  As expected, there were no fireworks and Smoltz was welcomed by his old teammates with open arms.

Yeah, it kind of has to be.  With this being the final week of Spring Training, the Phillies got one last look at Chan Ho Park yesterday, and he did not disappoint.  Park struck out seven over 5.2 innings of work while only allowing one earned run to cross the plate.  This puts Park at a 2.53 ERA with a 25:2 K:BB ratio over 21.1 innings.  Compare that to J.A. Happ’s 3.15 ERA and 14:6 K:BB ratio over 20 innings, and to me the choice is pretty clear.  The Phils will get one more look at Happ on Thursday, but they have yet to decide if that will come in Grapefruit League play or in a minor league game.

It will not surprise me when Happ is sent to AAA to start the season, nor when he is called up in mid-May to replace any of their starting rotation. Happ, as well as Park, could be a decent addition to your fantasy roster if they are matching up against fives from other rotations.

Well it looks like the Atlanta Braves have decided to go forward with Jordan Schafer in center this season after they traded the other leading candidate, Josh Anderson, to Detroit yesterday.  In exchange the Braves get a 25 year old bully prospect named Rudy Darrow.  I know absolutely nothing about Darrow, other than that he wears his glove on his left hand and he will be starting his Braves tenure at AA Mississippi.

This move also frees up what I believe is a third 40-man roster spot for the Braves, which could mean that something else is in the works.  Whether that something else is adding current prospects to the 40-man roster or going out and getting a *cough* Will Ohman *cough* I don’t know.  It should be noted that Jordan Schafer is not currently on the 40-man roster himself.

In a move that is not a huge surprise given his performance in ST, Kevin Gregg was named the closer for the Cubs last night.  Everyone who drafted Carlos Marmol should calm down, even if Marmol does not become the closer (which I think he will, it is just a matter of when) he has value in on your team.  According to PECOTA rankings, he should get 75 Ks in his 60 innings of work this season, while posting a 3.40 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP.  While those numbers are not jaw dropping, they will serve as nice filler while you await Gregg’s removal from closing.

Jordan Schafer is making his case to be the starting center fielder for the Atlanta Braves this coming season.  Through 53 at bats, Schafer is raking for a .396 average and he boasts an OPS of 1.014, despite only going yard a single time this Spring.  Since these are only Spring Training stats, I’ll keep my enthusiasm for Schafer tempered, but should he win the starting job I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on him as a potential sleeper this year.

Oh, and in case you missed it, Tommy Hanson was sent down on Wednesday.

On Tuesday we told you that, according to Jason Stark of ESPN, the Phillies were working a deal with the Giants for lefty reliever Jack Taschner.  Late Friday night they did just that, moving catcher Ronny Paulino to San Fransico in exchange for Taschner.  So now the Phils have the second lefthander for their bullpen that they have been pining on all offseason.  The real question is what this means for J.A. Happ in his quest to win the fifth rotation spot.

Phils’ GM Ruben Amaro says that “nothing has been decided” in regards to the bullpen situation.  He acknowledged that they have added some depth, but also added that “we’ll see how Jack fits with our ballclub.”  I’m not sure what kind of message that is supposed to send to the newest member of the Phillies, but it certainly means that the door for Happ in the bully has not been closed.

It’s Friday, so I thought I would reward some of my loyal readers (both of them) with some Friday Content.  Hit the jump to see some of the women that baseball players have somehow managed to land. Continue reading ‘Friday Content – Baseball Wives’

Several people have shown interest in doing a fantasy baseball league.  Unfortunately, only two people have actually signed up for the league, not including yours truly.  If we do not have at least eight people signed up by Friday night, I am going to nix the league completely.  So, either sign up, or bow out!