As we head toward trade season, the Cincinnati Reds find themselves at 39-37, two games out of first place. But since they’re trailing both Milwaukee and St. Louis, it’s always more difficult leapfrogging two teams than just one, and with the Braves playing well in the East, the odds of a wild card berth aren’t that great. So, while the Reds are certainly contenders, they also can’t sit on their heels and hope a division title lands in their lap.

No team in baseball, however, is in a better position to make a blockbuster, season-altering trade than the Reds. The Reds have more talent in Triple-A than several teams do in the Majors, and they have depth on the Major League roster they can move as well. Having multiple interesting young players at every position is nice, but it’s time for the Reds to turn some of that excess into the best big league player(s) they can acquire.

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Giants 2, Twins 1

Moving the Needle: Michael Cuddyer gives the Twins a fighting chance in the ninth with an RBI double, +.212 WPA. The Twins were getting absolutely nothing done off Tim Lincecum, but they finally broke through against closer Brian Wilson. Alexi Casilla walked to start the inning, and Cuddyer whaled a double into the left-center field gap, his third hit of the day. The hit scored Casilla and put the tying run in scoring position with none out. But Wilson took over from there, striking out Delmon Young before getting a fly out and a ground out to end the game.

Notables

Tim Lincecum: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 12 K. That’s his third start of the season with at least 12 strikeouts.

Brian Duensing: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K. It was a valiant effort, but when Timmy’s on you need to be perfect as well in order to match him inning-for-inning.

Also in this issue: Diamondbacks 5, Royals 3 | Nationals 1, Mariners 0 | Mets 4, A’s 1 | Cardinals 12, Phillies 2

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My followers and I had some fun on Twitter the other night, trying to compare actors to baseball players. Josh Hamilton to Robert Downey, Jr was a solid comparison. Robert DeNiro drew plenty of Cal Ripken, Jr, or Ken Griffey, Jr responses. Clint Eastwood was a toughy, as someone who was great in one area for an extended period of time, switched positions, and was equally great, if not better, in that area. 

Robin Yount fit that description, as he began his Hall of Fame career as a shortstop, before switching to center field.

Yount won two MVP awards in his career, recorded 3,142 hits, and finished with a .344 wOBA and 66.1 wins above replacement. He made just three all star teams in his 20-year career from 1974-1993. From 1980-83, Yount’s 25.9 WAR ranked behind only Rickey Henderson, Mike Schmidt, and Andre Dawson. He was the second best infielder in the game, and was named an all star in 1980, 1982, and 1983, only missing out in 1981, in part due to the labor strike.

He didn’t even make the all star team in 1989 when he won his second MVP award at 33 years old. The idea of a player winning a coveted end of season award while not being considered good enough in the first half to make a roster supposedly comprising the best players in each league piqued my interest.

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On Monday, John Maine left the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox, after posting a 7.43 ERA in 46 innings. Technically, he’s trying to come back from a 2010 shoulder surgery which was intended to deal with a shoulder problem that dated back to at least 2008, when they found a bone spur. But Maine has been injured for most of the last three years. In his career, he has never pitched 200 innings, and only once pitched more than 140 — his first and only full season in the majors, 2007 with the Mets, when he won 15 games with a FIP of 4.18 in 191 innings. Since then, he has been placed on the DL three times for injuries to his rotator cuff and shoulder, and had shoulder surgery in 2008 and again in 2010. He is considering retirement. But even if he decides to continue his comeback attempt, it is likely that the bulk of his major league career is behind him.

At his peak, Maine had a fastball that touched 95 miles an hour, which he supplemented with a changeup and slider that were approximately eight miles slower, the same velocity but different spin. It was perhaps ironic that he was swapped for Kris Benson, because they were somewhat similar pitchers: 6’4″ right-handers who threw over the top, fastball-slider pitchers who worked in the low- to mid-90s, and who saw their careers derailed by injury.
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According to ESPN Chicago, the Cubs are already preparing to internally discuss trading some of their expensive, veteran pieces away. This should come as little surprise. The trade deadline is a mere five weeks away, and the Cubs sit in fifth place, ten games out of first with little hope for a comeback. The Cubs have plenty of high-cost veterans they will look to move, such as Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, and Kosuke Fukudome. The question: can they find anybody willing to take these players on, and if so, how much much cash will the Cubs themselves have to throw into the deal?

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Nothing is set in stone, but Ike Davis has some torn cartilage and a bone bruise in his ankle that is not healing. He’ll face some more tests and try to run in three weeks, but if he can’t, he’ll be facing season-ending surgery. It’s possible that season-ending surgery will be of the bone-chilling microfracture variety. Let’s pause for a second until the cacophony of “snakebit” and “woe is us” coming from Queens dies down.

There, that’s better. It’s upsetting though, of course. And the one of the main complaints may have some merit. With this story so familiar in recent years, it does seem merited to wonder if the Mets medical staff is doing their jobs correctly. You could take the words “Ike Davis” out of this situation and slide in “Carlos Beltran” and only the joint in question would be any different.

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The White Sox are a team on the rebound. After a dismal April in which they went 10-18 with a -34 run differential, they’ve turned things around and have gone 27-21 since, bringing them to within two games of .500 and to within 4.5 games of the AL Central lead. They still face a number of problems, including four starters with wOBAs below .300. But given how good their top guys have been, they can mask that for a bit until the trailers either pick up their performances, or GM Kenny Williams swings a trade for upgrades.

In the meantime, the Sox should be maximizing their resources by playing the guys who are actually hitting, and putting them in prominent lineup spots. Unfortunately, Ozzie Guillen has continued to hit one of his worst hitters atop the lineup, and doesn’t play another who has produced in his limited appearances.

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Like most hitters in Oakland this year, David DeJesus is not doing so well. The A’s acquired him from the Royals to give their offense a spark, but thus far he has racked up just a .229/.313/.358 line and has begun to find himself on the bench with some regularity. During interleague play, Bob Melvin has chosen to use Hideki Matsui in the outfield in lieu of playing DeJesus, a sign of just how uninterested Melvin is in using DeJesus.

That said, DeJesus is actually having a pretty standard season in many areas. In fact, take a look at his 2011 marks compared to the last two seasons:

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Tonight’s featured game is brought to you by the adjective Mega.

This edition of One Night Only contains:

1. An expanded preview of tonight’s Arizona-Kansas City contest — known to basically everyone as Mega Game 2011.

2. A brief note — namely, that there are only five games tonight, so plan your life accordingly.

3. Very proprietary Pitcher and Team NERD scores for every one of tonight’s five dumb games.

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