If Monday night became the catalyst to a billion Year of the Pitcher columns then perhaps Tuesday night should at least be labeled the Night of the Trainer.

Stephen Strasburg

The most well known injury in the league seems to lack one thing: an injury. Most reports have Strasburg undergoing every medical test known to man (and some) because he could not get loose during his pregame routine. The Nationals scratched Strasburg and replaced him with Miguel Batista who in turn bruised the Braves’ egos; pitching five innings of shutout ball with six strikeouts and a walk. As of now, there is no word on the long-term status of either Strasburg of the egos.

Huston Street

Like Strasburg, Street’s ailment did not occur during a game or even stretching. Instead, a batted ball nailed him in the nether region during batting practice. Loaded onto a stretcher and rushed to the hospital, the scene was surreal in its apparent seriousness. He’s being listed as day-to-day, but most fans would understand if he takes a day or two off.

B.J. Upton

The first of the night’s injuries to occur during the run of play; Upton sprained his ankle after the second batter of the night hit a single into center and he gave pursuit. It appeared Upton’s foot either was caught in the field turf or he simply landed the wrong way. Upton began hopping on one leg while scooping up the ball and tossing it, he then stayed on the ground for a few minutes before leaving the game. He too is day-to-day, with Joe Maddon suggesting he’ll miss two-to-three days.

Justin Upton

A bad night for the Upton family. Justin left minutes after big brother with a hip injury. His injury isn’t too severe and he should beat B.J. back into the lineup.

Shane Victorino

After making grab in the seventh inning against the Diamondbacks, Victorino walked off the field with the trainer for what is being described as a strained oblique. The hope is that he’ll avoid a trip to the DL, yet with the way the Phillies luck has went, expect him to miss at least a few days, and maybe a few weeks.

This post is a combination of primer and thought about the post-deadline waiver period that comes each August. It came up during a conversation I had with Jonah Keri yesterday and we both agreed on the premise that this August could see more waiver deals than those in the past based on the financial fears buzzing around the league.

Take Chad Qualls for example. His contract calls for roughly $4.19 million to be paid to him this season. Since we’re right around 60 percent of the way done with the season, we can estimate that Qualls’ is still due somewhere between $1.6 and $1.8 million. Qualls will qualify for free agency after the season and seems unlikely to reach Type B compensation. Essentially, at season’s end the Diamondbacks will lose Qualls for nothing unless they re-sign him.

It is impossible to know whether Qualls has trade value equal to or exceeding the Diamondbacks’ desired return. The only indications we have are that Qualls is not on a new team and his performance seemingly calls for a lowered value from previous seasons. The combination of poor performance – even if only by prehistoric metrics – and pending free agency is not the kind that produces a euphoric potion of prospect goodness.

Say the Diamondbacks don’t find an offer to their liking by Saturday. They aren’t in contention and Qualls’ giant ERA probably won’t cause too much of a public relations nightmare, so what they can do after Saturday is place Qualls on waivers. The first time, these waivers are revocable. If a team, the Yankees for example, claimed Qualls, the D-Backs would have a few days to work out a trade with the Yankees for someone else who either A) cleared waivers (and thus is able to be traded throughout the n waiver deadline period); or B) is not on the 40-man roster.

If they could not agree to a trade then the D-Backs could either let the Yankees take him (and his $1.6-1.8 million price tag) or pull him off waivers. They could then place him back on waivers, but this time it would be irrevocable. Meaning, of course, the D-Backs could do nothing if the Yankees again got their paws on him besides pass the check.

The incentive for the Yankees (or whatever team) is simple. They (presumably) don’t give up much in the way of talent or players with major league roles at the time for an upgrade with a reduced cost. The D-Backs get some cash they can put towards whatever, and while it’s probably not the ideal return, it’s better than nothing.

And in a league where teams are supposedly more conscious about the bottom line than in recent years, that could be all it takes to acquire talent.

All gathered from this Baseball-Reference page.

5. Seattle relievers have collectively entered 69 games when their team held the lead. That would be individual games, not team games. Meaning, simply, the Mariners have not necessarily held the lead in 69 separate games at the point when a reliever entered. That does not seem like a ridiculous number until you look at the second lowest total in the league, which happens to be Arizona’s pen at 90 games. That’s right, the Mariners are 21 games behind the second worst team in the majors.

4. Baltimore has had 111 relief stints of multiple innings pitched. That’s the most in the league by 15. Charlie Manuel, meanwhile, has only asked a member his pen to go multiple innings at a time on 46 occasions, a league low, although Houston and Arizona (of all teams) are not too far off.

3. Jerry Manuel’s Mets lead the league in number of appearances that have come on zero days rest. This isn’t much in the way of news for Mets’ fans. Pedro Feliciano takes fewer days off than the postal service (26 times he’s worked on zero days rest). It’s happened 93 times in total for New York, 89 for Cincy, then no other team is over 80, with Tampa Bay, Colorado, Atlanta, and Houston all sitting at 75 or more.

2. The Padres’ bullpen has allowed the fewest inherited runners to score. That’s not too much of a surprise (in part because the Friars’ relievers enter with a runner on base the least of any team in the league). What is a surprise is that Cleveland’s pen ranks second. That despite a 4.53 FIP (fourth worst in baseball).

1. Last, but not least. Three members of the Pirates’ relief corp are amongst the four pitchers who enter most often when their team is down. Javier Lopez (33 down, 14 ahead/tied), D.J. Carrasco (27 down, 17 ahead/tied), and Evan Meek (26 down, 20 ahead tied) are only interrupted by Matt Albers (29 down, 12 ahead/tied). Fifth belongs to the guy I wrote about earlier, Kanekoa Texeira (26 down, 6 head/tied).

If for no other reason than a ragged beard and moppy heard of hair, we should all be thankful that the Mariners chose Kanekoa Texeira in the past Rule 5 draft. Texeira was a part of the Yankees’ organization, which has a draconian policy towards facial hair and style alike. They are essentially baseball’s version of the Illuminati with constricting policies in exchange for success. Oh sure, you’ll win games, but no handlebar mustaches for you, my friend. And really, is winning without a mustache winning at all?

Texeira remained a Mariner through the spring and into the summer before the team placed him on waivers. The question of choice at the time was something like, “Which sabermetric organization will be the next to give this guy a shot?” That was a question because through 18 innings with the Mariners, Texeira had decent peripherals and a stinky ERA.

The team of intellectual sunshine to claim Texeira was – of course – the Kansas City Royals. He’s since pitched in 15 games for them and has looked nothing like his Mariner incarnation. Instead of being a reliever with modest strikeout and walk rates who gets a fair amount of grounders, he’s morphed into a reliever almost completely void of strikeouts and walks who gets an extreme amount of grounders. It’s a good look for him, too, as his FIP and xFIP have remained about steady while his ERA has deflated by more than two runs.

In such small sample sizes, it is possible that one or the other could be Texiera’s real ability. It’s also possible that neither are truly representative since it is just 43 innings and true talent doesn’t know of our arbitrary boundaries – like seasons – so it doesn’t have to show itself through every sample just because Texeira is now in the majors or just because the season just began or anything like that. He looks like a useful reliever to have in a bullpen and kudos to the Royals for grabbing him, but right now, it’s hard to peg just which skin is his own.

Last Monday, Jack Moore questioned the Oakland Athletics’ decision against trading Ben Sheets. A week later, Sheets is doubtful to make another start this season and perhaps ever again for the A’s.

This is not the first injury the Athletics have sustained and it will not be the last. Roughly $31 million of Oakland’s $58 million dollar payroll is split Between Coco Crisp, Mark Ellis, Eric Chavez, and Sheets; combined they have produced 1.4 WAR – or about $22 million per win. Somehow, the Athletics are still around .500 despite effectively playing with a $27 million dollar roster – about $5 million less than Alex Rodriguez is making by himself. That goes without even mentioning Justin Duchscherer, who banks $1.75 million of his own.

That “somehow” is credit to the A’s rotation. Brett Anderson – who returns this week – and Dallas Braden are the two best pitchers on the squad and neither has managed to stay healthy this season either. Vin Mazzaro is a relatively new addition to the rotation as well. He is only tallied 60 starting innings this season with an additional 10 in the bullpen. His 4.42 xFIP (starting only) is an improvement over what he offered last season, which is nice, but the real story of the rotation is the combination of Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill.

The 22 year old Cahill has upped his groundball rate to 57% through 17 starts. For comparison’s sake, former Athletic Tim Hudson is at 66% and Justin Masterson is at 63%. Although he’s still a fastball pitcher at heart – and with groundball rates like that it’s obvious that he’s a sinkerballer – Cahill has successful substituted a curveball in place of his slider. Anytime a pitcher ups his strikeout rate while simultaneously downing his walk and home run rates it’s a joyous occasion. When Cahill does walk a batter or allow a hit, he’s getting double plays in 18% of his double play opportunities – roughly equal to the aforementioned Hudson.

Gonzalez is the elder of the pair as he is all of 24. He’s made 20 starts this season and is averaging six innings. Much like Cahill, Gonzalez has ostracized the free pass from his game; not entirely, but enough to make a noticeable difference. Gonzalez’s fastball shows good velocity and casual observers may notice the usage and depict Gonzalez in their mind as a pitcher with a dominant heater. While the pitch does get strikes, it is not quite a pastball as it only misses bats about 6% of the time. Gonzalez’s curve does the dirty work. With a ten-inch drop (relative to a ball thrown without spin), the pitch results in a whiff nearly 14% of the time.

When the holy trinity of Hudson-Zito-Mulder descended onto the other depths of Major League Baseball, everyone looked for a new big three to emerge in Oakland. Haren-Harden-Blanton did the job, just not quite as well. It’s far too early to acclaim either Gonzalez or Cahill as the third wheel alongside Braden and Anderson, but the Athletics might have the makings of a very good and very cheap rotation for the very near future.

This weekend the Mets and Dodgers played a series of three games. As far as managerial matchups are concerned, few produce as much entertainment as a proposed duel of wits between Jerry Manuel and Joe Torre. There were about a dozen different moves and tweaks to analyze from this series but one in particular stood out as worthy of examination: intentionally walking Garret Anderson.

Let me set the scene. It’s Saturday and a gorgeous day in Los Angeles, California, with the sun hanging out overhead like a halo. It’s also the bottom of the fourth. Blake Dewitt tripled to begin the inning and Casey Blake struck out. Mike Pelfrey is pitching with Garret Anderson due up, Brad Ausmus on deck, and the pitcher – Carlos Montasterios – in the hole. The Mets are down by one and Manuel is determined to keep it that way so he issues an intentional walk.

What inspired Manuel to walk Anderson? Well the catcher was on deck. Not just any catcher, a 41 year old catcher known for his game-calling skills rather than any offensive ability. Behind him stood the pitcher with fewer than 10 career plate appearances. Manuel could not handpick a better trio to potentially bat with a runner on third. It’s obvious the intentional walk only became a thought once Pelfrey retired Blake. ZiPS pegs Blake as a .345 wOBA hitter the rest of the way; it also has Anderson and Ausmus at .298 apiece. A double play was the goal, but only with one out. Manuel never thought about placing a runner on first without having at least one out because a double play from that situation plates a run.

Therefore, he walks Anderson; the same Anderson who has a .211 wOBA in 152 plate appearances this season and has a .205 on-base percentage. In effect, he’s banking on Ausmus to either ground into a double play, strike out, or hit an infield fly. Just about anything else results in that run that Manuel so desperately wants to keep off the board. Ausmus has barely played this season. Between 2007 and 2009, though, he racked up 754 plate appearances. During that time, he came up to bat in situations that could heed a double play 141 times and hit into a twin-killing 16 times – or 11%. Also during that time Ausmus struck out 18% of the time (of all plate appearances, not at-bats) and hit infield flies about 2% of the time.

Without regression, adjustment, or anything, we know that 167 of Ausmus’ 754 (22%) plate appearances ended like Manuel needed his fourth inning plate appearance to end yesterday. The likelihood increases when accounting for Pelfrey’s presence – a groundball pitcher who gets double plays in 15% of his opportunities with a fair amount of infield flies and strikeouts of his own. In the end, though, the probability of a double play is seemingly nowhere near 50%; whereas, if you assume Anderson and Ausmus are essentially true talent .300 OBP players, there is a near 50% chance that both make outs in consecutive at-bats.

The numbers might change based on Pelfrey as well as the situation at hand. The result is that walking Anderson is unwarranted when you go off probability. Pelfrey did get Ausmus to hit a grounder, by the way, but it went through the infield into center. The single plated one, eventually giving the Dodgers runners on third and second with two outs before Rafael Furcal grounded out.

Oh, and the Dodgers won by one run. A 13th inning homer by James Loney off Oliver Perez with Francisco Rodriguez still available.

A few days ago I wondered whether the snark level surrounding Dayton Moore and the Kansas City Royals had grown out of hand. They are what they are: an extremely easy target given their record and history of transgressions. At the same time, the farm system is having a nice year. Even if part of that is because the Royals stubbornly refused to promote Alex Gordon amongst others. The Royals’ front office has smart people within. They have a bunch of nice people too. There is no reason to wish ill will or outcomes upon them. None. In fact, you hope they get everything in order so one of the more loyal fan bases in the game can experience playoff baseball again.

But then rumors like this happen and all the warm fuzzy thoughts quickly vanish to where they came. The Royals like Jeff Francoeur? Well of course they like Jeff Francoeur. They seemingly like every former product of the Braves’ farm system that eventually washed out of the organization for one reason or another. Just last night, Thursday night, they had Bruce Chen and Kyle Davies pitching for them. Francoeur isn’t quite the hitting version of that pair because he actually had two very good seasons with Atlanta in 2005 and 2007, but … well, put it this way: 7.1 of Francoeur’s 7.3 career WAR came in those two seasons.

He’s never walked much. He probably never will. He may never replicate the power surge from 2005; at least not over a period longer than 300 plate appearances. His BABIP is .271, which is well below his career norm, but not absurdly so. Look, he’s probably better than his .292 wOBA suggests, but what is his upside? Is it .320? Is it .330? Is it .340? Probably not. He’s just not a good player even when you ignore the fielding, which is about average — give or take a run here or there — despite a strong arm and so-so baserunning despite a supposedly high baseball IQ.

Here is the thing: the Royals could actually acquire Francoeur and have it turn out to be a useful move. For all the jokes and all the ridiculous bravado around Francoeur’s clubhouse demeanor – supposedly, he is the one who dictates when the rest of the team shaves … and this is highlighted as an endearing quality to have in the clubhouse; only in baseball would being the guy in charge of everyone else’s facial hair be such an important position – Francoeur could actually be a decent platoon mate. For his career, he’s hit lefties at a .345 wOBA clip. Take away the .249 figure in 2008 and he’s always maintained a wOBA above .350 versus southpaws until this season. That is absolutely useful.

There are three issues with this idea: 1) The Mets will almost certainly want more than a player of that ilk is worth; 2) Kansas City will almost certainly not value Francoeur as a platoon player either, and by extension, won’t use him as one; 3) Francoeur is being paid $5 million this season; right-handed hitting corner outfielders with average defense who hit lefties aren’t exactly a rare flock of bird. Put that all in a bowl and mix it and you’ll produce some quality snark cakes. Hopefully the Royals ditch the recipe. For everyone’s sake.

Jack Cust’s path to big league regularity is most unusual. He was always the former top prospect shunned with a skill set too uncool and too untrue to the expectancies of major league teams. Cust’s eHarmony page read that he liked 90-foot walks down the first base line, jogs around the bases, and hangdog expressions following strike threes on journeys back to the dugout. Just like a real dating profile, nobody reading Cust’s believed a word of it. Not until Billy Beane took him out on a second date.

What a horrible fall from grace, as Cust was traded for Mike Myers and Chris Richard in separate deals before becoming a free agent following the 2004 season. He signed with Oakland, but a year later repeated the process, this time signing with San Diego. In May 2007, Beane purchased Cust, who would jump into the Athletics lineup days later and hit a home run in his first game. He would hit 25 more, and finish the year with a .393 wOBA. In 2008 Cust’s performance would come back to earth. His BABIP would drop from .355 to .306. He still posted a wOBA over .370.

Last year, though, things went sour. The 30-year-old’s ISO slipped to .177 despite a slight raise in his BABIP and a decrease in strikeouts. That .342 wOBA got him designated for assignment from the A’s. Cust stayed with the A’s, of course, and he’s racked up more than 180 plate appearances this season. At first glance, the .381 wOBA posted this year suggests he is back to fulfilling his previous role: the pretty girl with glasses that obstructs her comeliness. But no, this isn’t the same Cust. Sure, he still walks a lot, and despite once more cutting down on the whiffs, he’s still sitting down after a strikeout nearly one-third of the time, but the power … it’s just not there. His ISO is down to .171. Even with a BABIP over .380 he’s just not generating the power he once did.

Cust’s BABIP on flyballs is .194 which means that he is getting hits on flyballs 5% more of the time than the league average. And yet, Cust is hitting more infield flies – which turn into outs something like 98% of the time – and fewer home runs – which never turn into outs – leaving one a bit curious as to whether Cust’s new found ability to get hits isn’t just a proxy of some fortuitous drops.

The reality of the situation is that Cust might be nearing the end of his usefulness as a major league designated hitter if the power is truly gone and if the strikeouts remain. It’s too bad because he got started in this league far too late for it to end so soon.

That Boston has encountered numerous injuries this season is no revelation. That Boston just acquired yet another utility player isn’t either. Nevertheless, Fenway faithful should prepare to welcome Jack Hannahan to the illustrious family.

Acquired today from the Seattle Mariners for cash or a player to be named later, Hannahan is a 30-year-old who started the year with an injury that pushed him out of the utility infielder job with the Mariners. Instead, he’s spent his entire season in the minors with Tacoma while hitting .228/.331/.331. Boston is not acquiring Hannahan for his bat, although his career numbers (.224/.311/.347 in 981 plate appearances) may inflate from playing his home games in Fenway instead of Safeco Field or McAfee Coliseum. Of course, he also has to face the pitching staffs of the Yankees and Rays more often, so maybe not.

Where Hannahan shines is in his defense prowess. Just at Tacoma this season he’s played third and second base as well as shortstop. He is a legitimate plus defender, giving Boston a versatile player who writes love letters to his fielding glove. Ultimately, that seems to be the only function of his presence. He’s not a good enough baserunner to pinch run for anyone other than David Ortiz.

The cost is nothing. At most, the Sox are giving up a piece of Triple-A or Double-A depth, and for a cheap utility player who can help much in the same way Alex Cora did for the Sox from 2005 to 2008.This also opens up the possibility of moving Jed Lowrie in another deal. It’s not a gamechanger by any means, just a decent exercise in bench-building on the cheap. No vesting options required.

The New York Yankees are 9-6 in one-run games this season. That within itself is not overly remarkable. Assume the Yankees’ .634 winning percentage as their true talent level – i.e. the level of which we would expect them to play over a stretch of time – and over 15 games you’d expect them to win between nine and 10 of those games. No, the percentage of 9-6 is nothing special, it’s the sum of 9-6 at this point in the season that is.

The San Diego Padres boast a Major League-best 19-12 road record. The White Sox aren’t far off with a record of 18-12. At the bottom of the pole, the Cubs’ 12-21 and Jays’ 12-19 records are the worst in the bigs. What’s so interesting about the Yankees record is that they’ve only encountered 15 one-run games. Every other team – every single one – has more than 20 one-run games so far.

It’s not like the Yankees are playing a schedule against a bunch of markedly inferior squads, either. Baseball Prospectus’ Third Order Wins adjust for strength of schedule and have the Yankees, Rays, and Red Sox all within a game of each other. After some early season thunderstorms and barnstorming alike, the Jays have faded but still have more Third Order wins than defeats. Expectedly, even Baltimore looks better when examined with strength of schedule in mind. New York is a strong squad heading for a playoff berth and potentially a division crown, but their sparse distribution of one run games doesn’t even match up with their best units in recent memory:

2009 – 103 W, 38 ORG
2004 – 101 W, 40 ORG
2003 – 101 W, 36 ORG
2002 – 103 W, 42 ORG
1998 – 114 W, 31 ORG

Expect more one-run games from the Yankees from here on out. If for no other reason than, well, they can’t really have fewer.