After 8,020 games, the Mets finally have their first no-hitter in franchise history thanks to Johan Santana's brilliant performance tonight against the Cardinals. Santana's bid was saved in the seventh inning by Mike Baxter as he sacrificed his body to make an incredible catch against the leftfield wall. The left-hander threw 134 pitches in total but said after the game that he had no intentions of coming out of the game early. Here's more out of the Eastern divisions..
- According to a baseball source, there is a feeling that Bryce Harper is not the long-term answer in center field for the Nationals and the club still has interest in Angels outfielder Peter Bourjos and Twins outfielder Denard Span, a source tells Bill Ladson of MLB.com. However, the source said there haven't been any talks between the Nats and those clubs and wouldn't be the surprised if nothing happened until the offseason.
- Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis told Ian Browne of MLB.com that he's not fazed by the recent trade talk surrounding him. Boston GM Ben Cherington denied a report saying that they are telling teams that the veteran is available but the White Sox and Rangers are among the clubs that have checked in on him.
- The Red Sox could be forced to cut veteran outfielder Scott Podsednik once Darnell McDonald or Cody Ross return, writes Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal. For his part, the 36-year-old doesn't sound ready to hang 'em up just yet. "Until I can't go out and steal a base, until I'm not running that well, I'd be doing myself an injustice by not trying to go out and play," Podsednik said.
Congrats, Johan! That was an exciting finish with those two bloopers that looked, at least to me, like they had a chance to drop in as they came off the bat.
Also, the Sox should cut Darnell and keep Scotty Pods.
I’d cut both of them (and Byrd) and keep Nava at this point.
It’s kinda funny. As much as our outfield has seemed like a major red flag this year, especially after Ells went down, we’ve gotten some great work out of some guys. Ross was providing a lot of power both in and out of Fenway, Sweeney has had a decent bat but a great glove, and Nava has been far better than anyone would have hoped for. It’s going to be a tough choice deciding who to cut.
For me it’s not too difficult. Nava is the only one with any offensive upside so I’d keep him around and cut the rest of them (McDonald, Podsednik, and Byrd); he can’t play CF, but that really isn’t a problem because Ellsbury, Crawford, Ross, and Sweeney can all play at least a capable CF (and if it came to that point they have Lin in AAA who is probably a better defensive CF than anyone on the big league team, and Kalish who plays a decent CF).
I more meant because several of them have stepped up when we needed big hits or plays.
Oh yeah, they have all been better than I’d expected (well, with the possible exception of Byrd, but he’s had his moments too), and they have all done things to help the team win, but in the long run most of them really aren’t worth a roster spot.
If they cut Pods for Darnell then everything I said about Bobby and Ben in the offseason will be justified.
You don’t cut the guy hitting .440 (.280 lifetime) for the guy whose hit .221 over the last two season and who plays awful defense.
Podsednik isn’t going to continue to hit at anything close to this level – he may be a worse hitter than Darnell – the reason you would keep him instead of Darnell is for his defense.
This ^
Got nothing against McDonald but he’s nothing more than a serviceable backup. Podsednick’s a better hitter, offers as much defensively and is certainly more valuable on the base path’s.
That is kind of far fetched now in praise of mcDonald there.. A Kewpie doll has more use at home plate and pinned into the dirt at an OF position than does McDonald..
huh? I wasn’t praising McDonald, I said they should cut him.
Answered wrong post Maine..Apologies..
Reply to a lot of yours and i mistakenly replied to yours.. Heartfelt apologies.
Yo know by now all to well my wanting rid of McDonald off of the roster,,,
Edit:
With Ross declaring himself nearly fit to return by the next homestand and pedy *maybe* back by then.. I would rather see the LH Pods, who can be used as a better defensive substitute and pinchrunner, which is all mcDonald really is anyway.. A late game pinch runner he can do fairly well..
Ross back from the RH side and they have a RH bat in the OF and no need for McDonald with Pods who plays all the positions, plus runs better anyway.
Yeah, I wondered if you replied to the wrong post because it didn’t really make sense with what I had said. No worries.
Agreed on McDonald. Why keep him. While Pods certainly won’t keep up this level of production I’d rather him on the bench for the speed.
Agreed.
The only real reason to hold McDonald is that he can play 3 OF positions and be used as a pinch runner, two advantages he has over even Nava as a bench player.
However, Podsednik not only has those skills, but unlike McDonald, isn’t awful at them.
I think it’s become boilerplate by now: Player X says they aren’t paying attention to the trade market. General Manager of Team A denies trade rumors entirely however Teams B and C are potentially interested in trading with Team A for Player X.
Also congrats Johan.
bourjos for harper
Hilarious.
we’ll throw in wells
Let’s not go crazy now…
My god, who is Darnell McDonald blackmailing to hold onto a job for so long in Boston? He flat out sucks and was just as bad last year. He’s been on the roster for two years for a short stretch of looking like a capable 4th outfielder.
I’m OK with his .342 OBP against lefties in a reserve role. He’s also fast and passable in the field.
Did we just call Darnell “passable” in the field? According to UZR he’s been awful in right with the Sox (where we’d need him). Apparently he’s been good in left but I attribute that to him being able to play shallow in Fenway and UZR not knowing how to handle balls off the monster. Darnell is really just not someone who should be on a major league roster.
The thing about him is he seems to come up with very big hits and a few big games out of no where. It seems like he can’t get a hit to save his life then suddenly bam, game winning hit. That’s the only reason I can think of as to why he’s still on the major league roster.
I’d rather have the guys who can reliably produce, personally.
The problem has been that they have actually needed him because of the terrible injury luck they have with outfielders. If they didn’t need him he would have been gone a long time ago (he was actually told he had been released last year but literally before they had time to file the papers someone got hurt again, so they kept him).
Move Darnell McDonald to the bullpen. He has Major League pitching experience.
And he was just as bad there as he is at the plate or in the field!
Can someone explain to me how Bryce Harper is not the long term solution in center field?
I don’t know for sure, but I assume it’s because most people expect him to lose a step or two as he matures, so they expect him to move to right field at some point (also because he has a true 80 arm, and you generally want a guy like that in RF).
I would sure leave him in center. Fast and great arm. You can always find corner outfielders with pop. Finding a CF with pop is hard.
The Reds should be paying close attention to the Red Sox OF situation. Hopefully they will cut either Podsednik or Nava when all the injuries are resolved. We can then snatch them up. We need A LH OF badly for the bench. Either would be perfect. We’ve gave you McDonald, so no thanks on Darnell.
I strongly doubt that Nava will go this year.
Keeping McDonald perpetually befuddles me, and it pisses me off that I can’t figure out why he’s still around.
As of the beginning of this year, I can see how the Sox kept him around, since Crawford was on the DL, and Ells ended up on the DL after the home opener. But at this point, it seems that the Sox have so many better options for backup OFers than McDonald, I don’t see how they could justify now DFA’ing him. Nava, Byrd, Podsednik, and Sweeney are all better than him.
Beset by injuries the past few years, Santana will still end up with 200 wins and less than 100 loses for less than stellar teams in his career. In years he was durable enough to get his 30+ starts(5 -all consecuative) he’s 86-37 with a 2.82 ERA with a lot more K’s and a lot less hits per innings pitched. That puts him in pretty special company for a guy who didn’t have the benefit of a star studded line-up behind him like the Yankees, or Red Sox.
Darnell is currently at Pawtucket. Tell him to rent an apartment.
McDonald should be DFA’d once he comes off the DL. I know the Sox do value depth right now, but McDonald’s chances of clearing waivers fall somewhere in between 99% and 101%…
He should be pretty safe buying………and taking the UPS test as well.
Peter Bourjos is a awesome defensive player for the Angels but they don’t have room for him. Mike Trout just took his job.. Jerry Dipoto should trade him or send him back to the minors so he could get more playing time..