Posted by basebal5 on Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 12:18 pm

Boston    

J.D. Drew – Missed 3 games (lower back tightness).

Interesting article about Drew by Tom Massarotti yesterday:

“I just hope the way it all finished up, people could see the kind of player I was down the stretch,” Drew said last night before the Sox resumed their season on American soil with a 2-1 win over the A's. “I know the kind of player I am. I know what I'm capable of.

“I can't try to do more just because I'm making more.”

And so, as Drew steps onto the field today for the first time in '08, here's a tip: Stop thinking of Drew as a man who has a higher average annual salary ($14 million) than David Ortiz [stats] ($13 million) and start thinking of him in terms of production, like you once regarded Trot Nixon. The most obvious differences are the big contract and remarkably even-tempered approach to both baseball and life, the latter of which makes Drew one of the more friendly, pleasant and likable players to come through the Red Sox clubhouse.

Really, what was Drew supposed to do when the Red Sox dropped a pile of money before him? Say no? Nixon wasn't a $14 million player and neither is Drew, at least not now. But Drew is a fundamentally sound player who can be a critical contributor for the Red Sox, even if he is not the superstar everyone wants him to be.

Last season, in his final 93 games, Drew batted .295 with a .390 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage of .481, totals remarkably in line with his career averages of .284, .390 and .500. Most people never would have guessed it. All we remember is the bad start and the supersized contract, leading to the general belief that Drew was a major disappointment.

Oh, right.

We remember that grand slam in the American League Championship Series, too.
   
Los Angeles    

Larry Bowa – Suspended by MLB for three games.

You can see the video in my Roundup – Wednesday. Take the time to look around and see what the new format for the Roundup looks like…
    
NY Mets    

Nelson Figueroa – Contract purchased from New Orleans (AAA).

Baseball Digest Daily had the Martinez story well-covered yesterday.  Visit this post for comments on Figueroa.

Pedro Martinez – Left hamstring injury, 15-day DL.

Make that 4-6 weeks – Jay Levine had the story for BDD yesterday.
    
NY Yankees    

Jorge Posada – Right shoulder injury, day-to-day.
    
Philadelphia    

Wes Helms – Designated for assignment by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Helms, 31, has a .265/.326/.435 career line in the majors and has never had more than 476 AB in a season.  The reason is simple, he has to be in a platoon to be effective, as he handles lefties well (.835 career OPS), but not the right-handed pitchers (.725 career OPS – and declining).

Defensively, he can play every corner position, but mainly 3B and 1B.
    
Seattle    

J.J. Putz – Right torso inflammation, 15-day DL.

BDD had it covered, too:

The Mariners have placed right-handed pitcher J.J. Putz on the 15-day disabled list. According to team sources, Putz felt discomfort on a pitch to Michael Young in the 9th inning last night and was sore after the game. A precautionary MRI revealed that Putz has mild costochondritis on his right side, an inflammation where cartilage attaches to a rib. This is not your average injury and bears watching. Putz has been invaluable to Seattle the last few years.

From the Seattle Times:

Costochondritis is inflammation where cartilage attaches to a rib — in Putz's case, his 10th rib. The inflammation was described as mild by the doctor who read Putz's MRI on Wednesday.

“We're very happy it's not an oblique or soft tissue injury, because those take a long time,” Mariners trainer Rick Griffin said. “The fact he categorized this as a mild injury is the best news we could probably have got.”

Griffin declined to put a timetable on Putz's return.

“We don't guess,” he said. “J.J. is going to rest for a little while. We're going to quiet it down, and then he'll start doing exercises and progress to throwing, and we'll make sure he's ready to go. But we're not going to say it's going to be a certain number of days.”

McLaren said he told Putz not to rush his return.

“I said, 'Make sure you're right.' He's got confidence in the bullpen like I do,” McLaren said. “We know they're not J.J. Let's be honest about it. But we have very competent people out there. I know we'll rally around J.J. and pull together until he gets back.”

Putz said the diagnosis was “the best of the bad news.” McLaren was just as relieved.

Manager John McClaren says this will become a 'closer by committee' situation during his absence:

McLaren said that no replacement closer would be designated. Rather, the team will go with a “closer by committee” system until Putz's return.

“We just have to pull together, get the committee signed up,” McLaren said. “We're going to go out there and do it as bullpen — mix and match.”

The primary ninth-inning men figure to be Eric O'Flaherty, Mark Lowe and Sean Green. McLaren said if one of those pitchers shows he can handle the closing job, he would be inclined to stick with him.

Roy Corcoran – Contract purchased from Tacoma (AAA).

Called up following the Putz injury, the right-hander has pitched 18.1 innings in the majors in three different seasons (2003, 2004 and 2006), but did not look good: 5.89 ERA, 2.07 WHIP.  His minor league line is more promising: he has struckout 408 batters in 391 innings pitched and he has maintained a 3.08 ERA and 1.29 WHIP.

With the nice strikeout ratio comes the propensity to walk a high number of batters (4.87 BB/9 in 2007 and over 6 in 2006 – both times in AAA).  He can handle righties and lefties, mainly with a fastball in the low-90s and a curve ball at 82 mph, but can also keep batters's attention with a slider and change.
    
St. Louis    

Chris Duncan – Hamstring, day-to-day.
    
Tampa Bay    

Jonny Gomes – Missed 2 games (suspension).
    
Toronto    

Matt Stairs – Hip flexor, day-to-day.