Baltimore Orioles
Signed RHP Fernando Cabrera to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Norfolk.
- The Orioles have long been considered an incompetent organization, but one has to give the team credit for its free-talent acquisitions over the past year. Between Jeremy Guthrie and now Cabrera, the Orioles have acquired two high-ceiling arms from Cleveland for a mere pittance.
Cleveland had clearly grown frustrated with Cabrera’s control issues and inconsistency, but DFA’ing the righthander looks like an overreaction.
In Cabrera, the Orioles have acquired a 25 year-old power arm with 145 strikeouts in 130.1 career innings in the major leagues. With a mid-90’s fastball and a nasty splitter, Cabrera (under control through 2011) is certainly talented enough to become an asset in the Baltimore ‘pen.
Houston Astros
Optioned outfielder Jason Lane to Triple-A Round Rock.
- And with that, Lane might have just seen his last chance pass him by. Lane was essentially an everyday player when Hunter Pence was out, but did himself no favors, drawing some walks but showing a lack of contact ability. Now 30, Lane has likely fallen into the dreaded 4A category: too good for AAA, but not good enough to contribute in the majors.
I still think that Lane could contribute as an extra outfielder. He has had some god awful luck on balls in play the past two seasons (.217 BABIP in 2006; .167 in 2007.) Those numbers are incomprehensibly low, and with even below average luck on balls in play, Lane’s lines the past two seasons wouldn’t be all that different from his performance in 2005 (.267/.316/.499).
Los Angeles Angels
Recalled third baseman Brandon Wood from Triple-A Salt Lake.
- The DH spot for the Angels has put up a cumulative line of .252/.297/.376. Though Brandon Wood has not had an especially inspiring season at AAA Salt Lake (.264/.335/.474), one would have to believe that Wood could best that futile DH production.
The Angels are a very good team, but they are in the American League, meaning one bad stretch could doom the team. With Bill Stoneman sitting on his hands at the deadline once again, the Angels will have to look for internal improvements, and there appears to be one right under its collective nose. I don’t buy Brandon Wood, “Top 10 Prospect” (.260/.330/.520 third baseman aren’t that special), but I do believe that his power and decent patience could aid the Halos in their quest to hold off those pythagorean-defying Seattle Mariners.
Philadelphia Phillies
Placed LHP Cole Hamels on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Aug. 17, with a strained left elbow; Activated outfielder Shane Victorino from the 15-day disabled list.
- An MRI reportedly showed no ligament damage, but the Phillies organization has to be holding its collective breath on this one. Here’s the scoop from Will Carroll, of Baseball Prospectus:
“The Phillies are in the playoff chase, but without Cole Hamels, their task gets a lot tougher. He’ll have an MRI to see how damaged his elbow is, but many of the reports are using some semantic games to minimize the injury, making many wonder if it’s worse than what is currently being reported. Naturally, many of the whispers have turned to the possibility of Tommy John surgery. It doesn’t appear that Hamels is at that stage, though there’s already been some discussion internally on whether he’ll need scoping to get a look at that ligament.”
The Phillies faced an uphill climb to grab a wild-card spot with Hamels, but now the nominal staff ace is Jamie Moyer, and the back of Philly’s rotation ranges from mediocre (Kyle Kendrick) to flammable (J.D. Durbin). And while the bullpen has been functional recently, does anyone really expect the likes of Jose Mesa and Antonio Alfonseca to continue pitching well? If Philadelphia loses Hamels for the duration of the season, you can stick a fork in its playoff chances.
