High & Inside: NL Notes
Trade secrets It's the last day of May, which means it's never too early to look ahead to the July 31 trading deadline. In fact, with several teams on the cusp of packing the season in, an early move could make sense for organizations looking to unload free agents-to-be. The pitching-needy Phillies could be the beneficiaries. Here are some starters who could be dangled in front of general manager Pat Gillick.
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Trade secrets
It's the last day of May, which means it's never too early to look ahead to the July 31 trading deadline. In fact, with several teams on the cusp of packing the season in, an early move could make sense for organizations looking to unload free agents-to-be. The pitching-needy Phillies could be the beneficiaries. Here are some starters who could be dangled in front of general manager Pat Gillick.
Pitcher, team Statistics Upside Downside
Miguel Batista, M's 3-6, 5.98 Better than #s Inconsistent
Joe Blanton
, A's 3-6, 3.92 Just wins Billy Beane
Jeff Francis
, Rockies 1-5, 6.15 Still young A long shot
Rich Harden
, A's 3-0, 2.60 Look at stats Injury prone
Greg Maddux
, Padres 3-4, 3.76 Hall of Famer Six-inning arm
Roy Oswalt
, Astros 4-5, 5.45 He's Oswalt No-trade clause
Nate Robertson
, Tigers 2-5, 5.88 Uhh . . . Paper tiger
C.C. Sabathia
, Indians 3-6, 4.74 '07 Cy Young Due big deal
Jarrod Washburn
, M's 2-5, 6.54 Eats innings Hitters eat him
Randy Wolf
, Padres 3-4, 4.59 Wolf pack Hates Bank
The incredible Larry Wayne Jones Jr.
No matter your take on the Braves - or Larry, er, Chipper Jones - it's exciting to watch a player carry a .400-plus average into the summer. Even if he were to go 0 for 9 over the next two games, Jones would still carry an average above .400 into June, making him the 15th player since 1980 to hit the mark. High & Inside can't claim authorship of the following chart - having ripped off si.com - but here are the last 14 assaults on .400. Ted Williams, by the way, was the last player to reach the full-season milestone when he hit .406 in 1941.
Player, Team Avg. Date Finish
George Brett, Royals .400 Sept. 19, 1980 .390
John Olerud
, Blue Jays .400 Aug. 2, 1993 .363
Nomar Garciaparra
, Red Sox .403 July 20, 2000 .372
Larry Walker
, Rockies .402 July 18, 1997 .366
Tony Gwynn
, Padres .402 July 14, 1997 .372
Rod Carew
, Angels .402 July 14, 1983 .339
Andres Galarraga
, Rockies .400 July 5, 1993 .370
Tony Fernandez
, Blue Jays .400 June 29, 1999 .328
Lenny Dykstra
, Phillies .401 June 11, 1990 .325
Paul O'Neill
, Yankees .405 June 16, 1994 .357
Todd Helton
, Rockies .400 June 10, 2000 .372
Roberto Alomar
, Orioles .404 June 10, 1996 .328
Wade Boggs
, Red Sox .401 June 7, 1986 .357
Carney Lansford
, Athletics .402 June 6, 1988 .279
Notable
The Braves put outfielder Mark Kotsay on the 15-day disabled list with a strained lower back and are expecting righthander John Smoltz to be activated from the 15-day disabled list next week. He's expected to come back as the closer. . . . The Cardinals optioned outfielder Chris Duncan to triple-A Memphis and called up outfielder Joe Mather.