Milwaukee Brewers place closer Trevor Hoffman on disabled list

PHOENIX -- Milwaukee Brewers closer Trevor Hoffman was put on the 15-day disabled list Monday, ruling the all-time saves leader out for the start of the season.Spring Training Blog

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The move made Monday is retroactive to March 27. Hoffman strained his right oblique muscle after pitching an inning on March 13 and has had little activity for about three weeks.

"You don't want to rush it and set things back," Hoffman said, according to MLB.com. "Just because we're starting to see some progress, you don't want to jump on it to the point you set yourself back two weeks and lose the [progress].

"Two weeks in the middle of the season is going to feel a heck of a lot longer than the last two weeks of spring training, even though this has been frustrating. It would be difficult to watch games go by," he said, according to the Web site.

The 41-year-old Hoffman tossed the baseball around on Sunday but is not ready to take the mound.

"We met with him this morning," Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash said. "He is feeling much better and has shown much improvement. He has the normal 'day-after' soreness [after pitching]. We did this because we didn't want him to feel he's in a hurry-up mode."

Hoffman signed a $6 million, one-year contract in January with Milwaukee as a free agent after spending more than 15 seasons with the San Diego Padres.

Brewers manager Ken Macha says he will continue to evaluate potential candidates to fill in for Hoffman, who has 554 career saves. The most likely to step in would be right-hander Carlos Villanueva, who had been projected to pitch the eighth inning.

Hoffman is eligible to return on April 11, the day after the Brewers' home opener.

Also, veteran infielder Craig Counsell was in the lineup Monday against the Seattle Mariners after testing his sore right knee the past few days in minor league games. Ash said Counsell faces the possibility of surgery if the knee does not improve. Ash said Counsell has a torn meniscus and surgery would sideline him for two to three weeks.

It's not certain when the injury occurred, but Counsell "tweaked" it recently, Ash said.

Philadelphia Phillies officially rule out Cole Hamels for opener

Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee said Monday afternoon that Cole Hamels was officially out of the running for an opening-night start this Sunday against the Braves. Instead, he'll pitch in an exhibition game Saturday against Tampa Bay in Philadelphia.

Hamels

Hamels threw 65 pitches in a minor league spring training game Monday and allowed 10 hits and three runs in four innings. He walked one and struck out five.

"He was fine," Dubee said. "I'm not looking at [how many] base hits he gave up or anything. His command is not there. That's for sure."

Dubee said he asked Hamels to throw more fastballs than he normally would and reported that his fastball was clocked at 85-88 miles per hour. In previous starts this spring, Hamels had raised concerns by topping out in the lower 80s.

"I was very encouraged because I asked him to throw more fastballs," Dubee said. "I'm really not concerned if they hit his fastball. I just want him to get his arm speed and get the feel of his delivery. He's got a ways to go, still. But he threw a lot more fastballs and threw at a lot better velocity."

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Hamels -- who got an anti-inflammatory shot in the elbow two weeks ago -- is expected to get his pitch count up to about 85 pitches on Saturday. If all goes well, he could make his first start of the season in Colorado on April 10.

Asked if Hamels could get to where he needed to be with only one more exhibition start, Dubee replied: "Sure ... I think some of the command stuff will come [back] with better focus, when you get him in that [big league] environment. Right now, his body is fresh, and his arm is not quick yet."

Both Dubee and manager Charlie Manuel said the Phillies weren't ready to name Brett Myers as the Opening Day starter in Hamels' place. But Myers is scheduled to make his final spring training start Tuesday, which would put him on schedule to pitch Sunday night. However, Dubee said it was still possible Joe Blanton could pitch opening night. Blanton was Oakland's Opening Day starter last season.

Los Angeles Angels hope John Lackey returns by end of April

The Angels are "encouraged" by the latest MRI results on John Lackey's right elbow and expect their ace to be on the mound for them by the end of April or early May, general manager Tony Reagins said Monday.

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Reagins told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney that Lackey's injury isn't as significant as the injury he had last year that also caused him to miss the start of the season. He pitched his first game May 14 of last season and ended up throwing 163 1/3 innings.

"We're encouraged by this," Reagins said. The GM said the team is working to get the inflammation out of Lackey's elbow now.

Lackey received a cortisone shot in his right elbow last week in an attempt to relieve the pain in his ailing arm.

Lackey is one of three Los Angeles starters who will not be ready to open the season with the team. Right-hander Ervin Santana (elbow) and Kelvim Escobar (shoulder) also are sidelined.

Tigers' Joel Zumaya, Dontrelle Willis to start season on DL

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Detroit Tigers placed left-handed pitcher Dontrelle Willis on the 15-day disabled list with an anxiety disorder on Sunday and put oft-injured reliever Joel Zumaya on the list with a sore right shoulder.

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But Willis said he has been feeling well on and off the mound.

"I have no idea, but [the doctors] didn't like what they saw in the blood," Willis said. "This is not something where I'm too amped up and I don't know where I'm at, and I'm running sprints up and down the parking lot."

General manager Dave Dombrowski said he could not provide details about Willis' medical condition or treatment because of privacy regulations.

However, two doctors in the Detroit area interviewed by the Detroit News said there is no blood test available to diagnose anxiety.

"I can't speak of the specific situation, but to the best of my knowledge, you cannot diagnose an anxiety disorder by a blood test," Hiten Patel, a psychiatrist at William Beaumont Hospital, told the newspaper. "Most psychiatric conditions cannot be diagnosed by blood tests, and anxiety disorder cannot be diagnosed in such a way."

Taft Parsons, the medical director of the Kingswood Hospital, told the newspaper that anxiety might be a symptom of another medical condition that could be diagnosed with a blood test.

"There's no anxiety disorder, no psychiatric disorders, which are diagnosed by blood tests," Parsons told the newspaper. "But [anxiety] would not be the disorder itself. Only a symptom."

The team said Zumaya's placement on the 15-day disabled list was retroactive to March 27. The Tigers also returned the contract of left-handed pitcher Kyle Bloom to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland had earlier said Zumaya was unlikely to start the season in Detroit. The right-handed pitcher was considered for the closers job but felt soreness after an appearance on March 2 against Florida Southern College.

"When we get him back, I want him for good," Leyland said. "So we're going to take all the steps to make sure that he's ready to pitch, ready to pitch back to back, and we're in the process of doing that."

Zumaya has pitched three innings this spring, including one in a minor league game Friday, without allowing a hit.

"He feels good, but we're also in a position where we do not want to rush him whatsoever," said Dombrowski, who added Zumaya will be limited to minor league appearances for the rest of the spring.

In 2007, Zumaya tore a tendon in his right middle finger in April. Later that year, he hurt his right shoulder in an accident at his home and didn't pitch the remainder of the season after undergoing reconstructive surgery.

Last year, Zumaya appeared in 21 games and was 0-2 with a 3.47 ERA before sustaining a season-ending fractured shoulder in August.

Bloom, a Rule 5 selection, was returned to the Pirates after attempts to trade him failed, Dombrowski said. Following the roster moves, 35 players remain in major league camp with the Tigers.

Jayson Stark: Pedro Alvarez puts aside prickly past, wows 'em at Pittsburgh Pirates camp

"You can't walk away from the price you pay."

-- Pedro Alvarez fan Bruce Springsteen

BRADENTON, Fla. -- The details of Pedro Alvarez's long, lost summer of negotiating madness don't matter anymore.

It doesn't matter now who said what. It doesn't matter now whether Alvarez's original contract, from last Aug. 15, was agreed to before midnight, after midnight or only in the Pirates' imagination. It doesn't matter now whether that contract was later voided, grieved, shredded or translated into Punjabi.

AP Photo/Tony DejakPedro Alvarez, the second overall pick in last June's draft, batted .444 in 14 games for the Pirates this spring.

Doesn't matter.

Why? Because it's over.

The Pirates need it to be over. Their No. 1 draft pick last June needs it to be over. And both sides are trying -- hard -- to declare it over.

The Pirates even issued that declaration to Alvarez himself, on the first day of spring training, just to make sure. The manager, John Russell, and the GM, Neal Huntington, delivered that message to their third baseman of the future live and in person -- only the three of them in attendance.

And the next sound you heard was a page turning. It might be a big, ugly, contentious page. But at least they're all trying their darndest to turn it.

"We just said, 'It's over,'" the manager reported, several weeks later. "We said, 'You're a Pirate now. We're glad to have you. We love having you. And now it's time to start from scratch and get to Pittsburgh as soon as you can.'"

The GM, meanwhile, warbled a similar tune.

"In our minds," Huntington said, "the day Pedro signed, he became a member of the Pirate organization, and we shifted 100 percent of our focus to helping him fulfill his vast potential."

And that, clearly, is exactly what they should be doing, what they need to be doing. What they can't control, though, is whether the fans of Pittsburgh will be so willing to shift their focus by the time Alvarez arrives in their town in 2010, '11 or whenever.

A lot was written, and a lot was said, last August, when Alvarez -- spurred on by his hard-line agent, Scott Boras -- seemingly signed, then refused to sign, the deal they either did or didn't agree to somewhere on the wrong side of midnight last Aug. 15-16.

Suffice it to say that just about none of what was written and said in Pittsburgh made Pedro Alvarez look like the second coming of Roberto Clemente.

Yes, it all worked out eventually. Yes, Alvarez eventually agreed to a reworked $6.3 million package more than a month later. But he can't make the world spin backward. He can't make Pittsburgh believe none of that ever happened.

So can you turn your back on a blue-collar town like Pittsburgh and then go on to become a local hero in the same town? One of these days, one of these years, when this guy gets the call to PNC Park to fulfill his date with stardom, we'll find out. Won't we?

But for now, seven months later, Alvarez says that even if he could somehow get a negotiating mulligan, he wouldn't do anything differently. Not a thing.

"No, I think everything worked out the best way it could," he said this spring, in the serene haven that is Bradenton, Fla. "I'm glad it all worked out. And I'm glad to be here. I'm glad the path we took got me to this situation. I feel like I'm in a good situation. I'm happy. And I'm grateful for it."

From Alvarez To Strasburg In June of 2008, it was Pedro Alvarez. In June of 2009, it will be Stephen Strasburg's turn to take his place in Scott Boras' never-ending quest to push the amateur-draft envelope where it's never gone before.

Asked if he had any advice for Strasburg (whom he has never met), here was Alvarez's answer:

"Just trust your heart. Trust that whatever you do is what you want to do. Have people in your corner that you trust, and just follow your heart. Follow your gut. Follow your instinct -- because that's probably what's gotten you into that situation in the first place."

Asked if that meant Strasberg should do what he's comfortable doing, as opposed to following someone else's playbook, Alvarez replied:

"Do whatever you're comfortable with. When you sit down and analyze, there will be a number of different opinions. Everyone has a different situation. My situation was different from every other person out there. It's like your fingerprint. But you know yourself best. So whatever you're comfortable with, do that."

Alvarez said he got that advice from his father, Pedro, a New York City cab driver who never pressured him to sign after the Red Sox drafted him out of high school in 2005. Now he's passing it along to a guy who will need all the wisdom he can muster during the tempestuous negotiating summer that's undoubtedly ahead.
-- Jayson Stark

He might not be so grateful, on the other hand, for the tone of the coverage of his stormy negotiating soap opera. But he says he still hasn't read a word of it. And we have to say that's an outstanding idea.

"I stay away from publications," Alvarez said. "I don't go on the Internet, except to check my e-mail. You know, people tell me. I find out through other people. But I just keep myself away from any external factors that can play into the equation and just focus more on the internal. I can only worry about what I can control. And that's how hard I work, how hard I play, my dedication to the game."

The bull's-eye on his back -- that's going to be there for a long, long time. But Pedro Alvarez's journey to erase that bull's-eye began this spring, with the impressive, productive month this imposing 22-year-old masher spent in his first big league camp.

The Pirates let him march up to home plate 20 times. He reached base in half of those trips. He batted .444, slugged .778, struck out only three times and finished off his stint with a three-run homer off the center-field batter's eye in his final at-bat before the Pirates sent him out.

This was in a big league spring-training camp, remember. And the guy who did all that had never played a single professional game before he got there, unless you count his three weeks in the Instructional League last fall. Amazing.

"The first time I ever saw him in [batting practice], he was hitting balls like 100 feet over the fence," said his new teammate, Eric Hinske. "I mean, seriously. He was hitting balls over the parking lot at Pirate City. I was like, 'Sheez, who is this dude?'"

Little did Hinske know that when Alvarez was clearing that parking lot, he was just getting limbered up. That same week, he also launched a BP shot that has already carved out its place in the all-time long-ball lore of Pirate City.

The man who gave up that shot is Pirates coach Rich Donnelly. He's a man who knows a biiiiig home run when he sees one. He once served up the longest homer ever hit in old Three Rivers Stadium: a 519-foot upper-deck space shuttle by Frank Thomas in the 1994 Home Run Derby. So when Rich Donnelly gushes about a batting-practice bomb for a solid month, you know it wasn't just another swing of the old Louisville Slugger.

"I was throwing BP to him one day on Field No. 1 in Pirate City," Donnelly reported. "And there's a lake out beyond in right field. It's 370 feet to the gap. Then it's another 90 feet to the water. And then it's 90 more feet across the water. You can tell that's the distance because it lines up perfectly with our field at the [other] end of the lake. And I swear, he hit one that cleared the lake. I mean it. He's just flipping it over that lake, just flipping it. Go look if you don't believe me."

Well, not only could we go look ourselves. We can even show you ourselves. Click on over to the Google Satellite shot of Pirate City.

Now zoom in on Field No. 1 and the pond beyond the fence. Then check out the half-field near the pond. It sure looks like those distances are all accurate. And if they are, that would mean that Pedro Alvarez somehow hit a baseball that carried (gulp) 550 feet or so … on the fly.

Alvarez, for his part, refuses to confirm he actually launched that rocket. ("You're never supposed to look at balls you hit," he said, laughing.) But he isn't denying it, either. If people want to make the tale of that 550-foot homer the first chapter in the Legend of Pedro Alvarez, apparently he isn't going to stop them.

"I don't really have anything else to claim," he said. "So I'll take it right now, 'til I can top it."

If he can top it, we might have a regular Ruthian figure on our hands. But for the moment, Alvarez is conjuring up other names. Nate McLouth compares him to a young Miguel Cabrera. Former Pirates catcher Manny Sanguillen tossed him into the same sentence as Willie Stargell this spring. And Hinske says Alvarez reminds him of "a left-handed Albert Pujols."

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How's that for some serious name-dropping … attached to a kid who was still playing for Vanderbilt 10 months ago?

But for the men who run the Pirates, it isn't Alvarez's power they'll remember when they think back on his first big league camp. It's the way he went about his business.

"Overall, Pedro made a quality impression, on and off the field, in his first major league spring training," Huntington said. "All of the attributes that drew us to him prior to the draft were present and on display during spring training. While he was showing his potential, he also showed us that there are areas for development and growth. Most importantly, he showed a willingness to learn that will serve him well throughout his career."

"He's a worker," said infield coach Perry Hill. "He wore me out. You've got to chase him off the field."

"He wants to be the best," Donnelly said. "He was always asking, 'What does Scott Rolen do? What did Mike Schmidt do?' This kid doesn't just want to be a big leaguer. He wants to be the best. He was the last one out of here every day. I think I saw him sweeping the shower stalls one day."

But what was most impressive about all that was that it was no act. Alvarez was humble and respectful from the minute he showed up … and understood he had to be.

He knew he had to "earn" his spot, he said. And what was the best way to earn it? By "listening."

"I think the best thing for me was just to sit there and soak in as much as I can," Alvarez said. "Be a sponge. Whatever these guys have to tell me, just take it in and follow their lead. Don't try to stand out."

Well, we wish him luck on that. His talent won't let him blend into any crowd. But even if he could, there's still no place he can run to hide from the fallout his contract negotiations left behind.

You often hear him compared to J.D. Drew, another soft-spoken guy who was branded forever by attaching himself to a messy, hardball, post-draft Boras negotiating war (a decade ago, with the Phillies).

But there's an important fundamental difference between Drew and Alvarez: Drew never did sign with the team from Pennsylvania that drafted him. At least Alvarez did. Just barely, maybe. But he did.

So while Drew never had a prayer to win over the city he scorned, Alvarez is a man with a rare opportunity.

He's a man who will some day arrive in a town desperate for someone to love.

“

Overall, Pedro made a quality impression, on and off the field, in his first major league spring training. All of the attributes that drew us to him prior to the draft were present and on display during spring training.

”-- Pirates GM Neal Huntington

It's a town not particularly inclined right now to love him . But it's also a town that hasn't had a winner since Barry Bonds headed west. And it's a town that also hasn't had a real star -- a major, charismatic, larger-than-life-around-him kind of star -- in 16 years of Life After Barry, either.

So when Pedro Alvarez says "The only thing I ask from the city of Pittsburgh is, judge me as a player," it's more than a plea. Luckily for him, it's exactly how this is going to work.

Maybe not right away. Maybe not the first day he shows up at the confluence of the Ohio, the Allegheny and the Monongahela.

But over time, as his bat starts to flash and the home runs start to fly and these people realize what they're watching, the ugly developments of Aug. 15, 2008, have a chance to feel real irrelevant real fast.

So that's Pedro Alvarez's challenge: You want to make these folks forget? Just be all you're supposed to be … and more, if possible.

"If he hits, they'll forgive him quick," Eric Hinske said. "That's the only way to get 'em to forgive you: hit. So he wants advice? That's my advice: Put up numbers and they'll love you. He can take my word for it. Hitting and winning cure everything."

Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Jose Tabata's wife suspect in baby kidnap

PLANT CITY, Fla. -- A 2-month-old is back in the arms of her parents, and the wife of a top Pittsburgh Pirates minor league prospect is suspected of taking the infant from a health clinic outside Tampa, authorities said Tuesday.

Amalia Tabata Pereira, 43, was being questioned by Florida detectives in Manatee County, where the baby girl was found unharmed Tuesday afternoon, a day after she was taken from the clinic. Plant City Chief of Police Bill McDaniel said authorities are looking to charge Pereira with false imprisonment.

She is the wife of Jose Tabata, 20, an outfielder and one of the top three prospects for the Pirates, who train in Bradenton, which is in the county where the infant was found. In a statement, Pirates president Frank Coonelly said they have received "no indication that Jose is believed to have had any involvement in this matter."

Jose Tabata addressed the matter in a statement released by the team.

"I was shocked to be told today that my wife has been arrested for kidnapping. I am hurt, frustrated, and confused by her actions," Tabata said. "I have and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement officials in anyway that I can. Until I have all of the facts, I cannot comment any further."

“

I was shocked to be told today that my wife has been arrested for kidnapping. I am hurt, frustrated, and confused by her actions.

”-- Jose Tabata

The Pirates said in a statement that they were standing behind Tabata.

"Jose was as shocked as the rest of us upon hearing the news and has cooperated fully with law enforcement officials," Coonelly said in the statement. "The Pirates organization will continue to do anything and everything we can to assist and support Jose during this difficult personal time."

Sandra Cruz-Francisco was taken from her mother, Rosa Sirilo-Francisco, about 3 p.m. ET Monday by a woman her family only knew as "Janet," Plant City police said.

Sirilo-Francisco had taken her baby for a checkup at the Plant City Health Department, where she met Janet, who said she was an immigration official, Sirilo-Francisco told the Tampa Tribune. The woman told Sirilo-Francisco that there were officers at her home waiting to deport her and the child's father to Mexico.

Janet offered to help, but said she had to take the baby.

The two women drove with the infant to a farm where the child's father works, and Janet told him the same story. The mother later handed the child over.

Plant City police Capt. Darrell Wilson couldn't confirm the mother's account of events.

"We believe that may have been the story, but we haven't spoken with the suspect," he said.

Investigators now believe Janet and Pereira are likely the same person. Wilson said Pereira has a criminal record that includes theft and fraud convictions and that police did not have a hometown for her because she has several aliases.

"We don't know if it's an isolated incident or not," he said.

There were conflicting reports regarding exactly how the infant was found.

Plant City police said Pereira turned herself and the baby in to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office early Tuesday afternoon. But authorities in Manatee said Pereira was detained after an anonymous tipster called police to report that a woman on a street corner in downtown Bradenton had information about the missing baby.

When deputies responded to the scene, the baby was found and a woman was detained.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they have launched an investigation. A spokesman wouldn't say whether Pereira worked for the agency, citing the investigation. Wilson, with the Plant City police, said they don't believe she does.

Jayson Stark: Tampa Bay Rays to send David Price to minor leagues to begin season

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- What's a guy have to do to make a team these days, anyhow?

Get himself ranked as the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball? Nope. Apparently, that won't do it.

Get himself named USA Today's 2008 Minor League Player of the Year? Nope. That won't, either.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Charles KrupaDavid Price, 23, was 1-0 with one save and a 1.59 ERA in five outings for the Rays in the postseason in October.

Hmmm, get picked to win the rookie of the year award by every magazine in America except Better Homes and Gardens? Uh, 'fraid not.

OK, how about marching in to save the game in October that launched his team into the first World Series in franchise history? Sorry. Not quite enough.

All right, well, how 'bout doing all that stuff and racking up a 1.08 spring ERA? Nah, unbelievably, that's probably not going to get it done, either.

Not if the guy we're talking about is David Price, anyway. And not if the team he's trying to make is the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays haven't quite yet said that their favorite 23-year-old left-handed phenom is about to be handed a plane ticket to Durham, the Rays' Triple-A affiliate. Not officially, anyway.

But every indication is that that's what's about to happen, probably any day now. And if that isn't a sign that the Rays obviously have way too much talent and way too much pitching, I don't know what is.

You have to wonder how many teams in baseball would have the courage to make a decision like this.

You wonder how many teams could sell their fans -- and, maybe more important, their players -- on the idea that sending out arguably the most dominating pitcher on their roster is actually a sensible baseball move, not some kind of sinister ploy to save money.

But it tells you how far this franchise has come in the last year that you hear almost no second-guessing on this front in this team's camp. From anybody.

"These guys are extremely smart in our front office," first baseman Carlos Pena said. "So I respect that decision. I know there's some very good reason behind it that will serve this team and, more importantly, serve David Price's future."

Oh, the Rays have their reasons, all right. Very, very intelligently thought-out reasons. And we should point out, at the top, that they have no reason -- at least in the short term -- to avoid starting Price's arbitration clock. He's already signed through 2012.

So if this is about baseball, it's tough to argue with the concept of conserving Price's innings load until they really need him. And when they say they want him to finish off his development into the top-of-the-rotation behemoth everyone expects him to be, well, how can you blame them?

But let's just say that if David Price doesn't make this club out of spring training, the rest of the AL East sure won't be sending him any wish-you-were-here cards.

Here, for instance, is how one AL East executive reacted to the possibility that Price probably won't make this team:

"I certainly hope not," he laughed. "I hope they send him down for a nice full year of seasoning -- or two."

The Rays don't happen to be listening to those hopes, of course. In fact, they obviously aren't listening to any of us.

"I don't think there's anybody here that wouldn't want to see him here from day one," pitching coach Jim Hickey said. "But sometimes, if that's how it works out, you just have to make decisions that are right -- despite what everyone else is telling you."

What everyone else is telling them, obviously, is that David Price is ready to be a star -- like in the next 15 minutes. Just about every baseball-preview magazine on the rack predicts he'll be the AL rookie of the year. ESPN fantasy guru Matthew Berry recommends that you take him in your fantasy draft ahead of Justin Verlander, Carlos Zambrano and A.J. Burnett. And all those assessments make total sense -- even to the Rays.

“

It's a fine line because we're so reliant on our young players, and we always will be. So development has to be the key. We can't do something that provides a slight benefit in '09 if it's going to be detrimental to 2010, '11 and '12. We can't run away from that. We have to maintain that mindset, or we will not be able to sustain success.

”-- Rays GM Andrew Friedman

"Believe me, we feel the same way about him," manager Joe Maddon said. "We think he's special beyond special."

There aren't many teams in this sport that would feel that way and still send a guy this talented winging off to Durham. There are even fewer teams that could pull that off without a riot by their fan base -- not after what that fan base witnessed in October, when Price dropped out of the heavens to become the Rays' secret postseason weapon.

After only two dozen trips to the mound in his entire professional life, this guy faced 24 hitters in October -- and allowed hits to two of them. He picked Game 7 of the ALCS to collect the first save of his career. He won another ALCS game in relief. And he was the fellow the Rays chose to finish the only World Series game they won.

About 99 percent of all living Americans looked at that performance and thought: "Ace." But the team David Price pitches for looked at it and saw a still-unfinished product who just happens to have talent oozing out of every pore and follicle.

"Obviously," Hickey said, "he's very talented. And he brought all the weapons he needed to the table. But a lot of that was also a little bit of unfamiliarity the hitters had with him. He's got a little bit of funk in that delivery, which is helpful. And guys just not knowing what to expect.

"But let's just say he's a starting pitcher [this year], and he faces New York three, four or five times, or Baltimore three, four or five times, or anybody in our division. Obviously, you have to continue to get better. You have to adjust. And that's the kind of stuff we're talking about. We're not talking about any great deficiencies here."

Yeah, no kidding. What they're talking about, in essence, is just improving Price's command so he "becomes a little more pitch-efficient," Hickey said. And they're talking about giving him time to develop his changeup, even though Hickey says he already has made "amazing" progress on that pitch just since last season.

But probably the biggest reason Price is going to have to spend a few weeks in Durham is that always-controversial issue -- innings.

He worked 129 1/3 of those innings last season, counting the postseason. And the Rays want to limit their young pitchers to only about a 20 percent increase from year to year. So if we're calculating correctly, that means they would like him to top out at about 155 innings or so this year.

"So when would you rather have those innings?" Maddon asked. "In April or in October?"

Seems like an easy answer, but, wait. Isn't that a trick question? Don't they also have to get to October?

Of course they do. So wouldn't they be a better team, a team with a better shot to get there, if David Price were around all season?

Price clearly thinks so. After pitching four shutout innings against the Yankees on Sunday, he told the postgame media throng, "If I'm getting innings, I would love to get them in the big leagues. If I'm going to work on stuff, I'd love to work on it up there and get real reactions to hitters."

And why wouldn't he? If they wanted to, the Rays certainly could keep him in the big leagues and limit his innings by employing The Joba Chamberlain Plan -- starting Price out in the bullpen in the big leagues and transitioning him into the rotation.

But the Rays don't seem to be big fans of that approach. They would rather put Price on some version of the Evan Longoria Plan -- protect his work load in the minor leagues, let him get into a rhythm and then airlift him into scenic Tampa Bay. But the bottom line is, however they play this, they're still talking only "when" here, not "if."

"You know, there's something to be said for, when you do bring a really good young player like that up, to wait just a bit," Maddon said. "There's probably just a little bit less pressure attached in some ways. Expectations may be lowered a bit. If you canonize somebody coming out of spring training, all of a sudden the environment may be different surrounding that player."

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Well, we wish them luck on reducing the expectations for a guy who was the first player picked in the 2007 draft, not to mention a guy who has already become a certifiable October hero. But you never know. It just might work. Pretty much everything else this Rays administration has tried sure has.

"It's a fine line," GM Andrew Friedman said, "because we're so reliant on our young players, and we always will be. So development has to be the key. We can't do something that provides a slight benefit in '09 if it's going to be detrimental to 2010, '11 and '12. We can't run away from that. We have to maintain that mindset, or we will not be able to sustain success."

So, for a team like this, it's not a small factor that, of the three pitchers in the running for this fifth-starter's job, Price is the only one with options left -- and the only one the Rays wouldn't be comfortable with ping-ponging between the rotation and the bullpen.

The most likely winner of this derby, Jason Hammel, was having an excellent spring (3.94 ERA, 12-to-3 strikeout-walk ratio) until an ugly outing Monday (five walks, four runs in four innings). Hammel himself called it "unacceptable." But Hammel, says Hickey, still has "four legitimate, quality, major league pitches. … He can be as good as anybody we have. He really can."

Or the Rays could possibly turn to the long-intriguing 6-foot-9, 260-pound Jeff Niemann, who was having a sensational spring (one run in 11 innings) until he coughed up nine runs in one game Friday. That outing aside, Niemann seems to have made big strides in commanding his heavy, 97 mph two-seamer. And when he does, Hickey says, "that creates an almost impossible angle for the hitters to square up."

So if Price doesn't start the year in this rotation, it's not as if they'll be forced to throw some 47-year-old slopballer from the Mexican League out there.

"I bet there are a number of teams," Hickey said, "that wouldn't mind having these three guys compete for their third spot in the rotation."

But this just in: No matter how this shakes out, somebody had better warn Hammel and Niemann they're only keeping that slot warm until their team looks at David Price and decides, "It's time." And the Rays aren't ready to tip their hand on when that is.

"We're all about impatience in our country anymore," Maddon said. "But this organization is about patience ."

So David Price can ease into this season -- for now. But that figures to be just a brief intermission in his journey toward stardom, unless everyone who has ever seen him is hallucinating.

"I still think the sky's the limit," Carlos Pena said. "And maybe not even the sky. It might be the Milky Way."

Jayson Stark: Resilient Minnesota Twins to face another challenge without Joe Mauer

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Johan Santana headed east. The Minnesota Twins survived. Just as they always do.

Torii Hunter headed west. The Minnesota Twins lived to tell about it. Just as they always do.

Tom Dahlin/Getty ImagesJoe Mauer is out indefinitely with inflammation in his lower back.

If there's any team in sports more used to answering questions about the men who aren't there than the Twins, we'd hate to see its alumni rolls -- or its trainers' room. But now, here we go again.

And this time, it's tricky. This time, the questions are about a man who's just about irreplaceable, a fellow named Joe Mauer. And what makes those questions tricky is that, for essentially this entire spring training, they've been questions without answers.

What we know is this:

The best catcher in baseball has barely made it onto the field all spring. He has seen more back specialists than at-bats. He has finally conceded that there's virtually no chance he'll be back on Opening Day. And nobody is saying what day, or month, he will return.

"We don't think it's a long-term problem," assistant GM Ron Antony said this weekend, as the Twins kept on doing what they do best -- pushing forward, no matter who's on the field and who isn't.

"It's not something we think is going to stretch deep into the season," Antony said at another point.

But how deep? How long-term? Don't ask -- because the Twins aren't ready to answer.

"We're trying to be very careful in not putting a timetable on it," Antony said, "because then [if something goes amiss] everyone panics. So we're optimistic that the treatment will take care of it and he'll be back out there. And we're looking at a 162-game season, rather than worrying about Game No. 1."

It's what they do. It's what they always do. But that doesn't make Mauer's absence less of a concern. And it doesn't make his condition less of a mystery.

After a spring filled with setbacks and visits to doctors from Florida to Maryland, at least there's finally a diagnosis: inflammation in the right sacroiliac joint, at the base of his spine. And it's now being treated with anti-inflammatory medication, Antony reports.

But ESPN injury guru Stephania Bell tells us that this is a condition that's extremely rare -- especially in men, and even more especially in an athlete who hasn't even started his season yet.

"Rare, huh?" said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, when we passed along that late-breaking medical bulletin. "Well, we've got that part down -- rare."

Hey, excellent point. The Twins are about as rare as any team in sports. They keep waving goodbye to the biggest names in franchise history. They keep playing baseball with payrolls about a third as large as the Yankees'. And they keep piling up one winning season after another, whatever it takes.

Life Without Mauer For Twins

Year Record when Mauer starts Other catchers 

2008 75-64 13-11 

2007 56-50 23-33 

2006 80-56 16-10 

Total 211-170 52-54 

"What we do, first and foremost," said the senior position player on this roster, Michael Cuddyer, "is, we all buy into the system. And what I mean by the system is: just believing we can win, wanting to win, believing in your teammates. In this day and age, the way the money is, it's hard to get everybody on that same page. But just believing in your team and believing in each other can go a long way."

The Twins are the poster boys for proving it, too. But amid all the upbeat talk, amid the Twins' ever-present mantra of we-will-find-a-way positivity, you sense something else. You sense true worries about the well-being of a man who embodies what this franchise is all about.

Joe Mauer, after all, isn't just another name in the Twins' scorecard. He's a Minnesotan, a No. 1 pick in the whole country, a two-time batting champion, the centerpiece of what they do and who they are.

"And the thing is, he's a better person than he is a ballplayer," said coach Steve Liddle. "Talk about the complete package, he's got that sixth tool. He's got the heart and makeup part, too."

So while you still hear, out there in the baseball community, the usual how-come-he-can't-play-through-this grumbles, that's not where the Twins are coming from.

"I'm worried," said Gardenhire, "just because we haven't seen him on the baseball field. All the doctors are together on this thing, and they think they know how to get it straightened out. And that's kind of all we're looking for. But I just want to see that young man out there running around again -- for his sake, because he's going crazy. For our sake, we just want to see him back on the baseball field again. When we get him is when we get him."

Worrisome Injuries

Baseball Prospectus explains what spring injuries could become season-long concerns. BP Daily: Spring Hurt

With 99 percent of the injured players in sports, the only question you hear is: When is this guy coming back? But it tells you something, about both Mauer and the team he plays for, that this time, it seems different.

"A lot of times, when guys are injured, other players will go up to them and give them a [hard time] now and then," Liddle said. "But in this case, everybody is just genuinely, genuinely concerned about Joe. Nobody is sitting back, saying, 'Hey, when's he going to be back?' Everybody's just wondering how he's doing. It's not about us. It's about Joe, because he's such a tremendous person."

"He's baseball . He's what's good about the game," said pitching coach Rick Anderson. "I'll tell you, I wouldn't say this about anyone, but he's one guy you wouldn't mind your daughter marrying."

Unfortunately, though, this is no very special episode of "The Bachelor" they're living through. They're going to be forced to play a baseball season any minute now, whether Mauer is ready or not. And if they can play this season without him -- or any portion of it -- and not feel it, they're a better team than anybody suspected.

Ask yourself this: How many players alive, when you get right down to it, are more indispensible to their teams than Joe Mauer?

It's a fascinating question. But luckily, our friends at Baseball Prospectus tried to answer it recently. They cranked out a list of the 10 most irreplaceable stars in the game

. Mauer was the only American Leaguer on it -- and also the only catcher.

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So how irreplaceable is he? Let's just count some of his many irreplaceable traits:

•He has won two batting titles in the past three years. All the other catchers since World War II have combined for zero batting titles.

•He led all catchers in the big leagues last year in batting average (.328), on-base percentage (.413), hits (176) and runs scored (98).

•He's an on-base machine. His .429 on-base percentage in 2006 was the highest by an American League catcher in 71 years. And his .399 career on-base percentage is the highest by any catcher, period, since Mickey Cochrane retired in 1937. (Minimum: 2,000 plate appearances.)

•Meanwhile, behind the plate, Mauer caught 1,203 innings last season. That was the second most in the AL and fourth in the big leagues.

•And, maybe most revealing of all, over the past three years, the Twins have gone 41 games over .500 (211-170) in games Mauer started -- but two games under .500 (52-54) when any other catcher started.

So … any more questions?

"Everyone wants to talk about Joe Mauer the hitter," Anderson said. "But I talk about what he offers behind the plate. … He's a big, big reason our young pitchers have been so good."

A few days ago, for instance, Anderson and the Twins' Opening Day starter, Scott Baker, were dissecting Baker's roughest outing of spring training. Baker admitted he knew exactly what his big problem had been -- pitch selection.

"He said, 'It was my fault. But I'm just so used to never shaking off Joe and going with what he puts down,'" Anderson reported. "And that's the case. They just feel like Joe has such a good feel for it, they go with it."

For two years now, Anderson has even stepped aside and let Mauer do his Jason Varitek impression, by running the pregame meetings in which Twins pitchers go over how to pitch the opposing hitters.

"I just stay out of it," the pitching coach said, "and let him handle it."

So it's a big hit for any staff to lose its catcher. But it's an even bigger hit when you're talking about a staff in which the entire rotation has combined for as many career wins (86) as Vicente Padilla.

“

Obviously, we need Joe Mauer. But at the same time, we believe we can go out and compete. … You can't replace him. We know that. You can try and patch it with a Band-Aid, but you can't replace Joe Mauer. So there's no sense in trying. You just do the best you can with what you have.

”-- Twins right fielder Michael Cuddyer

The good news is, the Twins have tremendous faith in the intelligence, professionalism and leadership skills of Mike Redmond, who will be Mauer's primary replacement. The bad news is, Redmond turns 38 in May, and hasn't started 75 games in any season of his career.

So a lot is dangling in the balance here as this team holds its breath, waiting to see if Mauer's new medication turns him back into himself.

One of the unspoken issues, of course, is Mauer's future earning power. Even though he won't even turn 26 until next month, Mauer's free-agent Powerball payday seemed to be approaching, only a year and a half away.

Now, however, is it even safe to assume he'll be able to hold up as an everyday catcher through the life of his next contract? Tough question. And it's one the Twins -- and the rest of this sport -- will be thinking about long and hard over the next two seasons.

But that's an issue for another time and another place. Right now, the Minnesota Twins just need to get through another challenging baseball season. And, as always, the thought of that doesn't appear to terrify them.

"Obviously, we need Joe Mauer," Cuddyer said. "But at the same time, we believe we can go out and compete. … You can't replace him. We know that. You can try and patch it with a Band-Aid, but you can't replace Joe Mauer. So there's no sense in trying. You just do the best you can with what you have. But I think that will to win, that desire to win and that thought process we have here goes a long way in helping us do that."

The Twins definitely have had a lot of practice perfecting the art of doing without and winning without. They've been doing it, Cuddyer said, for the 12 years he's been in this organization -- whether that meant trying to survive without Terry Steinbach and Ron Coomer, or Brad Radke and Corey Koskie, or Johan Santana and Torii Hunter.

But this time, they're telling themselves, it's different. At least this time, if the doctors have this right, they have to make it work only for now, not forever.

"With Torii and Johan, they weren't coming back," Liddle said. "But this guy, he is coming back. We've just gotta do our part and pick up the slack until he comes back. That's all."

But to pick up this slack, Liddle said, "We're going to need a strong chain, not a strong rope. A rope isn't going to be enough for this guy."

Then again, this is the Minnesota Twins we're talking about. So they've pulled that chain before. It's what has made them who they are -- the most resilient chain gang in sports.

Eric Neel: Korea ends it early

LOS ANGELES -- It is a testament to the energy of the boisterous Korean contingent at Dodger Stadium Saturday night that the 2009 World Baseball Classic semifinal between Venezuela and Korea felt like a game at all. The Korean faithful cheered every crack of the bat and oohed and aahed even routine plays in the field as if the game were super-charged with drama from the first pitch to the last.

It was not.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Matt SaylesThe Koreans celebrate their opportunity to play for the WBC title Monday. It was over almost before it began.

It was over before those of us in the press box had the chance to thoroughly discuss our reservations about Venezuelan manager Luis Sojo's decision to start Seattle Mariners pitcher Carlos Silva (he of the 6.46 ERA in 2008) and not his Mariners teammate Felix Hernandez. And it was over before the vaunted Venezuelan lineup -- featuring Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, and Bobby Abreu -- ever stepped to the plate in Korea's 10-2 victory.

It was over the minute Abreu absent-mindedly dropped a looping fly ball in right field in the first inning -- "I closed my glove too early," he said later -- allowing Korea's Keunwoo Jeong to reach base, and then half-heartedly lobbed a throw into second base, enabling Yongkyu Lee to skate home standing up.

"Bob's error," said a dumbfounded Venezuelan manager Luis Sojo afterwards, "we don't know how that happened."

Abreu's error opened the door to a five-run Korean first, and it seemed to set a tone. Silva, whose pitches looked lifeless and flat from the start, was chased early in the second inning, having surrendered home runs to Cleveland Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and Team Korea's grinning Ruthian slugger Tae Kyun Kim, whose second-inning shot over the left-field wall was his third home run and 11th RBI of this year's Classic.

The Venezuelan side, which lost only its second game in the tournament, went on to commit five errors and give up 10 runs on the night. They looked like they were playing a preseason game in March, with all the rusty ugliness you would expect to see in springtime.

"The way we lost," said Sojo, "this was very painful."

Korea on the other hand, perhaps spurred on by coming up just short of the final game in the 2006 WBC, perhaps inspired by their devoted fans with their Thundersticks, were playing playoff-caliber ball.

"The Korean team showed they were here to win," Sojo said.

They were near-flawless in the field (an eighth-inning misplay by first baseman Kim was the lone exception) and capitalized on each of their opponent's mistakes, scoring all 10 of their runs in the four innings in which Venezuela made an error.

"We didn't expect to win," said Korean manager In Sik Kim at the postgame press conference. "The errors by the other team played a critical part in our victory."

So too did Korea's patience at he plate, making first Silva and then his replacements, Enrique Gonzalez and Victor Zambrano, throw the ball in hitter's zones and on hitter's counts. In addition to their 10 hits, Korea drew eight walks on the night.

"Our players do not have bad habits," said In Sik Kim matter-of-factly. "We are able to bother other teams; if there is a bad ball, we don't swing and if it is good we swing hard."

But while the thousands of Korean fans were dazzled by what their countrymen did with their bats -- "at times I thought we were playing in Korea," Sojo joked -- the real secret to Korea's success was the strong effort of their starting pitcher, Suk Min Yoon, who scattered seven hits, walked one, and struck out four against Venezuela.

“

I believe there are excellent players in Korea. I hope they can advance to the major leagues in great numbers and very soon.

”-- Korea outfielder Shin-Soo Choo "I felt confident," Yoon said afterward. "I did not know who they were so I was confident against them."

The two runs and one walk he gave up Saturday night were the first in either category he has surrendered in 16 innings of work in this year's Classic.

"What you saw today was special," Sojo said. "To see this kid throw the way he did was really something." Abreu, who managed a single in the first inning, was similarly impressed. "He knows how to switch speeds and locations," he said. "He pitched a dominant game."

Whether Yoon realized it or not, that dominant game came against a Venezuelan lineup chock full of major league talent, and yet it was Yoon, Choo, Kim and their mates who looked ready for prime time. If the first World Baseball Classic in 2006 was Korea's coming-out party, this year's tournament is looking like the moment when they announce their arrival on the big stage.

Choo is already a key contributor on a major league team, and Sojo believes it won't be long before others from this team join him.

"I believe there are excellent players in Korea," Choo said in the press room late Saturday. "I hope they can advance to the major leagues in great numbers and very soon."

For now he and his teammates will settle for advancing to the WBC final on Monday night, where they will face either Team USA or their archrivals, Team Japan, which they've already faced four times in this WBC.

"It does not matter who you face," said a smiling, confident In Sik Kim as he and his team looked ahead to Monday. "We hope the best team out of the two teams moves ahead … and we hope maybe they do so with pitchers who have used up all their energy."

Here's hoping it's a game, whomever they face.

New York Mets' Brian Schneider out indefinitely with calf strain

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- New York Mets catcher Brian Schneider is out indefinitely with a strained right calf.

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Schneider was a late scratch from Wednesday's game after waking up with pain and stiffness behind and above his right knee. He underwent an MRI.

"There's no particular thing that I did. I just woke up with it, and it just got worse and worse as the day went on," Schneider said. "Today it's feeling better, and we'll just get more treatment."

Schneider last played Sunday. He is batting .308 with one home run and five RBIs this spring training.

If Schneider isn't ready to start the season, backup catcher Ramon Castro likely would start at the position.

Meanwhile, outfielder Carlos Beltran and first baseman Carlos Delgado resumed workouts with the Mets following Puerto Rico's elimination from the World Baseball Classic.

"We got to go home for the first round, and we played really well there," Delgado said. "It was nice to play at that intensity in March. We came up a little bit short in the end, but it was a great experience."

Manager Jerry Manuel said he likely will give Beltran and Delgado a week of rest from games.

"It was good for me because spring training to this point, you aren't playing a full game, nine innings, but we've been doing that since two weeks ago," Beltran said.

Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria to join Team USA

Third baseman Evan Longoria will be joining Team USA, according to Tampa Bay Rays general manager Andrew Friedman.

Longoria will replace injured Chipper Jones on the United States roster for the semifinal round of the World Baseball Classic.

Longoria will travel to Los Angeles on Friday to join his new teammates, Friedman told ESPN.com. The help was needed for the U.S., which has lost four of its players to injury. Longoria, the 2008 AL rookie of the year, will give manager Davey Johnson depth.

Evan Longoria#3 3B
Tampa Bay Rays

2008 STATS

GM122HR27RBI85R67OBP.343AVG.272

Longoria was included on the 43-man provisional U.S. roster in January but left off the squad that opened the tournament. USA Baseball executive director Paul Seiler said Thursday that the Americans were fortunate to have a player of Longoria's caliber available to fill in for Jones at third base.

"With the opportunity to make a roster change, Evan is too valuable not to have on our club," Seiler said in a statement.

In a 10-6 loss on Wednesday night to Venezuela, Johnson had just one position player -- catcher Brian McCann -- on his bench.

It proved to be an issue when third baseman David Wright fouled a pitch off his left toe in the first inning. Wright was clearly in pain, and said had it been a spring training game, he likely would have come out.

The roster issues forced Johnson to start outfielder Adam Dunn at first base. Dunn committed two errors.

Friedman said USA Baseball did not ask Longoria to play first base, and he said the Rays "would be opposed" to Longoria playing first. Right now, the Americans are likely happy just to have another body on the bench.

Team USA has been hit by a rash of injuries.

First baseman and cleanup hitter Kevin Youkilis was ruled out for the rest of the tournament Wednesday because of mild ankle and foot injuries.

Four other Americans have been sidelined by injuries since the start of round two.

Team USA's Kevin Youkilis has mild sprain, tendinitis

MIAMI -- When it seemed as though the injury news could not get any worse for Team USA, manager Davey Johnson announced on Wednesday that Kevin Youkilis has left the team because of a sore left ankle.

Youkilis

Youkilis returned to Fort Myers, where he was examined by the Boston Red Sox medical staff and underwent an MRI.

"Kevin Youkilis returned to Fort Myers, FL this afternoon to be examined by the Red Sox medical staff. He was diagnosed with a mild left ankle sprain as well as mild Achilles tendinitis in his left foot. Both MRI results were negative," the Red Sox said in a team release. "To limit movement and allow his ankle to heal, Youkilis will wear a walking boot for the next several days but is not expected to miss significant time."

Johnson said the injury happened three or four days ago, and that Johnson noticed Youkilis was in pain during Team USA's 6-5 comeback win over Puerto Rico.

Teammate Brad Ziegler said Youkilis was in such pain that after the game he could barely walk through the training room.

"He wasn't going to miss last night's game for the world," Johnson said. "We've been devastated by some key injuries."

Earlier injuries knocked infielders Dustin Pedroia and Chipper Jones and reliever Matt Lindstrom out of the tournament. Outfielder Ryan Braun is sidelined with a sore right side, but he's expected to be available when Team USA plays in the semifinals this weekend in Los Angeles.

Johnson operated Wednesday's game with one position player on his bench.

Rules for replacing players leave the Americans hard-pressed to come up with a substitute for Youkilis, Johnson said.

"These things need to be addressed" in the future by WBC officials, Johnson said. "You just can't have this becoming a circus, playing guys out of position."

Adam Dunn played first base, despite the Washington Nationals not wanting their new offseason outfielder to move to the infield. Mark DeRosa would have been a candidate, but the Cleveland Indians told Johnson they did not want him playing first base.

The only first baseman on the list of potential roster replacements is Derrek Lee of the Chicago Cubs, who has been hampered by a sore thigh.

Dunn said Johnson asked him after Tuesday night's game if he would play first, and since Dunn was signed as an outfielder/first baseman with the Nats, he figured it wouldn't be an issue.

"I don't even know where I'm playing with the Nationals," Dunn said. "It's true, I really don't."

He added he had packed his first-base glove with him, and then quipped his defensive skills are on par with Omar Vizquel.

"That's the only player I can compare my hands to," Dunn joked.

Cole Hamels still hopeful of pitching opener for Philadelphia Phillies

Despite his pitching coach saying it's a long shot that he'll be able to pitch Opening Day against the Braves, Philadelphia Phillies ace Cole Hamels said Wednesday that pitching in the opener remains his goal.

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"That's still my focus, to be ready for Opening Day," Hamels told reporters in Florida. "I certainly want to pitch Opening Day."

Hamels went to Philadelphia on Monday to get checked out after he reported feeling stiffness and tightness in his pitching elbow. An examination revealed his pitching elbow had no structural damage, only inflammation.

However, Hamels said he will defer to his team's wishes and his ultimate goal is to make 34 starts in the 2009 season.

If he can't pitch the opener, Hamels was adamant about who should replace him.

"Brett Myers, no doubt," he said.

Hamels, who had a cortisone shot in his left elbow Tuesday, said it normally takes five to six days before he can throw off a mound after getting the shot. He doesn't envision being able to throw off a mound until early next week.

The Phillies ace said that finding out there was no structural damage in his elbow was reassuring.

"I can pitch with it, it wouldn't kill me. Just mentally you don't want to pitch thinking you have a sore elbow," Hamels said.

He said he's pitched with similar discomfort in the past.

Philadelphia pitching coach Rich Dubee said Tuesday he believed Hamels probably won't be ready to pitch in the opener.

"I don't know that it's out of the question, but I think it would be a long shot," Dubee said Tuesday, "just because we've got to get him up and running again. We've got to stretch him out ... he's only up to about 52 or 54 pitches. We like our guys if they're gonna pitch [at the start of the regular season] to be up to 100 pitches [by the end of camp].

"But I don't know. This guy has always risen to the occasion."

Jerry Crasnick: Arizona Diamondbacks digest disappointing season

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- If you had seen the Arizona Diamondbacks at their best last April, it would have come as no surprise that a Phoenix-area sports franchise wound up playing for a championship at the end of the 2008 season.

But who could have predicted that team would be led by Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald?

The young Diamondbacks, oblivious to expectations and immune to scouting reports, posted a 20-8 record in April 2008 to take an early lead in the National League West. They led the majors in doubles, triples, slugging percentage, swagger, youthful exuberance, first-pitch fastballs crushed and corneas singed in the scouting section. And with Brandon Webb and Dan Haren anchoring the rotation and lots of power arms at the back end of the bullpen, the possibilities seemed limitless.

Heck, even pitcher Micah Owings slugged .632 in April. His batting practice home run count was surpassed by only the number of Babe Ruth comparisons he elicited.

But first impressions failed to stand the test of a long, parched summer in the desert. The Diamondbacks dropped five of six meetings with the Manny Ramirez-led Dodgers in August and September to finish two games out in the division. In a challenging offseason for the franchise, Randy Johnson, Orlando Hudson, Adam Dunn, Brandon Lyon, Juan Cruz and chief executive officer Jeff Moorad all hit the road.

Chalk it up as a learning experience for the Diamondbacks, who took a crash course in reality after losing to Colorado in the NL Championship Series in 2007.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Elaine ThompsonJon Garland is working on some new pitches this spring. Opponents batted .303 against him last season.

"Last year was a psychology shift," general manager Josh Byrnes said. "We surprised people by winning a competitive race and getting to the NLCS. Now all of a sudden, everyone expected us to run away with the division. As soon as that 'crowning' happened, we just didn't play well in May and June. We got stuck in this rut that we really never got out of."

When the Diamondbacks assembled for spring training in February, manager Bob Melvin didn't spend much time rehashing the team's disappointing finish. The players had done enough navel-gazing and introspection while going 62-72 over the final 134 games. "I'm not sure whether it was the league knowing us a little better or us playing with a little more doubt or a target on our back," Melvin said. "Whatever the case, it was a different feeling."

Still, a glance at the competition suggests the Diamondbacks should be taken seriously in the NL West. Their core of former Baseball America darlings is a year older, smarter and better acquainted with the demands of a 162-game season. Webb and Haren should be good for at least 440 high-quality innings, and Chad Qualls locked up the closer job by converting his last seven save opportunities and throwing 13 shutout innings in September.

But new faces need to acclimate and old questions must be answered for the Diamondbacks to show they're for real. Felipe Lopez, who replaces Hudson at second base, has a reputation as a talented and underachieving head case. His strong finish in St. Louis this past season was noteworthy for a .452 batting average on balls in play in August and a .446 mark in September. Good luck to Lopez in finding that many holes over an extended period.

Jon Garland, who signed a one-year, $7.25 million deal with a mutual option for 2010, will be counted on to fill the rotation void created by the departure of Johnson to San Francisco. Garland has added a cut fastball and a knuckle curve to his repertoire. His declining strikeout ratio and penchant for throwing fly balls might not be problematic in road games at San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles, but they don't bode very well for Chase Field.

The Diamondbacks have been careful this spring with starters Doug Davis (triceps irritation) and Max Scherzer (shoulder inflammation), but management is optimistic both pitchers will be fine. If not, say hello to fill-in candidates Yusmeiro Petit, Billy Buckner, Travis Blackley and Juan Gutierrez.

The Arizona clubhouse will have a slightly different feel this season with the absence of Hudson, whose energy and nonstop yapping helped put everyone at ease. Hudson was a nice complement to the quiet, earnest group of young Diamondbacks who report to work each day sans flair. When Hudson and Eric Byrnes both went down with injuries last season, the team lost a certain edge.
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Byrnes became the franchise's signature player when he signed a three-year, $30 million contract in August 2007. This spring, his life is an exercise in minutiae. One day, Byrnes makes news when he's busting it down the line in a drill; a few days later, he's making turns or playing in a minor league game. A big leaguer hasn't received this much ink for running the bases since the Mets' front office was obsessing over Jose Reyes' stride mechanics.

Some Diamondbacks people reportedly weren't thrilled when Byrnes chose the rehab route over surgery for his two torn hamstrings, but everyone is in sync now. The company line is that Byrnes performs best when people doubt him and he's forced to compete for playing time. That was his M.O. when he played for Oakland and he'd head to the Dominican Republic each winter in search of camaraderie and at-bats. Byrnes was so popular in the Dominican, the fans there called him "Captain America."

Melvin is convinced he'll have enough outfield at-bats -- about 1,800 in all -- to keep Chris Young, Conor Jackson, Justin Upton and Byrnes all happy and productive.

"If someone is struggling, they know they're just not going to be out there every single day no matter what," Melvin said. "There were times I couldn't give Chris Young a day off last year. I didn't have the players to do it."

Melvin also has enough lineup versatility to play matchups this season. If the Diamondbacks are facing a left-hander, Melvin can play Byrnes in left field and switch-hitter Tony Clark at first base. If a tough righty is pitching, he can use Clark at first base, start Miguel Montero at catcher in place of Chris Snyder, shift Chad Tracy from first to third and give the power-hitting, strikeout- and error-prone Mark Reynolds a rest.

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AP Photo/Elaine ThompsonMark Reynolds, who had an NL-high 204 whiffs last season, has fanned 10 times in 12 games this spring.

Reynolds isn't the only Arizona hitter who needs to work on selectivity. Last season, the Diamondbacks ranked 19th in baseball with a .327 on-base percentage and second to the Marlins with 1,287 strikeouts.

"Early in the season, I was seeing good pitches and I was hitting them," Upton said. "Once teams started to get a feel and switch up the game plan, it was a little tougher. They definitely started to mix it up a lot more."

It was telling recently when Johnson, so familiar with his former teammates' flaws, whiffed seven D-backs in a Cactus League game without throwing a single splitter. Astute pitchers have come to realize they can carve up the Arizona lineup without offering anything too appetizing.

Experience has taught the young Diamondbacks that success is fickle. In 2007, Arizona was 32-20 in one-run games. In 2008, the D-backs dipped to 22-23 in the close ones. Their overall win total decreased from 90 to 82 even as their run differential improved from minus-20 to plus-14.

"I think everybody in our group is disappointed in the way the season ended last year," Melvin said. "I think our guys will be a little hungrier and a little more driven."

The disappointment clung to Webb when he returned home to his native Kentucky for the winter and hung on Upton when he traveled to Florida to help his brother B.J. rehab from shoulder surgery. Young players might be a tad more resilient, but the pain of unfulfilled expectations cuts just as deeply.

When Ramirez signed his two-year deal with the Dodgers recently, he made a point of saying there's "unfinished business" to address in Los Angeles. They know all about that concept in Arizona.


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Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies 'long shot' for opener?

Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels spent part of Tuesday hearing some good news: An examination revealed his pitching elbow had no structural damage, only inflammation.

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Now, the not-so-good news: Philadelphia pitching coach Rich Dubee believes Hamels probably won't be ready to pitch on Opening Day at home against Atlanta.

"I don't know that it's out of the question, but I think it would be a long shot," Dubee said Tuesday, "just because we've got to get him up and running again. We've got to stretch him out ... he's only up to about 52 or 54 pitches. We like our guys if they're gonna pitch [at the start of the regular season] to be up to 100 pitches [by the end of camp].

"But I don't know. This guy has always risen to the occasion."

Hamels received a shot of anti-inflammatory medication on Tuesday in Philadelphia. He was scheduled to rejoin the team later Tuesday, and the staff ace plans to restart his throwing program within two days.

"I can't really speculate on when he'll be pitching on the mound. ... I felt pretty confident it wasn't going to be anything more serious, but it is Cole Hamels," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Tuesday. "Overall, it's pretty good news."

According to Dubee, the Phillies hope Hamels -- who did not miss a start last season and was the World Series MVP -- can throw off a mound Thursday in a bullpen session, play long toss Friday and have another bullpen session Saturday.

"We haven't ruled him out pitching in a game next Monday or Tuesday, but we'll have to see," Dubee said. "If he is delayed -- Brad Lidge was delayed last year -- so it's not the end of the world. ... If we have him for 150 games as opposed to 162, we'll take those 150 games and 30 starts or whatever it is."

Dubee would not speculate on who would start for the Phillies on April 5, a night game, against the Braves, if Hamels isn't ready to go.

The 25-year-old Hamels made his first Grapefruit League start last Wednesday. He pitched in an intrasquad game Sunday and didn't report any pain during four innings. Hamels has felt tightness in his elbow between innings and after he's finished pitching for the day.

"I was able to throw yesterday," Hamels said Monday. "It's just been that kind of mild discomfort, something I don't want to have to deal with during the season."

Hamels is 38-23 with a 3.43 ERA in 84 big league games. The 17th overall pick in the 2002 amateur draft, Hamels finished 14-10 with a 3.09 ERA in a career-high 33 starts in 2008.

Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies 'long shot' for opener?

Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels spent part of Tuesday hearing some good news: An examination revealed his pitching elbow had no structural damage, only inflammation.

Spring Training Blog

Check our daily spring training blog with updates on everything our team of writers and analysts see and hear at the ballpark, plus news tidbits from around the baseball world. Blog

Now, the not-so-good news: Philadelphia pitching coach Rich Dubee believes Hamels probably won't be ready to pitch on Opening Day at home against Atlanta.

"I don't know that it's out of the question, but I think it would be a long shot," Dubee said Tuesday, "just because we've got to get him up and running again. We've got to stretch him out ... he's only up to about 52 or 54 pitches. We like our guys if they're gonna pitch [at the start of the regular season] to be up to 100 pitches [by the end of camp].

"But I don't know. This guy has always risen to the occasion."

Hamels received a shot of anti-inflammatory medication on Tuesday in Philadelphia. He was scheduled to rejoin the team later Tuesday, and the staff ace plans to restart his throwing program within two days.

"I can't really speculate on when he'll be pitching on the mound. ... I felt pretty confident it wasn't going to be anything more serious, but it is Cole Hamels," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Tuesday. "Overall, it's pretty good news."

According to Dubee, the Phillies hope Hamels -- who did not miss a start last season and was the World Series MVP -- can throw off a mound Thursday in a bullpen session, play long toss Friday and have another bullpen session Saturday.

"We haven't ruled him out pitching in a game next Monday or Tuesday, but we'll have to see," Dubee said. "If he is delayed -- Brad Lidge was delayed last year -- so it's not the end of the world. ... If we have him for 150 games as opposed to 162, we'll take those 150 games and 30 starts or whatever it is."

Dubee would not speculate on who would start for the Phillies on April 5, a night game, against the Braves, if Hamels isn't ready to go.

The 25-year-old Hamels made his first Grapefruit League start last Wednesday. He pitched in an intrasquad game Sunday and didn't report any pain during four innings. Hamels has felt tightness in his elbow between innings and after he's finished pitching for the day.

"I was able to throw yesterday," Hamels said Monday. "It's just been that kind of mild discomfort, something I don't want to have to deal with during the season."

Hamels is 38-23 with a 3.43 ERA in 84 big league games. The 17th overall pick in the 2002 amateur draft, Hamels finished 14-10 with a 3.09 ERA in a career-high 33 starts in 2008.

Jayson Stark: Young faces now leading the way with energized Cincinnati Reds

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Junior Griffey is at the other end of the baseball solar system now, playing the homecoming king in Seattle.

Adam Dunn is a brand new Washingtonian now, kinda like Albert Haynesworth … and that Obama guy.

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Rob Tringali/Getty ImagesJay Bruce, 21, had 52 RBIs in 108 games for the Reds last season.

But back in Cincinnati Reds country, back in the franchise Dunn and Junior left behind, life sure is different. Couldn't possibly be more different.

And, most importantly, needed to be different.

One minute, the face of this franchise was a man with 611 career home runs. The next minute, we find a team whose whole lineup doesn't own 611 career home runs.

One minute, the face of this franchise was The Greatest Player of His Generation. The next minute, we realize that Junior Griffey probably has toothbrushes older than the current faces of this franchise.

There's Jay Bruce, age 22. And Joey Votto, age 25. There's Edinson Volquez, age 25. And Johnny Cueto, age 23. And there's the old-timer in this group, Brandon Phillips, age 27.

We're not sure it's even fair to call these guys the new faces of the Reds franchise, not when almost nobody outside the 513 area code could pick their mugs out of a Facebook montage.

But let us be the first to warn you: There's something happening here in Reds Land. Something building. Something growing.

There's as much spring buzz about the Reds as there is about any team in Florida. And frankly, Griffey and Dunn needed to get out of the way for that buzz -- and this team -- to prosper.

"Not to take anything away from Griff and Dunn, because they're outstanding guys, and they were good guys on this team," manager Dusty Baker said. "But when you lose something, sometimes it permits you, or forces you, to grow."

It's not always a bad thing when life moves on. It's not always a good thing, either. But it is always a necessary thing.

No one plays forever. No one stays forever.

Even Junior.

Power Dropoff

Last year's Reds lineup featured a man with 611 career homers all by himself: Ken Griffey Jr. This year's lineup isn't within 100 homers of that combined :

CF:Willy Taveras, 7 HR
SS:Alex Gonzalez, 106 HR
1B:Joey Votto, 28 HR
2B:Brandon Phillips, 74 HR
RF:Jay Bruce, 21 HR
3B:Edwin Encarnacion, 66 HR
C:Ramon Hernandez, 137 HR
LF:Chris Dickerson, 6 HR
Total: 445 HR

So we come here not to bury Kenneth Griffey Jr. We come here not to dredge up all the disappointments associated with the eight straight losing seasons he spent in Cincinnati before getting traded to the White Sox in July 2008.

We come here just to say it was time. Time to go.

He needed to go. The Reds needed him to go. And they needed Dunn to move along right there with him.

To explain why, we just have to tell the story of the team that won the most recent World Series, and what has happened to it since July 30, 2006.

That was the day the Phillies traded their own veteran centerpiece player, Bobby Abreu, to the Yankees. They sure didn't trade him because they thought the most advanced prospects they got back -- C.J. Henry and Matt Smith -- were their tickets to a brighter tomorrow. Heck, neither one of them is even in the system anymore.

Nope, the Phillies traded Abreu for one basic reason: to get him out of the way. Out of Jimmy Rollins' way. Out of Chase Utley's way. Out of Ryan Howard's way.

They became a different team that day. A team with a whole different personality, a whole different chemistry, a whole different energy level, a whole different aura.

They've gone 51 games over .500 (219-168) since that trade and won a World Series. It's not all because Rollins, Utley and Howard took over that team after they no longer had to defer to their most visible veteran star. But it's a big part of their story.

And if you look closely, it's not hard to envision a very similar phenomenon erupting in Cincinnati.

Scouts who have followed the Reds this spring have talked nonstop about the energy that seems to jump off the field at you when you watch them. That'll happen when you build a team around a bunch of 20-something energizers, especially when those 20-something energizers look around and realize this is now their team.

"It is their team, to mold and develop into a championship-caliber team for the long run," GM Walt Jocketty said. "And that's basically what we're trying to do -- build this team for the long haul."

Jocketty took over in April 2008 from the previous GM, Wayne Krivsky, who was abruptly, and unjustly, fired by owner Bob Castellini despite putting much of this core in place.

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AP Photo/Tony DejakJoey Votto, 25, led the Reds with a .368 on-base percentage last year.

But it was Jocketty who traded away Griffey and Dunn last summer. It was Jocketty who tweaked this roster over the winter by upgrading at catcher (in ex-Oriole Ramon Hernandez) and adding a sprint champ in center field (ex-Rockie Willy Taveras). But mostly, Jocketty recognized it was time to empower this team's young stars to take charge.

That means building a rotation around Volquez and Cueto, who combined for 364 strikeouts in 370 innings last year. And it means slapping a photo of Phillips -- the only second baseman in baseball to average 20 homers and 25 steals a year over the past three seasons -- on the cover of the media guide.

But above all, it means opening the door for Votto and Bruce to flip that stardom switch the whole sport has been waiting for.

Votto and Bruce undoubtedly could have flipped that switch whether they were surrounded by Griffey and Dunn or not. But their departure seems to have created a whole new climate that makes the transition to that next generation easier on everyone.

"Those two guys [Griffey and Dunn] were great, but there's just a different feeling here now," Jocketty said. "Guys, I think, are able to express themselves without always having to be looking over their shoulder."

And that's exactly how this is supposed to work. Bruce and Votto continue to talk about both Griffey and Dunn in a tone that borders on reverence. Dunn, said Votto, was "a star." And Junior, he laughed, was "an uber-star." And "I looked up to both of them."

Bruce, meanwhile, spent much of his life idolizing Griffey … even tried, when he was 9 years old, to phone Junior in the Mariners' clubhouse. So that hero worship hasn't faded. It's only the clubhouse dynamic that revolved around Griffey's presence that Bruce refers to in the past tense.

"Being with Adam and Ken, they're two of my favorite people ever," said Bruce, the Reds' first-round pick in the 2005 draft. "They're unbelievable guys, and extraordinary at what they do on a baseball field. But they kind of ran the show, even without running the show. They didn't really have to say anything. They still were like the leaders. Things were kind of just -- I don't know -- a little more, uhhh, veteran-y."

Officially, Merriam-Webster doesn't consider "veteran-y" to be an actual word, by the way. But in the dictionary of bats and balls, it just about says it all.

In baseball, teams can't help but take on the personality of their most talented, most visible and most dominant players. So without Griffey and Dunn to set that tone, it frees players like Votto and Bruce to put their own stamps on their team's persona.

"I haven't really seen that yet, because we haven't really spent a whole lot of time without Ken and Adam," Bruce said. "But I feel like that's the direction where we're going. I think people deferred to them, tried to make sure they were doing things right in those people's eyes."

Bruce's natural charisma and Votto's intense drive for greatness would fit any team's definition of leadership qualities. But that doesn't mean they're ready to take over the clubhouse right this minute, either. And it wouldn't make sense for anyone to force them to.

“

Not to take anything away from [Ken Griffey Jr.] and [Adam Dunn], because they're outstanding guys, and they were good guys on this team. But when you lose something, sometimes it permits you, or forces you, to grow.

”-- Reds manager Dusty Baker

One of Baker's favorite expressions is "I don't believe leadership is appointed. I think it's anointed." So for now, he's just letting this team's mix evolve, and letting the talents of his two middle-of-the-order prodigies emerge.

Bruce was Baseball America's 2007 Minor League Player of the Year. And for a while there, after the Reds airlifted him into Cincinnati in May 2008, he was making life in the big leagues look way too easy. But a funny thing happened to him after he hit .457 with three homers, four doubles and a 1.293 OPS in his first 12 games: Reality set in.

He batted only .229 -- with a .280 on-base percentage and .697 OPS -- the rest of the way. And even though he wound up hitting 21 homers and finishing fifth in rookie of the year voting, he says, flatly, those numbers were "not OK with me."

"Jay's a guy," Votto said, "who always wants to be the best player on the field. He's always wanted to be the best player at every level he's ever played at, and he has been."

But Votto hasn't exactly been a big fan of mediocrity himself. In Double-A in 2006, he won the Southern League MVP award. In Triple-A in 2007, he was the International League Rookie of the Year. And last year in the big leagues, he hit .297, bombed 24 homers and 32 doubles, slugged .506 and finished second to Geovany Soto in rookie of the year voting.

People around the Reds see players gravitating toward Votto, though he's far from the loudest voice in the room. And that's not just because he's really only "sneaky, fake quiet," Bruce quips.

"I look up to him," Bruce said of his pal Votto. "Before last year, I worked. I worked hard on hitting. But I didn't have a routine. I didn't really know how to consistently work at hitting. But he's taught me how to have a routine. And that's been good. He's young. He hits left-handed. We're good friends. So I look up to him. But don't think for a second we don't [rip] each other all the time."

It's all working out exactly how the Reds would have drawn it up: Two young impact talents, arriving together, feeding off each other and driving each other to reach for the stars.

"I talk to Jay all the time about this," Votto said. "Myself and Jay, we have a responsibility to become the type of players we expect to be, and [to reach] our potential. I'm sure a lot of people expect big things from Jay and me. But more importantly, Jay and myself think we're going to play well, and we are where we belong. Whether or not that's going to happen remains to be seen. But I think it is. And we both work very hard, and we both push each other because we know the competitiveness between us leads to good things on the field."

Where it will lead this year, though, who knows? This team is still far from a finished product.

It hasn't replaced the offense it got from Dunn and Griffey, and it scored 151 fewer runs than the Cubs last season, even with those two around for most of the year. But it figures to be vastly better defensively, especially in the outfield corners and at shortstop, to which Alex Gonzalez returns after missing all last year with a fractured kneecap.

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Check our daily spring training blog with updates on everything our team of writers and analysts see and hear at the ballpark, plus news tidbits from around the baseball world. Blog

And with a rotation fronted by Volquez, Cueto, Bronson Arroyo and a trimmed-down, healthier Aaron Harang, this figures to be no worse than the second-best rotation in the division. And a bullpen that finished third in the league in relief ERA returns practically intact. So this team should, at the very least, not have anywhere near the run-prevention issues that torpedoed its season last year.

But with all these young, star-caliber talents on the cusp of figuring it out, there's an upside here that reminds one of this team's new additions, outfielder Jonny Gomes, of the juggernaut he played for last year: the Rays.

"I keep saying how much this club reminds me of that club," Gomes said. "It really does. … I think we're under the radar right now, which is good. That's what we had on our side with the Rays: kind of sneaking up on people. In September we were 4 games up and we were still sneaking up on people. No one believed it all the way, and I could see that happening here."

Baker, for his part, isn't making any of those grandiose predictions. But Jocketty says his manager is "re-energized" by the makeup of this club. And Baker says even his daughter, Natosha, told him recently, "I haven't heard you this excited in a long time."

"You know what it is?" the manager said, at his poet-laureate best. "It's the satisfaction of building something, whether it's a new house, or a science project, or planting some roses and then you see them blossom in the spring. You know that feeling?"

Well, whether you do or not, something feels like it's blossoming here, all because a new crop of Reds is ready to take over the whole blooming garden.


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