Well, Wednesday was certainly a big day in baseball, wasn't it? First, we hear that Giants All Star outfielder Melky Cabrera was suspended 50 games for PED use, as he tested positive for testosterone. According to ESPN's Buster Olney, this news was floating around the baseball insiders for several weeks, so apparently the appeal process took that long. The loss of Cabrera certainly hurts the Giants lineup and possibly their chances to make the playoffs (one would hope).

Replacing Melky in the Giants lineup will be Gregor Blanco, assuming the Giants don't attempt to claim an outfielder on waivers. Blanco had 2 hits in 4 at bats yesterday and should only be owned in NL -only leagues where you start 5 outfielders.

The Melky owner in the UBA NL-only keeper league has to be thanking MLB for making that announcement yesterday and not today, as the league trading deadline was 10pm last night. The announcement allowed him to trade a very cheap Aroldis Chapman for a boatload, including Pablo Sandoval, Aaron Hill, Mat Latos, Mike Minor, Trevor Cahill, Travis Snider and Jimmy Rollins. if MLB announced this news today, he would have had to replace Melky with someone from the waiver pool, which is full of 4th and 5th outfielders.

The other big news yesterday was the perfect game thrown by Mariners ace Felix Hernandez. Hernandez, still one of the best pitchers in the game, needed 113 pitches to finish off the Rays 27 up and 27 down. Felix struck out 12 Rays to move his record to 11-5 with a 2.60 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and an elite 174-44 strikeout to walk ratio in 180 innings this season. He has given up 2 runs or less in 8 of his last 10 starts, and has given up 1 run or less in 14 of his 25 starts this season.

Pirates second baseman Neil Walker had to leave Wednesday night's game vs the Dodgers with a dislocated pinkie on his right hand. He will see a hand specialist today and could require time on the DL. For those of you in NL-only leagues, Josh Harrison will probably get the majority of starts at second base should Walker require a DL stint. Walker is having another solid season at the plate, as he is slashing .290-.353-.452 with 14 HRs, 60 runs and 67 RBI this season. To put his season in perspective, his .290 batting average ranks 7th among fantasy second baseman, and his 14 HRs and 67 RBI both rank 2nd among all second baggers.

More Roto Roundup after the jump:

Dodgers outfielder Shane Victorino has provided a solid bat at the top of their lineup since coming over to LA at the beginning of this month. He went 3-5 with 2 runs scored in the Dodgers 9-3 win over the struggling Pirates. Victorino is now hitting .266-.326-.405 with 10 HRs, 57 runs, 46 RBI and 27 stolen bases this season, and he has already stated that he would love to sign with the Dodgers in the offseason. With the team looking to become the Yankees of the West Coast, it would not surprise me to see the Dodgers go after Zack Greinke and Victorino in the offseason. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me to see them sign Josh Hamilton, instead of Victorino.

Tigers starter Max Scherzer had one of his better outings of the season yesterday, shutting out the Twins for 7 innings, giving up just 4 hits, walking 2 and striking out 10. He is now 12-6 with a 4.41 ERA, 139 WHIP, and a 178-50 strikeout to walk ratio in 140.2 innings pitched. If you can afford the occasional blow up start from Scherzer, and the mid-4 ERA, he has excellent value in leagues where strikeouts are a category.

Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro was on my list of 10 players to target in 2012, and he has had a very productive season, even with rumors that he was available around the trade deadline. There has been numerous instances where he has not hustled on plays and even making bad decisions in the field, and with a new front office, the Cubs may look to continue to build their farm system in the offseason and look to deal him. Castro went 3-4 with a double, HR, 2 runs and 2 RBI yesterday, raising his triple slash line to .276-.307-.422 with 12 HRs, 57 runs, 58 RBI and 19 stolen bases in 29 attempts.

At this point in the season, you have to buy into the season that Braves starter Paul Maholm is having. Maybe he just needed to get out of Pittsburgh to reach his potential, but Maholm is having a very good season on the bump. He limited the Padres to one run on 5 hits, 3 walks and 7 strikeouts to win his 11th game of the season. He is now 11-7 with a 3.39 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and a career high 2.61 K/BB rate. Maholm also owns an elite level ground ball rate of 51.3%, and all he needs is to increase his K/9 rate to above 7.00 to reach the Holy Trinity amongst starting pitchers.

The Blue Jays called up outfield prospect Anthony Gose when Jose Bautista landed on the DL with his wrist injury. Since his call up, Gose has struggled to hit above the Mendoza line, as he is hitting just .191-257-.238 with 7 runs, 7 stolen bases in 9 attempts, and a horrible 29-7 strikeout to walk ratio in just 68 at bats. His 38.2% K rate will more than likely send him back to AAA Las Vegas when Jose Bautista returns from the DL.

I don't know how many of you watch this certain TV show called Breaking Bad, but if you haven't at least given a few episodes a shot, you're doing yourselves a serious disservice. It's a show that will have you instantly addicted (since the show is all about production of methamphetamine, ahhhh), and its popularity has elevated Bryan Cranston from Tim Whatley to elite levels of awesomeness.

Last Sunday's episode, without spoiling anything, ended with what was tantamount to a cinematic punch to the gut, by a Bartley Gorman-level brawler, no less. If you watched it, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Just an out-of-nowhere, brutal moment. It was one of the most horrifying (and shocking) moments you'll ever see on a television show, and I was left with a sense of uneasiness and loss of faith in mankind that lasted for a few days.

Which sucked, because that feeling returned when I flipped to Google News at lunch time to see that Melky Cabrera had been suspended 50 games for violating MLB's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Cabrera is done for the rest of the season, and his fantasy owners are left there standing in stunned silence, now contemplating life without their heretofore star outfielder. Grab magic marker, draw circle on belly, don the brass knuckle, and start punchin' away.

This is awful news, as Melky has, inarguably, been a fantasy stud in 2012. In the face of throngs of doubters, he one-upped himself after a breakout 2011, hitting .346/.390/.516, with eleven homers, thirteen steals, and a league-leading 84 runs scored and 159 hits. Somehow losing him to suspension is worse than having him go down with a season-ending injury, because it wasn't happenstance, it was just Melky being stupid. If you're hanging your head in anguish after having one of your best fantasy players ripped so suddenly from your grasp, just know that I feel your pain.

Obviously, this loss has left a huge void in your fantasy outfield if you own Cabrera. This is particularly galling, because it comes right as the season enters the home stretch. You should be gearing up for a run at a fantasy title, not watching your star players drop like flies. At least if you had a star go down early in the season, there was still time to recover. Now, you have limited options, as many leagues have trade deadlines and many of the sleeper free agent pickups have been scooped up.

To help out, here are a few scrap heap outfielders who might...might...help ease the pain of Melky's loss. These guys aren't going to replicate Cabrera's production...not even close...but there's a good chance that they can act as duct tape to keep your ship afloat while you search for some last-ditch trade options.

Lorenzo Cain

Cain went down with an injury in the season's first week and disappointed fantasy owners who expected him to flourish in his first shot as a regular outfielder. He's been pretty crappy in the month of August, which may have led some owners to wash their hands of him. If that's the case, snap him up. Cain hit the tar out the ball in July before his recent slump, and his minor league resume hints that he's more like the guy you saw that month than the guy in August. That amounts to a perfectly average-to-good outfielder who can steal bases. A decent stopgap add for that big Melky-sized black hole on your roster.

Coco Crisp

To know Coco's ten game month of May is to know tragicomedy. His batting line of .132/.154/.158 probably should have been accompanied by a picture of a crying clown in the rain. It seemed impossible, and Crisp was impossibly bad to start the year, hitting .173/.225/.192 as June broke. Given his history, and the fact that he isn't exactly ancient at 32, it seemed inevitable the Crisp would start hitting again.

And hit he did. Since the All-Star Break, he's been a bit more back to normal, hitting .295/.364/.500. He isn't that good, of course, but just look at it as Crisp's world shifting back into orbit. He's probably still wandering the waiver wires, as the stink of his early-season slump might be upon him still and he hits in a generally no-name A's lineup. He'll help in stolen bases and batting average, at the least, from here on out. Say it: "I'm With Coco".

Andres Torres

Torres was traded to the Mets in the offseason and immediately made Mets fans feel as if they'd been shafted. The player he was traded for, Angel Pagan, got off to a hot start with the Giants, while Torres hurt himself in the season opener and was flat out awful for about two months after his return.

Like Crisp, though, he's recently been channeling his past days as a valuable fantasy player, when he stole a lot of bases and drew his fair share of walks. In 100 plate appearances since the All-Star Break, Torres has hit .318/.408/.471. He's stopped stealing bases in that span, for whatever reason (just one attempt since the break), but if he keeps hitting like this he'll be a worthwhile add down the stretch if you need the help.

Darin Mastroianni

Please don't make me spell that name out again. Mast...er, Darin has been getting a lot of starts recently for Minnesota and has been hitting pretty well. Owner of a career .368 career minor league batting average and 214 minor league steals (mostly in Toronto's system), Mastroianni has hit .287/.349/.426 for the Twins this season, in limited at-bats. That won't catch a fantasy owner's eye, but his 14 stolen bases in that span will. The Twins have a somewhat crowded outfield situation (kind of odd for a bad team), but Mastroianni has been bullying his way to more playing time, and if he keeps getting starts, he'll absolutely help you if you're hurting for stolen bases.

Domonic Brown

It seems like we've been waiting for Brown to fulfill his potential since the dawn of man, but here he is, once again being handed the reins to a starting job in the Phillie outfield. He was so bad last year that the Phils ended up dealing for Hunter Pence to replace him. Now that both Pence and Shane Victorino are gone, and newly acquired Nate Schierholtz is hurt, it's put up or shut up time for the former top prospect. The good news: he's shown a good batting eye so far this season and he's still young. The bad news: he was pretty underwhelming at AAA this season and he hasn't really hit for a lick of power since 2010.

If nothing else, he'll be given every chance to fall on his face from here until the end of the season. He's definitely worth a flyer just in case he does start living up to his talents, and Citizens Bank Park's homer-friendly environs might help him eventually rediscover that long-lost pop.

Anthony Gose

Beware batting lines at AAA Las Vegas. They may deceive you into believing a player is better than he really is. Take Gose, who appeared to break out with a .292/.375/.431 line this season in Sin City. The uninitiated might see that and think, wow, Gose is doing that as a 21-year-old at AAA! What a baller!

In reality, Las Vegas is perhaps the best hitting environment on planet Earth, and if you don't put up at least an .800 OPS there, you should probably take up Badminton or become an MMA taser fighter. Gose's life-long battle with the strikeout monster returned the second he hit The Show, as he's struck out a ridiculous 27 times in 64 plate appearances. Not good for a guy who is supposed to be using his speed to get on base and create havoc on the basepaths.

As with Brown, though, Gose will likely play a lot down the stretch, or at least as long as Jose Bautista is out. He's an asset if you need stolen bases, because he's likely to steal a lot even if he's not getting on base as much as he should (he already has seven steals). If he shortens his swing and ups his average, he's a great pickup. That certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility, since he's so young and has a lot of room to grow.

Gary Brown

This one might be a long shot, but if Brown is called up by the Giants in September he might get some serious burn as the team scrambles to find a decent replacement for Melky Cabrera in the outfield. Brown is the team's top hitting prospect and has a lot of potential as a player who will help rack up high batting averages, high stolen base totals, and a lot of runs scored. He got off to a slow start this season (his first at AA), but he's been hitting very well lately, and this apparent adjustment could prompt the Giants to give him a September cup of coffee. Keep your eyes on the waiver wire in case that does happen, because there's a chance Brown could step in with a hot final month to give your fantasy squad some stretch-drive production for a low, low price.

The Houston Astros acquired right-hander Kevin Comer as the player to be named later in the trade that sent Brandon Lyon and J.A. Happ to the Toronto Blue Jays, reports Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle:

Astros land RHP Kevin Comer from Blue Jays to complete Lyon/Happ deal. Wait was because supp. 1st-rounder signed 1 year ago at deadline.

— Zachary Levine (@zacharylevine) August 16, 2012

Levine notes that the reason the PTBNL label was necessary was that Comer wasn’t eligible to be traded at the time the transaction took place. He also says Comer will remain pitching at rookie-level once he joins the Astros.

Comer was a supplemental first-round pick of the Blue Jays in June of 2011. The 20-year-old began his professional career this season and has maintained an ERA of 3.95 with 6.0 SO/9 and 1.7 BB/9 over ten appearances, including seven starts, spanning forty-three and one-third innings.

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Now that the trade has been completed, which team got the better of the deal?

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Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays Complete J.A. Happ Trade: Prospect Kevin Comer

The Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays finalized the J.A. Happ trade today, the Jays sending right-handed pitching prospect Kevin Comer over to the Astros.

Comer wasn't eligible at the time the trade was made: he was drafted in 2011 and didn't sign until right before the deadline last August. A player can't be traded until one year after he's signed, so the Jays and Astros had to wait to finish the deal until today. He's a very interesting prospect and hardly a throw-in.

A cold-weather high school guy, he throws in the upper-80s currently, but scouts believe he will throw harder in time. His curveball and changeup have promise, and he's done a good job throwing strikes and keeping the ball down in his pro debut. He needs development time, but Comer has upside and this looks like an astute pickup to me for Houston.

I often take trips over to Baseball-Reference.com to poke around aimlessly, but it is not that often that I find something interesting enough to write up here, but last night I did find something quite cool that I'd like to share.

We all remember Jose Bautista, right? He was the Toronto Blue Jays' best hitter until he got hurt this season. Yea, that guy. He had a tremendous start to the 2011 season: in April and May he hit .363/.505/.786 (1.290 OPS!) with 20 HR. That's pretty amazing for sure, but for a period of time, he was so hot that he recorded a positive WPA for 16 straight games, which is the third longest such streak in Major League Baseball history.

For those of you who are not familiar with the stat, WPA stands for win probability added. You can click here to read about WPA over at the Fangraphs Glossary, but to boil it down it is a rough measure of how much a particular batter or pitcher has contributed (either positively or negatively) to the results of their team's game. Sabermatricians have calculated the probability of a particular team winning the game (its win expectancy) for every possible game situation.

By comparing a team's win expectancy before and after each of a batter's plate appearance we can calculate how much he has contributed in the game. The same thing goes with pitchers, looking at each plate appearance against them. A player having a good game will have a positive WPA, and if he adds 10% or more in win expectancy for a game (ie. WPA >= +0.100), he gets a Jay of the Day! award here on Bluebird Banter.

Normal, human, batters have good games and bad games so even really good batters will record a negative WPA every few games. Not Jose Bautista, though, at least in the 16-game stretch from April 25 and May 18, 2011. During that stretch, he got was a Jay of the Day! 10 times, his highest WPA was +0.328 and his lowest was +0.018, and he hit .386/.539/.947 with 9 homers and 17 RBI.

The streak of 16 straight games with a positive WPA surpassed the previous franchise record of 12, which was held by Aaron Hill in 2009. Lloyd Moseby and George Bell both recorded 11-game streaks in 1987.

Jose Bautista was two games away from tying the Major League record jointly held by J.D. Drew (for the Atlanta Braves in 2004, hitting a scorching .418/.518/.851 in that stretch) and John Stearns (for the New York Mets in 1977, hitting a more pedestrian .426/.500/.770). Willie Mays (1964), Wayne Garrett (1970), and Brooks Robinson (1971) have had 17-game streaks.

Bautista's 16-game mark is shared by some great names: Willie Mays (1965), Pete Rose (1968), Carl Yastrzemski (1970), Manny Ramirez (2002-2003), Barry Bonds (2004), and Ryan Howard (2009-2010).

It is easier for pitchers, especially (good) relievers, to record long strings of positive WPAs. This season, Darren Oliver had a 15-game streak between June 3 and July 7, and Casey Janssen recorded a 14-game streak between April 27 and June 3. The franchise record is 27 games, held by Duane Ward (1992-1993), followed by Tom Henke (surprise, surprise) who has a 24-game streak. The Major League record belongs to former Cleveland Indians closer Jose Mesa who had an incredible stretch of 49 WPA positive games between 1994 and 1995.

Other names near the top include Roberto Hernandez (40, 1995-1996), Dennis Eckersley (39, 1991-1992), John Axford (38, 2011-2012). The great Mariano Rivera weighs in with a 35-game streak between 1999 and 2000.

Looking at starters, the franchise record for longest streak of starts with a positive WPA belongs to Dave Stieb (1982-1983) and Juan Guzman (1991-1992), who had 14-game streaks. Coming from behind are Roger Clemens (13, 1998), and Roy Halladay (11, 2009 and 10, 2006-2007). Pedro Martinez has the Major League record with 23 in 1999-2000, with Johan Santana (22, 2004) right behind.

Research was done using the Play Index of Baseball-Reference.com. To calculate an official game for a batter for the streak, he must have made at least one plate appearance. WPA data is available for all games between 1918 and August 15, 2012. I'd like to thank Beer Leaguer for asking the question on Twitter that led me to do this research.

How does Tom do these everyday?

The Jays only managed hits in 2 innings of the entire game. While they were able to take the lead early on the strength of a Moises Sierra home run they couldn't hold off the White Sox as the Jays surrendered 5! home runs to the Sox.

Aaron Laffey wasn't bad but was still hurt by the longball. Over 6 innings he only gave up 3 hits, unfortunately all of them were of the long ball variety. He did strike out 5 and only walked one. Steve Delabar managed through the seventh working around a walk. The usually solid Darren Oliver came out to start the 8th and keep the Jays within one. Things went pretty bad, he wasn't able to finish the inning and gave up 2H and 1BB with one of those hits being a home run. Brandon Lyon came out to finish off hte inning and provided further fireworks by allowing another Home run to clear the fence. Casey Janssen finished the game with a solid clean ninth inning but it was far too late at that point.

For those that like to question the managers decisions there were a couple tonight that had people scratching their heads. First in the seventh inning we had a lead off walk by Escobar. David Cooper comes to plate and proceeds to .... bunt? He tried to sacrifice twice before trying to swing away, while I tip my cap to Cooper who battled well in this spot he still hit into the fielders choice. Subsequently Gose came in as a pinch runner for Cooper. While the Jays didn't score the general thought was that Gose would move to CF to take over for McCoy and Gomes would come in to play first. Nope, McCoy stayed in the game and Gomes came in. Seemed strange but not the worst thing in the world I suppose.

On the "are you kidding me" front. Edwin Encarnacion was a late scratch from tonights game with an injury sustained last night. THANKS FOR NOTHING BASEBALL GODS! NO MORE RUM FOR YOU!

Jays of the day: None. Suckage: Kelly Johnson, Darren Oliver

The White Sox haven't played well at Rogers Centre in years, but with nearly half the Blue Jays' roster on the DL, this was the time to reverse course.

With five home runs tonight, the Sox emphatically sealed a series victory for the first time in Toronto since Aug. 4-6, 2006. They also extended their winning streak to three games, set a new high-water mark at 13 games over .500, and extended their lead over Detroit to 2 1/2 games.

Each homer was a mightier blow than the one before it.

Aaron Laffey started the game flirting with disaster as fell behind in the count to nearly every hitter early on. Dewayne Wise made him pay first. It started with Dewayne Wise, who opened up on a 3-1 pitch and pulled it over the fence in right center for a solo shot. That immediately answered Moises Sierra's two-run homer in the bottom of the second, cutting the Blue Jays lead in half.

Leading off the fifth, Dayan Viciedo squared up and drilled a backspin-laden line drive out of the park in left to tie the game (1-1 count, first pitch ball). Tyler Flowers made it back-to-back by absolutely crushing a 1-0 offering above the ring of retired numbers, just below the third deck, giving the Sox the lead. Laffey threw first-pitch strikes to just seven of 23 batters.

The Sox nursed a one-run lead until the eighth, when Kevin Youkilis singled (for the Sox's first non-homer hit of the game) and Adam Dunn walked with one out. Alex Rios, booed for the entire series, put his stamp on the trip with a three-run homer off lefty Darren Oliver. John Farrell once again was burned by an odd-handed pitching decision, but maybe it didn't matter. Even with Brandon Lyon on the mound, Alexei Ramirez was able to join the Home Run derby by hitting a majestic solo shot down the line for his fifth of the year.

Robin Ventura might have been mildly annoyed with a homer-based offense, but even he has to smile with five different Sox go deep. The Jays touched him up for a couple of runs in the second when Sierra put a good swing on an OK first pitch for a two-run homer, but Liriano stayed poised, retiring 13 in a row soon after.

Liriano benefited from all the blasts, picking up his first win as a White Sox with a strong 6 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked just one, a pleasing turnaround from his unraveling the start before.

Ventura had him on a short leash though, lifting him with one out and a runner on first in the seventh. Liriano had only thrown 86 pitches, but based on the way he became unglued the start before, Jesse Crain was a better bet to have better command. It worked, with Crain pitching around an Anthony Gose stolen base with a strikeout and a flyout.

Crain's appearance was interrupted by a medical emergency in the stands behind third base. Youkilis called for the umpires to stop play, and we'd soon discover that EMTs were administering CPR to a fan who had suffered an apparent heart attack. This has been the most specific description I can find:

@lottonbaseball a fan did CPR 1st, then a red medic followed by blue medic who walked off the field. going on about 7 min prior to delay.

— the man in white(@jaysfaninwhite) August 17, 2012

The Toronto broadcast cut to commercial, and the players watched the fan get carried off on a stretcher with medics still trying to resuscitate him. I hope it's not as bad as it looked and sounded. The worst thing that's supposed to happen at a ballpark is losing a game.

Record: 65-52 | Box score | Play-by-play

Everett Aqua Sox 0 Vancouver Canadians 5

I had a good time at the Vancouver game tonight, likely a better time that most had watching the Jays lose.

Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium is a really pretty ballpark. They say it seats 5132, but the announced attendance tonight was 4,833 and it looked to me like It was about 3/4 full. Like many minor league parks, most of the people sitting around me were more interested in socializing than the baseball game, there wasn't all that much notice of the game going on in front of them.

I really liked the park, lots of good choices for food. Good beers from the Granview Island Brewing Company and Whistler Brewers, much better choices than just some generic national brands. Lots of food choices too, normal ball park fare, peanuts and popcorn (the popcorn was really good, very fresh) to things like sushi and more.

The manual scoreboard is a nice touch and they had a good size 'JumboTron' to show replays and used it a lot, which I appreciated when I missed something on my scorecard.. Foul ground is pretty narrow, so you get to sit pretty close to the action.

In the game itself, the Canadians scored 4 runs, batting around, in the first inning. Singles by Ian Parmley, Kellen Sweeney, Jorge Flores, Balbino Fuenmayor and Dan Klein, and a double by Matt Newman was more than enough offence for the win. They got one more run in the 8, Balbino Fuenmayor walked (Balbino is hitting .271 with a .453 SA, maybe he'll fight his way back to being looked at as a prospect again), Matt Newman beat out a bunt single then Dwight Smith singled home Balbino. The Candians had 10 hits and 1 walk. 2 each for Sweeney and Newman.

I was all set to complain about Art Charles, he struck out his first two times up, and didn't look good doing it, but then his 3rd at bat, he hit a double off the base of the center field wall, 385 feet away, the hardest hit of the night. He popped in his last at bat.

They also struck out 9 times, but I think the sun going down had some to do with that. Neither team did much offensively in the middle innings, when it seemed to take a bit for the light to take effect.

Javier Avendano looked good, going 6 innings, getting the start. 4 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. His fastball seemed to stay in the 90-92 range according to the scoreboard. He was helped out by 4 double plays, in the 6 innings. One was really nice, 2 out, no outs in the 6th, a line drive that Fuenmayor made a nice catch on, going back towards the bag, easily doubling off the runner there, then throwing to 2nd, just missed the triple play by a hair.

Colton Turner pitched the 7th and 8th, striking out the side around a single in the 8th. Dominic Leone struck out the side in the 9th. Again, lighting may have had something to do with the 22 total strikeouts between the 2 teams. The last 6 outs for Everett were on strikeouts.

As well as some nice double plays, Dwight Smith, Jr made a good catch coming in a ball in LF in the 7th, showing good range.

The Canadians are 15-9, good for 1st place in the Northwest League West division's second half race. They came in 3rd in the first half.

Minor League Prospect Note: Roberto Osuna, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays spent $1,500,000 to sign right-hander Roberto Osuna out of Mexico last summer. Although he's only 17 years old, he's physically mature for his age, listed at 6-2, 230. He's also a remarkably advanced pitcher for his age and has thrived in pro ball this summer.

He started off with 24 innings for Bluefield in the Appalachian League, with a 24/6 K/BB, 18 hits allowed, and a 1.50 ERA. Promoted to Vancouver in the Northwest League, he's remained effective over four starts, posting a 3.24 ERA with a 24/8 K/BB in 17 innings with just 11 hits allowed. Keep in mind his age: he's only 17, and the Northwest League is populated by players 2-4 years older than he is, many of them from the college ranks.

Osuna doesn't want for stuff, working at 90-94 MPH and hitting 95-96 at times. He commands the fastball well, and it plays up due to the contrast with his slider and splitterish changeup. All three pitches project as above-average major league offerings. Combine that with impressive command and dominating mound presence, and you've got yourself a prospect. I had him as a Grade C+ pre-season, but would mark him as a strong Grade B now, perhaps a B+.

Check out this detailed scouting report from Michael Schwartze at MLBdirt.com

There was absolutely no need for that scary line drive right back to Soriano for the second out of the 9th. No need for that at all. Thankfully, it was nothing serious and Soriano finished the save, untucked, and help the Yankees win 4-2 and head home with a series victory over the Indians.

Freddy Garcia would start the game today. He would not get the win. Freddy only pitched 4.2 innings, giving up four hits and two earned runs while striking out six and walking two. Garcia looked pretty decent on the mound today. Two runs were apparently enough to cause Girardi to yank him from the game and go to the well rested bullpen. Boone Logan would give the Yankees 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball. David Robertson would follow that up with 1.1 innings of the same. I already told you what Soriano did up above. I shouldn't have to repeat myself. Sheesh. You people.

The Yankees offense would come alive this afternoon. Perhaps Nick Swisher woke them up with his smiles and cheerfulness and incredible hitting as of late. He would contribute an RBI, along with Jeter and Ichiro, in the 2nd inning. These three runs would be the only runs the Yankees would need to win. That doesn't mean we don't deserve to see Curtis Granderson hit a historic homer in the 6th inning of off Tony Sipp. This dinger would be the 200th of his career. Congratulations, Grandy. Except for Jeter and Ibanez, every Yankee had a hit today. I'm still finding it hard to see what purpose Ibanez serves lately. But I digress. Wait, no I don't. What purpose does he serve lately?

The Yankees fly home to the boogie down Bronx to start a three game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Henderson Alvarez will pitch against David Phelps. Also, get use to AL East teams folks! Outside of the A's and Twins, it's all AL East teams from here on out! Yay.

-This might be my favorite pic of Granderson ever

The first story of the day is my Monday thoughts. But there are two more scheduled for later, including my analysis of both the roster expansion that will come Sept. 1 and the Tigers' chances of getting to 90 wins. So check back throughout this off day!

Max Scherzer is good at striking people out. Usually when you're digging up historical comparisons for a Detroit starter, you're trying to put context to something Justin Verlander did. Sunday, Tigers media relations director Brian Britten mentioned on Twitter that Scherzer had accomplished something not done since at least 1918. Scherzer became the first pitcher in the organization to have eight consecutive starts with at least eight strikeouts. (The records on such things only go as far back as 1918, so it's impossible to say if it's ever been done before.) With a nine-strikeout day Sunday, his total for the eight games was 70.

Of course, during the eight games Scherzer pitched just an out over 52 innings. That works out to about six and a half innings each start. He actually went seven innings in five of them, but never more. Compare that to Justin Verlander, who tossed 58 innings across his last eight starts. Verlander had four starts where he went into at least the eighth inning. That's quite a difference. Still, in a strange twist of fate (and revealing yet again why wins are a pointless stat) Scherzer (14) will probably finish the season with more wins than Verlander (12).

Scherzer may never equal Verlander's brilliance on the mound, but if he can learn to be a little more efficient and consistent, he'll remain near the top of almost any team's rotation.

The Tigers went 6-3 on the home stand. It didn't always feel like such a success nine games. Yet with the Orioles ahead of the Tigers' in the hunt for a playoff spot and the Angels just behind, you could argue that a majority of the games were against pretty good teams. (Standard disclosures apply: Albert Pujols did not play. They also missed Jose Bautista during the Blue Jays series). Some might actually argue the Tigers came within a turned double play of being 7-2, or maybe even a healthy Doug Fister from 8-1, although I do not like that line of thinking. Surely you could think of a time or two the Tigers could have lost a one-run game, or you could wait for someone to point out "Good teams win those games" such as the 2-1 loss Friday against L.A.

But no, the Tigers were 6-3. They went 3-1 in one-run games and won three games by 5-3 scores. One concern, naturally, was the lack of scoring. Just 11 runs in the Blue Jays series and 11 more against the Angels works out to an average output of 3.67 runs per game during the past two series. They'll certainly have to do better than that in the future. Still, they managed to win five of those six games, so they didn't let it cost them much.

Health concerns seem minor, yet ... . The biggest plot of the past week has been the health of two key players. Doug Fister tried to pitch through a sore groin in the series finale against the Orioles. He managed to blow a 5-0 lead and his team lost the game, 7-5. News of the injury only came out later, and forced the Tigers to recall rookie left-hander Drew Smyly. We like Smyly around here, but even the most ardent Smyly supporter would have to admit feeling more confident with a veteran, healthy Fister on the mound. If the injury becomes a nagging one, it's going to make Detroit's road that much harder.

One of the only players whose loss might leave an even bigger hole in Detroit is Miguel Cabrera. The big guy has been battling an ankle injury after falling a ball off his shin during the series against Boston nearly a month ago. Thursday he left the game in the second inning while sustaining an injury to his opposite ankle while running out of the batters box. The season flashed before Tigers' fans eyes at that moment. Cabrera played Friday and Saturday, going a combined 2-for-8 with a double. On that extra-base hit, Cabrera nearly got tagged at second base and did not appear to be able to go full speed.

He drew a day off Sunday, with manager Jim Leyland telling the media (as quoted by Matthew B Mowery):

"I'm pretty confident that Miguel will play third base in the Kansas City series. I'm pretty confident. Can I etch that in stone? No, I can't. But I'm pretty confident he'll play third base. (...)
"I didn't sleep last night. I talked to a lot of people and made a couple calls last night. I talked to my coaches all day. But you know, at the end of the day when I talked to Cabrera, I knew the best thing to do was to rest him today no matter what the outcome of this game was today."

Leyland also said, in essence, as goes Miguel Cabrera, so goes the Detroit Tigers.

One could argue whether it would be worse to lose a member near the top of the rotation or to lose, despite sabermetricians' best arguments otherwise, the MVP of the TIgers' offense.

If the season is to turn out like everyone hopes, those arguments will be academic. They need to get both players healthy, and in a hurry. Unfortunately, that's a lot easier said than done.

The Toronto Blue Jays have placed right fielder Jose Bautista on the fifteen-day disabled list after the slugger aggravated a wrist injury Saturday that had him on shelf since the middle of July, reports Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com:

Jose Bautista's return to the Blue Jays' lineup barely lasted 24 hours before he was placed back onto the 15-day disabled list with inflammation in his left wrist.

Bautista re-aggravated his wrist injury during a first inning at-bat against Baltimore on Saturday night. It's the same ailment that just cost him more than a month and this time around it will equate to at least 15 days and possibly the rest of the season.

The Blue Jays also placed first baseman David Cooper on the fifteen-day disabled list with a mid-back injury. To replace Cooper and Bautista on their roster, the Blue Jays recalled shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria from Triple-A and activated first baseman Adam Lind from the disabled list.

Chisholm notes that the aggravated injury could sideline Bautista for the remainder of the season. If so, he would finish with a line of .241/.358/.527 with fourteen doubles and twenty-seven home runs.

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Should Bautista be held out for the remainder of the season?

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After last year, I really hoped we wouldn't see Carlos Villanueva making starts for us again, but when 3 starters go down in a week, things happen.

Last year, after joining the rotation, Carlos looked pretty good for a few starts, but you had the feeling that he was getting by on smoke and mirrors. After a bit the league seemed to catch up with him, or perhaps he tired, having not been prepared to be a starter.

In 2011, as a starter, batters hit .284/.324/.438 against Carlos. Much better than the .161/.264/.259 he held batters to, coming out of the pen.

This year, 10 starts in, he's given up a .225/.278/.385 line as a starter, .211/.336/.382 as a reliever. He has a 3.34 ERA as a starter. The biggest difference between this year and last year is that he is getting more strikeouts this season, averaging 9.1/9 compared to 5.7/9 last year.

Carlos does seem to lose something as the game goes on, I guess it is up to you to decide if you think that batters 'figure him out' after seeing him a couple of times in a game or if you think he tires. I think he tires, I think he'd be helped out if Farrell was a little more proactive about pulling him when he starts showing signs of tiring. But then, maybe by leaving him in a little longer, Farrell thinks he will build some endurance, which would pay off down the road.

His August hasn't been great, but then which Jay has done well in August? In 5 starts, this month, Carlos is 0-4 with a 4.06 ERA. It is tough to win when your team doesn't score, we've scored 13 runs in those starts. But then Carlos went from a 1.93 ERA in 4 July starts, to a 4.06 ERA in 5 August starts. Hopefully there won't be a similar jump in his ERA in September.

The question is what do you think the Jays should do with Carlos after this season. He is a free agent. I'm sure he would like to find a team that would make him a full time starter. Do you think that the Jays should be that team? Do you think that he's earned a spot in the rotation for next year?

Carlos is making $2.2775 million this year. On the free agent market, if someone wants him to start, he could make about double that.

I'm kind of torn, I'd like to think the Jays could find someone better to fill out the back end of the rotation. I wouldn't mind keeping him as a swingman, someone that could jump into the rotation if/when someone goes on the DL, but if I'm him I'd want to look for better. And I wouldn't want to pay that much for someone if it was to have him in the back of the bullpen. It looks like we have a pretty good bullpen put together for next year, I don't see where Carlos fits.

What would you do with Carlos?

Due to a rainout and an off day, the Baltimore Orioles played only five games this week, going 3-2. Because of their abbreviated schedule, I'm going to do a modified Birds Up, O's Down. Hopefully the normal author of this feature, twistedlogic, doesn't take offense to my bastardization of his weekly column.

Today in Jays history, back in 1992, the Jays traded for David Cone, sending Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson to the Mets for the rental player.

At the time we were first in the AL East, 2.5 games ahead of the Orioles (who had the Ripkens playing in the middle infield spots, Cal playing everyday, but not having a great year. He'd finish with a .251/..323/.366 line). We had a pretty good team, but the 5th starter spot had been a problem. Dave Stieb had the job, but he wasn't the pitcher he used to be, finishing 4-6 with a 5.04 ERA in 21 games, 14 starts. It would be hit last year as a Jay (well, he did get into a few games, trying to make a comeback, in 1998). Injuries ended his season in early August.

Doug Linton took over his spot, but he was pretty terrible. He had 3 starts, the first was good, 8 innings (who gives a spot starter 8 innings in his first start? Times were different back then.)and 2 earned for a win. In his other 2 starts he gave up 13 earned in 4.2 innings.

Cone was a huge upgrade. He made 7 starts (and pitched 2 innings of relief in the last game of the season, Cito wanted to get some work for his playoff starters before the playoffs). He went 4-3, with a 2.55 ERA. He made 2 starts in our 6 game ALCS win over the Oakland A's, pitching 8 innings, allowing just 1 run in game 2, then giving up 6 runs, 3 earned, in 4 innings of our game 5 loss. He worked on 3 days rest.

In our World Series win over the Braves, Cone had a no decision in game 2 win, giving up 4 runs, 3 earned, in 4.1 innings. In game 6, the game that got us our first trophy, he went 6 innings, allowing just 1 run. He left with a 2-1 lead but Tom Henke blew the save in the 9th. We got 2 runs in the 11th and Jimmy Key and Mike Timlin got through the bottom half of the inning, allowing one run.

After the season Cone signed a big contract with the Royals. We traded for him again at the start of the 1995 season, giving the Royals 3 prospects, none of whom turned into much. Then, at mid-season, we trading him off to the Yankees for 3 guys you've likely never heard of: Jason Jarvis, Mike Gordon and Marty Janzen. Well, maybe you remember Janzen, he pitched in 27 games for us, posting a 6.39 ERA.

Getting back to the original trade, we gave the Mets Ryan Thompson, who didn't turn out to be great, and Jeff Kent, who did turn out to be great. Kent hit 377 home runs, drove in 1522 RBI with a .290/.356/.500 over 17 seasons. He was NL MVP once, an All-Star 5 times and an irritant to Barry Bonds for several seasons (maybe his greatest accomplishment).

Kent turned out to be great, but I really can't complain about the trade, without it we might not have won that 1992 World Series and, who knows, without that one, maybe we wouldn't have won in 1993. Then what would we have to talk about? I'm not sure that Kent would have become the same player if he stayed a Jay. We had Roberto Alomar at second base, Kent wasn't going to move him, and we didn't have a lot of patience with young players back then. The trade worked out for everyone.

Last week's edition of Scoreboard Watching found the Orioles holding the second wild card spot, six games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East and one game behind the Tampa Bay Rays, who sat in the first wild card spot. Let's see how the competitors did over the week and what they'll be facing in the week to come.

New York Yankees
Record: 74-53
1st Place, AL East, 4.5 games ahead of the Orioles

The Orioles got a little bit of help from the Chicago White Sox this week, who swept the Yankees in a three-game series. The Yankees won their series with the Cleveland Indians, 2-1, giving them just two wins on the week.

This week, as the Orioles take on the White Sox themselves, the Yankees will get to play the sad sack Toronto Blue Jays for three games. The Yankees and Orioles will then face off in a weekend battle at Yankee Stadium, probably the most important series the Orioles have played all year.

Tampa Bay Rays
Record: 70-57
2nd Place, AL East, 0.5 games ahead of the Orioles
1st Wild Card

The Rays started their week with a series win against the Royals, taking two out of three. Their only loss in that series came in an extra-innings 1-0 game. After that they faced their wild card competition, the Oakland Athletics for a three-game weekend series. They took the first game but dropped the next two, giving them a 3-3 record for the week.

The Rays face a tough task this week with three games against the Texas Rangers on the road. The Rays are actually a very good road team, but they'll have to out slug the Rangers if they want to take that series. They follow that with a weekend set against the Toronto Blue Jays. Hopefully the extra day of rest the Blue Jays got yesterday will have them well rested and ready to break out against the Yankees and Rays.

Oakland Athletics
Record: 69-57
2nd Place, AL West, 5.5 games behind the Rangers
2nd Wild Card, tied with Orioles

The A's won both series they played last week, taking two out of three from both the Twins and the Rays. Their 4-2 record was one game better than the O's 3-2. If only the Orioles had gotten the chance to beat the Blue Jays today.

Coming up for the A's this week is a pretty cake schedule. They play four against the Cleveland Indians and three against the Boston Red Sox. They play the Indians on the road but go home to Oakland to face the Red Sox.

Chicago White Sox
Record: 71-55
1st Place, AL Central

Some Camden Chatters have written off the AL East division title, which meant they were rooting against the White Sox when they played the Yankees last week. I am not one of those people, so I was just fine with the ChiSox sweep. The White Sox also swept the Mariners, giving them a 6-0 record on the week.

After the White Sox spend four days in Baltimore, hopefully getting their lights knocked out, they'll head to Detroit for an AL Central showdown. It'll depend on where things stand after the games Monday through Thursday, but it's possible that a sweep of the Tigers by the White Sox could knock the Tigers back pretty far in both the division and WC races.

Detroit Tigers
Record: 69-58
2nd Place, AL Central, 2.5 games behind the White Sox
4rd Place, AL Wild Card. 0.5 games behind the Orioles and Athletics

The Tigers had a pretty good week last week. They had Monday off before they swept the Blue Jays and took two out of three from the Angels. Even with their 5-1 week they fell a game further behind the White Sox, but they did make up a lot of ground in the wild card.

The Tigers are off today, then take on the Royals for three before their weekend series with the White Sox.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Record: 66-62
3rd Place, AL West, 9.5 games behind the Rangers
5th Place, AL Wild Card, 4 games behind the Orioles and Athletics

The Angels had the good fortune of playing the Red Sox last week, sweeping them before they went into Detroit and lost two out of three. Their 4-2 record helped them gain a half game in the wild card race, but they fell even further behind in the AL West. Not that it matters, they have pretty much no shot of passing the A's and Rangers.

The Angels face the Red Sox again this week, this time at home for three games. They will then travel to Seattle for a weekend series. Let's hope the Red Sox put up a bit more of a fight this time around and that the Mariners stay hot.

Shi Davidi, over at Sportsnet.ca, has a post on the the continuing talk out of Boston about stealing our manager. In his opinion, Alex should either, very publicly, sign John Farrell to an extension, clearly marking him as ours and ours alone, or work out a deal with the Red Sox for him.

On the trade side:

More intriguing was Olney suggesting a trade of Farrell for Daniel Bard should the manager decline overtures to stay beyond the believed expiry of his contract following the 2013 season.

I don't know, I guess Bard is interesting, in the sort of 'buy low' way. As Shi notes, Bard has a 7.03 ERA in 31 games (1 start) in Pawtucket (if I wasn't so sure that we were moving our Triple-A team to Buffalo, I'd suggest trading Farrell for the rights to Pawtucket). If I'm giving up Farrell, I want more than a buy low guy that the Red Sox may have ruined.

So, with the worry that I'm opening up the door to a bunch of Farrell hate (yes, he doesn't do everything the way I'd like him to, but I do understand he comes at things from a different spot than I do), what would you expect in return for Farrell, if we were to let him go,or would you rather the Jays extend his contract, and make sure that the rest of the MLB know that he is ours and staying ours. They won't give us Dustin Pedroia, let's keep it somewhat plausible.

There are a lot of presumptions here, I've no clue that Farrell would want to go, the team does look like a mess at the moment. I also get the feeling that , considering all the trades the Red Sox have made, that they plan to keep Valentine. They were dumb enough to sign him, why would we think they suddenly got smart enough to want to get rid of him.

There are losses...and then there are losses like these. The Yankees hadn't trailed in the game, there were two outs in the ninth inning with a two run cushion - everything should have ended up better than it did. Rafael Soriano gave up a three-run homer to Colby Rasmus and suddenly, the Yankees needed to play catch up to even force extra innings.

Derek Jeter led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo shot to tie the game, but it wouldn't be enough. The other Derek (Lowe) botched a throw to first in the 11th inning that allowed the runner to make it all the way to third before scoring on a ground out. That ended up being the difference in a game that felt pretty locked up a few innings before. David Phelps had problems keeping the ball in the park, giving up four runs in 6.1 innings, but was good enough aside from the two mistakes. The newest father on the team, David Robertson, managed one strikeout and allowed two hits in his inning of work. You can only imagine that his mind wasn't really on baseball tonight, so all things considered, it's kind of amazing he was available to pitch at all.

Before the game became frustrating, there were positive moments! Robinson Cano homered twice, hopefully breaking the slump he's been slugging through for a while now. He hadn't homered since the last series against the Blue Jays, so his two dingers tonight were welcome events. Nick Swisher kept up his hot hitting with a homer of his own. Anything hit to within a zip code of Rajai Davis on defense is a little scary after what he did in Toronto against Casey McGehee, but Swisher's hit was clearly out of his reach before it bounced back onto the field.

Want to hear about more injuries? Of course you don't, but it wouldn't be the 2012 Yankees if someone new wasn't hurt every other day. Mark Teixeira left the game with a calf strain, and was headed to the hospital for an MRI. Hopefully it's nothing that will cost him to miss too much time, but with Steve Pearce set to arrive in New York tomorrow, there's a good chance Tex will sit for at least a game or two.

Phil Hughes and Ricky Romero are set to square off in game two of this series tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. Texas helped the Yankees out by taking care of business against Tampa Bay tonight, but this team really needs to do themselves a favor and not blow golden opportunities like tonight to extend their lead. Tomorrow seems like a good time to get started on making up for this particularly ugly loss.

Update on Tex:

Bryan Hoch ‏@BryanHoch

Girardi said he doesn't expect Teixeira to play in the rest of this series; maybe not the next one either

Sweeny Murti ‏@YankeesWFAN

Teixeira said MRI revealed Grade 1 strain, left calf. Thinks he could be out anywhere from 1-2 weeks. Of course, it could be more too.

Former Blue Jay pitcher Doyle Alexander turns 62 today.

Doyle played with the Jays for 4 seasons, or, more accurately, 2 full seasons and 2 half seasons. As a Jay he was 46-26 with a 3.56 ERA in 106 games, 103 starts.

The Jays signed him as a free agent on June 21, 1983 about a month after he was released by the Yankees. When the Yankees let him go he had a 0-2 record with a 6.35 ERA in 8 games. The season before he was 1-7 with a 6.08 ERA in 16 starts.

He turned things around with the Jays, going 7-8 with a 3.93 ERA 17 games. We finished 4th that season, 9 games back, but at the time we pictured up Doyle we were just 1.5 out of first and we kept close until tough August dropped us well back.

In 1984 had what was likely the best season of his career, going 17-6 with a 3.13 ERA in 36 games, 11 complete games. He even got some MVP votes that year. He only struck out 139 batters in 261.2 innings but he managed to get the outs when he needed them.

1985 was the first time we made the playoffs and Doyle was a big part of the reason we made it. He finished 17-10 with a 3.45 ERA in 36 starts. Again, he didn't strike many batters out, 142 in 260 innings, but we had a pretty decent defense behind him. We didn't go far in the playoffs, losing out to the Royals in the ALCS and Doyle didn't help, putting up a 8.71 ERA in 2 starts.

We traded Alexander to the Braves in the middle of the 1986 season for Duane Ward. The trade worked out great, but then, a year later, the Braves sent off Doyle to the Tigers for John Smoltz. Doyle did help the Tigers beat out the Jays for the AL East crown in 1987, starting 2 of the games in that 7 game losing streak that ended our season. He went 10.2 inning, without getting the decision in the game that started that losing skid. I'll never forgive him for that.

Doyle finished his career with a 194-174 record and a 3.74 ERA. He didn't throw hard, he got by with throwing a bunch of different pitches, from a bunch of different arm angles.

He wasn't exactly a friendly happy friendly fellow, or at least he didn't seem that way from a distance. Maybe he was warm and friendly with his teammates.

Happy Birthday Doyle.

The Blue Jays have called up Chad Beck and Anthony Gose from Vegas. I'm not sure if we have more moves coming.

So now we have an 11 man bench and 4 guys on the bench. One would think we'd want more on the bench than that, but I'm not running things. I don't know why Gomes wouldn't be coming up at very least, but I'd like to think there will be more news coming.

At least we'll have a pinch runner for Omar next time.