Cleveland Sports Forum

Rangers To Acquire Jason Donald From Royals
By Jeff Todd [May 29, 2014 at 8:35am CDT]

TODAY: Cash considerations are going back to the Royals in the deal, reports Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star (via Twitter).

YESTERDAY: The Rangers have agreed to acquire utilityman Jason Donald from the Royals, a source tells MLBTR. Hunter Samuels of Kings of Kauffman first reported the trade via Twitter.

Donald, 29, owns a career .257/.309/.362 line in 603 career MLB plate appearances, which he compiled with the Indians over 2010-12. He has spent each of the last two seasons at the Triple-A level, slashing .219/.268/.319 in 271 plate appearances with the Reds organization in 2013 and putting up a .231/.271/.308 line through 85 trips to the dish this year at Omaha.

The versatile Donald has seen most of his professional time at short, but also has spent time at second, third, and the outfield. Presumably, he will serve as minor league depth in the Rangers organization. A client of the Boras Corporation, Donald was a 3rd-round draft pick of the Phillies back in 2006.

White Sox: Former Cuban teammates reunite

Monday marks both a return and a reunion for Abreu.

When Abreu takes the field at Dodger Stadium, it will be against his former teammate in Cuba, Yasiel Puig. The two played together on Cienfuegos in the Cuban League.

"It's a normal day. We're going to take it like a normal day in the past," Abreu said of playing against Puig. "It's good to play against friends. He's a friend of mine. There's another guy there that is an infielder, Erisbel Arruebarrena, who played on the same team in Cuba. I'm looking forward to really saying hello to them."

Puig dominated upon making his debut, earning National League Rookie and Player of the Month honors in June 2013, his first month in the Majors. Abreu matched his former teammate, winning both awards for the American League in his debut month of April 2014, making him just the second player after Puig to win both league awards in their first full month in the Major Leagues.

They'll be happier to see each other than the pitchers are.

Worth noting

• He receives much less fanfare than his fellow Cuban countrymen who will be inside Dodger Stadium on Monday, but Alexei Ramirez is having a career year, hitting a career-best .329 while being on pace to eclipse the 20-homer mark for the second time in his career and the 100-RBI mark for the first time.

• Yasiel Puig tied the Dodgers' record for May hits with 43, going 1-for-4 on Saturday night. He also reached base safely for the 33rd consecutive game Sunday, going 2-for-4 with his 15th double of the season.

Check the radar gun: Fighters pitcher Shohei Otani delivers against the Carp on Wednesday at Sapporo Dome. Nippon Ham won 6-2. | KYODO

Baseball / Japanese Baseball

Otani hits 160 kph with fastball as Fighters beat Carp

Kyodo

Jun 4, 2014

SAPPORO –

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters right-hander Shohei Otani registered a 160 kph fastball for his fastest ever as a pro during the Fighters’ 6-2 win over the Hiroshima Carp on Wednesday.

Otani reached the mark on his fifth pitch with two outs in the first inning while facing Yoshihiro Maru, who struck out swinging on the pitch at Sapporo Dome. Otani’s fastest previous mark in pro baseball was 158 kph.

The fastest pitch ever thrown by a Japanese pitcher is 161 kph by the Yakult Swallows’ Yoshinori Sato. Marc Kroon, who played for the Yokohama BayStars and the Yomiuri Giants, owns the Japanese baseball record of 162 kph.

Otani, who also plays in right field and is batting .283 in 34 games, marked a 160-kph fastball when he pitched for Hanamaki Higashi High School.

He yielded one run and struck out 10 over five sharp innings on Wednesday as and Nippon Ham strung together five timely hits to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the fifth en route to beating Hiroshima ace Kenta Maeda (5-4), who allowed a season-worst five runs.

[Otani is a second year pro drafted right out of high school. When he's not pitching, he's playing the outfield and is very good hitter]

Puig, Cespedes, and Abreu must be feeling pretty comfortable against major league pitching. They already have 40 homers between them not mentioning their other statistics. These three guys along with Alfredo Despaigne and Frederich Cepeda were home run champion contenders on a yearly basis during the Cuban baseball season. Cepeda's only been playing in Japan for two weeks now. He's already hit three homers. Despaigne had 5 homers in 20 games playing in the Mexican Summer League. He was suspended for falsifying his credentials. Gotta wonder if that was the first step in defecting?!?!! If so, I wouldn't mind having him in Cleveland. He hits for average and power similar to Jose Abreu although not quite as good a hitter as Jose is, but then what Cuban batters are? Despaigne also has a very strong outfielder's arm. Meanwhile, Leonys Martin down in Texas is also having a very nice season. I can't recall a Cuban player in the majors or the minors that isn't having a good season.

CBS Sports' Jon Heyman writes that Kendrys Morales will "likely" sign with a team within the next day or two.
This isn't unexpected, as teams will be able to sign Morales without giving up a draft pick after Thursday's First-Year Player Draft. Heyman hears that Scott Boras declined the Yankees' request to wait a few days while they monitor the progress of Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira, so teams like the Brewers and Mariners might be best-positioned to make a deal. For what it's worth, Heyman hears that a "mystery team" is also in the mix. Look for some resolution soon.

Source: CBSSports.com
Jun 5 - 4:52 PM

Who do you think the "mystery team" is ?

Orioles right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez had already caught one break in the third inning of Sunday’s game against the Oakland Athletics when a grand slam by John Jaso was overturned by review and ruled a two-run double.

But Jimenez still couldn’t manage to get out of his own way, his control failing as he suffered his shortest outing in 13 starts with the Orioles.

Jimenez left the game with the Orioles trailing, 6-0, after Oakland first baseman Brandon Moss hit a monster grand slam to center field that didn’t need a review.

Jimenez, whose five walks tied a season high, opened the third inning by issuing three consecutive walks to the seventh, eighth and ninth hitters in the Athletics lineup.

Jaso then took a 1-2 pitch from Jimenez to center field that ricocheted off an object near the fence and back into the field of play. The ball initially was ruled a grand slam, giving the Athletics a 4-0 lead.

After a review initiated by crew chief Angel Hernandez, the call was reversed, two runs were taken off the scoreboard, Jaso was given a double and runner Kyle Blanks was placed at third.

Jimenez’s control problems continued as he walked Nick Punto to load the bases again. Josh Donaldson grounded to third, where Manny Machado prevented another run by throwing home to get the force out. But Moss crushed a first-pitch splitter well over the fence in center field for a grand slam, his 16th homer of the season.

Jimenez left the game to some boos, having allowed a season-high six runs on two hits. He had allowed just two runs over his past two starts before Sunday. [would have been much louder in Cleveland]

But he has been wildly inconsistent in his time with the Orioles, who signed him to a four-year, $50 million deal in February. With Sunday's performance, he has allowed five or more runs in three of his last five starts, and hasn’t gone past the fifth in any of those three games.

Sunday’s outing marked Jimenez’s shortest start since April 16, 2013 against the Boston Red Sox. He lasted just 1 2/3 innings in that game, allowing seven runs, two hits and five walks.

But he has been wildly inconsistent in his time with the Orioles

He has been wildly inconsistent since he was with the Rockies!

These Cuban outfielder's have great arms. I've been watching these guys for years. Nothing seems to amaze me anymore. Check this outfield assist by Cespedes--------------

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/as- ... y=news_mlb

I can't believe that they had to review that play. Utter nonsense!

Cespedes shows off great arm in back-to-back games

Yoenis defies odds with another rocket throw

A's left fielder pays back Angels after Trout robs him of homer in first

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/as- ... y=news_mlb

Puig's turn......AGAIN !

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/sta ... y=news_mlb

I think this folder should be relabled: Joe's favorite Cuban ballplayers.

Tony Gwynn Sr. has passed away, at the age of 54.

Sad. He was one of the good guys.

That is scary! Such a young man.

Here's a news release:


Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn dies
Updated: June 16, 2014, 11:25 AM ET
ESPN.com news services



Tony Gwynn, who banged out 3,141 hits during a Hall of Fame career spanning 20 seasons with the San Diego Padres, has died, it was announced Monday.

The lefty-swinging Gwynn had a career .338 batting average, won eight National League batting titles, and played in the franchise's only two World Series.

He had been signed to a one-year contract extension as the baseball coach at San Diego State on June 11. He had been on medical leave since late March while recovering from cancer treatment. He took over the program at his alma mater after the 2002 season.