Jayson Stark has a good column on  ESPN:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3483646

He claims Silva is deserving of the worst AL pitcher of the first half, but notes that Hernandez and Bonser are right behind him.

Picking against a pitcher (Livan Hernandez) who's on pace to become the first man in almost 30 years to give up 304 hits in a season was as tough a call as our Cy Yuk panel has ever made. But at least Livan wins a game now and then. In fact, four of his nine wins are against teams in first place.

So let's bestow this honor on a pitcher who raked in the biggest free-agent pitcher contract of the winter ($48 million for four years), who hasn't beaten an American League team since April 17 (0-10 in 13 starts), who is supposed to be a ground-ball specialist, but has still allowed his opponents to slug .491 against him in a pitchers' park, who helped get his manager and GM fired, who even directed a thinly veiled public rip at Ichiro Suzuki. True, there are still 3½ long years left on Carlos Silva's contract. But he has sure positioned himself to rank as one of the massive free-agent busts of all time.

Sighs of relief for: Hernandez, Joe Blanton, Boof Bonser, Miguel Batista and that Phil Hughes/Ian Kennedy tag team.

I guess Silva is making that Hernandez signing look pretty good.

I will revive this thread, originally posted by Andersklasen because ESPN just ran a segment by BBTN analyst Chris Singelton stating that Adrian Beltre would be the perfect fit for the Minnesota Twins. A 3rd baseman who hits right for power.

Here are his numbers this year in a pitching friendly Safeco Field:

.259 .331 .422 with 16 HR, 46RBI, 38BB and 58SO.

Could he improve on those numbers sandwiched between Mauer and Morneau?

Then again, here is his salary for 2008: $13,400,000. That is a lot of dough for those numbers.

to the source of beer! As speculated CC Sabathia was traded to the Milwuakee Brewers.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8318218?MSNHPHMA

A free agent after this season who is expected to command a 6 year deal for around $20-25 mil/year. Cleveland gets two "premium" draft picks (according to Ken Rosenthal).

Interesting that Sabathia will sign a deal not a lot unlike Johan's, and that the trade value might be comparable. Hmmmm...

Last night was only the second game that I had the luxury of watching so far this year, although to be honest, even if I were able to watch all of the games I still wouldn't know what I was talking about or be able to provide much of a baseball analysis.

Nonetheless, I am concerned about Delmon Young and would like to offer a few thoughts and open it  up for discussion if anyone else wants.

Offense: I have never been bothered by his offense so far this year. Yes, it is true that he hasn't lived up to the post-trade hype, but most of that was unfair expectations for a 22 year old. So far, I think people have been a little unfair and impatient with the youngster as far as offense goes. He has had a slow start, and the power has been quite a bit lower than we expected (never mind the three doubles last night) but almost all batters have periods of inactivity/unluckiness. Cuddyer, Kubel, and Morneau all have had extended periods of poor offensive output - and if memory serves me correctly, all three of them seem to have extended periods of offensive ineptitude each season.

So its really on defense where I am worried. Delmon has made a lot of shaky plays out there in left field. Most of the time I just hear about them through the charitable play calling of Gordon and Gladden. Even they have questioned Delmon's decision making process out there. It is impossible for me to question his fielding judgement from the radio broadcasts but last night I was able to see his ugly defense for myself.

The bottom line for me is that Delmon Young is a right fielder who was put in left field. He is slow and clunky out there and either doesn't have the speed (or the determination/energy to use his speed) that a left fielder needs to track balls down. He looks slow. Now I know he is not supposed to be slow, and just because he looked slow last night on two fly balls that he should have caught had he been a step faster, doesn't necessarily mean he is slow. He could have speed that is deceptively hidden by that large frame. Sidney Crosby is a fine example of that. Anyone watching the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs should recognize just how slow Sydney Crosby appears to be because he is so big and moves his legs so slowly, but he has so much power in those legs that he really can move.

The difference is that Delmon is not gliding on ice. No matter how much strength he has down there (and he does appear to have some powerful legs) he cannot generate speed on solid ground without moving his legs fast and without expending energy/effort. I just don't see that ability/desire in him. Look at his third double where the Espn announcers lamented the fact that he didn't use his speed to get to third. It takes a lot of effort to get that big frame moving and he already had a head of steam going. Instead he stopped at 2nd then tried to steal. The replay of that steal clearly showed a slow first few steps and a relatively tentative head-first slide (instead of sticking his left arm straight out in front of him, he held it out at a 70 degree angle from his head subtracting two or three inches from his length). The whole steal seemed like a half-hearted effort, much like his failure to track down those two fly balls in the 6th (?).

I'd be interested in seeing some defensive stats and some commentary on what they mean, but what my eyes are telling me is that Delmon Young should be in right field.

Jaque Jones batting .173;

C.C Sabathia with an era of 7.5;

Gwen Stefanni has finally decided that she CAN quit me;

Justin Verlander has only one win;

Jim Hager of 'Hee Haw' fame died at the fairly tender age of 66;

Nick Punto has been used very appropriately as a utility infielder and late game substitute;

Brittany Spears hasn't had a single scandalous headline on my home page or internet browser;

Livan Hernandez has looked both steady and strong while posting a 4-1 record;

Not a single rumor of any major league baseball team courting the steroid twins, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens;

None of Leo Sayer, Gary Wright, or Al Stewart has made a comeback tour yet;

Madonna looks and sounds better now than she did back when she was like a virgin;

Tom Glavine (42)  finally found his way onto the disabled list;

Just a few things I never expected to see after the first month of baseball in 2008.