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IN THIS ISSUE

American League

National League

TEXAS RANGERS
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Texas Rangers
Acquired C-R Matt Treanor from Royals for cash considerations. [8/31]
Acquired LHP Michael Gonzalez from Orioles for a player to be named later. [8/31]
Designated RHP Tim Wood for assignment. [8/31]
Transferred RHP Wilmer Font to the 60-day disabled list. [8/31]

Jon Daniels acquired a late-inning reliever from the Orioles for the second-straight month. It was Koji Uehara in July, and now Gonzalez will give the Rangers perhaps the most bullpen depth of any American League playoff team. Is there any question that Daniels has his eyes on a playoff series against Boston or New York, wherein the combination of Darren Oliver and Gonzalez could wreak havoc in the middle innings by countering the seemingly endless supply of good left-handed batters between those lineups? Gonzalez has bounced back after a down year versus lefties in 2010 and has a 575 OPS against them this season, within earshot of his career 618 figure. He will qualify for free agency after the season.

Although the Rangers could have used Taylor Teagarden as their third catcher, they instead chose to reacquire Treanor, who finished last season with the team. Snubbing Teagarden isn’t too much of a surprise given how little he played during his recent stint with the big league club. Treanor’s familiarity with the staff will be touted, and it’s probably not a bad idea to have another catcher on the roster given the Texas heat and Mike Napoli’s ability to easily pass as a designated hitter.

ATLANTA BRAVES
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Atlanta Braves
Acquired OF-R Matt Diaz from the Pirates for a player to be named later or cash considerations. [8/31]
Placed LHP George Sherrill on the 15-day disabled list. [8/31]

If nothing else, Diaz provides a nice right-handed pinch-hitting option who is familiar with the Braves way of doing business. From 2006-to-2010 you could find Diaz in Atlanta, hitting .305/.353/.461 as a platoon outfielder. He took his talents to Pittsburgh this offseason and his numbers disappointed, even against lefties, whom he tends to hit. The Braves start two left-handed outfielders most days, so having a righty alternative available can’t hurt. Besides, Atlanta’s best right-handed pinch-hitting option entering the day was David Ross, and everyone knows how hesitant managers are to burn their backup catchers. As an added bonus, perhaps, Diaz is under contract for the 2012 season.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
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Philadelphia Phillies
Acquired OF-L John Bowker from the Pirates for a player to be named later or cash considerations. [8/31]
Transferred RHP Jose Contreras to the 60-day disabled list. [8/31]

A former sabermetrics cause célèbre, Bowker has hit .237/.289/.390 over 609 major league plate appearances. His numbers against right-handed pitching (.248/.303/.415) represent the good over the sample size, and it appears the Phillies just want to upgrade over Ross Gload. With Jim Thome in Cleveland and the other intriguing left-handed bat options costing more than Bowker, this is a value deal, and really, the winner of this Bowker-Gload death match just secures the right to carry Ryan Howard’s equipment during the postseason.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
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San Francisco Giants
Designated SS-R Miguel Tejada and OF-R Aaron Rowand for assignment. [8/31]
Recalled OF-R Pat Burrell. [8/31]
Purchased UTL -R Brett Pill’s contract from Triple-A Fresno. [8/31]

Nothing warms the soul like veteran bloodletting on the day before rosters expand.

Rowand is the bigger sunk coast to swallow as he still has another full reason remaining on his five-year $60 million dollar deal. The best of Rowand’s slash line offerings during his four seasons in San Francisco produce an aggregate line of .271/.339/.419. Not exactly the .309/.374/.515 performance Rowand gave the Phillies in 2007, but then again, the Giants should not have expected him to continue hitting like that anyways. With a .231/.277/.363 slash line and 132 more strikeouts than walks since the start of the 2010 season, the Giants can bid Rowand adieu without regret.  

There is some thought that the Rangers or another playoff-seeking team will look to acquire Rowand because of his right-handed bat and ability to play center field. Still, Rowand’s numbers versus left-handed pitchers have declined in recent years, and he shouldn’t be considered a starter anymore on any team with contention hopes. It’s possible the Giants chose to designate Rowand (and Tejada, to a lesser extent) for assignment today in order to perhaps ship him to a playoff team and give him playoff eligibility.

As for Tejada, his exit seemed like a foregone conclusion after a recent public spat over receiving the bunt sign. The incident would be patched up in a hurry if this were Tejada in his prime, but it’s not, it’s Tejada in his dusk. An offering of .239/.270/.326 gave Tejada little margin for attitude. Factor in the Giants alternatives (they platooned Orlando Cabrera and Mike Fontenot at shortstop during Tejada’s recent disabled list stint) employing Tejada for another month was no longer a necessity. If this is the end for Tejada, and it could be, he put together a great career over his 15 seasons in the majors.

As for the arrival of Pill, he is a soon-to-be 27-year-old who entered the season with no prospect adulation but has put together a solid season in Triple-A. Strong numbers accumulated from non-prospects in the Pacific Coast League have to be taken with a bucket full of salt and Pill is no different. With career-highs in home runs (24) and ISO (.216) Pill has had a nice season. He still isn’t walking much (4.4 percent); however his strikeout rate also decreased this season (9.5 percent) so who knows, maybe there is some genuine improvement here during his second full season in Triple-A. More likely, though, is that he took advantage of the environment and will be lucky to carve out a career as a utility player should his recent efforts to learn second base prove playable in the majors.

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Richie
8/31
"little margin for attitude". I like that one. Alot. Thank you!
ofMontreal
9/01
Thanks RJ. Who's team shall be cursed with Rowand? It's like a WWI mine floating free in the Atlantic.
Sacramento
9/01
"It’s possible the Giants chose to designate Rowand (and Tejada, to a lesser extent) for assignment today in order to perhaps ship him to a playoff team and give him playoff eligibility."

You know I think I read a Giants press release saying just that.
rweiler
9/02
It's hard to imagine that any playoff contenders will be looking to add a right handed 'bat' that produces the 235/280/350 numbers that Rowand and Tejada have managed. At least Rowand can still play a little defense. I still think Rowand could be a replacement level player if you would just stand in the batters box in position to hit the ball instead of making a last second position change. He should sue the batting coach that taught him that for destroying his career prematurely.
PaddyE
9/01
It's very sad to see Tejada's career end this way (and god forbid he should manage to extend it further). I always wanted him to be a Giant, but by the time he got to them it was clearly much too late by years, to anyone but Brian Sabean and Tejada.

Tejada was an amazing player in his prime, and a lot of fun to watch because he was so animated, but the 2011 Tejada was like running into an old flame three decades too late who's put on 70 pounds and become bitter and mean. Over the lunch you tried to beg off from, you catch glimpses of what so charmed you when you knew her before, but overall you squirm and suffer, waiting for the meal to end. The collapse of the Giants this August has been hard to watch, but the daily besmirching of the Tejada of my memory will possibly be the more lasting pain for me from this season.

rweiler
9/02
One more thought; the thing that gives me some hope that Pill might be a more effective right handed bat than either Rowand or Tejada is that he has a pretty decent season at Connecticut 2 years ago in a pitcher's park in a pitcher's league. Given that, you would have expected him to perform a little better at Fresno than he did. It's hard to believe that he could hit much worse than Huff against left handers, but oddly enough, Huff has hit lefties slightly better than righties this year.
RossBlums
9/03
Why bother DFA'ing tejada and rowand when rosters expand a day later? Are there not enough spots to carry additional youngsters and let these guys continue to ride the pine? I understand there is little point to holding them but I see no point to releasing them. They are free options. Any help here?