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May 10, 2005

Prospectus Today

Around the NL

by Joe Sheehan

Fourteen percent more teams, at least 14 percent more fun…it's the National League!

• I blasted the signing from here to kingdom come based on my doubts that he would play third base, but so far, the Diamondbacks' deal with Troy Glaus looks like a good one. He's been healthy enough to play the hot corner and he's picked up at the plate where he left off last spring, when he hit .296/.387/.694 before undergoing surgery on his right shoulder. His .271/.374/.610 is a continuation of that performance.

  A year ago, suggesting that Glaus would be a better free-agent signing than Adrian Beltre would have been silly. Even though they got the older player and the bigger health risk, I'm not sure that the D'backs didn't make a better deal than the Mariners did.

• Brandon Lyon is once again the closer of the month, just as he was in 2003 with the Red Sox. This won't last, either. He has eight strikeouts, three walks and 18 hits allowed in 15 innings pitched. Short him and go get Brian Bruney and Jose Valverde.

• One last D'backs note: Javier Vazquez has 44 strikeouts and eight walks allowed in 44 innings. His ERA is still high thanks to his Opening Day disaster, but he's looking more and more like the pitcher the Yankees signed to a four-year extension last year.

• Brian Jordan: .255/.308/.336; Raul Mondesi: .202/.236/.356. Braves: 20-12. It's not like the rest of the hitters are raking, either. Johnny Estrada and Rafael Furcal also have sub-.300 OBPs. A very good defense has the Braves second only to the Marlins in runs allowed, and they've ridden the middle of the lineup, largely around Chipper Jones (.348/.640/.477), to 20 wins.

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