Transactions
The Phillies stuck to their tried and true formula Tuesday, adding the 31-year-old Grady Sizemore. He will report initially to their AAA ballclub and has an opt-out in July.
So as I not be accused of refusing to discuss him, Sir Peter Kozma was recalled by the Cardinals earlier this week. He will soon look to improve on the 53 OPS+ that he posted in 2013.
Indians-Related Things
"Who has the lowest BA when they hit the ball hard?" Click here to find out. Plenty of Indians on the list. "Factors could include... lack of strength."
Corey Kluber developing into legitimate ace of Indians staff, by August Fagerstrom (also a tremendous comparison of Kluber and David Price)
Having Some Fun With Depressing Things
Entering Tuesday's game, John Axford had walked 23 batters this season. Here is a list of starting pitchers who had walked fewer batters entering Tuesday:
Phil Hughes (with 9!)
David Price
Tim Hudson
Bartolo Colon
Masahiro Tanaka
Felix Hernandez
Nathan Eovaldi
Wei-Yin Chen
Dan Haren
Jordan Zimmermann
Adam Wainwright
Brandon McCarthy
Kyle Lohse
Henderson "Maddux" Alvarez
Stephen Strasburg
John Lackey
Hiroki Kuroda
Scott Kazmir
Jason Hammel
Zack Greinke
Kevin Correia
Mike Leake
Bronson Arroyo
Eric Stults
Hyun-Jin Ryu
Andrew Cashner
...
...
And then there's Ubaldo, who has walked nearly three times as many batters as Axford.
Yesterday's Baseball
Clayton Kershaw made his first start after his no-hitter and defeated the Royals 2-0.
Jake Arrieta lost his perfect game, no-hitter and shutout all in the 7th inning last night. But the Cubs beat the .500 Reds anyway.
Rumors
Evan Grant of the Dallas News mentions Yu Darvish's name as a trade possibility. Not gonna happen. But anyways, I'd happily give the Rangers a package of Lindor, Frazier, Asdrubal, Swisher and $20M that they can use to pay Swisher.