Top News:
Jayson Stark / ESPN:
Daily Rumble: Welcome to the Roy Oswalt Show — Cliff Lee is gone. Dan Haren is off the board. So strike up the band, because this is now The Roy Oswalt Show. — There's only one “premium” arm left on the starting-pitching market, and it's attached to the right shoulder of the 32-year-old Astros ace.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors, The Goessling Game, The Nats Blog, MetsBlog.com, DC Pro Sports Report, The Zo Zone and Sliding Into Home
RELATED:
Sports Illustrated:
Yanks, Dodgers, Giants among buyers … The Texas Rangers made the big score already by acquiring star left-hander Cliff Lee, and the Braves enhanced their chances, as well, with their addition of steady shortstop Alex Gonzalez but plenty of buyers remain with only five full days to go before the trade deadline.
Discussion:
NESN.com, Pinstripe Alley, The LoHud Yankees Blog, Bronx Baseball Daily, Sliding Into Home and River Avenue Blues
Joe Strauss / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Cards look unlikely to get Oswalt — • It became official Sunday that Dan Haren will not be joining the Cardinals. — Unofficially, the same may be true regarding Roy Oswalt. — Shortly after the Los Angeles Angels announced their acquisition of Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks …
Zach Links / MLB Rumors:
Angels Acquire Dan Haren — It took some time, but the Angels got even. Two weeks after the Rangers acquired Cliff Lee, the Angels traded for a highly-coveted pitcher of their own, obtaining Dan Haren from the Diamondbacks, according to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News.
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Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:
Haren trade shifts focus to Cubs' Lilly — The market for Cubs left-hander Ted Lilly just got a lot hotter with the trade Sunday of Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Dan Haren to the Los Angeles Angels. — Cubs officials downplayed the idea of any deals being close, but Lilly is scheduled …
Discussion:
MetsBlog.com
Dan Woike / Orange County Register:
Angels send Saunders to Arizona for Haren
Discussion:
Touching Base, Yahoo! Sports, MLB Daily Dish, The Crawfish Boxes, AZ Snakepit, SBNation.com, Lone Star Ball and Halos Heaven
John Ourand / SportsBusiness Journal:
Red Sox lose RSN ratings lead — Local numbers show Cardinals, Twins, Phillies, Reds in front — The Boston Red Sox's six-year reign atop MLB's local television ratings is about to end, as the team's local numbers have plummeted from first to fifth this season.
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Peter Abraham / Boston Globe:
TV and radio ratings fall for Red Sox — Interesting story in the Sports Business Journal today about the decline in local television ratings for the Red Sox. — After six years atop baseball's local TV ratings list, the Sox are fifth this year as ratings have dropped 36 percent.
Discussion:
Cursed To First
Craig Calcaterra / HardballTalk:
Red Sox ratings are way down this year — The Red Sox bandwagon has a few empty seats in it this year according to Sports Business Journal: … Obviously they still reach a ton more households than just about any team, and some of this drop also probably reflects the Celtics …
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
Sam Page / Amazin' Avenue:
The Greatest Trade Rumor In Baseball History — A rundown of the relevant parties: — Oliver Perez, owed $24/2: Arguably the worst pitcher in baseball, Perez has Steve Blass Disease, minus the connotation of once having good control. Perez allows more homeruns and walks at a per-nine-inning pace …
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Adam McCalvy / MLB.com:
Fielder's future to be decided by Saturday — Brewers have three options regarding slugging first baseman — MILWAUKEE — By the end of the week, the Brewers will have declared themselves on first baseman Prince Fielder, the biggest bat available on this summer's trade market …
Discussion:
Al's Ramblings
Joe Smith / St. Petersburg Times:
Tampa Bay Rays may use top pitching prospect Jeremy Hellickson as a reliever down the stretch — Top prospect Jeremy Hellickson has dominated as a starter at Durham but may help the Rays down the stretch as a reliever. — Times] — CLEVELAND — RHP prospect Jeremy Hellickson's future is as a starter …
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Jeremy Greenhouse / Baseball Analysts:
Working Hard or Working Fast? — “The wrong way, but faster.” Max Power — I could point to a dozen articles discussing the varying shapes and sizes of the strike zone, but when my friend Don asked whether umpires really change their zone depending on the score, I drew a blank.
Cyril Morong / Cybermetrics:
Was It Easier To Be A Good Clutch Hitter In The “Old” Days? — I first reported on this issue in a post last year Did The Increased Use Of Relief Pitching Cause A Decline In Clutch Hitting? Back in the 1950s and 1960s, as I show at this earlier post, hitting in non-close and late situations …
Paul Hagen / Philly.com:
How much of a mind game is playing for next contract? — Charlie Manuel, when asked on June 8 whether Jayson Werth's impending free agency could be contributing to his slump: — “In some ways, it has to. I definitely think that. In know in his mind he thinks about it.” Werth, responding to the Phillies manager's comments:
