Top News:
Gordon Edes / ESPN:
Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers appear to be losing interest in Boston Red Sox's Mike Lowell. — ANAHEIM — Mike Lowell is doing his part in trying to prove he could be a useful piece to another club, collecting four hits in a game Saturday night and batting .357 (5 for 14) …
RELATED:
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.
Gordon Edes / ESPN:
Delcarmen, Ramirez on move? — ANAHEIM, Calif. — While the Red Sox are on the hunt for relievers, one major league source said Monday that the Sox have indicated some willingness to move either Manny Delcarmen or Ramon Ramirez in the right deal. — Delcarmen
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
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, Bronx Baseball Daily, The Goessling Game, MetsBlog.com, The Nats Blog and Sliding Into Home
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Tim Dierkes / MLB Rumors:
Edwin Jackson-Adam Dunn Three-Team Rumor — 1:27pm: The Diamondbacks have not yet held three-way talks with the Nationals and White Sox, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Still, they will “not hesitate to deal Edwin Jackson if they get what they want.” ESPN's Buster Olney adds via Twitter …
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
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Sports Illustrated:
Angels' trade coup for Haren leaves D-backs with little assets in return
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports, Fox Sports, Halos Heaven, FanGraphs Baseball, baseballmusings.com and The Big Lead
Dan Woike / Orange County Register:
Angels send Saunders to Arizona for Haren
Discussion:
Touching Base, Yahoo! Sports, SBNation.com, MLB Daily Dish, The Crawfish Boxes, AZ Snakepit, Lone Star Ball and Halos Heaven
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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NY Daily News:
Joba Chamberlain tests Joe Girardi's patience in tense eighth inning, Phil Hughes' home woes persist — After Joe Girardi said last week that Joba Chamberlain needed to earn the role of eighth-inning man, the reliever tested his manager's patience Sunday. Chamberlain began the inning …
Discussion:
NESN.com
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ESPN:
Carlos Zambrano apologizes for tirade … Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano apologized on Monday for his dugout tirade last month, professed his love for Chicago and thanked the team for helping him receive therapy for anger management issues. — The former Cubs ace has been on the restricted …
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
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 …
