FLB: Spring Training Notebook 2/19
By now you've heard that Keith Foulke decided to leave between five and seven million bucks on the table, retiring because of elbow pain he felt toward the end of 2006. He was expected to fight for saves in Cleveland's crowded bullpen, but now the closer's job falls entirely on the shoulder of Joe Borowski, who certainly sees his fantasy value take an uptick. I'd still keep an eye on Fernando Cabrera, though. He was awful in the first half of '06, but he's got a huge arm and a vicious slider, and he's out of minor-league options. As for Foulke, many will remember him as the iron man most responsible for getting the Boston Red Sox their World Series in 2004, and some will remember him as one of the surliest interviews ever, a guy who laughed at his fans for being Burger King refugees. As for me, I'll remember him as having the perfect name to fit into this song from The Simpsons:
"Some Foulke'll never lose a toe, but then again some Foulke'll. It's Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel!"
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Hey, Barry Zito, you just signed a seven-year, $126-million contract with San Francisco. What are you going to do now?
"I'm messing with my mechanics!"
Zito pleased no one by unveiling a new delivery during his first spring training pitching session, one that emphasized a longer, more violent striding motion. Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti was none too pleased, and by Saturday, Zito was back to his old motion. He told the San Jose Mercury News, "It's all a work in progress. The plan is to do things a certain way and reincorporate it into an original look or feel. I think what happened is there was a cross section that got blown out of proportion without seeing the entire project as one."
Yeah, that. Or else the Giants told him to cut it out.
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Nick Johnson's grisly broken leg, which he suffered in September chasing a fly ball and crashing into teammate Austin Kearns, will probably cause him to miss at least the season's first two months. He told reporters on Friday that his leg is still "very weak." For now, Larry Broadway is set to open the year at first base for the Nationals, and, ironically, Kearns's fantasy owners will be beneficiaries, too, as Kearns will almost certainly spend at least the season's first half hitting cleanup.
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Mark Prior threw his first bullpen session last Thursday, which shouldn't be huge news, since Prior's been tossing off a mound since January. But Prior didn't suffer a hangnail, turf toe or jaundice during his session in front of Lou Piniella, which should earn him some kind of medal or something. Not quite as much can be said for fellow bonus baby Kerry Wood, who suffered bruised ribs getting out of a hot tub last week. Really. The good news for Wood owners is that Wood was able to come back and throw this weekend. The bad news is it was 10 pitches.
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According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mark Mulder, who's coming off of major shoulder surgery, reportedly began a flat-ground throwing program. The Cardinals appear to have dramatically overpaid (two years, $13 million) for a guy who won't be on the mound before July. Then again, half-a-season of Mulder not pitching may be more valuable, fantasy-wise, than half-a-season of Gil Meche pitching.
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Daniel Cabrera is a sleeper for the second consecutive year. Last season, he was coveted in fantasy drafts because Leo Mazzone was instantly going to straighten him out. This year, it's because he had laser eye surgery, so he can ditch those funky goggles he wore in 2006. Color me skeptical. I find it difficult to believe 104 walks in 148 innings were due to a case of the squints.
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Those of us who were in Bristol during ESPN's player-ranking summit a couple weeks back were privy to something the rest of the world learned this weekend. An expert (whom I'm not going to "out" here) told us that Randy Johnson wouldn't be ready to pitch when the season starts. Our expert said that a primary reason Brian Cashman let the Unit go was the suspicion that Johnson's back surgery was going to sideline him, and now word comes from Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin (via the Arizona Republic) that he thinks Johnson won't be ready to go before late April at the earliest. Bad ballpark, five-month season...time to send the Unit down your cheat sheet a bit.
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Last year's 11-2 wunderkind Jered Weaver reported tightness in his throwing shoulder this weekend, and according to the Los Angeles Times, won't be throwing off a mound for "a couple of weeks." Oh boy. Supposedly an MRI indicates Weaver only has some tendonitis, but if you're drafting in late-February, you have to be concerned about the kid with the weird arm angle. There's little reason to believe Weaver will post a 2.56 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP on his second tour of duty around the American League.
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Finally, thanks for playing, Nate Robertson. The Detroit Free Press reported this weekend that Robertson couldn't participate in Friday's fielding practice because of a "foot fungus" problem. No, it's not quite up there with going on the DL because the pillows were too high in a hotel room (Juan Castro), and it's not quite having to go on the disabled list because of athlete's foot (Mickey Tettleton). Still, Robertson makes $3.26 million per year. How about paying for a "foot butler," whose sole purpose (pun intended) is twice-daily application of Absorbine Jr.?
Chris Harris covers fantasy baseball, football and NASCAR for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him here
