Category: MLB

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and Dodgers manager Joe Torre called a truce in their cold war Sunday night.

The two had what Rodriguez called a "nice exchange" behind the batting cage prior to the new York-L.A. series finale at Dodger Stadium. They spoke briefly as cameras rolled and reporters watched intently.

"You don’t want to let things linger," Rodriguez told the media afterward. "You don’t know when’s the next time Joe and I are going to see each other. And at the end of the day, I just wanted to be a gentleman and do the right thing."

Rodriguez seemed to shun Torre the first two days of the weekend series, apparently still upset over Torre’s portrayal of him in the former Bombers skipper’s book "The Yankee Years."

As for why he waited until Sunday, A-Rod replied: "It was a big zoo on Friday," referring to the parade of other Yankees who greeted Torre prior to the series opener. "I didn’t want to be caught up in that. It took me a couple of days to get my thoughts and I did that today."

So, what did the two talk about? "I won’t share what we said," Rodriguez answered.

Carlos Zambrano was trying to encourage his Cubs teammates, not berate them, during the dugout tirade that led to his indefinite suspension, a source close to Zambrano tells the Chicago Sun-Times’ Gordon Wittenmeyer.

Zambrano’s teammates, in particular left fielder Alfonso Soriano, aren’t buying that explanation. "That’s not the way we see it." Soriano tells Wittenmeyer.

Adds another, unnamed Cub, "Anybody who believes [Zambrano’s version] must be smoking something."

The source close to Zambrano tells Wittenmeyer that all the pitcher wanted to do "was pump the team up. It was completely misunderstood," According to the source, Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee made the situation worse by taking things personally and telling Zambrano to "shut the (expletive) up."

Soriano planned to call Zambrano on Saturday to discuss the matter. "If he explains, maybe we can see it the way his friend sees it. But what he said wasn’t right," Soriano tells Wittenmeyer.

Lee appeared to be a target of Zambrano’s ire after Lee failed to stop a leadoff double by the White Sox’s Juan Pierre in the first inning Friday. Zambrano eventually allowed four runs in the inning.

Cubs sources tell Wittenmeyer that Zambrano yelled, among other things, "This team is horse(expletive)" during the bilingual (Spanish and English) outburst. That’s when Lee intervened.

Buck Showalter grudgingly confirmed Sunday he is interested in becoming the Orioles’ full-time manager.

He told ESPN’s Karl Ravech during "Baseball Tonight" that he has spoken with the club about the job, twice answering "Yes" to specific questions about having contact with the O’s his interest in the position. Showalter is an analyst for the show.

Asked by Ravech whether he wanted to get back into managing, Showalter replied: 

"Karl, you know, from that standpoint, right situation’s presented … Out of respect for the people that currently have a job, (interim manager) Juan Samuel has worked very hard to get an opportunity, and I don’t it’s ethical to be talking about this and that. … It’s an honor to have your name in that mix. Where life takes you, we’ll see."

Showalter, who managed the Yankees in the early 1990s, later was asked if he thought the O’s could compete in the AL East. "Sure they can," he replied. "They may have to do it a little differently than somebody else, but sooner or later you’re going to have to figure out a way to be better than the Yankees and Red Sox anyway, so a lot of people that maybe in the running for that job would say, ‘Bring it on.’"

The Orioles are seeking a permanent replacement for Dave Trembley, who was fired June 4. Samuel has guided the O’s to an 8-13 record, including a three-game weekend sweep of the Nationals.

SI.com’s Jon Heyman and FoxSports’ Ken Rosenthal report that Bobby Valentine is no longer in the running for the Marlins’ vacant managerial position.

Rosenthal reports talks broke down because of philosophical differences between Valentine and the Marlins. Valentine and Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria are longtime friends, so Rosenthal speculates that the two could still get together and hammer out an agreement.

Earlier Sunday, Valentine told ESPN’s Karl Ravech on "Baseball Tonight" (where Valentine is a studio analyst) that he was still in the mix. "This managerial hiring is a process," he said. "People need to be interviewed, decisions need to be made. I think they’re right in the middle of this process.

"It’s a terrific situation where they have a new stadium coming up in a couple of years and an owner (Loria) who really wants to win and a front office who never makes mistakes."

Valentine demurred when asked by Ravech to put a percentage on his chances of managing the Marlins sometime this season. "I can’t even mention that chance, that percentage … because I’m in the middle of the process," he said. 

Valentine was thought to be the prohibitive favorite to succeed the fired Fredi Gonzalez, and there were reports several days ago the sides had reached a tentative agreement. But a Friday meeting with Loria was later postponed, with Valentine telling the Miami Herald that the "process needs a little more time."

Edwin Rodriguez is the Marlins’ interim manager. He interviewed with team executives on Saturday. Loria told MLB.com Rodriguez will be the manager for the club’s series with the Mets this week in Rodriguez’s native Puerto Rico.

Teammates Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton engaged in a heated exchange in the Tampa Bay dugout on Sunday, after Upton appeared to give a less-than-best effort to field a Rusty Ryal hit to centerfield in the fifth inning of the Diamondbacks-Rays game.

Ryal recorded a triple on the play and scored when Gerard Parra homered during the next at-bat.

H/T The Big Lead

Russell Branyan is returning to Seattle.

The Mariners acquired the slugging first baseman from the Cleveland Indians on Saturday for minor leaguers Ezequiel Carrera and Juan Diaz.

MLB.com reports Cleveland will also pick up the remainder of Branyan’s $2 million salary or send Seattle a player to be named.

Branyan, 34, hit 31 home runs for Seattle last season but was not re-signed in the offseason. He hooked on with Cleveland during spring training but missed the start of the season with a back injury. He batted .263 with 10 home runs and 24 RBIs for the Indians this season.

MLB.com reports the trade allows the Indians to recall Matt LaPorta from the minors and make him the club’s everyday first baseman. LaPorta was playing the outfield prior to his demotion.

Stan McNeal analyzes three hot topics in Major League Baseball:

STRIKE 1: Pushing all the right buttons
It was the kind of move that leads to manager of the year awards.

All season, the backbone of the Padres’ surprising rise to first place has been the back of their bullpen: Luke Gregerson in the seventh, Mike Adams in the eighth and Heath Bell in the ninth. "If we get through six with the lead, we feel like the game is over," starter Kevin Correia says.

The Padres’ relievers all give much of the credit for their success to manager Bud Black.

The three key members of the Padres’ "PENitentiary" (well, their pitching is better than their nicknaming) all are quick to credit manager Bud Black for the bullpen’s success, in part because he so clearly has defined their roles — and stuck to them. "We all feel like we’re closers but we’re not competing against each other. We’re happy in our roles," Bell says.

After Mat Latos shut out the Rays for seven innings Tuesday night, Black resisted the temptation to turn to Gregerson even though he has been the bullpen’s most consistent performer. Black stuck with routine and turned over a 2-0 eighth-inning lead to Adams.

Adams allowed a run but seemed in control after getting two outs and having just a runner on first. Because Bell had not been called on for more than a three-out save all season, it figured Adams would stay in the game. Not on this night.

Black went with a feeling this time and called on Bell to face the Rays’ best hitter, Evan Longoria. Bell made his manager look smart when he used an 82-mph changeup — a nice weapon when you have an upper-90-mph fastball — to strike out Longoria. An inning later, the 2-1 victory was secured.

Black later said he pulled Adams because he was "a little off, especially with his slider."

"Some of the swings they were taking led me to think that it wasn’t going to turn around," Black said. "I’m a big Mike Adams fan, but I felt for the Padres on this night, we had to do that."

"I didn’t see what Bud saw," Bell said later, "But he saw something and he acted upon it. For the most part all season, he’s been right on."

Indeed. The Padres, widely picked to finish last in the NL West because of their weak offense, own the NL’s best record and a 2 1/2-game lead in the N.L. West. That, of course, also might have something to do with Black emerging as a leading candidate for manager of the year.

STRIKE 2: Thinking All-Star starters
Unlike in the National League, where Ubaldo Jimenez is the obvious candidate to start the July 13 All-Star Game in Anaheim, no clear choice has emerged in the A.L.

Cliff Lee leads the league in ERA but spent time on the disabled list and pitches for a last-place team. Up-and-comers David Price, Clay Buchholz and Phil Hughes all have 10 wins and rank among the ERA leaders. Then there is Andy Pettitte, who certainly is deserving (9-2, 2.48 ERA) and has the advantage of playing for the manager (Joe Girardi) who will make the call.

Pettitte has 238 career wins and an impressive postseason resume but has only made two All-Star teams, the last one in 2001. An All-Star start would be a fitting tribute to a potential Hall of Famer who could be in his final season.

Last season, the Rays’ Joe Maddon chose Roy Halladay over Zack Greinke in large part as a lifetime achievement recognition. This season, Price could be passed over for the same reason. If so, Maddon would have no objections.

"David is worthy and deserving but however it shakes out, we’ll deal with it at that moment," Maddon says. "Whatever happens is fine."

STRIKE 3: Scorching in Texas and Chicago’s South Side What do the Rangers’ 11-game winning streak and the White Sox’s nine-gamer have in common?

First, they demonstrate just how little off-the-field turmoil can impact what happens on the field. The fact the Rangers’ sale hit another roadblock probably isn’t foremost on Vladimir Guerrero’s mind or, really, any of the players’. In Chicago, guys will continue going about their routines no matter what happened or happens in the Kenny Williams-Ozzie Guillen soap opera. The White Sox, in fact, have lost only once since the Williams and Guillen blowup.

A more likely explanation for the winning ways of both clubs: schedules. Both have feasted on some of the NL’s weakest: The Rangers have smacked around the Brewers, Marlins, Astros and Pirates while the White Sox have swept the Pirates, Nationals and Braves. Of those seven clubs, only the Braves have a winning record.

Stan McNeal is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at smcneal@sportingnews.com.

The Marlins are expected to offer Bobby Valentine a four-year contract to be their new manager, ESPN reports.

Valentine, an ESPN analyst who has managed the Rangers and Mets, confirmed to the network he will fly to Florida on Friday night to meet with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and other executives.

"Valentine has known Loria for 20 years, and has had informal discussions with Loria over the last eight months about Valentine’s interest in someday managing the Marlins," the ESPN report says.

The Marlins fired manager Fredi Gonzalez on Wednesday, replacing him with interim manager Edwin Rodriguez. Later that day, Valentine withdrew his name for consideration as manager of the Orioles.

The Texas Rangers are the only current major league franchise that never has won a postseason series. They have won one playoff game — ever.

So consider the task Vladimir Guerrero faced when he took a massive pay cut to sign with the Rangers in January. The organization hoped he could change its dubious history. Thus far, Guerrero has done everything anyone could have expected.

Ron Washington convinced Vladimir Guerrero to join the Rangers.

It started about a week before opening day, when "you could see a change in Vlady’s eyes," says Rangers third baseman Michael Young, a six-time All-Star who never has reached the postseason. "He was ready to roll."

The 35-year-old DH hit well in April, but his May was spectacular: a .330 average, 10 home runs and a major league-leading 31 RBIs. As the Rangers moved into first place in the A.L. West, Guerrero sent a loud message to all of baseball. Despite the injuries that contributed to his career-worst performance in 2009 — he hit below .300 and had a sub-.800 OPS for the first time in 13 full major league seasons — Guerrero is still one of the game’s premier middle-of-the-lineup forces.

That is what Rangers manager Ron Washington believed when he traveled to Guerrero’s Southern California home last winter. "We need you," Washington told the eight-time All-Star and 2004 A.L. MVP. "We need you to come and be the difference-maker when we need that difference made."

Guerrero’s view of the Rangers at that time? "Good players. A lot of injuries," he says through an interpreter. Six months later, Guerrero is convinced Texas is the most talented team in the division. "We’re playing good now," he says, "and we’re going to keep playing the same way."

Washington’s visit meant a lot to Guerrero, as did the presence of several of his high-profile Rangers teammates — Young, second baseman Ian Kinsler and left fielder Josh Hamilton — at his introductory press conference. They all have hitched their wagons to the man Eleno Ornelas, the Rangers’ Spanish-language radio play-by-play man, calls El Verdugo ("The Killer").

The Angels, whom Guerrero helped lead to five A.L. West titles from 2004-09, aren’t out of the race without Guerrero, but, with him, the Rangers have more hope than they have had in many years.

Steve Greenberg is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sgreenberg@sportingnews.com.

At least one of Fredi Gonzalez’s former employers stood behind him Wednesday.

Braves manager Bobby Cox used his pregame media session in Chicago to rip Florida owner Jeffrey Loria for firing Gonzalez, who was a coach for four years under Cox before taking the Marlins’ job.

"They’ve gone down to the end [contending for the playoffs] every year, playing their [butts] off," Cox told reporters, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "[Loria] doesn’t appreciate anything. He’s one of those guys that thinks you change [just for the sake of change]. He’s always wanting to fire the coaches. Always. That’s his history. He lost a good one there."

Gonzalez, 46, has long been considered a possible successor to Cox, who is retiring after this season. The speculation is only expected to increase now that Gonzalez is available, though Gonzalez still has a year remaining on his Florida contract, the AJC reported. Gonzalez still has a home in the Atlanta area.

"As I have said from the beginning of the season, we won’t comment on the manager situation till after Bobby has managed his last game with us," Braves general manager Frank Wren told the AJC in an e-mail Wednesday. "As it pertains to Fredi Gonzalez, in light of what happened this morning, we all have high regard for Fredi but we won’t have any further comment."

Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, who might follow Cox into retirement this year, is a Gonzalez booster.

"I think everybody in here would love to have Fredi back," Jones said. "He coached third base here for a few years, learned a lot from Bobby. He knows how things work around here. All the guys love him. I think he’d be a great fit. In what capacity, that remains to be seen. But some puzzle pieces would certainly fit [if Gonzalez was hired]."