Category: MLB

The White Sox and Diamondbacks are engaged in talks about righthander Edwin Jackson, according to the Chicago Tribune.

If acquired, Jackson could be flipped to the Nationals in a deal for Adam Dunn.

The Nationals and White Sox have been unable to agree on a trade to send Dunn from Washington to Chicago, but the Nationals are said to be interested in Jackson. Jackson is just 6-10 with a 5.16 ERA this season, but he fired a no-hitter against the Rays on June 25.

To acquire Jackson from the Diamondbacks, the White Sox likely would have to part with righthander Daniel Hudson, according to the Chicago Tribune. Hudson is scheduled to start for the White Sox tonight.

In a twist in their efforts to strengthen themselves for a run at the AL Central title, the White Sox are expressing interest in Arizona starting pitcher Edwin Jackson, according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com.

Previously, Jackson and Chicago have only been linked as part of a three-team deal that would ultimately see Jackson headed to Washington. The White Sox have long been rumored to be in the hunt for Washington slugger Adam Dunn, but have balked at the Nationals’ reported asking price of either starting middle infielder Gordon Beckham or both starting pitcher Daniel Hudson and infielder Dayan Viciendo. With those talks stalling, Chicago is turning its interest toward Jackson, a pitcher Washington covets.

But it appears Chicago is now interested in adding Jackson to the rotation. Chicago’s offense has improved after a poor start to the season and the White Sox are in need of a starting pitcher after losing Jake Peavy to a season-ending injury.

Hudson, who is replacing Peavy in the rotation, could be a part of the potential deal for Jackson. Jackson threw a no-hitter on June 25, but has been overall disappointing in his first season with the Diamondbacks, going 6-10 with a 5.15 ERA. The White Sox hope a return to the AL Central would rejuvenate Jackson, who was 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA with division rival Detroit last year.

While the Rangers were in discussions about acquiring third baseman Jorge Cantu, the team attempted a bold move to significantly increase its chances of winning a championship. According to MLB.com, Texas inquired about the availability of Marlins ace Josh Johnson.

The Rangers, who have already acquired catcher Bengie Molina and AL ERA leader Cliff Lee this month, reportedly offered their top three prospects as an entry point to negotiations for Johnson. But they were quickly rebuffed, with the Marlins deeming their ace "unmovable." Johnson, in the first year of a four-year, $39 million contract, is 10-3 with an ERA of that is nearly half a run better than anyone else in the majors.

Johnson had been working on a streak of 13 straight starts of going at least six innings and giving up no more than two runs entering his start Wednesday, when he allowed three runs in seven innings in a no decision.

It is believed that the Marlins want Johnson on their team as they prepare to move into a new stadium in 2012.

Despite their fading place in the NL Central standings, the Milwaukee Brewers will not be trading any of their star players to rebuild for the future. ESPN.com’s Keith Law is reporting that the team is not interested in dealing right fielder Corey Hart or first baseman Prince Fielder.

Rumors have circulated for weeks about the availability of both players, who are under contract for the 2011 season. The Brewers, who are 48-55 and nine games behind first-place Cincinnati in the NL Central, appear content to hold on to both players after talks with the Giants broke down.

Hart is enjoying a career year, but his value was hampered by a July 23 wrist injury. He hasn’t appeared in a game since, though it is believed he could be back in the lineup on Friday.

Seven points about the Roy Oswalt trade to the Phillies:

1. This is bad news for the Cardinals, Reds and any other club thinking wild card. The Phillies already had closed to 3 1/2 games of the division-leading Braves and within 2 1/2 games of the wild-card leading Giants on the strength of a seven-game winning streak that was fueled by an offensive resurgence.

With Oswalt, Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels, the Phillies have the second-best 1-2-3 rotation trio in the league (after the Giants). Count on the wild card coming out of the NL East, which should make the races in the Central and West even more entertaining.

2. This makes the 2010 Phillies better than the ’09 Phillies. When Chase Utley returns, that is. The reason: Halladay, Oswalt and a back-to-form Hamels are better than Cliff Lee, Pedro Martinez and whoever was the Phillies’ third-best starter last October.

3. The Phillies still shouldn’t have traded Cliff Lee. No knock on Oswalt but he’s not pitching like Lee. And the Phillies would have had Lee for the entire season, not two months. And …

4. The Phillies gave up more to get Oswalt than they received from the Mariners for Lee.

Quick review:

For Lee, the Phillies received OF Tyson Gillies, RHP J.C. Ramirez and RHP Phillippe Aumont. At best, Gillies projects as a Brett Gardner-type left fielder, Ramirez as a back-end rotation guy and Aumont, who knows after the way this season has gone. The 6-7 right-hander has been a disappointment, being demoted from Class AA to A where he has been pitching in relief. "He’s been awful this year," a scout says. "His command is off the charts bad. He will flash you plus stuff but he can’t command. I think he’ll end up as a bullpen guy."

To get Oswalt, the Phillies traded LHP J.A. Happ, OF Anthony Gose and SS Jonathan Villar. Even if Gose and Villar don’t pan out, Happ already has shown he can win in the major leagues, going 12-4 with a 2.93 and winning Sporting News’ NL Rookie of the Year in 2009. He will make his first start for the Astros Friday night.

Gose, 19, has plenty of speed and a strong arm but is considered raw. For example, he has 36 stolen bases in Class A but has been caught 27 times. Villar, 19, was considered an up-and-comer by the Phillies. In low Class A this season, he was hitting .272 with 38 stolen bases — but 42 errors at shortstop.

5. Trading for Oswalt doesn’t hurt Philly’s chances of retaining Jayson Werth. Because the Astros have agreed to pay a large chunk of Oswalt’s salary — $11 million of the $23 million-plus he’s guaranteed through 2011, according to reports — the Phillies are in much the same situation with Werth as they already were. Which means …

6. Werth might not return next year but he figures to be with the Phillies as they make a run at history. They are trying to become the first team to win three straight NL pennants since the Cardinals in the early 1940s.

7. Joe Niekro’s record is safe. The late knuckle-baller will remain the Astros’ franchise leader in wins. Oswalt could have tied Niekro’s total of 144 with one more win, and he was scheduled to start for Houston Friday night. Instead, he’ll go for win No. 1 with the Phillies at Washington.

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

BALTIMORE — Buck Showalter was hired to manage the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, his latest rebuilding project in a major league career full of them.

Showalter’s first game will be Tuesday night at Camden Yards against the Los Angeles Angels.

Baltimore had the worst record in the majors at 31-70 going into Thursday night against Kansas City and is headed toward its 13th straight losing season. The Orioles fired manager Dave Trembley on June 4 and replaced him on an interim basis with Juan Samuel.

"Buck Showalter’s proven track record makes him the right choice for manager of the Orioles," president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said in a statement. "We believe Buck’s extensive experience and expertise will be a major benefit to us as we look towards a more successful future."

Samuel will return to his job as the team’s third-base coach. Baltimore went 16-31 with him in charge.

The rest of the Orioles’ coaching staff will stay intact. Gary Allenson, the interim third-base coach, will resume his spot as manager at Triple-A Norfolk.

Showalter’s move was first reported by ESPN, where he worked as an analyst. His last television appearance was on Monday.

"My job with ESPN allowed me to follow this organization closely over the last several years, and although the current record may seem to indicate otherwise, I see enormous potential with this club," Showalter said in a statement released by the team. "I look forward to the challenge of competing in the American League East. Baltimore is a tremendous baseball town with passion and pride in its club, and my family and I look forward to making it our new home."

Showalter is a two-time AL Manager of the Year, winning the award in 1994 with the New York Yankees and 2004 with Texas. Both times, he had taken over teams and guided their turnarounds.

The 54-year-old Showalter also was the first manager in the history of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was hired well in advance and given time to put the Diamondbacks in position to contend once they started playing in 1998. He was fired after the 2000 season, and Arizona won the World Series the next year.

A former minor league player who never made it to the majors, Showalter is known for a strong will and an obsession with fundamentals, details and preparation – he would often sleep in his office when there was a day game following a night game.

Showalter also does not tolerate players acting like stars, even if they are top talents. He feuded with Alex Rodriguez in 2003, when they were together in Texas.

Showalter’s last year as a manager was 2006 with the Rangers. His overall record is 882-833 in 11 years.

In Baltimore, Showalter faces an especially tough task.

The once-proud franchise has fallen on hard times since reaching the playoffs in 1997, usually finishing far behind rich AL powers Boston and the Yankees. No one pitcher currently on the Orioles has more than four victories this year and no hitter is at .300.

The Orioles interviewed former major league managers Bobby Valentine and Eric Wedge, ex-Baltimore catcher Rick Dempsey and Samuel before settling on Showalter.

MacPhail wanted to have a manager in place this season, to give the newcomer a better chance to evaluate the talent in Baltimore. MacPhail joined the franchise in June 2007.

Trembley was one of four managers to be fired this year. Kansas City’s Trey Hillman, Arizona’s A.J. Hinch and Florida’s Fredi Gonzalez also were dismissed.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

We’ve spent so much time trying to determine if 2010 is the Year of the Pitcher or the Year of the Walk-off that we may have missed the real story line of this season in Major League Baseball altogether: It’s the Year of the Prospect.

Heck, if it sounds better, we can even call it the Year of the Future. Personally, that a puts the year into an esoteric construct that, frankly, seems a bit scary. How can the here-and-now be the year of the future? Has baseball developed some sort of space-time continuum that we didn’t know about?

The Year of the Prospect seems a lot safer. But I digress.

Domonic Brown is the latest super prospect to be called up to the big club.

Of the top 20 pre-season prospects in Baseball America’s Top 100, 14 of them have been called up to the majors already this season. The latest? Phillies outfielder Domonic Brown, who had his MLB debut Wednesday night and promptly went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. He also got a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd before his first at-bat. Brown was recently tabbed as Baseball America’s top prospect at the mid-way point of the season. Part of the reason was because of his outstanding .327 with 20 home runs and 68 RBI in 93 games in the minors this season. Brown also had an OPS of .980, and his batting average actually improved to .346 in his 28 games in Class AAA.

The real reason, however, that Brown was listed as the top prospect in baseball at the mid-way point? Eight of the 14 guys ahead of him have already been called up. Make no mistake, Brown’s call-up is a huge deal for Phillies fans, who now have the benefit of watching the future in the midst of a pennant race. Hey, maybe the present can be the future after all.

It seems that way for the Braves, too. Jason Heyward earned his way into the Atlanta outfield in spring training and earned a spot on the All-Star team after a fantastic first half. The 20-year old is batting .273 with an OPS of .845 (and an OPS+ of 128). He has 48 RBI and 30 extra-base hits on the season, including 11 home runs, and that includes a stint on the DL this season. Since Heyward’s first game back from the DL earlier this month, he has raised his batting average 26 points, albeit despite a drop in his power numbers. Still, with his team in first place by 3.5 games, the future is, and has been, now for Heyward.

It seems ridiculous to have a "Year of the Prospect" discussion and be five graphs in without mentioning Stephen Strasburg. Strasburg, despite recent injury concerns that had him miss a start and get stuck on the bench for 10 days, has exceeded the Nationals’ expectations. Most importantly, the buzz around Strasburg has done something nobody else has been able to do in Washington: fill seats.

Stephen Strasburg has lived up the hype.

The pitching phenom is 5-2 with a 2.32 ERA in nine games this season. He has 75 strikeouts to just 15 walks in 54.1 innings. That’s a 12.4 strikeout per nine-inning ratio compared to just 2.5 BB/9, which is just … awesome, especially for a rookie.

The best thing about some of these prospects is that they don’t seem to be your run-of-the-mill first-round call-ups (does that sentence break some sort of hyphen record?). Heyward is the future. So is Brown. Strasburg is the franchise in Washington (and, by the way, his teammate Drew Storen – ranked 92nd on BA’s list – is no slouch himself). Mike Stanton is the "next great" superstar in Florida. Buster Posey supplanted a Molina in San Francisco, and he’s not even the best catching prospect to come up this year. Carlos Santana already has begun his own era in Cleveland.

The list is way deeper than just those names, too. Starlin Castro, Ike Davis, Pedro Alvarez, Wade Davis, Mike Leake, Austin Jackson and Mat Gamel are just some of the players on the top 100 list to not only be productive in the majors already, but also be on their way to becoming outright stars and, in some cases, franchise saviors. There’s a real, legit case to be made that 2010 is all about the prospects … or the future … or the prospects of a successful future.

You can read/listen to more from Dan Levy at OntheDLpodcast.com and follow him on Twitter @onthedlpodcast

MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports the Rangers are still talking with the Marlins about acquiring infielder Jorge Cantu prior to Saturday’s nonwaiver trading deadline.

Florida is trying to get two young pitchers from Texas; Frisaro reports one of them is Evan Reed, who is pitching for Double-A Frisco.

Cantu would give Texas a right-handed hitting alternative to first baseman Chris Davis, who has hit poorly since being recalled from the minors. Cantu is batting .260 with 10 home runs and 54 RBIs.

Nationals right-hander Miguel Batista is doing damage control a day after his "Miss Iowa" quip.

Batista tells The Washington Post he sent flowers to the real Miss Iowa, Katherine Connors, as a mea culpa for a quote some — including the Miss Iowa folks — considered disrespectful.

First, the back story: Batista pitched five shutout innings Tuesday in an emergency spot start, after Stephen Strasburg was scratched with shoulder inflammation. Afterward, Batista talked about being booed by disappointed Nationals fans as he took the mound.

"Imagine if you go to see Miss Universe, then you end up having Miss Iowa, you might get those kind of boos," Batista said. "But it’s OK. They have to understand that as an organization we have to make sure that the kid is fine. You don’t want to expose him out there and screw up his future."

Batista tried to clarify today. "People started booing me, and they hadn’t seen me throw a pitch yet," Batista tells the Post. "It’s like you hear Miss Iowa, and you say, ‘Iowa?’ And then you see her up close and you say, ‘Wow, she’s gorgeous.’ "

Connors — or at least the Miss Iowa organizers — got wind of the Batista quote and, in a statement, fired back.

"I know I can throw a pitch or two!" Connors was quoted as saying, per the Des Moines Register. "The question is, can Miguel Batista walk the runway in a swimsuit?"

Also, Craig Heitkamp, executive co-director of the Miss Iowa Pageant, invited Batista to be a judge at the state pageant Oct. 23-24 in Ames.

Houston television station KRIV reported early Thursday that the Astros have agreed to trade right-hander Roy Oswalt to the Philadelphia Phillies and have asked Oswalt to approve the deal.

KRIV sports director Mark Berman reported the club approached Oswalt about waiving his no-trade clause. Oswalt can veto any trade, but he has said he’d do it to play for a contender. The Phillies are on a seven-game winning streak and trail the Braves by 3 1/2 games in the NL East.

Berman’s report does not include whom the Phillies would be giving up, though many media members have speculated left-hander J.A. Happ would be part of any Oswalt trade. Berman also didn’t say whether other clubs are involved; there have been reports a third team was needed to help the Phillies fit Oswalt under their payroll.

Houston general manager Ed Wade declined to comment when contacted late Wednesday by MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. Oswalt could not be reached for comment, McTaggart reported.

Earlier Wednesday, Astros’ owner Drayton McLane put the odds of an Oswalt trade at 60-40 in favor.

"I’d say it’s about 60 percent that something could be done and 40 percent that Roy will be here next year," McLane told the Houston Chronicle’s Zachary Levine.

Oswalt, who is scheduled to start Friday, said he wanted to have sufficient time to ponder waiving his no-trade rights.

"I’m hoping I’m not going to get it dropped on me an hour before (Saturday’s 4 p.m. ET) deadline to give me a little bit of time to think about it, but I think it will work out," Oswalt told Levine.

General manager Ed Wade said he wouldn’t rush a deal to accommodate Oswalt.

"We’ll use all the time allotted to us," Wade told Levine. "If there’s the right decision to be made sooner rather than later, we’ll make it, otherwise, we’ll use all the time available to try to make the right decisions."

The Chronicle reported the Cardinals, who were once considered the front-runners to land him, were now long shots. The Phillies have long been working to obtain Oswalt, but it was believed a deal may have hit a snag over money. Oswalt is guaranteed more than $25 million over the length of his contract, and he also has a $16 million option for 2012. There have been conflicting reports about whether Oswalt would insist on his new team picking up the option.