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Looks like the NHL has suspended Alex Ovechkin for the incident on Sunday that left Brian Campbell of the Chicago Blackhawks sidelined. It’s the second suspension of the season for the Russian skater who will be out for two games and eligible to return March 20th.

Sooner or later I’m actually going to watch some hockey this year. Eh who am I kidding, I didn’t watch it last year or the year before that or the one before…. this could take a while.

Popularity: 1% [?]

After a full year off Jim Edmonds thus far looks no worse for wear. The former webgem highlight reel mentioned to former manager Tony LaRussa this winter he’d be interested in playing again and suddenly half of the teams in the majors were linked to the 39 year-old. He ended up signing with Milwaukee which has to be one of the better chances in the league to get ample playing time in the outfield.

There appears to be two sides in Brewers came. Some that believe the Brew Crew could not possibly carry both Edmonds and Jody Gerut while others believe it’s likely both will crack the opening day roster.

I firmly believe there is room for both on the Brewers roster as Joe Inglett isn’t going to solve many late inning problems. Mat Gamel’s second round of shoulder pain isn’t doing him any favors  and aside from Craig Counsell there aren’t any certainties for the reseve infield spots. Siding Inglett into that role solves that problem and opens up outfield spots for both Gerut and Edmonds.

Edmonds has hit thus far as he’s 6-for-17 with 2 doubles, a homer, and 3 RBI in his seven appearances this spring. Of course Edmonds has also struck out five times but no one is really talking about that for whatever reason.

Edmonds never got a job heading into 2009 and while it may have been his desire for a full time gig, more money or whatever the fact is everyone figured he would have been a good signing for any team looking for outfield help.

In 2008 with San Diego he seemed lost and used up. Picked up by the Cubs hoping to strike lighting in a bottle he was a force.  In San Diego Edmonds compiled a .178/.265/.233 line in 90 at-bats, in Chicago he hit .256/.369/.568 in 250 at-bats.

What a year off means to a guy who turns 40 this June is something Edmonds will have to answer at the plate this year. He’s got his chance to contribute again, he’s in a position to get at-bats should he produce and he could even wrestle the right field job away from Corey Hart should Hart struggle much like he has the last two seasons. Edmonds isn’t an everyday player at this point but he’s a fine option for four or five days a week should he hit near his levels with the Cubs in 2008.

Popularity: 2% [?]

With the names of Scott Proctor, Freddie Freeman, and Mitch Jones as non roster invitees to Braves camp I could see four or more making the major league roster at some point. Though none with have near the amount of talk around them as baseball’s top prospect Jason Heyward.

Heyward is supposed to save the Braves offense much the same way people said Tommy Hanson would change the rotation which was odd considering the Braves had one of the best rotations in baseball with or without Hanson last year. I personally found it hard to believe that Heyward might start the regular season with the club but midway though Spring Training I have to admit that he should be on the roster.

Of course then finding at-bats may be though for all of the guys the Braves plan to throw out in the outfield. While McLouth is certain to be in center the Braves figure to run Matt Diaz, Melky Cabrera and Omar Infante at the corners. Throw in Heyward and we are going to have some guys disappointed with their at-bat totals.

Truth be told though the ability of Heyward far exceeds anyone the Braves have for any of their outfield positions, Diaz is more of a platoon/pinch hitter and Cabrera couldn’t even make a mark for himself with the Yankees. Infante is better suited for spelling infield then outfield and while Gregor Blanco and Jordan Schafer are still with the organization they are afterthoughts.

At 20 years of age Heyward is as exciting as they come. He’s hit and hit well at every stop on his rise though the Braves system. Some think some time at Triple-A may do him well but there’s no arguing with the numbers he produced between three levels last year. (.323/.408/.555, 17 HR, 10 SB)

Some have gone as far to say that they believe Heyward is a 25-30 home run player this season in the majors and while I think that’s a little far fetched all he has to do is make an impact above that of Melky Cabrera to justify him being on the big league roster.

Thus far this spring Heyward is 8-for-18 with a homer, four doubles, 5 RBI, 5 runs scored and two stolen bases.

It’s certain (barring a major injury) that Heyward will be on the Braves roster at some point this year. Just when is the question.

Popularity: 2% [?]

The next stop on the non roster invitee trail is to a place north of the border. Ah, Toronto. A team that has been an after thought in the AL East for years and who will uncertainty be again this year.

I don’t know how Toronto will even find a way to be on national tv at all this season as they traded Roy Halladay and with the exception of Aaron Hill they feature a roster of 30-plus guys being paid too much and some unproven talent.

I’ve found myself being much more cynical in the non roster invitee reports this year. Of course in fairness with Toronto I’m basically writing about Joey Gathright. Kind of hard to talk positive with that type of energy in the room.

Had I had a more exciting player or one I actually didn’t dislike a lot I probably would have talked about how the fourth and fifth outfielder, as well as back up catcher and even a rotation spot or a few bull pen spots are for anyones taking. Oh but this is Joey Gathright.

Gathright has a great chance of making the team because well… there are currently only five players to span across three outfield and a DH spot leaving roughly two openings on the team by my count. What’s worse is that Gathright may be one of the better options with the unimpressive Jose Bautista and youngster Travis Snider at the corners there’s a great chance Gathright (perhaps based on the luck of not being the worst of the three at some point) may work himself into the role of a platoon or even a starting gig for some part of the year.

Gathright also gives the Blue Jays their best option in center field to replace Vernon Wells from time to time. I’d bash Wells but really everyone and their mom thought the guy was great when he was given that contract so you can’t completely blame the Blue Jays now departed front office.

Gathright didn’t play much last season between Chicago and Boston because really he’s just not that good and the guys ahead of him were at least expected to outproduce him. He still offers great speed on the base-paths, is a decent defensive option at all three outfield options and since he was signed on a minor league deal he’s may actually be the best outfielder on the Blue Jays dollar for dollar.

Ouch!

I don’t see Gathright getting 300 at-bats so you won’t need to gouge your eyes out with a fork but 200 is another story should Snider and Bautista continue to be awful.

So there you have it. Joey Gathright. I tried not to say too many mean things but seriously what else is there to say?

	Non-Roster Invitees
	Pitchers	B/T	Ht	Wt	DOB
	36 Lance Broadway	R/R	6-3	195	08/20/83
	67 Willie Collazo	L/L	5-8	180	11/07/79
	4 Kyle Drabek	R/R	6-0	185	12/08/87
	72 Daniel Farquhar	R/R	5-10	170	02/17/87
	71 Shawn Hill	R/R	6-2	225	04/28/81
	33 Zach Jackson	L/L	6-5	220	05/13/83
	64 Chad Jenkins	R/R	6-4	225	12/22/87
	66 Rommie Lewis	L/L	6-5	230	09/02/82
	69 Steven Register	R/R	6-1	180	05/16/83
	73 Zachary Stewart	R/R	6-2	205	09/28/86
	Catchers	B/T	Ht	Wt	DOB
	9 J.P. Arencibia	R/R	6-0	215	01/05/86
	62 Travis d’Arnaud	R/R	6-2	195	02/10/89
	12 Brian Jeroloman	L/R	5-11	200	05/10/85
	75 Matt Liuzza	R/R	5-11	225	02/03/84
	Infielders	B/T	Ht	Wt	DOB
	76 David Cooper	L/L	6-0	200	02/12/87
	77 Brad Emaus	R/R	5-11	210	03/28/86
	68 Jesus Merchan	R/R	6-0	185	03/26/81
	46 Brett Wallace	L/R	6-2	205	08/26/86
	Outfielders	B/T	Ht	Wt	DOB
	1 Joey Gathright	L/R	5-10	185	04/27/81
	20 Adam Loewen	L/L	6-6	235	04/09/84
	70 Chris Lubanski	L/L	6-3	210	03/24/85
	74 Jorge Padilla	R/R	6-1	215	08/11/79
	7 Jeremy Reed	L/L	6-0	210	06/15/81

Popularity: 2% [?]

It’s been a little while since I last made a Daily Jason Heyward note because the outfielder had been out with a sore back.

I guess a few days off and a rub down will get you back to swinging the lumber as the 20-year-old collected two doubles in a spring outing against the Toronto Blue Jays.

In total the youngster has done nothing to give the Braves reason to keep him off the roster as he’s 8-f0r-18 with  five extra-base hits and six walks in exhibition play.

Popularity: 6% [?]

I have to admit I hadn’t looked at the Oakland A’s list of non roster invitees but judging from their usual front office antics I figured there would be at-least 2-3 veterans looking to hang on that could actually contribute to the club for a full season.

Boy was I wrong. Aside from Lenny DiNardo, Jason Jennings and the Triple-A monster known as Dallas McPherson the roster is highlighted by their minor league system.

The lack of veterans leaves me with a real problem here. This is Oakland and they are cheap it’s quite possible that none of their minor league talent even get called up even in September.

As much as I thought about taking Jason Jennings as the pick I just couldn’t go down that road for a second straight season. Likewise for DiNardo.

Instead I have to say I’m going with Gregorio Petit. Considering the fantasy outlook on the A’s site is less then thrilling for 25-year-old I’m starting to question why I even both with writing these reports.

Rushed to the bigs after a slew of injuries took its toll on an already thin Oakland infield, Petit struggled to a .226 average and a .484 OPS during his brief time with the big club. Designated for assignment by the A’s in early February, the 25-year-old infielder has yet to flash the kind of skills needed to flourish on the fantasy scene, and barring a short stint or two as an injury fill-in at the Major League level, he’ll likely spend his third straight season in Triple-A working on his offensive approach.

In short Petit has spent very small parts of the last two seasons with the A’s and hasn’t hit much. Truth is Petit hasn’t been thought of much by anyone as Baseball America has never listed him among the organizations top prospects and only briefly mentioned him as the top defensive infielder.

Petit can still handle the glove quite well at second base and shortstop which makes him an asset to most teams epically the Oakland A’s who have the combination of injury prone Mark Ellis and Cliff Pennington. An injury to either makes Petit a guy who will amass a few at-bats.

I’ll sum up Petit quickly since I don’t think there’s a huge reader base on this one. Great defender who can’t hit. He’d make Omar Vizquel look like Cal Ripken with the bat.

Petit has shown he can steal a base or two so should he get considerable playing time I suppose he could be an option in AL only or deep fantasy leagues looking for steals. He offers little power and won’t help you if OBP or walks are an asset to have.

	Non-Roster Invitees
	Pitchers	B/T	Ht	Wt	DOB
	57 Cedrick Bowers	R/L	6-2	220	02/10/78
	70 Sam Demel	R/R	6-0	215	10/23/85
	52 Lenny DiNardo	L/L	6-2	220	09/19/79
	36 Fernando Hernandez	R/R	5-11	210	07/31/84
	77 Jason Jennings	L/R	6-2	235	07/17/78
	66 Tyson Ross	R/R	6-6	225	04/22/87
	59 Matt Wright	R/R	6-4	270	03/13/82
	Catchers	B/T	Ht	Wt	DOB
	71 Josh Donaldson	R/R	6-0	215	12/08/85
	72 Joel Galarraga	R/R	5-11	185	03/20/82
	19 Anthony Recker	R/R	6-1	245	08/29/83
	68 Max Stassi	R/R	5-10	190	03/15/91
	Infielders	B/T	Ht	Wt	DOB
	61 Adrian Cardenas	L/R	6-0	205	10/10/87
	76 Grant Green	R/R	6-3	180	09/27/87
	18 Dallas McPherson	L/R	6-4	225	07/23/80
	2 Gregorio Petit	R/R	5-10	195	12/10/84
	16 Eric Sogard	L/R	5-10	185	05/22/86
	73 Jemile Weeks	S/R	5-9	170	01/26/87
	75 Matthew Whitney	R/R	6-3	215	02/13/84
	Outfielders	B/T	Ht	Wt	DOB
	74 Corey Brown	L/L	6-1	205	11/26/85
	25 Matt Carson	R/R	6-2	200	07/01/81
	23 Michael Taylor	R/R	6-6	260	12/19/85
	67 Corey Wimberly	S/R	5-8	174	10/26/83

Popularity: 3% [?]

With the recent news that Lance Berkman is out for the start of the season I almost certainly have to pick Chris Johnson as the Houston Astros non roster invitee. Johnson is actually hitting this spring with a .313 average and 2 home runs and three doubles in just 16 at-bats.

Of course the Astros signed Pedro Feliz to be their third basemen this season since well… Johnson didn’t exactly do himself any favors last spring or during his time with the team.

The simple solution may be to slide Feliz over to first base in Berkman’s absence allowing the Astros an extended chance to evaluate whether Johnson or Feliz is the answer at third base.

Personally even with Johnson’s hot spring numbers I’m not sure he’s much of a major league option. He’s shown inconsistencies at the plate, he can’t draw a walk and his power swing is only what you’d consider about average when you compare him to other players at the corners.

Then again I also picked him as the teams non roster invitee so there ya go.

***

I really wanted to write about Jason Bourgeois but considering the injury to Berkman and the fact that Chris Johnson is actually hitting I couldn’t take the risk.

Anyway here’s what I originally wrote.

Jason Bourgeois has cracked the major leagues the last two years and the 28-year-old utility player is hoping that he can make that three in a row as he looks to make the hometown Houston Astros.

Bourgeois was originally drafted by the Texas Rangers back in 2000 but he never quite hit enough to be considered a pivotal part of the organization. He found himself bouncing from Richmond (Atlanta) and San Antonio (Seattle) the next two years as part of waiver claims and the Rule 5 draft.

In 2007 he was picked up by the Chicago White Sox and suddenly things came together for him at the plate.  He stuck with the team for the 2008 season earning a cup of coffee and then headed to Milwaukee for the 2009 season. At the Triple-A level he continued to hit for a good overage and found his way on base enough to again get a crack at the majors. Sadly he didn’t exactly produce and finds himself again looking to latch on.

In his minor league career he’s found himself lined up at every defensive position except catcher and while he may not be the best option at each position he does give a major league manager flexibility should he need to rest a player or complete a double switch.

The biggest obstacle for Bourgeois making the Astros appears to be the presence of Geoff Blum, a similarly tooled player, already on the roster. The injury to Lance Berkman likely leaves open one roster spot for either Chris Johnson or another non roster invitee but Bourgeois has yet to capitalize on the opportunity.

Popularity: 9% [?]

It’s time to start the non roster invitee report, a yearly regular here at tireball.com. First on the list is the Los Angeles Angels who really have always provided a tough challenge for me. The Angels have one of the weaker classes of non roster invitees year in and out as there’s little room for cracking the roster of this team out of spring training.

Many of the players on this list are hoping to impress for later on or are hoping to get a shot to stay around for some action in Triple-A.

With that being said the Angels haven’t showed any real qualms with calling up a player from their minor leagues for a cup of coffee at any point in the season.

So with all that being said I was really tempted to just go with Robb Quinlan here as if he says around it’s almost guaranteed he’d get called up at some point but I opted to go with 21-year-old pitcher Trevor Reckling.

Hank Conger and Peter Bourjous may be ranked higher then him in the prospect department but they also have more in front of them preventing them from being on the team this season.

Reckling was an 8th round pick in the 2007 draft who made his way up to Double-A last season. In 23 starts in the Texas League the youngster was 8-7 with a 2.93 ERA in 135.1 innings. The biggest concern with Reckling is that he’s a little wreck-less. His strike out numbers are fair but he really had trouble with walks last season as he had a BB/9 of 5 at Double-A. In addition he threw 14 wild pitches and over three minor league seasons has hit 19 batters.

He’ll need to improve on all three of those if he’s to be successful in Triple-A this year and earn a call up with the Angels. Most see him projecting as a 2-3 pitcher if he can fix his kinks of course it’s just as likely he’d be a 4-5 if he can’t.

For fun I’ve went ahead and posted the entire list of Angel non roster invitees should Reckling not make it I will be able to see who did.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Jair Jurrjens was scheduled to make his spring debut today but with rain in the air it’s been pushed back until tomorrow.

I have little else to say about the matter other then I was really hoping to read accounts of his first outing since there still seems to be concerns about his arm whether or not the Braves are saying so publicly.

I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Brian Giles is the latest former big league star to announce his retirement. Giles was once a pretty good player for the Pittsburg Pirates and San Diego Padres until injuries caught up with him.

He had 1,897 career hits and a .291/.400/.502 batting line.

This follows the same announcement by Nomar Garciaparra yesterday and similar ones from Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas, who while they didn’t play last year had never announced retirement.

Giles best asset during his big league career was his ability to get on base. He was a bit of a late bloomer not getting an everyday role until he was traded by Cleveland to Pittsburgh in 1999. He went on to hit 30-plus homers for four consecutive seasons before he was traded to San Diego midway though the 2003 at which point his power swing disappeared again.

Last season he appeared in just 61 games compiling a dreadful .191/.277/.271 line.

It’s been a tough last sixteen months for Giles. Aside from his knee trouble, his name was recently named in Jason Kendall’s divorce papers as anadderall junkie. He’s also being sued by his former girlfriend for more then $10 million as she alleges he began abusing her in 2002 and battered her while she was pregnant with Giles’ child, and caused her to have a miscarriage.

Popularity: 7% [?]