Headlines:

Frank Freeman hit a pair of homers to give the Braves a win over Milwaukee. [ESPN]

Brad Miller did the same to help Seattle improve to 2 – 0 with a win over Los Angeles. [ESPN]

Derek Jeter‘s twentieth and final season started off like this.  [FoxSports]

 

Hurry Back!

The Dodgers pitching injury woes continued…  Reliever Brian Wilson has damaged nerve endings in his right elbow and will head to the DL.  And, it will be a couple of weeks before Los Angeles will know when Clayton Kershaw will return.  (How fast can Josh Beckett get back?)  [MLB]

Wilson Ramos‘s hand injury is worse than originally suspected and he will head to the DL and likely have surgery on his left hamate bone in the hand.  [MLB]

 

The Transaction Wire:

The Yankees placed SS Brendan Ryan on the DL with an upper back injury, retroactively applied as of March 22.  Instead of giving that job to Edwin Nunez, Nunez was designated for assignment, and the Yankees called up infielder Yangervis Solarte instead.  Solarte hit .429 in the spring and in the PCL has hit about .280 with some power for Texas.  I’m not sure he’d hit enough, but for now the 26 year old Venezuelan infielder is getting a taste of the big leagues…

Atlanta sent pitcher Gavin Floyd on a rehab assignment.

Texas dispatched Michael Kirkman to Round Rock, designated backup catcher Chris Gimenez for assignment, and brought up pitcher Daniel McCutchen.  This won’t mess with too many fantasy rosters…

 

Baseball 365:

Arrivals:

(1856)  Tommy Bond – This is the baseball player, and not the kid who played Butch in the original Little Rascals…  Bond was the first Irish-born major leaguer, a pitcher who won 234 games in the National Association and the early days of the National League.

(1869)  Hughey Jennings – Hall of Fame shortstop and manager, known as Ee-Yah for his shrieks of excitement.

(1907)  Another Hall of Fame shortstop, Ol’ Aches and Pains – Luke Appling.  In his 70s, Appling hit a home run at an old timer’s game in RFK at the age of 75.

(1927) Billy Pierce

(1937) Dick “The Monster” Radatz

(1945) Hall of Fame pitcher, Don Sutton.

(1945) Reggie Smith – a great outfielder of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

(1964) Pete Incaviglia – who, while at Oklahoma State, hit the longest homer ever seen at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium, the home of the Kansas Jayhawks baseball team.

(1970) Jon Lieber

 

Departures:

(1972)  Gil Hodges, about to manage the Mets for the season…  He had just finished a round of golf in West Palm Beach and collapsed just before his 48th birthday.

(2010)  Mike Cuellar, a cagey left-hander for the Orioles and many other teams – one of my favorite pitchers back in the day.

 

Transactions and Other Notes:

(1931) Jackie Miller, a fine young female pitcher, fans Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, TN.

(1963) The Astros trade Manny Mota to Pittsburgh for prospects.  Mota lasts forever.

(1976) The As start the sell-off…  Reggie Jackson, Ken Holtzman and Bill Van Bommell are traded to Baltimore for Don Baylor, Mike Torrez, and Paul Mitchell.