Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen are, according to Peter Gammons, headed to the Washington Nationals for Emilio Bonifacio, P.J. Dean and Jake Smolinski.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3694827

In three full seasons, as well as bits of two others, Willingham's a career .266/.361/.472 hitter, but he hasn't quite matched his 2006 season (.852 OPS, near-.500 SLG, 26 HR). Meanwhile, Olsen's had a rocky tenure with the Marlins, but still had a 4.20 ERA in 33 starts.

Bonifacio's arrival more'n likely means Uggla's FINALLY moving off 2B, but is that all there is to this deal?

Just came across on ESPN's transaction wire that the Marlins claimed Dan Meyer off waivers from Oakland. Being one of the centerpieces of the Tim Hudson deal, one would think they would've made more of a move to keep him, buuuuut... apparently not. Did he just stall out at AAA? Certainly didn't look like he did much to distinguish himself in the majors, going off the numbers (those being an 0-4 record in 11 appearances, four starts, 7.48 ERA, 1.77 WHIP).

Whoever he is, he just took Mike Lowell's place on the Red Sox playoff roster. All I gather is he's spent 10 years in the minors, and made his major-league debut in late September, getting a whole eight regular-season AB's. Oh, and the player tag says he's a SS. So what'll he be? Defensive replacement if Jedediah Springfield Lowrie has to play 2B/3B? Emergency bullpen arm? 25th man?

Perusing the recap of tonight's Red Sox/Rays game (ef a dumb Tampa), a couple names jumped out to me: Dan Johnson, who had the game-winning hit off the bench, and Irvin Vigo Joel Guzman, who got D'edFA by Tampa Bay.

Which begs the question: what went wrong with those two guys?

A quick search through the archives turns up the Carlos Quentin/Joel Guzman Smackdown where Guzman was noted to have Miguel Cabrera-type ability "if he can gain sufficient command of the strike zone" but a comment in 2006 compared him to (ack) Richie Sexson (admittedly, in the Richie Sexson prospect retro). I'm assuming he just hasn't gotten that command, but has he been THAT bad that he couldn't get a chance to prove himself at the major-league level? Coming into the year, he'd only had 56 AB's between LA and Tampa Bay and put together a sparkling .232/.306/.321 line, but he's also only 23. Is there any hope for him (not like they're moving him back to SS, ha ha)?

Which brings us to Daniel Ryan Johnson. He was ready to come up in 2005, did so, and this here review points out that his power and patience were expected to be useful (he did kinda go .275/.355/.451 in 109 games for the A's). Aaaaaaaaand so far, in 1000+ AB's, he's gone .249/.344/.419. Matter of fact, tonight's pinch-hit appearance was his first at-bat since April 2. He was hurt in 2006, stunk out loud in 2007... just a question of old player skills?

Lay off of me, it's production day and I wish I could put a headline like that in the paper. ;)

As per ESPN, Charlie Zink's getting the call-up to take Tim Wakefield's place in the rotation. He's 13-4, 2.89 ERA at Pawtucket.

"Charlie has been throwing real good," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said before Monday night's game against the Chicago White Sox. "I think that everybody felt like it was a breakout year for him."

It might only be a spot start situation (Boston's off the 21st and 25th, and Wakefield's only expected to miss two starts) but it's good to see him finally get the chance.

Source: ESPN

Or, "This Is The AB That Never Ends/It Just Goes On and On, My Friend".

Y'all probably remember Venditte as the switch-pitcher for Creighton. The Yankees picked him in the 20th round this year, and he came into tonight's game (7-2 win for Staten Island) in the 9th inning. Coincidentally, I was reading a bunch of comments on the Uni Watch Blog about what might happen when he faces a switch-hitter.

Thanks, Ralph Henriquez, for hitting from both sides of the plate.

They showed a clip of the at-bat on ESPNews, dunno if it's anywhere else. But every time Venditte picked an arm, Henriquez would switch sides. I'm not sure how many times it happened, but eventually the home plate ump had to intervene, with both Venditte pitching and Henriquez hitting right-handed. Henriquez struck out swinging to end the game. :)

As per ESPN and the AP, the Reds GM has been canned and replaced by Walt Jocketty.

Krivsky knew his job was in jeopardy when owner Bob Castellini hired Jocketty as a special consultant in January. The two were friends from Castellini's days in the Cardinals' ownership group.

When the Reds got off to a 9-12 start, Castellini made the switch that was expected at some point. Krivsky, who was hired before the 2006 season, was in the final year of his three-year contract.

Since your world outside of my safe little AL East bubble frightens and confuses me (;)) what does this mean for Cincy's organizational direction? Krivsky did pull off a nice trade to get Brandon Phillips, but suffice to say, other moves haven't worked out so well (hiya Felipe Lopez and Austin Kearns!).

I just saw Improv Everywhere's latest effort, Best Game Ever. The idea was to turn a Little League game in Hermosa Beach into a major production, featuring vendors, programs, shirtless fans, a Jumbotron and Jim Gray on NBC's dime... oh, and the Goodyear blimp filming the festivities. There's a video on the site, as well as a very appreciative email from one of the parents. Kind of wish that happened when I was playing... ;)

Our Fearless Leader just dubbed Jeremy Brown a "Triple-A catcher" in the look back at 2003's top prospects. Well, that's all he'll be, now that he's retiring...

The A's said Friday that Brown would not report to spring training after telling them Tuesday he planned to retire for personal reasons. In response, they agreed to terms with free agent catcher Matt LeCroy on a minor league deal to help fill the void of Brown's departure. He was due to arrive at spring training Saturday. The A's will leave open the opportunity for the 28-year-old Brown to come back to the organization if that's something he decides he wants down the road. "It's a shame. The kid could really hit. We certainly understand his family's more important at this point," Beane said. "It caught us a little by surprise. Things like this, personal issues, come up. ... It's absolutely an open door."

(as per: ESPN)

Brown retires with a .300/.364/.500 line in the majors. In five games, that is.

(When I said "bust", I meant in baseball terms. If he can get his family affairs in order and come back, good for him, but the family's gotta come first.)

Picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines.

"The one thing I wanted to make sure was explained is, no steroids," Cameron told AM 1090, the Padres' flagship radio station. "I never took nothing like that before in my life. That would be 50 games, and that would affect me a whole lot more."

Further proof it wasn't steroids: he only got 25 games.  But it's also his second positive test.  Note to self: don't get advice from Neifi Perez's trainer.