• Last week somebody asked me if grooming Joba Chamberlain for the rotation is panicky. No, it's not. It's exactly the opposite of panicky, as the Yankees are sticking with a plan that's always made good sense. Now this is panicky.
• Joe Posnanski, inspired by the Royals, riffs on losing streaks. And you have to stay for Joe's shocking conclusion.
• I wish I'd linked to David Laurila's interview with Andy Sonnanstine (members only) yesterday (before Sonnanstine got hammered by the Rangers). Still, you have to read this concluding passage:
DL: What are you normally doing when you're not on the mound?AS: I like hanging out with the fellows. A baseball team is kind of like a big fraternity, and I really enjoy the time I get to spend with guys like Percival and Carl Crawford and B.J. and Kazmir. They're all exceptional athletes, and I feel very privileged that they're on my team. I love playing ping-pong, foosball -- anything competitive. I really enjoy working on multi-media with my Apple laptop. I guess I like to think of myself as a professional man of leisure.
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Hanging out with the fellows? Professional man of leisure?
How can you not love this guy?
• As ShysterBall correctly notes, the Reds' mistake wasn't leaving Jay Bruce in the minors for nearly two months; that's probably going to save them a boatload of bucks. Their mistake was spending $3 million on Corey Patterson as Bruce's placeholder.
• Fascinating stuff from Josh Kalk about what happens to aging pitchers' fastballs.
• As if things weren't going badly enough for the Mets, apparently Ryan Church's recovery isn't going particularly well (H/T to Baseball Musings).
• Everybody's talking about the kids in next week's draft, but Baseball America points out someone even more interesting: Dominican right-hander Michael Inoa:
Inoa, a 6-foot-7, 200-pound righty, creates easy velocity through relatively sound mechanics. At the workout, Inoa consistently sat at 91-92 mph with his fastball, topping out at 94. He also throws a softer breaking ball which was inconsistent at times, and will also show a splitter. Inoa turns 17 in September.
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Remember, Inoa's a free agent who can sign with whomever he chooses. I wonder how much he'll get.
• Only in BlogWorld ... MetsGeek, one of the best and most popular Mets fan sites, has been reinvented as RaysGeek. I'm pretty sure this is a gag. But it's a good one.
Rob Neyer
