Truth & Rumors > MLB

07:10 AM ET 05.20 | When Minnesota closed out its series on Sunday with the Red Sox, Josh Willingham, who had played 35 games, wasn't in the lineup. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire started Wilkin Ramirez in left field Sunday against Boston to give [Willingham] a "mental break." Willingham was 1 for 5 in the Twins' 12-5 loss to Boston on Saturday night. ... "He's been fighting it a little bit," Gardenhire said of Willingham before Sunday's game. "He was a little fired up last night (Saturday). I haven't seen that too often. He was a little beat up after the game. The best thing for him is to back him and give him a break." Entering Sunday's game, Willingham was batting .143 (4 for 28) during the nine-game homestand.

Pioneer Press

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10:47 AM ET 05.19 | The naming of Nolan Ryan's son, Reid, as Astros team president on Friday is being viewed as owner Jim Crane's effort to put a kinder, more human face on the organization. Since buying the Astros from Drayton McLane for $680 million two years ago, Crane has earned the reputation of being a cold, indifferent businessman. He fired over half of the Astros' front office employees, including secretaries who worked there for 20 or more years. And, a lot of the popular former players, like Jeff Bagwell and Larry Dierker, were are said to have felt unwelcome by the organization. Young Reid, 41, who hung around the Astros clubhouse with his dad when Nolan pitched there in the '80s and who built a worthy resume as president of the Texas Rangers' AAA and AA farm teams, figures to be a much more engaging front man for the Astros. On the other hand, Crane is said be one of the least liked owners in baseball.

New York Daily News

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09:04 AM ET 05.19 | The Marlins would not even listen to names of players that teams might be willing to offer for Giancarlo Stanton before his injury. And though he would have considerable trade value when healthy, "he wasn't helping himself with his lackadaisical play before his injury," one National League scout said. "He looked like he wants to play there like I want to be at a dentist having a root canal." Even before his injury, Stanton did not intend to ask for a trade during the season. The Marlins still haven't put a timetable on his return from his hamstring problem; it could be sometime in June.

Miami Herald

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10:42 AM ET 05.19 | According to MLB, there were 203 disabled list stints as of May 9, the second most (to 205 in 2008) in the last 10 years. So what gives? Why are so many more players going down every year with injuries? According to Lou Piniella, who was on the disabled list just twice in 18 seasons, once for an inner ear condition and once for a broken thumb, if baseball wants to cut down on the muscle pulls and back soreness, it should do away with the weight rooms and put a limit on how much time hitters can spend in the batting cages. "The season is so long now and so strenuous, you need to rest your body for two-three months after it's over," said Sweet Lou. "But today, these players all have their personal trainers and they work out all winter and put on more muscle. When I played, we didn't have a weight room or a strength coach and everybody took the team bus to the ballpark. We never heard of an oblique. Now guys are going out on their own, five or six hours before the game, going right to the batting cages and taking hundreds of swings a day. It's overdone. The body can't take it. If you ask me, that's where all these oblique injuries are coming from. These kids are in such good shape, but at the same time they're more susceptible to injury because their muscles are strung too tight. You can't work it 12 months out of the year." When he was a player, Piniella said, at the end of the year he handed his equipment bag to the Yankee clubhouse attendants and said: "See you in spring training."

New York Daily News

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09:25 AM ET 05.19 | Ron Washington is deservedly under fire for letting Yu Darvish throw 130 pitches Thursday night in a 10-4 victory over Justin Verlander and the Tigers. It was fun to watch but pointless for him to continue beyond the seventh inning, when he had thrown 115 pitches.

Chicago Tribune

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