The big news of the day in major league baseball was outfielder Manny Ramirez announcing his retirement from baseball. The move leaves the Tampa Bay Rays with a hole at designated hitter that they could fill several ways, but for now it looks like Dan Johnson will serve as the designated hitter with Casey Kotchman promoted from the minor leagues to start at first base. Not a good situation for a team that is struggling to score runs. It could eventually hasten the arrival of Desmond Jennings to the major leagues, but it looks like we are going to have to wait at least a month or two for that to happen.
With the Boston Red Sox off to an 0-6 start, manager Terry Francona made some changes to the lineup, with the most significant impact being to Jacoby Ellsbury dropping to 8th in the batting order, which could cost him 50 to 75 at bats over the course of the season if he stays in that position.
For all the talk about Ryan Raburn being a sleeper for the Detroit Tigers, especially in those leagues where he qualifies at second base, Brennan Boesch has actually been seeing more time, now with 22 at bats to Raburn’s 15. Of course it helps that Boesch is off to a good start hitting .364 with a home run and five RBI while Raburn is without a home run and batting .267.
Brian Wilson struggled in his second outing since returning from the disabled list, allowing four baserunners in 2/3 of an inning and two runs before being bailed out by Ramon Ramirez. If you own Segio Romo in mixed leagues, I would still hold onto him in case Wilson has to miss any more time.
Stephen Drew returned to the lineup for the Arizona Diamondbacks at shortstop, but Willie Bloomquist still got a start, this time in left field for Gerard Parra with a southpaw on the mound for the Cincinnati Reds. Bloomquist gives the Diamondbacks a leadoff hitter so we’ll see how much time he continues to get with Drew back in action.
Fantasy baseball owners looking for saves finally got an inkling into who may get the early saves in Tampa Bay with Kyle Farnsworth getting the first save of the season. On the other hand, Matt Thornton blew his second save in as many chances for the Chicago White Sox after giving up a three-run home run to Dan Johnson.
