Palm Beach Beat Daytona 6-3: Jose Godoy Singles, Doubles, Walks, & Drives In One Run; Colton Thomson Strikes Out One & Picks One Off Over Two Scoreless Innings For The Hold; Danny Hudzina Singles & Knocks In One Run

Individual Highlights:
Chase Pinder started in centerfield and batted leadoff.  0-for-4 with one RBI, one sac fly, and one strikeout.
J.B. Woodman started as designated hitter and batted fourth.  1-for-4 with one run, one walk, and two strikeouts.
Shane Billings started in left field and batted fifth.  3-for-5 with one run, one stolen base, and one caught stealing.
Jose Godoy started at catcher and batted sixth.  2-for-4 with one double, one two-out RBI, one run, one walk, and one strikeout.
Danny Hudzina started at third base and batted seventh.  1-for-5 with one two-out RBI, two strikeouts, and one fielding error.
Irving Lopez started at second base and batted eighth.  1-for-3 with one double, two runs, one walk, and one strikeout.
Juan Yepez started at first base and batted ninth.  1-for-3 with one double, one run, one walk, and assisted in one double play.
Juan Cruz started and pitched five innings.  He allowed five hits, two earned runs, one home run, two walks, and struck seven out for the winning decision (3-0).  (p-s:81-54)(g/f:3-5)
Colton Thomson entered in the sixth and pitched two innings.  He allowed three hits, no runs, struck one out, and picked one runner off for the hold (3).  (p-s:21-16)(g/f:1-1)
Jacob Patterson entered in the eighth and pitched one inning.  He allowed no hits or runs, and struck one out for the hold (11).  (p-s:13-9)(g/f:2-0)

Rough Outing:
Yeison Medina entered in the eighth and pitched to six batters.  He allowed two hits, one earned run, two walks, and strcuk two out.  (p-s:33-16)

Boxscore

Randy Choate Pitched In Dominican League To Get Minors Deal In 2008

"I didn't really have any other options," said Choate, who described having his hand forced after enduring a "roller-coaster" year in 2008. "So I had to go to the Dominican [for winter ball], and I pitched pretty well."

Tampa Bay Official Site

Rays Often Have Place For Non-Roster Invitees

Jamey Wright is one of several non-roster invitees in camp. Should the veteran right-hander break camp with the team, it would mark the sixth straight season he came to camp as a non-roster invite and made the Opening Day roster.

Tampa Bay Official Site

Mike Stutes Not Limited Coming Off Shoulder Surgery

But right-hander Michael Stutes also spoke about his comeback. He missed most of last season following shoulder debridement surgery.

Philadelphia Official Site

Jason Isringhausen To Draw Interest

The Mets are destined to draw a whole lot of interest in Jason Isringhausen, because he's experienced and cheap, but a handful of rival GMs now believe that trading for Francisco Rodriguez is all but impossible, given the 2012 option for $17.5 million if he accumulates 55 games finished.

ESPN

Bullpen Trade Targets

Two weeks into the season, bullpen holes are appearing all over the place among the presumed contenders. The White Sox's closer situation has been so bad that Ozzie Guillen joked about calling Bobby Thigpen, the Yankees have lost left-handed setup man Pedro Feliciano for the season without seeing him throw a pitch in a major league game, the Rangers' strong start has masked the problems of their setup men and the Red Sox are scrambling for depth. Ryan Franklin, the Cardinals' closer, is off to a terrible start.

ESPN

Teams Watching To See What Red Sox Do With Dennys Reyes, Rich Hill

Dennys Reyes, LHP, Red Sox — Scouts are watching what the Sox decide in the pen, because Reyes is becoming a hot commodity. Scouts like his ability to get outs and his cool nature in tough situations. This is a tough call for the Sox, who also have Hideki Okajima on a one-year guaranteed contract ($1.75 million). There also is interest in Rich Hill.

Boston Globe

Rays Sign Juan Cruz To Minors Deal

Marc Topkin Twitter

Free Agent Bargain Bin: Relief Pitchers

Relief pitchers and designated hitters have more in common than it appears at first blush. Sure, when they face off they are tasked with opposing goals, but at a basic level both are asked to sit for large sections of the game, then hop up to ply their trade at a moment’s notice.

Baseball Prospectus

Juan Cruz Having Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

Buster Olney Twitter

Royals Call Up Brad Thompson

The Royals released Juan Cruz and designated Luis Mendoza for assignment. In their place the Royals brought up right-hander Brad Thompson and left-hander Bruce Chen from Triple-A Omaha.

Royals Official Site

Brad Penny Credits Dave Duncan For Change

Brad Penny, RHP, Cardinals — We’ve always thought of Penny as a fly-ball pitcher, but in two starts with the Cardinals, he has gotten 42 outs and 25 of them have been on grounders. Penny, to no surprise, credits legendary pitching coach Dave Duncan for emphasizing the sinker. “He shows you numbers I’ve never seen before,’’ said Penny, “like ground-ball outs to hits, fly-ball outs to hits. No one has ever showed me stuff like that before. He puts it in front of you. Hell, why haven’t I been trying to get ground balls all the time?’’ He couldn’t figure this out on his own in Boston?

Boston Globe

Prospectus Today: The Risks Of Arbitration

The deadline for offering arbitration to free agents passed last night, and once again a fairly small number of players received offers, just 23 of 70 ranked free agents. I've written in the past that for almost all ranked players, this should be a fairly simple decision: almost any player good enough to be a ranked free agent is good enough to warrant having back on a one-year deal with a salary determined through arbitration.

Baseball Prospectus

Royals Won't Play Cardinals In St. Louis Next Season

The 2010 schedule, released Tuesday, shows they Royals won’t play next season in St. Louis for the first time since 2005.

Kansas City Star

Hot Corner Futures

So apparently this Matt Holliday guy is pretty decent at playing the baseball, huh?

Viva El Birdos

Waiver-Wire Trade Bait, Deadline Winners & Losers And More Notes

Winners

3. Cardinals: Remade lineup with Mark DeRosa and Matt Holliday.

4. Matt Holliday: Never seemed comfortable in Oakland. Could see him staying in St. Louis

Sports Illustrated

Could Cardinals Look At Gil Meche?

That the Royals show no inclination to trade Meche does little to quell the rumors and inquiries. The Phillies, Rangers and Cardinals are all actively seeking a proven starter. That list seems certain to grow in coming days.

Kansas City Star

Run For Mark DeRosa

Turned out the duel for Mark DeRosa was an all-NL Central extravaganza by the time the Indians' trade talks approached the finish line. In the end, the Cardinals went from a team that was not even willing to discuss Chris Perez to a club willing to offer Perez plus a prospect to be named by Sept. 1, plus the Cardinals took on all of the $2.9 million remaining on DeRosa's contract. And that's what it took for them to outbid the two runners-up, the Reds and Cubs. So what about the Mets, who have been portrayed as having been in the DeRosa sweepstakes to the end? They were one of 10 teams that checked in. But they were never willing to move Bobby Parnell or any of their best young arms. So it appears they were never much of a factor. The Phillies, meanwhile, have now lost out on bids for DeRosa twice in six months: once at the winter meetings, a second time in this derby. The Marlins and Giants were also in this mix.

ESPN

Coco Crisp Misses Another Game With Sore Shoulder

An open date today, in part, prompted another day off for center fielder Coco Crisp to rest his sore right shoulder. Crisp didn’t play Saturday after playing the two previous days following an eight-day break.

That the Royals were facing Halladay was another factor since Crisp’s shoulder problem is more limiting when batting left-handed against right-handed pitchers.

“I didn’t want, going into the off day, to take a chance on the high velocity and nasty stuff of Roy Halladay setting (Crisp) back,” manager Trey Hillman said. “I don’t know that it would have. I just don’t want to take that chance.”

Crisp should return Tuesday against Indians lefty Cliff Lee when the Royals open a three-game series in Cleveland.

Kansas City Star

Previewing The Cardinals May 2009

think it’s fair to say that the Redbirds had a successful April (except for another Carp injury of course) but as April comes to a close, it’s time to look ahead to May. The Cards may schedule actually looks quite favorable, the team gets 3 days off and there is a fairly even split with 13 games at home and 15 on the road. The Cards will also avoid many of the stronger teams in the league, and play a lot of teams they should beat.

Pitchers Hit Eighth