The Cincinnat Reds have announced that they will promote Jay Bruce tomorrow from Class AAA Louisville. He will wear uniform number 32 and will be making his Major League debut.

Bruce, 21, has been rated the best prospect in the minor leagues. He has spent the season at Louisville, where in 49 games he hit .364 with 9 doubles, 5 triples, 10 HR, 37 RBI and 8 stolen bases. He leads the International League in hitting and hits (67) and ranks among the IL leaders in slugging percentage (.630, 3rd), runs scored (34, 4th), extra-base hits (24, T4th) and RBI (T5th).

It just so happened that I had a chance to speak with Jay just last week. He seemed anxious to take the next step in his career. When I asked Jay if he was as frustrated as us that Corey Patterson was playing centerfield while he was raking in AAA, he said “I'd be lying if I told you I didn't think about it.” But Jay said all the right things and towed the company line. He's a humble young kid who realizes that this game, as he put it, is a “game of failure.” He believes in himself but also realizes that a player is only as valuable as his last performance.

As the season progresses a myriad of teams find their starting rotations shuffling due to ineffectiveness or injury. Last week alone brought significant changes to pitching staffs around the league.

• The Yankees made a lot of fans (and fantasy owners) around the league happy in announcing Joba Chamberlain would become a starter. No word on when the change will come into effect, but he is slated to throw about 45 pitches tomorrow.
• Bartolo Colon made his Beantown debut Wednesday, giving up two runs over five innings to earn his first win in nearly a year. His next scheduled start is tonight in Seattle.
• Key injuries to Jake Peavy and Chris Young have transformed things from bad to worse in San Diego. Peavy was placed on the disabled list Tuesday with a strained and swollen elbow (retroactive to last Thursday) and Young was added to the list Thursday, a day after suffering a nasal fracture from an Albert Pujols line drive that will keep him out into June. Wil Ledezma will occupy Peavey’s spot in the rotation and no word on who will take Young’s place. The Padres called up three pitchers (Jared Wells, Mike Adams and Josh Banks) from Triple-A Portland following Young’s placement on the D.L.
• A 2-5 record and 6.43 ERA spelled bullpen banishment for the Brewers’ Carlos Villanueva. Seth McClung, who is 12-20 with a 6.17 ERA in 37 career starts, took Villanueva’s spot in the rotation and surrendered two runs over five innings against Washington Saturday. Villanueva understands the move.
• In lesser news, Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan switched places in the rotation. Bush gave up six runs over five innings in Thursday’s loss to Pittsburgh. Suppan will now pitch in Washington tonight. Similarly in Seattle, Felix Hernandez’s Saturday start was pushed back to today – moving Jarrod Washburn’s start up a day.

Orioles starter Steve Trachsel returned Saturday after a two-week layoff and after another rocky start, the 2-5 Trachsel wll be skipped in the rotation again.  His 8.82 ERA and inability to get deep into games (Trachsel has been removed before the fourth inning in half of his starts) have caused manager Dave Trembley to use an off day to skip Trachsel's next turn in the rotation.  According to an MLB.com report, there's speculation Baltimore might go as far as replacing him in the rotation. 

An 18-inning marathon on Sunday has caused the Cincinnati Reds to alter their rotation a bit.  After using Aaron Harang and Edinson Volquez out of the bullpen in their 12-9 loss to the Padres on Sunday, Bronson Arroyo will move from his scheduled start on Friday into the starting slot after Johnny Cueto.  Arroyo is penciled in to start Wednesday's game against the Pirates which moves Harang to Thursday and Volquez to Friday.  Cueto was the only pitcher not used by Cincinnati on Sunday and will start the series opener against Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

D-backs infielder Chad Tracy has not seen major league action since August 12, 2007.  Tracy, deemed fully recovered from September knee surgery, was activated and will bat cleanup on Monday against the Braves.  Catcher Robby Hammock was optioned to Triple-A Tucson to make room for the returning Tracy.

After back-to-back trips to the DL, Yankees infielder Wilson Betemit was activated from the 15-day disabled list and will be available to play in Monday's game.  Betemit has recovered from a right hamstring strain after recovering from corneal conjunctivitis on his first stint on the DL.  To make room, the Yankees optioned infielder Alberto Gonzalez to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  Gonzalez filled in for A-Rod and played 17 games hitting .214 and made just one error in the field. 

…Sad News out of Caracas Venezuela, former Major Leaguer Geremi Gonzalez who posted 11 wins in 1997 with the Cubbies, died Sunday after being struck by lightning. He was 33 years old.

…The Atlanta Braves activated pitcher Buddy Carlyle from the 15-Day Disabled list and designated relief pitcher Chris Resop for assignment.

…New York Mets outfielder Ryan Church who collided with Atlanta Braves short stop Yunel Escobar's knee is still feeling the effects six days later. The Mets are sending him to a neurologist on Tuesday.

…The Milwaukee Brewers are very close to signing former Boston pitcher Julian Tavarez. He was designated for assignment two weeks ago by the BoSox. Here's what Brewers GM Bob Melvin has to say about Tavarez.

“He hasn't pitched since May 11 but he has been throwing,” Melvin said.
“We've had to bring up the younger, inexperienced guys. They've done a
good job, but this adds depth.”

…Former Major Leaguer Luis Gonzalez was suspended for one year by Japanese Baseball for testing positive for amphetamines. As you know, Amphetamines are banned by Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball. Most recently Gonzalez played for the Giants this season (playing in 32 games). Gonzalez is only the second player every to be suspended for failing a drug test.

Robert Andino has been up and down between
AAA and the majors this season (Bill Richardson/BDD)

Atlanta    

Chipper Jones - Back spasms, day-to-day.
    
Cincinnati    

Edwin Encarnacion - Missed 2 games (illness).
    
Cleveland    

Victor Martinez - Missed 2 games (finger injury).
    
Colorado    

Cory Sullivan - Recalled from Colorado Springs (AAA).
Matt Holliday - Strained left hamstring, 15-day DL.
    
Florida    

Robert Andino - Optioned to Albuquerque (AAA).
Eulogio De La Cruz - Recalled from Albuquerque (AAA).
    
Houston    

Jack Cassel - Recalled from Round Rock (AAA).
Fernando Nieve - Optioned to Round Rock (AAA).
    
Los Angeles Anaheim    

Reggie Willits - Finger injury, day-to-day.
    
NY Mets    

Ryan Church - Missed 1 game (mild concussion).
    
NY Yankees    

Chien-Ming Wang - Missed 3 games (calf injury).
    
Texas    

John Patterson - Released by the Texas Rangers.
    
Toronto    

Matt Stairs - Missed 2 games (stiff neck).

Rangers top power prospect Chris Davis (#2 Texas prospect, Baseball America) made the jump to AAA Oklahoma. Since July of last year, he hit 25 homers in 295 at-bats at AA Frisco (a Bondsian one dinger every 11.8 at-bats). Davis also struck out in 23.3% of his at bats over the same stretch.

Word is catching prospect Max Ramirez (#23 Texas, BA) may join Davis in Oklahoma before long.

Reds lefty prospect Travis Wood (#21 Cincinnati, BA) will take his plus-plus curveball up to AA Chattanooga.

“I don't see why not,” said beleaguered manager Willie Randolph when asked if he expected to be the manager of the New York Mets after he meets with owner Fred Wilpon, chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and GM Omar Minaya at Shea prior to the Mets' series with division-leading Florida today.  Let's pretend that Willie answered the question honestly which would mean Willie's in denial.

Randolph has been under fire since early in the season after the Mets fell out of first place when they lost on April 20th in Philadelphia and have been on the slow decline ever since.  A two-game sweep of the Yankees offered a little light heading into the past week but things took an ugly turn over the past seven days.

On Monday, Willie's comments that appeared in The Record of Hackensack, N.J. that Willie later said he thought were “off the record” got Willie out of the frying pan and into the fire.  In the column, Willie's commented on many things but the controversy focused on two areas - Willie wondered if the criticism facing him was racial motivated and criticized the coverage of him on the Mets' own network, SNY. 

While Randolph backtracked and apologized and team leader David Wright came to his defense by joining Billy Wagner in blaming the players, the team didn't perform like a team that would leave everything out on the field to save their manager.

First, they dropped all four games in Atlanta to the Braves for the first four-game sweep by the Braves of the Mets since July 2003.  Then, Randolph and Co. (accompanied by GM Omar Minaya who rarely travels with the team) traveled to Colorado and lost two out of three to the Rockies who came into the series 11 games under .500.

Now, Randolph must return to face the music with his team in fourth place, just 2 1/2 games ahead of the Washington Nationals.  The same team that Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa called “bush league” after the Nats whipped up on the Mets two weeks ago.

The New York media has weighed in with their thoughts and no one is ruling out the possibility that Randolph's meeting with the Mets' front office brass could be his last.  The Mets looked dead on Sunday in hitter-friendly Colorado and mustered just four hits and one run, made two errors and Jose Reyes got picked off of first.  The question being asked now - Is Willie a dead man walking on Monday?

So, why wouldn't Willie be manager at game time on Monday night at Shea?  If the 23-25 is not enough for the team that many expected to be the team to beat in the N.L. East, there are a number of other reasons.  With a payroll in the $140 million range, the Mets cannot afford to continue to struggle as Randolph was already on the outs with fans after their monumental collapse last September.  In addition, there is a perception that he has lost complete control of the clubhouse spearheaded by frequent outbursts by outspoken closer Billy Wagner who has questioned the performance of his teammates on at least two occasions. 

To be fair to Willie, this meeting was scheduled prior to the completion of the road trip based on Randolph's comments to The Record last Monday.  But the Wilpons have not commented on the comments made by their manager and Jeff refused to comment on the issue when contacted by 1050 ESPN Radio last Thursday.  If the Wilpons were looking for a clean break after Randolph's passionate yet admittedly misguided rant then the players gave them what they needed by their 1-6 performance over the last seven days.

If Randolph is canned, he will finish with the second highest winning percentage amongst all Mets managers behind Davey Johnson.  If Randolph is right and he is not fired, until the “team to beat” is back on the top in the East Willie will be haunted by the likes of Jerry Manuel, Lee Mazzilli, Jim Fregosi, Wally Backman, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Felipe Alou, Bobby Valentine, Ken Oberkfell or any of the other rumored successors that wait to step into Randolph's uncomfortable shoes. 

As Randolph knows, the problems will not go away if he is fired and in New York, there will be no grace period for his replacement.

• Glen Perkins allowed just one run over 7 2/3 innings, Mike Lamb had 3 hits, and Jason Kubel hit an 8th inning grand slam to help the Twins beat the Tigers, 6-1. Carlos Guillen singled, doubled, and homered, and Justin Verlander allowed just one run over 7 innings for Detroit.
• Doug Mathis tossed 6 strong innings, Ian Kinsler hit a solo home run, and the Rangers scored on an error in the 10th inning to get by the Indians, 2-1. C.C. Sabathia gave up just one run on 5 hits in 7 innings for Cleveland.
• Jorge Cantu reached base 3 times, homered, and scored 3 runs, and Dan Uggla, Jeremy Hermida, and Cody Ross all went deep as the Marlins outlasted the Giants, 8-6, in game one of their doubleheader. Benjie Molina went 4-for-4 with 3 doubles and 2 runs scored, and Aaron Rowand reached base 3 times, homered, and drove in 3 runs for San Francisco.
• Conor Jackson reached base 5 times, Orlando Hudson smacked 3 doubles, and Eric Byrnes hit a grand slam as the Diamondbacks roughed up Tom Glavine and the Braves, 9-3. Chris Young also had 2 hits, a walk, a home run, 2 RBI, and a stolen base for Arizona.
• Aaron Boone had 2 hits, a home run, and 2 RBI, Wily Mo Pena doubled and knocked in 2 more runs, and Elijah Dukes scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 9th inning as the Nationals walked off with a 7-6 win over the Brewers.
• Geoff Jenkins went 3-for-5 with a home run, 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored, and Shane Victorino and Chase Utley drove in 3 runs apiece to lead an offensive attack that saw the Phillies crush the Astros, 15-6. Carlos Lee homered and drove in 4 runs for Houston.
• Alex Rodriguez reached base 3 times, and Jose Molina collected 2 hits and drove in the game winning run as the Yankees rallied for 4 runs in the 8th inning to sweep the Mariners, 6-5. Ichiro Suzuki had 2 hits, a home run, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored for Seattle.
• Dustin McGowan tossed 7 strong innings, and Alex Rios and Scott Rolen each drove in a run to lead the Blue Jays to a 3-1 win over the struggling Royals.
• Jack Hannahan had 2 hits, 2 RBI, and scored twice, and Jack Cust homered and drove in 2 as the A's doubled up the Red Sox, 6-3, to sweep the series. Kurt Suzuki also had 3 hits for Oakland while Manny Ramirez had 3 hits and 2 RBI for Boston.
• Clayton Kershaw made his Major League debut, allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 7 over 6 innings, and Andre Ethier went 3-for-5 and drove in the winning run in the 10th inning as the Dodgers walked off with a 4-3 victory over the Cardinals.
• Luis Rivas hit 2 solo home runs, Nate McLouth reached base 4 times, and Jason Bay had 2 hits and drove in the game winning for the second straight day as the Pirated edged the Cubs, 6-5.
• Aaron Cook threw a complete game 4-hitter, and Seth Smith hit his first career home run, a 3-run shot, as the Rockies downed the Mets, 4-1.
• Carlos Pena homered, walked 3 times, drove in 2 runs, and scored 2 more, and Evan Longoria doubled twice and drove in the winning run in the last of the 9th inning to help the Rays walk off with a 5-4 win over the Orioles.
• Jorge Cantu reached base 4 times, homered, and drove in 3 runs, and Dan Uggla slapped a bases loaded single in the bottom of the 9th to propel the Marlins to a 5-4 win over the Giants and a sweep of Sunday's doubleheader.
• Kevin Kouzmanoff hit 2 solo home runs, reached base 4 times, and scored 3 runs, and Adrian Gonzalez doubled twice and blasted a 3-run home run in the last of the 18th inning as the Padres finally finished off the Reds, 12-9. Brandon Phillips had 3 hits, homered, collected 2 RBI and scored 3 times for Cincinnati.
• Jose Contreras struck out 10 while allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits over 8 innings, and Carlos Quentin went 3-for-3, drove in 3 runs, and hit 2 home runs, one of which proved to be the game winner as the White Sox nipped the Angels, 3-2, in the day's 7th walk-off victory.

Sunday's Scoreboard