Daily Notes | Matt Adams First Big League Homer

First there was Mark McGwire. He hit 70 home runs and electrified baseball in 1998 in St. Louis and across the country (later things got really messy, but that's neither here nor there). Then there was Albert Pujols. The best player of his generation. He could hit for average, hit for power, and even steal a base if needed. And while we thought Lance Berkman would be next in the great list of Cardinal first basemen of the last 15 seasons, his time has been shortened because of injury. That brings us to Matt Adams. 

Adams was crushing the ball in the minors before getting the call. He was hitting .340 with a .978 OPS in 141 at-bats at Triple-A. Last season he homered 32 times and hit .300. While calling him the next Pujols or McGwire isn't fair at this time, it is clear that he has potential to be in the class of upper tier first basemen for years to come. Yesterday he hit his first career big league homer and he has a promising .345 average to date including 4 doubles. He is worth grabbing in a 12-team mixed league.

• Torii Hunter could rejoin the Angels today or tomorrow according to the Orange County Register.  
• The Blue Jays are saying that Yunel Escobar's left groin injury is day-to-day, but given that he was pulled from yesterday's game he is probably not going to play today. I would sit him in a weekly league.
• Todd Frazier has four home runs in the last two weeks. 
• It appears that James Russell and Shawn Camp will get save opportunities for the Cubs. That news assumes that the Cubs actually have an opportunity to win a game.
• Nathan Eovaldi will likely get the start in place of Ted Lilly for the Dodgers tomorrow. There hasn't been a formal announcement, but Eovaldi only pitched an inning in his scheduled start in the minors on Saturday. Also of note for the Dodgers that day Matt Kemp should be coming off the DL.
• Manny Ramirez, Yoenis Cespedes, and Brandon Inge should all be activated by Oakland this week. That will help a team that has been shutout seven times this season.
• Now that the Diambondbacks have extended Miguel Montero, Nick Piecoro wonders if the payroll will get bigger or if the team will start to move many of its higher costing chips down the line. 
• Ozzie Guillen said that the Marlins are going to stick by Heath Bell despite the struggles that he's had this season. 
• Over the last month, no starter has a better strikeout to walk rate than Carl Pavano. Deeper leagues have justified worse additions.